Saving the White Moonlight Chapter 48

Yun Mixue studied the area around the pit, her brows tightly furrowed.
If this were an ordinary hidden realm, it would be fine. But if a hidden realm left by demonic cultivators was connected to Fenghua Immortal Sect’s sect master, the situation was not optimistic.
Fenghua Immortal Sect’s position in the cultivation world was already unstable. If someone accused them of colluding with demonic cultivators, the sect’s days would become even harder.
Yun Mixue was thinking about the harm this hidden realm could bring to Fenghua Immortal Sect, while Yan Zhuguang was thinking about the original book’s plot.
“Has Fenghua Immortal Sect had a long-standing grudge with demonic cultivator sects?”
The system said, “At least when the plot begins, Fenghua Immortal Sect and the Dripping Blood Demon Domain are already at swords drawn.”
Immortal cultivators and demonic cultivators had opposed each other since ancient times, but there was still a difference between simply disliking each other and truly hating each other.
The Dripping Blood Demon Domain was a major power among demonic cultivators. If Fenghua Immortal Sect was enemies with it, then the matter definitely was not as simple as a general conflict between immortals and demons.
“Did the plot not mention where the grudge came from?”
The system shook its head. “No. It only said they had old grudges, and even that was vague.”
Yan Zhuguang sorted through the plot she knew.
The cultivation-world version of the domineering love story the system described began in a small sect in the cultivation world, which was Yimiao Sect, the sect Yan Zhuguang had once joined.
The heroine, Shen Wanqing, who had no spiritual root, crossed over from the modern world and happened to land at Yimiao Sect’s recruitment event. Because the energy from crossing time and space disrupted the jade mirror used to test spiritual roots, she entered Yimiao Sect by mistake.
She had no spiritual root, so naturally she could not cultivate the cultivation world’s techniques. But if this were exposed, Shen Wanqing would be thrown out of Yimiao Sect. She had no money, did not know the place or the people, and could not survive in the strange and dangerous cultivation world at all. Because of that, she carefully hid the truth the whole time.
But as time passed, even the worst spiritual root, even if it could not draw energy into the body, could at least stir spiritual energy. Shen Wanqing, however, had never managed to stir spiritual energy, which brought countless guesses and doubts.
Shen Wanqing’s strength was the lowest among the disciples who had entered Yimiao Sect with her. She was often bullied and mocked. Her heart was bitter, but she could only act strong in front of others and secretly cry behind their backs.
She stumbled through hiding it for a while. In the blink of an eye, the arena competition for Yimiao Sect’s new disciples was about to begin. To Shen Wanqing, this was no different from a final warning. If she were exposed in the arena, not only would she be expelled from the sect, she might even lose her life.
Because of this, Shen Wanqing had no choice but to take a risk.
By chance, she learned that there was a spiritual herb on Yimiao Sect’s back mountain. After eating it, a mortal with no spiritual root might gain a false spiritual root and be able to cultivate.
Demon beasts haunted the back mountain. Even cultivators would face great danger going there, let alone an ordinary person. Shen Wanqing survived countless dangers, but despairingly, she did not even find a shadow of that rumored spiritual herb.
She realized she had been tricked, but it was already too late.
It was at that moment that the male lead, Gu Chen, who was mourning his white moonlight, followed the traces Yun Mixue had left before her death and came to this place. By chance, he encountered Shen Wanqing, who had fallen off a hanging waterfall and was near death. For some unknown reason, he overlapped her with the scene of Yun Mixue melting away like snow and saved her. From then on, the two began their turbulent lives.
Gu Chen wanted to shape Shen Wanqing into a second Yun Mixue, but Shen Wanqing noticed something was wrong. For Gu Chen, she endured Yun Changyue’s torment and Fenghua Immortal Sect disciples’ hostility, only to receive the words that she was nothing but a substitute. Shen Wanqing broke down and ran away, but was captured by people from Fenghua Immortal Sect’s enemy, the Dripping Blood Demon Domain, and fell into an even more hopeless situation.
That was the first place in the plot that mentioned Fenghua Immortal Sect and the Dripping Blood Demon Domain.
It was said that the domain lord of the Dripping Blood Demon Domain, the Blood Lotus Demon Lord, always covered half his face with a blood lotus mask, revealing only a straight nose and smiling red lips. He also had a heart-wrenching emotional entanglement with the heroine Shen Wanqing.
According to the system, this Blood Lotus Demon Lord was the book’s second male lead.
But whether the author had forgotten or had done it on purpose, the origin of the grudge between Fenghua Immortal Sect and the Dripping Blood Demon Domain had never been clearly mentioned.
Yan Zhuguang thought for a moment. “Do you have the mark of the Dripping Blood Demon Domain?”
“Host wants to compare the Dripping Blood Demon Domain’s mark with the mark on this drawing?” the system said. “They are different. The pattern on this drawing does not exist in my system database. It definitely is not the Dripping Blood Demon Domain’s mark.”
“If you have it, show me.” Yan Zhuguang did not waste words with the system.
“Oh.”
The system obediently brought out the mark for Yan Zhuguang to see. How had it forgotten? With this host, it was better not to act clever. If it could meet a condition, it should just do it without thinking.
Yan Zhuguang memorized the pattern. As the system said, the mark was not similar to the drawing’s pattern at all.
She did nothing else. At this time, Yun Mixue had also sorted out her thoughts.
She looked at Yan Zhuguang with concern. “Demonic cultivator methods are strange and secretive. A hidden realm left by demonic cultivators must be extremely dangerous. I may not be able to protect Zhuguang. Are you certain you want to go?”
Yan Zhuguang smiled. “What does Senior Sister think?”
“Senior Sister cannot look down on me.”
Yun Mixue had already guessed her answer and shook her head helplessly. “All right. For the road ahead, Zhuguang must stay close by my side. Do not get separated. Do not make Senior Sister worry, all right?”
Yan Zhuguang thought for a moment. “If the hidden realm does not have a formation that splits people up and teleports them separately, I definitely will not run around. If we accidentally get separated, I will also go look for Senior Sister.”
Yun Mixue frowned. “If we are separated, I would rather you obediently stay where you are and wait for me to find you.”
Yan Zhuguang took Yun Mixue’s hand and led the way forward. “Do not worry, Senior Sister. I will not do anything I am not confident about.”
The hidden realm entrance was not near the pit. After Qiu Qiao and the others entered, they still had to walk through many twists and turns for a long while.
Yan Zhuguang made some guesses based on the direction they had walked and calculated a shortcut. Following this path, the time they spent was fully sixty percent shorter than Qiu Qiao’s.
The hidden realm entrance was ahead. It was not gaudy or mysterious like ordinary hidden realms. Instead, it was unexpectedly plain.
Before them, there was only a stone gate. It was also not quite the same as what Yan Zhuguang had seen in the dream.
This was not strange. Qiu Qiao had viewed this hidden realm as his last hope to rise again. It was normal that he had beautified it in his mind.
In the very center of the stone gate was a strange pattern. Inside a round shape were irregular lines. It looked very messy.
Yan Zhuguang took out the drawing and compared it with the pattern on the stone gate.
Yun Mixue said, “They are indeed exactly the same.”
Yan Zhuguang nodded. She took two steps toward the gate. Yun Mixue worried she might accidentally trigger some danger, so she walked beside her.
Yan Zhuguang smiled at Yun Mixue, then began studying the gate.
Yun Mixue said, “The demonic energy is coming from behind the gate.”
She tried sending out spiritual sense. As expected, it was blocked. Yun Mixue regretfully withdrew it and carefully identified the exact place where the demonic energy was leaking.
Yan Zhuguang raised her head and pointed at a line of small words in the crack at the very top of the gate. “Senior Sister, look.”
“To open this gate, sacrifice the blood of living people.” Yun Mixue read the small line aloud, and her face did not look good.
If the words were true and the gate had to be opened with human blood, then the demon beasts she had caught earlier would be useless.
“Qiu Qiao was that obedient? If it told him to use human blood, he just did as told?”
“Hm?” Yun Mixue was puzzled.
Yan Zhuguang said, “I saw him do this in Qiu Qiao’s illusion.”
Only then did Yun Mixue know how Yan Zhuguang had learned about the hidden realm.
“That was reckless.”
Invading another person’s illusion was not impossible, but no matter the method, it could not avoid spiritual sense. Yun Mixue could imagine how Yan Zhuguang had entered Qiu Qiao’s sea of consciousness and captured the scenes from his illusion.
With her current level of spiritual sense, how dangerous was it to invade another person’s sea of consciousness? Just thinking about it made Yun Mixue afraid.
“Senior Sister, do not worry. Am I not perfectly fine now?”
Yan Zhuguang squeezed Yun Mixue’s palm and changed the subject. “Qiu Qiao was tricked. Those words are only there to mislead people. Even if someone truly killed people for a live sacrifice, they would not open this hidden realm.”
Seeing this, Yun Mixue could only follow her words as she wished. “How so?”
“I already know how to open this hidden realm.”
“Senior Sister, please look.”
Yan Zhuguang flipped the drawing in her hand, holding the side with the mark toward the stone gate. The pearl’s light passed through the drawing and projected the pattern on that side.
Yan Zhuguang put her index and middle fingers together. Following the left-right reversed pattern, she used wood spiritual energy to draw in the air.
Green wood spiritual energy traced the shape, and Yun Mixue watched the enlarged pattern form in the air.
Yan Zhuguang spread her five fingers and pushed the entire pattern condensed from wood spiritual energy forward. It overlapped with the pattern on the stone gate. The pattern on the gate and the reversed pattern actually combined into a new design.
Although Yan Zhuguang did not recognize this design, she knew this was the complete mark. It no longer looked messy and random. Instead, it had a kind of order.
The moment the pattern formed, Yun Mixue cried out in surprise. “Dripping Blood Demon Domain?!”
“Hm?”
Yan Zhuguang was very surprised.
“Huh?”
The system was also very surprised.
Its database could not be wrong. The mark of the Dripping Blood Demon Domain did not look like this.
Yun Mixue did not know what Yan Zhuguang was thinking and only thought she did not know about the Dripping Blood Demon Domain, so she explained, “The Dripping Blood Demon Domain is a demonic cultivator power. Among demonic cultivators, it holds an important position, equal to the position Fenghua Immortal Sect held among immortal cultivator powers when our sect was still flourishing.”
In other words, the current Fenghua Immortal Sect was already weaker than the Dripping Blood Demon Domain.
She was very puzzled. “The Dripping Blood Demon Domain’s forces are in the south of the cultivation world, very far from Tianyu City. Also, many years ago, they already fell silent and have not appeared in the territory of immortal cultivators for a long time. Why would there be a hidden realm set up by the Dripping Blood Demon Domain here?”
Yan Zhuguang considered Yun Mixue’s attitude. “Senior Sister, does our Fenghua Immortal Sect have any relationship with the Dripping Blood Demon Domain?”
“No,” Yun Mixue said. “The Dripping Blood Demon Domain is a demonic cultivator power. Our immortal sect has no dealings with them.”
“This does not match the plot,” Yan Zhuguang told the system.
“Uh… could Fenghua Immortal Sect’s grudge with the Dripping Blood Demon Domain happen after this?” The system was also confused. “But what is going on with that pattern? Is this really the Dripping Blood Demon Domain’s mark?”
Yan Zhuguang naturally believed Senior Sister.
“Perhaps something later happened to the Dripping Blood Demon Domain, and they changed their mark.”
Whatever. Right now, the most important thing was opening this hidden realm.
“Senior Sister,” Yan Zhuguang said to Yun Mixue, “I need to borrow those demon beasts.”