The large lake beside the redbud tree had vanished. In its place was a lush green meadow. Across the meadow ran a smooth, loess road, about ten meters wide. One end of the road led directly to the redbud tree, while the other disappeared into a thick fog.
"It's true." Xiaoyu murmured.
The large lake wasn't actually a lake, but an illusion. The redbud trees beside it were real. Before the secret realm was unlocked, the illusion made it appear as a lake. Once the secret realm was unlocked, the illusion ceased, revealing the true nature of the place: a lush green meadow.
"Xiaoyu, this illusion array must be very advanced, right? We didn't even notice any trace of it just now." Zhou Yuanyuan was a little surprised. Xiaoyu was really experienced. When she noticed there were no fish in the lake, she knew something was wrong.
"Master, there should be a barrier here. Did you notice those two black snakes stopped about twenty meters from the lake?" Xiaoyu recalled the black snakes' strange behavior earlier and thought the barrier around the "lake" was probably for the animals in the forest. Animals couldn't understand the illusion; to them, this lake was just a meadow. If they were rushed to the "lake," they would definitely continue on.
If animals could run across the surface of the "lake" after entering it, even the most casual observer would know there was something fishy about the place. The reason an illusion is called an illusion is that the scenes it conjures up feel real.
Zhou Yuanyuan nodded in agreement after listening to Xiaoyu's explanation. Cultivation was truly a magical thing, refreshing her understanding every day.
Just as Zhou Yuanyuan and Xiaoyu chatted for a few minutes, the secret realm was fully opened. Two young men dressed as Taoist priests emerged from the thick fog. They didn't seem to be walking very fast, giving Zhou Yuanyuan the impression of being leisurely. But in the blink of an eye, they had already crossed the ten-meter-long loess road and arrived under the redbud tree.
Both men were cultivators, one in the late Qi Refining stage, the other in the Great Perfection stage. They both looked to be around twenty years old, but Zhou Yuanyuan knew that wasn't their true age. Judging by their bone age, the cultivator in the gray robe was probably in his sixties, while the cultivator in the cyan robe was probably in his eighties.
Both monks were dressed as Taoists, with their hair tied in a Taoist bun. The man in gray clothes fixed it with a white jade hairpin, while the man in green clothes had a wooden hairpin on his head.
After coming out of the fog, the two stopped under the bauhinia tree.
"Brother Chen, Jingyu can only take you here. The secret realm will close in a quarter of an hour. Jingyu will return to report to Master. I hope everything goes well for Brother Chen." The gray-clothed man bowed to the green-clothed man and said with a smile. The gray-clothed man had a baby face, and when he smiled, his eyes curved, making him look very kind.
"Junior Brother Liu, Sanjiang will not be able to complete the master's instructions without three or two years if he goes to the secular world. I hope Junior Brother Liu can say a few good words for Sanjiang in front of the master and don't forget to increase Sanjiang's monthly allowance." Senior Brother Chen has a horse face, sparse eyebrows, and his mouth corners are pulled down, looking a little serious.
If the Sect Master hadn't ordered Chen Sanjiang to take on this mission, Chen Sanjiang wouldn't have wanted to go at all. Of course, Chen Sanjiang wouldn't tell Liu Jingyu that the main reason he was willing to leave the sect was because the Sect Master had promised to promote Chen Sanjiang to an elite inner sect disciple after completing the mission. Cultivating immortals requires a vast amount of resources, and Chen Sanjiang was currently just an ordinary inner sect disciple, earning double the allotment of an elite disciple.
"Brother Chen, don't worry. As long as Jingyu can help, Jingyu will definitely do his best. It's a pity that Jingyu has little influence in front of the master. I'm afraid that Brother Chen won't be able to enjoy the elite disciple's allowance before returning to the mountain..."
"Liu Jingyu, everyone in the sect knows that you're the proud disciple of our Yushan Sect's leader. If you're willing to help me, how can your influence be so insignificant?" Chen Sanjiang heard the evasiveness in Liu Jingyu's words and couldn't help but get anxious. "This incident was caused by your brother Liu Jingyun. Logically, the leader should send you to clean up the mess. How about we go back and talk it over with the leader, and then let you go to the secular world for a while?"
When Liu Jingyu heard Chen Sanjiang say this, his smile froze, almost falling. As the sect leader's direct disciple, Liu Jingyu's monthly allowance was already the highest among all Yushan disciples. The "Elite Disciple" award was ineffective against him.
Liu Jingyu had thought about this a long time ago. If he volunteered to clean up the mess for his elder brother, his master would not give him any extra subsidies. Instead, he would think that it was his duty. So why should he bring trouble upon himself?
Besides, Liu Jingyu was currently in the late Qi Refining stage, and he didn't want to leave the sect before reaching the Great Perfection of Qi Refining. Only by cultivating to the Great Perfection of Qi Refining could he have the opportunity to advance to the Foundation Establishment stage. Otherwise, time passed quickly, and many cultivators remained in the Qi Refining stage their entire lives. Liu Jingyu's goal was immortality, so how could he waste his time on such mundane matters?
"Senior Brother Chen, I'm really sorry to trouble you to help clean up the mess my eldest brother caused. I have a few spirit beads here, which I would like to express as an apology to you on behalf of my eldest brother. I hope you will be magnanimous." Liu Jingyu reached into a palm-sized brocade bag hanging at his waist, took out five spirit beads, and stuffed them into Senior Brother Chen's hand.
Although Liu Jingyu acted generous, his heart ached. Five spirit beads were already his half-month allotment.
"Liu Jingyu, I will take this trip for your sake. Your elder brother is so brainless. Not only did he fail to check the Feng Shui formation carefully, but he even made such a big fuss by kidnapping a person. I don't know if I can fill so many loopholes for him when I go there!" After Senior Brother Chen held the spirit bead that Liu Jingyu stuffed into his hand, his expression became better.
"Xiaoyu, do you think this Liu Jingyu's eldest brother is the one who kidnapped Brother Ziqing?" Zhou Yuanyuan couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. Yushan Sect? Kidnapping? After searching everywhere, it was easy to find!
"Master, Xiaoyu feels the same way! How about this? We can follow Liu Jingyu into the secret realm and take a look," Xiaoyu suggested to Zhou Yuanyuan. They were here to find Wen Ziqing anyway, and since Liu Jingyu held a clue, they had to follow him to see what was going on.
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