Chang Tianhua’s malice was completely undisguised. With Song Changsheng’s sharp Spiritual Sense, he naturally noticed it and wasn’t the least bit surprised.

The two were mortal enemies to begin with. It would be stranger if he *didn’t* come looking for trouble.

He wasn’t worried about Chang Tianhua. Although he was well-known, it was for his infamy, not his prestige. He was just a bully who threw his weight around thanks to his status as the Young Sect Leader.

Song Changsheng wasn’t worried about him in the slightest. The guy was just a good-for-nothing...

Time passed without them noticing. The several Foundation Establishment Cultivators present suddenly opened their eyes in unison. Song Xianyun spoke in a deep voice, "Fellow Daoists, the time has come. Please, let us work together to open the Wutong Secret Realm!"

"As we should."

The others nodded one after another, rising to their feet and walking to the thick trunk of the Parasol Tree.

Each of them took out a Waist Token and placed it into a corresponding groove on the trunk. Then, they each channeled their Spiritual Power, pouring it in.

Song Changsheng clearly felt the fleeting fluctuation of an Array. Seeing that no one was paying him any attention, an idea struck him, and he quietly activated his [Eye of Truth].

In an instant, the world turned grayscale. Spiritual Light flowed in his eyes as he looked at the incredibly thick Parasol Tree.

Countless Array Patterns gradually appeared. Dense as a spider’s web, they extended down from the treetop, covering the entire Parasol Tree before spreading outward from its center.

The spots where the Foundation Establishment Elders stood and where they had been sitting cross-legged were all covered in complex and profound Array Patterns. Once this Array activated, everyone would be enveloped within it.

The Array Patterns of this Array were exceptionally mysterious, at least at the Tier Three level. It was Song Changsheng’s first time encountering a Tier Three Grand Array up close, and for a moment, he felt a surge of excitement, like a hunter spotting its prey.

Using his Pupil Technique, he tried to reverse-engineer the Array. But despite using every trick up his sleeve, he couldn’t decipher even the slightest bit of it. Instead, his eyes began to sting.

In less than half a quarter of an hour, his eyes were aching terribly, and his eyeballs began to tremble, scaring him into hastily deactivating his Pupil Technique.

"Hey, what’s wrong with you? Why’s your face so pale, and your eyes are as red as a rabbit’s?" Song Lutong, who was closest to him, noticed something was off and asked in a baffled, hushed voice.

Song Changsheng shook his head lightly. "It’s nothing."

Song Lutong frowned but didn’t press the matter.

’This Array is incredibly intricate. The skill of the one who set it up is probably even greater than Grandfather’s. I almost suffered a backlash.’ Song Changsheng felt a lingering fear. If he had stubbornly persisted just now, he might have lost his eyes.

Thankfully, he came to his senses in time. It was also a reminder to him that one must always act with a sense of reverence; his Pupil Technique was not omnipotent, after all.

He circulated his Heart Method slightly to regulate his breathing, then stood obediently in place, not daring to let his eyes wander again.

HUMMM—

Suddenly, a hazy light erupted from the center of the Parasol Tree’s trunk. A fissure, one zhang tall, split open and gradually expanded sideways, eventually forming an oval portal.

Looking through, they saw multicolored lights swirling inside like an aurora. Everyone was momentarily stunned by the sight.

"What are you waiting for? Enter the Secret Realm, quickly!" the Wang Clan’s Elder shouted.

As if waking from a dream, everyone present quickly entered the portal in an orderly fashion, following the sequence their elders had instructed.

Naturally, the five from the Song Clan were at the very front. The moment Song Changsheng entered the portal, something scanned him from head to toe, giving him the feeling of being seen through completely.

’This must be the detection Array the Grand Elder mentioned. It’s truly powerful, giving one the illusion of having nowhere to hide.’

After the entire Song Clan group entered, they were followed by the Earth Fire Sect, the Qiu Clan, the Wang Clan, the Yu Clan, and the Li Clan.

Once the last person had entered, the six Foundation Establishment Cultivators simultaneously withdrew their Spiritual Power. The portal began to shrink, eventually vanishing.

"Fellow Daoists, they’ll be gone for seven days. We can’t just sit here idly, can we? How about a few games of Go?" Li Tiancheng suggested with a cheerful laugh, stretching his back.

"Since Fellow Daoist Li is in such fine spirits, we will naturally indulge you." Song Xianyun suddenly broke into a smile. With a wave of his sleeve, a chessboard carved from Qingyu jade appeared before them. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

A sharp glint flashed in Li Tiancheng’s eyes. He made a gesture of invitation, and then began a match with Song Xianyun...

Song Changsheng and the others felt the world spin around them, accompanied by a tidal wave of weightlessness. The sensation of traversing space was heart-pounding.

After an unknown amount of time, Song Changsheng’s vision blurred, and a dense jungle appeared before him. He was high above it, plummeting rapidly.

He quickly circulated his Spiritual Power. A light flashed in his palm, and a pillar of water materialized beneath his feet, supporting him as he descended slowly and landed steadily on the ground.

The moment he landed, it felt like stepping on cotton. He felt unnaturally light and nearly stumbled and fell. He quickly steadied himself to avoid making a fool of himself.

It was an aftereffect of passing through the spatial passage. After standing in place for a moment, the feeling mostly subsided.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH

A series of whooshes came from overhead. Song Changsheng looked up to see figures falling from the sky one after another, like dumplings being dropped into a pot.

It was Song Lutong and the other three. They had clearly been ahead of him when they left, but somehow, they were now behind him.

Each of them used their own Divine Techniques to land safely, gathering with Song Changsheng.

"Is everyone alright?" Song Luping, the eldest, asked with concern.

"What could happen? From this height, I wouldn’t even scrape my skin if I landed on my face," Song Lutong said confidently.

Song Luyue shot him a glare. "You think everyone is as thick-skinned and invulnerable as you are?"

"Hey, you..."

Seeing the two were about to start bickering again, Song Luping quickly cut in, "Alright, alright. We have important business to attend to."

The ever-silent Song Chang’an also nodded. "Clan Uncle is right. We only have seven days. We must hurry to complete the task that Twenty-first Grandfather gave us."

"Mm, the landing points for our six families were all planned. The clan’s Medicinal Garden in the Secret Realm should be nearby. I’ll use the Compass to check."

As if by magic, Song Luping produced a Brass Compass. He formed a hand seal for a Magic Technique and silently recited a few lines of a Spell. The compass needle immediately began to spin rapidly before finally pointing southwest.

"It’s to the southwest. Let’s go."

...

The Six Great Influences had been developing the Secret Realm for many years, so they naturally wouldn’t drain the pond to get all the fish. Each had cultivated a Spiritual Vein inside and established a Spirit Plant Garden upon it, mainly for growing various Tier One Spirit Medicines and some Tier Two Spirit Medicines.

Due to the special nature of this space, the Spirit Medicine could be planted more densely. Over the years, this had formed a virtuous cycle. The primary task for the disciples of each family upon entering was to tend to the Medicinal Garden, harvesting the mature Spirit Plants and replanting seeds.

Just as Song Luping had said, their landing point was very close to the Medicinal Garden. In just a quarter of an hour, they arrived at the outskirts of their clan’s garden.

Upon opening the Guardian Array, everyone was instantly stunned by the sheer number of Spirit Medicines inside.

Spiritual Fields stretched out one after another, all densely packed with Spirit Medicine. A single glance revealed more than a dozen varieties of Spirit Plants, all growing exceptionally well.

"Good heavens, even if you combined all the clan’s Medicinal Gardens outside, they wouldn’t have this much Spirit Medicine, right?" Song Lutong’s eyes went wide as saucers as he exclaimed.

Song Changsheng and the others were no better. It was the first time for all of them. They had always heard their elders talk about how stunning the Spirit Medicine Garden in the Wutong Secret Realm was, but it never really sank in. Now, seeing it with their own eyes, they finally understood. It was truly breathtaking.

"What a treasure trove. No wonder even the Lieyang Sect has its eyes on it," Song Chang’an said with emotion.

"Enough sighing. With just a few of us, this will take at least two or three days. Let’s hurry."

The group had a clear division of labor. Each person took charge of a Spiritual Field and began harvesting and planting.

As he worked between the furrows, Song Changsheng grew more and more amazed. The Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm wasn’t particularly abundant, and the soil was just ordinary Spiritual Land. So why could the Spirit Medicine be planted so densely here without affecting its growth?

He had been to the clan’s Spirit Plant Mountain before. The Spiritual Qi there was far more abundant than here, but the number of Spirit Plants that could be grown on one mu of a Spiritual Field was only half of what he saw here. The difference was just too great.

’Perhaps it’s because the Laws of this world are rather unique. No wonder those Major Sects are so fond of developing Small Worlds. So this is why.’

The Song Clan only controlled a tiny Otherworld Space, not even qualifying as a Small World. Yet the amount of Spirit Medicine produced here each time was enough to supply the thousands of Cultivators of the Six Great Influences.

For those Major Sects that controlled many Small Worlds, the resources they produced each year must be an astronomical figure.

’No wonder the strong get stronger and the weak get weaker...’

The five of them worked in the Medicinal Garden for three days, gathering enough Spirit Medicine to fill three Qiankun Bags.

"Dammit, we’re finally done. I thought becoming a Cultivator meant I wouldn’t have to farm anymore, but it’s still the same," Song Lutong said with a huff.

He was born in the Mortal Realm to farmer parents and had worked in the fields since he was a child. After his Spirit Root was detected, the main reason he chose to walk the Immortal Path was to escape a life of farming.

The result, needless to say, was that Cultivators were still human and still had to work. His dream of being an Immortal was thus shattered.

"We’ve been dawdling here for days. Is there gonna be any of that [Stalactite Spiritual Liquid] left for us?" Song Lutong asked, full of resentment.

Song Changsheng smiled faintly. "The cave that produces the [Stalactite Spiritual Liquid] is also protected by an Array. It won’t open until the last day, so there’s no need for you to be anxious, Clan Uncle."

"Oh, so that’s how it is! Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get a move on! Don’t let those bastards from the Yu Clan get there first!" Hearing this, Song Lutong instantly grew excited again and urged them on impatiently.

"It is time to set out. However, this time we’ll have to split up. Besides what’s in the Medicinal Garden, there are plenty of wild Spirit Plants in other areas. We need to gather as many of those as we can."

Although there was a lot of Spirit Medicine planted in the Spirit Medicine Garden, most of it was Tier One Spirit Medicine and of relatively low value.

But it was different in the wild, where one could often find more valuable Spirit Medicine. This was their second mission.

...