The missing ninth-tier prodigies

Upon hearing this, Xuan Yan fell silent.

As a powerful race, the Human Race naturally obtained information about the geniuses of the other two top races in their respective Genius Battle, especially the physical characteristics of the two ninth-level geniuses.

Just moments before entering the secret realm passage, as the prodigies of the Abyss Race and the Devouring Race briefly left the protective spheres of their respective rulers, Xuan Yan subconsciously took a look at the opposing team's lineup.

Therefore, he noticed something unusual.

Even after all the geniuses of both races disappeared into the vortex at the entrance of the secret realm, Xuan Yan still did not see the figures of the two ninth-level geniuses who were highlighted in the intelligence report.

"We didn't give up on this secret realm, but the strongest ninth-level expert didn't come."

Xuan Yan frowned and pondered for a moment, then his expression turned grim.

The Myriad Secret Realm are related to the Source Essence, and no top race would easily give them up; they would inevitably send out the most elite Star Core level forces of their time.

Therefore, there are only a few possibilities why the Nine Heavenly Pride members haven't shown themselves:

First, they concealed their true strength, disguising themselves as being at the eighth level or even lower.

However, this possibility is extremely low. In the instant just now, when one is separated from the protection of the Overlord and exposed to the perception of all the Venerables, it would be impossible to perfectly disguise the aura of the Low-Level Domain without being detected unless the Overlord personally intervenes to help conceal it.

But doing so wouldn't make much sense.

Secondly, they have other important matters to attend to and are unable to participate in this secret realm.

But what could be more important than acquiring the Source Essence and laying the foundation for the future of the race?

third

Xuan Yan's gaze gradually turned cold.

Third, it's not that they don't want to participate, but rather that they don't need to participate.

Several thoughts flashed through Xuan Yan's mind in an instant.

He connected this to Lin Yi's astonishing strength displayed in the preliminaries and finals, especially the time law that shook the starry sea, and a terrible possibility surfaced in his mind.

Soon, the other lords present also seemed to be aware of this unusual situation.

Several Venerable Lords who were on good terms with the Human Race, such as Giant Rock Lord and Yan Huang of the Starflame Race, frowned slightly, turned their gazes to Xuan Yan, and hesitated to speak.

Meanwhile, the other races' leaders exchanged knowing glances.

Among them, the dark purple mist swirling around the Dark Extinction Nightmare Race Lord Anmie seemed to lighten a bit. He glanced at Xuan Yan with schadenfreude, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

If the ruler hadn't been present, he would have burst out laughing.

Xuan Yan seemed to sense something and gave Dark Extinction a cold glance. The chill in his gaze caused the mist around Dark Extinction to freeze slightly for a moment.

Then, Xuan Yan turned his gaze back to the colorful vortex at the entrance to the secret realm, remaining silent.

He knew it was too late to do anything now.

Everything depends on Lin Yi and his team.

--

Just as Xuan Yan and the other Venerable Lords discovered the anomaly in the outside world, Lin Yi had already stepped into the interior of the Myriad Secret Realm.

Chaos, weightlessness, loss of perception.

This was Lin Yi's first impression after rushing into the entrance of the secret realm.

It was as if he had fallen into an endless time tunnel, surrounded by wildly swirling blocks of light and color. His body was out of control, and even his soul felt like it had been thrown into a blender. All frames of reference in time and space lost their meaning.

This sensation lasted for several seconds.

"Bang!"

A dull thud followed, then the feeling of solid ground beneath my feet.

All the chaos and tearing sensations receded like a tide, and Lin Yi suddenly opened his eyes. At the same time, his internal energy instinctively activated, instantly setting up three layers of defense on his body, and the Rule Armor covered his entire body like mercury.

Lin Yi did not act rashly, but instead immediately checked the surrounding situation.

The first thing to confirm is the environment.

He noticed that he was currently in an area shrouded in a thick gray fog.

This fog was extremely strange; it not only obscured vision but also greatly suppressed and interfered with the detection of spiritual power.

With Lin Yi's current mental strength, his soul perception range was compressed to less than 100 meters, and beyond that it became blurry, as if the mist contained some kind of property that devoured or distorted mental power.

Within this fog, the light was extremely dim, barely enough to see clearly, and this light did not seem to come from any definite light source, but rather from the faint, cold light emitted by the fog itself.

Lin Yi noticed that the ground beneath his feet was like hard rock, covered with a thin layer of gray dust, and making almost no sound when he stepped on it.

A heavy, oppressive atmosphere permeated the air. The concentration of energy sources was not low, but these sources were extremely inert, and the efficiency of absorption and mobilization was significantly reduced.

"This is the Myriad Secret Realm," Lin Yi murmured to himself. "It truly lives up to its name; each one is a completely new world."

He remained completely calm.

Although the rules within the Myriad Secret Realm vary greatly, and the environment changes drastically each time they are opened, suppressing strength and isolating communication are common occurrences, the Pan-Spirit Alliance has explored for countless Epoch and has long since developed a set of effective coping strategies.

After confirming that there were no threats around, Lin Yi's first action was to subtly summon his Time-Tracing Clone.

Due to the special nature of the secret realm, not only are any life forms, equipment, and items above the Star Core level prohibited from entering, but even any clones or Incarnation are not allowed to enter.

Therefore, he must summon a clone using his own power immediately upon entering.

This is one of his greatest advantages: having a clone whose strength and thinking are almost completely synchronized with his own can provide tremendous help in unknown environments.

At the core of the soul, the silver-gray runes that fluctuated with the laws of time glowed faintly.

A pure and unique power of Time Rule flowed within him, mixing with his own life force and soul imprint, and began to attempt to anchor itself to a point one second earlier on his own timeline.

The process is somewhat more difficult than in the Main Universe.

The Time Rule of this secret realm also seem to be distorted and suppressed in some way, resulting in greater resistance when constructing a time bridge and a slight increase in energy consumption.

But Lin Yi's understanding of time was no longer what it used to be; with just a slight concentration, he successfully anchored.

Then, the Space Rule, acting as a stable bridge, poured in a torrent of energy.

A figure, sharing the same aura as his Main Body but appearing somewhat ethereal, slowly emerged from the passage constructed by the Time Rule and appeared beside him.

The clone was successfully summoned.

The clone and Lin Yi's Main Body exchanged a glance, their thoughts instantly synchronized without a word.

The clone immediately sensed its surroundings and its own condition.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Yi took out the top-tier equipment that the Spirit Race Spirit Race had uniformly provided to these prodigies who entered the secret realm from the silver folding storage bracelet that he was wearing on his wrist.

This bracelet itself is a product of top-tier energy technology, with an extremely large internal compression space. In order to adapt to the rules of the secret realm, its materials and structure have undergone special treatment to ensure stable use in most strange environments.

He first took out a piece of armor.

The armor is dark silver overall, with light gray patterns on the surface that seem to change in light and dark as if breathing, and it feels cool and tough to the touch.

This is the "Spirit Shadow Armor," one of the top-tier standard armors among Star Core level armors, crafted by the Spirit Race specifically for exploring Myriad Secret Realm.

It possesses extremely strong physical defense and energy resistance, can weaken various rule-based attacks, and has multiple built-in micro energy nodes that can connect to the wearer's domain, providing a certain degree of amplification and stability.

The armor not only integrates basic detection and short-range communication modules, but more importantly, it has excellent environmental camouflage, basic life support and internal circulation systems, which can provide long-term protection in extremely harsh environments.

This is what Lin Yi is wearing in his Main Body.

The clone quickly donned the Spirit Shadow Armor, which clung to its body as if it were alive, then concealed most of its external light and entered stealth mode.

Next came the weapons.

Lin Yi took out the top-tier Soul Weapon equipped for him, Phantom Void Thousand Blades, from his bracelet.

This is a set of combined Soul Weapon composed of 1,024 nearly invisible "ethereal crystal" blades.

Each blade contains a trace of pure spatial cutting properties, and after being tempered by multiple rules, it has a good transmission and amplification effect on the power of various rules such as time and space, life and death, and the five elements.

Its greatest feature is its extreme "transformation" and "adaptability"; it can be combined into various forms at will, depending on one's thoughts.

Lin Yi a slight thought, hundreds of blade fragments, like silver fish returning to their nests, danced lightly around his Main Body and clone, tracing graceful paths. They then swiftly combined into two longswords with flowing spatial patterns resembling water ripples, which fell into the hands of his Main Body and clone respectively.

The remaining blades slid into a specially designed storage compartment on the outside of the armor like flowing silver water, disappearing without a trace and ready to be used at any time.

Next, Lin Yi took out a fist-sized silver metal ball and gently tossed it on the ground.

The metal sphere silently unfolded, beginning to scan the surrounding energy spectrum, spatial stability, regular disturbances, and other basic environmental data. At the same time, it released a weak probe wave of a specific frequency, attempting to find signals from other Pan-Spirit Alliance teammates carrying similar devices that might exist nearby.

Lin Yi ignored the metal ball and let it work on its own, continuing to take out a hexagonal slice about the size of his palm.

The clone used its fingertips to condense a wisp of Metal Rule, quickly carving a shallow pit in the hard rock of the ground.

Lin Yi placed the thin film at the bottom of the pit and activated the concealment mode.

This is the foundational node for establishing a network of connections.

As long as they are within the effective signal range, other teammates with the same type of equipment can receive the signal and attempt to establish contact.

He then launched several button-sized "warning eyes" in different directions.

These devices operate independently and do not rely on external networks, but they can be connected to the tactical command core carried by Lin Yi via encrypted short-range frequency bands.

This core is similar to a simplified version of the Xuanji Sub-Unit, possessing powerful analytical support capabilities.

Lin Yi attached the command core to the inside of his left forearm armor and established a connection with it.

A miniature 3D holographic interface unfolded in his field of vision. On the pale blue light screen, environmental detection data refreshed like a waterfall, the images transmitted by the Vigilant Eye were displayed in segments, and the signal status indicator lights of the communication beacon blinked steadily.

This is the convenience that technology brings when energy sources and regulations are limited.

"Xuanji, synchronize all device data streams and establish a local tactical network. Continuously scan and attempt to analyze any possible teammate signal frequency bands."

"Command confirmed, Master."

A slightly mechanical voice echoed in my consciousness.

This is a simplified intelligent Sub-body that Xuanji pre-loaded into the command core. Although it is far from having the high degree of autonomy and emotional simulation of the complete Xuanji, it is still barely sufficient.

"Currently, no valid teammate identification signal has been received within the detection radius. Environmental interference level: High."

Lin Yi nodded slightly; this was within his expectations.

In the Myriad Secret Realm, it's common for teammates to be separated, and reuniting at the beginning is one of the primary challenges.

After completing the initial deployment of the stronghold and equipment checks, Lin Yi began testing the actual degree to which the environment suppressed his own strength.

He took a deep breath and slowly mobilized his energy source.

Sure enough, the flow of source energy was extremely slow, as if an invisible viscous film covered the Source Sea.

He found it extremely difficult to expand his domain.

The domain's range has been greatly compressed. Even with full force, it can only barely extend to within fifty meters of the body's perimeter. Maintaining such a domain is extremely taxing, like swinging an arm against a current.

Lin Yi's eyes narrowed slightly, and he decisively withdrew his domain, switching to testing specific attack methods.

He transmitted a thought to his clone.

The clone understood, turned sideways to face a half-person-high gray-black rock three meters away, casually raised the "Phantom Void Thousand Blades" longsword in its hand, and then swung it down.

The blade flashed like a silver thread.

The rock was cleaved open with a crack about half a foot deep. Although the cut was smooth, the depth and extent of the damage were significantly less than expected.

"The suppression is indeed powerful," Lin Yi thought to himself.

After the initial tests were completed, he had a better understanding of the situation.

Although the suppression of the rules was strong, fortunately, when he summoned his clone earlier, he could sense that the difficulty of activating the law of time had increased, but now it seemed that it was much less than the suppression of the rules.

"Xuanji, how's the environmental data collection going?"

"Master, preliminary scan complete."

Xuanji reported, "The environmental energy inertia index is 7.2, the regularity activity is low, the spatial structure is relatively stable but there is a slight degree of disordered distortion, and the gravity is approximately 0.95 times the standard value."

"No known deadly toxins or active microorganisms were detected in the air, but an unknown inert energy particle with a high density was present. The fog is complex in composition, containing a large number of regular interfering particles, which is the main reason for suppressing soul detection. It is recommended to maintain the armor's air filtration and internal circulation systems to avoid the effects of the unknown particles' infiltration."

Lin Yi nodded, confirming that the life support system was operating at full power.

Inside the faceplate, an extremely thin, transparent energy membrane is always present, completely isolating it from the outside air.

Next, we must begin preliminary exploration.

Staying at the landing point is not a good idea. As the team leader, he needs to actively explore the surrounding environment and try to establish contact with his teammates.

Lin Yi exchanged a glance with his clone.

The clone naturally understood.

The safety of the Main Body is of paramount importance; therefore, the exploration will be carried out by the clones as the vanguard, with the Main Body providing support from the rear.

The two men, about twenty meters apart, one in front of the other, maintained a tactical distance that allowed them to support each other instantly. They chose a direction where the fog appeared to be slightly thinner and began to move slowly.

The two walked in silence, the gray dust under their feet extremely fine, like walking on a thick carpet, making almost no sound.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only the occasional low whistling of the wind blowing through the narrow cracks in the rocks, Time Severance and rather eerie.

Because his soul perception was firmly restricted to within a hundred meters, and his visible range was less than fifty meters, beyond which lay a surging wall of gray mist, Lin Yi felt slightly uncomfortable.

Fortunately, the Xuanji Sub-Unit continued to operate, with the tactical core constantly receiving and analyzing data streams transmitted from various detection devices, attempting to draw terrain contour maps within a limited area.

At the same time, the communication module was continuously sending out encrypted pulse signals representing Lin Yi's identity and monitoring the entire frequency band for any response.

The two walked for about fifteen minutes, and the surrounding environment remained almost unchanged.

Gray fog, rocky ground, and occasionally, jagged black rocks standing out abruptly.

Lin Yi found no signs of life, no obvious energy fluctuations, or anything of note.

Just as Lin Yi was considering whether he should change direction or try to explore a location that might be at a higher elevation.

The clone that was scouting ahead suddenly stopped in its tracks.

Almost simultaneously, a flashing red icon suddenly popped up at the edge of Lin Yi's field of vision.

"Warning: High concentration of unidentified life energy detected rapidly condensing approximately 135 meters ahead. Intensity assessment: Early stage of Star Vortex level. Target form is unstable, energy composition is chaotic, threat level: Low."

Lin Yi's Main Body instantly entered battle mode, and his clone, in perfect harmony with him, assumed a defensive stance almost simultaneously.

It was only Star Vortex level being. Lin Yi did not retreat, but instead formed a perfect triangular formation with his clone, focusing his attention on the area where the fog was thickest ahead.

Ahead, amidst the churning gray fog, a mass of gray fog, roughly the size of a millstone and even darker and thicker in color, was writhing with unprecedented ferocity.

It seemed to have emerged from the surrounding mist out of thin air, or as if it had been forcibly molded together by an invisible hand.

At the core of the fog, a dark red light flickered like a heart, emanating an aura of chaos.

Almost the instant Lin Yi and his clone locked onto it, the gray mist seemed to be infused with a violent soul, suddenly contracting rapidly inward.

Immediately, like a spring that has been suppressed to its limit, it expanded violently again.

It changes extremely rapidly.

The originally amorphous fog rapidly elongated within a breath or two, outlining clear limbs and torso contours, with the head area also vaguely showing indistinct traces resembling facial features.

Lin Yi frowned.

This creature, formed from condensed mist, bore a striking resemblance in size and shape to himself, bearing a six- or seven-tenths resemblance.

Although the details are blurry and distorted, and the face is just a constantly rolling mist, the general body proportions and the outline that vaguely imitates the Spirit Shadow Armor are still discernible.

"Imitate me?"

Lin Yi snorted coldly and was about to make a move.

At the same time, the humanoid creature formed from the gray mist let out a low, hoarse roar the moment it took shape, and pounced on the clone that was acting as the vanguard.

Its speed was as fast as lightning, leaving a clear afterimage in the thick fog.

At the same time, its arms extended rapidly, transforming into two gray mist blades shimmering with dark red patterns. With a piercing shriek that tore through the air, they ruthlessly slashed at the clone's neck and abdomen, one on the left and one on the right.

Before the attack even arrived, Lin Yi clearly sensed the chaotic energy contained within the mist blade, as well as a highly corrosive negative characteristic.

The rapid assessment of the Xuanji Sub-Unit also showed that the energy level of this attack did indeed reach the standard of the early stage of the Star Vortex level.

Lin Yi's expression was somewhat solemn.

Although this was nothing to him, it would still be quite troublesome for an ordinary genius in this secret realm environment where the rules were suppressed.

Faced with the ferocious attack of the Mist Mimic Monster, the clone didn't even move its feet, its right hand holding the knife still hanging naturally at its side.

Just as the two sharp mist blades were about to pierce the clone's energy field, the clone casually raised its right hand, which was holding the Illusory Void Thousand-Blade Saber, and then pointed forward.

With the fingertip of the clone as the origin, the flow of spacetime within one meter in front of it suddenly changed.

The Mist Mimic Monster's incredibly swift attack was as if it had crashed into an invisible swamp of spacetime. The two intersecting mist blades advanced at a speed like a movie in slow motion, their trajectories clearly visible.

Then, following the movement of the previous point, the long sword in the clone's hand drew a barely perceptible silver arc in front of him.

Where the arc passes, space seems to be gently folded by an invisible hand, creating a subtle fault.

"Laugh!"

A soft sound.

The momentum of the Mist Mimic Monster charging forward suddenly froze.

A silver line appeared out of thin air running from its neck to its abdomen down its human-shaped torso, traversing its entire body.

At the bright line, the space is slightly misaligned, as if a piece of transparent glass as thin as a cicada's wing is inlaid there.

Immediately following, the raging Sharpness of the Metal Rule, mixed with a trace of the Annihilation Power of the Death Rule, erupted instantly like a flood breaking through a dam, along the tiny crack created by the spatial cutting.

"Bang!"

The mist monster, whose outline resembled Lin Yi's, suddenly expanded its body from the silver line, and then exploded like a smoke bomb detonated from within.

A large amount of even denser gray mist suddenly spread out, mixed with wisps of twisted and dancing dark red chaotic energy, like out-of-control demonic snakes, hissing and sweeping wildly in all directions.

However, these bursts of mist and energy did not spread very far before they were shattered by the lingering spatial folding power around the clone and the Sharpness aftershocks of the Metal Rule, ultimately annihilating into the most basic energy particles, leaving only a few wisps of smoke, which were quickly assimilated and absorbed by the endless gray mist around them.

Where the Mist Mimic Monster had been hovering, only a small, fist-sized, gray, misty core remained, emitting an unstable, faint glow.

The core rapidly collapsed and solidified, eventually transforming into a dark gray crystal nucleus about the size of a thumb, with an irregular polyhedral shape.

The crystal core fell with a soft thud onto the rocky ground covered in gray dust, rolled slightly twice, and then came to a stop.

The battle began quickly and ended just as quickly.

The clone slowly sheathed its sword, the movement fluid and natural, as if it had only done a trivial matter.

Of course, it really was just a small matter.

To deal with someone of this strength, there's no need to even use the laws of time.

Meanwhile, the Main Body focused all its attention on the crystal core that had just fallen.