Li Qianren, who lacked the ability to read minds, naturally had no idea what Gu Qingfeng was thinking at that moment. As usual, he introduced coldly, "This is the descendant of an old friend of mine, Li Xiaocui. She will accompany you into the Jade Dragon Secret Realm."
After speaking, he turned to Li Xiaocui and said, "This is Gu Qingfeng."
Li Xiaocui looked at Gu Qingfeng expressionlessly and gave a cold nod as a form of greeting.
Gu Qingfeng was already too exhausted to complain. "I mean, even if you don’t want to tell me your real names, you don’t have to come up with such a fake one, right? Li Xiaocui? That’s so outdated. Back in my village, even the elderly women who never went to school were named things like Guifang or Shufen. No one’s called Xiaocui anymore."
Despite Gu Qingfeng’s complaints, both Li Qianren and Li Xiaocui remained expressionless, their blank faces calmly staring at him.
"Real name," Li Xiaocui suddenly spoke up, her words brief and to the point.
Her voice was hoarse, and her pronunciation was stiff, giving the impression that she hadn’t spoken in a long time, causing her language skills to deteriorate.
After uttering these two words, Li Xiaocui fell silent again, showing no intention of elaborating further.
Damn, this white-haired loli is pretty badass!
Gu Qingfeng glanced at Li Xiaocui in surprise.
At that moment, Li Qianren spoke up. "Let’s go."
As soon as his voice fell, a sharp cry echoed from the sky.
A fierce wind began to blow, and a patch of green clouds slowly descended from the sky above them.
As the green clouds descended to a certain height, their form became clear.
It wasn’t a cloud at all—it was a massive green bird.
The green bird landed, its size comparable to a small airplane.
"This is the Azure Cloud Sparrow. Everyone, get on," Li Qianren said indifferently.
The three of them climbed onto the back of the Azure Cloud Sparrow, which suddenly flapped its wings, creating a powerful gust of wind as it soared into the sky, ascending rapidly.
Moments later, the three of them were flying high above the clouds.
At such altitudes, the wind was fierce and violent. Li Qianren waved his hand, and an invisible energy shield enveloped the Azure Cloud Sparrow, blocking the wind.
What followed was an endless journey. Both Li Xiaocui and Li Qianren were as silent as wooden statues, neither speaking a word.
Gu Qingfeng, traveling with the two of them, was utterly speechless. What kind of people are these? Could they be father and daughter?
They didn’t look much alike, but their icy demeanors were strikingly similar.
"Xiaocui, I heard you come from an alchemy family. Which prestigious clan are you from?" Gu Qingfeng, unable to bear the silence, casually struck up a conversation.
"A small family, not worth mentioning," Li Xiaocui replied indifferently before falling silent again.
"At least tell me the name."
"The Li family."
Gu Qingfeng: "..."
There are countless Li families in the world, like fish in a river. How the hell am I supposed to know which one you’re talking about?
Gu Qingfeng tried to make small talk a few more times, but Li Xiaocui responded like a robot, answering with only a few words each time. If he didn’t ask her anything, she would remain silent indefinitely.
Gu Qingfeng glanced at their profiles, his mind racing.
Something’s off!
Both of them are acting strange.
Li Qianren’s injuries seemed to have worsened. When I saw him today, his aura was even more unstable than it was three days ago.
Did he get into another fight during these past three days?
Moreover, Li Qianren was even more taciturn than usual, as if weighed down by heavy thoughts and unwilling to talk.
As for Li Xiaocui, she was even more peculiar. The strangest thing about her was that, as a woman, she was even smaller than him. That’s just too weird.
What kind of conspiracy is going on here?
Ever since Li Qianren mentioned the Jade Dragon Secret Realm, Gu Qingfeng had known that the old man was plotting something. He just didn’t know the specifics. And then there was that fox spirit. Li Qianren seemed like a cold and detached person—he wouldn’t risk keeping a fox spirit, especially one at the Grandmaster level, in the Demon Suppression Bureau without a reason.
There were simply too many suspicious points.
But one thing was certain: all the strangeness was connected to the Jade Dragon Secret Realm.
Now, it seemed, the time had come for the truth to be revealed.
Sigh.
Gu Qingfeng sighed inwardly. Truth be told, he had always held a favorable impression of Li Qianren. The man was quiet, expressionless, and had a cold demeanor, but he was fair in his rewards and punishments and had principles.
Most importantly, he didn’t micromanage. Unlike some superiors who constantly bossed people around and acted high and mighty.
What a shame. The old man was openly scheming against him. He must have a death wish!
With his current strength, comparable to the early stages of the Dragon Transformation Realm, Gu Qingfeng feared no conspiracy Li Qianren could throw at him.
In the face of absolute power, any conspiracy is nothing but a paper tiger.
...
The Azure Cloud Sparrow flew for an entire day before the three of them finally arrived at the green mountain where the Jade Dragon Secret Realm was located.
Gu Qingfeng looked at the familiar green mountain and thought to himself, "It really does look like the one I stepped on back then..."
At the foot of the mountain, a massive crowd had gathered. From the vantage point of the Azure Cloud Sparrow, the people below looked like a dense swarm of ants, filling the area for dozens of miles around the mountain.
There were at least a hundred thousand people.
Of course, not all of them were here to enter the Jade Dragon Secret Realm. Many were mentors from sects or elders from families escorting their juniors.
There were also plenty of onlookers who had come to watch the spectacle.
However, there were still a significant number of people here to challenge the secret realm. After all, news had spread that the Jade Dragon Secret Realm was on the verge of collapse and could only be opened one last time. For everyone, this was the final opportunity.
The Ageless Pill, the Divine Refining Method—who in the world wouldn’t want them?
Many who weren’t alchemists, or even those who had never studied alchemy, came as long as they met the requirements, hoping to test their luck.
The threshold for entering the Jade Dragon Secret Realm was very low. Anyone below the True Qi Realm could enter, which meant that even those at the early stages of the Internal Qi Realm, or even those who hadn’t reached that level and were only at the Qi Gathering Realm, dared to try their luck.
Everyone wanted to take a chance, believing in their hearts that they were special. Why couldn’t they be the one to come out on top?
When Gu Qingfeng first heard about the low entry requirements for the Jade Dragon Secret Realm, he found it strange. If the true purpose of the Jade Dragon Secret Realm was to find talented young alchemists to inherit its legacy, why set the bar so low?
With such a low threshold, it felt like anyone could participate, even those who weren’t alchemists. It seemed too cheap.
Clearly, there was something fishy about the Jade Dragon Secret Realm as well.
But Gu Qingfeng didn’t pay it too much mind. No matter how suspicious it was, what could it really do? Qiu Yulong, in life, was only at the Grandmaster Realm. What kind of tricks could he possibly pull?
As long as the Ageless Pill and the Divine Refining Method were real, that was all that mattered.
Gu Qingfeng’s attitude toward the Jade Dragon Secret Realm and Li Qianren was the same: no matter how deep your schemes are, I’m invincible. Do your worst.