Once within the expanse of the Ten Thousand Miles Mountain, all that met the eye was a boundless, endless forest.

Liang Yi's eyes held reminiscence; he still remembered that when he had just traveled here, he appeared close to the boundary of the Ten Thousand Miles Mountain.

Turning his head, he exchanged a smile with his junior sister, a unique memory shared just between the two of them.

The location marked by Wan Tinggui in the intelligence reports was not easy to find, and even with the map Wan Tinggui provided, it took Liang Yi and the others quite a bit of effort to locate the approximate spot.

"This is the place on the map, but why doesn't it look like anything special?"

Yue Bai once again compared the spot with the map, confirming that it was indeed the area beneath their feet, yet her senses told her it was an utterly ordinary place.

"Wait, there's an extremely hidden Array cloaking the Void here!"

Su Youyi closed her eyes, and the invisible Law of Sword Intent spread out overwhelmingly.

After carefully sensing for a while, with the help of the Sword Intent Emperor's Crown, she sharply detected a subtle anomaly.

Yue Bai followed the direction Su Sister's hand pointed and indeed found a slightly different trace on a spatial node there, compared to the rest of the Void.

At that moment, the map Wan Tinggui had given to them suddenly lit up brilliantly, and a moon-white gemstone floated out from the map's marked location, gradually drifting in front of the group.

Liang Yi quickly sensed the gemstone and found it to be akin to a pass, likely something arranged by Wan Tinggui.

Under everyone's gaze, the gemstone melted into the Void several yards away from the group, as if water.

It was as if a zipper had been drawn back, and a small portal quietly opened in the Void, signaling the people to enter.

Liang Yi and Su Youyi exchanged a glance, both not feeling any danger coming from this entrance.

"Let's go, it should be Wan Tinggui welcoming us."

Liang Yi led the way, stepping straight into the still luminous portal, with Yue Bai and the others quickly following his lead.

As the last figure of Old Master Ju disappeared through the portal, the entrance also closed and vanished without a trace, and the area returned to tranquility.

"Using a Secret Realm as an ambush spot, hm..."

Feeling the Void's resistance encountered upon stepping through the entrance, Liang Yi realized that this Secret Realm was not small, at least not a minor Secret Realm by any measure.

Each of these spatial Secret Realms is attached to the world of Mystical Mechanism, and the larger the realm, the further its distance from the Mystical Mechanism Continent, and the stronger the Void's resistance in between.

Judging by the Void resistance Liang Yi just felt, this Secret Realm should be of a medium size, almost reaching the scale of a large one.

Su Youyi and Yue Bai surveyed their surroundings; they stood atop mountains, enveloped by white clouds, with the Astral Wind layer above them.

And between the surrounding mountains lay the ruins of a sect.

"Youyi Sister!"

Yue Bai, after glancing at the ruins below, as if suddenly realizing something, turned to look at Su Youyi.

"Hmm!"

Su Youyi had also noticed that the Array remnants in the ruins below bore the same origin as the mysterious Array they encountered in the outside world.

Old Master Ju glanced around; finding no disturbances, he concluded it must be a relic from the Second Epoch.

"This sect is not recorded in the annals."

After carefully examining the patterns on the sect's buildings and the Array Patterns left within the sect, Su Youyi did not find any similar descriptions in her known records.

Judging from the scale of the sect ruins they saw, this sect at its peak would have been a First-grade Sect, but their exact strength was unclear. Now, although preserved by the Secret Realm, the long sweep of time had left it exceedingly dilapidated and desolate.

"Come on down, I have finished the preparations."

A familiar voice came from the ruins of the sect below, drifting leisurely towards the people in the sky.

"It's Wan Tinggui, she's down there..."

Concentrating his vision, Liang Yi saw Wan Tinggui standing atop a desolate great hall, looking up at them.

Everyone descended as instructed; as they drew closer, the details of the sect ruins gradually became clearer.

"Is this an Array Sect?"

Su Youyi looked at the Array Patterns visible all over the sect, speculating thoughtfully.

While typical sects would also have Arrays arranged throughout, none would be as prevalent as those in a sect specializing in Arrays, and judging from the complexity of the remaining fragments of the Arrays, these were not simple Arrays when intact.

However, they were now long degraded, the power they once contained almost entirely dissipated, leaving nothing but empty shells.

"Blood Purification Sect, the one that invented the Blood Youxin Heart Array."

Wan Tinggui pointed at the ruins around them, smiling as she explained to the group.

Liang Yi suddenly realized why Wan Tinggui had set the ambush here; it turned out that this place was where the Array was originally created.

"Who would have thought there was a Secret Realm here, did the Ten Thousand Miles Mountain people not notice?"

Liang Yi was somewhat surprised, not expecting an undiscovered Secret Realm within the Demon Clan's territory.

"I'm not sure about that..."

Yue Bai shook her head shyly, admitting that when she was following her master's cultivation, she only cared about cultivation matters and paid no attention to anything else.

As for Uncle Ju, there's no need to mention him. He practically never stayed among the Demon Clan and probably nobody in Ten Thousand Miles Mountain would recognize him as the Demon Emperor's son if he didn't speak up.

"Haha, naturally, the Demon Clan wouldn't leave a Secret Realm unattended in their own territory. Any Secret Realm they have discovered would have already been cleaned out."

Wan Tinggui said with curved eyes, covering her mouth with a light laugh.

"Then this Secret Realm..."

Hearing what Wan Tinggui said, Liang Yi sensed that something was amiss.

"This place originally had no Secret Realm. It was just an ordinary forest. As for this Secret Realm, I had the Black Tortoise Envoy move it here from somewhere else," Wan Tinggui explained to Liang Yi and the others with a smile.

"If it were simply about setting up traps, no matter how perfectly they're set up, they're still fake and there's a chance that the White Tiger Envoy would see through them. Therefore, I moved the entire Secret Realm where the Blood Youqing Heart Array was found here. It can't get any realer than that."

"..."

Liang Yi found Wan Tinggui's reasoning irrefutable.

A fake could be seen through, but something real is indeed real—unless the White Tiger Envoy has no intention of entering.

Both Su Youyi and Yue Bai couldn't help but smile bitterly; this person is too reckless, having moved a medium-sized Secret Realm from who knows where to here.

Not to mention the dangers of moving a Secret Realm, just avoiding the notice of the Demon Clan would be difficult.

If the Demon Clan were to discover Wan Tinggui's actions, it would definitely lead to conflict, potentially to the extent of fighting to the death. After all, who would know what these people had thrown into their territory? What if it was a Transmission Array linking to the Abyss?

"There's no problem. I specifically chose a time when the Grand Saint of Nine Spirits was not around. Aside from him, no one else could have discovered us," Wan Tinggui reassured Su Youyi from her expression, smiling proudly as she explained to the two of them.

In implementing this plan, she had taken all sorts of scenarios into account. This operation couldn't afford any mistakes.

After meeting with Liang Yi and others and then leaving the camp, Wan Tinggui returned to her residence and reconsidered the encounter with Liang Yi and others once again. It was then she realized something she had not noticed at the time:

The profound gaze and smile with which Banished Immortal had left.

After pondering for quite a while, Wan Tinggui finally understood.

Upon learning of their plan to kill the White Tiger Envoy, Banished Immortal treated this incident as their "pledge of allegiance"!

She said she had defected because of her connection with Liang Yi, and because she dared to confront Banished Immortal directly, Chen Hua might grant her some basic trust. But what about the other defectors from the Devouring Spirit Sect?

Chen Hua didn't know those people and hadn't even met them. Why would he trust them?

So this mission to hunt down the White Tiger Envoy was a touchstone and a pledge of allegiance.

This mission couldn't be accomplished by her alone. It required the concerted efforts of all those who had defected from the Devouring Spirit Sect.

Only by proving their abilities and truly allying against the Abyss could Chen Hua's assistance be justified.

Wan Tinggui guessed that even if she hadn't come up with the plan to ambush the White Tiger Envoy, Banished Immortal might have found other ways to test them.

"I just wonder if Liang Yi and Su Youyi are aware of Banished Immortal's intentions."

Wan Tinggui watched Liang Yi and Su Youyi, who were observing their surroundings, trying to discern if they understood, but she couldn't tell anything from their expressions.

"Since you found this Secret Realm a while ago, you must have also obtained control over it, right?"

Liang Yi didn't believe that Wan Tinggui would have simply taken an array from a Secret Realm and left it at that.

"Of course. This Secret Realm is now completely under my control. That's why I have the confidence that we can conceal our actions from the White Tiger Envoy."

Wan Tinggui naturally nodded, acting as if it was apparent. Although this Secret Realm seemed ownerless, Wan Tinggui was in fact its true master, capable of silently manipulating the entirety of the Secret Realm's power for their concealment.

"So, was the incongruence in the outer array intentionally left by you?"

Su Youyi recalled the peculiar detail they had discovered outside.

"Ah, yes, that was indeed intentionally left behind by me," Wan Tinggui straightforwardly admitted.

"After all, if the Secret Realm had existed for countless years and its array was still in perfect condition, it would arouse suspicion. Therefore, I deliberately left some untraceable marks to enhance its realistic impression."

"Such meticulous thoughts."

Su Youyi and Yue Bai both inwardly sighed at the meticulous detail which normal people would likely overlook.

"So, what do we do next?"

By this time, Liang Yi had also more or less surveyed the ruins of the sect with his Divine Sense, and as far as he could tell, he hadn't found any issues.

After confirming there were no issues, Liang Yi turned and asked Wan Tinggui.

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