Chapter 57: True and False Secret Realms

Lu Yuan was bragging with his mouth, but in reality, he handled things carefully. The Little Paper Man drifted lightly through the stone mountain, trailing far behind the three cultivators.

At the same time, it stretched out its little hands and wrote tiny black characters across its two-foot body.

Lu Yuan planned to take notes. Through observation and comparison, he would record the similarities and differences between this secret realm and himself.

The Little Paper Man floated up to the cave ceiling, then seeped into the ground, writing across its body.

“A real secret realm has no Spiritual Vein. Its spirit energy is mottled and mixed, not pure enough. Living inside for a long time may contaminate the spirit energy in one’s body and increase the possibility of Aberration.

“A fake secret realm contains a middle-grade Spiritual Vein. Its spirit energy is dense and pure, and its living environment is safe and reliable.”

Inside the stone mountain, there were strange-shaped rocks everywhere. After a long while, Lu Yuan still had not found any spiritual herbs.

The Little Paper Man wrote as if its brush were flying, quickly adding several lines of tiny black characters.

“A real secret realm does not have spiritual herbs everywhere. It is too unattractive to cultivators.”

“A fake secret realm has spiritual herbs everywhere inside it, including ungraded Spirit Firefly Grass, first-rank Blood Spirit Leaf and Snow Condensing Fruit, second-rank Purple Bone Bamboo, third-rank Sword-Nurturing Gourd, Earthfire Heart Lotus, Phoenix-Resting Wutong Wood...

“There are too many treasures, causing cultivators to seem less like they are taking risks and more like they are being given benefits...”

As it was taking notes, the clanging sounds of battle came from inside the stone mountain.

The Little Paper Man drifted lightly toward the direction of the sound.

Dozens of strange stone men and stone beasts were besieging three mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators.

The stone men held stone spears and stone swords. The stone beasts spat cone-shaped spikes. Every one of them was thick-skinned and tough, and their attacks were heavy and forceful.

The three of them soon found themselves unable to keep up and fell into a losing position. They exchanged glances, then together used their trump-card talismans and spells, shattering most of the stone men into rocks.

In the chaos, one of them was ambushed by more than ten stone beasts at once and died under the earthen spikes.

Lu Yuan hurriedly wrote down notes on the Little Paper Man’s body:

“A real secret realm’s demonic beasts and weird entities are highly aggressive, actively attacking cultivators who enter the secret realm.”

“A fake secret realm, whether the Python-Sparrow Eel, Silver-Thread Mantis, and Yinfire Ant serving as spirit beasts, the Little Paper Man and Ghost-Faced Spider serving as weird entities, or the spiritual plant Blood-Devouring Vine, only attacks cultivators who enter the cave abode when ordered by me.

“Wait. Am I forgetting something...”

The Little Paper Man bit its little hand and lowered its head in thought.

The two remaining cultivators who had survived by luck had no time to grieve. They arrived at the very center of the stone mountain.

On the cave ceiling, dark red light flickered in and out. In the end, it gathered together, and a single crimson drop fell from the ceiling.

It landed in a dark red stone trough on the ground.

A thick layer of crimson liquid had already accumulated in the stone trough. As it flowed, it flashed with a soul-stirring light.

“Hundred-Year Stone Marrow!”

The leading cultivator dragged his injured left leg and moved in front of the stone trough, ignoring the intense pain.

The other cultivator also ignored his battered body and walked to the side of the stone trough from the other direction.

The two of them stared at the crimson liquid inside the stone trough, their eyes burning hot, yet mixed with a bit of wariness toward their own companion.

“The two of us are already injured this badly. If we fight among ourselves now, there’s a very real chance we won’t make it out of the wilderness. Even if we get more Hundred-Year Stone Marrow, it won’t do us any good. Why don’t we cooperate?”

The leading cultivator offered the suggestion.

“Fine. There’s enough Stone Marrow here for the two of us to split. There’s no need to fight to the death.”

The other cultivator nodded in agreement.

After establishing a preliminary intent to share the Hundred-Year Stone Marrow, the two of them, as if by tacit understanding, took out containers and reached their arms toward the crimson liquid in the stone trough.

The instant they touched the crimson liquid, a pale red shadow suddenly rushed out of the stone trough. It followed their arms upward, quickly spreading across both of their entire bodies.

Starting from their heads downward, a thin stone shell rapidly formed over the two mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Before they could react, it covered both of their bodies completely.

The two of them became two new members among the many stone men and stone beasts inside the stone mountain.

A fist-sized dark red stone fell to the ground. It spun round and round on the floor, then finally vanished among the many stone men and stone beasts.

“This is way too underhanded... After exhausting so much effort, getting injured, and even losing lives, just when the treasures inside the secret realm are about to be obtained, who would have thought the secret realm was still hiding an ambush, taking their lives when the cultivators were at their most relaxed?”

“This is definitely a required exam question in the basic quality course for being a secret realm. I have to hurry and take notes.”

As Lu Yuan sighed, the Little Paper Man quickly wrote across its body.

The dense rows of handwriting had almost reached its navel.

“Key point: a real secret realm is extremely dangerous. No one survives, and the fatality rate is extremely high.

“A fake secret realm has had around a fifty-percent survival rate both times several people entered the cave. It gives people too little pressure and has failed to form a good competitive environment.”

The pale red shadow wandered among the many stone men and stone beasts, observing the Little Paper Man from every direction.

Suddenly, a pale red shadow shot out from a stone beast behind and to the side of the paper man, trying to invade the Little Paper Man’s body and turn it into a little companion that would stay with it forever in the stone mountain.

One of the paper man’s hands rapidly wrote tiny characters, while the other hand, seeming slow but actually swift, blocked the dark red shadow outside its body.

When the dark red shadow’s strike missed, it realized the difference in strength between itself and the paper man was too great. It immediately withdrew into the distance and blended into the many stone men and stone beasts.

The Little Paper Man continued writing across its body.

“In a real secret realm, treasures are difficult to obtain and usually require a tremendous price.

“In a fake secret realm, I can send out a third-rank Sword-Nurturing Gourd, and I even worry that the cultivators who enter won’t obtain a spiritual herb to their liking and therefore won’t enter the secret realm again.”

“I took a lot of notes this time. After I get back, I’ll have to review them properly and study hard on how to become a qualified cave abode?”

The Little Paper Man dug out the piece of paper covered in writing, hid it inside the bulge on its back, and left a large blank space on its chest. Through its body, one could see the scenery in front and behind.

“As a cave abode, I can’t help but sigh. I’m simply far too kind, far too conscientious!”

Lu Yuan could not help sighing inwardly.

The huge hole on its body slowly recovered. At the same time, a scarlet eyeball bulged out from the Little Paper Man’s arm, staring fixedly at the stone men and stone beasts inside the stone mountain.

Countless stone men and stone beasts split open down the middle. One small scarlet eyeball after another crawled out from the cracks, their eyes rolling all around as they observed the surrounding situation.

There were even more formidable ones, whose eyeballs spun round and round before directly merging into the stone men and stone beasts.

“Found you...”

The Little Paper Man’s little hand stretched out endlessly and seized a massive stone beast, crushing it directly into countless powdery fragments and revealing the pale red shadow constantly struggling in its palm.

“Were you the one who was interrupting me while I was taking notes just now?”

The Little Paper Man’s little hand stretched out, circling around the recovering cave opening, and wrote a ring of characters around it.

A slightly late second update. Please keep reading.

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