Chapter 94: This Plot Feels A Bit Familiar

Having persuaded the two big shots, Ruan Xing prepared to return to find Xie Huai. Once Xie Huai finished healing and left the Secret Realm, she would return, and by then, the big shots' Cave Abode should have captured enough people.

She hadn't forgotten the little gift she had promised to offer the Demon Lord. She took all the pills, Dharma Artifacts, materials, and talismans she had scavenged from the corpses in the Xian Tai Tree passage and gave them all to the Demon Lord as a snack. He twitched his nose, opened his mouth, and swallowed the pile of items into his belly. Finally, he let out a satisfied burp and said with some dissatisfaction, "Although I can devour all things, this kind of junk can hardly be called a gift. If I weren't trapped here, I wouldn't even glance at such things while I was alive."

"Ah, yes, yes, you are right."

Ruan Xing flattered him and dismissed him, though she was grumbling inwardly. In this Demon Lord's eyes, there was probably only one kind of delicious food he would find acceptable... but she really didn't have the means to give such a gift.

Spending the better part of the day dripping blood to form contracts and swearing oaths as usual, she used her third Earth Escape Talisman. At the end of the fourth day, Ruan Xing arrived at the Xian Tai Tree.

"Back so soon?" Xie Huai raised his eyes. This Jin Tai Secret Realm was so vast, and Ruan Xing had only been gone for a day; he didn't know what she had gone to do. However, he confirmed that the interference with the teleportation passage was still there, so it didn't matter. It was nothing more than killing people and seizing their goods, which had nothing to do with him.

Ruan Xing let out a breath, "It's not like I was afraid you'd kick the bucket while I was away? I hurried back to protect you."

Tomorrow night or the morning after, two cultivators would come to try to enter the Xian Tai Tree passage. If she flew to the Cave Abode and back properly, she definitely wouldn't make it in time. But she had to go early to make a Puppet Body for the big shot because she wanted to save people and was greedy for the wealth on her fellow disciples.

"Touched? How about you reimburse me for the Earth Escape Talisman I used to get here?" Ruan Xing found a clean spot to sit down and said casually.

"Reimburse..." Xie Huai repeated the word, then suddenly took out his Storage Bag, retrieved a few bottles of Healing Pill and several Dharma Artifacts, and dumped the rest on the ground. "These are all for you."

Ruan Xing said in surprise, "So generous? Then I won't be polite."

Xie Huai gave a hum, and she happily went to collect them. A rough count showed several hundred Low-grade Spirit Stones, and some pills and talismans were also quite good. The Thunder Fire Talisman she had used at Black Water Lake was among them; she didn't know if he had never used it or if it was a new supply.

There were also two Array Disks. She fiddled with them for a while but couldn't grasp the trick, so she looked at Xie Huai: "Teach me how to use them?"

Xie Huai said indifferently, "The one in your left hand is a Binding Array. You can set it up using Spiritual Power or Spirit Stones. It will automatically fly to the correct position. You only need to ensure the Array Disk's path isn't interrupted by anyone within thirty breaths. Once set up, within thirty feet, it's like a wall of bronze and iron; those with lower cultivation than you will find it hard to get out, while attacks from outside won't be hindered. The one in your right hand is a defensive array; the two have similar effects. Likewise, those with lower cultivation than you within thirty feet cannot break the defense to harm you, and those with higher cultivation than you will need some time to destroy the Array Disk."

Oh, I see, an external formation with a 30-second cast bar.

Ruan Xing nodded blankly and took out the Mask Artifact she had scavenged from Xu Sixi. "What about this one? How do I use it?"

Ever since Xie Huai was able to move and saw Xu Sixi's corpse at the entrance, he knew that anything that entered Ruan Xing's pocket was almost impossible to get back.

He opened his mouth to teach Ruan Xing the incantation for using the Dharma Artifact and introduced it: "This Dharma Artifact doesn't need to be bound to an owner; you can use it by reciting the incantation. It will change you from head to toe into another person and can also conceal your cultivation. Even a True Monarch with a cultivation level many major realms higher than yours won't be able to see your true cultivation. The two functions are separate; you can use one alone or both together. The only flaw is that this Dharma Artifact will set its appearance the first time it is used to change your face. From then on, no matter how many owners it changes, it will always be the same appearance."

When he was in the Outer Sect, he relied on this Dharma Artifact to deceive everyone, hiding as an Outer Sect Disciple at Qi Refining Perfection. After the Jin Tai Dao Discussion began, he signed up while carrying this thing, and what was displayed on the water screen was his concealed cultivation. After giving the Dharma Artifact to Xu Sixi, he could only rely on ordinary concealment methods to hide his cultivation.

However, those participating in the discussion were all disciples of the same realm, and besides, he was either getting a bye, throwing matches, or using Array Disks, so it was easy to hide.

And for the Elders sitting in the sky watching the matches, did it really matter if an unfamiliar disciple was at Foundation Establishment Early-stage or Foundation Establishment Late Stage? He probably couldn't even match their names.

Hearing this, Ruan Xing gave it a try and then summoned a water mirror the height of a person.

Looking left and right in the mirror, hey, she had turned into 'Wang Zhi'.

Although this face was a bit too plain and ordinary, her Illusion Technique could only last for over an hour now, so who knew when this 'Wang Zhi' face might come in handy again.

"Not bad, five stars." Ruan Xing withdrew the concealment and put away the Dharma Artifact, urging, "Alright, nothing else, hurry up and heal."

Although one couldn't see the sun or moon in the Secret Realm, there was light and shadow changing as the light shifted.

Another day passed, and there was clearly some color returning to Xie Huai's pale face.

The two big shots should have caught quite a few people during this day, and if those two cultivators hadn't been caught, they were probably about to reach the Xian Tai Tree.

Ruan Xing's thoughts turned, and she woke Xie Huai up: "Wake up, Xie Huai, someone is coming later, I can't beat them, you think of a way."

Forced to wake from meditation, Xie Huai's aura was somewhat unstable. It was fortunate he was healing and not cultivating, otherwise, he would have ended up with disordered Meridians because of Ruan Xing.

For some reason, with his naturally suspicious nature, he was actually able to meditate peacefully by Ruan Xing's side at this moment.

After hearing Ruan Xing's words, Xie Huai didn't have time to be angry. After thinking for a few seconds, he took out Fu Yu's jade token and sent a mass message: "Can you confirm if the incoming cultivators are from the Central Province or Nanzhou?"

"They are Central Province cultivators," Ruan Xing replied.

Xie Huai didn't doubt her. Although he didn't know what method Ruan Xing used to find out, he still breathed a sigh of relief. "Central Province cultivators have unconditional trust in their leader, Fu Yu. After receiving the message, they shouldn't come over anymore."

Ruan Xing nodded. "Then when are you leaving?"

"Wait two more days," Xie Huai said after hesitating.

"Actually, I've wanted to ask for a long time. You look very unusual. You're at Foundation Establishment Late Stage before twenty, with extraordinary talent, and you have so many Dharma Artifacts to use. What exactly is your status in the Demon Sect? Why were you sent to be an undercover agent?"

After parting ways, she probably wouldn't have another chance to see Xie Huai, so she asked this question she had been curious about for a long time.

Xie Huai was silent for a while before saying, "... I don't know."

"I've never been to the Magic Realm. I was born in Nanzhou. I don't know who my parents are. Since I was little, I grew up following an old swindler. The old swindler's swindling skills were too poor, and when I was six, he was beaten to death. After I lived alone for a year, someone found me. He took me in and taught me. When I was twelve, he led me into the demonic path. I called him Master, but he wouldn't let me. He said if I wanted to find my family and return to the Magic Realm, I had to show him whether I had the ambition and potential to become a Demon Lord."

After a pause, Xie Huai said again: "He was very good to me, gave me many Dharma Artifacts, and I saw many secret books and Jade Slips of non-transferable techniques at his place. Later, when I had just reached Foundation Establishment, he also left me. All the planning for this infiltration of the Xuanbing Sect was planned by myself. When I sent a message to ask him, he only replied with one word: 'Do.' He said my family and my home were all in the Magic Realm, but my birth was a mistake, so if I couldn't achieve what he said, I couldn't return to the Magic Realm."

He gave a bitter laugh, and there were faint tears in his eyes: "But he never gave me a choice... He made me practice demonic arts but wouldn't let me return to the Magic Realm. Living cautiously in Nanzhou all day long, I either stop cultivating from now on and be a low-level cultivator for the rest of my life, or sooner or later I will expose my magic power and die here. I only have one path: to pull off a big event and then return to the Magic Realm."

What a torturous thought it was to make a genius stop cultivating; how could he be willing?

Ruan Xing's brain was about to burn out. "Wait, I feel like I've seen this plot somewhere. *Handsome Siblings*? No, *Meng Xinghun*? *Bai Feifei*? Doesn't seem like it either..." Xie Huai didn't understand what Ruan Xing was saying and just assumed she didn't believe him, saying in a low tone, "If you don't believe me, you can just listen to it like a storybook."

"That's not it... but are you selling your misery to me by telling me this?" Ruan Xing said strangely. "However, I do think you can observe and investigate more after you return to the Northern Territory. What your master said... might not necessarily be the truth."

With her twenty years of experience in reading novels and watching dramas, there must be something fishy!

She didn't expect this bastard to have such a miserable background, but that wasn't a reason to forgive him. After all, this kid had harmed her so many times in the Simulation, and saving him this time was just a helpless move; after all, if he didn't withdraw the interference, she couldn't return to the Sect.

But if she met him in the future, she still wouldn't go soft.

"Okay, I will. Thank you."

Xie Huai seemed a bit unconvinced, but that was to be expected; he had put in several years of effort for this goal, so it was impossible for her to change his mind with just a few words.

If he hadn't wasted these two years at the Xuanbing Sect, he might have already reached the Golden Core.

The seventh day.

Ruan Xing felt like she was getting moldy from staying in the tree hole. She couldn't wait to go back and look at her spoils.

Besides, there were several corpses here, and the feeling of sharing a room with them was quite hard to bear.

Xie Huai finally finished healing and restored his usual image. Ruan Xing urged him to leave, "As long as you can move, that's fine. You're going home, can't you heal after you get home?"

"Do you understand the feeling of being homesick as you approach home?" Xie Huai took a deep breath. "And I don't know what the Magic Realm is like. At least I must recover fifty percent of my strength and be able to cope before I can go out."

"Isn't your master waiting for you at the entrance?"

A flash of surprise crossed Xie Huai's eyes. "You know this too?"

Ruan Xing rolled her eyes. "Alright, hurry up and go."

Xie Huai left. Ruan Xing took the second piece of Soul Nourishing Wood from the cave and used the fourth Earth Escape Talisman. After that, she had no stock left.

A Three-Grade Talisman... to waste something meant for escaping like this, these are all Spirit Stones! But she had no choice but to use it now; she had never stayed in a Secret Realm for more than eight days and did not know what the situation would be like on the ninth day. This was reality, not a Simulation, so she could not take the risk.

A few minutes later, she arrived at the entrance of the Cave Abode.

The fairy was standing alone at the entrance, but it did not look like she was there to welcome her; she had probably quarreled with the Demon Lord again... She could neither win the argument nor win the fight, so she had come out in a huff.

In the past, she could not leave the Cave Abode and could only sulk by herself, but now it was fine—out of sight, out of mind.

Although she still loathed the Ghost Path Evil Cultivator, she had started to become somewhat satisfied with this Puppet Body.

"What's wrong, Fairy?" Ruan Xing asked. "Are any of the people captured inside awake?"

The fairy said with a cold face, "No, go in and see for yourself."

Ruan Xing hesitated and said, "Fairy, why do you seem a bit angry? Did the Demon Lord sneak off to eat behind your back?"

As soon as the words left her mouth, she felt something was wrong; the term "sneak off to eat" had more than one meaning, but it was too late to take the words back.

Sure enough, the fairy's face flushed red, and after a long while, she stammered, "Do not speak nonsense."

"Nonsense, even if I were to eat, I would do it right in front of her to make her mad; why would I need to sneak off to eat behind her back?" The Demon Lord's lazy voice drifted out from inside the Cave Abode.

"No, did you really eat?" Ruan Xing hurriedly entered the Cave Abode to see if her predetermined fellow disciples were missing any parts.

Inside the empty Cave Abode, there were more Cultivators lying helter-skelter than when she had last seen it—about a dozen or so—looking quite miserable with bruised and swollen faces.

The Demon Lord said speechlessly, "I didn't eat. I promised you I wouldn't, so I won't."

"Hehe, I didn't expect the Demon Lord to be so true to his word," Ruan Xing said with a grin.

"Here, before I knocked them out, I made them throw everything in their Storage Bags there. Go take a look, though I'm not sure if they hid anything." The Demon Lord pointed to the corner and dispelled the glamour, and Ruan Xing trotted over.

She picked out three thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones from the ground and topped up the rest into the Simulator. Watching the points jump to five digits, Ruan Xing's eyes crinkled with a smile.

She took some valuable Pills, Talismans, and materials, then signaled to the Demon Lord that he could eat the rest.

"You're only taking this little bit? Then why did you ask me to keep them waiting for you to come back?" the Demon Lord said irritably.

"It's not that I don't want to take more, it's just that my Storage Bag only has this much space, and I still have to carry three Puppet Bodies; I really can't fit anything extra," Ruan Xing said helplessly, rubbing her nose.

These fellow disciples were indeed worthy of being elite disciples; their strength was formidable. In just three or four days in the Secret Realm, they had gathered a pile of good things. They had likely also hunted Monster Beasts together, as there was quite a bit of beast blood and beast hide among the items. These were excellent materials for drawing Talismans, but it was a pity she really could not fit any more.

She did not dare to use the Storage Bags of Fu Yu and the others; they were all high-grade Storage Bags with much larger space than hers, and she was afraid they might have some markings that others would notice.

Once she got out this time, she would spend a large sum to buy a good Storage Bag. Her current one was bought at Wanbao Tower when she first entered Qi Refining, and it was indeed not quite enough anymore. Anyway, with the Spirit Stones scavenged this time, plus those in the Xian Tai Tree passage and the ones Xie Huai gave her, she had about four thousand Spirit Stones, enough for her to do some shopping.

Thanks to high school student Zhou Yingting for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to Xiaoxiao Meichi for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to book friend 20240224150037849 for the monthly ticket~ Thanks to FANGYG for the tip~ Thanks to FANGYG for adding a chicken leg for Xingbao~ (End of chapter)