Wait a minute, where is my master?

The little Taoist and the three others stepped across the crack in the void.

The surrounding environment suddenly changed, and a small valley with clear mountains and water, birds chirping, and flowers fragrant appeared beside them.

The valley wasn't large, but it was filled with the air of life, watermills, medicinal fields, thatched buildings, kitchen smoke, and the joyful laughter and shouting of children playing.

The spot where Jin Xu and the others appeared was right in front of a thatched building, but the elder from Che Liang Wood who had arrived first was nowhere to be found.

Apart from the little Taoist, Yu Yaoer and the other two felt varying degrees of dizziness after passing through the crack.

Zhao Dabao, whose cultivation was the lowest, was the most affected; he sat down on the ground right after passing through the fissure.

There was no helping it, his Qi Cultivation Realm cultivation was still too weak in this Qingmu Secret Realm.

"Fatty, your cultivation is too low, here, eat this and you'll feel better."

As soon as the four of them arrived, the children playing in the valley curiously looked over.

Seeing Zhao Dabao collapse to the ground as soon as he emerged from the crack, a little girl wearing dark gold clothes adorned with patterns of lotuses walked over with small, quick steps and, with an air of maturity beyond her years, handed Zhao Dabao an apricot.

Hearing that tender yet somehow mature voice,

Zhao Fatty, with his head throbbing, took the apricot in a daze and popped it into his mouth.

The girl was right; as soon as the apricot reached his mouth, it turned into a stream of pure spiritual energy that flowed into his muddled brain.

Zhao Dabao instantly felt his head clear and his vision stabilize; climbing to the sixth floor of Tianxiang Building wouldn't even be a strain anymore.

"Little girl, many..."

Zhao Fatty got up from the ground, ready to thank the little girl in the dark gold robe.

But before he could finish speaking, Zhao Dabao realized that the pure spiritual energy from the apricot, after clearing his mind, hadn't dissipated completely, but was instead rushing towards his Dantian.

"That's it!!!"

Zhao Fatty lamented in his heart, then closed his eyes as the flesh on his face trembled slightly.

When he opened his eyes again, he had reached the Great Perfection of the Qi Cultivation Realm, and was only a step away from Foundation Establishment.

"...Thank you!"

Zhao Dabao continued to thank the girl in front of him, biting his back teeth, inwardly cursing himself for not asking just one more question before eating that Spirit Fruit.

"You're so impolite, little fatty. I kindly offered you a fruit to refresh your spirit, and you call me 'little girl'? Believe it or not, I'm older than your great-grandfather."

The girl in the dark gold robe with lotus embroidery, upon hearing Zhao Fatty's mumbled thanks, became unhappy.

After she finished her old-fashioned reprimand of Zhao Dabao, she lightly tapped her foot on the ground, leapt into the air, and revealed her true nature—a lotus.

Zhao Fatty, having heard what the little girl said, slapped his belly, thinking he must have been out of sorts just now.

Where was this place? This was the fourth layer of Qingmu Secret Realm, and also where Che Liang Wood lived. How could there be ordinary children here?

It must be a child-shaped Ten-thousand-year-old Treasure Medicine.

He respectfully clasped his hands toward the lotus in mid-air, ready to apologize, but he froze as soon as he looked up.

"Xuan'er, don't create a ruckus here."

As Zhao Fatty was still stunned, the brown-robed elder who had arrived ahead of the others appeared at the doorway of the thatched building and reprimanded the Eternal Lotus floating in mid-air.

"Oh, okay, Grandpa Che."

The floating dark gold lotus obediently fell back to the ground after being scolded and transformed back into the little girl.

"My apologies for that scene, please follow me."

After chiding the child, the elder from Che Liang Wood turned and gestured for the little Taoist and his companions to come inside the thatched building for a detailed discussion.

Jin Xu, expressionless, led the two women across the threshold and into the building.

Zhao Dabao kept looking back every three steps as he watched the little girl walk away, wondering how he could ask for a few of her petals.

The Che Liang Wood elder saw the four people enter the thatched hut; his facial expression fluctuated uncertainly.

Before entering, he specifically sent a message through voice transmission to the Ten-thousand-year-old Treasure Medicines frolicking in the Qingmu Blessed Land, informing them there might be danger inside the hut soon and to stay away.

He also instructed the Ba Wang Tree to take good care of them.

After all these arrangements, the old man who was a transformation of Che Liang Wood entered the hut.

The door of the thatched hut closed silently and was tightly shut.

...

Once inside the hut, the young Taoist took a quick look around.

He noticed that the setting was very simple, with just a table and four stools.

Apart from a painting of the Confucian Saint, identical to the one at Qingmu Academy's gentle bamboo, hanging on the wall, there were no other decorations.

Oh, that's right, this painting didn't have "Confucian Saint" written on it; it was Jin Xu who recognized it himself.

"Please take a seat,"

As the little Taoist was comparing the two paintings for any differences, the voice of the Che Liang Wood elder came from next to the door.

Upon hearing this, Yu Yaoer moved quickly to the table, pulled out a stool, and hastily wiped it with her dress, then looked at Jin Xu with a face wanting praise, and said,

"Young Master, sit here!"

The little Taoist knew that his demon pet saw her role as a maid capable of taking care of her master's daily needs.

So, he wasn't surprised by her action and went straight to the table and sat down.

Seeing that Jin Xu had sat down, Yu Yaoer obediently stood behind him.

Little White, seeing Little Yu not sitting down, also obediently stood behind Jin Xu.

Fatty Zhao, seeing the two girls not sitting, thought, "Since you both are standing, then I'll stand too."

So, he also walked behind the little Taoist.

Jin Xu turned his head in confusion to look at the three people standing behind him, completely baffled.

He understood his two treasures' quirky personalities; their thought processes couldn't be measured by ordinary standards, but what was going on with Brother Zhao?

The little Taoist glanced at the three people once more, then immediately reached into his robe, ready to pull out the Token given to him by the Old Dean and reveal his identity to the old man in front of him.

Standing by the door, Che Liang Wood, seeing that only one person had taken a seat, while the other three had chosen to stand behind him, thought to himself:

"Well, two Nascent Soul Realm little fellows and one human in the Qi Cultivation Realm can't stir up much trouble, as long as this little Taoist sits down, that's fine.

However, it's unclear whether this person is naive or overly confident, as he agreed to follow me to the Qingmu Blessed Land without hesitation, and now he has even entered this thatched hut without concern."

As he weighed his thoughts, he took a few steps forward, eventually stopping less than two meters from Jin Xu.

"With such cultivation, you must have invested a great deal of effort to enter my Qingmu Secret Realm,"

the elder clad in a brown robe said in a deep voice.

The little Taoist: "???"

Seeing Jin Xu's puzzled expression, the old man thought to himself that this man was still pretending at such a moment.

So, he continued, "Heh, regardless of your intentions, you should not have followed me to Qingmu Blessed Land so readily.

The outside world knows only of my Qingmu Secret Realm's fame for Heavenly Talent and Earthly Treasure.

Little do they know, I have devoted a hundred years to mastering the Divination Skill.

Your designs on Qingmu Secret Realm today, I had already foreseen!"