Chapter 12

Though he inwardly grumbled, Li Fengping quickly sent the two of them the relevant data on the Secret Realm.

It was an auxiliary-type Secret Realm, dependent on the mortal world but invisible to it; even its entrance required a special method to open, and the only known entrance lay halfway up a peak just outside Xuanjian City.

According to the records, the outer perimeter of the Secret Realm was overgrown with many Daoist-sword-type Tongxuan grasses, which was why that elder had judged it to be a sword-nourishing site.

"A sword capable of generating an entire Secret Realm… its master must have been at least a great master of the Sword Dao," Jiang Jing said after reading it. "This mission is dangerous."

Li Fengping nodded and continued explaining.

"Sister's right—our strength is insufficient to retrieve that sword of the great sword master; our task is merely to gather information."

"Beyond the basic mission contribution points, the sect will also award additional contribution points based on the value of the information we provide."

The Ancestral Sword, as the core of the Xiang Jianzong's current mission board, is absolutely impartial.

That makes sense—if things turn hopeless, we can still withdraw in time.

"Why do you all assume the sword cultivator is already dead?" Xu Xing suddenly said. "Maybe the sword cultivator is still alive."

The air fell suddenly silent.

"…," Li Fengping sighed after a few seconds of silence. "Third Blade Senior, don't scare me—the records also say this sword-nourishing Secret Realm has existed for over fifteen hundred years. Even a great master of the Sword Dao, or one above him, probably wouldn't let his sword stray from him that long."

If the master of this sword-nourishing Secret Realm were still alive…

"Ssshh~" "If the sword's master still lives, why didn't he appear to stop the elder when he entered the Secret Realm?" Jiang Jing analyzed calmly.

The Xiang Jianzong's elders are all Return-to-Void cultivators. Even a Sword Dao cultivator of Union Dao or higher couldn't possibly allow a Return-to-Void sword cultivator to enter his own sword-nourishing Secret Realm, could he? "That's true," Xu Xing smiled. "Maybe I'm overthinking it."

"How long will you two need to prepare?"

"I'm ready anytime," Jiang Jing said coolly. "But how long will Brother Li need to recover from his injuries?"

"These are just superficial wounds—no big deal."

Li Fengping tugged at the gauze, and a sliver of sword qi severed it, sending the strips fluttering down.

His head had swollen to twice its size, bloated like a pig's head, covered in dark bruises, his right eye squeezed shut by the swelling.

"Your look's quite interesting—more comical than before," Xu Xing remarked.

Jiang Jing nearly laughed at his appearance but held it in: "Was the one who attacked you a body cultivator?"

"Yes."

If it weren't for a body cultivator, he'd have healed from this long ago.

Every body cultivator cultivates a unique type of force, so their injuries are extremely hard to recover from, especially external wounds.

Who the hell invented this method—it's monstrous! "But it's fine—the body cultivator who attacked me gave me a pill. These superficial wounds will take time to heal, but they no longer affect my combat ability."

Li Fengping pulled out fresh gauze and began winding it around his head in loops.

It'd be better to just keep the old wrapping on.

"Does Third Blade Senior need time to prepare?"

"No."

…………

Minutes later, the three left the Miscellaneous Affairs Hall building and flew into the sky over an open area.

The flight paths of Nascent Soul cultivators are far higher than those of Foundation Establishment cultivators; all one could see were streaks of light flashing past.

Li Fengping led the way, Jiang Jing followed closely behind, and Xu Xing lagged leisurely at the rear—their speed was not fast among the passing cultivator lights.

This wasn't because Li Fengping's sword-flight technique was poor—the Xiang Jianzong's sword-flight method was peerless, far surpassing ordinary object-control techniques; they slowed down mainly because the two senior brothers had been caught speeding before…

emm…

Better to be cautious.

Even so, Nascent Soul was no low cultivation level—their speed was still extremely fast.

Soon, they reached the peak outside Xuanjian City where the Secret Realm lay. The slopes were thick with vegetation, birds chirped, tigers, wolves, monkeys howled, and even giant snakes as thick as water barrels slithered through the undergrowth—but all were ordinary beasts, no demons or spirits hiding among them.

The three slowed their pace and landed among the forest.

Following the mountain path upward, they finally reached a large, outward-protruding boulder.

At this point, many beasts had sensed their presence and quietly followed, eyes greedy—cultivators' breath of spiritual energy made their flesh and blood immensely attractive to beasts and demons.

"Hmph!"

A cold snort spread the Nascent Soul cultivator's magical power pressure; the beasts instantly froze, fur bristling, then scattered in all directions in terror.

Only after all the predatory beasts had fled did Li Fengping withdraw his magical power pressure.

"All these beasts on this mountain mostly show signs of evolving into demons or spirits, yet none have actually evolved," Jiang Jing noticed something wrong.

This was highly unreasonable—the spiritual energy here was abundant; it shouldn't be this way.

Moreover, she'd never heard of anyone regularly purging demons from this mountain.

You noticed it quickly—decent enough: "Because their auspicious signs have been severed."

For a junior disciple who showed even this much insight, Xu Xing didn't mind offering more explanation.

Huh? Jiang Jing blinked: "Third Blade Senior understands the Art of Observing Auspicious Signs?"

"A little," Xu Xing smiled faintly, continuing. "And the cause of all this is precisely our mission's objective."

"The Secret Realm?"

"Correct. The elder who issued this mission once opened the Secret Realm, causing a sliver of its aura to leak out. That sword probably dislikes demons and spirits, so it severed their potential to evolve."

Jiang Jing fell into thought, then suddenly lifted her head, her eyes shimmering with divine light.

Thick green qi rose in billowing clouds, stretching for miles—that was the "auspicious sign" of the entire mountain and its living beings.

Normally, such a vast aura should have birthed a demon rivaling a Nascent Soul cultivator.

But above the dense, heavy green qi, a single crimson thread blazed brilliantly—sharp, piercing, forcibly suppressing, or rather, severing the entire mountain's and its creatures' auspicious sign.

Under the压制 of that crimson thread, not only could the mountain's beasts not evolve, but even the mountain itself could never generate the slightest spiritual quality.

Soon, Jiang Jing felt a sharp pain in her pupils and had to withdraw her divine sight.

As she closed her eyes to rest.

"Brother Li, why are you still standing there? Quickly open the Secret Realm," Xu Xing urged.

Isn't I just listening to you two?

Besides, what you just said counts as part of the mission.

Li Fengping muttered under his breath, pulled out a talisman, infused it with magic power, and hurled it forward.

The talisman floated gently, soon bursting into flame; the space before them began to warp, sinking inward and collapsing, the area growing larger until it formed an elliptical vortex large enough for three to pass through.

Within the vortex, gray mist churned, faint red light seeping through, appearing deeply eerie.

"It's open. I'm going in first—you follow quickly."

Saying this, Xu Xing stepped directly into the vortex, his figure vanishing amid the churning gray mist.

Brother Xu Sandao really is carefree.

Jiang Jing now opened her eyes, saw the gray vortex glowing with red light, and frowned.

Just a single sliver of its edge had severed the meteorological energy of an entire mountain—this Secret Realm is certainly no ordinary place, and Brother Xu Sandao managed to spot the cause immediately…

She drew her long sword, gripped it tightly, and felt her mind calm; only then did she step into the gray vortex.

Both had entered inside. Li Fengping glanced around, confirmed there was nothing amiss, and followed them in.

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