Qin Yue was startled, but his face remained cheerful.

"It's just as you're laughing at me, fellow Daoist, for showing off my limited skills before an expert."

Zhenru, however, was not being perfunctory; her expression was sincere as she said:

"My speed is cheating, not my own skill. Fellow Daoist Qin's speed is genuine, almost as fast as my friend with the wind spirit root."

Qin Yue saw that Zhenru's expression didn't seem fake, but he didn't know how to answer her question, nor could he ask what "cheating" meant. He could only nod and smile, then change the subject:

“There are many such desolate places in the ancient secret realm. According to the records, these are all ancient battlefields. Those afterimages are the remnants of the obsessions and consciousness of the human soldiers who died in battle.”

"It is said that when this ancient secret realm first opened in the lower realm, those afterimages were almost the most powerful existences in the secret realm."

"Later, many years passed. Perhaps the power of the immortals and gods in the secret realm was too exhausted, and too much time had passed. Those afterimages were just afterimages of consciousness and no longer had any killing power. It was both easy and regrettable."

As Zhenru listened to Qin Yue's explanation, she was also mentally activating the Golden Crow's essence blood. Upon hearing this, she casually asked:

"Relaxed yet regretful? How so?"

Qin Yue turned around and pointed to the desolate area they had just stepped out of:

"When the secret realm first opened, it was said that there were many good things on these battlefields. Although the danger was high, as long as you could leave alive, you would definitely reap a lot of rewards."

"As the danger subsided, most of the items on the battlefield were picked up."

"The rest are either incredibly lucky, stumbling upon a battlefield that no one else has discovered, or things that you didn't live to take."

"I see..." Zhenru nodded, looking thoughtful.

Qin Yue considered the situation in the Sunrise Realm, his eyes darting around, and then changed the subject, saying:

"Anyway, it should be quite a while before we leave the Ascension Tower, so let's look around. Who knows, we might just stumble upon a great opportunity?"

"Judging from your previous actions, you must have a fire elemental root. Let me take you somewhere."

After saying that, Qin Yue flipped his wrist and pushed his palm forward, and an image map appeared in front of the two of them.

"What an exquisite map!"

The map was almost a scaled-down image of the secret realm, with detailed markings everywhere, even showing the swaying of the grass and trees caused by the wind.

Hearing Zhenru's spontaneous praise, Qin Yue flashed a bright smile, pointed to three small green dots on the map, and said to Zhenru:

"These three dots represent me and my fellow disciples."

"We're here now, and you see that red mountain? We're going there next!"

After studying the map, Qin Yue tapped it again with his finger, and the map fell back into his palm.

Zhenru secretly memorized the entire map she had just seen, removed a few points from her crudely made map, and carefully recalled and perceived the remaining locations, secretly marking a few points in her mind.

She didn't know how long it would take to enter the Ascension Tower, nor how long she could stay in the secret realm after leaving the Ascension Tower, so she needed to find the fourth drop of Golden Crow essence blood before entering the Ascension Tower.

In that case, Zhenru doesn't plan to stay with Qin Yue forever, but she doesn't know when news from that side will arrive.

With Qin Yue's map in hand, the two of them successfully reached the foot of the red mountain range.

A wave of heat swept over them the moment they landed, causing their clothes to flutter loudly.

Qin Yue quickly cast a spiritual energy shield around himself before he had a chance to turn around and look at Zhenru. He saw that the other party seemed to be unable to feel the heat, and was only closing his eyes and releasing his divine sense into the mountains.

Qin Yue clicked his tongue, a hint of envy in his voice:

"This kind of environment is more comfortable for you fire spirit roots."

"Have you seen anything interesting? Or should we go in and take a look?"

Zhenru withdrew her divine sense, turned to Qin Yue, and smiled:

"I took a quick look, and the fire-attribute ores inside seem pretty good. We can go in and take a look... These aren't exactly native to this area, are they?"

"These are things that only appeared after the area became a secret realm, so they don't count."

Qin Yue followed Zhenru into the mountains, making conversation while his gaze quickly swept across Zhenru's face.

He always felt that this Daoist Zhenru seemed somewhat disappointed.

Is it because the food in this mountain range isn't good enough?

Or was she looking for something that wasn't in the mountains?

Zhenru was indeed somewhat disappointed, but the conclusion of disappointment was not seen by the released divine sense, but by the perception obtained by mobilizing the essence of the Golden Crow.

Releasing one's divine sense is merely a smokescreen; the true way to find the Golden Crow's essence blood lies in its guiding and sensory influence.

This magnificent fire-attribute mountain range is extremely hot and contains many rare and precious materials, but it lacks any trace of the Golden Crow's essence blood.

But since we're already here...

Three days later, Zhenru, who had a bountiful harvest, and Qin Yue, who had also a bountiful harvest but looked somewhat disheveled, emerged from the mountains.

It wasn't that he finished clearing a mountain range in three days, but rather that Qin Yue's fellow disciple replied to his message.

Of course, part of the reason was that Qin Yue couldn't withstand the heat of the fire.

"How shameful! So incredibly shameful!"

"Look at yourself, and then look at me!"

The two walked away from that mountain, and Zhenru smiled comfortingly:

"I have a fire elemental root, so I'm naturally in my element in this kind of place. Fellow Daoist Qin has a gold elemental root, so it must be difficult for you."

Qin Yue wasn't really unhappy, but he wasn't happy either. When he heard Zhenru's words, he simply changed the subject.

"Alright, let's see what my fellow disciples have to say first."

Then, Zhenru saw Qin Yue looking over with a sour expression.

"Everyone says your Sun Realm is like that... I never expected that Fellow Daoist Zhenru has such good interpersonal relationships."

Zhenru smiled and said:

"They all agreed?"

"No, not at all," Qin Yue shook his head and continued:

"Four people agreed, but the other one, Jin Ming, didn't. However, he listened to advice and didn't try to kill himself. He even brought you a message."

As he spoke, Qin Yue gently brought a bell-shaped magical artifact to Zhenru's ear, and heard Jin Ming's polite and courteous voice coming from it.

"Thank you for your help, fellow Daoist. News from the secret realm is scarce, and I've lost the map. I can only leave it to fate."

The words were brief, even somewhat inexplicably jumbled, but Zhenru easily understood their meaning.

"Pretending not to know it was you who sent the message, losing the map, tsk, that's to assure you he won't betray you!"

Jin Ming's actions were very clear; just based on those words, it wasn't a waste to save his life.

As for the others... Zhenru sighed. After all, she still had to return to the Sun Realm and didn't want to create too much potential trouble for herself.

"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Qin. Next, I'd like to look for something with fire attributes."

Qin Yue cursed "heartless" inwardly, but smiled politely on the surface, gestured to Zhenru in an inviting manner, and said apologetically:

"In that case, let's meet at the Ascension Tower."