Zhao Wuji in the Secret Realm

At the entrance to the Secret Realm.

"Zhao Wuji, I'll say it again: think this through. You'll be the first to enter this Secret Realm, so we don't know what trials or dangers await. Take this Innate Soul Power Pill. Once you're inside, don't rush into a trial. Take the pill first. When it's time to choose a Soul Ring, judge by what your body can withstand. The rules they follow on the continent won't help you much. I reckon you'll be able to handle one from a Soul Beast seventy or eighty thousand years old. Since you've made up your mind, go."

Yang Xiu gave Zhao Wuji an Innate Soul Power Pill.

"Don't worry, Sect Master. Old Zhao won't let you down."

Yang Xiu waved a hand.

"It doesn't matter whether you complete a trial. Just come back alive. Even if you gain nothing in the Secret Realm, that pill alone will make you a Titled Douluo one day, as long as you survive."

Zhao Wuji hadn't known the pill was so powerful, and his eyes grew damp. He had always valued loyalty deeply. He might act like a fool sometimes, but he was far from stupid. He knew who treated him well. He said earnestly,

"I will, Sect Master."

"Go, then. Remember what I said."

Zhao Wuji leaped into the Sect Secret Realm and vanished.

After what felt like an eternity of the world spinning around him, Zhao Wuji landed in a valley. A voice suddenly rang out in his mind, accompanied by a series of images.

"I am the Secret Realm Spirit. Zhao Wuji has been identified as a native of Douluo Continent and a disciple of the Flame Emperor Sect. His level of seventy meets the requirements. Please undertake a mission. Complete one mission to claim its reward and leave. You may complete no more than three missions."

Mission targets would be generated by the Secret Realm Spirit after a mission was accepted.

Mission 1: Kill an eighty-thousand-year-old bear-type Soul Beast. Reward: a Trait. (Upon fusion, you will randomly gain a Trait suited to you.)

Mission 2: Obtain an Attribute-less Immortal Herb guarded by a level eighty-two Soul Douluo. Use any method you can.

Mission 3: Kill a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast. Reward: a Soul Ring Experience Pill (1,000 years).

Mission 4: Kill a twenty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. Reward: a Soul Ring Experience Pill (10,000 years).

Mission 5: Defeat your mirror image. Reward: one Soul Power Pill.

Mission 6: Kill a thousand-year-old Soul Beast. Reward: one Sect Uniform.

Mission 7: Defeat a control-type Soul Saint. Reward: one Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone.

Mission 19: Defeat a fifty-thousand-year-old Great Strength Vajra Bear. Reward: a Soul Ring (50,000–99,999 years). Note: the Soul Ring may only be used during this trial.

Mission 31: Defeat a fifty-thousand-year-old Great Strength Vajra Bear. Reward: Great Strength Vajra Bear Claws, an External Soul Bone.

There were thirty-six missions in all, and he could choose only three. The Trait from the first mission was especially tempting. The Sect Master had told him about Traits. But when Zhao Wuji saw that he had to kill an eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast, not merely defeat it, he knew his own limits and gave up on the idea. He couldn't even beat one. Kill it?

Zhao Wuji began to think.

Mission 19 was a must. Mission 31 had the same target, and its External Soul Bone reward was practically made for him, so he had to choose that too. That left just one mission. Many offered rich rewards, but after weighing his options, he settled on Mission 4. It was simple, and his lower-year Soul Rings contributed less and less to his strength. Raising one of them by ten thousand years would be worthwhile.

Zhao Wuji decided to complete Mission 4 first to strengthen himself, then challenge the fifty-thousand-year-old Great Strength Vajra Bear. That was his plan.

Before any of that, though, he needed to take the Innate Soul Power Pill. He held off on accepting a mission, afraid its target would appear immediately.

Zhao Wuji sat cross-legged and swallowed the pill.

His old injuries were even worse than Hua Xiong's, so the pain he endured was worse than what Hua Xiong had suffered.

Half an hour later.

Zhao Wuji looked as though every drop of water had been wrung from him.

He gasped for breath. "I wonder how much my Innate Soul Power rose. Hah... hah... Cultivating feels much faster."

"My Soul Power has gone up a lot too, but I don't know what level I've reached."

"Damn, that hurt. But it was worth it."

Zhao Wuji stood and clenched his fists.

Then he spoke to the empty air.

"I choose Mission 4."

As soon as he spoke, a twenty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast appeared out of nowhere before him.

Zhao Wuji summoned his Martial Soul at once.

"Gravity Compression!"

"Great Strength Vajra Palm!"

Before the Soul Beast could react, the crushing blow left it half-dead. It could no longer fight back, and Zhao Wuji killed it with ease.

The Soul Beast soon faded away, leaving only a pill suspended in the air.

"Can this pill really increase a Soul Ring's age?"

Zhao Wuji muttered to himself.

He didn't dwell on it. He swallowed the pill.

Once he had absorbed it, he released his Martial Soul again.

"Yellow, black, purple, purple, black, black." He stared at his Soul Rings.

"It actually worked?" Zhao Wuji exclaimed.

Sensing the change in his Soul Power, he grinned foolishly.

Second Soul Skill: Great Strength Vajra Palm. Both hands became bear paws for an attack, increasing heavy-strike power by 30% and attack power by 100%.

"I accept Missions 19 and 31."

A fifty-thousand-year-old Great Strength Vajra Bear appeared before him. Its aura was nearly as strong as Zhao Wuji's. This looked set to be an evenly matched fight.

The two bears stared each other down for a long while.

At last, Zhao Wuji made the first move.

An extraordinary battle, witnessed by no one, unfolded within the Secret Realm.

Half an hour later, both Zhao Wuji and the Soul Beast were battered and wounded. The Soul Beast had taken the worse beating. Soul Beasts over ten thousand years old possessed some intelligence, but Zhao Wuji was still the sharper of the two.

"Hah... hah... huff." Zhao Wuji gulped down air.

"Damn, that feels good."

"But I'm the one who'll win."

"Hundred-Mile Slash!"

Zhao Wuji pulled a Guan Gong Saber from the Soul Tool he carried. In an instant, he appeared above the Great Strength Vajra Bear's head and brought the blade down, cleaving away half its skull. The bear soon vanished, leaving behind a pair of bear claws and a Soul Ring.

Zhao Wuji slumped to the ground.

"That move Big Brother taught me is incredible. Too bad I haven't mastered it. My strike went wide. Otherwise, I'd have taken that bear's whole head off."

The move Zhao Wuji had used was the one Hua Xiong taught him: the same move Hua Xiong had used to kill a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast when they met Hong Tian and his son.

After a short rest, Zhao Wuji began absorbing the Soul Ring and External Soul Bone.

Two hours later, Zhao Wuji opened his eyes where he sat. Golden light flashed within them.

"I went up six levels? That Innate Soul Power Pill was this powerful?"

"The Soul Ring didn't quite reach the Sect Master's expectations. Seventy-eight thousand years, though... that's close enough."

Zhao Wuji scratched his head and chuckled. Clearly, he was pleased with the Soul Ring's age.

He summoned the Great Strength Vajra Bear Claws, his new External Soul Bone, and tested its ability.

Great Strength Vajra Bear Claws — Lethal Attack: Hard bear claws inflict grievous wounds that continue to bleed. Attack +100%; armor penetration +20%.

"I owe the Sect more and more."

"I don't think I'll ever repay it in this lifetime."

If Yang Xiu had been there, he would have noticed that Zhao Wuji's loyalty had reached ninety-five.

"Secret Realm Spirit, send me back."

As soon as Zhao Wuji finished speaking, he vanished and reappeared on the ninth floor of the High Tower. Dragon One, one of the guardians stationed there, sensed his arrival and opened his eyes.

"The Sect Master said to go see him when you came out."

"Thanks, Guardian Dragon One. I'll buy you a drink another day."

Zhao Wuji spoke with a cheerful grin.

Then he went to find Yang Xiu.

At Yang Xiu's villa.

"How did it go? What did you gain?" Yang Xiu asked mildly, a faint smile on his lips. He also saw that Zhao Wuji's Innate Soul Power had reached level nine.

"Sect Master, once I went in, a voice calling itself the Secret Realm Spirit spoke to me. Then a pile of missions appeared in my mind. I could choose up to three, complete them, and claim the rewards."

"Heh, I completed three missions. Thanks to the pill you gave me, I'm level seventy-six now. But I didn't manage the eighty-thousand-year Soul Ring you mentioned. It's only seventy-eight hundred years." As he spoke, Zhao Wuji summoned his Martial Soul.

"Yellow, black, purple, purple, black, black, black."

He held out his hand again. "External Soul Bone."

"Not bad. You've lived up to my expectations."

Zhao Wuji told him more about the missions and how they had gone.

"I didn't expect Hua Xiong to teach you that move. You two must be close."

"Heh. Big Brother treats me well."

"I can see that. Tell him what you gained. You're tired too, so get some rest. Off you go."

"Yes, Sect Master." Zhao Wuji went to find Hua Xiong.

Looks like I have to reach level seventy to get a Trait. I wonder if a system mission might offer one. Otherwise, I'll have to wait.

He paid little mind to what Zhao Wuji had said about the eighty-thousand-year-old Soul Beast. By the time he reached level seventy, he would surely be able to beat one.

Forget it. I'll focus on cultivating. Level seventy is still a long way off. I'll finish the level fifty mission first. The bread and milk will come in time.

With that thought, Yang Xiu began to cultivate.

Eleven months remained before the one-year deadline, and he was already level forty-seven. With his Golden Cultivation Age and aptitude, gaining three more levels would be easy.

Time slipped by without anyone noticing.