CH 17

Because entering the secret realm required passing through the Lingshan Sect’s forbidden grounds, Qing Xuzi showed that he prepared a lot in advance. The formation that originally would trigger once someone entered the forbidden area didn’t respond. Yan Buxuan walked in the middle of his team with an entirely vigilant expression. 

As an elder of the Ice and Fire Sect, Yan Buxuan had a deep understanding of secret realms. When a sky secret realm opened three hundred years ago, he entered with his master. He naturally knew what sorts of dangers lay in that kind of an environment. Although he had made sufficient preparations, he still did not dare to be reckless. 

The entrance of the secret realm was in the middle of the forbidden area. Qin Kaiyi knew that they would not encounter any accidents in the forbidden area, so he was not too nervous. As he thought, they safely made their way to the entrance of the secret realm. Qin Kaiyi was thinking to let out a sigh of relief, but then he heard a familiar voice. 

“Yan Buxuan, it turns out you really did collaborate with that silly youngster (T/N: just a mocking form of address used a lot in ancient settings. Zi Yangpei previously called Qing Xuzi this) Qing Xuzi!!” Qin Kaiyi turned his head and saw that woman who had been impolite with Qing Xuzi before.

She obviously didn’t have the same luck as Qin Kaiyi and the rest. They didn’t know what kind of arrays the other group had encountered in the forbidden ground, but the lot of them appeared filthy and dejected. Some of the disciples standing next to Yan Yi had even had all their hair burned off.

“Oh, why does Young Lady Yan Yi say such a thing?” Yan Buxuan was not annoyed by Yan Yi’s aggressiveness; he smiled.

“Dare you say you haven’t colluded?” Yan Yi blazed with anger: “Why didn’t you encounter anything along the road you walked on, and how come the path we were on was just…”

Before Yan Yi finished speaking, Yan Buxuan interrupted her: “How does the Young Lady Yan Yi know that we haven’t encountered anything?”

“Did you really encounter something?” Yan Yi sneered: “Tell me, what did you encounter?”

“What we encountered, why should we report that to you?” Although Yan Buxuan was still smiling, the smile was already a little unkind. He lightly snorted: “No matter what happens, I will try my best to protect these disciples, unlike Young Lady Yan Yi–not only did she not protect herself, but even the disciples under her suffered.”

“You!!!” Yan Yi’s face went red and then white, but she couldn’t find any rebuttal.

“Forgive my humble self, we won’t waste any more time here with Young Lady Yan Yi.” 

After rendering Yan Yi speechless, Yan Buxuan said lightly: “Let’s go.”

Qin Kaiyi enthusiastically spectated from the sidelines. When he heard Yan Buxuan’s last two words, he hastened to catch up. 

The other disciples also seemed to have been enjoying the show. At this time, Yan Buxuan had given an order, so naturally his line of sight returned to his team. 

“Qin Shi.” Yan Buxuan, who was walking in front, suddenly spoke to Qin Kaiyi who was following behind him: “What do you think of this trip to the forbidden land?”

Why did Yan Buxuan ask him this? He really had no impression of this guy who was just a passerby buying soy sauce in the original novel (T/N: “I’m just here to buy soy sauce” = “it’s none of my business.”) Qin Kaiyi deliberated and then replied: “The younger generation only needs to gain the experience of being in the mysterious realm, and doesn’t need to ask for any rare treasures.”

“Is that it.” Yan Buxuan didn’t show any expression when he heard this sentence. He still appeared neutral: “Young man, why don’t you have any ambition?”

“This one of the younger generation still has self-awareness,” Qin Kaiyi said awkwardly.

“It’s better to call me Brother Yan, ‘senior’ is too unfamiliar.” After looking at Qin Kaiyi, Yan Buxuan smiled.

“Eh… this is not appropriate, Senior Yan is of the same generation as my shifu.” Qin Kaiyi couldn’t quite understand Yan Buxuan’s meaning, but he wasn’t too worried. After all, after entering the secret realm they would be separated. 

“There is nothing inappropriate.” Yan Buxuan’s tone seemed to brook no argument. 

“Okay,” Qin Kaiyi forced himself to say. 

The entrance to the secret realm was a huge teleportation array. The array appeared on a huge rock. As if entirely outlined with golden thread, the array emitted a striking light. Qin Kaiyi, staring at the array, suddenly felt a thread of anxiety that he could not explain. 

“Let’s go.” Yan Buxuan took the lead and stepped onto the teleportation array first. Qin Kaiyi followed closely, and he chanced a glance at the Shen Feixiao who was walking at the back of the crowd. He found that Shen Feixiao had fixed an expressionless stare on the teleportation array. That cold stare made Qin Kaiyi’s heart shiver a bit. Good, he had to admit, the protagonist’s grand and tyrannical aura was overflowing. 

Not long after he stepped onto the teleportation array, Qin Kaiyi’s vision blurred, and the scene in front of him changed suddenly.

“Here it is.” Of course, Yan Buxuan was the first to come in. He looked at the surrounding scenery, his expression solemn.

The teleportation array sent them into a dense jungle. They were surrounded by tall trees which blocked more than half of the sun’s rays. The air around them carried a bloody smell emanating from the soil, making Qin Kaiyi quite uncomfortable. 

“Count the number of people.” Yan Buxuan saw that no more disciples teleported over, and so gave this order. He glanced at the surrounding environment, frowning slightly.

Arriving at a jungle meant they would have to spend energy on dealing with spirit beasts. Spirit beasts’ most favored living in jungles. 

“Elder, everyone is together,” a disciple said to Yan Buxuan.

“Good.” Yan Buxuan nodded slightly: “Let’s go, everyone focus on staying safe.”

Hearing Yan Buxuan’s words, Qin Kaiyi’s felt his nerves acting up. He clearly remembered… once Yan Buxuan said this, an accident would happen. 

Qin Kaiyi’s memory proved to be reliable. The sound of Yan Buxuan’s words had just rung out when, from within the depths of the jungle concealed by bushes, came a wail that sounded like that of an infant’s.

“…” Qin Kaiyi’s whole body stiffened when he heard that sound. His bad premonition really came true.

Motherf*cker, the monster in front of him with a human’s face and a tiger’s body did not appear in the novel. Why did the cute monsters from the book change into the human-faced freak in front of them????

The human-faced monster with a tiger’s body was a beast that had the voice of an infant and ate people alive. 

Upon seeing this creature, Qin Kaiyi felt goosebumps rise all over. His conditioned reflex was to glance at Shen Feixiao, and when he did, he found that Shen Feixiao was not in the crowd… fuck, he was indeed the protagonist, the incredible speed of this escape!!

“Everyone spread out.” The moment he saw the monster, Yan Buxuan’s expression turned black. He didn’t expect to encounter this kind of difficult creature when they had just entered the secret realm.

In fact, the monster’s attack power was not strong, but the trouble lay in its powerful life force and vengefulness. Once provoked, it would fight to the death. 

Yan Buxuan was obviously reluctant to spend too much energy on this creature. He stared at it, watching it still crying like a baby, and said, “start the spell.”

As soon as these words came out, the disciples of the Ice and Fire Sect who were originally only watching quickly arranged themselves into a strange formation, surrounded the remaining disciples of the Lingshan Sect. Qin Kaiyi looked around for Shen Feixiao, but reluctantly came to a conclusion… Shen Feixiao had the ancient immortal sable, he didn’t need to concern himself with the beasts of the secret realm. 

Qin Kaiyi was not so lucky. He had neither the protagonist halo nor the sable. He felt like a weak cabbage; if the wind blew past he could lose half his life, not to mention traversing the dangerous jungle environment. 

Qin Kaiyi was on the side being absent-minded, while Yan Buxuan was already fighting with the monster. He was holding an ice-blue longsword and looking coldly at the creature in front of him. 

The baby-like crying became harsher. The creature seemed to perceive that the person in front of him was difficult to deal with. It walked around Yan Buxuan with no intention of stepping forward. It opened its mouth and kept crying, as if wanting to disturb the people around it. 

After being imprisoned in the secret realm for hundreds of years, a group of people finally showed up–how could the creature so easily let them go? Qin Kaiyi, seeing everything, felt that he understood the freakish thing in front of him a little bit. 

But was this creature the reason for the team getting separated? Of course not, the human-faced creature only signalled a turning point. The real reason for why their entire team would disperse was… coming!!

Just as Yan Buxuan and the monster were about to confront each other, a strong wind with a thickly bloody odor blew from within the jungle. This wind was extremely strange. The jungle was full of trees, so how could such a great wind pass through? Furthermore, why didn’t any of the trees move as it passed? And the bloody smell in this wind seemed to confirm that Qin Kaiyi had remembered the plot correctly. 

At the moment that the wind blew, Qin Kaiyi stuffed a few pills in his mouth, and then covered his mouth and nose with a piece of black gauze. He knew what would happen next… they would fly away. 

Sounds funny, right? But when everyone flew, no one would find it funny. Qin Kaiyi sat on the ground, looking at the screaming crowd in the sky, and sighed helplessly. He secretly comforted them in his heart: don’t worry, you won’t die… at most you’ll scatter to different areas, just gather the team again, um, wait why didn’t he see Yan Buxuan in the sky? He inspected the sky for a long time and still couldn’t find Yan Buxuan’s figure. Just as Qin Kaiyi was getting curious he heard a cold voice from behind him: “Hehe, in this place you’re actually sitting quite calmly.”

“…” Qin Kaiyi turned his head stiffly and saw Yan Buxuan standing behind him without expression.

Being stared at by Yan Buxuan like this, he felt somewhat guilty. Just as he thought to explain himself, he saw Yan Buxuan sneer and wave a hand. Qin Kaiyi’s vision went black. Before he lost consciousness, his most pressing thought was… f*ck your mom, he knew that there must be some people hiding their true intentions lingering near him. This time he really got played. 

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Notes

Really wish these BL authors would consider writing well-rounded, sympathetic female characters. Oh well, this lacking hasn’t deterred me from reading ASV so far.