boyutpedia #799 - Three months
#799 - Three months
After Jiang Yuenv finished recounting her experiences in the secret realm, Lu Jing and Supervisor Huang went to see Kui and Wumu.
Their stories were similar to Jiang Yuenv's, with relatively smooth progress in the early stages of exploring the secret realm. However, shortly after setting up the grand formation, they were attacked.
However, Kui and his team were slightly luckier. They didn't encounter the secret force turbulence but ran into four secret realm guardians.
The term 'secret realm guardian' is what cultivators call a type of monster found in secret realms that resembles neither a bear nor a tiger. These monsters spend most of their time wandering aimlessly within the secret realm and show no hostility towards other monsters. However, as soon as living beings appear in the secret realm, the secret realm guardians immediately become aggressive.
It's as if they were born to guard the secret realm.
Secret realm guardians are something all secret realm explorers dread encountering. They are very difficult to deal with. Unlike secret puppets, only secret force attacks can affect them.
However, their resistance to magical damage is astonishing. Killing a single secret realm guardian requires at least two Third Palace cultivators working together, and during the fight, the secret realm guardian will attract other monsters from the secret realm.
Kui and Wumu's team paid a heavy price to deal with those four secret realm guardians.
In the end, they managed to escape from the secret realm thanks to a strange object Wumu carried.
"You said those monsters suddenly appeared in front of you after you set up the formation?" Supervisor Huang asked.
"That's right," Wumu nodded. He had recently been treated by those weasel quacks for his injuries, and his waist was still wrapped in thick cloth.
However, after resting, he had recovered some of his energy.
As for Kui, she was closing her eyes to rest. Besides some injuries on her back and legs, her main issue was that the secret force in her upper dantian was overdrawn, and she had injured her divine soul by using secret techniques.
Fortunately, none of these injuries were fatal or permanent.
"I heard that two other people escaped from other secret realms," Wumu then asked, "Supervisor Huang, have you gone to see them?"
"We just came from there," Lu Jing said. "Inspector Jiang, Inspector Li, and Vice-Director Guo were in the same team. They were also attacked after setting up the formation."
Wumu's expression changed. "So, the appearance of those monsters at that time wasn't a coincidence. Could it be that they know what we're trying to do?"
"That's impossible," Kui opened her eyes and said. "The monsters in the secret realm only have the instinct to fight, not intelligence. This has been confirmed by those who ventured deep into the secret realm thousands of years ago."
"But at that time, the thing inside hadn't found a way to escape," Wumu said with a serious expression.
At this moment, Supervisor Huang spoke again, "How much time do we have left?"
"Hmm?"
"You have already penetrated deep into the center of the secret realm and opened a hole in its cage, but you didn't have time to set up the subsequent counter-measures as planned. According to your estimates, how long will it take for the thing inside to come out?"
Supervisor Huang finally asked the most critical question.
Wumu thought for a moment and gave a somewhat shocking answer, "Half a year, perhaps..."
"Three months," Kui disagreed. "Moreover, during these three months, the concentration of secret force will not stop decreasing and even return to its previous level as we had hoped."
"Why? If that dragon wants to escape, shouldn't it try to restore its power?" Supervisor Huang frowned.
"It actually has another option, which is to continue suppressing its vitality until it can escape from that small hole," Kui said. "In fact, when we were escaping from the secret realm, there was no sign of the secret force recovering. This is the best proof. Moreover, I just obtained the recent observation records from the Secret Guardian Bureau regarding the situation at the entrance to the secret realm."
"The secret force is indeed still decreasing, and the speed is even faster than before. Before long, we will only be able to rely on the Golden Scale Secret Carp to cast spells."
Wumu opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to refute Kui's speculation, but in the end, he could only let out a long sigh.
After a pause, he added, "Alright, you have just experienced a narrow escape from the secret realm and barely managed to escape. Don't think so much for now. Focus on healing your injuries first, and then we'll study how to deal with that dragon."
Both Wumu and Kui knew that Supervisor Huang's last sentence was just to comfort them.
Because no one in this world had ever seen that dragon, so naturally, no one knew how to slay it.
Moreover, that dragon didn't die even after being cut into twelve pieces. The vitality emanating from its body permeated from the secret realm into the human realm, allowing human cultivators to cultivate. Such a terrifying existence, who in this world could possibly kill it?
However, neither of them said anything more.
They knew that Supervisor Huang had already done his best, suddenly taking over the current mess from the previous Vice-Director.
It was already very difficult for him to temporarily stabilize the situation and prevent the Secret Guardian Bureau from collapsing immediately. It was unrealistic to force him to come up with a way to deal with that dragon right now.
Seeing that neither of them had any other questions, Supervisor Huang turned and left. He had just taken over the Secret Guardian Bureau and had a lot of affairs waiting for him to handle. He was the busiest person, not even having time to eat.
However, Lu Jing didn't leave with him. He walked to Kui and wanted to see if there was anything he could do to help with Kui's injuries, but the latter politely declined.
At this moment, Wumu on the other side spoke, "Inspector Lu, this humble Taoist has something to ask."
"What is it, Inspector Wumu? Please speak. I will definitely not hide anything I know," Lu Jing said.
"I heard that you also signed up for this secret realm expedition. With your strength, you should have been easily selected. Why did you withdraw at the last minute?"
"Oh, I didn't want to withdraw myself. Vice-Director Guo removed me from the list at the last moment," Lu Jing said truthfully.
"Why? Are you on good terms with him?" Wumu asked doubtfully.
"Uh, not really... Compared to the other disciples of the academy, I've seen him relatively more often, but we can't be said to have any personal relationship," Lu Jing said. "Every time we meet, we basically talk about official business."
"That's strange then. Why didn't he let you go to the secret realm?"