Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"Oh, you mean that one?"

When faced with Ye Yuchan's question, Yunping did not hesitate to give his answer.

"Of course it exists, and it's not far away."

"Huh?" Ye Yuchan exclaimed in surprise, "So you weren't lying to them after all!"

In fact, Ye Yuchan didn't really believe that there was a secret realm nearby.

The so-called secret realms, as mentioned before, are created using a treasure or the corpse of a powerful figure after their death, and are usually located in caves.

How could there be a secret realm on such a vast, desolate snow-covered mountain with no view of the summit?

Not to mention the members of the trial team, even Ye Yuchan herself didn't believe it.

"What, you don't trust your teacher anymore? It's not good to always doubt your teacher..."

Yun Ping gave Ye Yuchan a wicked smile, which startled Ye Yuchan so much that she almost jumped up.

Her pale fingers trembled as she pointed at Yunping, "You, you, what are you trying to do now?"

"I didn't mean anything by it. I was just thinking about whether I should give you some herbal massage in the shape of an 'O' another day to improve your physical condition."

"No! I absolutely never want to eat anything that shape again!!"

The thought that there was a certain massage-shaped spiritual root still inside her made Ye Yuchan feel terrible.

However, one thing at a time, Ye Yuchan quickly composed herself and said, "So, you didn't lie to them? I was worried that they would find out they'd been tricked and start fighting with you."

"A fight is certainly possible, but if it happens, we'll have to wait until..."

Yunping suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He glanced at the direction the three members of the trial team were heading, then at the forest to his right that seemed somewhat gloomy for some reason.

"Pause."

—rustling sounds.

Something flew past my feet across the snowy, muddy ground.

The three people walking in front stopped and turned around at the same time.

Fan Luokui was somewhat puzzled by Yun Ping's sudden call to halt things. "What's wrong, Your Excellency?"

"You've taken the wrong road."

Yunping pointed to the path the three of them were taking, "If you keep walking like this, you'll reach the top of the mountain."

Upon hearing this, three pairs of eyes were immediately cast at him as if he were an idiot.

Especially the brown-haired girl with pigtails, she was the first to have doubts about Yun Ping and the other person, and her sixth sense told her that the two of them definitely had bad intentions!

"Why do you say we've taken the wrong road? We've been to this desolate snow-covered mountain five or six times already! There's only this one road."

"You've only been here five or six times, and you dare to say there's only this one road?"

With his old rogue persona fully unleashed, Yunping grinned as he looked at the young girl.

Stared at by Yun Ping's teasing gaze, the girl stomped her foot angrily, "What do you mean you've only come five or six times? Have you come many times?!"

"You know what, I've actually been here quite a few times!"

"Hmph! Then tell me, besides this path to the top of the mountain, where else can we go?"

"Hey girl, you seem really hostile towards me." Sensing the girl's displeasure, Yun Ping smiled and looked at her. "What did I do to you?"

"And...he didn't provoke me either..."

Upon hearing Yunping's words, the girl with pigtails blushed, feeling as if she had been being unreasonable.

She puffed out her cheeks, looking a little conflicted, and her two ponytails swayed back and forth with her body, making her look incredibly cute.

"Anyway... tell me..." Her tone suddenly weakened, as if she had wilted, "Where is the next way?!"

Fan Luokui nodded in agreement, still quite curious: "Yes, I'd like to know that too. We've scouted this desolate snow mountain many times, and gone to many places, but we haven't seen the other roads you mentioned."

"That's because you don't come often enough. Once you've lived here on this desolate snowy mountain for half a year, you'll be able to recite the map from memory." Yunping waved his hand. "That's why I said you don't come often enough."

Liang Jue was slightly taken aback: "So, what you mean is..."

"Come with me, I'll lead the way."

Yunping waved his hand and plunged into the dense snow forest beside him without looking back.

Everyone was left staring blankly in the direction he disappeared into, utterly bewildered in the cold wind carrying snow.

73. Is something as simple as ruins even a big deal?

Walking through the snow-covered forest, Yunping casually pushed aside the thorny branches blocking his way, and a nameless sense of nostalgia gradually rose in his gaze as he looked around.

He once walked here just as he does today, and he once parted those sharp branches just as he does today...

Everything was enough to evoke in him a longing for the past.

His incredibly skillful steps left the people following behind in disbelief.

Because of this snow forest, the judges had also been here before, and had wondered if there were any unknown secrets hidden inside.

But the truth is—they didn't even have the strength to traverse the entire snow forest; the terrain was far too complex and fraught with danger.

In stark contrast to Yun Ping's flowing steps, the four people, including Ye Yuchan, seemed to have aged considerably in this snow forest, trudging along with unsteady steps. Sharp thorns and brambles would always appear in unexpected places to block their ankles.

This caused great distress to everyone, and Ye Yuchan was so angry that she wanted to smash everything in front of her several times—but the trial team stopped her.

The reason is——

This snow forest is part of the desolate snow mountain, and nothing on the desolate snow mountain can be destroyed.

This is the order of the successive masters of the Northern Ice Palace.

So Ye Yuchan had no choice but to give in and follow the crowd step by step, moving forward very slowly.

She glanced at Yunping, who had already walked away, and called out with considerable dissatisfaction.

"You old scoundrel, can't you slow down a little bit?!"

Hearing his apprentice's call, Yunping finally stopped.

But instead of turning back, he waved to the crowd from a distance, saying, "Don't rush, follow me, we're almost there."

"Almost there?"

"Destination, huh?" Yunping rolled his eyes at Ye Yuchan from afar. "What are you waiting for? Hurry up and come over."

Ye Yuchan glanced helplessly at the three members of the trial team and noticed that their expressions were incredibly complicated.

The three looked at each other, and finally all sighed.

Clearly, none of the three really believed Yunping's so-called destination, but given the current situation, they had no choice but to go.

However, to be fair, although the road Yunping mentioned was indeed traversing the snow forest, for some reason, certain traces around it were quite puzzling.

It looked like rough marks carved into the ground, so faint they were almost invisible, and it resembled the incantations of the Heavenly Annihilation Era.

This was something the three members of the trial team hadn't even noticed before...

After all, the snow forest was so vast, and their physical strength was limited. They weren't very familiar with the snow forest either, so as they wandered around, they would occasionally end up back in the same spot.

Yes.

They had never traveled this road before.

After realizing this, Fan Luokui's eyes became extremely wary.

How could she not be wary of someone who was very familiar with the desolate snow-capped mountains and who did not belong to the Northern Ice Palace?

Especially since this strange person was accompanied by a female disciple at the Xuanmen stage.

That's weird, so weird.

Some unpleasant thoughts arose in Fan Luokui's mind, and the way she looked at Ye Yuchan changed considerably.

……

Ten minutes later.

Ye Yuchan, emerging from the dense forest, let out a long sigh of relief.

Yunping had said something like "We're almost there" before, but that's not actually the case at all!

Although Yunping led the way, the rest of the journey was still very difficult for them. If it weren't for the protection of their spiritual energy, their Taoist robes would probably have been pierced by the unknown needles long ago.

It's hard to imagine just how familiar Yunping is with this place to walk around so easily and effortlessly!

But that's not the problem...

The issue is--

"See? I didn't lie to you, did I?" Yunping looked at the stunned twin-tailed girl, his smirking expression resembling that of a lecherous old man. "I told you there's a road here."

—There really is a road.

Moreover, it was a path that their trial team had never seen before, a path that only existed in the snow forest.

At the end of the road lies the land beneath their feet.

Hidden by snow and trees, this land appears perfectly normal even from above.

No wonder they couldn't find it no matter how hard they searched...

Fan Luokui looked around in surprise and curiosity, gazing at everything nearby.

—This place is more like a ruin than a so-called secret realm. Half of the nearly decayed walls are buried in snow, and the crooked characters carved on them are completely incomprehensible. Several pale purple stone pillars have fallen to the ground, and the broken openings are full of clean white snow.

The ruins are huge, surprisingly so.

It's hard to imagine... that they, who had once searched the entire desolate snow-capped mountains, would have missed such a vast expanse of ruins.

In terms of area, this site is at least comparable in size to their court of judgment. The gate, engraved with ancient yet complex characters, looks as if it has been cut off by something incredibly sharp; one half has collapsed, while the other half stands firmly in place.

"This...this is..." Liang Jue's expression, hidden beneath his helmet, could not be detected, but it was certain that he was extremely surprised at this moment.

The girl with twin ponytails was speechless. The frustration she had felt in the snow forest a moment ago vanished, replaced by indescribable shock.

Even Fan Luokui, the captain of the trial team who had always remained calm, couldn't help but gape.