Hearing the near-screaming voice, Wen Ruyu frowned in confusion, "What's wrong with you?"
Hong Yuning's gaze subconsciously drifted to their senior brother, Lin Mo, not far away, and she shook her head like a rattle, "N-nothing!"
Wen Ruyu, "..."
After dinner, they found several sturdy trees and slept for the night.
After exploring the secret realm for a few more rounds, everyone except Ming Li found their own opportunities.
At this moment, Ming Li and the other two looked at an open space not far away, as if waiting for something.
Suddenly, the air in the distance rippled, and an ancient, majestic door slowly appeared.
Before long, the door slowly opened before their eyes.
A tall figure could be seen faintly within the doorway.
Gradually, the figure became clearer.
It was none other than their senior brother, Lin Mo!
Upon seeing his face, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
After Lin Mo left the door, it slowly vanished, as if it had never appeared.
Seeing this, they stepped forward and asked, "Senior Brother, are you alright?"
Lin Mo nodded, "Let's go back."
The next second, they each crushed the jade tokens in their hands.
They left the secret realm.
The elder waiting outside the secret realm saw them and breathed a sigh of relief, walking up and patting their shoulders, "It's good that you're out."
Ming Li scanned the surroundings and noticed that many people had already returned, while two groups were waiting with grim expressions.
Seeing the disciples of the Azure Dragon Sect emerge from the secret realm, those two groups walked over in unison, their gazes fixed menacingly on the four of them. One person coldly asked, "We are from the Vermilion Bird Sect. Did you see any disciples of our sect?"
Every sect's disciples had a life-bound jade token, which was kept within the sect. If the token shattered, the person died. Several disciples from the Vermilion Bird Sect had their life-bound jade tokens shatter during this trip to the secret realm. Those who died were all direct disciples, which had alerted the Sect Master. They had been ordered by the Sect Master to investigate the cause of their deaths.
Another person also stepped forward upon hearing this, "We are from the Joyful Union Sect. Did you encounter any disciples of our sect?" All the life-bound jade tokens of their sect's disciples who entered the secret realm had shattered. Those were all direct disciples, and they demanded an explanation!
Hearing the words of the two groups before them, Ming Li and the others remained expressionless and unanimously shook their heads, "No, we don't know, we haven't seen them."
The elders of the Vermilion Bird Sect, "..."
The elders of the Joyful Union Sect, "..."
The elders of the Vermilion Bird Sect and the Joyful Union Sect frowned instinctively and wanted to ask more.
Seeing this, the elder of the Azure Dragon Sect waved his hand and, like a hen protecting its chicks, pulled Ming Li and the others behind him, "Alright, my disciples said they don't know. We'll be going back now; there are matters to attend to in the sect."
With that, he pulled them onto the backs of their contracted beasts and flew away.
Soon, they arrived at the Azure Dragon Sect.
"Huh? Why does the sect feel so empty? Where are the junior brothers and sisters?" Hong Yuning noticed something and a hint of confusion flashed in her eyes.
Upon hearing this, the elder chuckled, his gaze falling on Ming Li, "The Sect Master is holding a disciple-acceptance ceremony. The disciples are all at the front. You should hurry over."
The few of them raised their eyebrows. Their elusive master had taken in another junior brother (or sister) again??
Driven by curiosity, they all headed further into the sect...