The Beast Tide Sweeps Through

"Rumble—"

Darkness blanketed the secret realm. In its vast, dense forest, the low-intelligence creatures controlled by the Beastfolk gathered, gradually forming a surging beast tide.

They thundered through the secret realm's forest, charging wildly and roaring as they broke every towering tree in their path, leaving devastation in their wake.

A beast tide! A beast tide!

The secret realm's creatures were the first to sense the approaching danger. Driven along, they instinctively tried to get away, and for a time, they seemed to become the vanguard of the Beastfolk army.

Even under the cover of night, the Beastfolk of every color stood out.

From afar, the beast tide on the ground looked like vast, multicolored carpets, devouring everything as they plowed through the dark woodland.

And beneath the dim moonlight, the Beastfolk flying overhead prowled through the secret realm like shadows of death.

The dazzling colors contrasted starkly with the pitch-black shadows, sending chills down the spine.

Thus, whenever the examinees heard the earth-shaking thunder of trampling feet, they could not help looking back. And whenever they did, they saw the terrifying beast tide bearing down on them from every direction.

Fear and the will to survive drove them to scatter and flee.

But noticing it was one thing; escaping it was another.

The secret realm's energy was limited, after all, so its forest was made up of the most ordinary trees. They could not possibly stop wave after wave of charging Third Realm Beastfolk.

The Beastfolk advanced at astonishing speed, as though they were racing across a flat grassland rather than through a dense forest.

Meanwhile, the beasts in the sky had excellent night vision and could pinpoint their enemies.

From high above, they either fired Psychic Energy attacks or swooped down to take their enemies' heads.

They gave the examinees no chance to escape.

Besides, although these Beastfolk had low intelligence, simple orders to kill were not hard for them to understand.

At a single command, they would obey without hesitation, slaughtering every human in sight.

Rather, it was precisely because of their low intelligence that they carried out orders with greater focus and efficiency, completely undistracted by emotions or stray thoughts.

Often, an examinee had only just noticed the Beastfolk surging through the darkness when they discovered that the creatures had already turned in unison and were charging straight at them.

"Fuck! They're coming for me?"

The examinee had no time to escape. In the next moment, the beast tide was upon them, impossible to evade.

"Bang! Crack, crack, crack—"

The leading Beastfolk sent the examinees who had braced to block them flying, then led thousands upon thousands of their kind over the examinees' fallen bodies.

No one could survive under such circumstances.

With this simple, brutal tactic, they harvested the examinees' lives like wheat.

No reinforcements would come, and no cries for help could get through.

The Human Race's aristocratic family faction would keep the others occupied outside. They did not know a third force had appeared inside the secret realm and still believed the purge was proceeding smoothly.

As a result, they were doing everything they could to delay the work of restoring contact with the secret realm.

As expected, they could stall it for at least two days.

Two days was enough for the beast tide to plow through the entire secret realm.

"Why the hell is there a beast tide?!"

An examinee shouted, on the verge of breaking down.

The thousands upon thousands of Beastfolk charging at them gave off a nauseating stench as they relentlessly pursued the fleeing airship.

"Shut up!"

Ma Li'ao's rebuke brought the examinee somewhat back to his senses.

At that moment, Zi City's younger generation had gathered together. Led by Ma Li'ao of the Ma Family and Yang Liuliu of the Yang Family, they were doing a wonderful job of running for their lives.

The airship was the Ma Family's masterpiece, the product of years of research. It was one of the lifesaving items Ma Li'ao had cheated to smuggle in, and it was now running at full speed, carrying them away from the beast tide.

The small airship needed to burn Psychic Energy to power its acceleration device.

The family scions present had pooled 5,000 high-grade spirit pills, along with all manner of spirit talismans and spirit artifacts, as fuel to drive the airship's full-speed escape. Its owner, Ma Li'ao, was at the helm, steering its course.

"Thirty-five degrees left. After three kilometers straight ahead, we'll encounter a group of ordinary examinees."

The speaker was a girl holding a compass. Her inky hair was tied up high, its ponytail spilling down like a waterfall. Her lake-blue eyes were the mark of someone who had awakened the Zi City Yang Family's ancestral talent.

She was Yang Liuliu, the daughter of Zi City's Yang Family.

Holding the compass, she guided Ma Li'ao precisely toward their destination.

The compass was called Seeking Spirit. It could identify and point toward Psychic Energy fluctuations of a fixed wavelength, allowing it to find specific targets.

It was originally a spirit artifact developed by the Yang Family to prospect for mineral veins and gather natural spiritual treasures. Now, it was being used to track and pinpoint the examinees' admission brooches.

Yang Liuliu was responsible for half the times the aristocratic family faction had found other examinees so precisely.

Now, as usual, they planned to find a group of ordinary examinees first.

Only this time, they would not purge them, but use them to delay the beast tide.

The airship was moving so fast that, in the blink of an eye, their targets were right in front of them.

The ordinary examinees ahead were no fools either. The beast tide made such a tremendous racket as it passed that it was hard not to notice!

"There appears to be a tide of secret-realm creatures! Retreat!"

Other than shouting, the ordinary examinees had no means of communicating at a distance. They did not even know this was a sickle wielded by the Beastfolk.

"Activate the binding-type spirit artifact."

"Understood."

The ordinary examinees, who had been preparing to flee, instantly froze as the airship sped past overhead.

Only after five seconds did the examinees pinned in place regain their ability to move.

But it was too late. In just five seconds, the beast tide had already charged close to them. Because there were so many of them, they were targeted first.

"Fuck! Those beasts!"

Song Haomiao looked up and saw an unmistakable, intricately patterned family crest engraved on the receding airship.

Ordinary families did not have family crests. Those were things only great aristocratic families liked to display.

He had only recently buried his good friend Li Jie, and his eyes immediately turned red with anger.

The aristocratic families again? The aristocratic families again!

You bastards deserve to die!

"Everyone, listen up! Prepare to withstand the beast tide!"

Seeing that it was too late to flee, the examinee leading them decisively ordered them to stand their ground.

"Brothers, it's time to fight for our lives! If even one of us can survive, that's one!"

He had figured out the reason for the airship and the binding just now.

The family scions' desperate flight, using any means necessary, meant that this was not something that should have appeared in the examination grounds at all.

The airship in the sky quickly flew beyond their range of perception, and unwillingness and resentment spread through everyone's hearts.

But in the next moment.

The airship was shot down by a shadow descending from the sky!

"Bang!"

An explosion came from behind the examinees. He should have been happy; those damned family scions would not escape.

But an inexplicable fear made them break out in a cold sweat on the secret realm's warm night.

Even the onrushing beast tide stopped for a moment.

A razor-sharp killing intent came from where the airship had fallen, and an instinctive fear of an apex predator swept over everyone.

"Crack, crack, crack, crack—"

It was the sound of trees being knocked aside.

The examinee leading the group closed his eyes, a sense of helplessness flooding his mind.

A surging beast tide lay ahead, and an unknown danger behind.

What was the point of struggling?

They were as good as dead!