First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

Ye Chen retrieved his flying sword, looked at the injured Lu Yonglin, and said, "Let's rest for a while. There's still time before the secret realm is destroyed, so there's no need to rush deeper."

Lu Yonglin nodded and sat on the ground to heal his wounds.

Liu Yan said calmly, "Judging from this, I'm afraid it will be difficult for us to get deep into the center."

It seems she's a little unhappy that Lu Yonglin is holding her back.

"Go as deep as you can, but you don't necessarily have to go all the way to the center of the secret realm," Ye Chen reassured him.

Liu Yan frowned immediately: "If we can't reach the center of the secret realm, the success rate of comprehending the Dao will decrease. This is related to whether we can establish our foundation. Doesn't that matter?"

"Let's do our best," Ye Chen sighed.

Liu Yan frowned even more, but didn't say anything more.

Yuan Xiangqin and Xu Xing remained silent, both understanding her feelings. She undoubtedly hoped to do her best to achieve Foundation Establishment and didn't want to be held back by others.

However, if we don't work together, we might not be able to reach the secret realm.

Ye Chen thought for a moment and said, "We should at least go to the depths of the secret realm, where there are more resources and we can better comprehend the Dao."

As for the center of the secret realm, let's do our best; after all, safety is the most important thing. Even if we fail this time, there's always next time.

"Yes, this is your first time entering the secret realm. It's unrealistic to expect to establish your foundation immediately. Even if you reach the center of the secret realm, there's no guarantee that you'll achieve foundation establishment," Yuan Xiangqin said.

"Many people have to enter the secret realm again and again before they can finally achieve Foundation Establishment."

They might even die in the secret realm during their repeated attempts; this is the fate of most Qi Refining stage cultivators.

"I know..." Liu Yan nodded silently.

Because she understands the difficulty of Foundation Establishment, she tries her best to increase the success rate, even if it's just a little bit...

"Alright, everyone, don't rush. Look at this Fellow Daoist Xu, how calm he is." Ye Chen smiled as he looked at Xu Mu.

Xu Mu didn't sense it was a compliment, and smiled faintly, "It's alright, as you said, I did my best."

"Is Xu You getting old and frail? Is this really your first time entering a secret realm?" Liu Yan asked.

Xu Mu nodded: "There's nothing I can do, cultivation is too slow. I only recently broke through to the ninth level of Qi Refining."

"So you have a firm Dao heart. With your talent, most people would have given up cultivation long ago and found a Dao partner to raise the next generation," Ye Chen said.

Xu Mu nodded with a faint smile and said nothing more.

I always feel uncomfortable when I chat with them.

They are actually not young anymore.

Liu Yan should be in her fifties or sixties, but she has the art of preserving her youthful appearance, which is why she looks young and beautiful.

Yuan Xiangqin is probably in her sixties. The reason she looks middle-aged is simply because she started using anti-aging techniques or taking anti-aging pills relatively late.

Xu Xing and Lu Yonglin are similar.

The youngest is Ye Chen, who should be considered the last disciple of the Hongshan Sect Master.

"Alright, let's continue." Ye Chen said.

After chatting and relaxing for a while, Lu Yonglin's injuries recovered, and the group continued their journey.

……

There are about two weeks left before the secret realm is destroyed.

No one was in a hurry to get there; they were all searching for resources as they went deeper into the area.

The resources produced in one secret realm are equivalent to the annual output of Hongshan Sect.

It is said that there was once a whole patch of Spirit Gathering Grass, growing on the ground along with other weeds, with each Spirit Gathering Grass bearing several Spirit Gathering Fruits.

The scene was breathtaking.

People from several sects joined the fight, resulting in bloodshed.

Although low-level secret realms can only produce up to second-grade spiritual herbs, some second-grade spiritual herbs are extremely precious, such as the Golden Saint Mushroom.

There are also many other spiritual herbs, like the Spirit Gathering Fruit, that can aid in cultivation.

For example, some sects' cultivation techniques have special attributes. For instance, the "Samadhi True Fire Technique" can be aided by fire-attribute spiritual herbs.

The same applies to the Hongshan Sect's cultivation methods. After cultivation, one's spiritual energy is mainly water-based, making it easier to use water-based techniques.

At this moment, Xu Mu and his group arrived at the shore of a lake to search, as such places are often rich in resources.

"It's a water lily!"

"There are several!"

Ye Chen and his group immediately became excited.

Then they looked at Xu Mu with veiled glances.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, this Fragrant Water Lily Orchid has miraculous effects on our Hongshan Sect's cultivation techniques, so I'm afraid I can't share it with you. Please forgive me," Ye Chen said in a very generous manner.

"Yeah, anyway, this kind of elixir won't do much good for you." The others chimed in.

Xu Mu nodded nonchalantly: "Then you can take them."

After saying that, he ignored him.

The group exchanged glances, and Liu Yan frowned, feeling very uncomfortable with his attitude.

His magnanimous demeanor only makes them look despicable.

"I think we should just let each of us mind our own business. Xu You picked so many spiritual herbs and medicines, he can just put them in his own storage bag," Yuan Xiangqin said with a smile.

"Yes, how can we distribute them like this?" Xu Xing nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I think so too." Liu Yan nodded.

In the end, only Ye Chen and Lu Yonglin remained silent, looking at Xu Mu.

Xu Mu smiled and said, "It's alright. I'm just here to comprehend the Dao. Take whatever else you have, or don't worry about it."

Seeing that he was so "cooperative", Ye Chen smiled and said, "Alright, don't let this hurt our relationship. We're in this together now. Our primary goal is still Foundation Establishment. Everything else is trivial."

Everyone nodded, and that was the end of it.

Without a word, Xu Mu lost his right to allocate resources.

Actually, it was what they said from the beginning: it was difficult to decide whose things belonged to everyone they searched together, so they handed everything over to Ye Chen first, and then distributed them later.

Since all five of them agreed, Xu Mu couldn't refute them, so he agreed.

Now there's no need to allocate them anymore; they can take what they want, and what Xu Mu gets is his.

He sighed inwardly, feeling helpless. He really didn't want to deal with this kind of discord and just hoped to successfully enter the secret realm.

As long as you can establish a foundation, nothing else matters.

……

As you venture deeper into the secret realm, the area shrinks while the number of people increases, making friction more likely.

Fortunately, the situation within the team eased under external pressure, and everyone united against external forces.

The number of mirage beasts encountered decreased, but they were all at the peak of Qi Refining level. Not only could they use various spells, but their bodies were also very strong, comparable to the Thunder Tiger Clan princess that Xu Mu had encountered in the Demon Realm a long time ago.

Everyone was clearly finding it increasingly difficult.

Finally, after Yuan Xiangqin was seriously injured, the team had to stop.

"I think this is enough, right? We could find a lot more by searching the surrounding area more carefully..." Lu Yonglin said weakly.

Xu Xing also looked hesitant as he glanced at Ye Chen and Liu Yan.

Liu Yan frowned and said, "That's it?"

She pointed to the dark half of the sky in the distance: "See those dark clouds? We haven't even gotten close to that, and you call this 'venturing into the secret realm'?"

"Weren't you injured too? That's just how strong we are, what can we do?" Lu Yonglin said.

"The difference between the Qi Refining stages is the difference between a genius and a mediocre person. It's obvious that we are just ordinary people and can't enter the realm of geniuses."

"That's you, not me," Liu Yan said coldly.

"Don't try to be brave. You're a little better than us, but only a little. Right now, every battle we fight consumes our pills and magic weapons. If we go any deeper, we could die with the slightest mistake," Lu Yonglin sneered.

Xu Mu watched them argue, feeling quite helpless.

What a fragile team.