After stepping into the glowing portal, before his eyes appeared:
[Name: Ying Bing]
[Age: 16]
[Constitution: Lunar Phoenix Body of Supreme Yin.]
[Cultivation Realm: Inner Breath Jade Liquid Realm.]
[Destiny: Crimson (Bearing Emperor’s Bone, with Profound Ice as Fate, Autumn Water as Spirit, and the Visage of a Heavenly Phoenix.)]
[Evaluation: A fate riddled with calamities, yet always turning misfortune into fortune. Though still fledgling, when the winds of change arise, she shall soar above the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, reigning supreme across all realms.]
[Recent Encounter: Failed to seize the Blood Phoenix Essence. Upon entering the third layer of the secret realm, she will suffer severe injuries.]
"!!?"
Standing at the entrance of the secret realm, Li Mo’s pupils trembled slightly.
Was the system malfunctioning?
The highest cultivation level in this secret realm was only the Observation Divine Realm.
She would fail? And even suffer severe injuries?
"Bing—"
Before he could finish uttering that single word, the bloody glow at the entrance of the secret realm suddenly surged, engulfing everyone present and pulling them inside.
......
The bloody radiance resembled countless bubbles, carrying them through an endless darkness and scattering them across different locations.
When Li Mo opened his eyes again, it felt as though he had been transported to an ancient battlefield.
The world here was vast and boundless, the sky dim as if weeping. A bone-chilling wind howled, carrying the mournful wails of wandering spirits, sending shivers down one’s spine.
This place seemed to have once witnessed an extremely brutal battle.
Before the conflict, it might have been a lush forest, but now only countless blackened, withered branches remained, silently clawing at the heavens.
"The Blood Phoenix Secret Realm is no place of benevolence."
Li Mo sensed the restless stirring of the Karmic Flames within his dantian.
The Karmic Flames only reacted this way in the presence of lands steeped in malevolence or individuals of extreme wickedness.
Under normal circumstances, as long as he didn’t draw his hammer, Ying Bing should have no match within this secret realm.
Which meant that she must have encountered some unforeseen variable—one likely tied to the secret realm itself.
Crack—
Lost in thought, Li Mo stepped down, crushing a beast’s bone beneath his foot with a crisp snap.
"The spiritual energy here is far denser than the outside world."
"Could it be because of that... Blood Phoenix Essence?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind—
Boom—
The heavens trembled. The previously dim stars suddenly blazed with light.
Across the vast sky, enormous, starkly written characters appeared, visible to all:
[The heavens are unkind, treating all beings as straw dogs.]
[To achieve the pinnacle of martial arts, one must tread upon countless bones!]
[First Trial of the Secret Realm: Kill.]
[Only the top fifty will qualify to advance to the next layer.]
The words on the sky were few, yet each radiated a chilling killing intent.
The message was brutally simple:
Hunt exotic beasts and collect their tokens.
Only the top fifty would earn the right to proceed further.
Everyone who read these words felt their hearts tighten.
The rules spoke of hunting beasts, but with a limited quota.
What would happen to those outside the top fifty?
Killing a beast yielded only one token, but killing a person... well, that was a different story.
These layered rules undeniably transformed this place into a dark forest—where one must not only hunt beasts but also guard against treachery.
The secret realm had deliberately separated everyone upon entry, preventing any alliances.
Whoosh—
The sky shifted once more.
Names began appearing on the celestial scroll, but only the top fifty.
Clearly, those whose names remained on the list by the end would earn passage to the next layer.
"Getting on this list means becoming everyone’s target."
"Best get to work first."
Li Mo pulled out a small notebook from his robes.
He wasn’t in a hurry to hunt for tokens. The opportunities within the secret realm mattered little to him—as long as he could advance to the next layer, that was enough.
Securing returns on his investments was the true priority.
Or so he thought.
Yet, contrary to his expectations, he hadn’t walked far when—
Clatter—
The bones on the ground suddenly stirred without wind, piecing themselves together into the complete skeleton of a beast—resembling some bear-like creature.
From its hollow eye sockets, a bloody glow ignited, locking onto Li Mo with a ravenous hunger for flesh and life.
"Its aura is roughly at the Mystic Core Realm."
"Without flesh, it’s tougher than an ordinary Mystic Core beast. If they gather in numbers, even an Observation Divine Realm cultivator could be threatened."
As Li Mo assessed the skeletal bear’s strength—
Rumble—
The ground shook as the beast lunged.
Its charge was like a tempest, crushing boulders in its path to dust.
A single swipe of its paw carried the force of wind and thunder, terrifying in its momentum.
Yet when it slammed down, it struck nothing.
The tiny figure it had targeted had vanished without a trace.
"Heh."
"A mere Mystic Core beast? Taste my blade!"
Shing—
The Scarlet Sky Sword left its sheath with a resonant hum, its blade light coiling like a soaring dragon. Flames erupted, illuminating the darkness for dozens of meters.
Have you ever witnessed a sword technique descending from the heavens?
Li Mo’s swordsmanship was no joke.
Though he lacked the monstrous talent of a sword prodigy, his daily "training" between the ice block (Ying Bing) and the little Jiang Princess had honed him relentlessly.
It was like grinding practice problems every day.
In his past life, there were "small-town problem-solving experts."
Now, he could proudly call himself the greatest "small-town swordsmanship expert"!
Ssssh—
A superior sword technique, fueled by Karmic Flames, unleashed power beyond its usual limits.
Crackle—
Dozens of sword beams crisscrossed through the air.
The skeletal bear froze mid-motion—before exploding in a dazzling blaze.
Li Mo landed gracefully, Scarlet Sky in hand, not even sparing a glance at the fireworks behind him.
Internally, however, he cheered:
"Holy smokes, that was cool!"
It was...
Even more satisfying than pulling off a flawless play as Yasuo or Li Bai.
"Guess I’m just a little show-off at heart."
After mocking himself, Li Mo tightened his grip on the sword, patted the hammer hidden beneath his robes, and strode into the darkness.
.......
Meanwhile.
Before a deep, shadowy cave.
A young woman stood enveloped in radiant mist, her dark hair dancing lightly in the breeze. The moisture in the air crystallized into shimmering fragments, drifting down around her.
The mist flowed outward, guided by her inner breath, spreading in all directions.
"The Blood Phoenix Essence isn’t in the first layer."
"I must proceed further."
Ying Bing opened her eyes, her gaze piercing through the void like clear ice.
She raised the Frost Sky Sword, its jade-like blade pointing into the cave’s abyss.
Within that darkness—where even light seemed unable to penetrate—hisses and screeches echoed.
Rustle—
Countless enormous skeletal bats emerged, numbering in the dozens. The weakest exuded the aura of the Inner Breath Jade Liquid Realm, while the largest skeleton, wreathed in faint ghostly light, neared the Observation Divine Realm.
In life, these creatures had been known as:
Nightghosts.
For a moment, the cave entrance was overrun with spectral horrors.
But the next instant—
A dazzling radiance erupted, purging all shadows.
.......
At the same time.
The rankings in the sky shifted abruptly.
A single name skyrocketed to the top.
1st Place: Ying Bing – Tokens Collected: 27.
Gasps and exclamations erupted throughout the secret realm.
"How has she already hunted twenty-seven beasts in such a short time?"
"Could she have just... stumbled upon them?"
"Did you see? She didn’t climb the ranks—she shot straight to the top in an instant!"
"So, she annihilated all those skeletal beasts in the blink of an eye?!"
ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
ts me of treason?" "Correct. The host must return to the capital and gradually build up influence." "Wait—I have half a million soldiers, and you want me to go back to the capital to 'build influence'?" "Host, you are currently the Northern Garrison General, loyal to the Great Xia Dynasty." "Of course I am loyal to Great Xia! Absolutely loyal!" "But you keep referring to yourself as 'We'..." "Never mind the details! Summon all the regional commanders and military officers! We suspect treacherous officials are manipulating the court! They shall march with Us to the capital and purge the corrupt!" "......"
lity and could only live as an ordinary mortal. He only wished to live a peaceful life. Yet he didn't know— The dog he adopted, because it ate his food, became a legendary demon king. The kitchen knife he casually forged became a peerless divine weapon, causing numerous experts to fight desperately for it. The young disciple he took in became an immortal lord that led an era, due to cultivating the techniques Ye Feng taught him. Even the skeletons he looked down on the most were ominous demon kings that suppressed countless worlds. Many years later, looking at the void shattered with a punch, Ye Feng murmured to himself: It turns out the peerless kings were myself all along...
