Dark Secret Land

"These Pegasus horses are gentle and generally won't harm people," said one of the veteran members of the expedition team. However, he fell silent when he saw the foal Wang Xuan was riding.

"Whoosh..." A strong wind blew up, and three flying horses landed in succession, causing various leaves to flutter all over the mountain forest.

Two of the adult Pegasus horses stared coldly at Wang Xuan, their hooves digging a large hole in the ground and crushing some rocks.

Before coming over to meet Zhong Cheng and the others, Zhao Qinghan had already dismounted. Now only Wang Xuan was sitting on the white horse, and he was not calm.

These two adult horses are at least large-scale creatures. Most importantly, a group of horses in the distance have landed on the mountain peaks and are looking this way.

What does this mean? A bunch of "Great Grandmaster Horse"!

Even if he is very skilled in combat, it is impossible for him to eliminate a large group of monsters by himself. There are at least sixty or seventy "Great Grandmaster Horse", plus possibly "Horse Chao Fan". This fight is impossible.

So Wang Xuan jumped off his horse without hesitation, his gaze softening as if he were reluctant to part with the foal. He patted the foal's head and said, "Go and reunite with your parents."

Unexpectedly, the white colt did not leave. The sadness and reluctance in its eyes turned into stubbornness. It looked at the two adult horses and then took a few steps back.

Then it looked at another winged horse, which was also a foal, about the same size as it, with some bloodstains on its broad wings, staining some of its white feathers red.

The two foals stared at each other hostilely, spitting out white light from their nostrils, and nearly charged at each other on the spot.

Finally, the little winged horse with white feathers took a few steps back, strutting around and tilting its head as if gesturing for the foal beside Wang Xuan to join them.

The stray foal exhaled white light, resolutely raised its head, and ignored them. Finally, it looked at the two adult horses and kept backing away, refusing to go back.

Without any hesitation, Zhao Qinghan placed the last Spirit Nurturing Lotus into the little pony's mouth.

The white colt hesitated slightly, but ultimately chewed the elixir and swallowed it.

The two tall horses glanced at Zhao Qinghan, then glared at Wang Xuan. One of them was actually glowing brightly, and the aura it emitted caused Zhong Cheng and Zhou Yun to collapse to the ground.

The other expedition members were the same; none of them could withstand it.

At this moment, Wang Xuan was stunned; it was actually "Horse Chao Fan"!

He pretended to be weak and stepped back, leaning on the foal for support, while Zhao Qinghan actually supported the foal to maintain her standing posture.

Finally, the three horses—two large and one small—flew away together and rejoined the main force, where the small Pegasus could be seen being protected in the center.

Wang Xuan gradually understood: were the two ponies vying for the crown prince position? The wingless pony was very stubborn; after losing, it left the herd and went off alone.

His heart suddenly burned with excitement. If he raised it for a while, it might become Horse Chao Fan in the future, after all, it dared to compete for the future throne!

"Respectfully seeing off Horse Chao Fan and all the Great Grandmaster Horse," Wang Xuan said.

Those around, who had just gotten up from the ground, were all a little confused. What did this mean?

The herd of Pegasus finally left without looking back, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The veteran member of the expedition looked grave and said, "I've seen this herd of Pegasus before, deep within the secret realm. How did they migrate out?"

Everyone's hearts sank. Those old men had led their experts in and stormed in, and now they didn't know what was going on. Judging from the various abnormal signs in the secret place, something might have happened.

"What are you doing here? Where is the others?" Zhao Qinghan asked.

"We were scattered! Today we discovered a rare medicinal herb and tried to pick it, but countless monsters charged out. We couldn't stop them at all, so we had to run. Do you know what kind of monsters they were?" Zhou Yun said, his face filled with grief and indignation, "A swarm of mantises!"

He seemed to feel very ashamed, having been chased for miles by a swarm of insects.

Zhong Cheng added, "They weren't ordinary mantises. I felt they were more like some kind of beast. They were all four meters long, covered in black fur, and their two forearms were like large, gleaming blades. Ordinary people couldn't stop them at all. Our team was cut in half at the waist on the spot by those Mantis Beasts."

According to them, even a master-level Gene Superhumans was cut in half by a special silver mantis, which caused them to collapse and flee in a panic.

"Your sister is missing, and you're still so carefree, not even thinking about rescuing her?" Zhao Qinghan looked at Zhong Cheng.

Upon hearing this, Zhong Cheng felt extremely aggrieved and said, "After the collapse, my sister shouted that we should scatter and escape so that more people could survive. Then, I separated from her, and as a result, all those experts chased after her. Look at me... I don't even have a single quasi-Grandmaster by my side."

Zhou Yun was also frustrated, saying, "Wu Yin and I also ran separately, but the Grandmaster-level Gene Superhumans didn't even glance at me and just ran with Wu Yin and the others!"

Not only are there no grandmasters here, but there isn't even a quasi-grandmaster among them.

Zhao Qinghan was speechless. She couldn't very well say that his personal charm was too poor.

"We all survived, so they must be alright. Those Mantis Beast are guarding that strange plant, seemingly unwilling to leave," Zhong Cheng said.

He was indeed unhappy. Even the powerful person who was specifically responsible for protecting him ran off with his sister in the end. How could the difference between people be so great?

"Faced with death, some people instinctively seek good fortune and avoid misfortune," Zhao Qinghan comforted him. She had experienced something similar herself, being grabbed by a monster and lifted into the air. Even the experts who came with her family retreated, not daring to rush into the air to save her.

"What strange object did you discover?" Wang Xuan asked.

"A Black Gold Date Tree, do you know that? A four-meter-tall jujube tree with over a hundred Black Gold Date on it. I've never seen such a high-yielding medicinal herb before!" Zhou Yun almost cried as he said this.

They were all incredibly excited, about to rush forward and pick the nearly ripe Black Gold Date, which meant that everyone would get a share of the medicinal herb.

As a result, a group of Mantis Beast attacked and nearly killed them all.

"More than a hundred spirit dates, within reach! Forget it, I won't think about them anymore, sigh." Zhou Yun looked at Wang Xuan, then leaned closer to try and get on his good side, saying, "Little Wang, sell me this white horse, the price is negotiable."

Wang Xuan laughed and said, "Are you sure? Let me tell you, this is a monster, a spirit horse at the Great Grandmaster level. It could easily crush a person if you're not careful."

"Why is it following you?" Zhou Yun didn't believe it.

Wang Xuan said, "It was injured. We rescued it on the way, but it refused to leave and insisted on following us."

In fact, after Bai Ma finished eating the Spirit Nurturing Lotus from Zhao Qinghan's hand, he wasn't as affectionate as expected and had already started walking into the mountains and forests, which definitely meant he wanted to leave.

"Look, I have a really good relationship with this spirit horse." Wang Xuan quickly caught up with it, grabbed its neck, and pulled hard to stop it from leaving, which seemed like a very close relationship to outsiders.

"Sister Zhao, how did you survive?" Zhong Cheng asked, in fact, everyone wanted to know.

"When that monster was flying close to the forest, it was attacked by a Golden Raptor that seemed to be extraordinary, and it swallowed half of its body in one gulp. Little Wang and I fell into the river in the forest and were lucky to survive." Zhao Qinghan looked very emotional, and the exhaustion of surviving the ordeal was evident.

"Those who survive a great calamity are destined for good fortune!" Everyone believed this and didn't think that the two of them could defeat that monster on their own, otherwise they wouldn't have been kidnapped.

The sun had set, and the forest was rather dark. The group ate something simple and decided to rest there.

Zhong Cheng began to sigh. At this moment, he was a little scared, worried that something had happened to his sister.

They parted ways in the afternoon, and now it's completely dark. There's still no news of his sister, and none of those people have shown up. Looking at the increasingly dark forest, he feels uncertain.

"Is this really a Great Grandmaster- level spirit horse?" Zhong Cheng asked, a little hesitant and excited. Finally, he took the plunge, grabbed Wang Xuan's hand, and said, "Could you ride this horse to find those people? I'm really scared. If you can help me, I'll reward you handsomely when we get back to New Star!"

At this crucial moment, Zhong Cheng still cared about his sister. His eyes even reddened, and he ended up crying.

"Brother Wang, is this really Great Grandmaster- level horse? If it is, please help us out. We're all from Rising New Star..." Zhou Yun actually said this, showing a lot of human touch.

"I'll go take a look!" Wang Xuan nodded. If he had the ability to save people, he was unwilling to sit idly by.

"You... be careful." Zhao Qinghan could tell that he had made a decisive decision, so she reminded him to be cautious and ensure his own safety first.

"Great Grandmaster Horse, please help me." Zhong Cheng rambled on to the white colt, almost getting kicked in the process.

Under the moonlit night, Wang Xuan reluctantly rode his white horse toward the direction Zhong Cheng had indicated.

About twenty miles away, he actually encountered a man covered in blood, but he was clearly not going to make it. He was sitting under a tree, helplessly looking at the moonlight.

"How could this happen to you? Where are the others?" Wang Xuan jumped off his horse and immediately noticed the bloody handprints on his tattered clothes. His right shoulder and right arm were missing; they had been blown apart by someone, not a monster.

"The Qin Family instigated the Moonlight Bodhisattva to commit murder..." the man began with difficulty.

"Why?" Wang Xuan asked quickly.

"In the afternoon, we encountered the Qin Family, who tricked us into going back to pick Black Gold Date together. They already knew about that place and were very familiar with the Mantis Beast, so they tampered with us. Many of us became bait and were chased by those monsters... The Qin Family turned around to gather herbs, and just now they even had the Moonlight Bodhisattva chase after those of us who were still alive."

Wang Xuan immediately mounted Great Grandmaster Horse and charged forward. The leader of the Qin Family had gone mad, utterly depraved, forcing people to their deaths and then trying to silence them.

He sighed, lamenting how dark and bloody the secret realm was, how even regular expedition teams were so ruthless, readily wiping out other expeditions.

In the past, no such news had been sent back to the New Star; it seems they had kept it very secret.

From afar, Wang Xuan saw a glowing man smashing a quasi-grandmaster to pieces, and then tearing the surrounding Mantis Beast to pieces.

However, the script was unexpected for Wang Xuan. The radiant middle-aged man was clearly a Moonlight Bodhisattva, Great Grandmaster, who was approaching a pale-faced young man.

"What are you trying to do, rebel?" The young man was all bark and no bite, his face pale.

The Moonlight Bodhisattva's voice was icy. "Ridiculous! You think you're ruthless, cunning, and destined for greatness? Using those people as bait to send them to their deaths, then forcing us to silence them. But don't you consider where this place is? It's not New Star anymore. Do you still think we're knives or dogs? Yes, we didn't let those people go. But what are you? Why should we give you the elixir? You don't understand, this is a secret realm, a New World with a set of dark rules you have no idea about!"

Moonlight Bodhisattva walked forward and kicked out, instantly smashing half of the young man's body. He screamed in agony and was on the verge of death.

"My brother is nearby... He won't let you get away with this!" he said, uttering his final harsh words, before passing away.

"Are you asking me to kill your brother?" Moonlight Bodhisattva sneered.