The three young men in blue crashed into the wall, their eyes wide with disbelief, seemingly unable to comprehend how they had been defeated so easily.

However, none of this concerned Luo Feng.

For him, killing three quasi-Young Master-level experts was now as simple as drinking tea or eating a meal.

He couldn't help but shake his head with a bitter smile, remembering how, just a month ago, facing a half-baked quasi-Young Master-level expert like Qin Huan had given him such a headache.

The two continued on their way.

The Secret Realm was incredibly vast, almost unfathomably so. At their speed, they could cover hundreds of meters in a single breath. Several hours had passed since they entered, yet there was still no end in sight.

Luo Feng estimated that they were now over a thousand meters underground!

"We're reaching the end!"

After about the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn, Luo Feng's expression suddenly sharpened. He felt that the end of the corridor was just a few hundred meters ahead.

Actually, even without Luo Feng's alert, Bing Ruolan had already noticed the change in their surroundings. The white light in the corridor had, at some point, transformed into a multicolored, seven-hued radiance, giving it a mysterious and bizarre appearance.

A few breaths later, they burst out of the corridor, and their vision suddenly opened up.

At the end of the corridor lay a spacious square.

In the square stood a majestic and towering palace. It was constructed from an unknown material, seeming to be neither gold nor wood. Though black, it shimmered with a seven-colored brilliance. This brilliance was the source of the seven-colored scenery they had seen in the corridor.

There were already quite a few figures in the square, with more continuously emerging from nearby corridors. They all stood frozen, their faces filled with astonishment, clearly awed by the mysterious palace before them.

"The treasure must be inside the palace! Let's go!" a young martial artist, who had just rushed out of a corridor, shouted excitedly upon seeing the towering palace and charged towards the main entrance.

Luo Feng spotted Zhou Jianyi in the crowd. Zhou Jianyi didn't stop the young man; instead, he crossed his arms, an amused and expectant look on his face.

What's going on?

Luo Feng was certain Zhou Jianyi wouldn't let anyone else get there first, so his gaze shifted to the palace entrance.

The young martial artist sprinted to the closed palace doors, his face flushing red as he gathered his Yuan Qi and threw a powerful punch.

A horrifying scene unfolded in an instant. Before the youth's fist could even land on the black iron doors, a massive, seven-colored curtain of light suddenly appeared, blocking his strike.

THUD!

As his fist struck the seven-colored light screen, the young martial artist let out a piercing scream, spat out a mouthful of blood, and was violently thrown backward.

Gasps rippled through the square; everyone was stunned by the scene. That young martial artist was a Young Master-level expert, yet he had been gravely injured without any chance to resist.

"This seven-colored light curtain can reflect Gang Qi!" Bing Ruolan asserted, having discerned the mechanism.

Luo Feng nodded. The force the young martial artist had endured was, in fact, the power of his own punch.

Luo Feng looked at the towering palace, frowning slightly. I wonder how we can get in.

No wonder even Zhou Jianyi is still here, Luo Feng thought. Without using Gang Qi, just relying on brute force to open those giant iron doors, which are over ten zhang tall, would be impossible even for him.

Hearing his words, Bing Ruolan also shook her head. "Without using Gang Qi, I doubt anyone here can open the doors. Are we going to be stuck here?"

"It's too early to think that way. Let's wait and see," Luo Feng said, shaking his head. His gaze fell upon the square, where twenty to thirty figures had already gathered.

"Luo Feng, Bing Ruolan. You two actually got here first."

Two figures rushed over; it was Zi Yuan and He Qin.

Luo Feng had just been looking for them. Seeing the two, he asked, "Are you two alright?"

Zi Yuan laughed. "He Qin and I were lucky. We met up right after passing the first trial in the Secret Realm."

He Qin nodded. "It was really fortunate this time. This Secret Realm is filled with danger. If I hadn't met Zi Yuan, I'm afraid I would have struggled to get here."

"I should be the one saying that. You're much stronger than me," Zi Yuan chuckled. Her gaze then fell upon Luo Feng, and she asked, slightly surprised, "Luo Feng, you haven't broken through?"

Zi Yuan and Bing Ruolan had both advanced from the early stage of the Eighth Stage Hell Realm to the middle stage. He Qin's cultivation had also progressed; she was now at the late stage of the Eighth Stage Hell Realm.

Among the four present, only Luo Feng hadn't advanced; the other three had all progressed. Luo Feng's aura had long since reached completion, making him the one who should have been most likely to break through. His lack of advancement was why Zi Yuan was so surprised.

Luo Feng scratched his nose, wondering how to reply, when He Qin, beside him, spoke up. "Luo Feng is cultivating the Condensation Yuan Technique, which makes breaking through realms much more difficult for him. However, once he does, his Yuan Qi will be several times greater than that of ordinary Heavenly Court Realm martial artists."

"So that's how it is," Zi Yuan nodded.

Luo Feng remained silent on this, neither confirming nor denying.

The difficulty I face in breaking through realms is partly due to the Condensation Yuan Technique, he thought. But the main reason is that I have twice as many Meridian Wheels as ordinary people. Otherwise, with my Yuan Qi seed and no realm bottlenecks, I should have broken through long ago. I'm not in a rush anyway. Laying a solid foundation now will greatly benefit my future cultivation.

"Hengmu is here too!"

A cry of alarm rose from the crowd. A burly figure shot out from a distant corridor, his wild and fierce aura stirring up a gust of wind that swept across the entire square.

Seeing Hengmu appear, Zhou Jianyi snorted coldly.

"Two of the three Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm experts are here now. The only one missing is 'Blood Closer' Xue Ren."

"Odd, most of the Young Master-level experts have arrived. Xue Ren should be here by now, yet he's still missing."

"Could something have happened to Xue Ren? The puppet monsters in the Secret Realm are incredibly powerful."

"How could that be possible? If even you made it here safely, how could Xue Ren, a Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm expert, have failed? If he doesn't show up, there's only one possibility..." The speaker glanced surreptitiously at Zhou Jianyi.

The others exchanged knowing looks and silently agreed. If anyone present had the power to kill 'Blood Closer' Xue Ren, it was undoubtedly Zhou Jianyi, the Human Demon.

Yuan Gang listened to the discussion, glancing at Luo Feng. If these people knew that Luo Feng had killed Xue Ren, their jaws would probably drop to the floor, he thought. Shaking his head slightly, Yuan Gang retracted his gaze, remaining silent. He didn't want to offend a genius who, despite being only at the peak of the Eighth Stage Hell Realm, could defeat a Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm expert.

"Xue Ren hasn't shown up yet; it looks like it's more bad news than good. Zhou Jianyi even dares to kill Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm martial artists. He truly lives up to his reputation as the Human Demon," Zi Yuan said.

Bing Ruolan pursed her lips and chuckled softly. "Xue Ren is indeed dead, but he didn't die at Zhou Jianyi's hands."

"Huh?"

Upon hearing this, both He Qin and Zi Yuan turned to look at Bing Ruolan, their curiosity piqued. "Then who was it?"

Of those who had entered the Secret Realm this time, there were only three Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm experts.

Xue Ren and Yuan Gang were almost equal in strength. If Yuan Gang had wanted to kill Xue Ren, it certainly wouldn't have been easy. Since Yuan Gang was currently unharmed, that possibility was extremely low. Thus, anyone would naturally assume Zhou Jianyi had killed Xue Ren. They were surprised when Bing Ruolan denied it.

Bing Ruolan glanced at Luo Feng. "The killer is far away, yet right before your eyes."

GASP!

He Qin and Zi Yuan glanced at Luo Feng, unable to stop themselves from sucking in a sharp breath of cold air. "Luo Feng, is this true?" Zi Yuan asked for confirmation.

Luo Feng didn't intend to hide it. He nodded and admitted, "He tried to ambush me but was careless, so I killed him."

Luo Feng spoke casually, but his words stirred a tempest in He Qin's and Zi Yuan's hearts.

It was common knowledge that the power difference between an Eighth Stage Hell Realm martial artist and a Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm martial artist was more than tenfold, possibly even dozens of times. This was considered an unbridgeable chasm!

An Eighth Stage Hell Realm martial artist challenging a Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm martial artist would be deemed a madman, let alone defeating one!

But now, the impossible had truly happened. The shock in their hearts was imaginable.

"I saw it with my own eyes, and even now, I still find it hard to believe," Bing Ruolan said with a smile, having anticipated their astonishment.

Zi Yuan looked at Luo Feng with a complex expression. "Defeating a Ninth Stage Heavenly Court Realm expert with only peak Eighth Stage Hell Realm cultivation... even if word of this got out, I'm afraid no one would believe it."

He Qin nodded in profound agreement. Even though she already knew Luo Feng's strength far exceeded that of an ordinary Eighth Stage Hell Realm martial artist, she had never imagined it would be so outrageously great!

Luo Feng didn't dwell on the topic. He glanced across the square and sighed. "Nearly a hundred people entered, but now fewer than thirty remain. Over half of them are dead or injured!"

Zi Yuan nodded and said with relief, "As they say, 'a general's success is built on ten thousand bones.' Fortunately, all four of us are safe. Look, only two students from Ivy School survived. It seems that Qin Huan, the one who had a feud with you, didn't make it out either."

In a corner of the square, two Ivy School students in green uniforms huddled together, their heads bowed.

Out of ten students from Ivy School, only two remained—a catastrophically heavy loss.

Luo Feng and Bing Ruolan exchanged a glance and smiled faintly. Zi Yuan probably had no idea that Qin Huan had also died at Luo Feng's hands.

Another half an incense stick's worth of time passed, and no one else emerged from the corridor.

Just then, Zhou Jianyi, the 'Broken Wind Sword,' suddenly roared.

"Where is my younger brother, Zhouyan? Why hasn't he arrived yet? Who here has seen him?!" Zhou Jianyi's face was livid, his fierce gaze sweeping over the crowd as he roared in anger.

It was no wonder he was so furious; anyone who hadn't emerged from the corridor by now was most likely dead or in grave danger.

Everyone his gaze swept over shrank back, not daring to speak.

Zhou Jianyi's eyes were filled with murderous intent. He grabbed a Young Master-level youth and demanded, "Have you seen my brother, Zhouyan? Speak up!"

"I... I haven't seen him." The youth looked at Zhou Jianyi in fear, his voice trembling.

"You don't know? Then what use are you alive? Die!"

SCHLICK!

A blood-red glow from Zhou Jianyi's palm formed into Sword Qi, instantly beheading the Young Master-level expert. The sight made the other martial artists tremble to their core.

One disagreeable word, and he killed instantly! This was Zhou Jianyi, the Human Demon!

"Luo Feng."

Watching the tragic scene, Bing Ruolan furrowed her brows and glanced at Luo Feng with worry.

"It's nothing," Luo Feng said, shaking his head, his expression calm.

He Qin noticed this. Her beautiful eyes shifted, and she asked in surprise, "Luo Feng, could it be that Zhouyan also...?"

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