"Carson, have you decided to enter the Secret Realm?"
At the restaurant, the Cave Master held up a cup of wine, asking curiously, "Are you going alone, or are you planning to team up with others?"
Carson looked up, "Team up with whom?"
The Cave Master smiled and said, "Exploring the Secret Realm can be quite dangerous, so many people choose to band together. While the share of treasure might be smaller, it’s much safer. With your Golden Core strength, you’d be quite popular for teaming up."
Carson shook his head, "Let’s not, I’m unfamiliar with this place, and cooperating with others is quite a hassle."
The Cave Master nodded, "Then you mustn’t venture too deep. The mythical creatures deep inside the Secret Realm are quite formidable."
Carson asked curiously, "How formidable?"
The Cave Master chuckled, "It’s said that the Cave Master once went to the deepest part of the Secret Realm and encountered a golden roc. After a fierce battle, he won, but it’s said he wasn’t without serious injuries."
Carson’s eyes widened in shock, "That powerful?"
The Cave Master nodded, "Yes, with each Spirit Rhinoceros Storm, countless wild beasts turn into mythical creatures and the original mythical creatures become even more powerful. It’s only natural for those creatures in the deepest parts, which have endured countless Storms, to be incredibly strong."
Carson nodded and casually asked, "Are you going in too?"
The Cave Master nodded, "I’ll take a stroll inside as well, but I’m only planning to try my luck near the entrance. I wouldn’t want to hold you back."
After finishing their meal, they rode a crane to the entrance of the Secret Realm.
The crane flew over a hundred miles before landing at the mouth of a valley.
There were already many people waiting here; old and young, men and women, at least several hundred people.
Carson remarked, "So many people, it’s quite lively."
The Cave Master laughed, "The first batch to go in has the highest chance of getting good stuff. These are all people confident in their own strength. Those less powerful will enter a day or two later. Though the likelihood of finding good items is greatly reduced for them, so is the danger."
Carson said with a smile, "Pioneers and followers, risk and reward are directly proportional."
A crisp female voice rang out, and the Cave Master’s face suddenly changed, his lips curling into a bitter smile.
Carson looked in the direction of the voice and saw a beautiful woman in her late twenties with a tall figure looking coldly at the Cave Master, with a hostile expression on her face.
The Cave Master muttered under his breath, and Carson instantly realized; wasn’t this the woman the Cave Master had run away from?
Turning his head, the Cave Master put on a beaming yet helpless expression, "Miss Reid, long time no see. How have you been?"
Katherine Reid walked over, arms crossed, with three men following. They looked at the Cave Master with subtle hostility, as though an implicit enmity lingered.
"Thanks to you, everyone knows a man has rejected me. How do you think I’ve been?"
The Cave Master apologized with a bitter smile, "I’m sorry."
Katherine Reid scoffed, "Just sorry and that’s it? Do you know how many people have laughed at me, or what they’ve said about me?"
The Cave Master explained in a softened tone, "Miss Reid, we never had any relationship before, and it was me who felt unworthy of you, which is why I refused the marriage arrangement. Please don’t take this matter to heart."
"Hmph! Nice words, but don’t think I don’t know what you’re really thinking?"
Katherine Reid mocked the Cave Master, her gaze falling on Carson, "I heard you’ve made a new friend, and it’s a newcomer from outside?"
The Cave Master once again set up a pitiable front, "Brother Carson felt sorry for me as I was pathetically eating noodles alone, and only invited me for a meal. How can that count as friendship?"
Carson watched this scene, barely holding back a laugh.
The Cave Master was just too pitiful.
He was admitting weakness, taking all the blame, playing the victim, and to avoid implicating himself, he didn’t even dare to admit he and Carson were friends.
Of course, strictly speaking, their relationship really couldn’t be considered friendship, just more like congenial strangers.
Katherine Reid sneered, "The great heir of the Park Family can’t even afford some meat, how pitiful! How about this: Today, in front of everyone, you kneel down and admit you weren’t worthy of me. I’ll forgive the past and stop bothering you. You can return and continue being the Park Family heir, how about that?"
The Cave Master’s face grew cold, with anger flickering in his eyes, and his voice hardened a notch, "Miss Reid, don’t push your luck too far!"
Katherine Reid laughed scornfully, "What do you mean pushing my luck? Are you not the one who ruined my reputation?"
The Cave Master gritted his teeth, "The marriage proposal was your idea, I never gave my consent. Just because you fancied me means I have to marry you and can’t refuse? Who do you think you are?"
Katherine Reid’s face turned scarlet.
The Cave Master’s words were like a vicious slap across her face, with all eyes watching, Katherine felt extremely humiliated and mortified.
"Cave Master, you’re seeking death!"