After finishing, Yunxi flashed out of the courtyard. She had sensed something approaching her magical house.
She appeared before a small, sneaky red panda and smiled. "What do you need?"
The fourth-rank red panda was startled by Yunxi's sudden appearance. It spun to flee and ran straight into the great tree behind it. The tree fell. It was fine. It straightened up on two legs, trying to pose as powerful.
Yunxi's mouth twitched. "You are at least fourth rank. You count as a local overlord in this secret realm. How can you bolt the moment you see a human cultivator?"
She could tell the red panda carried no killing intent or malice, so she felt like teasing it a little.
At last the brown-yellow red panda cracked and spoke. "You human cultivators are awful. Every so often you come in here and strip our resources, and you use schemes to contract my friends. We endured that.
But this time the cultivators are worse. They captured many of my companions, tortured them to death, used their flesh and blood to refine strange things, and drained the Shengji here. Soon this place will be a wasteland, no longer fit for us to live."
Yunxi listened patiently to the fourth-rank red panda's accusation. When it calmed somewhat, she explained, "The space you live in is a secret realm of Weiyu Realm. Every so often, a passage opens on its own. Human cultivators enter to train, harvest spirit plants, and contract spirit beasts.
Doing so also reduces the realm's burden in another way. Spirit plant growth and beast cultivation both consume the realm's spiritual energy. What you see here is only an incomplete pocket space.
We keep to certain laws of heaven and earth. It is not considered destruction. But the cultivators you met this time are evil cultivators. Even among humans they are despised and hunted.
They wanted to use your territory as a hideout, then create more of their kind and disrupt the stability of Weiyu Realm. That is why I came, to exterminate them."
Feeling that Yunxi was at least reasonable, the red panda lowered its guard a little and asked, "Were you the one who caused the loud explosions just now?"
"Yes. I wiped them out."
The answer was firm.
"Will you leave then?"
"Of course. My task is finished. I will not stay."
The red panda flicked its tail. "Then can you contract more of my companions and take them out? This place will close, and it will no longer suit our cultivation."
Yunxi arched a brow. "Is the secret realm already that unstable?"
The red panda nodded seriously. "Those evil cultivators dug out many precious things, and they killed Striped Tiger. He was our boss. He sheltered us. After he died, I had no choice but to become the new boss.
But I know my limits. My strength is average. I cannot defeat those bad cultivators, and I cannot leave this place. I could only have everyone hide and hold out until the next time human cultivators enter, so more companions could be contracted and leave.
I just did not expect your battle to make such a ruckus. This place will not hold until that day."
Yunxi gave a slightly embarrassed smile. She had not expected the evil cultivators to be so reckless, using such methods to kill her. This secret realm was clearly one they could abandon at any time.
This was the first time the red panda had negotiated with a human cultivator. With things changing, it repeated, "Will you contract more of my companions and take them away?"
"Are you sure? Even if they form a master–servant contract with me, they will be bound by a human cultivator in the future. Will they accept that?"
The red panda nodded solemnly. "So long as they live."
Yunxi grinned. "But I want to contract you even more. You are fourth rank, on par with me. You match my status."
The fur on the red panda's face trembled. After a long while, it said, "If you take every beast here away and guarantee their survival, I will acknowledge you as master. My battle strength is mediocre and I have no special talents. But if you try to force a contract, I will not agree."
It even shuffled back a step.
Yunxi felt like she was bullying a naive sweetheart. She asked curiously, "How did you cultivate to fourth rank? You just ran up to me like this. Were you not afraid I would force a contract on you?"
The red panda tilted its head, thinking. "You are different from them. You shine. No matter how far, I can see you."
Yunxi blinked, glanced at herself, and found no glowing artifact.
Only much later did she understand. The "light" in the red panda's words was her divine soul, gilded with karmic merit. That was why it approached and sought her help, a risky gamble, but better than being sealed and buried with the realm.
At this moment, Dian Dian finally could not hold back and poked its little head out from Yunxi's sleeve. It had not dared earlier because the red panda was stronger. Now that it heard the other party pleading with its master, it boldly showed itself.
The red panda noticed Dian Dian, stared for a time, then said, conflicted, "My companions may not be as helpful as this little mouse to you, but you human cultivators like to have more, right? Maybe one day they can help."
That was probably the best persuasion it could muster. It stared fixedly at Yunxi, eager for an answer.
Yunxi also wanted to leave this unstable secret realm quickly, so she said with a smile, "Very well. Since you are so sincere, I will help you this once. But remember what you promised me today."
The red panda's eyes lit up. It nodded hard. In the next instant, its vision swam and it found itself on a mountain peak, surrounded by its trembling companions.
Yunxi had expanded her divine sense to the limit and swept all living things in the secret realm into her personal space.
Her task had been to exterminate the evil cultivators, but their fierce counterattack had destabilized the realm and pushed it toward closure. This result had not been her intention. Now that it was a done deal, all she could do was salvage what she could.
After that thought, Yunxi stowed the capsule house, gathered the unconscious Xiao Lei, used the black token to exit the secret realm, and swiftly left the area.
A quarter of an hour after Yunxi left, the secret realm began to shake. A violent tremor spread outward from it, alarming nearby Nascent Soul cultivators.
By the time high-level cultivators arrived, the secret realm had already vanished from its original location, leaving behind only an empty entrance. The realm had detached from Weiyu Realm.
"What happened?"
"The secret realm actually disappeared."
"That realm belonged to the Su clan."
"Enough. The Su clan's Zhēnjūn has arrived."