Chapter 184 The order of events in Chapter 184 has absolutely nothing to do with anything...

Si Yao stood up. She felt light as a feather, as if she could fly away at any moment. Following her instincts, she actually took flight.

Looking at the villagers kneeling in worship below, he said, "Don't worry, I will definitely find that dragon monster and won't let it come back to cause you trouble."

After Si Yao finished speaking, she left the village. She could easily detect the demonic aura left behind by the dragon monster when it fled. Following that aura, she quickly found out the direction the dragon monster had fled.

Si Yao had previously felt that the dragon monster possessed a familiar aura, and now she finally understood why.

That was clearly the aura of the demon that slaughtered the village.

She never expected to encounter a demon connected to what happened back then. Si Yao remembered that there were many, many demons back then, and it seemed there was a mastermind behind it all. She only remembered seeing a blurry figure behind the clouds, which must have been that person from back then.

She wanted to capture the dragon monster and find out where the mastermind behind the massacre of the entire village was. Avenging her family with her own hands had been her lifelong conviction.

When Si Yao found the dragon monster hiding in the cave, she cleaved open the stone door at the entrance and went inside. The cave was filled with gold and silver treasures, and the tailless dragon monster was resting on a pillar at the very top.

When the dragon saw Si Yao, it was also surprised, as if it could not believe that Si Yao had found this place.

Even more unexpectedly, this person's cultivation level had become so formidable in just one night.

The dragon-like monster roared. It was impossible for its cultivation to increase so much in just one night; this person had most likely been suppressing its power. The monster dared not be careless and immediately charged towards Si Yao, only to have Si Yao sever the leg that had sprouted from its head with a single sword strike.

"You despicable human, I will kill you."

Si Yao picked up her sword to fight, but after she slashed the dragon monster, its demonic aura leaked out, filling the entire cave. The monster crashed into the stone wall beside it, and rubble fell from above. While Si Yao dodged, the dragon monster actually tried to escape.

"Still trying to escape?"

Si Yao placed her hand on the stone wall, and the stone that was falling upward paused for a moment, then changed direction and flew upward, wrapping the dragon tightly. Si Yao reached out, and the surrounding vines danced, pulling the dragon down.

The dragon was quite large, and its crash caused a tremendous earthquake.

Si Yao's sword was pressed against the dragon's seven-inch mark.

Why don't you kill me?

Si Yao pressed the dragon monster for information about the great demon who had ordered the demons to slaughter the village years ago, but to her surprise, the dragon monster knew nothing about it.

She then asked it where the demonic aura on its body came from, but the dragon monster itself couldn't say for sure, and it knew even less about the great demon Si Yao mentioned. It was as if it knew nothing at all.

Unable to obtain any useful information from the dragon monster, Si Yao killed the child-eating monster and found a storage ring among its gold and silver treasures, thus keeping all of the monster's treasures for herself.

Si Yao offered half to Xiang Bei, but she refused. Xiang Bei said she hadn't helped at all, and that Si Yao had earned it all on her own.

"No, I should thank you."

If it weren't for the help of her seniors, she would still be wallowing in self-pity in the Heavenly Sword Sect.

Thanks to her senior, she was able to successfully draw out the five spiritual roots. She insisted on giving them to Xiang Bei, so she accepted them.

The system said that items that couldn't be taken away could be recycled by the trading mall later, so Xiang Bei temporarily put them in her space.

After obtaining the treasure, Si Yao exchanged it for some silver coins and used them to help some people in need.

Walking down the street, she would encounter some cultivators hurrying along, but Si Yao looked at them for a while before turning her gaze away.

The dragon monster knew nothing, and the clues she was looking for had gone cold again. Perhaps because she sensed the demonic aura, Si Yao had been dreaming of the village and her parents these past few days.

When I woke up, my forehead was covered in cold sweat, and the screams of my parents being killed by the monster were still echoing in my ears.

After cultivating the five spiritual roots, the spiritual energy around her no longer needed the help of her seniors to conceal it, and it had almost completely dissipated. Now, she could generate a continuous stream of spiritual energy in her dantian on her own.

However, cultivation is far from as simple as she thought.

When Si Yao passed by, she overheard the cultivators talking and learned that a secret realm had appeared in a certain place, and all the immortal sects were rushing there.

People from the four major sects also went there, as they heard that the secret realm contained the ancient artifact, the Mirror of Reversal.

Si Yao looked over. She had seen a record of this thing in the library of the Heavenly Sword Sect. It was said to be the dressing mirror of an ancient god, which could be used to go back to the time point she wanted to see and see what happened at that time.

No one has ever seen this artifact, but now it is rumored to have appeared in a secret realm. Si Yao has already decided to go there. Regardless of whether it is true or not, she has to see it for herself.

She followed behind the cultivators to the place they had mentioned, only to find that many people from various sects had arrived.

With news of ancient artifacts circulating, various sects naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity and brought their disciples over. This secret realm restricts cultivation levels; only cultivators below the Golden Core stage and above the Foundation Establishment stage can enter.

Each sect brought its disciples, hoping that their sect could find the Mirror of Reversal. Having a divine artifact as a treasure to guard their sect might just elevate their status in the cultivation world.

The various sects gathered together, exchanging polite compliments, but in reality, when giving their own top instructions, they all told them to do their best to find the Mirror of Rewind.

Especially the people from the four major sects. The other three sects even repeatedly instructed their disciples to bring back the Mirror of Reversal. With such a divine artifact, they might just become the number one sect in the cultivation world.

Si Yao walked past them, taking in all their words.

She also wants to obtain the divine artifact, the Mirror of Rewind, to see which powerful demon led the massacre of the village back then.

When she saw Wen Yin and Li Huang, Si Yao, without any change in expression, walked past them.

They also saw Si Yao, clearly not having forgotten the unpleasant incident from before.

Liao Shuo asked even more bluntly, "What are you doing here?"

"What, is it a rule that only people from your Heavenly Sword Sect can come here? You're not letting others in?"

The surrounding cultivators immediately turned their gazes towards him. Liao Shuo's face turned bright red. "I... I didn't mean that. Stop talking nonsense."

"What do you mean by that? Are you targeting me specifically? There's no restriction on rogue cultivators entering the secret realm. Your Heavenly Sword Sect, as the head of all sects, is now meddling in the affairs of rogue cultivators. How arrogant of you!"

When Si Yao spoke, she did not forget to deliberately suppress her cultivation level. She was worried that while her cultivation level could be concealed from other cultivators, it might not be able to hide from the barrier at the entrance of the secret realm.

"It's okay, just come in, I'm here!"

Seeing her senior's words float before her eyes, Si Yao's heart immediately calmed down. As long as her senior was there, she felt at ease no matter what happened.

Liao Shuo blushed even more after hearing Si Yao's words. Li Huang pulled Liao Shuo behind him, acting like a senior brother.

“My dear fairy, my junior brother didn’t mean that. He’s young and doesn’t understand things. Please forgive him and don’t take it to heart.”

"If you know someone is being disobedient, teach them. Give them a few beatings and they'll naturally learn. To say something like that in front of so many people is just stupid and wicked."

Li Huang forced a smile. "What the fairy says is true. We will teach our junior brother."

Wen Yin watched for a while, then suddenly said, "Junior Brother is just quick to speak; no one taught him before, which is why he's like this."

“That’s right, it’s all Senior Sister’s fault.” Liao Shuo completely agreed with Wen Yin’s words.

A wisp of white mist appeared around him and drifted into Wen Yin's bracelet.

Si Yao was so angry at their shamelessness that she laughed. She had wanted to teach them, but they were unwilling to listen. Now, they were blaming her for their lack of manners.

Liao Shuo got more and more excited as he talked, saying that she was self-righteous and arrogant. In short, there was not a single good thing about her in Liao Shuo's eyes.

The appearance of secret realms is rare, and all the major sects are eager to try their luck. However, whether they can find the divine artifact, the Mirror of Reversal, once inside the secret realm depends entirely on the abilities of the sect disciples.

Independent cultivators can certainly go, but they usually don't manage to steal much. There are also unknown risks in the secret realm, and if an independent cultivator encounters danger alone, it would be difficult for them to escape.

Or perhaps they find some treasure, only to have it stolen by someone else. Even if they die in the secret realm, it would be difficult for anyone to know how they died.

As the senior disciple, Si Yao had led her disciples to the secret realm several times.

She disdained using underhanded tactics; if you were to compete, you should compete openly and honestly. However, she couldn't prevent others from using such tactics, so she could only restrain her disciples.

Unexpectedly, in the eyes of these people, what she did was just her being arrogant, even domineering and bullying the disciples under her senior sister status.

Don't get angry over people who aren't worth it; it's not worth ruining your health.

"I know, I just feel sorry for my past self. I never thought I was that kind of person in their eyes." Si Yao curled her lips and laughed self-deprecatingly.

After the secret realm opened, Si Yao was about to step inside when she was stopped by someone.

"Stop right there, where are you from?"

Si Yao recognized the other party; he was an elder of the Qingyang Sect, one of the four major sects.

Unexpectedly, the other party stopped her, but Si Yao still politely said, "My name is Yao Si, a rogue cultivator."

Before she could finish speaking, Si Yao was shoved aside by the elder. She took a few steps back and looked up in surprise. Although the elder hadn't used any spiritual power, the action was still extremely rude.

The elder looked at her arrogantly, "After the people from our four major sects go in, you rogue cultivators can go in."

Si Yao laughed in exasperation. There had never been such a rule before, since once you entered the secret realm, you would be randomly teleported to a certain place within it.

So it doesn't matter who comes first or last.

If you're lucky, you might be teleported directly to the location of the treasure. If you're unlucky, you might be teleported to the edge of the secret realm and not find any treasure until the secret realm closes and you're ejected.

Judging from the expressions of the other people, they actually agreed with this behavior, which was clearly not the case before.

Si Yao was amused by these people. It seemed that as the senior sister of the Heavenly Sword Sect, she had missed quite a lot. She nodded with her hands behind her back, "Alright, then you can go in first."

Seeing that she was so sensible, the elder didn't even glance at her and directly let the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples go in first. Then, according to the ranking of the four major sects in the cultivation world, they entered the secret realm in turn.

Then came the smaller sects, and Si Yao didn't step inside until the entrance to the secret realm was about to close.

As soon as she stepped inside, she was teleported away by the entrance's teleportation array. When Si Yao regained her footing and looked around, she realized that she was the only one who had been teleported there.

"You actually got in! Senior, you're amazing!"

Si Yao didn't ask Xiang Bei how she did it. In her opinion, it was already remarkable that she could do it, and she became even more convinced that Xiang Bei might be a powerful figure.

She just didn't understand why, despite being so powerful, her senior hadn't ascended to the upper realm.

Or perhaps the senior has actually ascended to heaven and is an immortal descended from the upper realm, but he has some mission that prevents him from revealing his identity.

Si Yao was lost in thought, but quickly stopped thinking about it. There must be a reason why the senior did this. Now that she had entered this secret realm, Si Yao would definitely not leave empty-handed. As long as the Mirror of Reversal was here, she would definitely find it.

[I've suppressed your cultivation to the late Foundation Establishment stage for you. Unless absolutely necessary, it's best not to reveal your true strength. If the secret realm discovers this, they'll definitely kick you out. Be careful.]

"I understand, thank you, senior."

Si Yao cupped her hands in a gesture of respect to the air, but didn't leave immediately.

Her luck wasn't great; there didn't seem to be any treasures around. Just getting into the secret realm was enough for her.

Putting aside everything else, the spiritual energy in the secret realm is exceptionally abundant, making it an ideal place for cultivation. Si Yao naturally didn't want to miss this opportunity to cultivate.

While others were busy searching for treasures, Si Yao was busy cultivating.

The five spiritual roots within her body automatically generate spiritual energy to support her cultivation, and who would complain about having too much spiritual energy? Si Yao absorbed a great deal of spiritual energy, so naturally she couldn't advance at this time, otherwise she would be kicked out of the secret realm. She simply suppressed the spiritual energy in her dantian for the time being.

Soon Si Yao discovered that the Five Elements Spiritual Roots could also automatically absorb spiritual energy. The spiritual roots did not reject external spiritual energy, and would automatically classify the spiritual energy that Si Yao absorbed, and whichever spiritual root it belonged to would absorb it.

This saved her a lot of trouble. Her spiritual root circulated its spiritual energy on its own, and the cloud patterns that appeared on the golden core in her dantian became more obvious. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that something was lingering around the golden core.

Si Yao absorbed and breathed for a while, feeling much lighter. She opened her eyes and thought that this trip might allow her to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.

After stretching my body a bit, I looked around for anything that might be useful.

I picked up a small stone, closed my eyes, spun around twice, threw it in a certain direction, and walked in the direction the stone had been thrown.

Their luck wasn't too bad; they found a patch of Bloodstain Grass after walking for a short while. This herb could quickly stop bleeding for cultivators and could also be used in medicine and elixirs.

The spiritual energy here is abundant, and the Bloodspot Grass has grown a lot and is growing exceptionally well. Even if it were taken out of a pharmacy, it could fetch a high price.

Si Yao naturally dug up the blood-spotted grass without any hesitation, leaving only a few. If no one else had dug them up, a large patch of them could have grown back when the secret realm opened again.

After digging up the Bloodstain Grass, Si Yao continued forward. The dragon monster's storage ring had quite a lot of space, with many empty spots.

Si Yao picked up a straight branch, held it in her hand, and tried waving it around. It felt pretty good.

This secret realm was quite large, and she walked for a long time without seeing any other people who had entered it.

They also encountered a wolf demon from a secret realm.

The wolf demon was exceptionally tall and wary of Si Yao, its teeth bared, giving off a chilling aura.

Si Yao wasn't afraid. When the wolf demon pounced, she nimbly dodged it. Seeing that the wolf demon was about to bite her, she took the stick and hit the wolf demon on the head. The stick was imbued with her spiritual power, and the wolf demon was actually knocked unconscious by her blow.

At first, I thought the wolf demon was faking it, so I poked it with a stick. When it didn't react, I realized it had really fainted.

Si Yao walked towards the place where the wolf demon had just come out. Where there are demonic beasts, there are probably some treasures.

Upon walking inside, they discovered that there really were treasures.

The moment Si Yao entered the cave, a Vermilion Bird Fruit in front of her turned from green to red, fully ripe, and emitted a pale red glow.

How could Si Yao miss such an opportunity? Just as she was about to reach out and pick it, four or five people dressed in the same clothes ran over and shouted, "Stop!"

Si Yao heard this, but didn't hesitate for a moment and picked the freshly ripe fruit.

As she turned around, a sword was pointed at her, and the disciple holding the sword said rudely, "Hand over the Vermilion Bird Fruit."

"Fellow Daoist, I discovered the fruit, and it's in my hands now. Are you planning to steal it outright?"

"Stop talking nonsense. You, a rogue cultivator, dare to steal from us? Be honest and hand over the Vermilion Bird Fruit, and we might spare your life."

Previously, as the senior sister of the Heavenly Sword Sect, Si Yao was always greeted with utmost respect when she saw people. Unexpectedly, they had such a different attitude behind her back.

There was movement at the entrance. Si Yao looked over and saw that the wolf demon had woken up at some point and was silently walking into the cave.

Si Yao put the fruit behind her back, and the cultivators didn't even notice when the wolf demon had entered. They were still forcing Si Yao to hand over the Vermilion Bird Fruit.

"Hey, look behind you," Si Yao reminded them.

"Stop playing tricks and hand over the Vermilion Bird Fruit."

Just as one of the cultivators made a move, the wolf demon suddenly pounced and bit the neck of the last cultivator. Before he could even scream, he was dead.

Smelling the blood, the group realized something was wrong and turned to look. They saw the wolf demon still baring its teeth. While they were still stunned, the wolf demon pounced again.

Si Yao stepped aside, watching them fight while eating the Vermilion Bird Fruit. Since holding it would only attract unwanted attention, she figured it was better to eat it; she couldn't be forced to spit it out.

As for those cultivators, they had no intention of helping her. These people had intended to kill her when they saw that she wouldn't hand over the Vermilion Bird Fruit. Si Yao didn't think she had the high level of awareness to help those who wanted to kill her.

When the cultivators realized they couldn't defeat the wolf demon, they tried to run away, but it was too late.

Hearing the commotion outside, Si Yao gathered spiritual energy in her staff as the wolf demon killed the last cultivator, and with a couple of swings, blinded the wolf demon.

Animals have an innately keen sense of smell. Xiang Bei gave Si Yao a porcelain bottle, which she opened and sprayed directly at the wolf demon's nose.

It destroyed her sense of smell, making it impossible for the wolf demon to distinguish which one was her.

After doing all that, Si Yao grabbed the stick and ran out.