Alex and Pearl took the larger of the split white path, going around the massive maze until they walked past it. It was only then did they figured out that the maze was nearly two times longer than it was wide.

That was a massive size for a maze. No wonder they had been walking around for weeks and barely finding anything.

Toward the end there, they were also coming upon more and more dead ends, as most people had begun hogging the interesting spots. It was a good thing that they left.

“Not as many people here anymore,” Pearl commented. “Do you think they are just not wandering around anymore, or if they already left.”

Alex surveyed the area for answers, looking to his left which was a field of trees beyond a small wooden fence. Why was there a fence there? Was that to keep them in or keep them out?

He could see the chromatic wall of the secret realm just beyond those trees, so it couldn’t be keeping them away from something. And that was just a regular wooden fence too, something that would stop no cultivator.

Did it perhaps serve another purpose?

“Could be both,” Alex answered Pearl. “Many should have left, but others should be staying around in one location. The maze was a difficult place to hold since one could go anywhere, but the other places weren’t as such. Multiple groups should have already formed, so we need to be careful.”

Pearl couldn’t agree more.

Alex kept an eye on the white path as he walked, noticing that it bent slightly up ahead as they walked past the maze and arrived at a massive expanse of land.

From where they stood, they could see a few key spots around the secret realm that should hold most of the people.

Alex could see a large garden in the distance, in fact, two of them. One was straight ahead of him in the distance, and one further to his right. If he hadn’t walked around the maze and instead went straight through it, the gardens would’ve been on either side of his.

In between the two gardens was a massive building of some kind. Beyond that, there was another large building far in the distance. It was the very last thing in the secret realm.

Alex looked around and noticed 2 other spots. They would’ve been closest to him had he chosen to take the other side of the maze.

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They were both too far away to see properly what they were. They weren’t easy enough to tell from where he was, but one of them did look darker than the other, its soil very red.

He could see people hanging around there, doing nothing.

“Where do we go next?” Pearl asked.

Alex shrugged. He had no answer to give. “Let’s just start with what’s closest and see where that takes us.”

The white path was the shortest path to the gardens, so Alex and Pearl took it to go there.

The path split around that location, becoming smaller to head toward the other garden, and the large building in near them.

It wasn’t even a path anymore, but a strip of color that led somewhere. Alex and Pearl followed the strip and came upon the entrance of the massive garden with a plaque at the front that read ‘Breathing Gardens’. freeweɓnovel.cm

“I can see so many alchemy ingredients from right here,” Alex said, looking into the gardens. The garden wasn’t an Alchemy garden, but it held Alchemy ingredients within it.

Before he could go in, however, a few people came out, weapons out. “Can we help you, fellow Daoist?” one of the men asked.

Alex looked at the people that came out, a mix of men and women, each considerably strong. They didn’t look as though they wanted to attack him but were ready to do so should he do something.

“Am I not allowed to enter the garden?” Alex asked. “We simply wish to peruse it, nothing more.”

“Nothing more, huh?” the man asked.

Alex nodded.

“Do you wish to join our group before you do that?” the man asked. “Only those that join our group are allowed inside.”

Alex frowned. So there was already a group here as he suspected.

“Is there no other way besides joining the group?” he asked.

“I’m afraid not,” the man said. “You may try the other Breathing Garden, but I doubt you’ll find any more luck than here.”

Alex looked back at the other garden he could see some kilometers away from there. That was a Breathing Garden too?

“Have you joined any group yet?” the man asked.

“I have not,” Alex replied.

“That sucks for you. If you wanna stay in this realm for longer, you’re gonna need to be part of groups,” the man said. “Considering how weak the two of you are, you will be thrown out of here if you mess with the wrong people. In fact, if I hadn’t been the one that came out, you would’ve probably been attacked as well.”

Alex raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Is that so?” he asked. “I could consider joining the groups, but I don’t want to swear any oaths. I came to this secret realm to try and find the treasures left behind by Reverend Sixghost.”

A bunch of people behind the man laughed, but the man himself remained stoic. “That’s a good ambition to have here, but you need to be realistic as well. How are you going to find anything if you can’t even enter any of the other places?”

“The only way possible is to be part of a group, and hopefully win the battles that will take place when the two groups collide. That is the only way to go into those other locations.”

Alex thought for a bit and nodded. “Thank you for the explanation. I will think about it for a while,” he said and walked away, saying nothing more.

Those men may believe that their way was the only way, but Alex didn’t think that. He, for one, knew of another way.

“Alright, Whisker. You’re up.”