Because the Lingnan Secret Realm was far too important to the Qintian Realm, and to prevent any malicious individuals from sabotaging it, the Administration Court only notified the various sects and aristocratic families on the very day before the secret realm opened.
Li Li had just erased the traces of the fight in the reef cave when a message arrived within her identification token.
[Disciples registered for the Lingnan Secret Realm, proceed immediately to the First Seawater Bathing Beach of the Inverted Sea to board the ship. Departure in one incense stick's time.]
Li Li jumped into the sea, submerging herself completely in the icy seawater in an attempt to suppress her surging emotions.
The System always said she had a mental illness, and medically speaking, it was actually quite right.
Ever since birth, she had been diagnosed with a hereditary family history of bipolar disorder. After transmigrating into the immortal cultivation world, the situation grew even more severe, and for the first three years, she had relied on the System's medicine to stay calm.
Yet she did not want to be manipulated by the System using such an excuse forever.
"Yu Linglang, what on earth are you doing?! I couldn't find you when I was registering just now, why aren't you hurrying up to come with me to the bathing beach?" A sharp voice rang out suddenly, pulling Li Li's sanity back to reality like a thunderclap.
A young woman with a cold and aloof appearance stood on the bank with her hands on her hips, hurling curses at Li Li in the water with a total disregard for her image.
"You damned wretch, because of you, my old man left me stranded in the outer sect. Don't even think about holding me back this time, get up here!"
"If you make us miss the time, I'll chop off your fish head."
Li Li said nothing, returning to the bank in silence.
The young woman shot her several suspicious glances, running out of steam and saying no more.
This quietness lasted all the way until they boarded the ship.
Calling it a ship was not entirely accurate; the yao race of the inner world differed from cultivators, as they had maintained friendly relations with the Human Race for years, keeping intricate and continuous trade ties.
The vessel beneath them was a high-grade magical artifact combining spiritual power and machinery—the Andu.
The person leading the team this time was Li Lixin.
He did not show his face, or at least Li Li did not see him.
She was currently being pinned against the wall by the cold-looking young woman and interrogated.
The look in those eyes was no longer lively, filled instead with cold scrutiny. "You are not Yu Linglang."
Li Li looked straight at her with a blank expression as a gun silently materialized in her hand, pressing against the other's waist and abdomen. "She's dead."
The girl opposite her was unexpectedly and exceptionally calm, simply asking, "Why did you kill her?"
"Because she wanted to turn me into a human cauldron. She had to die."
"You can call me Yu Zhaozhao. I won't expose you, but you have to agree to one condition." Yu Zhaozhao let go, her slender legs taking a step back as her eyes remained fixed on Li Li.
Li Li put away the gun in her hand, smoothed down her ruffled skirt, and neither agreed nor refused.
Having no choice, Yu Zhaozhao gritted her teeth and continued, "Yu Linglang deserved to die for wanting to turn you into a human cauldron. Judging by your appearance, you're not from the inner world, so you probably don't understand the rules for outer sect disciples in our Hehuan Sect. Outer sect disciples cultivate in bound pairs sharing weal and woe; once one party fails to meet the cultivation standards, the other gets implicated and punished as well. It was because of Yu Linglang last year that I missed the chance to advance to the inner sect..."
"State your condition." Li Li raised a hand, impatiently cutting off Yu Zhaozhao's complaints.
"I want you to use Yu Linglang's identity to reach the passing mark set by the sect for this trip, find the corresponding spiritual plants, and help me advance to an inner sect disciple. In return, I won't expose your identity."
Li Li nodded in agreement. In her view, the cost of doing this was far lower than killing the merfolk standing before her.
Yu Zhaozhao breathed a sigh of relief, recovering her usual vigor. "The team leader this time is the Young Master, so you must be extra careful. Still, he hasn't appeared much in front of us ever since he lost his merfolk pearl, so there's no need to worry too much."
Hearing the words "merfolk pearl," Li Li's gaze flickered, and her hand instinctively came to rest over her heart.
Suddenly feeling somewhat fatigued, she chased Yu Zhaozhao out of the room and crossed her legs to cultivate.
The merfolk pearl Yu Zhaozhao spoke of was right inside Li Li's heart.
It was solely by relying on this pearl that she was able to continue living.
Perhaps because it brought to mind some memories she preferred not to recall, this session of meditation was exceptionally restless.
It was as if she had fallen into a nightmare; the harder Li Li tried to wake up, the deeper she sank.
A woman's voice kept repeating like a curse, clinging to her deep into her bones and marrow.
"Zhiwei, I'm so miserable. Why didn't you come to save me?"
"Elder sister misses you so much, does Zhiwei miss me?"
"Zhiwei, oh Zhiwei... Look at me."
Li Li snapped her eyes open, gasping heavily as she let cold sweat streak down her temples.
When she finally regained her senses, her palms were covered in bloody crescents pinched out by her fingernails, but she had no time to care.
There was always a spiritual perception between twins that science could never explain, but Li Li did not believe she could have a telepathic connection with a dead person.
Li Li chugged a large cup of pure water before finally calming down completely.
Yet there was still good news: because the water element was abundant near the sea, her cultivation had now broken through to the third layer.
If word got out, people would probably be floored; her current cultivation speed was actually several times faster than it had been in the Dichen Sect.
The scenery outside kept shifting.
The Andu traveled at a great speed; they had already crossed the passage between the two realms and arrived at the Inverted Sea of the surface world.
It was currently pitch dark in the surface world. The ship was equipped with flight arrays, and once the dangerous sea surface posed no more threat, it transformed into a scenery meant for appreciation.
Li Li lowered her head and watched the scenery until dawn.
The next morning, they arrived at Sincheng City.
Sincheng City was one of the eighteen cities of the Qintian Realm. Located in the center of the realm and backed by the second-largest sect, the Quanzhan Sect, it was second to none among the eighteen cities.
The Lingnan Secret Realm this time would open right above Sincheng City.
Yu Zhaozhao rarely came to the surface world, and the few times she did, she merely strolled around the Human Realm for a bit, never once setting foot in the cultivators' territory.
The moment she stepped off the ship, she excitedly grabbed Li Li and broke away from the Hehuan Sect contingent.
The most famous street in Sincheng City was Zhongyue Street. The street was bustling with noise and excitement, the throngs of people rubbing shoulders and surging like a pot of boiling water. The shouts of peddlers, the sounds of bargaining, and gongs all blended into one.
The liveliest spot was an open-air teahouse, with cultivators crowding the branches of nearby trees to watch the excitement.
The storyteller on the second floor faced the crowd. With a single strike of his clapper, he began to recount the interesting gossip of the cultivation world while shaking his head, embodying the air of a weathered wanderer.
Yu Zhaozhao found an empty gap and sat down. Li Li had no interest in listening to someone spouting nonsense, and the crowd of people gathered together made her feel uncomfortable. Just as she was about to lift her foot and leave, she heard the storyteller on the elevated platform say:
"Speaking of the most exciting bizarre tales, none can rival the five-cornered love affair of those core disciples from the Second Peak of the Dichen Sect!"
Such an explosive topic immediately provoked gasps of astonishment from the people below, and it successfully stopped Li Li in her tracks. With a dark expression, she sat down next to Yu Zhaozhao.
Yu Zhaozhao cracked melon seeds while clicking her tongue in amazement. "How is it that the affairs happening in these prestigious, grand sects are even messier than our Hehuan Sect?"
Li Li, the person involved, chose to remain tight-lipped and silent.
The storyteller continued to dish out: "Only two of these five protagonists are missing. Pity that substitute junior sister of the Dichen Sect, whose body and soul were destroyed with no trace of her Dao left, while the fourth disciple, Lou Fengyin, is consumed by eternal regret and nearly falls into demonic cultivation, weeping in agony every night while holding the junior sister's corpse..."
Li Li forcefully restrained herself from charging up there to hack someone to pieces, but someone else failed to hold back. A fierce sword qi tore through midair, heading straight for the storyteller's forehead.