Boom!
Brilliant starlight condensed into eight spheres in Wei Yuan's palm, then blasted toward the Crimson Emperor in the sky.
The unassuming orbs erupted with astonishing thunderous booms when they struck the Crimson Emperor, forcing the people below to cover their ears.
Yet after the Crimson Emperor blocked them with one wing, they left only a few faint bruises.
"Is that any way to treat a partner?"
The Crimson Emperor's voice rolled out like thunder.
"There's an old saying in Great Xia that I'm quite fond of: natural selection, survival of the fittest!"
"A secret realm naturally belongs to the strongest. Are you afraid of competition, Wei Yuan?"
Arms crossed, the Crimson Emperor hovered on beating wings, laughing as he regarded Wei Yuan with a mocking expression.
Wei Yuan remained impassive. From his unsurprised expression, he seemed to have anticipated that the Yagu Dynasty would come to fight for it.
After all, Qingcheng wasn't far from the Yagu Dynasty's interworld passage.
But this really wasn't the time to fall out with the Yagu Dynasty. Great Xia had enemies on every side and too many wars to fight already. It couldn't afford another conflict.
Wei Yuan said gravely, "Our Human Race unsealed this secret realm. Does the Yagu Dynasty think it can just waltz in?"
The Crimson Emperor laughed heartily. "We'll return that small secret realm in Dingcheng to you. Consider it our race's admission fee!"
A medium secret realm produced more than ten times as many resources as a small one.
And the larger the secret realm, the greater its chances of producing high-quality items.
Seeing that Wei Yuan hadn't refused, the Crimson Emperor led several royal Half-Dragons down to the secret realm's entrance, letting out a confident, wild laugh as though everything was under his control.
It was as if he were making a deal to trade a small secret realm for a medium one.
"Hahahaha! That's more like it!"
The Crimson Emperor swept his draconic gaze around, his expression brimming with confidence. "Secret realms should belong to the strongest!"
"By my decree, whenever a secret realm appears in the Yagu Dynasty, Great Xia is welcome to challenge it. We'll turn no one away! Hahaha!"
Their bloodline and dragon physique made royal dragonkin powerful by nature. At lower levels in particular, their strength and constitution far surpassed those of humans.
That was why everyone in the Yagu Dynasty had always been so confident.
At the Yagu Dynasty's arrival, nearly half the guilds immediately withdrew from the competition for the secret realm.
"Every one of those Half-Dragons is practically on par with a Legendary warrior... We don't stand a chance!"
"Let's not waste our time..."
Yet as countless people left, the five-person team led by Yi Tian pushed against the flow and finally arrived!
At the sight of the Other Races, Bai Qiu Li's icy gaze sharpened, and she translated for Yi Tian:
"Boss, this dragon says we can go grab secret realms in the Yagu Dynasty whenever we like!"
"Oh?" Yi Tian immediately perked up and teased, "The Yagu Dynasty sounds pretty friendly..."
Jiang Che scratched his head. "I might not be well educated, but judging by everyone else's faces, that doesn't sound quite right."
Ye Xiu, who was equally fluent in the Other Races' language, confirmed:
"As far as we're concerned, that's exactly what it means."
Wan Jiang watched the secret realm's entrance intently and said in a low voice, "It's starting!"
As he spoke, the secret realm's entrance officially opened.
The path of starlight solidified, drawing any challenger who approached into the medium secret realm.
"Get ready to move!"
The Earthshaker Team and the five Half-Dragons were the first to rush up to the guiding path.
Immediately afterward, all the teams, including Yi Tian's, entered the secret realm!
In the blink of an eye, Yi Tian and the others were transported into another space.
The five stood on a Levitation Island. Waterfall-like streams of light cascaded from its edges, while broken runes lay scattered across the ground, lending it an ancient air.
[You have entered the medium secret realm trial: Sky Isle Realm.] [Current trial, stage one: kill all monsters on the Levitation Island to clear the stage.]
"Most medium secret realm trials have three stages."
Ye Xiu, who had studied secret realms extensively, spoke up. "Looks like the first stage is a monster-clearing race."
It was a fairly common trial format. Most secret realms had a first stage like this.
But after last night's hellish dungeon-grinding session, Ye Xiu, Bai Qiu Li, and the others couldn't have been more familiar with monster-clearing tactics!
As their tactical commander, Ye Xiu set aside his usual laid-back manner.
After surveying the surrounding terrain, he quickly gave his orders:
"Move out. Converging pulls."
"Got it."
"Boss, just find somewhere to rest. Jiang Che will stay behind to protect you."
"...All right."
Jiang Che: "...?"
With that, Ye Xiu, Bai Qiu Li, and Wan Jiang raced off in different directions.
Unlike Withered Wind Canyon, Levitation Island had no natural ravines for gathering monsters, so the team members had to draw aggro separately and bring the monsters together!
Meanwhile, after reaching level 20, Ye Xiu's [Multi-Shadow Clone] could now produce twenty clones.
He still handled most of the pulling himself.
Controlling twenty clones at once was no ordinary challenge, but for Ye Xiu, micromanagement was his "comfort zone."
Rumble-
From over a dozen directions around the circular Levitation Island, Ye Xiu's clones, along with Wan Jiang and Bai Qiu Li, drew all the monsters toward its center!
This was the core of Ye Xiu's converging-pull tactic:
Bring every monster's path together at a single intersection, then blanket it with firepower.
"Divine Punishment Thunder Domain!"
The Thousand-Mechanism Umbrella in Ye Xiu's hand transformed into a Mythic staff, and terrifying lightning descended from the sky like the overwhelming wrath of heaven.
Boom!
Nearly half the monsters at the intersection were wiped out in an instant.
As Ye Xiu rose from level 10 to level 20, his stats had more than doubled. With the buffs added in, his combat power had soared!
"Cold Moon Sword Dance!"
"Spear Shadow Formation!"
After last night's hellish dungeon practice, Bai Qiu Li and Wan Jiang had mastered the timing of their attacks.
In moments, three waves of AoE skills wiped out every monster in the first stage!
Seeing Ye Xiu's "single-pull" strategy for the first time, Yi Tian couldn't help marveling:
Compared with other teams' method of bulldozing their way through, Ye Xiu's single-pull strategy was simply on another level!
Of course, their overwhelmingly powerful skills also gave them an advantage.
Operating at peak efficiency, Ye Xiu said without hesitation, "Stage two!"
After the secret realm opened, the illusory Levitation Island transformed into a formation disk resembling a holographic projection.
It displayed each team's live racing progress in the form of a progress bar.
Most of those who had given up on entering the secret realm lingered there, eager to watch the fierce competition for this medium secret realm.
"Holy shit, the Yagu Dynasty's Half-Dragons and the Earthshaker Team are clearing monsters so fast!"
Someone cried out in surprise, prompting agreement from those around them.
Standing at the very front, Wei Yuan and the Crimson Emperor had noticed it too.
The Yagu Dynasty and the Earthshaker Team had begun clearing monsters immediately upon entering the first stage, their progress bars shooting past thirty percent.
That was well within the two supreme powerhouses' expectations.
What puzzled Wei Yuan, however, was that Yi Tian's team's progress bar had stayed at 0% for quite some time.
"What is he..."
Before he could finish, Yi Tian's team's monster-clearing progress bar suddenly surged!
In just a second or two, it shot straight from 0% to 98%, 99%, and 100%!
"Huh?!" Surprise flashed in Wei Yuan's eyes.
Likewise, everyone watching, including the Crimson Emperor, stared wide-eyed in disbelief!
"Seriously, dude, are they cheating?"
"Even cheats wouldn't make you much faster than that!"
"What team is this? They're insane! How come I've never heard of them..."
Cries of amazement rang out endlessly among the spectators.
The Crimson Emperor's expression, by contrast, darkened slightly.
But the next moment, after Yi Tian's team cleared the first stage, the setting for the second stage unlocked.
Five small Levitation Islands appeared in the next area!
Each small Levitation Island held a miniboss.
That meant they had to kill all five minibosses on their separate islands to clear the stage.
At the sight, the Crimson Emperor's gloomy expression brightened, and a slight grin spread across his lips.
The other spectators, including the military personnel, were indignant:
"Damn it! This second stage gives the Yagu Dynasty way too much of an advantage!"
"Exactly. Their Half-Dragons are all powerful individually. The five of them can even challenge all five minibosses at once!"
"The Earthshaker Team has a healer, a support, and a tank. They'll have to take them on one at a time no matter what. They're bound to be much slower!"
"It's not just the Earthshaker Team. Every class-user team is the same!"
"Unless every member of a team can tear a miniboss apart on their own. But teams usually need healers, tanks, and other roles too. How could that possibly work..."
Before you continue