The Xianling Grass tucked within her sleeve seemed to sense something amiss and sent a whisper into Yun Xi's mind. "Master, the aura that drives the giant beasts into frenzy has grown even stronger. What's happening here?"
Yun Xi frowned. "I don't know either. It isn't even nightfall yet, and the daylight has already shortened."
The Xianling Grass trembled its leaves slightly. After a long pause, it replied, "Master, this must be the work of the realm spirit."
Yun Xi had already suspected as much. Just as she was preparing to step outside and investigate, Qin helped the old crone to her.
The old woman's face was etched with panic. As soon as she saw Yun Xi, she urged,
"Please, take the clansmen and leave here at once."
"What has happened?"
Though urgency tugged at her, Yun Xi needed a clear answer.
The old woman's grip tightened around her staff. Her voice rasped as she said, "The giant beasts in the jungle are about to go mad."
"Go mad? You mean they will lose all reason and attack the tribe?"
"Yes. Not just the tribe. They will also attack all of you outsiders."
"Does this madness happen often?"
"No. This is only the third time I've ever seen it. The last Ancestor died during the second outbreak. To protect the tribe, she fought the frenzied beasts and perished with them."
Yun Xi lowered her gaze in thought. It reminded her of beast tides in the cultivation world, though the descendants of the Wu tribe clearly lived in harsher conditions. Still, something puzzled her, and she asked,
"Elder, every time night falls, these beasts turn violent and bloodthirsty. How have you managed to survive the nights?"
"I carve runes on each clansman's body with my witch power, runes that turn flesh to stone. After the tribe sleeps, I trigger the runes and they petrify. At dawn, I undo it.
To the beasts, my clansmen appear no different from rocks. Naturally, they do not attack. As for me, I stay inside the stone house, avoiding their notice.
But this madness is different. The beasts gather in herds and rampage through the forest, destroying everything they see. I cannot stop them alone. That is why I beg you—take my people and leave."
By the end, the old woman's tone had broken into a near-plea.
Yun Xi drew in a slow breath. "Elder, gather your clansmen. Tell them to bring everything they can carry and meet me here."
"Alright."
This time, the old woman answered readily. She exchanged a few words with Qin, then let herself be helped back toward the two-story stone house.
Yun Xi remained where she was, gazing at the dimming sky and the oppressive forest, her brows tightly knitted.
The Xianling Grass spoke again. "Master, do you truly intend to bring them into the space? I still think it's a risk."
"I have to do something. They are, after all, the descendants of the Wu tribe.
Don't worry. I won't endanger myself lightly. Once I move them into the space, I'll put them into deep sleep. Everything else can wait until I leave this secret realm."
Yun Xi had already formed her plan.
When the sky had sunk completely into blackness, the old woman led every member of the tribe before Yun Xi. Confirming that all had arrived, Yun Xi wasted no time. Her divine sense swept across the group, and with a thought she linked to her inner space, moving the people within.
To the old woman, it felt as if she merely blinked. The clansmen around her vanished, and her long-held fear finally eased.
Yun Xi herself felt relieved as well. The space had not rejected the Wu descendants. They entered smoothly, and by her will they all fell into sleep. She relocated them to the thatched huts outside the Yixian Gate's outer sect grounds before withdrawing her consciousness.
When she looked again at the old woman, she noticed her hair had turned fully white, her eyes more clouded than before. Yun Xi understood the end of her lifespan was near, yet she spoke calmly,
"Elder, I have moved your clansmen to safety. Now you can tell me how to leave this place."
The old woman's back bent even more beneath her staff, but she nodded. "Please, follow me."
She turned toward the stone house, leading the way. Yun Xi kept a step behind, while the roars of beasts and the faint trembling of the earth grew louder, proof that the giant beasts were gathering.
Yun Xi never relaxed her vigilance. Her divine sense spread outward, and she realized the direction the old woman was taking her was the same place the Flying Mist Butterfly had been unable to approach before.
This time, the old woman brought Yun Xi up to the second floor of the stone house. The space was utterly empty.
After coughing twice, the old woman bit her fingertip, drawing blood. With her witch power, she painted a door into the air, then pushed it open. She stepped through first before turning back to Yun Xi.
Confirming no immediate danger, Yun Xi entered as well. The moment they crossed the threshold, the door vanished, leaving only a blank stone wall behind.
They now stood in a cave where darkness swallowed all. Yet the old woman moved as though well familiar with the path. Yun Xi followed.
After the time it took half a stick of incense to burn, they reached a place faintly lit by a flickering oil lamp.
The old woman's coughing worsened. When she finally caught her breath, she pointed ahead. "That is the only way out of here. But I cannot activate it. You outsiders should be able to."
Exhaling deeply, she leaned against the stone wall, sinking down to sit, saying no more.
Yun Xi stepped forward. What lay before her was a teleportation array. Examining closely, she realized it was an ancient formation. Unlike modern ones, it required no spirit stones—only nine different attributes of spiritual power.
She circled the array base. To activate it, all nine attributes had to be gathered. She herself possessed mutated wind, thunder, and ice roots, but she could not channel three powers into the array at once.
Her brows knit tighter. She meant to ask the old woman whether any cultivators had ever passed through, but when she turned, she froze.
The old woman's eyes were closed. Her chest no longer rose.
Yun Xi blinked, then instantly appeared at her side, pressing two fingers to her wrist. Moments later she withdrew her hand. The elder had passed quietly, her life reaching its natural end.
"Elder, rest assured. I will keep my promise. The descendants of the Wu tribe will be safe."
With a flick of her sleeve, Yun Xi transferred the body into her space, her gesture one of respect for the dead.
As the elder's life ended, the barrier she had maintained collapsed. Beast roars surged into the cavern, growing closer by the breath.
"Master, you cannot activate this teleportation array alone. You must find the companions who entered this secret realm with you. Otherwise, you cannot leave."
The Xianling Grass whispered in her mind.
"I know. It seems this battle is inevitable."
Yun Xi sighed, then cast her divine sense outward. She quickly realized they were within the stone mountain behind the tribe.
While the old woman lived, her witch power must have cloaked this place, preventing Yun Xi from sensing it. Now that she was gone, the veil had dissipated, revealing the truth.
What Yun Xi did not yet know was that at the very moment the elder breathed her last, the thin membrane separating all the cultivators within the secret realm vanished as well.