Xu Shulou shepherding sheep

Ji Ci brought a furnace of elixirs to Xu Shulou, a furnace in the literal sense, the kind that was as tall as a person: "Senior sister, this is the finished product I made recently, let you guys chew on it for fun."

Xu Shulou looked over and saw that the whole furnace was full of pills, which was probably enough to feed pigs. The corner of his mouth twitched: "What effect does it have?"

"It calms the mind and brightens the eyes. After taking it, a faint fragrance will be emitted from the body. Each pill can last for half a month," Ji Ci said. "It is my practice work, but the advantage is that the ingredients are safe and there are no side effects."

Xu Shulou asked with great interest: "What is that fragrance?"

"The white one is freesia, the pink one is moonflower, and there are also moonbeauty, lotus, and blue snow flower."

Xu Shulou swallowed a white pill and after a while, he sniffed his wrist and indeed, there was a faint fragrance of orchid. The fragrance was so faint that it seemed to linger on his nose for a moment as he walked, passed by, and waved his sword.

"That's amazing. You've been able to make such a pill in just a few months, and the fragrance is just right." Xu Shulou praised his junior brother.

Ji Ci chuckled and said, "I also mastered a crocodile-transforming pill. Senior sister, would you like some?"

"Crocodile-Transforming Pill?" Hearing the name, Xu Shulou couldn't help but be cautious. "What effect does it have?"

"After taking it, your skin will be covered with scales like those on the back of a crocodile. They are very hard and can resist attacks."

"It sounds interesting," Xu Shulou nodded happily, "Give me some then."

Ji Ci took out a small porcelain bottle and stuffed it into her hand: "Remember to eat less. If you eat too much at once, you will turn into a crocodile!"

Xu Shulou looked down at the small porcelain bottle and asked sincerely, "Can it be changed back?"

“…”

Before Xu Shulou could experience the feeling of turning into a crocodile, the students of Xuancang College had a rare three-day break.

On the day off, everyone was not restricted to where to go or what to do. Before school was over, the teacher told everyone excitedly that they would face a small secret realm test in a while, and reminded them that they could make some preparations for it on the day off.

Whether in the mortal world or in the world of cultivation, students all love the day off in the same way, and after hearing what the teacher said, they all wailed.

But even though they wailed, they still had to make the necessary preparations. Except for some students who thought highly of themselves and disdained to make any preparations, some other students spent their time in the library trying to find some information about the small secret realm, while others took the time to draw some defensive talismans and practiced spells to protect themselves in order to deal with possible dangers.

As for Xu Shulou, her way of preparation was to take advantage of these three days to sweep the mortal world, store up a large amount of delicious food, and fill all the food boxes in the Qiankun bracelet.

After the holiday, the teachers announced the test method of this small secret realm - there are no rules. Once you enter the small secret realm, the longer you survive in it, the higher your ranking will be.

"No time limit?" a student asked.

"No." The teacher shook his head.

Xu Shulou stroked the Qiankun Ring on his hand. Bai Roushuang glanced at her sideways and felt that if there was no time limit, this guy would probably stay in there until the end of time.

The students lined up and entered the small secret realm one after another. Logically, if they wanted to win, they had to persist for a long time or eliminate others. However, it was just a college test, so no one would do such a thing.

As soon as Xu Shulou entered the secret realm, the thirty-three-year-old gentleman immediately noticed her and came over to invite her to explore together.

She was a little surprised. She didn't expect that the guy she had beaten up would be so broad-minded. She nodded and agreed. She didn't notice that he exchanged a triumphant look with his friends behind him. He couldn't beat her alone. This group of people suddenly attacked in the secret realm. They should be able to take her down, right?

As for the several junior brothers and sisters in Mingyue Peak, they all said that if they relied on their senior sisters' protection all the way, it would be difficult to test their true level, so they chose to go on the journey alone.

Xu Shulou watched them go with a little pride, then turned around and nodded to Sanshisan: "Let's go."

There were ten people in the group, both men and women, all of whom were arrogant. Xu Shulou was not familiar with them and just followed the group in silence. Someone looked at her and said in a sarcastic tone, "Is this our number one? I never thought that a noble son could come from a poor family."

The person who was speaking was a female cultivator. Although she was wearing the same uniform of the academy as Xu Shulou, she had obviously paid attention to the details. She replaced the hair crown issued by the academy with a white jade hair crown of the same style. Even the wooden plaque on her waist was inlaid with a circle of colorful spiritual jade and matched with a beautiful silk ribbon. She looked extremely wealthy.

Xu Shulou was admiring her cleverness, but was startled by her sudden remark.

Xu Shulou didn't know that her insistence on going to the dining room to find food every day had been attributed to her as a member of the "poor family" team, but she really didn't need to tolerate anyone's anger, so she said considerately: "If you don't agree, I'm willing to fight with you."

The female cultivator paused for a moment: "When did I ever say I wanted to fight with you? Why do you have such a bad temper?"

"Because some people always have to fight with me before they learn to speak properly," Xu Shulou responded calmly, "I am helpless about this too."

"you……"

Thirty-three gave the female cultivator a look. She remembered her plan to teach this ungrateful One Hundred and Twenty-one a lesson. She suppressed her anger for the time being and glanced at Xu Shulou: "See how long you can be so proud?"

"That's not right." Xu Shulou didn't care about what she said and suddenly stopped and said.

"What's wrong?"

"The shadow is wrong." Xu Shulou pointed at the ground. Everyone looked carefully and found that their shadows had turned into a thick black shadow at some point, and there seemed to be something flowing in it.

Everyone didn't realize when this thing caught up with them, and they were immediately horrified: "Run!"

As it flew out, a dark shadow was indeed a step slower and was left behind.

The few people flew for a distance, but the shadow was always following behind them, not too far away.

This is not a solution. We can't just keep flying with them. Thirty-three comforted everyone: "Don't panic. Master has taught us what to do when we encounter a strange monster that seems to have malicious intent."

"Run while observing its weaknesses." This was the answer from others.

"Let's go up and chop it first to see if we can chop it off." This was Xu Shulou's answer. Seeing everyone looking at her, she shrugged and said, "Sorry, I'm just guessing."

A male cultivator in the team said angrily: "Then you go and chop!"

"Okay." Xu Shulou nodded casually, turned around and rushed back with his sword in hand.

A few people were left standing behind her in a daze. It seemed that their plans were useless as she was so eager to commit suicide.

A moment later, Xu Shulou returned safely with ten shadows: "They don't seem to attack me."

Don't come over here! Everyone quickly retreated, but they didn't expect those shadows to suddenly rush towards them and bite them. Being attacked by something in the shape of one's own shadow, especially the shadow was so clear and detailed that even the hair on the head was clearly visible, this feeling of fear was really indescribable, and everyone quickly flew away.

They increased their speed to the limit, but the shadows seemed to speed up as well. A group of people flew in front, a group of shadows chased in the middle, and Xu Shulou followed behind them without hurrying. Other students below occasionally looked up and were puzzled.

Xu Shulou flew behind, observing the shadows, and reminded everyone: "Don't fly around, be careful not to scatter. Don't fly east at number thirty-three, you'll hit number forty-one at number thirty-five."

“…”

Xu Shulou flew for a while and said leisurely, "I feel like I am herding sheep."

"..." The people in front were frightened and cursing angrily.

After flying for another stick of incense, everyone was too tired to even curse and could only grit their teeth in silence and fly forward.

Xu Shulou was confused: "Didn't you say that we should observe the weaknesses while escaping? What is your rule?"

The people who were only concerned with escaping gnashed their teeth again: "So what did you observe? Why didn't they attack you?"

Xu Shulou thought for a moment and said, "I think the key lies in fear."

"What?"

"At the beginning, when we were unaware of their existence, the shadows did not attack us," Xu Shulou analyzed. "It was not until you noticed them and felt fear that they began to attack. The fact that these shadows did not attack me is proof of this."

"...makes sense." Everyone calmed down. Some tried to make an emergency stop and face the shadows. But when the dark things pounced towards them with fangs and claws, they couldn't help but hide and be afraid.

Xu Shulou shook his head. This group of people actually had some strength, but unfortunately, they grew up in a sect and had not been able to gain much experience outside, which led to them being a little timid.

Many disciples of famous sects have this problem. They are cared for by the sect like delicate flowers. Take Lingxiao Sect as an example. Every time they enter the Yuankong Secret Realm, they need a hundred people to go together. What kind of experience can they gain from this?

Xu Shulou kindly suggested: "I can knock you out one by one, so you won't be afraid."

A male cultivator in the team said angrily, "Don't you have any better ideas?"

Xu Shulou spread his hands: "I could have ignored it. If it weren't for the fact that we are a team, I would have just turned around and left after having enough fun herding sheep."

These people had their own ulterior motives, and wanted to take the opportunity to teach Xu Shulou a lesson in the secret realm, so they naturally didn't trust her at this time and hesitated. But Xu Shulou wanted to test the characteristics of this shadow as soon as possible to confirm her guess. If she was careless and made a mistake, it would always be troublesome if she met it again in the small secret realm.

She caught up with a male cultivator in the team. The male cultivator was on guard and raised his hand to block her attack, but Xu Shulou did not give him a chance to struggle. He knocked him unconscious with his hand like a knife, and held him in front of the black shadow and shook him: "Do you want to eat?"

"How dare you treat my junior brother like this! Let him go!" Seeing that the male cultivator was surrounded by shadows, the rest of the team became dissatisfied and raised their weapons to attack Xu Shulou.

"You dare not hit my shadow, but you dare to hit me, how can that be possible?" Xu Shulou reflected on whether she was too lenient, and mercilessly knocked everyone unconscious one by one. She became quite adept at beating people, and even knocked out one person who had not attacked her and had repeatedly begged for mercy.

The shadows came over and sniffed, but as expected they were not interested. They unwillingly circled around the crowd a few times before their distinct shadows gradually became blurred at the edges, and then slid to the ground and slowly dissipated.

Guessed right. Xu Shulou looked at the group of people lying on the ground in a twisted state, took out a hemp rope, tied them up one by one, dragged them back to the entrance of the small secret realm, and threw them all out.

Very good, the first day in the small secret realm, achievement: eliminated teammates.

Unfortunately, because the other party was too weak, Xu Shulou was unable to detect any conspiracy against her from beginning to end.