18 Journey to the Mystic Realm

Morning. The success of the scrambler had given Daly immense confidence.

"You're in a good mood?" Xiao Rong noticed Daly humming a tune before he left. He simply smiled and shook his head. Xiao Rong ignored him, intent on heading to the training grounds to torment Liu Lang.

Suddenly, the earth shook violently. The camp was thrown into chaos, and several buildings cracked. In the distance, dust billowed as several mountain peaks collapsed. A towering mountain rose slowly amidst the dust with a deep, rumbling sound. The peak was covered in pavilions and terraces, shrouded in ethereal mist, with exotic flowers and rare plants swaying in the breeze, releasing an intoxicating fragrance. A deep gorge split through the vast sea of forest, where a babbling brook flowed, its water blending with the calls of birds into a heavenly melody.

Once the tremors subsided, the camp was in ruins. Xiao Rong felt a sudden realization: "The Hehuan Secret Realm has finally appeared!" With a flick of her finger, her flying sword shot into the camp, returning with Liu Lang clinging to it. She leaped onto the sword and flew toward the secret realm with him.

The realm appeared close, yet it remained distant. Despite traveling at high speed on the sword from day into night, the perceived size of the mountain did not change at all. Xiao Rong lowered their altitude toward a forest below, intending to rest for the night.

"Hey, let go!" This man was truly useless. Had she not realized Liu Lang was genuinely terrified, she would have kicked him off long ago. Ever since she had increased their altitude, the man had been wailing about his fear of heights and vomiting repeatedly. He had spent the entire time crouched on the sword, trembling as he hugged her legs.

Liu Lang’s legs were completely jelly. Hearing Xiao Rong speak, he forced his eyes open. They were suspended a dozen meters above the ground, and one glance at the earth below made him dizzy again. "Bleugh..." He couldn't help but vomit, this time directly onto Xiao Rong’s legs.

Liu Lang hadn't expected to have such a crippling fear of heights. He had jumped off cliffs and even flown at low altitudes in a swarm of bats transformed by Liu Fei'er without issue. But this sword flight was different; standing on a narrow blade at such a height, with the air turning icy cold...

As they landed in the forest, Liu Lang knelt on the ground and retched until he was empty. Seeing him in such distress, Xiao Rong felt a mix of disdain and pity. She had never imagined he would suffer from "sword-sickness."

"There is still a long way to go; what should we do?" She was wearing shorts, and Liu Lang’s vomit had splattered onto her legs. She was desperate to find a place to wash up. Although she had already used the Cleansing Spell several times, technically cleaning her skin, she still felt uncomfortable. She needed water to rinse off.

"The Hehuan Sect's techniques are neutral, and there are few elemental spells... If only I could use a Water Ball spell to rinse my feet. I checked from the sky earlier, and there are no rivers nearby..."

Liu Lang finally steadied himself, swaying as he stood up, feeling as though he had emptied his entire stomach for the next lifetime. He looked at the sword stuck in the ground and his heart jumped. "Xiao Rong, why don't you go on your own? I really can't do this anymore..."

Hearing her muttering about needing water to rinse her feet, he formed a seal, attempting a low-level version of the Water Prison Jutsu, but he failed, splashing water all over Xiao Rong instead.

"My feet! I wanted to rinse my feet, why are you splashing it all over me!"

He continued to form seals. After an intense night of "studying" with Liu Fei'er, he had a visceral understanding of the Water Prison Jutsu. Moisture in the air gathered rapidly, and a water sphere much larger than Xiao Rong swallowed her whole...

Inside the water, Xiao Rong quickly kicked off her shoes and socks, scrubbing her legs and feet vigorously. "Idiot!" With a surge of powerful spiritual pressure, she burst the water prison, kicked Liu Lang to the ground, and vented her frustration by stomping on his face repeatedly with her bare feet. Only when she noticed saliva did she stop, her face flushing.

The Hehuan spiritual energy within her was exceptionally active. "This is a requirement of the technique... and a need of my own Hehuan energy..." She instinctively tried to suppress it. "Why should I resist? Liu Lang was meant for me in the first place..." She shook her head. "What is this nonsense! It’s the Hehuan poison! I must complete my cultivation during this trip to the secret realm, or I won't escape the toxin..."

As Xiao Rong struggled with herself, she didn't realize she was emitting a strange, alluring fragrance. Liu Lang breathed in the scent, gradually losing his sanity. Her smooth, bare feet began to "ravage" his face of their own accord, her small toes pushing into his mouth, forcing him to suckle. All creatures within a five-mile radius, be it beasts or insects, began to succumb to the instinct to reproduce.

Mizuke and Haruzakura could not hold back either; their hearts pounded, and their throats felt parched!

"Put on your gas masks!" Mizukami Meijin pulled gas masks from his robes and put one on, the situation improving significantly.

The camp at the border of Min and Gan was under Xiao Rong's control. After multiple skirmishes with ninjas and the loss of hundreds of them, the ninjas had come to accept that the camp and the surrounding ten kilometers were Xiao Rong’s territory and must be avoided. Nevertheless, if one were unlucky enough to encounter her elsewhere and could not escape, they were usually dragged back to the camp as experimental subjects for Daly.

Though they could do nothing against Xiao Rong, they had summarized some of her combat methods. Releasing "Spring Toxin" was one of them. After several painful and humiliating experiences, they had improved their gas masks.

"Retreat! The gas masks can only hold for ten minutes." Mizukami Meijin and his team were also there to investigate the sudden appearance of the secret realm, only to run into their old rival. Xiao Rong seemed to have a perverse sense of humor regarding them; in every encounter, the Spring Toxin was inevitable. After being hit by it several times, Mizuke and Haruzakura would sometimes simulate the effects even when they weren't "poisoned."

"Sir, 'Spring Toxin' detected. That detestable Huaxia cultivator must be here too," Mizukami Meijin reported to his superiors via communication device. Behind him, Haruzakura had already pulled down her sleeve to reveal her bare shoulder, while Mizuke still hesitated.

"This is a direct order from the Ninja Lord. We cannot retreat! Besides, the Ninja Lord is here to investigate the fall of the Susa bloodline, and you are a witness." Mizukami Meijin was a descendant of a prestigious family, possessed great strength, and was a B-rank ninja at a young age, with a bright future ahead. Thus, he bore the responsibility of protecting the Susa bloodline. After the Susa bloodline fell, his status plummeted, and he was fighting even harder to make a comeback.

"I am a man of the Mizukami clan; I will not retreat!"

After the report ended, the lewd sounds of Mizuke and Haruzakura arose right on cue.

"You... bastards!" At this critical moment, with his personal future hanging by a thread, his teammates were busy indulging themselves! Unforgivable.

"Mizuke! You are supposed to avenge the entire clan! Have you forgotten!"

"Haruzakura, have you forgotten the days of being cast aside!"

Mizuke and Haruzakura lowered their heads in shame, but their bodies could not stop. Because, through the blood and tears of many ninjas, they had discovered the nature of the Hehuan Sect's "Spring Toxin": if one hadn't started, one just had to endure it, though desires would be heightened for a time; but if it had already begun, it could not be interrupted, or one would die!