This was a secret realm, fraught with danger. If anything happened to Wen Jingshu, it couldn't possibly be blamed on her.
At the thought of finally removing the boulder weighing on her heart, Yun Xiange's heart pounded wildly.
Influenced by the obsession festering in her mind, she wanted nothing more than to eliminate Wen Jingshu as quickly as possible.
Watching Yun Xiange's bizarre expression, Wen Jingshu grew a bit more vigilant.
Although her Third Senior Sister harbored immense hostility toward her, the woman was ultimately too simple-minded. Anyone with eyes could see right through her.
This was also why Wen Jingshu found Yun Xiange strange but was in no hurry to make a move against her.
If she had to make an analogy, Wen Jingshu was the cat, and Yun Xiange was the mouse.
Would a cat fear a mouse's backlash? Obviously not.
Recalling the descriptions from the original novel, Yun Xiange knew there was a mid-grade third-rank demon beast in this cold pool.
Although this mid-grade third-rank snake demon's rank was low, it was extremely venomous. Even an ordinary eighth-rank demon beast was not as poisonous as it was.
In the original novel, the section where Wen Jingshu fought the snake demon spanned a whopping seven or eight chapters, and curing the poison took another seven or eight. For a poison to give even the female protagonist such a headache, its lethality was plain to see.
Yun Xiange's mind raced as she subtly began to move her hands.
She wanted to use Beast-Attracting Powder to lure the snake demon out of the cold pool.
At this moment, their positions were as follows: Wen Jingshu had her back to the cold pool, facing Yun Xiange, while Yun Xiange faced both Wen Jingshu and the pool.
If the snake demon emerged, it would definitely attack Wen Jingshu first.
She did not expect the snake demon to kill Wen Jingshu outright; she just wanted to make things difficult for her.
Yun Xiange deliberately stalled for time, making idle chitchat with Wen Jingshu.
Wen Jingshu pretended to chat along, and before long, the snake demon actually appeared.
With her back to the snake demon, Wen Jingshu seemed unaware of the approaching danger as Yun Xiange crept closer and closer to her.
Just as the snake demon opened its massive maw to swallow Wen Jingshu, Yun Xiange screamed, “Go die!”
Wen Jingshu did not panic at all. She sighed and grabbed Yun Xiange's wrist.
Yun Xiange had not expected to be caught. In her state of panic, Wen Jingshu said, “Third Senior Sister, you have lost your mind to your inner demons.”
In an instant, their roles reversed. With a swift turn, Wen Jingshu threw Yun Xiange straight into the snake demon's mouth.
Yun Xiange's pupils contracted as sheer panic flooded her mind.
Completely shedding her previous smug, malicious expression, she repeatedly cried out to Wen Jingshu for help, “Junior Sister, I was wrong! Save me!”
Wen Jingshu had no intention of intervening. She watched as the snake demon swallowed Yun Xiange and retreated back into the cold pool.
Demon beasts might not possess much intelligence, but they were experts at seeking fortune and avoiding disaster. Its instincts told it that the young female cultivator before it was not to be trifled with.
Since it had already swallowed a cultivator, there was no need to provoke her further.
Wen Jingshu dove into the water after the snake demon, intending to find the opportunity she had sensed earlier.
The snake demon was a water-attribute demon beast, whereas the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Rhythm Stone was an ice-attribute treasure. When Wen Jingshu went to excavate the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Rhythm Stone, the snake demon did not react at all.
Before leaving, Wen Jingshu cast a deep look at the snake demon.
She had no intention of saving Yun Xiange, but she did not believe Yun Xiange would die from this either.
Before entering the secret realm, the sect had provided each of them with a teleportation stone to exit the realm. If they encountered danger, they could simply crush the stone to teleport out.
By now, Yun Xiange had likely already left the secret realm.
Having dealt with Yun Xiange and obtained the Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Rhythm Stone, Wen Jingshu emerged from the cold pool, only to see Bai Han when she looked up.
Bai Han was nursing some minor injuries from his sparring match with Yun Xiange. Seeing Wen Jingshu emerge from the cold pool, his expression turned slightly unsightly.
Needless to say, he had already guessed that Wen Jingshu had claimed the opportunity at the bottom of the cold pool.
Compared to Yun Xiange, who easily went down dead ends, Bai Han had a much better mindset regarding such matters.
There were countless opportunities in the cultivation world. Just as he could snatch Wen Jingshu's opportunities, he could also rely on his rebirth to find other fortunes.
Wasn't that piece of Ten-Thousand-Year Lightning-Struck Wood an opportunity he had found elsewhere?
In this lifetime, Wen Jingshu and Bai Han were not very close. After exchanging a few polite words, the two parted ways.
Guided by the reports from the four little ones, Wen Jingshu headed toward a desert of quicksand.
The quicksand was shaped like a funnel, with fine sand draining down to an unknown destination.
After carefully observing her surroundings and finding nothing unusual, Wen Jingshu kept the four little ones inside the Shengsheng Bead. She then transformed into a grain of sand and flowed downward along with the quicksand.
Looking out through the Shengsheng Bead, Wen Jingshu could only see pitch-black darkness for now.
One shichen later, Wen Jingshu felt the Shengsheng Bead stop moving. She controlled the bead to drill out of the thick sand, only to find that they had arrived in an underground secret chamber.
Cultivators possessed excellent vision. Even in the absolute darkness, Wen Jingshu could still discern her surroundings. Looking up first, she saw a crevice in the ceiling of the hundred-zhang-tall stone wall, which was the very gap where the quicksand was draining from.
The surrounding stone walls had been chiseled into perfectly neat squares. Faint traces of stone carvings could still be seen on them, depicting murals of landscapes and spirit beasts.
The entire space was rectangular. Wen Jingshu looked around and spotted a double stone door on one of the walls.
Wen Jingshu walked over to the stone doors, which were over ten zhang tall. One side was carved with auspicious clouds and auspicious beasts, while the other side was carved with fierce beasts and evil ghosts. Compared to the ruined murals around them, the carvings on the stone doors were more three-dimensional and far better preserved.
Just as Wen Jingshu came to a halt, the fire-gathering altars on both sides of the stone doors suddenly ignited on their own, illuminating this small area.
A sect secret realm was, after all, still a secret realm; it was merely under the jurisdiction of the sect.
It was only normal for there to be areas within it that the sect had not yet explored.
Looking at the stone doors before her, Wen Jingshu's mind was filled with various thoughts.
Based on her experience as a talisman cultivator, what lay behind the stone doors was either a treasure trove or a trap designed to lure people in, instantly crushing any cultivator who entered to turn them into nourishment for this place.
Had it been before she obtained the Boundary-Breaking Bead, Wen Jingshu would have definitely proceeded with extreme caution.
However, with her mustard seed space in hand and a teleportation token that could take her out at any moment, she had absolutely nothing to fear.
Entering the Shengsheng Bead, she caused it to shrink into a speck of dust, then controlled it to slip through the crevice in the stone doors.
Yet after entering, Wen Jingshu saw no treasure, nor did she sense any danger.
Behind the stone doors lay yet another empty secret chamber.
The square space was about a hundred zhang wide and a hundred zhang long. Large night-luminescent pearls were embedded all around the walls. Having weathered countless years, these pearls barely emitted a faint glow.
Right in the center of the space was a massive circular stone disc formation. Having not been activated for many years, it was covered in dust.
Wen Jingshu did not show herself rashly. Instead, she controlled the Shengsheng Bead to hover above the formation disc, carefully recording the patterns of the formation.
The Dao of Formations was likewise a profound field of study. Wen Jingshu could not decipher it, so she decided to take the recording out and find someone to look at it.
Having done all this, Wen Jingshu looked around. She noticed that at the four corners of the formation stood jade statues of the Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise. She drew closer to inspect them, studying whether they were treasures.
Confirming there was no danger, Wen Jingshu carefully revealed herself. The moment her hand touched the jade statue, a sudden mutation occurred. She felt the ground shake and the mountains sway. Her vision turned black, then flashed bright. When she opened her eyes again, everything before her was a vast expanse of white, and she heard a deep, cold, youthful voice:
“They are merely traitors. Killing them is of no consequence.”
This voice...
Was that Sui Qi???
Rate on N.U.
