On a small island not far from them, three groups of people were locked in a standoff.

A young man among them angrily shouted at an old man, “Old Man Qi, what do you mean by this? Why did you stop the opening of the secret realm? Wasn’t it already agreed that your Qi family would get forty percent of the proceeds?”

The old man sneered. “My Qi family contributed two tokens but only gets forty percent. Do you think we’re losing or gaining?”

“Hmph, one of your tokens is just a replica, not a real one!”

“Whether it’s a replica or however it was obtained, without my Qi family, this secret realm cannot be opened!”

The two sides faced off, neither willing to back down.

“The opening of the secret realm is also time-limited. If we miss today, none of us will be able to enter. Qi Li, Qin Hu, are you really going to keep causing trouble?”

The speaker was a woman in white standing at the forefront of another group.

She appeared to be only in her twenties but possessed the cultivation level of Foundation Establishment seventh layer. Her skin was as fair as snow, and her eyes resembled pools of clear water. With every glance, she exuded an aura of elegance, nobility, cold pride, and lively spirit.

Qin Hu’s expression changed drastically. He shot her a glare and angrily retorted, “Ji Xiaotang, don’t stand there talking without feeling any pain. Why don’t you give up your family’s share then?”

Ji Xiaotang replied coldly, “Originally, each of our three families only had twenty-five percent. Now that the Huang family is gone, each of us has gained much more. Yet here you are, still unsatisfied! Do you want to follow in the Huang family’s footsteps?”

At this point, she gave Old Man Qi a meaningful look. “People can be greedy, but they must match it with their own strength!”

Each of the three families had a Golden Core cultivator overseeing matters. However, several years ago when they jointly eliminated the Huang family, two Golden Core cultivators were severely injured by the self-detonation of the Huang family’s Golden Core cultivator, damaging their foundations. They were now lying low in their family strongholds. As for the Old Ancestor of the Ji family, he was old and didn’t have many years left; he no longer concerned himself with worldly affairs.

Therefore, they had sent several Foundation Establishment successors to open the secret realm. They were all core disciples of their families who might advance further after obtaining opportunities.

Qi Li looked at least a hundred years older than her but did not retort to her sarcastic remarks. This woman possessed extremely high talent; at such a young age, she had already reached the late stage of Foundation Establishment and had great hope of forming a Golden Core. Offending a cultivator with such potential would be pure foolishness.

After thinking with a pale face for a moment, he said, “Miss Ji makes a valid point. This old man was too greedy. My Qi family can settle for forty percent but demands priority selection rights!”

“Agreed. But you can only choose one item at a time. Your family goes first, and the three families take turns selecting!” Ji Xiaotang readily agreed and then warned, “The situation inside the secret realm is unknown. From our Old Ancestor’s message, we only know it has existed for several thousand years. There are certainly many dangers inside. I hope you won’t cause any more trouble. The strength of our three families is limited; only through cooperation can we all benefit!”

Qin Hu seemed to have some grievances but knew that if they delayed further, none of them would be able to enter the secret realm, wasting this opportunity for nothing. So he gritted his teeth and endured it. “My Qin family will choose second!”

“No problem, as you wish!”

Ji Xiaotang didn’t mind at all but thought to herself that after thousands of years in the secret realm, how many people today would recognize its treasures? Choosing first didn’t necessarily mean getting good items; without good judgment, even treasures placed right before one’s eyes would be useless.

The three prepared to take out their tokens again to open the secret realm when Ji Xiaotang suddenly withdrew hers once more.

“Miss Ji, what do you mean by this?” Qin Hu’s face stiffened as he asked.

Ji Xiaotang gazed at the distant sea surface and said calmly, “Someone is coming.”

“What?” Qin Hu and Qi Li were greatly alarmed. Their three families had prepared for this secret realm for so many years and had finally gathered the four tokens needed to open it. Were they about to be intercepted?

“Everyone on alert,” Ji Xiaotang directly ordered.

The Ji family members moved to the shore and warily watched into the distance. Qin Hu and Qi Li exchanged glances and also commanded their clansmen to pay attention to any movements.

Suddenly, two injured second-grade mid-tier squids appeared within their sight.

“Second-grade mid-tier demon beasts? Is someone hunting them?” Qin Hu breathed a sigh of relief. Hunting demon beasts was fine as long as they weren’t eyeing their secret realm.

But Ji Xiaotang’s usually unperturbed Divine Consciousness grew more solemn. Being able to injure two second-grade demon beasts indicated that those approaching were not simple.

A moment later, Wang Hao and his group’s sea vessel appeared in their view.

The three families’ members were startled.

Ji Xiaotang immediately reassured them: “Stay calm. The other party is likely just hunting demon beasts. There’s still time; we can wait for them to leave before opening the secret realm.”

On the sea vessel, the Li family cultivators also spotted the people on the island. “Elder! Look! There are people on the island!”

Wang Hao looked toward the small island and saw over a hundred cultivators with one medium-sized and two small sea vessels docked at its edge.

“Everyone stay alert!” Li Derong frowned deeply with worry. With so much cargo on board, encountering people was now what they least wanted.

Wang Hao glanced at his map while maintaining a calm expression on the surface; inwardly, however, he was already excited—the island actually displayed a large golden shimmering cave entrance.

This was his first time seeing a golden cave entrance icon on his map; it wouldn’t appear without reason—this strongly suggested there might be significant treasure here.

“What should we do? The other side far outnumbers us; should we give up on these two demon beasts?” Li Dedao asked.

Joking aside—was this just about demon beasts now? Naturally, Wang Hao wouldn’t agree to leave just like that.

“They only have six Foundation Establishment cultivators—fewer than us—so what is there to fear? These two demon beasts are worth six thousand Spirit Stones; are we just going to abandon them like that?”

After some consideration, Li Derong also nodded in agreement. “Everyone proceed carefully; just hunt down these demon beasts without provoking conflict with them!”

Seeing that each group wore different colors and styles of clothing, Wang Hao remarked, “They clearly aren’t from one group; perhaps they’re also cooperating in searching for treasure! As long as we don’t cause trouble, I believe they won’t dare say much either!”

“Let’s finish off these two creatures first!” Li Derong took out her magical instrument and began attacking.

The two squid demon beasts had already been chased by everyone for an hour while injured; dealing with them now wasn’t very dangerous anymore.

“You all go hunt down these demon beasts; I’ll go meet with those cultivators onshore!”

Saying so, Wang Hao flew on his sword toward the edge of the small island, then cupped his hands toward the three groups. “Greetings, Fellow Daoists! We’ve been chasing these demon beasts all along, merely passing through here. I hope Fellow Daoists won’t misunderstand.”

Qin Hu exchanged glances with Ji Xiaotang, deciding to temporarily stabilize Wang Hao’s group, hoping they’d wisely leave after finishing off the beasts.

The oldest among them, Qi Li, spoke up. “Fellow Daoist, hunting down these demon beasts isn’t a problem, but this place was occupied first by our three families, so please depart quickly after killing these two creatures!”

Wang Hao smiled. “Naturally so! We came out to sea precisely to hunt down demon beasts, not wanting conflict with Fellow Daoists. Farewell!”

With the assistance from the sea vessel, having so many Foundation Establishment cultivators dealing with two second-grade mid-tier demon beasts was quite easy—within a quarter-hour, the battle concluded.

Dragging the demon beasts onto the sea vessel, Wang Hao merely nodded toward the islanders, then had the vessel turn around to leave.

He noticed that while a few of the Foundation Establishment cultivators pretended nonchalance, some of the Qi Refining cultivators remained tense throughout, as if afraid of Wang Hao’s group discovering something. And once they turned around, those cultivators sighed in relief—such clumsy acting was not only noticed by Wang Hao, but the others also found it abnormal.

“Fifth Brother, they seem very nervous!” Wang Wenmei approached, saying quietly.

Wang Hao smiled. “With so many gathered here, surely there’s a purpose. Our sudden intrusion making them nervous isn’t normal?”

Li Derong analyzed the situation. “They have over a hundred people, yet aren’t hunting demon beasts. Could they be searching for some treasure?”