Waking from Nightmares, Walking into Traps

"Senior Brother! Are you alright?" Chen Jinshu's concerned voice rang out, snapping Du Yi back to his senses.

"Junior Sister! Thank you for waking me in time. Otherwise, I might have fallen into the devil's grasp!"

Du Yi rubbed his still-cold neck as he spoke.

"It's fine. I was caught in it too. Thankfully, I had the Golden Lantern Flower. Otherwise, it could've ended badly."

Chen Jinshu explained briefly and then asked Du Yi what he had experienced in the illusion. As she expected, Du Yi had also fallen into a hallucination, where a vicious demon tried to steal his lifespan. When he resisted, the demon tried to strangle him and forcefully snatch it.

"Senior Brother Jiang must also be caught in the illusion! We need to go, quickly!"

Suddenly remembering Jiang Daoyu, Chen Jinshu rushed toward the direction he had gone. Moments later, she found him—foaming at the mouth, streaks of white already in his hair.

"This is bad! Senior Brother Jiang has fallen prey to the illusion demon! It's draining his lifespan!"

Chen Jinshu immediately handed over the Golden Lantern Flower. In an instant, Jiang Daoyu—on the verge of unconsciousness—seemed to claw his way back from hell. His bloodshot eyes cracked open, and he weakly looked toward Chen Jinshu and Du Yi.

He muttered faintly, "You must go! This place is dangerous!"

No sooner had he spoken than he collapsed again from exhaustion. Chen Jinshu stepped forward to examine him. Though his lifespan had been preserved, his physical energy was severely depleted, and his spiritual sense was greatly disturbed.

Thankfully, he was not in mortal danger.

"How is Senior Brother Jiang?" Du Yi asked.

"The lifespan drain was stopped, but his qi and blood are heavily depleted. He needs time to recover."

"This place is too dangerous. We haven't found any spiritual items despite searching for so long. Let's leave immediately," Du Yi said, frowning.

Chen Jinshu looked around. Aside from the statue at the center of the room, there was nothing of value. The other chambers likely held the same.

The item in Du Yi's chamber had been a bone-like seal. But it contained no spiritual energy, and due to numerous fine cracks, they decided it was worthless to take. The central statue was far too massive to move.

"Alright," Chen Jinshu finally nodded after a moment of silence.

She suspected that only those who dispelled the illusion on their own would be granted rewards. Since she had awakened both senior brothers, they received nothing—surviving was fortunate enough.

Du Yi hoisted the unconscious Jiang Daoyu onto his back, and the three returned to the central corridor. But strangely, the surrounding caves seemed to have shifted. The markers they had originally placed were now gone.

"Junior Sister, it seems we're trapped in here!"

"No—we're not. I made some extra markings just in case."

She released Xiao Yin, instructing it to locate the medicinal scent trail she had previously laid. But to her dismay, even that trail had vanished.

"What? That potion was specially concocted... How could it disappear?"

Chen Jinshu frowned deeply. The Incense Cavern was even stranger than she had anticipated. Clearly, nothing in the Xuanming Secret Realm was easy to acquire. Every location they'd explored within the stone cavern had subjected them to increasingly dangerous forms of assault.

"Junior Sister! I might have a way out."

Du Yi took out a divination compass from his storage pouch. As he quickly wrote golden characters on the compass's surface, the needle began to spin rapidly.

"I left a directional marker outside the exit when we first entered. Even though the cavern has shifted, the exit's direction remains fixed."

With Jiang Daoyu on his back, Du Yi stepped into the adjacent cavern. Chen Jinshu immediately followed without hesitation. After walking five or six li, they finally saw light ahead and couldn't help but smile in relief.

Three Days Later

Chen Jinshu and the others found a hidden spot in the Song River Forest to rest and recover before continuing their exploration. All three had suffered injuries during their expedition through the Incense Cavern—Jiang Daoyu's condition was the worst due to his massive loss of qi and blood.

Over the past three days, Du Yi and Chen Jinshu took turns hunting spirit beasts and feeding Jiang Daoyu to help him regain consciousness. Though he finally awoke, he was still extremely weak.

They agreed to rest for five more days before heading to the place Chen Jinshu had discovered earlier.

Four Days Later

Jiang Daoyu had recovered significantly. Though the others urged him to rest another day, he refused—he felt guilty for the seven-day delay his condition had caused. The secret realm opening only lasted a month, and a quarter of that time was already gone.

Chen Jinshu then led the two senior brothers toward the mysterious place she had encountered after leaving Tianyin Valley. Along the way, she described the scene she had witnessed:

"An emerald-green river? Moonlight-colored stones? And spirit fungi guarding the riverbed?"

"Junior Sister, that place sounds like a divine realm!" Du Yi chuckled.

"Isn't it? It's like paradise itself."

"You're not wrong. The environment is tranquil, the climate elegant—it's an ideal place to settle," Chen Jinshu replied while seated atop her Gale Gourd.

Half an Hour Later

They arrived at the rear of a valley, where strange mists flowed like silk between the trees.

"There's miasma here too? There seems to be a lot of it in this secret realm."

It wasn't their first encounter. They had already seen miasma three times in the Song River Forest. This made the fourth.

"The climate here is erratic. The dense spiritual energy, mixed with ground toxins, likely causes the miasma."

"Be careful. The spirit fungi here are strange. They can appear in unpredictable forms."

Chen Jinshu noted that they weren't standing in the same location where she had first arrived in this place. The surroundings were now covered in fern-like spiritual plants—common and unremarkable. Sunlight filtered through overlapping fronds, casting gold-coin-shaped spots onto the moss. The beauty of the environment made the three briefly lower their guard.

Chirp! chirp!

Suddenly, Xiao Yin let out a sharp warning cry, snapping them back to attention. They looked up at the small green bird circling in the sky.

"Junior Sister, is your spirit bird warning us?"

"This is bad! These light spots are dangerous!" Chen Jinshu didn't answer directly but jumped back onto her Gale Gourd.

The golden spots on the ground began to wriggle, growing fine golden threads that slithered toward their ankles.

"These moss patches are a type of fungus—probably carnivorous!"

She shouted as Du Yi and Jiang Daoyu leapt onto their own flying tools.

To their horror, the golden threads swiftly entangled a passing lizard, draining it dry. Its skin dissolved into the soil like fertilizer.