Chapter 407

After traveling for several days, Yan Buji and Hu Xue'er stood on the treetop canopy, looking ahead at the towering giant trees.

"Not supposed to be!" Yan Buji frowned, his wild nature hard to tame, the closer he got, the more uncomfortable he felt.

But after walking these few days, judging by their estimated distance, referencing direction and travel speed, they should now be able to see the situation near part of the towering giant trees.

But upon looking now, the scene is exactly the same as when they first entered this place.

"How big can this secret realm be?" Hu Xue'er wore a strange expression, she also instinctively sensed something was off.

Their travel speed wasn't slow; although they encountered some demonic beasts along the way, they weren't injured and didn't delay, so even with such hurried or leisurely pace, it shouldn't be that what they see now is still this same appearance.

"I have an idea," Yan Buji said, looking toward the redwood forest ahead: "Let's go there first and talk later."

"Okay."

After a few days, the two reached the vicinity of the redwood forest, jumped up to the treetop canopy again, Yan Buji gazed at the distant towering giant trees, and felt reassured.

"Fellow Daoist Hu."

"Mm, Fellow Daoist Yan, I understand what you mean." Hu Xue'er said: "Based on our speed, covering a thousand li a day is no problem; these past few days we've certainly walked at least a hundred thousand li. Even if this secret realm is immense, our coordinate is that giant tree; even if the giant tree is a million li away, we shouldn't still see exactly the same as before."

Yan Buji nodded: "It seems either we've entered a confusing formation, or ordinary methods simply cannot reach that place."

Hu Xue'er looked around, furrowed her brows, and said: "Fellow Daoist, please wait a moment."

Hu Xue'er took out an eight-trigram compass; Yan Buji saw it was similar to the Subduing Flood Plate he used before.

As Hu Xue'er infused it with magical power, the eight-trigram compass emitted a faint ripple of light, spreading outward in all directions.

"None." Hu Xue'er looked at Yan Buji: "There's no one setting up a formation nearby, nor any natural formation's existence; it should still be the giant tree's issue."

"Fellow Daoist Hu, do you have any ideas?" Yan Buji asked.

Hu Xue'er pondered: "Let's suppose, what if that towering giant tree isn't actually inside this secret realm?"

"Not inside?" Yan Buji looked puzzled: "What do you mean?"

Hu Xue'er smiled: "Fellow Daoist Yan, are you aware of a formation within a formation?"

"I know, it's when one formation hides another.... Fellow Daoist Hu means, does this secret realm contain yet another secret realm?"

Hu Xue'er nodded: "Possibly, just like that towering giant tree is merely a shadow reflected from a secret realm within the secret realm; no matter how we travel, we only see the shadow. There's no saying that getting closer will let us see the full picture; we still need to find where that secret realm is located."

"If that's the case," Yan Buji looked around: "but we don't even know whether that secret realm exists."

"Let's look for it first; Fellow Daoist Yan, haven't you been observing celestial phenomena these past few days? Maybe it's related." Hu Xue'er pointed at her chin, thinking.

Celestial phenomena?

Yan Buji frowned, taking out the star chart he himself had drawn.

"Wood belongs to the east, but east is the North Star; fire and wood reversed, if wood generates fire....."

Yan Buji pointed: "If we go south, assuming I'm not mistaken, there should be a body of water."

Hu Xue'er nodded and followed Yan Buji's instructions to change direction.

Not long after, the two arrived before a pool; Yan Buji looked around and made some calculations.

"Right, what day of this month did we enter the secret realm?"

"According to the human calendar, it's August twelfth."

Yan Buji did a finger calculation: "Then today is October eleventh, just right."

"Fellow Daoist Hu, please take a look and see if there's anything abnormal here."

Hu Xue'er walked over, looked at the pool: "I don't see anything unusual."

"Then use fire magic to blast this place."

"Okay."

Hu Xue'er gathered a ball of fox fire in her palm; the scorching heat twisted the surrounding air, and Yan Buji stepped back a few paces.

"Go!"

Hu Xue'er gave a shout; the fox fire flew onto the pool, Boom— a huge fire column shot up into the sky. Accompanying the fire column, space twisted again, gradually forming a light gate!

"It's opened?!" Hu Xue'er exclaimed in surprise.

"Go!"

The two rushed into the gateway; the outer gate gradually calmed as the fox fire faded.

After entering the secret realm, Yan Buji surveyed the area and saw no living beings.

All around lay desolation; beneath a dim, gray sky were withered branches and fallen leaves, on the sandy, gravelly ground life was scarce, and from time to time Poison Miasma drifted about, giving a feeling of deathly stillness.

"Fellow Daoist Hu, this place is...."

"Fellow Daoist Yan! Over there!"

Hu Xue'er widened her eyes, pointing ahead.

Huh?

Yan Buji hadn't noticed yet; in the distance before a giant tree, several people were fighting in the sky, and what they were fighting seemed to be an extremely powerful demonic beast, not beast-like, but resembling a spear that had taken shape.

"Let's go over and take a look."

"Mm!"

The two immediately set off, and shortly arrived at the battlefield.

Looking at the several people in the sky, besides them, the other four had all gathered as well.

Xueqing released a burst of cold air, blocking and slowing the strange demonic beast's attack, shouting: "Quick!"

Only saw the others quickly cast spells, various arts smashing into that demonic beast, and soon they killed it on the spot,

"Several fellow Daoists, thank you." A voice came from within the water sphere of Wang Tiansheng, somewhat weak, as if he had suffered some injury earlier.

"No problem." Xueqing looked ahead: "Let's hurry over."

Yan Buji took a look, stepped forward and said: "Several fellow Daoists, you've also come here?"

"Fellow Daoist Yan, Fellow Daoist Hu? You've also come in, great!" Xueqing said happily.

Hu Xue'er walked over, frowning, and said, "Fairy Xueqing, shouldn't you explain this to us?"

Xueqing froze for a moment, and the others also exchanged bewildered glances.

Yan Buji looked at their expressions; it seemed that before meeting up, everyone had some doubts in their hearts.

Xueqing nodded: "It's good that everyone's here now, so I'll explain the situation. Have you all seen that giant tree?"

"What is it?"

"That is the tomb of the Wood Ultimate Emperor." Xueqing said solemnly, "I didn't tell everyone earlier because I was worried about leaking the news; if any demon tribe learned we had sneaked in here to loot treasures, it would surely bring great trouble."

Hu Xue'er furrowed her brows: "But...."

Yan Buji raised his hand, signaling Hu Xue'er not to say more.

Then, he smiled and looked at Xueqing: "Daoist Friend Xueqing, why didn't you tell us earlier that there is actually another secret realm inside this secret realm? It's made us run around like headless flies for so long."

Xueqing gave a bitter smile: "I feel bad for you, Daoist Friend, but I also didn't know there was another secret realm inside this one. When I found the other daoists, I had originally planned to go straight from the Tree Sea Secret Realm to the Sky-Reaching Giant Tree, but after walking a long time I realized something was off, so I tried every way to get in here. These fellow daoists can also testify that we just arrived."

The others nodded.

Yan Buji said, "Since that's the case, I have nothing more to ask. Do you, Daoist Friend Hu, have any other questions?"

Hu Xue'er glanced at Xueqing, then at Yan Buji, and shook her head: "No."

Xueqing laughed: "That's perfect; we've finally met up, and we can officially begin exploring this secret realm!"