Wait a minute, where is my master?

The man in the green robe appeared with style, and his cultivation was extremely formidable.

Several flying brushes danced in the air, causing the Wood Spirit Beast of the Void Refinement Realm to retreat in defeat step by step.

Ultimately, when he once again sacrificed the completely white-haired purple brush, the Wood Spirit Beast of the Void Refinement Realm successfully returned to the essence of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

"This beast frightened the fairy; truly, it's a grave sin. It has now been slain. Allow me to extract the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures from within this beast's body and offer them to the fairy to calm her shock... uh."

After successfully killing the Wood Spirit Beast, the scholar in the green robe walked towards the corpse of the beast while telepathically speaking to the clone of the Third Elder.

Clearly, the scholar was attracted to the beauty of the Golden Core Female Cultivator, and his approach was very direct.

However, everything came to a halt the moment he started extracting treasures from the body of the Wood Spirit Beast.

The Green Robed Cultivator looked at the Gathering Spirit Grass in his hand, thinking about what his master had told him: "In the Qingmu Secret Realm, strength and luck are indispensable." This statement indeed was not false.

He had done his utmost to kill this Void Refinement Realm Wood Spirit Beast as quickly as possible to make a good impression on the female cultivator behind him.

But what use was Gathering Spirit Grass!

To offer this as a gift was an insult!

The Green Robed Cultivator intended to find a replacement spiritual material from his storage artifact, as Gathering Spirit Grass was too cheap and too common in value.

It was like bringing a couple of loaves of bread to a friend's birthday party to wish them well.

However, Yan Meishan was already controlling her clone to approach.

Her clone, inherently of gentle and delicate appearance, purposefully left the blood on its lips unwiped, stirring a protective desire in those who saw her.

The Third Elder glanced at the Gathering Spirit Grass in the hands of the Green Robed Cultivator, also not expecting that such trash could be found inside a Void Refinement Realm Wood Spirit Beast.

She thought to herself: "Has my bad luck been transferred to this fellow before me?"

Although Yan Meishan was inwardly complaining, she still maintained her pitiful facade.

Originally, she had thought that if the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures in the scholar's hands were too precious, she would absolutely refuse them. But now that it turned out to be Gathering Spirit Grass, she had to accept it, and not only just accept it—she had to show initiative.

"This young lady thanks the gentleman for saving her life. If it weren't for the gentleman's sudden intervention, I might have been transported outside of the Qingmu Secret Realm."

Seeing that the Green Robed Cultivator was lost in thought, the Third Elder took the opportunity to speak.

"You needn't be polite, fairy. To fight the strong and support the weak is the duty of cultivators of the Righteous Path,"

the Green Robed Cultivator instinctively responded.

He now stood upright, his mind preoccupied with what to do with the Gathering Spirit Grass, for he had never given such a meager gift before, being from the Qingmu Academy.

"This young lady is merely at the Golden Core level and hardly deserves to be called a fairy. My real name is Nie Yaner. If you don't mind, just call me Yaner."

Seeing that he was distracted, Yan Meishan proactively disclosed her name and then continued, "I just heard you say that you wanted to give me the Heavenly Talent and Earthly Treasure from within the body of the Wood Beast. I was worried that the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures would be excessively precious and agonized over how I would refuse them.

Little did I expect, the Wood Beast happened to produce this Gathering Spirit Grass. It's perfectly ordinary but something I happen to need. So, I must shamelessly accept it."

The Third Elder said and reached out her slender hands toward the Gathering Spirit Grass in the hands of the Green Robed Cultivator.

"Ah... ah, alright, fairy... Yaner."

The Green Robed Cultivator's face turned suddenly flushed, and his tone also became somewhat unnatural.

Yan Meishan found his reaction quite surprising.

Given the words he had spoken upon his appearance, she had thought him a seasoned player in the game of love. But just now, when she deliberately touched him with the hand of her clone while reaching for the Gathering Spirit Grass, she never expected his face to turn red.

"Could this lad still be a fledgling? Or is he just all talk and no action?"

Yan Meishan muttered to herself, thinking of several possibilities, but she never considered that the other person could be a gentleman.

"Fairy Yaner, I see there's blood at the corner of your mouth; you must have suffered an internal injury. Please take this pill quickly."

The Green Robed Man paused for a moment. Although the flush on his face had not yet faded, noticing the blood at the corner of the Golden Core Female Cultivator's mouth, he steadied his mind and took out a pill from his storage treasure.

Afterwards, the Third Elder took the initiative to explain her origins and mentioned that she had become separated from her master.

The two had agreed to meet at the entrance of the Immortal Wood's remnants.

Upon hearing her words, the Green Robed Man didn't even wait for her to ask.

He patted his chest and took it upon himself to escort Fairy Yaner to the remnants of the Immortal Wood.

...

Second Layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

By the side of a pond, there stood a temporarily constructed wooden pavilion under which lay a table.

In front of this pavilion was a screen of light, which was the exit of the Ascend to Heaven Stairway.

On the table under this pavilion, a seemingly honest and utterly amber-colored tiny ox, only three inches tall and resembling a sculpture, lay quietly.

Three meters outside the pavilion.

A Taoist temple was situated there!

The small, amber-colored ox, three inches tall, lying on the table, invariably glanced at the Taoist temple every time it blinked.

It wasn't that it had never seen a treasure with the function of a cave dwelling.

But the little Taoist who had placed the temple there greatly intrigued it.

After all, in thirty thousand years, it had never seen a cultivator emerge from the pond connected to the "Heavy Waterfall", let alone the miraculous little Taoist who had emerged from it, then headed back, and finally brought back two demon pets!

"I remember the Qingmu Secret Realm is only accessible to cultivators below the Divinity Transformation Realm. Is this little Taoist truly below the Divinity Transformation Realm with such strength?"

The quietly lying amber ox blinked and couldn't help but cast another glance at the Taoist temple, curious thoughts bubbling in its mind.

Just then.

The light screen in front of it, the exit of the "Ascend to Heaven Stairway", suddenly began to ripple.

A disciple in a fiery red robe from the Blazing Sun Sword Sect, looking worn out, walked out from it.

Following him, other cultivators emerged from the light screen, all of whom were disciples of the Blazing Sun Sword Sect.

About the time it took to drink a cup of tea had passed.

All of the disciples from the Blazing Sun Sword Sect walked out of the light screen looking exhausted, and they were immediately followed by the bald brawny men from Pan Shi Valley.

The last two cultivators from the Blazing Sun Sword Sect to come out were a Junior Master from the Void Refinement Realm and Zhao Dabao, who was only at the seventh layer of the Qi Cultivation Realm.

The young sword cultivator Hong Mei, despite his strong abilities, showed signs of fatigue between his brows after enduring the nine hundred and ninety steps of "Spiritual Contamination".

Zhao Dabao, being only in the Qi Cultivation Realm, fared even worse.

Having embarked on his immortal path not long ago and belonging to those whose strength had advanced faster than their spiritual heart, he barely managed to climb out of the nine hundred and ninety-nine steps of the "Ascend to Heaven Stairway" and dizzily made his way to the pavilion where he plopped down on the ground.

After pausing for a moment, he looked up blankly.

But he suddenly realized that the Taoist temple next to the pavilion looked somewhat familiar!