“I’m already at the Qi Refining Sixth Level. I’m not afraid of First-grade Yao Beasts at all, and I can even fight Second-grade Yao Beasts. Even if I encounter a stronger Second-grade Yao Beast, or a Third-grade Yao Beast… can’t I just run? I’ve already learned the Qingyun Step.”
The Grand Elder sighed.
“You can run for a while, but can you run for a lifetime? You’ve truly never encountered a dangerous situation. The last time in the back mountains was just a minor crisis. When it truly comes down to life and death, you won’t be able to run away!”
An Chen lowered his head, silent.
He knew the Grand Elder wouldn’t agree.
But he still had to try.
“But I always need to gain experience. Cultivating all day in the Gathering Spirit Array only elevates my Realm in vain. If this continues, I’ll only have a high Realm with no practical combat experience. Grand Elder, to be honest with you, I had this feeling during my time in the Pagoda of Spiritual Connection.”
Initially, An Chen truly felt that his combat experience was lacking. Even when dealing with enemies of a lower Realm than his own, he occasionally made mistakes.
“What you’re saying is not wrong, but…”
“If I miss this Qingfeng Secret Realm, I’ll have to wait three years. But by then, I might already be at Spirit Nurturing. I won’t be able to enjoy the benefits of our own home. And if I miss this one, what about other Secret Realms in the future? Will I also miss them due to a moment of timidity?”
An Chen didn’t wait for the Grand Elder to finish speaking and continued to press his point.
“If you miss it, you miss it… There’s not only this one Secret Realm. In the future, the Grand Elder will take you…”
“Grand Elder, one wrong step leads to many wrong steps. If I miss this Opportunity, who knows how many more I’ll miss in the future? Cultivation emphasizes wealth, companions, methods, and land, but it emphasizes Opportunity even more. But right now, aren’t I just handing over all the Opportunities that could be mine to others?”
“This…”
The Grand Elder was speechless.
An Chen knew that the Grand Elder’s mind was naturally slow, and sometimes he had to think hard when asked too many things. That’s why he launched into such a rapid-fire series of questions.
The Grand Elder scratched his head, feeling something was odd but couldn’t pinpoint what. And he felt that what An Chen said made a lot of sense.
But similarly, he couldn’t articulate why it made sense.
“So, Grand Elder, if I seize this Opportunity, won’t I also seize other Opportunities in the future?”
“Makes sense…”
“So, should I enter the Secret Realm?”
“You should…”
“You said that!”
It wasn’t until he heard this sentence that the Grand Elder suddenly reacted.
“Wait, wait, wait! How did I agree? I didn’t…”
“Grand Elder, you’re already so formidable, you wouldn’t go back on your word, would you?”
An Chen smiled, tilting his head as he asked.
The Grand Elder’s expression hardened, his face turning bitter. At this moment, he felt An Chen’s smile was incredibly cunning.
An Chen always gave him the feeling of an old fox.
No, no, a little fox.
An Chen wasn’t even a fraction of his age!
The Grand Elder finally sighed again, nodding heavily.
“Alright then, a Junzi’s word is his bond!”
“Grand Elder, you know idioms?”
“Who are you looking down on?!”
The Grand Elder puffed out his beard.
“At that time, I’ll instruct the other Disciples within the sect to look for you after entering the Secret Realm. Let them protect you. Following the main group should keep you safe. You’re right, this is indeed an Opportunity for experience. Go and follow your Senior Brothers and Senior Sisters, and learn how to explore a Secret Realm!”
The operation process was simple: secretly assign a task to those with higher Realms and strength, asking them to search for and protect An Chen in the Secret Realm. They could use things like memory stones to leave evidence inside the Secret Realm, and then they would receive a reward upon coming out.
“Thank you, Grand Elder!”
An Chen was delighted, cupping his hands and bowing deeply.
“That’s enough, that’s enough.”
The Grand Elder waved his hand, making a shooing gesture.
“Hurry up and finish your meal. You’ve been inside for so many days, only eating that flatbread that’s been in your qiankun bag for who knows how long. You must be starving, right?”
An Chen could tell the Grand Elder didn’t want to discuss the topic anymore, so he stopped talking.
An Chen was indeed hungry.
Over the past few days, he had finished all the flatbread in his qiankun bag, and his stomach was truly empty when he was clearing those last few levels.
Fortunately, the Grand Elder had ordered a large table of dishes. Although the flavor wasn’t comparable to Earth’s, it was still a table full of hearty dishes, with fish and meat, all things An Chen couldn’t afford before.
An Chen ate with extra relish.
He quickly finished the large table of dishes, while the Grand Elder held a pot of wine, eating and drinking beside him.
Compared to An Chen, he ate quite elegantly.
An Chen looked at the wine pot in the Grand Elder’s hand, swallowed, and reached out.
“What do you want? This is wine!”
“I’m thirsty.”
“If you’re thirsty, go drink water!”
An Chen licked the corner of his mouth.
“I’ve never had it before, I want to try it.”
An Chen had never drunk alcohol.
But he often saw others drinking. The big bosses at construction sites would drink at gatherings, and his co-workers would also have a little after work. But An Chen never understood what was so good about alcoholic beverages.
“Go, go, go!”
The Grand Elder waved his hand again, trying to shoo An Chen away, but An Chen just looked at him with such earnest eyes that the Grand Elder felt a little unnerved.
“Alright, alright, I’ll let you have one sip, just one, okay!”
He brought over a wine glass, filled it with wine, and pushed it in front of An Chen, saying with a smile:
“Come on, drink.”
Actually, he also wanted to see what An Chen looked like when he choked on alcohol.
An Chen picked up the glass, sniffed it lightly, but besides the smell of alcohol and a faint fragrance, there was no other scent.
An Chen imitated how he had seen others drink before, tilted his head back, and poured all the liquid into his mouth. In an instant, the pungent taste filled his mouth.
An Chen forced the liquid down his throat, but then the burning sensation in his esophagus and stomach made him gasp and cough.
The Grand Elder chuckled twice.
“How is it? Is it good?”
“It’s not good.”
An Chen shook his head.
“I still don’t understand why so many people like to drink alcohol when it tastes so bad.”
When he worked at the internet cafe, he would see people getting completely drunk, yelling loudly in the streets, or being carried into taxis.
He also heard of people who would crave alcohol so much they had to drink until their faces were red and their heads were spinning.
He didn’t understand, what was the point of drinking this stuff?
Several kilograms of grain were eventually brewed into one bottle of wine, which to An Chen was a complete waste.
An Chen even felt that people who drank were actually suffering from some kind of pica, otherwise he couldn’t explain why they would pour substances harmful to living organisms into their mouths, and in large quantities at that.