Xu Xiaoxiao's Immortal Cultivation Life (Transmigration)

Chapter 42 Exploring the Secret Realm

As soon as she stood at the entrance to the secret realm, Xu Xiaoxiao felt an invisible pressure rushing towards her. She took a deep breath, her heart pounding violently in her chest.

Her hands unconsciously gripped the Qiankun bag and dagger, the "confidence" given to her by her senior brothers. She silently thought to herself, "My eldest and second senior brothers gave me their life-saving items. I can't let them down. I must find rare spiritual treasures and make those in the sect who look down on me completely change their minds."

As she stepped across the threshold, a dense spiritual energy instantly enveloped her, obstructing her vision. Her heart tightened: "This secret realm looks eerie, and there must be plenty of dangers. I must be on my guard."

The chirping of the first and second-year students around her helped to ease her tension somewhat. She raised her hand and gently stroked them, silently encouraging herself: "With you two by my side, I feel much more confident. Let's carefully explore the path; we'll surely find an opportunity."

As you venture deeper, the wind howls in your ears, strange noises emanate from your ears, and vines twist and turn at your feet, like vicious pythons ready to devour you.

Xu Xiaoxiao felt a chill run down her spine, but she forced herself to remain calm and muttered to herself, "Don't panic, don't panic. If you panic, you'll fall into their trap. Stabilize your spiritual power and counter their moves as they come."

Seeing the faint light flickering in the distance, a hint of joy welled up within him, but he quickly suppressed it: "The benefits in the secret realm are not easily obtained. There are bound to be traps around. We must not act rashly."

After being attacked by a giant python formed from spiritual energy, she was left with tattered clothes and bruised arms. She leaned against a tree trunk, panting, her heart filled with bitterness: "I thought I had made progress in my cultivation, but I only realized that I am still far from it. But I have come halfway, and if I give up, all my previous efforts will be in vain. I have to grit my teeth and persevere."

When they discovered the spiritual plant hidden in the crevice of the rock, emitting a faint blue light, excitement instantly welled up in their eyes. But before they could reach out, another hand intervened.

She was both angry and anxious, her eyes reddening: "Senior sister, I saw the spiritual plant first, why should I give it up like this!"

While they were locked in a stalemate with the unknown senior sister, the ground beneath their feet suddenly collapsed, causing them to lose their balance and fall into a bottomless pit filled with a pungent miasma.

Xu Xiaoxiao was shocked. In a panic, she hurriedly circulated her spiritual power to stabilize herself and glared angrily at her senior sister: "It's all your fault! Now look what's happened, we're trapped here!"

The senior sister also looked terrified, but she retorted defiantly, "Stop talking nonsense and figure out how to get out of here first!"

Upon landing, the cave floor was thick and dark, like ink, so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face. Only the faint light emitted by the spiritual plants provided a weak illumination.

Before they could even catch their breath, the surrounding walls rustled as swarms of spiritual energy beetles poured out. Their fingernail-sized bodies gleamed with a cold light, and the sound of their wings flapping was piercing and heart-wrenching.

Xu Xiaoxiao felt a chill run down her spine and gritted her teeth, saying, "These ghostly things are not to be trifled with, quickly set up a spiritual energy shield!"

He struggled to raise a spiritual energy shield to defend against the beetles, but the beetles kept coming and attacked fiercely, and the spiritual energy shield was on the verge of collapse.

At the critical moment, the senior sister was unable to maintain her spiritual power and was breached by the beetle, causing her to scream in pain.

Xu Xiaoxiao's heart tightened. Although this senior sister had just snatched her spiritual plant, it was not her style to stand by and watch someone die. So she immediately used some of her spiritual power to help this senior sister out of the predicament.

Having barely survived the beetle infestation, the water at the bottom of the cave rose rapidly, becoming icy cold. It seemed as if there were leeches with spiritual energy swimming in the water, which would frantically suck spiritual energy and blood essence once they were attached to it.

Xu Xiaoxiao's face turned pale, and she said urgently, "Climb up! There's something in the water!"

The two climbed the cave wall using both hands and feet, but the slippery stone wall made the climb extremely difficult, and they would slip and fall several steps if they were not careful.

Just as I climbed out of the water, I heard another rumbling sound overhead, and a huge rock loosened and rolled down.

Xu Xiaoxiao dodged to the side and shouted, "Watch out for your head!"

A huge rock whizzed past and crashed down beside him, kicking up a cloud of dust.

To make matters worse, several spiritual vines emerged from the cracks in the cave wall, winding their way toward the two. The sharp thorns on the vines gleamed coldly, and anyone struck by one would surely have their skin torn open.

Exhausted but still determined, Xu Xiaoxiao declared, "I'll fight! I'll cut these vines and find a way out!"

Having said that, he gathered strength in his palm and swung it at the vines, his eyes filled with determination.

Having just dealt with the vines, Xu Xiaoxiao hadn't even had time to catch her breath when she felt the ground beneath her feet become soft and suspicious. The next second, with a "splash," she found herself sinking into a swamp of spiritual energy.

The mud was sticky and stinking, and it quickly rose to her knees, creating a powerful suction that dragged her deeper and deeper.

Xu Xiaoxiao stared in horror, struggling and shouting, "Something's wrong with this swamp! Help me out!"

The senior female student hesitated to the side, afraid that if she got too close, she would also be held back.

Xu Xiaoxiao was trapped in the swamp of spiritual energy. The more she struggled, the faster she sank. The stench filled her mouth and nose. Filled with anxiety and despair, she cried out, "Senior sister, save me! It will be too late if we wait any longer!"

She desperately reached out to her senior, her eyes filled with pleading.

Yuan Mengyao stood at the edge of the swamp, her expression hesitant, her eyes darting around, calculating in her mind: Xu Xiaoxiao's popularity was growing, if she saved her, she would have another competitor in the future; if she didn't save her, what if people found out that she had let someone die without helping them, her reputation would be ruined, and the sect would not tolerate such a cold-hearted person.

Moreover, this secret realm is fraught with danger, and having more people to help each other would greatly increase the chances of success. Gritting his teeth, he finally made up his mind.

Yuan Mengyao swiftly drew a long whip imbued with spiritual energy, making it as strong as a steel cable. She threw it at Xu Xiaoxiao, shouting, "Grab it! Don't move! The more you struggle, the deeper you'll sink!"

His voice carried a hint of impatience, but also a trace of nervousness.

Xu Xiaoxiao gripped the long whip tightly with both hands as if it were a lifeline, and choked out, "Senior sister, thank you so much, I will definitely stay calm."

Yuan Mengyao struggled to pull, veins bulging on her forehead, muttering to herself, "This girl doesn't look heavy, why is it so difficult? I hope she doesn't drag me down with her."

Xu Xiaoxiao noticed that her senior sister was struggling, so she tried her best to use the remaining spiritual energy in the group to reduce her own weight and climb upwards. She was filled with guilt: "Senior sister, I've dragged you into this. I will definitely repay you after we get out."

Yuan Mengyao snorted coldly: "Enough nonsense, come out first, and you'd better remember this favor when you get out."

After finally being pulled to the shore, Yuan Mengyao slipped and almost fell into the swamp, which terrified her.

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoxiao mustered her last bit of strength, grabbed her senior sister's arm, and pulled hard, causing the two of them to fall to the ground in a safe area.

Yuan Mengyao gasped for breath, still shaken, and glared at Xu Xiaoxiao, scolding, "You really know how to cause me trouble!"

Xu Xiaoxiao sat up apologetically and said sincerely, "Senior Sister, I'm so grateful for your help this time. I was reckless. I'll definitely be more careful in the future. Senior Sister, my name is Xu Xiaoxiao. What's your name? Let's get to know each other; maybe we can even become friends."

Yuan Mengyao tossed her hair and said arrogantly, "I know you. You, a mere fifth-level Qi Refining girl, actually defeated a senior brother at the eighth level of Qi Refining. You've become famous overnight. Hmph, my name is Yuan Mengyao. I entered the sect earlier than you, and I'm already at the seventh level of Qi Refining."

Although Yuan Mengyao was a bit arrogant, she didn't have any bad intentions. However, she couldn't help but feel resentful that Xu Xiaoxiao was younger than her and had better cultivation aptitude.

"Senior Sister Yuan, I'll remember this. I'll definitely repay you when I get out of here." Xu Xiaoxiao looked at this senior sister with a little pride, but she couldn't bring herself to dislike her.

Yuan Mengyao turned her head away, but a slight thought stirred in her heart: This girl is grateful and repaying kindness, so she's not as annoying as she imagined.

He remained defiant, though: "Hmph, be smart, there might be some deadly danger ahead, don't hold me back."

Having barely managed to escape from the edge of the swamp, before they could even regain their footing, the surrounding tranquility was abruptly shattered as a three-headed wolf formed from spiritual energy appeared. Its three heads spewed flames, ice shards, and poisonous mist, respectively. It was a towering creature with a terrifyingly large, gaping maw.

The wolf howled and pounced. Xu Xiaoxiao dodged to the side, but a flame grazed her clothes and ignited them instantly. She hurriedly extinguished the flames, secretly lamenting, "This attack method is too tricky; it's impossible to defend against!"

After repelling the wolf's first attack, Xu Xiaoxiao's spiritual energy was nearly exhausted, so she prepared to take the pills given to her by her senior brother to replenish it.

However, as soon as the pill entered his mouth, his spiritual energy surged and became chaotic, and a sharp pain struck him.

It turned out that the strange spiritual energy of this secret realm clashed with the elixir, causing the medicine to have a backlash.

Xu Xiaoxiao broke out in a cold sweat and collapsed to the ground. Yuan Mengyao was startled when she saw her like this and quickly helped her up. "What's wrong with you?"

Just then, the weather above suddenly changed, and a violent tornado of spiritual energy roared into existence, sending sand and stones flying and boulders shattering wherever it went, sweeping straight toward them.

Xu Xiaoxiao gritted her teeth and forced herself to sit up, her eyes resolute: "If we want to survive, we have to rush into the eye of the tornado. Let's fight!"

Dragging his weakened body, he struggled to move forward against the fierce wind, each step seemingly requiring all his strength.

Seeing her rush in recklessly, Yuan Mengyao hesitated for a moment before following suit, saying, "This girl is really fearless. Let's take the gamble."

They had gone through countless hardships to hide in the eye of the storm, thinking they could find temporary peace, but unexpectedly a vortex of spiritual energy appeared beneath their feet, spinning and pulling them as if to drag them into an endless abyss.

Xu Xiaoxiao clung tightly to the boulder beside her, her fingernails digging into the cracks, and cried out in despair, "When will this ever end!"

But at the critical moment of life and death, her indomitable spirit surged up again, and she vowed to find a glimmer of hope in the desperate situation.