After disappearing for ten years, the junior sister made the entire sect kneel down to welcome her.

However, Liu Ruoci appreciated Su Mingyue's protection; she was beautiful and had a very pleasing way of speaking.

From the moment he met Su Mingyue, he had different feelings for her.

"Mingyue, this time our Medicine King Valley is here for the remnant of the Demon Emperor. Why don't you come with us to find the Demon Emperor later?"

"The Demon Emperor's lingering regret... I can't handle it. Its temperament is also violent and tyrannical, not easy to please. In the past, a disciple had only stepped into its domain when his heart was ripped out, his nascent soul unable to escape his body, dying on the spot. I'm afraid that if I get close to it, I'll never be able to get out again..."

Su Mingyue shook her head and refused.

She was just a pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator; the remnant of the Demon Emperor was what they used to kill Luo Huanzhen.

She shouldn't go and get herself killed.

Liu Ruoci said, "Don't be afraid, we've come prepared this time. Do you remember our last trip to the Spirit Mountain Secret Realm?"

Su Mingyue: "I remember, what's wrong?"

Liu Ruoci raised his hand, and a palm-sized scale, jet black and shiny yet radiating a dazzling array of colors, appeared in his palm.

"We discovered something extraordinary in the secret realm. We felt it was unusual, so we took it back to Medicine King Valley for research. We found that it was the scale of an ancient black-scaled dragon."

"With this, we can gain the approval of the Demon Emperor's lingering resentment."

The joy on Su Mingyue's face was obvious.

In order to find out what Su Mingyue and Danhong were up to, Luo Huanzhen, who was intently eavesdropping, exclaimed:

She got it.

No wonder the male and female protagonists met in the secret realm of Beihai.

It was because it had taken Su Mingyue's secret realm "key" that it was returning it to Su Mingyue in another way—

A scale of a black-scaled dragon.

She wants to use this scale to unlock the treasures of the North Sea's secret realm.

We're taking a roundabout approach to achieve our goals.

They're definitely planning something big!

pity.

They were destined to fail.

How could a single scale possibly compare to a living, breathing little black-scaled dragon?

Luo Huanzhen lowered his head and stroked the cute little snake in his arms: "Little Black, right?"

Little Black: "Hiss~"

Its head wanted to grow horns, and it was itchy and uncomfortable, so it frantically rubbed against Luo Huanzhen's little hand.

……

……

Along the way, Su Mingyue and Liu Ruoci grew even closer.

Zhao Qing tried several times to pull Su Mingyue back, but Su Mingyue quickly dismissed him with a few words.

Zhao Qing felt increasingly uneasy.

He used to find Mingyue's gentle and delicate voice endearing and evoked his tenderness and affection. But now, why did her voice make him feel so uncomfortable?

Zhao Qing returned to the Xuan Tian Sect crowd, his face devoid of a smile.

A disciple surnamed Yang walked beside him, lowering his voice to sneer, "Senior Brother Zhao, don't overestimate yourself. Didn't you see that none of us bothered Junior Sister Su and that Young Master Liu?"

Zhao Qingmu stared at him with a stern face: "What do you mean?"

"Can't you see? The gap between you and that young master is too great. You shouldn't try to compete with him for Junior Sister Mingyue. All of us disciples can see his affection for Junior Sister Mingyue."

The disciple surnamed Yang spoke directly.

He wasn't entirely there to mock him.

He was telling the truth.

At first, among those who swarmed around Junior Sister Mingyue, the highest-ranking one was Senior Brother Zhao Qing, and no one paid him any attention.

After all, the differences between everyone are not that great.

Since Zhao Qing can pursue Junior Sister Mingyue, then so can they.

However, if the competitor becomes Liu Ruoci, then there's no need to waste any more effort trying to climb the ranks.

Zhao Qing, unconvinced, frowned and said coldly, "I'm different from you. And so what if he likes Mingyue? Mingyue won't like him."

The disciple surnamed Yang scoffed, "You don't like him, but you do?"

Zhao Qing felt a surge of impulse.

He was provoked by what the disciple surnamed Yang said.

He wanted to say, "Of course."

Of course, Mingyue likes herself.

She had been accepting his affections in private and had taken the initiative to have some intimate physical contact with him.

Moreover, before coming to the North Sea Secret Realm, she came to him to get pills to quickly improve his cultivation, and... and when he couldn't control himself, she used her mouth to help him.

How could he be like those sycophants?!

He is Mingyue's future Daoist partner!

But she swallowed the words back down her throat; Mingyue didn't like his possessiveness.

Zhao Qing flicked his sleeves and forced a fake smile: "What do you know? What right do you people have to compare yourself to me?"

Disciple surnamed Yang: "..."

I was just trying to be nice and say a few words to you, and you're acting all superior and trying to put me down?

Yes, yes, you understand now.

You are the biggest know-it-all.

You're the Wolverine of simps!

The disciple surnamed Yang rolled his eyes and ignored Zhao Qing.

As the group of nearly two hundred people ventured deeper into the ocean, a vast, sunken underwater kingdom came into view.

This is the ruins of an ancient demon tribe, overgrown with various barnacles, corals, and adorned with shimmering seashells.

The surrounding area is filled with broken walls and towering pillars, resembling a forest in the deep sea, stretching as far as the eye can see.

Apart from Elder Danhong and Liu Ruoci, all the other disciples were visiting the North Sea Secret Realm for the first time.

They were all stunned by what they saw.

Elder Danhong explained, "This is not a simple secret realm; it is a settlement of an ancient demon race. It preserves the remnants of tens of thousands of ancient demons, each possessing its own unique strengths. If you are willing to put in the effort, you can gain more than you can imagine. However, apart from the remnants and these stone forests, no one has discovered any other treasures for thousands of years."

Of course, there are also rumors in the cultivation world that there is a treasure in the place where the ancient demon race fell.

The only reason it hasn't been able to open is because no cultivator has gained the approval of the demon race.

Thinking of this rumor, Elder Danhong glanced at Liu Ruoci and the others from Medicine King Valley with complicated emotions.

She saw him take out the ink scale.

But he also had several hidden experts around him, each with similar strength to her, so she couldn't take them even if she wanted to.

It seems.

The world is about to change.