“We have less than seven hours,” Yun Heng said in a heavy voice after the demon inspection team had disappeared into the distance. “In seven hours, we either emerge from the hidden realm, or we die inside.”
This was, of course, a lie intended to scare her, but it was super effective against Jiang Keke.
“W… what happened?”
The little attendant, who had been checking if they had missed any luggage, shuddered where she stood.
She turned around to see if Yun Heng was joking, only to find him pulling out his brush again and beginning to draw runes in the air.
“Although our mood was dampened by those people, the ‘treasure gathering’ must still proceed,” Yun Heng said softly.
Firing on all cylinders, he struck twelve consecutive runes onto the formation he had previously drawn.
Even though the spiritual qi in his body was thin, it did not hinder his powerful mental strength. This was exactly why many formation and talisman cultivators could defeat opponents at higher levels.
Furthermore, Yun Heng was a person of great fortune.
His mental strength had been abnormal since birth — commonly known as a ‘cheater’ — otherwise, he would not have been used as a sacrifice by Ling Yao to ascend to immortality, nor would he have been able to enter an ‘insight’ state so easily earlier.
“N… no way, Young Master.”
Jiang Keke rubbed her eyes and stared. Then she rubbed them again, stared a second time, a third time, a fourth…
“Was that frail, sickly act you just put on a fake?” Jiang Keke finally questioned him in disbelief.
“My cultivation deviation was real, and my low cultivation base is real, but I’m actually not as weak as you think.”
Tucking away his brush, Yun Heng stretched and walked over to the little attendant, pointing at the luggage.
“That being said, I still can’t carry that mountain of bags. You’ll have to continue acting as the manual labor.”
“Young Master!”
Jiang Keke’s eyes twitched for a long time. Then, she suddenly leaned in and sniffed around his body with her small nose.
“Are you a dog?” Yun Heng asked, speechless. “Even if you were a dog, what could you smell other than the sweat on me?”
Jiang Keke pulled her head back and rubbed her chin, mimicking Yun Heng’s habit. “Your tongue is so sharp; you really are the Yun Heng I know.”
Yun Heng couldn’t help but laugh. “What, did you think I was possessed?”
“I am ten… no, twelve percent suspicious.”
Jiang Keke nodded seriously before making an exaggerated gesture. “Because you’ve never shown such impressive strength before!” However, she quickly shook her head.
“No, theoretically speaking, it’s normal for you to know these things. After all, you are the Eldest Young Master of the Yun family. Staying in the Qi refining stage for five or six years is what was actually abnormal!”
“The Eldest Young Master of the Yun family, huh…”
Yun Heng chewed on that familiar yet foreign title, tilting his head slightly to look toward the southeast. ‘It really has been a long time since I heard someone call me that.’
Retracting his gaze, Yun Heng patted the little attendant’s head. “Don’t worry. Even 10,000 years from now, it’s impossible for anyone to possess me.”
As a person of great fortune, Yun Heng had actually been in a state of being “watched” since he was a child. Countless fallen immortal kings and experts watched him like hawks.
In his past life, whenever Yun Heng was on the verge of death, several strands of divine sense would invariably invade his sea of consciousness and cackle like villains.
Later on, Yun Heng became numb to it. He simply stopped caring about those who wanted to possess him. Since their mental strength could never be stronger than his, they would usually dissipate into nothingness after jumping around for a while.
“It’s okay, Young Master.”
Just as Yun Heng was recalling the unsightly behavior of those clowns from his past life, Jiang Keke suddenly stood on her tiptoes to pinch his face.
She said very seriously, “If the day ever comes where you’re actually possessed, I promise to use my wolf-tooth club to knock them right out of your head!”
Yun Heng snapped back to reality only to find a wolf-tooth club resting by Jiang Keke’s feet. Judging by how it was still rolling on the ground, she must have just dropped it…
“Then… I really appreciate the hard work.”
Yun Heng’s face twitched. He was suddenly very glad he hadn’t been stupid enough to say anything about being reborn, or Jiang Keke’s wolf-tooth club might have already made contact with his skull.
It was true that his mental strength was high, but his cultivation and physical constitution were genuinely weak. This situation would likely persist until he reached the integration stage.
Finally, at that moment, the barrier ripples Yun Heng had created with his talismans began to undulate. A deep red glow covered the two of them, accompanied by flickering golden starlight that felt oddly cozy.
“This is my first time seeing a hidden realm…”
Jiang Keke’s eyes lit up. Finding the magical natural change incredibly novel, she began looking around wildly. “Hey, Young Master, do you think the inside is full of traps and opportunities like they describe in storybooks?”
“We are here for treasure gathering. Since our goal is only to take items, we shouldn’t run into many traps.”
Yun Heng gave a thin smile. Once Jiang Keke finished packing the luggage, he led the expectant girl into the triple combination formation.
***
Six hours later.
A man and a woman carrying various bags arrived at a small town at the foot of Mochou mountain.
The man was dressed like a scholar and had a relaxed expression. Every movement he made carried an elegant, refined aura.
The girl was petite and cute, but unfortunately, she looked dazed, giving off the impression that she wasn’t very bright.
What made people frown most was that even though the girl clearly looked like the weaker of the two, she was the one burdened with all the luggage, looking very much like a hard-pressed servant.
Unfortunately, the cultivation world had always been strictly hierarchical, and everyone was categorized into various grades and ranks early on.
Even if a few kind-hearted souls felt the man’s behavior was improper, they didn’t dare to point it or criticize him, fearing they might bring disaster upon themselves.
“I still can’t believe it…”
Jiang Keke followed behind Yun Heng in a daze, her eyes glassy. “A hidden realm… was just that?”
“What else did you expect?”
Yun Heng walked leisurely under the sunlight.
Although he and Jiang Keke were only in the Qi refining stage and had not yet reached inedia, the luggage contained countless spiritual pills and medicines that could restore their energy.
Even without meditating, they could stay up for several nights in a row.
Perhaps it was because they had these pills as a safety net that even the initially disciplined Jiang Keke had been led astray by Yun Heng and rarely sat down to cultivate anymore.
‘Wealth really does make people lazy,’ Yun Heng lamented to himself.
“…That’s not how it’s written in the storybooks at all! I was supposed to see a grand mountain gate, then the road should have been filled with various traps, pitfalls, and the occasional guardian beast.”
“Then, I would discover an ancient legacy in some mysterious cave, find a peerless treasure in the depths of the hidden realm, and you would be trapped in a formation for some reason while I risked my life to get the treasure, causing my cultivation to skyrocket through three stages, and then we…”
“Forget it! Why did that hidden realm teleport us directly into an empty room?! The storybooks weren’t like that! I won’t accept this!!!”
Jiang Keke’s sudden roar almost shattered Yun Heng’s eardrums.
Yun Heng replied, “Wasn’t it enough that we got the items…”
Before he could finish, Jiang Keke retorted righteously, “What do you mean ‘enough’? That hidden realm was so lazy! No, no way, I won’t acknowledge that as a hidden realm!!!”
Jiang Keke couldn’t vent her anger, so she settled for kicking the pebbles under her feet while muttering to herself.
“I even polished my wolf-tooth club, but I ended up acting as a storage bag just like I do outside. Forget showing off my skills, I didn’t even see a decent monster… This isn’t what was promised!”
The weak, pitiful, and helpless little attendant had her dreams crushed today.
Much like a child who refuses to admit Santa Claus isn’t real even after being told the truth, Jiang Keke refused to admit that this was the “hidden realm” she had fantasized about for the first half of her life.
“But Young Master, I’m never believing your lies about there ‘not being many traps’ again. That fire-breathing trap almost roasted me!”
Having finally found something she could use as a conversation piece, Jiang Keke hopped excitedly in front of Yun Heng, trying to chat about her “review” of the experience.
“Oh, that. I forgot to mention it, but that thing was afraid of water. You could have solved it just by taking a leak on it.”
“Aaaahhhh!!! Young Master, you’re a big jerk! Stop destroying my beautiful fantasies of hidden realms, waaaaaah!!!”