From the moment the Lord God threw him into this world and he picked up Yan Fulang, until one minute ago, Ji Yunzhao had never thought that his cover would truly blown.
Although there had been several critical situations where he felt like he was bungee jumping on a cliff and his alt account identity was on thin ice, he had always felt it was just an appearance. As long as Yan Fulang did not see it with his own eyes and catch him right on the spot, no matter how the youth tested him, it could only remain a test without any concrete evidence.
However, now, the ironclad evidence was smacked right in front of his face.
The youth must be extremely smug right now,
Ji Yunzhao shut himself away in depression, playing dead while curling up inside Yan Fulang’s embrace.
“Ha, ha, system, did you see that, this is the consequence of having a soft heart, how about we just restart this round.”
He was feeling extremely regretful right now, wondering why he had run to the entrance of the secret realm like an old father sending his child to school for the first day, and even asked the system to record it. If he had not experienced a sudden lapse of judgment and a surge of conscience, if he had not followed along, and if he had not let the system record it, this kind of thing would not have happened at all.
The system was unaffected by the bugs of the secret realm. After Ji Yunzhao was sucked in by the malfunctioning secret realm entrance, it could only communicate with him inside his mind.
Seeing its own host getting so angry that he started laughing, the system did not know how to comfort him. After humming and hawing for a long time, it could only say in a small voice, “Host, there is no way to restart, the Lord God specifically instructed that before the plot finishes running, no one is allowed to let you go back to the Three Thousand Realms.”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
What a dog-like Lord God, even more of a dog than his cheap disciple.
Ji Yunzhao knew he could not restart, he was just, a bit gloomy.
“System, calculate the degree of plot deviation.”
“Alright host, let me check, hm, still okay, it is within the controllable range.” The system looked at the data, “Host, the role of your identity is to stimulate the male lead with your death to make him rise. It is a very traditional trope. The male lead always has to lose his parents, wife, master, or someone similar. If you do not die, then the degree of plot deviation will actually be high.”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “Fine, fine, fine, I get it. In any case, I am definitely bound to play this corpse. How about I just die ahead of schedule, dying right inside this secret realm, because I feel like I cannot go on living like this anymore.”
The system said, “…”
A bunch of angry words were spoken, but he still had to face reality. Whether to take the initiative and smash the pot since it was already cracked, or to continue acting with Yan Fulang, Ji Yunzhao had not made up his mind yet.
He maintained the posture of curling up inside Yan Fulang’s embrace. Not only was his side profile resting against the youth’s chest, but he also almost buried the other half of his face into it as well.
The inside of the secret realm was extremely noisy with all kinds of sounds, the cries of pain from people experiencing free fall and hitting the ground, the loud and unruly swearing from people saying they wanted to avoid this secret realm like a landmine, and the shouting of people looking for their missing teammates. There were also strange gazes cast upon them from time to time.
His body suddenly began to sway very lightly, as Yan Fulang carried him and walked toward a secluded and quiet corner.
Only when they reached the shade of a tree that would not be touched by the sun did the youth lower his eyes, glancing at the young man who was shrinking inside his embrace without moving at all.
Hidden within the dark hair was a streak of snowy white, which was the hair ribbon that had been blown askew by the wild wind, hanging loosely between the hair strands. At the very moment it was about to fall off, the end embroidered with the same silver cloud pattern as the robe’s hem was pinched by cold white fingertips, and given a gentle tug.
A bit of movement suddenly came from his hair. Ji Yunzhao raised his head out of instinct, and his long hair poured down like spilled ink, draping over his shoulders, covering his entire back, and trailing beautifully down to his waist.
The youth gathered the hair ribbon into his own embrace, very considerately using his fingers as a comb to smooth out his hair for him, saying with a light laugh, “Senior, how come you came out without even tying up your hair properly?”
Ji Yunzhao glanced at him sluggishly, keeping his lips pursed without speaking.
“By the way, I have not asked Senior yet, ” His voice, which used to be somewhat deep in the past, became clear and bright, and Yan Fulang’s tone was raised by a lot, acting exactly like an ordinary youth who had been startled, “How come you are here?”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
Ah, he really wanted to hit someone.
Ji Yunzhao suppressed the urge to knock him unconscious with a hand-chop once again, and said with some speechlessness, “You are asking what you already know.”
“Why does Senior feel that way?” Yan Fulang lowered his head, his tone very earnest, “I truly do not know why Senior would be at the entrance of the secret realm.”
Inside those peach blossom eyes was a completely unconcealed smile, brightly telling Ji Yunzhao that he precisely wanted him to say it out loud with his own mouth. To say that his own heart had softened, and he had decided to accompany him to enter the secret realm together.
Ji Yunzhao looked at him quietly for a moment, not giving him a single bit of face at all. He tugged the corners of his mouth and smiled along with him.
The young man’s apricot eyes curved slightly, and he said unhurriedly, “I was just chasing after a free-range chicken and happened to pass by, you could not possibly think I came to look for you, right? A mere Black-grade secret realm, our Yanyan can pass it all by himself, your master has confidence in you.”
“Is that so,” Yan Fulang looked at him quietly, “I thought that Senior was worried about me, risking the exposure of your identity just to follow me to the entrance of the secret realm. It seems, it was just my own unrequited wishful thinking.”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
This rebellious disciple,
Who could have expected that the entrance of the secret realm would suddenly go crazy? He made it sound as if he had specially switched to an alt account to add to the fun just because it was his first time running a dungeon for him.
“That is enough.”
Ji Yunzhao gave Yan Fulang an annoyed glare. His slender and fair fingers extended from his sleeve, pinching the youth’s face without any mercy, “Things are already like this, what are you still acting for? After so many times, you are not tired of it either, you saw it all?”
The hands with which Yan Fulang held the young man tightened a bit, “Mm, I saw it.”
“Nothing you want to ask?”
“Naturally, there is.”
“Fine, your master knows.” Ji Yunzhao let out a very light snort, “But right now, you are not allowed to ask.”
After Ji Yunzhao finished speaking, he patted the youth’s arm, wanting to get down.
The exposure of his alt account was way too sudden, and he himself had not recovered from it yet. He was too lazy to explain that much, and would talk to Yan Fulang slowly whenever he was in a good mood on some future day. Furthermore, they were still inside the secret realm right now, so they had no time to talk in detail, though he preferred that Yan Fulang had better not even ask at all.
His hair had been hanging loose all this time, which somewhat affected his vision, especially since a gust of wind would blow through the secret realm from time to time.
Ji Yunzhao’s brows furrowed slightly. Just as he lowered his head to search all over the place for the missing hair ribbon, his chin was pinched by a large hand and lifted up with a gentle movement.
“Senior, do not move.”
Yan Fulang walked behind the young man, his large hands with distinct joints scooping up the long hair, and quickly tied the hair ribbon properly.
Ji Yunzhao carefully touched the tied hair ribbon. Just as he wanted to say something to Yan Fulang, his entire person suddenly swayed, and he fell into the youth’s embrace once more without any preparation.
The ground beneath their feet shook continuously. The continuous mountain ranges in the distance collapsed in an instant, and the earth split open with cracks like a ferocious giant mouth. The sky suddenly darkened, and within the blink of an eye, the clear sky turned into a dark night, with bright purple lightning flashing from time to time, letting out bursts of roaring, thunderous loud noises.
“How come this secret realm is going crazy again, ”
“Ah, ah, Senior Brother save me! I am about to fall down, ”
“Was it not supposed to be just a Black-grade secret realm? How come it feels like it wants to kill people right from the start?!”
“Who knows! Just, run, first, ”
Many cultivators had just been sucked in and were still dazed. Before they could truly process what was happening, they were dragged by their traveling companions to run forward.
It was not that no one had thought about leaving the secret realm, but the speed at which the ground split open was too fast, and the rifts became larger and larger. Especially the small patch of area right in front of the water mirror of the secret realm entrance, it turned entirely into an isolated island that could not be approached.
Seeing that a rift was about to extend to their feet, Ji Yunzhao turned around to tug Yan Fulang. Just as his hand reached over, it was gripped tightly by the youth.
“Senior, be careful!”
The two ran forward together.
The spiritual boat inside the storage bag could not be taken out. To accommodate novices, this Black-grade secret realm not only placed a restriction on the cultivation of the entering cultivators, with the maximum allowed cultivation only up to the middle stage of the Teng Yun Realm, but also had a requirement for the grade of the carried magical treasures. Only magical treasures of the Earth grade and below could enter the secret realm along with the cultivators.
And Ji Yunzhao’s spiritual boat was of the Heaven grade.
“It is still because I was too extravagant on ordinary days, failing to think about buying more ordinary means of transportation.” Ji Yunzhao mumbled in a small voice, tacitly avoiding the giant trees that were collapsing one after another along with Yan Fulang.
To enter the secret realm, he had prepared a weapon for Yan Fulang, but with the two of them combined, the only thing that could be used was a single Earth-grade sword. Having been sucked into the secret realm for no good reason, his cultivation was not only forcibly suppressed to the Teng Yun Realm, but he was also disarmed. The Ming Que sword could not be summoned at all.
As another large tree fell down, Ji Yunzhao turned his head and asked with an extremely fast speed, “Fly on a sword?”
Yan Fulang pointed to a nearby unlucky cultivator who attempted to fly on a sword but was restricted by the secret realm, only able to leave the ground by less than half a meter, and was slapped unconscious by a vine that came out of nowhere.
“It is best not to.”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
“System!” He could only turn to the system for help, “Search for all Earth-grade props in the mall, pick the best ones and buy a batch!”
The system did as told, but very soon a new problem appeared.
“Host! They are all bought back, but I cannot send them inside!”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “It seems there is no way to use them, you should apply for a return of the goods.”
Like a scene that could only be seen in a doomsday movie, the earth was nearly overturned, resembling a piece of dough that had been crumpled to pieces. The broken tree trunks lay scattered all over the place, and huge rocks whistled past their sides as they rolled by.
Ji Yunzhao even heard several miserable shrieks.
“I cannot run anymore! How come there is not even a single safe place?!”
“Before coming in, Master also did not say this is a body-tempering secret realm!”
Two cultivators who were complaining while running happened to pass by their side. Upon hearing those words, Yan Fulang cast a glance at Ji Yunzhao.
Ji Yunzhao said, ” do not look at me, it is not a body-tempering secret realm, I also did not know it would turn into this.”
Ji Yunzhao was certain that this segment did not exist in the original book plot, at least within the plot of his own character, he had never heard of any rumors regarding a Black-grade secret realm going wrong. And in the original book, Yan Fulang had also never entered this secret realm.
He could not even tell whether the secret realm losing control was a butterfly effect brought by Yan Fulang entering the secret realm and him following along, or if it was because his alt account was exposed. In the future, it was better to be more obedient, and only let Yan Fulang go to secret realms that had proper records.
Running all the way, Ji Yunzhao had tried various methods and also understood that none of his magical treasures could be brought inside, and the secret realm also banned flying. With him running like this, it was better to,
White mist suddenly surfaced. Ji Yunzhao switched back to his alt account without any hesitation, and before Yan Fulang could react, he plunged straight into his embrace.
“Your master is tired of running!”
Yan Fulang thought, “…”
Seeming not to have expected that Ji Yunzhao could make such a, natural move not long after his identity was exposed, Yan Fulang’s footsteps paused. At this kind of time, distraction under any circumstance was extremely dangerous.
Yan Fulang had no time to think further, acting entirely out of reflex as he gathered the red and white little fluff ball into his palm. Holding the little bird’s belly, he placed him inside the lapel of his chest clothing.
“Senior, hold on tight.”
“Riiip, ”
Answering him was the tearing sound of Ji Yunzhao firmly fixing himself onto Yan Fulang’s body, using his claws to puncture and pierce through the clothing.
“Once we are out of the secret realm, I will buy a new one for you.” The little bird poked his round little head out from the black clothing, blinked his black-bean-like eyes, and added a sentence.
An unknown amount of time passed, and the collapse of the secret realm suddenly terminated just as abruptly as it had begun, and the sky also began to clear up. Before everything settled down, Yan Fulang had already stood on the summit of a mountain far away from the entrance and exit of the secret realm while carrying Ji Yunzhao.
Ji Yunzhao became lazy, not switching back to his human form, merely crawling out from his clothes and standing on his shoulder to look around.
Lying behind them was a group of cultivators who were so tired that they could only gasp for breath, and were also battle-damaged. After all, most of those who would come to this secret realm were only around the Qin Xin Realm, their cultivation was not very high, and they were not necessarily specialized in body tempering. Ji Yunzhao saw quite a few weak elixir cultivators among the unlucky fellows collapsing all over the place.
Those cultivators who were sucked in by the entrance of the secret realm, including Ji Yunzhao himself, had all come over to send the young kids into the dungeon, and were also among the few present who could still stand.
A female cultivator wearing a horizon-blue long dress was currently busy walking back and forth, counting the casualties. Ji Yunzhao learned from the conversations of the surrounding cultivators that she was an elder of the Xing Qiong Sect.
The Xing Qiong Sect was second only to the Bi Yun Sect, being the second largest sect in the Eastern Continent. With her coming out to take charge of the overall situation, everyone clearly became much calmer. Fortunately, this place was just a Black-grade secret realm, and though the sudden disaster was somewhat tricky, it did not cause large-scale casualties. No cultivators died, they were merely injured to varying degrees, and the most serious cases were nothing more than missing arms or legs. Bringing them back to their sects to nurse them for a while, new limbs could still grow out from the severed areas.
The disciple uniforms of the Xing Qiong Sect were in the blue color scheme, with star elements embroidered with gold thread on the clothing, looking gorgeous yet steady. Those young boys and girls brought out by the elder to gain experience were also much calmer than the other cultivators.