My mother is the white moonlight of the cultivation world.

After emerging from the secret realm, Hua Yue felt that the whole world was filled with an eerie atmosphere.

On the way back to Qinglin Peak, every fellow disciple she encountered, whether she knew them or not, looked at her with an indescribable smile.

It wasn't mockery, but rather a kind of good-natured teasing that implied "we all understand," mixed with a touch of sympathy and admiration.

Several senior female students even gave her a thumbs up, suppressing their laughter, with an expression that said, "Sister, you're really brave."

Hua Yue was completely confused.

She looked down and checked herself. Her clothes weren't on backwards, and there was nothing on her face. Everything was normal.

Could it be that her heroic figure in winning the championship was so deeply ingrained in people's minds that she has now become an idol of the sect?

Hua Yue shook her head, banishing this unrealistic idea from her mind.

She returned to the bamboo hut, and was just about to dive into the library to look up information about smuggling into the Demon Realm, when a hurried figure barged in.

"Hua Yue! We've finally found you! You're famous now, you know that?!"

The person who arrived was Ye Yueyue. She looked excited and was holding a handful of melon seeds in her hand, as if she had just rushed over from some big melon-eating scene.

Hua Yue poured her a glass of water, somewhat helplessly saying, "What's so great about me? It's just a competition championship, why all this fuss?"

"What champion?!" Ye Yueyue slapped her thigh, leaned close to her, lowered her voice, but her face was beaming with undisguised gossip. "It's the part where you helped Yue Nuanwei overcome her inner demons in the secret realm!"

Hua Yue's heart skipped a beat.

"Huh? How did you know? What happened in that part?"

Hua Yue thought that Yue Nuanwei was obviously a socially awkward person and probably wouldn't tell everyone about this.

"What happened? My dear sister, everyone saw that!" Ye Yueyue gestured excitedly. "Wasn't there a huge water mirror in the arena? All the elders and disciples waiting outside saw the whole thing clearly and without missing a single word through that water mirror!"

The teacup in Hua Yue's hand wobbled, and some of the warm tea spilled onto the back of her hand.

Her mind went blank.

live streaming?

Live broadcast?

So when she was talking to Yue Nuanwei, she complained that Yue Qingxue had no taste...

The entire sect heard it?!

"You have no idea how quiet the square was back then," Ye Yueyue described vividly, "and then everyone burst out laughing."

"..." Hua Yue felt her facial muscles twitching uncontrollably.

No wonder, no wonder those people looked at her so strangely!

That's not worship, that's the look in a warrior's eyes!

A brave warrior who dared to criticize the virtuous and revered Immortal Venerable Yue Qingxue of the Wuji Sect in front of all the sects!

"Please, don't cultivators have the right to their image and the right to their privacy? Why don't they notify the person in advance before this kind of live broadcast? I could at least tidy up my appearance and behave properly!" Hua Yue was on the verge of tears and collapsed onto the table.

Now, her name, Hua Yue, will probably be forever associated with words like "stubborn" and "number one hater."

"Oh my, you're a celebrity now," Ye Yueyue gloated. "But...aren't you really going to apologize to Immortal Venerable Yue Qingxue?"

Apologize?

Hua Yue raised her head, her face filled with despair.

She felt that apologizing was like the three-second rule for food falling on the ground—the key was speed.

If you rush over and tearfully apologize as soon as the incident happens, you might even earn the reputation of it being an "unintentional mistake."

But several days have passed now, what would it mean if she went to apologize now?

That's called "fleeing for several days to avoid punishment, and finally surrendering under pressure from public opinion," which completely changes the nature of the case.

Forget it, let's just destroy it.

At this moment, Hua Yue's desire to go to the Demon Realm was stronger than ever before.

For no other reason than to go out and avoid the limelight.

She felt that she wouldn't be able to walk normally within the sect for a while.

After seeing off Ye Yueyue, whose gossip-loving nature was greatly satisfied, Hua Yue immediately went to the pond next to the bamboo house.

The merman boy with light blue hair was leaning against the artificial hill by the pond, resting with his eyes closed. Hearing footsteps, he opened his beautiful eyes.

"Are you leaving?" Lingxi's voice was tense.

"Yes, I'm planning to go to the Demon Realm." Hua Yue got straight to the point. "Didn't you say before that your hometown, the Abyss of Immaculate Beauty, was invaded by the Demon Clan? I might be able to help out this time. Do you want to come along?"

Lingxi stood up from the water almost immediately, water droplets sliding down his delicate collarbone.

"Go, my people are waiting for me!" His eyes were filled with sorrow. "Take me with you."

A merman prince whose homeland was taken over by the Demon Lord must know more about the Demon Realm than I, a complete novice.

The two hit it off.

Over the next few days, Hua Yue read through almost every ancient book in the sect's library about the passage to the Demon Realm.

The result, however, was disappointing.

The methods described in the book either require finding a guardian of the realm or having a powerful being to tear through space and stabilize the passage.

Tearing space apart...

Several names flashed through Hua Yue's mind.

Jun Yuan is definitely capable, but he's elusive and hasn't been heard from since we last met.

The sect leader might be an option, but if she went to the sect leader and said, "I want to go to the Demon Realm for fun," she'd be lucky if she wasn't arrested as a demon spy.

Shen Qingfu? Her father dotes on his daughter so much that he'd probably rather lock her up than let her take any risks in the Demon Realm.

Liu Juexiao? Putting aside his combat power, tearing through space doesn't seem like something a pill cultivator would do.

The road seems to have led to a dead end again.

Hua Yue scratched her hair in frustration and decided to go to the sect leader to sound him out. Maybe there was some official mission that would allow her to go to the vicinity of the Demon Realm?

As soon as she reached the main hall, she saw a familiar yet anxious figure rush out and almost collide with her.

"Peak Master Lie?" Hua Yue recognized the person as Lie Xun, the Peak Master of Beast Taming Peak.

At this moment, Lie Xun was covered in sweat, his usually cheerful face filled with anxiety, and he kept muttering, "That brat, why can't I contact him? He's caused me trouble as soon as he came out of the pass..."

When he saw Hua Yue, it was like seeing a savior. He grabbed her arm and said, "Hua Yue, aren't you best friends with Zhou Ye?"

Hua Yue's heart skipped a beat: "Zhou Ye? What happened to him?"

The disciple of Lie Xun, who is Yu Shou Feng, isn't that Zhou Ye?

"That kid sent me a message a few days ago, saying he was going to the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range outside Maid City to find some food for his little idiot, but he hasn't come back yet, and I can't contact him with the communication talisman!" Lie Xun was pacing anxiously. "I just came out of seclusion, and I have a lot of things to do at the sect, so I can't leave. You..."

"Wow!"

Hua Yue agreed without waiting for Lie Xun to finish speaking.

She didn't even bother to probe the sect leader's intentions anymore. After finding out the exact location of Maidi City, she turned around and ran down the mountain.

Zhou Ye is one of her few friends in this world, and he absolutely cannot be allowed to get into trouble!

Wheat City.

The town is nestled against the rolling Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain Range, and is usually quite prosperous thanks to the comings and goings of cultivators and hunting teams.

When Hua Yue arrived, she found the atmosphere at the city gate tense, with several cultivators of considerable strength blocking anyone who attempted to leave the city and enter the mountains.

"Halt! A beast tide is coming to the mountains ahead, and the area has been sealed off. No one is allowed to enter!" A guard stopped Hua Yue with a blank expression.

Beast tide?

Hua Yue's heart sank; she was even more worried about Zhou Ye.

"Fellow Daoist, I would like to ask," Hua Yue tried to keep her tone calm, "have you recently seen a boy who looks about fifteen or sixteen years old? He was leading a round, somewhat dim-witted spirit beast into the mountains from here?"

The two guards exchanged a glance and shook their heads.

One of them waved his hand impatiently: "No! We said the mountain is closed. Get out of here and don't cause any more trouble!"

Hua Yue was met with a cold shoulder and had no choice but to enter the city first.

She wanted to look for clues in the city.

However, for several days in a row, Hua Yue turned Maidi City upside down, visiting all the inns and shops, but she still couldn't find out any news about Zhou Ye.

Just as she was at her wit's end and wandering aimlessly through the streets, a commotion ahead caught her attention.

A group of fierce-looking, burly men were chasing a thin, middle-aged man who was dressed in rags and had messy hair.

"Run! Run again! You think you can renege on your debt of spirit stones owed to Baoyuan Gambling House?"

"Grab him! Break his legs!"

The middle-aged man ran faster than a rabbit, weaving through the crowd. Just as he was about to be caught, he turned his head and his gaze precisely locked onto Hua Yue on the outskirts of the crowd.

The next second, he rushed over and grabbed Hua Yue's leg, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"My daughter! My dear daughter! I've finally found you!"

His cries were so heart-wrenching, they echoed through the heavens.

Hua Yue: "?"

The passersby, along with the group of burly men chasing after the debt, were all stunned, their eyes fixed on Hua Yue and the man.

"Quick! Daughter, quickly help your father pay this money! I'll pay you back later!" The man hugged her leg and wouldn't let go no matter what.

The burly man at the head of the group sized up Hua Yue, then glanced at the man on the ground, and gave a malicious smile: "Oh? So you've found a backer? Fine, it's only right that the daughter pays for her father's debts! Five hundred low-grade spirit stones in total, hand them over!"

A buzz of discussion filled the air.

Hua Yue felt like she was facing one hardship after another.

She took a deep breath, took out five hundred spirit stones from her storage bag, and tossed them to the burly man.

It's better to avoid trouble; she's not in the mood to get entangled with these people right now.

The burly men took the money and left triumphantly.

Once the middle-aged man on the ground saw that the crisis was over, he immediately let go of Hua Yue's leg and tried to run away.

"stop."

Hua Yue's voice wasn't loud, but it made the man freeze, his steps halting abruptly.

He turned around, a fawning smile plastered on his face: "Um...daughter, Dad has something urgent, it's about money..."

A hand had already grabbed his wrist with lightning speed.

"The money," Hua Yue stared at him, "you have to pay me back."

The moment she grabbed his wrist, Hua Yue froze.

In her vision, this disheveled man was surrounded by a faint golden light.

She had seen this kind of light before, in those rare and precious materials.

But this was the first time she had ever seen such brilliance in someone.