173: Hades

Inside the Secret Realm of Tianyuan.

Looking up, the surroundings were an endless desert, but the terrain here was extremely varied, and the team had spawned on top of a mountain.

Perhaps their luck was good, as the small mountain beneath their feet was quite tall, making it easy to observe the situation from afar.

Many monsters could be seen, distributed along the path.

The types of these monsters were also extremely diverse, ranging from common Goblin warriors to level forty-plus Tiger-men, all readily available.

The most numerous among them were monsters above Rank thirty.

"Let's go."

After entering the Secret Realm, Zhao Juechen's Aura suddenly changed.

Her originally charming expression had transformed into one full of fighting intent.

With the dark gold staff, shimmering with colorful light, in her hand, she swung it fiercely at the monsters in front of her.

Several Fireball Techniques instantly shot out, landing among the monster horde.

Only the sound of rumbling explosions could be heard, and rolling dust was seen rising.

By the time the sound faded and the dust settled, only a ground full of monster corpses remained.

"Quite something."

Li Changkong quietly sighed.

Within Shenhua Academy, Zhao Juechen was considered one of the top existences.

If she lacked strength, she wouldn't have gained so much recognition.

In the past, when Li Changkong teamed up, most of his teammates were far weaker than him, and he usually had to carry the entire team.

But now, this team consisted of elites from the Academy.

Zhao Juechen, in the Gold Institute, was the Gold Institute Head's only Personal Disciple, so her strength naturally needed no further explanation.

Following the team, they didn't encounter any trouble along the way.

The two warriors held the front, while the Mage continuously released skills.

Along the way, they also encountered some other teams, whose strength was also considerable.

These included teams from other Academies, and even other countries.

Their purpose in coming to this Secret Realm was quite similar to Li Changkong's team: to be the first to clear this Secret Realm.

Compared to single-threaded dungeons, this kind of Secret Realm was clearly more troublesome.

Even finding the objective of the mission wasn't that simple.

The ordinary monsters they encountered along the way were quickly dealt with.

The remaining elite monsters and boss monsters, although very difficult to deal with, the team's strength was not weak after all.

"According to the introduction in the booklet, our destination should be ahead."

Zhao Juechen held a small booklet, frowning, and pointed into the distance.

Not far away, there was a huge cave.

The cave entrance was over ten meters high, and inside the cave, it was exceptionally gloomy and dark.

"This should be the place. Let's go in and take a look. This is the central location of the Tianyuan Secret Realm."

Zhao Juechen said, then entered the cave.

From the marks on the ground, it could be seen that other teams had been here before.

But there were only footprints going in, and no footprints coming out.

This did not make them stop, and they quickly entered the cave.

Although the cave looked very dark from the outside, upon entering, one could see lights all around.

These lights were dim and cold, like ghostly blue flames, floating on both sides of the cave.

However, there seemed to be no monsters present.

Just as they took a few steps forward, two strange figures gradually condensed out of the originally empty air.

What appeared before them were two soldiers, holding long axes, with extremely ferocious and terrifying faces, green-faced and fanged, like ghosts.

[Name: Underworld Guard]

[Rank: 45]

[Skills: Underworld Axe Grip, Death Shock]

Ordinary Rank forty monsters naturally couldn't cause any harm to the group.

"Fireball Technique."

After Li Changkong threw several Fireball Techniques, the two soldiers immediately perished.

After the two guards died, their bodies quickly turned into nothingness, disappearing into the air, as if they had entered the Void Realm.

Monster corpses usually respawn after dying.

But for such a long time, they had never seen monsters respawn so quickly.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few of these Underworld Guards.

Although they were more troublesome than the monsters outside, they didn't spend too much time on them either.

On both sides of the cave, various patterns were drawn with colorful paintings.

These patterns were diverse, but both the content of the paintings and the use of colors were extremely bizarre.

An hour later, they finally passed through the long passage and could see some light ahead.

The group couldn't help but quicken their pace, and soon arrived at the source of the light.

When they completely exited the passage, he found himself in front of a huge palace.

The palace before them was extremely vast, consisting of dozens of buildings.

However, this palace was not as magnificent as ordinary palaces; instead, it had a gloomy blue-green hue.

And directly in front of the palace, a stone tablet stood tall.

On the stone tablet, two large characters were inscribed in ancient writing.

Underworld.

A very strange Aura continuously emanated from within the palace.

And at the entrance of the palace, there were also many Underworld Guards.

Within this Underworld palace, sounds occasionally came out, deafening.

"Is that a Dragon's roar?"

Hearing the roar of the beast, Li Changkong's eyes suddenly lit up, and two words popped into his mind.

This kind of roar was not something ordinary creatures could emit; it was very much like the legendary Dragon's roar.

Compared to those two-legged lizard Dragons, the deterrent power of this Dragon's roar was clearly even more terrifying.

Everyone present couldn't help but tremble.

To verify whether his guess was correct, Black Flame was summoned by him using a summoning array.

The moment Black Flame appeared, Li Changkong keenly detected fear in its eyes.

Black Flame had never been a timid pet; it was even somewhat brave to the point of being thoughtless.

This was also the first time Li Changkong had detected such an emotion as terror from it in such a long time.

Among monsters, there was inherently Bloodline suppression.

A true Dragon was simply a dimensionality-reducing strike for ordinary Western two-legged Dragons.

Upon hearing the Dragon's roar, it displaying such an emotion did not surprise Li Changkong; rather, it was within reason.

While Li Changkong was filled with doubt, the main gate of the palace before them suddenly opened.

The Underworld warriors guarding the entrance lined up on both sides, making way.

Two generals, clad in iron armor and with obscured faces, walked out from among the warriors.

Upon seeing the attire of these two generals, Li Changkong suddenly recalled the two generals, General Wang Jian and Golden Boss, whom he had encountered that day in the First Emperor's Mausoleum.