She turned to leave, then paused. Bowing low, she said softly, “Thank you, Master, for saving my life.”

  If he hadn’t personally gone to Moonlit Sect to put them in their pce, they would never have backed down.

  With that, she flew toward Cloud Peak.

  Drake’s eyes shifted to Tarot. Dark energy still swirled faintly in his chest. With a frown, Drake pressed a hand against him, releasing a gentle violet light. The darkness recoiled and sank.

  Tarot coughed, then forced himself to bow. “Thank you, Master.”

  Drake’s tone was cool. “You’re still this unstable, at your age?”

  At my age? Being scolded for youth by a thousand-year-old monster—what kind of joke is this?

  “Master, Yusuf was too strong,” he said stiffly. “I had no choice but to kill him.”

  Drake didn’t push further. “Just know your limits. Go rest.”

  “Yes, Master.”

  .......

  Lauren arrived at Cloud Peak and found Gerald with Jade and the others waiting.

  Jade let out a breath of relief the moment she saw her.

  “Thank you, Ms. Jade, for saving me,” Lauren said sincerely. If Jade hadn’t intercepted Yusuf, she would’ve been done for.

  Jade smiled faintly. “Yusuf was despicable. I only did what needed to be done. I’m just gd you’re safe.”

  Gerald, who’d been pacing, stepped forward in a hurry. “Sebastian and the others said the Moonlit Sect was after you because of those three Patching-Sky Pills. Is that true?”

  Lauren blinked. “Huh?”

  “…No?” Gerald frowned, confused.

  Shaking her head, Lauren pulled out a small jade box. Inside y the three Patching-Sky Pills Sebastian and the others had been guarding with their lives.

  “Master Brother, here. They’re all intact.”

  Normally, when disciples returned from a secret realm, they could keep their spoils if useful, or turn them in for sect points and subsidies. Sometimes a portion was required to be surrendered, but even then, it was fairly compensated.

  Gerald’s hands trembled slightly as he accepted the box. When he opened it and saw the pills gleaming inside, gasps echoed through the hall. They craned their necks, eager for a glimpse.

  Gerald snapped the lid shut with a firm hand. “The lower your cultivation, the greater the effect. Don’t be greedy. Even if any of you stuffed down all three, you still wouldn’t live long enough to touch the Mahayana stage. That’d be a damned waste.”

  The bluntness stung, but no one could deny the truth of it.

  “So then,” someone asked carefully, “who will Master Brother give them to?”

  Gerald’s eyes softened as he looked at Lauren—forgetting entirely how he’d once scolded her as ‘wicked’ when she first joined. If she were wicked, there was nothing they could do about it. Not when she was holding treasures like these, and not while Drake stood behind her.

  “Junior Sister,” Gerald said warmly, “you’ve risked your life to protect these. At least one should be yours.”

  Lauren shook her head firmly. “Master Brother, why not use them as prizes for the sect competition? Let them motivate the younger disciples instead.”

  Gerald stared at her, admiration pin on his face.

  Then Lauren reached into her sleeve and produced a pin-looking bag.

  Gasps again.

  “…A Ground Bag?”

  Lauren nodded. “This is why the Moonlit Sect was after me. Inside is the boundary marker of the Hidden Mist Secret Realm. Their behavior was suspicious from the start, so I had everyone tail them. Eventually, we snatched this from Moonlit Sect disciple Indiana. The boundary marker was inside.”

  For a moment, silence—and then the entire hall erupted into ughter and disbelief.

  Sebastian and the others hadn’t understood the weight of what they were carrying, but the elders did.

  Gerald accepted the bag with trembling hands, looking uncharacteristically flustered. His spiritual sense probed inside, and sure enough—there it was. A stone tablet, etched with three bold characters: Dark Mist Realm.

  So, that was the true name of the Hidden Mist Secret Realm.

  “Master Brother?” someone prompted eagerly.

  Gerald nearly burst out ughing but forced himself to nod. “Yes… yes, it’s the boundary marker. No mistake about it.”

  Murmurs rippled through the crowd.

  “The boundary marker’s here… then the entire Hidden Mist Secret Realm belongs to us!”

  “No wonder Yusuf was chasing her to the ends of the earth.”

  Cornelius blurted out, his face alight with excitement, “If it were me—I’d…” He froze as every eye turned toward him. Clearing his throat, he muttered, “…I mean, I’m not that shameless.”

  A collective tsk~ filled the hall.

  Gerald stroked his beard and sighed. “Thank the heavens Immortal Venerable personally went to the Moonlit Sect. If he hadn’t, Herbert wouldn’t have let this matter drop so easily.”

  Lauren produced another storage ring and handed it over. “Gerald, this is Yusuf’s storage ring.”

  The air in the hall shifted immediately. Several men actually trembled, their legs going weak.

  They hadn’t been sure before, but if his storage ring was here… Yusuf really was dead.

  Gerald’s eyes narrowed in disbelief. “Yusuf… is dead?”

  Lauren nodded. “Brother encountered him when he came to my aid. Yusuf tried to kill us both, so he had no choice but to end him.”

  A stunned silence followed.

  Tarot was only at the Nascent Soul stage, yet he had sin Yusuf, a mid–Spirit Severing cultivator?

  Cornelius broke the silence, his voice oddly reverent. “No wonder Tarot’s injured and his vitality damaged. But… even so, that’s impressive.”

  Jade nodded. “Junior Brother Tarot is still Master Uncle’s disciple. It’s not strange that he’s stronger than ordinary Nascent Soul cultivators.”

  The others exchanged uneasy gnces. Stronger? That was an understatement.

  Drake’s disciples were all monsters. And Lauren, though only at Foundation Establishment, clearly wasn’t some “ordinary” junior either. Timothy had been terrifying in his own right—yet she had reduced him to nothing but a ughingstock.

  Gerald took the ring with solemn hands. “I’ll refine it and return it to Junior Sister ter.”

  Lauren bowed slightly. “Thank you, Master Brother.”

  ......

  Once the formalities were over, Lauren left the hall and returned to the mountain.

  She reported to Drake, checked in on Tarot—still pale and recovering from his injuries—then finally returned to her own quarters.

  The little four-legged creature was still curled in cultivation, though the earthen aura that had surrounded him was gone. He must be waking soon.

  “Hey, Four Legs,” she called softly. “How long do you need to digest that Nascent Soul?”

  As if on cue, the creature’s eyes flicked open.

  “Four Legs? Are you calling me?”

  “…Yeah,” Lauren replied.

  Silence. Though she couldn’t see his face, she had the distinct impression he wasn’t pleased.

  “Why are you calling me that?”

  Lauren blinked. Hadn’t she already expined? Ah, right—he hadn’t woken up st time.

  “At first, I didn’t know what you were. All I saw was four legs, so I just called you that. It’s just a nickname, don’t be angry. If you tell me your real name, I’ll stop calling you Little Four-Legged.”

  The creature snorted. “Hah. I called you Two-Legged Sheep. Are you angry?”

  Lauren: “…”

  “What’s your name then?” she asked, rubbing her forehead.

  “Edmund.”

  “Alright then, Edmund. Tell me honestly—was Yusuf’s Nascent Soul… tasty?”