Chapter Seventeen: Truly Owing You from a Past Life

Jiang Zhuoran and Yan Wuqiu, both with keen hearing, exchanged a silent glance upon overhearing the passing cultivator’s words. In each other’s eyes, they saw nothing but helplessness. Then, they watched Jiang Zao, who was deeply intoxicated, caressing the earth, and sighed deeply.

“Is Zao Zao really all right like this?” they both wondered again.

“Mother Earth, you truly give me such a sense of security!”

“I love you!”

After smearing herself in mud, Jiang Zao stood up with satisfaction. She found that the dirt and withered grass would not come off, frowned at her own filthy appearance, and looked pleadingly at Jiang Zhuoran and Yan Wuqiu.

“Sis, senior brother... dirty, please clean me.”

There was no other way—since she had yet to learn the cleansing technique, she had to rely on those who knew it on the spot.

Jiang Zhuoran grumbled, waved her hand, and cast a purification spell that cleaned the mud and grass from Jiang Zao, making her look refreshed and renewed.

“You really owe me from a past life!”

“Thank you, sis.”

Jiang Zao’s face blossomed with a smile again. She ran over and wrapped her arms around Jiang Zhuoran’s. “Sis, you really do love me the most.”

“I don’t love you the most at all.”

Jiang Zhuoran muttered irritably but awkwardly tried to break free from her hold. Finding she couldn’t, she could only let her cling on.

Yan Wuqiu found their interaction amusing, his smile deepening.

“Senior Brother Yan, hurry up and follow!” Jiang Zao called out, waving at him.

“Coming.”

The three followed the directions on the token to the final location, only to find a desolate wasteland surrounding them, with a cliff so deep it seemed bottomless.

The place was eerily silent.

Jiang Zhuoran eyed the barren area doubtfully, questioning whether the location marked on the token was accurate.

“Could Fourth Senior Brother have marked the wrong place?”

No matter how they looked, it didn’t seem like a place harboring a secret realm.

Both looked to Yan Wuqiu, their pillar of support, waiting for his decision.

“I don’t know why either,” Yan Wuqiu said uneasily under their scrutiny, glancing at the pale green token in his hand.

He wanted to understand what was happening as well.

The desolation was so complete that not even a bird or beast could be seen.

Could Fourth Junior Brother be deliberately fooling them?

“Are you fellow cultivators here for the secret realm?”

The three turned toward the voice. A graceful young man in white robes approached.

Yan Wuqiu asked cautiously, “And you are?”

“I am a solitary cultivator, Chen Mian.”

---

“I’m Yan Wuqiu, from the Immortal Sect.”

The two exchanged formal greetings, with Jiang Zhuoran and Jiang Zao following suit.

“Jiang Zhuoran.”

“Jiang Zao.”

With these brief introductions, the four began to get acquainted.

Yan Wuqiu carefully inquired, “Chen Daoist, what did you mean earlier by secret realm?”

Chen Mian scrutinized the three, seeing their eager thirst for knowledge, and was surprised. “You don’t know there is a secret realm here?”

All three shook their heads in unison. They would sooner doubt the token’s guidance than believe such a desolate place held a secret realm.

Yan Wuqiu explained, “To be honest, we came following the token left by our junior brother. It gave no explanation.”

Chen Mian nodded knowingly. “I see.”

“If fate brings us together, then there’s no harm in telling you about the secret realm.”

After all, it was already common knowledge, and a few more people knowing wouldn’t matter.

Yan Wuqiu maintained his calm expression, while Jiang Zhuoran and Jiang Zao’s eyes brightened with anticipation of what he was about to say.

“This secret realm was discovered just three days ago. Many cultivators heard about it and wished to claim a share.”

“But when they arrived, all they found was a cliff with no trace of spiritual energy. Everyone thought they had been deceived until someone accidentally fell off the cliff and discovered the entrance.”

“One by one, more people followed, recklessly jumping down. Any mistake meant a fatal fall.”

“Perhaps due to the realm’s own restrictions, spiritual power barely works here—it’s all a matter of luck.”

Chen Mian recounted what he knew slowly.

He had come here three days ago himself. Knowing one couldn’t protect oneself with spiritual energy when jumping, he left without hesitation. Today, however, he came prepared with a protective treasure, unwilling to risk his life unnecessarily. Better safe than sorry.

Jiang Zao exclaimed, “You mean the entrance to the secret realm is at the bottom of the cliff?”

Such a notion was absurd—who would have a secret realm hidden at the bottom of an unfathomably deep cliff?

Chen Mian shook his head. “This cliff is the entrance. It all depends on whether you dare to jump.”

Jiang Zao approached the cliff’s edge and looked down, then turned to Chen Mian as if asking, ‘Are you sure?’

The cliff was bottomless, winds howling with eerie sounds that made one’s heart tremble.

If the entrance was truly below, that would be one thing. But if not, jumping meant certain death.

She glanced back at the three.

Oh, she was probably the only one likely to be shattered into pieces.

Chen Mian’s cultivation level was unknown, but to come alone suggested strength. Yan Wuqiu was even more formidable—a Golden Core stage cultivator and the second senior brother of Jade Spirit Peak.

As for Jiang Zhuoran, though only at the Qi Refining stage like Chen Mian, as the youngest junior sister of Jade Spirit Peak, she naturally possessed protective treasures.

Only she herself had nothing.

[Sigh, looks like I need to stock up more protective treasures in the future, just in case.]

---

Jiang Zhuoran noticed her slight disappointment and made a decision.

If they found treasures in the secret realm, she would make sure to equip Zao Zao with some. After all, her little sister deserved the best.

Yan Wuqiu bowed respectfully. “Thank you for the information, Chen Daoist.”

Chen Mian waved his hand with a smile. “Consider it a gesture of friendship. No need for thanks.”

Yan Wuqiu smiled. This was a debt of kindness owed.

“Chen Daoist, if you don’t mind, would you join us in exploring the secret realm?”

Chen Mian readily agreed. “In that case, I shall gladly accept.”

It was better for them to travel together than for him to proceed alone. At least if he were injured, he wouldn’t die so quickly.

Thus, the four formed a small team, standing before the bottomless cliff as if preparing for a heroic sacrifice.

Except for Jiang Zao, the other three suppressed their fear and plunged down without hesitation.

Jiang Zao, not ready to jump, was dragged down by Jiang Zhuoran. Suddenly, terrified screams echoed throughout the cliffside.

“Ahhhh!!!”

“I didn’t say I was going to jump!”

The reality was set and unchangeable. Jiang Zao could only scream as she resigned herself, closing her eyes and hoping the fall would hurt less.

“Ouch, that really hurts!”

Jiang Zao landed ungracefully, lying prone. The burning pain in her elbows and knees made her gasp sharply.

Dragging her supposedly severely injured body, she leaned against a tree, took some pills, and only then felt alive again. She looked around in bewilderment.

“Am I inside the secret realm now?”

After scanning the area, she found only herself.

Confused, she wondered, “Where are the other three?”

“Could they have been scattered by the secret realm?”

The longer she waited in place, the more she believed her guess was right.

They had indeed been separated!

For her, this was more unbearable than being shattered to pieces.

How long could a novice at the first stage of Qi Refining survive in a mysterious, treacherous realm?

Jiang Zao’s answer was:

Might as well die on the spot and avoid the pain of being torn apart by monstrous beasts.

Her face turned ashen—she had no motivation left.

The secret realm was vast, and she was too weak to find anyone.

“Whose disciple is so careless to fall asleep inside a secret realm?”