44: First in points

The information on the light screen dissipated before his eyes.

Lin Yuan did not hesitate in the slightest; with a slight movement of his intent, his 8600 initial points were instantly cleared!

"Hum!"

Four warm Jade Slips appeared out of thin air and landed in his palm.

Without hesitation, he crushed the one marked "Low-level Area" among the four regional maps.

Boom!

A massive stream of information instantly flooded into his Sea of Consciousness!

A three-dimensional map of the entire 97th Low-level Area unfolded in vivid detail.

279,520 glaring red dots, like dense, scarlet stars, were scattered in every corner of the forest!

In the valley to the northwest, the blue light dots representing star beast herds were like gathered fireflies.

And in the center of the map, a dazzling golden mark emitted an undeniable majesty—【Area BOSS: Fourth-Order Silver Moon Wolf King (100,000 Star combat power)】!

"The soul pearl needs nourishment."

A cold glint flashed in Lin Yuan's eyes, his goal incredibly clear.

The list of hostile forces provided by Feng Tianxiu last night was now his precise hunting list!

His figure suddenly blurred, like a ghost merging into the shadows of the forest, and he dashed violently towards the three nearest red dots on the map!

Deep in the dense forest, three Disciples wearing the black robes of the Netherworld Hall were grinning as they besieged a second-order star beast that looked like a tiger but had six legs and was covered in metallic scales.

The star beast roared repeatedly, its sharp claws scraping ear-piercing sparks against the scales.

The leading black-robed Disciple was about to unleash a sinister palm technique when a bone-chilling coldness surged from his spine to the top of his head without warning!

He didn't even have time to turn around— "Swish!"

A faint sound of air being pierced rang out, and a sword light, cold to the extreme, burst forth like moonlight, faster than thought!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Three heads rolled onto the ground almost simultaneously, shock and bewilderment still frozen on their faces.

The three headless corpses fell to the ground with a crash, maintaining their forward-charging posture, blood spraying wildly from their severed necks.

The besieged second-order star beast's low growl stopped abruptly; its huge beast eyes filled with instinctive fear, and it turned and fled without hesitation, instantly disappearing into the depths of the dense forest!

【soul pearl: 113 / 1000】

Lin Yuan expressionlessly shook off the blood droplets staining his dao observing sword.

Deep within the soul pearl, three twisted, struggling new souls were devoured and imprisoned by an invisible force, emitting silent wails.

"Rustle... rustle..."

The faint sound of decaying leaves cracking underfoot startled several colorful poisonous birds.

The soul pearl between Lin Yuan's brows grew slightly warm, and his terrifying Mental Energy at the 160,000-star level swept outwards like an invisible tsunami!

Everything within a ten-kilometer radius was mapped in vivid detail within his Sea of Consciousness: three star beasts shaped like leopards but dragging poisonous scorpion tails were greedily tearing at a corpse dressed in the attire of the Qingyun Sect.

Further away, a dozen or so red dots representing Martial Artists were moving in scattered patterns.

Among them, five red dots were sneakily gathered in a depression, carefully setting up some kind of trap Formation, clearly preparing to ambush others.

Lin Yuan's gaze instantly locked onto those three scorpion-tailed leopard beasts.

The rice-grain-sized silver-blue crystals embedded in their foreheads were like faint sparks in his mental perception—first-order star cores!

"Swish—!"

Without any superfluous movement, Lin Yuan drew a line in the air with his fingers!

A condensed, tangible Sword Qi, like an invisible grim reaper's scythe, silently swept across the Void Realm!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

Three ferocious beast heads flew off in response!

Three star cores stained with filthy blood were picked up by an invisible force and landed in Lin Yuan's palm.

The crystals were ice-cold, with starlight flowing within them, containing weak stellar energy.

【Killed first-order star beast x3, points +3】

【Current points: 3】

"The efficiency is too low."

Lin Yuan frowned slightly, his gaze sweeping over the heart-palpitatingly dense red dots in the east on the map, "It's time to clear the field."

In that area, the light dots of more than thirty Netherworld Hall Disciples were gathered together, like a striking stain of blood in the darkness.

Swish!

His figure disappeared again.

This primeval forest instantly turned into a bloody graveyard for the Netherworld Hall Disciples!

Short and shrill screams began to rise and fall everywhere in the dense forest, like a symphony of death.

Every end of a scream meant one more painfully struggling soul inside the soul pearl: someone was searching vigilantly when a blood line appeared on their throat without warning, and they didn't even have time to draw their weapon.

Someone discovered their companion had been killed and tried to form a defensive Formation in terror, but was split in two along with the Formation by a destructive Sword Qi.

A few who reacted quickly fled for their lives, their speed as fast as lightning, but they despairingly discovered that the green-robed figure was like a maggot on the bone, instantly appearing before them, and the cold sword edge mercilessly slashed across their necks...

Lin Yuan stood in the middle of the mess of corpses, shaking the last drop of blood off his sword.

These Netherworld Hall Disciples, at most at the seventh level of the Gathering Origin Realm, were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered before him, not even qualified to make him use a serious sword strike.

He waved his hand skillfully, and a dozen or so Storage Pouches flew into his hands; the miscellaneous Medicinal Pills and Talismans inside, although not of high grade, added up.

For the next half hour, Lin Yuan transformed into a storm of death in this Low-level Area!

He flickered like a phantom among the towering ancient trees; wherever he passed, star beasts were slain and hostile Martial Artists perished!

The point total jumped upwards like crazy!

The number of souls within the soul pearl expanded rapidly like a snowball: 987, 988, 989...

Only one step away from the 1000 needed for the upgrade!

The killed Martial Artists, until their deaths, had eyes filled with incomprehensible fear and disbelief—why was this green-robed youth with such a low Realm so terrifying?!

"Awooo—!!!"

A wolf howl full of tyranny and majesty came from the golden mark in the center of the map, and then stopped abruptly, as if it had been strangled to a halt!

Lin Yuan stood quietly on the corpse of a silver giant wolf as large as a small hill.

The Silver Moon Wolf King's magnificent fur had lost its luster, its huge head rolled to the side, its scarlet wolf eyes wide open, frozen in pre-death terror, and the flesh and blood of an unknown prey still hung from its sharp fangs.

This regional overlord hadn't even managed to complete a decent roar before it was decapitated by Lin Yuan's sword.

【First kill of Low-level Area BOSS! Reward 5x points! Points +5000!】

【Current points: 7100】

As the cold mechanical prompt sounded in his mind—Boom!!!

An incomparably brilliant golden beam of light suddenly descended from the sky, piercing through the dense canopy and shooting straight at Lin Yuan's location!

Within the beam of light, countless mysterious runes flowed and finally condensed into a huge golden leaderboard that spanned heaven and earth, floating in every corner of the Secret Realm, emitting supreme majesty!

【Tian Yuan Secret Realm—Real-time Ranking of All-Area Points (First Release)】

First Place: Lin Yuan (Tianqing Domain Spirit Martial Hall) — Points: 7100!

Second Place: Tuoba Ye (Ancient Desolation Great World Desolation God Hall) — Points: 2210

Third Place: Faceless Demon Child (Wangchuan Great World Ferryman) — Points: 2188

Fourth Place: Ye Gubei (Sword World Great World Heavenly Sword Pavilion) — Points: 2115

...

Tenth Place: You Sa (Tianyou Great World Netherworld Hall) — Points: 1996

...

1000th Place: Lin Mu (XXX Great World XX Sect) — Points: 1568

...

10,000th Place: Sun Wu (XXX Great World XX Gate) — Points: 252

Whoosh—!

In the entire 97th Low-level Area, all surviving Martial Artists saw this shocking scene!

Countless sounds of gasping cold air rang out, followed by unbelievable exclamations and discussions!

Lin Yuan!

A name from the Spirit Martial Hall of the Tianqing Domain, at the first level of the Gathering Origin Realm, was actually hanging high at the top of the list with an overwhelming advantage!

He had trampled those top Prodigies from the Six-Star Great World under his feet!

Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the golden, glittering leaderboard.

Among the top ten, six names came from the Six-Star Great World, and You Sa of the Netherworld Hall was prominently listed!

One billion Gathering Origin Realm Prodigies!

Those who could enter this place had at least a blue dao foundation.

In this Secret Realm, which gathered the elite Gathering Origin Realm Martial Artists from 326 Six-Star Great Worlds, the blue dao foundation was the mainstream, the "ordinary Genius."

As for the purple dao foundation, there were only a little over three thousand people across all three hundred-plus worlds!

Each one was a Saint or Saintess from the top Holy Land of their respective Great World, the true darlings of heaven!

His mind sank into his Sea of Consciousness, looking at the status of the soul pearl: 【soul pearl: 987 / 1000】.

The soul pearl was throbbing hotly between his brows, and the 987 souls inside were screaming and struggling wildly under the restraint of the Chaos power, forming a churning vortex of soul mist.

Only 13 more needed!

"The Low-level Area, the star beasts are too weak."

Lin Yuan's gaze turned to the sky.

The light screen for the entrance to the Intermediate Area was right above the Wolf King's nest.

"Third-order star beasts are where the efficiency lies!"

Boom!

He lightly tapped his toes on the massive corpse of the Silver Moon Wolf King, his figure like an arrow released from a bow, tearing through the air and shooting straight into the high sky!

The Intermediate Tian Yuan Token in his bosom automatically lit up with a blue light.

【Intermediate Token detected! Teleportation initiated!】

【Target Area: 49th Intermediate Area!】

The moment he passed through the light screen, it was as if he had crashed into a burning furnace!

Whoosh—!

The scorching hot waves of air slapped against him like a tangible wall!

Under his feet, it was no longer soft humus, but hot, coarse gravel!

The primeval forest disappeared without a trace, and before him was a vast, boundless, dead and desolate crimson desert!

Nine scorching, vicious suns hung high in the sky, baking the air until it twisted and deformed!

The terrifying high temperature made his vision slightly blurred.

In the distance, beneath a huge sand dune, dozens of star beasts shaped like pangolins but as huge as rhinoceroses, with back armor shimmering with a dull metallic luster, were emitting dull roars; like moving steel fortresses, they were frantically besieging a team of human Cultivators who were struggling to hold on!

Under the scorching of the nine suns, the metallic back armor reflected a dazzling and dangerous light!