Chapter 24: Secret Realm Fusion

Bai Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then decided it was best to teleport everyone out first. So she called out to the Secret Realm Stone in her heart.

[Little Stone, can you teleport all of us out?]

Secret Realm Stone: ?

[Wait, first of all, setting aside why you don’t just do it yourself… who is this “Little Stone”?]

Bai Xiaoxiao was taken aback. What did it mean she could do it herself? She could?

[Me? I can do it?]

[You have a contract with me, so of course you can. Why are you being so weird?]

The Secret Realm Stone couldn’t quite put its finger on it, but there was a strange feeling. Didn’t ordinary cultivators already know this? Yet Bai Xiaoxiao seemed very unfamiliar with it all.

Bai Xiaoxiao knew it was her fixed way of thinking at play, so she blinked. [Oh, I forgot for a moment. I’m still not used to it. Of course I’ll rely on you, Little Stone.]

The Secret Realm Stone instantly cast aside its strange feeling and exploded. [Who’s a stone?! I’m not a stone!!]

Seeing she’d successfully changed the subject, Bai Xiaoxiao nodded along. [Alright, alright, you’re not. Do you have a name, then?]

The Secret Realm Stone choked. [No…]

A smile gathered in Bai Xiaoxiao’s eyes. [Well, there you go. You’re the Secret Realm Stone, so it’s not wrong for me to call you Little Stone.]

The Secret Realm Stone kept hopping around. [No! I don’t want that! It’s not imposing at all!!!]

Bai Xiaoxiao asked patiently, [What do you want to be called, then?]

The whole stone was shocked. [You spirit beast! How can you be like this? You won’t even pick a name for me?!]

Bai Xiaoxiao was a little surprised. [Huh? I should pick it? But don’t you not recognize me? Weren’t you just making a fuss about going to find your destined person? Mm…]

She said respectfully, [Why don’t you think of a name yourself? I’m very open-minded.]

[…]

The Secret Realm Stone angrily bounced around in her divine soul, and Bai Xiaoxiao felt her soul ripple from the disturbance.

She quickly soothed it. [Alright, alright, stop bouncing. Since you said so, I’ll give you a name later, okay? For now, I’m not as familiar with the secret realm as you are. Little Stone, let’s send everyone out first.]

She always felt that wherever Rong Qingqing was, there were uncertainties and surprises. Now that the Secret Realm Stone was in hand, there was no reason to stay. Better to send everyone out as soon as possible.

Sensing Bai Xiaoxiao’s urgency, the Secret Realm Stone reluctantly agreed. [Fine. But although I can spit you all out, where you land, I can’t guarantee.]

Bai Xiaoxiao didn’t nitpick its wording, just thought for a moment and nodded. [Alright, then…]

[Wait! By the Heavenly Dao above… when did so many demonic beasts appear?! So many, so many!]

The Secret Realm Stone started screeching.

Bai Xiaoxiao stopped mid-sentence, wondering if she’d misheard. [What did you say? Demonic beasts?!]

But before the Secret Realm Stone could answer, Bai Xiaoxiao sensed the ground beginning to tremble.

She thoughtfully looked to the right and indeed found the tremors strongest there.

The cultivators didn’t know what was happening. They used spiritual power to stabilize themselves while warily scanning their surroundings.

Soon, some of them spotted the problem and shouted, eyes wide. “God! Demonic beasts! How are there so many demonic beasts in the secret realm? This isn’t right!”

“There are so many, and their cultivation bases are all at Mid-Stage Foundation Establishment or above? Bad, this is very bad.”

“I knew this secret realm was off. Just a moment ago it still hadn’t separated heaven and earth, and now so many demonic beasts have appeared…”

There were quite a few cultivators gathered here, but not that many—nowhere near the number of demonic beasts.

Everyone was startled by the sudden beast tide and momentarily at a loss.

Bai Xiaoxiao was also in disbelief. She had a contract with the Secret Realm Stone, so logically, she should sense everything happening in the secret realm.

But those demonic beasts had appeared out of nowhere. Even from the Secret Realm Stone’s reaction, it clearly hadn’t noticed them beforehand either. This just didn’t add up.

[Little Stone?! Why are there suddenly so many demonic beasts? Are you sure you didn’t suck them all in?]

[It wasn’t me! Why would I suck in demonic beasts?! Aaaah, curse it—which bastard let these demonic beasts in?! I’ll kill them!!!]

The Secret Realm Stone raged powerlessly inside Bai Xiaoxiao’s divine soul, screaming that it had been soiled.

Bai Xiaoxiao’s expression gradually grew serious.

A spiritual-qi-rich secret realm mixed with a sky-high Demonic Qi—just as the Secret Realm Stone said, it was murky and filthy. A very dirty picture.

[We can’t wait any longer. Little Stone, can you throw us all out now? And those demonic beasts…]

Bai Xiaoxiao disliked the demonic beasts too, and these beasts had no known origin. Leaving them in the secret realm wasn’t a good thing.

But casually throwing the beasts out of the secret realm could cause unknown disasters.

[We’ll deal with the demonic beast matter later. Throw the cultivators out first.]

The Secret Realm Stone paused its tantrum and quickly got to work.

But a moment later, Bai Xiaoxiao heard it shout even more furiously.

[Aaaah, you bastard! I’m going to devour that other secret realm!!!]

Hearing it lose its mind, Bai Xiaoxiao’s heart skipped a beat.

For some reason, she had a feeling things wouldn’t go smoothly. And sure enough.

[Little Stone, what happened?]

[Wuwuwu I… a part of me is in a state of fusion with another secret realm. And where you all are right now is the fusion point. I only hold a small half of the authority there—the other half belongs to that Secret Realm Spirit, and it won’t listen to me!]

Bai Xiaoxiao had known from the start that the two secret realms were fusing. She just hadn’t expected that even after contracting the Secret Realm Stone, this unexpected situation would still arise.

[So… that secret realm wants to devour you, and it actually succeeded partly?]

The Secret Realm Stone hopped around. [What devouring? I’m not that weak! It’s a fusion, okay?

Besides, that secret realm has poor qualifications and never even developed a consciousness before. If my energy weren’t lacking, how could it have caught me? I’m going to go eat it!!]

Bai Xiaoxiao hurriedly soothed the child throwing a tantrum. [Little Stone, don’t be impulsive!]

But she called out too late. She could clearly feel her connection to the Secret Realm Stone as it charged off furiously, only to dim its glow and shrink back a moment later.

[It’s over, it’s over. That secret realm is off—it seems to have been contracted too, and… its contractor is a bit like you.]

Bai Xiaoxiao: “?”

The Secret Realm Stone racked its mind and finally figured out how to express it. [I understand now—it’s because you’re both favored by the Heavenly Dao. But you’re an Ancient Spirit Beast; that person has extraordinarily strong fortune.]

It had never seen such strong fortune in its life…

Bai Xiaoxiao’s expression paused. The moment she heard “fortune,” she guessed it.

The only other secret realm nearby was Flowing Light Spirit Cave. The one who’d contracted it must be Rong Qingqing.

But how?

Hadn’t the System said she’d already successfully seized the Female Lead’s opportunity?

Bai Xiaoxiao couldn’t figure it out, so she simply knocked on the System.

The System gave a definitive answer. “Host, you have indeed seized the Female Lead’s opportunity.”

Bai Xiaoxiao heard this and, after a moment’s thought, understood.

In the original storyline, the secret realm Rong Qingqing contracted was the one Bai Xiaoxiao had now.

And perhaps she had indeed seized the Female Lead’s opportunity. But Rong Qingqing was, after all, the Female Lead. Having her original opportunity stolen, this now seemed like compensation.

If that was the case, then that spirit beast…

Could it be because she’d picked the Stone Flower?

Bai Xiaoxiao felt she’d hit the truth.

If this was so, then she also bore some responsibility for that group of cultivators’ hopes being dashed.

Bai Xiaoxiao pressed her lips together.

“Host, there’s no need to blame yourself. Cultivators cultivating is inherently going against heaven. Resources don’t necessarily belong to any one person. There’s no need for such a heavy psychological burden.”

Seemingly sensing her thoughts, the System actually offered her words of comfort.

Bai Xiaoxiao paused, surprised. “System, you’re an electronic product. Since when do you understand cultivation?”

System: “…I have a rich theoretical knowledge.”

Bai Xiaoxiao thought that made sense. “Fine, you’re a theory master.”

But the most pressing matter was the situation at hand. What was to be done about so many demonic beasts? And what should they do?

As Bai Xiaoxiao was thinking, the demonic beast horde was already charging at them at full speed.

The cultivators, their minds still unsettled from the spirit beast affair, saw so many demonic beasts and had their luck-driven hopes shattered. They turned tail and ran.

Before Bai Xiaoxiao could even react, Ming Jingqiu was dragging her away in retreat. The rest followed the general flow and fled.

“Fall back. There are too many demonic beasts, and this secret realm seems to have no restrictions on cultivation base. There are a few beasts among them whose cultivation I can’t even see through.”

Ming Jingqiu’s tone was heavy, and her words cast a shadow over everyone’s hearts.

If that was true, then they really were no match. Running was the only option.

Ye Xingtong fumbled out a stack of talismans. “Quick, quick, quick! Put on the Swift Movement Talismans—we can’t afford to fall behind!”

Bai Xiaoxiao’s steps faltered, nearly tripping.

She glanced at Ye Xingtong, who was busy applying talismans, and realized that among the five of them, everyone except her looked perfectly composed.

Even Ming Jingqiu calmly accepted a talisman and stuck it on herself.

Jing Ying needed no reminder—she’d already pulled out a handful herself.

Noticing Bai Xiaoxiao’s gaze, Jing Ying smiled. “Fellow Daoist, have some too.”

A handful…

Bai Xiaoxiao was stunned again.

Perhaps her expression was too obvious, because Ye Xingtong slapped a talisman on her and said, “Young Pavilion Master Jing may be a hopeless student in other courses, but she’s a talented Talisman Cultivator. Don’t worry, just use it!”

Bai Xiaoxiao: “…”

In an escape, everyone used their own means. It wasn’t just them pulling out talismans—the other cultivators were also pulling out every trick to avoid being last.

After all, there was a swarm of demonic beasts behind them, and they couldn’t win. Only the ones in the back would end up as food.

Even so, many cultivators still couldn’t outrun the beasts. A single scream was all that remained before they fell silent.

Bai Xiaoxiao’s scalp went numb. She now had a visceral understanding of how terrifying demonic beasts could be.

[This won’t work. Little Stone, can you really not teleport the cultivators away?]

[Hiss… I can, but you all have to run out of that fusion zone. Otherwise… if the other person doesn’t want to teleport you out, I can’t do anything either.]

Bai Xiaoxiao frowned hard, unable to understand what Rong Qingqing was thinking.

There were demonic beasts running rampant behind them. If Rong Qingqing really had contracted the Flowing Light Spirit Cave secret realm, how could she just watch this happen?

Was this really the Female Lead? The Daughter of Fortune cherished by the Heavenly Dao?

Bai Xiaoxiao felt a surge of absurdity.

She gritted her teeth. [How much further?]

[Not far, not far! Put in some effort. I don’t want to die with you.]

Bai Xiaoxiao was helpless, but she could only grit her teeth and speed up.

The group all strained with everything they had, faces twisted as they fought for the front. Finally, after running out of the fusion zone, the Secret Realm Stone teleported them all away.

But just as she was about to leave as well, she noticed that the demonic beasts behind her had suddenly stopped—pacing anxiously in place.

Bai Xiaoxiao whipped her head around and saw the beast horde stopping just at the boundary line of the fusion zone, not daring to take a single step out.

What was going on? Could the demonic beasts not leave the fusion zone?