The space crack shimmered behind him, a vertical wound in the air. One by one, the other disciples stumbled through, their expressions ranging from awe to excitement.
When Ye Che came through, he landed with more grace than most, though he still tripped over a gnarled root.
"Whoa!"
He breathed, his eyes wide as he took in their new surroundings.
He wasn’t looking at the towering, purple-barked trees but at the strange, luminous fungi that pulsed with a soft blue light in the perpetual twilight of the forest.
The luminous mushroom was a 2–Star spiritual plant, something that wouldn’t normally catch his eye, but this was the biggest he had ever seen.
It was as tall as a person, though it still remained just a 2–Star spiritual plant.
Gu Changsheng, on the other hand, was stunned by another matter.
Su Mingyue and Ning Rongrong!!
These two beauties had also come in. What a surprise! He looked towards them as they did the same, one nodding slightly and the other wearing a cheeky smile.
They walked up to him, Ning Rongrong calling out to him.
"Greetings, little brother. Are you happy now that this senior sister is here to help?"
Gu Changsheng nodded, and his senior brother finally noticed the fairies beside him.
"Gu Changsheng, who are these pretty junior sisters?"
Ye Che, pleasantly surprised, ruffled his hair backwards, elegantly came forward while signalling for Gu Changsheng to match him up with one of the fairies.
Gu Changsheng, not noticing the bro code, continued with an introduction.
"Senior brother Ye, these are senior sister Su and senior sister Ning, the ones who recruited me from my village."
"Senior sisters, this is senior brother Ye, the only son of Elder Ye, also a 9th Stage Qi Refinement cultivator!"
Ning Rongrong was a bit disgusted by this fatso, but hearing he was an elder’s child, she somehow held back the racist inside her.
"Greetings, senior brother Ye!" ×2
Su Mingyue and Ning Rongrong saluted casually.
By this time, all the other disciples had dispersed into groups of five or six, looking for treasures within. The big, shiny mushroom had already been uprooted by someone.
So they were the only ones left at the entrance.
Gu Changsheng, feeling an awkward atmosphere between them, pointed around and suggested.
"Others have already gone inside. Let’s go too."
"Okay." ×3
The three acknowledged, and the group went into the forest in a random direction.
...
2 days later.
Two days had passed since they had entered the secret realm.
In these two days, by riding on Ye Che’s coattails, the group encountered various opportunities.
But right now...
*Clank*
The blade of an undead cut across the stone wall, leaving a deep mark.
The group of four were surrounded by a horde of skeletons, with no path for retreat.
This was a crypt, a place hidden deep underground. It was by pure luck that they found it while exploring the forest.
They went inside, and to their dismay, the entrance to the crypt closed shut, trapping them inside.
It wasn’t a trap; rather, it was a kind of natural formation that would open back up after some days.
While exploring further into the crypt, they disturbed the undead horde, and now they were surrounded.
"Don’t panic!"
Ye Che said, his voice steady despite the situation. He was the one here with the highest cultivation, and the pressure was on him.
But he wasn’t panicked. From a brief exchange, he knew that the skeletons were just 1–Star creatures, meant to be butchered.
But the problem was their quantity, at least hundreds of them.
"No need to worry. They are just 1–Star small fries. You two just protect Gu Changsheng well. I’ll handle the rest."
Ye Che commanded, and the trio quickly complied, creating a small circle with Gu Changsheng in between.
The skeletons, mindless and relentless, pressed in, their rusty weapons scraping against the stone floor.
Ye Che took a deep breath, spiritual energy surging through his meridians.
"Flame Burst!"
A jet of fire erupted from his palm, engulfing the nearest skeletons. They crumbled into ash, but more took their place, their empty sockets fixated on the living flesh before them.
Gu Changsheng himself carefully channeled his own strength into a sword art, slaying two skeletons.
Su Mingyue and Ning Rongrong also joined the battle, obliterating skeletons one by one.
They moved with practiced coordination, their blades flashing in the dim light. Clearly, they were skilled and experienced in this type of situation.
Soon, the skeletons were cleared out, with the most kills on Ye Che’s name.
"What kind of creatures are these even?"
Ning Rongrong said, a bit weirded out by these walking corpses.
"They are too weak to be called undead. Most likely, they are part of an attacking formation here."
Su Mingyue analysed, pointing towards the traces of runes on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling.
"Look there! It seems something is written on that wall!"
Ye Che pointed towards another wall filled with moss. Burning away the obstacles, the wordings became clear.
"This is runic language!! No danger... trial... rejection... Hammer...??"
Su Mingyue tried to interpret the writings on the wall, having only a tiny amount of knowledge about the runic language.
"Ugghh~ I don’t know anymore. But it’s safe to say that we aren’t in harm’s way."
Unable to read it made Su Mingyue irritated; however, she still found out the difficulty mode.
Understanding nothing else, they continued moving forward.
Soon, they arrived at a fork in the road, where the path split into two directions.
"Which one should we take?"
Gu Changsheng asked, deep in thought.
To his surprise, Ye Che didn’t stop to consider the options. He simply turned left and continued onward, leaving only a few words behind.
"Let’s split. You three go right, and I will continue to the left. That way, we won’t miss any treasures in between."
"But..."
Gu Changsheng wanted to warn him, but Ye Che listened to no one. He looked towards the duo for help, but they just shook their heads.