Shu Lan turned around and saw Zhang Keke and the others standing behind him. It was Zhang Keke who had just said those words.
"Oh! It's Grandmaster Uncle! I've met you, Grandmaster Uncle!" Zhang Keke quickly bowed to Shu Lan.
"Greetings, Grandmaster Uncle." Li Yu and the others also bowed to Shu Lan.
"Master, what's going on here?"
"Oh, let me introduce you. This is Zhang Keke, and these are Li Yu, Liu Ling, and Wang Lin." Shu Lan introduced Zhang Keke and the others to Qin An.
"They were the ones I encountered when I entered the secret realm, and I teamed up with them."
"And who is Qin Shu?" Qin An asked, a secret excitement welling up inside him.
"Ahem! That's a pseudonym I used." Shu Lan's expression turned somewhat embarrassed. "It's just using your surname, what? You mind?"
"No problem, no problem. Master, please feel free to use it." Qin An smiled and shook Shu Lan's sleeve.
"That's more like it."
"Grandmaster Uncle, thank you so much for teaming up with us!" Zhang Keke's eyes sparkled. "I admire Grandmaster Uncle the most!"
“We are honored too! Thank you for your help, Grandmaster Uncle.” The others echoed.
"It's nothing, no need to thank me like that," Shu Lan said with a smile, waving her hand.
"Um, Grandmaster Uncle," Zhang Keke took a deep breath, finally mustering her courage. "Can we come to see you regularly?" After saying that, Zhang Keke lowered her head.
She felt she had been too impulsive and was certain she would be rejected.
"Sure." Just as Zhang Keke was about to accept the rejection, an unexpected voice rang out. Zhang Keke looked up in surprise, "Really?!"
"Of course, you can come whenever you want. Whenever I have time."
"Great!" Zhang Keke jumped up excitedly. The others also looked delighted.
The disciples thought to themselves, "This grandmaster is really very approachable."
Just as everyone was having a pleasant conversation, the secret realm suddenly trembled.
"Not good!" Shu Lan narrowed her eyes. "The space within the secret realm seems unstable."
"Oh no? What should we do?!" All the disciples were in a panic.
"I'll inform my senior brother first." Shu Lan knew the reason for the instability of the secret realm. It was probably because when she released her cultivation suppression earlier, she exceeded the limit that the secret realm could withstand, which caused the instability of the secret realm space. Although she immediately suppressed her cultivation again afterward, the previous effects still remained.
Shu Lan made a hand seal and summoned a paper crane. He put what he wanted to say into the paper crane, then with a flick of his sleeve, the paper crane flew swiftly out of the secret realm. That paper crane was his unique secret technique, capable of ignoring barriers.
Meanwhile, Venerable Lieyang on Ochre Flame Peak was absent-minded all day. His eyelids twitched from time to time, as if he had a feeling that something bad was about to happen.
"Master, what's wrong?" The sect leader asked curiously after Venerable Lieyang made another wrong move.
Venerable Lieyang picked up his teacup and took a sip. "I have a feeling something is going to happen today."
Just as Venerable Lieyang was about to cancel the game, Shulan's paper crane flew in.
Venerable Lieyang took the paper crane, and his expression changed drastically after hearing its contents. "Something's happened!"
Then, he grabbed the sect leader, who knew nothing about the situation, and they began flying towards the secret realm.
"Master, what happened?" The sect leader was a little confused.
"There's no time to explain in detail. Something's happened in the secret realm!"
"Huh? Then now..."
"The most urgent task now is to open the entrance to the secret realm as soon as possible so that the disciples can come out quickly!"
Venerable Lieyang led the sect leader to the entrance of the secret realm. He took over the duties of the elders who were guarding the secret realm and used his spiritual power to open it.
Venerable Lieyang informed Shulan on the paper crane that he had opened the secret realm and urged her to quickly gather her disciples and lead them out of the realm. He had already transmitted the method of leaving to the paper crane; as long as she followed it, she could leave the secret realm.
When the paper cranes landed in the secret realm, Venerable Lieyang broke out in a cold sweat. "I hope they can come out soon."
Shu Lan received the paper crane sent back by Venerable Lieyang and learned of her mission.
He channeled his spiritual power, amplifying his voice to every corner of the secret realm. "Everyone, gather at the spot where the Crimson Flame Birds were fighting! Hurry! We need to leave the secret realm as soon as possible!"
Upon hearing Shu Lan's voice, all the disciples rushed towards her location. In less than the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, everyone had assembled.
After everyone had arrived, Shu Lan released the paper crane and led everyone to follow behind it.
Finally, in a race against time, all the disciples left the secret realm safely.
After seeing that everyone was safe and sound, Shu Lan and Venerable Lieyang both breathed a sigh of relief.
Venerable Lieyang closed the entrance to the secret realm and used his spiritual power to stabilize the space within. After a long wait, the secret realm space finally stabilized.
"Tell me, what happened?" Only then did Venerable Lieyang have time to ask Shulan.
Shu Lan then told Venerable Lieyang about encountering a Crimson Flame Bird at the Golden Core stage in the space, and how it had gone berserk. She also mentioned how Qin An had bought time for everyone, reducing casualties.
"What? You mean there's a late-stage Golden Core demon beast in the secret realm, and it even violently advanced to the Nascent Soul stage?!" Shu Lan nodded.
“This shouldn’t be happening…” Venerable Lieyang pondered. “Let me sense it.” With that, Venerable Lieyang began to use his powerful divine sense to sense the situation in the secret realm.
After a long while, Venerable Lieyang finally opened his eyes. "I understand now. This secret realm is a growth-type secret realm. As the power of the demonic beasts increases, the upper limit of the secret realm also increases. This secret realm can now accommodate Golden Core stage cultivators."
“We hadn’t noticed it before,” Venerable Lieyang said with emotion. “Fortunately, Junior Brother, you went in, otherwise our disciples would have been in grave danger.”
"Wait, something's not right!" Venerable Lieyang finally realized, "Junior brother, why did you enter this secret realm?"
Shu Lan rolled her eyes at him. "I was just worried about the safety of my disciples, so I went in to keep an eye on them."
"I think you're doing this for your little disciple!" Venerable Lieyang saw through Shu Lan's intentions at a glance.
"Uh..." Although Shu Lan went in for the Fire Spirit Marrow, it would be true that she went in for her disciple's sake as well. Therefore, Shu Lan was speechless.
"Forget it, I won't hold it against you. It's all thanks to your disciple that our disciples are safe and sound." Venerable Lieyang waved his hand, looking somewhat weary.
"By the way, senior brother, I caught a traitor in the sect in the secret realm this time."
"Oh, who is it?" Venerable Lieyang couldn't stand parasites the most, so he immediately perked up.
"He is an inner disciple—Hu Xiong."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
