43: Tianyuan Secret Realm

Mo Chenzi's shock and the shattering of the star disk instantly made Lin Yuan the absolute focus of this seething Void Realm!

Countless gazes—some suspicious, some greedy, some wary—shot from all directions like tangible arrows, pinning themselves firmly onto the green-robed figure at the bow of the Spirit Martial Hall spirit boat.

Lin Yuan frowned slightly. Just as he was pondering the meaning of the Astrology Pavilion Elder's terrifying words, an extremely cold malice, one that seemed capable of freezing the Soul, suddenly locked onto him!

He turned his head abruptly!

He saw that on the deck of the eerie spirit boat belonging to the Netherworld Palace from the Tianyou Great World, dozens of black-robed Martial Artists, like evil ghosts from the Nine Nethers, made a uniform, ruthless throat-slitting gesture toward the Spirit Martial Hall!

The twisted skull emblems on their chests gleamed with a chilling, pale luster under the chaotic energy radiance.

The middle-aged man leading them had a face as sinister as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

A hideous scar on his forehead, deep enough to expose bone, was currently writhing slowly as if it were alive; it looked as though countless tiny insects were burrowing beneath his skin!

His temperatureless eyes pierced through the Void Realm, carrying bone-eroding hatred and cruel mockery, locking firmly onto Lin Yuan's face.

Wherever his gaze swept, even the violent spatial turbulence seemed to stagnate slightly, sending a bone-chilling cold!

"Hmph! Yin Wuchang!" Feng Tianxiu let out a cold snort that rang out like a thunderclap, instantly dispelling the coldness.

He stepped forward, blocking half a step in front of Lin Yuan. His sleeves fluttered without wind, and a pale golden halo suddenly lit up around him.

Though it wasn't blinding, it contained the mountain-heavy pressure of the Myriad Dao Realm, forcefully pushing back the ghostly aura of the Netherworld Palace!

"Is your Netherworld Palace so devoid of people that you sent an old dog like you out to bark?"

The scar-faced man, Yin Wuchang, grinned, revealing a mouthful of corpse-yellow fangs, and let out a weird laugh like a night owl: "Hehehe... Old Ghost Feng, what's the use of being sharp-tongued? Do you dare to make a bet with me? Let's bet on whose Disciples gain more points in the Tian Yuan Secret Realm this time!"

He flipped his withered palm, and a giant ginseng, entirely blood-red and appearing as if carved from congealed blood, appeared out of thin air!

Its tendrils pulsated slightly like living blood vessels, and a thick, inseparable medicinal fragrance instantly permeated the air, actually staining the surrounding energy turbulence with a faint, blood-colored halo!

"A million-year-old Blood Ginseng?!"

Throughout the Void Realm, there was a collective gasp!

This was a life-extending holy medicine capable of driving even Myriad Dao Realm experts mad!

The eyes of several Elders from other major factions instantly erupted with terrifying brilliance, and they subconsciously moved their feet forward, their greed almost overflowing from their eye sockets.

Feng Tianxiu's eyes narrowed, and he was about to speak—

"Add one hundred drops of 'Nine Nethers Soul Refining Liquid'."

A calm, almost cold voice clearly drowned out all the noise.

Lin Yuan stepped past Feng Tianxiu, his green robes dancing wildly in the energy storm. Standing alone to face Yin Wuchang's monstrous pressure that could freeze the Soul, his figure remained as immovable as a boulder!

Dead silence!

A silence even more thorough than when Mo Chenzi vomited blood!

Everyone looked in disbelief at the green-robed youth at the first stage of the Gathering Origin Realm.

Nine Nethers Soul Refining Liquid? That was a supreme treasure of the Netherworld Palace used for tempering the Divine Soul and repairing Soul injuries!

How dare he directly demand a hundred drops?!

"Little bastard! You are courting death!!!" Yin Wuchang was completely enraged!

Boom! Monstrous black Qi, thick as ink and churning with countless pained, twisted ghost faces, erupted from within him, instantly swallowing the entire Netherworld Palace spirit boat!

From within the black Qi came the shrill wails of ten thousand ghosts crying in unison, as if the gates to the Nine Nethers Hell had been opened!

"How are you qualified to negotiate terms with me?!"

"Don't dare?" Lin Yuan didn't even lift his eyelids; his voice was as indifferent as if he were stating a fact.

"Then tuck your tail and get lost."

A faint, yet extremely mocking arc curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Looking so poor, yet you want to learn to gamble with your life?"

"Pfft..." Some Disciples from smaller factions nearby couldn't help but laugh out loud, then hurriedly covered their mouths, their faces flushed red.

This face-slapping was too ruthless!

"Good! Good! Good!" Yin Wuchang laughed out of extreme anger, shouting "Good" three times.

The scar on his face twisted and twitched wildly, like an enraged centipede!

"I will increase the bet! But if your Spirit Martial Hall loses..."

He violently tore open the collar of his shirt, revealing a pitch-black flame at his heart that was beating violently and emitting endless evil and pain!

Every time the flame pulsated, it was accompanied by wails that made one's Divine Soul feel like it was tearing apart!

"... I will drain this kid of all his vital blood and refine him into a blood puppet, never to be reincarnated for eternity!"

"Heart Demon Oath Fire!" Feng Tianxiu's expression changed drastically, and he urgently sent a voice transmission to Lin Yuan.

"If this oath is broken, you will surely suffer the biting of ten thousand ghosts on your heart, your Divine Soul will be destroyed, and you will fall into the Avici Hell forever! You cannot..."

"I bet."

Lin Yuan's answer was decisive, without a hint of hesitation!

Before his voice had even faded, he joined his fingers like a sword, and a wisp of spiritual power, pure to the extreme and containing terrifying Law fluctuations, suddenly condensed at his fingertips!

Under the gaze of countless horrified eyes, he did not hesitate to point his finger at the center of his own eyebrows!

Hum—!

An incomparably profound golden rune, exuding the majesty of the Dao, suddenly lit up on his forehead like a brand, then sank deep into his flesh and disappeared!

An invisible power of contract instantly connected with heaven and earth, carrying an unquestionable determination!

"dao foundation oath!!"

"Madman!!" In the distance, the jade bead in the hands of the Little Desolate King Tuoba Ye was crushed into powder with a "pop."

His copper-bell-like eyes stared fixedly at Lin Yuan.

"This kid is determined to have an endless feud with the Netherworld Palace! Once the dao foundation is destroyed, he will stop there for the rest of his life!"

Countless gazes were filled with shock, confusion, pity, and even a trace of awe.

Using the dao foundation as a stake—what a crazy and resolute gamble this was!

Rumble—!!!

Just as this breathtaking gamble was settled, the giant crack spanning the Void Realm suddenly erupted with a deafening roar!

Seven-colored rays of light, like a heavenly river flowing backward, surged out and instantly spread a magnificent light curtain covering ten thousand miles across the Universe!

Countless ancient and profound runes flowed and combined wildly on the light curtain, finally condensing into two lines of giant characters that seemed to be forged from stars, exuding endless majesty:

【 Tian Yuan Secret Realm — Open! 】

【 Token Holders — Enter! 】

Every word was as heavy as a mountain, announcing the beginning of a bloody journey!

Taking advantage of this earth-shattering phenomenon, Feng Tianxiu quickly sent a voice transmission to Lin Yuan, his voice extremely grave:

"Remember! The descendants of those top factions must have incomplete secret treasures bestowed by their Elders for protection!

Especially those few Core Disciples of the Netherworld Palace... the Cultivation Technique they practice is extremely sinister and weird, specifically devouring human vital blood and Divine Soul! Do not be careless at all!"

Lin Yuan nodded solemnly, a cold glint flashing deep in his eyes.

He no longer looked at the Netherworld Palace direction.

His figure turned into a cyan stream of light, merging into the torrent formed by the tens of thousands of Spirit Martial Hall Disciples, and rushed toward the seven-colored light curtain without looking back!

The moment he approached the light curtain, the five Tian Yuan Tokens in his arms trembled violently at the same time, erupting with dazzling light of different colors!

A cold, emotionless, mechanical voice sounded directly in his Sea of Consciousness:

【 Multiple Tian Yuan Tokens detected 】

【 Rank: Low Grade (Black), Medium Grade (Blue), Advanced (Purple), Top Grade (Gold), Special (Color) 】

【 Teleportation Rules: Allowed to freely choose the initial region, can teleport one-way from Low Grade regions to Advanced regions 】

Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the torrent of billions of Gathering Origin Realm Martial Artists in front of the light curtain, dense as locusts in the Universe.

What flashed in the hands of the vast majority of people was the lowest-level black light—in the second round of the ten thousand battles platform, it was almost impossible to cross without a purple dao foundation Prodigy!

"soul pearls... what they need is the Soul." A cold arc flickered across the corner of Lin Yuan's mouth.

"Lambs, naturally, should be harvested where there are the most sheep."

With a thought, he locked onto the 【 No. 97 Low Grade Region 】 marked on the light curtain.

【 Selection Confirmed: No. 97 Low Grade Region 】

Strong light swallowed everything!

A sense of weightlessness struck instantly, and then vanished instantly.

When he opened his eyes again, a pungent aura mixed with strong blood, rotting plants, and the unique stench of some kind of star beast rushed toward him!

Before him was a primitive dense forest that blotted out the sky.

The gnarled ancient trees were over ten meters in diameter, and dark green vines were wrapped around them like giant pythons, with the thinnest being comparable to an adult's waist.

The extremely dense canopy completely blocked the sky, with only sporadic pale light spots struggling to penetrate down, casting eerie shadows on the ground covered in thick humus.

In the distance, the low, terrifying roars of star beasts and the desperate screams of dying humans rose and fell, like a symphony of Hell, echoing in this dark, dead-silent forest, making one's hair stand on end!

Swish!

A translucent light curtain automatically unfolded before Lin Yuan's eyes:

【 Tian Yuan Secret Realm - Trial Participant Information 】

Name: Lin Yuan

Realm: Gathering Origin Realm First Stage

dao foundation Rating: Red (Level 1 - Requires 100,000 star-level energy to upgrade)

Initial Points: 8600

Current Location: No. 97 Low Grade Region

【 Points Rules 】

Kill Star Beast: 1st Order (500 star combat power) = 1 point (Limit 100, killing more than 100 1st Order Star Beasts will not earn points)

2nd Order (5000 star combat power) = 10 points (Limit 200)

3rd Order (50,000 star combat power) = 100 points (Limit 500)

4th Order (500,000 star combat power) = 1000 points (Limit 1000)

5th Order (5,000,000 star combat power) = 10,000 points (Limit 5000)

Regional BOSS: Extra generous points reward.

Kill Trial Participant: Cannot earn points.

【 Exchange List 】

star fruit: Low Grade (100 points), Medium Grade (1000 points), High Grade (10,000 points) - Contains corresponding star-level energy.

Regional Map: Low Grade (100 points), Intermediate (500 points)... Special (5000 points).

Auxiliary Items: Star Beast Tracking Compass (300 points), Returning Heaven Pill (200 points/each), Concealment Talisman (400 points), Random Teleportation Talisman (800 points)...

Note: All exchanged items can only be used within the Secret Realm.

The light curtain information flickered, concisely presenting the core rules of survival and becoming stronger.

Lin Yuan's gaze lingered for a moment on the rule "Kill Trial Participant: Cannot earn points," and a cold, dangerous arc slowly curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Cannot earn points..." he whispered to himself, the gray Chaos power in his palm silently circulating, his eyes sharp as knives, scanning toward the depths of the dark forest, "But what the soul pearl needs is just the Soul."