Chapter 91: This Time I Really Won't Lie to You

Xie Huai spoke while coughing up several mouthfuls of blood; he seemed to want to tilt his head to let the blood flow from the corner of his mouth, but his neck was almost unable to move, and he could only choke violently until his face and neck turned red.

"Tsk." Fearing that he would choke to death and waste one of her Healing Pills, Ruan Xing used his filthy robe hem to wipe away the excess blood with some disdain.

"Excuse me, with my current injuries, I need you to help me get a few more Healing Pills."

Xie Huai said indifferently, his deep, pitch-black eyes fixed on Ruan Xing, as if he had made up his mind that he would say nothing unless Ruan Xing saved him to the end.

"Hey, Healing Pills are very valuable. Your hush money is only enough for me to use one to save you."

Her Second-grade Healing Pill could sell for a high price of seventy Spirit Stones per bottle during the Dao Discussion.

As for Xie Huai, since they were acquaintances anyway, a friendship price of one hundred Spirit Stones per pill wasn't excessive, right?

"There are some in my Storage Bag... but I can't open it right now. Once I can move, I'll pay you back double."

Currently needing help, Xie Huai's tone was uncharacteristically weak.

Ruan Xing said: "Ten times."

Xie Huai did not hesitate: "Fine."

"Hmm? So generous?" Ruan Xing muttered in surprise; in any case, she definitely had to save Xie Huai in this Simulation since she still needed to extract information, and the habitual haggling was just to grind down Xie Huai's psyche a bit more.

She took out a bottle of Healing Pills and poured them into Xie Huai's mouth without even looking.

"Mmph... cough, cough! En—enough..."

"Can you make your sounds a little less indecent?" Ruan Xing said coolly.

The corners of Xie Huai's eyes turned red, and he glared at her with little strength, then half-closed his eyes and began to circulate his magic power to dissolve the medicinal properties and nurse his injuries.

Ruan Xing watched Xie Huai circulate his energy to heal, bored, counting the time in her heart.

After about six hours passed, Xie Huai finally woke up.

He sat up slowly with a trembling body, his pale hand covering his chest, his expression unable to hide his pain.

Ruan Xing couldn't help but make a snide remark, "Hey, look at you, causing yourself to end up like this with your own ultimate move, you really are looking for trouble."

"It was necessary." Xie Huai gave a bitter smile, "Only by succeeding do I have the qualifications to return to the Magic Realm."

The Magic Realm is the Northern Territory; they are just called differently.

Ruan Xing didn't know much about the Northern Territory, having only heard a word or two, but in her impression, it seemed that all Demon Cultivators had nowhere to stay in the Five Prefectures, which was why they were all driven to the Northern Territory, right? How did it sound from Xie Huai's meaning that the Northern Territory was some kind of pilgrimage site? Was it very noble? Did those who go have to have achievements? Ruan Xing thought this and asked it out loud.

Xie Huai shook his head, a trace of bitterness appearing on his face, "Any Demon Cultivator in this world can stay in the Magic Realm. It is not a place of peace and quiet. If they had a choice, most Demon Cultivators would not want to live there. Only I want to go but cannot."

"Why is that?" Ruan Xing was puzzled.

But this time, Xie Huai no longer answered every question.

He was silent for a moment, then changed the subject, "Don't you want to return to the Sect Secret Realm safely?"

"Yeah, otherwise why would I save you? You'd better not lie to me, ha. In your current state, it wouldn't be hard for me to kill you."

Xie Huai lowered his head and said quietly: "This time, I will not lie to you."

Ruan Xing still didn't believe him, "Then swear an oath."

Xie Huai:...

He looked at Ruan Xing with some helplessness, sighed, and said: "I swear..."

Damn, he still wanted to trick her! Ruan Xing reminded him angrily: "Add your name!"

"... I, Xie Huai, swear that this time, no matter what happens, I will never lie to Liu Bo by a single word. If I break this oath, may I never attain my heart's desire for all eternity."

"Still trying to trick me with a fake name, huh?" Ruan Xing complained powerlessly.

"I'm not lying to you, my real name is Xie Huai." Xie Huai lowered his eyes and said indifferently: "No one knows me anyway, why would I make up a fake name? I only used it to trick you in the Hanshan Secret Realm so that other Outer Sect Disciples wouldn't recognize me."

"So... the face is real too?"

"It is real."

Ruan Xing felt a bit uncomfortable, "Then I heard that you Demon Cultivators have a Magic Art derived from Monster Beast transformation called the Illusion Technique..."

Xie Huai was a bit dazed, not knowing why Ruan Xing would bring this up, but he still explained: "There is such a Magic Art. If mastered, the mimicry can even deceive those in the Return to Ruins Stage. However, humans are not like Monster Beasts; even a Qi Refining stage Monster Beast has a lifespan of several hundred years. The Illusion Technique requires extreme compression and still takes at least a hundred years to master. No one would waste a hundred years for a Magic Art with little use, so this art gradually became useless and stopped appearing. How did you hear of it?"

Heh, no wonder she spent decades in the Simulation to reach the second level...

Ruan Xing was a bit frustrated, "Forgot, never mind, it's not important."

"Are you satisfied? Is there anything else you want to ask?" Xie Huai's tone was flat.

Ruan Xing nodded and said: "Yes, what is going on with Xu Sixi?"

Although she felt that Xu Sixi's position in the Sect made it impossible for him to betray the Sect and collude with Demon Cultivators, she still had to ask to be safe.

Xie Huai thought for a moment; he had almost forgotten this person because he was unimportant.

"It was just a transaction. I borrowed the Mask Artifact to him, and he helped me change my competition opponents so that I wouldn't have to worry about exposing myself during the matches. That is all."

At the time, he just wanted to use Xu Sixi's influence to pass the Jin Tai Dao Discussion; giving him the Mask Artifact and encouraging him to enter the Secret Realm was also to conveniently deal with him and take the artifact back.

He just didn't expect Fu Qinghong and Fu Yu to be so troublesome, exceeding his expectations.

After Xie Huai finished answering, he watched Ruan Xing quietly, waiting for something.

"That..." Ruan Xing scratched her chin, "Swear again? Actually, my real name is Ruan Xing."

"..." After a suspicious silence, Xie Huai swore again, finally getting both names correct.

Now Ruan Xing couldn't think of anything else to ask for the moment; if she did, she could just ask in the next Simulation. "Now can you tell me how to get out?"

"Wait a bit longer, don't be anxious, let me recover for two more days."

Today was already the fourth day; if she waited two more days, those two Cultivators would be coming. However, the Array Disk mechanism at the entrance had already been violently destroyed by Ruan Xing. Who knew if they would choose to come down or leave when they saw the messy tunnel entrance? "Can't wait two days," Ruan Xing said: "Unless you are prepared to fight in two days. I won't help you, because I can't win either."

This was the truth; those two Cultivators were one in the Foundation Establishment Late Stage and one in the Mid-stage. If not for the fact that they were injured and caught off guard, she wouldn't have had a chance of winning even with a sneak attack.

Personally speaking, she didn't want to run into those two in the tree hole. They would definitely see the corpses of Fu Yu and her brother, and might fight to the death. She hadn't asked for the method to leave the Secret Realm safely yet, and didn't want to waste this Simulation attempt just like that.

Hearing this, Xie Huai sighed long and hard. He knew this tree hole wasn't safe and that someone could come in at any time. The mechanism he had set up at the tunnel entrance was surely gone, and if he encountered anyone now, he would definitely have no power to fight back. He could only rely on Ruan Xing, so he took a step back and said: "Then one day."

He had already recovered some magic power and his body could move. He took out his Storage Bag, gave ten bottles of Healing Pills to Ruan Xing, and took out one for himself to consume.

So many Healing Pills? He didn't get them from Xu Sixi, did he?

Ruan Xing grumbled to herself as she put this huge sum into her Storage Bag, then rested her chin on her hand and waited for Xie Huai for another day.

She dared not enter deep meditation to cultivate or do anything else in front of Xie Huai; as the saying goes, Demon Cultivators have no credibility. Sometimes you can trust them temporarily for the sake of profit, but you must always be on guard and never leave any openings.

Finally, on the fifth day, while Ruan Xing was lost in thought, Xie Huai had already changed into clean clothes at some point, looking fresh and tidy, having recovered his image as a bright and breezy young gentleman; one could not tell at all that he had been on his last breath just a few days ago.

Ruan Xing looked at him, half-doubting, and said, "You're all better?"

Xie Huai's lips curled into a perfect arc, "What do you think?"

Ruan Xing curled her lip, "Pretentious."

She trotted over and picked up that large piece of Soul Nourishing Wood, "This belongs to me now, no objections, right?"

"As you wish." The Soul Nourishing Wood was useless to him; although he could sell it for ten or twenty thousand Spirit Stones if he brought it out, it wasn't necessary for him, and it wasn't worth causing a rift with Ruan Xing at this time. Besides, Ruan Xing had just saved him, and as an Evil Cultivator who practiced the Ghost Dao, she needed this Soul Nourishing Wood more. Xie Huai didn't even look at her, walking straight over to pick up the Sect Jade Tokens scattered on the ground. After identifying them, he picked out one and began sending a mass message.

With a hum, the other jade tokens also lit up at the same time.

Ruan Xing blinked, adjusting to the suddenly shifting colors and images before her eyes.

Xie Huai suddenly spoke, "The Cold Mountain Secret Realm is held in the palm of the Xuanbing Sect, and it has been scoured inside and out by them. But the Jin Tai Secret Realm is different; they do not control this Secret Realm. They only open a door for people to enter and exit when the Secret Realm Space is at its weakest every so often. Therefore, once we cultivators enter, we cannot get out; we can only open another door from the inside."

"Fu Yu and the other one were the people sent to open the door. This giant, long-dead tree is the core of the Secret Realm. However, after I interfered with it, the destination this door leads to has become the Magic Realm. I need to return to the Magic Realm through this door, and the hundred-plus Inner Sect Disciples of the Xuanbing Sect in this Secret Realm are my tickets back to the Magic Realm. Once my tickets have all left, I will leave the Secret Realm, and then I can withdraw my interference, allowing you to return to your Sect safely."

"I can withdraw the interference and let you leave, but my tickets cannot be lost."

His eyes revealed a sense of determination.

"Fine." Among these disciples, the only ones Ruan Xing had exchanged a few words with were Fu Qinghong, Xiong Dacheng, and Xu Sixi; she didn't really care whether these people lived or died.

But then she thought, Xie Huai's Dharma Artifact that could hide one's cultivation was still with Xu Sixi, so she said, "The Mask Artifact with Xu Sixi..."

"I don't have the ability to find him right now. If he is still alive, he should have already left after receiving the message, and I can naturally retrieve the artifact then. If he died in the Secret Realm, then there is nothing I can do. If he still hasn't left by the time I leave the Secret Realm and withdraw my interference, then the artifact will have nothing to do with me anymore. If you have the ability to take it, it is naturally yours."

"That works too." Ruan Xing thought for a moment and nodded.

Every time she had entered in the past, she had just thrown the jade token away, because there was no way to collect information while dodging pursuit.

But she had already thought of what to do for next time.

She patiently accompanied Xie Huai for three days. Originally, Ruan Xing was worried that those two cultivators would come over, but Xie Huai was adamant that all the Central Province cultivators would definitely leave after receiving Fu Yu's message; Fu Yu seemed to have high prestige among the Central Province cultivators.

And he really guessed right; these three days were peaceful.

On the eighth day, Xie Huai finally said, "I am leaving. An hour after I go out, you can safely return to your Sect. However, as an Evil Cultivator, why do you still want to stay in Nanzhou? Wouldn't it be better to come back to the Magic Realm with me, instead of living in fear every day?"

"To each their own, don't you worry about it." She wasn't an Evil Cultivator, was she? She practiced righteous cultivation techniques, okay? After perfunctorily brushing off Xie Huai, she added, "By the way, that old man in gray outside, the Nascent Soul Stage Demon Cultivator, what is your relationship with him that he is cooperating with you so well?"

Xie Huai was dazed for a moment before saying, "Roughly... I suppose he is my master."

Are you Demon Cultivators so vague and uncertain even about your master-disciple lineage? Ruan Xing didn't understand.

"Farewell." Xie Huai folded his hands in a salute, then took out his jade token and left the Secret Realm.

Ruan Xing couldn't help but admire him; this guy really treated acting as a habit. Even at the very end, he maintained the polite demeanor of a 'Xuanbing Sect Disciple Xie Huai', rather than that of a 'Demon Cultivator Xie Huai'.

Ruan Xing picked up a random jade token from the ground. Its owner was already dead, and with her Tongxuan Scripture Spiritual Power, which was identical to the previous owner's, she easily gained command of the jade token. After waiting for an hour, she impatiently used the jade token to teleport out of the Secret Realm.

Following a wave of dizziness, what Ruan Xing saw when she opened her eyes was a clear sky, vast seas, lush forests, and birds singing and flowers smelling. She couldn't help but laugh out loud three times, "Hahaha! I'm out!"

Once she calmed down, she realized there were several other Foundation Establishment Late Stage Inner Sect Disciples looking at her with strange expressions.

Ruan Xing felt as if she could read their thoughts from their gazes.

'Who is this? Out in just eight days, so happy, did she have a lucky encounter?'

'Doesn't look like it to me, probably crazy, how pitiful.'

These disciples looked somewhat familiar; they were all judges during the Jin Tai Dao Discussion, and were now ordered to guard the Teleportation Array leading to the Secret Realm.

Generally speaking, unless one encountered danger in the Secret Realm and had to come out, having finally gotten in, coming out so early was just a waste of time; one might miss a lucky encounter in that time.

According to past conventions, basically no one would come out in the first month; Ruan Xing's situation was truly rare.

She suddenly realized, oh right... she still had to explain the situation in the Secret Realm, but... she was the only one who came out alive, this was too suspicious...

Even if she really hadn't done anything and told the truth about the big incident Xie Huai had caused, no one would believe her.

If you weren't colluding with them, why would they let you go?

Oh no, it seemed she was going to be the scapegoat for Xie Huai.

Thanks to FANYG for the monthly ticket~ (End of chapter)