Ch 64: The Cannon Fodder Won’t Play Along Anymore [QT]

The communication talisman on him lit up the moment he exited the secret realm.

Mu Xing pulled it out, silver light flickering across its surface. Meng Ge’s voice came through: “Junior Brother Mu, you’ve finally come out. Wait there, we’re coming right away.”

Mu Xing set the talisman down, and out of the corner of his eye he noticed a green leaf resting on his shoulder.

He plucked it off and placed it in his palm.

The leaf was the size of a hand, lush and vibrant, its veins faintly shimmering with golden light—it was clearly extraordinary.

But no matter how he turned it over, he couldn’t make out its secrets. So he casually tucked it into his storage pouch.

In that short while, Meng Ge and the Xu siblings had already arrived.

They greeted one another, but tacitly kept quiet about other matters. Instead, they simply stood there, waiting as cultivators emerged one after another from the secret realm.

Unfortunately, until the realm finally closed and every last cultivator came out, the group never saw those “rogue cultivators.”

Either they had exited early and left… or what they had shown before wasn’t their real faces.

Mu Xing leaned toward the latter.

The Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion disciples also appeared as usual. Under the curious, reverent stares of the others, they left with indifferent expressions, without so much as a glance at anyone.

Not even at Mu Xing.

“Junior Brother Mu, what are you staring at them for?”

Perhaps because of what happened inside the secret realm, Xu Jiao now treated Mu Xing with obvious warmth. Seeing him watching the Pavilion members, she pursed her lips:

“What’s so interesting about that bunch? A pack of wooden sticks. Sometimes I even suspect their cultivation art turns people into emotionless machines.”

Mu Xing, however, knew better. The Pavilion’s arts were said to strip practitioners of the seven emotions and six desires, leaving them untouched by karmic entanglement. Among the immortal sects, it was one of the most admired cultivation paths.

But the training was unbearably painful, and most people couldn’t persist.

Strip away the seven emotions and six desires?

When Mu Xing had first heard of it, he’d been astonished: Desire is part of human nature. To forcibly erase ‘humanity’ from a person—was that really a good thing?

He didn’t know whether it was good or not, and he had no wish to comment on other people’s paths. The great Dao has many roads—everyone walks their own.

The problem was, the Heaven’s Secrets Pavilion didn’t seem willing to leave him to his own road.

Mu Xing withdrew his gaze.

Xu Jiao extended an invitation: “My brother and I gained quite a lot in the secret realm. We’re planning to head to the South Sea Mirage Market, see if we can trade for some suitable treasures. Would Junior Brother Mu like to join us?”

“What’s the Mirage Market?” Mu Xing asked curiously.

Xu Jiao explained: every year in the third month, the sea clans of the South Sea raised a great city upon the waters.

That city was the Mirage Market.

Heavenly treasures, cultivation methods, weapons, even sect inheritances—if you could pay the price, the Mirage Market could provide.

No cultivator seeking treasures would miss such a gathering. And even if one had no money or desire, it was still worth going for the sights.

It sounded lively. Mu Xing said: “Then I’ll go take a look too.”

Standing to the side, Meng Ge also nodded: “I’ll join you.”

The Xu siblings were naturally delighted. Meng Ge’s strength went without saying, and Mu Xing was an absurdly strong ally. Traveling with both was clearly a boon for them.

When leaving the secret realm, Meng Ge seemed reluctant.

He turned back toward the now-vanished void where the entrance had been, and said: “Who knows when this secret realm will open again.”

Such obvious reluctance surprised Mu Xing.

In his understanding, Meng Ge had always been cold and detached, caring only for cultivation and slaughter—rarely moved by anything else.

He couldn’t help asking: “Senior Brother Meng, what did you encounter inside?”

Meng Ge replied: “Beast hordes.”

Mu Xing waited for more, but nothing came. “Nothing else?”

Meng Ge shook his head. “Nothing else. Always beast hordes. Their strengths varied. My path of slaughter seems to have advanced considerably.”

Mu Xing was incredulous: “Don’t tell me you spent over a month in there just killing beasts?”

Meng Ge nodded. “Correct.”

Mu Xing was astonished. He turned back to the Xu siblings: “And you two?”

Xu Jiao said: “I entered a very strange manor. From the front gate, there were countless doors inside, and behind every door was a stronger version of myself. To get a shard of a key and open the next door, I had to defeat that self.”

Xu Ce added: “I entered with A’Jiao, but as soon as we stepped through, she disappeared. I ended up in a mass graveyard, where an old man claiming to be its guardian tried to seize my body. If not for the Soul-Suppressing Ring bestowed by our master, I’d have perished. I was trapped there with vengeful spirits until the realm opened again.”

His face darkened at the memory.

It was the first time Mu Xing realized that everyone encountered something different inside.

When the three finished, they all looked at him: “And you, Junior Brother Mu?”

Mu Xing calculated, then answered truthfully: “I found a peach blossom grove full of beauties and had a good meal. Later I found a forest of immortal fruits—eating them boosted my spiritual power. Then I ate another kind of fruit that made me drunk, and had a long dream. When I woke, my spiritual power had grown a lot.”

The three of them: “?”

Meng Ge said in a low voice: “This secret realm clearly shaped different scenes before us based on our Dao and our will. My Dao of Slaughter… Xu Ce, your Dao of Yin Fiends… and Xu Jiao, yours is?”

Xu Jiao smiled openly: “My Dao is to constantly surpass myself and become stronger.”

Mu Xing was a little surprised that someone as delicate and petite as Xu Jiao actually had such a firm and unyielding Dao heart.

But right now, all three of them were clearly looking at him.

Xu Jiao couldn’t help saying: “Beautiful scenery, fine food, fine wine. I’ve long heard that Lord Lianhua is the most pleasure-seeking of leisurely nobles—looks like Junior Brother Mu has inherited his mantle.”

Mu Xing only smiled and said nothing.

---

On their way to the Mirage Market, meanwhile, Ying Shu’s party had returned to the Yudao Immortal Sect.

Ying Shu was the only son of Sect Master Ying Tianhai and Immortal Lady Lingyue, and had always been doted upon.

At this moment, he was animatedly recounting to the two of them everything he had experienced in the secret realm.

The part he emphasized most was about Mu Xing.

“The moment I saw him, I felt a sense of closeness, but he doesn’t seem to like me much—and he’s even a demon cultivator.” Ying Shu muttered as he spoke, while glancing at his mother, who was smiling softly at him.

Then his eyes suddenly lit up!

“No wonder I thought Mu Xing looked familiar.” He exclaimed, “He looks thirty or forty percent like you, Mother.”

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