Tang Fan felt his heart almost stop.
At this moment, he just froze there, his mind and body plunged into extreme fear. Yet, his nature still forced him to squeeze out a smile uglier than crying.
"Senior, I... I... hahaha... I..."
Bang!
Tang Fan suddenly clapped his hands, praised enthusiastically, "You found me again! No wonder you’re the senior, impressive. I was just wondering why you hadn’t found me yet. Hehehe..."
Song Yan looked at the boy and sighed.
He had thought Tang Fan might have a way to undo this "Blood-Binding Rope."
Turns out, that’s it?
As for the Secret Realm...
For a Purple Mansion Realm cultivator, the Secret Realm could no longer be hidden.
Not only that, by standing at the entrance of the Secret Realm, he could use his powerful mind to even listen to conversations inside the Secret Realm.
Moreover, the Qi Observation Pearl was still effective for those experts hidden in the Crimson Palace within the Secret Realm.
If the Secret Realm and the human world were truly two separate spaces, that would be one thing, but in reality, there wasn’t a true "space barrier" between them, just a layer of very thin "paper."
On second thought, he felt it wasn’t that Tang Fan was useless, but that the power and treasures of the Purple Mansion Realm were simply too strong.
If he were tied up by a "Blood-Binding Rope" back then, he wouldn’t have been able to break free either, right?
But speaking of which, since Tang Fan intended to stay in the Secret Realm, his idea of wanting to see Tang Fan’s cards and secrets was naturally dashed.
Thus, he naturally walked in, with a stern face, dragging Tang Fan out of the Secret Realm.
...
...
Days later...
Two figures swiftly flew across the sky.
Heading south.
Song Yan had gathered a lot of information about the Chu Kingdom from the Thousand Crane Sect.
The Secret Realms that could be explored in the Northern Land of the Chu Kingdom had long been "open secrets," and if he wanted to find more things, he had to head south.
In the Sect Chronicles of the Thousand Crane Sect and the records of the Chu Kingdom government, the south was described as "barbarian lands," not only with robust characters but also wild cultivators, and countless poisonous insects and demon beasts.
They established the capital in the north not because the Profound Qi was insufficient in the south, but because the south was too chaotic.
From the records, Song Yan saw the names of several small sects.
Names like "Blood Corpse Sect," "Ghost Slaughter Sect,"...
At a glance, he felt these sect names were indeed "familiar," and fated with him.
Not for anything else, primarily because as Ghost Cultivator Zhang Han, he had too few treasures, not even one worth displaying.
As for the previous techniques of the "Sword Evil Demon Dragon" and "Hundred Forms Demon Body," they were too identifiable; once used, he would be exposed.
Now, he relied only on some simple ghost cultivation magic recorded in the "Ghost Infant Scripture."
Other than that, there was nothing left...
Tang Fan’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed.
He had already smelt the aroma of wine.
He grinned and shamelessly edged closer, "Grandpa, let me have a sip."
Song Yan smiled at him and, as if chanting, said, "Golden Armor God, Golden Armor God..."
Tang Fan fell silent, fetched some clean water himself, and continued eating meat with it, having to admit: the old monster’s roasted meat was better than his.
He felt like he had been "screwed," reminiscing how, during his adventures, he used his exquisite roasting to attract demon beasts in the forest, but never imagined he’d be outclassed by an old monster, making him feel "demon beasts were roasting meat, drawing him over."
While grudgingly drinking water, a voice suddenly came from afar.
"Hey."
Tang Fan looked up to see the Purple Mansion old monster raise his hand and toss a jar of fine wine over.
He instinctively caught it, then mumbled, "Senior, I won’t tell you what you want to know.
Everyone has secrets... and I assure you my secret is of no use to you.
You would gain nothing from knowing, and it wouldn’t benefit me to tell, so why bring it up, okay?"
Song Yan said, "Not okay."
Tang Fan reluctantly showed a bitter smile, about to return the wine jar.
Song Yan, however, raised his own wine jar, made a gesture of a toast from a distance, and said, "Fussy."
Tang Fan was stunned for a moment, then unexpectedly burst into laughter, boldly knocked the seal off, clasped the inside of the wine jar with his fingers, raised it high, and boldly said, "Cheers!"

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