The light from the entrance of the secret realm faded behind them as Qin Hao and Chen Qingning stepped into a dim space.
A pungent, foul stench permeated the air, resembling the body odor of countless wild beasts mixed and fermented for thousands of years. The ground was dark red, yielding a sticky sensation beneath their feet, as if they were stepping on the flesh and blood of some creature.
"So disgusting," Chen Qingning complained, covering her nose. It was too smelly, just like falling into a cesspit.
Qin Hao didn't speak. He merely surveyed their surroundings with a vigilant expression, sensing countless auras lurking nearby.
Suddenly, the darkness was illuminated. It wasn't light, but countless eyes of every imaginable color. The owners of these eyes were demonic beasts of various shapes and sizes.
The weaker ones were at the Soul Formation Realm, while the stronger ones had reached the Tribulation Crossing Realm.
Chen Qingning subconsciously took a step back, bumping into Qin Hao's chest. The demonic beasts before them blotted out the sky and covered the earth, stretching as far as the eye could see. This wasn't a secret realm; it was clearly a demonic beast lair.
"Qin Hao, there are so many demonic beasts. Just at a glance, there are at least tens of thousands, and there are even more inside. Why don't we leave first?"
The sheer number was overwhelming, and there was no shortage of Tribulation Crossing Realm beasts among them. Frankly speaking, with Chen Qingning's cultivation at the Nascent Soul Realm, she couldn't even deal with the weakest Soul Formation Realm beast.
Chen Qingning knew that Qin Hao possessed a Mahayana Realm cultivation base. However, facing so many demonic beasts, including so many at the Tribulation Crossing Realm, she didn't believe Qin Hao could lead her deep into the secret realm. Without exaggeration, this many beasts could simply exhaust Qin Hao to death.
Qin Hao remained silent, merely reaching out to pull Chen Qingning behind him.
"Qin Hao, what are you doing? Don't try to be a hero!"
Chen Qingning held onto Qin Hao's hand, her eyes filled with worry. She really wanted to obtain fortuitous encounters, but she dreaded seeing Qin Hao get hurt even more.
Qin Hao chuckled softly, reaching out to rub Chen Qingning's head. "Being a hero? I never do things beyond my capabilities. They're just some demonic beasts, a trivial matter."
"No, there are quite a few Tribulation Crossing Realm beasts here, and their numbers are massive. Even if they just try to wear you down, they can exhaust you to death."
"Exhaust me to death? Qingning, have you ever witnessed my full strength? Today, I will let you see just how powerful the Dao Companion you chose really is."
Just as the two were speaking, the closest batch of demonic beasts made their move. As if hearing a signal, they simultaneously let out an earth-shattering roar and lunged toward Qin Hao and Chen Qingning.
Thousands of demonic beasts charged at once. The ground trembled, the air rumbled, and the bloody wind rushing at their faces was almost suffocating.
Chen Qingning's heart leaped to her throat, her hands tightly gripping the hem of Qin Hao's clothes.
Qin Hao did not retreat, nor did he dodge. He didn't even raise his hand. He simply narrowed his eyes slightly and then snapped them open.
The Dual Pupils opened, his irises splitting in two. Within them, the sun, moon, and stars seemed to revolve, while mountains, rivers, and the great earth rose and fell.
An invisible oppressive might expanded from Qin Hao's body, rippling out in all directions. The demonic beasts charging at the very front, at the moment Qin Hao's Dual Pupils opened, acted as if their heads had been smashed by an invisible giant hammer. Their charge came to an abrupt halt, their limbs stiffening as their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
A dark light flashed within the Dual Pupils, and the beasts frozen in place instantly exploded on the spot.
The number of demonic beasts was simply too great. Just as the front batch exploded into clouds of blood mist, the beasts behind them were already lunging forward, trampling over the corpses of their companions.
It was as if they didn't know the meaning of fear, or perhaps some deeper existence was driving them forward, leaving them no courage to retreat, only to advance.
"You actually aren't fleeing? Interesting. You have all been surrounded by me alone!"
"Heavenly Phoenix Divine Body, activate!"
A scorching aura erupted from Qin Hao. Chen Qingning felt as though a sun was rising from within his body, like a volcano erupting from his chest.
Golden Nirvana Divine Fire soared from Qin Hao. The flames condensed behind him, transforming into a massive Heavenly Phoenix. Its spread wings blotted out the sky and sun. Every single golden feather was a burning sharp sword, exuding a suffocating pressure.
This wasn't over. Qin Hao then channeled the power of the Immemorial Dragon Emperor bloodline within his body. In the next second, the phantom of a giant dragon, with a body longer than a mountain range and scales more dazzling than the stars, condensed behind him.
As the dragon's eyes opened and closed, lightning seemed to brew within them. When its dragon claws reached out, it felt as though they could instantly tear through the void.
The Heavenly Phoenix and the Dragon Emperor stood on the left and right, guarding Qin Hao and Chen Qingning like two patron deities.
Glancing at Chen Qingning, who was standing there in a daze, Qin Hao reached out and held her small hand.
"What are you spacing out for? Let's go, I'll take you inside."
"Oh." Hearing Qin Hao's voice, Chen Qingning finally recovered from her shock. She looked at his profile, her mind continuously replaying the scene from just moments ago.
So many demonic beasts, visually at least hundreds if not thousands, and Qin Hao had killed them with a single look. Those beasts didn't even have time to react, and one had to know there were great demons at the Tribulation Crossing Realm among them.
Chen Qingning allowed Qin Hao to lead her by the hand as they walked deeper into the secret realm. Along the way, demonic beasts continuously lunged at them.
Whenever a beast drew near, the phantoms of the Heavenly Phoenix and the Dragon Emperor would take action.
The Heavenly Phoenix flapped its wings, shooting countless golden feathers like a torrential rain into the demonic beast horde. Every feather contained the Nirvana Divine Fire. The moment they touched a beast, they would ignite it. Soul Formation Realm beasts died upon contact, and even Tribulation Crossing Realm beasts couldn't last for three breaths before being reduced to ashes in the golden flames.
The Dragon Emperor opened its massive maw, spewing forth a blast of dragon breath. The demonic beasts didn't even have time to scream before they were reduced to nothingness. They didn't even leave behind a blood mist; anything tainted by the dragon breath simply vanished into thin air.
"Is... is this Qin Hao's true strength? This is way too powerful!"
Chen Qingning muttered to herself, her eyes wide open. She had always thought Qin Hao was strong, and she had heard that many peerless geniuses possessed the ability to fight above their cultivation realms, but she never expected Qin Hao to be this powerful.
Facing so many demonic beasts, where the weakest were at the Soul Formation Realm and the strongest at the Tribulation Crossing Realm, Qin Hao alone had completely crushed the beast horde.
It was exactly as Qin Hao had said: these demonic beasts had been surrounded by him alone.
In front of Qin Hao, these demonic beasts didn't even have the power to fight back. No, it wasn't that they lacked the power to fight back; they didn't even have the chance to get close to him.
The phantoms of the Heavenly Phoenix and the Dragon Emperor acted as two insurmountable barriers, blocking all the beasts a hundred meters away. Any demonic beast that dared to step into this range would be instantly obliterated.
Seeing Chen Qingning staring blankly at him, Qin Hao chuckled softly. "How is it? My strength didn't disappoint you, did it?"
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...
tions: attribute allocation, analysis, proficiency, and simulation. Specializing in mechanical alchemy, from crafting sorcerous battle armor to handcrafting mechanical maidens, his mechanical legion conquers endless realms... Relying on his wits, he begins with a student-teacher romance, wins over a female director, enslaves a female assassin and a underworld queen, becoming the husband of a Grand Duchess... He enslaves the Goddess of Magic from the divine realm, developing his power simultaneously in both the Wizard World and the Realm of Gods...
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!
grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)
