Chapter 24

Song Chaoyun, thinking he was graceful, bid farewell to the two. As soon as he left, Song Weizhi heard her little bunny muttering beside her, "Really annoying. Senior Sister said she only wants to team up with me, like a persistent plaster."

Hearing this, Song Weizhi couldn't help but chuckle. She raised an eyebrow at Song Zhixia, laughing, "My dear Xia Xia can also protect Senior Sister now? Fantastic! In that case, Senior Sister will rely on my Xia Xia when we enter the secret realm tomorrow."

The color on Song Zhixia's cheeks quickly deepened. She felt embarrassed and avoided looking at Song Weizhi, completely different from her attitude towards Song Chaoyun just now.

Somewhat shy, she tugged at Song Weizhi's sleeve and called softly, "Senior Sister~"

She hoped Song Weizhi wouldn't tease her anymore. Song Weizhi, looking at the shy Song Zhixia clinging to her, felt her heart melting and decided not to tease the little girl any further.

Song Chaoyun's face immediately changed as soon as he left Song Weizhi's courtyard, realizing that he had been rejected. He wore a gloomy expression, but soon a faint smile appeared on his face.

Early the next morning, many people gathered at the entrance to the Linlang Secret Realm on the back mountain. This included people from the Zhao and Tian families. Song Weizhi and Song Zhixia stood a bit away, observing that there were indeed many people heading to the secret realm.

Song Ruohai, Zhao Fei, and Tian Yuelan stood side by side. After instructing Tian Ming to count the number of people, Song Ruohai addressed the disciples, "I'm about to open the entrance to the Linlang Secret Realm. You all have three days to explore freely inside. I've been to the secret realm many times before, and there won't be major dangers. However, I hope you won't let your guard down. Any spiritual treasure or secret beasts you find inside will belong to each of you."

As soon as the disciples heard that they could keep what they found, discussions broke out. Song Ruohai looked amiable on the surface, but in his mind, he thought, "A bunch of fools. I'm just letting you go through the usual annual routine of entering for training. If there were really good spiritual treasures, I would have found them long ago, and it wouldn't be your turn."

"All right, it's getting late. Let's go in. I've placed a restriction inside the secret realm. Everyone will automatically appear here on the third day, so don't worry about being unable to leave the secret realm." Song Ruohai smiled and gestured for Tian Ming to use the key to open the secret realm.

With Song Ruohai's words, several disciples immediately flew into the opened door. It was clear they had been there many times and knew there were no real dangers in the secret realm, allowing them to enter confidently.

Song Weizhi completely ignored Song Chaoyun and Tian Junjie, who kept glancing at her and Song Zhixia. Turning to Song Zhixia, she said gently, "Xia Xia, let's go."

With that, Song Weizhi summoned her own Li Shuo Sword, and the two flew up, heading into the secret realm. Song Chaoyun and Tian Junjie also quickly rode their swords, intending to catch up with the sword of Song Weizhi. Even if they didn't team up, following Song Weizhi and the others would make it easier for them to get closer.

However, Song Weizhi didn't give them a chance. With her cultivation at the Golden Core realm, would she let two Qi Training cultivators catch up to her? After a few moments, Song Weizhi had no idea where she was. She only felt like she had entered the depths of the secret realm.

She held the Li Shuo Sword in one hand and held Song Zhixia's hand in the other. They arrived at a place with a lake next to it, surrounded by a forest. Song Weizhi used her spiritual qi to investigate and found no qi fluctuations in the surroundings. Was this Linlang Secret Realm meant for vacation?

Song Zhixia also felt puzzled. Wasn't the secret realm supposed to be full of danger? Why was everything so peaceful here?

With a somewhat confused look in her eyes, she looked at Song Weizhi and asked, "Senior Sister, is this the secret realm?"

Song Weizhi smiled and nodded, "Yes, it seems like we've come to a good place. Beautiful scenery and no disturbances from secret beasts. Let's just treat it as a vacation."

Seeing the smile on Song Weizhi's face, Song Zhixia couldn't help but feel happy as well. She couldn't explain why, but seeing Senior Sister happy made her happy too.

"There's no danger here. How about summoning the big tiger and the chicken to let them play together? It'll be good for them to get along," Song Weizhi suggested. She thought it would be better for her and Song Zhixia to be more familiar with the big tiger, so there would be less trouble in the future.

Song Weizhi thought and released the big tiger from her Soul. The big tiger hadn't been taken out for a long time, and as soon as it stood on the ground, it couldn't help but rub against Song Weizhi. Although the big tiger was not yet physical, it still pushed Song Weizhi back continuously. After all, few people could resist the coquetry of a tiger larger than an elephant.

Amused, Song Weizhi playfully rubbed the tiger's face, and the big tiger squinted its eyes, thoroughly enjoying the attention. Song Zhixia watched the big tiger with a pair of peach blossom eyes.

Song Weizhi laughed and pulled Song Zhixia in front of her, saying, "You should touch it too. It loves being rubbed by people."

She then rubbed the tiger's neck vigorously, and Song Zhixia, seeing that it behaved well, also started rubbing the big tiger. The lazy appearance of the big tiger now was completely different from the terrifying one that intimidated everyone that day.

Song Zhixia released her little chicken, which was still a bit dazed at first. It bumped into the thick legs of the big tiger like a pillar and, after hitting its chicken head, raised its chicken neck to look up. It then met the gaze of the big tiger, and the two, one tiger and one chicken, stared at each other wide-eyed.

When the clown chicken finally reacted, it was completely bewildered. It quickly ran into the legs of the big tiger and hid behind Song Zhixia. Seemingly interested in the clown chicken, the big tiger circled Song Zhixia, trying to use its big paws to touch the chicken. The two spiritual beasts started playing by the lake, and at first, the clown chicken ran away, looking to Song Zhixia for help. However, seeing that its master only watched and smiled, the clown chicken became desperate. If it couldn't rely on its master, it had to rely on itself.

However, the clown chicken had short legs and little strength. It didn't run far before lying down on the ground. It closed its eyes and pretended to be dead, hoping the big tiger would leave it alone.

But as soon as it closed its eyes, the clown chicken felt something scratching at it. At first, it scratched at the chicken's head, which the chicken endured. However, when it started scratching the chicken's bottom, the chicken, feeling humiliated, opened its eyes and screeched at the big tiger. The big tiger, feeling somewhat wronged, lay down. It just wanted to play with the clown chicken.

Seeing that the big tiger was somewhat afraid of itself, the clown chicken mustered up its courage and walked to the side of the big tiger. It pecked at the tiger's leg with its beak, and seeing that the big tiger didn't get angry, the clown chicken became bolder. It touched various places on the big tiger, and soon, the chicken and the tiger were playing together, amusing Song Weizhi and Song Zhixia, who were watching from the side.

However, this peaceful scene was soon disrupted. Song Weizhi keenly sensed spiritual fluctuations in the distance. "Xia Xia, put away the little chicken for now." The clown chicken was too small, and Song Weizhi was afraid she couldn't take care of it if there were any powerful beasts. Song Zhixia followed the suggestion.

Indeed, after a while, Song Weizhi saw several disciples, accompanied by a giant poisonous spider, moving towards the lake. It seemed that these disciples from the Song family couldn't handle the spider's attacks and kept retreating.

Song Weizhi glanced roughly at the situation and realized that these were just newly-entered inner disciples. No wonder they couldn't cope with such low-level spirit beasts.

Song Zhixia asked quietly at Song Weizhi's side, "Senior Sister, should we go help?"

Song Weizhi looked at Song Zhixia and thought that the little girl needed some exercise in the secret realm. So, she said, "Xia Xia, go help them. Be careful of the spider silk it spits out."

"Okay." Song Zhixia responded, taking out her spirit sword and flying over. She understood that in this world, strength was respected, and she couldn't always hide behind her Senior Sister.

Standing about a dozen meters away from the spider, Song Zhixia performed the fifth form of her Burning Sword technique, Flame Blaze. She pressed the tip of the sword against the ground, and flames erupted around the blade. Pushing the sword forward, a crack appeared on the ground, and the sword qi and flames rushed towards the spider. The spider, originally dealing with the inner disciples of the Song family, was unexpectedly hit by the sword qi sent by Song Zhixia.

A two-story building-sized spider quickly broke away from the other disciples and attacked Song Zhixia. Dodging the spider's leg attacks, Song Zhixia tried to fly over to the spider's head to deliver a fatal blow. However, she was entangled by the spider silk the moment she flew over.

The spider was strange-looking, unlike the ordinary ones. Its head was in the front, followed by its body. From above, the entire spider was covered in mouths, and the silk it spat covered everything. Song Zhixia, along with several other inner disciples, was tightly bound by the spider silk, unable to move. What's more disgusting was that the spider's body was constantly secreting a sticky liquid, which flowed towards Song Zhixia and the others along the spider silk.

At this moment, Song Zhixia, along with the other inner disciples, was wrapped like a mummy by the spider silk, with no gaps from head to toe. Although Song Zhixia couldn't see, she could feel the spider silk winding tighter, pulling her towards the spider.

Song Weizhi, sitting on a nearby tree, called the big tiger over when it wanted to help but called it back. This spider wasn't a particularly powerful beast, and she couldn't rush to Song Zhixia's aid for everything. She needed to let her become stronger on her own.

Song Zhixia, completely wrapped up, had calmed down at this moment. She activated her spiritual qi, and in the blink of an eye, flames ignited on the blade of her sword. The spider silk entwined around her was quickly burned, and Song Zhixia successfully freed herself. She soared into the air, and the flames on her sword continuously attacked the spider. At the same time, with a sword swing, the flaming sword qi rescued the disciples still trapped in the spider silk.

She mobilized all the spiritual qi within her body, and the spiritual qi inside her body circulated rapidly as if gone mad. The sword was infused with fire-based spiritual qi, and Song Zhixia rushed towards the large spider.

Although the large spider's body was bulky, its dozen or so legs were agile. It trapped Song Zhixia among its legs, forcing her to dodge the viscous substance spat out by the spider's mouth above. At the same time, she struggled against these spider legs. However, the legs were extremely tough, and slashing them with the sword qi was futile.

Fortunately, on the other side, five other inner disciples also recovered. They summoned their spiritual beasts to help, diverting the attention of the large spider. Taking advantage of the distraction, Song Zhixia managed to escape. She flew up and directed the various Burning Sword techniques towards the numerous mouths on the spider's body, rescuing the disciples entangled in spider silk. Soon, the surface of the spider ignited with a fierce fire, causing the spider to writhe in pain. It sprayed viscous fluid everywhere, and Song Zhixia dodged the attacks skillfully, enduring the disgust.

Now, other inner disciples who had just entered the inner sect, lacking even the foundational cultivation, were also in a panic. Song Zhixia, regaining her composure, mounted her sword and attacked the spider from above, aiming at the spider's eyes. She used her spiritual qi to avoid the spider's viscous attacks and contended with its legs. However, the spider legs were extremely hard, and the spirit sword couldn't sever them.

On the other side, several disciples also managed to recover. Among them were Xu Wenyuan and Liang Qin, who had watched Song Zhixia's competition that day. Xu Wenyuan crawled up from the ground after a short rest and went to thank Song Zhixia. Without her, they might not have fared well against the monstrous creature spewing viscous substances.

"Junior Sister Song, thank you so much for just now. If it weren't for you, we would have been in great danger," Xu Wenyuan expressed his gratitude sincerely.

"No need. Since we encountered it, helping each other out is only natural," Song Zhixia nodded lightly, exchanged greetings with them, and then ignored the large spider. She walked towards Song Weizhi's direction. After an instant, she appeared in front of Song Weizhi.

Song Zhixia, looking disheveled, had sweat still hanging on her forehead, and her clothes were burned in several places by the viscous fluid.

Seeing that Senior Sister Song Weizhi had arrived, the disciples were delighted and came forward to bow and greet her. Song Weizhi nodded in response, but her gaze remained on Song Zhixia. With a wave of her sleeve, she changed Song Zhixia's messy clothes and used a purification technique to clean the little girl.

Song Zhixia, no longer as decisive as when she had just fought the spider, gently said to Song Weizhi, "I defeated the spider."

"Yes, my Xia Xia is the best," Song Weizhi said, placing Song Zhixia's hand in her palm and squeezing it.

The two of them communicated intimately as if no one else were around, leaving the disciples somewhat awkward. Something felt off to them.

Finally, a brave disciple asked, "Senior Sister, can we handle this spider now?"

Song Weizhi and Song Zhixia then remembered the large spider that still needed to be dealt with.

"Senior Sister Song, we discussed it just now. Killing this spider is your credit, so the beast core will belong to you. As for the other parts of the spider, let's split them into seven shares, as there are seven of us," Liang Qin stepped forward and suggested. He acknowledged that Song Zhixia had contributed the most to killing the spider. The other inner disciples were reasonable people and naturally wanted to give the best parts of the spiritual beast to Song Zhixia.

Song Weizhi smiled, "Split the rest into six shares. I didn't do anything; you guys killed the spider. Well, hurry up and deal with it. Don't attract other beasts."

Xu Wenyuan and the others immediately got to work. Although the spider looked somewhat disgusting, most of its body was wrapped in viscous fluid, and there were countless mouths all over, making it scalp-numbing at a glance. However, this kind of spider had medicinal value. Its tough legs could be used to make protective gear, and even the viscous fluid had its uses. Even if they didn't need it, selling it in the market could fetch a good amount of spirit stones.