Chapter 36: The Outskirts of the Secret Realm

The closer you get to the forest, the more you'll see Qigong disciples from the other two sects, as well as some second- and third-level monsters. Yun Shang relied on her powerful spiritual sense to carefully avoid the people and beasts around her. She wanted to find a place to stay before dark, as night was a paradise for monsters.

When it was dark, Yun Shang chose a relatively secluded place as her base, made some arrangements, and set up a fifth-grade composite formation based on the principle of safety first. Only then did she feel relieved and began to rest. After all, it was her first time out, and she was still a little nervous and scared.

The fifth-grade compound formation in Yun Shang's hand was bought by her before. It was a formation plate that combined illusion formation, trap formation, and killing formation. It was very difficult to buy outside, especially this kind of attack and defense formation plate. After the arrangement was completed, Yun Shang took out the meditation cushion and began to practice. She was just rushing on the road today and gained nothing.

At night, many monsters in the secret realm would come out to hunt for food. The cultivators who came in would find a place to stay early and would not go out easily. It would be unpleasant to be beaten by the monsters.

The next morning, Yun Shang packed up and started to explore the forest. Qingmu Daojun and Lin Luo both said that there were generally no monsters above level 5 outside the secret realm. 

Yun Shang moved forward carefully alone, searching for spiritual medicines and plants while always paying attention to the sudden appearance of monsters.

As Lin Luo said, there were many spiritual herbs in the secret realm, all of which were low-level and common. Yun Shang picked some of the less common ones on Yunhai Peak at the beginning, and left the others alone. Later on, Yun Shang didn't even have the desire to pick them, because picking spiritual herbs would waste the jade box.

However, this would benefit other cultivators. People like Yun Shang are a minority after all. Most cultivators enter the secret realm mainly for the spiritual medicines inside. There are even fewer cultivators like her who have no shortage of spiritual medicines.

In the past few days, she encountered many cultivators, some from Immortal Sword Sect and some from other two sects, and also encountered many monsters. Yun Shang did not fight them, but avoided them from a distance.

Apart from picking a few spiritual herbs, which were low-level spiritual herbs, she did not gain anything. Yun Shang sometimes thought that this was the reason why Qingmu Daojun did not want her to come in. Her master was probably able to predict her current situation.

Yun Shang was very conflicted about whether to go deeper or not. She was afraid of danger, but she was unwilling to come here in vain. She was now close to the center of the secret realm. The monsters she encountered were basically level three, and occasionally level four monsters would appear. Level four monsters were equivalent to cultivators in the early stages of foundation building.

I'd better practice with these monsters first. Yun Shang also hunted some monsters on Yunhai Peak, all of which were level one and two, and basically there was no challenge. Level three monsters were in the late stage of Qi training, and I didn't know how strong they were.

The strength of monster beasts is much stronger than that of cultivators of the same level. They rely on the strength of their own bodies to fight, and they also have magical powers.

Human cultivators are not to be outdone. Perhaps they know their own weaknesses, so they use magical tools, talismans, formations, etc. to deal with monsters and beasts.

When the two sides are fighting fiercely, in addition to their own strength, they must also have the belief that they will win. However, if the difference in strength is too great, it is better to escape if possible.

She had been fighting with the third-level monster for more than a month, with some wins and some losses, and she had also suffered a lot of injuries. Before that, she had thought that with her powerful spiritual sense, she would not be injured. She was too confident. Yun Shang knew this when she fought with the third-level monster for the first time.

Although Yun Shang had mastered the eleventh level of Qi training, she had little experience in fighting and lacked the determination to kill her opponent, so she was often chased and beaten by monsters at the beginning.

At the beginning, her mindset was to find a third-level monster to practice with and gain some experience. She didn't think about killing the monster, so Yun Shang was counterattacked several times. If she hadn't practiced the traceless footwork and used the teleportation talisman, she might have died in this secret realm.

Fighting with monsters during this period gradually made Yun Shang develop the habit of either not taking action or killing the monster if she took action. As a result, after she became powerful, very few monster cultivators would take the initiative to cause trouble to her.

One day, Yun Shang was resting when suddenly, bursts of wolf howling sounds one after another, which made Yun Shang feel a little creepy. It was hard to imagine that she had been living alone in the wild for more than a month and had such close contact with nature.

People's adaptability is really strong. When you have no choice, you will force yourself to do it. After doing it, you will find that many things are not as difficult as you imagined.

As the battle with the third-level monster lasted longer, Yun Shang became more and more skilled in using magic to fight the enemy, and the situation gradually reversed. From being chased and injured in the beginning, it is now basically Yun Shang chasing the monster and fighting, and the battles end faster and faster.

At the beginning, she could only fight one level three monster, but now she has to deal with multiple monsters at the same time, and Yun Shang can escape without getting hurt.

The closer you get to the center of the secret realm, the more valuable the elixir becomes. Yun Shang once challenged a fourth-level male lion. Although she was injured a lot, she also made the male lion suffer a lot. If she used talismans or her homemade poison, Yun Shang believed that she could still defeat the lion.

With the experience of dealing with fourth-level monsters, she is no longer as scared as she was at the beginning when she sees a fourth-level monster. When facing some monsters that she thinks she can deal with, she will take the initiative to challenge them.

Fighting is definitely the best way to stimulate the potential of monks.

In the following days, Yun Shang kept fighting with those fourth-level monsters, being chased by them and chasing them. Slowly, she came to a lake. What surprised her was that there were very few monsters around, even the disciples who came here for training rarely encountered them.

Her intuition told her that there must be something wrong with the lake.

Yun Shang studied the lake for several days but still found nothing. Could it be that she guessed wrong? Several groups of monks passed by the lake, but they all left without even looking at it.

Is this really just an ordinary lake?

In fact, it was just that Taoist Qingmu and Lin Luo did not tell Yun Shang that this lake was quite famous in the Linglong Secret Realm. This was because cultivators and demon cultivators could not sink to the bottom of the lake once they entered it, and could only float on the surface of the lake. This made the demon beasts in the secret realm very awed, and they generally would not come to the lake.

Yun Shang decided to leave this strange lake tomorrow. Although she didn't gain much, it would be a good idea to practice with the monsters. Now her combat effectiveness is still very good. She can switch between various spells freely. She has also practiced the Broken Moon Technique Sword well. She can also use the Shadow God Needle at any time. Her attacks are often unexpected, fast, fierce and accurate.

Today, Yun Shang put away the formation plate as usual and began to prepare for cultivation. When it was almost dark, she heard voices coming from the lakeside. Soon, a group of monks came to the lakeside. They seemed to be camping here. She looked at those people and saw that they didn't notice her, so she didn't care.

The pair of people opposite built a campfire. Some of them were resting, some were chatting, some were recovering their spiritual energy, and some were on guard. It seemed that the team was well-trained, and their cultivation was basically in the late stage of Qi training, and there were two who had reached the great perfection of Qi training.

"The further we go in, the more powerful the monsters become. Now there are fourth-level monsters in this place. Boss, should we continue to move forward?" said a male cultivator over there.

"Go in. The spiritual medicines outside are all low-level and not worth many spiritual stones. We have finally managed to get a place in the secret realm this time. If we find more high-level spiritual medicines, we can also exchange them for more cultivation resources.

There aren't many foundation-building pills in the sect to distribute to us outer disciples. When we get to the outer sect, we have to eliminate those with backgrounds, so we can only think of ways on our own and make preparations early. The third and sixth brothers have both reached the great perfection of Qi training. If they have foundation-building pills, they can build their foundations. This way, there will be two more foundation-building cultivators in the family." said a slightly older male cultivator.

"Yes, the clan leader gave his favorite treasure to the outer sect manager who was able to enter the secret realm this time. We cannot let the clan leader down."

"That Zhou guy is a piece of shit. We were the ones who won the place, but he gave the spot to his nephew. He is just bullying us."

"You are usually so strict with our elixirs. Brother, why don't you think the sect cares about it?"

"How can those elders have the time to take care of us outer disciples? I really don't know what the clan leader is thinking. If the third brother and his friends went to other sects, they might be able to become direct disciples."

"You know what? The clan leader has his own considerations. Besides, Immortal Sword Sect is the top sect in the entire Shenwu Continent. We can learn many things that other sects cannot learn. If we practice well, it will be of great help to the family if one of us can worship a certain elder as a teacher."

"Brother, we will work hard and never let the Chen family ride on the Du family's neck again."

"Well, let's practice hard together. By the way, second brother, are you okay with your injuries?"

"Don't worry, big brother, everything will be fine after refining the elixir."

"Most of the monsters around now are level three or four, and my second brother is injured again. We can still handle one or two of them, but if there are more..." another cultivator said a little worriedly.