South Pole.

Ice and Snow Secret Realm.

Inside the cave dwelling.

Lin Shanshan watched Luo Xiu diligently tidying up the pots and pans. She suddenly felt that the young fellow had a maturity that didn't match his age.

During the days they had spent together, she had also found opportunities to touch Luo Xiu. Through a bone-reading technique, she confirmed that his bone age was indeed only seventeen or eighteen years old; he wasn't some master who had used a secret technique to regain his youth.

Yet, this only made him more unfathomable to her.

"All set. We can get started now," Luo Xiu said, approaching her after he finished tidying up. His voice brought her out of her thoughts.

Soon, the two humans and one demon left the cave dwelling and found an open space.

Lin Shanshan took out a small notebook. It was densely packed with over a dozen pages of notes, filled with the translations of the runes she had been deciphering over the past few days.

Luo Xiu merely glanced at it before tactfully walking away.

If something didn't require his concern, he preferred to stay out of it.

Following the decoded runes, Lin Shanshan began to set up the Array on the open ground, taking out a pile of spirit stones from her Storage Magical Treasure.

Observing from the side, Luo Xiu asked curiously, "Where did you find so many spirit stones?"

As far as he knew, spirit stones were exceedingly rare on Earth at the moment. A spirit stone was a type of mineral that formed naturally when spiritual energy reached a certain concentration and underwent years of evolution under special geological conditions. Usually, spirit mines existed only in secret realms and were very hard to find.

For Lin Shanshan to have secured so many, she must have put in a lot of effort.

"Saved them."

When serious, Lin Shanshan was quite aloof and gave him only a brief reply.

Not wanting to be snubbed, Luo Xiu didn't disturb her further and quietly stood aside to observe.

Just then, Snow Kirin cheekily sidled up to them and whispered, "Master, the Array you are setting up is..."

However, before she could finish, both Luo Xiu and Lin Shanshan turned to her and said in unison, "Shut up!"

It was no wonder they reacted that way. Snow Kirin's coarse, middle-aged man's voice was something few people could endure. If she had the appearance of a middle-aged man, it might have been fine, but she happened to look like an extremely beautiful young girl. The combination was like a soft, sweet cake smeared with a layer of snot—the greenish kind, at that.

Snow Kirin stuck out her little pink tongue and muttered under her breath, "Fine, I'll shut up. What's the big deal? It's just the Boundless Formation. I've known how to do that for ages."

At these words, both Luo Xiu and Lin Shanshan were stunned, and they turned to look at her in unison.

Lin Shanshan frowned. "What did you just say?"

Snow Kirin replied, "I said, I've known how to activate the Boundless Formation for a long time."

Luo Xiu hurriedly asked, "You really know this Array?"

"Of course." Snow Kirin proudly raised her head. "This is a secret art of our Qilin Race. I don't need to use spirit stones to set up the Array; I can activate it directly and break through the spatial walls."

Hearing this, Luo Xiu and Lin Shanshan exchanged a silent, strange look.

They remained quiet for about half a minute before Luo Xiu suddenly roared, "Then why the hell didn't you say so earlier?!"

Lin Shanshan's face darkened. "So all my hard work for these past twenty-some days has been meaningless to you?" Taking a deep breath, she asked, trying to remain calm, "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

Snow Kirin looked aggrieved. "Well, you never asked me."

"Besides, every time I tried to speak, I couldn't even get a few words out before you'd tell me to shut up. Is my voice really that unpleasant?"

Veins bulged on Luo Xiu's forehead, and he suddenly felt like slapping himself hard across the face.

If only I'd known she had this ability, I would have let her talk more!

"So, what are you waiting for? Get to work already!"

「A moment later.」

Snow Kirin transformed into her true form and howled at the sky.

Strange clouds suddenly converged in the sky above the South Pole. Lightning flashed and thunder rolled within them, and the faint image of an Array flickered in and out of view.

Snow Kirin declared gravely, "However, traveling to the Upper Realm through the Boundless Formation does carry certain risks, as it requires passing through spatial turbulence." She added, "But don't worry. As long as I am here, I can lead you safely through it."

Once she finished speaking, she looked up at the Array in the sky and urged, "There's not much time left! Quickly get on my back!"

Without a word, Luo Xiu and Lin Shanshan leaped onto Snow Kirin's broad back.

Luo Xiu asked curiously, "Say, does your Snow Kirin clan have some sort of connection with the Upper Realm?"

Snow Kirin explained, "The Savage State in the Upper Realm is the ancestral land of our Snow Kirin clan. It's just that our ancestor hid in the Lower Realm years ago for certain reasons."

While they conversed, Snow Kirin flew them into the strange clouds in the sky, entering the Array within. Luo Xiu was plunged into darkness, unable to see anything, his ears filled with only the howling of fierce winds.

「About half an hour later.」

The two humans and the demon set foot in a completely unfamiliar dense forest.

Luo Xiu squinted up at the sun in the sky and asked, "Is the sun we see here the same as the one we see from Earth?"

"Obviously." Lin Shanshan rolled her eyes at him and explained, "The so-called Upper Realm is just another place in the cosmos, like Earth. Therefore, the sun, moon, and stars we see here are the same ones we see from home.

"However, the Upper Realm exists in a completely isolated outer layer of space, so it cannot be seen with the naked eye."

Luo Xiu smiled. "It seems you know quite a lot about the Upper Realm."

Lin Shanshan said, "That's because when I was very young, my two aunts told me a lot about it."

Luo Xiu was surprised. "You have aunts?"

"They're not related by blood."

Luo Xiu fell silent.

The aunts Lin Shanshan spoke of are most likely Luo Ying and Luo Qianye. After all, they're the only ones I know who know about the Upper Realm.

At that moment, Lin Shanshan squatted down, casually picked up a small twig, and drew a large circle on the ground, then drew many small circles inside it.

"Look, Little Dummy. This big circle represents the 'outer layer,' a space hidden within the cosmos. These small circles inside are the small worlds that separated from the Kunlun Ancient Realm.

"The so-called Kunlun Ancient Realm refers to prehistoric Earth.

"Prehistoric Earth was home to many Great Emperor-level powerhouses. They left Earth and created these small worlds in the outer layer, or they directly transported entire landmasses there.

"And these small worlds existing in the outer layer are collectively known as the 'Three Thousand Worlds of the Upper Realm'."

Upon hearing this, Luo Xiu nodded.

Actually, I already knew all of this. Luo Ying told me before.

"By the way, Miss Lin, what brings you to the Upper Realm?" Luo Xiu changed the subject.

Lin Shanshan was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm going to the Stunning Phoenix Swan State to find my mother. When they left, my aunt told me they would go there."

The thought of Lin Shanshan's mother sent a pang through his heart, but it was quickly followed by a surge of anticipation. He couldn't wait to find her.

Luo Xiu said with a smile, "Then let me take you there. I don't have a specific destination for coming to the Upper Realm anyway. I'm just here for training, so one place is as good as another for me."

Just then, Snow Kirin asked, "So, which of the worlds are we in now?"

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