Chapter 92: The Opening Move

The Suitian Sword Sect’s fierce martial prowess was a label universally acknowledged throughout the cultivation world.

Thus, in the eyes of outsiders who did not know the Suitian Sword Sect well, there was a long-standing stereotype that because the sect was named after a sword, all of its disciples must practice the sword, love swords as much as life itself, and treat their swords as an extension of their own bodies.

But in reality, this was not the case. While most Suitian disciples did indeed practice the sword, talent for sword cultivation was rare and hard to come by. Consequently, the Suitian Sword Sect also accepted disciples who walked other paths. Nowadays, most Divine Venerables of the Body Integration Stage had faded from the world, so few people mentioned them. But if one were to look back five hundred years, someone would surely recall immediately that the Suitian Sword Sect once had a prominent Body Integration Divine Venerable who possessed no talent for the sword, yet was utterly obsessed with it.

Of course, five hundred years ago, this prominent figure was still only in the late Soul Transformation Stage, a legendary figure of the cultivation world at the time.

As it happened, a certain Dragon Venerable was the absolute center of the cultivation world’s gossip mill back then. Legendary figures naturally attracted one another, so… the two of them naturally knew each other, and even shared a bit of “history.”

“Old Gu, don’t get so worked up. Things aren’t as bad as you think.”

Gu Wufang thought to himself, How could it get any worse? Out loud, he snapped, “The promising young sprout who fell in isn’t from your sect, so of course you aren’t worked up! Open the secret realm and let them out quickly. You don’t want to provoke that person into coming out of seclusion, do you?”

Tang Ji certainly did not want that, but… “To tell you the truth, I don’t have the key to open the secret realm. The entrance and exit will only open automatically after the individual competition ends.”

“Then think of something! Might I ask which Divine Venerable designed this secret realm…”

Tang Ji nodded wryly. “You guessed correctly. It is indeed Divine Venerable Wushan, the one who shared a deep, complicated bond with your sect’s Dragon Venerable.”

Gu Wufang was left speechless. As expected, he thought. Refining a secret realm was an extremely difficult task. It not only required a cultivator to have powerful spiritual energy as support, but also a profound comprehension of the Great Dao. Although those at the Soul Transformation Stage could barely manage a trial, achieving this level of control required a Divine Venerable of the Body Integration Stage.

The Suitian Sword Sect had only five Body Integration Divine Venerables in total, and the only one skilled in artifact refining and creation was Divine Venerable Wushan. It really was not hard to guess.

“Then the esteemed elder…”

“Divine Venerable Wushan is still in seclusion. He doesn’t know your Dragon Venerable took a talented disciple, nor does he know this disciple came to the Suitian Sword Sect and was even favored by the Shattering Heaven Sword Light.” Tang Ji thought to himself, If he knew, it would be disastrous. He’d come out of seclusion to hunt dragons in a heartbeat.

Of course, given the Dragon Venerable’s strength, it was hard to say who would be hunting whom. It really was not easy being the sect master.

“…So?”

“But now, I can’t say for sure.” Tang Ji took a deep breath. “To be honest, back then, your Dragon Venerable often relied on his abilities to mess with Divine Venerable Wushan’s secret realms. He’d say one was ugly and didn’t suit his taste, then secretly make unnecessary additions. He’d say another wasn’t lively enough and offer all kinds of terrible suggestions. This Forest Secret Realm was only recently restored and cleaned up with great difficulty, you understand? To prevent his works from being ruined again, every secret realm refined by Divine Venerable Wushan has been outfitted with a formation that detects your Dragon Venerable’s spiritual energy.”

“So in essence, your Little Martial Uncle falling into the secret realm was because the realm sensed danger and activated its emergency evasion formation.”

Gu Wufang: Damn it! It’s been five hundred years, and Yonglu Mountain is still cleaning up the Dragon Venerable’s messes! Who could understand this? My conscience suddenly hurts so much! Little Martial Uncle is suffering.

“…And then?”

Seeing that Gu Wufang was finally open to communication, Tang Ji pressed his advantage. “And the good news is that this secret realm has been cleaned up and has a cultivation entry threshold, so it can only exert the power of the peak Foundation Establishment Stage at most.”

Hearing this, Gu Wufang pointed at the secret realm. “Then why don’t you open your eyes wide and look at my Little Martial Uncle’s cultivation level? He is still a hair’s breadth away from the peak of Qi Refining! Let alone peak Foundation Establishment!”

Tang Ji cleared his throat. “Well, it’s like this. If the formation isn’t triggered, only Foundation Establishment cultivators can enter this minor Forest Secret Realm. Any other cultivation level, whether it is Qi Refining, which is lower, or Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators suppressing their cultivation to Foundation Establishment, will be detected and kicked out by the secret realm.”

“So what do you have to say now?”

Tang Ji glanced at Gu Wufang and spoke in a low, weary voice. “It’s all thanks to your Dragon Venerable’s antics. He used to suppress his cultivation and conceal his aura just to cause trouble in Divine Venerable Wushan’s secret realms, sometimes even pretending to be a mortal who wandered in by mistake. So, once the secret realm detects the Dragon Venerable’s aura, it will directly…”

“Directly what?”

“Cough… well, it’s a blessing in disguise. Have you noticed any change in your Little Martial Uncle’s cultivation?”

Cultivation? Gu Wufang focused his gaze, and astonishment washed over his face once more. “Early Foundation Establishment?”

“Exactly. The secret realm suppresses the cultivation of anyone carrying the Dragon Venerable’s aura to the early stage of that realm. Since that rule applies to your Little Martial Uncle, it temporarily boosted him to early Foundation Establishment. According to the secret realm’s rules, as long as they manage to survive until the end of the competition, they can exit through the passage.”

Gu Wufang felt his heart leap into his throat as he listened. “How are they supposed to survive? Are you sure about this?”

Tang Ji fell silent. He really wasn’t sure. Moreover… according to the disciples guarding the mountain, Divine Venerable Wushan’s divine sense had been highly active recently, suggesting he was on the verge of breaking out of seclusion. With a Divine Venerable’s power… Ah, how annoying. What was wrong with Yonglu Mountain? If they took in a promising disciple, they should have kept him in the sect to cultivate properly. Bringing him out to show off when he was only at the Qi Refining Stage; now they were in trouble!

“Old Gu, look on the bright side, right?”

Gu Wufang looked at the three who had accidentally fallen into the secret realm. “Do you think anything associated with… can be looked at on the bright side?”

Tang Ji spoke against his conscience, “At the very least, a temporary boost in cultivation will help them comprehend Foundation Establishment later on, right?”

That was the only way to look at it.

The two Soul Transformation sect masters outside the realm looked utterly exhausted, but the three who had accidentally fallen in were unexpectedly optimistic. Quickly realizing that their cultivation had been temporarily boosted to early Foundation Establishment, Chen Zui was already eager, drawing his saber. “How about we go help Senior Sister Lan and the others?”

Bian Chunzhou pressed a hand to his forehead. “Don’t you think you should think a bit more about why our cultivation levels suddenly shot up?”

Chen Zui said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, “Well, you thought about it. Did you get any answers?”

“…No.”

“Then there you go. The booklet he gave us says that when dealing with this kind of sudden situation, you either stay calm and let things play out, or you just make the best of it.” After Chen Zui finished speaking, he hefted the saber in his hand. Now that his cultivation had risen to Foundation Establishment, his control over the saber had indeed improved significantly. He was already itching for a fight. “Wen Xu, don’t you agree?”

Wen Xu also hadn’t expected that he would suddenly be attacked while just watching a match. Moreover, he was absolutely certain that the force had been aimed directly at him. Chen Zui and Chunzhou had only been dragged into it because of him. So, what on earth was attacking him?

This was the Suitian Sword Sect, and the Five Sects Conference was currently underway. No demonic cultivator in their right mind would choose this moment to cause trouble. So… putting aside conspiracy theories, Wen Xu could only think of one possibility.

Could it be his master’s thirty pages of old friends at work? Otherwise, why would they only attack a minor Qi Refining cultivator like him?

In a way, Wen Xu had hit the nail on the head, but unfortunately, he had no way to verify it.

“I cannot see. Can you two be one hundred percent sure that this is the Forest Secret Realm for the Foundation Establishment individual competition?”

Bian Chunzhou and Chen Zui looked at each other. Obviously, looking at it from the outside was different from being inside it. They really couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, and they might have just jumped to conclusions.

“After we fell in, the Sect Master and the others must have received the news immediately. They might even be trying to rescue us from the outside right now. But since we haven’t gotten out yet, we must have run into some kind of obstacle. Perhaps this obstacle is related to where we are right now.”

Wen Xu was very good at handling emergencies. Just like when he fell from the Mortal Realm into the Poyun Secret Realm and immediately grabbed onto Chunzhou as his lifeline, he now wanted to save himself at the first opportunity.

Waiting around to die was not his style.

“So you think…”

Wen Xu reached out his hand, sensing the damp breeze of the forest brushing against his palm. “The wind here is very chaotic, carrying no information at all. Generally speaking, this kind of wind represents danger.”

He pursed his lips slightly. “Perhaps we should leave this place as soon as possible.”

Chen Zui and Bian Chunzhou both trusted Wen Xu’s intellect. “We’ll follow your lead.”

The tacit understanding between the three needed no words. Chen Zui led the way with his saber, Wen Xu walked in the middle to sense the direction, and Bian Chunzhou brought up the rear. They quickly left the landing site. Not long after they departed, a pack of Tier 3 Pine Star Wolves visited the spot.

Gu Wufang looked at Tang Ji. “No danger?”

Tang Ji lowered his head. “Well, they didn’t run into it, did they? Your Little Martial Uncle is working quite hard.” Of course, the unspoken truth was that these traps were originally meant to deal with your Dragon Venerable. Now, the disciple was bearing the burden for the master.

“…As if you need to tell me that.”

The Wind Spiritual Root was a mutation of the Wood and Earth Spiritual Roots, which indeed provided a significant boost in the forest. With Wen Xu’s perception, the three of them avoided many traps. However, since the traps were aimed at him in the first place, it was impossible to avoid every single one.

“Watch out!”

Bian Chunzhou hastily threw out the Water-Fire Talisman in his hand, narrowly blasting away a vine as thick as a bowl. But in the next moment, another vine crawled up his ankle and hung him upside down.

Help!

Although his cultivation had been forcibly raised, the talismans in his hand had been drawn beforehand. Their attack power wasn’t enough!

Fortunately, in the next moment, a cold, sharp sword light burst forth, instantly severing three flailing vines, including the one wrapped around Bian Chunzhou’s ankle.

“You actually beat me to it! Their opponent is me!”

Bian Chunzhou dropped onto a branch with a splat. He looked up to see Chen Zui charging over with his saber. Anyone who didn’t know better would think he was coming to kill him… oh, he was killing the vines behind him.

At this moment, a strong desire to grow stronger welled up in Bian Chunzhou’s heart. Who said talisman cultivators couldn’t compare to saber or sword cultivators? He had to get stronger. He couldn’t always wait for his friends to rescue him!

With a thought, Bian Chunzhou landed on the ground and immediately began drawing a talisman in midair.