Otherworld

Meng Bo had barely finished speaking when he suddenly charged at Lin Xia.

"Thump!"

Lin Xia's expression was icy as he caught Meng Bo's sandbag-sized fist.

If they joined forces, they might have had a chance of survival.

But this guy had actually chosen to attack him?

He didn't want to waste words on such an idiot. He sidestepped and kicked Meng Bo hard, making him cry out in pain and stumble backward, clutching his stomach.

But just then, Lin Xia furrowed his brow. He sensed an aura rushing at him from behind.

"Damn it!"

Lin Xia spun around to defend himself, but he was still a step too late.

The Ghost-Light Lion's claws raked five bloody gashes across his arm!

As expected of a level-five monster. Just one basic attack had Lin Xia grimacing and crying out in pain, and his health bar visibly plummeted. In the blink of an eye, half his health was gone!

Thank goodness he was an SSR-ranked Awakener. An ordinary Awakener might have died from that one blow!

This made Lin Xia realize that he had no room for error. He absolutely couldn't afford to take another hit!

Death in a secret realm was real death!

Seeing this, Meng Bo became even more certain that he wouldn't make it out of here alive.

So he threw himself at Lin Xia once more with all his strength.

Caught between attacks from the front and behind, Lin Xia wanted to take to the air, but discovered that he couldn't use the Dance in the Sky Technique.

Only then did he realize that this secret realm was artificial!

Only an Artificial Secret Realm would have certain [rules] or [restrictions].

Lin Xia's breathing grew heavier, and his body temperature began to rise. "Why does every piece of bad luck have to land on me?"

After complaining, he sidestepped a lion's pounce.

Another lion lunged right after it, and Lin Xia dodged again.

Every time he brushed past a lion, he could feel the intense chill within the ghostly flames covering its body.

Strangely, though the flames were freezing cold, they still burned through Lin Xia's clothes.

After a few more exchanges, his clothes were burned to tatters, leaving him looking like a beggar, while the lions surrounded him on all sides.

"What!?"

Just then, Lin Xia was surprised to discover that Meng Bo, standing outside the Lion Pride, was being ignored by the lions as if he were air!

Their ferocious gazes were fixed solely on him.

Meng Bo looked confused too, but then his face lit up with excitement. "See? Even the monsters know you're going to die before I do!"

The next moment, as if they'd reached an unspoken agreement, he and the Lion Pride leaped into the air at the same time and attacked Lin Xia.

Meanwhile, outside the secret realm.

Xie Feng sighed gravely and said slowly, "I hope the kids don't turn on each other. Otherwise... they really won't have a chance of survival."

At his words, everyone asked why he would say that.

"If the kids work together, they might be able to hold out until we blow up the secret realm. But if they fight among themselves, they'll trigger a hidden mechanism..."

Xie Feng rubbed his forehead and reluctantly explained, "The monsters will prioritize attacking the stronger Awakener. Once they've dealt with the stronger one, they'll turn around and take care of the other Awakener!"

Everyone was shocked to hear this.

They had never heard of this hidden mechanism. After all, Artificial Secret Realms had only appeared in recent years. When they were young, nothing like this had existed.

After their initial shock, though, most of them calmed down. They believed their children wouldn't do something like fight among themselves.

Meng Dahai alone looked worried. Trembling, he sank to the ground and kept praying that Meng Bo would return safely.

As soon as Wu Ziyang entered the Otherworld, a wondrous sight met his eyes.

He seemed to be inside a vast universe, except that the various planets normally scattered around him had been replaced by transparent, cube-shaped spaces.

These six-sided spaces seemed like something from a higher dimension. They intersected and linked together, stretching in every direction and dazzling the eye.

Here, Wu Ziyang was no longer bound by gravity. He could run straight upward as well as vertically downward!

Inside each transparent space was a scene from a secret realm.

Wu Ziyang could clearly see the predicament his classmates were in.

In some secret realms, lions raced through dense forests, roaring as they hunted down classmates fleeing in panic.

In others, the Lion Pride stood motionless. Judging by the two bodies at their feet, the fighting there was already over.

Wu Ziyang couldn't help making a joke. Thank goodness this was an Artificial Secret Realm. If it had been a real one, the lions would have devoured the children's bodies by now.

Soon, he spotted the secret realms where Zhu Tingyu and Liu Yucheng were.

They were fighting side by side with their partners—or, more accurately, they were focused on retreating and keeping their distance.

Clearly, Zhu Tingyu and Liu Yucheng weren't reckless. They knew they were no match for the Lion Pride.

But it was obvious they were in a sorry state, and seemed close to exhausting their strength...

Wu Ziyang had no time to worry about them, though. He had only one target: Lin Xia!

After passing several more spaces, he finally spotted Lin Xia.

Seeing Lin Xia trapped in danger and struggling against a group attack, Wu Ziyang furrowed his brow.

He had discovered that Meng Bo was actually attacking Lin Xia!

"How can anyone be this stupid?"

Wu Ziyang muttered as he quickened his pace.

He was getting closer and closer to the secret realm Lin Xia was in, but suddenly stopped.

"Damn it."

Wu Ziyang narrowed his eyes coldly and tightened his grip on the hilt of his blade.

He glared at the Shadow Figure that had appeared out of thin air and cursed its ancestors to the eighteenth generation in his mind.

The Shadow Figure had a humanlike shape, but no discernible features.

More than thirty years ago, on the day Wu Ziyang had first become an Awakener, he encountered this Shadow Figure after entering the Otherworld.

The Shadow Figure had claimed to be the Guardian of this place, and said that anyone who entered would be executed.

Including Wu Ziyang.

Wu Ziyang couldn't understand it. Entering the Otherworld was part of his Awakening power, so why was he being treated as an intruder?

Of course, the Shadow Figure didn't appear every time.

For example, it hadn't shown up the last time Wu Ziyang had ambushed Lin Xia at school.

"Heh, you're old enough to know better, yet you're still pretending to be young..."

The Shadow Figure's voice was strange. Unless you listened closely, you could barely make out what it was saying. As it sneered, a pair of blades resembling Wu Ziyang's appeared in its hands. "Do you think no one will find out about the killing you've done to regain your youth? Heh, I saw it all clearly, including what you did to those babies..."

"Is that so?" Wu Ziyang heard the threatening words but showed no sign of panic. Instead, he shot back, "And what if you know? You're still trapped in this 'cage' for the rest of your life... like a guard dog!"