Wait a minute, where is my master?

The squat and ugly cultivator cursed inwardly, yet his face still bore a subservient expression.

Perhaps this was what it meant to be resilient?

After the Second Elder had spoken, his gaze swept over the foreign girl adorned in silver, who was of much younger descent... his great-great-great-great-granddaughter, and Monster Lang, who was secretly reveling in their misfortune.

Only after the two indicated that they had remembered did he slowly nod.

About ten breaths later, he took out a Communication Jade Token and fiddled with it for a moment before pulling back his gaze that had been fixed on the town and spoke indifferently.

"Let's go, Little Yan has already sent the Insect Queen to the designated location, follow me to Qingmu City."

With that, the Second Elder conjured a dark cloud beneath his feet, taking the three Hall Masters as they flew towards Qingmu City.

Actually, he had been watching the town below not because he wanted to intimidate his subordinates, the Hall Masters, nor was he genuinely curious about the town.

The reason the Second Elder had stayed so long was that he had noticed that the connection between himself and the Insect Queen, as well as between the Insect Queen and Qingmu Secret Realm, had suddenly become irregular, sometimes strong and sometimes weak.

If compared to the progress before, by the time he had traveled from Moro Mountain to this place, the Insect Queen had already controlled seventy percent of the Che Liang Wood root system.

But suddenly, the Insect Queen's control over the Che Liang Wood root system had dropped to less than ten percent.

Such a sudden change compelled the Second Elder to be cautious, which was why he lingered above this small town.

To him, waiting for the three subordinate Hall Masters was secondary, as having them or not made little difference. The main concern was to ascertain why the Insect Queen's control progress fluctuated so much in intensity and frequency.

During his stay, the Second Elder had actively communicated to the Insect Queen to control the host more quickly. However, he found that seventy percent seemed to be a threshold; each time the Insect Queen reached this level, it would inevitably fall back to less than ten percent.

The Second Elder was baffled by this phenomenon, so he sent a message to Yan Meishan, hoping she could use her remaining avatars to see if something had happened to the Insect Queen.

However, the Third Elder told him that her only remaining avatar was currently engaged in some black-and-white conflict and couldn't leave at the moment.

With no other choice, the Second Elder thought of an extremely practical yet somewhat foolish solution—allow the Insect Queen to control a maximum of sixty-nine percent of the Che Liang Wood root system.

Then move on to infest other things in Qingmu Secret Realm!

This time, the control progress of the Insect Queen didn't retreat anymore!

Unable to understand the exact reason, the Second Elder planned to personally visit Qingmu City. Although the primary Che Liang Wood root system was only controlled by sixty-nine percent, if they could infest all other creatures in the Secret Realm, performing the sect's plan might still be sufficient.

...

Another quarter of an hour passed, and the Second Elder stayed above the town.

Three cultivators stood stiffly, sweating profusely, not moving at all as they engaged in a meaningless conversation with the mayor beside them.

The mayor was completely mystified, not understanding why these three immortals from Qingmu Academy had started acting oddly a quarter of an hour ago.

But being a mere mortal, he dared not inquire and could only honestly respond to their questions.

"Mayor Shi, how many dogs do you keep in town?"

In the span of a quarter of an hour, the three cultivators from Qingmu Academy had exhausted all their questions about humans.

So they had started to ask about dogs.

"In response to Immortal Master, most town residents keep dogs, probably around thirty or forty in total,"

the mayor answered honestly.

"Oh, is that so? Then, are they mostly male or female?"

The cultivator continued to inquire.

"In response to Immortal Master, there are more males than females, about half and half in terms of numbers,"

The mayor, with his head full of doubts, continued to answer honestly.

"Oh, what are their names then?"

Another cultivator took over the conversation.

However, this time the mayor did not answer, or rather, he could not come up with an answer.

This was no longer even making sense!

"Three Immortal Masters, please just say what you need, don't trouble an old man like me."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the three cultivators also showed a hint of embarrassment. Especially the one who had asked about the names of the dogs, he cleared his throat and transmitted a message to the older Confucian Practitioner beside him.

"Senior Brother Feng, has the owner of the aura you detected left?"

"I don't know, that aura was only exposed for a moment, and I noticed it by chance.

But I am certain that the person is a cultivator of the Void Refinement Realm.

And since he did not take action, I suggest that we continue as we are, without any changes, and quietly wait for the assistance from our sect!"

It turned out that the ugly cultivator, who had endured severe pain, had inadvertently leaked a trace of aura which was detected by this Confucian Practitioner named Feng, hence their nervous behavior and peculiar actions.

After all, during these troubled times, the cultivators of such stature were mostly in the Qingmu Secret Realm. Those who could be lurking above their heads now were most likely enemies!

"Senior Brother Feng is right, since the other party has not made a move, it's better we keep things unchanged."

The questioning cultivator transmitted a message in response, then turned back to the mayor.

"Old man, please just tell us what all the dogs in town are named."

The mayor: "???"

...

In the straw hut at Qingmu Blessed Land,

Jin Xu, the young Taoist, was holding a white light condensed by the Body Purification Skill in his left hand, preparing to treat the Che Liang Wood whose roots were parasitized once more.

However, this time, perhaps because it was not up to seventy percent, Che Liang Wood did not pass out, so it promptly stopped the young Taoist's action.

"Jin Taoist, wait a moment, your removal magic is indeed profound. However, the thing parasitizing my roots is drawing power from within me.

If you give me a few more strikes, I'm afraid I won't be able to endure it.

Now that this thing has suddenly stopped its parasitic action, I do not know if it's reached its limit or is merely worn out, so please hurry to the Second Layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm."

Che Liang Wood's voice was weak as it pleaded with the young Taoist.

Then he added another request: "If you encounter any Heavenly Talent and Earthly Treasure with awakened spiritual intelligence on the way, please also take care of them, or let them come on their own to the Qingmu Blessed Land. I really don't have the energy to notify them anymore."

Jin Xu, upon hearing this, took a closer look and then noticed that Che Liang Wood's incarnation had become much thinner, even his face seemed to barely gather two ounces of flesh, previously obscured by the dark energy, he hadn't noticed this before.

"Cough, don't worry Che, I will immediately go to the Second Layer of the Secret Realm to see what exactly is causing trouble at your roots."

The young Taoist said, then took steps towards the big door of the straw hut.

However, after only three steps, he came back and asked Che Liang Wood a very practical question.

"Che, by the way, I wanted to ask.

How should I get to the Second Layer of the Secret Realm from here?"