Throughout the entire meal, Luoyu kept her head down, silently eating the spirit rice in her bowl without even daring to cast a glance at the dishes on the table. Feeling a bit guilty, Liangchen used the serving chopsticks to pick up a piece of honey-glazed spareribs and placed it on her plate.
Fan Ni said with a lukewarm tone, "My, the affection from your younger days runs deep indeed. How about I have a word with my father, and you can just marry her?"
"Stop joking around. I only thought she looked timid. Have some too." With that, Liangchen picked up a piece and placed it on Fan Ni's plate.
"Now you remember to serve me food? I don't care for it. Senior Brother Nangong, would you be so kind as to pick a piece for me?"
Nangong Mu gave a light cough and said, "Junior Sister, please stop joking. If I were to serve you food, I'm afraid Daoist Liangchen would be displeased."
Amidst the bizarre atmosphere, the meal was finally finished, and all four of them harbored their own private thoughts.
Luoyu remained terrified and walking on thin ice, her mind in complete chaos as if she were being roasted over an open fire.
Fan Ni was simultaneously disgusted that Liangchen was taking care of Luoyu and heartbroken that Nangong Mu wouldn't pick food for her. She had dropped such obvious hints—did Nangong Mu really not like her at all in his heart? Or was he deliberately distancing himself because he minded the engagement between her and Liangchen?
Liangchen, on the other hand, was feeling gloomy, failing to understand why Fan Ni was targeting Luoyu like this. After all, they were junior and senior sister disciples who had grown up together. Most crucially, Fan Ni kept dropping vague hints that getting along with him wasn't pleasant, while dragging Nangong Mu into it from time to time.
Nangong Mu had an even worse headache. The Alchemy Sect was not to be trifled with, yet Fan Ni—who was already betrothed—kept crowding close to him. Then there was Liangchen from the Canglan Sect, a formidable potential rival whom he had no desire to cross swords with directly. And Luoyu, the person he most wanted to win over, hadn't spared him a single glance, keeping her head down only to shovel in rice.
On the way back, Luoyu still walked at the very end, alongside Liao Xing. When parting ways, she softly thanked him, and he gave a self-deprecating laugh, saying, "We're people in the same boat, no need to thank me."
At noon the next day, the elders of the six major sects gathered together. Led by the Array Sect, they punched a breach into the formation, and hundreds of Nascent Soul stage cultivators poured in one after another.
Whenever a Secret Realm opened, the six major sects had fixed cooperative partners. The Myriad Swords Sect excelled in offense and was paired with the defense-oriented Array Sect; the Canglan Sect had high burst damage and needed the Alchemy Sect to continuously provide pills; most cultivators from the Yunlan Sect relied on close-quarters combat supplemented by spells, requiring the Talismans Sect to supply talisman papers for ranged attrition.
Of course, the most important reason for this allocation was to prevent the three major sects from slaughtering each other over spirit treasures. Relatively speaking, the Alchemy Sect, Array Sect, and Talismans Sect mostly needed Spirit Plants or various materials, so naturally there were no conflicts of interest and everyone lived in peace. The three auxiliary sects had no complaints either; after all, their combat strength couldn't compare to others, and entering a Secret Realm alone resulted in casualties that were far too high. Cooperation was the only way for both sides to win.
Upon entering the Secret Realm, some rogue cultivators had already chosen a direction and left early. Since the six major sects had numerous members, after counting everyone up, Nangong Mu—disciple of the Myriad Swords Sect, head of the sects—chose to head forward, the second-ranked Yunlan Sect went right, and the Canglan Sect went left.
There was only a short month's time to spare, so no moments could be wasted. After hastily bidding each other farewell, they split into three groups and set off immediately.
The first five days were spent entirely on hurried traveling, with almost nothing of value in the outer perimeter. The Secret Realm had formed tens of thousands of years ago, and the cultivators who had come here were as numerous as the hairs on an ox. What mattered now was who, with the same Nascent Soul stage cultivation, could travel deeper.
Starting on the sixth day, low-level demonized beasts began to appear intermittently. With glaring crimson eyes and a fearless disregard for death, they lunged forward. Fortunately, their damage output wasn't high and they posed no real danger. The group paired up in twos to grope their way forward, neither delaying their schedule nor missing the chance to gather some Spirit Plants along the way.
Travelling alongside Luoyu was Fu Yuanbo, the eldest disciple of the Canglan Sect's Third Elder. He was rather shy, and as the two walked together, there was no conversation all the way except for necessary communication.
"Senior Brother Fu, there are a few stalks of Nine-Poison Illusion Grass over there. They're the main ingredient for refining the Illusion-Breaking Pill, and the guardian beast should be a Golden Core stage Phantom Poison Demon Spider. Is there any danger?"
"Junior Sister Luoyu knows so much. It's truly my good fortune to be walking with you."
"I've just read a few more books, that's all." Luoyu's face turned red again.
"I'll go lure it away, and you go harvest them."
Fu Yuanbo had entered many Secret Realms big and small, and had partnered with well over a dozen alchemists, but Luoyu was the one who made him feel most at ease. First of all, she would state whether such medicinal herbs were an absolute must-get; secondly, she had a very accurate understanding of the guardian beasts for each herb; and most importantly, she would ask for his opinion first, choosing to make a detour if there was danger. In contrast, some alchemists would rush forward no matter what upon seeing a Spirit Plant, only to shrink behind him when they provoked some incredible monster beast, wearing a look of "I don't know how to fight, you're up."
"Here is a Clearing Pill. Keep this in your mouth, and you won't fall into the illusions it creates."
Fu Yuanbo took it, muttered his thanks, and walked toward the Nine-Poison Illusion Grass first. Light purple poisonous mist gradually drifted and dissipated, and his consciousness slowly grew turbid. Fortunately, the Clearing Pill in his mouth constantly emitted a soothing coolness that counteracted the erosion of the poisonous mist.
A massive, person-high spider suddenly dropped down from the sky, its rear spitting a large web to cover Fu Yuanbo. He retreated violently backward, throwing out the returning curved blades in his hands at the same time to sever one of the demon spider's legs in the blink of an eye.
Crying out in pain, the spider rubbed its joints together to make a rattling sound. Although it was left with seven legs, it didn't affect its speed in the least, and it chased Fu Yuanbo off into the distance.
Holding the pill in her mouth, Luoyu hurried over to harvest the spiritual herbs. Only upon drawing closer did she realize there weren't just a few stalks, but a small patch of them, and immediate joy welled up in her heart.
After leading the demon spider a certain distance away, Fu Yuanbo let go of all restraints and began to deal with it. The reason this kind of monster beast was difficult to handle was that it could create illusions, making people sink into them unaware and die of poisoning. If one prepared pills in advance, however, dealing with it wasn't difficult, and its entire soft abdomen was its weak point.
Half a cup of tea later, Fu Yuanbo extracted the demon spider's inner core and hurried back, only to be greeted unexpectedly by sheet after sheet of white cobwebs.
"Junior Sister!"
"Senior Brother, I'm right here!"
Hearing Luoyu's voice, Fu Yuanbo felt slightly more at ease as his returning blades pierced through the air, tearing open massive gaps in the cobwebs ahead.
Running for her life along the sound of Fu Yuanbo's voice, Luoyu raised her hand and hurled a huge fireball, instantly burning the blocking cobwebs to ashes.
Fu Yuanbo was also rushing in Luoyu's direction when he suddenly saw fire flashing ahead. He panicked, pulling back and shifting half his body sideways as a huge fireball brushed past his shoulder and slammed into a tree not far behind him. With an explosion, the multi-hug tree snapped and crashed down at the sound.
Fu Yuanbo: ......
Who said alchemists can't fight? If that thing had hit him, he would have shed a layer of skin even if he didn't die.
Bursting out from the cobwebs and seeing Fu Yuanbo staring blankly at the fallen tree behind him, Luoyu hurriedly shouted, "Senior Brother, run quickly! There are spiders behind us!"
Fu Yuanbo turned his head to see a pitch-black mass of spiders, with a few exceptionally large ones leaping and bounding through the trees, closing the distance to him in the blink of an eye.
"What a sin! Junior Sister, offense is taken!"
Disregarding all boundaries between men and women, Fu Yuanbo grabbed Luoyu around the waist and drove his Wind-Chasing Arts to the absolute limit, sprinting forward frantically.
Reaching into her storage ring, Luoyu fished out a bottle of pills and stuffed one into Fu Yuanbo's mouth.
"Spirit-Returning Pill."
"Many thanks."
Running hundreds of *li* in a single breath, the small spiders were long since left far behind, but the remaining five Golden Core stage demon spiders were still clinging stubbornly in close pursuit.
"This won't do, we can't shake them off. If we keep running like this, I'll run out of stamina sooner or later."
"I should be able to handle one."
Fu Yuanbo glanced sideways at Luoyu's pale little face. When he had first grabbed and carried her while running, her body had been trembling. No wonder—Luoyu was naturally timid to begin with, yet she was being chased by thousands of spiders; she ought to have been terrified. But when she said those words just now, she was exceptionally calm, which involuntarily made Fu Yuanbo feel even more favorable toward her, finding her a hundred times better than those delicate, pampered female cultivators who only knew how to act spoiled and throw tantrums.