47: Advanced Area

[Advanced Area No. 1: Permafrost Wasteland]

[Current Number of People in Area: 1]

[Warning: Average Combat Power of Rank 4 Star Beasts is 500,000 Stars]

[Area Boss: Ice Soul Magic Bear (5,000,000 Stars)]

His lips curled up slightly as the Advanced Token in his arms emitted a warm glow. This was the qualification obtained only after passing the third round of the ten thousand battles platform; out of the billion Martial Artists in the entire Secret Realm, he was the only one who could step into this place. Looking around, countless giant ice pillars stood on the frozen plains, like sharp swords pointing straight at the sky.

"Let's begin." The chaos heaven-grade sword was unsheathed three inches, and the sound of the sword's hum startled the Star Beasts wandering in the distance. The power of the Laws flowing on the sword's body caused the surrounding ice and snow to melt.

Five completely transparent Ice Crystal Wolves leapt out from the glacial cracks. Ice spikes grew on their backs, and every step they took caused frost flowers to bloom on the ice. The leader was exceptionally large, with a crystal core on its forehead glowing with a faint blue light, and eyes like two sapphires flickering with a cold light in the wind and snow.

[Rank 4 Ice Crystal Wolf (520,000 Stars)]

[Trait: Ice Law Resistance]

"Roar!" The Wolf King suddenly stood up on its hind legs and slammed its front paws onto the ice. Hundreds of ice spikes burst out from the ground, growing rapidly like bamboo shoots after rain; at the same time, the other four wolves flanked him in a fan shape, spitting out cold air sufficient to freeze spiritual power. Wherever the cold air passed, the moisture in the air instantly condensed into ice crystals.

Lin Yuan neither dodged nor avoided, his right hand resting on the sword hilt. When the first ice spike was only three inches away from his forehead—

"Clang!"

Law Sword Qi bloomed like a lotus. 25% Law of Sword and 40% Law of Thunder intertwined, transforming into five purple-gold sword lights. The Wolf King's ice crystal body was pierced through the chest, while the heads of the other four wolves flew off simultaneously. The Sword Qi's momentum remained undiminished, plowing five hundred-meter-long gullies several zhang deep into the ice wall behind.

[Kill Rank 4 Star Beast x5, Points +5,000]

[Current Points: 75,100]

These Rank 4 Star Beasts were a bit stronger than expected, but for him with over 5 million combat power, they were still not enough. Lin Yuan shook off the ice crystals from his sword and continued walking forward.

Over the next three days, a one-sided slaughter took place in the Permafrost Wasteland. Lin Yuan moved through the blizzard like a ghost, and wherever he passed, the Star Beasts perished.

In the eye of the ice storm, he encountered a swarm of twenty Ice-Winged Bats. These Rank 4 flying Star Beasts had incredible speed, their wings stirring up bone-chilling winds as they flapped. But the Chaos Sword Qi transformed into an inescapable net, strangling them all (Points +20,000).

In the Cold Iron Mine, the giant rocks thrown by three Ice Rock Trolls could flatten mountains. Their bodies were made of ten-thousand-year cold iron and were incredibly hard. Lin Yuan accelerated with the Law of Thunder, his figure turning into a bolt of lightning, and the sword light flashed like electricity, pinning them to the rock wall (Points +3,000).

The most dangerous part was in the glacial cracks, where over a hundred Ice Crystal Scorpions launched a sudden assault. The poison needles on their tails shimmered with a faint blue light, and every drop of venom could corrode spiritual power. Lin Yuan used "Divine Soul Annihilation" for the first time, his 160,000 stars of Mental Energy sweeping through and clearing the area instantly (Points +100,000).

[Current Points: 1,070,100]

[Rank 4 Star Beast Kill Count: 1,000/1,000 (Limit reached)]

When the System prompt sounded, Lin Yuan was standing on an ice mountain made of Star Beast corpses. This ice mountain was a hundred zhang high, completely built from the remains of various ice-type Star Beasts, reflecting an eerie blue light under the aurora. The chaos heaven-grade sword was unstained by blood, its blade still as clean as new, but his green robe had been dyed dark red by the Star Beasts' blood, with fine ice crystals frozen on the hem. Three thousand Souls had accumulated within the soul pearl, each one struggling and roaring inside, bringing him one step closer to the next upgrade.

The Secret Realm suddenly shook violently, as if the entire space was trembling. At this moment in the Intermediate area, all the trial-takers looked up at the leaderboard in the sky in unison. That string of astronomical figures plunged the entire Secret Realm into dead silence, and even the whistling wind seemed to stop at this moment.

[Points Leaderboard]

Lin Yuan 1,070,100 (Advanced Area)

Tuoba Ye 52,100 (Intermediate Area)

Formless Demon Child 51,800

Ye Gubei 51,000

..."This... how is this possible?!" Tuoba Ye's giant axe fell to the ground with a clang, smashing a deep pit. He had just exhausted all his strength to kill a quasi-Rank 4 Star Beast, covered in wounds, and his points had barely broken fifty thousand. Looking at that despair-inducing gap in numbers, the muscles on his bronze-colored face twitched involuntarily.

Ye Gubei of the Heaven Sword Pavilion stared fixedly at the list, his fingers digging into his palms until blood seeped out, yet he remained oblivious. The "Flower Burial" sword in his hand suddenly made a crisp cracking sound—it was actually shaken with several cracks by the uncontrolled Law of Sword. "Advanced Area... how is he qualified to enter?" Ye Gubei's voice was terrifyingly hoarse, his eyes flashing with the flames of jealousy.

Lin Yuan stepped across the vast ice field, the ice crystals beneath his feet making a crisp cracking sound. He arrived at the final area marked on the map—an ancient altar surrounded by hexagonal ice pillars. Each of these ice pillars was as thick as ten people hugging it, their surfaces covered in profound runes, emitting a desolate and ancient aura. In the center of the altar grew a towering tree, its trunk crystal clear like crystal, with fifty golden fruits hanging from its branches, each emitting heart-palpitating energy fluctuations. But guarding under the tree was a magic bear as large as a small mountain; every breath it took formed a small ice storm around it.

[Ice Soul Magic Bear (Rank 5)]

[Combat Power Assessment: 5,000,000 Stars]

[Traits: Absolute Zero Domain, Ice Law 90%, Immune to Physical Attacks]

The moment the magic bear opened its icy blue eyes, the temperature of the entire ice field dropped by a hundred degrees. Lin Yuan's eyelashes were instantly covered in white frost, and his exhaled breath condensed into ice crystals in the air and fell. He felt his blood flow become sluggish, and even his spiritual power circulation was affected.

"Now that's more like it." He exhaled a cloud of white mist, and the chaos heaven-grade sword was fully unsheathed for the first time. The mysterious patterns on the sword's body lit up one by one, and thirteen types of Law powers began to resonate, forming a brilliant halo around the blade.

"Roar!" The magic bear stood up and slammed its paws heavily on the ground. Countless ice shards shot out like a rainstorm, each containing a chill that could freeze the Soul, letting out sharp whistles in the air; at the same time, its Domain expanded, and the ice surface under Lin Yuan's feet suddenly turned liquid, forming a giant whirlpool to swallow him.

"Thunder Flash!" Lin Yuan's figure turned into a bolt of purple lightning. 40% of the Law of Thunder allowed him to break the sound barrier, leaving a series of afterimages in the air. But the magic bear actually predicted his landing point, and its giant paw pressed down like a mountain peak—

"Boom!"

Lin Yuan blocked horizontally with his sword, the shockwave shattering the ice layer within a thousand-meter radius. His feet sank into the ice up to his knees, and a trace of blood overflowed from the corner of his mouth. This was the first time he had been injured since entering the Secret Realm; the blood dripped onto the ice and immediately condensed into red ice beads.

"Delightful!" He laughed out loud, his laughter echoing across the ice field. Suddenly changing his move, the chaos heavenly extreme sword flew out of his hand, dividing into thousands in the air. Each sword shadow was entwined with a different Law power: crimson flames, purple-white lightning, cyan astral wind... eventually converging into a chaotic torrent, pouring down like the Milky Way!