Chapter 165: Aerial Observation

Having learned from Lin Dayou's previous teachings, Lin Xiao carefully remembered to leave some Ice Stone Grass with its roots and stems wrapped in soil. You never know—it might be possible to plant it later.

Many cultivators had tried this before, but they found that storing Ice Stone Grass in jade boxes designed for spiritual plants was useless. Once removed from the Icefield Secret Realm, the grass would wither within half an hour. While it could still be used as a medicinal ingredient, its effects would be the same as usual, and it could no longer be replanted.

Moreover, Ice Stone Grass was highly particular about its growing environment; it couldn't tolerate any heat. Originally, this plant only grew in extremely cold regions, making it rare and valuable to the inhabitants of the Southern Spirit Region, where the climate was more temperate. However, since the Icefield Secret Realm appeared nearly a century ago, the plant has become less scarce.

As a result, the value of Ice Stone Grass had diminished, and few people considered trying to cultivate it—except for Lin Xiao. Thanks to the system-provided storage that perfectly preserved items, he didn't need to worry about the cost of storing these plants.

After Lin Xiao finished harvesting the entire field of Ice Stone Grass, only a few minutes had passed. He had prepared for this moment, knowing that the cultivation world would be full of spiritual plants and treasures. Before setting out, he had learned some harvesting techniques, specifically for situations like this.

Satisfied with the five thousand-plus Ice Stone Grass plants stored in his private storage, Lin Xiao packed up his tools and took out his peachwood sword to begin flying.

Initially, he considered flying as high as possible, but when he reached a height of two hundred meters, he immediately stopped and even descended by a hundred meters. At that altitude, he felt a fierce, cutting wind, and the spiritual energy in the air was wild and untamed. Worse, he had the unsettling sensation that countless unseen eyes were watching him from above, their gaze faintly locking onto him.

This sudden sense of being observed sent a shiver down Lin Xiao's spine. Normally curious, he didn't dare to look up; instead, he quickly lowered his altitude. Only when he dropped to around one hundred meters did the eerie sensation vanish.

However, he still felt uneasy and eventually decided to put away his sword and continue on foot. When he asked Liao Pantu about it, the elder, whose soul was currently only at the Qi Refinement stage, couldn't explain the phenomenon either. Despite having visited many secret realms, Liao Pantu had never encountered anything like this.

Without any answers, Lin Xiao didn't dwell on it. After all, he was just a regular Foundation Establishment cultivator. As long as he stuck to gathering resources like everyone else and left the secret realm quietly when the fifteen days were up, he figured everything would be fine. This secret realm had been stable for over a hundred years, so it should be safe.

Aside from the strange experience in the sky, Lin Xiao encountered nothing out of the ordinary during his journey. He did run into a few cultivators, but he kept his distance, and some of them seemed to do the same.

He also remained relaxed because he knew, from various inquiries, that the first three days in the Icefield Secret Realm were the safest. The realm's monsters and creatures wouldn't appear during this time, and most cultivators would be busy gathering resources, leaving little interest in fighting over them. Given the realm's vastness and the relatively low value of its resources, it was more efficient to move on to the next location if someone else got there first, rather than waste time battling.

However, after three days, everything would change. By then, most of the realm's resources would have been harvested, and the monsters would begin to emerge. From the seventh day onward, their numbers would surge, leading to constant skirmishes among cultivators for the remaining treasures.

On this first day, as Lin Xiao walked through the realm, he maintained a reasonable level of caution while also enjoying the exploration of what was only the second secret realm he had ever entered. Unfortunately, he didn't have the same luck as before, only occasionally finding scattered spiritual plants, none of which were particularly valuable.

What Lin Xiao didn't realize was that, although many of the cultivators he saw were also traveling on foot or flying just a few meters above the ground, it wasn't for the same reasons as him. They simply couldn't fly high in this secret realm. The realm's airspace, above ten meters, rejected the Five Elements spiritual energy, filling it with chaotic energy that made flying impossible for them.

Because of this, no one in the realm's century-long history had ever experienced what Lin Xiao did at high altitudes.

But neither Lin Xiao nor Liao Pantu knew this.

On the second day, Lin Xiao noticed that the previously murky ice beneath his feet had become increasingly clear. He guessed that he had initially appeared on the outskirts of the realm and was now moving closer to the central area, where the ice was more transparent.

Although he had gathered a lot of information in the city, he hadn't been there long enough to learn every detail about the realm. As he continued on, he soon found his path blocked by a massive ice mountain. After confirming with Liao Pantu that he was still heading in the right direction, Lin Xiao began his ascent.

At that moment, large snowflakes began to fall from the sky.

——

Meanwhile, in a gray area of the Icefield Secret Realm that even Wanwan Tong's maps hadn't explored, Yuan Zhiyun had been wandering for more than a day.

She had entered the secret realm yesterday morning, expecting to land in a well-known area as she had in previous years, where she would meet up with her teammates at their prearranged location.

But to her surprise, she found herself alone in a place with no information or maps available.

After carefully surveying her surroundings, Yuan Zhiyun realized that she had indeed landed in one of the uncharted gray areas of the realm. For a moment, she wasn't sure if she should consider herself lucky or unfortunate.