“Look, it’s an immortal!”
Above No Life Town, several cultivators appeared, flying through the air.
They were the advance scouting team.
This usually peaceful little town rarely saw outsiders, let alone so many flying cultivators.
Men, women, the elderly, and children all stepped out of their homes, looking up.
Some of the bolder ones even followed, heading toward the Stone Gate.
Lin An didn’t go.
First, because Aunt Yan wouldn’t let him.
Second, he knew more than most.
That door was definitely a trap set by the Demonic Path—one that the Righteous Path had no choice but to step into.
“Aunt Yan, have any unfamiliar faces come to town recently?”
In the room, Yu Zhiyan took out the colored threads and sorted them.
Lin An helped on the side.
The little black cat lay on the table, its round eyes fixed on them.
“No, I haven’t seen any.”
Yu Zhiyan’s expression was calm.
She pointed at a spindle on the shelf.
“Hand me that.”
Lin An walked over, picked it up, and passed it to her.
“I see.”
Back when Lin An lived at home, the two of them often did this.
Yu Zhiyan would sit and embroider while Lin An helped out.
The scene was always perfectly harmonious.
But today, the atmosphere seemed a little different.
“An’er, do you still want to go?”
Lin An opened his mouth but said nothing.
He lowered his head slightly, which was as good as an admission.
He did want to go take a look.
Even though he knew he couldn’t help much even if he went, he just couldn’t put his mind at ease.
As for what exactly he was worried about, he hadn’t figured it out himself.
Lin An’s silence stirred something in Yu Zhiyan’s heart.
She bit her lip.
“An’er, you’ve finally come home for a visit. Can’t you stay and keep Aunt Yan company for a while? I’m just a simple woman, I don’t understand much. If you have to go for work… then Aunt Yan will wait for you at home.”
There was nothing wrong with that statement.
It fit Lin An’s impression of Aunt Yan.
But at the same time, he heard the faint, barely hidden resentment in her tone.
Like a child who had been away from home for years finally returning, only to keep running out again.
Anyone would feel a bit dissatisfied.
Naturally, Lin An couldn’t bear to let his Aunt Yan feel sad.
He sat down beside her and smiled.
“I’m not going. I’ll stay home with you, okay?”
The beautiful woman pursed her lips and gave him a reproachful look.
“Is An’er coaxing a little kid? Aunt Yan is serious. If you want to go, then go.”
Lin An shook his head with a helpless smile.
“No, no, how could I? Really, I’m not going. Aunt Yan, what do you want for lunch? I’ll cook for you.”
In all the years they had lived together, Lin An had never seen Yu Zhiyan lose her temper or get red in the face.
At most, she acted like this.
Like a child who hadn’t gotten candy, deliberately saying the opposite and making a fuss.
Even though she was long past that age, it was still unexpectedly cute.
That was just too much of a cheat.
“Hmph…”
Yu Zhiyan shot him a glare, then poked his forehead with her fingertip.
“Naughty An’er, you always treat me like a child. Then I’ll punish you by making a whole table of dishes—none of them the same.”
“Fine, fine.”
Lin An walked behind Yu Zhiyan and began massaging her shoulders.
On the face Lin An couldn’t see, Yu Zhiyan’s cheeks flushed slightly.
She bit her lower lip gently, her eyes full of tenderness.
An’er’s hands are so big, so broad, so hard…
The little black cat on the side was stunned.
It was a true monster of the Demon Race, most sensitive to changes in aura.
Just for a moment there, this great demon’s aura had fluctuated violently.
Too terrifying…
And yet, this man had actually tamed her.
Even more terrifying!
Master, the outside world is so dangerous.
I want to go home…
A pitiful little cat, toyed with by a powerful spider and an oblivious man, right in the palms of their hands.
—
Inside the encampment of the Yuming Sect.
By the time the representatives from various sects arrived, many people were already standing in the courtyard.
Members of the Canglong Academy, the Azure Cloud Sect, the Sunset Valley Sect, the Mystic Heaven Sect, and several small sect representatives were all crammed into the middle of the yard, waiting for Ling Cang’s divination results.
After a long while, she came out of the room, a trace of exhaustion on her face.
“Sect Master Ling, is that Secret Realm real or fake?”
“Can you see what’s inside?”
“Is it fortune or misfortune?”
The representatives all asked at once.
Ling Cang raised her hand, silencing everyone.
“The Secret Realm is real, but I can’t tell you what’s inside.”
“Why not?”
“Because someone has tampered with it.”
Ling Cang frowned slightly.
A trace of an indescribable emotion crept into her voice—half anger, half helplessness.
“I saw different results.”
The crowd exchanged glances.
“What do you mean?”
The representative from Canglong Academy, an old man with graying hair and beard, spoke up.
“Sect Master Ling, please explain clearly.”
“I looked three times. The first time, the Secret Realm had everything—techniques, pills, artifacts, scattered everywhere. The second time, it had nothing—empty, just barren land. The third time, it was full of traps. No one who entered would come out alive.”
Her gaze swept across the varied expressions on everyone’s faces.
“Three times, three completely different outcomes. Someone has cast a Time Curse on the Secret Realm, disrupting my observation. Every time I look at it, it presents a different state.”
For a moment, the courtyard fell silent.
“Time Curse?”
The Azure Cloud Sect’s representative, a refined-looking man, furrowed his brow.
“Isn’t that secret art long lost?”
“Lost doesn’t mean it can’t reappear. And right now, it’s been applied to that Secret Realm.”
Lu Mingyue stood at the back of the crowd, leaning against the doorframe, expressionless.
Since entering, she hadn’t said a single word or asked a single question.
She didn’t seem to be participating, more like an observer.
The sect representatives asked a few more questions, and Ling Cang answered them all, but the answers were mostly “I don’t know,” “Can’t tell,” and “Not sure.”
The only somewhat constructive suggestion was that the symbols on the door needed to be deciphered quickly—it was critical.
In the end, the crowd gave up pressing further.
The old man from Canglong Academy spoke up.
“Regardless, the Secret Realm is there. We can’t just ignore it. The Demonic Path will definitely send people in. We need to beat them to it.”
The others nodded in agreement.
“Disciples below the Spiritual Martial Realm can participate. Each sect picks their own people.”
“Speed up the translation of the rules. How many have we decoded so far? The disciples who go in must memorize them.”
The discussion went on for an hour.
The sect representatives gradually dispersed, heading back to select their disciples for the Secret Realm.
The courtyard slowly emptied, but Lu Mingyue still stood by the doorframe, not leaving.
Ling Cang glanced at her, turned, and went back inside to sit down.
“Aren’t you leaving yet?”
“Is there something else you haven’t told us?”
Lu Mingyue sat down across from her, looking into her eyes.
Ling Cang hesitated for a moment.
“Actually, I did see some things.”
“What? Why didn’t you say so just now?”
“Because only you can deal with her. Anyone else who goes would just be cannon fodder.”
Ling Cang raised her hand and drew a water mirror in the air.
Lu Mingyue leaned in to look.
“This is?”
“Spider silk.”
Lu Mingyue was silent for a rare moment, thinking.
“You’re saying she’s in No Life Town?”
Ling Cang curled the corner of her mouth.
“You can think even bigger. Maybe the Demonic Path found her, and they’ve already joined forces.”
“You couldn’t have misjudged? If the Demon Race gets involved, that’s a completely different situation.”
Seeing Lu Mingyue’s reaction, Ling Cang looked as if she had discovered something new.
“I never would have guessed. Our great Pavilion Master Lu actually cares about this? Afraid of war?”
“How sure are you?”
Lu Mingyue sidestepped the question.
“Ninety percent.”
“And the remaining ten percent?”
“Heh.”
Ling Cang looked at the sky and let out a soft laugh.
“The remaining ten percent… even I can’t see clearly. In the end, I am only an observer of Fate, not its maker.”
Lu Mingyue didn’t say another word.
She stood up and walked out.
Only after her figure disappeared did Ling Cang drop her profound demeanor.
The color quickly drained from her face, and a trace of blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
“Time Curse… how could anyone still know that art? We should have killed them all back then, right? Cough, cough…”
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