After stepping into the glowing portal, before his eyes appeared:
[Constitution: Lunar Phoenix Body of Supreme Yin.]
[Cultivation Realm: Inner Breath Jade Liquid Realm.]
[Destiny: Crimson (Bearing Emperor’s Bone, with Profound Ice as Fate, Autumn Water as Spirit, and the Visage of a Heavenly Phoenix.)]
[Evaluation: A fate riddled with calamities, yet always turning misfortune into fortune. Though still fledgling, when the winds of change arise, she shall soar above the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths, reigning supreme across all realms.]
[Recent Encounter: Failed to seize the Blood Phoenix Essence. Upon entering the third layer of the secret realm, she will suffer severe injuries.]
Was the system malfunctioning?
The highest cultivation level in this secret realm was only the Observation Divine Realm.
She would fail? And even suffer severe injuries?
Before he could finish uttering that single word, the bloody glow at the entrance of the secret realm suddenly surged, engulfing everyone present and pulling them inside.
The bloody radiance resembled countless bubbles, carrying them through an endless darkness and scattering them across different locations.
When Li Mo opened his eyes again, it felt as though he had been transported to an ancient battlefield.
The world here was vast and boundless, the sky dim as if weeping. A bone-chilling wind howled, carrying the mournful wails of wandering spirits, sending shivers down one’s spine.
This place seemed to have once witnessed an extremely brutal battle.
Before the conflict, it might have been a lush forest, but now only countless blackened, withered branches remained, silently clawing at the heavens.
"The Blood Phoenix Secret Realm is no place of benevolence."
Li Mo sensed the restless stirring of the Karmic Flames within his dantian.
The Karmic Flames only reacted this way in the presence of lands steeped in malevolence or individuals of extreme wickedness.
Under normal circumstances, as long as he didn’t draw his hammer, Ying Bing should have no match within this secret realm.
Which meant that she must have encountered some unforeseen variable—one likely tied to the secret realm itself.
Lost in thought, Li Mo stepped down, crushing a beast’s bone beneath his foot with a crisp snap.
"The spiritual energy here is far denser than the outside world."
"Could it be because of that... Blood Phoenix Essence?"
Just as this thought crossed his mind—
The heavens trembled. The previously dim stars suddenly blazed with light.
Across the vast sky, enormous, starkly written characters appeared, visible to all:
[The heavens are unkind, treating all beings as straw dogs.]
[To achieve the pinnacle of martial arts, one must tread upon countless bones!]
[First Trial of the Secret Realm: Kill.]
[Only the top fifty will qualify to advance to the next layer.]
The words on the sky were few, yet each radiated a chilling killing intent.
The message was brutally simple:
Hunt exotic beasts and collect their tokens.
Only the top fifty would earn the right to proceed further.
Everyone who read these words felt their hearts tighten.
The rules spoke of hunting beasts, but with a limited quota.
What would happen to those outside the top fifty?
Killing a beast yielded only one token, but killing a person... well, that was a different story.
These layered rules undeniably transformed this place into a dark forest—where one must not only hunt beasts but also guard against treachery.
The secret realm had deliberately separated everyone upon entry, preventing any alliances.
The sky shifted once more.
Names began appearing on the celestial scroll, but only the top fifty.
Clearly, those whose names remained on the list by the end would earn passage to the next layer.
"Getting on this list means becoming everyone’s target."
"Best get to work first."
Li Mo pulled out a small notebook from his robes.
He wasn’t in a hurry to hunt for tokens. The opportunities within the secret realm mattered little to him—as long as he could advance to the next layer, that was enough.
Securing returns on his investments was the true priority.
Yet, contrary to his expectations, he hadn’t walked far when—
The bones on the ground suddenly stirred without wind, piecing themselves together into the complete skeleton of a beast—resembling some bear-like creature.
From its hollow eye sockets, a bloody glow ignited, locking onto Li Mo with a ravenous hunger for flesh and life.
"Its aura is roughly at the Mystic Core Realm."
"Without flesh, it’s tougher than an ordinary Mystic Core beast. If they gather in numbers, even an Observation Divine Realm cultivator could be threatened."
As Li Mo assessed the skeletal bear’s strength—
The ground shook as the beast lunged.
Its charge was like a tempest, crushing boulders in its path to dust.
A single swipe of its paw carried the force of wind and thunder, terrifying in its momentum.
Yet when it slammed down, it struck nothing.
The tiny figure it had targeted had vanished without a trace.
"A mere Mystic Core beast? Taste my blade!"
The Scarlet Sky Sword left its sheath with a resonant hum, its blade light coiling like a soaring dragon. Flames erupted, illuminating the darkness for dozens of meters.
Have you ever witnessed a sword technique descending from the heavens?
Li Mo’s swordsmanship was no joke.
Though he lacked the monstrous talent of a sword prodigy, his daily "training" between the ice block (Ying Bing) and the little Jiang Princess had honed him relentlessly.
It was like grinding practice problems every day.
In his past life, there were "small-town problem-solving experts."
Now, he could proudly call himself the greatest "small-town swordsmanship expert"!
A superior sword technique, fueled by Karmic Flames, unleashed power beyond its usual limits.
Dozens of sword beams crisscrossed through the air.
The skeletal bear froze mid-motion—before exploding in a dazzling blaze.
Li Mo landed gracefully, Scarlet Sky in hand, not even sparing a glance at the fireworks behind him.
Internally, however, he cheered:
"Holy smokes, that was cool!"
Even more satisfying than pulling off a flawless play as Yasuo or Li Bai.
"Guess I’m just a little show-off at heart."
After mocking himself, Li Mo tightened his grip on the sword, patted the hammer hidden beneath his robes, and strode into the darkness.
Before a deep, shadowy cave.
A young woman stood enveloped in radiant mist, her dark hair dancing lightly in the breeze. The moisture in the air crystallized into shimmering fragments, drifting down around her.
The mist flowed outward, guided by her inner breath, spreading in all directions.
"The Blood Phoenix Essence isn’t in the first layer."
"I must proceed further."
Ying Bing opened her eyes, her gaze piercing through the void like clear ice.
She raised the Frost Sky Sword, its jade-like blade pointing into the cave’s abyss.
Within that darkness—where even light seemed unable to penetrate—hisses and screeches echoed.
Countless enormous skeletal bats emerged, numbering in the dozens. The weakest exuded the aura of the Inner Breath Jade Liquid Realm, while the largest skeleton, wreathed in faint ghostly light, neared the Observation Divine Realm.
In life, these creatures had been known as:
For a moment, the cave entrance was overrun with spectral horrors.
But the next instant—
A dazzling radiance erupted, purging all shadows.
The rankings in the sky shifted abruptly.
A single name skyrocketed to the top.
1st Place: Ying Bing – Tokens Collected: 27.
Gasps and exclamations erupted throughout the secret realm.
"How has she already hunted twenty-seven beasts in such a short time?"
"Could she have just... stumbled upon them?"
"Did you see? She didn’t climb the ranks—she shot straight to the top in an instant!"
"So, she annihilated all those skeletal beasts in the blink of an eye?!"