Chapter 33: Instantly dropping to your knees and backing down, spouting nothing but lies.

Luo Qingchen watched the Green Scale Sword in Ling Xiyue’s hand.

It was already half-unsheathed, its blade reflecting a cold, sharp light.

Without the slightest hesitation, Luo Qingchen’s knees buckled.

*Thud!*

With an incredibly smooth sliding kneel, she rushed directly in front of Ling Xiyue and tightly hugged that long, slender leg.

“Eldest Senior Sister! Let me explain!”

Luo Qingchen looked up, her small face instantly wrinkling like a steamed bun.

Tears appeared on command, swirling in her eyes.

“I absolutely wasn’t deserting during these past fifteen days!”

“I was out looking for an opportunity for a breakthrough!”

Ling Xiyue looked down at her from above, her hand gripping the hilt.

She didn’t move.

Luo Qingchen quickly activated her Dantian.

The spiritual energy fluctuations of the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage were released without reservation.

The surrounding air was agitated by the spiritual energy, kicking up a few fallen leaves.

Ling Xiyue’s movements paused.

Her killing intent retracted slightly.

She really had achieved a breakthrough.

Luo Qingchen keenly captured this change and struck while the iron was hot.

She pointed at the shattered remains of the array disks on the ground.

“Do you think I set up this array to trap you?”

“Wrong! That is a huge mistake!”

Luo Qingchen slapped her thigh with an expression of pained sincerity.

“I did this with the best of intentions, all to teach you a lesson!”

“Look at you, the grand Eldest Senior Sister of Hidden Sword Mountain, a peak Core Formation Middle Stage expert. When you encounter a non-lethal trapping array, what can you even do besides hacking at it blindly?”

“This array grows stronger as it meets strength. The harder you hack at it, the sturdier it becomes.”

“Weakness! This is the fatal weakness of all you sword cultivators!”

Luo Qingchen grew more excited as she spoke, even standing up to pat the dirt off her clothes.

“If you encountered an enemy with ill intentions who set up this kind of array to wear you down, you would exhaust your spiritual energy. Then, even a random Foundation Establishment lackey could easily handle you!”

“I am letting you recognize the dangers of the cultivation world in advance!”

Ling Xiyue fell silent.

The hand gripping the sword hilt loosened slightly.

‘This little thief is full of nonsense,’ she thought.

‘But this point happens to strike the heart of the matter.’

During the fifteen days she spent inside the array, she truly had no choice but to keep swinging her sword.

In the corner, Xiao Bai couldn’t listen anymore.

“Woof! You’re talking trash!”

“You clearly wanted to hog that pile of spirit stones and run away! This Lord Dog has eaten more rice than you — “

Before it could finish, Luo Qingchen reached into her storage bag and pulled out a dark, low-quality medicinal pill.

With precise accuracy, she stuffed it into Xiao Bai’s open mouth and pinched its muzzle shut.

*Gulp.*

Xiao Bai was forced to swallow it, choking until its eyes rolled back.

“When adults are talking, little dogs shouldn’t butt in.”

Luo Qingchen clapped her hands.

Just as she was about to continue her bluff, several piercing sounds of breaking air suddenly echoed from the distant horizon.

*Rumble!*

Even the air became viscous.

 A suffocating, terrifying pressure was approaching at an incredible speed.

Luo Qingchen’s expression changed drastically.

“A Nascent Soul old monster!”

She grabbed Ling Xiyue’s arm.

“Stop dazing off! Run!”

“The outside is crawling with high-level cultivators attracted by your sword intent from the last fifteen days!”

“If we don’t leave now, we’ll all be minced into meat today!”

“Whatever debt we have, we can settle it slowly once we’re safe!”

Ling Xiyue looked at the arm Luo Qingchen was grabbing and sighed helplessly.

“Let go.”

Luo Qingchen quickly released her.

Ling Xiyue then reached out and grabbed Luo Qingchen’s back collar.

Her purple robes fluttered as she turned into a blurred afterimage, rushing directly into the depths of the nearby dense forest.

Xiao Bai stuck out its tongue, scrambling to follow behind them.

Shortly after the two women and the dog left…

*Boom!*

The space above the Abandoned Cave Dwelling suddenly warped.

An Elder in Grey Robes appeared out of thin air.

The surrounding air instantly froze, and a thick layer of frost formed on the surface of the leaves.

The elder’s divine sense swept through the empty dwelling below, his brows furrowing.

“They ran fast.”

***

On the other side of the Secret Realm, in an open stretch of wasteland…

A passerby named Zhang Fan was boredly digging into the mud with an iron shovel.

This Secret Realm was simply terrible; not even a single useful spirit herb was left.

Suddenly, a brilliant meteor streaked across the sky.

Accompanied by a piercing sonic boom, it fell straight down and landed dozens of paces in front of Zhang Fan.

*Bang!*

Dirt splashed everywhere.

Zhang Fan jumped in fright and gripped his shovel tightly.

Once the dust settled, he gathered his courage and approached.

It was a Yellow-grade spiritual sword, with most of the blade buried in the mud.

Tied tightly to the hilt with a tattered strip of cloth were over a dozen bulging storage bags.

Zhang Fan’s eyes instantly went round.

 His breathing quickened.

‘The heavens have opened their eyes!’ he thought.

‘The treasures of this Secret Realm are actually falling from the sky! Thank you for this gift!’

He threw away his shovel and sprinted over.

His hands trembled as he reached toward the storage bags.

He was going to be rich!

Before he could touch the cloth strip, a violent sound of breaking air came from the sky.

“Get lost!”

A roar exploded overhead.

The Big Man from the Overlord Blade Sect arrived, leading the Tianyin Gate Female Cultivator and seven or eight Foundation Establishment stage cultivators.

They descended with murderous auras.

Flight was forbidden in the Secret Realm, so these people had relied on bursts of spiritual energy to leap and accelerate all the way here.

Upon landing, the Big Man was panting and covered in sweat.

However, his eyes immediately locked onto the broken sword stuck in the ground and the coarse cloth storage bag embroidered with the Overlord Blade Sect’s symbol on the hilt.

The Big Man was overjoyed.

He released the pressure of the Core Formation Early Stage without reservation, pressing it directly onto Zhang Fan.

Zhang Fan’s legs gave out, and he fell to his knees with a thud.

He couldn’t even lift his head.

“Senior… Senior, have mercy!”

The Big Man strode forward and shoved Zhang Fan aside.

He reached out and snatched the coarse cloth storage bag.

The Big Man let out a long sigh of relief.

‘Thank goodness,’ he thought.

‘I found it.’

Inside this storage bag, besides spirit stones and medicinal pills, the most important thing was his collection of ‘Private Immortal Maiden Portraits’.

If those were seen by others, his reputation as a Core Formation stage elder of the Overlord Blade Sect would be ruined.

The Big Man impatiently circulated his spiritual energy to open the storage bag.

As he inspected the interior, the joy on his face instantly froze.

His hands began to shake.

His face turned from red to white, then from white to purple.

It was empty.

There wasn’t even half a low-grade spirit stone inside, let alone his collection of portraits.

It was clean—cleaner than if a dog had licked it.

The Big Man’s head buzzed.

Fury surged to the top of his skull.

He whipped his head around and glared at the kneeling Zhang Fan, his eyes bloodshot.

“You scoundrel!”

“You dare play with me!”

“Hand over the things inside!”

Zhang Fan was scared out of his wits.

His hands waved frantically.

“Senior! I didn’t do it!”

“I didn’t even touch them!”

“You all arrived just as I got here!”

The Big Man didn’t listen at all.

He only knew his storage bag was empty and that the person in front of him was the closest to it.

This kid must have used some secret technique to transfer the contents!

“Die!”

The Big Man gripped his broad-backed blade with both hands.

Without any fancy moves, he swung the blade straight down.

*Puchi.*

Zhang Fan didn’t even have time to scream before he was hacked into two halves.

Blood stained the ground red.

The Big Man snatched the storage bag from Zhang Fan’s waist.

He opened it, only to find a few withered herbs and a few low-grade spirit stones.

His things were not there.

By then, the Tianyin Gate Female Cultivator and the other cultivators had also reclaimed their storage bags.

“Where are my spirit stones?”

“My medicinal pills are all gone!”

“Empty! They’re all empty!”

Cries of alarm rose one after another.

Everyone realized their bags had been completely looted.

Now, everyone understood.

It wasn’t this passerby disciple who had transferred the items.

It was that Foundation Establishment Middle Stage thief! Before she had launched the storage bags, she had already emptied everything inside!

They had risked their lives to give chase all this way, only to recover over a dozen empty bags!

The Big Man threw his head back, the veins on his neck bulging.

“Ah—!”

An incredibly angry roar shook the fields, causing the surrounding leaves to rustle and fall.

“You little brat!”

“I swear, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!”