“Junior Sister, how did you figure it out?” Lin Shu raised an eyebrow as he asked.
He was a little surprised that Lu Zhiyun was able to notice so quickly that this was a secret realm.
After all, for these kinds of highly elaborate secret realms—where NPCs could act with such freedom—once you entered, it was almost impossible to realize you were in a secret realm. What’s more, Lu Zhiyun was only at the Qi Refining stage, with very little experience in the cultivation world.
Lin Shu himself hadn’t noticed at first that “Qingshan Town” was a secret realm.
It was only because, in his early years, he had often acted as a “secret realm guinea pig” for his junior brothers and sisters; after going through so many, he’d developed a feel for the subtle differences between these places and reality.
Along the way, Lin Shu had carefully observed the town’s entire operation, only then confirming this was a secret realm.
For example, when Lin Shu asked passersby what year it was in the Da Qian era and who the reigning Emperor was, the locals just looked confused and said, “This is the sixty-seventh year of Dashang. The current Emperor is the Golden Shang Immortal Emperor.”
Dashang—destroyed by Da Qian one hundred thousand years ago, a dynasty said to have ended in chaos when its Immortal Emperor vanished and the princes fought for succession, plunging the people into misery until Da Qian overthrew them.
Unless Qingshan Town was plotting a “Restore Shang, Overthrow Qian” scenario, Lin Shu couldn’t imagine why they would call themselves “Shang people.”
There were many such details: for example, the style of everyday bowls and basins was different, as were certain unique written symbols…
When Lu Zhiyun heard Lin Shu’s words, she knew she’d guessed correctly. She breathed a sigh of relief and then said, “Because I found something rather unusual!”
Lin Shu’s eyes lit up.
His junior sister’s powers of observation were truly astonishing; even though she was just a novice in the cultivation world, she could catch the same cracks in the illusion that he did.
Was it true what they said, that former constables really were different?
An idea popped into Lin Shu’s head: he should draft a new “Tianque Sect Recruitment Brochure,” giving bonus points to new disciples who had been constables!
“So, tell us, Junior Sister. What did you notice?” Lin Shu asked with a smile.
Lu Zhiyun nodded, then took a battered bowl from her storage pouch and said, “Senior Brother, this is what I found!”
Lin Shu examined the bowl in her hand. It was bronze, and seemed rather old, with traces of repeated washing—she’d probably used it for food and happened to notice something about it.
“Not bad, not bad! To deduce the era of Qingshan Town from the age of a bowl, and thus dig out the truth that this is a secret realm!”
Lin Shu gave Lu Zhiyun a pat on the shoulder in approval. “Junior Sister! Well done!”
But to his surprise, Lu Zhiyun just looked puzzled.
“Huh? Senior Brother, what do you mean? What about the age?”
“Didn’t you notice that the material and style of the bowl don’t match our Da Qian era, and infer that the timeline of this town is different?” Lin Shu asked.
What’s going on with Junior Sister? Her reaction is different than I expected.
Wasn’t she supposed to go “hee hee” and show a shy “please praise me, Senior Brother” face, and then Lin Shu would give her a gentle head pat to close the scene?
“Uh… Senior Brother, here’s what happened!” Lu Zhiyun said awkwardly.
“At noon, Tong Yao and the others were poisoned by Little Martial Uncle’s cooking, so I wanted to make some Soup Medicine for them to help with the symptoms. I went to the kitchen to look for a bowl.”
She paused. “Then… then I found writing on the bottom of the bowl!”
After she finished speaking, Lu Zhiyun handed the bowl to Lin Shu, who turned it over.
There, on the base, were the words: “Immortal’s Secret Realm, No Trespassers. Disobey and suffer the consequences”!
A code, huh!
What kind of secret realm creator just directly writes a reminder telling people this is a secret realm…
Lin Shu’s mouth twitched several times; he was so exasperated he didn’t even know where to start venting.
He never would have guessed Lu Zhiyun would discover the secret realm like this. This wasn’t right at all!
A true wild advanced secret realm doesn’t go like this!
First you enter, wander around triggering events, then—through keen observation or persistent questioning—gradually infer what’s really happening; or you raise the favorability of some key NPC so that they confide the truth; only then do you complete the quest, clear the realm, and get the reward.
How is this how secret realms are supposed to work!
Lu Zhiyun had just skipped all the plot with this miraculous bowl…
“Ahem! Junior Sister, actually, Senior Brother had about the same idea!” Lin Shu strategically cleared his throat. “This is also one of the signs that something is off!”
“Senior Brother! Does it mean, since it says ‘Immortal’s Secret Realm’ here, that we’re in a realm made by an immortal?” Lu Zhiyun asked.
Only then did Lin Shu notice the words “Immortal’s Secret Realm.”
Immortal… there really weren’t many true immortals known in the world. You could almost count them on your fingers.
The road to immortality was long and arduous. Very few cultivators achieved it; two in one hundred thousand years was already considered impressive.
Aside from the three ancient immortals recorded in history, the three dynasties spanning the last three hundred thousand years had only produced six immortals.
And these immortals were elusive, never to be found by ordinary folk.
So, the question was: which immortal had created this secret realm?
Lin Shu had always thought this was the work of a high-level cultivator, but he hadn’t expected it to be an Immortal’s Secret Realm.
“No idea. It says so, but who knows if it’s really an Immortal’s Secret Realm. Maybe some predecessor was just bragging to scare people.” Lin Shu shrugged.
He’d seen it all before: itinerant cultivators who, with little experience, would invent a technique and claim it was the “Heaven-Defying Immortal Art,” saying it made them unbeatable, only to challenge the Wanfa Immortal Sect and have the sect members reverse-engineer their technique on the spot and demonstrate a stronger version, utterly crushing the creator’s confidence.
Or artifact refiners, wanting to sell at a high price, would give names like “Po Tian Shen Jian,” “Guan Hong Zhi Su,” or “Bu Mie Yue Hua,” but in terms of practicality, they couldn’t even compare to the iron pot Lin Yingxue casually refined…
Situations like these, Lin Shu had seen way too many.
“So, Senior Brother, are we supposed to stay in the secret realm?” Lu Zhiyun asked.
“Of course. Secret realms made by high-level cultivators have great rewards, and this one only allows Qi Refining disciples inside, so there’s no need to worry.”
Lin Shu instructed, “When Wang Zhiya and the others wake up tomorrow, you can all have a meeting to discuss how to clear the secret realm!”
“Okay, Senior Brother!” Lu Zhiyun replied excitedly.
Her greatest fear now was that Lin Shu wouldn’t assign her any tasks—being too distant from him would be no good.
Since he was willing to give her a task, it meant the evil cultivator was still watching her, testing her.
Once the time was right, the evil cultivator would fully trust her and reveal everything!
But just now the evil cultivator said only Qi Refining stage could enter this secret realm, so he’s here too—doesn’t that mean he’s also at Qi Refining stage?
Lu Zhiyun spotted something crucial!
If the evil cultivator really was only at Qi Refining, did that mean she had a chance to defeat him?
The next morning, most of the disciples were feeling much better.
Since beginning his cultivation, Ye Qing had never gotten up so many times at night; he started to worry if his kidneys were weak, and immediately regretted giving Lin Shu that tiger penis.
Wang Zhiya, with dark circles under his eyes, looked exhausted, but his eyes shone, as if he’d just discovered a new path.
Tong Yao quietly pulled over Lu Zhiyun, who was drinking milk, and whispered, “Lu-shimei, I didn’t do anything weird yesterday, did I?”
She had no idea why she’d woken up hiding in a cupboard, nor why she seemed to really enjoy that cramped space.
“No! Tong-shimei!” Lu Zhiyun answered simply.
Tong-shimei???
Tong Yao’s mouth twitched, and her mind went blank for a while.
After everyone had gathered, Lin Shu began to explain the secret realm trial.
“What?! We’re really inside a secret realm!” Wang Zhiya exclaimed.
“Calm down! Lin-shixiong just said the secret realm is low-difficulty and only open to Qi Refining stage!” Ye Qing said, pushing up his glasses.
“So how do we clear it?” Tong Yao asked.
Everyone started discussing ideas enthusiastically. Lin Shu was pleased; after all, he’d once been just like this when he first began cultivating, obsessed with strategizing secret realms.
That’s how it should be: team cooperation, unexpected combinations, achieving “SSS Rating” and clearing the realm!
When the group’s discussion led nowhere, they turned to the silent Lu Zhiyun and asked, “Lu-shimei, what do you think?”
Lu Zhiyun folded her hands under her chin and said slowly, “First, we need to get to know the villagers, understand the daily life in Qingshan Town, and learn the local customs and culture.”
Lin Shu nodded, thinking it made perfect sense—this was exactly how Tianque Sect taught things!
“Next, when a problem arises, we solve it. Don’t run from it, don’t ignore it. Focus on handling the ‘small, subtle, and minute’ issues, and do good things for the villagers!”
Most secret realm tasks were connected to NPCs and wouldn’t be too outrageous—like blowing up the secret realm for no reason.
Everyone, including Lin Shu, agreed with Junior Sister’s analysis!
“And finally, of course, blow up the secret realm! But don’t be hasty about it! You have to blow it up slowly, in an orderly, rhythmic way!”
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