Chapter 132: Just a Little Barrier

What could be confirmed was that the intelligence Li Mo gave was not wrong; there was indeed a secret realm deep within this surging river water.

But now another problem lay before Xiu Qingcheng and Meng Yingxing.

How to enter this secret realm?

Xiu Qingcheng patted the distorted place twice; that area of distortion continuously stirred up layers of ripples, revealing that huge barrier covered in runes.

If it were some physical seal, Xiu Qingcheng could still transform into a spirit body and drill through.

But now, this secret realm’s entrance was sealed by a barrier; even as a spirit body, she couldn’t be of any use.

‘Don’t know who left this kind of secret realm here.’

Meng Yingxing looked at the distorted space and sighed with emotion.

‘Cut the crap, hurry and find a way to get in!’

Xiu Qingcheng squeezed Meng Yingxing’s hand, which she was still holding in her palm, forcefully.

‘Mn, I’ll go look.’

Meng Yingxing nodded and said, withdrawing his hand from Xiu Qingcheng’s.

As the faint warmth of her disciple’s palm withdrew from her own, Xiu Qingcheng suddenly felt as if something was empty in her heart.

Like a person walking in the boundless dark night suddenly losing that lantern lit with a small flame.

Probably she had gotten a taste of something good and wanted more.

Many secret realms had conditions for entry, and they were all different; wanting to enter a secret realm required quite a bit of trouble.

After all, these things left by unknown experts couldn’t possibly be equipped with some improper fingerprint lock that would open with just a random press, right?

Xiu Qingcheng just floated in place, watching Meng Yingxing work hard around the area.

Suddenly, Meng Yingxing seemed to have discovered something and waved to Xiu Qingcheng.

‘Master, there’s a seal here; looks like it requires someone to put their hand on it?’

Hearing this, Xiu Qingcheng immediately swam over.

She floated to Meng Yingxing’s side and indeed saw a small circular formation emitting white light at the place he was. A palm pattern was depicted on the formation.

It seemed to indicate that someone should press their hand on it.

‘Ah? Really a palm print unlock?’
‘What is this strange sense of déjà vu?’

‘Then Master, shall I try?’

Meng Yingxing looked at Xiu Qingcheng’s expression, seeking her opinion.

Xiu Qingcheng lowered her head to think for a while, then nodded.

‘Try it. Be careful. In case this is some trap, and later when you put your hand on it, something comes out to chop your hand off!’

Meng Yingxing stared at Xiu Qingcheng’s forehead and saw from the corner of his eye that her brows were knitted together with her words.

Seeing Xiu Qingcheng exhorting him so seriously and nervously, Meng Yingxing felt cold sweat breaking out on his forehead, mixing with the surrounding river water.

‘I will be careful.’

Saying this, Meng Yingxing tightened his five fingers, relaxed them, and then pressed his right palm onto the formation.

As Meng Yingxing’s palm pressed down, the formation instantly stirred up a ripple that slowly expanded and disappeared.

A dead silence lasted for quite a while.

It seemed nothing special happened.

Just as Xiu Qingcheng was about to speak, a burst of spiritual power suddenly erupted from the formation Meng Yingxing touched, blasting him several meters away like a violently spurting water column.

Xiu Qingcheng cried out in alarm, hurriedly chasing after him to grab Meng Yingxing’s wrist, preventing him from being washed away by the surging current in the river.

She grabbed Meng Yingxing’s hand and swam back to the front of the barrier.

‘This should be the place to open the secret realm entrance, no mistake, but… this formation seems to pick people.’

Meng Yingxing gave a bitter smile.
‘Don’t know what kind of person can be recognized by the formation.’

Meng Yingxing naturally felt some regret; clearly, a secret realm that many people dreamed of was right in front of him, yet he could only sigh at the door.

Xiu Qingcheng recalled Li Mo mentioning that the demon race seemed unable to open the entrance.

She glanced at Meng Yingxing.

Now, only she among the two knew there was demonic power in Meng Yingxing’s body. Could it be for this reason that Meng Yingxing couldn’t open the secret realm?

Xiu Qingcheng pursed her lips and pushed Meng Yingxing aside.

‘Let me try.’

Xiu Qingcheng extended her slender five fingers and also placed her hand on the formation.

After a brief silence, the formation reacted again.

Fierce spiritual power burst forth, rejecting Xiu Qingcheng’s entry.

However, amidst this fierce spiritual power, Xiu Qingcheng floated in place without any sign of being pushed back; the surging flow of spiritual power only blew Xiu Qingcheng’s ink-black and red long hair like a strong wind.

On the contrary, Meng Yingxing beside Xiu Qingcheng suffered greatly, being blasted away by this spiritual power again.

It was fine, nothing happened, just troubled Xiu Qingcheng to fish him back again.

‘Even if we know where the secret realm entrance is, we still need destiny to enter…’

Meng Yingxing looked at the formation rejecting him and his master from entering the secret realm, sighing and shaking his head.

‘Destiny, what destiny? Whether we can enter or not, I have the final say!’

Xiu Qingcheng sneered; her arm, clean and slender like a willow branch, raised forward, and the Ting Tian Sword appeared in her hand.

‘Master, you——’

Meng Yingxing seemed to understand Xiu Qingcheng’s intention, but before he could say it, Xiu Qingcheng spoke it herself.

‘Just a trivial barrier, watch me split it in half!’
‘I’d like to see how many of my sword strikes this barrier can take!’

Xiu Qingcheng looked down on the formation barrier before her with cold eyes, her domineering aura leaking out.

Just a small barrier, wanting to stop her and her disciple?
Ridiculous!

‘Don’t be unable to take a few strikes from me later, and get destroyed along with the secret realm by me.’

‘Disciple, step back!’

Infected by the kingly aura emitted by Xiu Qingcheng, Meng Yingxing’s body shook, and he obediently stood behind Xiu Qingcheng.

Xiu Qingcheng held the sword with one hand, slowly moving the hand holding the Ting Tian Sword to one side.

As the angle of her arm turning became larger and larger, vein-like crimson patterns gradually emerged on the Ting Tian Sword.

Immediately after, Xiu Qingcheng swung the Ting Tian Sword as if it were weightless; the sword energy was scorching.

With just this one strike, the direction of the river’s flow seemed to change slightly in this instant.

Meng Yingxing held his breath immediately.

A horizontal sword strike can open the heavenly gate and distant peaks, and a vertical slash can cut the river flow—

Where that sword energy passed, the river water automatically parted in two, leaving a vacuum area.

The sword energy crashed head-on into the barrier; the barrier vibrated and cracked.

The surrounding water currents also surged continuously, exploding outwards as if wanting to flee this place.

Turbulent waves hit Meng Yingxing’s face one after another, making him realize for the first time that there was wind underwater too.

And on the river surface unseen by Meng Yingxing, many dead fish with white bellies suddenly floated up at this time.

The dead fish were washed downstream by the river, shocking the people around greatly.

Xiu Qingcheng looked at the barrier before her, cracked but not shattered, and frowned slightly.

‘This barrier is ridiculously hard; it seems the person who set up this barrier must have spent quite some effort, right?’

‘Since one strike couldn’t split it open, then strike a second time.’

Just as Xiu Qingcheng was about to swing the Ting Tian Sword again, the water current beside her rolled violently, and a long black shadow swam quickly past in Xiu Qingcheng’s peripheral vision.

That black shadow had blood-red pupils, leaving a long crimson trail as it swept through the water.

‘Damn, what is that!?’

‘Master! There’s a demonic beast!’

Meng Yingxing shouted urgently in his mind, swimming to Xiu Qingcheng’s side.

Xiu Qingcheng also temporarily gave up the idea of attacking the barrier again, raising her hand to protect Meng Yingxing behind her.

That black shadow was very fast; churning up intense water currents, it appeared on their left for a moment, then on their right the next.

The long body of the black shadow circled around Xiu Qingcheng and Meng Yingxing, as if wanting to whip up a vortex to swallow them all in this gloomy, cold water.

After Xiu Qingcheng stayed vigilant for a while, the black shadow suddenly went quiet.

‘Master, did it leave?’

Meng Yingxing looked around with extreme vigilance but didn’t detect the movement of the black shadow.

‘No——’

Just as Xiu Qingcheng opened her mouth, a bloody maw with rows upon rows of sharp teeth appeared without warning in front of her, attacking Xiu Qingcheng and Meng Yingxing fiercely with chaotic water currents! Looking like it wanted to swallow both of them directly into its belly in one bite!

Meng Yingxing’s eyes widened abruptly; he saw clearly that what was biting at them was distinctly a flood dragon (Jiao)!

‘Is this the guardian beast of this secret realm!?’
‘A flood dragon?’

‘Boring. With such a big commotion, I thought it was Godzilla!’

‘And this flood dragon looks fierce, but it’s only at the middle stage of the Tiny Star realm; she has no interest in attacking such a snake-snake.’

Xiu Qingcheng grabbed Meng Yingxing’s collar, directly dodging the flood dragon’s attack, and then handed the Ting Tian Sword directly to the still-shocked Meng Yingxing.

She turned sideways and pointed at the winding flood dragon.

‘Go, Disciple. You go slaughter that snake.’