Sixth's eyes flickered with confusion.
"There doesn't seem to be any danger around, with mountains on three sides, and only to the north there seems to be a village, from where you can see strange red lights and smoke rising."
"This damn place... and there's still a village?" Zhu Qing spat.
"Is there a problem?" Luo Yu asked.
Zhu Qing said with a bizarre expression, "It seems you weren't lying, kid; it really is your first time entering the Secret Realm."
"The Secret Realm forms a world of its own, but whether it's the resurrected domains within our country or abroad, they're all filled with all sorts of natural disasters, special monsters, and never a normal living creature in sight."
"Often there are treasures left by the owners of the Secret Realm or special spiritual herbs growing within; these are the ultimate goals for those who come to explore."
"Understood," Luo Yu nodded.
"This damned village doesn't look like any good place," Zhu Qing said disdainfully, "but this is the only way in now."
Cao Ritian thought for a moment and then issued an order.
"Everyone head to the northern village, and remember to keep your aura concealed; do not fly."
"Stop muttering, all of you here have been to a Secret Realm except Xia Luo; those who know, know," Zhu Qing said impatiently, cleaning his ears.
Rustling─
The party walked towards the edge of the jungle.
Luo Yu looked up at the sky, where a bright full moon hung, starkly different from the blood moon seen in the outside world, and couldn't help but feel wistful.
"Never thought I'd have the chance to see Earth's bright moon from a hundred years ago here."
The others looked up and nodded in agreement, then couldn't help but sneer.
"While everyone else is on edge, preparing to deal with the crises of the Secret Realm, this kid thinks it's time for sightseeing," they commented.
"Don't you feel that this jungle is a little too quiet?" Pan Ren said, furrowing his brow.
Luo Yu had been watching the bright moon in the sky when suddenly his pupils contracted.
"Look at the sky!"
"Just look at it yourself, man. What's so good about that broken moon?" came an impatient voice from around them, but as they raised their heads, they were struck with horror.
The moon high above had at some point turned into a gigantic eye, emanating red light, gazing down at them.
To be precise, it was staring at their party.
"Holy shit!" Even Zhu Qing shuddered, "Who the hell is pulling this supernatural stunt!!!"
"Let me try!"
Pan Ren calmly uttered, summoning a cyan longbow in his hands, drew the bow and shot an arrow, piercing through the sky towards that colossal eye above.
Boom!
The arrow passed through the eye as if passing through ripples, finally bursting open in the air.
The eye remained unharmed, still eerily watching them from above.
"It's not solid," Pan Ren quickly concluded.
"Could it be some kind of surveillance technique?" said Yuan Guangyi, who had been silent until now, "If this thing was activated automatically by someone after entering, that would be one thing, but if there's some unknown living creature watching us, that's trouble."
"Move quickly toward the village to gather information," Cao Ritian ordered calmly, "Use any technique you have; why fear a mere Third-Grade Secret Realm."
Crack... crack...
A peculiar sound suddenly came from around them, and the group stopped in their tracks. In the quiet of the night, the cracking was particularly terrifying.
Bang!
The thick trunks around them suddenly exploded, and a blue-black arm reached out, seizing a team member's neck.
"Ah!" The team member cried out, having been on guard against the ground and treetops, but never expecting an arm to suddenly reach out from within a tree trunk.
"Heh heh."
Cao Ritian sneered, seemingly well-prepared, as his domain spread in an instant, and he reached the team member in the blink of an eye. A bronze longsword appeared in his hand, and with one sword strike, he severed the blue-black arm, which sprayed black blood. Cao Ritian quickly pulled the team member back with one arm.
Black blood dripped onto the ground, rapidly corroding the grass and trees, making a sizzling sound.
Luo Yu watched from behind Zhu Qing, his lips curling up.
This guy reacted quickly; while the others were still deploying their measures, he had already struck instantly, resolving the crisis—he certainly had the capital to be proud.
But...
Luo Yu scanned the surroundings and let out a cold laugh.
"Be careful, there won't be just one," Zhu Qing shouted.
As if in response,
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More blue-black arms stretched out from bulky tree trunks, reaching for the people.
"Spread out, this creature's blood is toxic."
Zhu Qing flung out a purple-red flame with his hand to incinerate the dark green hand that was attacking him, while reminding everyone.
"Boom boom!"
The dark forest lit up instantly, and everyone summoned their Ancient Spirits.
Behind Zhu Qing appeared a fiery figure with red hair and a red beard, radiating intense heat, whose flames could almost instantly reduce the dark green hand to ashes.
Luo Yu was certain it wasn't Fire God Zhu Rong, after all...
The real Fire God was with him.
What Pan Ren summoned was a warhorse-riding, great axe-swinging warrior, the famous Three Kingdoms general, Pan Feng, whose axe was overwhelmingly powerful.
This guy looked gentle, but his moves showed tremendous strength and force.
Cao Ritian's Ancient Spirit resembled himself somewhat, with a Qinggang Sword in hand, his sword technique peerless, generating wave after wave of sword shadows.
"Boom——"
The battle continued unabated, as the owner of the tree-borne dark green arms showed their true form—beings that had died an unknown time ago.
Men, women, old and young, their bodies dark green, each of varying strength, mostly around the Fourth or Fifth Rank, but the severe corrosive nature of their blood was quite troublesome.
Ordinary Martial Artists would have been flustered dealing with them, but all the one hundred elites from Martial University quickly dispatched these eerie dark green corpses.
Trees collapsed all around them, with carcasses strewn about, their black blood still corroding the vegetation, leaving the scene in disarray.
Most of the team were panting heavily, but fortunately, there were no casualties.
Yet, Luo Yu had no chance to make a move as Zhu Qing's Team had encircled him in the middle, protecting him well, as if they had tacitly decided he was a sitting duck.
Zhu Qing laughed, "I said it was too peaceful, now this feels a bit more like the Secret Realm, hahaha."
Cao Ritian nodded.
"Just a bunch of dead things, not worth mentioning."
"Too few, not nearly enough for us to slay." Zhu Qing laughed heartily, seemingly finding the battle not thrilling enough.
"Rustling——"
The ground bulged as if something was about to burst forth.
Everyone's expression stiffened.
One dark green corpse after another crawled out of the dense bumps, filling the entire forest, their pale eyes staring at the group.
"Damn! How many of these things are there?"
"There's no end to them, let's get out of here!"
"Zhu Qing, you jinx!"
Zhu Qing was the quickest to run, taking Luo Yu and others to flee towards the north.
"Let's go! Retreat from here." Cao Ritian, too, was decisive, directly leading his team members to fly into the air, hand-in-hand.
"Swoosh swoosh swoosh!!"
Suddenly, countless thick vines burst from beneath the ground, flying towards the sky, lashing out at the team members as they took flight.
"Go down and run."
Cao Ritian and the others made the decision in an instant, flying was too slow.
"Boom boom!"
The group fought as they retreated, fleeing the forest.
"Damn Zhu Qing, you said there wasn't enough to slay, so why are you running faster than a rabbit?" came a voice of cursing from behind.
"Idiots, I'm brash, not stupid!" Zhu Qing retorted while flipping them off, and with his other hand, he didn't forget to launch a fireball towards the mass of corpses in the distant rear to help relieve the pressure on his teammates.
"There's a stele ahead."
Luo Yu pointed to the front.
The village that shone with a red light was right before their eyes, with a huge stone stele standing at its entrance, carved with crooked ancient characters.
Strangely, once the group crossed the stone stele, the army of green corpses did not continue to pursue them.
"Huff——"
"Huff!"
Apart from the likes of Cao Ritian, whose strength was formidable, the other team members looked utterly drained.
"Half of you recover your strength, the other half continue to keep watch." Cao Ritian instructed before walking over; frowning, he looked at the small village in the distance, pointed at the stele and asked, "Who can make out what's written here?"
Pan Ren called out a one-eyed young man from the team, "Liu Lin, come take a look."
The one-eyed young man, Liu Lin, took one glance and said with surprise:
"Shan Jun Village."
"This is the script from the Qin Dynasty."
Contented, Pan Ren nodded, "It looks like this place is a relic from the Qin Dynasty, who knows what secrets are hidden..."