Huge animal claws scraped tentatively against the ice. Jiang Xu clenched his fists, and it was only when he glanced at the long sword in Chu Weiling’s hand that he realized he didn’t even have a weapon of his own!
Moving slowly, Chu Weiling lowered his voice. “Don’t move.”
Jiang Xu nodded, thinking to himself, I wouldn’t dare move even if I wanted to.
The spiritual beast’s sharp eyes glowed like two balls of fire against the snowy landscape. Jiang Xu swallowed hard. Suddenly, his gaze locked with the beast’s pupils. He shivered as the monster stared at him as if sizing up a meal, emitting constant low growls and snarls while its sharp claws kicked up large clumps of crushed ice and snow.
Is this guy targeting me again? Jiang Xu felt a chill down his neck. He planted his feet firmly in the snow, ready to bolt at any second.
In the midst of the stalemate, Chu Weiling suddenly moved. With a flash of his sword, a streak of golden light sliced through the snow toward the spiritual beast. The beast roared and dodged with incredible speed, then kicked off with its hind legs. Its powerful, hill-like body lunged directly at Chu Weiling, casting a massive shadow. As a huge claw swiped down, Chu Weiling immediately raised his sword to parry. The collision of claw and blade produced a screeching, ear-piercing sound so sharp that Jiang Xu winced and clapped his hands over his ears.
The beast possessed immense strength, and cold sweat began to bead on Chu Weiling’s forehead. Suddenly, he jerked his sword back, slicing across the beast’s claw. The massive creature let out a cry of pain and recoiled, leaving a trail of bright red blood—like scattered plum blossoms—across the white snow.
Jiang Xu took the opportunity to run back a few paces, but there was nowhere to hide on this open ice plain. Just as he was hesitating, Chu Weiling flew over, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him away.
The wounded beast wasn’t about to give up and pursued them. Jiang Xu glanced back; the blood on the snow was thick and continuous. It seemed Chu Weiling had delivered a heavy blow.
This secret realm was truly bizarre. The path they had come from was all ice and snow, yet now sparse grass began to sprout along the way. Deeper in, tall trees appeared, and eventually, the two stopped in the middle of a dense forest.
Chu Weiling let go and shot him a look. “Hide yourself.”
“Thank you, thank you!” Jiang Xu hurriedly looked for a spot in the sudden woods. The roars from outside the forest were terrifying; he could only imagine how gruesome the beast’s face looked right now.
He found a tall, leafy tree and scrambled up. Just as he tucked himself behind a cluster of green leaves, he locked eyes with Chu Weiling, who was standing below, watching him.
“…” Jiang Xu blinked and greeted him, “Senior Brother, are you coming up too?”
Chu Weiling’s brow furrowed. “Why are you so cowardly?”
In his memory, Jiang Xu was supposed to be audacious, with spiritual power even greater than his own. Faced with such a beast, the old Jiang Xu would have charged in with a sword. Yet now, despite it being months since his last injury—which should be fully healed—he was acting so strangely.
He scrutinized Jiang Xu and asked sternly, “Where is your sword?”
Jiang Xu froze. The original host’s sword was named Chenxue (Sinking Snow), and he had cherished it deeply; he never would have taken it off. But Jiang Xu had been living in such comfort lately that he had completely forgotten about it.
He licked his wind-dried lips, trying to act calm. “Since my injury, Shizun took Chenxue away and hasn’t returned it yet.”
“Shizun?” Chu Weiling’s expression shifted. He stepped closer, his eyes flashing with a sharp light. “Why would Shizun take your sword?”
Facing the aggressive questioning, Jiang Xu sighed and leaned against a branch. “You don’t understand, Senior Brother. My spiritual power was damaged after the injury. Forget using a sword—even circulating my qi is sluggish. Shizun took it so I wouldn’t be tempted to use it.”
Chu Weiling’s expression turned odd. “You certainly are close with Shizun.”
Jiang Xu felt the tone was a bit off, but he breathed a sigh of relief when the sword topic was dropped. “You misunderstand. Shizun treats all disciples this way. If you were injured, I’m sure he’d be even better to you!”
Chu Weiling let out a cold snort and ignored him. Jiang Xu quickly asked, “So, are you coming up?”
Chu Weiling turned back and stared at him as if he were an idiot. “Before we accidentally entered the back mountain, I thought you were somewhat clever and full of spiritual power. Though your roots weren’t the most gifted, they weren’t bad. But now, you’ve hit rock bottom.” His dark, narrow eyes locked onto Jiang Xu. “It’s almost as if… you’re a completely different person.”
“Senior Brother, stop joking.” Jiang Xu forced himself to stay composed, thinking, You hit the nail on the head; I literally am a different person. He laughed it off. “It’s just the fallout from the injury.”
“Does an injury cause a total personality change?”
Jiang Xu’s body stiffened. He gripped the branch tight, pursing his lips. “People change. You’re making a mountain out of a molehill, Senior Brother.”
Chu Weiling chuckled. “True.” He murmured softly, “Everyone changes. However,” he looked up again, a playful glint in his eyes, “I almost thought you had been possessed, Junior Brother.”
For the first time, Jiang Xu felt that Chu Weiling was truly inscrutable. He forced a smile. “You’re joking, Senior Brother.”
“I hope it really is a joke,” Chu Weiling replied. “That spiritual beast won’t come here. Every illusion has its own specific creatures; it belongs to the snow plain and cannot enter here.”
“Then can I come down?” Jiang Xu looked around at the lush leaves. Thinking about the insects in the tree, he decided it was better to descend.
Before he could move, the man below added, “Though this forest likely isn’t peaceful either.”
“…”
Chu Weiling frowned at him. “I didn’t realize you had become this dull and timid. If a beast comes, being in a tree won’t save you.”
Jiang Xu pouted, thinking, Fine, you’re the big shot. He carefully climbed down and jumped the last few feet, dusting off his hands. He used a bit of his hard-earned spiritual power to cast a Cleaning Charm on himself, finally feeling comfortable.
“We need to find the designated spiritual item and bring it back to pass the first round,” Chu Weiling said, arms crossed, his face full of disdain. “Don’t hold me back.”
With that, he turned and walked deeper into the forest without looking back.
Watching his retreating figure, Jiang Xu clenched his fists, his temper rising. “You’re the one who dragged me here!” he whispered, making a face at Chu Weiling’s back.
“Keep up.”
“I’m coming, I’m coming…” Jiang Xu grumbled and followed.
The forest in this illusion was dense with exotic flowers and strange plants—a total contrast to the snow plain. However, Jiang Xu noticed a mysterious fragrance lingering in the air. It smelled wonderful, yet it felt unnerving.
“Senior Brother, do you smell something strange?”
Chu Weiling stopped and turned. His narrow eyes were unreadable. “It might be ‘miasma’.”
“Miasma?” Jiang Xu nodded. “Doesn’t that mean it’s poisonous?” And does miasma usually smell this good?
Chu Weiling didn’t say more but suddenly walked right up to him. Standing nearly the same height, they were now face-to-face.
“Senior Brother? What’s wrong?”
Chu Weiling stared at him for a moment, then reached for his waist and pulled out a small cloth pouch, roughly shoving it into Jiang Xu’s hand. “Take this.”
Jiang Xu weighed the pouch and gave it a sniff. “This isn’t a normal sachet, is it?”
Chu Weiling had already turned back to continue into the depths. “No. You said there was a weird smell; take this just in case.”
“Oh.” Jiang Xu clipped the sachet to his waist. He found it strange—this Senior Brother usually looked like he wanted to kill him, yet in a moment like this, he was actually quite attentive rather than taking the chance to screw him over. He teased, “I thought you were going to leave me to fend for myself.”
” I didn’t intend to look after you.”
Jiang Xu gave a dry laugh. “But you did anyway. Although… this sachet isn’t poisoned, is it? Hahaha.”
He was only joking, but Chu Weiling stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around, looking at Jiang Xu with pure contempt. He drew his sword, the blade singing as it left the scabbard. “If I wanted to harm you, this sword would be enough.”
“…” Jiang Xu thought, It was just a joke, was the sword threat really necessary? He waved his hands helplessly. “True, true. You’re much stronger than me now; you wouldn’t need petty tricks. My mistake.”
Chu Weiling ignored him. His sword clicked back into its sheath, and Jiang Xu followed obediently. The sachet seemed to work; that sweet fragrance was fading, almost becoming undetectable.
He looked at the back of Chu Weiling’s head, thinking how strange he was.
Jiang Xu had never wanted anything from this secret realm; he hadn’t even wanted to participate. If he hadn’t been dragged in, he’d be sound asleep in his little hut right now.
He sighed softly and looked at his palm. The mark Shizun had left there before they entered the realm had long since vanished. He wondered what Shizun was doing right now.
The two arrived at a clear spring. The water was incredibly transparent, and more surprisingly, a layer of thin mist hovered over it like immortal energy. Along the way, the path had been overflowing with exotic plants, but strangely, around this spring, the vegetation was sparse and the few weeds that did grow were twisted and stunted.
He wasn’t sure if it was an illusion, but Jiang Xu felt that the fragrance from earlier was becoming more concentrated here. However, it vanished before he could truly identify it.
The atmosphere grew heavy. The birds and insects they had heard earlier had gone completely silent. It was an eerie, haunting quiet.
Chu Weiling stopped by the spring. He glanced at Jiang Xu. “Are you tired?”
The question caught Jiang Xu off guard. He replied with a question: “Are you tired, Senior Brother?”
Chu Weiling shook his head. Suddenly, a strange rustling sound came from the distance, like something slithering through the grass. His expression changed instantly, and he drew his sword. “Stay here!”
“Hey, Senior Brother!” Before Jiang Xu could say anything, Chu Weiling vanished into the thicket.
The silence was terrifying. Jiang Xu walked around a large rock, intending to sit down, but noticed a deep trail on the ground, as if something heavy had crawled past.
Jiang Xu knelt down and touched the soil; it was still damp. He frowned. Just as he was about to stand up, he heard the water in the spring behind him surge, as if something was about to burst out of the surface.