Everyone looked over in surprise toward the speaker.
The person who had spoken was actually the envoy from the Immortal Alliance. Although he had been invited to observe the event, he had remained silent throughout the discussions.
His sudden comment immediately sparked everyone’s curiosity about the contestant ranked ninth, and they quickly began checking the rankings.
Before long, someone exclaimed in surprise,
“Zhu Mingyan?”
“I heard she’s recovered quite a bit recently. You all heard about what happened at Huai’an Peak two days ago, right?”
“It’s good that she’s recovering! A child with such extraordinary talent… I felt sorry for her when the accident happened.”
“After all, she’s the Sect Master’s direct disciple. Her future is limitless. She might even return to the top three this time.”
Listening to the discussion in the hall, Yu Chunqiao’s expression became increasingly unpleasant.
Again, it was Zhu Mingyan and Li Xiushan, this troublesome master-and-disciple pair…
Meanwhile, Qin Yue secretly felt delighted.
Chongyuan Peak was the strongest combat force within the Broken Blade Sect. Its disciples devoted themselves entirely to becoming stronger and believed that the strong deserved respect. Qin Yue had always disliked Yu Chunqiao’s tendency to rely on clever tricks.
Before the secret realm opened, she had specifically instructed Guan You to surpass Du Wenqing by a large margin in the number of demon beasts killed.
Although Guan You still hadn’t overtaken Du Wenqing in the rankings, everyone’s attention was now focused on Zhu Mingyan. Thinking of Yu Chunqiao’s frustrated expression made Qin Yue feel much better.
Curious about Zhu Mingyan’s situation, Qin Yue picked up the Ten-Direction Mirror beside her, a magical artifact used to observe the secret realm.
She poured spiritual energy into it.
Moments later, the fog inside the bronze mirror gradually cleared, revealing a scene from inside the secret realm.
Qin Yue immediately leaned forward to look, but soon sensed that something was strange.
It was already nighttime inside the Burning Heart Secret Realm.
Zhu Mingyan was leaning against a tree, sleeping soundly with her head tilted to one side.
Ning Qiubai sat beside an alchemy furnace.
Their luggage was piled nearby, and a red fox lay on top of it. It was presumably Zhu Mingyan’s spirit beast.
However, something else caught Qin Yue’s attention.
A huge black dog stood nearby.
Its golden eyes were especially striking.
Its back was straight and tense, while its front paws repeatedly scraped at the ground in agitation.
Standing with its back toward Zhu Mingyan, it carefully watched the surroundings as if it had sensed danger.
Qin Yue was shocked.
Judging from its appearance and aura, it was at least a high-grade spirit beast.
How much cultivation did Zhu Mingyan even have now?
Yet she had somehow gotten a high-grade spirit beast to stand guard for her through the night.
Filled with curiosity, Qin Yue continued watching through the mirror.
Fuchuan sensed a powerful presence.
Half an hour earlier, Zhu Mingyan had set up a simple protective formation around their campsite.
After arranging the night watch schedule, she leaned against a tree and fell asleep.
Fuchuan naturally lay down beside her.
Then it suddenly felt something approaching.
Alarm bells immediately rang in its mind.
Its first reaction was to wake Zhu Mingyan.
It grabbed the corner of her clothes with its mouth and tugged several times.
But Zhu Mingyan showed no response at all, almost as if she were unconscious.
Fuchuan became anxious.
Unwilling to give up, it decided to wake Ning Qiubai instead.
She was supposed to take the first watch and should have been tending the alchemy furnace.
When Fuchuan looked over, it found Ning Qiubai sitting beside the furnace with one hand supporting her head.
The firelight illuminated her face.
Her eyes were closed.
She was clearly asleep.
Even that annoying fox had fallen asleep.
It had sprawled across two bags of luggage in an utterly disgraceful sleeping position.
“Tch. Useless.”
Fuchuan glanced at it with disdain before running back to Zhu Mingyan and taking a defensive stance in front of her.
The mysterious presence was getting closer.
Fuchuan became even more vigilant.
A low, threatening growl rumbled from deep within its throat.
Whoever had come had knocked everyone unconscious while leaving only Fuchuan awake.
Either the intruder was much weaker than Fuchuan…
Or the intruder had come specifically for Fuchuan.
The problem was that Fuchuan remembered neither its origin nor its past.
It couldn’t imagine why anything would come looking for it.
Suddenly, a dazzling flash of light erupted.
The entire sky above the secret realm became as bright as day.
Fuchuan instinctively closed its eyes.
…
Outside the secret realm, the bronze mirror in Qin Yue’s hands suddenly exploded with a loud bang.
Startled, she immediately stood and stepped backward.
For a moment, she was completely stunned.
The nearby elders heard the noise and turned to ask what had happened.
Qin Yue casually brushed them off before slowly sitting back down.
She had been concentrating on the image in the mirror.
When the white light appeared inside the secret realm, it had been so intense that even she, standing outside, had felt dizzy.
But what shocked her most was not the mysterious light or the shattered mirror.
It was the vague figure she had seen within the light.
Her brows furrowed tightly.
If she had not seen wrongly, then the events of that year might not have been as simple as everyone believed.
Unable to stop herself, she looked darkly toward Yu Chunqiao, who sat in the seat of honor.
When Fuchuan opened its eyes again, it found itself in a strange space.
This place was clearly neither the mortal world nor the secret realm.
Everything around it was pure white.
There was no visible boundary.
Instinctively, it looked behind itself.
Zhu Mingyan was nowhere to be seen.
In fact, it seemed to be the only living thing in this entire world.
Panic immediately rose within it.
“How ugly.”
A voice suddenly sounded.
Fuchuan immediately looked up in alarm.
Then it saw the source.
It was a massive spirit lion.
Its body was snow-white.
Its fur was smooth and beautiful.
Its limbs were powerful.
A faint golden light surrounded its body.
The mane around its face was thick and perfectly groomed, clearly maintained with great care.
Its golden eyes, identical in color to Fuchuan’s, looked Fuchuan up and down with open disgust.
Fuchuan could not speak, but it understood perfectly well that the lion was mocking it.
Angrily, it barked several times.
The lion’s expression became even more contemptuous.
After circling around Fuchuan once, it sighed.
“You can’t even talk. How embarrassing.”
Fuchuan: !!!!!!!!!
Enraged, Fuchuan lunged forward with all its strength.
Gray-black wind blades shot toward the lion.
The lion merely lifted a front paw and tapped the ground.
A powerful shockwave instantly blasted Fuchuan away.
So strong!
“With your current strength, don’t even dream of hurting me,” the lion said calmly.
“I never expected that you would be the one beside her now. It worries me. How are you supposed to protect her like this?”
The attack had injured Fuchuan badly.
Using its front paws, it struggled to lift its body.
Staring fiercely into those eyes that matched its own, it charged again.
The lion sent it flying once more.
Fuchuan crashed heavily to the ground.
Then it stood up and attacked again.
And was knocked away again.
It attacked.
It was defeated.
Again and again.
“Too weak. This is boring.”
The white lion seemed tired of the meaningless challenge.
It turned to leave.
The white light surrounding them gradually faded.
Fuchuan could feel the space itself beginning to collapse.
Lying battered on the ground, burning with unwillingness and rage, it watched the lion’s disappearing figure.
Finally, it opened its mouth and forced out a hoarse voice.
“Who… are you?!”
The white lion stopped.
Turning around, it looked at Fuchuan with interest.
This was the first time Fuchuan had ever spoken.
Even it was startled.
But the moment it remembered the annoying lion standing before it, its confusion disappeared.
You mocked me for not being able to talk, didn’t you?!
Fuchuan furiously searched its memory for suitable words.
Unfortunately, it was not very clever and had never bothered learning many words.
Now that it needed them, it found itself completely lacking.
The white lion, unaware of Fuchuan’s thoughts, lowered its head and considered the question.
Finally, with something almost like pity, it said,
“My name is—”
“FOX SPIRIT!!!”
Fuchuan suddenly remembered the story Ning Qiubai had told earlier about the elder.
It clearly remembered the disdainful expression on Ning Qiubai’s face when she said those words.
Surely it was an insult.
Confidently, Fuchuan hurled it at the lion.
The white lion froze.
It seemed completely unable to understand how such a term could possibly be connected to itself.
Seeing this reaction, Fuchuan felt immensely satisfied.
Its dog-face even showed a hint of pride.
The lion was speechless for several moments.
Then, clearly unwilling to look at Fuchuan’s irritating expression any longer, it closed its eyes.
Its figure disappeared.
As it left, the entire world rapidly shattered and collapsed.
A powerful force, as if venting its frustration, violently hurled Fuchuan away.
Just before everything vanished, Fuchuan heard the lion’s exasperated voice.
“My name…”
“…is Sunwheel.” (Ri Lun)