"I…where am I?" Mu Chen found himself staring into a dark corridor and was confused.

Why was it so dark? Wasn't his bright pearl brand new? It shouldn't have been snuffed out in such a short time, Mu Chen thought, and he looked around. As expected, he spotted two blobs of green mass in the distance.

"Oh, there it is!" Mu Chen was relieved and walked towards the pearls, but then paused. "Wait...I only took out one bright pearl," he frowned. "Why are there two?"

Mu Chen felt something was amiss, and tried to recall it, but it was difficult. His head was heavy with fog, his thinking slow and sluggish. The more he thought the weirder he felt because he couldn't remember how he ended up in this place.

However while he was thinking, the two 'bright pearls' began to burn with wisps of green light. The green light they gave off was eerie and hypnotic.

Mu Chen was drawn towards the globs of green and before he knew it, he was standing in front of those green globs the size of a carriage.

The size of a carriage? When did they become so big? Mu Chen was startled. He looked again and indeed the globs of green were the size of a carriage—they couldn't be his bright pearls.

Those globs of green seemed to have sensed Mu Chen's hesitation. Seeing Mu Chen was no longer walking towards them, they began to float towards him.

"Fuck!" Mu Chen cursed. He turned and began to run away. But the two green photospheres were unwilling to let him go and chased behind him.

Mu Chen ran with all his might. In the distance, he could see daylight. It was the end of the tunnel. Just a few feet more and he would be able to exit the tunnel. Seeing the exit so close, Mu Chen was relieved, but the next moment, the ground beneath him twisted and disappeared and he fell into a pit. He struggled to stand up, but the two lights had already caught up and swallowed him…

"No!" Mu Chen yelled with his heart pounding.

The scene changed. The worst didn't happen—he was still inside the underground chamber with the sarcophagus. Xiao Xue was still sleeping peacefully next to him, and the bright pearl was still illuminating the surroundings with a dim light.

"A nightmare?" Mu Chen gasped and rubbed his head. He had a splitting headache, his throat was parched and his back was drenched in a cold sweat.

Mu Chen took out his pouch. After a few sips of wine, he calmed down. He rarely had nightmares before. The last time he had a nightmare was over a year ago, that was when he was crippled. He spent a lot of troubled nights back then, especially under the dreary sleep induced by the medicinal herbs.

But aside from a few healing pills, he hadn't taken any other medicines. And as far as he knew, those healing pills didn't have any side effects of causing nightmares.

"Is it because of this place?" Mu Chen looked at the ceiling. Above it was a graveyard of beasts. He wasn't superstitious, but he had heard that places of heavy slaughter were considered ominous.

"It's better to get out of here as soon as possible," Mu Chen shook his head. He came next to the wall and began to probe with his sword intent but then paused as he realized something.

"Sword intent hasn't recovered to full," Mu Chen frowned. Barely half of his sword intent had recovered. "It must be because of the nightmare," Mu Chen sighed. Due to the nightmare, he didn't even get proper rest, of course, his sword intent wouldn't recover.

Mu Chen probed the walls but discovered that the walls had been protected by some restriction. Breaking them would consume a lot of his sword intent. And he would have to sleep in between to recover lost sword intent. If his guess was correct, it would take several days. He didn't want to waste that much time unless he had no choice.

Mu Chen looked at the corpse of the demon. He looked at the stone coffin and he was inspired and came next to it. With a slash of his sword, Mu Chen split the coffin through the middle. He peered through the crevice and chuckled, "Sure enough. A crafty rabbit has three holes."

Underneath the coffin was another tunnel. The demon had prepared it for escaping in case of emergency. Mu Chen no longer hesitated and began to work. With a few quick slashes, he destroyed the sarcophagus, boring a hole comfortable enough for him to slide through.

When Mu Chen picked up Xiao Xue was about to enter the tunnel, he paused and looked at the corpse of the demon once again. He took out a knife and carved out the two emerald green eyes of the demon and put them away. He picked up the bright pearl and jumped down the hole.

The tunnel was long and narrow. Mu Chen had to walk for several hours before he reached its end. The tunnel exit was a cave inside a small mountain. Mu Chen pushed the boulder blocking the exit and came out.

Watching the open sky, Mu Chen breathed a sigh of relief. He had left the maze behind. The underground chamber was safer, but it was dark and gloomy. Compared to it, he found the forest was much more pleasant.

Determined to cross the forest, Mu Chen set out once again. To his surprise, Mu Chen didn't find any spiritual herbs in this part of the forest, as he had before. And as he continued to move forward, he noticed something odd.

"There are markings." Mu Chen paused as he observed the bark of a tree. At first, he was worried he may have entered the territory of a powerful monster beast, but on a closer look, he realized the markings couldn't have been made by claws.

"There are people here?" Mu Chen looked around him carefully but didn't notice any abnormalities. After thinking about it, Mu Chen continued to walk forward. He still had to cross the forest. But he was much slower and paid more attention to his surroundings.

The markings became more obvious as Mu Chen walked. Mu Chen came across one such marking.

"A curvy line is a small stream, so three such lines… it should be a river?" Mu Chen looked at the mark and looked in the direction pointed by the marking. After coming across so many of them, he was able to decipher a few. However, it raised another question in Mu Chen's mind. Would a group of cultivators care about such details?

Mu Chen followed the markings and soon came across a small river, but didn't stop there. He followed the river upstream. The river source was a large basin of water at the bottom of a mountain. A waterfall from the mountain poured into the basin. When Mu Chen came near the basin, his gaze was instantly attracted by something.

"A net?" Mu Chen came next to the net woven out of vines and a bunch of seaweed. The openings in the net weren't small enough to obstruct the flow of water, but they weren't large enough for the fish to swim through either. Several fish had been trapped by this simple net. Seeing the net, Mu Chen's eyes narrowed.

Thud, thud!

The sound of footsteps alerted Mu Chen. He jumped onto a tree and hid behind the leaves, ready to attack at a moment's notice. Moments later, two figures came into view. Seeing them, Mu Chen was surprised.

It was a boy and a girl.

Both of them wore crude clothes made of animal skins. The boy carried a makeshift spear made out of a tree branch. The girl wore a string of animal teeth as a necklace and carried a basket.

However, what shocked Mu Chen the most was not their appearance, but their age. The pair of children were only around twelve to thirteen years of age.

"Brother, slow down!" the girl who was behind the boy cried. "Or you might fall in the river like last time."

"Hmph!" the boy snorted. "I would've been fine if you hadn't bumped into me..."

The two of them bickered as they came to where the net was. The boy looked into the basin of water and his expression became ecstatic.

"Haha, Great Uncle didn't lie. So many fish! Quick, give me the basket," the boy said.

The girl handed over a wicker basket she had been carrying to the boy. The boy crouched by the basin and held the basket against the flow of water. The girl didn't sit still and began to throw stones at the fish driving them into the basket. The two of them cooperated well and after several attempts, they managed to capture all the fish.

"It will be a feast today," the boy said as he covered the basket with a lid. "Come, let's hurry back or it will be late for lunch." He said to the girl and the two of them left.

Mu Chen, who had been hiding, saw the pair of siblings leave and quietly followed them. At this point, he had too many questions. The secret realm was different from what he had read about.

The pair of siblings were oblivious to Mu Chen's tracking as they happily trotted the way they had come from. After walking for half an hour, they came to a clearing. Several thatched huts huddled together inside the clearing. Two wooden poles with skulls of wolves on their ends were entrenched in front of the clearing, serving as the entrance to the village.

The village was busy with people. The women were doing their daily chores while the kids played around. Near the entrance was a wide-open area with a small platform. Several old people had gathered on the stage and were chatting with each other while smoking pipes. It was just a tiny village with a peaceful atmosphere.

The two siblings passed through the entrance and rushed towards one of the huts.

"Xiao Ye, Xiao Xi, how was the harvest?" One of the old men who was smoking called out to the kids.

"Great Uncle, look. We caught so many cold water koi." Xiao Ye opened the basket and showed it to the old man who had just spoken.

"Good, good," the great uncle praised Xiao Ye with a smile.

"I-I also helped a lot," Xiao Xi saw her brother being praised and said.

"Haha, you too," the great uncle wasn't stingy with praise, making Xiao Xi smile.

"Great Uncle, will there really be more fish to catch?" Xiao Ye asked.

"The ice on the mountain has started to melt," the great uncle nodded. "There will be more and more fish to catch later."

"Really?" Xiao Ye was more excited and the corner of his mouth started to drool. Xiao Xi also couldn't help but gulp.

The gang of old guys chuckled seeing the siblings' foolish appearance. The siblings were embarrassed and ran off into one of the houses with the basket.

Mu Chen watched the scene from a distance and sighed. He didn't expect there were natives living in this realm. For a moment, he was at loss but then realized this could also be an opportunity. As natives, shouldn't these people be more familiar with the secret realm? If they were willing to help, he would be able to avoid many pitfalls. Mu Chen thought about it and prepared to enter the village.

But Mu Chen had taken only a few steps forward when he felt something cold and solid touch the nape of his neck.

"Who are you?" a cold voice spoke behind him.