In the boundless void, a human silhouette appeared at some point, but it kept flickering, impossible to make out clearly.
Bai Xiaoxiao stared blankly at the figure, and only after a long moment did she realize she seemed to be dreaming.
The dreamscape was gray and hazy on all sides, and only that indistinct figure lingered like a reflection in water.
Bai Xiaoxiao stood facing it, overcome by a strange feeling of looking into a mirror. She felt a flicker of familiarity, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before.
“Who are you?”
Bai Xiaoxiao heard herself ask.
But the reflection in the water didn’t answer. It merely stood there quietly, its silhouette swaying in the rippling waves as if it might vanish at any moment.
Receiving no response, Bai Xiaoxiao grew bewildered. She could feel a gaze fixed on her, yet the other party wouldn’t speak.
It seemed a sigh drifted over, drawn out and long, gradually fading from her ears.
The space around her was once again empty.
Bai Xiaoxiao stood there at a loss, a deep exhaustion washing over her.
She vaguely remembered she had been fighting a demonic beast…
How had she suddenly started dreaming? Had she won that fight?
The more she thought, the more lost Bai Xiaoxiao became. In her daze, an ever-deepening fatigue wrapped around her—inescapable—dragging her consciousness down into the abyss.
Winning or losing no longer seemed to matter…
Bai Xiaoxiao only felt exhausted. The drowsiness was heavy and profound, and for no reason at all, she no longer wanted to think. She only wanted to obediently close her eyes and rest.
Just sleep like this. If she slept, she wouldn’t have to do those messy tasks anymore, and she wouldn’t have to be afraid.
Bai Xiaoxiao closed her eyes serenely, yielding to her true heart, her consciousness growing heavier and heavier.
“Hey, wake up—”
Just as her consciousness was sinking to the bottom, she heard a childish, unreasonable voice.
Bai Xiaoxiao paused. Her tightly shut eyes began to tremble uneasily, as if she were hesitating over whether to open them.
But the voice vanished after only an instant, like an illusion.
Bai Xiaoxiao gradually calmed again, letting her consciousness sink.
But just then, the voice suddenly exploded.
“Don’t you dare sleep! If you want to die, fine, but I don’t! Wake up, you damn human cultivator!”
Bai Xiaoxiao jolted awake, feeling like the clouds had parted to reveal the sun.
She forced her eyes open and finally regained a sense of reality. In a faint, weak voice, she said, “But… I’m not human…”
“…I don’t care if you’re human or not. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!”
The voice was heavy with pain and accusation.
Bai Xiaoxiao was stunned. Following the sound, she discovered that there was a glowing, unknown thing in front of her.
It was only about the size of a palm. The light was so bright she couldn’t make out its appearance, but listening to its voice, Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t help picturing a little fairy.
She finally managed to react, but honestly shook her head. “Did you mistake me for someone else? In my current state, I don’t think I could do anything to you, right? And what are you, anyway? A spirit body?”
The little ball of light bobbed up and down, quite agitated, babbling unintelligibly. It sounded like it was cursing—and quite filthy cursing at that.
Watching its agitated display, Bai Xiaoxiao inexplicably felt a twinge of guilt. “Uh… as you can see, I can’t do anything to you in my current state, so can you tell me what you are?”
The little ball of light seemed to think for a few seconds, then slowly began to change. Bai Xiaoxiao watched with her own eyes as it transformed into a familiar little snake…
“It’s you!!!”
Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly understood, but she felt this whole thing was getting more and more absurd. She jolted up and looked at the thing that had reverted to a ball of light, shock filling her eyes.
“What are you, really? Why did you take my form? And now… are you in my dream?”
The little ball of light seemed startled, and only after a long pause said, “What nonsense are you talking? Rest assured, our conversation is taking place in the depths of your divine soul.
Do you know how dangerous it was just now? If you had really fallen asleep, you might never have woken up!”
Bai Xiaoxiao was completely bewildered. “The depths of my divine soul? Isn’t this my dream?”
The little ball of light shook impatiently. “I can’t understand what you’re saying. Anyway, there’s a very serious problem now. When you were fighting, why didn’t you watch your surroundings? Do you know you accidentally injured an innocent bystander snake?!”
Bai Xiaoxiao paused again, utterly speechless. In the end, she could only say helplessly, “What innocent bystander snake? The situation was critical at the time, and I didn’t see you coming…
Besides, you don’t seem to be a snake, do you? So what exactly are you?”
The little ball of light proudly rose a bit higher, its glow growing even brighter.
“What am I? Isn’t this exactly what you cultivators came here for? And now you’re asking me that kind of question?”
A question mark slowly materialized above Bai Xiaoxiao’s head.
“Wait! What? You mean…” She suddenly widened her eyes. “You’re that Secret Realm Stone?!”
It wasn’t that she didn’t believe it—anyone would refuse to believe that the thing they’d been looking for had been right there all along.
Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t believe her luck was so good that she’d actually found the Secret Realm Stone.
The little ball of light gave a light snort. “If not, then what? You don’t believe me?”
Hearing the displeasure in its voice, Bai Xiaoxiao swallowed back the word “no.” “It’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s just… you actually have spiritual sense?
I really thought you were just a stone. But that’s not important. The important thing is—if this is the depths of my divine soul, how did you end up here?”
The little ball of light flew into a rage. “You dare ask!!! This is all your fault!”
Bai Xiaoxiao really felt she was being wronged. She’d almost not woken up, which showed how badly she was injured. And yet, in a single sentence, the little ball of light had made it all her responsibility.
This really was a case of trouble landing on her out of nowhere.
Bai Xiaoxiao tried to explain. “How is it my fault? I’m so wronged. If you hadn’t said it yourself, I wouldn’t even have known you were the Secret Realm Stone. Naturally, I wouldn’t have done anything to you.”
The little ball of light fell silent, then its tone became hesitant. “This… I suppose that makes sense…”
“But! I’m now bound to your divine soul. How is that not your fault?! It’s all because of you!”
Bai Xiaoxiao was full of question marks. She let out a helpless sigh of frustration. “Wait a moment. Why don’t you tell me what actually happened first? I don’t want to take the blame for something I had nothing to do with.”
Hearing this, the light around the little ball of light dimmed a bit, and for some reason it looked rather dejected.
“The truth is, I’ve been evolving until now, and this secret realm was very close to forming. Under normal circumstances, I would have fully taken shape in a few decades.
But something unexpected happened. And because I was just born, with only instinct, I unconsciously pulled some creatures in…”
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes suddenly sharpened. “See! You struck first!”
The little ball of light was aggrieved. “That’s not my fault! It was instinct, not something I chose to do.
Who knew that while I was evolving just fine, almost at the finish line, someone would inexplicably find me?
That person got in and did something, causing the energy I needed to evolve the secret realm to run dry. I had no choice but to unconsciously make up for it from other sources.”
Bai Xiaoxiao’s expression changed slightly. “Wait, what did you just say?”
It sounded like she’d just heard some incredibly significant information.
The little ball of light’s voice became wronged and pitiful, tinged with a hint of anger. “Bullying a newborn secret realm—that’s just inhuman! Although my consciousness was hazy before, I could still sense a thief getting in.
I’m absolutely sure I sensed it right. It was after that person came in that my power was weakened, and I had to find other ways to fill the gap.”
And because it had grown weak from lack of energy, it had even been caught by another secret realm and almost been merged.
But they were both secret realms, so why should it be forced to merge?!
Yet precisely because its energy was insufficient, it had decided to go along with the plan, sucking in quite a few of the creatures from that other secret realm. Cultivators had abundant spiritual qi and vitality, so it couldn’t let them go.
The Secret Realm Stone didn’t think it had done anything wrong—after all, the root cause of all this had been brought about by humans themselves.
Suddenly learning this information, Bai Xiaoxiao was completely dazed. She was already seriously injured and weak in divine soul, and after hearing all this, her brain could barely turn at all.
So the energy deficiency of this newborn secret realm was man-made?
But what kind of person could do such a thing? Someone who could casually enter an unformed secret realm and cause chaos, completely ignoring its rules and disorder—could it really be unintentional?
Bai Xiaoxiao felt a chill run down her spine, as if she had glimpsed the edge of a conspiracy.
Something occurred to her, and she suddenly asked, “Then… what about the demonic beasts? Were the demonic beasts in the secret realm also sucked in by accident?”
The little ball of light spoke with disdain. “Who would want to suck in demonic beasts? They were all brought in by you human cultivators.”
Bai Xiaoxiao was even more confused. What did it mean they were brought in by her fellow human cultivators?
Could it be that among the cultivators sucked in this time, someone had, for unknown reasons, joined forces with the demonic beasts?
What was that person trying to do? Were all the cultivators their target? Or were they after the secret realm?
One question after another flashed through her mind. Bai Xiaoxiao’s head throbbed, and she couldn’t snap out of it for a long while.
Based on her shallow understanding of the Nine Provinces, the human race had irreconcilable conflicts with the Devil and Demon Races. Anyone discovered colluding with devils or demons would be killed on the spot.
Or was it just a coincidence?
This wasn’t a large secret realm, and disciples of the major sects rarely came here, so it probably wasn’t targeting those major sect disciples either.
Bai Xiaoxiao thought and thought but couldn’t figure it out. She only felt even more exhausted.
Seeing her suddenly stop moving, the little ball of light flew around anxiously, trying to pull Bai Xiaoxiao’s wits back.
So when she finally let herself return to her senses, what she saw was the little ball of light flying around like a headless fly.
Bai Xiaoxiao suddenly remembered that the little ball of light had said it was in her divine soul because of her.
So she asked again. “Earlier you said you’re here because of me? Why?”
The little ball of light slowed down. For some reason, Bai Xiaoxiao could actually sense guilt from that ball of light.
“Ahem… It’s all because you suddenly spat blood…” it said in a wronged tone, then grew even more resentful.
“I’m so unlucky. I originally just thought your main body was interesting, so I turned into an incarnation to follow you around for fun. Who knew you’d suddenly run off to a cave to sleep and not move?”
Bai Xiaoxiao paused, her gaze wandering. She didn’t say anything.
The little ball of light continued on its own. “Once you were asleep, it was no fun, so I went off somewhere else to play. But then I sensed a commotion coming from your side, so I returned to the little snake’s body.
And what a coincidence—I’d just arrived when you spat a mouthful of blood all over me, and just like that, we got directly bound!”
“Are you happy now? You cold, heartless spirit beast! I will never forgive you!”
That phrase sounded familiar…
Bai Xiaoxiao shook her head, understanding in her heart. “Then let’s be reasonable. Isn’t this situation caused by your own love of playing? I didn’t even know who you were, so how can you blame the accident on me?”
The little ball of light paused, then broke down. “But my destined master isn’t you!!! Aaaah, what am I going to do?! How did I end up signing a contract with you out of nowhere? This doesn’t make sense!”
Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes sharpened. “Destined master?”
That phrase was very familiar. Thoughts flashed rapidly through her mind. Bai Xiaoxiao looked at it with suspicion. “You know who your destined person is?”
The little ball of light sobbed. “Anyway, it’s not you. Now everything is ruined…”
Bai Xiaoxiao stared suspiciously at the ball of light in front of her, feeling that something was very wrong.
“I have a question. Aren’t you the Secret Realm Stone? And you’ve even given birth to a self-consciousness, which proves you’re extraordinary. So why do you have no resistance at all to having a destined master?”
The little ball of light flickered, slowly turning pink, as if it were shy. It twisted and squirmed as it said, “Oh dear, you spirit beasts really know how to talk. But even if you talk nicely, I still won’t forgive you.”
“Still, you’re right. I am indeed different from those ordinary secret realms. If it were an ordinary cultivator, naturally I wouldn’t willingly recognize them as master. But…”
The little ball of light’s tone became wistful. “If I follow my destined master, then there’s the possibility of evolving into a world of my own. By then I would rise… oh, even if I told you little spirit beast, you wouldn’t understand.”
Its tone suddenly became very sad. “Do you know that you’ve shattered my hopes?”
So the Secret Realm Stone had no objection to recognizing a master because doing so would bring it benefits.
Perhaps enormous benefits.
Bai Xiaoxiao knew that the destined master it spoke of should be Rong Qingqing.
But this was truly absurd. Although Rong Qingqing had talent, she wasn’t particularly exceptional. Even her disposition didn’t seem like that of a Female Lead. Why would the Heavenly Dao value her?
Plot armor?
Bai Xiaoxiao could only think of that for now, but she kept her suspicion.
“Still, you’re not bad yourself. Although the Ancient Spirit Beast clan is quite favored by the Heavenly Dao, I’ve only ever seen one like you who, before even reaching adulthood, could comprehend heaven and earth and stir the power of nature.”
Bai Xiaoxiao: “…Thanks.”
As it spoke, the little ball of light began radiating resentful vibes again.
Bai Xiaoxiao felt quite helpless. That fight with the demonic beast had already consumed all her mental energy, and even now she still felt drained.
She couldn’t even remember spitting blood, let alone imagine that the blood would splash onto that little snake. No matter how wild her imagination was, she would never have guessed that the snake was the Secret Realm Stone.
She lay there limply, staring blankly into space.
Suddenly, she felt a pulling force.
Before Bai Xiaoxiao could react, her vision went black. When consciousness returned, the first thing she felt was pain, and then, half a beat later, she caught the familiar scent of frost and snow.
Shen Zhiyue? Why would she…
