Chapter 147 – Return
However, this Flying Head was also something that belonged to Shi Chuan, so he could not casually reveal it in front of people after leaving.
Liu Ming thought like this, before using his consciousness to communicate with the Flying Head. He gave a few simple instructions and slapped the leather pouch on his waist with one hand.
A ray of black light immediately shot out, which sucked the Flying Head in.
Although the Cultivating Soul Pouch was specially made to hold ghosts under normal situations, it could hold the Flying Head inside temporarily.
This matter would be easily handled after he left and found a special pouch made specifically for cultivating demons.
Liu Ming continued to rest in the tree hole for a little longer. After feeling that his body had no other problems, he stood up without any hesitation and walked out.
There were only a few days left until the deadline where the secret realm would close, so he did not dare to waste any time and climbed up the tree with his body as light as a feather. He then shot off into the distance like a crossbow bolt.
As he did not need to pay attention to any Spirit Objects while he returned, his speed was naturally completely different than before.
Of course, in order to pay attention to potential ambushes, he naturally did not put everything into traveling.
Like this, he only spent around a day’s worth of time crossing a large portion of the forest. There were actually no problems at all during the journey and matters such as people ambushing or obstructing never occurred.
At first, Liu Ming thought it was a little weird, but after thinking carefully, he understood this situation.
It was very different now compared to the past two days. Seeing that the deadline was approaching, perhaps eighty-to-ninety-percent of all the remaining disciples had already gathered near the entrance of the secret realm.
Under normal circumstances, there would not be any more people ambushing him.
What he did not know was how the situation was over there. Would the disciples of different sects fight against each other or maintain peace and balance with fear?
When Liu Ming was thinking about this, there was sudden, huge rumble from a certain area. It was as if there was something huge currently approaching very fast.
Liu Ming was slightly startled and naturally stopped on a tree branch. He looked in the direction where the sound came from with his eyes squinted.
He watched as a big tree on that side was suddenly pushed over, and from behind it a huge, black ape puppet thirty feet tall rushed out from behind it. After a few movements, it suddenly stopped below the big tree Liu Ming was on.
Afterward, there was a sound of surprise that came from within the body of the huge ape!
“Junior Bai, it’s you, it is such a coincidence!”
“So it is Brother Tie!” Liu Ming looked at the huge puppet that was somewhat familiar and suddenly replied with a laugh.
At this moment, the belly of the giant ape puppet suddenly revealed a square window with a flash, and a round, male face appeared from within.
It was that Nine Enlightenment Sect disciple, Tie Yue, that Liu Ming had met first on the day he entered the center area of the secret realm.
“Haha, I just knew that with Junior Bai’s intellect, nothing would go wrong for you in the center area of the secret realm. You are indeed safe and sound. Seeing that Junior Bai has also decided to go to the exit, why don’t we travel together? Who knows, perhaps if something happens in the next part of the journey, we will be able to help each other a little.” Tie Yue suddenly focused his attention and spoke.
“Okay! Since our sects have already formed an alliance, traveling together is naturally safer.” Only with a quick thought, Liu Ming agreed with a sentence without any hesitation.
“Fantastic. Since I have Junior Bai as company, I do not need to always hide in the body of this big fellow to travel.” Hearing what was said, the round-faced young man was extremely happy, and immediately opened a tunnel in the belly of the puppet with some unknown action and slid out from within.
“What? Did Brother Tie always use this puppet to travel before?” Hearing what was said, Liu Ming could not help but be slightly startled.
It must be known that even though Liu Ming had not learned any Puppet Techniques before, he still knew that always controlling a puppet would constantly consume Fa Li and mental strength, let alone controlling this huge puppet.
“It indeed was like that. Ever since I was ambushed by a disciple from the Hall of Blood in the forest, I could only feel slightly safer when I am inside this guy. However, this fellow is too cumbersome and after traveling for this long, I almost cannot stand it anymore.” Tie Yue sighed and spoke with an expression of helplessness.
“So it is like this. Looking at the power of Brother Tie’s mental strength, perhaps you are ranked among the best in your generation at your sect.”
“Hehe, I only have my current mental strength due to a few fortuitous encounters in the past. However, if we talk about ranks, I am only third in the Spirit Apostles at the Nine Enlightenment Sect.
“Third? Then the people in front are…” Hearing what was said, Liu Ming was somewhat moved.
Liu Ming had the talent of doing two things at the same time, so his mental strength was naturally almost twice as strong as a normal Spirit Apostle’s. However, if compared to the other person beside him, perhaps it was not as strong. And now he was hearing that there were actually two other people from the Nine Enlightenment Sect that had a mental strength above him, it naturally caused Liu Ming to shiver at heart.
“One of the two naturally is Senior Yun. When Senior Yun chose his Cultivation Method years ago, other than his main Cultivation Method, he also cultivated a high level method from our sect that could increase Mental Strength at the same time. Every time a layer is cultivated successfully, it greatly increases Mental Strength. However, the pity is that the conditions to cultivate it are extremely harsh. Out of all the people in our sect, there are only perhaps two or three people that fit the conditions to cultivate it. As for the other person, his status is a little special, so I cannot tell you.” Tie Yue explained both of them.
“I have met Senior Yun in the center of the secret realm. However, I could not tell that his mental strength was also that strong.” Liu Ming knit his brows slightly.
“Senior Yun prefers Body Cultivation techniques. Any person that sees the way he fights will subconsciously neglect the power of his Mental Strength.” Tie Yue replied with a smile.
“So it is like that.” Liu Ming nodded, and obviously believed his explanation.
At this moment, Tie Yue formed a hand sign with one hand and the huge ape puppet transform into a black round ball before it was put away. Afterward, he released a graceful looking praying mantis puppet and sat on it with a sway.
Looking at the familiar looking praying mantis puppet a few times, Liu Ming spoke with Tie Yue a few more times, before continuing along the journey.
Liu Ming remained in the trees and advanced by leaping around like a ghost while Tie Yue sprinted across the ground.
……
A day later, in the underground cavern outside the secret realm, six Crystal Level Cultivators continued to sit on the stone pillars, all silently powering the items in front of them that maintained the stability of the secret realm entrance.
However, a few dozen or so Liquid Level echelons of each sect were slightly nervous and looked toward the slightly flickering ball of white light, floating in mid-air, from time to time.
Calculating the time, today was about the final day of the established deadline. However, until now, no disciples had come out, naturally causing a large portion of the people in the cavern to be unsettled.
After another while, the white ball of light that originally seemed calm suddenly began to flash crazily, and at the same time, a vague, oppressed rumbling sound could be heard from within.
“Someone is coming out!” Someone spoke with joy and all of the glances of the people shifted with a “shua” sound. They all stared at the white ball of light without wavering.
A few crystal level experts who were originally close-eyed immediately opened their eyes.
A five-colored light shot out and the shadows of six people appeared nearby at the same time.
With everybody’s gaze sweeping across, they realized that the six people were the disciples that had entered the secret realm before. It seemed that there was also one person from each sect.
All of the people could not help but begin changing expressions.
“Huiniang, what has happened? Did all the people gather on the other side? Around how many are there?” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader could not help but take a step forward and hurriedly ask a female in the group.
“Sect Leader Martial Uncle, all the people have indeed gathered together. There are still around twenty-five to twenty-six people.” Qian Huiniang hurriedly bowed and replied.
“Twenty or so people, it looks like there is only a small half of people that survived. This is a natural secret realm, how can there still be so many people that have fallen.” Hearing what was said, the Sect Leader of the Firestorm Way could not help but change slightly in expression.
“This secret realm does not seem to be a totally natural secret realm. Inside, we suffered from a few accidents.” Qian Huiniang paused a little, before replying honestly.
“Accident?”
These words caused the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader and the other people to knit their brows slightly.
However, in the next moment, the high echelons of the other sects, straightforwardly called all their disciples to them and asked a few concerning questions to their respective disciples.
The results were naturally good and bad.
When the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader learned about the matter that Lei Zhen, Feng Chan, and some other people were missing, his expression naturally became a little gloomy. However, after hearing that Gao Chong was alright and that half of the people had survived, his expression became slightly happy again.
At this moment, the white ball of light that was mid-air began rumbling again. Surprisingly, there were other disciples that were sent through again.
When Liu Ming opened his eyes and became clear-headed again through the dizziness, he discovered that he once again appeared in the huge cavern where he had started off.
As for the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader and the other high echelons of each sect, they all gathered in front to receive the incoming disciples of each sect. At the same time, they had extremely serious expressions.
Liu Ming hesitated a little, before walking toward the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader with big steps.
Two days ago, when Tie Yue and he had arrived near the entrance of the secret realm, the situation there was actually peaceful beyond their expectations.
The disciples of a few sects had actually arrived a day or two earlier and all gathered and banded together, all stationed close to the entrance of the secret realm at the same time.
With this, under the fear of the disciples of each sect, they had made it so that no one could fight near the entrance, otherwise everybody else would attack together to maintain the temporary peace.
Just like this, Liu Ming and Tie Yue returned to their own people with great ease and after waiting for the final day, when no one else arrived, everyone decided to send a single disciple from each sect back at the same time just like at the start.
The whole process was actually abnormally smooth, without any problems at all.
At this moment, after walking out, Liu Ming bowed individually to the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader and Spirit Master Zhang before respectfully standing to one side.
On the side, Yang Qian, Qian Huiniang were already standing there.
“Very good, you have done well. For you to be able to return from the secret realm safely already can be considered as doing great merit for our sect. This time, our sect has five people that have survived and should be stronger than the other sects by a lot.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader nodded at Liu Ming before revealing a smile and speaking to everybody.