Wait a minute, where is my master?

Inside the withered shell of the Immortal Wood.

The junior Taoist, accompanied by two women, directly followed the "Heavy Waterfall" to the second layer of the Secret Realm.

An hour later, the place finally welcomed the second batch of cultivators.

This second group of cultivators seemed to be divided into two parties.

The leader of one party was a young sword cultivator with fiery red eyebrows, accompanied by a Qi Cultivation Seventh Level Fatty, and most of the cultivators behind them wore red robes and carried swords on their backs.

They were disciples of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect.

The other party, however, all had their heads shaved, showing a faint greenish hue on their scalps, with muscular arms holding long staves, wearing gray standard robes. The leader of this group, aside from his greenish bald head, was also bare-chested, with a mountain-shaped mark on his chest.

This group of cultivators belonged to one of the Four Great Immortal Sects, Pan Shi Valley.

Thus, two of the Nine Provinces Realm's Four Great Immortal Sects had arrived.

Upon entering the withered shell of the Immortal Wood, the two groups of cultivators were neither hostile to each other nor overly intimate.

As this was still the first layer, there were no significant conflicts of interest, and since all were disciples of renowned sects, they accorded each other a certain level of respect.

"Junior Master, this Pan Shi Valley, is it a Buddhist Sect? I remember this sect is famous for its Body Cultivation, so why are all these cultivators bald?"

Next to the "Stairway to Heaven," Zhao Dabao whispered his query to the red-browed sword cultivator.

The two groups had arrived at the withered shell of the Immortal Wood from different directions and only met at the entrance, thus, Fatty Zhao had little prior knowledge of Pan Shi Valley, which also belonged to one of the Four Great Immortal Sects.

In Zhao Dabao's view, such uniform bald attire should ideally denote Buddhist monks, but these people had no scars of Buddhist vows on their heads, and their code of conduct didn't resemble that of monks either.

After all, no monk would simply fish a green fish from a pond and roast it directly.

"Pan Shi Valley is not a Buddhist Sect,"

The Junior Master transmitted back, first confirming that Pan Shi Valley was not a Buddhist Sect. Then, as he watched the cultivators who had begun to roast fish over a fire, he continued, "Their attire is probably because of that man."

Speaking thus, he pointed at the brawny man with the mountain-shaped chest mark and naked torso.

"This man is named Qiu Li, the chief disciple of this generation in Pan Shi Valley. The cultivators from Pan Shi Valley entering the Qingmu Secret Realm are probably led by him.

Qiu Li carries the bloodline of the Ancient Mountain Clan, naturally possessing immense strength, making him an exceptional candidate for Body Cultivation. Although his cultivation is high and his actions are decent, he has a peculiar hobby of greatly enjoying martial arts novels written by mundane people and is exceedingly fond of the life described therein.

However, as you know, we are cultivators, and his master and Pan Shi Valley naturally would not allow him to cause trouble among ordinary folks.

Therefore, to fulfill his martial arts dreams, he often changes his attire, and not only does he change, he also compels his fellow disciples and immediate junior to match him.

Supposedly, it's about something called immersive feeling.

The last time I saw him, he was dressed as a free-spirited young hero with flowing long hair; the time before that, he was wearing a bucket hat and carrying a long sword on his back.

Today, he must be pretending to be a monk."

After the Junior Master finished transmitting his message and saw that the other party had quickly roasted the green fish with spiritual fire and was about to eat it, he silently added,

"How extravagant."

After listening to the red-browed sword cultivator, Zhao Dabao didn't quite know what expression to wear on his plump face and could only internally exclaim that, indeed, the vastness of the Nine Provinces realm and its myriad of peculiar and varied events far exceeded the imaginations of ordinary people.

If he had spent his life as a pampered young master in Gusu City, relying solely on imagination, he would never have thought that there could be such peculiar individuals among the cultivators.

Therefore, Fatty Zhao's desire to succeed at Foundation Establishment grew even more urgent.

Just as the Junior Master was arranging for his disciples to attempt climbing the "Stairway to Heaven," and Zhao Dabao was silently psyching himself up,

Qiu Li, not far away, holding the roasted fish, loudly hailed them.

"Fellow travelers of the rivers and lakes, we meet by fate across the waters. This lake's green fish is fat and succulent, and it's now fully roasted. It's rather boring to eat alone, would any of you fellow travelers care to join me?

His speech was partially literate, partially colloquial, giving the impression of someone striving to emulate a heroic figure of the rivers and lakes, yet not quite getting it right.

The red-browed sword cultivator knew his temperament, so he cupped his hands politely and declined the offer.

The disciples of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect certainly did not have the robust stomachs of those abnormal Body Cultivators from Pan Shi Valley and dared not to carelessly consume such seemingly dangerous food within the Secret Realm.

The disciples of Pan Shi Valley, renowned within the Nine Provinces Immortal World for their cultivation method of first training the internal organs and then the muscles and bones, could consume toxic substances at will and most often would not suffer for it, sometimes even using such opportunities to condition their stomachs.

So when this group entered the remains of the Immortal Wood, they knew there was something wrong with the "upside-down swimming" green fish in the pond, yet they dared to directly grill them.

Qiu Li, who carried the bloodline of the Ancient Mountain Clan, had a unique immunity to poisons among the cultivators of Pan Shi Valley.

Hence, he was the one to taste the fish first. After confirming that the poison was not very strong, he then gestured for the other cultivators to eat.

These body cultivators, who looked rather rough, actually showed a degree of refinement.

However...

If they had known that these "upside-down swimming" green fish were poisoned by the Nine Death Soul Flower, they definitely would not have courted death like this.

The young Sword Cultivator Hong Mei, having declined Qiu Li's invitation, was organizing the Blazing Sun Sword Sect's cultivators to climb the "Stairway to Heaven" when he heard chaotic shouting coming from the side of Pan Shi Valley.

"Not good! The senior brother has been poisoned!"

"Not good, the senior brother's face has turned blue!"

"It's over, it seems the senior brother isn't breathing anymore!"

???

The disciples of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect, a cluster of question marks appearing above their heads, looked towards the cultivators of Pan Shi Valley.

The expression in Junior Master's eyes was also one of inexplicable shock.

Only Zhao Dabao, who looked at the chaotic cultivators of Pan Shi Valley and then at the belly-up green fish in the pond,

silently walked over to Hong Mei and whispered a few words to him.

After hearing Fatty Zhao's words, Junior Master's eyes lit up, and he subtly walked to the edge of the pond. With a light swirl of spiritual power, a few green fish were swept into his storage magical treasure.

The green fish that could poison Qiu Li, who carried the bloodline of the Ancient Mountain Spirit Clan, clearly had a very potent toxin.

Today, seizing the opportunity to take a few could prove useful in the future.

...

Outside the Qingmu Secret Realm.

The three eliminated embodiments of Yan Meishan.

They stared at each other, their expressions filled with despair.

...

Inside the Qingmu Secret Realm.

Hundreds of kilometers away from the remains of the Immortal Wood.

The embodiment controlled by the Third Elder of the Demon Sect was speeding along.

Her original five embodiments had now dwindled to just two, both appearing quite ragged.

Upon entering the Qingmu Secret Realm, Yan Meishan felt that her luck had always been rather poor, starting with being trapped on a testing stand.

She now knew this seemed to be the case for all cultivators.

But in the first layer of the secret realm, why did she encounter a wood spirit beast with the strength of the Refining Void Realm, resembling a cheetah?

This was the first layer of the secret realm!

According to the normal distribution of the strength of wood spirit beasts in the Qingmu Secret Realm, the lower the layer, the fewer high-cultivation spirit beasts there should be.

The higher the layer of the secret realm, the more high-cultivation spirit beasts there are.

In the first layer of the secret realm, a wood spirit beast with the strength of the Refining Void Realm should, at most, be only one or two.

But she had to encounter one!

The Third Elder of the Demon Sect couldn't understand why she was so unlucky!

Originally according to their plan, having an embodiment with the strength of the second layer of the Nascent Soul Realm was entirely sufficient to cross the first layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm and successfully reach the second layer.

But now, of her two embodiments in the secret realm, the "not dying" chances for one were reduced to twice and the other just once.

Yan Meishan was now somewhat uncertain whether she could successfully reach the Immortal Wood remains.