Ascending, Do Not Disturb!

Chapter 74: Manor

“If these cores germinate and grow, the cultivators who enter the secret realm in five hundred years will have fruits to eat.” Kong Hou patted the earth with a handkerchief and then watered the ground.

“You worry about matters five hundred years in the future?” Ling Bo wanted to sneer. Seeing Spirit Master Huan Zhong suddenly lift his head and look at her, her words changed. “You are so considerate.”

She could not stay here. She must find her shixiong and shidi and be with them instead. If she stayed longer with these people, her mind would also become abnormal.

“Before we came, the sect said this secret realm has no dangers. However, I feel this is not the case.” Jin Ling saw everyone silent. She, who was lively and talkative, could not endure it. “Just now, those illusory yao acted to injure.”

“Yes, I also felt it.” Ling Bo, who was spoiled by her shixiong and shidi could not keep her composure. “Just now, the illusory yao who attacked to me were fierce—they do not seem like mere tests.”

If the guess was true, then fatalities would occur in the secret realm this time around. When sect disciples entered secret realms, they would carry defensive talismans and there were also defensive seals on their robes which could block some things. But the nomad cultivators that entered the secret realm were not as protected as they were. If…

“The secret realm has changed—we have to be more careful.” Lin Hu stood. Holding his sword by the hilt, he looked around and said to Huan Zhong, “Master, let’s first leave here.”

Huan Zhong took out a handkerchief for Kong Hou to dry off the water from her hands. “Let’s go.”

“Where should we go?” Lin Hu asked extraneously and then he regretted it. Wasn’t that obvious?

“South.” Huan Zhong pulled Kong Hou to stand and then looked at Jin Ling and Lin Hu. “Lin Hu walks in the front, you two in the middle.”

Jin Ling obediently walked to the middle without saying a word. Ling Bo looked at the pair and walked next to Jin Ling, holding her sword. She decided she would not look back.

Passing through the dense woods, the outside was not tall peaks and deep valleys like they imagined. It was a vast estate. The gates to the estate were wide open. A rock monument next to the gates had words carved into it—”Travellers, please enter.”

There was no signature or date. The stone monument stood there alone, covered in ivy and worn by the wind and daylight.

“According to the patterns in storybooks, when one enters places with signs saying not to enter, bad things will occur. But is this kind of sign that asks us to enter a friendly reminder or a trap?” Kong Hou stared at the stone monument for a while and turned to ask Huan Zhong. “Should we enter?”

“There is a boundary around. We cannot leave.” Lin Hu poked around and walked next to Huan Zhong. “Other than entering this estate, we have no other choice.”

“A forced choice is not any kind of invitation.” Kong Hou stepped onto the mossy steps. There was a shadow wall behind the gates, and behind the shadow wall was a vast courtyard.

Walking through the front courtyard, there were many smaller courtyards in the back, but only one courtyard had open gates.

“This means for us to enter this courtyard?” Kong Hou went on tiptoes and peeked into the courtyard. She only saw that some pomegranate trees seemed to be planted in the courtyard which were blooming. The courtyard appeared serene and peaceful.

Having reached this step, it was impossible not to go in. Huan Zhong calmly led Kong Hou into the courtyard. The courtyard had many rooms but only five rooms had open doors.

“One, two, three, four, five … …” Jin Ling counted the rooms in a quiet voice. Her expression looked hesitant. “We have five people here—should we each pick a room?”

Lin Hu turned to look at Huan Zhong. Huan Zhong nodded.

“I will go in and look first.” Lin Hu gripped his sword and went into one of the rooms. Behind the door was an ordinary room, a zither rack by the corner with a phoenix-tail zither on it untouched by dust. He used his sword to lift the bed hangings. Inside was a large and comfortable bed, the blankets neatly folded. The covering was embroidered with lucky clouds and flying celestials.

There was nothing suspicious about the room. It was refined and comfortable. But that was the strangest part.

He looked around the room again. He found a box in the corner which was locked. Lin Hu did not feel any fiendish or spirit energy from the box. This was an ordinary box. He did not know if this had been placed so the room did not appear so empty or if there were other meanings.

Coming out of the room, Lin Hu described the situation of the room.

“According to my experience, that box definitely has a problem,” Kong Hou said in a small voice. “Then we should each choose a room.” In the storybooks, people who acted alone were usually the first to die.

Lin Hu thought, what experience do you, a young girl of sixteen travelling alone for the first time, have?

“Miss Kong Hou is correct,” Lin Hu nodded and said, “Misses, please choose.”

Jin Ling turned to look at Kong Hou. Kong Hou looked at Ling Bo. Ling Bo pointed at the room to the east. “This one.” Jin Ling was slightly scared so she chose a room in the middle. Kong Hou picked a room in the middle but near the west. Huan Zhong and Lin Hu took the two rooms closest to her.

Possibly out of coincidence or deliberately by the secret realm, just as they chose their rooms, rain poured down as though it would not be satisfied until it soaked them all.

“While I feel that the secret realm wants us to go in to undergo its test, is this not too direct?” Standing under the eaves, Kong Hou looked at the sky and said to Huan Zhong, “If we do not go in, would we not get hail next?”

Just as she finished, the black clouds in the sky suddenly dissipated and revealed a bright sun.

Kong Hou: “…”

Was this trying to hide it makes it more conspicuous?

Looking at the bright sunlight outside, Huan Zhong put two seals on Kong Hou’s door. The two seals were ones to protect the home and defend against yao. With these two seals, the yao could not enter the room from the outside.

The sky gradually darkened as though it was reminding Kong Hou and the others it was time to go to bed.

Kong Hou felt the things from the secret realm were not reliable. She moved a bed and blankets from her storage ring and put them in the middle of the room. The table which had been at the center of the room was squeezed into the corner.

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