Outside the imperial city, the Trial Mountain Range.
A woman quietly arrived at a certain location within the mountain range.
It was none other than Wu Poxie!
After half a month of recuperation, she had completely absorbed the Sect Master.
Not only had her injuries fully healed, but her cultivation had also advanced significantly.
Although she had not yet reached the third level of the Void Integration realm, she was much more powerful than before.
She had now suppressed her cultivation to the Golden Core realm using a secret technique, so even if someone saw her, they would only assume she was an ordinary passing cultivator.
Wu Poxie’s current trip was specifically for Ye Fan’s two senior sisters!
The previous ruins were clearly no longer something she could handle alone; to continue exploring, she would have to collaborate with other sects.
What was originally a feast for herself had turned into something to be shared, which naturally made her very unhappy.
Therefore, before departing, she intended to do something to vent her dissatisfaction and resentment.
Arriving at a mountain hollow where five people were gathered, Wu Poxie stopped.
Although the entrance to the grand competition's secret realm was within this mountain range, the secret realm was actually an independent small world.
Under normal circumstances, without Emperor Liang Dekuai opening the gate, others could not enter.
Clearly, the current situation was not normal.
Wu Poxie had previously discovered a loophole in the space between the secret realm's space and the mountain range, and she intended to use this loophole to sneak in.
She set up the formation and activated it.
The process was incredibly smooth.
Wu Poxie managed to sneak in without much effort.
The Imperial Palace.
Liang Dekuai sat on a soft sofa, leisurely holding a glass of wine.
On the opposite wall was a massive crystal screen, two zhang wide and six zhang long.
On the screen, a group of young cultivators were fighting a demonic beast.
The crystal screen displayed the scenes within the Trial Secret Realm.
"There are quite a few good seedlings this year," Liang Dekuai murmured after taking a sip of wine.
After observing for a while, Liang Dekuai sent a stream of true qi towards the crystal screen.
The image shifted, showing other scenes within the secret realm.
Thus, Liang Dekuai drank his wine while secretly observing.
A quarter of an hour later.
The jade pendant hanging around Liang Dekuai's neck suddenly vibrated.
Liang Dekuai looked surprised and quickly switched the image again.
In the image, the space at the edge of the secret realm's barrier flickered.
The next moment, the figure of a female cultivator appeared in Liang Dekuai's line of sight.
Liang Dekuai couldn't help but frown.
He was aware of the loophole in the Trial Secret Realm but had not repaired it.
Firstly, their ancestor was currently in seclusion, and no one could repair it.
Secondly, Liang Dekuai also wanted to take this opportunity to see who would be the first to act.
Now, the first mover had appeared.
"It seems some people are getting restless after our ancestor has been inactive for so long," Liang Dekuai said, gently tapping the tabletop.
Outside the imperial city.
Ye Fan, with Liang Rujing, arrived at the mountain peak where he had stayed with his senior sisters before.
Recently, Ye Fan had not been sleeping well, having nightmares.
In his dreams, Ye Fan's body was controlled by the system and forced to cultivate, ultimately repeating his past mistakes!
This had made him anxious lately, so he brought Liang Rujing out to relax.
The scenery at the mountain top was as beautiful as before, the sea of flowers appearing exceptionally vibrant under the sunlight.
Seeing Ye Fan take out food, the surrounding Cloud Chirps flew down.
"Wow!" Liang Rujing exclaimed, "I didn't expect there to be such beautiful scenery near the imperial city; I never knew before."
After her exclamation, she imitated Ye Fan and began feeding the Cloud Chirps.
Upon seeing Ye Fan, an old acquaintance, the monkey troop chattered and swarmed around them.
"What cute little monkeys!" Liang Rujing's eyes lit up, and she quickly took out a pile of bananas and apples from her spatial ring.
Soon after, more small animals ran from the distant woods.
Squirrels, white rabbits, deer...
Liang Rujing completely let loose, running around on the deer's back and helping the monkeys pick lice...
Two squirrels perched on her shoulders, happily nibbling on nuts.
"Ye Fan, these birds are so beautiful," Liang Rujing called out to Ye Fan, holding a Cloud Chirp, "Do you know what they're called?"
"What they're called isn't important," Ye Fan replied casually, his gaze continuously scanning the flock of Cloud Chirps before him.
A quarter of an hour later.
Liang Rujing no longer had the time to care about the names of these beautiful little birds.
She was currently holding a roasted Cloud Chirp, her mouth greasy with food...
Ye Fan nodded slightly.
It tasted as good as he had expected.
The monkeys and other small animals kept a respectful distance, looking at the two of them eating with wide eyes...
"I wonder how they are doing now," Ye Fan muttered after finishing his meal.
It had been over half a month since the grand competition.
Although he knew his two senior sisters should be fine, Ye Fan couldn't help but worry.
[Host... Go to... the Imperial Palace... to sign in, and you can... obtain a teleportation channel to the Trial Secret Realm.]
The long-lost system voice suddenly sounded.
At first, it was intermittent, but by the latter half of the sentence, it had completely returned to normal.
It felt like an electronic device that was running out of power had suddenly regained normal power supply.
Ye Fan couldn't help but frown.
The "dog system" had indeed been down for a while.
Now, it seemed to have recovered?
This seemed unreasonable.
According to logic, shouldn't the "dog system" be brewing some big move to trick him?
How could it just end like this?
This anticlimactic approach was clearly not in character for the "dog system."
Something unusual always portends trouble.
Ye Fan's mental alarm bells immediately rang!
[Host... if you are really unwilling to go to the Imperial City to sign in, you can change it to the mountain peak beneath your feet...]
[As long as the Host silently chants "sign in," you can complete it.]
Ye Fan ignored it and began tidying up the trash on the ground.
[...]
[Teleportation channel preparing...]
[System crash, attempting repair.]
[Insufficient energy, repair failed...]
As the system's voice faded, the surrounding space instantly warped.
Ye Fan grabbed the swaying Liang Rujing.
"Ye Fan... What, what is going on?" Liang Rujing clutched Ye Fan's arm, her face full of shock. "My head feels so dizzy..."
"Hold on to me and don't speak," Ye Fan whispered.
To be honest, he was also a little dizzy.
In his previous 99 lives, Ye Fan had experienced many system-induced spatial translocations.
But never had he felt so dizzy before.
Moreover, the distorted space around them would occasionally tear open into spatial rifts, something that had never happened before.
It felt as if the space they were in was about to collapse at any moment...
After about half an hour, the dizziness finally subsided.
"Ye Fan, did you do all this?" Liang Rujing looked at the distorted space and spatial rifts around them, her face full of shock. "So, so amazing!"
Although the surrounding space was abnormally distorted, its colors were vibrant, giving it an unusual beauty.
"If you say so, then so be it," Ye Fan replied casually, remaining extremely vigilant.
Based on his past experiences, simply teleporting into a secret realm would never take this long.
Although the 99 systems before were all different, they were surprisingly consistent when it came to spatial translocation.
It was usually completed with a "whoosh."
As time passed, Ye Fan's bad premonition grew stronger.
Especially when he saw the time displayed on the system interface.
3 hours and 46 minutes!
The longest he had ever spent after dying and transmigrating was about an hour.
Now, it had taken nearly four hours...
Although the system had said he was teleporting into the Trial Secret Realm, Ye Fan felt that believing it would be truly naive!
After all this trouble, were they going to be sent to another world?
Could it be...
This was the big move the "dog system" had been brewing?