A day later.
Xiao Ming stood in a clearing within the dense forest, a trace of gloom flashing through his eyes as he took in the scene before him.
The clearing was clearly not naturally formed. Trees snapped in half, charred ground, and still-burning stumps could be seen everywhere, all evidence that a fierce battle had once taken place here.
And this clearing was the result of that battle.
That was indeed the case, because dozens of horribly mangled corpses lay before Xiao Ming.
The blood within those corpses had all been drained, leaving them as desiccated husks.
Again. This is the fifteenth time I've come across something like this, Xiao Ming thought.
The first time he encountered it, he had thought there was some strange thing in the small courtyard feeding on blood.
When he found such dried corpses elsewhere for the second time, he had assumed it was some bizarre creature—just one that existed in greater numbers.
But by the third time, he no longer thought so.
That was because, on that occasion, he had encountered a Dou Shi who tried to ambush him. After casually killing the man, he left the area and secretly hid nearby to see what was feeding on the blood.
To his surprise, after waiting for a while, he saw no strange creature. Instead, he watched as the blood flowed into the ground on its own.
That sight had given him quite a fright.
He had wondered whether he should immediately slip out of the Secret Realm to avoid danger.
But when he remembered that his simulated self had stayed in the Secret Realm for several days without encountering anything especially lethal, he remained.
After all, opportunities to enter a Secret Realm were exceedingly rare. He was unwilling to leave just like that.
He had stayed, but whenever he saw these dried corpses, a trace of gloom always crossed his heart, leaving him deeply uneasy.
The others had surely discovered this issue as well, but they seemed utterly unconcerned.
They only knew how to fight over treasures.
Perhaps they were also afraid, but that fear had merely been suppressed by the lure of opportunity.
With a sigh, Xiao Ming summoned a wisp of Ethereal Blue Flame in his palm.
Xiao Ming tossed it out and ignited the dried corpses. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly noticed the flame he had thrown flicker before bowing toward a certain direction.
The two Beast Fire Origins within his body also began to tremble faintly.
Xiao Ming's expression changed slightly as he restrained the Beast Flame's abnormal reaction.
He looked toward the direction in which the flame had bowed.
There stood an incomparably tall mountain, with a broad white pillar of light reaching into the sky. That was the center of this small mountain range.
Xiao Ming was already very close to the central point. He could clearly see that something was wrong with the pillar of light: its entirety seemed to be trembling slightly, as though it might vanish at any moment.
Could that pillar of light be about to disappear too? Wouldn't that mean another passage would appear? But what would a passage have to do with the Beast Flame's disturbance?
Xiao Ming stroked his chin as he pondered.
In his understanding, only a stronger flame could make other flames submit. The most well-known example was the Heavenly Flames.
Yet this place did not seem like somewhere capable of producing a Heavenly Flame.
Unable to make sense of it, Xiao Ming wanted to head to the very center and investigate.
But two hours earlier, he had detected battle fluctuations from experts above the Dou Wang level at the center.
That made him hesitate.
Just then, Xiao Ming suddenly heard several sets of footsteps.
He hurriedly hid.
More than ten seconds later, four figures passed by nearby.
The four figures were all startled when they saw the still-burning corpses. Their steps paused, then they quickened their pace.
"Damn it, what bad luck. There are so many corpses here."
"Who knows what treasure they were fighting over to get so many people killed?"
"Stop talking. Hurry up, we're almost at the center. There should be good stuff there. We have to work together if we want to seize any treasures, or we'll end up just like these corpses."
"Got it. But I'm warning you, don't even think about ambushing me..."
The four quickly departed, and Xiao Ming, hidden in the shadows, heard their conversation clearly.
Forget it. Fortune favors the bold.
Gritting his teeth, Xiao Ming decided to take a chance.
He was only going to have a look, not fight a Dou Wang expert.
Nothing would happen if he merely took a look, right?
Many people had surely noticed the anomaly in the pillar of light. Given the nature of those desperadoes from the Black Corner Region, if they dared enter this place, they would certainly dare head for the center.
He refused to believe his luck would be so bad that a Dou Wang would target him.
Thinking that, Xiao Ming convinced himself and chased after the direction in which the four had left.
An hour later.
Xiao Ming had arrived at the mountaintop at the center of the mountain range.
The four people he had followed were lying in ambush on tree branches not far ahead, while Xiao Ming likewise concealed himself on a branch.
There was naturally a reason why Xiao Ming and the others were doing this.
The summit of the highest peak had been flattened. The entire mountaintop was covered in trees, except for an open space at its center, where a Jade Stone Plaza identical to the one outside had been built.
The pillar of light stood at the center of the Jade Stone Plaza, while several people with wings growing from their backs hovered above it.
Tie Wu, Su Mei, Yuan Yi, the Yao Clan Three Brothers, and every other expert Xiao Ming had seen before were all present. Several experts he had never seen before had also appeared.
Tie Wu and the others were not simply standing around either.
They were joining forces to attack the pillar of light.
The attacks of Dou Wang and Dou Emperor experts were anything but ordinary.
This was Xiao Ming's first time witnessing experts above the Dou Wang level truly fight.
Every attack they launched stirred up Dou Qi Energy waves hundreds of meters wide.
Even the occasional residual ripples that spread out made Xiao Ming's heart tremble. By his calculations, if he were carelessly struck by even those leaked battle aftershocks, he would be injured in an instant.
If he were the actual target of those attacks, he would not even have time to react. He would die immediately.
Dou Wang experts were terrifying indeed.
Under the horrific attacks of those Dou Wang and Dou Emperor experts, the pillar of light merely trembled slightly.
It was certainly sturdy, but Su Mei and the others seemed to have been attacking it for quite some time.
The pillar's radiance had already begun to dim, and Xiao Ming vaguely seemed to see several light clusters drifting within it.
That differed somewhat from the pillar of light outside, but the distance was too great for Xiao Ming to make out what they were.
Still, he guessed that those things were why Tie Wu and the others were attacking the pillar of light.
Su Mei and the others also noticed that the pillar was growing dimmer, and delight appeared on their faces.
They increased the force of their attacks.
Watching their movements and sensing the energy storm, Xiao Ming felt that this world was too dangerous, and that coming here had been far too reckless.
Should I slip away?
Xiao Ming thought inwardly.
It was not that he was cowardly. Thanks to his powerful Spiritual Power, apart from the Dou Wang and Dou Emperor experts overhead, he had sensed quite a few Auras within the surrounding forest.
Among them were quite a few High-level Dou Spirits and Da Dou Shi.
Most of them had formed groups of two or three.
Xiao Ming felt that remaining here alone put him at a disadvantage, and there was also the risk of being killed by a Dou Wang expert's aftershock.
Taking such a huge risk merely to see the thing that had caused the Beast Flame's disturbance seemed somewhat impulsive.
Just as Xiao Ming was about to leave, the pillar of light finally could no longer endure Su Mei and the others' attacks.
After a bout of trembling, the pillar of light suddenly shattered.
As it broke apart, its interior was exposed as well. Over a hundred light clusters floated within, and a Black Passage emerged.
Having suddenly lost the pillar of light's restraint, those light clusters immediately shot in all directions.
Before you continue