Qi Refining Tenth-Layer Peak! Swordback Crocodile Dragon! Burn Everything!

"Alas, could it be that the Blood Fiend Demon Lord would emerge and slaughter living beings, while I could only watch helplessly?

No! That would not do!

Wait a little longer!

If no one came even when the Blood Fiend Demon Lord broke through the seal!"

All of a sudden, Profound Dragon Venerable's gaze turned incomparably sharp!

"Then I'll self-destruct this Secret Realm!"

If the Secret Realm self-destructed, only the living beings within it would die.

If the Blood Fiend Demon Lord broke through the seal, then far more than just the living beings inside the Secret Realm would die.

Elsewhere, inside a cave.

Spiritual energy surged violently.

The medicinal power of the Marrow-Cleansing Grass seeped deep into his bones.

The meridians throughout Zhang Xuanchen's limbs and body seemed about to be ground apart. The agonizing pain made the veins on his forehead bulge.

Yet he endured it through sheer willpower without making a sound.

Gradually, threads of black impurities seeped from his pores, giving off a foul stench.

Only after refining three Marrow-Cleansing Grasses did Zhang Xuanchen feel the pill toxins and impurities in his body had been completely purged.

His entire body felt light.

As though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted away.

"Perfect. I'll use this opportunity to raise my cultivation to the Qi Refining Tenth-Layer Peak!"

Zhang Xuanchen took out several Mid-grade Spirit Stones from his Storage Ring and entered meditation again.

As his cultivation technique circulated, spiritual energy flowed endlessly into his body.

Crack!

A thunderous roar rang out in his mind, and the barrier shattered in response.

A powerful aura burst forth from his body.

Feeling the surging spiritual energy within him, Zhang Xuanchen was overjoyed!

Qi Refining Peak! Achieved!

"My foundation is incomparably solid. Once the Secret Realm ends, after a little polishing, I can begin preparing for Foundation Establishment!

"With my talent, and Spirit Fire to assist me, as long as I prepare properly, I won't need a Foundation Establishment Pill at all!"

Zhang Xuanchen clenched his fists, his eyes filled with excitement.

If time had allowed, he truly wanted to begin breaking through to Foundation Establishment right now.

But opportunities were still waiting for him.

He could not waste time here!

After examining his surroundings and confirming that it was safe, Zhang Xuanchen pushed aside a large boulder and stepped out of the small cave.

Dawn had only just begun to break. Since this place lay within a canyon, a cool wind carrying the heavy scent of stone rushed toward him.

The temperature was low, but it had no real effect on cultivators.

He had barely traveled a few kilometers when he sensed the sound of spiritual energy clashing.

Then he saw a female Qi Refining Eighth Layer cultivator dressed in Tianlan Sect robes racing toward him at top speed.

Behind her followed a First-stage Peak Sabertooth Tiger.

"Fellow Daoist! Please wait! Please help me kill this beast! Afterward, I will surely... Hm?"

Before the female cultivator could finish speaking, Zhang Xuanchen immediately used an escape technique and fled the scene at lightning speed!

Even Foundation Establishment Early Stage cultivators could not match his speed!

This woman clearly harbored ill intentions!

He had not even revealed his cultivation. How did she know he could defeat that Sabertooth Tiger?

Without knowing his strength, she had still lured the Sabertooth Tiger over here.

What if he had been a weakling? Would he not have died here?

Besides, she was a Tianlan Sect disciple.

Save her?

That was simply the greatest joke in the world!

He was not the sort of man who forgot how to walk at the sight of a woman!

He ran without hesitation!

When the Tianlan Sect female cultivator saw Zhang Xuanchen turn into a streak of light and vanish, she was furious beyond measure!

She had originally wanted to divert disaster eastward.

Now everything had gone down the drain!

Yet in the instant she froze, the Sabertooth Tiger chasing relentlessly behind her suddenly leaped up, its enormous tiger claw slamming toward her back!

The female cultivator had no time to dodge and could only raise her sword to take the blow head-on.

Bang!

The tremendous force sent both her and her sword flying dozens of meters. She crashed through three trees in succession before managing to stabilize herself.

She spat out a mouthful of blood and glared coldly at the Sabertooth Tiger as it opened its bloody maw again.

"Hmph! Do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

With a slap to her Storage Bag, three Spirit Talismans appeared before her.

Sensing the commotion behind him, Zhang Xuanchen sneered inwardly.

"Hmph! Do you take me for a fool?"

After shaking off that idiot, he found his path blocked by a swamp.

Before he could consider how to cross it, a sudden sense of danger arose in his heart.

"Not good!"

Without even thinking, Zhang Xuanchen's body reacted before his mind did. He tapped the ground with the tip of his foot, shot into the air, and landed on a nearby tree branch.

The instant he leaped up—

With a ripping boom, the spot where he had just stood was torn apart by a massive claw covered in dark brown-black scales!

The claw was a full two meters long. Before it, the ground was as fragile as paper.

Stone fragments and wood chips scattered everywhere.

Immediately afterward, a gigantic beast more than thirty meters long emerged from the mud.

It resembled a lizard, with sword-like bone spines growing along its back, stretching from its head all the way to its tail.

Its head was triangular, and its eyes were incomparably cold.

Roar!

A deafening roar, accompanied by a nauseatingly foul gust of wind, rushed straight at him.

"A Mid-Second Stage Swordback Crocodile Dragon!

"This is troublesome!"

If it had only been one Mid-Second Stage Swordback Crocodile Dragon, Zhang Xuanchen would not have had such a headache.

But aside from that large one, more than forty First-Order Crocodile Dragons had emerged and surrounded him from all sides.

No fewer than seven of them were First-Order Peak.

Roar!

After the Crocodile Dragon Chief roared, the surrounding First-Order Crocodile Dragons all pounced at Zhang Xuanchen.

Their heavy limbs did not affect their speed in the slightest.

The two First-Order Peak Crocodile Dragons charging at the front swung their enormous claws directly at Zhang Xuanchen's head.

Without hesitation, he used the Sword Control Technique, intending to flee through the air, but the Second Stage Crocodile Dragon swatted at him with one claw.

"Wind Shield!"

As he watched the crocodile claw strike toward him, nine pale cyan shields condensed from fierce winds appeared before Zhang Xuanchen.

Crack!

Crack!

The giant claw smashed through the nine Wind Shields like bamboo splitting under a knife.

However, though the Wind Shields shattered, they also consumed sixty percent of the claw's force.

"Get lost!"

Flames wrapped around Zhang Xuanchen's hands as he threw a punch.

It collided brutally with the giant claw.

Bang!

The spiritual energy turbulence produced by the collision pulverized all grass and trees within fifty meters.

Yet although this strike was Zhang Xuanchen's full strength—

It only barely blocked the remaining forty percent of the force. The Mid-Second Stage Crocodile Dragon's body did not budge in the slightest, while Zhang Xuanchen himself was knocked several meters back.

Looking at Zhang Xuanchen, who was like an ant before it, the Crocodile Dragon Chief let out a strange laugh, its eyes revealing a human-like mockery.

The dozens of First-Order Crocodile Dragons beneath it also roared in agreement.

"Damn it! You're mocking me?"

Zhang Xuanchen sneered.

A ball of crimson gold flame appeared in his palm.

"Do you really think I have no way to deal with you? I'll burn this entire Swamp Region to the ground!

"Let's see how many of you survive!"

As soon as his words fell, Zhang Xuanchen's eyes sharpened, and he hurled the crimson gold flame in his hand directly at the Crocodile Dragon Chief.

A trace of fear flashed through the Crocodile Dragon Chief's pupils. Its body flickered, and it successfully dodged.

The flames struck the pool, but rather than being extinguished, they flared up the instant they touched the wood chips.

Zhang Xuanchen did not stop. He fired several more fireballs in every direction.

In an instant, a raging inferno erupted. Some low-level Crocodile Dragons died the moment they touched it.

The pool could not stop the flames from spreading in the slightest.

This was Spirit Fire. Though he could not unleash its full power with his current strength, it was not something an ordinary pool could extinguish!

"Heh, enjoy the warmth I've brought you!

"Farewell forever!"