26: Chapter 26 Treasure Hunt in the Secret Realm, Fragments of the Sun-Shooting Bow

The moment they stepped through the spatial crack, a primal and violent aura rushed toward them.

Within the Ten Thousand Beast Ridge Secret Realm, towering ancient trees blotted out the sun, their thick vines coiling around trunks like Dragons. The ground was carpeted in a thick layer of decaying leaves that felt soft underfoot, and the hair-raising roars of exotic beasts echoed from the depths of the dense forest from time to time.

The dense Spiritual Qi permeated the air almost tangibly; a single breath was enough to invigorate the spiritual power within one's Meridians. As soon as Lin Zhou's group of three landed, they couldn't help but take a deep breath, their eyes flashing with amazement.

"The Spiritual Qi in this Secret Realm is more than ten times denser than in the outside world!" Su Ye rubbed his hands together, his face full of excitement. "No wonder everyone says Secret Realms are a paradise for Cultivators. They truly live up to their reputation!"

Qin Yue looked around, her brow slightly furrowed, her cold voice carrying a hint of caution: "Don't be careless. The denser the Spiritual Qi, the stronger the exotic beasts. Moreover, the terrain here is complex, making it easy to fall into an ambush."

Lin Zhou nodded, his sharp gaze sweeping across the surrounding forest. His Celestial Fox Physique had reached a 30% Awakening degree, giving him senses far beyond ordinary people; even the slightest rustle of grass a hundred meters away could not escape his perception.

"Stay close to me, don't get separated," Lin Zhou said in a deep voice, gripping his explosive sniper bow as he took the lead toward the heart of the forest.

Qin Yue and Su Ye immediately followed, the three of them forming a triangular formation to cover each other as they advanced warily.

Along the way, they encountered many low-level exotic beasts. Most were elite rank Variegated Tigers and Iron-Armored Giant Bears, which were first intimidated by Su Ye's Berserker roar before being taken out by Lin Zhou with a single arrow to the head, posing no real threat.

As they continued deeper, the surrounding Spiritual Qi became even denser, and the Rank of the exotic beasts grew higher and higher.

Upon reaching the entrance of a valley, Lin Zhou suddenly stopped and raised his hand to signal the others to be quiet.

"What's wrong?" Su Ye asked in a lowered voice.

"There's movement." Lin Zhou's gaze landed on the depths of the valley, his expression solemn. "And there are quite a lot of them."

Before his voice could fade, a deafening roar suddenly erupted from the valley. Following that, a dark mass of exotic beasts surged out like a tide. Leading them were several epic rank Bloodthirsty Demon Wolves with dark black fur and bloodthirsty glints in their eyes, followed by hundreds of elite rank Sharp-Clawed Wild Boars with exposed tusks, looking extremely fierce.

"Not good! It's a beast tide!" Su Ye's expression changed as he gripped the giant axe at his waist.

Qin Yue's beautiful face also darkened as her longsword left its sheath, a strand of sharp Sword Intent spreading out. "There are too many of them. Fighting them head-on will be disadvantageous for us."

Lin Zhou, however, remained calm. He slowly raised his explosive sniper bow, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "Just in time to try out my new skill."

As his words fell, a powerful wave of spiritual power suddenly erupted from around Lin Zhou. An invisible Domain centered on him and expanded outward, covering a hundred-meter radius. Within the Domain, the air seemed to turn viscous, and the speed of the beasts charging at the front slowed down significantly.

This was precisely the pre-activation effect of his Domain Sky-Splitting Arrow—Domain Suppression!

"Domain Expansion!"

Lin Zhou gave a low shout, his Mental Energy highly concentrated as his fingertips lightly pinched three arrows, nocking them onto the bowstring simultaneously. He suddenly pulled the string to its limit, the veins on his arm bulging as spiritual power from within his body surged continuously into the arrows.

"Sky-Splitting Arrows, fire!"

"Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!"

Three streams of intermingled gold and red light shot through the air. Under the enhancement of the Domain, the speed and penetration of the arrows increased several times over. They suddenly split in mid-air, turning into a dense rain of arrows that shot toward the beast tide like scattered flowers from a celestial maiden.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Continuous explosions rang out. Wherever the arrow rain passed, flames rose, and the Sharp-Clawed Wild Boars were instantly blown to pieces, with blood and flesh splattering everywhere. Although the epic rank Bloodthirsty Demon Wolves were powerful, they were also forced back repeatedly by the power of the arrow rain, their bodies covered in scorch marks as they let out painful howls.

"So strong!" Su Ye watched with wide eyes and couldn't help but curse, "Lin Zhou, this skill of yours is just too perverted!"

Qin Yue's beautiful eyes also sparkled with brilliance. She could feel that Lin Zhou's Domain Sky-Splitting Arrow was more than a level stronger than it had been three months ago.

Lin Zhou ignored their amazement, his gaze fixed tightly on the few Bloodthirsty Demon Wolves. With a flick of his wrist, another Sky-Splitting Combustion Armor-Piercing Arrow imbued with Sword Intent was nocked onto the string.

"Space Jump Arrow!"

The arrow was fired, tracing a bizarre arc in the air before instantly vanishing. In the next second, it suddenly appeared above the head of a Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf, plunging in fiercely with the dual effects of armor-piercing and combustion.

"Awoo—"

That Bloodthirsty Demon Wolf let out a shrill scream as its body was instantly consumed by flames, and it crashed to the ground.

Seeing things take a turn for the worse, the remaining Bloodthirsty Demon Wolves turned to flee. But how could Lin Zhou give them a chance? His archery was as fast as lightning, firing arrow after arrow, each one accurately hitting its target.

In just a few short minutes, the hundreds of beasts were slaughtered to the last. At the valley entrance, corpses were strewn everywhere, and blood flowed like a river.

Lin Zhou put away his bow and arrows and let out a long sigh of relief. The wave of arrow rain just now had consumed a lot of his spiritual power, but the effect was immediate.

"Let's go, let's take a look inside." Lin Zhou pointed toward the depths of the valley, where the Spiritual Qi was densest, clearly hiding some secret.

The three of them stepped into the valley. The further they went, the more peculiar the surroundings became. The stone walls on both sides of the valley were covered with ancient patterns, mostly depicting archers bending their bows to shoot at the Golden Crows in the sky, looking extremely mysterious.

"These patterns... they seem to be the Sun-Shooting legends from the ancient era," Qin Yue said thoughtfully as she looked at the carvings.

Su Ye scratched his head, looking confused. "Sun-Shooting? You mean the legend of Hou Yi shooting the suns?"

Lin Zhou did not speak; his gaze was drawn to a stone platform in the center of the valley. Above the platform floated a crimson fragment about the size of a palm, engraved with complex patterns and emitting an ancient, majestic aura.

"What's that?" Su Ye asked curiously.

Lin Zhou's heart couldn't help but speed up. He could feel that the fragment contained a power that was extremely compatible with his archery. He slowly stepped forward and carefully reached out to touch the fragment.

The moment his fingertips touched the fragment, a surge of scorching energy suddenly rushed into his body, following his Meridians straight to his Dantian. Simultaneously, the System prompt sounded in his mind.

"[System Hint: Ancient Divine Artifact sun-shooting bow fragment detected. Confirm Fusion?]"

A sun-shooting bow fragment!

A flash of wild joy crossed Lin Zhou's eyes. He never imagined he would find a fragment of the sun-shooting bow here! The sun-shooting bow was an ancient Divine Artifact of infinite power. If he could collect all the fragments and synthesize the complete sun-shooting bow, his strength would surely undergo a qualitative leap!

"Confirm Fusion!" Lin Zhou muttered to himself in his heart.

As his thought fell, the crimson fragment turned into a stream of light and merged into the explosive sniper bow in his hand.

"Vroom—"

The explosive sniper bow let out a violent hum. On the bow's body, the original black patterns were gradually replaced by crimson ones, and a powerful pressure radiated from the bow, causing the surrounding air to boil.

Lin Zhou could clearly feel that the power of the explosive sniper bow had increased by more than double! Furthermore, the bow now contained a scorching fire power that complemented his combustion talent perfectly.

"[System Hint: sun-shooting bow fragment Fusion successful! explosive sniper bow has evolved into blazing sun sniper bow! Power doubled!]"

"[System Hint: Host has absorbed the energy of the sun-shooting bow fragment. Rank increased! Current Rank: Lv.25 (Epic Peak limit)]"

His Rank had increased again, reaching the limit of the Epic Peak! He was now only one step away from the legendary rank!

Lin Zhou gripped the blazing sun sniper bow tightly, feeling the surging power within it, his heart filled with excitement. He slowly pulled the bowstring to its limit and nocked an arrow; the arrow was instantly enveloped in scorching flames, emitting a heart-palpitating aura.

"What a powerful force!" Qin Yue and Su Ye's expressions changed as they felt the aura from the arrow.

Lin Zhou smiled slightly and released his fingers. The arrow shot through the air, carrying a crimson stream of light as it struck the stone wall at the end of the valley.

"Boom!"

With a loud explosion, the stone wall was instantly pierced, leaving a huge hole as rubble flew and dust filled the air.

"That's incredible!" Su Ye shouted excitedly. "With this bow, even a legendary rank powerhouse can be fought!"

Lin Zhou nodded, his eyes shining with the light of confidence. With the blazing sun sniper bow, combined with his Sky-Splitting Combustion Armor-Piercing Arrow and Space Jump Arrow, he would have the power to fight even if he encountered a Legendary opponent.

Just then, a series of footsteps came from the depths of the forest, accompanied by several arrogant laughs.

"Hahaha, I didn't expect someone to get here first and find the sun-shooting bow fragment!"

"Kid, if you're smart, hand over the fragment. Otherwise, don't blame us for being impolite!"

Lin Zhou and his companions looked toward the source of the sound and saw a group of people wearing Jingdu Martial Arts University uniforms walking toward them, led by Wang Chen and Zhang Hao.

Wang Chen's gaze landed on the blazing sun sniper bow in Lin Zhou's hand, a flash of greed in his eyes. "The sun-shooting bow fragment is indeed in your hands! Lin Zhou, hand over the bow, and I can spare your life!"

Zhang Hao was even more triumphant, pointing at Lin Zhou and shouting harshly, "Lin Zhou, you're dead! Brother Wang is a legendary rank powerhouse. Crushing you would be as easy as crushing an ant!"

Lin Zhou's gaze suddenly turned cold. He slowly raised the blazing sun sniper bow, the arrow pointing directly at Wang Chen, a cold arc curling at the corner of his mouth. "You want my bow? Then let's see if you have the ability!"

Qin Yue and Su Ye also immediately went on high alert, the three of them forming a triangular formation, ready for battle.

Within the valley, the atmosphere instantly became tense. A great battle was on the verge of breaking out!