Secret Realm
When the appointed time arrived, all the lanterns soared into the sky almost simultaneously.
Chu Li looked up at her lamp, silently hoping that the coming year would go smoothly, and that she could recall some of her fragmented memories.
This was a symptom she discovered by chance later. She found that some of her memories were blurry and the connections were not smooth in some places. Therefore, she guessed that she had lost some of her memories due to her previous injury.
However, she did not tell her master about this. After all, it was just a minor loss of memory, and there was no need to bother her increasingly busy master.
The fox nestled in his arms was also silently praying that its injuries would heal quickly so that he would have enough confidence to confess his feelings to his senior sister.
The lights rise into the dark night, and when they reach a high place, they appear as tiny specks of light. Though faint, they carry the hopes and dreams of countless people.
The man and the fox remained silently in place until the light from the lanterns could no longer be seen in the night sky.
Once the surroundings quieted down, Chu Li suddenly realized that it was already midnight, and everyone around her had left, leaving only her and her junior brother nearby.
She suddenly remembered the news she had heard today and asked, "Junior brother, a secret realm will open in the southwest of the continent in about a month. Would you like to go?"
It was a secret realm that opened once every ten years. Inside, it was nothing special like an ordinary secret realm. However, this secret realm had a certain threshold, and only those at or below the Nascent Soul stage could enter.
What's even more special is that any cultivator who meets the required cultivation level can enter, unlike some secret realms controlled by sects, where only sect disciples can enter.
Therefore, this secret realm is inevitably a mixed bag.
In the past, she would have gone alone, but now that she has a junior brother with her, she has to ask him if he wants to go together.
To her surprise, her junior brother didn't ask any questions about the secret realm, but readily agreed.
This prompted her to remind her junior brother: "Junior brother, this secret realm is quite dangerous for you."
This is a rather mild way of putting it. Disciples at the Foundation Establishment stage would almost never consider going to such a secret realm, because they simply don't have the ability to defeat those at the Nascent Soul stage.
Most disciples will follow the established path, first participating in some secret realms within the sect, and only when their strength has increased will they choose to venture out on their own. This is the safest approach.
After all, even geniuses are extremely prone to dying young during their formative years.
But then she saw her junior brother suddenly smile at her. In the dim moonlight, that smile looked like bait that would lure someone into a trap.
"But I'm not. Is my senior sister here?"
This forced Chu Li to explain that some of the evil cultivators hidden on this continent did not kill for treasure like most cultivators.
They might kill for fun, and they would slaughter cultivators without any reason.
However, the evil path they practice makes those at the Nascent Soul stage more powerful than normal cultivators of the same level.
"So, once you're inside, remember to avoid everyone. Evil cultivators might disguise themselves as normal cultivators..."
"Isn't my senior sister coming with me?"
"Once we teleport into that secret realm, everyone will be scattered. But I will come looking for you as soon as possible. Until then, just stay hidden."
When Nan Yi returned to the sect, he inquired around and learned the name of the secret realm—Cangling Secret Realm, because there was a small town nearby called Cangling Town.
That secret realm is very famous among cultivators; even newly initiated disciples know its name.
However, these disciples all shared a common understanding—that they must not go to that secret realm before reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
Because there are too many evil cultivators who go to the secret realm, and there have been many incidents of evil cultivators going on killing sprees in it, everyone now tries to avoid that secret realm as much as possible.
Even if someone reaches the Nascent Soul stage, they will still consider whether their strength is sufficient.
Of course, if one's strength is sufficient, one can kill evil cultivators after entering the secret realm, which in turn becomes an honor.
There are countless cultivators in the world, and naturally, some will go there with great enthusiasm.
Nan Yi pondered, realizing that his senior sister's information was clearly inadequate. Why would she invite him to go to such a secret realm?
After all, in his senior sister's eyes, he is now just a minor Foundation Establishment cultivator.
This secret realm was still too dangerous for him.
The next day, Chu Li indeed found him looking worried and hesitated to speak.
She had been doing some research on that secret realm in the past few days, but discovered that it had become a territory rampant with evil cultivators, which was clearly not what she remembered.
She doubted her own memory while hesitating about how to bring it up with Nan Yi.
It was I who invited him to this secret realm.
But this secret realm is truly dangerous...
Finally, Nan Yi spoke first: "Senior Sister... did you come here for the Cangling Secret Realm?"
Chu Li was taken aback at first, her fingertips pausing for a moment. But then she thought that her junior brother was always cautious and probably had been inquiring about the secret realm these past few days.
After realizing that her junior brother was also aware of the matter, Chu Li stated frankly that she did not want him to participate in this secret realm.
Nan Yi opened his eyes and looked at Chu Li quietly, his voice very soft: "What about Senior Sister? Is Senior Sister going?"
Chu Li didn't hesitate much. She was going anyway, as she would probably be advancing to a new rank soon. If she missed this opportunity, she might not be able to enter the secret realm again.
"Since you're going, I'd like to come along."
Another month passed in the blink of an eye. Chu Li finally couldn't resist Nan Yi's persistent pursuit, and the two of them rode the green lotus together to the vicinity of the Cangling Secret Realm.
At this point, there were only two days left before the secret realm opened.
Many cultivators have already arrived here. Looking around, most of them are at the Nascent Soul stage, with occasional Golden Core stage cultivators mixed in. As for Foundation Establishment stage cultivators, there are almost none.
So as soon as they landed, they immediately attracted the attention of the nearby cultivators. The cultivators' eyes showed surprise and disdain, as if they did not understand their current combination - that was actually a Nascent Soul stage cultivator leading a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.
This lineup is rather strange. Just look at the Foundation Establishment cultivator who came yesterday. He's probably a child from some powerful family. He's surrounded by Nascent Soul cultivators, who are protecting him in the center.
That's the foundation for the Foundation Establishment stage.
However, neither Chu Li nor Nan Yi were the type to care about other people's opinions, so they found a place to rest after landing.
Shortly after their arrival, a dark cloud suddenly appeared on the horizon, drawing most people's attention to the strange sight.
It was only when that "dark cloud" approached that someone suddenly realized it wasn't a cloud at all! It was a whole group of evil cultivators!
Evil cultivators are the enemies of all righteous cultivators, so most of the cultivators stood up and stared warily at the other side.
Chu Li also let out a soft breath, but instead of getting up like the others, she simply turned her body slightly to block Nan Yi's figure.
As soon as the evil cultivators arrived, they tried to seize the territory of the other cultivators. The other cultivators naturally refused. The evil cultivator who was leading them stared at them with a sinister look: "You don't want to fight before you go in either, do you?"
The cultivators, each with their own concerns, reluctantly gave up half of their territory.
The heretical cultivators did not stop, but instead began to scan the cultivators on the other side with their eyes.
Chu Li wondered what they were doing, but she became increasingly wary.
Two days later, the empty space in front of them suddenly shone brightly, and a slowly rotating vortex appeared in front of them.
Almost without anyone saying a word, everyone already knew that this was the Cangling Secret Realm.
As soon as the secret realm opened, cultivators couldn't wait to enter it.
Chu Li waited a while before leading Nan Yi towards the vortex. Before she entered, she could clearly see out of the corner of her eye that the evil cultivators on the other side did not make any move at all.
A strange feeling flashed through her mind, but then everything went black, and in the blink of an eye, she was in the secret realm. She no longer had the mind to think about the question she had just asked.
Chu Li stood up and quickly glanced around. After confirming that there was no trace of Nan Yi around, she knew that the two of them had been assigned to different places.
But just as she took a step or two, her whole body suddenly tensed up, and her beautiful eyes stared straight ahead.
A dark and gloomy aura enveloped her ahead. She clenched her fist and then released it, realizing with a start that it was a heretical cultivator.
Moreover, judging from the concentration of the aura in front of them, there should be quite a few of these heretical cultivators.
But before she could figure out what the evil cultivator opposite her was trying to do, the aura opposite her suddenly stirred.
One by one, the figures within the aura appeared, all of them were evil cultivators in the Nascent Soul stage. As their auras surged, they formed a semi-encirclement in front of her.
Chu Li sighed inwardly; it seemed they were after her.
Since that's the case, then we'll have no choice but to start fighting.
Meanwhile, Nan Yi had just been teleported to an unknown location.
He kept Chu Li's instructions firmly in mind and concealed himself as soon as he landed.
Perhaps he was lucky; an hour passed and no one had discovered where he was.
However, he began to feel uneasy. His senior sister had promised to come find him, but why had she not appeared yet?
He believed his senior's promise; his only worry now was whether she was in danger.
After another fifteen minutes had slowly passed, he finally stood up and transformed into his fox form. His fox form was smaller, allowing him to better conceal himself.
Moreover, he now needs to use his original form's more acute sense of smell to find where his senior sister is.
He was well aware of his own strength, so whenever he encountered someone ahead, he would hold his breath and avoid them, as finding his senior sister was the most important thing at the moment.
He walked through layer after layer of bushes and could smell his senior sister's scent from afar, as well as the thick, almost overwhelming smell of blood.
His heart skipped a beat, and he almost instinctively ran forward.
The sight that came into view caused him a sudden pang of pain in his heart.
Chu Li lay in the bushes with her eyes closed, and her favorite blue robes were almost completely stained with blood, making it impossible to see their original color anymore.
At this point, he couldn't care less about anything else and immediately took out several high-grade pills from his own space—those were the life-saving pills he had saved for himself in the past.
But now he took them all out without hesitation and stuffed them all into Chu Li's mouth.
These pills truly lived up to their high-grade reputation. In just a short while, Chu Li's previously pale complexion gradually regained its rosy hue.
He knew he couldn't stay where he was now. People could pass by at any time; they might be cultivators, but there was also a chance they might be evil cultivators. So he had to take his senior sister to a safer place.
He tried to move as quietly as possible, carefully bent down, picked up his senior sister with both hands, and then turned and walked towards a cave he had seen on his way here.
It was a very small cave, not particularly comfortable inside, but it was very secluded. It was only because Nan Yi was a fox at the time and had a low field of vision that he was able to discover it.
He quickly tidied up the cave with magic, then laid down a soft cushion before putting his senior sister down.
He stared at his senior sister for a while, then leaned close to her cheek and heard her faint but steady breathing. Only then did he truly feel at ease and begin to look at the bloodstains covering her robes.
The bloodstains had long since dried, which proves that the battle must have taken place some time ago.
At this moment, Nan Yi suddenly regretted it. Why didn't he go to find his senior sister in time? Why didn't he realize that something had happened to her?
If he could find Chu Li in time, wouldn't Chu Li be spared the situation of fighting alone?
But thinking too much at times like this is pointless.
He carefully took out a handkerchief, intending to wipe the blood off Chu Li's body. He wiped the blood off Chu Li's face, but there were still large patches of blood on her body.
He was hesitating whether it would be better to take off half of his senior sister's outer robe, but before he could even start, he noticed that Chu Li's fingers seemed to move slightly.
Nan Yi held his breath, afraid of disturbing Chu Li in front of him. Only when Chu Li's eyelashes trembled slightly did he exhale a barely perceptible breath.
"Senior sister, how are you feeling? Are you alright?"
Chu Li sat up with Nan Yi's help, her expression still somewhat bewildered.
Just now, right, she was fighting against an evil cultivator—the memory suddenly flooded her mind. She tried to stand up, but her already depleted spiritual energy and physical strength made it difficult for her to stand up.
She took a breath before saying, "Junior brother, my Time Amber was taken by an evil cultivator, and I must go and get it back."
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