Crisis

Li Yan didn't even look back. He stepped into the light gate, and his figure was instantly swallowed by chaos.

Seeing this, the others also hurried forward.

The girl in the pale blue dress moved with graceful lightness, stepping through the light gate second. Close behind her came Fang Hao, the sinister young man in black, followed by several other inner sect disciples, who leaped through one after another.

Lin Ye walked slowly up to the light gate. His fingertips could clearly feel the chaotic fluctuations of space within it, and a heart-stopping aura rushed toward him, making the True Qi throughout his body tense instinctively. He took a deep breath, then, without further hesitation, stamped down hard and strode straight through the gate.

The world spun around him. He felt as if he'd been swept into a raging whirlpool, with spatial turbulence tearing wildly at his body until even his consciousness blurred. Suddenly, the Xuanhuang Token at his waist grew hot. A pale yellow halo formed a protective barrier around him, shielding him and dispelling most of the tearing force.

After an unknown length of time,

solid ground finally met his feet.

Lin Ye staggered, steadying himself, and immediately gripped the Azure Edge Sword at his waist as he warily scanned his surroundings.

Before him stretched a barren wasteland beneath a oppressive, dark yellow sky. The ground was scorched earth, not a blade of grass in sight. Dark red mountains rolled across the distance, the whole landscape desolate and ruined. Dust mingled with the stench of blood in the air. The spiritual energy was far richer than in the outer sect's blessed grounds, but it was violent and impure; absorbing it recklessly could easily send one into cultivation deviation.

"Is this the Xuanhuang Secret Realm?"

Lin Ye's heart tightened. The harshness of the environment exceeded his expectations. He looked around. The place was deserted, and none of the nine people who had entered the secret realm alongside him were anywhere nearby.

They had been teleported at random. Lin Ye understood at once: everyone had been scattered across different parts of the secret realm. That spared them from fighting over treasures the moment they arrived, but alone, he was more likely to become prey for the strange beasts lurking here.

Daring not to let his guard down for a moment, he immediately activated Breath Concealment Technique, suppressing his presence to the utmost. Then he used Flowing Cloud Steps, his figure a wisp of pale smoke as he swiftly avoided the open wasteland and raced toward a rocky hill in the distance. In an unfamiliar and dangerous place, his first priority was to find a concealed shelter, assess the surroundings, and then decide what to do.

After the time it took an incense stick to burn, Lin Ye slipped deep into the hills and found a concealed crevice with an excellent view, choosing it as a temporary hiding place.

He took out the hide map Chen Feng had given him and carefully compared it with the surrounding terrain. The map was crudely drawn, but it showed the general directions. He was now at the southwestern edge of the secret realm, in the Red Wasteland Gobi, an area marked as low risk. But "low risk" was only relative to the secret realm as a whole. For him, a cultivator in the early True Qi Realm, danger lurked everywhere.

The map clearly marked that heading east through the Bone-Eroding Forest would lead to Meteor Lake, a place marked "possible legacy site." Farther northeast lay a blank, uncharted region, its dangers impossible to fathom.

"Meteor Lake..."

Lin Ye tapped the map with a fingertip, weighing his options. Even at full speed, it would take him a day to get there, and he would have to cross the Bone-Eroding Forest along the way. The journey was bound to be difficult. But the allure of a legacy site was simply too great. The Xuanhuang Secret Realm opened only once every ten years, and visitors had just seven days. He couldn't afford to hesitate or retreat.

Just as he weighed the pros and cons, a warning alarm surged in his heart!

Almost purely by instinct, he pushed off hard with his feet and shot backward out of the crevice like a ghost!

"Boom!!"

The instant he escaped, a vine as thick as a barrel slammed into the several-zhang-high boulder behind him. The boulder exploded, sending shattered rock flying. The vine looked like a giant python, and its momentum didn't slow. It lashed through the air, coiling around before whipping toward Lin Ye again, so fast it shrieked through the air.

Lin Ye's pupils contracted. His Azure Edge Sword flashed from its sheath, pale green True Qi flooding its blade as he struck. "Wind-Thunder Slash!"

His sword light, wrapped in the roar of wind and thunder, cleaved into the vine. It snapped in two, spraying dark green sap. But the demonic plant had astonishing vitality; the severed end still lashed wildly, while behind the rocks, countless crimson vines surged out, sweeping toward him like a flood.

"Bloodthirsty Demon Vines!"

Lin Ye recognized the monsters instantly. They were late first-level beasts, but they appeared in swarms. Their severed limbs could regenerate, and they carried paralyzing venom. Once they wrapped around someone, escape was impossible.

"I can't get bogged down fighting them!"

Lin Ye made his decision at once. With a flick of his left hand, he scattered a handful of white mixed poison powder. The moment it touched the vines, it sizzled, and the demons' attack faltered. Seizing the opening, he pushed Flowing Cloud Steps and Wind Chasing Steps to their limits. His figure became a blur as he sprinted east without looking back, leaving the vines far behind.

Only after running more than ten li did Lin Ye duck behind a sand dune to catch his breath, his heart still pounding. If his vigilance hadn't been far beyond the ordinary, that blow would have left him gravely wounded. He looked down at the Azure Edge Sword. Dark green sap on its blade was corroding the metal with a faint sizzling sound. An ordinary weapon could no longer withstand the dangers of the secret realm.

"I have to find a better weapon as soon as possible."

Lin Ye swallowed a Qi Recovery Pill to replenish his True Qi. After confirming his direction, he set out for the Bone-Eroding Forest once more. He grew increasingly cautious along the way, concealing his presence and tracks, choosing detours rather than taking risks, yet he still encountered attack after attack.

After one dangerous battle after another, the dark yellow sky grew ever dimmer, and at last a silent forest shrouded in gray mist appeared before him.

The Bone-Eroding Forest.

The tree trunks twisted like horned dragons, their bark cracked and peeling. Their branches were bone-white, and not a single green leaf remained. Gray mist drifted slowly, veiling the forest in a hazy shroud that seemed to conceal something indescribably sinister.

Once he entered the forest, the light dimmed instantly. The only sound was the "crack" of dead leaves beneath his feet, jarringly loud in the silence.

He pressed on for half an hour without being attacked, but that very lack of trouble made him all the more wary.

Suddenly, he stopped dead.

A corpse lay among the fallen leaves ahead.

The body wore the inner sect uniform of the Qingyun Sect. Its chest had been pierced by a claw, and its blood had turned black and dried. Its skin was an eerie gray-white, with patches that looked melted and corroded. Broken weapons and an empty storage pouch lay scattered beside it.

It was one of the fellow disciples who had entered the secret realm with him!

Lin Ye's heart sank. He stopped well back from the body. Dried traces of slime and fine crawling marks remained beside it. This hadn't been the work of an ordinary beast.

Something sinister lurked in the darkness, a vicious creature capable of killing a True Qi Realm cultivator at the third level in a single blow, lying in wait in the silent forest and watching every intruder.

Lin Ye's gaze turned cold. He slowly took half a step back, not daring to make a reckless move.

Whatever could silently kill an inner sect disciple at the third level of the True Qi Realm was far more dangerous than the Bloodthirsty Demon Vines.

Holding his breath, he carefully sensed every stir in the surroundings.

The gray mist drifted slowly, and the twisted branches, like dry bones, swayed gently. Everything seemed so peaceful.

The more peaceful it seemed, the stronger Lin Ye's sense of danger grew.

Suddenly—

"Rustle... rustle..."

An extremely faint sound, like countless tiny insects crawling beneath dead leaves, crept toward him from every direction.

It was a dense sound, like the tide, slowly advancing from deep within the forest.

Lin Ye's expression shifted.

They were coming.

He snapped his head up, staring at the bone-white branches overhead.

Through the gray mist, countless bizarre flying insects the size of fingernails emerged from between the branches. Their bodies were pitch-black, and each had two pairs of transparent wings. They swarmed together, blotting out the sky like a black cloud as they swept toward him!

Wherever the swarm passed, the air itself seemed to sizzle faintly with corrosion.

The fellow disciple's corpse on the ground melted at a visible speed the instant the swarm passed over it. In the blink of an eye, only pale, shattered bones remained.

"Bone-Eroding Flying Insects!"

Lin Ye's heart clenched.

These insects swarmed in huge numbers, the true menace of the Bone-Eroding Forest. Once they caught someone, they could devour them until not a bone remained in an instant.

The swarm was upon him. There was nowhere to run!

Lin Ye's gaze sharpened. True Qi erupted from his entire body as he swung the Azure Edge Sword in a horizontal slash!

"Wind-Thunder Slash!"

Blue sword light tore through the mist and cleaved into the swarm.

A swathe of flying insects was shredded by the Sword Qi and fell to the ground, but even more surged forward fearlessly, ready to engulf him completely.

At this life-or-death moment, the Xuanhuang Token at Lin Ye's waist suddenly grew scorching hot!

An aura that seemed to suppress all things silently spread from the token.

The Bone-Eroding Flying Insects about to swarm over him seemed to have encountered their natural enemy. They shrieked sharply and retreated in a frenzy, daring not approach another step!

Lin Ye froze.

Could the Xuanhuang Token really frighten even the secret realm's vicious insects?

Before he could think it through, a faint Xuanhuang light suddenly shot from the token, flying straight into the dense forest ahead!

The next instant, a deafening beast's roar rang out from deep in the forest, filled with pain and fury!

Lin Ye jerked his head up.

Where the mist churned, an enormous shadow slowly opened a pair of crimson eyes and fixed them on him.

The real terror wasn't these flying insects.

It was the thing lurking deep in the Bone-Eroding Forest, controlling everything...