38: Chapter 38 Don't Randomly Explore Secret Realms

When Xie Feng and Tu Ziguan met up at the restaurant, the sun was already slanting westward.

Xie Feng picked up his rice wine and took a sip. "What did Zhang Kui say?"

Tu Ziguan picked up a piece of fish cheek meat, put it into his mouth, and chewed twice. "He cried."

"He was taken to the side hall, the door was closed, and the token was placed on the table. He started crying right then and there."

Tu Ziguan spat out the fish bone.

"He said a whole bunch of things, but only one of them was useful. Every month, Butcher Zheng delivered meat to the City Defense Mansion, and it was always the best cuts. He gave all of it to the concubine kept outside by the steward of the City Defense Mansion Cultivator Meng Yi. I heard that concubine also shared the surname Zheng."

"Delivering beef to the steward's concubine of the City Defense Mansion Cultivator?"

"And it was a long-term arrangement. Zhang Kui said Zheng Youtian had been delivering it for over a year, rain or shine. During festivals and holidays, he even threw in an extra set of beef tripe."

Tu Ziguan picked up a slice of spiced beef and placed it inside a sesame flatbread that one never gets tired of eating.

"He is just a butcher, where did he get so many sets of beef tripe? How many times did he report it? Where did he get so many cows with broken legs?"

"So Zhang Kui knew the cows came from an illegitimate source?"

"He definitely knew; he just didn't dare to say it." Tu Ziguan put down his chopsticks. "After Zheng Youtian died, Zhang Kui was scared to death. He was afraid that people from the City Defense Mansion would come looking for him."

Xie Feng twirled his wine cup twice in his palm. "Meng Yi invited me to dinner."

"Who? Do you know him?"

Xie Feng pulled the bamboo tube out of his sleeve and placed it on the table. "He is the city defense Cultivator. The Youshi hour. I calculated it, that's evening. There's less than half an hour left."

"Are you going?"

"I am going," Xie Feng said. "He wrote very clearly in his letter that he had heard a thing or two about my investigations in the west of the city. From the time I left for Xie Yuan's house to the time I received the letter, it was no more than half an hour. Since he can find out the whereabouts of an Inner Sect Disciple of the Qingyun Sect within half an hour, I definitely have to meet him."

Tu Ziguan took the bamboo tube, pulled out the letter paper, and read through it.

"'Discussing concurrently the recent matters of the Qingyun Sect and Cangyun City.' That is a pretty big statement. As a consultant of the Tianque Sect, what business does he have managing the affairs of the Qingyun Sect?"

"Not his fucking business." Xie Feng finished the wine in his cup. "He just wants me to go. Look at that vibe of 'I have something to tell you' in his letter."

"I will go with you."

"Heh, he is at the Nine Heavens of the Fifth Realm. If he really wanted to make a move, beating you would be like beating a child." Xie Feng stood up and felt for the blind staff leaning against the wall. "Wait for me outside. If I haven't come out by two quarters past the Youshi hour, you understand, right?"

"Then I will call the Sect."

Xie Feng was slightly stunned.

"What phone? Did you bring electronic devices with you when you went through Transmigration?"

"No, it's something Mo Tang and I researched—a Spiritual Qi version of a mobile phone. The two of us tinkered with it in the Artifact Hall for over half a month to make it."

Tu Ziguan fished out two palm-sized jade plaques from his bosom. Their surfaces were engraved with densely packed runes, their corners were inlaid with a large circle of copper pieces, and a small piece of talisman paper was embedded in the middle.

He stuffed one of them into Xie Feng's hands.

"Infuse spiritual power into it and you can talk. It has the spiritual patterns of quite a few people saved. Just hold down the Spirit Stone in the middle and think of the name in your heart."

"What the fuck? What is the principle behind this? The treasure you mentioned is this thing?"

"I got you, little bro."

"Fine. If I don't come out, you call the Sect and let them know what a ruthless character is."

Xie Feng stuffed the jade plaque into his sleeve and tapped the floorboards with his blind staff as he walked toward the staircase.

The City Defense Mansion was on the east side of the City Lord's Mansion, separated by a single street. When Xie Feng's blind staff tapped across the flagstone pavement of Mansion Front Street, the guards at the entrance had already spotted him. Half of the large double doors were open, and inside stood a middle-aged man with a very worldly and shrewd appearance, a perfectly appropriate smile hanging at the corner of his mouth.

"Young Master Xie. The master is waiting in the floral hall. Please."

"You kid, be careful when you keep concubines in the future."

That middle-aged man was dumbfounded, his smiling mouth unable to maintain itself, twitching uncontrollably. Xie Feng wanted to laugh just looking at him.

Following him through the front courtyard—the City Defense Mansion was much larger than the Xie Residence—the floral hall featured a small pond. Several clumps of spotted bamboo grew along the pond's edge, their leaves rustling in the evening breeze.

Meng Yi sat on the grand master chair in the center of the floral hall. When Xie Feng stepped through the door, his spiritual power perception mapped out Meng Yi's appearance.

That was an extremely thin Cultivator; the outlines of his cheekbones and shoulder blades could be clearly seen through his robes. Spiritual power fluctuations of the Nine Heavens of the Fifth Realm drifted out from him, like circle after circle of invisible water ripples.

"Little Friend Xie." Meng Yi's voice was not loud, carrying the hoarseness typical of an old man. "Sit."

Xie Feng sat down in the guest seat with his blind staff leaning against the edge of the chair. The grey-robed middle-aged man brought over tea, backed out, and pulled the door shut.

"This tea is the Cloud-Top Snow Bud from the Tianque Sect. I have guarded this place for forty years, and every year during the Qingming Festival, the Sect sends over two taels." Meng Yi picked up his teacup and took a small sip. "Little friend, have a taste."

Stop joking around. Don't you know you shouldn't randomly eat things of unknown origin? Xie Feng thought to himself as he picked it up and pretended to take a sip.

"The tea is indeed good tea; it is crisp upon entry with a lingering sweet aftertaste." He put down the teacup. "Senior Meng mentioned in your letter that you had matters to discuss."

Meng Yi let out a laugh, the sound very light. "Young people are impatient. Very well, this old man does not like beating around the bush either. Little friend went to Peaceful Alley in the west of the city today?"

"I did."

"What did you find out?"

So direct? And he doesn't even ask who I went to investigate?

Xie Feng's fingers slowly stroked the rim of the teacup.

Meng Yi did not rush him, continuing on his own accord: "I have an impression of this person Xie Yuan. A collateral branch of the Xie Family living in Peaceful Alley, usually keeping a low profile. Before he went to the Black Pine Forest, he lingered near the City Defense Mansion for a few days. I didn't pay attention to it at the time, and it was only later when the letter from the Penal Hall arrived that I realized he had been dragged into that affair."

"How much does Senior Meng know about the matter of the Black Pine Forest?"

"Not much. I have read everything written in the letter from the Penal Hall. Five believers summoned an evil entity, which was promptly stopped by Disciples of the Qingyun Sect." Meng Yi put down the teacup and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the armrest. "Where did those five people get the summoning Spell they used? Aren't you curious, little friend?"

Xie Feng's fingers stopped on the rim of the teacup.

"I have guarded this place for forty years. Over these forty years, whatever disturbance happens within a radius of a hundred miles of Cangyun City, I more or less know about it." Meng Yi's voice slowed down. "However, according to legend, about sixty years ago, a Cultivator returned from the Far North. His Lifespan was about to run out, and before leaving, he said a sentence:"

"There is an Immortal realm in the Far North; those who enter can attain eternal life."

Xie Feng's breathing hitched.

"What happened to that Cultivator later, no one knows. But he brought back some things." Meng Yi's fingers tapped out a third sound on the armrest. "Some pages of Immortal scriptures. They recorded various bizarre creatures of that 'Immortal realm'."

Xie Feng's hands tightened slightly.

"That Cultivator wrote all these down. He said there was a force in that Immortal realm that could allow people to transcend their Lifespan and avoid Reincarnation. He didn't succeed, but the scripture fragments he left behind later went missing." Meng Yi paused. "Little friend, in my view, it must be these people utilizing the Immortal Spells from the scriptures, only their method was wrong. Do you have any clues, little friend?"

Still talking about eternal life? Avoiding Reincarnation?

That's just being dead! Or turning into some weird, bizarre mythological creature!!

"None. This place sounds like a Secret Realm left behind by ancient Cultivators."

Xie Feng replied calmly.

"Secret Realm, how fitting. Yes, many people think so—a Secret Realm left behind by ancient Cultivators. Find it, and one can ascend to the heavens in a single step."

Meng Yi did not continue speaking.

The floral hall was quiet for a while. The bamboo leaves rustled outside the window, and the wind blew fine ripples across the water in the pond. Meng Yi picked up his teacup, slowly finished the last sip, and then closed the lid with a soft click.

"It's getting dark. Little friend, please head back."

You definitely know Wen Yushu. I am so sick of you Immortal cultivation riddle-speakers, you never stop.

Xie Feng cursed inwardly, stood up, and picked up his blind staff.

When he walked to the doorway, Meng Yi's voice came from behind.

"Little friend. If one day you find that 'Secret Realm', remember to notify this old man. This old man will naturally have a heavy reward."

Xie Feng did not reply. The vermilion lacquered large doors closed behind him with a muffled sound.

The street was already completely dark.

Tu Ziguan was squatting at the base of the wall diagonally opposite the City Defense Mansion, holding a grass stem in his mouth. Seeing Xie Feng come out, he spat out the grass stem and stood up.

"How did it go?"

"Let's go back and talk."

When the two returned to the restaurant, the third floor had already been cleared out. Xie Feng took a sip of soup and recounted Meng Yi's words from beginning to end.

After hearing it, Tu Ziguan's chopsticks hung suspended in mid-air.

"What do you say, is it that kind of Secret Realm from novels or some Cthulhu series place?"

"How would I know? He used the term 'Immortal realm', and the way he described it was also like a Cultivator's travelogue. Normal Secret Realms would also be written that way. At the time, I just felt he was implying that place was very strange, and I didn't lean it towards the Cthulhu-esque side."

"Moreover, throughout the whole thing, he used the tone of 'that Cultivator recorded it', completely distancing himself from it."

Xie Feng's fingers tapped on the edge of the table.

"Why did he tell me these things?"

Tu Ziguan thought for a moment. "To probe, of course. He is probing whether you know about that place."

"I have the same feeling."

Xie Feng pulled that jade plaque out from his sleeve. "Let's try your invention."

The jade plaque in his hand lit up briefly and emitted a very short buzz. He pressed down on the Spirit Stone and thought of Wen Yushu in his heart. The jade plaque flashed twice, and then Wen Yushu's voice came out from it, carrying a slight distorted static.

"Brother Xie? Is there something you need?"

"Brother Yushu, let me ask you something." Xie Feng brought the jade plaque close to his mouth. "Do Cultivators in this world have things like 'Secret Realms'?"

The other end of the jade plaque paused for a moment.

"Secret Realm?"

"Right, independent spaces left behind by ancient Cultivators, containing Heaven And Earth Treasures, Cultivation Techniques, Legacies, and trial checkpoints. The method to enter is usually a specific location, a specific time, or a specific token."

The other end of the jade plaque fell silent for an even longer beat.

"Xie Feng, where did you hear this term from?"

"What's wrong?"

"What kind of thing is that? I have never heard of it. Ruins and Immortal Caves of Cultivators exist. But the kind of 'Secret Realm' independent of the world that you mentioned should not exist. What kind of mighty Cultivator would be needed to carve out such a place? At least, there are no records of it in any of the scriptures here."

Xie Feng's fingers holding the jade plaque tightened.

"Are you sure?"

"My grandfather is a person from the Scripture Pavilion of the Qingyun Sect. I started helping him organize scriptures when I was eight years old. If the kind of Secret Realm you mentioned existed in this world, it would be impossible for me not to know."

If this world had never had the concept of a Secret Realm, then the "Immortal realm" described by Meng Yi could not be the creation of ancient Cultivators. It was not a Secret Realm, yet it possessed characteristics similar to one—independent of the world outside, forming its own rules, and requiring specific conditions to enter.

Xie Feng only felt a headache coming on.

"The Dreamlands..."