Chapter 157 Meeting Guan Yibai Again

Just as Yin Quan had anticipated, the moment the transmission began, Hong Jian channeled the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds" to conceal her aura.

The moment the mystic realm shattered, the wood-element spiritual seed also quieted down. The white light surrounding Hong Jian gradually dissipated. She hastily stripped off her black cloak, returning to the appearance she had before entering the realm.

Hong Jian had envisioned several difficult scenarios she might face upon exiting the mystic realm. The worst-case scenario would be dropping directly under the watchful eyes of a group of Nascent Soul and Golden Core cultivators. This was entirely different from the chaotic situation when entering; even with the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds," it would be difficult not to reveal any flaws.

To her surprise, luck was on her side. The place where she materialized was quite far from the entrance of the mystic realm. At that moment, the entire Floating Cloud Sect was in utter chaos. Even if someone had been watching from a distance, they would have only seen the void tear apart and a few pitch-black boulders tumble down.

By the time Hong Jian landed, she curled into a roll and hid nearby without a single person jumping out to shout, "Hey, look, there is still a living person over there!"

Hong Jian breathed a massive sigh of relief. Having cleared this first hurdle, everything else would be much easier to handle.

With the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds" in her possession, she believed no one could detect her. Others would simply assume Chai Xiaohong had perished within the mystic realm, sparing her from attracting so many covetous gazes.

Dealing with Lu Yanzhang would be simple; she just needed to quietly notify him and the two of them would find an opportunity to leave the Floating Cloud Sect together.

As for Jiang Yan... Hong Jian felt somewhat troubled. In that cave, he must have recognized her, right? With such a major incident having occurred, would it be better to let him know the truth or keep it from him? As a friend, she shouldn't keep secrets from him, but if she went and told him the reality, caught between his friends and his sect, making a choice would likely be difficult for him.

Never mind. She would wait a while before pondering this headache-inducing problem.

Hong Jian surveyed her hiding spot. The surroundings were very quiet; everywhere her eyes could see were exotic grasses and immortal vines. Several towering ancient trees blocked her view of the distance, a crystal-clear stream wound its way between nameless flowers and trees, and thick moss cushioned her feet.

Oddly enough, this place made Hong Jian feel somewhat familiar.

There were truly very few places within the Floating Cloud Sect that could make Hong Jian feel a sense of familiarity. Deeply surprised, she mused, "The back mountain's immortal garden? Isn't this place restricted by protective arrays? How did I get in here?"

No wonder she hadn't drawn anyone's attention. Hong Jian had just accompanied Jiang Yan to the back mountain's immortal garden not long ago, knowing that this vast area was inhabited solely by Jiang Yan's senior martial uncle, Guan Yibai. That barrier had been personally set up by Guan Yibai, and outsiders could not enter even if they wanted to.

However, at that moment, Hong Jian looked back at the two large boulders that had fallen down alongside her. One of them had very unfortunately crushed a trellis, and several immortal vines underneath had suffered as a result. With such a massive commotion, as long as Guan Yibai hadn't drunk himself to death, he should be arriving immediately.

Just as she shrank back behind a massive tree, a slight shift in the air currents occurred. A figure reeking of alcohol appeared beside the collapsed trellis—it was none other than the aged Nascent Soul cultivator, Guan Yibai.

Hong Jian heard Guan Yibai draw in a soft breath. He cast a spell to move the massive boulder away, but instead of busying himself with tending to the crushed flowers and plants, he flew up into mid-air and circled the immortal garden once.

Hong Jian did not dare to make the slightest movement. Relying on the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds," Guan Yibai indeed failed to detect her and eventually descended back to the ground.

Two immortal vines were dead and beyond saving through spells. Guan Yibai looked thoroughly heartbroken. Hong Jian listened to him mutter a few grievances, the gist of which was his astonishment at how the turbulence from the mystic realm could breach the restrictions he had set, causing stones to tumble directly into the immortal garden.

Hong Jian felt a twinge of guilt. She strongly suspected that the wood-element spiritual seed residing within her sea of consciousness was the culprit. Guan Yibai was a wood-attribute Nascent Soul cultivator, and the barrier he set up was undoubtedly a defensive array saturated with wood-element true essence. Yet, the moment she passed through the array earlier, she hadn't sensed any abnormalities whatsoever. To blame this on spatial turbulence was truly difficult to explain.

Guan Yibai did not linger long. He treated the bruised spiritual herbs, re-erected the collapsed flower trellis, and recovered his mildly intoxicated good mood. Seeing that nothing else was amiss, he strolled off humming a little tune.

Hong Jian waited a while longer, only showing herself once she was certain Guan Yibai had genuinely departed.

She felt profound gratitude toward this old Nascent Soul cultivator. If Guan Yibai hadn't given her the "Hollow Sword," she would have barely been able to protect herself in the mystic realm using only the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds." There would have been zero possibility of her independently slaying Pu Pingping, let alone attaining good fortunes like acquiring the wood-element spiritual seed and advancing to the Great Circle of Foundation Establishment.

Therefore, wishing to return his kindness—even though the cave-in had been rushed and chaotic—she had still braved the risk of being crushed beneath the mountain to rescue Pu Pingping's corpse.

She still remembered the night when Guan Yibai, herself, and Jiang Yan discussed the talismans of the Talisman Chart Sect. Guan Yibai had remarked, "If there's an opportunity, I'd like to get my hands on their talismans to study carefully." Although Guan Yibai had spoken casually at the time, Hong Jian could faintly sense that the thought had genuinely crossed his mind.

Why hadn't he acted on it? Logically speaking, as a Nascent Soul cultivator, capturing a few Golden Core members of the Talisman Chart Sect and snatching some talismans to study would have been an exceedingly easy task.

However, Hong Jian immediately understood what the old Nascent Soul was wary of. Dai Mingchi was already at the Soul Formation stage and had the assistance of Ji Youyun, causing all the major sects who understood the terrifying nature of the *Classic of Calamity* to tread carefully both overtly and covertly, terrified of inviting a disaster akin to that of Master Lingxu of the Danhai Sect.

The Floating Cloud Sect was relatively weak among the major sects, and Yin Quan was not as recklessly daring as Le You of Lesser Yingzhou. Consequently, Guan Yibai had far more reservations.

She wondered how many unused talismans Pu Pingping still carried. At the very least, the talisman he had intended to use to subdue the wood-element spiritual seed was still on him. Furthermore, Hong Jian had a faint intuition that the grade of this talisman among the Talisman Chart Sect's collection would not be low.

A large hole gaped in Pu Pingping's chest, and his blood had long since drained dry, but the cosmos sack hanging at his waist remained completely intact.

Protected by the "Immortal Veil of Rosy Clouds," Hong Jian did not need to worry about the bloody stench of the corpse spreading outward. Having no intention of lingering in this immortal garden, she ignored the talisman on Pu Pingping's hand and hurried to rummage through his cosmos sack.

The sack contained a modest amount of spiritual stones and medicinal pills, but no magic tools or spiritual herbs. It seemed Pu Pingping had utterly looked down upon the flora within the Floating Cloud Sect's mystic realm, not even bothering to pick up any magic tools left behind by rogue cultivators. However, there was a jade token engraved with strange patterns whose purpose remained unknown, alongside two jade slips. Hong Jian picked them up and examined them one by one, then tossed both the jade token and the jade slips into her own cosmos sack.

An unused talisman was indeed left behind in Pu Pingping's cosmos sack. Whether it was a talisman or an array, Hong Jian knew nothing about such crafts, so she didn't inspect it closely, intending to dump the whole thing on Guan Yibai for study.

But how should she hand this item over to Guan Yibai? Considering how he had hastily drawn a clear line to avoid entanglement just after gifting her the "Hollow Sword," presenting it to him face-to-face was definitely inappropriate. Leaving only the two talismans behind so bluntly would undoubtedly cause Guan Yibai to suspect her. It would be better to simply leave it attached to Pu Pingping's corpse right here in the immortal garden, attributing it entirely to the mystic realm's turbulence—whether he chose to believe it or not was up to him.

Guan Yibai had thoroughly searched this vicinity just moments ago. Although he looked thoroughly intoxicated, he wasn't completely addle-potted. Crouching low, Hong Jian moved quietly among the flowering trees, intending to find a different spot to abandon Pu Pingping.

"Master, Master, come quick! The 'Three-Leaf True Orchid' looks like it's about to bloom."

"Making a fuss over nothing, chattering away. Let it bloom if it wants to. Even if your master pays it no mind, it will still bloom for over a month; it's not like the Immortal Epiphyllum."

Hong Jian halted in her tracks. *Eh?* Who was Guan Yibai talking to? Did he have a disciple in the immortal garden? The voice sounded somewhat familiar, and Hong Jian immediately realized it was the parrot named "Brother Lian."

She poked her head out to look. Sure enough, Guan Yibai was lounging on the same reclining chair as before, with wine bottles nearly piled up beside the stone table. "Brother Lian" stood amidst the gaps between the bottles, tilting its head as it conversed with Guan Yibai.

"So fragrant. What is this scent?" Guan Yibai suddenly sat upright.

Hong Jian was secretly startled. Hearing mention of a fragrance, her mind instantly leaped to the wood-element spiritual seed. However, ever since the seed entered her sea of consciousness, that fragrance had vanished entirely from her perception. At this moment, hearing Guan Yibai mention a scent, she couldn't help thinking, *Could it be that only I, as its host, am unable to smell it?*

Yet, almost immediately, she caught a whiff of a rich floral fragrance. Hong Jian's mind eased, and she thought, *I must be losing my mind. If I were still carrying that fragrance on me, Guan Yibai would have discovered me during his search just now.*

"Brother Lian" hopped from foot to foot and squawked, "Master is truly brilliant! You just mentioned the Immortal Epiphyllum, and now it's about to bloom."

Guan Yibai sprang up with a swift motion. Sure enough, faint spiritual mists were drifting from the towering Immortal Epiphyllum tree not far ahead, which he had previously shielded with a defensive array. The epiphyllum flowers suddenly began absorbing spiritual Qi in massive quantities—a clear sign that they were about to bloom.

Guan Yibai strode over to the base of the epiphyllum tree, staring at it with rapt attention. Hong Jian was in no rush to discard Pu Pingping's body; she too wanted to broaden her horizons and see what a flower bud the size of an arm looked like when it opened.

Of the nine flower buds, one suddenly trembled, seeming to straighten upright.

The defensive array emitted a low hum; the array flags fluttered without wind, and the spiritual stones at the array's core flickered on and off.

Immediately following that, two more flower buds stirred. Guan Yibai uttered a cry of dismay and swiftly began burying array plates and planting array flags outside the perimeter of the existing array, setting up a second wood-element array in the blink of an eye.

His worry was not unfounded. The nine flower buds showed no intention of blooming sequentially; as one prepared to open, the other eight responded in unison. In an instant, the spiritual Qi within the array was sucked completely dry, and the high-grade spiritual stones at the array core shattered silently after holding out for only a few breaths.

Without a moment's hesitation, Guan Yibai activated the newly deployed array. The array plates and flags of this barrier were far more complex than the previous set. Aside from the high-grade spiritual stones at the array core providing spiritual energy, Guan Yibai reserved a crucial position for himself.

He sat cross-legged on the ground with his palms turned upward toward the heavens, and wood-element true essence slowly flowed from his unclasped palms, being drawn away by the blooming epiphyllum through the operating array.

The flowers opened with breathtaking speed. Their petals, resembling jade, split slightly apart, faintly revealing the delicate yellow stamens within. The fragrance drifted far away, drawing several colorful butterflies that dared not approach too closely, fluttering up and down only around the perimeter of the epiphyllum tree.

"Snap... snap..." Though the sound of the flower buds bursting open rapidly was faint, at that moment, it was clearly audible to the ear.