Looking at Su Qiuyin, startled as a little rabbit, Gu Ning blinked, and then smiled faintly.
"She is precisely the Mystic Nether Sect disciple who was hiding in Cangwu Town, and I took her alive." Gu Ning put out a hand and stroked the soft top of Su Qiuyin's head.
At the cool touch on her scalp, Su Qiuyin's small face reddened, the corners of her mouth turned up a little, and her mood lifted.
"I'm just glad Senior Sister is all right." Su Qiuyin's face was pure adoration. "They say a demonic sect Saintess is mid Golden Core at the very lowest, and Senior Sister won without so much as a hair out of place."
Gu Ning's hand stopped, and the corner of her mouth twitched.
"Without... a hair out of place?"
Gu Ning's eyes moved to Tao Yao across from her and met the owner of those curved phoenix eyes.
Who was wearing a wicked little smile.
"Ah me~" A soft sigh from Tao Yao drew both their attention. "I never imagined the Sword Sect's senior disciple would be so very capable."
"I gave it everything I had, and I still could not win."
That said, she drifted over to Gu Ning's side, all smiles, and blew a little wind past her ear.
"Such a pity that in the end, in that bout of close-quarters grappling, this concubine came off the worse. If the chance arises I would truly love another match."
Gu Ning went hard.
Her fists went hard.
There was no way she could miss the insinuation in that. Her pretty face flushed faintly, and her eyes met Tao Yao's with murder in them, telling her to shut up.
Seeing that killing look and knowing her purpose was served, Tao Yao could only close her mouth, sulking, though her eyes still shone with the pleasure of another's misfortune.
"If I can't beat you, can't I at least gross you out?"
Listening to this exchange of riddles, Su Qiuyin tilted her head a little, wearing the expression of someone who half understood, with no idea what had happened between the two of them in that room.
Seeing Su Qiuyin fall into a brainstorm, Gu Ning had to interrupt her little head's thinking and change the subject.
"Why is Qiuyin here alone? Where is Yu Ruo? Where has she gone?"
Gu Ning had noticed a while ago that Yu Ruo was nowhere in sight. She had assumed even cultivators needed to relieve themselves, but she had waited a good while and there was still no sign of her.
"Yes, yes, I was just about to tell you." Su Qiuyin surfaced from her deep thinking and answered.
"Junior Sister Yu received a voice transmission a moment ago, saying a secret realm had been found that might be a demonic sect stronghold and needed investigating. Senior Sister Yu went on ahead to scout the way and told me to wait for you to come out."
"Do we need to go and meet up with Junior Sister Yu?"
Su Qiuyin's small hand caught at the hem of Gu Ning's robe without her meaning it, and she tipped her face up to ask her opinion, her eyes full of trust.
Gu Ning frowned, digesting what Su Qiuyin had said.
A secret realm?
In the original book, after Tao Yao fled gravely wounded she ran into Yu Ruo, and the two of them ended up trapped in a secret realm, where Yu Ruo pulled Tao Yao out of the fire again and again, farming her affection hard until she was utterly devoted.
"So this secret realm is the real point."
Gu Ning understood now. She thought for a moment and made her decision.
"Since Yu Ruo has gone, we can hardly leave her alone."
Gu Ning took Su Qiuyin's small hand, felt the faint chill of the palm in hers, tightened her grip without meaning to, and then turned and gave Tao Yao a long look.
Tao Yao, baffled by the look, raised an eyebrow.
"There has been a change of plan. It seems I cannot have you bound and delivered back to the sect immediately," Gu Ning said, her tone as cold as ever. "But since this concerns the demonic sect, you must know something of it. You are coming with us."
Tao Yao spread her hands and put on a helpless look that meant, do I have a choice?
Gu Ning looked at her sitting quietly and nodded.
The three of them set out for the site of the secret realm.
***
The sea of forest opened and rolled beneath them, and before long they arrived at their destination.
A rift valley lay across the earth, and in its depths one could faintly make out an enormous stone door carved all over with dense rows of runes.
A faint scent of medicinal herbs drifted up from the bottom of the rift.
Su Qiuyin landed at Gu Ning's side, her small face a little pale, barely keeping her feet.
Breathing in the complicated mix of scents in the air, her brows drew together without her meaning it.
Tao Yao came down last, bare feet touching the rock, the bells ringing bright and clear.
She looked at the stone door, and surprise flashed through those peach blossom eyes.
"Well now, it really is a secret realm." She tilted her head, her tone easy. "Putting out a medicinal fragrance that thick. Could it be the ruins of some alchemy sect?"
Tao Yao tossed out the theory without much care.
Gu Ning looked around. There was not a soul in sight, and no sign of Yu Ruo.
Gu Ning gazed at the stone door, her divine sense telling her that the last trace of Yu Ruo's spiritual power vanished right in front of it. She drew a deep breath, that faint scent of herbs winding around the tip of her nose.
Whatever else, she had to go in. That was Gu Ning's first thought.
But turning to look at the two behind her, she began to have her doubts.
"Nnh... this is hard."
Looking at that stone door, Su Qiuyin felt her heart clench, and instinct told her she must not take another step forward.
Like a weak little lamb catching sight of a starving wolf, she let out a piteous whimper.
She could not help leaning in toward Gu Ning.
Gu Ning spoke abruptly.
"Yu Ruo may well already be inside, but there is no telling how dangerous it is in there. Qiuyin, your cultivation is too low, and Tao Yao needs someone to escort her back to the sect besides."
"I have already sent word to the nearest patrolling disciples. They will come to receive you."
That said, Gu Ning pressed a sheet of talisman paper blazing with golden light into Qiuyin's hand.
"This talisman is called Nine Heavens Hell-Thunder Radiance. Its blow is a match for a Nascent Soul. If you meet with danger, throw it."
Gu Ning's eyes slid sideways, heavy with meaning.
"And if anyone should harbor improper intentions, she is welcome to taste it too."
Tao Yao let out a light snort and turned to look elsewhere.
Su Qiuyin stared blankly at the talisman in her hand and looked at Gu Ning in confusion.
"Then what about Senior Sister? Are... are you going in?"
Gu Ning nodded.
Of course she was going in. Leave it alone, let Yu Ruo build herself up in there and push her cultivation higher, and the day Gu Ning turned this around would recede by another great stride.
A short while later.
Gu Ning pulled out every high-grade concealment talisman and teleportation talisman in her storage pouch, pushed the lot into the girl's hands, and turned toward the stone door.
Reaching it, feeling the thick medicinal air within, she turned at the last for one look at the worried Su Qiuyin.
And at Tao Yao, trussed hand and foot by her and puffed up with temper.
"That should keep them safe."
At that thought Gu Ning finally set her mind at rest and walked in.
In an instant the space around her twisted.
Across the bare face of that stone door surfaced a layer of intricate formation patterns.
The runes lit with a blinding white glare, and Gu Ning was sucked in.
HUMMM—
A flash of white light.
Her vision slowly cleared.
"That was... that was awful."
Gu Ning felt as though she had just ridden a roller coaster, up and down and up again, and it did not agree with her.
She braced a hand against her forehead and needed a good while to recover.
Before her lay a cavern.
The vault of it was very high, and underfoot were stone tiles worn smooth by no one knew how many years.
Broken clay jars and rusted bronze furnaces lay scattered along both walls.
"This place..."
Gu Ning drew a voice-transmission talisman from her sleeve.
She poured spiritual power in, and a faint light came up on the paper, flickered violently a few times, and then went out entirely, leaving nothing but a scrap of waste paper.
"Senior Sister!"
At that moment a figure came staggering out of the darkness.
Purple robes covered in dust, the hair knot more than half undone, that once exquisite face now grimed and streaked.
"Oh hell, where did this wildling come from!"