Seeing Nan Zhijin recklessly slandering others without any basis, Yu Xuzǐ frowned in dissatisfaction.
The disciples of True Lord Hengling were getting more and more reckless and brainless.
No wonder... Shen Qing had risked half her life to leave Worry-Free Peak.
Thinking of this, Yu Xuzǐ gave Shen Qing a meaningful look. Shen Qing felt that her past as a disciple on Worry-Free Peak had truly become a stain on her record.
The female cultivator from Clear Sound Valley was rendered speechless by Nan Zhijin's words and didn't know how to refute. She stamped her feet in frustration.
With Yu Xuzǐ's silent approval, Shen Qing spoke up.
"According to what this fellow daoist said, are all the cultivators who have entered the secret realm suspects? Are you guys from the Main Shrine going to arrest them all one by one and lock them up in the Main Shrine?"
Nan Zhijin thought for a moment and said, "Maybe we really need to do this to find the culprit..."
"Fine. I'll say now that before Li Xian and I came here, there was no female cultivator from Clear Sound Valley at all. We were the first ones to discover that something was wrong with the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm."
Nan Zhijin's face darkened. He knew that Shen Qing was protecting Clear Sound Valley.
"I'm sent by the Main Shrine. How dare you spout nonsense in front of me!"
Shen Qing said coldly, "You say I'm spouting nonsense. What's your proof?!"
"I'd say that you're so eager to arrest people. Isn't that even more suspicious? Could it be... that you did this and now you're trying to shift the blame onto others?"
The female cultivator from Clear Sound Valley also calmed down and followed Shen Qing's lead, saying, "Yeah, yeah. Before my senior sisters and I came, we saw a sneaky figure leaving the secret realm. It did look a bit like you!"
Li Xian also pretended to remember something and said, "I seem to have a vague memory of what this fellow daoist said. There really was a sneaky figure leaving before we saw you guys. Judging from the figure, it did look like this fellow daoist."
Facing the suspicious looks from everyone, Nan Zhijin's face turned ashen. He gritted his teeth and glared at Shen Qing.
"I'm your senior brother. Do you really have to make me lose face in front of everyone?"
Shen Qing scoffed.
All this talk about arresting suspects was just him throwing his weight around, knowing that everyone didn't dare to offend him.
"Senior brother? What kind of senior brother are you to me? If we're talking about fellow disciples, my cultivation is higher than yours, so you should be my junior brother."
"But I heard that you've joined the Main Shrine. Once someone joins the Main Shrine, they have nothing to do with their former sect anymore. By that logic, you're not even my junior brother. Why are you trying to get familiar with me?"
Shen Qing elegantly rolled her eyes, ignoring the onlookers who were eager to watch the show.
It was just a family scandal. So what if she let everyone know? The actions of those people on Worry-Free Peak were so disgusting that they deserved to be judged by others.
Seeing that things were getting out of hand, Yu Xuzǐ quickly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Little brother, we're all here to deal with what happened in the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm. Why are you randomly accusing people without any evidence?"
"The situation is still unclear. We need to go in and investigate. Maybe all these things were done by the demons."
Nan Zhijin didn't dare to refute Yu Xuzǐ's words directly, but he was seething with anger and murmured in a low voice, "All the demons are in the Demon Abyss. Where did the demons come from? Besides... demon cultivators can't enter the Spiritual Spring Secret Realm."
No one paid attention to Nan Zhijin's muttering. They just listened to Yu Xuzǐ's task assignment.
Since Li Xian and Shen Qing had entered the secret realm before, they had to lead the way and go in again.
The female cultivator from Clear Sound Valley felt extremely grateful to Shen Qing for helping her.
So during the final break, she walked up to Shen Qing.
"Fellow daoist Shen, do you still remember me? I was the first one to get your spiritual fruit candy!"
This girl was bright and charming, but because she was still young, her features hadn't fully developed yet. With that smile, she looked even more innocent and cute.
Shen Qing thought for a moment. She did remember this incident, so she nodded and said, "I remember. When I came here, I saw you hugging a tree and vomiting. Now that you're going in again, do you need another piece of candy?"
The female cultivator blushed for a moment and quickly shook her head.
"No, no. I'm mentally prepared..."
"By the way, you helped me just now. I'll consider you my friend from now on. My name is He Zhaoxue. You can just call me Zhaoxue."
Then He Zhaoxue lowered her head and asked shyly in a soft voice, "Can I call you Sister Shen Qing..."
Shen Qing nodded and said, "Of course you can."
It was just a title. Shen Qing didn't mind at all.
Besides, she had just gained a cute little sister for free. She was definitely the one who was taking advantage.
But what bothered Shen Qing more was He Zhaoxue's surname.
The surname He was not common on the Nine Desolate Continent. The only well-known one was the He family, which was famous throughout the Nine Desolate Continent.
"What's your relationship with the He family?"
He Zhaoxue didn't intend to hide it. She directly told Shen Qing, "He Guan, the current head of the He family, is my uncle."
"I see," Shen Qing nodded in understanding.
They were from the same clan, but she didn't expect He Zhaoxue and He Yu to be so different.
Just thinking of He Yu's arrogant look made Shen Qing shiver.
It would be great if He Zhaoxue became the next head of the He family...
Of course, this was just a random thought of Shen Qing's.
While Shen Qing was daydreaming, Li Xian walked up to her and whispered in her ear, "When you're away from home, you've managed to gain two more little sisters."
There was a hint of jealousy in his words, which made Shen Qing couldn't help but laugh.
"What? If I don't gain little sisters, should I gain little brothers?"
Li Xian's expression froze. He half-closed his eyes, with a hint of danger in them. "Gain one, discard one."
Yu Xuzǐ was shouting at the front until his voice was almost hoarse, but he still couldn't stop Li Xian and Shen Qing from whispering to each other.
But then he thought, this just showed that their relationship was very good. His old man's words about safety... it didn't matter if they didn't listen.
Forget it...
When they reached the entrance of the secret realm, Shen Qing took a deep breath. The images of the spiritual beasts being slaughtered were still vivid in her mind, which made her mood heavy again.
Seeing that Shen Qing's expression was a bit strange, Li Xian was just about to go up and comfort her.
But before he could get close, he was bumped away by He Zhaoxue.
"Sister Shen Qing, are you a bit scared? I'll hold your hand. Then you won't be so scared."
Shen Qing turned her head and saw the uneasiness in He Zhaoxue's eyes. She tapped her on the forehead and said, "I'm afraid the one who's scared is you. You're just using me as an excuse."
He Zhaoxue lowered her head shyly and said, "Just thinking about seeing that hellish scene for the second time makes my heart tremble."
After they parted ways with Shen Qing and Li Xian yesterday, Senior Sister He had used the sound transmission technique to tell the elders of Clear Sound Valley about this matter.
On their way back, they happened to run into the team led by Yu Xuzǐ.
It would be best if there was someone who had entered the secret realm to explain the situation. Seeing that all her senior sisters were hesitant to go, He Zhaoxue volunteered to follow Yu Xuzǐ to the secret realm.
But that didn't mean she wasn't really scared.