Shadowless Sect and Azure Cloud Sect
Time Amber—she murmured the name to herself again. She didn't know why, but subconsciously, she felt this item was extremely precious, something she desperately needed, and something that had to be in her possession.
Even though she couldn't remember how the Time Amber came into her possession before this, and she had even forgotten the existence of the Time Amber itself.
She must retrieve the Time Amber before this secret realm ends, because once she leaves, the evil cultivator who stole the Time Amber will rejoin the vast sea of people, making the chances of successfully retrieving it very low.
She then recalled the battle that had just taken place, her eyes becoming somewhat serious.
She had no idea that the evil cultivators valued her so much, having sent at least thirty Nascent Soul stage evil cultivators to surround her.
She barely managed to hold on with her domain, but could only repel about twenty evil cultivators.
After that, she fainted in the bushes due to exhaustion, and the Time Amber hanging on her chest was also stolen by them.
For some reason, they didn't eliminate her completely, but simply left her in the bushes.
Otherwise, she might have really suffered a major setback today.
Nan Yi crouched at the cave entrance, facing outwards, listening to the faint rustling sounds coming from inside. At the same time, his keen sense of smell could detect a sweet scent emanating from his senior sister, mixed with a fading smell of blood—
Sometimes, having an overly acute sense of smell and hearing isn't a good thing.
He didn't know if it was because the hole was too small, or because his movements had been too vigorous, but a strange heat rose in his heart. Fortunately, after a while, the tormenting sounds from inside the hole finally stopped.
The senior sister who reappeared before Nan Yi was the same as before, with a serene face and a natural demeanor.
Judging from her appearance alone, you would never guess that she had been exhausted just an hour or two ago.
“Senior Sister…” Nan Yi looked at her, hesitant to speak. He didn’t know what the Time Amber was, but he knew it must be a very precious treasure to his senior sister, so much so that she would do anything to get it back.
However, my senior sister's current physical condition is completely unable to support her in facing those evil cultivators.
Don't be fooled by her seemingly normal appearance; Nan Yi had previously examined her meridians and knew that they were severely depleted, with hardly any spiritual energy left to cleanse the bloodstains from her body.
He absolutely could not allow her to face the evil cultivators while she was in this state.
But with Chu Li's somewhat calm eyes, he couldn't say anything more. He also understood that some things were worth fighting for at all costs—even he was no exception.
He ultimately couldn't bring himself to say the words—that he would tell his senior sister to wait where she was and that he would go and help her get it back.
He pondered the matter and ultimately chose a compromise.
"Senior sister, if you want to retrieve the Time Amber, why not take me with you?"
Chu Li raised an eyebrow in surprise. Judging from her junior brother's expression earlier, she thought he would stop her from going.
After all, he had been very expressive of his emotions, which even she, who doesn't usually pay much attention to other people's emotions, noticed.
However, Chu Li had another consideration in mind—facing a Nascent Soul stage evil cultivator was really not something someone like him, who was at the Foundation Establishment stage, should do.
“Junior brother, you might as well stay where you are. I will go and find the Time Amber and then come back to find you.”
She is indeed somewhat depleted in her body, but after all, she still has many high-level pills stored in her space, some of which can restore all her spiritual power in a short time.
Although those pills had some side effects, they were insignificant compared to the importance of retrieving the Time Amber.
Once she returns to normal, she's 80% confident she can get her things back.
However, it's still too dangerous for my junior brother. If a Foundation Establishment cultivator is accidentally caught up in a Nascent Soul stage battle, he could easily get injured.
Moreover, when she gets into a fight, she might not have the energy to look after her junior brother.
But she soon saw her junior brother's brows furrow, and a heavy, sinister emotion seemed to flash across his dark eyes.
She was startled, wondering if she had seen wrong. When she looked again, she saw a hint of grievance in her junior brother's dark eyes.
The other person didn't say anything, just stared at her quietly.
Silence spread through the cave. The junior brother remained in the same position, squatting on the ground, his head tilted back and his eyes unblinking.
Chu Li didn't know if it was because she was standing and looking down at her junior brother that she could better sense his subtle, not-so-pleasant emotions. Thinking of her previous situation, she felt a rare sense of guilt.
After a long while, Chu Li couldn't help but cough a few times and tentatively called out, "Junior Brother..."
But Nan Yi's eyelashes suddenly drooped, and her tone became somewhat dejected, "Senior sister, are you just going to abandon me like this? You said last time that you would never abandon me."
Chu Li only vaguely remembered that her answer didn't seem to match what he said, but she didn't care too much about it.
Seeing him like this, she suddenly felt a little flustered—she had never seen her junior brother like this before.
When her junior brother is in front of her, he is always enthusiastic, though he may occasionally show some minor emotional outbursts.
But those little emotions never affected their relationship, nor did they ever cause any problems.
She couldn't help but reflect: Had she said something too harsh? Could her junior brother not have accepted it?
But those words are the truth in the current situation.
Nan Yi wasn't going to beat around the bush with his senior sister anymore. "Senior sister, I just want to be able to follow you."
"Whether it's facing evil cultivators or other dangers, I hope I can help you instead of sitting here waiting to die. Besides, isn't that how it is in the cultivation world? If I just hide behind you, I'll never grow."
This time, Chu Li fell silent. She seriously considered her junior brother's words and was surprised to find that she had started to feel sorry for him without even realizing it, subconsciously protecting him behind her and not wanting him to face any difficulties or dangers.
However, this is a major taboo in the cultivation world.
If a cultivator never faces any difficulties, he will probably become a delicate flower in a greenhouse, and such a delicate flower will wither and die after just one storm.
After she figured this out, she no longer hesitated and decided that the two of them would go to find the evil cultivator together.
But there are some things she needs to say beforehand.
“If the evil cultivators we’ve encountered are indeed too powerful for us to resist, then you must leave as soon as possible and don’t wait for me.”
Nan Yi achieved his goal, and upon hearing this, he merely nodded obediently, though it was difficult to discern what other thoughts he harbored in his heart.
They intended to follow the aura of the Time Amber to find it, but whether it was because the distance between them was too great or because the amber had some means of isolating its aura, they found that they could not sense the location of the Time Amber and could only vaguely sense a direction.
Having no other choice, they had to head in that direction.
Not long after the two stepped out of the cave, they saw two teams facing off in front of them.
One group wore light gray robes without any markings, while the other group wore light blue robes with continuous patterns painted in many places, which, upon closer inspection, resembled auspicious clouds.
Chu Li recognized them for a second, then whispered to Nan Yi, "It's the Shadowless Sect and the Azure Cloud Sect."
They were all still wearing their sect's disciple robes, so they were easy to identify.
The two had no intention of stopping, but to their surprise, they heard a sound coming from not far away—
"Fellow Daoists of the Shadowless Sect, since everyone has lost something, why can't we go look for it together?"
Unlike the other disciples, a man dressed in a long iris-purple robe looked at the person opposite him with a smile.
However, the disciples of the Shadowless Sect on the other side didn't react in any particular way. Only the leader raised his eyes and said bluntly, "Searching with you will only reduce our efficiency."
Then he turned to the disciples of his sect behind him and said, "Let's go."
Almost in the blink of an eye, wisps of green smoke seemed to rise from the disciples of the Shadowless Sect, and when you looked again, they had vanished from their original spots.
"Heh, Shadowless Steps... Their Shadowless Sect is far too arrogant. Do they really think they can take back what was stolen from them with just a few people?"
"That's right, we sincerely invited the Shadowless Sect to join us, but they didn't appreciate it at all."
"It seems the rumors about the Shadowless Sect disciples are true; they're all arrogant and haughty. Is it possible that only the Sword Sect can cooperate with them? But I don't think the Sword Sect would even look down on them..."
"who?"
The man in purple suddenly shouted, and the remaining disciples immediately fell silent.
Two figures slowly emerged from the bushes behind them.
"You are..."
Seeing the wary look in the eyes of the Qingyun Sect disciples, Nan Yi slowly smiled and said, "We heard that you need a partner to help you find something you've lost. We've also lost a treasure. Are you interested in cooperating?"
The disciples of Qingyun Sect subconsciously turned their attention to the purple-robed man at the very front.
If I'm not mistaken, this man should be the leader of this group of Qingyun Sect disciples.
The man was also at the Nascent Soul stage. He looked the two people opposite him up and down a few times, and then smiled: "Since you are willing to recommend yourself, I would naturally be happy to oblige."
Nan Yi sighed inwardly. His senior sister had indeed guessed correctly. The Qingyun Sect often presented itself as a good person in front of cultivators on the mainland.
And now that they happen to share the same interests, they are unlikely to refuse.
Especially since Chu Li concealed her somewhat empty spiritual veins and only released the pressure of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, the other party naturally assumed that she was also a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.
For all these reasons, the other party had no reason to refuse.
Immediately, the man in purple took out a treasure, raised his head slightly, and said to the two of them, "This treasure is called the Shadow Tracking Disc, which can track the aura of lost treasures."
After giving a brief explanation, he poured spiritual energy into it, and the Shadow-Seeking Disc quickly began to spin, and soon a faint white line appeared.
The disciples of Qingyun Sect immediately lit up and followed the direction of the white line, with Chu Li and Nan Yi following behind them.
It was probably because the Qingyun Sect disciples had stolen a lot of treasures with strong auras, and the time intervals between the robberies were not too long, that after they chased after them in this direction, they soon saw a group of evil cultivators sitting and resting not far in front of them.
One disciple nudged another with his elbow, his voice trembling with excitement: "Look! Isn't that the mirror that was stolen from us?"
Although the mirror wasn't a treasure, it was something they used frequently when grooming themselves, making it one of the more common items they used.
Chu Li followed their gaze and saw that the evil cultivators were holding several ornate storage rings in their hands, with some other items scattered around them.
Moreover, she noticed that almost none of the items were magical artifacts, but rather ordinary daily necessities, with only a few low-level pills occasionally mixed in.
She immediately understood. It seemed that these Qingyun Sect disciples were rather unlucky; their entire storage rings had been stolen by the evil cultivators, who were now probably picking through them, preparing to throw away the useless ones.
"Senior sister," Nan Yi tugged at Chu Li's sleeve and asked softly, "Is anything of yours inside?"
Chu Li gently shook her head, signaling him not to speak for the time being. She had tried to sense the group of evil cultivators when she first saw them, but she hadn't sensed any aura of the Time Amber, so the Time Amber was most likely not here.
However, they currently have no way to clearly state what their treasure is, especially not to explain it to the disciples of the Qingyun Sect.
Although Qingyun Sect is considered a major sect, who says that disciples of major sects cannot kill and plunder?
There are only two of them on their side right now, and she is still injured. If they tell the Qingyun Sect about the lost treasure directly, how can they be sure they won't be tempted?
Especially since amber was still...
At this moment, the purple-robed man leading the Qingyun Sect group seemed to have understood the abilities of the evil cultivator opposite him, and walked towards Chu Li.
“Fellow Daoist, since we are cooperating, let’s attack together. At this moment, the evil cultivators should be no match for us. However, I hope you will not deliberately hold back your strength.”
After exchanging a few words with Chu Li, he turned back to their sect to discuss countermeasures. After all, the opponents were all evil cultivators who didn't play by the rules, so they needed to plan carefully to minimize casualties.
As for Nan Yi standing next to Chu Li, he looked down on him in the slightest. He was just a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet he dared to come to this secret realm. It must have been the woman beside him who brought him here to experience the secret realm.
Before the Qingyun Sect could come up with a foolproof plan, the evil cultivators ahead were already packing their things and preparing to set off again.
At their feet lay objects with little or no spiritual power, suggesting that they had indeed only made a brief stop and left behind only valuable treasures.
The man from Qingyun Sect gritted his teeth, disregarding everything else, and waved his hand, saying, "Everyone, let's go straight for it." As he spoke, his gaze unconsciously drifted towards Chu Li.
He only looked away when he saw Chu Li walking forward with the other disciples of the Qingyun Sect.
Instead of using her usual Azure Lotus, Chu Li made a single grasp in the air and directly grabbed a slender whip that glowed faintly.
Out of caution, she did not want the disciples of the Qingyun Sect to know which sect she belonged to. Therefore, she did not use the Azure Lotus or the unique domain of the Myriad Manifestations Sect. Instead, she used her whip to strike the evil cultivator.
As for her still-recovering spiritual power, she could only use her other hand to hold the spirit stone and briefly exert her spiritual power.
However, this was not a long-term solution, and she only dared to use such methods in situations like this—after all, there were still disciples of the Qingyun Sect protecting her.
As for Nan Yi, he would only occasionally stand beside Chu Li and use foxfire to help relieve Chu Li's pressure.
Anyway, the disciples of Qingyun Sect look down on him, so it probably doesn't matter whether he puts in any effort or not.
The evil cultivators were not to be underestimated either. There were five or six of them, most of whom were at the Nascent Soul stage, with one or two at the Golden Core stage.
"Another idiot has charged up here."
"That's perfect. I was just complaining that there wasn't enough stuff in these storage rings. They're supposed to be disciples of a major sect, yet they only have this much stuff in their spaces. Aren't they ashamed?"
"Are you guys blind? Isn't this the same batch we robbed before? If we rob it again, it'll probably just be some junk."
"Oh, so it was them. They left in such a hurry that we didn't kill them outright, but they actually chased after us this time. Are they deliberately offering their heads to us?"
The disciples of Qingyun Sect listened to the evil cultivators' nonchalant conversation, their faces flushed with anger. However, as disciples from righteous sects, they were no match for these evil cultivators in verbal sparring.
They could only say things like, "You evil cultivators are far too rampant," and "This time we will not let you escape so easily," etc.
The evil cultivators threw their heads back and laughed, as if they had heard a very funny joke. "Your behavior when your treasure was stolen was completely different from how you are now. What, you've found helpers to assist you now?"
"Actually, we only came to the secret realm to find the Secret Realm Stone. Stealing your treasures was just a side thing, but the expressions on your faces when we were robbed were truly delightful—"
Seeing the pale and ashen faces of his disciples behind him, the leading man's expression immediately turned cold.
"These heretical practitioners are good at bewitching people. Don't listen to their words. Don't forget what we are here to do. As long as we defeat them, we can take back what is ours."
Upon hearing this, the disciples of Qingyun Sect were invigorated. Yes, they not only wanted to retrieve those precious treasures, but also to avenge their previous humiliation. Soon, they all picked up their weapons and charged towards the evil cultivators.
The battle was raging on the battlefield, but Chu Li couldn't help but notice the secret stone that the evil cultivator had just mentioned.
She did know about the Secret Realm Stone; it was the core that maintained the operation of the entire Secret Realm. If someone took away this core, the entire Secret Realm would collapse.
However, she had collected information about the secret realm before coming here, and there was no information that mentioned the appearance of the Secret Realm Stone in this secret realm.
After all, this Secret Realm Stone only appears when it is truly mature; otherwise, it will be protected by the entire Secret Realm, and almost no one can find it out of thin air. As for the maturity of the Secret Realm Stone, no one knows the rules behind it.
Sometimes, a secret realm that has just appeared will suddenly have a secret realm stone appear by chance, but other times, an ancient secret realm that has spanned thousands of years will not have a secret realm stone appear for a long time.
The question then arises: how did these heretical practitioners obtain this information?
Moreover, it seems that the main purpose of the evil cultivators is precisely this secret stone.
As she thought about it, she crushed a handful of spirit stones, gathered them into spiritual power, concentrated it on her whip, and lashed it at a wicked cultivator.
She sensed the slightly intense battle on the other side while controlling her spiritual power to fight the evil cultivator in front of her to a standstill.
Three-quarters of an hour passed, and the battle finally came to a halt.
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