Wait a minute, where is my master?

After finishing speaking, Little Raccoon with the mushroom on its head.

Its two furry little legs bounced in place and flew up to a height level with the little Taoist's eyes.

"You must keep a close eye on the mushroom on my head," it said.

As soon as Little Raccoon finished speaking, it began to sway its head from side to side. The red-capped, white-stemmed mushroom on its head, following the movement, actually fell off and flew to the midpoint between the bear and the Taoist.

The bewildered little Taoist saw this scene and was quite shocked.

"Can the mushroom on the head actually be plucked off?" he exclaimed.

Jin Xu didn't know what expression to put on his face for a moment, but to see what the illusory realm challenge was all about,

he obediently kept his eyes on the floating mushroom.

Seeing the little Taoist's gaze fixed on the mushroom, Little Raccoon's furry face revealed a look of satisfaction, and then it began to control the mushroom to sway from side to side.

Jin Xu's profound eyes followed the movement of the red-capped, white-stemmed mushroom, moving left and right in turn.

After thirty breaths had passed.

The swaying mushroom began to slow down.

But the little Taoist remained clear-headed and even found the scene before him vaguely familiar.

"If you replace this mushroom with a pocket watch, then..."

Jin Xu silently quipped to himself, sneakily glancing at Little Raccoon who was still floating across from him, only to find it had closed its eyes.

"Hmm!?"

But before the little Taoist could say anything, the Nine Death Soul Flower, ten meters away, was already panicking.

"Mushroom, stop using the 'crooked methods' taught by the Ba Wang Tree and quickly exert your original effects as a Red Dust Mushroom to lead the little Taoist into the trial's illusory realm," yelled the Nine Death Soul Flower from afar, holding a gray-green tree bark scroll in her hand.

Her voice instantly "separated" the eyelids Little Raccoon was hugging sleepily.

"!!!''

Little Raccoon jolted awake with a start, first glancing back at the Nine Death Soul Flower and then casting a look at Jin Xu, who was still clear-headed and energetic.

"That I can put to sleep with my top-grade hallucinogenic effect from a ten-thousand-year-old Spiritual Medicine is by no means a crooked method," murmured the Red Dust Mushroom.

However, Jin Xu still had his eyes open and looked energetic, indeed proving that this method wasn't very effective.

"Forget it, I originally wanted to lead you into the illusory realm in the best way, but Little Soul insisted that I must use my own effects. Don't resist what you see in a moment, and don't be afraid," said Little Raccoon once more to Jin Xu, then floated closer, grabbed the red-capped, white-stemmed mushroom with its little paw, and reinserted it on its own head.

"Alright, I'm ready. Go ahead as you please," said the little Taoist with a complex expression, nodding his head. He decided to trust the other party once more.

Well... for the last time.

"Hey!"

After Jin Xu agreed, Little Raccoon called out softly, seemingly to encourage itself.

Immediately afterward, the little Taoist saw the Little Raccoon with the mushroom on its head.

The bear part became less and less, and the mushroom part grew larger and larger!

In just three breaths' time.

Little Raccoon completely vanished from Jin Xu's sight, replaced by a huge mushroom, capped with strange imprints, large and imposing.

"Are all the ten-thousand-year-old treasure medicines in this Qingmu Secret Realm so odd? Let it be that children within ten meters must not enter, but what about this one called Mushroom, absorbing the bear directly?"

Jin Xu opened his mouth, then closed it without saying a word.

"Don't be afraid. This is my true form. I will now take you into the trial's illusory realm,"

The tiny voice was gone, and from within the gigantic mushroom before him, a rough voice sounded.

"... Alright, please proceed," he said.

The young Taoist originally intended to say something, but in the end, he only managed to utter five very polite words.

"All are but passersby in the mortal world, drifting through the eternal ages."

The robust voice of the Red Dust Mushroom sounded, and the imprint on the top of the mushroom cap flew out into the air, transforming into a shower of light that rained down on Jin Xu's dark Taoist robe.

As the light shower continued to fall, the young Taoist couldn't help but stretch out his hand to catch a drop.

However, the light shower bore no physical form, and the moment it landed in his palm, it entered within, vanishing without a trace.

As if it had never appeared in the first place.

"This thing... how strange."

Jin Xu frowned slightly, muttering softly to himself.

As countless droplets of light merged into his body, the young Taoist gradually perceived a very familiar sensation emerging.

That familiar feeling was like passing a bustling roadside stall selling fried kebabs after school, like entering a busy market and hearing the clamor of hawkers, like lifting one's eyes on a nighttime walk to see the lights of thousands of homes.

For a moment, Jin Xu felt as if he had returned to his previous life.

He pondered for a while, tasting and savoring the feeling, some realizations dawning on him.

That familiar feeling was the daily life he was experiencing before he was lured to the Nine Provinces Realm.

It was the taste of the human world.

The Red Dust Mushroom, a world-renowned, top-tier hallucinogen and ten-thousand-year-old treasure medicine, certainly lived up to its reputation.

However...

After carefully savoring this long-lost taste of the mortal world, the young Taoist turned his head to look around and found that he was still in the same place.

The illusionary test—he still hadn't entered it!

"Ahem, excuse me, is it over?"

Jin Xu politely inquired of the somewhat dim, gigantic mushroom in front of him.

"Huff... huff, how did you..."

The rugged voice from inside the Red Dust Mushroom came breathing heavily, seemingly greatly exhausted.

But before he could finish speaking, the young Taoist heard a clatter behind him, followed by the startled cry of Yu Yaoer.

"Young master, something's wrong, Little White has fainted!"

...

Inside the Qingmu Secret Realm, upon a testing platform.

This place was not much different from the Green Stone Platform where the young Taoist and his two companions landed when they first entered the Qingmu Secret Realm.

Similar testing platforms were numerous throughout the Secret Realm.

Disciples of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect, clad in their sect's attire, were scattered about the area.

On the left side of the platform stood a particularly conspicuous figure wearing an oversized Blazing Sun Sword Sect disciple's uniform—it was Zhao Dabao, who possessed the Ice and Fire Spirit Roots.

At that moment, all the cultivators on the platform had successfully passed the first layer of challenges in the Qingmu Secret Realm and received the protection of the 'immortality' rule.

Yet their current behavior was somewhat odd.

Some of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect disciples were chatting in groups, some started meditating in a cross-legged position, and others were looking around from the edge of the platform.

However, not a single one made any move to leave the testing platform.

"Junior Master, has anything like this happened before in the Qingmu Secret Realm?"

Zhao Dabao's plump face showed a touch of anxiety as he questioned a young red-browed sword cultivator beside him.

"I have always been devoted to cultivating within the sect and have never come to this Qingmu Secret Realm, but according to Master's instructions, we all passed the A-grade challenges smoothly, and nothing within the Secret Realm should prevent cultivators from leaving the testing platform," the red-browed sword cultivator said with furrowed brows.

This large group of people had come to the Secret Realm to search for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, and naturally, they did not want to waste time here.

Current circumstances aside, it wasn't that they didn't want to leave the testing platform.

Rather, these cultivators had discovered that whenever they attempted to leave the platform, a grayish-green light barrier would emerge around the Green Stone Platform, blocking their passage.