The Extreme Realm: Failure Meant Death

He returned to his room.

Lin Tian sat cross-legged on the bed, holding the invisible mask.

"Was this a chance opportunity, or..."

He felt somewhat lost, not knowing how to use the mask.

A long while passed.

Lin Tian gritted his teeth, raised the mask, and pressed it onto his face.

Hiss!

Lin Tian clenched his teeth, feeling as though a jellyfish had stung his face.

His skin was pierced, and a few drops of blood seeped into the mask.

Gradually, blood spread across the mask.

At last, it became visible, turning into a blood-red mask.

Then faint spatial ripples spread around Lin Tian.

The next moment, the view before Lin Tian changed.

What appeared before his eyes was a lake.

A thin mist like blue smoke drifted over the lake; gazing toward the distant hills, he could only vaguely make out their gray silhouettes.

Lin Tian stood quietly on the lake, looking toward the pavilion at its center.

There, two men who also wore masks were chatting over a game.

Seeing Lin Tian arrive, one of the men stood up.

"A newcomer actually came? Didn't you say the Extreme Realm only gets a newcomer once in a long while?"

The man speaking wore a mask marked with flames, and his clothes were red as well.

The other man wore blue robes, with a pattern resembling ice crystals on one corner of his mask.

"Where is this?"

Lin Tian murmured, breathing a sigh of relief at the same time.

Judging by the current situation, the mask should belong to the category of chance opportunities.

"This is the Extreme Realm. We're all cultivators who obtained masks through chance and coincidence and came here."

The man in the flame mask spoke with a hearty laugh.

With a tap of his toes, he was already in front of Lin Tian.

"The Extreme Realm."

Lin Tian mulled over those words, his mind still digesting the information.

He tightened his grip on his sword. The Heavenly Sword had come here with him.

Soon, the blue-robed man also arrived before Lin Tian.

"Zhenwu. You were actually bestowed the name Zhenwu."

The blue-robed man spoke softly, his mask concealing the look in his eyes.

He held an exquisite folding fan, his blue robes lending him a breezy elegance.

White brocade boots shod his feet, and the long sleeves of his blue robes fluttered in the wind.

"Zhenwu..."

Lin Tian did not quite understand.

The blue-robed man chuckled softly and said:

"There's a sword between the brows of your mask. This is Zhenwu's mask. The previous Zhenwu fell two years ago. After his death, this mask disappeared as well. Now that I see it again today, I never expected it to have chosen you."

Lin Tian frowned and leaned down to look at the water.

The surface of the lake reflected his current appearance.

His figure was like a jade tree, with faint traces of pale red on his white clothes.

His black hair had grown very long after going untended for so long.

Neither tied nor bound, it hung loose behind him, gleaming.

The mask on his face was scarlet, and sure enough, an ink-black longsword mark lay between its brows.

Lin Tian pressed his lips together. Only he knew that this mask should not originally have belonged to him.

He had snatched it from Ling Qiuzi.

Shouldn't whatever this mask represented have belonged to Ling Qiuzi instead?

Afterward, Lin Tian asked the two men before him about a few more things.

He learned that the red-robed man's code name was Great Emperor of the North Pole.

The blue-robed man's code name was Azure Emperor.

The Extreme Realm was an organization, and they were all people chosen by it.

They came here to carry out the Extreme Realm's missions.

Once they succeeded, they would receive rewards from the Extreme Realm.

It was rather interesting.

The corners of Lin Tian's lips rose slightly.

He had just been worrying that his advancement over the past few days had been too slow.

"You don't seem very worried?"

The Great Emperor of the North Pole looked at Lin Tian and warned him in an odd voice:

"The Extreme Realm's missions are dangerous. If I hadn't happened to be with Brother Azure Emperor on my last mission, I definitely would've died."

The Azure Emperor lightly tapped the Great Emperor of the North Pole with his folding fan and said with a laugh:

"Wasn't your last mission your first? You held me back that time. Otherwise, I would've done better."

Great Emperor Ziwei gave a sheepish laugh and said no more.

Just then, in a patch of space not far from the three of them.

The void shifted, and a slender figure appeared on the lake.

It was a woman.

Her white dress trailed across the lake's surface, its skirt layered with thin silk gauze.

Her slender waist could fit within a grasp, and a blue jade belt encircled it.

Her figure was graceful, her presence like a secluded orchid.

She wore a white mask marked with a silver crescent moon.

Lin Tian looked over and saw that the woman was staring at him.

The mask had no holes, yet he seemed to sense her astonished gaze.

The atmosphere grew strange. Even the Azure Emperor and the Great Emperor of the North Pole noticed something was amiss.

They looked oddly between the woman and Lin Tian.

"Zhenwu's mask. Is he the new Zhenwu?"

The woman's lovely voice rang out like a murmuring spring, refreshing the heart.

"Yes, he's new. He was just asking us about the Extreme Realm."

The Azure Emperor walked over to the woman and spoke with a smile.

Then he looked toward Lin Tian and introduced her:

"She's Xihe. Like me, she's in the Spirit Sea Realm."

Lin Tian froze. The Spirit Sea Realm.

The Spirit Sea Realm was truly a little distant from him.

And just then.

A beam of red light suddenly appeared on the horizon, and a mighty voice resounded through the clouds.

"Ziwei, Zhenwu."

"In the Ink Abyss Forest of the Sword Capital, an ancient Kui Bull has awakened, spawning over ten thousand Thunder Bulls."

"Most Thunder Bulls are second- or third-tier."

"Go swiftly and slaughter them. Slay a thousand, and the mission will be deemed a success."

"Failure means death."

"Time limit: six hours."

When the voice ended, all four people standing on the lake froze slightly.

"A Kui Bull has awakened? Why haven't I heard of this?"

The Azure Emperor frowned, his voice filled with astonishment.

"A Kui Bull is an ancient fierce beast. The Thunder Bulls it spawns should be more terrifying than ordinary second-tier fierce beasts."

Xihe spoke, then looked toward Lin Tian and fell silent.

"What a pity. The Kui Bull is an ancient fierce beast. It would be wonderful to obtain a drop of its blood essence. But the Sword Capital is too far from me. I simply can't get there in time."

The Azure Emperor sounded somewhat disappointed, while Xihe said nothing.

Since they all wore masks, their expressions could not be seen.

Beside them, Ziwei had remained silent.

Only after a long while did he cry out.

"I'm doomed! I'm only in the Mystic Pill Realm, and you want me to slaughter a thousand second- and third-tier fierce beasts?"

"Ahaha, I'm finished."

As Ziwei spoke, he looked at the silent Lin Tian beside him and slapped him hard on the shoulder.

"Zhenwu, we're taking part in this mission together. My strength is meager, so the mission must be this difficult because you're strong. I'm at Mystic Core Third Level. What realm are you in?"

After Ziwei finished speaking, Xihe and the Azure Emperor also looked at Lin Tian.

They were both somewhat curious.

The Extreme Realm's masks could blur others' perceptions, so they had no way of knowing anyone else's cultivation.

"The Body Opening Realm."

Lin Tian answered calmly.

All at once, no one spoke.

Ziwei's hand trembled on Lin Tian's shoulder, then drooped limply.

"Heaven wants me dead."

Ziwei let out a wail.

Beneath his mask, the Azure Emperor's expression was complicated. Then he said:

"That makes sense. Zhenwu is a newcomer, so he wouldn't be too strong. It's just that this first mission is a little too difficult."

Lin Tian said nothing, but inwardly, he was wild with joy.

What he wanted now was slaughter.

If the other three knew what Lin Tian was thinking, they would probably be shocked.

Just then, a fragrant breeze swept past.

At the same time.

Waves began rippling across the lake nearby.

Splash.

A layer of lake water began rising, eventually transforming into a water gate shimmering with ripples.

"Ziwei, Zhenwu, depart immediately!"

The mighty voice rang out once more.

A sense of danger arose from the depths of Lin Tian's heart.

Somehow, Lin Tian sensed that if he did not go now, he would be punished.

Without thinking any further, he strode toward the water gate.

"Brother, wait for me."

Ziwei called out, hurriedly keeping pace with Lin Tian.

Their voices passed through the water gate and vanished from this world.

"Alas, their journey is perilous in the extreme."

The Azure Emperor sighed, seeming to have already guessed Lin Tian and Ziwei's fate.

"Perhaps. It's not as though we've never seen anyone die on their first mission."

Xihe spoke without taking it too much to heart.

"You should already have obtained the Innate Dao Body's spiritual essence, right?"

The Azure Emperor looked at Xihe and asked.

Xihe slowly shook her head.

The Azure Emperor froze, then said gravely:

"Xihe, you still haven't obtained the Innate Dao Body's spiritual essence? If you don't seize it soon, the origin of your Great Dao will be damaged."

Xihe shifted her gaze away from Lin Tian and said:

"The Innate Dao Body you found for me last time has disappeared, but he probably isn't dead."

The Azure Emperor gave a soft exclamation and said:

"No wonder. I saw his name on the Azure Sword Stele. I thought you'd already taken his spiritual essence and taught him the sword Dao as an apology."

As he spoke, the Azure Emperor suddenly stopped.

"Then that person comprehending the sword Dao so quickly had nothing to do with you?"

Xihe nodded. Light flashed in her slender hand, and a pill appeared.

"So I came today to ask you to help me find him."

Looking at the pill in Xihe's hand, the Azure Emperor's pupils contracted beneath his mask.

He accepted the pill, formed finger gestures, and chanted silently.

Runes radiating halos of light appeared behind him, revolving through a celestial cycle.

Suddenly, the Azure Emperor's expression changed drastically.

The Azure Emperor spat out a mouthful of blood.

"What's wrong?"

Xihe asked.

"I can't divine it. Someone powerful has concealed his presence."

Blood seeped through the gap between his mask and his cheek, and the Azure Emperor swept a hand across it, wiping the blood away.