After searching fruitlessly, the two turned their gaze to the high platform above, simultaneously reaching for the glowing orb.
They exchanged glances, both seeing surprise in each other's eyes.
"What, not searching anymore? There might be many treasures below!" Chen Ying said with a mocking smile.
Xi Qingyu smiled faintly, gently brushing her long hair, and said softly, "The cultivation world has always valued opportunities. Since they cannot be forced, it's fine to settle for the next best thing."
Their gazes met, filled with palpable tension, and their disciples alike stared at each other, weapons in hand.
Suddenly, both drew their swords and struck at each other, hastily tucking the glowing orb into their storage spaces without even looking.
As the orbs were simultaneously taken, they both retreated backward and simultaneously shouted to their disciples, "Go!"
An hour later, Xi Qingyu looked at Chen Ying, who had appeared before her, her eyes filled with mockery. "Oh, 'Senior Brother Chen' didn't fancy it? Why are you back?"
Chen Ying scoffed, "None of your business?"
After another thorough search yielded nothing, they finally left, this time for good.
Suddenly finding herself in a different environment, Xing Yuan instinctively nestled into Xing Yue's embrace, the warmth feeling incredibly reassuring.
As Xing Yue walked forward, the sky grew brighter and brighter.
"Kill!" A phantom figure clad in armor suddenly pierced through Xing Yue's body.
Xing Yue looked back, seeing countless armored figures locked in combat, with countless strange beasts in the air and on the ground fighting the enemy.
Xing Yue felt a surge of excitement, while Xing Yuan merely yawned lazily. The scenes in her inherited memories were far more thrilling, though not entirely complete.
Xing Yue calmed herself and continued towards her side's main camp. It seemed this was the great war against the demon race ten thousand years ago. The owner of this secret realm was likely a participant.
Her strength was insufficient to break the formation, so she had to find the formation's core. If her guess was correct, the core should be with the secret realm's owner.
"A'Yuan, can you still find the place with the most abundant spiritual energy?" Xing Yue poked the little one who was on the verge of sleep.
Xing Yuan sensed carefully and then shook her head, "Can't find it!"
Xing Yue was disappointed but not surprised. After all, a Heavenly Realm expert would not employ ordinary means in their most cherished memory fragments.
They walked for an unknown duration, and suddenly Xing Yue realized she had changed, becoming like the ordinary soldiers here, able to touch others.
Xing Yuan's appearance, however, reverted to how she was before Xing Yue set up the concealment formation. It seemed Xing Yuan's race already existed at this time, Xing Yue mused.
Instead of fear, Xing Yue felt a surge of joy. They must be close to the main entity.
"What are you doing? Which squad are you from?" a soldier noticed her and walked over, demanding.
"Greetings, Officer. I just arrived," Xing Yue's mind flashed with the history of this war, and she quickly found a reason.
"Just arrived?" Xin Che frowned, a memory suddenly appearing in his mind.
Everything within the illusion was rationalized by the owner, so Xin Che merely thought he had been too tired lately.
"Oh, right, that new batch hasn't been assigned to a team yet! You'll join our team for now! Don't wander around the camp; if you're seen, you'll be mistaken for a spy," Xin Che said, his face stern but his heart kind.
"Thank you, Officer!" New to the area, Xing Yue didn't want to attract too much attention, especially since these soldiers were mostly Earth Realm and above, with countless Heavenly Realm experts among them. She likely couldn't defeat any of them.
"Mm!" Xin Che nodded, pointing to his team. "That's where we are. My name is Xin Che. Report my name to the captain, and you can join."
Xing Yue smiled and nodded, leading Xing Yuan in that direction.
After successfully joining the team, Xing Yue was given a wooden token embedded with a small formation that recorded the demons she killed in real-time, thereby accumulating corresponding merit points.
That night, Xing Yue sat in her assigned tent and sighed silently. If she didn't know this was a secret realm and that the gains here wouldn't benefit her real self, she would have truly wanted to obtain the treasures on the exchange list by earning merit points!
Xing Yuan nudged Xing Yue, offering silent comfort.
"I'm fine. We still need to find the secret realm's owner as soon as possible. This illusion is very realistic, and the longer we stay here, the more likely we are to get lost," Xing Yue said seriously.
The secret realm's owner must have been a formation master in life, which is why even their remaining sliver of soul could still "realistically" exist in this world.
The next day, Xing Yue was called out to ambush demons.
Demons were essentially condensed from all the malevolent thoughts in the world. They were powerful but not very intelligent, yet extremely difficult to kill. This great war began because the demon race suddenly produced a king with unparalleled intelligence and combat prowess, posing a threat to all realms, prompting a hasty war.
However, Xing Yue experienced the demons' tenacity for the first time. After killing them, their forms quickly recondensed.
The horns on their foreheads were their weakest points, yet they had to be shattered three times for them to be completely annihilated.
Thus, Xing Yue watched as Xin Che, after slicing a demon in half, quickly used flames to incinerate both halves. Xing Yue followed suit, freezing the demon with ice before shattering it.
The merit point added to her token proved that she had indeed completely killed the demon.
Xing Yuan, on the other hand, devoured them one by one, spitting out a ball of flame that instantly dissolved the demon's body completely. Xing Yue didn't know whether to be shocked by Xing Yuan's fire attribute or by her ease in dispatching the demons.
"What race is your spirit beast? It's a nemesis to demons!" Xin Che exclaimed. "Miss Xing, would you mind introducing me? I'd like to contract a spirit beast with such an attribute."
Xing Yue: ...Could she say she didn't know?
"We met by chance. I'm not sure what race she is either," Xing Yue said quite sincerely, but Xin Che didn't believe her at all.
He chuckled heartily, "Forget it, if you don't want to say, then don't! Why lie to me with such an excuse? The mission is complete, let's go back and rest early. There's another big battle in a few days!"
Xing Yue's gaze was serious as she looked at Xing Yuan, "A'Yuan, tell me honestly, what type of spirit beast are you exactly?"
Xing Yuan blinked her eyes in confusion, "I, I don't know either. My inherited memories are incomplete and don't contain my race's name."