Wait a minute, where is my master?

The Third Elder controlled her Nascent Soul Realm avatar and bypassed the man in green.

With an activation of her Escape Skill, she turned into a trail of firelight, heading directly for the southwest.

Unlike the dense forests that are common in the first layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm, the terrain in this second layer was mostly plains and hills.

Apart from the absence of trees and scarce weeds, one could see numerous giant root systems protruding from the ground, crisscrossing each other.

There were rumors that this layer was where the Che Liang Wood took root, that no trees grew because the nutrients were all absorbed by it, and that these protruding massive root systems were the roots of the Che Liang Wood.

However, Yan Meishan, as the Third Elder of the Demon Sect, knew these rumors were false.

The second layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm was indeed where the Che Liang Wood took root, which their sect had discovered after years of investigation.

But the roots of the Che Liang Wood were not these roots exposed directly on the surface.

The Third Elder controlled her avatar and after roughly fifteen minutes of haste, arrived in front of a barren hill that covered an area of less than ten zhang.

Perhaps her luck had indeed improved, as her journey had been extremely smooth, encountering neither Wood Spirit Beasts nor other cultivators.

Yan Meishan controlling the avatar ceased the Escape Technique and landed on the ground.

First, she cautiously surveyed her surroundings and then took out several array flags from her storage magic treasure, planting them around the hill to set up an Illusion Array with a Blinding Skill.

After that, the Third Elder controlled the avatar to take out several bags of iron filings and began to sprinkle them around the hill.

The last time the Qingmu Secret Realm was open, they had bribed a cultivator from the Righteous Path to leave a locator here. However, for fear that leaving a locator using a cultivator's method would be detected by the Che Liang Wood itself,

the Demon Sect chose to have him bury a common mineral stone with magnetic properties instead.

As for that bribed cultivator from the Righteous Path, he met with "demonic possession" not long after leaving the Secret Realm, perishing in a body explosion.

The Third Elder controlled her Nascent Soul Realm avatar to evenly scatter the bags of iron filings.

Soon, most of the iron filings covering the hill were attracted to one spot.

"It should be right here."

The Nascent Soul Realm avatar muttered to itself, crouching down to clear away the iron filings. With a light press on the ground, five fingers sank into the earth.

With a tug, a common mineral stone with the ability to attract iron was unearthed.

Seeing the stone, a hint of joy flashed in the eyes of the avatar under the Third Elder's control. She habitually licked the corner of her mouth and crushed the stone in her hand.

Then, using her hand as a knife, she forcefully plunged her palm into her own chest, extracting her heart outright!

With the heart removed, blood from the Nascent Soul Realm avatar's chest gushed out like a fountain, and fresh blood also flowed from the corner of its mouth.

"Hehe."

The Third Elder did not care about these injuries and did not use Spiritual Power to seal the chest. Instead, after emitting two laughter sounds like from a broken bellows, she directly threw the avatar's heart onto the ground where the magnetic stone was excavated.

The bloody heart stained the soil on the ground, immediately rendering the earth filthy and grimy.

The Insect Queen hidden within the heart seemed to sense something, easily breaking through the heart's outer wall. After momentarily lingering in the air, it burrowed into the soil below.

Yan Meishan, controlling the avatar, having completed all these actions, initially wanted to control it to fly away and then self-destruct.

But after a moment's thought, a twisted smile suddenly appeared on her face.

The Third Elder controlling the avatar walked to the edge of the Illusion Array, first crushed her own storage magic treasure, then struck the avatar's Dantian and Sea of Consciousness with heavy blows respectively.

After doing these three things, she didn't control the avatar to self-destruct. Instead, she returned the body to the Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

The avatar, no longer controlled by Yan Meishan's Spiritual Sense, fell to the ground, its chest cavity soaking the soil.

...

In Qing State, within the belly of Moro Mountain,

the Third Elder, having retrieved a strand of her Spiritual Sense, was in high spirits, finding even the always sorrowful-looking Second Elder of the Demon Sect more pleasing to the eye.

Her change caught the attention of the Second Elder.

"Is the deed done?"

Standing atop the high platform in a green robe, the Second Elder of the Demon Sect feigned ignorance as he asked.

Just now, he had realized that he could faintly sense the location of the Insect Queen.

"Heh heh~ With me on the job, naturally, it was a success.

Not only was it a success, but let me tell you, I also left that Nascent Soul Realm clone with just a breath of life and placed it there.

When he wakes up from the intense pain, to find that there's no cure, and even his heart is lying on a mound of earth not far away, I wonder what expression he'll have!"

The Third Elder's expression was manic, her craziness coming through. Seeing that the Second Elder on the high platform remained silent, she continued, "I wonder if that Nascent Soul Realm cultivator will try with all his might to crawl over and retrieve his own heart.

Hehehehe~~~

Alas~ It's a pity I can't witness that scene for myself.

But even just thinking about it—hiss~~~~"

As Yan Meishan spoke, she actually lay down on the long couch and closed her eyes, her body trembling.

A bewitching aura instantly filled the entire cave.

While dressed in green clothes, with the air of a scholar, the distraught Second Elder of the Demon Sect did not even glance at his perverse colleague.

He silently sensed the connection with the Insect Queen growing clearer and could even feel the Insect Queen starting to consume the Qingmu Secret Realm.

The Second Elder estimated the time in his heart and took out a Communication Jade Token to send a message to three of his Hall Masters under his command, ordering them to approach Qingmu City.

Then, his figure flashed, and he directly left the belly of Moro Mountain.

Now that the Insect Queen had been delivered to the designated location, he no longer needed to keep an eye on Yan Meishan.

Naturally, he chose to do the right thing.

The already empty belly of the mountain was now left with only the Third Elder by herself.

She lay on the long couch with her eyes tightly shut.

Upon sensing that the Second Elder had left, Yan Meishan squinted and indulged herself for the time it takes to brew half a cup of tea. Once she was sure the other had indeed gone far away,

she sprang up energetically, leapt off the slightly damp couch, employed an Escape Skill, and also left Moro Mountain.

Though the Third Elder had been raving mad just moments ago, she had returned to normal now.

In her mind, after some consideration, she ultimately decided not to join the commotion at Qingmu City.

...

In Qingmu Blessed Land, the thatched cottage.

At this point, Che Liang Wood had already cleared up the misunderstanding with the little Taoist and others.

Knowing that the other had been entrusted by the Old Dean of Qingmu Academy, also known as Little Yan in Che Liang Wood's words, to come to this Secret Realm seeking Wood Spirit Liquid and his tree sap,

Che Liang Wood generously took out three bottles of each and placed them on the table.

"Jin Taoist, the previous incident was purely a misunderstanding. I hope you will forgive me.

It appears my Divination Skill still needs improvement—I've made a fool of myself in front of you.

By the way, these two bottles are what Little Yan sought, and these four bottles are my apology to you."

The elder dressed in a brown robe sat opposite Jin Xu and, while speaking, pushed the six jade bottles towards the little Taoist.

Jin Xu was just about to politely accept the gifts,

when he suddenly saw the elder's complexion change and blood spurted onto the table!