Chapter 509: You're Really My Lucky Star

Everyone looked toward Fan Lin. After a moment of thought, he said, “It’s about to get dark anyway. Let’s stay here one more night and leave at dawn.”

He also suspected she was likely gone for good, but… for some reason, he had a feeling she wasn’t that reckless. ‘I’ll just stay and see what happens!’

‘And if she does come out from down there…’ A sharp glint flashed in Fan Lin’s eyes. ‘Something hidden so well must be a treasure, right?’

Of course, when Lu Sangjiu had leaped into the lake, she had formed a protective shield around herself. She wasn’t so rash as to jump in completely unprepared.

Even if her guess was wrong, the protective shield would hold for a while, giving her plenty of time to leave immediately if she sensed something was wrong.

But as it turned out, her feeling that she was special was no illusion.

The moment she entered the water this time, she switched the power sustaining her protective shield from Demonic Qi to her own true power.

And the lake water, once highly corrosive, now had no effect on her shield at all.

She didn’t need to divert any focus to repairs; it was as if she were surrounded by nothing more than ordinary water.

With that, Lu Sangjiu’s last reservation vanished, and she immediately began to descend.

A few moments later, Lu Sangjiu reached the bottom of the lake.

There were no man-made structures at the bottom. It seemed to be a purely natural formation. ‘I just wonder what happened to create this lake?’

After searching the lakebed, Lu Sangjiu finally found the object that was possibly the Divine Artifact.

The reason for her uncertainty was its appearance… it really didn’t look anything like a Divine Artifact. It looked exactly like a broken, rusty, ordinary axe.

But when Lu Sangjiu picked it up, the sense of connection between them instantly intensified, confirming its identity. It was indeed the Divine Artifact.

‘Sigh, this one looks even more pitiful than the disc from last time. I wonder what it went through down here?’

Having retrieved the item, Lu Sangjiu didn’t linger and quickly swam toward the surface.

By now, the sky outside had darkened. The moment she broke the surface, she spotted a small campfire by the shore.

Two people were next to the fire: one was Yan Xue, the other was Fan Xing.

As for Fan Lin and the other two Cultivators, they were nowhere to be seen.

As soon as Lu Sangjiu climbed ashore, both of them approached in surprise. Fan Xing’s eyes widened in astonishment. “You… you’re really okay?”

Lu Sangjiu replied calmly, “Mm, just a little trick for self-preservation.”

After speaking, she thought for a moment, then smiled at Fan Xing. “Sorry, but what happens next isn’t suitable for you to witness, so… please take a little nap.”

The moment she finished speaking, she raised her hand and deftly knocked her unconscious.

However, she was considerate enough to catch the girl, lay her gently on the ground, and even thoughtfully set up a Protective Barrier around her, which also soundproofed the area.

Once she had done all this in one smooth motion, Lu Sangjiu flashed a satisfied smile and asked Yan Xue, “What about the other three?”

Yan Xue reported, “I killed the other two. It was inconvenient to deal with Fan Lin, so I just knocked him out and tossed him under a tree.”

‘It seems that for all her mysteriousness, Yan Xue is still somewhat constrained by her contract. She’s not reckless enough to kill him directly.’

Hearing this, Lu Sangjiu didn’t press for more details. She took out the axe and showed it to Yan Xue. “I promised you could be the first to check if what you’re looking for is inside. Go ahead.”

Yan Xue smiled. “You trust me that much?”

Lu Sangjiu replied, “Not that much. That’s why I’m holding it while you look.”

Yan Xue: “…”

She was momentarily speechless but didn’t say anything, simply gathering her Divine Sense and sending it into the axe to investigate.

To be honest, she had been searching for Divine Artifacts for so many years that she had grown a bit numb to it all.

She hadn’t held out much hope this time either, but the instant her Divine Sense entered the artifact, she immediately sensed a wisp of Divine Thought that had a faint connection to her!

It was extremely faint, but it was definitely there!

Yan Xue was instantly overjoyed, unable to control her expression. Grinning from ear to ear, she exclaimed, “This is great! I’ve finally found it!”

She immediately took an item out of her storage space and, using her Divine Sense, carefully guided that wisp of Divine Thought into her own Magic Treasure, sealing it away safely.

After finishing, Yan Xue let out a sigh of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted from her. In high spirits, she slung an arm around Lu Sangjiu’s shoulders.

“Lu Sangjiu, I’m starting to think you’re my lucky star! Both times I’ve run into you, things have gone incredibly smoothly.”

“We work so well together. Are you sure you don’t want to join my sect?”

Lu Sangjiu replied, “Not interested. If you want to stick with me so badly, why don’t you wait until I’ve built my sect and join me instead?”

She was only joking, of course, but to her surprise, Yan Xue actually began to consider it seriously.

“Hmm, that does sound interesting. But are you sure your sect can accept both Immortal and Demon Cultivators?”

Lu Sangjiu had just been speaking offhandedly and hadn’t expected her to actually consider it. But Yan Xue’s question was something Lu Sangjiu herself now had to seriously think about.

After thinking it over, she felt… ‘Hey, maybe it could actually work?’

In the Lower Realm, everyone’s cultivation was low, so Demon Cultivators and Immortal Cultivators living together would negatively affect each other. No one would be foolish enough to try it.

But here in the Upper Realm, the effect was normally negligible.

For instance, when Lie Rufeng and the others came to the Demon Realm’s territory, they felt no discomfort at all; they just couldn’t cultivate without Immortal Qi.

‘So, if I could create a sect that was half Immortal Qi and half Demonic Qi, where everyone could exist without interfering with one another, why couldn’t I accept both Immortal and Demon Cultivators?’

Lu Sangjiu thought about her own life, so much of which had been entangled with Immortals and Demons. ‘Why not just create a grand reunion for them then!’

Thinking of this, Lu Sangjiu finally nodded with conviction. “I’ll accept them. Both Immortals and Demons!”

Yan Xue chuckled at her words. “If that’s the case, then it does sound rather interesting.”

“Alright, the day your sect is established, I’ll join!”

Now it was Lu Sangjiu’s turn to be even more shocked. “But don’t you already belong to a sect?”

“Hmm… my ‘sect’ is less of a sect and more of a family-like organization.”

“Now that I’ve found this thing, I’ll be considered to have performed a great service. My status will be unassailable from now on, so leaving to join another sect or something of the sort will be no problem at all.”

Since Yan Xue put it that way, Lu Sangjiu certainly had no objections.

She smiled and nodded. “Alright, then it’s a deal!”

After Yan Xue had taken what she needed from the Divine Artifact, Lu Sangjiu didn’t immediately do anything else with it. Instead, she put it away, planning to find a place to study it properly after she left.

And so, the next morning, Fan Xing woke up, and the three of them left the forest to continue exploring other areas.

Their time in the Secret Realm wasn’t over yet, so naturally, they had to keep exploring.

Seven more days passed before everyone was finally teleported out of the Secret Realm.