After that, whenever Wen Jiayin was learning from the Wine Immortal, she couldn’t help but look at her with a sympathetic gaze, which made the Wine Immortal get goosebumps all over.
“Hey, kid, what’s with that look in your eyes?” The Wine Immortal, covered in goosebumps, grabbed Wen Jiayin’s face and kneaded it like dough.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Wen Jiayin screamed in pain.
“Martial Uncle Zu! You’re hurting her!” Zhi Chang’an tried to rescue Wen Jiayin from the Wine Immortal’s hands.
“Hmph.” The Wine Immortal snorted twice, glanced off into the distance, then let go and tossed the two kids into the Demon Subduing Hall.
Not long after, Xinyun came over to the Wine Immortal.
“You really don’t trust me, do you? Even came here yourself?” Xinyun held a book in her hand and sat right across from the Wine Immortal.
“Had nothing better to do, so I came.”
“If you’ve got nothing to do, you could go cultivate.
Coming to my mountain, you’re making the whole place colder.” The Wine Immortal glanced at the book in Xinyun’s hand, which had “Strange Objects Chronicle” written on the cover.
“I’ve been cultivating all this time.
A little relaxation is good.”
“Hearing that from you is honestly shocking.” The Wine Immortal couldn’t help but comment.
Cultivators could read ten lines at a glance and had amazing memories.
A thin book like “Strange Objects Chronicle” would take just a few minutes to memorize, but Xinyun was flipping a page every few minutes, clearly just killing time.
Faced with the Wine Immortal’s surprise, Xinyun just turned another page.
When Wen Jiayin wasn’t around, Xinyun didn’t talk much, and the Wine Immortal was used to it.
In fact, she was more unaccustomed to how chatty Xinyun got when she was with her little disciple! The two of them sat in silence, each doing their own thing, with a bronze mirror floating above the stone table, showing what was happening inside the Demon Subduing Hall.
This kind of daily routine continued until the day the secret realm opened.
The two girls crawled out of the Demon Subduing Hall, exhausted, and had just caught their breath when they got the notice to gather in a few hours.
Both of them looked at the Wine Immortal with matching resentment.
They’d been fighting so hard inside they’d lost all sense of time and totally forgot about the gathering, but why didn’t Martial Uncle Zu remind them? The Wine Immortal looked innocent—she really didn’t know about it.
After all, the Sect Master wouldn’t tell her every little thing about the juniors going out for training, right? It’s not like she was leading the team.
But to make sure the two of them didn’t look like a mess when they left, the Wine Immortal used the best medicine to heal all their injuries, then had them change clothes and tidy up.
By the time they were done, it was almost time to gather.
“Martial Uncle Zu! Please tell Master I’m heading out first!” Wen Jiayin climbed onto the back of her white crane, and Zhi Chang’an had her own crane too.
The two of them flew off toward the main peak to meet up.
“Uh…” The Wine Immortal looked a bit awkward.
Could she admit she didn’t know where her niece Xinyun had gone? She’d disappeared a day ago, and if she’d said something, the Wine Immortal would’ve known they had to go to the secret realm today.
On the main peak, Li Youxi, who’d been waiting there, saw the two of them riding white cranes from afar.
As soon as Wen Jiayin jumped down, she couldn’t help but mouth off as usual: “You’re so slow.
Were you counting ants on the way here?”
“It’s not about being early, it’s about being just in time.
We’re about to set off, aren’t we? Cultivators should avoid arrogance and impatience, so don’t rush.” Wen Jiayin’s words shut Li Youxi right up.
A few years had passed, and the brat who used to cause trouble every three days had grown up.
It was said she looked a lot like her late mother, who was a famously gentle beauty in the cultivation world and even made it onto the beauty rankings.
So it was obvious she was good-looking—just as long as she didn’t open her mouth.
But as she got older, her personality had calmed down a lot.
She could still be annoying sometimes, but at least she wasn’t as insufferable as she was as a kid, when people wanted to hang her up and beat her.
“You always have a bunch of nonsense to say.” Li Youxi’s tone was full of disdain, but her feet honestly followed the other two.
“Why are you following us?” Zhi Chang’an didn’t tremble at the sight of Li Youxi anymore, but she was still full of dislike for her.
“Because I’m teaming up with you guys.” Li Youxi said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Teaming up? Are you sure?” Wen Jiayin didn’t get what this young lady was thinking.
Didn’t she always act like she couldn’t stand them? Why team up for the secret realm?
“Of course! What, you want me to team up with that weak bunch over there? I’d just end up having to protect them, and I’m not doing that.”
Chu Mingqi, the leader of the so-called “weak bunch,” nearly ground her teeth to dust.
Li Youxi really couldn’t say anything nice.
How could someone like her have such good talent? If only she had a mutated spiritual root like that, she wouldn’t have to put up with all this crap.
She glared at the three in front—one had a mutated wind spiritual root, one had a top-grade fire spiritual root, and the half-demon even had phoenix blood.
With that kind of talent, who wouldn’t want it…
“Then you could go team up with those Foundation Establishment disciples.
I’m sure they’d let you join.” Wen Jiayin suggested.
“They’d only let me join because of my status.
I heard them talking, even betting on who’d be unlucky enough to get assigned to us.
Don’t look at me like that, you’re included too.”
“Me?” Wen Jiayin pointed at herself, confused.
How did she get dragged into this? Why would she team up with Foundation Establishment disciples?
“Don’t worry about it.
They just think us Qi Refining folks are too weak and would drag them down, but they can’t refuse us because of our status.
That’s all.
I suggest you don’t bother with them.
Once we reach Foundation Establishment, we’ll beat the crap out of everyone who looks down on us at the sect competition! That’ll feel great!” Li Youxi’s little notebook was already full of names.
Ever since the Sect Master whipped her a few times, she didn’t dare take revenge in private anymore.
So she figured she’d just beat them fair and square in the arena and make them regret ever opening their mouths!
Teaming up with her wasn’t a big deal.
After all these years, Wen Jiayin knew Li Youxi wasn’t the type to stab her teammates in the back.
That was good enough.
But Chang’an had always disliked Li Youxi, so whether to let her join was up to her.
Wen Jiayin looked at the person beside her.
“You can come with us, but there have to be some ground rules!” Unexpectedly, Zhi Chang’an agreed right away, but she had conditions.
Li Youxi had always felt guilty about what happened when they were kids, so she treated Zhi Chang’an much better than Wen Jiayin.
“Go ahead.”
“First, you have to discuss any decisions with us.
You can’t just drag us into danger on your own.”
“Fine.” Li Youxi agreed without hesitation.
“Anything we get in the secret realm—if someone gets it alone, it’s theirs.
If we get it together, we split it evenly.”
“Of course.”
“Last thing, this time we follow Jiayin’s plan.
She’s already mapped out the route.
If you want to go anywhere, you have to wait until after Jiayin’s done.”
“I don’t have anywhere I want to go.
Whatever you guys want.” Li Youxi waved her hand, not caring at all.
“Alright, you’re in.”
Their two-person team became three, and the peaceful atmosphere turned noisy.
But even after losing every argument, Li Youxi just got more fired up, making the Nascent Soul elder leading the team glance at them a few times.
Once everyone was there, the elder released the spirit boat and took all the disciples below Golden Core off to the secret realm.
This secret realm had been around a long time, and this opening wasn’t a secret, so it attracted not just disciples from all the big sects, but also a bunch of rogue cultivators.
A huge crowd gathered at the entrance, making for a spectacular scene.
“Jingdao Sect is here.”
“Wow, what a show.”
“No kidding, it’s one of the top three sects.”
“If only I’d gotten into one of the top three back then…” Jealous whispers floated around.
The resources of the top three sects were so tempting that even what slipped through their fingers made the small sects and rogue cultivators drool.
Wen Jiayin and her friends got off with the crowd, already being watched by several pairs of eyes.
If someone really wanted to dig for info, news about Wen Jiayin and her friends wasn’t exactly a secret.
“Oh right, I forgot to tell you something.” After spotting someone especially eye-catching in the crowd, Li Youxi suddenly grabbed Wen Jiayin.
“You’d better be careful.
A lot of people have their eyes on you.”
“Am I some kind of treasure or a spirit stone? Why are people watching me?” Wen Jiayin didn’t get it.
No wonder she’d felt weird since landing, like a bunch of people were staring at her.
So it wasn’t her imagination! She thought she was just being narcissistic!
“Do you know what kind of status your Master has among sword cultivators? As her only disciple, never mind how many people want to take your place—just the ones who want to spar with you, I know there are dozens in the top three sects alone!” Li Youxi couldn’t help but gloat.
“See that really tall guy over there, the one hugging his sword from Shangqing Sect? He’s one of them!”
