After transmigrating, I made a name for myself through my culinary skills.

“I know you have concerns, but this is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. As far as I know, this secret realm only appeared once before, a hundred years ago.” Gu Yu paused, his gaze turning somewhat cold. “That was the year Shen Wensheng entered the Cloud Cave.”

Shen Wensheng, the current sect leader of the Heavenly Sword Sect, reached the Nascent Soul stage before he was even a hundred years old, making him much stronger than the former sect leader Shen.

Legend has it that Sect Master Shen was a womanizer, having ambiguous relationships with many female cultivators. One of them was Shen Wensheng's mother. At that time, Shen's mother was young and beautiful. After being rescued by Sect Master Shen, she pledged herself to him and became pregnant with Shen Wensheng. Afterwards, Sect Master Shen brought her back to the Heavenly Sword Sect. It was only then that Shen's mother discovered that Sect Master Shen had many wives and concubines in the Heavenly Sword Sect. Unable to accept this, Shen's mother left in a fit of anger. Sect Master Shen, being hot-tempered, ignored her after she left and continued his philandering.

According to rumors, Shen Wensheng was brought back to the Heavenly Sword Sect at the age of fifteen because of his outstanding talent. Although he was talented, he was still somewhat inferior to his brothers who had grown up in the Heavenly Sword Sect. The old sect master had many children, and Shen Wensheng was still the unknown one in front of his father.

It wasn't until after entering the Cloud Cave that Shen Wensheng advanced to the Nascent Soul stage before he turned twenty and received a Heavenly Wolf Beast as his spirit pet. From then on, he began to show his talent.

He was single-minded and focused solely on cultivation, only marrying his current wife after reaching the Nascent Soul stage. Unlike his father, Sect Master Shen was very devoted to his relationship, marrying only one wife. Because his wife was in poor health, they only had one son, Shen Feng. He married and had a child much later than others, which is why some people say that Shen Feng was his "late-life son."

Gu Yu's revelation that "Shen Wensheng entered the secret realm" was clearly deliberate. Everyone knows that Sect Master Shen only began to gain fame after entering the Cloud Cave. No one would believe that he didn't have any extraordinary encounters there.

After listening to him, Jiang Ning's expression remained unchanged. She asked him, "You want to go?"

“Not bad.” Gu Yu made no attempt to hide his ambition.

"Shen Wensheng's wife is actually the legitimate daughter of the Medicine Sect Master." Gu Yu dropped another bombshell. "The reason why the Heavenly Sword Sect and the Medicine Sect can form an alliance is also due to this relationship. According to the information I have, all the disciples of the Medicine Sect have now rushed to the secret realm, and in less than five days, the disciples of the Heavenly Sword Sect will also rush there."

"Huh? Why haven't I heard of this before?"

Jiang Nan was surprised. Even though his mother was so gossipy, she only knew that the Medicine Sect Master had a son and had never heard of a daughter. Madam Shen only appeared after becoming the Sect Master's wife. Everyone thought that Madam Shen was just a female cultivator in the Medicine Sect who was proposed to by Shen Wensheng because of her beauty.

“Because of her spiritual root,” Nangong Yue chimed in. “Madam Shen’s spiritual root is too weak, practically nonexistent. She has relied on pills for so many years to reach the Foundation Establishment stage. The Medicine Clan feels ashamed of this, so they have kept her in the clan and never mentioned her to outsiders.”

The Medicine Sect has a strict hierarchy, dividing its members into Medicine Clan disciples and non-Medicine Clan disciples. Only members of the Medicine Clan can enter the inner sect; outsiders can only learn the basics. She was only allowed into the inner sect because of her Furnace Physique. She overheard the news about Madam Shen by chance. When she was in the outer sect, she had never heard a single word about Madam Shen, showing how well everyone kept it a secret.

Jiang Nan nodded thoughtfully. No wonder Shen Wensheng was able to surpass his elder brother to take over the position of sect leader, and even make the Heavenly Sword Sect surpass the Green Mountain Sect to become the number one sect in just over ten years. His ambition was not small.

Gu Yu sneered: "If you're really afraid of losing face, why not just eliminate them? That way no one will know."

"No, how could you know about something I overheard as an inner disciple?" Nangong Yue realized that Gu Yu was clearly not a disciple of their Medicine Sect!

Gu Yu resumed his smiling demeanor: "Even walls have holes eventually, didn't you still manage to overhear things?"

“That makes sense.” Nangong Yue sighed softly: “The people of the Medicine Sect are insatiable. When they encounter top-grade herbs, they don’t even let go of the seedlings. When they arrive, the secret realm will probably be completely wiped out.”

Everyone fell silent again. Even a former disciple of the Medicine Sect said so, so it was self-evident what would happen after the secret realm.

Ye Lan's face turned a little pale. He moved his lips but didn't know what to say, so he closed them again.

"Let's discuss this again tomorrow. It's late, everyone should go back and rest after you finish eating."

No one objected when Jiang Ning spoke up; this matter indeed required discussion before a decision could be made.

Late at night, when the moon was bright and the stars were few, everyone had entered a meditative state. A figure walked to Ye Lan's house, reached out as if to knock, but seemed to hesitate and did not knock.

Just then, the door opened from the inside, and Ye Lan ran into the person in front of her.

"Jiangning?"

"Yes, it's me. Did I disturb you?"

The visitor was none other than Jiang Ning.

"No, I was just feeling a bit unsettled and wanted to go for a walk."

Ye Lan walked out of the house and gently closed the door to avoid disturbing Su Bo, who was cultivating. He had previously shared a room with Su Bo to take care of her, while the others shared rooms with two people each.

The two stood face to face in the doorway. Ye Lan asked him softly, "What do you need me for so late?"

"It's nothing serious."

"Ok?"

"I noticed you didn't look well earlier, so I came over to check on you."

Jiang Ning didn't hide it from him. After Gu Yu mentioned the secret realm, he noticed that Ye Lan's expression was a bit off. He was still thinking about this when he sat down to cultivate and couldn't calm down. So he decided to go for a walk and subconsciously walked to Ye Lan's house.

Ye Lan hadn't expected Jiang Ning to be so thoughtful. He gestured for Jiang Ning to walk with him, saying, "Let's talk as we walk."

The moon cast a silvery glow over everything. The two walked a long way along the grass before he spoke: "Little White comes from the secret realm."

Ye Lan recounted the story in detail, and Jiang Ning listened quietly as he talked about entering the secret realm and the dangers that the Azure Wolf would bring.

"Xiao Bai's mother also lost her life because of this." Ye Lan was overwhelmed with sadness. He knew that Xiao Bai was affecting his emotions. "Therefore, within the secret realm, danger may outweigh opportunity."

Jiang Ning felt a little heavy-hearted after hearing this. He guessed that Ye Lan's advancement to the Nascent Soul stage was due to an opportunity, but he didn't expect such a heartbreaking thing to happen. He looked at the two shadows side by side and asked him, "Do you want to go?"

Tell him you want to go.

Xiao Bai's voice rang in his consciousness, causing Ye Lan to pause in his tracks.

"What's wrong?" Jiang Ning also stopped.

“Little White said it wants to go.” He looked at Jiang Ning. It also said it wanted revenge, but Ye Lan didn’t say anything.

"it is good."

Ye Lan understood the meaning behind Jiang Ning's "okay" somewhat, yet also seemed somewhat confused.

"With me here, I won't let you get into danger again."

The moonlight shone clearly on Jiang Ning's face, and he looked serious, as if he were making some important promise.

Ye Lan looked into his eyes and gradually felt that his heartbeat seemed a little abnormal. It was beating "thump thump thump" faster than usual, and the sound of his heartbeat was particularly clear in the quiet night. He even wondered if Jiang Ning could hear it too.

Perhaps it was because the moonlight was too gentle and the atmosphere too wonderful tonight, or perhaps it was because Jiang Ning's voice was too captivating, but many years later, Ye Lan could still clearly remember that the smell of grass and dew mixed together that night was particularly pleasant.

"Yes, it's late, we should go back."

It felt like a long time had passed, yet also like not long at all. Ye Lan turned her head, changed the subject, and the two returned along the same route.

The next morning, Nangong Yue stopped Jiang Ning, who had just stepped out of his house.

"Miss Nangong."

"Young Master Jiang, may I have a word with you in private?"

"Miss Nangong, please speak frankly."

"Shall we say it here?"

"is it not OK?"

Nangong Yue touched the tip of her nose, a hint of embarrassment on her pretty face. "The Green Mountain Sect promised to protect me in the Cloud Cave. Is that still in effect?"

"Miss Nangong is joking. As the number one sect in the Southern Continent, how could the Green Mountain Sect go back on its word?"

“Alright, what I wanted to say was that I’m going to the secret realm, and I hope you can come with me and protect my safety.” Nangong Yue took a deep breath and continued, “In exchange, I’m willing to be your alchemist for the next year without pay.”

“Miss Nangong has done a favor for the Green Mountain Sect. Since we promised to protect you within the Cloud Cave, as long as you don’t take any risks, the disciples of the Green Mountain Sect will naturally protect you, so there’s no need for you to refine medicine for me. However, the Green Mountain Sect has other plans regarding entering the secret realm.”

Jiang Ning neither agreed nor refused.

"So how do you plan to get there?"

"I have no comment at the moment. Once Senior Brother Song and the others have finished their discussion, someone will come to inform you. I have other matters to attend to now, so I'll take my leave."

With that, Jiang Ning bowed and strode away, leaving Nangong Yue alone.

On the other side, Jiang Ning said he had something to discuss, and he really did. He needed to talk to Senior Brother Song about how many people would go to the secret realm and how many would stay behind.

He thought about it yesterday. According to Ye Lan, the secret realm was full of dangers. There were demonic beasts that could deal with Nascent Soul stage experts, or even stronger ones. If they encountered the three Nascent Soul stage experts, they were confident that they could escape. However, a small number of their disciples had not reached the Nascent Soul stage, and they were also carrying He Luoluo, who had no cultivation, and Nangong Yue, who was being chased by the Medicine Sect.

The reason why Nangong Yue fell out with the Medicine Sect is already a semi-public secret. With such a furnace physique, many people have their eyes on her, but they have not made any open moves against her because of the Medicine Sect's reputation. However, once she enters the secret realm, all of this becomes an unknown variable.

With high-level demonic beasts, members of the Medicine Sect, and the ever-present threat of the Heavenly Sword Sect, the situation was fraught with danger. Without thorough preparation, Jiang Ning dared not allow disciples of the Green Mountain Sect to casually enter the secret realm.