Liu Jinrong walked toward Xiao Jingting. “Junior Brother Xiao, I didn’t expect you to make it here too.”
Xiao Jingting smiled awkwardly and said, “It’s all thanks to Young Master Chen’s blessing. Otherwise we would have definitely died in the swamp.”
In Liu Jinrong’s view, Xiao Jingting and the others’ cultivation was too low. For these few people to reach here was really quite unreasonable. Hearing Xiao Jingting’s words, Liu Jinrong felt somewhat relieved. Chen Xu was Chen Lifeng’s grandson. For Chen Lifeng to dare let Chen Xu enter, he should have prepared some trump cards for this grandson.
Liu Jinrong secretly envied Xiao Jingting’s group’s good luck. When they came all the way here, out of over thirty people, only seven or eight remained. Yet Xiao Jingting’s group had arrived completely intact.
“Many thanks to Young Master Chen.” Liu Jinrong nodded toward Chen Xu.
Chen Xu shook his head and said lightly, “It’s nothing. Uncle Xiao has also helped me a lot.”
“Alright, let’s not talk about this. Junior Brother Xiao, Young Master Chen, you’ve had a hard journey. Come rest at our place,” Liu Jinrong said.
Chen Xu smiled with satisfaction and said, “Good! Coming all the way from the swamp, I’m nearly exhausted. That swamp is really dangerous!”
“Young Master Chen, your luck was good. Not long after our team entered the swamp, some people got cold feet. Later, we lost several more fellow disciples in the swamp before finally making it here. By the way, you encountered quite a few mud monsters along the way, right?”
“Not too many, just a few Foundation Establishment stage mud monsters. We scattered them by using more talismans, but this way, the talismans on us are nearly used up,” Xiao Jingting said with regret.
Liu Jinrong said with envy, “Just losing some talismans to enter the inner city – your luck really wasn’t bad!”
“Can’t say the luck was that good. To save our lives, several defensive magical artifacts grandfather gave me were damaged,” Chen Xu said with feigned dejection.
Knowing Chen Xu was deliberately providing cover for them, Xiao Jingting secretly relaxed somewhat.
Chen Xu thought to himself: Their luck probably wasn’t too bad, but really couldn’t be called good. Along the way, they encountered endless mud monsters. If not for Xiao Jingting and the others having many methods, they would have capsized in the gutter long ago.
Liu Jinrong probably thought it was grandfather’s trump cards that kept them safe to arrive here. But in fact, grandfather wasn’t that divine. Grandfather’s methods could at most keep him safe in the outer layers. As for the inner city, it would depend on his own fortune.
……
Liu Jinrong led Xiao Jingting’s group around some major powers’ territories before reaching where the Qingyun Immortal Sect people were resting.
“Who are those people over there!” Xiao Jingting glanced toward Tianshen Sect’s direction.
“Those are Tianshen Sect people. Tianshen Sect cultivators have been very irritable lately. Don’t provoke them,” Liu Jinrong warned with a stern face.
Xiao Jingting nodded and responded, “Good.”
Not long after Xiao Jingting’s group arrived, two cultivators from Tianshen Sect came over and questioned Xiao Jingting’s group, but Chen Xu sent them away.
Xiao Jingting suddenly discovered that Chen Xu was not only a powerful encyclopedia, but also a very useful shield.
Although Tianshen Sect was domineering, because of Chen Xu’s status, they didn’t go too far. After ruling out suspicion about Xiao Jingting’s group, those people left.
“Senior Brother, what’s this about?” Xiao Jingting asked.
Liu Jinrong narrowed his eyes and said, “I heard there’s someone who killed several Tianshen Sect cultivators and seized Tianshen Sect’s supreme treasure, so Tianshen Sect is now conducting a major investigation.”
Xiao Jingting thought to himself: So Tianshen Sect didn’t just leave people outside to investigate – they still have people investigating inside!
“With the inner city opening imminent, the investigation intensity has already decreased. If this were earlier, you probably wouldn’t have gotten away so easily. Those Tianshen Sect people are extremely domineering,” Liu Jinrong said.
“Then we’re really fortunate,” Xiao Jingting said with a dry laugh.
Liu Jinrong nodded and said, “Yes! A few cultivators came in earlier, and Tianshen Sect actually ordered those cultivators to open their space rings for inspection.”
Xiao Jingting was stunned and said, “Open space rings? That’s too excessive a demand.”
Xiao Jingting frowned. Which cultivator could be without secrets! Space rings were equivalent to a cultivator’s second life!
“Yes! This demand was too unreasonable for ordinary cultivators to accept. To establish their authority, Tianshen Sect killed several cultivators. Then some cultivators had no choice but to open their space rings for inspection. As a result, when Tianshen Sect people saw good things in others’ space rings, they robbed them, finally provoking universal anger.”
“Later, cultivators from several powers joined forces against Tianshen Sect people and had a big fight. Only then did Tianshen Sect people restrain themselves considerably.”
Xiao Jingting: “……” Looks like his luck wasn’t bad!
“Senior Brother, the heaven and earth spiritual energy here is really dense! Cultivating in this place for one month equals three months elsewhere,” Xiao Jingting changed the topic.
“Yes! But there didn’t seem to be this situation before. Something might have changed in this secret realm,” Liu Jinrong said with a frown.
Xiao Jingting stroked his chin, thinking to himself: Whatever the change, now he could only take things one step at a time.
……
After Xiao Jingting’s group reached the open space outside the inner city, they settled down in Qingyun Immortal Sect’s territory and used the local dense heaven and earth spiritual energy to cultivate.
The inner city was covered by a huge restriction. Some people tried to break through the restriction but were killed by it. As time passed, the restriction’s light grew dimmer and dimmer.
“The restriction seems to have weakened,” Chen Xu said, looking at the restriction.
Xiao Xiaodong nodded and said, “Seems so. After some more time, the restriction should be able to open.”
As time passed, more and more experts entered the secret realm, and major powers were wary of each other.
Xiao Xiaodong looked at Chen Xu and said, “You don’t know what the situation in the inner city is either?”
Chen Xu shook his head and said, “Not many people have entered the inner city since ancient times, and those materials are all highly classified secrets of major sects that aren’t easily revealed.”
Chen Lifeng was just a rogue cultivator. Being able to obtain secrets about the secret realm’s outer layers was already quite difficult. Chen Lifeng had also found some information about the inner city, but it wasn’t specific and had limited reference value.
……
Two months later.
“The restriction opened, opened!”
With the restriction open, large numbers of cultivators immediately poured into the inner city, afraid that being slow would let others get the opportunities first.
There were twelve passages entering the inner city in total. Xiao Jingting’s group avoided some major powers and chose the Fire Path.
As soon as they entered the passage, Xiao Jingting’s group found themselves in a desert.
“What’s going on! The secret realm actually has a desert,” Xiao Jingting said, looking at the ten suns in the sky with some annoyance. He hadn’t seen ten suns on Earth, but actually saw them here. This was the rhythm of being killed by heat! Where was Hou Yi!1
Chen Xu looked at the suns in the sky and said, “I heard entering the inner city requires passing various trials. I think this is one of the trials. We must walk out of this desert.”
“Did your grandfather mention this trial?” Xiao Xiaodong asked.
Chen Xu shook his head and said, “No, grandfather probably isn’t very clear about it either.”
Xu Mu’an looked at the suns in the sky and frowned, saying, “These suns seem to contain fire poison.”
Chen Xu nodded and said, “Yes. If we can’t get out, we’ll die of heat here.”
Xiao Jingting took out two umbrellas and gave them to Xiao Xiaodong and Chen Xu. Both umbrellas were made from Qinggang Lingyun bamboo. Xiao Jingting had painted the umbrellas red. Xiao Jingting wasn’t sure if Chen Xu could recognize them after making the umbrellas look like this, but with such poisonous sun, Chen Xu normally couldn’t last long under normal circumstances, so Xiao Jingting couldn’t worry about much.
Chen Xu held up the umbrella and couldn’t help feeling amazed. Chen Xu also had quite a few magical artifacts, including ones for dealing with this kind of situation, but Chen Xu knew clearly that his magical artifacts had very limited effects. This umbrella was different. With this umbrella providing shade, Chen Xu immediately felt much more comfortable. The scorching sun was blocked outside the umbrella, and Chen Xu felt completely protected by the umbrella in his hand.
Xiao Jingting had refined three umbrellas in total. He gave one each to the two youngsters, so Xiao Jingting and Xu Mu’an had to squeeze under one umbrella.
Chen Xu looked at Xiao Jingting and Xu Mu’an, rolled his eyes with a smile, and said, “Uncle Xiao, Uncle Xu, you two have such a good relationship.”
Xiao Jingting glanced at Chen Xu and said, “Naturally.”
……
Xiao Jingting’s group walked in the desert for a month and encountered quite a few cultivators who had died from the heat.
When encountering those cultivators, Xiao Jingting unhesitatingly took their space rings, firmly implementing a no-waste policy.
There were also some cultivators who, seeing the spirit umbrellas in Xiao Jingting’s group’s hands, wanted to rob them, but were silenced by Xiao Jingting’s group.
Chen Xu crouched down and examined the corpse on the ground, saying, “This person seems to be Lin Yan from Liehuo Sect, with late Foundation Establishment cultivation. I didn’t expect he also died of heat here.”
Chen Xu pursed his lips. They had been in the Fire Path for a very long time and had encountered some cultivators, most of whom were sunburned beyond recognition.
Xiao Jingting checked the other party’s space ring and said, “There isn’t even a decent magical artifact in the space ring!” In a place like this, trying to rely on physical constitution to tough it out was too heroic – one could easily become a heroic martyr.
Chen Xu glanced at Xiao Jingting and said, “Uncle, ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators are all quite poor.” Chen Xu turned the umbrella on his body and continued, “An umbrella like uncle’s – even Golden Core cultivators might not be able to produce one.” Chen Xu looked at the umbrella in his hand, completely unable to discern the umbrella’s material.
Chen Xu thought to himself: If not for this umbrella’s defensive effect, he might have been sunburned into a mummy long ago. His cultivation was really too low compared to other people in this secret realm.
Xiao Jingting smiled and said, “As long as Young Master Chen is fine.”
“This is already the eleventh person we’ve encountered who was sunburned to death in this desert,” Xiao Xiaodong said.
Xiao Jingting took out three water bottles and said, “Have some water.”
Xiao Xiaodong, Chen Xu, and Xu Mu’an took them in turn.
“Let’s persist a bit more. We should be able to get out if we persist a little longer,” Xiao Jingting said.
Chen Xu nodded and said, “Should be.” Chen Xu drank a mouthful of water and felt the dense spiritual energy in the water, couldn’t help feeling somewhat amazed.
“I think this desert might not really exist – it’s just a trial. Maybe after a few more days, we’ll be considered to have passed the trial and can be teleported out,” Xiao Xiaodong said.
Chen Xu nodded and said, “It’s possible.”
- “Hou Yi” (后羿) – Legendary archer from Chinese mythology who shot down 9 of the 10 suns that were scorching the earth
- The reference to 10 suns is from the classic Chinese myth where originally there were 10 suns in the sky causing drought and disaster ↵
