PCJ – Chapter 592 Is This the Immortal Realm?

“Yuanbao, why is Jiaohua still not back after being gone for so long? Could something have happened to him?” Ji Jiaxin asked anxiously.

“Don’t worry. He’s been through much more dangerous things and hasn’t even lost a single hair. He’ll be fine this time too. You think he’s stupid? If there was real danger, he’d have run off long ago,” Zhang Yuanbao said with a grin.

Mute quickly chimed in, “Yeah, don’t worry. Jiaohua is really capable. He has Leopard, Fat Cat, and Chubby Monkey with him. They’re incredibly fierce. Even ordinary wild beasts can’t handle the three of them, let alone Jiaohua himself.”

“Are you sure he’s alright? Why isn’t he back yet?” Ji Jiaxin looked worriedly toward the outside.

Several teams of mountain-scouting dogs were cautiously patrolling the area. Up in the trees, black cats and a troop of macaques kept watch. Their surveillance network was so tight that no danger from any direction could escape their notice.

Suddenly, the scouting dogs moved aside, opening a path.

“Jiaohua’s back!” Zhang Yuanbao shouted excitedly and stepped out from his hiding spot.

“Zhang Jiaohua!” Ji Jiaxin called out loudly.

“Hey, don’t worry! I’m fine!” Zhang Jiaohua’s voice came from not far away.

Leopard was the first to appear before Ji Jiaxin and the others, followed by Fat Cat and then Chubby Monkey. Then Zhang Jiaohua came out, with a shy-looking clouded leopard following behind him. He really did have a new leopard companion now.

Ji Jiaxin quickly ran up to him. “Why were you gone so long? We were so worried about you.”

“I found a really interesting place. Let’s go there and camp for the night. Judging by the sky, it looks like it’s going to rain soon,” Zhang Jiaohua said, glancing upward. The weather in these mountains was unpredictable—even seasoned hunters couldn’t always read it. The climate changed in small, local areas. It might be sunny one minute and pouring the next, followed by a sudden return to blue skies and sunshine.

Only now did Ji Jiaxin notice that what had once been a clear sky had somehow become overcast with dark clouds. It looked like it would rain any moment.

“Can we take shelter from the rain there?” Ji Jiaxin asked.

“Yes, you’ll see when we get there. But whatever you see, it’s best not to tell anyone,” Zhang Jiaohua warned her.

Ji Jiaxin didn’t understand why Zhang Jiaohua suddenly became so serious. Nor did she know what kind of place she was about to see.

Zhang Yuanbao and Mute followed them from a distance.

“Yuanbao, do you think Jiaohua is dating Ji Jiaxin?” Mute asked in a low voice.

“Looks like it,” Zhang Yuanbao chuckled.

“Would that count as young love?” Mute asked again.

Zhang Yuanbao turned around and kicked him in the butt. “Young love my ass! My grandpa married my grandma when he was just seventeen. I’m already twenty and still single. Jiaohua is eighteen.”

Mute nodded. “When I get to high school, I’m going to date a pretty girl too.”

Zhang Yuanbao kicked him again.

“Why’d you kick me again?” Mute asked.

“Because you’re a lucky bastard going to university in Beijing, while I haven’t even left the province—even though I repeated a year,” Zhang Yuanbao said, clearly frustrated.

“That’s because you didn’t train your basketball properly. Weren’t you planning to apply to a sports college? Why didn’t you go into athletics?” Mute asked in confusion.

“Isn’t it obvious? I’m clearly someone who uses his brain to make a living. You’re built for physical labor. Why would I go to the same school as you?” Zhang Yuanbao said proudly.

“Fine, I’ll do physical work then. Just wait—I’ll get into a pro club, become a star, drive luxury cars, date beautiful women, and make you so jealous,” Mute said smugly.

Zhang Yuanbao remained unimpressed. “You think you’ll earn more than Jiaohua’s jar of tea with a whole year of playing ball? I’ll be just like Jiaohua, start my own company, and rake in the money. You can’t play ball your whole life. When you get old and can’t run anymore, you’ll be watching us enjoy our lives. Maybe I’ll save you a job as our company’s doorman?”

“Get lost!” Mute replied irritably.

Then Zhang Yuanbao suddenly remembered something. “Right, I almost forgot. Qi Xia and Nie Tong said they want to meet up with Jiaohua over summer break. They also got into universities in Beijing—they just wanted to be in the same city as Jiaohua. Man, I really screwed up. I didn’t do well on the college entrance exam. My score only qualified me for a local university.”

Zhang Yuanbao was very frustrated. Everyone else had fulfilled their wishes, but he had studied an extra year and still didn’t get into his dream school. What frustrated him most was that his dream wasn’t even that big—he wasn’t trying for Tsinghua or Peking University, just any school in Beijing.

“Tell Jiaohua later. He’ll definitely be happy to come to our middle school class reunion,” Mute said.

By now, Zhang Jiaohua had stopped at the entrance and shouted back to them: “You two hurry up! It’s about to rain!”

Without Zhang Jiaohua’s guidance, even if Zhang Yuanbao and Mute reached the entrance, they wouldn’t be able to enter the hidden realm. The place looked completely ordinary, but there was a strange formation guarding the entrance. Ordinary people would unconsciously walk around it without realizing anything was amiss.

In the mountains, when it rains, it rains suddenly. Big, bean-sized raindrops began falling sparsely, cutting diagonal lines through the sky.

“Ji Jiaxin, you go in first,” Zhang Jiaohua said, taking her hand and leading her into the hidden realm.

From Zhang Yuanbao and Mute’s perspective, Zhang Jiaohua and Ji Jiaxin vanished into thin air.

They had entered a different space. A completely different world opened up before Ji Jiaxin, and she was stunned by the sudden change.

“Zhang Jiaohua, what is this place?” she asked in shock. There was no sign of the stormy wind and rain—only a blue sky overhead, bright surroundings, yet no visible sun. The place felt bizarre.

“I’ll explain in a bit. Wait here—I’m going to bring the other two in,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

He stepped out and, without warning, shoved the stunned Zhang Yuanbao and Mute into the space.

“Ah!”
“Ah!”

Both of them screamed and landed hard on their butts on the ground inside the hidden realm.

“Oww! Jiaohua, what are you doing? Huh? What is this place?” Zhang Yuanbao asked, astonished as he looked around.

Mute was also staring wide-eyed. “Is this… the Immortal Realm?”