Chapter 998: Small Secret Realm

The mysterious woman clearly noticed Lu Ye’s gaze, but seemed unfazed, merely letting a slight smile play on her lips.

Lu Ye’s gaze swept past her to a black-robed figure standing silently nearby. The person wasn't tall but had a very solid, sturdy build.

This figure remained motionless, hands hanging loosely. The arrival of the woman and Lu Ye didn't draw much attention; he merely glanced at them before lowering his eyelids and resuming his quiet stance.

Another Divine Sea realm cultivator, and a body cultivator at that. Lu Ye’s heart subtly tensed.

However, this person gave Lu Ye a strange impression. His expression was dull, and the spiritual light in his eyes seemed dim, making him appear somewhat unintelligent. Lu Ye wondered if it was just his imagination.

Having finished stretching, the mysterious woman motioned to Lu Ye, saying, "Let's go." She started walking forward, and Lu Ye could only follow.

Almost at the exact moment the mysterious woman led Lu Ye into this secret realm, somewhere in Bingzhou, Tang Yifeng, who was swiftly flying through the sky, suddenly halted.

He held a tracking compass whose needle had consistently pointed in Lu Ye's direction. But just now, the needle had begun to spin rapidly and showed no signs of stopping.

As long as the needle kept spinning, he couldn't accurately track Lu Ye's location.

The sect master frowned, gazing at the tracking compass for a moment. He had a faint suspicion. He then checked his battlefield imprint and found that Lu Ye's imprint was in an uncontactable state.

He immediately understood: Lu Ye must have entered a sealed secret realm. That's why the tracking compass couldn't pinpoint his location, and the battlefield imprint was uncontactable.

Fortunately, the imprint hadn't vanished, which meant Lu Ye wasn't in mortal danger.

While relieved, he was also helpless.

Meanwhile, the members of Team Ding Si had also been trying to contact Lu Ye, but no matter how many messages they sent, they received no reply. At this moment, Lu Ye was completely out of reach.

Yiyi burst into tears with a wail, and Feng Yuechan and Lin Yinxiu quickly moved to comfort her.

Xiao Xinghe and Li Baxian exchanged worried glances, both feeling a sense of powerlessness.

When Lu Ye was captured, they were right there, but facing a grand cultivator like Liu Yuemei, all their resistance was futile. They could only watch helplessly as Lu Ye was taken away, naturally feeling incredibly anxious.

Now, Lu Ye's whereabouts and safety were unknown, and even if they wanted to rescue him, they had no means to do so.

"First, let's return to Haotian City and ask the Commander and the Sect Master to intervene," Xiao Xinghe quickly decided. In their current situation, they had no other option; only by involving Qian Youdang and Tang Yifeng was there any hope of rescuing Lu Ye.

"Who was that person earlier...?" Inside the renowned secret realm, Lu Ye followed behind the mysterious woman, trying to gather information.

He hadn't expected her to say anything, but the woman spoke: "You can call him Dao Eighteen."

"Dao Eighteen?" Lu Ye frowned. What a strange name. If it was just a given name, that would be one thing, but the "eighteen" seemed like a number, which was intriguing.

If there was a Dao Eighteen, did that mean there were also Dao One, Dao Two, and so on?

The woman, however, wasn't inclined to explain further. As she walked forward, she said, "You'll live here from now on. No one will restrict your freedom. You can do whatever you want, understood?"

Lu Ye looked perplexed. "You captured me just to imprison me?"

What grudge or enmity could this be? "Someone wants to see you."

"Just wait!" the woman said impatiently. She walked to a wooden cabin by the lake, went straight inside, and closed the door with a thud.

Only a faint, fragrant breeze lingered in the air.

Lu Ye stood pondering for a moment, then quickly turned and darted towards the secret realm's entrance. Indeed, the woman showed no intention of stopping him. Soon, Lu Ye reached the entrance and glanced at Dao Eighteen, who stood there with his hands down, like a guardian deity. "Open the exit! I want to leave!"

Opening and closing the secret realm's entrance required specific methods, which Lu Ye naturally didn't know. But since Dao Eighteen was guarding the place, he must know how.

The person seemed somewhat unintelligent, so Lu Ye wanted to try if he could convince him to let him out.

Although the chances were slim, how would he know without trying?

Dao Eighteen slowly raised his eyelids, looking at him expressionlessly. A hoarse voice emerged from his mouth: "Order!"

Lu Ye had no order whatsoever!

He simply grabbed the guard's token from his waist, infused it with spiritual power, and waved it at Dao Eighteen. "Open the exit!"

"The order is not a talisman!" Dao Eighteen's hoarse voice replied, then he lowered his eyes again, standing like a wooden post.

Lu Ye's eye twitched. Observing his demeanor and mannerisms, he even wondered if this fellow was truly alive, or if he was some kind of automaton created by an artificer, like his master's clone.

But even his master's clone, named Xiaodie, was much more agile than Dao Eighteen. Dao Eighteen felt not only dull but also stiff to Lu Ye.

Without a valid order, there was no way to make Dao Eighteen open the secret realm.

However, it wasn't a complete loss. At least one thing was confirmed: Dao Eighteen really could open the secret realm.

Since that path was blocked, Lu Ye turned his head to look at the mysterious woman's wooden cabin, then began to explore the secret realm.

About half an hour later, Lu Ye had a general understanding of the environment there.

This was a small secret realm, similar to the Sword Sect's secret realm he had visited last time, but roughly twice its size.

The sky within the secret realm had no sun or moon, only a vast expanse. However, there was light, so it looked like a cloudy day.

The boundaries of the secret realm were pure void, giving off an extremely ominous feeling just by looking at them. Lu Ye naturally didn't dare to trespass.

Who knew what would happen if he ventured in?

The environment here was also incredibly monotonous, with only a lake. Around the lake were sparse forests, devoid of any walking beasts or flying birds.

The mysterious woman hadn't reappeared since entering the wooden cabin by the lake. She was probably tired from her journey and resting.

Lu Ye thought for a moment, then walked into the distant forest, cut down a few trees, and personally built a wooden cabin by the lake.

Since he couldn't leave for now, he decided to make the best of the situation.

He was also very curious about who was behind the woman and why they had captured him and brought him here.

He didn't know how long he'd be staying, but he needed a place to live.

Building wooden cabins and bamboo houses was second nature to Lu Ye.

After all, he had done it many times before. In less than an hour, a two-story wooden cabin took shape, standing across the lake from the mysterious woman's cabin.

Although the mysterious woman hadn't shown any overt malice towards him from beginning to end, it was wise to be cautious. His cultivation was inferior to hers, so he had to be careful.

Lu Ye also set up some formations around his wooden cabin, primarily for alertness and isolation. As for defense... there was no need.

Her strength was formidable; if she truly wished him harm, mere defensive formations wouldn't stop her. He might as well not waste the effort.

In the following days, Lu Ye spent some time each day exploring the secret realm. Whenever he did so, he could faintly sense a divine sense silently observing him, clearly the mysterious woman monitoring him.

Lu Ye didn't mind. This renowned secret realm was small, and the mysterious woman's cultivation was so high that unless he stayed hidden in his cabin, whatever he did, it would essentially be under her watchful eye. There was no hiding.

Only his cabin, protected by the formations he had set up, could block the woman's divine sense.

Besides exploring the secret realm, Lu Ye spent the remaining time activating the power of his innate talent tree, absorbing fire spirit stones.

Being captured by the grand cultivator Liu Yuemei this time had instilled a sense of crisis in him. As his cultivation improved, the chances of encountering more such powerful cultivators would increase. If they were allies, that would be fine, but if they were adversaries like those in the Divine Sea realm or the mysterious woman, his current strength was simply insufficient to resist.

Actually, Lu Ye had already felt a sense of crisis when he was pursued by a Divine Sea realm cultivator last time. However, with the sect master's protection, that feeling had considerably faded—until now...

There were times even the sect master couldn't protect him, and relying on Qian Youdang was even less reliable.

If he couldn't defeat others, he at least needed to be fast enough to escape, which would increase his chances of survival.

Relying solely on his flight ability wasn't enough. With his current True Lake Seventh-stage cultivation, even with the aid of flying wings and wind techniques, he still couldn't outpace someone like Liu Yuemei. This had already been proven when he was chased by a Divine Sea realm cultivator before.

Therefore, Lu Ye urgently needed a new method, one that could allow him to escape pursuit from cultivators like Liu Yuemei.

He had an expectation in mind, but to achieve it, he still needed to rely on his innate talent tree. As long as that particular innate talent could be activated on the tree, he would then have a way to escape from enemies he couldn't defeat in the future.

He had been yearning for this particular innate talent for a long time, and he had many creative ideas and plans for its use, but unfortunately, it had yet to be activated.

But he was certain that this innate talent definitely existed on the talent tree; its turn just hadn't come yet.

So he began absorbing fire spirit stones, hoping to try his luck.

He hadn't activated any new innate talents recently, mainly because he had activated one last time, which kept him occupied for a while. It was only a few days ago that Lu Ye truly understood the subtle wonders of the Twin Lotus.

Adhering to the principle of "don't bite off more than you can chew," Lu Ye hadn't focused on his talent tree.

Now that he had fully understood the Twin Lotus's uses, it was naturally time to activate a new innate talent.

He already possessed a large quantity of fire spirit stones, and in recent months, he had been refining explosive fire spirit stones for the Law Enforcement Division, acquiring even more. Activating a few new innate talents shouldn't be an issue. As for whether he could get the specific one he desired, that would depend entirely on luck.

One day, as Lu Ye returned from patrolling the secret realm and passed by the mysterious woman's cabin, she pushed open her window. Her alluring and charming face came into view as she smiled at him. "You don't seem to be staying put all day. What are you looking for?"