Secret Realm Danger, Resolved One by One

The shadow in the mist moved.

It came incredibly fast. The ground no longer trembled at regular seven-breath intervals, but continuously, like drumbeats pounding against my chest. The spiritual power in my palm hadn't dispersed yet, but my body had already reacted, rolling to the right. A gust of wind grazed my left shoulder, the sound of tearing air exploding right by my ear.

It was a claw.

I didn't dare look up, using the momentum to push off the ground and stand. My left hand pushed, shoving the spirit beast to the side. It immediately understood, sliding three zhang along the ground, its horn scraping against the stone with a piercing shriek.

I stopped, facing forward.

A gap opened in the thick fog, and a giant beast stepped out. Its size was like a mountain, its scales shining black, each one looking as if forged from iron. When its four hooves landed, the stone steps sank slightly, cracks spreading out from its feet. Its eyes were crimson, fixed on me.

This was the Guardian Beast.

It let out a low growl, rumbling syllables like muffled thunder emerging from its throat. It raised its forelegs and slammed them down. I leaped backward, recalling my spiritual sense at the same time. As soon as it extended two zhang, it was repelled by a force, my brow throbbing as if I'd hit a wall.

The System chimed in at this moment: [Detected aura of a high-level demonic beast, extremely high defense, weakness located at the spiritual core in the tailbone]

The information flashed by.

I knew how to fight it.

"Keep it busy," I ordered the spirit beast in my mind.

It didn't respond, but the next second it charged. Not head-on, but circling to its left, using its horn to hook the Guardian Beast's hind leg joint. The Guardian Beast turned to pursue, its movements much faster than they appeared. The spirit beast narrowly avoided a sweep, its tail whipping out a gust of wind that knocked it to the ground.

But it didn't stop, immediately getting up and closing in again.

I took the opportunity to retreat to the edge of the stone steps, leaning against the rock wall. The space here was narrower, which could limit its turning radius. I closed my eyes, condensing the remaining spiritual sense into threads, extending them along the ground. Although I could only sense within five zhang, it was enough to judge its movement rhythm.

Before its third pounce, it paused for half a breath.

I remembered that.

The Guardian Beast turned towards the spirit beast again and spat out a shockwave. The airflow spread in a ring, causing the ground to shake. The spirit beast jumped away, but the residual shockwave still hit it, causing it to stumble upon landing.

Now!

I mobilized all the spiritual power within my body, condensing it into a spiral airflow in my palm. This wasn't any advanced cultivation technique, just a basic spirit control skill I'd obtained from a previous quiz, called "Whirlwind Force." The principle was simple—don't meet the opponent's power head-on, but guide it along its direction, making the power backfire.

I waited for it to release the shockwave a second time.

Here it comes.

The instant the air current surged, I pushed my hands forward, the vortex of spiritual power meeting the impact. The moment they touched, I could feel immense resistance, almost being crushed. But I gritted my teeth, maintaining the rotational rhythm, deflecting the airflow bit by bit.

A portion of the energy was guided downward, heavily striking the Guardian Beast's own left hind leg.

It grunted, its knee bending slightly, its movement momentarily sluggish.

Opportunity!

I pushed off the ground and leaped, heading straight for its back. The spirit beast also attacked simultaneously, leaping into the air and using all its strength to slam its horn into the ground. With a boom, the vibrations compounded, the Guardian Beast lost its balance, and its right leg buckled.

Mid-air, I condensed the last of my spiritual power at my fingertips and thrust straight at the weak point in its tailbone.

There, a scale was slightly lighter in color, with broken runes around it—precisely where the System had indicated the spiritual core was.

The moment my finger pierced through, I felt a mixture of hardness and softness. This was followed by a violent tremor, the entire beast's body tensing abruptly, then toppling to one side. Its massive body crashed onto the ground, shaking the stone steps to pieces and kicking up dust.

I landed unsteadily, kneeling on one knee, gasping for breath.

The spirit beast walked over and stood beside me, white mist puffing from its nostrils. It lowered its head and nudged my shoulder, as if confirming I wasn't injured.

I didn't move, my eyes fixed on the Guardian Beast lying on the ground.

It was still breathing, its chest rising and falling slowly, its tail twitching occasionally. Dark liquid seeped from the wound at its tailbone, flowing into the ground through the cracks. I didn't deliver a finishing blow. The System hadn't indicated death, meaning it might just be unconscious, or the secret realm's rules might not allow killing it.

I slowly sat down, leaning against the stone steps to regulate my breathing.

Less than thirty percent of the spiritual power within me remained, and my meridians felt somewhat hot, like fatigue after prolonged exertion. I tried to guide a sliver of spiritual power to circulate within my body and found its speed to be much slower than outside. This place still suppressed cultivators' power; I couldn't stay long.

The spirit beast lay at my feet, its ears twitching occasionally, its gaze vigilant towards the thick fog ahead.

I reached out and touched my storage bag, confirming the jade slip was still there. The detector had been used up, and now I could only rely on myself to move forward. However, the most important thing now was recovery. The previous battle had consumed too much energy; if I encountered another trap or mechanism, I might not be able to hold on.

I took a Spirit Replenishing Pill from the bag and threw it into my mouth. The medicinal effect was gentle, slowly dissolving and replenishing the lost spiritual power. Although not as fast as absorbing it from the outside, it was better than draining away.

Ten breaths later, I could feel the circulation in my meridians smoothing out a bit.

I took two more pills, stopping only when my spiritual power recovered to about fifty percent. Taking more medication would cause a dulling sensation, affecting my state instead.

"How are you?" I asked the spirit beast, looking down.

It raised its head, its eyes clear, a golden pattern flashing on its horn tip. It had also suffered some shock during the battle, but it seemed to have triggered some potential, with golden lines appearing on its body that hadn't faded yet.

It stood up and gently nudged my arm, meaning it could continue.

I nodded, just about to get up, when the System suddenly prompted in my mind again: [Detected a stable path within thirty zhang ahead, recommend proceeding along the right wall]

There was no question, just a simple direction.

It seemed the battle just now had allowed it to gather more data.

I leaned on the stone steps to stand up, stretching my limbs. My knees still felt a bit sore, but it didn't affect my movement. The spirit beast stayed to my right, maintaining a half-step distance, ready to deal with any unexpected situations.

We advanced slowly along the right wall.

The fog was still thick, my vision not extending beyond three steps. I let my spiritual sense trail along the wall, probing ahead, taking one step forward for every inch I confirmed was safe. This way of moving was slow, but steady.

After walking about twenty steps, the ground beneath my feet changed.

It was no longer flagstones, but some kind of gray-white bone material that had a slight springiness underfoot. I crouched down to examine it, discovering that these "floorboards" were actually the fused ribs of some colossal beast, etched with fine patterns on their surface, resembling part of a sealing rune.

The spirit beast suddenly stopped, its nose close to the ground as it sniffed.

I also sensed something was off.

A new scent had entered the air. It wasn't the smell of blood or decay, but something akin to the aroma of metal after it cools. It was faint, but persistent.

I held my breath, concentrating my senses.

There was wind ahead.

Not the natural kind of airflow, but a draft leaking from some crevice, carrying a faint humming sound. This indicated that what lay ahead wasn't just an open space, but possibly a sealed chamber or a mechanism room.

We shuffled forward a few more steps.

Suddenly, the spirit beast yanked me to the left.

My reaction was swift; I immediately rolled to the side. Almost simultaneously, a whistling sound cut through the air above my head. A bone spike shot out from the mist, embedding itself three inches deep into the opposite wall.

The trap had been triggered.

I looked up and realized that grooves had appeared on the walls on both sides at some point, with more bone spikes faintly visible within them every few steps.

If I had taken even half a step further just now, it would have triggered a chain reaction.

Cold sweat broke out on my forehead.

This kind of mechanism wasn't random; it was likely designed to activate upon sensing a living creature approaching. Furthermore, the precise angle of that attack suggested that a formation was controlling its trajectory.

"We can't go any further," I said.

The spirit beast nodded and retreated to my side.

I sat down cross-legged and began to consider how to proceed. A direct assault was out of the question, and my spiritual sense was suppressed, preventing me from scanning the entire area beforehand. The only option was to locate the control array core.

Closing my eyes, I divided my spiritual sense into fine threads, spreading them slowly across the bone floor. Although the range was limited, I could focus on detecting the source of the vibrations. If the mechanism was driven by a central core, there should be energy fluctuations.

After probing three times, I finally detected a slight anomaly beneath the seventh rib on the right side. The temperature there was slightly higher, and there was a very subtle vibrational frequency, matching the rhythm of the bone spike's launch just now.

It was the array core.

I opened my eyes and took out a piece of broken stone from my storage bag. It was just an ordinary stone I'd picked up casually before entering; it had no spiritual power and wouldn't trigger any alarms. I flicked my finger, sending the stone flying towards the spot directly above the array core.

Hummm--

The mechanism activated.

Six bone spikes shot out from both walls simultaneously, all converging on the area around where the stone landed. Once the last spike embedded itself, a system notification appeared: [Mechanism entering cooldown period, interval twelve breaths]

I noted the time.

At the tenth breath, I grabbed the spirit beast and rushed forward. Our steps were light and quick, avoiding all the grooved areas. By the end of the eleventh breath, we had passed safely.

As soon as we landed, the mechanism behind us hummed again, and a new volley of bone spikes shot out.

We didn't stop, continuing forward.

The mist gradually thinned, and a faint light appeared ahead, seemingly emanating from underground. I could feel that the space had expanded, no longer confined to the width of the passage.

The spirit beast suddenly raised its head, looking diagonally ahead.

I saw it too.

A silhouette.

It wasn't large, but it was distinct, standing in the distance. It looked like a stone tablet, or perhaps a door frame.

We walked towards it.

Halfway there, the ground vibrated slightly.

It wasn't a mechanism, nor was it a guardian beast waking up.

It felt more like... something was sinking.