Secret Realm Exploration Mission

Once everyone had left, Lin Xiao finally felt safe enough to pull an axe out of his private storage and handed it to Sun Yigao. The two began working diligently as lumberjacks.

Suddenly, the system's voice rang out in Lin Xiao's mind:

[Ding—Secret Realm Exploration Quest issued: Please find the Heart of the Green Field Secret Realm and successfully obtain it. Once obtained, this secret realm will completely belong to the host's sect, and no one else will be able to force it open.]

Lin Xiao, who was just getting a bit bored of chopping trees, received this quest. He immediately put away his axe and said to Sun Yigao:

"Yigao, there's a Secret Realm Heart in this secret realm. If we can get it, this place will completely belong to our sect in the future, and no one else will ever be able to enter."

Sun Yigao smiled and said:

"Actually, I think it's not bad to meet other people. Otherwise, we wouldn't even know what cultivators outside are like."

Lin Xiao shrugged and said:

"Maybe those few were just outer disciples of some small sect."

With a quest to find something, Lin Xiao stopped harvesting everything in sight like before. He just casually grabbed a handful of whatever he came across and tossed it into his private storage, planning to appraise them when he had free time to see if they were of any great use. If something proved highly useful, he would spend more effort to gather more; if it was useless, he would simply leave it be for now.

After all, he could collect items anytime, but he had no idea how long it would take to find that Secret Realm Heart.

Walking along just like this, until the sky turned dark, Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao didn't run into anyone else.

Lin Xiao was a bit puzzled. Didn't they say that two sects each sent a hundred disciples into this secret realm for trials every year?

How come they had walked for a whole day and only met those five people at noon?

Could it be that this minor secret realm was actually huge?

So dropping two hundred people in here was like a drop in the ocean?

Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao found a relatively flat spot and started a fire.

The two went into the water to catch some fish, which they were now roasting over the fire.

Sun Yigao took out the salt his mother had packed for him from his storage bag, sprinkled it on, and began turning the fish.

Watching his practiced movements as he roasted the fish with his sleeves rolled up, Lin Xiao shook his head and laughed:

"Yigao, it's really hard to imagine that a month ago, you couldn't even draw water properly."

Sun Yigao's lips curved into a smile:

"I feel like I'm the most relaxed I've been in over a decade. In the past, I wouldn't have even dared to imagine doing things like sleeping out in the wild or making my own food."

After turning the fish a few more times, he let go, lay back on the grass nearby, and rested his head on his hands, looking up at the starry night sky.

"Since I was little, I carried a lot of expectations and pressure while studying. When I was younger, I would watch the village kids play in the mud, climb trees, and catch fish. On one hand, I felt what they were doing was meaningless and boring, but on the other hand, I felt envious and occasionally wanted to join them."

Lin Xiao also lay down on the other side of the fire, resting his head on his hands, and said:

"Actually, everything we do is probably meaningless in the face of our fleeting lives."

Sun Yigao turned his head to look at him:

"Is the Sect Master really such a pessimistic person?"

Lin Xiao just looked at the night sky and smiled:

"I'm someone who likes to waste life, so these meaningless things are just perfect for me."

Sun Yigao's expression relaxed, and he turned his head back:

"Indeed, life doesn't need that much meaning. Or rather, just following your own thoughts is a great meaning in itself."

Lin Xiao turned to look at him and asked:

"When you joined the sect, I remember you saying you wanted to cultivate so you could better help the world?"

Sun Yigao nodded:

"The more books I read, the more blood and tears I see behind the words. I'm a scholar, after all, so I'm always a bit arrogant at heart. I still harbor the delusion of doing something and changing something with my own meager strength, even though it might ultimately be in vain."

The fire between them crackled, and the two fish roasting above it gradually gave off a savory aroma.

The shadows of the trees danced gracefully under the moonlight, and the calls of the forest birds seemed to dress up the night.

The night passed in a flash.

In the blink of an eye, it was morning light again.

Lin Xiao ran to the riverbank to brush his teeth.

Ever since he learned the Cleansing Spell, he hadn't taken a bath or brushed his teeth. Thinking about it now, he felt he had deprived himself of a simple joy in life.

So, he decided to reclaim this lost joy.

Starting with brushing his teeth himself.

Seeing Lin Xiao do this, Sun Yigao smiled, came over, squatted beside him, and brushed his teeth with the river water as well.

After breakfast, the two continued their journey forward.

Not far away was a large mountain.

Upon entering the mountain, they found a massive valley.

Within the valley, grass grew tall and birds flew about, brimming with vibrant greenery.

Right in the middle of the valley was a huge lake.

Beside the lake stood a tiny thatched cottage. It looked weathered by the years but still appeared very sturdy.

Around the lake, a few fawns were drinking water.

Sunlight cascaded down from above the valley, making the place look as if it were coated in a dazzling fluorescence.

It looked like a dreamscape, so beautiful that it felt slightly unreal.

Lin Xiao grew vigilant. Could this be an illusion?

However, no matter how hard he observed, he couldn't find a single flaw in this place.

Sun Yigao didn't let his guard down because of the beautiful scenery either. He asked Lin Xiao softly:

"Should we go in?"

Lin Xiao nodded:

"Since we're already here, and this is the only place along the way that looks a bit different, of course we have to go in and take a look."

So the two walked toward the valley.

Once inside, they realized the space here was incredibly vast.

The lake in the center sparkled under the sunlight. As Lin Xiao approached, he saw what seemed to be a beam of light flashing beneath the surface.

What was that?

When he looked closer again, he found nothing in the lake except the reflected sunlight and the clear water; the lake was bottomless.

Lin Xiao was hesitating whether to go down into the lake to investigate when he heard a soft sound from the thatched cottage nearby.

Its door was slowly opening outward.

Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao immediately leaned close together, their eyes fixed intently on the open doorway.

Because they were on the side of the cottage, they couldn't see the scene inside.

The two shifted their feet lightly, slowly walking toward the front of the cottage.

At this moment, they saw a figure suddenly float out from inside.

The reason it was called floating was that this person was completely suspended in the air.

And most importantly, he was semi-transparent!

Sun Yigao and Lin Xiao immediately realized—this was not a human!

The two instantly retreated dozens of meters away, their eyes locked onto this floating spirit.

The figure that suddenly appeared merely floated to the doorway of the thatched cottage and did not advance any further. Seeing this, the two finally stopped their backward retreat.

The figure looked like an elderly man in his sixties.

His pale face bore long eyebrows and a long beard, making him look very much like the "old grandpas" in various stories who could provide help to the protagonist.

However, Lin Xiao didn't dare to be careless, and Sun Yigao, who had never seen such a situation before, was even more on high alert.

Just as the two were on guard, the old man spoke.

"Good disciple... I have waited for you for a long time..."