Wait a minute, where is my master?

Qingmu City, mid-air.

The always indifferent face of the Demon Sect's Second Elder now showed an expression of disbelief.

"Isn't that the Insect Queen? How did it end up in his hands!?"

Shen Zhi dubiously confirmed the connection between his body and the Insect Queen.

He ascertained that the small insect in the hands of the young Taoist was not just similar to his Insect Queen, but was in fact the very same one!

On the other hand, the Old Dean was extremely surprised to see Jin Xu emerge from the Secret Realm. His face also showed a hint of regret,

In his mind, the other party would take away Qingmu Secret Realm, then later discover there was a Taoist inside.

Tsk, that scene would certainly be "beautiful."

Moreover, this Secret Realm was clearly extremely important to the Demon Sect. If the entrance was taken by the Second Elder to some secret hiding place of the Demon Sect, then with the strength of his old friend's disciple, it might be possible to completely resolve the longstanding troubles the Demon Sect had caused in the Nine Provinces Realm.

Lan Junyan trembled upon sighting the young Taoist, feeling phantom pain on his shoulders.

"No wonder the teacher decided to send out the Qingmu Secret Realm, it turns out this star of calamity was inside. Eh, that's not right, isn't the Secret Realm only accessible to those below the Divinity Transformation Realm?"

The various cultivators in Qingmu City were somewhat confused; most of them recognized Jin Xu's attire and knew he had fought against the foremost scholars of Qingmu Academy.

Simultaneously, they shared the same question as Lan Junyan.

"Isn't the Secret Realm only accessible to those below the Divinity Transformation?"

...

Time rewinds to fifteen minutes prior.

Why did Jin Xu, who originally went to rescue the root of the Che Liang Wood, suddenly appear here?

The young Taoist, carrying the "heartbroken" Mr. Yao, sped through the night, heading directly southwest in a trail of fire.

By the time Jin Xu landed, Mr. Yao had already recovered from his "heartbreak," kneeling on the ground and vomiting.

The young Taoist didn't have the time to attend to him. With a powerful detection of spiritual power, he easily found the roots of the Che Liang Wood and a small black insect attached to the main root.

Now that he had found it, the matter became much simpler.

In his left hand, Jin Xu condensed the "Body Purification Skill," and in his right, the "Hand Palm Thunder."

He planned to purify first, then apply physical purification.

However, as soon as he had condensed the Golden Thunderbolt, the small black insect that was perched on the root of the Che Liang Wood surprisingly crawled out of the ground on its own and approached him!

"Senior, save me!"

Once the small insect reached the surface, it scurried about swiftly and wrote out these four characters on the ground.

"???"

The young Taoist's face was full of question marks; he was originally here to save a person, oh, that's not right, to save a tree.

And now this insect seemed to be seeking his help too.

"Senior, you must save me!"

Seeing that Jin Xu had no response, the little insect scurried on the ground once more.

"...can you not talk?"

The young Taoist gazed at the characters on the ground somewhat blankly, with a bellyful of old complaints that he didn't know how to start expressing.

"Cannot."

The black insect quickly scrawled two characters.

It didn't wait for Jin Xu to respond before it eagerly wrote out a two-hundred-word brief on the ground.

After it had finished...writing, the young Taoist approached with a frown and looked closely.

He discovered that in the text, the black insect, with snot and tears, complained about the bad person controlling it, mentioning it had been fast asleep only to be forcefully awakened.

The person who woke it called their group the Demon Sect and intended to use it to take control of the Qingmu Secret Realm, so as to welcome back the Demon Lord.

What was more excessive was that the opponent had taken advantage of its unclear consciousness whilst asleep, applying an Imprisonment Skill to gain control of it.

If it hadn't been for the Secret Realm barrier at that moment, it wouldn't have been able to seek Jin Xu's help.

Although it was the Mother of Ten Thousand Gu, it neither wanted to harm living creatures nor aid in tyranny.

Thus, it earnestly pleaded with Jin Xu to save it and free it from the control of the other party.

After reading the short message of two hundred characters, the young Taoist pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered to himself.

"What is all this..."

However, Jin Xu's complaints aside, the matter about the Demon Sect mentioned by the other party did pique his interest.

Now that the changing circumstances within the Qingmu Secret Realm turned out to be the work of the Demon Sect, although the young Taoist did not know what this Demon Lord was, given the style of the other party, he surmised it would not be anything good.

Hence, Jin Xu asked in detail, and the little insect also crawled in response to every question.

And it revealed an important clue.

It sensed that the person who had placed the Imprisonment Skill upon it was previously far away but had been getting closer and closer; now, it seemed that they had already reached outside the Secret Realm.

Upon learning this news, the young Taoist immediately had an idea.

He first picked up the black insect, then lifted up Mr. Yao, who had stopped vomiting, and swiftly returned to the fourth layer of the Qingmu Secret Realm. He asked Che Liang Wood and the three companions to wait and to ensure that the man covered in vomit did not do anything foolish.

He would purify Che Liang Wood when he returned.

Then he told the Insect Queen to control the smaller insects it had split off and headed straight for the exit of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

...

Following that was the scene that took place at the entrance of the Qingmu Secret Realm.

Time returned to the present.

The young Taoist, upon confirming the identity of the Demon Sect's Second Elder, actually felt a bit disappointed.

He had thought that he might encounter that woman who had fled.

But although the monk may run, the temple cannot run. Based on the crawling description of the black insect, there seemed to be several hiding places for the Demon Sect within Qing State. He could search them one by one later.

"Young Taoist, where did you get this black insect?"

While Jin Xu was confirming the Second Elder's identity,

The other party had already landed on the ground and asked the young Taoist indifferently.

The Second Elder could not quite grasp the person before him; there were no waves of Spiritual Power emanating from his body, yet the Mother of Ten Thousand Gu obediently lay in his palm.

And a cultivator powerful enough to surpass the Insect Queen must be above the Divinity Transformation Realm. However, the Qingmu Secret Realm had an iron rule that those above Divinity Transformation may not enter, but the other person had come out from there.

The Second Elder of the Demon Sect was a bit bewildered at this point.

But he had a vague premonition that the reason Yan Chu, that old scholar, dared allow him to take away the Qingmu Secret Realm, was probably related to this young Taoist before him.

"This black insect? How it came to me before, I can't exactly say, but in a while, it will be the one I've saved."

While speaking, Jin Xu raised a small shield of Golden spiritual power in the palm of his hand, enveloping the Insect Queen.

Almost at the same time, the Second Elder found that his connection with the Insect Queen was severed.

A flash of confusion crossed his weathered face, but it was mostly anger. This insect was crucial to the success of their plan, and they absolutely could not afford to lose it.

The young Taoist before him seemed mysterious and was capable of crushing the components of the Space Splitting Shuttle with one hand.

But such a feat was not beyond the capabilities of Shen Zhi, who was in the Mahayana Realm.

Therefore, the Second Elder hardly hesitated and made a move against Jin Xu.

This time, he did not use his Nine Refinements Ten Thousand Gu Hand, but instead brought out a small, pure white tripod.

A colorless energy rose from within the tripod, swiftly enveloping the young Taoist!

Three breaths later...

The Second Elder looked at the person before him in shock.

"How is he unharmed!?"

Jin Xu was even more puzzled; he had not noticed the colorless energy.

In his eyes, the opponent had stopped after making the motion with the tripod.

"Why isn't he moving!?"