Helping Others is a Source of Happiness

Hearing this, the two of them were somewhat puzzled and said,

"You can't say for sure. There was one year when over a dozen senior brothers and sisters directly didn't make it out."

Lin Xiao: ...

He stopped wasting words and decisively took out the jade pendant engraved with the characters 'Tian Xuan', saying,

"Yesterday we discovered a place where many people from your sect are imprisoned. They weren't from this year's entry, and their physical condition is very poor. Would you like to go over and help?"

Hearing this, Yuan Qing took the jade pendant from his hand and examined it for a moment, confirming it was indeed a sect jade pendant. Just as he was about to agree, he felt Xu Juan gently tug the hem of his robe from behind.

So he didn't speak, and Xu Juan stepped forward to address Lin Xiao and the other,

"How do we know you're not deceiving us? What if it's a trap you've set, waiting for us to fall into it?"

Hearing this, Lin Xiao nodded at him with a smile,

"Strong sense of vigilance, very good, very good."

Being praised like this by a young boy who looked several years younger than himself made Xu Juan feel very awkward. However, in the next instant, he felt his entire body fixed in place, unable to move!

Then he heard the boy say again,

"Earlier, when you were being chased, it was us who saved you. If we wanted to do anything to you, would you have been able to do anything about it?"

As soon as the words fell, he found he had regained control of his body.

Xu Juan and Yuan Qing looked at the two of them in great astonishment,

"So it was you who helped us before?"

Lin Xiao just waved his hand,

"Let's hurry. Saving people is urgent. I estimate your senior brothers and sisters might not hold on much longer if you two are any later."

After speaking, Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao turned and started walking back.

Hearing him speak with such urgency, Yuan Qing and the other had no choice but to suppress their surprise and gratitude and follow them on the journey back.

Because they had to accommodate the speed of Yuan Qing and Xu Juan, the return journey took a bit longer than the trip out.

Along the way, Yuan Qing and Xu Juan were utterly amazed.

Throughout the entire journey, they hadn't encountered any danger at all!

Before, they had been attacked by demonic beasts as soon as they entered the secret realm!

Meanwhile, Lin Xiao was checking along the way for other cultivators, avoiding them from afar if spotted, to prevent unnecessary trouble and delay their travel time.

After his previous two experiences with the combat capabilities of these Qi Refining cultivators, Lin Xiao no longer held any hopes of using fights with them for training.

So it was better to just focus on hurrying.

By the time they brought Yuan Qing and the other back to the Spirit Heart Valley, it was already the afternoon of the third day.

As soon as they entered, Lin Xiao saw Venerable Pantu's remnant soul, now almost transparent, lying weakly on the ground nearby.

The dozen or so cultivators who could still breathe, originally lying on the ground like withered wood, now had a faint hint of color on their faces.

They no longer looked like desiccated corpses.

After using the Secret Realm's Heart, Lin Xiao immediately understood what had happened here in the past two and a half days.

It turned out that Venerable Pantu, seeing the state of these people, felt remorseful and used his own soul power and spiritual energy to consolidate their foundation and nourish their vitality.

However, this part of Venerable Pantu's soul was truly feeble. Knowing his current soul form was not powerful, he didn't focus on restoring one person to normalcy as much as possible. Instead, he performed a certain degree of foundation consolidation and vitality nourishment for each person, trying to ensure everyone had a bit more life force.

Therefore, what Lin Xiao and the others saw now were people who could lie on the ground and moan, and they could hear their breathing, sometimes heavy, sometimes light.

Meanwhile, Venerable Pantu's soul beside them appeared to be on the verge of dissipating.

The cultivator who had previously stared at Venerable Pantu with hatred in his eyes was no longer fixated on him. Instead, he was quietly resting with his eyes closed nearby, lost in thought.

Yuan Qing, seeing this person, exclaimed in shock,

"Senior Brother He!"

Hearing the call, this cultivator opened his eyes and looked at Yuan Qing, his eyes showing pleasant surprise. But in his current state, he didn't have the strength to speak much. Only a faint, thread-like voice was heard,

"Junior Brother Yuan..."

Yuan Qing hurried forward and grabbed his arm,

"That's great, Senior Brother He! So you're not dead! What happened to you? Were you ambushed?"

Senior Brother He, hearing this, glanced faintly out of the corner of his eye at Venerable Pantu, who was about to disperse, and said,

"It's too painful to recall, best not mentioned..."

Xu Juan, standing beside the two, saw that many on the ground were wearing their Tianxuan Sect's robes. Without thinking, he knew these must be the missing senior and junior sect members from previous years. Among them were also some wearing dark yellow robes, clearly people from the Dixuan Sect.

Seeing everyone was in such a weak state, he quickly took out his last bottle of Foundation Nourishing Pills from his storage bag, crouched down, and fed them to everyone one by one.

Seeing this, Yuan Qing also hurriedly took out his own bottle of Foundation Nourishing Pills from his storage bag and fed them to everyone.

After taking the Foundation Nourishing Pills, the complexions of the people on the ground improved a bit more.

But only a bit.

Yuan Qing looked at the crowd on the ground and felt troubled.

To leave the secret realm, they all had to gather at the exit and wait for the sect elders to open it.

But now, these senior brothers and sisters on the ground were so weak they couldn't even sit up, let alone walk. How were he and Xu Juan supposed to take so many of them to the exit?

They didn't have any flying magical tools either...

As if reading his thoughts, Lin Xiao spoke up,

"Brother Yuan, are you worried about how to get out of the secret realm?"

Hearing his question, Yuan Qing nodded repeatedly.

Lin Xiao rubbed his nose and lied,

"Actually, there's an exit in this valley that leads to the outside world. Moreover, wherever you entered from, this exit will send you back exactly to that entrance."

Hearing this, Yuan Qing and Xu Juan both looked up at him with great joy,

"Brother Lin, is that true?!"

Lin Xiao nodded,

"Of course. Look at us two, we're not disciples of your two sects, right? To be honest, we enter and exit the secret realm from this very place."

Sun Yigao listened to Lin Xiao's barefaced lie beside him and silently looked up at the sky.

Yuan Qing cupped his hands towards Lin Xiao,

"We must trouble you two gentlemen to show us this exit and help us take all these senior brothers and sisters out!"

Lin Xiao smiled,

"It's a small matter, a small matter. Helping others is the hallmark of our generation."

As he spoke, he turned and walked to the side, his back to the crowd. Then, putting on an act, he searched for a long time before suddenly stopping at one spot as if fiddling with something. In reality, he was secretly using the Secret Realm's Heart to open an exit here that could connect to the place where they had entered.

After a short while, he opened an exit, then turned back to Yuan Qing and the others,

"Alright, alright, the exit is open. Hurry and carry them out!"