The four of them spent three uneventful hours.
Although the fire poison miasma was the third barrier, under Yun Heng’s meticulously prepared plan in advance, it was clearly countless times easier than the other two.
“Everyone, thank you for your hard work.”
After passing through the miasma, Yun Heng finally slowly opened his eyes.
A trace of gray mist still lingered in the depths of his eyes, but his complexion was much better than three hours ago.
Getting down from Jiang Keke’s back, Yun Heng smiled and patted her head, then swept his gaze around the surroundings.
The vitality wasn’t exactly overflowing, but the scenery before his eyes was slowly beginning to overlap with the landscape from his memories of his past life. “I’ll take the lead from here.”
Yun Heng put away his flying artifact, lit a traction talisman, and then led the three women towards the location where the hidden realm opened in his memory.
Different from Cuiwei Village before, the array Yun Heng planned to use to open the hidden realm early this time was far less advanced than the one back then.
It was simply a basic four-tier array. The main point was that it wouldn’t drain him much, facilitating a series of subsequent actions.
However, when Yun Heng followed the traction talisman to the designated location, he froze.
There was someone here?
It wasn’t just him; Wang Hongqiao and Jiang Keke were also stunned.
And it’s a Foundation Establishment cultivator???
The two women couldn’t help but glance sideways at Yun Heng.
A Xiang aside, she had no frame of reference for this.
But in the other two’s understanding, besides a freak like Yun Heng with endless resources and methods, there shouldn’t be another Foundation Establishment cultivator in the world capable of passing the first two barriers of Mount Anqiu…
Yet, when Jiang Keke saw the sudden surge of excitement rising in Yun Heng’s eyes, she was so startled she nearly jumped—
Wait, Young Master, you’re actually capable of showing such intense joy? How come I’ve never seen it before!?
“Brother Wuhen!?”
Yun Heng hurried forward. Although his tone held a hint of uncertainty, the poorly concealed excitement fully exposed his inner feelings. It can’t be wrong!
The only person in the lower three continents who would be surrounded by that unique, one-of-a-kind bamboo wine fragrance in the whole world is my sworn brother, Yue Wuhen!
Although Yun Heng hadn’t yet figured out why his sworn brother’s back looked so slender and frail, he had just experienced a major battle, still had a bit of fire poison lingering in his mind, and his emotions were fluctuating wildly. For the moment, he didn’t dwell on it.
But the next second, the smile froze on Yun Heng’s face.
“… Fellow Daoist Yun, you’ve mistaken me for someone else again.”
Lin Xiaoyue put down the spirit pen she was using to draw the array, turned around, and offered Yun Heng a polite smile.
“Uh… My apologies.”
Yun Heng withdrew his hand, somewhat sheepishly rubbing his nose.
A lot had happened these past few days; he had forgotten there was also a Lin Xiaoyue—his sworn brother’s white moonlight—who shared a similar scent to Yue Wuhen.
“No matter.”
Lin Xiaoyue waved her hand, then pointed at the half-drawn array on the ground. “Meeting is fate. Fellow Daoist Yun, since we have met here, I suppose our objectives must be the same.”
Yun Heng followed her finger and saw that the array Lin Xiaoyue was using was actually exactly the same as the one he had in mind.
“With my strength, after passing the first three barriers, my spiritual energy is actually nearly depleted. And after entering the hidden realm, I’m afraid I’ll encounter many unforeseen dangers.”
“Therefore, I chose to use this relatively basic four-tier array to open the hidden realm early, so as to preserve my strength to the greatest extent.”
Lin Xiaoyue said softly.
With every word she spoke, and every word Yun Heng heard, he felt as if Yue Wuhen was standing before him.
Yun Heng still remembered the first time he met his sworn brother.
Back then, the two of them had also temporarily formed an alliance to enter a certain hidden realm.
However, during their time together, they unexpectedly discovered that not only were their deduction speeds identical and their problem-solving approaches mirror images, but their knowledge bases also overlapped and could fill in each other’s blind spots.
So, they hit it off immediately, becoming sworn brothers on the spot, vowing to be of one heart in this life and walk the Great Dao together.
Fellow Daoist Yun, Fellow Daoist Yun, Fellow Daoist Yun?”
Lin Xiaoyue’s calls pulled Yun Heng back from the distant memories.
“Uh… Sorry.”
Yun Heng apologized again, “What did you just say?”
“Oh, Fellow Daoist Yun, it’s like this. I just said that while I was setting up the array, I noticed the hidden realm entrance seems to be sealed by some kind of ancient array.”
“And because this ancient array is so old, it has actually been nourished by spiritual energy and baleful energy, giving rise to a variant. If we only use the four-tier array I’m preparing now, I’m afraid even if we find it, it will be very difficult to enter directly.”
Lin Xiaoyue didn’t seem to mind Yun Heng’s lapse, smiling as she repeated, “And since our objectives are the same, coupled with your outstanding performance in the previous assessment evaluation, Fellow Daoist Yun, this humble woman ventures to ask for your advice. What are your thoughts on this ancient array?”
“Advice is too strong a word.”
Yun Heng waved his hand, squatted down, took out a small array flag from his storage bag, and followed the train of thought Lin Xiaoyue had already completed. He quickly discovered the ancient seal she mentioned.
In his past life when Yun Heng came here, his array mastery wasn’t as high as it is now, so he had waited until the hidden realm opened naturally to enter. In other words, he hadn’t known before that this hidden realm entrance had an array seal.
“It looks a bit like…”
Yun Heng murmured. Before he could finish, Lin Xiaoyue picked up the thread, “Nine-Curve Interlocking Array.”
Yun Heng was slightly taken aback, looking at Lin Xiaoyue, who had also squatted down but was on the other half of the array.
Although her posture and movements were still as quiet and refined as when he saw her at the demon inspection department, the eager anticipation flashing in her eyes and her burning obsession with the ancient array still betrayed the unrest in her heart.
Truly worthy of being Brother Wuhen’s white moonlight… they really are alike.
“…I think we can cooperate.”
Yun Heng gathered his thoughts and spoke first, “Three inches at the Qian position. Try outputting thirty percent of your spiritual power, sustain it for ten breaths, use the ‘Retrograde Method’ for deduction. If it doesn’t work, then…”
Just as Lin Xiaoyue said, their goals were the same. If that’s the case, why not try cooperating?
Lin Xiaoyue didn’t ask how Yun Heng made his judgment, simply followed the instructions.
But halfway through, she spoke up, “There are hidden gates at the Dui and Kan positions. They need to be slowly infused with wood and water attribute spiritual energy respectively. I can handle the Kan position.”
Yun Heng nodded. He had also discovered the hidden gates of this ancient array. Coincidentally, Yun Heng’s spiritual root attribute was wood.
While wielding his brush, Yun Heng felt the water attribute spiritual energy belonging to Lin Xiaoyue within the array, dismissing for the second time the thought that she might be Yue Wuhen disguised as a woman.
Yue Wuhen possessed supremely yang, supremely rigid fire attribute spiritual energy, without a trace of water; while Lin Xiaoyue was the exact opposite—supremely yin, supremely soft, unable to tolerate even a spark of fire.
One has to say, these two… are simply a perfect match!
“Fellow Daoist Lin, here…”
“Fellow Daoist Yun, this place…”
The two of them, one on the left, one on the right, sometimes seriously drawing the array, sometimes closing their eyes in deep thought, as if they had completely forgotten this was demon territory, where demons could ambush them from behind at any moment.
As for Jiang Keke and the others on the other side, ever since the first sentence of the duo’s conversation, they had no idea what they were talking about…
Jiang Keke looked left and right, always feeling something was a bit strange, but couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
She had been by Yun Heng’s side all these years and had seen far too many interactions between the Young Master and various female cultivators, but none were as harmonious as the one before her eyes.
It was as if water and milk blended seamlessly, perfectly synchronized even without knowing much about each other’s pasts…
Thinking of this, Jiang Keke suddenly sighed.
It seems Miss Su’s path to the marriage alliance with the Young Master has encountered another huge, difficult hurdle… although neither of them seems to particularly like this engagement.
Far away in the upper three provinces, practicing her sword, Su Zhenxue suddenly felt that strange, prickly feeling in her heart again.
A few hours ago, she had felt this sensation, and now it suddenly came again…
Have I made some enemy outside recently? Why does it feel like many people are secretly cursing me behind my back today…
Miss Su expressed great confusion about this.