124: Soul Ascension

Relying on the Breathless Illusion and his powerful Spiritual Perception, everyone in the entire Secret Realm became Lu Qianyuan's targets for robbery.

Those who could enter the Source Soul Secret Realm were at least Fourth-Order, and they wouldn't be completely defenseless against these demon Souls; they could accumulate some Soul crystals, more or less.

By robbing them, Lu Qianyuan quickly harvested a large number of Soul crystals.

However, after being robbed by Lu Qianyuan, these people naturally realized the problem, so some chose to withdraw, while the rest stayed to continue accumulating Soul crystals.

They weren't foolish; they wanted to use this to lure Lu Qianyuan out and find his weakness.

However, Lu Qianyuan saw everything these people did; the so-called traps were meaningless to him.

Lu Qianyuan didn't care about this; after all, they were just working for him.

Three days passed in a flash, and Lu Qianyuan's Soul continued to improve through continuous plundering and absorption of Soul crystals.

During these three days, he almost absorbed Soul crystals without sleep, and his Soul level rapidly increased like a rocket.

After three days, his Soul level had successfully advanced from the first to the second level.

However, the demand for the Soul level to reach the third level from the second was a bit large, several times more than from the first to the second level.

But Lu Qianyuan came in this time specifically to raise his Soul level to three, so he could just stay longer if needed.

Lu Qianyuan continued to harvest students and demon Souls in the Secret Realm, and by the way, he also studied the composition of demon Souls.

The birth of demon Souls was due to the special rules of the Secret Realm; it would be great if he could study how to accelerate the birth of demon Souls.

Lu Qianyuan stopped and used his Spiritual Perception to search the entire Secret Realm.

He had felt it when he came in; there was indeed a rule within the Secret Realm, but he couldn't grasp its full scope.

However, now he seemed to have no choice but to seriously study it... Five days passed in a blink of an eye.

In another corner of the Source Soul Secret Realm, several Fourth-Order students gathered, including Liu Huang.

“Ahem, thank you all for giving me, Yang, this Face, and coming here for a meeting.”

“I won't say much more; everyone present should have encountered that crystal bandit.”

A tall, fully armed student in gray clothes, wearing armor, with a precious saber at his waist, stood in the center and spoke to the dozen or so people beside him.

Although some of the students present were reluctant to accept it, they eventually nodded silently.

“Although in the Secret Realm, everyone relies on their own abilities, are you willing to be defeated without even seeing the enemy's appearance?”

“Even if you are willing, with him around, it's impossible for us to safely harvest Soul crystals and raise our Soul level.”

“As long as he remains in the Secret Realm, our strength improvement will be affected.”

“So I propose we join forces to eliminate him.”

“That's exactly what I was thinking.”

A brawny man in black armor, holding a long staff, nodded and said.

“Count me in.”

“I'll join too.”

“Me.”

“...”

The rest of the people also chose to agree to join.

If they were defeated once, that would be one thing, but the key was that Lu Qianyuan had defeated them more than once.

The opponent was completely focused on harvesting Soul crystals, going wherever there were Soul crystals.

Some people had even been harvested by Lu Qianyuan four or even five times; it could be said that ever since Lu Qianyuan entered the Secret Realm, they had been working for him.

They naturally could not accept this.

In the Secret Realm, everyone relies on their own abilities; if Lu Qianyuan could rob them, then they could also cooperate to rob Lu Qianyuan.

“I have a plan.”

Yang Mingwei then stated his plan.

The plan was simple: wasn't Lu Qianyuan going wherever there were Soul crystals? Then they would collect Soul crystals and absorb them in batches.

One group would guard, while the other group would take the opportunity to absorb Soul crystals.

If Lu Qianyuan wanted to steal the Soul crystals, he would have to Face all of them at once.

If they were still powerless in such a situation, then they could only find a way to call for backup.

If there was someone they could call, why not call them? This was called reasonable utilization of their own resources.

Yang Mingwei then arranged the order for absorbing Soul crystals and led his people to hunt demon Souls separately.

Time quickly passed for another day.

All of them were top performers among the Fourth-Order, and with their cooperation, they killed demon Souls extremely quickly.

After a day, they had accumulated a good amount of Soul crystals.

Then, as planned, they gathered to absorb the Soul crystals.

To be safe, Soul crystals were absorbed one by one, with the remaining people guarding to ensure the safety of the one absorbing.

The first to absorb was a slightly weaker male student, with the rest forming a circle to protect him.

However, time slowly passed, and until the male student finished absorbing, they did not find Lu Qianyuan coming to steal Soul crystals.

Yang Mingwei always felt something was wrong, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

He cast a Mental Battle Skill, attempting to break the ability, but there was no reaction.

This situation usually meant he hadn't entered an illusion, but he still felt strange.

To be safe, Yang Mingwei spoke up and asked the people around him.

“Do you still remember my last overall ranking?”

“I don't remember.”

One person beside him answered naturally.

Yang Mingwei raised his hand, drew the long sword from his waist, and slashed at one of the people beside him.

The person immediately retreated several steps, creating distance from Yang Mingwei.

“Are you crazy, Yang Mingwei?!”

That person immediately said sharply, still shaken.

Seeing this, the others beside him also drew their weapons and aimed them at Yang Mingwei, their Faces showing vigilance.

“It's really quite realistic.”

Yang Mingwei looked at the people around him and sneered.

Then he mobilized his power to break the illusion.

He had already agreed on a secret signal with the others using Mental Energy; no matter the question, they should not answer with words, but with Mental Energy.

When the other party spoke, he confirmed it was an illusion.

Yang Mingwei closed his eyes, listening to everything around him.

Everything he saw now was an illusion; he couldn't be misled.

A moment later, he sensed the auras around him, seven in total. No, something was wrong, there was one extra.

He immediately drew his sword and slashed at the anomalous aura. A silver sword light flashed, and the illusion collapsed with a roar, leaving one person severely injured on the ground.

Yang Mingwei made a sword flourish, put away his long sword, and then woke up the people who were caught in the illusion.

“He is the mastermind.”

Yang Mingwei said, looking at the dying person on the ground, and the others also examined that person.

“Brother Yang's strength is indeed formidable; it seems he revealed his weakness.”

“I didn't expect him to dare attack us alone.”

“Let's get all the Soul crystals back, and then send him out. If he dies inside, we'll have some trouble.”

“That makes sense.”

The group exchanged words, and soon decided on how to deal with the person on the ground.