Cheng Ziran continued, "This was originally a normal Race Battle Secret Realm. At first, we and the Yuan Race on the other side fought back and forth."
"During that time, another Master of the World arrived here. That Master of the World was at the Mortal Transformation Realm and could also summon four Mortal Transformation Realm retainers and more than a hundred Elite Realm retainers."
"After that Master of the World arrived, the situation began to turn in our favor. We kept the Yuan Race firmly suppressed."
"Five days ago, a sudden change occurred in the secret realm."
"There was a Mortal Transformation Realm cultivator among the Yuan Race. Five days ago, no one knew what method he had used, but he killed that Master of the World."
"According to those who fled back at the time, that Peak Mortal Transformation Realm cultivator from the Yuan Race had used a one-time item to kill the Master of the World."
"Originally, even after that Master of the World was killed, we still held the advantage. However, three days ago, when the Yuan Race cultivator who had killed the Master of the World appeared again, his cultivation had already broken through to the Transcendent Realm."
"He killed five of our Mortal Transformation Realm cultivators in succession."
"After that, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse. Almost all the cultivators who had tokens left the secret realm."
"When the Yuan Race launched a massive attack this morning, there were only a hundred or so people left on the human side."
"Basically, everyone who stayed had their own reasons. Many of them were unwilling to leave the secret realm before the very last moment."
"Then, before you arrived, some of those hundred-plus people died in battle and the rest left. In the end, only the fifty or so of us remained."
Zhang Zhi inwardly shook his head slightly. He had originally had a fairly good impression of Cheng Ziran, but after realizing that Cheng Ziran had seen his youth, thought he would be easy to deceive, and wanted to brush him off, his impression instantly soured.
After giving a soft laugh, Zhang Zhi said, "Foundation Establishment Elder Cheng, you should have a green token, right?"
Cheng Ziran hesitated for a moment before nodding.
Zhang Zhi continued asking, "Then who summoned me, Big Brother Hu Bin, and the dozen or so Elite Realm cultivators behind us?"
"If I'm not mistaken, there should have been people summoned before us as well, right?"
"The people in this secret realm are all about to reach their limit. Why summon us here?"
Hearing Zhang Zhi's questions, Cheng Ziran's expression grew somewhat unnatural. He gave a dry laugh and said, "Wasn't it because we summoned you, a Master of the World?"
Zhang Zhi continued with a soft chuckle, "Oh, right. We summoned me over, so if my strength had been a little weaker and I died here, that would have been my own fault?"
Cheng Ziran looked flustered and hurriedly shook his head. "How could that be? You only need to kill one Elite Realm member of the Yuan Race to leave."
"My Thick Earth Ironwood Array has exceptionally strong defensive capabilities, and I still have thirteen spirit stones here. It can hold out for at least another day and night. Even if you weren't a Master of the World, leaving wouldn't be particularly difficult."
Zhang Zhi turned his head and looked at Cheng Ziran, whose eyes were filled with blood vessels. He asked softly, "So, you're trying to make up for that person's mistake, attempting to keep the losses caused by that mistake to a minimum?"
"Even if it means sacrificing yourself?"
"You two are very close?"
Hearing Zhang Zhi ask this, Cheng Ziran immediately understood that he had already inferred most of what had happened.
He sighed and said, "Sigh, that person is my junior sister."
At this point, Zhang Zhi suddenly interrupted him. "Your junior sister? You could enter the same secret realm?"
Cheng Ziran was somewhat surprised by the Master of the World's question. Judging from the strength this Master of the World had displayed, he shouldn't even have been unaware of something like this.
However, he did not reveal his doubts. Instead, he said, "Among the rewards issued when the Trial Tower settles a secret realm, there is sometimes a Team Contract. Everyone listed on the same Team Contract will appear in the same secret realm."
Zhang Zhi slowly nodded to show that he understood. This was yet another piece of information he had not known before. Logically speaking, this should have been common knowledge within the Trial Tower. Then why had no one left even the slightest mention of it in the academy library?
But now was not the time to investigate that. He gestured for Cheng Ziran to continue.
Seeing that Zhang Zhi had no objections, Cheng Ziran continued, "This time, my junior sister, seven junior nephews at the Peak Qi Refining Realm, and I entered the secret realm together."
"My junior sister is the granddaughter of a Nascent Soul Elder from the sect. However, for some reason, she isn't well-liked by her family, so her personality became somewhat willful."
"When the Yuan Race suddenly attacked today, I don't know what happened, but my junior sister returned from outside severely injured and on the verge of death."
"She also didn't have a green token, so she couldn't leave the secret realm. Therefore, before dying, she activated every white token in her possession—nearly thirty in total."
Remembering that Zhang Zhi might not be very familiar with the rules inside the secret realm, he explained, "The secret realm distributes tokens according to everyone's contributions from killing members of other races. Furthermore, none of the tokens obtained by people in the secret realm can be transferred to anyone else."
After seeing Zhang Zhi nod, he continued, "At the time, we were all prepared to give up on this secret realm and leave. Naturally, we were horrified when we saw what my junior sister had done."
"But the grave mistake had already been made. We had no choice but to find a way to make amends. That's why we struggled to hold on under the enemy's siege, hoping to send everyone my junior sister had summoned out of the secret realm."
"The main reason I didn't explain everything to you at first was that I didn't want to air our family's dirty laundry."
Seeing Cheng Ziran looking at him with a bitter smile, Zhang Zhi nodded. From Cheng Ziran's account just now, it was clear that he was fairly responsible.
He did not know how much of Cheng Ziran's words was true and how much was false, but there were still quite a few people inside the secret realm. He could confirm it by finding someone and asking them later.
Besides, he had no moral qualms. Regardless of what problems existed between Cheng Ziran and his junior sister, if the person who had tried to summon him here to be buried with her really was his junior sister, then everything else had nothing to do with him.
With that thought, he said to Cheng Ziran, "I have a general understanding of the human side's situation. Big Brother Cheng, do you know much about the Yuan Race's situation?"
Cheng Ziran nodded. "Naturally. We've fought the Yuan Race in this secret realm for more than a month. I can say that I know their situation like the back of my hand."
"As far as I know, the Yuan Race originally had twenty-two Mortal Transformation Realm cultivators and around four hundred Elite Realm members."
"Over this month, sixteen Mortal Transformation Realm cultivators from the Yuan Race have died in battle, seven of them killed by that previous Realm Lord."
"During that time, the Yuan Race brought six more people in. So currently, they have twelve Mortal Transformation Realm cultivators remaining, including that Round Person who advanced to the Transcendent Realm."
"As for the Elite Realm, many were killed and many others left the secret realm. I don't have an exact number at the moment, but if I had to estimate, there are currently no more than three hundred."
"As for the remaining thousand or so Ordinary Realm beings, they're merely bonus targets to us."
"Oh, right. That Yuan Race member who advanced to the Transcendent Realm follows the Battle Qi Cultivation System. His Combat Power can only be considered average; he isn't particularly outstanding."
(Transition. The next chapter will wrap things up and move into a new storyline.)
Before you continue