They waited and waited. Finally, the entrance to the secret realm fully opened!
The site had already been lined up in advance, not by who arrived first, but by strength and influence.
The four major sects were at the very front, followed by mid-tier sects, then small sects, and finally the independent cultivators.
The order of the four major sects was determined by the rankings from the previous Four Sects Grand Competition. Hunyuan Sect first, Wan Jian Sect second, Beast-Taming Sect third, and Xuantian Sect fourth.
Mu Zihuai stood at the very front of everyone.
He took a deep breath and walked toward the entrance, his figure instantly disappearing.
The Hunyuan Sect burst into cheers!
Next, Baili Muchen's third disciple Mo Xiuyuan, fourth disciple Wan Qizhi, and fifth disciple Zhu Yizhou also entered smoothly.
Then it was Shen Zhilan's turn.
At the instant she stepped into the secret realm entrance, everyone faintly heard clang-clang sounds.
The crowd instantly exploded!
"Clang-clang sounds. According to ancient records, this is the cry of a phoenix!
My heavens, could this be an omen that Shen Zhilan is the master of a phoenix?
Could it be that she'll contract a phoenix inside the secret realm?"
"Last time in the Tianhen Secret Realm she already contracted an immortal beast egg, if she contracts a phoenix again, this luck is just too good!"
"Who told her to have a top-grade water spiritual root! She's a favored darling of the Heavenly Dao!"
…
Jun Wen's mouth nearly twisted into a ladle shape!
"Little junior sister, don't listen to their nonsense. Even if there really is a phoenix, it would be yours!
If nothing else, just look at your surname!
Your surname is Feng, phoenix is also Feng, you're both from the same family!"
Feng Xi: "..."
So basically, I'm a bird?!
After Shen Zhilan entered, not a single remaining Hunyuan Sect disciple succeeded in entering.
Next, for Wan Jian Sect and Beast-Taming Sect, only the direct disciples made it in.
Feng Xi frowned slightly, feeling like something about this was off.
Jun Wen didn't care much, "Of course a secret realm would pick people with good aptitude! If there's a legacy, who would pass it to a useless trash?!"
As he spoke, he walked toward the secret realm entrance, only to be bounced back.
Jun Wen: "..."
Feng Xi held back her laughter and stepped forward, then… she was also bounced back.
The two useless trash looked at each other, speechless.
In the end, Xuantian Sect gained nothing.
Among the independent cultivators, however, a few people did manage to enter.
Those who failed could only sigh, with no other choice.
Feng Xi felt anxious. She had no interest in treasure-hunting, but she had to get in to save Jiang Ji!
Although she could explain the truth to Jiang Ji after he came out, she was afraid he would form a favorable impression of Shen Zhilan first.
All it would take was one sentence from Shen Zhilan, saying she was misled by ancient records, and Jiang Ji would probably believe it.
That would be troublesome.
But if she couldn't get in, what then?
Wait!
The book recorded that senior brother Jiang Ji accidentally entered the Turtleback Mountain Secret Realm, meaning that besides the main entrance, there had to be another way in!
She immediately said to Jun Wen, "Fifth senior brother, come with me!"
Jun Wen had no idea what's going on and followed her as she started running all over Turtleback Mountain!
Running until he was gasping for breath!
"L-little junior sister! I know you're upset about not getting in, but-but don't take it out on me!"
Feng Xi shot him a look, "I'm looking for another entrance to the secret realm!"
Jun Wen: …Little junior sister is talking nonsense again!
Secret realms only ever have one entrance, who's ever heard of multiple entrances?!
Just then, Feng Xi stopped running.
Because the little black ball sensed an abnormal fluctuation in spiritual energy here.
This was a small stream, winding downward.
"Fifth senior brother, where does this stream originate?"
Jun Wen, panting, said, "There's a spring on the summit of Turtleback Mountain. All this water flows down from there."
Feng Xi's eyes lit up, "Let's fly up to the summit!"
She summoned her wooden sword and rose into the air, not forgetting to strap on her "seat belt".
Jun Wen: "..."
He hurriedly summoned his flying sword and chased after her.
The wooden sword was unstable, sure. But it's really fast.
Even though Jun Wen chased hard, he still arrived a bit later.
At the mountain summit was a deep pool formed by spring water. The flowing water below was crystal clear, yet the pool itself was pitch-black.
Clearly, it was extremely deep.
Feng Xi tossed the little black ball into the pool to scout the way.
The little black ball felt utterly miserable!
All the dirty, tiring, and dangerous work was done by it, yet not a single kind word in return.
As it was thinking this, Feng Xi's voice sounded in its sea of consciousness, "Little ball, you're the only one I can trust and rely on!
And I also believe that as long as you want to do something, no difficulty can stop you!
After all, you are the world's one and only Spirit of Chaos…"
The little black ball instantly puffed up by a whole circle!
Even its tiny horns radiated kingly dominance!
Brave little ball is not afraid of difficulties!
Charge!
After diving to the bottom of the pool, the little black ball quickly discovered something unusual, there's actually a teleportation array here.
Feng Xi immediately jumped into the pool with Jun Wen.
For cultivators, as long as they had spiritual power, staying underwater for a while posed no problem.
Those with water spiritual roots could even remain submerged for half a day or longer.
Jun Wen said in surprise, "Little junior sister, doesn't this teleportation array look somewhat similar to the one in the mine?"
Feng Xi took a look and saw that it really did. This meant the array was ancient, perhaps tens of thousands of years old.
She took out a recording stone to capture the array, then found the spirit stone slots on the array plate. Gritting her teeth, she stuffed in over a thousand spirit stones. Only then did the teleportation array activate.
Jun Wen kept a tight grip on Feng Xi's sleeve, afraid they would be separated during the teleportation.
For a moment, he even couldn't tell whether he wanted to protect Feng Xi, or whether being away from her simply made him feel insecure.
Finally, the blinding white light faded, and their vision returned.
When Jun Wen saw what was before them, he nearly fainted.
It was a bird's nest built on a sheer cliff, a massive bird's nest.
Even if both he and Feng Xi lay inside, there's still plenty of room.
His first instinct was to summon his flying sword and escape, but he discovered he couldn't summon it at all.
There's only one explanation, this place is a no-flight zone.
Just as he was about to ask Feng Xi what to do, a golden giant bird flew over from afar, its wings spanning more than three zhang, blotting out the sky.
"L-little junior sister, it's a Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle! At least equivalent to mid Golden Core cultivation, we're dead for sure!"
Feng Xi narrowed her eyes, "In a moment, open your mouth and say 'ah'!"
Jun Wen: "???"
Before he had time to think, the Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle arrived, with a deer-like demon beast clamped in its beak.
Feng Xi was the first to open her mouth, "Ah~~~"
Jun Wen shut his eyes tight, craned his neck, and opened his mouth wide, "Ah~~~"
The Golden-Winged Iron-Feathered Eagle seemed momentarily puzzled, then used its sharp beak to tear the demon beast apart. It picked up a small, tender piece of meat and placed it into Feng Xi's mouth.
Then it picked up a large, furry chunk of meat and tossed it straight into Jun Wen's face.
Jun Wen: "..."