CHAPTER 2096: CHAPTER 2094: VANISHED INTO THIN AIR

Bai Ruozhu thought for a moment and took out some pills, "You don’t have to kill them, just give them this. Without my antidote, they’ll never have inner strength in this lifetime. If they’re willing to repent or atone for their sins, I will consider giving them the antidote."

Fen Jizhi did not interrupt this time; Bai Ruozhu’s concession was already quite generous.

The group fed the pills properly and then began to examine the entrance to the Secret realm, which was now closed. How could it be opened?

Fen Jizhi was about to go over when Bai Ruozhu hurriedly stopped him, "Do you know how to open it?"

"I don’t know." he replied.

Bai Ruozhu rolled her eyes at him, "Don’t move recklessly, maybe we can find a way."

She then looked at Jianqi, "Check out which places here have been touched and see if there’s anything you can find."

Jianqi was skilled at inspecting traces on the scene, he nodded and began to examine carefully, and it wasn’t long before he reached a conclusion.

"That stone has been moved, there’s a part of the green moss on it that has lifted up, and there’s also a groove on the other side that seems to have been touched. The switch should be in these two places."

"I’ll move the groove, you touch that stone, let’s do it simultaneously." Bai Ruozhu quickly made a decision.

The two of them took their positions and started fiddling around, but for a while, nothing happened.

"Could it not be like this?" Bai Ruozhu was a bit disappointed and was about to stop when suddenly there was a rumbling sound, and the secret realm’s main gate opened.

Fen Jizhi looked at Bai Ruozhu in surprise, "How did you know?"

Bai Ruozhu wanted to say she had seen similar scenarios in historical dramas in her past life, where people had to operate mechanism requiring three people simultaneously.

Of course, activating mechanism methods also required precision; she tried many ways, pressing the groove, scraping inside, pressing with three fingers simultaneously, and was just lucky with Jianqi that they happened to touch it. Otherwise, the Second Elder there could easily have opened the secret realm gate too.

The group of four didn’t dare to hesitate and quickly entered the secret realm. Indeed, just before the gate closed, someone heard the commotion and rushed over, but they were too far away and could only watch Bai Ruozhu and her group enter the secret realm.

Bai Ruozhu thought about it and hastily picked up a small stone while the gate was still open, using inner strength to flick it towards a nearby rock, creating a small dent.

"What is this..." Fen Jizhi asked.

"Just to confuse them a bit, so they can’t find a way to enter the secret realm too." Bai Ruozhu smiled slightly; being able to enter the secret realm, she had a chance to find her family, and her heart felt somewhat relieved.

Jianqi examined the footprints on the ground and led the three of them in pursuit.

...

In an inn along the road to the south, Jiang Yichun’s hand shook, and the dish clamped in his chopsticks fell down.

"What happened? Are you feeling unwell?" Gao Deng asked worriedly.

"No, I just suddenly felt restless." Jiang Yichun frowned.

"Don’t overthink it, let’s finish eating and continue our journey. We’ll reach the Jiuli Clan area in a few days." Gao Deng expressed concern again, "But we can’t find the exact location of the Jiuli Clan; we’ll just have to check with nearby commerce associations for news about Ruozhu."

Jiang Yichun nodded and continued to eat silently, not saying another word. Gao Deng glanced at him quietly and sighed inwardly.

This poor child had a tough fate; he hadn’t taken good care of him. If he had known Wu Yunfeng would turn out like that, he’d rather take the child back to the crisis-ridden Chengshui Country.

He smiled bitterly in his heart; it might not be any safer there either. He had fallen into desperate situations multiple times in Chengshui Country, most severely once falling into a coma for over a month.

It was ultimately he, as a father, who had delayed the child.

After the meal, Jiang Yichun and his group continued their journey, just arriving on the official road when urgent hoofbeats sounded from behind.

"Is it Lord Jiang? Wait for your subordinate!" a voice called out.

Jiang Yichun and Gao Deng turned to look, and there was only one person on the official road, none other than Jian Zhen, who had been following Jiang Yichun before.

"Why did you come?" Jiang Yichun frowned but his tone wasn’t harsh; during his most dangerous moment, Jian Zhen had helped him block and suffered quite a bit of injury.

Though Jian Zhen hadn’t been with him long, he was rather loyal. Coupled with the incident in the desert of the Western Regions, Jiang Yichun felt indebted to him.

"This subordinate only recognizes Lord Jiang; how could you leave without taking me?" Jian Zhen retorted, swaying slightly and nearly falling off the horse.

Thinking of his injuries, Jiang Yichun hurried forward to support him.

"I’m no longer an officer; there’s no future following me." he said.

"This subordinate escaped from the Western Regions just to earn a meal; if not for your care, I would have died on the battlefield long ago. Lord, I’m now a deserter; if you don’t take me in, I really can only become a beggar." Jian Zhen said pitifully.

Jiang Yichun sighed, "Fine, just follow me for now; I’ll arrange your path in the future."

Jian Zhen brightened up, "Thank you, Lord!"

"I’m not an officer anymore; stop calling me Lord." Jiang Yichun said.

"Yes, Master." Jian Zhen adopted the term used by Muyu and others.

Jiang Yichun did not stop him, and the group continued forward. Jian Zhen noted Jiang Yichun’s considerate care for him, and a trace of smugness crossed his eyes.

Initially, he hadn’t planned to save Jiang Yichun, but realized the precious item wasn’t with Jiang Yichun and was very likely with Bai Ruozhu. Therefore, he decided to stick with Jiang Yichun to find Bai Ruozhu. He thought gaining Bai Ruozhu’s trust shouldn’t be hard, and then...

He slightly curled his lips but quickly returned to normal. Everyone here was sharp; he mustn’t expose himself.

...

Bai Ruozhu and her group tracked the traces on the ground, but soon realized the footprints suddenly disappeared.

They reached a place where there seemed to be a discontinuity; there were footprints behind, but not a single one ahead, the change was too strange.

"Master, there’s no way to track them." Jianqi said somewhat frustrated, "In this case, unless the other side has an expert at counter-tracking to erase the traces, or something else has happened."

Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "It can’t be that they have a counter-tracking expert; erasing so many tracks is extremely difficult entirely. They don’t have that much time to waste on it. Let’s search around; perhaps there is some mechanical device here, and someone triggered the mechanism, entering another place, so there are no footprints ahead."

Jianqi nodded but checked carefully again and shook his head, saying: "I didn’t discover any traces, that’s my incompetence."

Bai Ruozhu shook her head, "It’s not your fault; since this place hasn’t been open for many years, there must be something peculiar about it; let’s think of a way."

The group continued to check, and Bai Ruozhu’s eyes suddenly lit up, "Don’t move recklessly!"

The other three immediately stood still, not daring to move an inch.

"It may be that someone stepped on the mechanism, so let’s step on these footprints in turn; maybe we’ll gain something?" Bai Ruozhu suggested.