A Golden Core youth stepped out from the crowd. His eyes were tinged with red, his expression blank, and at first glance, he could easily be mistaken for a lifeless puppet.
“Wang Hanling, what are you doing?” someone called out to him.
However, the young man kept walking straight towards the entrance of the secret realm without even looking back.
“Tch,” a middle-aged woman in the crowd sneered, “That arrogant second branch—each and everyone has their heads in the clouds. Even a mere Golden Core cultivator dares to come here! What a fool!”
Wan Hanling’s limbs moved stiffly as he made his way to the entrance, which had now shrunk to the size of an adult’s head. To the shock of the crowd, Wang Hanling unhesitatingly pushed his head and shoulders into the entrance.
“Stop…” A scream caught in someone’s throat.
The gruesome sound of shattering bones resounded from Wang Hanling’s body. Without hesitation, he slithered into the narrowing entrance like a serpent, disappearing completely.
The entrance to the secret realm had now constricted to the size of a fist.
In the distant depths of a swamp, Ji Yuan’s eyes emitted an eerie red glow as he used his full concentration to manipulate Wang Hanling’s body. Having only mastered 30% of the Nascent Bloodfall technique, controlling the corpse of a cultivator at the late Golden Core stage already pushed him to his limit.
As the controlled Wang Hanling slipped into the secret realm, Wei Liang’s figure appeared nearby. With a glance, he saw that the area beneath the tree was empty, and the gray mushroom was nowhere to be seen.
A chilling smile curved on his lips, and a frigid aura erupted from his body. Just as he prepared to act, a small, a little gray mushroom bud stumbled forward awkwardly, landing with a soft thud at his feet.
Wei Liang’s gaze sharpened as he reached out to pluck the mushroom. The moment the barrier mushroom was removed, Doulong’s figure materialized. Its two black eyes nervously glanced up as it whimpered pitifully, pointing toward the entrance of the secret realm.
“She went in?” Wei Liang’s voice was eerily calm, betraying his current mood.
“Woo!” Doulong nodded repeatedly.
Just as Wei Liang was about to take action, he was suddenly interrupted by the faint murmurs from the crowd.
“You know what? We might as well pool our strength and see if we can break this restriction. What can a group of Nascent Soul juniors really do? Rather than waiting here for nothing, we should give it a try.”
“Heh!” a sharp female voice interrupted, “Your kids couldn’t get in, so now you’re ready to risk everything and destroy it all? Let’s not even talk about whether we can break through Huang Chuan’s restriction—if we do, do you really think those inside will come out unscathed? Since you’re bold enough to make such a suggestion, why don’t you ask the others if they’d go along with it?”
Wei Liang halted, pulling back his chilling aura. After pondering for a moment, he slowly turned his gaze toward a black crow perched on the tree above.
Right before the entrance fully closed, a black figure suddenly shot across the sky like an arrow, diving straight into the secret realm.
…
Amidst a circle of mist as dark as night, Lin Jiu sat serenely, taking her time to regulate her breath. Thankfully, she was armed with the spoiler and knew that she was safe—at least for now. Once the entrance closed completely, the black mist would disappear, revealing the people who made it into the realm.
‘Will he find a way to come in and help me?’ The thought flickered through her mind for a brief moment before she abruptly snapped back to reality, taking a deep breath as a chill crawled up the back of her neck. ‘Since when did I start developing a slight dependence on him, without being aware of it?’
‘No, I mustn’t. Absolutely not!’ Lin Jiu sternly told herself. If that person was Wei Liang, he belonged with the female lead, and she couldn’t afford to develop any feelings for him. If he was the Devil Lord… it was even more impossible. After all, the Devil Lord only had forty-nine days to live—no, twenty-one days had already passed. If he was the Devil Lord, he had less than a month left to stay in this world.
Lin Jiu lightly pressed her lips together. Five hundred years’ worth of aura she received from the Yin-Yang Aura Conduit Stalks still remained in her spiritual sea, enough for five uses of Lotus Shatter. If she could successfully defend against Qin Yunxi’s killer move, even just once…
She let out a small sigh. The truth was, she wasn’t feeling confident. Her trump card had already been revealed—next time, Qin Yunxi would undoubtedly go all out.
In fact, this secret realm had another restriction: anyone who caused harm to another would be instantly expelled. Yet she knew Qin Yunxi would still attempt to strike at her regardless. His primary goal was to eliminate her, the threat, while the matter of securing Huang Chuan’s legacy could be left to Liu Qingyin. Both objectives could be accomplished without conflict.
And even if she managed to survive one of Qin Yunxi’s attacks by expending everything she had, she would undoubtedly be gravely injured and left with no chance of passing the secret realm’s trials.
‘It can’t be helped…’ Lin Jiu sighed. Seemed like her only choice was to give up on the treasure to preserve her life.
Lin Jiu quickly adjusted her mood and continued circulating aura throughout her body to clear the blood clots that had accumulated in her chest from the earlier shock. After a moment, she felt a bitter taste in her throat and spat out a small mouthful of dark blood.
Over time, the dark mist faded away, uncovering a massive jade platform hanging in mid-air, with more than ten people spread out on it, each observing with caution as the surroundings grew brighter.
Lin Jiu immediately spotted Qin Yunxi and Liu Qingyin on the left side of the platform, standing with their swords drawn. She quickly leaped to the opposite side, hiding behind a Wang family member to avoid Qin Yunxi’s searching gaze.
Anxiously, she scanned for Wei Liang’s figure, but he was nowhere to be found.
Among the crowd, the one with the most striking appearance was the Wang family prodigy Wang Weizhi, followed closely by Qin Yunxi. Although the others had decent looks, their presence was comparatively lacking, making them much less noticeable.
Lin Jiu’s gaze paused slightly. Just now, she spotted a strange figure on her left. The person was dressed in the typical clothing of the Wang family’s member, but his somewhat handsome look had a completely vacant expression. He was awkwardly twisting his head while trying to reconnect his broken arm bone, his actions bizarre enough to remind Lin Jiu of zombies from movies.
“Alas……” She sighed. This person seemed quite easy to handle—if worst came to worst, she’d choose him as a target.
With a flick of her right hand, a translucent crimson sword appeared in her palm. She cautiously peeked out and glanced toward Qin Yunxi and Liu Qingyin.
Unfortunately, her sneaky glance was caught by Qin Yunxi. With a sneer, he drew his sword and began advancing toward her, step by step.
Lin Jiu no longer hesitated. She immediately channeled her aura into her sword and, without a word, attacked the bizarre young man.
She had already made her decision—survival came first. If Wei Liang hadn’t entered the secret realm, she would flee immediately. Given her current cultivation, taking even one hit from Qin Yunxi was far too dangerous, and even if she managed to survive, she’d be too badly injured to complete the remaining trials. It would be wiser to take advantage of the secret realm’s rule that prohibited harming others and allow herself to be expelled. If she acted quickly enough, she could escape before Qin Yunxi had time to react.
Thus, she made a swift decision and chose what seemed like the easiest target. However, she didn’t expect that the person she targeted had already been controlled by Ji Yuan using his Nascent Bloodfall technique.
Just as her sword tip was about to touch her target, the young man suddenly twisted his head around and looked at her with terror in his eyes. “Not you again!” He shouted in alarm.
< Previous | TOC | Advanced TOC | Next >
Wants more chapters?
Click this page for the status of sponsored chapters.
Click this page for advanced chapters TOC.
Bwahahaha Ji Yuan is afraid she will steal his innocence.
Happy New Year!