The scarlet mist rapidly spread throughout the secret realm, dyeing everything it touched with an eerie blood-red hue.
Qin Gou surmised that the moment this bloody mist filled the entire secret realm, it would be when the Spirit of the Secret Realm’s scheme succeeded.
Jia Er, worthy of having once competed with Debt Girl, displayed astonishing speed in this desperate moment of survival. Li Yuanzhen, who was not adept at the Divine Movement Technique and was a苦手 at high-speed races, obediently rode on Qing Yu’s back, hitching a ride, to avoid falling behind.
“Boom!”
Everyone attacked simultaneously, and the door to the dark room was instantly shattered.
Basically, every soul controlling a secret realm possessed a mysterious vessel that parasitized its origin. Similar to the lifelike stone sculpture of True Man Wangji back then, and the Venerable Egu’s bizarre throne, the vessel belonging to the Spirit of the Spirit God Cult’s secret realm this time was a massive statue with multiple heads and arms, each face displaying emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
This statue was also densely covered with spirit charm patterns, extending all the way to the ground beneath its feet. This should be the countermeasure Jia Er had mentioned earlier. Once this statue was destroyed, everything in the secret realm would instantly be obliterated together.
In other words, if the Spirit of the Secret Realm truly intended to fight Qin Gou and the others to the death, it could have simply destroyed the statue decisively. The prolonged delay this time was mainly because it still harbored the desire to devour a large number of vengeful spirits and transform itself into a powerful ghost cultivator.
“A’Yuan.”
“Yes.”
In an instant, Qin Yuan understood tacitly. Several semi-transparent soul-fixing threads rapidly wrapped around the giant stone body before him. His Natal Spirit Tool, ‘Shaohua Mu,’ was fully enveloped in a brilliant radiance as blue as the sea.
When the bloody mist around everyone had noticeably thinned, Qin Gou finally asked, “How is it?”
“No wonder it thought of transforming into a ghost cultivator. The soul of this Spirit of the Secret Realm is indeed extraordinary. A’Yuan’s always-proud soul-fixing threads can only control it for about the duration of one incense stick burning! But the key is…”
Qin Yuan was full of confidence, a smile playing on his lips. “I can cast soul-fixing threads continuously! This means that as long as I stay here and wear down the Spirit of the Secret Realm for three days and three nights, it’s not a problem!”
Seeing this, Qin Gou unhesitatingly gave his daughter a thumbs-up of approval.
Jia Er, however, was still in a state of intense shock, finding it unbelievable. “Fellow Daoist Qin Yuan, is this true? Can you completely control the Spirit of the Secret Realm?”
A’Yuan nodded and smiled kindly. “This is all thanks to Jia Er. I think the reason why I suffered such a great loss and was seriously injured under the hands of this Spirit of the Secret Realm back then was probably because I could never find this place and capture its true body! If not for Jia Er’s decision to abandon darkness and turn to light, my abilities would be useless, wouldn’t they?”
Upon hearing this, Jia Er couldn’t help but chuckle self-deprecatingly. “Fellow Daoist Qin Yuan is too kind to me. There is no ‘abandoning darkness and turning to light.’ I just want to get out alive, after all.”
Not long after, Qin Gou and the others also discovered the soul jars belonging to Jia Er and her companions in this dark room. The snow-white porcelain jars, as pure as jade, were inscribed with their codenames. However, in addition to the ‘Jia Sisters,’ there were also soul jars numbered Jia Er and Jia Wu, which were empty, containing nothing.
According to Jia Er, these two soul jars were originally prepared by the Spirit of the Secret Realm for Qin Yuan and Shangguan Ju.
With the powerful restraint of A’Yuan’s soul-fixing threads, the bloody mist within the secret realm was forcibly stopped from spreading.
Qin Gou placed array flags, while continuing to study methods to break through the secret realm’s exit. He also prepared to set up a self-operating killing array in this dark room before leaving, which would automatically bombard the statue. This was to prevent the Spirit of the Secret Realm from suddenly regretting its decision and reneging on its commitment to perish with the secret realm after everyone had left.
Meanwhile, Qin Gou also asked Little Chair, Xiao Yan, Jing Shixue, and the members of the Cloud Tiger tribe to explore around and search for truly important marvelous treasures. After all, as he and the Spirit of the Secret Realm had agreed, they absolutely could not let the Spirit God Cult’s various treasures and inheritances be extinguished, otherwise, it would be a great sin.
Half an hour later.
A formation flag flew out of Qin Gou’s hand, like a sharp blade that could cut through metal, opening a small but not insignificant spiritual energy gate in the void.
This would allow them to leave the secret realm smoothly. However, not all those who had been sent out had returned yet. Qin Gou was about to use the Divine Feather Dharma Image to signal everyone to gather when he suddenly heard in his ear:
“Ding. Mission ‘Saving People from Fire and Water’ has been published. Outside the secret realm, a large number of cultivators from surrounding sects have gathered here under the deceptive control of the secret realm clone. We hope the host can find a way to make them leave in time and save them from this cruel, heaven-defying human sacrifice. The number of merit points awarded will be calculated based on the number of innocent cultivators the host successfully helps escape. The time limit is three hours. If the mission fails, the host will be punished by attempting to take White Tiger Primordial Lord as a master and receiving his Profound Technique 《Jade Tiger Riding the Wind Manual》, forming a shocking master-disciple relationship with the host, Luo Wei Ban, and Jing Liyu, creating a perfect cycle.”
“Alright, this will infuriate the three of us. Can your punishment be any more outrageous?” Qin Gou said with a wry smile. He then strengthened the stability of the spiritual energy gate with several array flags and said to A’Yuan, “Father has to go out for a moment.”
A’Yuan looked confused. “Father, Jia Er just said that there should be a large number of hostile cultivators gathered outside now!”
“That’s why I need to go ahead.”
Qin Gou nodded with a self-deprecating smile. “Those cultivators are also innocent people who have been deceived. Should we really let them be buried with this Spirit of the Secret Realm? I have to find a way to make them leave… However, Jia Er also mentioned that some secret realm clones have successfully replaced the higher-ups of these sects. It’s not particularly easy to make those unsuspecting cultivators aware of the truth. Father can only try to probe first and take it one step at a time.”
Upon hearing this, Qin Yuan’s lips curved into a knowing smile, and he exchanged a meaningful glance with Jia Er.
Seeing this, Jia Er suddenly realized. Was this the true manifestation of what Qin Yuan meant by ‘Qin Gou being gently kind in a not-so-obvious way’?
Senior Qin Gou treated scoundrels like the Spirit of the Secret Realm with the ruthlessness of a bone-chilling wind, but the moment he himself had escaped danger, he immediately and selflessly cared about the lives of other innocent people!
If this wasn’t the best embodiment of benevolence, what was? Indeed, to truly understand a person, one had to observe them closely at a distance. One absolutely could not rely solely on subjective assumptions!
“I have an idea, I don’t know if it’s feasible.”
Immediately after, Jia Er also eagerly volunteered to help Qin Gou brainstorm.
“What idea? Jia Er, tell me.”
“A large portion of people in the world believe in authority. And I heard Fellow Daoist Qin Yuan say that Senior Qin seems to be ranked on a holy list even higher than the ‘Saint Immortal Ranking’! Therefore, if Senior Qin can defeat the secret realm clones on the spot and present their stone bodies before everyone when they are defeated, and then provide a strong identity certification to those cultivators, I believe that with your reputation, many people will be willing to believe you.”
