Chapter 154: Bulbasaur

"Before the day the monthly stipend is distributed, regardless of whether I have successfully found the key or not, I will find a way to leave this place," Ruan Xing said.

Qinghong Zhenjun did not ask how she would leave, but instead nodded, "Very well. If you can leave before the stipend is issued, I will help you cover up the fact that the two Sect Jade Tokens are of the same origin."

If she could not, then between the stolen jade tally, the assumed identity, and those corpses in her Storage Bag... she likely would not be able to leave the Xuanbing Sect alive.

It was not a big problem; it was just a Simulation.

After a moment of silence, she said again, "Although Xizhou is his hometown, you... after you go back, you can tell him that I did not let him bear the reputation of betraying the Sect, and Yaoguang Peak welcomes him back at any time."

"You as well."

Ruan Xing was startled; she had not expected Qinghong Zhenjun to be willing to help her so much.

Presumably, the matter of acting first and reporting later in the space-time rift had already been dealt with, and Qinghong Zhenjun had helped the two of them preserve their status as Xuanbing Sect disciples.

Otherwise, her previous Sect Jade Token would not still be left in the grand formation; it would have been picked out and discarded the very day she was removed from the roster.

If that were the case, she could have just returned using her own identity; after all, she was just a new disciple who had been initiated for less than a year, and not many people paid attention to her anyway.

"This disciple thanks the Peak Master," Ruan Xing said, lowering her eyes.

"Mm, you should hurry. Before the new Hall Master of the Law Enforcement Hall arrives, they dare not do anything to you." After saying this, Qinghong Zhenjun wanted to leave.

Ruan Xing hurriedly said, "Peak Master, do you know who the new Hall Master is?"

"If there are no accidents, it should be Qingyuan Daojun as the primary, with Liang Yue as the deputy," Qinghong Zhenjun said slowly.

Qingyuan Daojun no longer had any disciples.

He met the criteria of a Peak Master without disciples, but his temperament... not to mention whether he was suitable for managing the Law Enforcement Hall, he was already at the Transformation Stage; would he be willing to manage the trivial matters of the Sect?

"Qingyuan Daojun is only filling in for a few years, using his cultivation to hold the ground for Liang Yue. The Sect Master does not want the Law Enforcement Hall to fall into the hands of the noble clans again, so he is using a Transformation Stage Daojun to intimidate the others. Once Liang Yue successfully breaks through to the Nascent Soul Stage, Liang Yue will be allowed to manage the Law Enforcement Hall alone."

Seeing Ruan Xing's confusion, Qinghong Zhenjun continued.

"Qingyuan Daojun dislikes you very much, you know that, right? You are the only survivor of the Golden Terrace Secret Realm."

"The only one? Isn't there still a Nanzhou disciple?" Ruan Xing asked in surprise.

Qinghong Zhenjun replied, "He unfortunately perished while out hunting Monster Beasts."

So she really was the only one left.

Qingyuan Daojun was petty by nature; he even wanted everyone from the Nanzhou Xuanbing Sect to be buried with his disciple.

"I will be careful," Ruan Xing said solemnly. She would never appear in front of Qingyuan Daojun again. "Peak Master, may I ask about the two islands in the sky?"

After pondering for a moment, Qinghong Zhenjun said, "Those two islands... to be honest, I am not very clear about them either. But they did not suddenly appear above Xianyuan City; they have existed for many years, at least six thousand years. It is just that one day they suddenly disappeared, and now they have suddenly appeared again. There is almost no record of these two islands within the Sect, so I do not know what those two islands will bring to the Xuanbing Sect."

Ruan Xing lowered her head in thought.

Qinghong Zhenjun's words revealed a piece of information: even those below the Nascent Soul Stage could not see those two islands.

They did not suddenly disappear; they suddenly became invisible.

Linking this to the three hundred days of deep sleep during the only time a Simulation event affected reality, Ruan Xing could almost conclude that the reason she could see the islands before was because of the Simulator!

But why was this? The Simulator was just a golden finger for simulating life paths to obtain rewards, a must-have for transmigrators; she had never considered why it existed.

Could it be that the Simulator had some mysterious background? Qinghong Zhenjun left.

Zhu Lihua and Xu Sirui respectfully sent the person off, but were cursing inwardly.

Tonight was the time the Secret Realm would open. The Sect Master's compensation had already been given; it was their own lack of ability that they couldn't keep the jade tally.

Qinghong Zhenjun wouldn't let them interrogate that female disciple, so were they just supposed to swallow this bitter pill? Xu Sirui looked at Zhu Lihua helplessly, "Mother, what should we do?"

"There is nothing to be done," Zhu Lihua sighed gloomily. "Judging by what Qinghong Zhenjun just meant, the candidate for the new Hall Master has already been decided; it just hasn't been made public for some reason."

Once the new Hall Master arrived, there would be no place for the two of them.

The two remained silent, facing each other.

Suddenly, a Law Enforcement Hall disciple hurried over to report, "Madam, that female disciple has suddenly disappeared!"

"What!?" Zhu Lihua was both shocked and furious, glancing at the sky.

The hour of the Rat had arrived.

Xu Sirui's expression was grim, "It really was her."

Zhu Lihua made a prompt decision, "Let's go, find Yue Mingqi, right now!"

Ruan Xing was already completely submerged in the cold pool water.

It was also night inside the Secret Realm, and the bone-chilling pool water made her shiver uncontrollably. Wiping the water droplets from her face, she regretted not applying a Water Avoidance Talisman to herself before entering.

She spread out her Divine Sense, but within a hundred-meter radius, she did not see anyone. Under the water, there were only some small fish swimming slowly, which did not look dangerous.

Paddling through the water, she swam to a large patch of lotus leaves and climbed up.

This lotus leaf had a faint fluctuation of Spirit Qi and must have been some kind of spiritual plant. The leaf was very tough and could support her weight. Ruan Xing lay on it and cast a few Magic Arts on herself to blow away the water droplets on her body, and her wet hair became dry and comfortable again.

Beside her was a drooping lotus seed pod; the petals had already withered. Ruan Xing pulled it over, plucked it, and picked out a lotus seed, peeled it, and put it into her mouth.

Amidst the fragrance was a hint of bitterness and a touch of sweetness, crunching loudly when bitten.

The tiny bit of Spirit Qi in the lotus seed entered her abdomen as she swallowed and was instantly refined.

This lotus seed was the main ingredient for the Spirit-Nurturing Pill and the Water-Ganoderma Pill. A single one could sell for three or four Low-grade Spirit Stones outside. This one lotus pod, if she were lucky, could sell for over a hundred Spirit Stones.

Tsk, as expected of the Return to Ruins Land of Gui Xu Xianjun; this first batch of disciples to enter was like picking up money.

Ruan Xing took the Shuttle Spirit Boat out of her Storage Bag, enlarged it, placed it in the water, and stood on it.

Standing at the bow and looking out, the endless water surface was covered with floating lotus leaves and large patches of duckweed, occasionally dotted with a few lotus seed pods.

She wondered if there were any lotus roots to eat.

The sharp bow of the boat broke the water surface, moving slowly. In the dark pool water, the Shuttle Spirit Boat headed in one direction.

Ruan Xing did not know where the key was, but she heard them say that the Lotus Pond Secret Realm was only two thousand miles wide, not a large place. If she put in the effort to search carefully, it shouldn't take more than a few days.

It was just that she still had to hide from the others in the Secret Realm.

Because of the farce that evening, Ruan Xing's Illusion Technique had been used an hour early, and she estimated it would expire by daybreak.

Recalling the Space-Time Marking Magic Art learned from Guangyou Xianjun in her memories, Ruan Xing casually plucked another lotus seed, applied the mark, and dropped it onto the lotus leaf from before; in an instant, a flash of cyan-blue light passed by, the lotus seed vanished, and that lotus leaf was shrouded in a faint halo of light visible only to Ruan Xing.

"Not bad, it's actually quite useful." Ruan Xing clapped her hands in satisfaction and prepared to control the Shuttle Spirit Boat to leave.

This mark could sense positions from thousands of miles away, so she wouldn't get lost in this lotus pond that had no special changes. Moreover, this space-time mark was like a small-scale teleportation Formation, capable of teleporting back and forth, just like the function of that key, only Ruan Xing had not yet been able to comprehend such profound knowledge from the memories she received, so she could only use it for marking for the time being.

The next second, the halo suddenly trembled slightly, as if it had resonated with something.

Huh? Ruan Xing looked at the halo in surprise and stopped the boat.

Could it be that the Secret Realm of Guangyou Xianjun would actually guide his own disciple?

However, she had never heard of any of his disciples being proficient in space-time Magic Art; each disciple learned different things, and Qingmeng Daojun had even gone off the beaten path to learn the Heaven Derivation Art, which had nothing to do with anything, while only Qingping Xianzi was proficient in water arts and had obtained a portion of Guangyou Xianjun's true teachings.

The halo rippled over and over, falling downward, then appearing again.

After repeating this a few times, the halo tended toward stillness.

Ruan Xing watched quietly, lost in thought.

If it really wanted to guide her, then the meaning of the halo should be very clear.

It wanted her to go underwater.

Indeed, it was her own cognition that had been limited.

Since this place was entirely water, then all the resources like Monster Beasts, spiritual plants, and minerals should be aquatic; no matter how long she searched on the surface, she likely wouldn't find anything.

Applying a Water Avoidance Talisman, Ruan Xing took a deep breath, put away the Shuttle Spirit Boat, and jumped into the pond.

She splashed a small spray of water.

Accelerated by the Magic Art, Ruan Xing sank to the bottom of the water in just the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

The environment underwater was even dimmer than on the surface; even though Ruan Xing's cultivation already allowed for night vision, her field of view was not as large as it was on the surface, not to mention that there were quite a few newborn Monster Beasts underwater.

These Monster Beasts were even born in the Secret Realm and had never seen outsiders, so they were quite bold; a little crab at the Qi Refining stage even dared to come over and try to pinch her with its claws.

Ruan Xing waved her hand casually, creating a small vortex underwater that instantly swept the little crab dozens of meters away.

The Five Directions Water Row Magic Art consumed almost no Spiritual Power underwater.

A small fish swam leisurely to Ruan Xing's side, its colorful scales shimmering with rippling light, quite pretty; Ruan Xing grabbed it casually, and the little fish was stunned for a moment before it began to struggle vigorously, only it could not escape from Ruan Xing's palm.

She could not confirm the direction underwater, so she applied the space-time marking Magic Art to the little fish's scales, and the cyan-blue halo appeared once again.

She let go, and the little fish swam quickly in one direction as if fleeing for its life; Ruan Xing hurriedly followed, constantly creating water vortexes around herself to block other Monster Beasts from approaching, while accelerating herself.

The little fish grew tired after swimming for a while and hid in a patch of water grass, refusing to appear, so Ruan Xing caught another lucky one and applied a mark.

After several attempts, Ruan Xing's field of vision was no longer the monotonous fish, shrimp, water grass, and cave stones, but rather a shipwreck appeared.

Along the way, most were Monster Beasts at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages, which Ruan Xing could handle with a wave of her hand; she hadn't seen a single one at the Golden Core Stage.

Yet, inside this shipwreck, under the probe of Ruan Xing's Divine Sense, a Golden Core Stage aura appeared.

Could it be that some fellow sect member had gotten there first?

Ruan Xing swam closer and realized that this shipwreck was very large; the middle part had already broken and been damaged, and more than half of the bottom hold had sunk into the mud and sand. Entering through a hole above the bottom hold, the interior was like a small apartment, divided into three levels, with rooms of various sizes and uses arranged throughout.

The exterior of the ship and the edges of the holes were covered in deposits; judging by the degree of decay of the wooden structure and the attachment of various water algae and shellfish, Ruan Xing felt that this ship had been submerged for at least a hundred years.

However, this Secret Realm had only just been generated not long ago; this shipwreck should be a manifestation of Guangyou Xianjun's obsession in his memories, not that someone had actually shipwrecked in a non-existent Secret Realm a hundred years ago.

But...

Does the Xianyuan Continent have an ocean? She searched through her memories but found no relevant information.

She had been to the border of Xizhou in a Simulation; it was an extremely dangerous no-man's-land, filled with various natural hazards that even Cultivators found difficult to deal with.

She did not know if the borders of the other three continents bordered an ocean.

Never mind, the most important thing right now was that unknown Golden Core in the shipwreck.

Ruan Xing released Sword Lai, applied a Water Avoidance Talisman to it, and let it go inside to take a look while invisible.

After waiting for a moment, Sword Lai came out, but the Golden Core Stage aura followed it out as well.

Ruan Xing was startled, then saw the box Sword Lai was holding.

The lid was already open, and inside was a cyan seed.

Her eyes were about to pop out.

A Golden Core Stage... seed!?

It is thousands of times harder for a plant to become a monster than an animal, but you, a seed, how did you reach the Golden Core Stage before even sprouting? Are you being a bit too hardworking?

Ruan Xing carefully checked and confirmed that this was indeed a seed, not some other creature that looked like a seed.

However, at the Golden Core Stage, it should already have some autonomous consciousness and spiritual intelligence, but when Ruan Xing's Divine Sense probed into it, the other party had no reaction at all.

It was like a living shell without a soul.

To describe it more aptly, it was a vegetable.

Ruan Xing did not understand, so she could only temporarily put the seed away and continue to explore the other rooms in the shipwreck.

Most of the items stored in the warehouses of this shipwreck had been soaked in water, losing their original spirituality and becoming nutrients for the underwater creatures; other than that seed, there was almost no harvest.

Was this seed very important in Guangyou Xianjun's heart? Why would the space-time mark guidance point here? Ruan Xing was completely baffled; this seed didn't even come with an instruction manual.

She had no choice but to catch another lucky one and use the space-time marking Magic Art.

This time, the cyan-blue halo no longer resonated, but focused on performing its duty as a mark.

Ruan Xing suddenly felt a strange sensation from the bottom of her heart.

This resonance... perhaps it was not Guangyou Xianjun's guidance, but this seed's own act of self-rescue.

But Ruan Xing had probed it; it clearly had no consciousness!

She took the seed out and squeezed it; its skin was very hard, and there was no reaction at all.

Never mind, the top priority was still to find the key.

Ruan Xing gave up on the shipwreck and continued to wander underwater.

Perhaps because it was the first day, and the Xianyuan Continent had no inland sea, everyone's thinking was limited by past experience; Ruan Xing searched a range of several hundred kilometers underwater without encountering a single Cultivator.

By the second or third day, once other Cultivators discover that only low-value spiritual plants can be found on the water's surface, they will realize they need to go underwater.

The key... where should one go to find the key? (End of chapter)