"I'll take the opportunity to investigate further when I get the chance," Bai Xiao'e said. "If it's a God's Child, everything makes sense. It's normal for a hundred God Rank Ancient Spirits to frighten my Baize. After all, no one could be that twisted."
"And you say you're not interested in him?" teased the woman in ancient garb.
Bai Xiao'e's face did not betray her breathlessness, as she stretched out her slender, jade-like fingers to remove her black stockings, revealing her fair, delicate legs and tiny feet, decorated with pink nails, as cute as fresh flower petals.
"Am I just curious?"
"Isn't sister trying to meet him? I'm gathering intelligence for you," she retorted.
The woman in ancient garb's red lips slightly curled in disbelief of the young girl's tall tales.
...
North America, Hell Grand Canyon.
The canyon was full of strange rocks. Even before Earth's anomaly and the emergence of the Red Moon, the valley was outside the civilized world, containing various bizarrely shaped stones that from a distance appeared like dancing, clawed devils. At night, the canyon was even more grim, with eerie laughs echoing throughout.
Half a month ago, Spiritual Energy turmoil caused the ground to collapse, and a black pillar of light exploded. When the North American Pantheon came to investigate, they discovered an abruptly emerging gigantic Skull Stone Gate, ten meters tall and five meters wide, with dark water rippling within, its destination unknown.
The Pantheon Temple immediately sealed the news, but it was too late. Major powers had already gotten hold of the intelligence and sent people to explore.
Great Xia had also dispatched several teams.
At this moment, outside the Skull Stone Gate.
A North American expedition team composed of Spirit Martialists had just arrived. The seven-member team included four blond, blue-eyed men, three black men, the weakest among them of Fourth Grade, and the strongest was a one-armed black man of Third Grade Domain level.
He was giving his last briefing to the team:
"I leveraged my connections with the Pantheon to let us in. This opportunity to explore the Secret Realm is rare, be extra careful once we're inside."
"We don't compete with the major powers for loot, picking up scraps is enough for us."
"Understood, boss. No more talk, let's hurry in or the good stuff will be gone," urged a blond man, licking his lips with a greedy glint in his eyes.
"Alright, stay alert, move out!"
"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh—"
The entire seven-member team cautiously approached the Skull Stone Gate that rose from the ground, passing through the rippling dark waters within.
As soon as they entered, the one-armed black man shouted, "Stay on guard—"
"Puchi!"
A blood-red sword light rushed towards them. The one-armed black man instinctively opened his Domain to block, but his Domain instantly collapsed under the sword light, his head flew high, and his headless body fell to the ground, blood pouring out.
The other team members witnessed their always cautious leader beheaded in an instant, trembling with fear as they drew their weapons.
They looked towards the direction of the sword light.
There stood a young man with white hair and blood-red pupils, wielding a Red Longsword, his gaze indifferent. Behind him were six other young people, surrounding the place.
The blond member of the team couldn't believe it.
"This... this young?"
"One sword, one sword decapitated the boss?"
"Who are you!" shouted the other team members in terror. They didn't want to run, but the killing intent emanating from the white-haired young man seemed tangible, suffocating them, leaving them powerless.
The white-haired young man's blood-red pupils flashed with disappointment.
"Another bunch of trash has come."
"Just kill yourselves."
The remaining six team members, overwhelmed, exerted all their might to circulate their Spiritual Power and shouted:
"Split up and run! Find protection from our great North American forces!!!"
They were about to scatter and flee.
"Run?" The white-haired young man's blood-red pupils glared, and the surroundings instantly turned into a blood-red world, filled with killing intent.
"Ah!"
The six screamed in agony as they began to self-mutilate like mad, ultimately dying by their own hands.
To such a bloody scene, the white-haired, blood-pupil young man watched emotionlessly, unfazed.
His six companions trembled at the sight, still shocked by their leader's actions despite not seeing it for the first time.
"Boss, are we going to keep waiting at the entrance like this?" a burly young man behind him, wearing a metal headband, stepped forward to ask.
He was none other than Wu Tiansong, one of the three vice presidents of the Chuan Province Martial University's student council.
The white-haired, blood-pupil young man shook his head.
"Not yet, let's wait some more."
Wu Tiansong inwardly clicked his tongue.
Waiting here had already resulted in the deaths of three Second Rank, seven Third Rank, and a bunch of Fourth Rank and below Martialists. And it still wasn't enough?
Could it be that the boss won't rest until he kills a First Grade from the Foreign Forces?
"Boss, Liu Sheng Tan and the Xiang Family Overlord have already delved into the Secret Realm. If we're too late, I'm afraid there will be no spoils for us," Wu Tiansong was somewhat anxious.
The silver-haired youth with blood-red eyes shook his head.
"They still have to deal with those Foreign Gods' Children who entered earlier. It's definitely not easy for them, and even if they get the treasures, it's our people from Great Xia who get them. It's no problem," he said.
Wu Tiansong nodded and said through gritted teeth:
"Right, if we can ambush a big fish here and kill it, causing pain to the Foreign Forces, that wouldn't be bad."
"Hmm."
The silver-haired youth with blood-red eyes responded indifferently, and Wu Tiansong showed no dissatisfaction.
He had long been accustomed to their chairman who was known as the 'God of Slaughter' and quietly stepped back.
Wu Tiansong whispered to the other five team members: "I wonder which new student from our school has the nerve to challenge the chairman."
"Exactly," a dwarf woman shook her head repeatedly: "I think that's someone literally asking for trouble."
"Tu Fei, don't say that. I heard the new student beat Xue Can," Wu Tiansong smiled.
The dwarf woman scoffed: "What's Xue Can but a lapdog to the boss? If he weren't useless, why would the boss take us two vice-chairs out and leave him behind?"
"That's enough, Old Wu, Old Tu! Stop talking about a dead man. When we get back, the boss could snap his fingers and kill him just like that. Let's think about how we'll deal with those guys in the dungeon later, and the monsters reviving in the Secret Realm."
...
Sichuan Provincial Medical Institution.
The white hospital room was filled with the pungent smell of disinfectant. Xue Can, his body wrapped in white bandages, lay on the hospital bed, his vitality weakened, with dark red bloodstains faintly seeping through the bandages. A nurse dressed in white had just changed the IV fluid and left the room.
Now, Xue Can was alone in the room.
"Damn it!"
"Damn it!!!"
Xue Can's teeth ground with a clattering sound, and the next second, a loose tooth broke off due to his excessive clenching.
"Shit!"
"Xia Luo, how dare you!!"
Xue Can felt the agonizing pain of his bones breaking all over his body and let out a crazed, furious yell that echoed in the hospital room.
But recalling the combat strength Xia Luo had displayed, his tight fist loosened again, his face expressing defeat, yet his hatred did not diminish.
"Once Old Qin returns, you're dead meat!"
"Ugh—"
Xue Can suddenly retched, and a transparent pearl flew out of his throat.
"Buzz!"
Inside the pearl, a white finger bone was sealed, which faintly had tadpole-like secret inscriptions carved on it. It suddenly emitted a bloody light, casting a red shadow over the white hospital room, giving it a sinister aspect.
A dry, hoarse old voice arose within the pearl, as if fingernails were scraping against a wall.
"I've seen it, I've seen it all, hee-hee-hee—"
"Do you want to take revenge yourself, tear that bastard to pieces with your own hands?"
"Get lost!" Xue Can bellowed at the voice.
The voice cackled wickedly.
"Kid, stop pretending to be a gentleman. You brought me out from the ruins, didn't he hand me over, but kept me hidden, was it not because you had your own little scheme?"
"Release me, and I will help you take revenge."
Xue Can sneered: "If I set you free, who knows what disaster you might cause?"
He had once been through a reviving Secret Realm, where he had barely survived but came out virtually empty-handed. He only found this white finger bone suppressed under a statue of the Three Purities. Driven by self-interest, he did not hand it over but kept it hidden.
Later on, he discovered that the white finger bone would often bewitch him, so he sealed it with a secret artifact, which was this little pearl, early on in his possession.
The massive statue of the Three Pure Ones in the Secret Realm was probably meant to suppress it. The tadpole inscriptions carved on the surface were Demon-Suppressing Inscriptions, so Xue Can had been very cautious and did not intend to explore the secrets of this object while his cultivation level was low.
"You seem quite weak right now," the white finger bone emanated an evil chuckle.
"Enough talk, I won't help you escape. Dream on," Xue Can scolded.
"Since you're so weak right now, it's no longer up to you."
The white finger bone turned blood red in an instant. The surface's carved tadpole inscriptions shone with a bright light but trembled violently, dispersed by the blood red glow.
"Crack, crack—"
Xue Can watched in horror as his reflection in his pupils showed the sealing pearl shattering...