It was the fifth day of the assessment. Half the allotted time had already passed.
Outside the secret realm, Xiao Jue and the other two remained inside the thatched cottage.
"Ah, if the restrictions tighten further, the Ancestor's cave mansion will probably be permanently sealed. I wonder if those kids will be able to enter the Ancestor's cave mansion this time."
Xiao Jue stared at the purple mist below the cliff face and murmured to himself.
The Qingyang Secret Realm was governed by unusual restrictions that tightened with the passage of time. According to the records, cultivators at the twelfth layer of Qi Refinement could enter in the earliest days. Now, only those at the third layer or below could pass through.
The Qingyang Sect had tried every means at its disposal to enter the Qingyang Mansion and uncover its secrets, yet all its efforts had come to nothing.
The Sect's upper echelon could only watch anxiously, powerless to change the situation. If the restriction tightened until only first-layer Qi Refinement cultivators could enter, sending anyone inside would be pointless.
"Perhaps it is Heaven's will." Yu Tong shook his head with a sigh. "I heard that the Ancestor not only possessed unfathomable cultivation, but his mastery of restrictions was terrifying. He must have had a deeper reason for doing this."
"A deeper purpose?" Fang Buwu looked at Yu Tong with confusion.
"Mhm, I once heard someone mention that when the Ancestor entered the Qingyang Secret Realm, he seemed somewhat abnormal. He also strictly forbade Qingyang Sect disciples from entering the secret realm. If my guess is correct, these restrictions likely aren't natural, but were personally arranged by the Ancestor... We, his descendants, may have all acted against the Ancestor's decision."
"There's such a thing." Xiao Jue frowned and said, "Why didn't you mention this before?"
Yu Tong smiled bitterly. "I also wanted to learn what became of the Ancestor. If he truly passed away inside the Qingyang Mansion, then everything he learned in his lifetime may have remained there. So..."
Put plainly, he coveted Qingyang Zhenren's inheritance.
Xiao Jue and Fang Buwu understood. They had come with the same hope; they simply had not known that Qingyang Zhenren had once forbidden disciples from entering.
Seen in that light, the Qingyang Secret Realm was far more complicated than they had imagined.
Inside the secret realm.
Lu Li's group had descended into the valley and crossed the stream, where they found a winding path through the forest. They followed it for several hours without reaching the end. The destination looked close, yet the road seemed endless.
Since killing that large green snake earlier, the three encountered another slightly smaller green snake and a mutated porcupine half a Zhang long. They dealt with the slightly smaller green snake with little effort.
The mutated porcupine, however, left Lu Li and Chu Qingfeng in a sorry state, their clothes bristling with quills. In the end, Lu Li painfully sacrificed several Explosion Talismans to kill it.
Thus, all three had completed their missions.
To Lu Li's surprise, they had not encountered the other group of three men and one woman despite walking for so long. He had no idea where they had gone.
The valley was deathly quiet. Apart from their footsteps, not a sound could be heard, not even a birdcall. Ancient trees crowded both sides of the path, their dense crowns blotting out the sunlight and leaving the trail dim and gloomy.
After walking a bit further, Lu Li suddenly raised his hand and stopped, his eyes fixed intently on a bend in the path ahead.
A sound seemed to be coming from over there.
Chu Qingfeng and Liu Xinyu exchanged a glance and quickly stopped walking.
"Brother Lu, what's wrong?" Liu Xinyu whispered.
"Something's moving."
As soon as Lu Li spoke, three figures emerged from around the bend.
Two men and one woman. The woman in brown-yellow robes walked at the front. The group walked with heads down, not saying a word, their expressions seeming somewhat dejected.
Lu Li recognized them. They were the other group of four who entered the assessment with them earlier. For some unknown reason, only three remained now.
The woman also saw Lu Li's group, slightly frowned, and quickly walked over with the two others, smiling as she said, "Junior Brother Lu, are you heading to the Qingyang Mansion?"
Qingyang Mansion?
So that cave on the cliff really was the Qingyang Mansion.
Lu Li immediately understood. He nodded. "That's right. Senior Sister, why are you heading back?"
"Hehe, that Qingyang Mansion is not easy to venture into. We admit we don't have the strength for it. Moreover, we haven't completed our missions yet, so we won't waste time there." At this point, the woman's eyes flashed slightly as she smiled at Lu Li. "Junior Brother stayed in the bamboo grove for so long, you should have already completed your mission, right?"
Lu Li shook his head: "Not yet. We wandered around inside and got lost, which delayed us so long. We didn't find many spirit herbs."
"Is that so?" The woman seemed doubtful.
"It is indeed so." Lu Li didn't want to tangle with the woman and said directly, "Senior Sister, we wish to first go see that mysterious cave mansion, so we'll take our leave."
He gave Liu Xinyu and Chu Qingfeng a meaningful look, then moved to pass the three.
Just as Lu Li walked past the woman, a ruthless expression suddenly flashed across the woman's face. With a lift of her hand, a fireball shot toward Lu Li's back.
"Be careful!" Liu Xinyu exclaimed in alarm, darting behind Lu Li.
Boom!
A loud explosion sounded. Lu Li felt something hit him. Turning to look, his face instantly paled.
Liu Xinyu had taken the blow for him.
"What are you doing!" Chu Qingfeng's expression changed. He rushed over to help Liu Xinyu up, staring at the three with full anger.
"Doing what?" The woman smiled slightly. "Hand over the spirit herbs on you. Otherwise... don't blame us for disregarding the bond of fellow disciples!"
The other two men moved left and right, surrounding Lu Li's trio in the middle, their faces carrying mocking expressions without speaking.
With one of Lu Li's companions injured, the three attackers were certain victory was theirs.
"You... you dare rob fellow disciples!" Only then did Chu Qingfeng react. In his mind, fellow disciples should support each other. How could they do such a thing?
"Rob? Hehe, does the Sect have rules against it..."
Boom!
Before the woman finished speaking, a dark cyan figure suddenly appeared in front of her.
Raised a hand.
One punch!
Everything above the bridge of her nose burst apart beneath his fist.
The other two men still had mocking smiles frozen on their faces.
Lu Li turned back, rushing toward the man on the right, delivering another punch.
"You!"
Only then did the man on the left react. In terror, he frantically retreated, simultaneously reaching into his robe. Seeing this, Liu Xinyu broke free from the stunned Chu Qingfeng, raised her hand, and shot a water arrow toward the man's chest.
The man hurriedly circulated his True Qi to block the water arrow. That brief delay was enough. Lu Li finished the man on the right and shot toward the last attacker.
"Spare...!"
Boom!
A burst of agony tore through his chest. He flew back two or three Zhang and slammed into an ancient tree, a ghastly hole punched through his torso.
"Whew!"
Lu Li's face was pale. Propping himself up on his knees, he breathed heavily.
This encounter had taught Lu Li a hard lesson. A Senior Sister could smile and chat with him one moment, then turn on him without mercy the next. In the cultivation world, he could never lower his guard.
They had never expected Lu Li to be so formidable. Despite sharing the third layer of Qi Refinement, none of them could withstand a single strike from him.
It was not that Lu Li was overwhelmingly strong. He possessed tremendous physical power, but prepared opponents could still evade him. These three had been careless and never imagined he would dare to kill fellow disciples.
After all, they had only wanted to rob spirit herbs.