After a long while, she slowly squatted down and buried her face in her hands.
Inside the room, Liu Jinghong stood frozen in place, his clothes mostly off, his lower body only wearing underwear. His upper body, with its perfectly sculpted, smooth muscle lines, was exposed naked to the air. His wet hair was disheveled, with glistening water droplets rolling down from the ends to his collarbone, abs, and even sliding down his sexy V-line into his underwear.
After a long pause, his Adam's apple bobbed, and his long eyelashes drooped, concealing the shyness in his eyes.
After another incense stick's time, Chu Hongluan finally recovered and focused on listening to the sounds inside the room. It was quiet inside, without any noise.
Huh? Chu Hongluan released her divine sense and discovered that the person was no longer in the room, only the window on the other side was wide open...
Chu Hongluan felt a wave of embarrassment.
Liu Jinghong must have been frightened; she changed her clothes and secretly slipped away.
Heavens! How can she explain herself to Liu Jinghong so that he'll believe she didn't do it on purpose?!
For several days in a row, Chu Hongluan did not see Liu Jinghong again. Even when she went to his courtyard to look for him, she only learned from the gatekeeper that he had gone out. But when she scanned with her divine sense, she could clearly see that he was inside.
What should we do now?
Liu Jinghong was clearly avoiding her!
After much deliberation, Chu Hongluan went down the mountain alone.
"Has my junior sister left?"
"They're gone."
"Phew..." Liu Jinghong breathed a sigh of relief.
"I just saw that Elder Chu seems to have gone down the mountain."
"What!?"
Liu Jinghong was immediately startled. Could she have left the nameless immortal mountain in a fit of anger?
Now that she's an elder, she doesn't need to report to anyone even if she goes down the mountain to train for three to five hundred years.
But he was just... just feeling embarrassed for a moment!
Liu Jinghong burst out of the door and chased after Chu Hongluan in the direction she had gone down the mountain.
They chased her all the way to the mountain gate and to the foot of the mountain, searching the entire town of Linxian, but they still couldn't find Chu Hongluan.
Finally, he could only return to the mountain with a glimmer of hope, thinking: maybe she just went down the mountain for something and will come back in the evening?
Liu Jinghong sat on the steps in front of Chu Hongluan's door until midnight, but Chu Hongluan did not return.
He thought: Maybe things aren't finished yet, and she'll be back tomorrow.
But on the second day, the third day, and... the twelfth day.
The second round of the Nine Pavilions Summit is about to begin.
Chu Hongluan never returned.
She really left.
Liu Jinghong realized this.
The second round of the competition is scheduled to take place in Nuwa's Secret Realm.
This is a very ancient secret realm. Its entrance has always been here, but it will not open to the outside world on its own. It requires a huge amount of spiritual power to be injected into the entrance in order to open it.
For hundreds of years, various sects have organized their disciples to explore inside. It is full of dangers, and even has demonic beasts at the Nascent Soul stage. However, it is also full of rare and precious materials. It is a place where danger and opportunity coexist.
Seven cloud boats stopped at the entrance of the Heart-Questioning Secret Realm.
The disciples who advanced from the previous round are all here.
Eleven from Tianji Pavilion, eleven from Jian Pavilion, nine from Wanfo Sect, six from Yu Nu Sect, six from Hehuan Sect, and one from Dao Sect. Only Penglai had the most participants, with fifteen, and all fifteen advanced.
Oh, and there's also the Beast Taming Sect. Fifteen people participated, and all fifteen were eliminated and have already returned home.
The leaders of the various sects are preparing for the opening of the secret realm. Chu Hongluan was originally in charge of leading the Tianji Pavilion team, but she has not returned. The Pavilion Master's wife arranged for the Grand Elder to temporarily take her place.
At this time, disciples from different factions gathered in their respective groups.
"Senior Brother! Are you all healed? We were all so worried when you suddenly fainted!"
"Yes, senior brother, we are all very worried about you, but the peak master of Danfeng said that you need to rest quietly and not to disturb you."
"Why are you worrying about me? Are you medical cultivators or alchemists?" Liu Jinghong said nonchalantly. "With this time, you should draw a few more talismans and breathe in more spiritual energy."
"Oh, but we haven't even had a chance to congratulate our senior brother on winning the first competition!"
"Haha, Senior Brother is so strong! Although we don't have the most people left, we have the most points! It's all thanks to Senior Brother!"
"Alright, alright, I know I'm pretty good. Go play somewhere else, all of you. Your noise is giving me a headache."
Liu Jinghong rubbed his temples with one hand and waved his other hand to shoo away his junior brothers and sisters, but in his mind he was thinking, "Will I never see Junior Sister Chu again in this lifetime?"
Liu Youcai stood alone to one side, his face cold as he stared at Liu Jinghong in the crowd.
He also ranked 23rd in the first competition, scoring a full 200 points, and ranked first in the sect's points. His contribution was significant, so why didn't anyone come to praise him?
Liu Youcai wanted to grind his teeth to dust. "Liu Jinghong! Why didn't you just die at the hands of the World Society that day?! If I were you, I would have smashed my head against the wall long ago after my Spiritual Mansion was destroyed!"
Song Nanhe noticed the gloom on Liu Youcai's face, frowned imperceptibly, and pulled Gu Chunxiao a little further away from Liu Youcai.
Gu Chunxiao didn't care much about Song Nanhe touching her, and just asked, "Why isn't Sister Hongluan here?"
"Don't worry, your sister Hongluan will definitely come back and won't miss your brilliance in the secret realm," Song Nanhe said, as if coaxing a child.
Over there, the disciples of Sword Pavilion were very quiet.
Firstly, sword cultivators are generally focused on cultivation and don't like to talk; secondly, the aura surrounding their senior brother, Mo Yu, is currently extremely low. They dared not speak.
Since the first competition, Mo Yu has been practicing swordsmanship day and night, almost like a madman, and his aura has become colder than ever. Everyone knows that it's because the senior brother is unhappy about not getting first place, and no one dares to provoke him.
At this moment, the elder leading the group began to distribute scoring pouches and life-saving jade tokens to the disciples. The scoring pouches were used to hold demon cores, while the life-saving jade tokens were connected to the teleportation array outside. Once the holder was in mortal danger, the jade token would directly teleport them out.
"Remember! Always carry the jade token with you! It concerns the lives of each and every one of you! Everything you obtain in the secret realm belongs to you; the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion will not take a single penny! Competition rules: Hunting a Foundation Establishment demon beast earns 50 points! A Golden Core demon beast earns 500 points! A Nascent Soul demon beast earns 5000 points! You can cooperate, but please remember that this is a team competition! It is also an individual competition! Demon cores are the only scoring standard! When scoring, only the cores are considered, not the person!"
"yes!"
Seeing that their disciples understood, the eight leading elders exchanged glances and then simultaneously began channeling their spiritual energy into the entrance of the secret realm. As the halo at the entrance grew larger, the elders' spiritual energy gradually became depleted.
Finally, the spiritual energy converged and erupted with a loud bang, followed by an earthquake. At the moment when all the elders were thrown back, the Inquiry Realm finally opened.
Liu Jinghong's eyes searched through the crowd, then looked into the distance, but the person she wanted to see never appeared.
"Disciples, enter!"
Liu Jinghong pursed her lips, the light in her eyes dimmed slightly, and stepped into the secret realm.
"Liu Jinghong!"
Liu Jinghong suddenly turned around!
However, a flash of white light appeared before his eyes, and behind him was another world; he was already in a secret realm.
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