Before Pang Shunan could react, the man had already turned around and quickly disappeared into the night-shrouded streets and alleys.
"Hey! Wait! Who are you...?"
Pang Shunan glanced at the warm, tangible jade talisman in his hand, which carried a strange energy, then looked in the direction where the person had disappeared, his brows furrowed.
This person... he seemed vaguely familiar, as if he'd seen him somewhere before? Was it in Tanghuo City? Or on the way to Wanren City? He couldn't quite place it.
But judging from the other party's tone, it didn't seem like they were faking it, and they even mentioned Ma Tianyu and Qiuye Manor... A strong sense of unease suddenly rose in Pang Shun'an's heart. He gripped the jade talisman of unknown origin tightly and hurried back to Yanyu Pavilion to find Ma Tianyu.
As night deepens, the bustling Wanren City remains vibrant, but in the shadows of certain corners, an invisible net seems to be quietly tightening.
The jade talisman, which was shoved into Pang Shun'an's hand, reflected a cold and eerie luster in the dim light.
...
The entrance to the Cangxuan Secret Realm was like a giant vortex, drawing Shen Yunhao into it.
After a brief dizziness and a feeling of being torn apart by space, I felt the solid ground beneath my feet, and an intense, overwhelming scent of primal vegetation instantly filled my nostrils, mixed with a faint earthy smell and the pungent odor of some wild beast.
Suddenly, the view opened up before them. It was no longer the desolate and lifeless Sword Tomb, but a lush and ancient forest that stretched as far as the eye could see, full of life yet exuding a wild and untamed atmosphere.
Towering ancient trees rise from the ground, with gnarled vines entwining them. Their dense canopies block out the sun, with only scattered patches of sunlight stubbornly penetrating down to cast swaying shadows on the thick layer of decaying leaves on the ground.
The air was damp and heavy, containing a more primal and pure spiritual energy of heaven and earth that was much thinner than that of the outside world.
"roar!"
As soon as he landed, before Shen Yunhao could even observe his surroundings, he smelled a bloodthirsty scent.
With two low, threatening roars, two dark yellow figures suddenly pounced out from the dense bushes!
They were actually two leopard-like monsters, each as big as a bison!
Their eyes gleamed with an eerie red light. Without any hesitation, they pounced on the prey that had invaded their territory with the utmost speed!
"A Xuanpo Realm demon beast?"
Shen Yunhao's eyes narrowed, but he didn't panic much.
He had only recently advanced to the Soul Condensation Realm, but he was still quite familiar with the combat style of the Profound Soul Realm.
In addition, the pure swordsmanship training he received during those few days in the Sword Tomb Illusion Array had greatly improved his combat instincts.
Faced with the attack from both sides, Shen Yunhao completely ignored the negative effects of the suppressed spiritual energy. His footsteps were like a dragonfly skimming the water, leaving afterimages in a very small area. It seemed very dangerous, but he easily avoided the claws of a leopard demon. At the same time, the Guixue Sword in his hand turned into a cold light and swiftly pierced into the throat of another leopard demon!
"Pfft!"
The sword pierced flesh, and blood splattered!
The leopard demon let out a mournful howl as its massive body crashed to the ground, landing with a thin layer of frost on its body.
Using the recoil from the thrust, Shen Yunhao spun around strangely, and the Guixue Sword swept horizontally, slashing precisely at the waist and abdomen of the leopard demon that was attacking again with a sharp whooshing sound!
The sword's edge sliced through, leaving a deep wound that exposed bone.
The leopard demon, though in pain, became even more ferocious, lunging and biting wildly despite its injuries.
Shen Yunhao frowned slightly and engaged the beast in close combat with his sword. In just a few breaths, the massive leopard's body was covered in bloody gashes, and the ferocious beast fell with a mournful cry, its blood staining the decaying leaves on the ground.
The whole process took less than a minute.
Shen Yunhao stood still, feeling the spiritual energy within his body suppressed to the Profound Soul Realm by the laws of the secret realm. The spiritual energy that used to flow like a stream was now extremely viscous and difficult to use for casting spells.
"If I weren't so familiar with the fighting style of the Profound Soul Realm, I might have been eliminated right after landing..."
After a moment of adjustment, he turned to look at the corpses of the two leopard demons, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.
"These two leopard demons are indeed at the Profound Soul Realm, but their fighting style is extremely primitive, relying entirely on instinct... Logically speaking, when a demon beast cultivates to the Profound Soul Realm and condenses the Five Elements, it should be able to transform into human form, but these two... are no different from wild beasts..."
"It seems... the monsters in this secret realm are vastly different from those in the outside world..."
Shen Yunhao shook his head slightly, no longer looking at the corpse on the ground, and began to stretch his muscles and bones on the spot, carefully feeling and adapting to this suppressed state.
After a short while, Shen Yunhao chose a direction and silently moved through the dense forest.
"Let's go check out the other teams first. I wonder how competitive it is here..."
After traveling for about half an hour, a fierce fighting sound and a burst of spiritual energy came from ahead.
Shen Yunhao immediately concealed his aura, quietly climbed a lush ancient tree, and looked down through the gaps in the leaves.
Below, in a relatively open clearing in the woods, two groups of people are engaged in a fierce battle.
Both sides consisted of five people. Perhaps because they had just arrived and had not yet fully adapted, the battle looked extremely intense but also somewhat clumsy.
A disciple in a green robe attempted to activate a small bronze shield the size of a palm. The shield flashed a few times, but could only barely create a light shield the size of a washbasin before being easily shattered by his opponent's horizontal sword strike.
Shen Yunhao's heart skipped a beat. "With his cultivation suppressed, have these magical treasures also become useless?"
At this moment, a man took out a talisman that shone with spiritual light, infused it with spiritual energy, and unleashed a huge fireball that blasted the two people in front of him away. The power was quite considerable!
"..." Shen Yunhao stroked his chin. "The cultivators' spiritual energy is restricted, but the spiritual array is unaffected. Oh no... Are the disciples of the Tai Xuan Dao Sect going to be sent straight to heaven?"
The battle became a stalemate, with both sides relying on basic martial arts and low-level spells to fight. After a long time, someone was finally eliminated.
The disciple in the green robe was pierced in a vital spot by the flying sword. His identity jade token instantly emitted a white light, forming a cocoon of light that enveloped him, and he was directly teleported out of the secret realm.
However, the instant the person disappeared, several fine strands of light flew out from the direction from which the light cocoon dissipated and entered the identity jade pendant on the waist of the rogue cultivator who had just eliminated him!
"Huh? What's this?"
Shen Yunhao's gaze hardened.
The rogue cultivator seemed to sense something as well, and subconsciously looked down at his jade token.
The number that was originally displayed as four thousand has now jumped to five thousand five hundred!
This phenomenon is just like a drop of water being poured into a pot of boiling oil, causing it to explode instantly!
The two combatants paused for a moment, and everyone's eyes subconsciously turned to their own jade tokens, then suddenly to their opponents, their gazes instantly becoming incredibly intense!
Shen Yunhao gasped.
"Holy crap! Eliminating opponents and taking their points? Sword Pavilion is really treating this Cangxuan Secret Realm like a battlefield!"
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