Junior Sister must ascend this time!

Si Mingche silently made a mental note: Don't mess with Junior Sister unless necessary.

After sitting on the shore for a while, Si Mingche couldn't help but ask, "We've all passed the trial, why haven't we been teleported out yet?"

Pei Shubai shook his head. "There's probably a delay in the formation. Let's wait a bit longer."

The five fell silent again...

After a while, Yun Qing suddenly asked, "Don't you feel like something is watching us?"

Si Mingche jumped up, pulled out a handful of talismans, and shouted, "Who?! Get out here, we...we're not afraid of you!"

Receiving no response, Pei Shubai and the others looked around but found nothing amiss.

Yun Qing also felt the stare from before disappear, and said a little embarrassedly, "Maybe I was seeing things..."

Si Mingche patted his chest. "Junior Sister, don't do that again. You can scare people to death."

As soon as they finished speaking, the five of them suddenly felt dizzy and noticed a change in the scene in front of them.

Yun Qing looked closely and realized that this was the Misty Forest she had entered during the selection of her personal disciples. How did she end up here again?

Pei Shubai also realized what was happening and frowned, saying, "Normally, we only go to one area when we enter the Trial Valley. Could it be that the elder has combined all three areas this time? Is the trial only considered complete after we pass through the Misty Forest, Sword Array Swamp, and Monster Beast Canyon?"

The other four nodded in unison; it seemed the elders were serious this time.

Yun Qing looked at Si Mingche and said with a smile, "Third Senior Brother, didn't you say you'd bring me here to have some fun? Now you lead the way~"

Si Mingche is now extremely regretful; he shouldn't have boasted so much in front of his junior sister...

But since he had already said it, he couldn't lose face as the senior brother, so he mustered his courage and walked in front, taking out a few barrier-breaking talismans from his storage ring to drive away the thick fog in front of him.

He tried several times to input spiritual power, but the talisman just wouldn't activate.

Only then did the group realize that this time, the Misty Forest was not only even more foggy, but they also couldn't use their spiritual energy.

Si Mingche cried out in anguish, "Master, Uncle-Master, how cruel you are!"

The elders outside the light screen were also helpless. It was said that the Immortal Alliance disciples would also be going to the secret realm this time. How could these kids compare to them if they didn't strengthen their training?

Linxu looked at his disciples and felt a pang of pity: "Did we make the trial too difficult? They're still just children."

Xuan frowned slightly. "The Immortal Alliance won't go easy on them just because they're children. You've seen how powerful the Immortal Alliance disciples are. It's better to be strict now than to be crippled later."

Lin Xu thought about what the Immortal Alliance disciples had done before and shut up. Those were all arrogant people who never took the sect disciples seriously and would do anything to get what they wanted.

However, everything they did was within the rules of the secret realm. Every year, there were always a few sect disciples who were inexplicably seriously injured, and after investigation, they could only be determined to have been injured by demonic beasts.

The secret realm has the most resources; giving up on it is tantamount to handing over the resources of all the disciples in the entire sect to someone else.

Everyone sighed and looked back at the light screen...

The fog in the misty forest grew thicker and thicker, and the five people standing together could barely see each other's faces.

Si Mingche grabbed Pei Shubai's arm, following him closely. He muttered under his breath, "Why has Senior Brother gotten so thin? The muscles in his arms are gone..."

Jiang Mian tugged at her sleeve, gritting her teeth as she said, "You grabbed my hand!"

Si Mingche immediately released his grip and looked in Yun Qing's direction. "Junior Sister, what do you think we should do now?"

Cen Ning was also somewhat helpless. "Third Junior Brother, Junior Sister is over there."

She pointed in a direction, and Si Mingche then noticed a person squatting in front of him, taking spirit stones out.

The four of them walked over and asked in unison, "Junior Sister, what are you doing? Setting up a stall to sell spirit stones?"

Without looking up, Yun Qing lined up the spirit stones in a row. "Let me introduce you to my old friend."

Cen Ning tilted her head; her junior sister's move looked so familiar…

After Yun Qing finished arranging the things, she led the four of them to hide behind a tree. Sure enough, not long after, a small creature poked its head out. After looking around to make sure no one was there, it finally crawled out completely.

It happily collected the spirit stones on the ground. Ever since that female demon came last time, its cave had become pitch black. Finally, it found something shiny.

Si Mingche whispered, "Junior Sister, isn't this the same burrowing rat from last time?"

Yun Qing nodded. "Yes, it's the monster least affected by the mist in the entire forest. We can get out of the Misty Forest with its help."

As the burrowing rat happily put away the last spirit stone, it suddenly felt its hair stand on end. Its beastly intuition told it that it had to leave immediately.

It quickly burrowed into the ground, but got stuck halfway in because someone grabbed its foot...

When Yun Qing lifted it up by the whole mouse, the last bit of hope in his heart vanished. It really was that female demon!

It never looked for the sparkly things again, and from then on it lived in the dark ground and never came out again.

Its desperate eyes reflected Yun Qing's smiling face. "Don't be afraid. I won't take your things right now. As long as you lead us out of the Misty Forest, I'll let you go."

Burrowing Rat: "Squeak...squeak squeak..."

"I forgot, you can't speak yet." Yun Qing suddenly realized and said to Cen Ning, "Second Senior Sister, do you have any magical artifacts that allow you to communicate with demonic beasts?"

Cen Ning rummaged through her storage ring and found it. She was used to carrying extra things when she went out, and she hadn't expected it to come in handy.

She placed a bell in Yun Qing's hand. "Just speak into the psychic bell, and it will automatically translate your conversation."

Yun Qing raised an eyebrow. This is much more convenient. It's so good to have Second Senior Sister.

"Little mouse, I'll make a deal with you. If you lead us out of the Misty Forest, I'll give you thirty of these sparkly things, how about it?"

The burrowing rat thought for a moment and then refused, "The Misty Forest is endless, there's no exit there, and even if I wanted to lead you out, there's no way out."

Yun Qing nodded and said to the four of them, "It says it can't find its way out, and staying here isn't a solution for us. How about we go play at its house?"

Si Mingche immediately understood, "Okay, Junior Sister. I'm actually a little hungry. I wonder if the burrowing rat's house has any good stuff..."

Upon hearing this, the burrowing rat quickly grabbed Yun Qing's finger. "Wait a minute, I think I remember where that path is. I didn't realize it just now, heh...hehe..."

It chuckled twice, as if to say, "How could I possibly let these bandits into my cave?"

"It's just that this road is really long; it might take us seven days to get out if I take you there..."

Yun Qing: "Fifty sparkly pieces."

The burrowing rat: "Actually, it's not impossible to get out in two hours."