Longevity through Upgrading Buildings

Chapter 908: Chapter 357: Qiu Qianhai’s Senior Brother

"Then that’s it. Let’s first heal and recover. Once we’re ready, we’ll open the door and see what’s out there," Ji Yuan suggested.

After their earlier encounter with Long Zhanye, it was best to be as cautious as possible.

"Alright."

Qiu Qianhai agreed without hesitation.

Soon after, the two of them didn’t linger in the valley basin for long. They flew back to the cliff at the mountain top to recover in silence.

While recovering, Ji Yuan took a cursory look at the storage bags of Long Zhanye and Ling Juexiao.

"Miss Xing, to enter this Secret Realm, is it necessary to have that seal you hold?"

"Yes."

Qiu Qianhai replied, not hesitating before handing the seal over. "I discovered this seal in the storage space of the treasure map, after restoring it together with a fellow cultivator."

"Miss Xing, you often mention this fellow cultivator. I am quite curious. Could you share her name with me?" Ji Yuan asked, turning slightly towards her.

"Of course, her name was Hua Qianqing, also known as ’Thousand Flower Immortal.’ Among the female cultivators in Lindong City, she was known for her striking beauty. Alas... She was tragically ended by an unknown hand."

Qiu Qianhai sighed once more.

...Hua Qianqing, Thousand Flower Immortal.

Ji Yuan silently committed the name to memory.

"I found that Long Zhanye’s storage bag didn’t have this seal."

"It seems he entered with someone else. He’s inherently selfish and somewhat vengeful. He likely did something similar to Ling Juexiao, scaring someone who then fled and left him stranded here."

"That’s certainly possible."

In Long Zhanye’s storage bag, Ji Yuan discovered a large number of Yin Crystals, indicating that he had been in the Secret Realm for quite some time.

Ji Yuan then turned to inquire about how to leave the place.

Qiu Qianhai explained that one could exit along the initial path until before the second challenge, but after passing the second challenge, that exit was no longer accessible.

This was why Long Zhanye was trapped here.

Ji Yuan asked no more questions, and Qiu Qianhai wisely refrained from probing his true identity.

After some time, both had fully recovered their mana and descended from the mountain peak to stand before the platform.

Ji Yuan waited below, while Qiu Qianhai, holding the seal, ascended the platform.

Ji Yuan watched as she injected mana into the seal. As it lit up, she pressed it firmly onto the ground like stamping an official mark.

In an instant, the entire platform emitted a brilliant white light.

Qiu Qianhai instinctively tried to remove the seal, but found it completely immovable, as if it had fused with the platform.

Without delay, she transformed into her escape light and flew back to Ji Yuan’s side.

The two of them looked up at the platform in unison.

In the blink of an eye, a rumbling sound resonated, and the platform split open from the middle, revealing a massive stone archway rising from the ground.

The archway lacked an actual stone door.

Just as Ji Yuan pondered what this meant, he noticed a white light screen emerge in the middle of the archway. Two streams of light shot forth from the screen and landed in their hands.

Ji Yuan gazed down and found a new seal in his hand.

Identical to the seal Qiu Qianhai used to open the door.

"What is this..."

Ji Yuan observed Qiu Qianhai holding one as well and was about to ask when suddenly, a powerful suction force emanated from the stone door.

Ji Yuan instinctively attempted to resist.

But against this force, he couldn’t last even a blink before being pulled through the stone door.

Dazed and disoriented, when he regained his senses, he found himself hovering above a vast ocean, surrounded by frigid winds.

Looking down, the sea appeared dark and ominous.

He released his Divine Sense, scanning a hundred miles out to discover an island cluster, barren and covered in sand and snow.

Qiu Qianhai was beside him, and after a brief investigation, she quickly grasped their situation.

"We’ve been teleported out. This should be the North Sea, though it’s unclear if we’re west or south of Bone Nightmare Sect... We just need to fly south. Once reaching the mainland, if we come across Sand Prison, then we were west of Bone Nightmare Sect. If we find desert, then we are south of it."

"Makes sense."

Ji Yuan nodded slightly, then glanced down at the seal in his hand.

...This item represented the ability to return to the Secret Realm at any time, but aside from slaying Yin Beasts, it offered no other benefits.

So why issue another seal before departure?

Coupled with the thought of the unclaimed Miracle Treasures and abundant Immortal Talent, Ji Yuan increasingly found the Secret Realm extraordinary.

"This is not a place to linger. Let’s return to the mainland first. What do you think?"

Qiu Qianhai proposed.

"Alright."

Subsequently, they each transformed into escape light, flying straight south for about half a month until reaching an endless desert. This confirmed that they had appeared west of Bone Nightmare Sect.

"So, Brother Liu, what do you plan to do next?"

Qiu Qianhai halted and asked.

Ji Yuan had already pondered this on the return journey to the mainland, "I require more Yin Crystals for my cultivation, so I intend to head back to the Secret Realm once more to slay more Yin Beasts. What about you, Miss Xing?"

"I won’t be returning to the Secret Realm for now. I want to head back to Lindong City first. I owe my recent gains to your assistance, Brother Liu, so I plan to trade for some breakthrough materials back there."