Chapter 230 (Part 1): I Think It Might Be…

Time flies like an arrow; the years pass like a shuttle.

In days busy and fulfilling, Hua Jian saw off Youye, who had recovered and resolved to return to Tianmomen to create glory again, and heard news that a Secret Realm had appeared deep in the Ice Plain.

Suddenly looking back, she realized that nearly two months had passed again.

No wonder Soul said that many times, time is actually very short; in the blink of an eye, several months or even years may pass.

Thinking about what she had done these days—Training, shopping, causing trouble, bullying little girls—it really was quite fulfilling.

The Dolls promised to Linglong and Qian Feixu had already been given out.

Linglong liked hers quite a bit, but Qian Feixu wore an expression of ‘even if you give it to me, I don’t want it.’

But later Hua Jian secretly took a peek into Qian Feixu’s room and found that the Doll she had given, shaped like herself, was still solemnly enshrined on the upper layer of the Doll rack, leaning together with the Doll Linglong had given Qian Feixu.

On that layer there were only these two dolls: the Linglong made by Linglong, and the her made by her.

Even after becoming Dolls, the two of them were still stuck together.

She didn’t know if this was Qian Feixu’s little clever idea, wanting to piece together a Double Holy Maiden Bond.

After the finishing work in Frozen Winter City was completed, Wanhuagu’s forces gradually began to withdraw.

Now the number of Wanhuagu Cultivators in the city had fallen back to normal levels, and even Huaxinhu had returned to Wanhuagu.

But Wanhuagu had no intention of letting Hua Jian run wild.

After Huaxinhu left, another Wanhuagu Ling Emperor who had a deep relationship with Hua Jian was sent over to continue protecting Saintess Daren Hua Jian.

Yes, it was Huaxinyuan.

When she came, she also brought Hua Jian a handwritten letter from Hua Jian’s mother.

Wanhuagu probably wanted to use this method to tell Hua Jian that they were taking quite good care of Hua Xinjie, so Hua Jian could rest assured.

Compared to that fox spirit, Huaxinyuan’s treatment on Hua Jian’s side was much better.

Aside from Xia Hui, who had always been indifferent to Wanhuagu people, both Hua Jian and Huā Xīn Ruǐ had a good impression of Huaxinyuan.

Hua Jian had grown up protected by Huaxinyuan since childhood. This Elder Sister could even be considered her wild mother.

Huā Xīn Ruǐ was even more so; she had even been brought into the sect by Huaxinyuan.

In the current Huā Xīn Ruǐ’s heart, Hua Jian ranked first, and Huaxinyuan had to rank second.

And Huaxinyuan was also a super people-person.

After arriving in Frozen Winter City, she did nothing at all; no matter what Hua Jian wanted to do, she didn’t interfere.

She was completely like a wage earner coasting along waiting to die, as if she couldn’t see Hua Jian exchanging flirtatious looks with Saint Sect Disciples.

When Huaxinhu was around, she would remind Hua Jian every few days to pay attention to her image and influence.

After switching to Huaxinyuan, Hua Jian never heard such reminders again.

The few times Huaxinyuan looked for her, it was also to explain news about that You Xue Lian on the Ice Plain.

In these two months, almost all Cultivators paying attention to this Spiritual Flower had already guessed that the Spiritual Flower was actually located within a Secret Realm, and that this Secret Realm would soon open.

“According to our experience estimates, the Secret Realm has reached the critical point for opening and will open its gates within the next month.”

Huaxinyuan handed the currently known intelligence to Hua Jian and casually stated her judgment.

“Many forces are secretly preparing to enter the Secret Realm to fight over that Spiritual Flower. There are people from several other Demonic Sects, as well as visitors from the Central Continent.”

Huaxinyuan pointed at the jade slip in Hua Jian’s hand, signaling for Hua Jian to look at its contents.

Hua Jian pinched the jade slip and scanned the intelligence within using Divine Sense. Her expression immediately became astonished.

“Tiandao Sect? Why did they also send people over? Fengzhu didn’t tell me about this.”

In the intelligence provided by Wanhuagu, this Spiritual Flower struggle did not involve only the natives of Beijing and the Wanling Sect from the Central Continent; another major force from the Central Continent had also stuck a foot into the Ice Plain.

“Who wouldn’t want to possess such a Treasure? Tiandao Sect has always liked collecting these treasures. It’s entirely normal for them to come participate in the contest this time.”

Huaxinyuan indicated that this was not something worth being surprised about; Tiandao Sect never missed such activities.

Whenever a spiritual treasure appeared somewhere, Tiandao Sect would always hurry over, trying to contend for the Treasure.

“These bad things—when there’s good work to do, they’re nowhere, but when there’s benefit, they fly over like flies.”

Hua Jian gave a soft snort, feeling that this bunch from Tiandao Sect was truly annoying.

Although Tiandao Sect hadn’t done anything bad this time either, she just couldn’t stand this bunch!

Hearing Hua Jian’s complaint, Huaxinyuan couldn’t help but giggle.

When it came to disliking Tiandao Sect, they still had plenty of common topics.

Tiandao Sect had quite a keen sense for Treasures.

Sometimes Treasures that some in the Magic Path thought they could obtain steadily would be snatched away midway by Tiandao Sect, leaving those in the Magic Path full of resentment.

But when it came down to it, Tiandao Sect couldn’t really be blamed.

Treasures naturally went to whoever had the bigger fist, and moreover, this was a conflict between the righteous and demonic.

Tiandao Sect couldn’t just watch the Magic Path take the Treasure away, could they?

Regardless of whether Tiandao Sect’s reputation was not so good, they were ultimately a Righteous Sect, and the things they did were also what the righteous path would do.

They also did the work of eliminating demons and guarding the Dao; they had a part in maintaining order. Even when doing bad things, they had to care about face, which made them better than the Magic Path by who knows how much.

“However, Tiandao Sect didn’t send many people this time. They should have come just to give it a try. Right now, the strongest force on the Ice Plain is still the Wanling Sect.”

Huaxinyuan said something that put Hua Jian at ease.

But then she changed the subject and told Hua Jian that although the Wanling Sect was powerful, they could not be considered certain of victory.

Humans were not the only ones interested in this Secret Realm.

The Spirit Beast Tribes on the Ice Plain were also obscurely deploying their forces, preparing to enter the Secret Realm to get a share.

Compared to the Wanling Sect Cultivators who had traveled thousands of miles from the Central Continent, these Spirit Beasts were natives born and raised on the Ice Plain, better adapted to the environment of the Ice Plain and the Secret Realm.

In addition, Spirit Beasts naturally had senses beyond those of Cultivators, giving them an advantage in treasure hunting that could not be ignored.

“So that means it will be very difficult for Fengzhu and the others to obtain the Spiritual Flower?”

“Naturally. This is a Spiritual Flower ranked near the top of the Hundred Flowers List. One only appears every few thousand years. Do you think such a Treasure can really be obtained easily?”

Huaxinyuan extended five fingers, indicating that according to her estimate, the Wanling Sect’s chance of success this time was at most fifty percent.

This success rate actually wasn’t very low.

You Xue Lian was an extremely rare Treasure, and the Wanling Sect had a full half chance of taking it into their pocket.

If word got out, others would be green with envy!

“The stage most likely to go wrong is actually the search for the Treasure. If someone finds You Xue Lian in advance and takes it away, then no matter how strong the Wanling Sect is, it will be useless.”

A naturally formed Secret Realm was not like Hua Jian’s kind of Secret Realm, which incorporated all sorts of clever little ideas.

Even after obtaining the Treasure, you still had to go through great hardships to find a way out.

Many times, people obtained the Treasure, directly activated their own Spatial Spirit Artifact, and successfully fled.

Cultivators eyeing the Treasure covetously could only sigh and lament when encountering such a situation.

“So simple? Then wouldn’t entering this kind of Secret Realm to explore be a business with huge profits and no loss?”

“Spatial Spirit Artifacts are not easy to obtain. Furthermore, a Spatial Spirit Artifact cannot be effective everywhere. A Cultivator must first go to a place where the Secret Realm’s space is relatively weak before they can stably send themselves out of the Secret Realm.”

Huaxinyuan shook her head and gave Hua Jian a more detailed introduction to this part of the setting.

Before this, Hua Jian really hadn’t been too clear on these secrets.

Almost all the Secret Realms she had previously participated in had been processed by others.

Inside those, Spatial Spirit Artifacts did not distinguish trigger range; as long as they were triggered, they could send a person away.

The only one that could be classified as a natural Secret Realm was that Illusory Dream Flower Secret Realm, and that Secret Realm was indeed exceptionally dangerous. If Hua Jian and Ling

jing didn’t wake up from the Huanjing, then even if the Space Talisman triggered, it would only send away their empty shell bodies.

This was actually no different from being dead.

And that Secret Realm counted as a small one, where the Space Talisman could be used anywhere, but this time’s Secret Realm most likely would not be like that.

In places where the Secret Realm’s space was relatively stable, even if the Space Talisman could be used, the effect would not be very good.

Either the formed Space Passage would be unstable, or the teleportation would take too long, or it might even fail to trigger.

At this time, the best choice for a Cultivator wanting to rely on a Spatial Spirit Artifact to leave the Secret Realm was to head to the Secret Realm’s entrance or exit.

The space there was relatively weak, allowing the Spatial Spirit Artifact to perform better.

Compared to escaping the Secret Realm directly from the entrance, the advantage of this method was that one would not be blocked at the Secret Realm’s gate.

It was equivalent to expanding the exit point from the gate to a large area near the gate.

At the same time, the landing point after leaving the Secret Realm became a random point near the Secret Realm’s exit.

Basically no one could camp out and catch a Cultivator leaving the Secret Realm in this way.

“I see… In that case, wouldn’t it be enough for Fengzhu to block the Secret Realm’s gate and only let Wanling Sect Cultivators in and out?”

As soon as Hua Jian finished speaking, Huaxinyuan glared at her with a very helpless look.

A few seconds later, Hua Jian understood.

Right, the Wanling Sect was a Saint Sect. For a Saint Sect to do that would be somewhat unreasonable and could easily earn them a bad reputation for acting tyrannically.

Even Tiandao Sect wouldn’t dare to do that—at least not openly.

“Besides, this kind of Secret Realm basically has more than one entrance. Guarding one entrance is meaningless; other Cultivators can still enter and leave the Secret Realm through other entrances.”

“If the Wanling Sect had the ability to block all the entrances and exits completely, then they would indeed be qualified to monopolize this Secret Realm.”

But that was impossible. This time, Lingcaifeng Master had only brought a portion of Lingcaifeng Disciples out.

Even counting the Disciples from Jade Pool who came to help, they still could not match Lingcaifeng’s full strength.

For a force of this size to completely block a Secret Realm located on the Ice Plain and nurturing a rare Treasure of the world, the difficulty was too high.

If they encountered a charge from the Magic Path allied with Spirit Beasts, their defensive line might collapse, wasting manpower instead.

No decision-maker with a normal brain would do such a thing. Hua Jian felt that Lingcaifeng Master was a very normal decision-maker.

“But you don’t need to worry too much. Even if this kind of Spirit Item is not an adult, it still has considerable self-protection ability. Not just anyone can take it away.”

Not to mention the Protector Spirit Beasts that these Spirit Items basically all have; just the Spirit Item itself has decent combat power.

Ordinary Cultivators probably couldn’t even beat the Spirit Item, let alone take it away.

“I’m not that worried. After all, I won’t be going over there. I’m just a little worried about whether those Shixiong and Shijie who go in will encounter danger.”

Hua Jian gave a dry laugh. This time, what she said was truly from the bottom of her heart.

Whether or not they obtained the Spirit Item was a small matter. What she worried about was the safety of those Disciples.

Although she had never met those Lingcaifeng Disciples, out of love for the house and its crows, she was unwilling to see these Disciples encounter danger.

“Don’t say these things in front of me, okay? I’m your real Shijie!” Huaxinyuan finally couldn’t hold back and reached out to rub Hua Jian’s head hard twice.

How could that bunch from the Wanling Sect count as your Shixiong and Shijie? I, Huaxinyuan, am Hua Jian’s official Shijie, okay!

“You care so much about them, so why don’t you care about me a little?”

“Ahem, if you were in danger, Sister Xin Yuan, I would also be worried sick about you!” Hua Jian chuckled.

As for the other Wanhuagu Cultivators… if they died, they died. Not familiar.

Just use those words to fool yourself. Sigh, if you like outsiders, then like outsiders.

Anyway, Gu Zhu and the others don’t mind.

Huaxinyuan rolled her eyes. In the entire Wanhuagu, probably only Hua Jian could openly say such treasonous words.

If anyone else said this, they would probably be immediately labeled with a big hat of betraying the sect for glory and feeding outsiders.

But Hua Jian was different; she was betraying the sect by imperial decree, and even Gu Zhu agreed.

Besides, the person had been forcibly tied back by Wanhuagu in the first place.

You couldn’t blame Hua Jian for still having her heart set on the Saint Sect.

If you wanted Hua Jian to continue staying in Wanhuagu, you definitely had to pay some price and concede some benefits.

And this benefit was Wanhuagu’s tacit acceptance of Hua Jian’s leaning toward the Saint Sect’s stance.

“Just truthfully tell the Wanling Sect side this news. They probably know most of it already, but they might not be clear about the Tiandao Sect matter.”

“Ao ao! Thank you, Sister Xin Yuan!” Hua Jian quickly nodded in thanks.

Huaxinyuan waved her hand indifferently. For such a small matter, why thank her?

Besides, this was also her duty, a Mission assigned from above.

If not for this Mission, she wouldn’t have paid extra attention to these things.

Compared to Huaxinhu, who was ambitious and wanted to launch a challenge for the position of Gu Zhu, she was more of a slacker, with less desire to fight for power and profit.

Among the valued Disciples in the valley, she was also an invisible existence.

Everyone knew her, but no one paid her any mind.

She belonged to that ultimate wage earner type who didn’t care who rose to power, as long as Wanhuagu still existed.

As for who was in charge of Wanhuagu, she couldn’t care less.

“Ha— if there’s nothing else, you can go. I’m going back to sleep for a while.”

Covering her mouth with a yawn, Huaxinyuan looked completely decadent, mired in pleasure and unable to extricate herself.

Her daily life was indeed decadent, and even more characteristic of Wanhuagu.