Wait a minute, where is my master?

"What are you doing, Little Yu?"

Jin Xu, clutching a green light orb in his hand, walked over to Yu Yaoer, who was sprawled on the ground, and pulled her up while asking in confusion.

It was one thing for Little White to emerge from the illusion trial and flap wildly against his chest, but why did the Little Fish Demon suddenly pounce as well?

"I was saving you, my lord. Eh, have I emerged from the illusion?"

After Jin Xu helped the Little Fish Demon up from the ground, she realized what had happened and said.

As she spoke, a green seed materialized in the void and swiftly entered her forehead—it was the reward from the trial arriving.

"Saving me? You encountered a scenario where you had to save me in the illusion trial?"

The curious Taoist, intrigued by what Yu Yaoer said, began to ask her about it.

"Yes, my lord, I saved you a thousand times in the illusion."

The Little Fish Demon touched the golden red scale at her forehead, curiously sensing the reward she received after passing the trial.

"So that's how...huh!? How many times did you say you saved me?"

Jin Xu looked at the Little Fish Demon in surprise, thinking he might have misheard.

"A thousand times, my lord. Is there a problem?"

Yu Yaoer, patting the moss on her chest, blinked her clear yet foolish eyes and looked at the Taoist.

"How could there not be a problem!? Zixia only called out to Supreme Treasure 784 times when he was unconscious! How dare you save me a thousand times in the illusion!?"

Jin Xu silently criticized in his mind before he asked Yu Yaoer in detail how she had saved him in the illusion.

"Let me think, my lord. The first time you were kidnapped by a female demon who tried to force you into a marriage. The second time, you accidentally entered a manor in the wilderness, and the lord had three daughters who wanted you to marry into their family. The third time, we arrived at a kingdom made up entirely of women, and the queen wanted to keep you as her queen. The fourth time was..."

The Little Fish Demon, counting off on her fingers the events of the illusion, recited them to her lord. By the time she reached the tenth event and planned to count on her fingers again, Jin Xu promptly stopped her.

"Alright, we can leave the remaining nine hundred and ninety events for another time. You two should rest up, we need to make our way to the entrance of the Second Layer."

As the Taoist spoke, he spread the palm of his hand, trying to let the green light orb fly away by itself, but whether it was really tired or broken, it remained motionless in his palm.

"..."

After pondering for a moment, Jin Xu casually tossed the object into his storage magical item.

After all, he was going to meet the fabled Che Liang Wood on the fourth layer, and he could return this orb then.

On the other side of the Green Stone Platform.

The two women were chattering quietly to each other.

Husky was greatly amazed that Little Yu Sister had saved the temple master a whole thousand times in the illusion, knowing that she herself had not encountered Jin Xu at all in the illusion.

In Little White's subconscious, their temple master was simply invincible, so he rarely faced any dangers.

"Let's go, you two can chat on the way."

After saying this, he took the lead and leapt down from the Green Stone Platform.

Jin Xu had originally seen the tired expression on Little White when she emerged from the illusion and had wanted the two to rest and rejuvenate.

After all, he planned to ride Little White on their journey.

However, seeing the excitement of the two women as they quietly discussed their encounters in the illusion, the Taoist felt he had underestimated Husky's energy, so he canceled the original rest plan, and the three of them set off immediately.

Seeing that their temple master/my lord had spoken, the two also immediately ceased their discussion and jumped down from the Green Stone Platform one after the other.

The husky activated its spiritual power during the fall, transforming back into its original form. By the time it landed, it had already become an impressive-looking Snow Wolf.

Yu Yaoer floated down gently, landing directly on Little White's back.

Jin Xu lightly tapped the thick layer of fallen leaves beneath his toes and leapt onto the back of the husky.

"Little White, let's go,"

"Alright, make sure you're seated well, temple master!"

Little White responded with a call and sprinted into the depths of the dense forest with the two on his back.

...

Meanwhile.

High on a cliff, the Nine Death Soul Flower stomped its foot anxiously when it sensed that the small Taoist and his two companions had come out from the Green Stone Platform.

"These humans aren't protected by the 'immortality' rule; what if they die on the First Layer!"

A one-foot-tall child murmured softly, the tone truly reflecting concern.

She was eager to intervene personally, but looking at the dry, yellow grass around her, she feared her presence might directly poison the person.

"I don't know when Little Lin and Ba Wang Tree will manage to wake up Grandpa Che Liangmu. Until then, I'll just have to try my best to prevent the three of them from encountering any Wood Spirit Beasts."

As the Nine Death Soul Flower mused, it crouched down and mysteriously produced a dark gray tree bark scroll, which it then spread out before it.

After unrolling the dark gray tree bark scroll, a detailed map of the first layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm was visible.

The primary function of this tree bark map was to control the Wood Spirit Beasts and to monitor the Cultivators entering the Secret Realm. Displayed on it were two types of light spots, one gray and one white.

The former, representing the Wood Spirit Beasts, was scattered sporadically across the scroll, slowly moving.

The latter had only three spots, clustered together, moving directly towards the map's center.

The one-foot-tall child unrolled the dark gray tree bark map and light-touched it with her dust-covered little hands, redirecting all the green light spots that the small Taoist and his companions might encounter away from their path.

"Phew, they're the only three in the Secret Realm right now, and as long as they avoid the Wood Spirit Beasts, they should be safe."

After manipulating the locations of all the Wood Spirit Beasts in Jin Xu's route, the Nine Death Soul Flower sighed deeply.

She wouldn't care about them reaching the second layer, since she was only tasked with overseeing that no one died on the first layer!

However, it seemed as if fate was playing games with her; shortly after the child made this statement, the number of white light spots on the tree bark map in front of her began to increase.

This meant that more Cultivators had started to enter the first layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

...

Late at night.

Outside the Secret Realm, at the entrance.

Outside the hall where the blue light screen was, a long queue had already formed. Soldiers from the city and a number of Confucian Practitioners from the academy were temporarily maintaining order.

At the entrance of this hall, a simple tent had been erected.

Under the tent stood a long table, behind which sat a Confucian Practitioner of the Void Refinement Realm and two Nascent Soul Realm Confucian Practitioners who were responsible for preliminarily screening the Cultivators coming to participate in the Qingmu Secret Realm.

In front of the trio, on the table, lay a Hao Ran Stone each, the tool used by Qingmu Academy for initial screening. To enter the Secret Realm, Cultivators needed to step forward and hold this stone; if the stone emitted a clear light, they could pass directly into the hall behind the trio. If the stone emitted a black or blood-red light, they would then face a secondary examination under the "Truth-Telling Skill."

"Mr. Zhuo, do you know why the Secret Realm was opened ahead of schedule? Also, the place we're using for screening seems too rudimentary, which kinda undermines the image of Qingmu Academy."