Chapter 45

Before Shiwai Tower’s Yunwai Flying Boat had even landed on the Cloud-Ascent Platform, the news had already spread throughout Yunwu City.

Yunwu City’s Cloud-Ascent Platform had not been this lively in a thousand years. It was surrounded inside and out by people, all raising their heads as they waited for that white jade tower in the sky to descend to the mortal world.

But after the woman in snow-white stepped out of the white jade tower, all clamor abruptly stopped. Many people first saw a pair of calm eyes, then lowered their heads in shame, no longer daring to look.

Cheng Xuanduan stroked his long beard and sighed inwardly. Shiwai Tower was still Shiwai Tower, after all.

Although Xuanyu Immortal Sect was honored as the number one sect of the immortal path, its position in the cultivation world still could not compare to Shiwai Tower.

Cheng Xuanduan only sighed, but there was no real resentment in his heart. Shiwai Tower’s transcendent status had been maintained for several thousand years, and everyone in the cultivation world had long since grown used to it. Even when Cheng Xuanduan was young, he had yearned for Shiwai Tower.

And now, this master of Shiwai Tower, whose age did not even reach his own, truly made him admire and envy her.

As he was thinking, Cheng Yuanduan had already gone forward to greet them.

The one walking at the very front was naturally the master of Shiwai Tower, Jun Yu. She wore plain clothes, and her face was covered by a veil. She was like the bright moon, clear and radiant, yet did not appear cold or distant. The gentle smile in her eyes made people unable to help feeling close to her.

Beside Jun Yu followed a girl of seventeen or eighteen. She was also dressed in white, but the inner sides of her wide sleeves were embroidered with fine golden patterns. The other Shiwai Tower disciples were dressed exactly the same as her. The girl held a longsword, her expression solemn, strictly keeping two steps behind Jun Yu.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Cheng Xuanduan led the people of Shiwai Tower toward the square. On the way, Cheng Xuanduan asked, “Why do I not see Miss Yuanwu this time?”

Shiwai Tower was not completely hidden from the world, nor was it entirely cut off from it. There were actually many exchanges between major sects like theirs and Shiwai Tower. Three years ago, Cheng Xuanduan had even gone to Shiwai Tower once because of sect affairs, so he naturally knew that two [Read on BaiLianTales]Shiwai Tower disciples followed by Jun Yu’s side. Although Jun Yu had not accepted the two as disciples, there was already the reality of a master-disciple relationship between them.

The sword-holding girl was Su Ling, while the other disciple, Yuanwu, was currently nowhere to be seen.

Beneath the snow-white veil, Jun Yu said with a smile, “Xiaowu should already be in the Burning Mountain Secret Realm right now.”

Cheng Xuanduan froze, then smiled in realization.

“It seems the owner of one token has already been decided,” Cheng Xuanduan said.

Jun Yu did not refute it. It was impossible for a Shiwai Tower disciple to fail to keep a token in the Burning Mountain Secret Realm. Jun Yu would not be modest in an unnecessary place like this.

“The water mirror has already been opened. Perhaps Tower Master Jun will see Miss Yuanwu in the mirror soon,” Cheng Xuanduan said again.

The Cloud-Ascent Platform was near the square to begin with. Cheng Xuanduan brought Jun Yu to the most magnificent pavilion near the square and went straight to the top floor. The water mirror had already been placed above the square, showing the scene inside the Burning Mountain Secret Realm. The image was controlled by cultivators of Xuanyu Immortal Sect. At this moment, there was no one in the mirror, only a fiery red maple forest.

Shiwai Tower was only responsible for hosting the later Knocking on the Immortal Gate, while matters related to the Burning Mountain Secret Realm were handled by Xuanyu Immortal Sect, the holder of the secret realm key.

Jun Yu and Cheng Xuanduan sat by the railing, while the disciples of the two sects stood separately on both sides. With just a look beyond the stone railing, they could see the image in the water mirror.

The young cultivators had not been in the secret realm for long, so the cultivator controlling the water mirror was not in a hurry to switch the image.

Before long, a figure appeared in the mirror for the first time.

The image showed that person’s back. She had originally been walking toward the maple forest without the slightest guard, but after taking a few steps, she suddenly [read the original at bailiantales.com]stopped and looked back in confusion, her delicate brows slightly furrowed.

Although only a small half of her face was revealed, Jun Yu still recognized who she was.

The veil had already been removed, so Jun Yu could only use her teacup to cover the smile that unconsciously curved the corners of her lips.

What a coincidence. She had seen someone familiar right away.

“Was it my imagination…” Xu Yizhuo murmured in confusion.

Just now, she had felt as if someone was watching her, but when she turned back, there was clearly no one behind her.

Xu Yizhuo quickly stopped dwelling on it and only treated it as herself being suspicious.

Before entering the secret realm, the Xuanyu Immortal Sect elder had roughly explained the situation inside the Burning Mountain Secret Realm to the young cultivators. Inside the secret realm was an island. Most of the island was occupied by a mountain, while flat land only made up a small portion. The secret realm had no boundary. The elder had specifically warned them that all the tokens were on land, and there was no need to search in the water.

There were only fifty tokens, but a full four hundred and twenty-seven cultivators had entered the secret realm. These four hundred-plus people were randomly placed throughout the secret realm. Although the island was broad and the people were distributed relatively sparsely, Xu Yizhuo still suspected that she had been randomly sent to an extremely remote place. It had already been two quarters of an hour since she entered the secret realm, yet she still had not seen any cultivators other than herself.

Likewise, she had not found a token either.

The appearance of the tokens had been explained to them before they entered the secret realm. It was a wooden plaque tied with a red cord, with the two characters “Burning Mountain” carved on it. The material of this kind of wooden plaque was special and could not be placed into spatial magic artifacts. This was also to prevent some cultivators from finding a token, stuffing it into a spatial artifact, and refusing to take it out even if they died, thereby causing the Burning Mountain Secret Realm’s assessment to lose its meaning.

Xu Yizhuo walked while observing her surroundings, but did not find a single plaque.

In reality, when young cultivators entered the Burning Mountain Secret Realm, they were not limited to only finding tokens and read the original at bailiantales.comprotecting tokens. Although the Burning Mountain Secret Realm was only a small secret realm, the spiritual energy inside it was far richer than in most places outside.

This did not mean cultivators could cultivate here. They could certainly cultivate, but entering the Burning Mountain Secret Realm to cultivate was not as worthwhile as setting up a spirit-gathering formation outside. What was precious in the secret realm was often those heavenly treasures born from years of nourishment by spiritual energy.

Every cultivator who entered the Burning Mountain Secret Realm, as long as they did not deliberately damage the secret realm, could take any three things from within.

There were even some cultivators who did not come for the tokens, but purely for the treasures inside the secret realm.

The reason a crowd of people had not come in to fish in troubled waters was that the Burning Mountain Secret Realm was not entirely without danger. Xu Yizhuo passed several spiritual plants, and there were demonic beasts guarding beside them.

At most, she glanced at those spiritual plants before walking away without much interest. Xu Yizhuo had great confidence in the item reserves inside her inventory. The things in the Burning Mountain Secret Realm were not enough to make her stop. Xu Yizhuo’s goal was very clear: the token.

Xu Yizhuo paused briefly before the maple forest.

The red maple forest was bright as fire. The clear wind lingering among the leaves blew maple leaves from the branches. Maple leaves spiraled as they fell, blending into the blood-red covering the ground.

Xu Yizhuo could only hear the sound of wind and the rustling of maple leaves.

There were many living creatures in the Burning Mountain Secret Realm, but at a certain moment when she approached the maple forest, the clear calls of birds suddenly disappeared from her ears.

Xu Yizhuo caught a falling leaf. Above her head, the maple leaves still rustled in the wind, as though welcoming her into the maple forest.

Cheng Xuanduan raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know whether to say this little girl’s luck is good or bad. She found this place so quickly.”

Jun Yu said mildly, “It seems there are many mysteries within this maple forest.”

“The Burning Mountain Secret Realm has opened twenty-three times in total. The three most precious things inside have still not been taken by anyone,” Cheng Xuanduan said. “One of them is in this red maple forest.”

Jun Yu asked, “Does Elder Cheng think this cultivator may take one of them this time?”

“No.” Cheng Xuanduan smiled and shook his head. “She is only a Qi Refining cultivator. I’m guessing whether she will retreat after realizing the difficulty.”

“…A Qi Refining cultivator?” Jun Yu said softly.

Cheng Xuanduan said with certainty, “To prevent demonic cultivators from sneaking in, every cultivator has to be tested with the Heaven’s Secret Disc when registering. She is indeed the only Qi Refining cultivator in the secret realm.”

When Xu Yizhuo registered, the cultivator in charge of registration had even advised her several times, purely because her cultivation looked far too low.

Among the cultivators entering the secret realm, the one with the highest cultivation was already half a step into Golden Core. Aside from Xu Yizhuo, the lowest cultivation level was already Foundation Establishment. The demonic beasts in the secret realm also started at Foundation Establishment. Wouldn’t a Qi Refining cultivator entering be courting death?

But Xu Yizhuo’s attitude had been extremely firm, and her expression was also quite confident. The registering cultivator did not know whether to sigh in admiration at her courage or call her ignorant of the height of heaven and the depth of earth.

A flash of confusion passed through Jun Yu’s eyes, but she quickly restrained her emotions and returned to her original expression.

Cheng Xuanduan saw Xu Yizhuo frown as she looked at the maple leaf in her palm for quite a while and thought she had discovered something wrong with the maple forest. But in the next second, Xu Yizhuo tossed away the maple leaf and entered the forest.

Cheng Xuanduan froze for a while.

Jun Yu suddenly asked, “What is inside the maple forest?”

The key to the Burning Mountain Secret Realm was controlled by Xuanyu Immortal Sect. Since this was only a small secret realm, Jun Yu had never taken the time to understand it.

The information she knew would not be any more than the cultivators inside the secret realm.

There was no need to hide it, so Cheng Xuanduan answered directly, “Inside is an illusion formation rated at the sixth rank.”

Jun Yu showed no reaction, but Su Ling, standing behind her, widened her eyes in surprise. She was not the only one to show a similar expression.

Formations also had grades, ten ranks in total. There were no formation masters in the present age. The highest-grade formations that could be laid were only ninth-rank. As for existing tenth-rank grand formations, aside from the sect-protecting grand formations left behind by the ancestors of a few sects, there were only naturally formed ones like the Lidan River maze formation.

A sixth-rank formation was something many cultivators might never achieve in their lifetime. To break such a formation, one had to at least be a Nascent Soul cultivator.

“Some maple trees in the forest have already developed spiritual intelligence. The strongest among them will not exceed the middle stage of Foundation Establishment, but the illusion formation formed by several hundred specially distributed maple trees has the power of a sixth-rank formation,” Cheng Xuanduan said. “They themselves have no intention of harming people, but if these young cultivators enter, they are very likely to lose their minds.”

“This illusion formation is not something they can break. However, if those few little fellows who are almost at Golden Core enter, walking out of the illusion formation should not be a problem.” Cheng Xuanduan sighed. “What a pity. This little girl walked into the wrong place. If her luck is good, perhaps someone who enters later can bring her out.”

“Not necessarily,” Jun Yu said.

“Mm?”

“Perhaps she can walk out by herself.” Jun Yu gazed at the water mirror, watching the girl’s back in the mirror gradually disappear into the depths of the maple forest.

Jun Yu even felt that if it bailiantales.comwere Xu Yizhuo, she would not be too surprised if she directly broke this illusion formation.