How did they turn into this ghostly state after not seeing each other for just two days?!

At that time, Bai Ke was struggling to protect himself and had no heart or energy to care about anything else. Moreover, the voice was so distant that it felt like an illusion; even now, recalling it, it seemed particularly vague and unreal.

Hearing Qin He bring this up, Bai Ke finally stopped pretending to be deaf and dumb, and asked, “Didn’t anyone go search? The area around the Sanqing Pool doesn’t seem like a dangerous place. The sect wouldn't just leave a place that could endanger the lives of its disciples unaddressed, right?”

Qin He snorted, “Of course they searched. That disciple was under Elder Hongtai, and the elder personally led a team to search all around; not even a bone fragment was left. So, you new disciples just don’t know anything. Who said that just because it's within a sect's territory, there can’t be dangerous places? Everything in the world exists in a balance of fortune and misfortune. How can there be a place that’s only good? The Sanqing Pool is a sacred ground for our sect, and the spiritual energy around it has almost been completely absorbed over the years. Naturally, the places around it that have had their spiritual energy sucked dry are far more dangerous than ordinary areas. Can’t you even understand this basic reasoning?”

Bai Ke silently scoffed: If that were truly the case, it would be easy to understand. But the reality was that the Sanqing Pool itself was a deceptive place, and with the surrounding areas being so treacherous, it was hard not to doubt whether this was a natural occurrence or artificially caused…

“Unauthorized entry into the vicinity of the Sanqing Pool is against our sect’s rules. You’ve been in the sect for a while now; it seems you still can’t remember the sect's rules. Truly reckless. Lin Shidi, since you know he can’t see, you should have been teaching him the most basic rules instead of just reciting these scriptures?”

Lin Jie was taken aback. Who said he couldn’t see? He replied, “It’s my oversight, but Xiao Bai isn’t the kind to go wandering around.” If it weren’t for all those troublesome matters, he wouldn’t have had any interest in the Hengtian Sect and wouldn’t have been worried about him wandering off!

Just as Qin He was about to speak again, Lin Jie quickly stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and shook it: “Senior brother, I know you’re the most valued disciple under the sect master, and you must be extremely busy. Not only do you need to diligently improve your own cultivation, but you also have to help the sect master manage us younger disciples. We will definitely remember what you’ve notified us about, and we won’t carelessly enter the dangerous areas around the Sanqing Pool. Since that’s the case, Xiao Bai and I won’t waste your time anymore. You should go back to your busy schedule; we’ll work hard on our cultivation as you suggested and definitely won’t embarrass ourselves at next month’s trial conference. Take care, Senior brother!”

Qin He: “……”

Bai Ke continued to pretend to be blind, looking serious as he followed up, “Senior brother, you’re leaving? Take care, no need to see us off.”

Qin He silently spat out a mouthful of blood, then flicked his sleeve and angrily said, “……Goodbye!” After saying that, he stormed off, filled with frustration.

In the past, Lin Jie wouldn’t have dared to provoke Qin He so openly. Back then, he had to play the fool to avoid getting into trouble, just like when he was a child, when one wrong move could lead to a bad outcome. His innate talent was naturally inferior to those of his brothers and sisters disciples, so he could only remain at the bottom, silently reducing his presence while trying to gather any clues related to his sister’s disappearance.

However, now he no longer had to endure in silence. After all, his main purpose wasn’t to make a name for himself in the Hengtian Sect; as long as he could find his sister, he would be satisfied. With the help of Junxiao and Yu Xian, he believed this wouldn’t be too difficult. Regarding cultivation, these days spent with Junxiao and the others had yielded far more than he had gained in several years before; he could clearly feel his inner energy growing richer.

In his understanding, he had always thought that Junxiao and the others were mysterious, perhaps accomplished rogue cultivators without any sect affiliation. Even though their cultivation seemed to rival that of the Hengtian Sect master, they were still at a disadvantage against such a renowned sect. However, he didn’t care about any of that. Whoever treated him well, he would respect for life, willing to risk everything for them.

“Where are the forbidden areas around the Sanqing Pool?” Bai Ke suddenly asked.

“Holy ancestors, why are you asking this? You aren’t really planning to trespass, are you?!” Lin Jie was startled.

“Of course not, just asking.”

“Let me think—” Lin Jie breathed a sigh of relief, then rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes toward the ceiling, “Because it’s a forbidden area, I’ve only heard about it. It’s said that there are mountains separating it from the Sanqing Pool, so the dangerous places nearby don’t directly connect to the Sanqing Pool. You can’t reach them from the Sanqing Pool; you have to take other paths, which I think must also be restricted. It’s not easy to enter casually. It’s rumored to be a valley—hey? Wait a minute!”

As he spoke, he suddenly stopped because mentioning the valley reminded him of what he had heard near the Ink-washing Pool before—

“Didn’t the sect master say to the elder, ‘Have the things in the valley been raised well?’” Lin Jie repeatedly patted Bai Ke’s shoulder, asking with some uncertainty.

Bai Ke nodded, “I remember that too.”

“When I heard him mention the valley before, I thought he meant the Wanchao (NT: ten thousand tides) Valley, since that’s our sect's most famous trial site. I was puzzled as countless disciples enter the valley every year for the trial; if there were truly some unsightly things raised inside, it shouldn’t have gone unnoticed. It seems that the ‘valley’ the sect master referred to might very well be the valley near the Sanqing Pool?”

“I’m not sure about that. But speaking of the valley near the Sanqing Pool, I do recall that I heard a cry for help when I was at the Sanqing Pool. At the time, it sounded distant and vague, almost inaudible. Now that I think about it, if the surrounding area is separated by a circle of mountains, and the person calling for help is in that nearby valley, it’s indeed possible that the sound of ‘help’ could be like that.”

“You just went to the Sanqing Pool a while ago, right? If someone was calling for help, it could be that some disciple stumbled in there. But I just heard Senior brother Qin He say that the last time a disciple went missing was a few months ago.”

Bai Ke said, “Qin He just mentioned that the area around the Sanqing Pool is a forbidden zone. You also said that it’s rumored that the path from the Sanqing Pool doesn’t lead through there, and other paths are also restricted and cannot be easily entered. So, how did those disciples who stumbled in manage to break the restrictions and find a way? If those paths aren’t restricted, then it’s even stranger. Clearly, everyone knows that entering there could lead to death, yet the Hengtian Sect hasn’t set up any restrictions to stop disciples from wandering in. What’s their reasoning?”

Lin Jie paused for a moment and followed up, “If it’s the former, the restrictions must have been set by someone of the elder or sect master level, and ordinary disciples would have almost no chance of breaking them. Even if they found some crooked methods to bypass them, it wouldn’t be possible for several odd talents to appear every once in a while. Therefore, those so-called ‘accidentally intruding’ disciples might not have stumbled in on their own, but rather out of passivity… If it’s the latter, the entrances to those places might be treacherously hidden but easy to break into it by mistake. Yet the sect hasn’t placed any restrictions for many years to prevent such situations, which means… it means…”

“It means the Hengtian Sect is doing it on purpose—there will be occasional accidents where someone stumbles into the forbidden zone, but it’s unlikely many people will accidentally intrude at once. This satisfies certain needs of theirs while ensuring they don’t lose too many disciples all at once, which would cause panic and chaos,” Bai Ke interjected.

After he finished speaking, both Bai Ke and Lin Jie fell into silence…

If their guesses were correct, then looking back at what they heard that day by the Ink-washing Pool: the things they were raising in the valley were meant to suppress the “ice soul” inside the Sanqing Pool periodically. Moreover, raising those things in the valley likely required not just spiritual energy or pills, but rather people—those disciples who had ventured into the dangerous forbidden areas.

This realization was terrifying to contemplate—like how the Hengtian Sect would recruit disciples every few years, or how Lin Jie’s sister had gone missing shortly after joining the sect…

Probably thinking of this, Lin Jie’s eyes suddenly turned red.

No wonder he had almost searched every corner of the Hengtian Sect he could access and still couldn’t find any trace of his sister. If she truly had been sacrificed to that valley, then not only would he be unable to find her alive, he might not even find her corpse.

Bai Ke patted his shoulder. Although he couldn’t see the subtle changes in Lin Jie’s expression, he could feel Lin Jie trembling slightly under his palm.

He recalled how Lin Jie had just said to Qin He that it was impossible for anyone to carelessly wander into those dangerous places; given his current mood, it might indeed be a possibility. However, after spending so many years in the Hengtian Sect, Lin Jie wouldn’t be foolish enough to recklessly throw himself into danger. With his current capabilities, to venture into a forbidden area would merely fulfill the Hengtian Sect’s intentions, adding more food to raise evil entities.

But understanding didn’t lessen the pain.

Even though he had considered the possibility that his sister might have encountered misfortune over the years, the lack of concrete clues had kept Lin Jie hopeful. However, at this moment, that hope was nearly shattered into fragments under reasonable speculation.

Lin Jie, usually somewhat carefree, fell into a deep silence from that point on. Bai Ke, not one to talk much himself, felt some sympathy for Lin Jie, and thus spoke even less. Meanwhile, Bai Zixu, who didn’t know what book he had been reading in the study, had become even more peculiar, zoning out for longer periods, occasionally snapping back to reality to spout a few disconnected words.

So, two days later, when Yu Xian returned to the secret realm, what he saw were three people silently gathered around a stone table, sipping plain tea and eating simple meals, each face devoid of expression, as if they were consuming offerings rather than food. Even Peanut sitting nearby appeared somewhat listless.

Yu Xian: “……”

How did they turn into this ghostly state after not seeing each other for just two days?!

 

Translator : DarNan