Immortal Cultivation: Starting from a Pharmacy Apprentice

Chapter 291: Chapter 291: Grand Occasion

The starry night was brilliant.

High above the Outer Sect, the Jade Plate Secret Realm opened wide. Its portal hung in the sky like a round mirror, a vast expanse of white that dispelled the gloom and darkness.

It was a full moon, and for a moment, it seemed as if two bright mirrors hung high in the sky.

Bai Mo and An Caiwei arrived quietly, their hearts stirred by the celestial sight.

"Are there two moons in the sky?"

BOOM!

A deep, resonant sound echoed as the "moon" above the Outer Sect tilted, as if plucked from the heavens by an invisible giant hand and drawn closer.

Bai Mo knew it was a visual illusion, the result of some Divine Technique or Array distorting space.

In the corners of the night untouched by moonlight.

Colossal beasts pulled four bronze chariots, each engraved with the sun, moon, and stars.

The chariots were each engraved with one of the Four Mythical Beasts, appearing majestic and solemn.

"Where are the disciples of the Outer Sect!?"

A long-bearded elder descended from the sky. His face was ruddy, and his great robes fluttered as his presence dominated the air, exuding boundless pressure.

Disciples emerged from all directions.

"We are here!"

Disciples from every peak swarmed forward, arriving on chariots and Flying Ships, creating a bustling crowd in an instant.

Disciples from the same lineage gathered, their gazes flickering and auras wavering, clearly on edge.

"Elder! Open the portal!"

CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Bronze chains as thick as a man’s arm shot out from the chariots and plunged into the portal.

The surging disciples either ran along the chains or clung to them as they rushed forward.

Up close, the "captured moon" revealed its true form: a jade wall of seemingly infinite thickness.

The disciples steadied themselves and disappeared one by one into the jade wall.

Among the figures, Bai Mo recognized a few people.

Yuan Chu’s trio, for instance, laughed wildly as they forced aside the disciples in their path and leaped inside.

"Bastards!"

"If I see you inside, you’ll regret it!"

A disciple they had nearly knocked off a chain bellowed in anger and flew after them.

Flying Ships and chariots followed close behind.

Bai Mo even saw a six-man war chariot pulled by a lion-headed Spirit Beast. The six Cultivators aboard were clad in armor and helmets, weapons in hand.

Shui Ziming and other top-tier disciples of the Outer Sect also began to enter.

More disciples were still rushing over from the distance.

Bai Mo glanced around before turning to ask:

"Where are Lanshan and his group?"

A flicker of pride crossed An Caiwei’s face.

"They haven’t arrived yet. We put a lot of effort into this, so we’re not worried about being the first ones in."

"Your group?"

Bai Mo thought for a moment, then asked:

"Who’s all involved?"

"Disciples from my clan, plus two other peaks, and a few other disciples we gathered. We all paid a hefty price!"

Just then, Bai Mo heard a clamor of shouts.

He looked closer and saw it was the men from Broken Blade Peak.

They didn’t seem too concerned, strolling by in a large group with weapons slung over their shoulders, shouting and joking with their fellow disciples.

Wei Xianxing spotted Bai Mo and waved with open arms, laughing loudly as he entered the Secret Realm.

Bai Mo waved back.

This group of boisterous men looked as casual as if they were on a spring hunting trip, but in truth, they were the backbone of the Outer Sect.

After most of the disciples had entered and the stream of people thinned, the long-bearded elder hovering in mid-air waved his hand, summoning a screen of light.

With another gesture, he spread the screen horizontally across the sky, its edges shimmering with a radiant glow.

The elder turned to look at a nearby Stone Peak, where an old Daoist in yellow robes was standing, forming a hand seal.

"Heh heh, let’s see what caliber of disciples the Outer Sect has produced this year!"

The yellow-robed Daoist merely snorted.

"The things inside are restless this year. Let’s just hope they don’t disgrace themselves!"

The long-bearded elder stroked his beard and turned back to the screen, his gaze focused as if something had caught his attention.

’They are all children taught by the sect. If they prove useless, then the fault is ours...’

...

Bai Mo gazed at the light screen in the sky.

It displayed a variety of scenes, showing many of the disciples.

An Caiwei pulled him to a different spot. From this new angle, the view on the screen changed.

Suddenly, Bai Mo stopped and pointed at the screen.

"It’s Senior Brother Yuan Chu and his group!"

Finally seeing someone they recognized, the two stopped walking, their eyes sparkling with interest.

They watched as Yuan Chu’s trio emerged from a hazy mist, appearing before a mountain ridge.

Inside the Secret Realm, it was daytime.

Gong Gui reached into his robes and, out of thin air, produced a Jade Talisman.

"So we really do get one. Was it given to us outsiders by the Secret Realm, or is this the sect’s doing?"

Yuan Chu gave a wry smile.

"Doesn’t matter. With this, we don’t have to be afraid of anything in the Secret Realm. If we die, we’ll just be sent back outside."

With that, he looked over at Xiong Xin.

"Since we don’t know the way, we’ll just follow your intuition. How about it?"

Of the three, Xiong Xin’s spiritual sense was the sharpest.

He narrowed his eyes and considered for a moment. A smile spread across his face, and just as he was about to point the way, a flash of white light shot into his field of vision.

SHING!

Blood sprayed from Xiong Xin’s shoulder.

The white light circled behind his head and shot straight for the nape of his neck.

CRACK!

In a flash, Yuan Chu lashed out with the back of his hand, striking the air beside Xiong Xin with a sharp CRACK.

The incoming white light was knocked away as if it had been struck head-on.

"What the hell was that?"

The wound on Xiong Xin’s shoulder staunched as he turned his head to look.

From the bushes not far away, a black bird the size of a human head took flight.

The white light was a barb extending from its tail feathers, connected to a long, slender tail that was now retracting.

The black bird flew up, circled above them, and shrieked.

"By order of the Great Lord of the Mountain!"

"Kill the Cultivators from beyond the heavens! Leave none alive!"

The black bird whipped its long tail, and the white barb swung in a wide arc, slicing through the roadside treetops as it flew toward the trio.

There was no telling how far its long tail could extend.

It circled in mid-air, using the momentum to whip its long tail around.

"By order of the Great Lord of the Mountain, kill—"

Its shrill cry was cut short.

Feathers scattered as the black bird’s corpse plummeted to the ground.

Yuan Chu’s arm was still extended from the punch, white steam rising from his fist.

Gong Gui scurried over to retrieve the bird’s corpse.

Yuan Chu retracted his fist.

"Looks like we’re in for some trouble."

Xiong Xin’s eyes darted left and right.

"There are two other unknown things watching us from the shadows. We really can’t let our guard down."

Gong Gui brought back the bird’s corpse and gestured for the other two to look.

"Look, it’s a type of Demon Beast I’ve never seen before."

He tugged on the black bird’s long tail, and his eyes lit up when he felt its incredible toughness.

"Brother Yuan, look! Isn’t this perfect material for your Mountain-Driving Whip?"

Brother Yuan’s expression remained impassive.

"Hold onto it for me."

"Let’s invoke our spirits and borrow their power. The Demon Beasts aren’t the only threat here. Other things have reawakened with the rising tide of Spiritual Qi."

"Who’s to say that we, and these Demon Beasts, aren’t just prey for something else?"

The moment he finished speaking, the ridge beneath them collapsed, and black-red gas billowed up from the fissures.

Two long-haired Great Demons scrambled out in a panic, but before they could flee, the ground split open and swallowed them whole.

The image on the screen cut off abruptly, switching to a group of disciples leisurely fishing and laughing on a beautiful spring day.

Bai Mo’s eyes widened.

"What!?"

An Caiwei, standing beside him, wasn’t surprised.

"The revival of ancient beings in the Secret Realm often disrupts the ambient energy, rendering the sect’s monitoring methods useless."

"Come on, let’s move. Maybe we’ll be able to find those three again from a different spot..."

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