Lin Xue arrived at the wheat fields near the village.
She wanted to find someone to ask about her location and see where she had been teleported.
Since a group of eight lively, beautiful girls traveling together would be far too eye-catching, she had Hong Yanzhi and the others wait in the forest while she went alone to seek information.
In the scattered wheat fields, villagers were working hard at their farming.
Lin Xue picked out an old man who looked the most honest and simple, then walked toward him.
The old man was focusing on hoeing the ground when he suddenly smelled a fragrant breeze.
The sound of light footsteps approached him. He looked up and saw a girl standing before him.
She was charming, elegant, and incredibly beautiful—like a celestial lady from the heavens—smiling at him.
The old man had lived most of his life, yet he had never seen such a beautiful girl.
He immediately became bashful, his hands and feet fidgeting as he struggled to find a place to put them.
Lin Xue spoke, “Old sir, sorry to disturb you. I’d like to ask you about something, if I may?”
Her breath was as sweet as orchids. The old man’s face turned bright red, and he nodded repeatedly.
“Sure, sure. Go ahead and ask.”
After a brief conversation, Lin Xue received a piece of information that left her both surprised and delighted.
This was a small village under the jurisdiction of Chunjiang County, called Lishan Village.
Chunjiang County was a small county town governed by Yecheng Prefecture.
Just a few hundred miles northwest of Yecheng Prefecture was a great mountain called Meishan.
They were already near Meishan.
……
Lin Xue returned to the forest.
Hong Yanzhi and the others immediately gathered around her, asking all at once, “Sister Xue’er, did you find anything out?”
“Where are we? Is it far from our Xixia Mountain?”
Lin Xue suppressed the excitement in her heart and told them the news she had gathered.
Upon learning that they were only a few hundred miles from Meishan, Hong Yanzhi’s eyes instantly lit up as well.
Their original plan had been to return to Xixia Mountain first to reorganize and recover.
Afterward, Lin Xue and Hong Yanzhi would head out to find the Meishan Secret Realm to obtain the Demon King Legacy inside.
Since they were already near Meishan, they would naturally go and claim the legacy first.
When Hua Yingying and the others heard that Lin Xue might advance to the Demon King Realm, they were all extremely excited.
Lin Xue was their Master; they were all one entity. If Lin Xue became powerful, they would share in that glory.
The girls unanimously agreed to change the plan.
They would head to Meishan first! Once Lin Xue ascended to a Demon King, they would return to Xixia Mountain.
……
As Grand Demons, a journey of a few hundred miles was only a matter of 2 or 3 hours.
Lin Xue and her group avoided human towns, flying as high as possible in the sky to avoid being spotted.
Because of this, they took a slightly longer route. 3 hours later, the girls arrived before a mountain range.
By this time, the sky had grown dark, and a bright moon hung in the air.
Standing before Lin Xue was a magnificent mountain, at least 1,000 meters high.
This was the former territory of the Fox Tribe—Meishan.
Although Hong Yanzhi’s ancestors were from the Fox Tribe, this was her first time here.
When the Demon-Slaying Bureau attacked Meishan years ago, her Great-Grandmother had fallen in the Meishan Secret Realm, and only her Grandmother had managed to escape.
200 years had passed. The former residence of the Fox Tribe on Meishan was now a desolate wasteland.
Ruined walls and broken pillars were everywhere, overgrown with vegetation and occupied by various wild beasts.
The Meishan Secret Realm was a secret base belonging to the Meishan Fox Tribe.
Only members of that tribe could find its location and open it.
Although Hong Yanzhi was a Cat Demon, she possessed the Fox Tribe bloodline.
She began to search for the entrance using the method her mother had taught her when she was a child.
She reached out and pricked a small wound on her finger.
A drop of blood emerged, floating in the air and shifting into irregular shapes.
Hong Yanzhi silently circulated the cultivation technique her mother had taught her.
Soon, that drop of blood transformed into a small red arrow, its tip pointing in a specific direction.
Hong Yanzhi flew toward that direction, with Lin Xue and the others following closely behind.
After flying for a while, she stopped and observed the blood arrow again.
She adjusted her direction and continued.
After repeating this process several times and adjusting her course, Hong Yanzhi finally stopped.
“This is the place,” she said, looking around.
Lin Xue and the other girls looked at their surroundings curiously.
This place looked completely ordinary, with nothing unusual about it.
Hong Yanzhi explained, “The location of the Secret Realm isn’t fixed. It’s here this time, but it might be somewhere else next time. It can only be found by someone with the Meishan Fox Tribe bloodline.”
Then, she began preparing to open the Secret Realm.
Hong Yanzhi reviewed the method her mother had taught her once more, then pulled a Moonlight Stone from her storage.
She crushed the stone into powder with her strength, divided it evenly into four portions, and scattered them on the ground toward the north, south, east, and west.
Next, she used a sharp blade to cut her wrist, letting her blood drip onto the four piles of Moonlight Stone powder.
The moonlight spilled down silently. Lin Xue felt a faint surge of Lingqi around them.
She saw a small teleportation gate beginning to take shape.
‘The door is really opening!’
However, the teleportation gate was extremely small.
Lin Xue could barely fit an arm through it.
Seeing this, Hong Yanzhi squeezed her wound, splashing more of her blood onto the powder in the four directions.
The gate grew a bit larger, but it still wasn’t big enough for a person to crawl through.
Hong Yanzhi looked a bit embarrassed.
She bit her lip and said, “Maybe it’s because my bloodline isn’t pure enough, so the effect isn’t great. Sister Xue’er, wait a little longer.”
She took her blade and cut a larger wound on her wrist.
A large amount of blood gushed out instantly.
Hong Yanzhi dripped the blood onto the four piles of powder once more.
The teleportation gate grew larger at a visible rate.
Meanwhile, Hong Yanzhi’s face became pale due to the blood loss.
Lin Xue looked at the startling wound on her wrist with heartache and said, “Is this really necessary? If it doesn’t work, don’t open it. I have an Obsidian Secret Realm Key here; we can try to see if it can open this realm. If it works, you won’t have to suffer like this.”
Hong Yanzhi shook her head. “No, the opening of a Secret Realm gate must be done in one go. If it fails this time, we have to wait a month to try again. Since I’ve already started, I must see it through to the end.”
She persisted, continuing to splash her blood onto the four piles of Moonlight Stone powder.
Finally, the teleportation gate opened to a medium size, just enough for one person to enter.
Hong Yanzhi let out a long sigh of relief and said weakly, “Sister Xue’er, you should be able to go in now.”
Lin Xue gave her a pained hug. “Alright, I’m going in. When I come out, I’ll heal your wound.”
The Meishan Secret Realm could only be entered by those at the Core Condensation Middle Stage or higher.
Hong Yanzhi and the others were only at Early Core Condensation, so they couldn’t enter and had to stand guard outside.
Lin Xue had to go in alone. She bent down and crawled through the gate.
As soon as she entered, she was met with a blinding flash of light.
She looked up and saw that she was standing on the edge of a small lake.
The lake was filled with wide lotus leaves. In the very center was a giant lotus flower.
A dazzling ball of light hovered over that lotus, glowing like a miniature sun.
It radiated an intense light that made the entire Secret Realm as bright as day.
Hong Yanzhi had previously described what the Secret Realm looked like in detail.
Lin Xue knew that this ball of light was the Demon King Legacy of the Meishan Fox Tribe.
Whenever a Clan Head of the Meishan Fox Tribe felt their end was near, they would come to this Secret Realm, extract their entire cultivation from their body, and place it upon the giant lotus in the center of the lake.
Then, they would sit on the surrounding lotus leaves and pass away in peace.
After the next Clan Head was chosen through competition, they would enter the realm, go to the center of the lake, and take the cultivation of the previous leader.
By drawing it into their own body, they could immediately ascend to the Demon King Realm on the spot.
Lin Xue only needed to walk over, take the brilliant ball of light from the lotus, and absorb it into her body.
Then, she would become a Demon King, a powerhouse equivalent to a human Golden Core Cultivator.
Lin Xue’s heart raced with excitement.
Although she had the Beast Refinement Codex and could consume Serpent Cores to increase her cultivation and eventually reach the Demon King Realm, doing so would require her to face the Lightning Tribulation head-on.
When she advanced to a Grand Demon last time, she had already reached Foundation Establishment, so her body was already at the strength of a Grand Demon.
That was why she had survived the tribulation easily.
If she were to advance to a Demon King now, she wasn’t a Golden Core Cultivator; who could guarantee she would survive the Lightning Tribulation?
However, the Demon King Legacy of the Meishan Fox Tribe allowed one to level up directly without facing a tribulation.
Since she could easily become a Demon King, Lin Xue was more than willing.
With a free Demon King rank sitting there, why would anyone bother with the System’s arduous process of adding points?
Since flying was impossible within the Secret Realm, Lin Xue had to walk.
She stepped onto the lotus leaves on the lake’s surface and headed toward the center.
The lotus leaves were very sturdy, easily supporting the weight of a person.
Lin Xue had only taken a few steps when she suddenly smelled the scent of decay.
She saw the withered corpses of the past Meishan Fox Tribe Clan Heads sitting on the lotus leaves.
These mummified remains actually began to move.
One by one, they opened their eyes and looked at Lin Xue.