Devoured by the Secret Realm

Slaughter Practice once

Slaughter Practice once

Slaughter Practice once

[Kill Count: 78]

Huff... ha...

Jiang Qiu's chest rose and fell slowly. One foot rested on the armored back of a Red-Armored Great Lizard, his black clothes soaked in blood. Torrents of sweat streamed from his head, leaving him dripping as he stood there, while beads of blood fell from his spearpoint in a steady line.

Looking around, Iron-Armored Lizards still surged in from every direction. The endless demon beasts rolled in like a rising tide, while the hundred-odd students were no more than fish and shrimp being dashed against the shore.

The morale that had just soared was drowned out by the increasingly sparse clanging of weapons. Teachers hidden in nearby high-rises flashed out to kill Iron-Armored Lizards that tried to feed, and the fallen students vanished along with them.

In the blink of an eye, another three or four people had been removed from the field.

"The explosive power brought by Penetrating Force does let me kill demon beasts faster, but it consumes too much blood and vitality. With my strength so badly depleted, it's already hard to sustain those explosive kills."

Blood energy drifted around Jiang Qiu for ten paces. The Iron-Armored Lizards nearby eyed him hungrily, while Red-Armored Great Lizards in the distance waited to strike.

When he glanced toward the other side of the square, Li Juefeng had slowed considerably as well. Yet his silver spear trembled, his short spears boomed, and the demon beasts at that street entrance piled another layer higher.

At this rate, he would slow down too.

And my Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique is already over 600 progress. Another round of killing demon beasts should be enough for me to master it and comprehend my own Transformative Force.

By then, my efficiency will only get higher!

Slash.

He spun his spear and stabbed dead a lizard lunging at his back, then casually pulled a glass bottle full of swaying crimson liquid from his pocket.

With a click, his thumb flicked open the cap. He tipped his head back and gulped it down. It rolled from his tongue into his throat like magma and sank into the stomach sac that held acid. Scalding vapor instantly surged back up his windpipe, and white vapor burst from his nostrils.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

His heart trembled, raced, and went wild!

In an instant, the blood filling his heart burst through its banks and flooded into his veins like the endless torrents of nine great rivers, boiling like soup!

"So this is the invigorating effect of Blood Boil Liquid?" Jiang Qiu's eyes widened, his hair standing on end and flying loose. The veins in his arms bulged like steel bars from concrete, and his fists burned unbearably. "I'm taking the best performance!"

Bang—

The bricks beneath his feet shattered into a crater. A black figure wielding a spear burst forth like a death train crashing into lost travelers. Wind roared, and blood sprayed high.

[Kill Count: 89]

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[Kill Count: 122]

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The blade of his spear swept across the backs of Iron-Armored Lizards like an executioner's cleaver chopping through cabbages freshly pulled from the earth. In a short time, Jiang Qiu's kill count nearly doubled.

Extreme efficiency in exchange for extreme bursts of power. He was only a dozen or so low-level demon beasts away from breaking through in the Ancient Martial Arts Spear Technique.

He still had strength to spare. It was enough.

Hum.

In an instant, an almost imperceptible ripple spread from not far away. Like ripples on water, it plucked at the heartstrings amid this noisy, bloodthirsty battlefield.

Crack. Jiang Qiu pulled his spearhead from the skull of a Red-Armored Great Lizard, suppressing his pounding heart and heavy breathing as he looked toward the center of the square.

The great tree stood over ten meters tall, its vines hanging down. Amid Qingmu Town's mostly ruined landscape, it was like a lush green mushroom growing in the desert—strange and chilling. Few students or demon beasts brought their fights near it.

Hum.

Another strange ripple washed through the air, like a breeze brushing his face and dispersing some of the bloodlust between his brows.

"Secret realm fluctuations?"

Jiang Qiu's gaze slowly darkened, yet his heart continued pounding.

According to what they had learned in general studies, secret realms were fixed. Once they first appeared, they remained there forever, like spaces hidden on the other side of the world.

However, secret realm fluctuations followed certain patterns. Some entered active periods every thirty to fifty years, while others did so after only one or two years. Secret realms in such periods often attracted large numbers of demon beasts, turned nearby living creatures into demons, and warped the environment.

No matter what, when a secret realm produced spatial ripples like a fish blowing bubbles, it meant it was about to "eat" people.

"Holy shit, this is the center of the secret realm?!"

"Run! Kill our way out first! If it sucks in all these demon beasts too, the teachers won't be able to save us!"

"This damn secret realm is so shitty! It didn't move earlier or later, but now that we're fighting the demon beasts, it decides to screw us over! Fuck!"

"Wait, is that a Demon Plant?!"

As soon as those words fell, Jiang Qiu sharply turned his head. His gaze passed through shrubs and trees, landing squarely on the phantom of a stem-like plant emerging from midair. Tender green leaves crowded around its top, cradling three jade-white fruits that were dazzlingly eye-catching.

The Demon Plant Li Juefeng had mentioned was inside the secret realm.

How had it gotten in before?

Thud, thud, thud.

Heavy footsteps cut through his thoughts, crossing the clanging battlefield. The silver-armored youth had already leaped into view and charged straight toward the very center of the square!

As he froze, discussion erupted around him. "Holy shit, Li Juefeng actually dares to rush in? When the secret realm swallows us in one go, it won't just take us—it'll take thousands of demon beasts too!"

"You're worried about him? He's fought until now without even losing a hair!"

"How can we compare? I'm done fighting, I'm withdrawing. I think I've been tempered enough."

The students unable to break out of the demon beast battlefield all shouted the word "withdraw." The Recording Rings on their wrists hummed and trembled, yet no teacher responded.

Li Si, who had lowered his wrist, glanced suspiciously at the high-rises standing in the distance. He vaguely saw sesame-sized figures there—the teachers overseeing and protecting them.

Yet at that moment, they did not move. Dark, thin clouds seemed to slide down the sky like mud, swallowing the distant high-rises, broken buildings, vines, and shrubs bit by bit.

Whoosh—whoosh—

The bitter wind stung their eyelids. In the blink of an eye, they stood upon a boundless wilderness. Red grass blades swayed at the waist, and thousands of demon beasts were mixed together with the more than one hundred students who had not managed to withdraw in time.

We entered the secret realm just like that?!

Unless the secret realm spits us back out, we'll have to fight thousands of demon beasts to the death?!

Li Si's eyes widened, his brows arching high.

Rip—

Without warning, an Iron-Armored Lizard's claws hooked into the flesh beneath his shoulder armor from behind. His body, stiff as a wooden post, swayed under the force of the impact.

Before his falling spear could hit the ground, he grabbed the two claws on his shoulder and hurled the lizard away just as it was about to bite his neck. "Fuck—"

He bent down, picked up his spear, and shot forward with furious eyes. "Damn it, if we can't escape, then kill!"

Clang, clang—

The collisions between spearheads and outer armor rang high and clear. The slicing sounds of sharp points cutting open bellies rose in a continuous melody. Within the desolate secret realm, the simple collision of flesh and blood carried a primitive, savage beauty.

Several thousand Iron-Armored Lizards. More than twenty Red-Armored Great Lizards.

Fewer than a hundred blood-soaked Outstanding Students, their armor broken, spear shafts snapped, and daggers shattered.

They were merely a few bean-sized red dates boiling in a bowl of black porridge. Only the straight, emerald-green stem standing out at the center drew the eye, three White Jade Fruits hanging among branches ten meters high, adding a touch of life.

Thud!

Beside the thick roots, Li Juefeng—the only person close to the Demon Plant—leaped into the air like a silver meteor charging upward against the sky.

His silver spear rested diagonally across his back. His left hand, clad in a leather glove, reached out through the rushing wind. In just ten steps through the air, he was about to gather all three fruits into his palm.

Bang—

The delayed sonic boom blasted apart the barren earth. Jiang Qiu swept through the air from nearby like a Black Hawk pursuing a white gull, instantly closing the distance between himself and Li Juefeng as his left hand reached out as well...