Seeing how awkward the atmosphere had become, Guan Congnan quickly explained,
“Ah, Senior Sister, please don’t misunderstand. What I meant was admiration and respect!”
“When I was still an outer sect disciple, I had already heard about how Senior Sister reached Foundation Establishment at the age of ten. To be honest, before that, I had always looked down on beast tamers. I thought they were simply lucky enough to tame powerful spirit beasts.”
Zhu Mingyan snorted.
“You sword cultivators are always like that.”
After all, sword cultivators were famous for believing that personal strength was everything.
Guan Congnan smiled awkwardly and continued,
“After entering the inner sect, I had the chance to watch the Immortal Alliance Tournament. Senior Sister’s performance that day earned my deepest respect.”
“Even after Senior Sister lost her cultivation, I never once thought about kicking someone when they were down.”
“Easy words to say,” Ning Qiubai replied coldly.
“That’s only your side of the story. Why should anyone believe you?”
“My Senior Brother isn’t that kind of person!” Duan Qingyang protested, his face turning red.
But Zhu Mingyan suddenly stared directly at Guan Congnan.
“You’ve truly never harmed me?”
“Of course not.”
His gaze was calm and straightforward.
He showed no signs of lying.
Could Gu Zicheng really have deceived her back then?
Or was there truly some misunderstanding between her and Guan Congnan?
After a moment of thought, Zhu Mingyan asked directly,
“Then tell me. Why did you instruct Gu Zicheng to bring out that collar that day?”
Guan Congnan clearly had not expected her to know about that matter.
For a moment, he was speechless.
Zhu Mingyan waved a hand in front of his face and smiled faintly.
“What’s wrong, Junior Brother?”
“Are you going to tell me that was also a misunderstanding?”
Guan Congnan finally recovered.
Perhaps her sarcastic tone had finally stung him.
Suddenly, he raised three fingers toward the sky and declared loudly,
“I, Guan Congnan, swear before the Heavenly Dao that I have never done anything to harm Zhu Mingyan.”
“Senior Sister Zhu, do you believe me now?”
Unlike ordinary mortals, cultivators could not casually swear oaths to the Heavenly Dao.
Breaking such an oath carried serious consequences.
The moment those words were spoken, even Ning Qiubai believed him eighty percent.
Zhu Mingyan blinked.
Interesting…
Guan Congnan had not denied instructing Gu Zicheng that day.
That was practically an admission.
He could truthfully claim that he had never personally harmed her, while still having encouraged someone else to do it.
Until he explained that incident, she could not fully trust him.
“Junior Brother, there was no need to go that far.”
Zhu Mingyan smiled gently.
“I believe you.”
“But if I discover you’ve deceived me…”
“…don’t blame me for forgetting our fellow disciple relationship.”
Guan Congnan seemed relieved.
He nodded repeatedly.
The tense atmosphere between the two groups gradually relaxed.
…
The next morning, Guan Congnan set out together with Zhu Mingyan’s group.
There were many people traveling together now, along with two spirit beasts, making them quite noticeable.
“Senior Sister Zhu,” Guan Congnan said first, “where are you planning to go today? I happen to know several areas where demon beasts gather.”
“To be honest,” Zhu Mingyan replied, “I have no intention of competing for the top three.”
“The secret realm closes this evening.”
“I just want to find a quiet place and avoid fighting.”
“If Junior Brother is aiming for a higher ranking, we can part ways here.”
Ning Qiubai felt the same.
She had long grown accustomed to taking things easy inside secret realms and had no desire to run around looking for trouble.
Guan Congnan seemed surprised.
“I thought Senior Sister was aiming for the top three so she could choose a treasure from the Treasure Pavilion.”
Zhu Mingyan looked confused.
“What treasure?”
“The Three-Colored Pearl.”
Zhu Mingyan immediately stopped walking.
“The Three-Colored Pearl is in the Treasure Pavilion?”
“How do you know that?”
Her reaction clearly surprised Guan Congnan.
After a brief pause, he answered,
“The Sect Master is away, so my master is currently overseeing the Treasure Pavilion.”
“Recently, he assigned me to catalogue and inventory the treasures there.”
“That’s how I know.”
Countless memories from her previous life flashed through Zhu Mingyan’s mind.
The Three-Colored Pearl was something she had found on her master’s corpse.
The treasure could suppress her spiritual flame.
Li Xiushan had also placed a unique sect restriction on it and kept it close to his body.
No one except her could remove that restriction.
Because of this, she had always believed that her master had traveled to the Northern Border specifically to obtain the treasure for her.
But now she learned that it had originally belonged to the Treasure Pavilion.
Then why had it ended up on her master’s body?
Her thoughts became tangled.
It felt as though she had just touched the edge of a huge secret.
Ning Qiubai noticed her silence.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
Zhu Mingyan shook her head and turned seriously toward Guan Congnan.
“Thank you for telling me.”
“In that case, I will compete for the top three after all.”
Guan Congnan nodded.
“Then I’ll take Senior Sister to a nearby demon beast gathering area.”
As he spoke, he took a map of the secret realm from his robe.
Seeing Zhu Mingyan’s curious look, he explained,
“My master gave this to me.”
Ning Qiubai frowned.
“Your master gave you a map beforehand so you could gain an advantage.”
“And you’re willing to share it with us?”
Guan Congnan replied calmly,
“I originally requested this map from my master because I wanted to find the Three-Tailed Fish Dragon in North Qiong Cave.”
“Now that Senior Sister has already killed it, this map is basically worthless to me.”
“I’m currently ranked twelfth.”
“I’m still quite far from the top three.”
“Senior Sister really doesn’t need to worry that I’m competing against her.”
So now he’s secretly blaming me for killing the fish dragon first?
Zhu Mingyan couldn’t help thinking.
She cleared her throat.
“Let’s just head to the nearest demon beast area.”
Then she turned toward Ning Qiubai.
“Qiubai, I know you’re not good at fighting demon beasts.”
“There are plenty of people here.”
“You can stay behind and wait for us.”
Although Ning Qiubai was worried, she also knew the place they were heading to would likely be dangerous.
Among everyone present, she was the only one who wasn’t skilled in combat.
Following them would only slow them down.
So she stopped arguing.
Taking out two porcelain bottles she had prepared earlier, she pressed them into Zhu Mingyan’s hands.
“This one restores spiritual energy.”
“And this one is for treating injuries.”
“Make sure you keep them with you.”
Meanwhile, Guan Congnan also left several younger disciples behind.
Only Duan Qingyang stubbornly refused to stay.
After failing to persuade him, Guan Congnan reluctantly agreed to let him come along.
The group followed the route shown on the map.
After walking for some time, Zhu Mingyan suddenly felt something was wrong.
“Do you remember this strange rock formation?”
Guan Congnan closed his eyes and thought for a moment.
“Yes.”
“This is the third time we’ve seen it.”
Her voice remained calm.
“Junior Brother Guan.”
“What kind of path are you leading me down?”
Duan Qingyang immediately retorted,
“Why are you speaking to my Senior Brother like that?”
“We’re traveling together.”
“Why would he deliberately lead himself into danger too?”
Fuchuan could not resist adding,
“Maybe your Senior Brother has a way to escape.”
“Senior Sister misunderstands me.”
Guan Congnan quickly unfolded the map.
“Look.”
“We’ve been following the directions exactly.”
The two leaned closer to inspect it.
Then both of them froze.
The markings on the map were constantly changing.
They shifted and twisted like the patterns inside a kaleidoscope.
Zhu Mingyan’s expression darkened.
She immediately took a compass from her storage pouch and set it on the ground.
The needle spun wildly.
It could not point in any direction at all.
The two exchanged a look.
Both wore grim expressions.
They had unknowingly walked straight into an illusion realm.