Once the exit of the secret realm is opened, it will always be guarded to prevent any unexpected situations. Therefore, as soon as Shushu and his group came out, they were met with two pairs of scrutinizing eyes.

The five people were not alarmed by this. They nodded in greeting without changing their expressions, then left the teleportation array and came to a nearby house with a magical artifact, preparing to find Venerable Long to hand over the mission.

The gate to the house with the magical artifacts was originally closed, but as soon as they arrived, it seemed to sense their presence and opened automatically.

Such automation is common in the cultivation world, so Shushu and the others weren't surprised. Without much hesitation, they stepped inside and arrived at the main hall.

At this moment, Venerable Long seemed to be engrossed in writing something. Hearing their approaching footsteps, he said without waiting for them to greet him, "Come in."

Upon hearing this, the group exchanged glances, then stepped inside. When they reached the desk, they respectfully greeted each other, "Hello, teacher."

Then Dong Hongyuan, who was in charge of the squad, stepped forward, carefully placed the storage bag containing the Dream Grass on the table, and reported.

"Hello teacher, the storage bag contains one hundred Dream Grass plants that our team needs to collect for this mission. Please take a look."

After speaking, Dong Hongyuan did not make any further moves, but waited in place for Venerable Long to check and confirm whether they had completed the mission.

Venerable Long didn't keep them waiting too long. After Dong Hongyuan finished speaking, he stopped what he was doing and picked up the storage bag that Dong Hongyuan had just put down.

He probed inside with his divine sense and began to examine it. He found that this batch of Dream Grass was indeed harvested from a small secret realm, and the quantity was correct. He was satisfied.

The quality of these items was excellent, and they even carried a familiar scent, which surprised him. He couldn't help but look up at them.

Just as I was about to ask them where they had collected the items in the secret realm and how they had found them, my gaze fell upon a familiar white ball.

Upon seeing Tianchen wrapped around Shushu's neck, Venerable Long's eyes narrowed. He swiftly appeared in front of Shushu, grabbed Tianchen, and asked in surprise, "How did you get out?"

His speed was extremely fast and abrupt, taking people by surprise.

Shushu felt a gust of wind blow by, and the warm fox fur collar around her neck was gone; her heart skipped a beat.

Following my intuition, I looked over and saw that Tianchen was being held by the back of the neck by Venerable Long, his four paws thrashing about as if trying to scratch Venerable Long.

However, because of its small size and short claws, it was firmly suppressed by Venerable Long, and could not reach people no matter how hard it tried.

After thrashing around for a while, they were so angry that their fur was all puffed up, and they were cursing and swearing.

Seeing this, Shushu realized something was wrong and was about to step forward when Lu Li tugged at her sleeve. She paused, turned to look at Lu Li, and saw him shake his head slightly.

In an instant, the reason that had almost been lost due to anxiety was immediately restored, and he calmed down and stopped moving.

In just that short time, the standoff between the man and the fox came to an end.

After carefully examining Fan Tianchen, Venerable Long noticed the contract array patterns on its body. His lowered eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything.

He exchanged a glance with Tianchen, then tossed it back into Shushu's arms, leaving Shushu with only the words, "Take good care of it." Without waiting for Shushu's reply, Venerable Long had already returned to his desk.

He took away the Dream Grass they handed over, took out five jade tokens engraved with the number '2', threw them to them, and said, "You are the second place, you can go to the Trial Tower to cultivate for two months."

Then, very decisively, they threw all five of them in front of the Inner Court Trial Tower.

Looking at the towering Trial Tower before him, Shushu, still holding Tianchen, was somewhat bewildered. He looked down and met a pair of fox-like eyes. Although he had many questions in his mind, he knew this was not the place to ask them anything.

After noting the matter down and planning to ask Tianchen about it later, Shushu put it into his spatial storage and walked with Lu Li and the others toward the person in charge of guarding the Trial Tower.

After verifying their identities and confirming their tokens, the five were allowed to pass. They took the small jade tokens with their room numbers engraved on them from the gatekeeper and entered the Trial Tower.

Upon entering, the rich spiritual energy inside immediately astonished everyone, especially Dong Hongming and Dong Hongxuan, whose eyes lit up and they were so excited that they were almost incoherent.

It's safe to say that it truly lives up to its reputation as the Trial Tower that everyone in the academy wants to enter.

Just considering the concentration of spiritual energy, cultivating inside would be at least ten or twenty times faster than outside, if not a hundred or a thousand times faster.

After the initial shock, the group quickly recovered and, following the serial number on the jade tablet, soon found the cultivation room assigned to them.

Place the small jade tablet into the corresponding slot, and the door to the cultivation room will open, revealing an incredibly rich spiritual energy that is even more concentrated than that in the corridor.

This time, the five of them didn't waste any time on being shocked. Without thinking too much, they rushed inside together.

They each found a corner, activated a few anti-interference array plates, and began to sit cross-legged to cultivate, quickly entering a meditative state.

The door to the training room had been closed after they entered, preventing others from entering.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to them, Venerable Long also quietly came to Dean Rao's office and told him about Tianchen following Shushu out, which earned him the same shocked look from Dean Rao.

After confirming several times, Dean Rao solemnly took out several jade slips and conveyed some message before arriving at the inner courtyard forbidden area with Venerable Long.

Several people had already arrived. Seeing the two of them come over, they greeted each other and, without saying much, worked together to open the forbidden area. Their figures quickly disappeared inside.

Five days later, the group emerged with complicated expressions. After nodding to each other, they dispersed and returned to their original posts.