A flash of surprise glinted in Yun Heng's eyes.
Su Mingyuan had actually managed to find this place.
Without the broken jade to guide her, relying solely on the vague descriptions from the original book, she had still managed to make her way near the Ancient Vine Array. That was somewhat impressive.
Yun Heng glanced coolly at Su Mingyuan and walked right past her.
Seeing Yun Heng, Su Mingyuan was equally astonished.
“Yun Heng?”
What was she doing here?
Su Mingyuan immediately thought of the Ancient Vine Array that had vanished into thin air, as well as the fully awakened spirit tree.
Could Yun Heng have already been here before she arrived?
At that thought, Su Mingyuan's face turned extremely dark.
She watched Yun Heng walk toward the ancient tree, making no move to follow.
Su Mingyuan turned and walked over to Xie Wujiu's side. As long as she was the first person Xie Wujiu saw upon waking, she would still have a chance to meet him according to the original book's plot.
Meanwhile, Yun Heng had arrived before the Qingming Mother Tree.
The moment she approached, the ancient tree, which had merely been swaying with the tremors of heaven and earth, suddenly began to tremble violently.
Rustle, rustle—
Lush leaves rubbed against one another, making a crisp sound.
Strangely, the sound was not chaotic at all.
The speed and rhythm with which the branches swayed followed a distinct pattern, as if it were communicating something to Yun Heng in this manner.
Yun Heng paused, looking up at the ancient tree in confusion.
An absurd thought suddenly crossed her mind.
Could this tree actually be talking to her?
Yun Heng asked tentatively, “Are you talking to me?”
The moment she finished speaking, the ancient tree's leaves and branches rustled even more frantically.
The sound of the leaves was noticeably more urgent than before, as though responding to her question.
Yun Heng's eyes widened slightly.
It really was talking to her.
However, while she could tell that the ancient tree understood her words, she couldn't understand what it was trying to express.
Feeling the tremors beneath her feet growing ever more violent, Yun Heng glanced at the ancient tree's endlessly swaying boughs and tried asking, “This place is about to collapse, and you feel endangered, right?”
This time, the ancient tree stopped swaying wildly.
All of its branches lowered in unison before lifting back up.
It looked just like a nod.
Yun Heng's eyes immediately lit up.
Since the ancient tree knew it was in danger and had actively called her over, could it be hoping she would take it away with her?
As luck would have it, the Mountain-River Spirit-Nourishing Box was still in her hands.
Xuan Zheng had mentioned that this spirit tool could not only extract spirit veins, but also transfer large spiritual plants together with their root systems and surrounding soil.
Killing two birds with one stone.
Yun Heng immediately asked, “Do you want to come with me, then?”
The leaves and branches of the Qingming Mother Tree began to sway once more.
This time, every branch dipped down toward Yun Heng, lowering even further than before.
It agreed.
Yun Heng was pleasantly surprised. With the secret realm shaking more and more violently and the forced teleportation imminent, she didn't have time to hesitate.
She immediately pulled the Mountain-River Spirit-Nourishing Box from her storage bag.
“I will draw in your root system along with the surrounding soil. It won't harm your foundation.”
The ancient tree's leaves rustled gently, as if responding to her.
Yun Heng opened the Mountain-River Spirit-Nourishing Box and circulated her spiritual power.
A beam of cyan light shot out from the box, rapidly enveloping the entire spirit tree.
A powerful suction force burst forth from within the Mountain-River Spirit-Nourishing Box.
The ground cracked open, and the massive roots buried deep underground revealed themselves one after another.
Wrapped completely in the cyan light along with the surrounding soil, the roots gradually shrank before being drawn into the box along with the entire Qingming Mother Tree.
Where the ancient tree had once stood, only a massive deep crater remained.
Yun Heng immediately closed the Mountain-River Spirit-Nourishing Box and stowed it away.
Not far away, Su Mingyuan took in the entire scene.
Her eyes widened, her face filled with sheer shock.
Such a massive spirit tree had vanished into thin air right before her eyes?
And that tree had clearly been actively cooperating with Yun Heng!
Su Mingyuan suddenly remembered the rejection she had suffered when she tried to touch the tree's heart earlier.
She couldn't even touch the Qingming Spirit Seed, yet Yun Heng was able to take away the entire tree directly!
Why?
On what grounds?
Watching Yun Heng's retreating back, Su Mingyuan's expression grew increasingly dark.
She muttered under her breath, as if to herself, “It's Yun Heng's doing...”
Yun Heng must have arrived here early and ruined the original plot!
The disappearance of the Ancient Vine Array, Xie Wujiu escaping early, and the changes to the Qingming Spirit Seed and ancient tree—all of it was related to Yun Heng!
The vibrations in the secret realm grew more and more violent.
Pitch-black cracks split across the sky as the ground continually collapsed, while continuous booms echoed from the distant mountain forests.
The light overhead dimmed rapidly.
The entire world shook, as though it would completely capsize in the next moment.
Every cultivator who had entered the Qingming Secret Realm saw the Qingming Command at their waist flash with a blinding light at the same time.
The power of teleportation fully enveloped everyone.
In the next instant, vision blurred for everyone in the realm, and their figures vanished on the spot.
Outside the Qingming Secret Realm, chaos had long broken out.
From the moment the first anomaly appeared in the secret realm, sect elders and noble clan patriarchs resting on nearby airships had rushed out to assemble in front of the realm's entrance.
At this moment, the originally stable entrance to the secret realm was shaking violently.
Cracks spread outward from the edges of the entrance as the space within twisted incessantly. Chaotic spiritual energy erupted outward from time to time, flapping the robes of everyone present.
The first to arrive were the people from the Taihua Sword Sect and the Mirror Moon Sect.
A male cultivator stepped forward hastily to the secret realm's entrance.
He was tall and upright, clad in a neat, solemn, deep-green sword robe embroidered with the silver sword crest of the Taihua Sword Sect on the lapels and cuffs.
The man had sharp, balanced features and calm, steady eyes, with a few strands of silver hair at his temples. He wore no ornaments at his waist, carrying only a pitch-black longsword.
This person was none other than the Sect Master of the Taihua Sword Sect, Wei Quechen.
He was also Xie Wujiu's master.
Wei Quechen stared at the violently trembling entrance, his face grave.
“What is going on?”
On the other side, a female cultivator also approached the entrance.
She wore a moon-white dress draped in faint silver gauze, her dark hair pinned high with a single ice-blue jade hairpin.
Her features were cold and aloof, yet she exuded the tranquil composure of someone long accustomed to a high position.
This was the Sect Master of the Mirror Moon Sect, Zhu Shuang, who was also Yan Yi's master.
Zhu Shuang carefully sensed the spatial fluctuations near the entrance, frowning as she shook her head.
“The Qingming Secret Realm has existed for thousands of years and opened countless times over that period.”
“A situation like this has never occurred before.”
More and more people gathered at the secret realm's entrance.
Besides the elders of the Five Great Sects, powerhouses from the Eastern Region Imperial Family and various noble clans arrived one after another.
Seeing the anomalies in the secret realm, servants and guards in the noble clan retinues quickly pulled out transmission jade slips to report the situation back to their respective families.
Almost everyone who had entered the Qingming Secret Realm were the most valued disciples of the younger generation.
Some were even future heirs to their families.
If anything happened to these people inside the secret realm, the entire Eastern Region would likely be thrown into massive turmoil.
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