91: Chapter 91 The Little Grass Encounters Danger

"You always think further ahead than us and prepare more thoroughly than us."

Li Changqing looked at him, her gaze earnest.

"It was like this back in Qinghe Town, it was like this at the Sect, and now that we have entered the Secret Realm, it is still the same."

"It seems that no matter what happens, you can handle it."

Li Changsheng was silent for a moment, then said softly.

"Because I cannot afford to lose."

Li Changqing looked at him without speaking.

Li Changsheng looked up at the grey "sky" and said slowly.

"Back in Qinghe Town, so many people died. I watched it happen with my own eyes, yet I could do nothing. From that moment on, I knew that if I wanted to protect the people around me, I had to be stronger than anyone else."

He turned his head to look at Li Changqing.

"That is why I must become stronger. Strong enough that if I encounter such a situation again, I will not have to just watch."

The firelight flickered, casting light and shadow across his face.

Li Changqing looked at him for a long time without speaking.

After a long while, she said in a low voice.

"Brother Changsheng, let's do it together. Let's become stronger together, and protect the people we want to protect together."

Li Changsheng nodded.

"Alright."

The two fell silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

The campfire crackled, occasionally sending out a few sparks.

I don't know how much time passed, but Li Changqing suddenly asked.

"Where do you think Tiezhu and Xiao Cao are right now?"

Li Changsheng looked out of the valley at the endless night.

"I don't know."

He said, "But we will find them."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Secret Realm.

Shi Tiezhu was huddled in a cave, clutching the Rock Lingzhi to his chest, shivering.

Outside the cave, a huge black bear was pacing back and forth, letting out a low roar from time to time.

The black bear was fully two zhang tall, its body pitch black as ink, and a pair of blood-red eyes glittered in the darkness.

Late Stage of the First Rank.

Shi Tiezhu did not know how he had provoked this great deity.

He just wanted to find a place to sleep, but as soon as he crawled into this cave, he discovered a black bear hibernating inside.

He tried to tiptoe out, but accidentally stepped on a dead branch.

With a snap, the black bear woke up.

What followed was Shi Tiezhu running for his life, and the black bear chasing after him for its life.

After running for a while, he finally found a smaller cave and scrambled inside.

The entrance was too small for the black bear to enter, so it had been guarding outside for two full hours.

Shi Tiezhu hugged the Rock Lingzhi, wanting to cry but having no tears.

He missed Brother Changsheng, he missed Sister Changqing, and he missed Xiao Cao, who was always prone to crying.

He wanted to go home.

Somewhere in the Secret Realm, in a dense bamboo forest.

Li Xiaocao was crouching behind a cluster of bamboo, holding her breath, not moving an inch.

Not far away, several people dressed in black were moving through the bamboo forest.

They were walking very slowly, looking around as they went, as if they were searching for something.

Li Xiaocao curled her body up and listened intently.

"...The Sect Master has ordered that we must find that item... the ancient ruins... the Seal of the Spirit Devourer..."

Intermittent words drifted over.

People from the Blood Fiend Sect.

Li Xiaocao recognized them.

"Spirit Devourer?"

"Qinghe Town!"

Li Xiaocao was nervous to the extreme.

She did not know exactly what they were trying to do, but she knew she absolutely could not be discovered.

She curled up behind the bamboo, not even daring to breathe loudly.

Li Xiaocao saw that every time they reached a place, they would take out a strange Magical Artifact, as if they were detecting something.

Suddenly, after a Blood Fiend Sect Disciple used the Magical Artifact to detect something, his face showed an expression of wild joy.

"Over there, let's go."

The group of Blood Fiend Sect members hurried off in a certain direction.

Those people walked past, moving further and further away, until they finally disappeared into the depths of the bamboo forest.

Li Xiaocao let out a sigh of relief and was about to stand up, when she suddenly heard a voice behind her.

"Little girl, all by yourself?"

She turned her head abruptly to see a Loose Cultivator dressed in grey standing behind her, looking at her with a smile.

Qi Refining Level 4.

Li Xiaocao's face turned pale instantly.

The Loose Cultivator looked her up and down, his gaze lingering for a moment on the bulging cloth bag at her waist, and he smiled even more happily.

"Good luck, I've found a little fat sheep."

He reached out his hand to grab Li Xiaocao.

Li Xiaocao screamed and turned to run!

The Loose Cultivator was stunned for a moment, then chased after her.

"Running? Can you run away?"

In the bamboo forest, a chase began.

Li Xiaocao ran for her life, with only one thought in her mind.

Brother Changsheng, help!

Li Changqing's injuries were recovering faster than Li Changsheng had expected.

Perhaps it was the dense Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm that played a role, or perhaps the effects of those healing Medicinal Pills were indeed quite good.

Early the next morning, when she woke up, the color had mostly returned to her face, and a thin scab had formed over her wounds.

"Can you walk?"

Li Changsheng asked.

Li Changqing tried moving her left leg; the longest wound throbbed with pain, but it no longer hindered her walking.

She nodded.

"Yes."

The two packed up, left the valley, and continued to explore deeper into the Secret Realm.

They had no clear direction and could only follow their intuition.

Along the way, Li Changsheng briefly recounted his experiences in the Secret Realm over the past two days.

He omitted some special items, such as obtaining the barrier breaking pill, etc.

Li Changqing listened, dumbfounded.

"blood cloud ganoderma? purple sun ginseng?"

She widened her eyes.

"Brother Changsheng, isn't your luck a bit too good?"

Li Changsheng shook his head.

"It's not just luck. Those items all had Yao Beasts guarding them, and I had to fight hard to get them."

Li Changqing was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice.

"If it were me, I probably wouldn't have been able to get any of them."

Li Changsheng patted her shoulder.

"You are already very impressive. You fought off two Jinyang Sect members by yourself and held your own against three Loose Cultivators for so long."

Li Changqing smiled and said nothing more.

The two continued walking forward.

After walking for about an hour, a dense bamboo forest appeared ahead.

The bamboo was entirely emerald green, towering into the clouds.

Each stalk was as thick as a bowl, densely packed together, forming a boundless sea of bamboo.

Li Changsheng stopped and carefully examined the bamboo forest.

"Is there a problem?" Li Changqing asked.

Li Changsheng did not answer; he just pricked up his ears and listened carefully.

From deep within the bamboo forest, a faint sound could be heard.

Someone was running, their footsteps rapid and chaotic. Someone else was chasing behind, the footsteps heavier and more urgent.

And...

A shrill cry, laced with tears.

Li Changsheng's pupils contracted sharply.

"Xiao Cao!"

He drew his green steel sword and rushed toward the direction the sound came from!

Li Changqing also drew her sword and followed closely behind!

In the bamboo forest, Li Xiaocao was running for her life.

She had been running for a very, very long time—so long that her legs were weak, so long that she was out of breath, and so long that her vision was blurring.

But she dared not stop.

The Loose Cultivator behind her was still chasing, and he was getting closer and closer.

"Little girl, stop running! You can't escape!"

The voice was not far behind her, accompanied by heavy footsteps and ragged breathing.

Li Xiaocao gritted her teeth and ran forward with all her might.

Brother Changsheng had said that if she encountered danger, she should run—run as far as she could.

But she could no longer run.

She tripped, falling heavily to the ground; her knees and palms were scraped, and the pain brought tears to her eyes.

She struggled to get up, but her legs were too weak to muster any strength.

The footsteps behind her grew closer and closer.

"Haha, run! Why aren't you running anymore?"

The Loose Cultivator walked up to her, looked down at her with a smug smile on his face.

He reached out his hand to grab her cloth bag.