Chapter 363: Chapter 80: There Must Be an Exit in the Secret Realm
A month later.
The little fox waved her lantern, and numerous glaze lights burst forth, rushing towards the distant tide like a curtain of pearls unrolling.
“Your attack motion is too obvious.” Long Long instructed, “Try to hide the lantern at your side as much as possible, and when you activate it, there is no need to intentionally shake it, a slight movement will do.”
“But.” Long Hu hesitated before finally saying, “It looks very pretty when I wave it.”
“Are people fighting with you to see if you look good or not?” Long Long said with an expressionless face, “They are here to kill you!”
Scared, Long Hu whimpered a few times, unable to speak.
“Try again.” Long Long said indifferently.
In terms of combat experience, Long Hu undoubtedly ranked at the very bottom among the female friends Long Long knew.
Not to mention Senior Sister An with her rich battle experience or Jiang the Witch with her myriad schemes, let alone Junior Sister Xu who practiced diligently, even Miss Shi could smash people with a magical treasure (and quite proficiently at that), only the little fox still foolishly remained in the “must look cool” and “must look nice” realm, wishing to show off the light and shadow of her magical treasure to cultivators hundreds of miles around whenever she activated it.
Training! She must be trained properly!
Of course, another reason was that, aside from training Long Hu, there was not much else to do here.
As the documents in the secret chamber had revealed, the place where the Fusang Divine Tree was located was actually a secret realm.
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A secret realm is an independent space separate from the outside world that can only be entered and exited through special channels.
Unfortunately, the teleportation array that had transported the two from the Fire Element Cave here did not have a method to open the way back.
Of course, even if it were a two-way channel, Long Long would not consider returning the same way.
Considering the ruckus that the activation of the formation had caused, Long Long seriously suspected that if he once again appeared before the Golden Crow Clan, he would most likely receive an extremely grand and enthusiastic welcome.
Therefore, it was essential to find another passage that could lead out of the Fusang Secret Realm.
Long Long had already explored the entire perimeter of the secret realm with Long Hu.
The secret realm appeared to be an isolated island in a vast sea, but in fact, both the sea and the sky were bounded by transparent barriers that could not be penetrated.
And there was no obvious exit.
Long Long considered a very unpleasant possibility, that perhaps the Golden Crow Clan had been forced to completely seal the Fusang Secret Realm due to an invasion by foreign enemies, cutting it off from the outside world and then evacuating everyone through the formation to avoid being trapped to death in this secret realm.
This would also explain why the teleportation array and arch in the depths of the Fire Element Cave were not only abandoned but also deeply buried in the layers of rock… indicating that the Golden Crow Clan’s ancestors did not intend for their descendants to open this secret realm.
In that case, the situation for the two of them was extremely dire, as the Fusang Secret Realm might no longer have any means of exit.
However, after careful consideration, Long Long thought this possibility was not very likely.
Because according to the records, the Fusang Divine Tree’s secret realm, as a sacred location for the ancestors of the Golden Crow Clan, held a very lofty status.
Long Long did not believe that the crows would be willing to seal off the secret realm completely… There must be a way left open for free entry and exit.
Therefore, by day he focused on training Long Hu, cultivating her combat abilities, and by night he took Long Hu to run around searching for any suspicious clues around the secret realm.
“Long Long, I don’t think the exit is likely to be in the sky.” After they finished their magical competition training and had circled the edge of the sky with sword control for several rounds, Long Hu finally spoke up.
“If I were the Feathered Clan, I would definitely set the exit in the clear view of the sky.” Long Long said in a grave voice, “That way, I could detect invading enemies at first notice, and it would also be convenient to organize manpower for a counterattack.”
“But,” Long Hu retorted, “we have been searching the skies for a long time now.”
“If the secret realm’s exit is set up here, there should be some signs, right?”
“Why don’t you take out the Golden Crow True Fire Fan and have another fan?” Long Long suddenly suggested.
“Long Long, how could the entrance and exit of a secret realm possibly be controlled by the Golden Crow True Fire Fan?” Long Hu earnestly argued, “Otherwise, every time a member of the Golden Crow Clan needed to leave, they would have to report to the clan leader first and request the Golden Crow True Fire Fan to open the secret realm’s exit. How troublesome would that be!”
“You do have a point,” Long Long pondered for a moment and then nodded, “So where do you think the exit could be?”
“First, beneath the surface of the sea,” Long Hu said in a childish tone. “Second, under the Fusang Divine Tree.”
“Oh, why?” Long Long finally became interested.
“If it’s under the sea, it might connect to the seabed of the outside world,” Long Hu analyzed, “And visibility is lower at the seabed compared to the sky, so it’s relatively easier to hide the entrance to the secret realm, right?”
“But you’re forgetting one thing,” Long Long added, “The Scaled Clan of the East Sea, especially the Azure Dragon Clan, are accustomed to living in the water.”
“If the entrance to the secret realm is at the seabed rather than in the sky, the likelihood of it being found by the Dragon Clan greatly increases.”
Having said this, he brought Long Hu back to the base of the Fusang Divine Tree with a swoop of the Sword Light and started to pretend to search the area, but in his mind, he said:
“Ah Jing, help me scan deep underground to see if there are any hidden chambers we haven’t visited.”
“Alright,” the Kunlun Mirror agreed.
After nearly an hour, Long Long and Long Hu were tired of searching and caught a few eels in the nearby sea.
After Long Long cleaned them, he put them on a stone slab to roast.
“Found it,” the Kunlun Mirror suddenly announced, “Around a hundred and twenty zhang deep underground, there indeed is a chamber, and there are secret spatial fluctuations inside.”
“Excellent!” Long Long immediately got excited, “That’s my Ah Jing! So, this chamber… how do we get in?”
“I’ve checked it out, there’s only one narrow vertical passage leading to that place. Its entrance is right above the tree canopy.”
“Right above?” Long Long thought for a moment, then stood up, “Let’s go, Long Hu.”
“Ah?” The little fox was drooling over the eels on the stone slab. Upon hearing this, she promptly lifted her head, “But the eels aren’t ready yet…”
“Let’s go!” Without further ado, Long Long swept her up in the Sword Light of the Dragon Chant Sword.
“Wuu wuu wuu, my eels, my eels…” Long Hu couldn’t resist at all, and could only shed tears outside the Immortal Sword as Long Long dragged her into the high sky to the top of the Fusang Divine Tree.
This was the most lush part of the Divine Tree; as far as the eye could see, there were no buildings, only dense leaves and branches.
Long Long tried to cut through with the Flying Sword, only to find that he couldn’t even split these branches; the wood of the Fusang Divine Tree was indeed exceptionally hard.
Following the guidance of the Kunlun Mirror, he and Long Hu zigzagged through the canopy. Many places were completely blocked by crisscrossing branches, leaving only gaps a bird could pass through.
The two had to revert to their original forms, a Water Viper and a fox, to barely squeeze through the gaps—Long Long, being a snake, naturally had no problem, and though Long Hu was larger, her body was incredibly flexible, almost like a liquid, so slipping through the gaps was no trouble at all.
If a member of the Horned Clan were here, they probably would indeed be trapped to death in the secret realm.
After passing through layers of leaves, they finally arrived at a slightly larger branch, where they saw an eight-foot-tall hole in the main trunk of the Fusang Divine Tree.
Looking down from the edge of the hole, they could see stairways as thin as branches winding down into deep darkness.