Returning with a Full Haul, Upheaval Deep in the Secret Realm

In the abandoned mine, the twenty-odd elite class students who had been hanging by a thread moments ago were all looking at Su Bai as though he were a living King of Hell.

One person, one vehicle, one female ghost, one flight of stairs.

In less than five minutes, he had thoroughly dealt with more than a dozen second-tier mercenaries and a third-tier deputy commander, leaving not even a scrap of bone behind!

Was this guy really a high school student? He was an abyssal demon god in a school uniform!

"S-scan the code..." The fat boy who called himself the richest man's son swallowed, pulled out his phone with trembling hands, and shakily scanned Su Bai's QR code.

"Alipay payment received: one million yuan."

The crisp electronic notification rang through the empty mine.

Su Bai nodded in satisfaction and looked at the others.

"Everyone, your lives are your own, but money is just a worldly possession. Besides, this secret realm is crawling with mercenaries now. If you don't have the money to pay protection fees, I can't guarantee that some other monsters won't come looking for a chat later."

Su Bai smiled as he threatened them.

The students didn't dare utter a word of refusal. They hurried to pull out their phones, terrified that paying too slowly would upset this living ancestor.

"Alipay payment received: one million yuan."

"WeChat payment received: one million yuan."

In less than ten minutes, over twenty million yuan in cash had landed directly in Su Bai's pocket.

Su Bai looked at the long string of digits on his phone, his heart blooming with joy.

"This secret realm really is a great place. Not only can I stock up, I can make money too. I give the Gu Family full marks for this move."

After collecting the money, Su Bai waved his hand.

"All right, you're safe now. Follow this road back, find somewhere safe to hide, and the teleportation array will open on its own once the three days are up."

The students fled toward the exit of the mine as though granted a pardon, scrambling and stumbling over themselves, afraid Su Bai would change his mind and drag them onto that terrifying ghost bus too.

Only after they had left did Lin Que and Shen Yueli jump down from the cliff.

Lin Que looked at Su Bai, his eyes filled with fervent admiration.

"Brother Bai! You're awesome! A third-tier expert! And you just made him disappear like that?!"

"Relax. Basic moves, no need for applause." Su Bai waved a hand and turned his gaze to the diversion array at the center of the mine, which he had already half destroyed.

Although he had pulled out the bone pillars, the mass of dark red blood at the center of the array was still giving off an eerie fluctuation.

Shen Yueli stepped forward and examined the mass of blood closely, her expression turning grave.

"Su Bai, something's wrong."

"Even though you destroyed this diversion array, the students' blood and divine power it absorbed earlier have already seeped down along the earth veins."

Shen Yueli closed her eyes and sensed the spiritual power fluctuations around them.

"I can feel an immense, evil energy awakening in the deepest part of the canyon. The Blood Wolf Mercenary Corps' plan might not have been completely stopped."

Su Bai rubbed his chin.

"You mean that 'Mist Lord' or whatever might still wake up?"

Shen Yueli nodded. "And once it awakens, it'll seal off the spatial barrier around the entire secret realm. When that happens, even when the time is up, the teleportation array won't be able to open. We'll all be trapped here until we die."

Hearing that, Lin Que went pale with fright.

"Th-then let's hurry and run! We can find somewhere to hide. Once the teachers at school realize something's wrong, they'll definitely send a True God powerhouse to save us!"

Su Bai, however, shook his head, excitement gleaming in his eyes.

"Run? Why would we run?"

"Fatty, think about it. That's a companion Anomaly with one foot in the fourth tier!"

"Do you know how much a Fourth Tier Anomaly's corpse and origin can sell for on the black market? Do you know how much my Forbidden Hospital could level up if I swallowed it into my Divine Kingdom?"

Su Bai licked his lips like a wolf that had gone hungry for three days and spotted some top-grade Wagyu beef.

"If I let the school's teachers steal the kill on a gift package dropped from heaven like that, it'd hurt so much I wouldn't sleep for days."

Su Bai turned to look at Shen Yueli.

"Class monitor, lead the way. Let's go meet this 'Mist Lord.'"

Shen Yueli looked at Su Bai's crazed expression and sighed helplessly.

She realized that ever since she had met Su Bai, the worldview she had built over the past decade and more had been crumbling bit by bit.

When other people encountered a high-tier Anomaly, they thought about how to escape with their lives.

When this guy encountered a high-tier Anomaly, he thought about how to stock up!

"All right. But we need to be careful. The Blood Wolf Mercenary Corps' commander, 'Blood Wolf,' is said to be a ruthless figure who's also a Half-Step Fourth Tier. If the Mist Lord awakens, he'll definitely be there too," Shen Yueli warned.

"Half-Step Fourth Tier?" Su Bai sneered. "Perfect. The Thirteen Steps could use an old gatekeeper."

Without further hesitation, the three followed the fluctuations of energy along the earth veins, advancing rapidly toward the deepest part of Mist Canyon.

Meanwhile.

Outside the secret realm, in the monitoring hall of Linhai No. 3 Middle School.

"Beep, beep, beep-!!!"

Shrill alarms echoed wildly throughout the hall.

The images on several enormous holographic screens, which had shown the situation inside the secret realm, had all turned to static.

"What's going on?!" Principal Chen Tianxing sprang to his feet, his face livid.

The teacher in charge of monitoring worked frantically at the console, sweat pouring down his face.

"Principal! This is bad! An incredibly terrifying energy fluctuation erupted deep in Mist Canyon, severing our connection to the monitoring array inside the secret realm!"

"And... and according to the last data we received, the secret realm's spatial barrier is being forcibly sealed by some kind of power. The emergency teleportation talismans have all stopped working!"

At those words, the entire hall fell deathly silent.

Qin Wan's face went deathly pale. She swayed and nearly fell.

"A spatial lockdown... only Fourth Tier power or higher can do that! How could there be a being of that level in Mist Canyon?!"

Chen Tianxing stared fixedly at the static-filled screens, veins bulging on the hand gripping his cane.

"It's the Mist Lord... that sealed beast has awakened!"

"The Gu Family! What a fine Gu Family!" Chen Tianxing abruptly turned toward Gu Qingshan and Wang Hai, whose expressions had also changed dramatically nearby. Undisguised killing intent erupted in his eyes.

"You actually awakened a monster like that just to kill one student! Do you want the thousands of students in there to be buried with him?!"

Gu Qingshan was panicking too.

His orders to the Blood Wolf Mercenary Corps had only been to use the diversion array to create a small-scale beast tide and kill Su Bai in the chaos.

He had never ordered them to awaken the Mist Lord!

"Principal Chen! Don't spew venomous accusations! This was definitely an accident!" Gu Qingshan argued, but the cold sweat on his forehead had already betrayed him.

"An accident? Once I force the secret realm open and uncover the truth, if the Gu Family really did this, I, Chen Tianxing, swear I'll flatten your family's gates!"

Chen Tianxing roared, and a terrifying True God Level pressure erupted, blasting the roof clean off the monitoring hall.

"All teachers at the Demigod level or above, hear my order! Follow me to Mist Canyon outside the city! We'll force the array open!"

Chen Tianxing became a streak of light and shot into the sky.

Qin Wan and the other teachers summoned their followers and hurried after him.

Gu Qingshan watched Chen Tianxing's departing figure, his expression shifting.

"Grand Elder, what do we do now?" Wang Hai asked, trembling.

"What are you panicking for?" Gu Qingshan gritted his teeth. "With the Mist Lord awake, the people inside definitely won't survive. Su Bai is as good as dead. As long as the dead can't testify, what can Chen Tianxing do to the Gu Family, even if he knows we did it?"

"Contact the family immediately and gather our people. If Chen Tianxing really wants to turn against us, the Gu Family is no pushover!"

Inside the secret realm.

At the deepest part of Mist Canyon lay a vast basin known as the "Eye of the Abyss."

The entire basin was now shrouded in black miasma so thick it could scarcely be dispersed.

At the center of the basin, a massive blood-colored altar over ten meters tall gave off a sickening stench of blood.

Over a hundred students' corpses lay scattered around the altar. Their blood had been drained, gathering into rivers that flowed toward its center.

A man in a blood-red robe and a wolf-head mask stood atop the altar, gazing fanatically at the violently squirming black ball of flesh at its center.

He was Blood Wolf, commander of the Blood Wolf Mercenary Corps and a Half-Step Fourth Tier powerhouse!

"Soon... very soon..."

Blood Wolf's voice was filled with endless madness.

"As long as the Mist Lord fully awakens, I can use the Soul Control Contract to forcibly make it submit as my companion Anomaly!"

"Then I'll be a true Fourth Tier True God! Who in Linhai City will be able to stop me?!"

Blood Wolf spread his arms and threw back his head, laughing wildly.

However.

Just as he was dreaming his beautiful dream of becoming a god.

A crisp, ill-timed voice suddenly came from the mist at the edge of the basin.

"Yo, uncle, daydreaming here in the middle of the night?"

"That's a pretty distinctive altar you've built. An illegal structure, isn't it? Do you have a permit from the City Appearance Bureau?"

Blood Wolf's laughter stopped abruptly.

He whipped his head around toward the voice.

A boy in a school uniform was strolling out of the mist with two followers, one fat and one thin.

The boy held a rusty machete in his hand. As he looked at the squirming black ball of flesh at the center of the altar, his eyes held no fear. Instead, they burned with the fervor of someone who had spotted an unparalleled treasure.

"You're Su Bai?" Blood Wolf narrowed his eyes, a trace of wariness flashing through them.

He had already sensed Poison Wolf's death through the shattering of his life token. Anyone who could kill Poison Wolf was definitely no ordinary high school student.

"That's me." Su Bai readily admitted it.

He pointed at the ball of flesh on the altar and said with a smile.

"Uncle, how about we make a deal? I've taken a fancy to that thing and plan to take it home to make soup. Name your price. I'm a very reasonable person."

Blood Wolf froze for a moment, then laughed in extreme anger.

"Arrogant brat! You think killing that useless Poison Wolf gives you the right to act so brazenly in front of me?"

"Since you've delivered yourself to my door, I'll use your blood to complete this final sacrifice!"

Blood Wolf roared, and the terrifying pressure of a Half-Step Fourth Tier erupted.

Behind him, the phantom of a two-headed blood wolf ten meters tall threw back its heads and howled, then lunged straight at Su Bai with world-destroying momentum!

Faced with this terrifying blow, enough to instantly kill an ordinary third-tier expert.

Su Bai didn't even move. He merely snapped his fingers.

"Hongdou, school bus, steps."

"Everyone, move out. Give this commander a session."