Nie Shiyun was the first to emerge from the space, landing inside the room. He released his divine sense to scout the area. The aura of Duan Mingyu’s group was gone from the immortal’s cave; it seemed they had indeed departed.
He called Zhai Bairong out. Zhai Bairong followed suit, and as his feet touched the ground of the outside world, he couldn't help but look back. He could see neither the space they had just occupied nor its entrance. Though he already knew the truth, he still couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of it.
"Meiqiu said he wants to rest for a while," Zhai Bairong relayed on the bird's behalf.
Nie Shiyun thought of how he and Zhai Bairong had been unconscious for so long. Meiqiu could do nothing but wait anxiously by their side; it must have been an agonizing ordeal. Although there was no physical exhaustion, the mental strain must have been significant.
"Let him rest well. Actually, you could stay inside to rest and cultivate as well. I can head out on my own."
Zhai Bairong immediately refused. While it was a reasonable suggestion, Xu Yehua and the others hadn't gone far. He felt it was better to travel with Nie Shiyun so they could look out for one another.
Before leaving, Nie Shiyun looked once more at the skeleton on the floor.
Previously, they had assumed this was the remains of a cultivator who, like them, had wandered into the secret passage and died trying to find a way out. But after experiencing the illusions, Nie Shiyun instinctively felt that this might be the young cultivator he had seen in those fleeting memories—the master of this cave.
Having reached such a high level of mastery in formations, Nie Shiyun felt that the man's hope of ascension couldn't have been entirely lost. Yet, rather than seeking the Upper Realm that every cultivator yearned for, the master of the cave had chosen to remain within an ideal dream until his physical body perished.
Feeling a sense of melancholy, Nie Shiyun gazed at the remains for a long moment.
"What is it?" Zhai Bairong asked.
"Nothing. Let’s go."
Nie Shiyun shook his head, scanned the room one last time, and casually tucked the scroll into his space. He didn't think anyone else would recognize the woman in the painting, nor would anyone else understand the bitterness in the heart of the cultivator who painted it. Regardless of the truth, these stories were now beyond knowing. As he and Zhai Bairong stepped out of the cave's entrance and the secret realm eventually closed, everything would be buried deep underground forever.
Retracing their steps, the two did not travel quickly. Their primary goal for entering the secret realm had been achieved; they could spend the remaining years in the Hantian Secret Realm at a leisurely pace.
Outside the forest, snow continued to drift through the Hantian Secret Realm, looking exactly as it had when they entered. Looking back, the small path they had emerged from was already obscured. However, they had experienced far more on this trip than they had imagined; "visiting" the world of Earth through the illusion was a truly singular encounter.
It was only then that Nie Shiyun noticed a message from Qi Xuan’er. He quickly took out the communication crystal and crushed it to listen. Learning that they had been attacked gave him a start, but the next crystal brought word of her safety. She had regrouped with Du Zhi and her sister and was out of danger. She told him not to worry, explaining that she had only become anxious because she hadn't received a response from him earlier.
It was impossible to tell from the crystals how long ago the messages had arrived, but Nie Shiyun could bet his life they hadn't come through before he fell into the illusion. By a rough estimate, it had been about thirty days. He wondered if the group from Yunqing Pavilion had already begun to fear the worst. He hastily sent back a message to report his safety.
Zhai Bairong remembered overhearing Duan Mingyu mention that he hadn't received a response either. Realizing something, he quickly checked his storage space. Sure enough, he had also received messages. He made up a random excuse, saying he had "suddenly gained an insight and stopped to cultivate for a while," to brush it off.
Unaware that the two parties had essentially brushed past each other, Duan Mingyu didn't think twice when he received the news. However, when he relayed it to the other two, hesitant expressions appeared on the faces of Rong Lü and Xu Yehua.
"Did he say he was coming to find you?"
Duan Mingyu shook his head.
Xu Yehua sneered. "Cultivating for a while. Hah. He probably stumbled upon some treasure and didn't want to share it with us."
Duan Mingyu choked up. Thinking of how Zhai Bairong’s attitude toward him had cooled since the start of the Great Cultivation Assembly, the words "Senior Brother isn't that kind of person" died in his throat.
"Senior Brother used to dote on me the most... what has happened to him now?" Duan Mingyu murmured despondently. He remembered how Zhai Bairong had protected and cared for him at every turn before they went to the Misty Secret Realm, always keeping him in mind. Slowly, without him realizing when it started, his Senior Brother had begun to feel like a stranger.
"...People change," Xu Yehua said with a frown.
Seeing Duan Mingyu’s poor mood, Rong Lü shot a glance at the blunt Xu Yehua and changed the subject. "Look ahead. That might be the trading hub other cultivators mentioned."
"Oh, truly. I can see buildings."
After traveling for so long through the endless white of the natural landscape, the sudden sight of human habitation and village-like structures lifted Duan Mingyu’s spirits, and a smile returned to his face.
On the other side, after Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong finished their respective communications, they paused to discuss their next move.
"I’m actually quite interested in the trading hub. But for now, I don’t want to run into Duan Mingyu’s group. I asked my Junior Sister; they had a big fight with those people earlier and suffered quite a bit of damage. They’ve been recuperating far away. I want to go find them."
"A big fight? What happened?" Zhai Bairong asked in surprise, unaware of this development.
The communication crystals hadn't made everything clear, but Nie Shiyun understood the general gist of the cause and effect. He relayed it to Zhai Bairong. Both fell silent for a moment.
"Fellow Daoist Qi is truly..." Zhai Bairong sighed.
Nie Shiyun guessed that Qi Xuan’er had already given Qi Miaohan a thorough scolding, but he couldn't help but feel a surge of anger upon hearing about it. All his earlier advice had been treated as wind past the ear. If not for various coincidences coming together, Qi Miaohan’s fate—that of a cannon fodder female supporting character in the original book—would have played out exactly as written.
"I’ll have to give her a piece of my mind when I see her."
"Forget it, as long as everyone is safe. I'm sure Fellow Daoist Qi will have learned her lesson after this," Zhai Bairong said with a wry smile.
Nie Shiyun shook his head speechlessly and continued, "They’ve certainly formed a deep grudge now. Regardless, I expect Duan Mingyu and the others will stay at the trading hub for a while before perhaps heading south. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest place. I’ve told them to return to the Hot Spring Valley so we can meet there."
Zhai Bairong thought for a moment and said, "I’ll go with you."
Nie Shiyun was astonished. He had assumed Zhai Bairong would go after Duan Mingyu’s group. After all, he had left them hanging for a month; if he continued to be evasive, they would surely become suspicious.
He waited for Zhai Bairong to explain, but the other man remained silent for a moment before saying flatly, "He probably already senses something is wrong. But you have the Immortal Tool in hand now, and my sect can't control me here. I don't want to worry too much anymore."
Seeing Zhai Bairong’s "I know the logic, but I just want to be with you" expression, Nie Shiyun felt that if he brought up Duan Mingyu’s feelings again, he would be far too lacking in sentiment.
"Then let’s go together. Du Zhi is there too—the half-demon cultivator who joined our Yunqing Pavilion, do you remember him? He doesn't know about us yet. But he seems trustworthy; I might have to explain things to him later."
Zhai Bairong nodded in agreement. He didn't mind those close to Nie Shiyun knowing about their relationship. If not for the restrictions of his sect and his ties to Duan Mingyu, he wouldn't have minded letting everyone know.
However, considering that Nie Shiyun possessed such peerless treasures as an Immortal Tool and a portable space, Zhai Bairong didn't want Nie Shiyun to draw too much attention from the Yingyue Sect because of him. Long ago, he had felt that Nie Shiyun was wasting his talent in a small sect, but he had gradually come to realize that it was actually the most suitable place for him. Conversely, it was Zhai Bairong himself who suffered, caught between the trivialities of his sect and his own desires.
"Later, we’ll just say we met up shortly after entering the secret realm, found a treasure land suitable for cultivation, and went into seclusion together for a while." Before meeting the Yunqing Pavilion group, the two coordinated their story. Meiqiu, hearing there were hot springs to soak in, was overcome with excitement. He emerged from the space halfway through his rest, his face full of impatience.
By the time Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong reached the Hot Spring Valley, Qi Xuan’er and the others were still on their way. Because they were still shaken, the three had retreated quite far, so they naturally couldn't travel as fast as Nie Shiyun and Zhai Bairong coming from the Mourning Forest of Ice Peaks.
The Hot Spring Valley was divided into several areas. The largest pool in the center of the valley had the densest spiritual energy. A few feet away, separated by withered wood and rocks, were several smaller pools. Over time, visiting cultivators had added crude bamboo partitions, giving the place a somewhat organized appearance.
Ever since word of the Hot Spring Valley’s effects and location had spread among cultivators, the area had become more crowded. However, news of several Golden Core cultivators fighting here had likely spread; the juniors, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire, hadn't dared to approach lately.
No longer worried about being disturbed by irrelevant cultivators, Nie Shiyun stopped using his disguise. Zhai Bairong, however, continued to use a Disguise Pill to avoid suspicion.
Upon arrival, they found a few scattered cultivators in the valley, all at the Foundation Establishment stage. Each occupied a small pool, cultivating with their eyes closed. However, as soon as Nie Shiyun approached, they realized a cultivator at the Great Perfection of the Golden Core had arrived, accompanied by two others at the Golden Core stage. They were immediately terrified. But seeing that the seniors didn't drive them away or speak to them, they assumed they weren't worth the trouble. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief and refrain from fleeing immediately.
"Speaking of which, I’m feeling a bit nostalgic. Cultivators don't need to wash their bodies, so we never had the chance to bathe together before. But in the illusion—even if it was fake—we bathed together all the time," Nie Shiyun whispered into Zhai Bairong’s ear.
Besides bathing, they had also done this and that in the bathtub.
"Ahem, keep your voice down..." Zhai Bairong cleared his throat.
Nie Shiyun said amusedly, "Do they look like they’d dare to eavesdrop on us? 'I don't want trouble' is written all over their faces."
Meiqiu didn't have the patience to listen to them. He hopped into a pool in two or three bounds, shouting "So hot, so hot!" yet showing no intention of getting out.
"You should at least take off your coat first..." Nie Shiyun walked toward the edge of the pool, looking helpless.
"Oh, I'm not used to it." Meiqiu thought to himself that it was no wonder he felt so heavy, like something was soaking up water. He couldn't be blamed; he didn't wear clothes in his beast form, so the concept of undressing wasn't exactly at the forefront of his mind.
The two men took the soaking wet garments Meiqiu handed them, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. If not for the fact that magic could dry clothes in the cultivation world, leaving the clothes on the snow would have meant Meiqiu would return to a stiff block of ice.
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Transmigrated into a Total Shou Novel as a Cannon Fodder, but Ended Up 1v1-ing the Male Lead | Chapter 79 | Reunion at the Springs | Novela.app | Novela.app
