29: Chapter 29 This Secret Realm Is Strange

After stepping through the light gate, Chen Shanzhi felt his body become weightless.

Immediately after, the world began to spin, and his consciousness blurred rapidly, as if sinking into the deep sea.

An unknown amount of time passed.

"Hiss—"

A sharp headache caused Chen Shanzhi to draw in a cold breath. He snapped his eyes open and sat up from the bed.

Before him was a wooden guest room filled with exotic flair.

The pelts of unknown beasts hung on the walls, and the air was permeated with a faint scent of herbs.

Before he could take a closer look, a flood of unfamiliar memories rushed into his mind.

"Ugh..."

Chen Shanzhi let out a muffled groan. A moment later, he slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and his eyes gradually regained their clarity.

The memories weren't long, and the Fusion was soon complete.

"Chen San, special envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, acting on the orders of the Third Prince to visit the Witch Clan..."

This was the identity the Secret Realm had arranged for him.

In these memories, he was the Third Prince's trusted commander. The purpose of this trip was to form an alliance with the Witch Clan to jointly resist the increasingly rampant Demon Dynasty.

Besides the alliance, on the night before his departure, the Third Prince had met him in a secret room and earnestly entrusted him with a secret mission:

"Chen San, if you have the chance, you must bring back the first three transformations of the Witch Clan's 'Nine-Turn Golden Body Art of the Witch God'.

According to the intelligence I have gathered, the first three transformations of this Cultivation Technique are an unparalleled method for tempering one's martial Dao Foundation.

It's just that the early stages of cultivation require the Witch Clan's Bloodline to act as a guide.

However, if we can bring it back and research it, we can lift the restrictions of the Witch Clan Bloodline.

When the time comes to popularize it among the army, the combat power of our Great Zhou soldiers will increase several times over, and the threat of the Demon People at the borders can be resolved!"

The current point in time was precisely after he had endured countless hardships.

He had finally arrived at this Witch Clan tribe a few days ago.

He was currently resting in the guest room arranged by the Witch Clan.

"Something's not right. The content in this Secret Realm doesn't match the content in the game at all!"

After digesting this memory, a look of astonishment appeared on Chen Shanzhi's face.

He got out of bed, poured himself a cup of cold tea from the table, and downed it in one go.

The cool liquid sliding down his throat helped calm his chaotic thoughts slightly.

Chen Shanzhi set down the teacup, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the tabletop with a "thump, thump, thump" sound.

He began to search his mental walkthrough for detailed information regarding the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion Secret Realm.

After a long while, Chen Shanzhi's consciousness withdrew from the walkthrough in his mind, and he rubbed his brow with a bit of a headache.

It seemed things had exceeded his control; the content in the walkthrough was the same as his previous memories.

In the original game, the Zhenguo Marquis Mansion Secret Realm was a typical tower-climbing, monster-slaying dungeon.

After players entered, they would be teleported directly to a safe zone. Not far away would be the danger zone.

After resting, players needed to choose to step out of the safe zone.

Then they would face the Yao Beasts of the first stage, the Puppets of the second stage, and the guardian boss of the third stage.

The main focus was simple and crude: fight as soon as you meet.

If you won, you got the rewards; if you lost, you were teleported out.

But what about now?

There was no Martial Arts Arena, no Yao Beasts, and no Puppets in the vicinity.

Instead, there was this wooden house.

And an identity with a name, a surname, and a mission background.

Where exactly did things go wrong?

Chen Shanzhi's finger tapping the table applied a fraction more force.

The originally solid wooden table, about an inch thick, was instantly pierced through by his finger.

Chen Shanzhi's hand tapping the table suddenly froze.

When did his strength become this great?

He quickly turned his consciousness inward and felt the surging True Yuan within his body.

Then, shock appeared in Chen Shanzhi's eyes.

He discovered that the True Yuan in the various major apertures of his body was not at all what a Profound Gate Realm should possess.

This was because the True Yuan in a Profound Gate Realm's body flows through the major apertures like air.

But the True Yuan in his body now was like trickling streams.

Every drop of True Yuan within them far exceeded the concentration and quality of the sum of all the True Yuan contained within his Xuanguan Seven Apertures.

Then, when Chen Shanzhi focused his consciousness on his Sea of Consciousness, he discovered a cluster of golden flame shaped like a long spear.

The flame burned quietly in the Sea of Consciousness, giving Chen Shanzhi's entire Sea of Consciousness a sense of warmth.

But beneath this mild surface, Chen Shanzhi could feel the terrifying power contained within that golden spear flame.

Just a single spark would be enough to incinerate a Xuanguan Seven Apertures Martial Artist into ash.

This is... Life Fire?

When did he break through to the Life Fire Realm?

Chen Shanzhi looked at the wooden door not far away. With a thought, his figure appeared at the doorway.

Wherever the Life Fire shines, one can arrive in an instant.

He... no, rather, the identity given by this Secret Realm was indeed in the Life Fire Realm.

But after confirming this, Chen Shanzhi's expression became even more solemn.

In the original game's Zhenguo Marquis Mansion Secret Realm, his Xuanguan Seven Apertures plus Tang Xiaowu's Xuanguan Peak could have completely steamrolled through.

But now, just the strength of the identity provided by the Secret Realm was at the Life Fire Realm.

This meant that the Rank of this Secret Realm was at least at the Life Fire Realm.

Furthermore, he didn't know if there would be even higher-level existences within this Secret Realm.

A Secret Realm of at least the Life Fire Realm—this was completely impossible to appear in the early stages of the game.

Moreover, this was a Secret Realm that didn't exist in the game, so the walkthrough in his mind was useless.

"Holy sh*t..." Chen Shanzhi couldn't help but swear.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Shanzhi forced himself to calm down.

This was the first time since his Transmigration that he had encountered a situation completely unrelated to the game walkthrough in his head.

Even before, when facing people like Jiang Yingrao, although the plot deviated, the general direction was still within his control.

But this time, if he didn't know he had entered a Secret Realm...

He would have suspected he had transmigrated directly into another game.

"Did I enter the wrong Secret Realm?"

Chen Shanzhi frowned deeply and began to quickly review the details before and after he entered the Secret Realm in his mind.

First, the key he used to open the Secret Realm was personally given to him by his aunt, Chen Rou.

Given Chen Rou's doting nature, it was impossible for her to harm him.

Furthermore, the shape of that bronze key and the patterns on it were exactly the same as in the game.

Secondly, the location where he opened the Secret Realm—the stone pavilion on the rockery pond—was also consistent with the game.

Then, according to what his aunt said before he entered the Secret Realm...

The situation his dead father encountered in the Secret Realm back then was also fighting monsters and clearing stages, which matched the game's setting.

"Since the entrance is correct, the key is correct, and according to my aunt's description, it was correct when my father entered..."

"Then why, when I came in this time, has the content of this Secret Realm changed?"

Chen Shanzhi stood up and paced back and forth in the room.

He disliked this feeling of things being out of his control.

And without the advantage of the game walkthrough in his head...

The difficulty of surviving in this Secret Realm, which was at least at the Life Fire Realm, would skyrocket.

"Could it be because of my cultivation level?"

As soon as this thought emerged, Chen Shanzhi immediately shook his head and dismissed it.

In the early stages of the game, when the protagonist Tang Liu and Tang Xiaowu entered this Secret Realm...

They were at the Profound Gate Realm, which was similar to his current level.

If that wasn't it, then what could be the reason?

Chen Shanzhi walked to the window, pushed it open a crack, and looked at the occasional Witch Clan figures passing by in the distance and the entire Witch Clan tribe.

These were completely different from the dungeon in the game.

"Exactly what is the reason..." Chen Shanzhi's brow was locked in a tight frown.

But after thinking for a long time, Chen Shanzhi couldn't find a single clue.

He looked up and saw the figures occasionally walking past in the distance.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Chen Shanzhi's mind, and his footsteps abruptly stopped.