The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 299 - 181 Secret Realm
However, after all, this is no ordinary cup, so what’s so strange about it being a bit heavy? Her arm strength was not small, and she finally lifted it up on her second attempt.
From above her head came the long-missed clear sound of the Jade Chime— the fourth Treasure finally has an owner!
Just as she picked up the Moonlight Cup, the spot originally covered by its base suddenly emitted a burst of bluish luminescence. She looked in astonishment; it was an ancient spell glowing brightly. Judging by the handwriting, it was written by a woman’s hand, similar to the spells on the stone walls below the mountain. However, the light was short-lived; it flickered twice and then disappeared into nothingness.
She reached out to touch it, but only felt ash— the spell had turned to ash in an instant!
What’s worse, a slight tremor was coming from the ground beneath her, and it was intensifying.
An earthquake? Had she triggered some restriction?
She couldn’t just sit and wait for death! With this thought, she turned and ran. She had been conserving her energy for the past two days, hadn’t she prepared for this exact reason—to flee for her life? Running now, she moved as swiftly as a rabbit, and in almost no time, she had reached the foot of the Heavenly Ladder.
Looking back to where she came from, Ning Xiaoxian was shocked! At this moment, the Great Barrier that had enveloped the entire mountain peak had vanished! The Heavenly Ladder, the mountain, the narrow trail, all were clearly visible within the secret realm.
By picking up the Moonlight Cup, she had seemingly shattered both the small and Great Barriers. Moreover, she had a terrible premonition that what she had broken was not just the Barriers.
The entire secret realm was in upheaval; all Treasure Hunters were horrified, for within the ground, ominous sounds heralding doom welled up, as if the earth below was starting to fissure, and soon the entire realm quaked as if it would be destroyed at any moment.
Two teams engaged in a desperate struggle with beasts found that the chemically darkened beasts, which usually went berserk upon seeing humans, suddenly lay down motionless and stopped moving. Even the mammoth giant elephant, which had been trampling people into Dead Souls and rampaging joyfully around the realm, staggered like a drunken beast a few times, then dived head-first into the ground, silent at last!
Everyone knew that this secret realm, existing for over a thousand years, was about to change its destiny! All looked at each other and unanimously began to sprint with all their might towards the entrance of the realm. Among these fleeing figures was naturally Ning Xiaoxian. She safely stored the Moonlight Cup inside her bag before unleashing her full speed, dashing towards the South.
However, she had ventured too deep into the secret realm; even now with her full power unleashed, she wasn’t sure if she could reach the entrance in time. Along the way, she dodged numerous inexplicably dead beasts, and saw some unfortunate ones who, preoccupied with escaping, accidentally stepped into traps on the path and ended up lying on the ground crying out miserably, which made her internally shudder: what had she done?
After running for another 15 minutes, the ground started to swell and crack, plates arched up, and trees on the surface fell, adding elements of an obstacle race to this great escape. Ning Xiaoxian gritted her teeth and sprinted, but her heart sank. At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to escape before the realm collapsed! At that moment, she regretted not training harder when trained by Changtian.
Unbeknownst to everyone, at that very moment, the mountain peak once shrouded by the Barrier suddenly cracked, followed by the mountain waist and belly as hundreds of tons of rocks tumbled down, crashing to the ground. Amidst the chaotic rocks, a dark light suddenly sprang up, circled twice in place, then dived into the nearby woods.
A man had been standing quietly here: Tu Jin!
The dark light didn’t play games and directly plunged towards him, drilling into his body through his ears and his wide-open mouth. Two moments later, his originally closed eyes slowly opened, his eyeballs shockingly red as fresh blood!
He looked down at his body, then took a deep, deep breath and laughed heartily towards the sky: "Finally, I am free!" a joy immeasurable in his voice.
With that, he walked towards the direction of the entrance to the secret realm. Although it was a "walk," each step he took almost covered hundreds of meters, quickly outpacing many Treasure Hunters.
His ghostly figure made many escapees unable to see clearly, a thought flashed through their minds: "Is there a ghost here too?" But with Heaven tilting at any moment, this thought was fleeting, after which they buried their heads and continued powerfully running for their lives.
Tu Jin had only walked ten miles when he saw a familiar figure. "Hmm, is it her?"
This woman was running faster than anyone else, if not Ning Xiaoxian then who else could it be? Right now she felt she might not make it before the realm’s gates closed, sweating profusely in her hurry, when unexpectedly a voice next to her chuckled, "In return for your peach, I offer you a plum—shall I lend you a helping hand?"
