Ji Yunzhao heard them discussing the reason for the abnormality in the secret realm.
That elder stood in the center of the mountain summit, raising her voice, telling everyone not to panic, to calm down first, and that the Xing Qiong Sect would lead everyone to find a way to leave the secret realm, and words of a similar nature.
Ji Yunzhao listened for a while, deliberately lowering his voice to scare Yan Fulang, “Are you afraid? We might not be able to get out.”
The red and white little bird stood firmly on Yan Fulang’s shoulder, glanced at the puncture hole on the youth’s chest that had been scratched out by his claws, and cocked his long tail feathers with smugness and schadenfreude, not feeling sorry for his own actions at all.
The wind on the mountain summit was very strong, and every time it blew over, it would cause Yan Fulang to feel a sliver of subtle chilliness. He knew why Ji Yunzhao wanted to cause destruction, and though he did not like wearing clothes with holes in them, he also did not have much dissatisfaction, indulgently tapping the fluffy little head on his right shoulder.
“Then will Senior be afraid? I did not place any food inside the storage bag, so Senior will have to brave the wind and dew along with me.”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
What threatened Ji Yunzhao was not the glitched secret realm itself, but the possibility of having to spend the night out in the open, as well as not having dishes prepared with normal cooking methods and seasonings. How terrifying, he truly wanted to get out now.
According to the tropes of face-slapping cultivation novels, if a secret realm went wrong, it must be related to some important prop. It was either a treasure about to appear in the world, or a rare spiritual beast or spiritual material.
The elder was worried that the secret realm would play another trick, as no one could tell when the next big earthquake would arrive. She was organizing the main force, wanting to gather all the cultivators together to move as a group.
At the edge of the crowd, the palm-sized little bird bit the youth’s black sleeve, quietly and stealthily dragging the person away.
The noisy voices of people gradually distanced, and Ji Yunzhao released Yan Fulang’s sleeve, flying back onto his shoulder once again. His tender yellow beak opened and closed, spilling out a string of human words without any concealment.
“Do you believe your master? I will take you to make a fortune!”
After experiencing several more earthquakes of varying sizes, Ji Yunzhao keenly perceived that this secret realm seemed to be leading them to walk toward a certain direction.
Countless vines moved slowly on the messy ground, separating toward both sides as they approached. Before long, a subtle, winding little path appeared inside the forest.
Ji Yunzhao did not see any demonic beasts around, there were not even any bird calls or insect chirping. The entire forest was completely silent, and coupled with the bizarre behavior of the vines on the ground, it gave off a rather horrifying movie vibe.
When the secret realm was experiencing the earthquake, to save energy, he chose to switch to his alt account. Now that the wind was calm and the waves were quiet, it looked like nothing major would happen again, but he also did not intend to switch back to his main account. Having this kind of mount that was both steady and fast, and would even automatically massage him, who would still want to walk with two legs.
“Mmh, that is right, right here, scratch a bit more, ”
The round little bird tilted his head up, proactively rubbing against the long fingers. The snowy white down feathers brushed past the knuckles, so comfortable that he was about to bubble up.
The youth held him firmly with one hand, while the other hand accurately rubbed across the place Ji Yunzhao mentioned, and even increased the strength slightly without any prior instruction.
“Senior, is this okay?”
“Mmh, mmh, mmh, ”
Ji Yunzhao could not help but squint his eyes in comfort, praising with perfect sincerity, “Okay, okay, very excellent, keep up the good work!”
The two were so leisurely that they looked like they had come out for a spring outing. As for the danger inside the secret realm, it was entirely thrown to the back of their minds by them, as if even the entrance that could not be reached and the exit that was still hidden somewhere unknown were also not worth mentioning. Especially since one of them had completely dropped his cover not long ago, a cover he had painstakingly covered for a long time and which might affect the development of the plot, yet now he naturally let his disciple rub his head. The movement of rubbing against the fingers to urge him on was also done with absolute naturalness, completely lacking any embarrassment after losing his cover.
The system made a clicking sound twice, “Host, you were so embarrassed before that you wanted to shut yourself away in depression, yet you have accepted reality this quickly?”
The system did not follow them inside together, but that did not hinder it from lying inside the system space to observe the situation outside.
“The embarrassment had already run away during the earthquake.” Ji Yunzhao said as he curled into a piece of glutinous rice cake inside Yan Fulang’s hand, “Otherwise, what else can be done, acting is so tiring, ”
In previous tasks, it was not that sudden situations had never occurred. Although losing his cover in front of the male lead was not the same thing, Ji Yunzhao had always been someone who, once something happened, would solve it directly if it could be solved, and continuing to evade had no meaning either.
“System, look at it this way, the one who was frightened by the big living person turning into something else is who, it is Yan Fulang, right! His master is actually a bird! It is truly quite terrifying!”
Ji Yunzhao moved within the youth’s palm, raising his head, murmuring with his mouth to signal for a scratch on his chin, not forgetting to continue chatting with the system.
“Yan Fulang has accepted it, so what can I not accept, I can even lie flat ahead of schedule to enjoy it.”
The system felt, a bit unable to look. In truth, it did not feel that Yan Fulang would be frightened by the fact that his own host switched to an alt account, and it was highly possible that he precisely wished for it.
The person and the system chatted intermittently for a while. While chatting, Ji Yunzhao also directed Yan Fulang in reality, including but not limited to touching his head and chin more, and rubbing his face was of course the best.
“Yan Fulang!”
While being rubbed, the fluffy little bird suddenly turned around, pecking the youth fiercely.
“You are not allowed to touch my tail! And you are not allowed to rub my back either!”
Ji Yunzhao was a bird for the first time, and in truth he did not know what would happen if his back was rubbed, he merely wanted to avoid it out of instinct. The tender yellow beak pecked several times without mercy, leaving a string of neat red marks on the cold white knuckles. After Ji Yunzhao finished pecking, as if holding a grudge, he flew away from Yan Fulang’s palm and returned to his shoulder.
“I am sorry.”
Yan Fulang apologized immediately, his attitude extremely proper. To make the little bird lose his anger, he took out several chestnuts from his storage bag, peeled them properly, and handed them to Ji Yunzhao’s beak. Not until the chestnuts were fed, plus a small handful of pumpkin seeds, and Ji Yunzhao ate so much that he was almost hiccuping, did he reluctantly nod his head.
“Forget it, your master is a great person with a large capacity, so I forgive you, do not do it again.”
The two walked without any haste, and the speed at which the vines by their feet crawled was about to be faster than them. Before a certain vine stood up in anxiety and attempted to tug Yan Fulang, Ji Yunzhao finally found his conscience, patted his shoulder, and told him to walk faster.
Yan Fulang quickened his pace according to his words, turning his head slightly, rubbing against the little bird on his shoulder.
“Is Senior anxious?”
“No, I am not anxious, but someone is anxious.”
Rubbing his head and touching his face were both fine. On the little fat bird alt account, Ji Yunzhao had always gone with whatever was comfortable, but toward certain actions that looked a bit too intimate in his view, he was still not particularly adapted. He raised one wing, slapping it over the youth’s smooth jawline, “Why are you acting all clingy, do not play this trick with me.”
Amidst the casual conversation, this forest also reached its end. The vines exited the stage in turn, and the thick tree shade that blotted out the sky overhead also turned into a clear, azure blue sky. Ji Yunzhao burrowed right back into Yan Fulang’s embrace at the first opportunity to hide from the sun.
Outside the woods was a vast green land, and the fallen leaves swept up by the wind floated past their sides, providing them with a new path once again. There were still no signs of life to be seen around. After crossing the green land, the fallen leaves brought them before a pitch-black mountain cave.
Along the way, there were no mechanisms, no demonic beasts blocking the path, only a certain existence that could not wait to call them over. Before even approaching the mountain cave, Ji Yunzhao had already perceived a large amount of spiritual energy fluctuations coming from inside the cave. It was just that the body of the little fat bird was inconvenient for careful sensing.
Before he prepared to switch back to his human body, he bounced heavily on his cheap disciple’s shoulder, “Yan Fulang, do you guess what is inside the mountain cave is a spiritual beast, or a magical treasure?”
White mist surged within the dim mountain cave. Before Ji Yunzhao could open his mouth, Yan Fulang had already turned his body away very consciously, “If I guess correctly, will there be a reward from Senior?”
“No, no, guess if you want, if not then don’t.”
A fair and slender hand extended from the hazy mist, knocking once on the youth’s head, “Have you forgotten what happened today? You still dare to mention a reward? Why don’t you go up to heaven?”
“Senior, ” Yan Fulang did not dodge or avoid. Only after being knocked did he raise a pair of beautiful peach blossom eyes, looking over with words held back. He looked quite aggrieved, which also made Ji Yunzhao want to give his head another knock.
Right when Ji Yunzhao was about to put his action into effect, a raspy voice suddenly came from the depths of the mountain cave, shouting hoarsely, “Stop flirting, if you do not come in any faster, I am going to go up to heaven first!”
Ji Yunzhao thought, “…”
Yan Fulang thought, “…”
Ji Yunzhao wanted to refute that phrase “flirting” out of reflex, wanting to ask what kind of thing was hidden inside this cave, whether it only grew a mouth but no eyes, when his side suddenly became empty. Yan Fulang lifted his foot and walked inside, so fast that he almost failed to keep up.
The inside of the mountain cave was unexpectedly clean, as if someone cleaned it every day. There were no skeletons of any animals, no dead branches or fallen leaves, let alone annoying spider webs and thick dust. A small hole like a skylight opened overhead, and bright light poured into the cave, happening to shine upon a, mask on the ground?
Was this mask speaking just now? Strange, did the original book ever mention any plot regarding a mask magical treasure?
Ji Yunzhao blinked his eyes, and just as he wanted to squat down to take a careful look, a slender hand reached over from the side, picking the mask up.
The mask was purely black, carved with intricate and gorgeous patterns, flashing with starlight-like gleams under the sunlight. He immediately leaned close to Yan Fulang’s side, “So beautiful, this mask is very unusual.”
A Heaven-grade magical treasure appeared inside a Black-grade dungeon, could this be the true reason for the collapse of the secret realm?
“Oho, you are quite knowledgeable! You actually saw through the fact that I am a Heaven-grade magical treasure!” The raspy voice came once again. The mask was extremely excited, and even if it could only remain motionless while being held in Yan Fulang’s hand, that did not hinder it from opening its mouth to chatter away.
“Impressive, right? Am I not very impressive?” The mask was excited and smug, doing its utmost to pitch itself, “Have you seen any other Heaven-grade masks? No, right! Put it on and you can disguise your appearance, change your body shape, alter your gender, and looking across the entire Five Continents, no person and no magical treasure can see through my disguise effect! Are you interested? If you are interested then quickly take me, ”
The noisy mask was placed right back onto the ground by Yan Fulang.
“Just a disguise, it sounds like its effect is not major,” Yan Fulang said very coldly, lacking the slightest bit of excitement upon seeing a Heaven-grade magical treasure, “And it is too noisy.”
“???” The mask said in disbelief, “Noisy? You think I am noisy? I am a Heaven-grade magical treasure and you think I am noisy?”
Ji Yunzhao added a blow, “It is indeed quite noisy.”
The mask said, “…”
Although one could not see an expression on a mask, for some reason, Ji Yunzhao had an intuition that the mask seemed quite angry, and after getting angry, it forcibly endured it again.
The mask fell silent for a few seconds, opening its mouth once more, “Fine, fine, I will just speak a bit less.”
Able to bend and stretch, it looked like it truly wanted to leave this secret realm, and such a lively and talkative item spirit was also very rare. So, how did the item spirit of a Heaven-grade magical treasure end up depending on them?
Ji Yunzhao and Yan Fulang exchanged a glance.
Yan Fulang said in a calm voice, “Whether you speak more or less has nothing to do with us?”
Ji Yunzhao joined the conversation with a smile, “Exactly, you might not believe it if we say it, but we are both law-abiding good people, we do not rob houses, commit adultery, or assassinate others, so what do we need a mask for?”
“Let us go, we still have to find the exit of the secret realm, we cannot waste any more time.”
Ji Yunzhao did not give the mask a single glance, dragging Yan Fulang to turn around and leave. Before their steps could be taken, they were called out to by the mask, which was so anxious that it wished it could jump up.
“No need to look, no need to look! I know where the exit of the secret realm is!” The mask was simply about to break into a sweat, as it had never seen such young people who lacked any desires. It was deeply afraid that they did not even care about the exit of the secret realm, and before the two could react, it began to frantically sell its misery.
“My life is so bitter, when I was alive I was hunted down, and after death I even fused into one with a magical treasure and cannot move at all, only able to lie in this broken place every day, do you know how many blades of grass are on the wall? It is one thousand seven hundred and three blades! I have counted them countless times! I beg of you, for the sake of me pointing out the path for you, bring me out, ”
Ji Yunzhao remained unmoved, “The secret realm has restrictions on cultivation and magical treasures, how did a Heaven-grade magical treasure end up falling into a Black-grade secret realm? Your grade exceeds too much, so you should not be able to enter either.”
The mask finally understood that if it did not explain clearly, Ji Yunzhao would not relent, so it could only let out a sigh and spoke of its past events.
“So, you used to be a Teng Yun Realm cultivator, were hunted down and died inside the secret realm, and by a stroke of luck fused together with the mask which was an Earth-grade magical treasure at the time, and as a result for some unknown reason, you woke up and one plus one equaled two to upgrade into a Heaven-grade magical treasure, and even became an item spirit, and the grade conflict brought by this caused problems to appear in the secret realm, both sucking people in and collapsing, ”
Ji Yunzhao summarized for a bit, letting out a cold laugh, “So the culprit is you!”
The mask said, “?”
Yan Fulang asked, “There are so many cultivators inside the secret realm, why did you point out the path for us?”
“About this, ” The mask discovered that these two probably did not enter the secret realm voluntarily, but it truly wanted to get out, so it still steeled its heart and said it.
“That, let me make a statement beforehand, I am very vulgar, I just like to look at beautiful people, and then, based on intuition, I picked the most good-looking and most well-matched pair among the crowd, ”
Before these words could be finished, Ji Yunzhao saw Yan Fulang bend his body down, picking the mask up from the ground.
Yan Fulang asked, “Where is the exit?”
Ji Yunzhao asked, “?”