My best friend asked me if I was still doing system tasks.

Luo Hanying sighed and scratched her head: "Chacha, don't you feel a little uncomfortable? I feel so tired trying to breathe."

She stood up and took a few steps, ["My body feels so heavy."]

Ruan Chayan took a deep breath and tried to feel it: "Now that you mention it, it's a bit like that."

"Xiange, what's wrong with us? Have we been working non-stop for too long? Shouldn't we get some sleep?"

They were traveling day and night, hoping to try their luck in the secret realm and see if they could get close to the requirements of the side quest, so they rarely slept;

Later, when they met Lin Zhuzui and his two companions, they traveled day and night without rest. Upon arriving at the Shijing Cave, they climbed up and down searching for clues. It seems they really should take a break and recover their energy.

Xian Ge said irritably, "Sleep? What do you mean, 'sleep'?! Are you stupid?! You cultivators don't need to sleep at all!"

I'm warning you two, you can't fall asleep. If you fall asleep in this illusion, you'll lose consciousness and your soul will fall into a deep sleep, which will only hasten your death.

The formation you are in is drawing spiritual energy from your bodies, which is why you feel unwell.

Hmm…

The stringed instrument let out a breathy sound, stopping its conversation.

Luo Hanying was waiting for Xiange to continue speaking, but it remained silent.

Ruan Chayan asked curiously, "You didn't finish your sentence, did you?"

Xian Ge scratched his head: "I'm done talking."

"Oh dear, the more you know, the faster you die. You have to discover secrets for yourselves, not wait for others to tell you."

Ruan Chayan pondered for a moment, then said, "Let me guess..."

【“What are you going to guess again?”】Xiange was a little speechless. It wasn’t that she didn’t want them to guess, but their guesses were always just a little off, which made her anxious.

Ruan Chayan said seriously, "This time I'm guessing based on solid reasoning."

Xiange swallowed the words "When have you ever not said that?" and listened attentively to Ruan Chayan's new round of nonsense.

Ruan Chayan rubbed her fingers together, picked up some pebbles and scribbled them on the ground, trying to organize her thoughts: "Let's start from the beginning."

Lu Xizhou and the others said that over the past twenty years, a large number of disciples of the Shiren Sect died one after another in the six months after they lost contact.

The news brought by the death of the disciple of that elder of Daodao Peak was that they had been captured by demonic or evil cultivators to practice evil arts.

However, Sheng Meixu did not find any demonic energy at the entrance of the crystal cave. During our subsequent exploration, he did use magical artifacts to detect demonic energy, but found no trace of it.

Luo Hanying listened quietly and then guessed, "That means that even if we don't know whether the formation here is related to demonic cultivators or not, at least it wasn't set up by them."

Ruan Chayan responded and continued: "As for the evil cultivators, I don't know anything about them. I don't know how they cultivate, or whether they have any magical artifacts that can detect their presence."

I'll just make a bold guess: this formation has nothing to do with evil cultivators.

I don't know how that cultivator disappeared ten years ago; maybe he encountered the same formation as us.

I remember the male cultivator who was with Zhou Shuxiang saying that they had stayed in the secret realm for nine years.

That means they must have been in the Incense-Inviting Secret Realm nine years ago.

The artifact cultivator who disappeared in the Stone Crystal Cave disappeared nine years ago after the opening of the Invitation Fragrance Secret Realm and died three to four months later.

Let me guess again, is it possible that Zhou Shuxiang and the others have been setting up such an array in the Incense-Inviting Secret Realm, and that the artifact cultivator died because of them?

It is precisely because they set up such formations in places frequented by cultivators that cultivators exploring the secret realm will face such dangers no matter where they go.

That's why when Xiaoxue and I asked each other which direction we should go, you said it didn't matter.

Because no matter where we go, we will step into such a formation and encounter such danger.

Luo Hanying exclaimed in amazement, expressing her admiration for Ruan Chayan's ingenuity.

Ruan Chayan was in a heavy mood, and what she said next was just baseless speculation: "The question now is, why did they do this, and what is their purpose in doing it?"

The images of the disciples of the Wendao Peak elders before their deaths prove that those people were definitely not righteous cultivators, and that this formation was not used for righteous purposes.

Xiaoxue previously guessed that Zhou Shuxiang and the others practiced evil techniques, so they persecuted other cultivators in order to improve their cultivation. You said that was wrong.

Then I guess they weren't the ones practicing evil techniques.

Zhou Shuxiang and the others set up the formation in the secret realm because they were threatened by the instigator. This formation was meant to help the person behind the scenes.

Zhou Shuxiang and the others did these things in order to survive, to live under the control of that villain Gao Xiu.

"Xiange, am I right this time?"

The response to Ruan Chayan was a notification sound: ["Ding—"

Congratulations to both hosts for completing the second phase of the main storyline.

The 500 reward points for completing the task have been credited to your account, and the system shop is now open.

Congratulations to both of you hosts! Keep up the good work!

Luo Hanying exclaimed in delight: ["Wow! Chacha, you're amazing! You're so smart! We finished our side quest so quickly!"]

Ruan Chayan breathed a sigh of relief after hearing the notification sound: "It's not entirely my doing; what you said before also gave me some ideas."

The String Song played a clapping sound effect and said, "Congratulations on taking a small step towards success!"

Luo Hanying pouted: "You're such a spoilsport, what do you mean by 'small steps and big steps'?"

We finally figured out the truth from your stammering.

"If you hadn't refused to say anything, would Cha Cha and I have ended up searching for clues everywhere and getting trapped here?"

String Song was speechless: ["You're blaming me for this?"]

So you didn't take what I said before to heart at all, did you?

Luo Hanying remained silent, looking timid. Ruan Chayan quickly came to her friend's rescue: "Xiange, when will we receive the third stage of the mission?"

String Song thought to herself, "Why are you asking when you already know the answer?" ["When the time is right, new tasks will naturally be assigned."]

Ruan Chayan and Luo Hanying were also speechless at Xiange's statement; they had to admit that what he said was indeed reasonable.

The two chatted idly for a while, and soon they took out jade slips and began to study the details of the field they wanted to cultivate.

Ruan Chayan pondered the different formations for contracting spirit beasts and studied how to care for them. As she looked around, she was amused by her own sudden thought—

She seemed to be researching postpartum care for sows.

Luo Hanying took out the calligraphy brush from the gift package and, while flipping through the jade slip, tried to write down the poems she had memorized.

After they entered this body, the stringed instrument introduced them to a language system and a writing system, enabling them to speak the local language and write the local characters.

The advancement in her cultivation made Luo Hanying's previously muddled mind clearer, and she could now recite poems and songs that she had previously memorized but had become hazy.

Because she was in an illusion and her spiritual energy was being drained, she could only write and draw on the ground as if practicing calligraphy.