Chapter 234 (Part 2): The Older, the Stronger

This thing is an utterly blatant symbol of military force!

Is that a ship? That is hegemony!

But Wanhuagu does not have this kind of power, so cultivators still honestly fly on their own when they go out.

“It will still take some time to get from here to the destination; you can rest for a while now.”

“Will we arrive after resting?”

“Of course not; at our current speed, it will take about two days to reach that place.”

Counting the half day already spent, the two need to travel without sleep for two days from Frozen Winter City to reach the area on the Ice Plain where the incident occurred; this shows just how vast Beijing is.

A Ling Emperor’s flight speed is far, far faster than a Ling King’s, and Frozen Winter City itself is located in a relatively central part of Beijing; the Secret Realm on the Ice Plain is not even in the deepest part of the Ice Plain, yet even so, a Ling Emperor would need to fly without sleep for two days.

“If something really happened, wouldn’t we arrive too late to even catch it while it’s still warm?” Hua Jian could not help muttering.

A journey that takes a Ling Emperor two and a half days would take a Ling King like her ten days to half a month; this speed is truly moving.

The world being too big is not necessarily a good thing.

“If we really encounter such a major event, the Venerable and the Saint will naturally open a Space Passage directly to that area for us, and then the time can be shortened greatly.”

Huaxinyuan laughed twice and told Hua Jian not to think so much.

If a true great crisis descends, and the Saint acts to open a Space Passage, the Saint Sect army can air-drop to any place where trouble occurs in less than two hours.

Of course, the premise is that the Saint must know which place has trouble; otherwise, they would not even know where to open the passage.

The reason they were flying here was that this operation was requested by Hua Jian herself, not the will of the Valley Master of Wanhua.

For Wanhuagu, whether the people of Wanling Sect die or not has nothing to do with them; if Hua Jian wants to help, she can help, but Wanhuagu cannot help Hua Jian directly open a Space Passage.

This is your personal action, so fly there yourself!

“Over at Frozen Winter City, they should be opening a Space Passage straight to the Ice Plain; that way, once the support sent by Wanling Sect arrives at Frozen Winter City, they can immediately reach the Ice Plain through the passage and save a lot of time.”

“I see, I thought…”

“You thought the Saint Sect was really arguing and delaying the rescue? You should have a little more Confidence in the Saint Sect; they are not that foolish or short-sighted.”

Huaxinyuan reminded her somewhat helplessly.

Clearly Hua Jian was the one whose heart was toward the Right Path, yet why did it feel like she now understood the Saint Sect’s merits better than Hua Jian did?

Now it had become her explaining to Hua Jian where the Saint Sect was formidable, which was truly a reversal of the natural order.

“Haha, it’s just that I did not see them make any moves.”

Hua Jian felt that this misunderstanding could not be blamed on her; it was Linglong who interfered with her judgment.

Right! It was Linglong’s words that made her think the Saint Sect was still bickering!

It was all Little Dragon Girl’s fault; everything was Little Dragon Girl’s fault.

“No movement does not mean no action; seeing is not necessarily believing.”

“Mm-hm, I understand; I will not doubt them again.”

The journey in the sky was very boring; in the end, Hua Jian was so bored that she hid in the Godsoul Space to gnaw on secret manuals with A Meng.

Staying in the warm Godsoul Space was much better than watching the vast ice and snow outside, right?

Now there was already a group of little cuties in her Godsoul Space; they were precisely the Soulforce of the Snow Crystal Rabbits she controlled.

Calling these little things Soulforce was a bit of a stretch; within Hua Jian’s Godsoul Space, they were just hazy balls of white mist, without even a concrete form.

Precisely because of this, Hua Jian knew these little cuties did not even have a clear self-awareness.

The Soulforce of other Spirit Beasts at least looked the same as their true bodies, but these little things were completely different.

As for her final study results… what could they be? Did anyone really expect her to make major progress in these two days?

There was no one in this Godsoul Space to discuss things with her, and A Meng was an innocent Spirit Beast with no hobbies besides eating and fighting; in the end, Hua Jian could only rely on herself.

Regarding this, A Meng said she had no way either; she was born to be the Protector Spirit Beast for the Illusory Dream Flower, so asking her to help you learn the Human Clan’s Cultivation Method secrets was truly forcing her to do something beyond her ability.

This was not the purpose for which the Dream Butterfly was created, okay!

However, A Meng did give Hua Jian good news: she could enter the Secret Realm together with Hua Jian’s little cuties.

The Illusory Dream Flower is an illusory flower rooted in Soulforce, and the Dream Butterfly is naturally an illusory butterfly able to move freely between Soulforce.

She could hide within the Godsoul Space of the Snow Crystal Rabbits and secretly observe the situation for Hua Jian; if she encountered danger, she could also easily escape through her connection with Hua Jian.

Hua Jian’s Array Formation was fake etherealization, but the Dream Butterfly’s was true etherealization; physical means could not stop her from returning to Hua Jian’s side.

This way, within the Secret Realm, Hua Jian could not only be a little rabbit with no strength to truss a chicken, but could also become a fierce and terrifying peak Ling King cultivator!

It greatly increased the plan’s success rate; how gratifying and celebratory.

……

Two days later, Huaxinyuan brought Hua Jian down beside a rather remote Secret Realm entrance, where several Wanhuagu cultivators were already quietly waiting for the two to arrive.

While Hua Jian and the other were traveling, these Wanhuagu cultivators had already completed clearing the area, creating a safe casting environment for Hua Jian.

This was not very difficult; the Secret Realm entrance was too remote and the passage too narrow, so cultivators interested in entering the Secret Realm would basically not choose this as an entrance.

There were countless larger entrances on this Ice Plain, so why hang oneself on this crooked tree?

After the Wanhuagu cultivators arrived, they had not met anyone; the so-called clearing was just searching the vicinity once to confirm there was no Ambush.

“You go outside and continue standing guard; this operation is of great importance and no mistakes are allowed.”

Huaxinyuan said with a straight face, dismissing the Wanhuagu cultivators and not letting them have too much contact with Hua Jian.

One reason was to maintain the image of the Wanhua Saintess, and the other was that Hua Jian had nothing good to talk about with these people.

Hua Jian did not need to know the distribution of forces on the Ice Plain now, because soon the Ice Plain would become dominated by one power, and all other forces would be pushed out.

And the common knowledge Hua Jian needed to know did not need to be conveyed by these Wanhuagu cultivators.

“Of great importance?” Hua Jian leaned over and looked at Huaxinyuan.

Huaxinyuan wore an expression of ‘What is the problem?’

“Are we supposed to tell them this matter is not important at all and they can slack off as they please?”

“That is indeed true; even if the matter is not important, we still have to put on the appearance that it is actually very important.”

Putting these small problems behind her, Hua Jian walked straight to the Space Passage that was constantly spewing Extreme North Icefield’s Blizzard and felt the cold breath pouring from the Secret Realm with her hand.

It was very cold; even Hua Jian, who had already grown fairly accustomed to Beijing’s environment, felt a bone-piercing chill.

To survive in this kind of Secret Realm, one would probably need to expend more Spiritual Power to block the invasion of the cold wind.

She now somewhat doubted whether the Snow Crystal Rabbits could complete her Mission; she hoped they would not freeze solid from the Secret Realm’s cold wind as soon as they were taken out.

With unease, she released several Snow Crystal Rabbits from the space and pushed them to directly face the Space Passage; Hua Jian quickly received feedback from these little rabbits.

At first, the Snow Crystal Rabbits did feel a bit of cold, but they quickly adapted to the low temperature and became lively.

They were simply little spirits born for ice and snow…

Hua Jian could not help sighing with emotion.

She truly did not know how these little things had become like this; they were clearly so weak, yet had such an advantage in this regard.

Commanding them to jump into the Space Passage one by one, Hua Jian felt her connection with these little things rapidly grow thin, but it was not broken; it seemed their Soulforce was not too far apart.

And by looking through the eyes of the Snow Crystal Rabbits, Hua Jian finally saw the scene inside the Secret Realm.

Well, there was actually nothing special; it was just a world of ice and snow.

The only thing worth noticing was that in the distant sky swirled an incredibly huge dark cloud vortex, and the entire Secret Realm seemed to rotate along with this vortex.

Needless to think, beneath that vortex must be where the Treasure lies, but Hua Jian did not know how long her little rabbits would take to reach that vortex area.

“It seems I still have to take action myself…”

There was no point hoping these palm-sized little things would run all over the Secret Realm; Hua Jian thought it better to first execute her Plan B and wrap the Secret Realm with Vines.

By then, wherever her Vines spread, she could deploy the Snow Crystal Rabbits there; this would be much more efficient than making the little rabbits run long distances inside the Secret Realm.

“Is there any safe place nearby? I am about to take root on the Secret Realm.” Hua Jian looked at Huaxinyuan.

“Of course there is. Not far from here, there is a cave hidden under the accumulated snow; I will take you to hide inside.”

Huaxinyuan said this place was not chosen randomly; it was precisely because she had chosen this cave under the snow that she brought Hua Jian here.

Compared to casually pitching a tent and letting Hua Jian stay inside, it was better to borrow the mighty power of nature.

“Good!”

Following Huaxinyuan into that hidden cave, Hua Jian found that it still had quite a bit of lived-in atmosphere, and a fragrance in the style of Wanhuagu filled the air inside.

It seemed this was also a hidden stronghold of Wanhuagu? She curiously examined the cave.

“Stop looking. A long time ago, someone hid here to escape disaster, and later we learned of it and took it over.”

Huaxinyuan coughed and told Hua Jian there was nothing worth looking at; it was just an ordinary safe house.

There were no strange little toys placed inside; even these things with a lived-in feel had been brought by the Wanhuagu cultivators just now.

“Okay, then I will begin.” Hua Jian found an open, flat place in the cave and lay down, placing both hands on her lower abdomen and closing her eyes with a serene expression.

Anyone who did not know might think she had passed away in meditation.

And the next scene made Huaxinyuan unable to resist covering her mouth.

They saw countless dense roots and branches emerge from Hua Jian’s body, as if a plant were taking root and sprouting within her.

But this image was not frightening; instead, it had a very strange and eerie beauty.

The Vines and branches growing from within her body clung to Hua Jian’s side, all so harmonious, as if they had always been this way.

Afterward, these branches and leaves gradually completely covered Hua Jian’s body, wrapping her in a large cocoon formed of branches and leaves; this was the close-defense line she had set for herself.

The roots growing from the soles of her feet pierced into the ground and rapidly grew toward the direction of the Space Passage.

Hua Jian left this side of her body entirely to her Instinct to handle; she believed she could handle these small matters.

Beneath the ground, where ordinary people could not sense, several Vines little by little broke through soil frozen as hard as steel and slowly reached the area below the Space Passage.

After reaching the appointed position, they turned and climbed upward, forcefully breaking through the frozen soil layer and thick accumulated snow, sending tender green shoots out from underground.

The Extreme North Icefield’s Blizzard surging from the Space Passage beat against these tender shoots, making them tremble slightly, but it could not extinguish this bright touch of tender green.

After confirming the target, these tender shoots fearlessly launched an assault on the Space Passage; a large number of slender root hairs grew from their tips and wildly jabbed at the Space Passage.

At first, the Space Passage showed a little instability, but soon this sign disappeared, and these roots also did not enter the Space Passage, vanishing without a trace.

They did not enter the Secret Realm through the Space Passage; rather, using this Space Passage as a stepping stone, they rooted themselves on the outer boundary of the Secret Realm.

If someone could stand in the Spatial Rift and watch this scene, they would see this Vine replacing the original Space Passage; its roots devoured the Space Passage greedily, then used its own body to fill the eaten portions.

After eating to the end of the Space Passage, they no longer continued forward; instead, they spread in all directions, left the range of the Space Passage, and set their roots on the outer layer of the Secret Realm.

Taking root in the outer layer of a Secret Realm sounded incredibly absurd at first, but this was what was happening now.

This Secret Realm was already teetering on the verge of collapse and, driven by the Heavenly Nether Snow Lotus, was preparing to merge with the main world; to Hua Jian’s Vines, this was simply an egg whose shell had already cracked.

They could peel away the hard eggshell without effort and enjoy the deliciousness inside, which was much better than those eggs so hard they might as well be dead.

Huh? Why would I have this thought? It is not like I have eaten many Secret Realms, right?

Within the roots, Hua Jian’s consciousness paused for a moment, feeling as if some strange memories were surging into her mind.

‘The Secret Realm… seems to be afraid?’ And next, Hua Jian felt an even more inexplicable emotion.

The Secret Realm she was taking root in seemed to be trembling, but how could a Secret Realm have emotions and consciousness?

This was truly strange; Hua Jian muttered in confusion, ignored these emotions, and continued her great undertaking of taking root.