After I left the sect, the entire sect knelt down and begged for forgiveness.

Chapter 310 The Legacy of the Sea Clan Ancestors
The boy slowly woke up, his eyes still filled with confusion.

"Where...is this?"

Lin Yan shrugged. "I don't know either."

Looking around, there were no monsters, and in front of them was a huge palace with its gates tightly closed.

It is majestic and solemn yet alluring, as if enticing others to open it.

Lin Yan didn't rush to open the door. Instead, she put on gloves, took out a shovel, and began digging up the spiritual plants outside.

She dug up the top-grade Sea Cloud Crystal, the Silver Grass, and the Sea Mushroom—all basic materials for making the Youth Preservation Pill. She'd been stuck at the intermediate-level pill-refining stage; it was time to practice with the advanced-level pills.

The Youth Preservation Pill is the cheapest and easiest to refine among all high-grade pills, and she happens to have the recipe.

Let her try two batches. If the quality is too low, it means that her current skills are not enough to support her in refining high-grade pills.

"Fairy sister, what... what are you doing?" The boy walked over and looked at her in confusion.

"Dig grass." Lin Yan didn't even look up and continued digging.

Upon closer inspection, she discovered both fairy cattail and golden lotus. Rare and precious plants—she'd struck gold!
She wanted to cut down all the crystal trees used for decoration and take them with her. However, these things weren't very useful; they could only be used to make furniture and weren't easy to sell.

After she finished digging up the spiritual plants, she found the boy sitting quietly to one side. She looked like a scavenger.

He was noble and elegant, she was like a locust plague...

What a stark contrast!

She scoffed and continued sorting through the spiritual plants she had dug up.

A member of the royal family like him, accustomed to a life of luxury, would never understand how difficult it is to acquire resources.

Only after categorizing and putting things away properly could she focus on finding a way to unlock the secret realm.

The boy asked timidly, "Sister, shall we go inside and take a look?"

Lin Yan shook her head. "No."

She's not stupid; she knew there was danger inside, yet she still went in.

This is an unknown secret realm, and the level of danger is currently unknown. If you die inside without a sound, no one will even be able to find your body.

Normally, when a new secret realm is discovered, various forces should join forces to explore it and assess the danger level. She didn't want to be the first to stick her neck out.

"But how can we find the exit if we don't go in?"

Lin Yan simply took out the tent and set it up in the blink of an eye.

She set up a table and chairs outside and sat down to rest.

"This is the main entrance, the exit must be here. Have you ever seen anyone put the exit inside a room?"

Moreover, there's no rush to go out now; there are Nascent Soul cultivators fighting outside, which might not be safer than here.

The boy didn't dare go in alone, so he could only sit down with them.

However, he didn't have a stool, so he had to sit on the ground.

Lin Yan glanced at him sideways and noticed his gaze was fixed on the door. She asked casually, "What, do you want to go in and take a look?"

The boy nodded. "I don't know why, but I always feel like something inside is calling to me."

"Oh?"

"It really feels like there's a force pulling me..."

She stroked her chin and speculated that this must be a secret realm left by the royal ancestors. As a member of the royal family, she naturally had a sense of which ancestor's legacy was inside.

This is clearly something passed down from someone else's ancestors, and it will definitely exclude outsiders, so she can't go in.

If she were to be expelled after entering, her life would be in danger. Anyone who could remain in the secret realm would be at least at the Nascent Soul stage; how could a mere Golden Core cultivator like her possibly fight back?
"Then go ahead. It might be a secret realm left to your descendants by your ancestors, but you just haven't been able to discover it yet."

The boy stared at her in disbelief. "Me? Am I alone?"

"Otherwise what?" she raised an eyebrow.

Does he want me to stay with him so I can help him out if there's any danger?
That meter of shark veil was payment for escorting him to the deep sea, not for protecting him as he explored unknown realms.

This secret realm of the sea creatures was left behind by their ancestors. Good things must be passed down through bloodlines. She worked so hard to fight monsters, only to end up benefiting someone else.

Why bother? It's better to just sit here. She refused to believe that someone who could get in couldn't get out.

Seeing the slight movement in the boy's eyes, she narrowed her eyes and looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze.

She didn't mince words and directly questioned me: "Are you trying to scheme against me?"

A flicker of panic crossed his eyes, but he quickly regained his composure and hurriedly explained, as if he had been misunderstood: "No, no, I'm too weak, I just... I just wanted to rely on my sister."

"Oh? You mean while we're exploring the secret realm, I have to be distracted protecting you, who's so weak?"

The boy gripped his clothes tightly, biting his lip hard, unsure how to answer.

He remembered that the fairy sister was very kind and liked to help the weak and vulnerable, finding a home for homeless drifters. She even provided them with spirit stones to help them make a living after helping them find a place to stay.

Because I received her help, I can't forget her and I've always kept her in my heart.

The fairy sister now is different from before. She has become pragmatic and even directly asked such questions.

His eyes were filled with disappointment: "Fairy sister, how did you become like this?"

Lin Yan raised an eyebrow, finding it amusing.

Did the person's questioning imply they knew her? She couldn't recall ever seeing such a person before.

Think about...

Okay, I can't remember.

Lin Yan looked at the young man and said slowly, "My inner self has always been this way, and it has never changed. If you had any good feelings or misunderstandings about me before, please correct them in time."

“No… my original sister… was very kind and helpful…” The boy took a step back blankly, shaking his head with grief and indignation.

This seems like a shattered filter on an "idol," and a refusal to believe it.

Perhaps it was his own "kindness" and altruism that made him unable to accept her "unkindness."

The boy wanted to use her protection to enter the palace, but refused to admit his desire to "take advantage" of her. So he used her "kindness" as a cover. When she refused to take him into the palace, she was labeled as "unkind".

She wasn't angry, and still looked at the young man with good temper, "If you can pay enough spirit stones, I can escort you in. I won't touch the inheritance inside, okay?"

"..."

Seeing his silence, she didn't mince words and bluntly asked, "You're not trying to get something for nothing, are you?"

She was all sweet-talking the whole way, pretending to be weak and pitiful. Was she waiting for this?
Wait, was that cave also part of his plan?
It's just that I entered that cave by mistake. Even if I hadn't gone in, he would have found a way to lure me in, right?

Take, for example, a member of the royal family who was being hunted down. He's quite shrewd and not some weak or naive person.

Oh dear, I never thought I'd be the one being schemed against.

I was careless, but I don't regret it. I'm still alive, so it's not a loss.

It's not that she's overthinking it, but it's hard not to make such connections when teenagers act these days.

"I...I don't have any," the boy denied. "How many spirit stones do you want?"

"One hundred thousand high-grade spirit stones, no bargaining. You can't even buy a legacy flower with spirit stones, so you won't lose out at all."

She didn't need to analyze further; she believed the boy had his own judgment.