Today was the day the Demon Clan’s secret realm would open.

The secret realm was located three hundred miles north of Tianxing City.

Following the Lin family’s group on the journey, Lin Mo learned quite a few things from Lin Qingqing along the way.

Aside from the Lin family, the Nangong family, Xia family, Jiang family, and Zhu family would also be participating.

The secret realm only allowed a hundred people to enter, with each family allotted twenty spots.

Due to the extreme dangers within the secret realm, only those in the Foundation Establishment stage or higher were allowed to participate from the Lin family.

As originally planned, the leader of the team was Lin Zijian, a cultivator at the early Golden Core stage.

The group set out before dawn and arrived at the entrance of the secret realm around midday.

Besides the Lin family, the Jiang family and the Nangong family had also arrived.

When enemies meet, emotions run high.

Seeing Lin Mo, Nangong Xu immediately stepped forward to provoke him. “The secret realm isn’t so easy to navigate. I hope you watch your step inside—wouldn’t want you to ‘accidentally trip and fall.’”

Lin Mo had no patience for this hypocrite and responded coldly, “Scram.”

Nangong Xu suppressed his anger. Now wasn’t the time for a direct confrontation. With a cold snort, he decided that once inside the secret realm, he would make sure to tear Lin Mo to pieces.

In his view, Lin Mo was merely a dual-spirit root cultivator at best, capable of forming a sixth-grade Golden Core.

Meanwhile, he himself was already at the mid-Golden Core stage, had formed a seventh-grade core, cultivated an Earth-tier top-grade technique from Xuanming Hall, and carried numerous protective artifacts given by his master.

Inside the secret realm, killing Lin Mo would be effortless.

Jiang Yanran did not approach but observed Lin Mo coldly from a distance.

Originally, she had planned to compensate him and leave things at that, never interfering with each other again. But after Lin Mo publicly humiliated her a few days ago, their relationship had completely soured.

A white-clothed young woman, seeing through Jiang Yanran’s thoughts, quietly reminded her, “Don’t forget, Master sent me to accompany you so that you could gain the greatest benefits from this secret realm. Don’t let a moment of impulse distract you from your goal.”

Jiang Yanran withdrew her thoughts and respectfully replied, “Yes, Senior Sister.”

The white-clothed woman was, in fact, a clone of Gu Qianxue, the Palace Master of the Ice Palace.

Knowing the requirements of the secret realm, she had specifically set this clone’s age at twenty-three.

At this age, she was at the peak of the Golden Core stage, while her true body was at the Unity stage.

Even though this clone was only at the peak of the Golden Core stage, it was still capable of easily slaying Nascent Soul or even Soul Formation-level demon beasts.

Of course, she had not revealed this to Jiang Yanran, merely stating that this was her senior sister.

This was why Lin Mo instinctively felt a sense of danger and an odd discrepancy when looking at her.

As time passed, the Xia family also arrived.

“Xia Xia, it’s Senior Brother!” Qu Ruyan pointed at Lin Mo excitedly.

Hearing that familiar voice, Lin Mo’s body stiffened.

The next moment, he saw Qu Ruyan bounding toward him, pressing her cheek against the back of his hand and rubbing against it affectionately. “Senior Brother, I missed you so much!”

The surrounding people were all stunned by this action.

Lin Qingqing was dumbfounded. “Uncle Lin Mo, who is this?”

“She’s my junior sister,” Lin Mo replied.

At the same time, he gently pushed Qu Ruyan’s face away. “What are you doing here?”

He really had no idea what was going on in this girl’s head—why was she rubbing her face against his hand?

Qu Ruyan explained, “I came with Xia Xia.”

Lin Mo looked toward the Xia family’s group and, sure enough, spotted Xia He among them.

Seeing him look over, Xia He approached in surprise. “Senior Brother, so you’re from the Lin family…”

Lin Mo gave a flat response, “Mm.”

Compared to Shen Ke’er, he found Xia He slightly more tolerable to talk to.

And if words didn’t work, there was always the palm.

“You’re bringing Qu Ruyan into the secret realm?” he asked.

Xia He shook her head. “I returned home this time, and Ruyan secretly followed me. I didn’t even know about it…”

Qu Ruyan pouted. “The sect is boring! I went to Qingzhu Peak to find Senior Brother, but you weren’t there. When I saw Xia Xia leaving, I just followed her.”

Then, she perked up again. “I didn’t expect to run into you here, Senior Brother!”

Lin Mo frowned. “Did you inform your master?”

“Ah, was I supposed to?” Qu Ruyan blinked, looking genuinely surprised.

Lin Mo rubbed his forehead. In Qu Ruyan’s eyes, he saw a certain untainted-by-knowledge glow—in simpler terms, sheer stupidity.

“Senior Brother, I want more candy.”

No matter how absurd she was, Lin Mo simply couldn’t bring himself to get mad at her.

Spending 200 regret points, he randomly drew another pack of candy from the system and tossed it to Qu Ruyan before instructing, “Once we enter the secret realm, follow the Lin family’s group and head back first.”

He didn’t feel at ease letting this girl return to the sect alone.

Once the secret realm expedition was over, it would be better if he personally escorted her back.

That was Lin Mo’s plan.

Meanwhile, Nangong Xu frowned upon seeing Lin Mo’s close relations with the Xia family.

If Lin Mo received help from the Xia family inside the secret realm, dealing with him wouldn’t be as easy.

The man leading the Xia family’s team urged Xia He to return.

“Senior Brother, I’m heading back now,” she said, greeting him before returning to her group. After a brief conversation with the team leader, the man gave Lin Mo a deep, assessing look.

The five great noble families—four had now arrived.

Only the Zhu family had yet to show up.

As the time for the secret realm’s opening drew near, impatience spread among the waiting cultivators.

Just as irritation began to settle in, a dozen figures streaked through the sky, rapidly approaching.

The leading woman descended gracefully on her sword, landing before the crowd with a calm expression. “Apologies for keeping you all waiting.”

At the sight of Zhu Shiyao, the previous frustration among the crowd instantly vanished. No one dared to show even a hint of displeasure, forcing smiles instead.

This was not someone they could afford to offend.

Years ago, Zhu Shiyao had made a habit of visiting each noble family to challenge their young geniuses to duels.

With her innate Sword Embryo Physique, she had utterly crushed the top talents of every noble house, leaving them battered and miserable.

Every single one of these so-called “geniuses” had been beaten by her at some point.

They had initially thought that things would improve once they entered the Golden Core stage.

But reality was cruel—Zhu Shiyao had formed an eighth-grade Golden Core.

Where they had once been able to at least put up a fight, now they were nothing more than her punching bags.

To make matters worse, not long after reaching the Golden Core stage, Zhu Shiyao had challenged Nascent Soul-stage geniuses—and had held her ground.

At this point, the younger generation in the cultivation world unanimously agreed that Zhu Shiyao was the number one person not to mess with.

In their hearts, she was nothing less than a demon in human skin.

The prominent figures among the younger generation were well aware that, despite her graceful and refined demeanor, the moment a fight broke out, she became utterly terrifying.

Even Jiang Yanran instinctively lowered her head upon seeing Zhu Shiyao.

Although Jiang Yanran was considered one of the rare prodigies of her generation, compared to Zhu Shiyao, she was severely lacking.

She had suffered more than her fair share of beatings from Zhu Shiyao after forming her Golden Core.

Not only was her Golden Core inferior by one grade, but Zhu Shiyao possessed a mutated Ice Spirit Root, a top-tier variation of the Heavenly Spiritual Roots.

Moreover, she had a physique dedicated to the way of the sword.

With such monstrous talent, Jiang Yanran had nothing to be proud of in comparison.

To make matters worse, Zhu Shiyao’s looks were just as stunning as her own.

As everyone subtly lowered their gazes, trying to avoid making eye contact with Zhu Shiyao, a bright, enthusiastic voice suddenly rang out:

“Daoist Lin, you’re here too!”