Chapter 45: Discovering the Secret Realm
This novel is translated and hosted on BCatranslation
Yu Zhao and Zhou Jin Yue exchanged glances, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
The Scarlet Flame Lion couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere—it must have been summoned through a medium. This medium could either be a teleportation array or an unknown secret realm.
Naturally, Zhou Jin Yue and Yu Zhao hoped for the latter.
“Everyone, spread out and search. Look for anything unusual or any spiritual energy fluctuations nearby,” Zhou Jin Yue instructed.
The disciples of the Five Elements Dao Sect immediately fanned out to search. Yu Zhao also chose a direction and began her meticulous search.
She advanced slowly, her gaze fixed on the ground, examining every inch as if she intended to dig three feet deep. After walking over a hundred paces, she stopped in front of a large rock.
At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary stone—no spiritual energy, no signs of life—indistinguishable from any other stone in Dragon Roar Valley.
Yet, Yu Zhao felt an inexplicable intuition.
This rock was hiding something.
Placing her palm against the stone, Yu Zhao channeled spiritual energy into it. Suddenly, a strange wave enveloped her.
A powerful sense of weightlessness hit her, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a completely unfamiliar place.
The sky was gray and overcast, and a vast expanse of withered, yellow vegetation stretched as far as the eye could see. Death permeated the air, and at the far end of her sight, dense fog obscured a stone bridge.
When Yu Zhao tried absorbing spiritual energy, she discovered that the energy here was extremely thin, leaving her disappointed.
This secret realm was collapsing.
Its owner was likely long dead, and the spiritual energy that once sustained it was gone. Before long, the void would consume this place entirely.
Looking around more carefully, Yu Zhao noticed a charred corpse and several massive footprints. As she suspected, the Scarlet Flame Lion had come from here.
Suddenly, the strange spatial waves struck again.
One by one, Zhou Jin Yue and the others appeared around her. Zhou Jin Yue visibly relaxed upon seeing Yu Zhao unharmed and approached to inquire about her condition. Meanwhile, the others marveled at their surroundings.
“This secret realm looks so desolate, and the spiritual energy is so thin. It’s nothing like the secret realms of our Five Elements Dao Sect,” someone remarked.
“I thought we’d found a treasure trove, but it’s just a wasteland. What a letdown.”
“Did the Scarlet Flame Lion come from here? Could there be other beasts lurking around?”
The group fell silent, their previous enthusiasm replaced with unease. Another encounter with a fourth-level Scarlet Flame Lion would spell the end of their expedition.
“Stay together. Don’t wander off,” Zhou Jin Yue instructed firmly, her voice calming their nerves. “We’ll explore further ahead.”
The team moved deeper into the realm, their steps rustling the brittle grass beneath them. Yu Zhao kept her divine sense spread as far as it could reach, ready for any sudden threats.
Though the secret realm didn’t seem large, it took them three hours to reach its end. There, they found a stream with a stone bridge spanning it, connecting the two sides. The thick fog beyond the bridge concealed everything, leaving them uncertain of what lay ahead.
“Senior Sister Zhou,” the disciples turned to Zhou Jin Yue for guidance.
“Three of us will cross first to scout. If it’s safe, the rest will follow,” Zhou Jin Yue decided decisively.
The group agreed. To minimize risk, the scouting party had to be the strongest. Naturally, Zhou Jin Yue was among them, alongside Zhang Jun and Lan Zi Yu. Had Fang Cheng Lang not been injured, he would have joined them as well.
Yu Zhao wanted to volunteer but reconsidered, knowing her strength might be a liability.
Fortunately, Zhou Jin Yue and her team crossed without incident and signaled the others to follow. Yu Zhao and the remaining disciples hurried across the bridge.
As they emerged from the fog, the scene before them slowly came into focus—a garden. However, the plants within it were as withered as everything else. Further in, they spotted a three-story wooden pavilion, elegantly designed with carved railings and jade decorations.
From the layout of the secret realm and the pavilion’s style, Yu Zhao surmised that the realm’s owner must have been a refined individual with a love for nature and simplicity.
The pavilion doors were wide open, and no guards were in sight. It appeared safe, but no one dared to drop their guard. Zhou Jin Yue’s team entered first.
They moved cautiously, but no traps hindered them. Even the faintly visible defensive formations on the floor were no longer functional.
Reassured, the others followed.
Inside the pavilion, everything was coated with a thin layer of dust, evidence that it had been abandoned for a long time. The disciples, though curious, refrained from wandering off and stuck close to Zhou Jin Yue’s team.
After thoroughly exploring all three floors, they found nothing of value.
“This secret realm’s owner must’ve been dirt poor. There’s nothing here but some daily necessities,” someone sighed.
The others nodded in agreement. Their hopes for finding valuable treasures had been dashed, and the day now felt like a wasted effort.
Yu Zhao’s eyes glinted with thought. Something didn’t feel right—as though they had overlooked something critical.
Just as Zhou Jin Yue prepared to lead the group out, Yu Zhao exclaimed, “The Scarlet Flame Lion!”
“Where? Where’s the Scarlet Flame Lion?” someone shrieked in alarm.
“Is it here again?”
“Yu Junior Sister, stop scaring us!”
The disciples huddled together, trembling. Zhou Jin Yue, however, understood Yu Zhao’s point. “You’re right,” she said, clapping her hands. “If the Scarlet Flame Lion lived here, it must have a lair. We haven’t seen it yet, and there might be something worth finding there.”
Revived by this idea, the group’s spirits soared. Even a minor discovery would make the trip worthwhile.
This time, it was Yu Zhao who made the breakthrough.
Behind the pavilion, she found a patch of overgrown weeds concealing an entrance. After clearing the weeds and throwing a lit incense stick into the cave, they saw a puff of smoke drift inside.
Moments later, a Little Scarlet Flame Lion darted out, panicked and clumsy. It crashed into Yu Zhao’s leg and fell to the ground, dazed.
The cub was about the length of Yu Zhao’s arm, with soft, pale-red fur covering its face. Yu Zhao grabbed it by the scruff and lifted it, meeting its round, confused eyes.
After a moment, Yu Zhao nodded firmly.
It was unmistakably the same cub she had seen in her previous life—only back then, it had been severed from its body. After Senior Sister Zhou’s death, the sect master had gone to Dragon Roar Valley in a rage and decapitated both the fourth-level Scarlet Flame Lion and its cub as offerings to the sect.
This memory, etched deeply in Yu Zhao’s mind, had led her to believe there was a surviving Little Scarlet Flame Lion in this secret realm.
She had been right.
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