Chen Yuyang’s gaze first fell upon a faint mountain range at the end of the horizon.
“That mountain range might be the boundary between this wasteland and other areas.”
Xuan Ke followed his gaze and nodded.
“I think so too. Although the clan doesn’t allow disciples who have undergone the trial to talk about the secret realm’s situation, I’ve heard a little. This secret realm has five major areas, each with different environments and landscapes.”
“Yeah, let’s go check out the mountain range first.”
With that, Chen Yuyang soared into the air.
Xuan Ke quickly followed, flying alongside him, but couldn’t help asking, “Yuyang, I know that’s another area, but shouldn’t we explore a bit here first? This place doesn’t seem to have many people. Maybe we can find a lot of tokens.”
The focus of the secret realm trial was collecting tokens.
The number of tokens directly determined the final ranking and rewards.
“Don’t rush about the tokens. We have a whole month.”
Chen Yuyang didn’t slow down, his tone calm.
“Rather than collecting tokens, I think it’s more important to first understand the overall situation of this secret realm.”
He paused, glanced at Xuan Ke, and added, “Besides, compared to us collecting tokens ourselves, it’s obviously more efficient to have others collect them for us.”
Hearing this, Xuan Ke subconsciously asked, “Have others collect for us? How?”
But the moment she asked, she realized it was a stupid question, and her cheeks flushed.
Of course others wouldn’t help them collect tokens!
Chen Yuyang’s meaning was clearly to attack others…
Lowering her head, Xuan Ke quickly added, “Alright, I understand what you mean…”
Chen Yuyang didn’t mind the girl’s momentary confusion.
He continued looking into the distance and said, “The rules of this trial doomed everyone from the start to be unable to coexist peacefully. And survival of the fittest is the norm in the Realm of Cultivation.”
“Fighting is inevitable, but we can choose the most efficient means of fighting.”
He then suddenly turned his head, his eyes landing on Xuan Ke’s face, and asked with a smile, “Do you have any good ideas about this?”
Meeting Chen Yuyang’s deep gaze, Xuan Ke was startled.
She understood that Chen Yuyang had probably already made up his mind.
Asking her was just a test to make her think.
Xuan Ke thought seriously, frowning slightly.
She had never really considered this.
The fights she had experienced were mostly sparring matches within the clan, basically one-on-one confrontations.
She really had no clue about this kind of unscrupulous fighting for resources and tokens in a secret realm.
“I… I’m not sure,” Xuan Ke said hesitantly.
“Isn’t it usually just when you meet an enemy, you strike directly?”
Chen Yuyang gently shook his head.
“If you were strong enough to crush any opponent, then you could do that—defeat them head-on, simple and direct.”
“But the reality is that among the participants in this trial, at least one-third are your equals, and no fewer than ten are stronger than you.”
“Ten? That many?”
Xuan Ke couldn’t help frowning and muttering.
She thought her strength was outstanding among the younger generation, but she didn’t expect Chen Yuyang to think there were that many people stronger than her.
Chen Yuyang’s lips curled into a faint smile, but he didn’t explain how he reached that conclusion.
Xuan Ke, though grumbling, understood his meaning.
Having that many strong people meant she couldn’t afford to clash head-on.
“Then… then let’s set traps!” Xuan Ke’s eyes lit up as an idea came.
“We can find a hidden spot, set up traps, and when they show up, catch them off guard!”
But Chen Yuyang immediately retorted, “Do you have any concealment techniques? Do you have any means to set up trap formations?”
Xuan Ke was instantly stumped.
She opened her mouth but couldn’t say a word.
She really had none.
“This won’t work, that won’t work, then what should we do?!”
Xuan Ke was getting annoyed.
Seeing her irritated expression, the young man’s eyes held a hint of amusement.
He said calmly, “We don’t have an absolute advantage in strength. Although we’re cooperating as a pair, don’t forget that others can cooperate too, and might even form larger teams.”
“To avoid defeat, it’s simple: find ways to strengthen our power and weaken others.”
“Don’t forget, in this secret realm trial, the majority are people from your Xuan Clan. Maybe not all of them are willing to cooperate, but that means as the Xuan Clan’s young lady, if you want, you can gather the largest team.”
Xuan Ke nodded in understanding, but then said a little awkwardly, “But… ganging up on others is too dishonorable, isn’t it?”
As the Xuan Clan’s young lady, she still had some pride in her bones.
“The victor is king, the loser is a bandit.”
Chen Yuyang shook his head and said with a sigh, “If you care about honor, then go ahead and challenge others one-on-one, and pray that you only meet one opponent you can defeat, and that after you win, there’s no one waiting to ambush you as the ‘mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’.”
Xuan Ke pressed her lips together and said nothing more.
Chen Yuyang’s words were blunt, but they snapped her to clarity.
Thinking carefully, her ideas were not just naive, but downright foolish.
The secret realm trial was meant to simulate reality, and in reality, there wasn’t so much righteousness and honor.
Only the victor was qualified to talk about all that.
Shaking his head, Chen Yuyang said no more and continued heading toward the mountain range.
Xuan Ke also fell silent, circulating her spiritual power and keeping close beside him.
They traveled swiftly, gradually approaching the continuous mountains.
As they drew nearer, the chill in the air grew heavier.
Suddenly, Xuan Ke felt a blockage in her spiritual power circulation, and then her body, wrapped in spiritual power, involuntarily began to fall.
Although she didn’t fall down, her landing posture was not very dignified.
Almost at the same time, Chen Yuyang also sensed the abnormality in his spiritual power.
Frowning, he didn’t forcibly maintain flight but descended steadily, landing beside Xuan Ke.
“What’s going on? This place… my spiritual power circulation is acting up?”
Xuan Ke frowned, looking around in surprise and muttering.
“This area is no-fly zone,” Chen Yuyang said after closing his eyes and sensing briefly.
“No-fly zone?”
Xuan Ke was dumbfounded for a moment.
“Exactly.”
As he answered, Chen Yuyang’s attention was drawn to something at the foot of the mountain.
At the base, a winding upward path was faintly visible.
At the entrance of the path stood a 10-foot-tall bluestone stele, with some characters engraved on it.
Chen Yuyang walked over, and Xuan Ke quickly followed.
Up close, they could see the full appearance of the stele.
The stele was made of an unknown bluestone, but it didn’t look too old—it had been placed here within the last hundred years or so.
On the stele, several lines of characters were engraved in a very ancient seal script.
Xuan Ke stared at it for a long time but could barely recognize the ancient characters, so she had to ask Chen Yuyang.
“Yuyang, what does it say?”
“There’s a lot of text, but the general meaning is that in this secret realm, the mountains separating the areas cannot be flown over; one can only cross on foot.”
“Additionally, it mentions that there is a high peak at the center of the secret realm, and reaching the top will grant an opportunity and a legacy.”
Xuan Ke finally understood.
“I suppose the peak mentioned is that tallest one over there.”
Chen Yuyang said, his gaze looking eastward, where a majestic peak stood hundreds of miles away, piercing the clouds into the sky.
Looking at it, Chen Yuyang raised an eyebrow and asked Xuan Ke, “Do you want to try to reach the top?”
Xuan Ke’s interest was immediately piqued, her eyes lighting up.
“However, similar steles should be found elsewhere. Others should also discover similar things and challenge that peak.”
Chen Yuyang added with a smile.
“So that means after reaching the top, we might have to fight for the opportunity.”
Xuan Ke narrowed her eyes thoughtfully.
“Exactly.”
Xuan Ke, who had been expectant, now hesitated.
If they set off now, they might encounter others, and a big fight would be inevitable.
But if they went too late, the opportunity would fall into someone else’s hands.
And looking at Chen Yuyang, he was clearly letting her make the decision.
She bit her lip.
Xuan Ke was unsure how to decide.
Her goal was to collect as many tokens as possible and get a good ranking.
On that basis, the gains from defeating others were not high, especially now at the start of the trial—fighting was high risk, low reward…
Thinking this, Xuan Ke made a decision.
“I’m not going!”
“The opportunity is good, but the risk is too great.”
Compared to the opportunity, Xuan Ke cared more about the final ranking.
Therefore, she shouldn’t do something with little gain now.
However, Chen Yuyang shook his head.
“We have to go.”
“Why? Since we don’t have absolute certainty, going for this opportunity will most likely get us eliminated at the start. Unless you’re absolutely confident in your strength?” Xuan Ke asked in confusion.
“I’m going not for the opportunity, but to strengthen our power, as I said before. Since a crowd is bound to gather there to compete, there will definitely be many from your Xuan Clan, or people I know.”
“We are two now, but after going there, we might leave with a team of five or ten.”
“Each major clan and sect has between ten and twenty slots. The largest alliance they can form is only that many.”
“In other words, if we have a team of around ten, then no matter what opponent or opportunity we face, we’ll have the qualification to try and take it on.”