Chapter 152: The True Face

There was no movement on the small island at the center of the lake. Their guess had been wrong; the wondrous treasure had appeared somewhere else.

Apart from them, quite a number of rogue cultivators were scattered throughout the secret realm.

Fearing that someone else might seize the advantage, Pu Pingping could no longer spare the time to kill them and turned to leave.

Qiu Feng was blocking his path. Afraid that Pu Pingping would use the Wisdom-Heart Sword again, Jiang Yan shouted, “Watch out!” He raised his hand and sent a White Rainbow Piercing the Sun streaking toward Pu Pingping’s back.

Pu Pingping seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. He flicked out a spell that struck the White Rainbow Piercing the Sun precisely, then flashed forward and appeared before Qiu Feng.

Qiu Feng retreated in alarm, only to see Pu Pingping casually point a finger. A beam of golden light was already before his eyes.

Qiu Feng’s magical weapon had just been destroyed. He had no choice but to raise an earthen wall to block the attack. The wall collapsed at once, and the spell slammed into him, sending him tumbling head over heels.

Fortunately, Pu Pingping was intent on claiming the treasure and was unwilling to expend too much true essence. The spell he had cast was merely an ordinary one. Qiu Feng possessed a perfected earth spiritual root, and although he had taken the blow, it had not injured his bones or organs. He forced himself back to his feet.

Pu Pingping threatened them, “We’ll settle this later!”

Jiang Yan watched Pu Pingping’s departing figure, his heart unbearably heavy. Those two exchanges had made him realize even more clearly that, even with his cultivation suppressed, Pu Pingping was still far beyond his ability to defeat.

Qiu Feng shouted, “Hurry and save him!”

The two of them pulled Gao Hongli out of the lake. His injury was across the chest. Although he had dispelled most of the Wisdom-Heart Sword’s power in time, even its remaining force was more than a Foundation Establishment cultivator could endure. A long gash had split open his chest, and the deepest part had nearly pierced straight through him. Fortunately, his life was not in danger; he had merely lost consciousness.

Qiu Feng hurriedly fed him a pill, then clumsily bandaged the wound and staunched the bleeding.

Jiang Yan beckoned Guan Xian over. Wood-element spells possessed a great advantage in healing injuries, and wood-spirit-root cultivators generally learned one or two for emergencies. Guan Xian was no exception. He hurried over and began treating Gao Hongli.

Only then did Qiu Feng realize that there were other people nearby who had been watching the battle. He immediately thought of Zhang Yu. Looking up, he searched in every direction.

While casting his spell, Guan Xian kept talking. “Zhang Yu left as soon as you started fighting. He’s probably gone looking for the treasure too.”

Just then, Gao Hongli woke. He struggled, trying to rise. “Are you all right? Where’s that fellow Pu? What smells so good? Has the treasure emerged?”

Qiu Feng pressed him down. “Don’t move. Your injuries are serious. None of us is a match for Pu Pingping. When the treasure appeared, he abandoned us and went after it. If he hadn’t done that, I don’t know how many of us would still be alive.”

Gao Hongli looked anxious. “Forget about me. Hurry and go too. You must find the treasure before him. Jiang Yan, you know this secret realm well. Take Qiu Feng and go!”

Qiu Feng did not move. “What use is finding it? We can’t defeat Pu Pingping. Sooner or later he’ll take it from us. Are we supposed to eat the treasure?”

Jiang Yan, however, said, “Let’s search together. The best outcome would be to obtain the treasure and immediately increase our strength. Then we might be able to fight Pu Pingping. Or perhaps, after we obtain it, the secret realm will close in time and send us all out. Even if nothing else, we can at least cause him some trouble.”

The battle had drained nearly all of Qiu Feng’s fighting spirit. Hearing Jiang Yan say this, he sighed and released his flying artifact.

Guan Xian helped Gao Hongli up and onto the artifact. Then he interjected, “A treasure that smells this good might really be edible.”

Qiu Feng’s gaze settled on Guan Xian, who was bustling about with remarkable enthusiasm. He asked Jiang Yan, “And this person is...?”

He had addressed Jiang Yan, but Guan Xian himself answered. “I’m Guan Xian, from the Central Region. I’m one of the rogue cultivators who entered this time.”

Qiu Feng paused, then asked, “Are there any others with you? If we can join forces, we may be able to fight Pu Pingping.”

After saying this, he could not help imagining how much better it would have been if everyone who entered the secret realm this time had been disciples of the Xianyun Sect, rather than rogue cultivators from every corner of the world. But that was merely wishful thinking. He had no way to voice such a complaint. Once inside the secret realm, everyone had been scattered across different places, and gathering together was no easy matter. Rationally speaking, no sect could truly have made such a great sacrifice. Even if Jiang Yan had not joined them in confronting Pu Pingping from the start, that too had been only natural. Neither he nor Gao Hongli had any grounds to blame Jiang Yan.

Gao Hongli had lost a great deal of blood and had yet to recover from the defeat. His face was deathly pale. He said to Jiang Yan and Guan Xian, “Qiu Feng’s defensive artifact was destroyed just now. Does either of you have something he can use? Give it to him for now.”

Qiu Feng possessed an earth spiritual root, and Gao Hongli had not held out much hope. Guan Xian, however, cried, “Oh!” and began rummaging through the many storage bags on his person. To everyone’s surprise, he actually found several artifacts suited to an earth-spirit-root cultivator and handed them to Qiu Feng.

Jiang Yan was speechless. Gao Hongli and Qiu Feng, however, were both bewildered.

“How did you come to be carrying so many things?” Qiu Feng asked.

Guan Xian gave an embarrassed smile. Seeing this, Qiu Feng did not press him further. He sighed. “These artifacts are merely average. They certainly won’t withstand Pu Pingping’s Core Formation techniques. I never imagined he would be so difficult to deal with.”

Seeing the three of them at their wits’ end, Guan Xian could hold back no longer.

“There is one person who might be able to handle Pu Pingping.”

* * *

The person Guan Xian spoke of was still standing in the rain.

Hong Jian had no idea that, throughout the entire secret realm, this small area alone was still receiving rain. Yet she had already realized that something was wrong with the place where she stood.

By rights, searching in this manner should have brought her across Pu Pingping, Jiang Yan, or someone from another sect long ago. In fact, however, she had not seen another person for a very long time. At first, she had occasionally caught traces of demonic beasts. Later, all she could hear was the soft, endless patter of rain. The surrounding mountains and trees remained unchanged, while the mist grew heavier and heavier.

Was this an illusion? How had she fallen into one without reason?

There had to be a cause. Hong Jian immediately thought of the rain that had been falling for so long.

She had raced through the rain, cast spells, and fought battles. From the very beginning, the rain had never irritated her; instead, it had left her feeling unusually calm and comfortable. Later, almost unconsciously, she withdrew the true essence protecting her body, allowing the rain to touch her directly, and circulated the Scripture of Great Calamities through her divine qi.

This had not been a sudden whim. When she was very young, she had discovered the benefits of cultivating in water. During the Qi Condensation stage, the first time she had successfully circulated the Scripture of Great Calamities had been during an unexpected rainstorm.

The raindrops were drawn to her water-aspected true essence, striking her face with a captivating chill. Water vapor rose around her body, and threads of faint light danced through it. Hong Jian realized that these glimmers were the purest spiritual energy contained within the raindrops—the essence of water that she could absorb.

As a cultivator accustomed to devoting herself to cultivation, someone both fascinated by it and desperate to become stronger, Hong Jian was instinctively drawn toward this essence of water. She could clearly see that, because the secret realm itself was so rich in spiritual energy, she had begun moving toward the place where the water essence was densest without realizing it.

By the time she found herself in this place that seemed to be an illusion, she could no longer distinguish east from west, north from south.

Yet the rain falling upon her was so real, and the water essence that made her almost sigh with comfort remained so tangible, that it was difficult to believe any of it was an illusion.

Hong Jian stopped and closed her eyes. She was no longer the naïve novice who had once willingly remained trapped in an illusion. When it came to dealing with illusions, she possessed more experience than many veteran cultivators. She had a powerful soul and a focused mind; both were hers.

When she opened her eyes again, the world around her had indeed undergone a complete transformation.

Towering mountains rose before her. She stood at the foot of one, gazing up at slopes covered in pines and cypresses, their verdure stretching like a jade-green sea. From high above, a flying spring plunged downward, shattering against the leaves into countless glittering beads like crystal. The breeze scattered them, now densely, now sparsely, over her face and hair.

This was the rain she had sensed within the illusion.

Here, the spiritual energy seemed almost tangible. The mountains, rocks, and plants were all imbued with an extraordinary spirit, while the air was saturated with a strange fragrance.

Who would have thought that such a hidden paradise existed within the secret realm? Was the Xianyun Sect’s secret realm obscure simply because no one had ever discovered this place?

Hong Jian realized that she had most likely stumbled by accident into a region no one had ever set foot in. She no longer had any time to concern herself with Pu Pingping. Naturally, she would first investigate this mysterious place.

Riding her artifact, Hong Jian searched every inch of the mountain, from base to summit. After carefully examining the area with her divine sense, she soon turned her attention to a cave halfway up the mountainside.

All the spiritual energy in the mountain flowed from its entrance, and the strange fragrance emerged from there as well. The entire cave mouth was submerged in milky-white spiritual energy. Green vines crawled across the ground, while among them grew Foundation-Nourishing Grass, Spiritblood Mushrooms, White Jade Immortal Moss, and numerous other spiritual herbs, all mixed together and flourishing as thickly as weeds.

Hong Jian drew a deep breath. What could be inside the cave to produce such an overflowing abundance of spiritual energy?

A sudden intuition stirred within her.

“So the wondrous treasure said to have emerged in this secret realm really is inside this cave. I didn’t find Pu Pingping, yet I stumbled upon the treasure first. I wonder what it is. I’ll go in and see.”

Wondrous treasures were often guarded by demonic beasts. Worried that the cave might contain one as well, Hong Jian circulated her true essence throughout her body and gripped the Hollow Sword tightly. She sent her divine sense ahead to scout the way and entered the cave step by careful step.

Her divine sense told her that the cave was not deep. After only a dozen yards, it came to an end. Nor was it particularly spacious. She detected no trace of a demonic beast. Once inside, the fragrance became even more intoxicating, but the cave was filled with white mist. Without relying on her divine sense, she could barely move forward at all.

Hong Jian found this extremely uncomfortable. As she groped her way inward, she raised a hand and began using Myriad Currents Return to the Source to disperse the dense spiritual energy.

When she reached the depths of the cave, the spiritual energy finally thinned somewhat. Through the veil of mist, she could just barely see two or three feet ahead.

There truly were no demonic beasts inside. With another use of Myriad Currents Return to the Source, Hong Jian cleared the white mist before her.

At last, she saw the treasure for which countless cultivators had been willing to risk everything.