LAVW – Chapter 25 Go Around on the Road

Long Ye already knew this would be the result.

If reverse psychology actually worked, Brother Qian wouldn’t still be at his current cultivation level. After all, he was a spiritual beast born at the Foundation Establishment stage.

But… was there another reason?

Long Ye suddenly thought that while Brother Qian loved to play around, he was also quite reliable when it mattered. He was intelligent and quick-witted.

In a world of cultivation where the strong preyed on the weak, how could someone like him allow himself to slack off in training?

Unless—there was some hidden reason.

Long Ye made a mental note to ask him about it when they were alone later.

Just as they finished discussing the purpose of the projection screen, things unfolded exactly as Shi Qian had predicted.

From the sky, people began falling down in batches.

The ones who had just descended from the high platform realized that many others had arrived at the same time—sometimes even a dozen at once. This made them anxious. With so many people, would there be enough treasures for everyone?

Meanwhile, those who were already below snapped back to their senses, suddenly recalling something—they hadn’t finished collecting all the spiritual herbs!

Whether they were dazed or not, they had to wake up now. Half of the crowd watching the “live broadcast” immediately scattered and rushed to join the fight for herbs.

Shi Qian watched the group of fierce, murderous-looking cultivators and silently swallowed back the joke he was about to make: “A whole group of delicate Lin Dais?”

Nope. Didn’t fit.

Among those descending from the platform, several turned their gaze toward Wang Xingzhi’s group—they were all members of the Wang family.

Wang Xingzhi swept his eyes across the area and noticed some family members who had landed in different spots.

Many had perished in the first trial, but every survivor was an asset to the family’s future.

Standing on his sword, Wang Xingzhi ascended into the air and called out: “Before the seven-colored spiritual light fades, each person may collect a few herbs and spiritual plants from the garden. If the light disappears, stop immediately—your life will be at risk if you don’t.”

Everyone knew Wang Xingzhi and that the Wang family had many people in this place. His words were clearly a warning, so they all took heed.

Of course, some greedy ones ignored the warning—only to end up as fertilizer for the garden, regretting their choices too late.

While most people focused on searching for and seizing herbs, others stayed near the projection screen, watching the cultivators still on the high platform.

Meanwhile, Shi Qian and the others moved toward the edge of the herb garden, trying to explore beyond.

Wang Xingzhi attempted to leave several times but eventually shook his head. “We still can’t get out. This secret realm is extremely strange—completely different from the ones I’ve heard of or been to before.”

Most secret realms were designed to train disciples of sects. Their trials and challenges were usually meant to hone one’s skills and mindset rather than outright kill.

But this War Sect secret realm? It was ruthless at every turn.

Just getting down from the high platform had already claimed the lives of at least half the participants.

Long Ye pondered for a moment and asked, “Do you remember the phrase ‘All who enter my War Sect are esteemed guests—please step onto the Life-and-Death Stage’?”

“Could it be that the secret realm recognizes we’re not War Sect disciples and is specifically targeting us?”

“That must be it!” Wang Lianzhi suddenly understood. “It makes sense that it would be this harsh only on outsiders.”

“But I guess the secret realm can’t completely restrict us,” she added with a sigh. “It will still gradually open up new areas. The only problem is, this process is extremely dangerous… Many people won’t survive.”

Wang Xingzhi glanced at his younger sister.

Compared to his eternally childlike appearance, she actually looked more like the older sibling. Back home, she always acted like an elder sister, but out here, her inexperience as a young woman was starting to show—especially her soft-heartedness.

Then he looked at Long Ye, who was even younger. Wang Xingzhi set up a small soundproof formation and spoke in a low voice:

“Before I left my sect to return home, my master told me that great chaos is coming.”

“My master is close friends with one of the Pavilion Masters of the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion. The great figures of various sects have already gathered there several times.”

“Shortly after, secret realms began appearing everywhere. I believe the signs of disorder are already emerging.”

“In the face of such great changes, remember two things: seize opportunities and prioritize survival. In a moment, just like on the high platform, we will likely be separated. I’m telling you this now so that when the time comes, don’t look for or wait for each other—just focus on your own trials. Be careful and stay vigilant.”

Wang Lianzhi and Long Ye nodded in unison.

The atmosphere turned serious. Even Shi Qian, though small, nodded along solemnly.

So this “great chaos” must refer to the final big boss, huh?

Turns out the major sects had already sensed the impending catastrophe. That was new information to him.

His understanding of this world was mostly built from Long Ye’s perspective, so his knowledge was still very limited. Even in this secret realm, he couldn’t say he knew more than the three true cultivators.

Once Wang Xingzhi finished giving his warnings, he withdrew the formation.

Just then, Long Ye keenly noticed something—those descending from the high platform were now all falling in one direction, opposite from where they were.

Wang Xingzhi flew up to check. “The western gate of the garden has opened. We can leave now.”

As soon as he spoke, his sword shot forward at full speed.

Wang Lianzhi immediately followed. But unlike her brother, she was only at the Foundation Establishment stage and couldn’t fly. She had to stick a talisman onto herself and use movement techniques to keep up.

Shi Qian: “Squeak Squeak.”

This, I know well.

He grabbed Long Ye and used an earth-escape technique to burrow forward, attempting to follow.

But Long Ye stopped him. “No need to rush. Take the chance to secretly check on the status of the command tokens first.”

Long Ye acted like he was heading toward the gate but deliberately moved at a slower pace, letting the others pull far ahead.

Shi Qian secretly took out his command token and noticed something strange. On the rhombus-shaped token, the pair of eyes surrounded by intricate patterns of grass, birds, and beasts had slightly opened, revealing a vast and ancient aura.

Dangling below the token was a black bead attached to a red string, but now, the bead had taken on an eerie red hue. The colors varied—some were bright crimson, while most were a mix of red and black in different proportions.

Shi Qian used his little claws to sift through the thirty-six beads and found two that were purely crimson.

Something peculiar happened. The moment he touched the two bright red beads, the strings attaching them snapped on their own.

Shi Qian reached out with his other paw to catch them. One bead slipped through his grip and fell, while the other passed right through his palm as if it didn’t exist, both vanishing into the ground.

Shi Qian and Long Ye could only follow them with their eyes.

They watched as the beads, along with their red strings, dropped to the ground. Then, just like the black jade that had shattered and projected the image of the high platform earlier, the beads disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

“Squeak.”

I didn’t use any force. The red beads fell apart on their own.

Shi Qian quickly told Long Ye about his discovery.

What did the red-colored beads mean? And what about the ones that were a mix of red and black?

Long Ye thought for a moment, then instructed Shi Qian to separate the predominantly black beads from the more red-tinted ones into two groups.

After that, he tucked Shi Qian back into his robe, whispered a few instructions, and walked toward the projection area.

The earliest group of people had already left, and those who came down after them were heading toward the newly opened garden gate. However, a few people still lingered by the projection, watching the images with fascination.

“Liu Weiming actually died? He was already at the late Foundation Establishment stage!”

“Yeah, and he even had a secret realm storage ring on him. Lucky for the guy who took him down!”

Long Ye blended into the crowd, letting his gaze follow everyone else’s toward the fallen cultivator, Liu Weiming. He was from the Liu family of the city’s main estate, a young cultivator barely in his twenties. Now, he lay lifeless in the chaotic pile of corpses on the high platform, indistinguishable from the rest.

As Long Ye observed, two more people joined the crowd.

He gave Shi Qian a small nudge. Understanding the signal, Shi Qian took out his tiny sword and slashed at the strings holding the predominantly black beads together.

“Squeak.”

The black ones won’t cut.

Shi Qian then switched to the bundle of more red-tinted beads and tried again with the blunt edge of his sword.

Zzzzz—

A faint, sizzling sound was heard as a thin white mark appeared on the string.

Shi Qian pulled his little sword back, intending to examine the mark closely, but in an instant, it vanished.

At the same time, the faces of several people around Long Ye turned pale with shock. They looked around in panic.

One of them couldn’t hold back and clutched his chest, cursing, “Who the hell just sneak-attacked me?!”

“Hiss—” another person echoed. “Someone ambushed me too, but I couldn’t tell where it came from. It felt like my vital energy was suddenly disturbed—almost made my blood reverse its flow!”

“Same here!”

“…Who could have such a terrifying ability?”

In the distance, nearly half of the people hadn’t escaped this ordeal either. Some even took advantage of the situation, eliminating distracted opponents in the midst of battle.

Shi Qian was stunned by what he heard. Without needing Long Ye to say a word, he swiftly stuffed the command token back into his storage necklace.

Provoking public anger was one thing, but getting caught was absolutely not an option.

Otherwise, with just their small arms and legs, neither he nor Long Ye would stand a chance against these ruthless cultivators.

Long Ye feigned discomfort and murmured softly, “Me too.”

Then, with a face full of fear, he quickly ran away, heading toward the open garden gate.

Once they had left the crowd, Shi Qian finally had the chance to speak.

“Squeak Squeak…”

If we cut all the strings, would everyone die?

A single slash had already caused injuries. Cutting the strings completely would surely lead to something far worse.

Long Ye whispered, “That should be correct.”

“If we assume that each storage ring brought in represents a team, then the more people from that team die, the redder their beads become. When the entire team is wiped out, the beads turn completely red and fall to the ground, returning to the earth.”

“Therefore, if we cut the strings and make the beads drop, those people will die. But cutting the strings doesn’t seem easy.”

“I noticed that the more seriously injured a person was, the stronger the effect on them. Those with minor injuries barely reacted—most were just startled.”

Shi Qian thought about it and agreed. Even that thin white mark he had made had almost disappeared instantly, proving how difficult it was to actually sever the strings.

If simply cutting the strings could wipe everyone out, then what would be the point of letting others enter the secret realm?

As Long Ye and Shi Qian made their way toward the garden gate, they were unaware that someone ahead of them was searching for the perfect ambush spot to carry out a silent kill.

Hong Shuangcai knew that the Jiu Tian Peak Secret Realm held great opportunities, but he never expected that the sect known as Zhan Zong had left behind its most valuable treasure—the sect’s inheritance.

No matter how powerful a sect was, it would experience rises and falls.

Some sects, before their complete decline or destruction, would preserve their foundational cultivation techniques, scriptures, and cultivation insights, hoping that future talented individuals would discover them and continue the sect’s legacy.

As one of the first cultivators to step out of the medicinal garden, Hong Shuangcai discovered an Inheritance Shrine inside the adjacent Alchemy Hall.

By entering the Inheritance Shrine and passing its trials, one could obtain Zhan Zong’s entire legacy in alchemy.

Hong Shuangcai was a dedicated alchemist and desperately wanted this inheritance.

But in his excitement, he made a crucial mistake—he squandered his one and only chance!

Each person was allowed only one attempt at the trial. After his failure, even bashing his head against the door didn’t grant him another opportunity to enter.

While drowning in regret, he noticed that a useless fool, who had exited even earlier than him, had just killed someone in a fit of rage before stepping into the Inheritance Shrine.

In this secret realm, one could steal another person’s opportunity!

Suppressing his excitement at this newfound revelation, Hong Shuangcai carefully concealed himself in a forest path leading to the Alchemy Hall, hiding his presence and patiently waiting for his “opportunity.”

Just then, at the entrance to the forest, Shi Qian popped his head out, once again catching the scent of a “death-seeking warning.”

Shi Qian dramatically pointed his little paw forward with an air of dominance.

“Squeak Squeak!”

Go around this forest—no matter how big the detour, just go around it.

Newly appointed errand runner, Long Ye: “Got it.”

Then, right in front of a fellow cultivator trailing behind them, he started striding sideways like a crab.

The cultivator, who had been keeping a safe distance behind them, was utterly baffled.

What kind of maneuver was this? Was that guy… imitating a crab?

He was only at the early Foundation Establishment stage. Should he follow them or not?