Chapter 174: "With My Life, I'll Proclaim My Master's Might." (Part 2)

Chapter 174: "With My Life, I'll Proclaim My Master's Might." (Part 2)

After ten breaths.

He suddenly felt the immobilization lift.

Immediately, a surge of spiritual energy burst forth, and dark clouds instantly enveloped the sky of this small secret realm. Gale-force winds and torrential rain followed. The aura of his Fifth Level Nascent Soul cultivation was unleashed without restraint.

For a moment—

The other eight people, who were preparing to act, suddenly froze in place, their faces turning grim as they turned to look at Chen Qiu.

This person was at the Fifth Level Nascent Soul stage, and they were all at the First Level Nascent Soul stage, naturally unable to match him. Especially the overwhelming aura of this person's techniques far exceeded that of a Fifth Level Nascent Soul. They could only sense that he was very strong, but exactly how strong was beyond their perception.

Strong enough to exterminate a Sixth Level Nascent Soul!

Moreover, he looked so young, a Nascent Soul prodigy capable of fighting across levels!

"Chen Qiu, he is Quzhou's Chen Qiu!"

Perhaps Chen Qiu's attack techniques were truly unforgettable, and one of the eight people quickly recognized him, his face showing signs of panic as he couldn't help but shout. Upon hearing this, the remaining seven people also held their breaths in unison.

Then, without any hesitation.

They slowly raised their hands and retreated to the corners of the Green Stone Square, signaling their withdrawal from the competition.

If it were a regular Fifth Level Nascent Soul, they might have a chance if they all attacked together. After all, a fierce tiger finds it hard to fight a group of lions. At the Nascent Soul stage, it was difficult for a Fifth Level Nascent Soul to suppress a dozen First Level Nascent Souls.

At the Nascent Soul stage, there wasn't such a significant disparity in combat power.

After all, everyone who could cultivate to the Nascent Soul stage wasn't a pushover, and they definitely had some trump cards up their sleeves. If they truly used them, they wouldn't be completely helpless.

Of course, all this was predicated on the assumption that the opponent was a regular Fifth Level Nascent Soul cultivator.

Now, the person they faced was not a regular Fifth Level Nascent Soul. He was Quzhou's unparalleled prodigy, who had single-handedly slaughtered the Demon State and had reached the Twelfth Stage Supreme Nascent Soul at the Fifth Level!

Reputation precedes the person!

Those who could be listed in the Heavenly Dao Edict were no fools, let alone someone who had been listed multiple times.

They yielded.

A "Nascent Soul Power Ranking Realm" was not worth losing their lives over.

Chen Qiu ignored the eight First Level Nascent Souls who had retreated to the corners and calmly walked over to the First Level Nascent Soul who had first obtained the flag and was now cowering in a corner, trembling like a leaf.

He looked down at this trembling cultivator, paused for a moment, and seeing that he had no intention of handing over the flag, he extended his hand and said softly.

"Give it to me."

"No, no!"

This cultivator, who was now curled up in a corner, had lost all the dignity of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Like a drowning stray cultivator, he stared straight at Chen Qiu, his voice trembling with intense fear. The first "no" was a trembling, fear-laden reply, while the second "no" was a desperate, albeit weak, roar, as if trying to bolster his own courage.

"Unless, unless you..."

Before he could finish his sentence, a small thunderball appeared in his vision, rapidly growing larger as it shot towards his eye socket. In the last moments of his consciousness, he seemed to see countless Thunder Dragons exploding within his eye socket.

"Boom!!!"

Amid the deafening thunder, thousands of Thunder Dragons exploded one after another within the Secret Realm. The cultivator who had just spoken a moment ago was now reduced to scattered flesh amidst the onslaught.

Chen Qiu casually flicked out a wisp of spirit energy, wrapping it around the Nascent Soul body that had fallen to the ground along with the flag.

His control over his strength was impeccable.

He didn't unleash all his power within this small Secret Realm; he only used a bit of spirit energy.

And in the instant he grasped the flag,

a panel slowly appeared above his dantian, shrouded in clouds.

-

"Holding this flag will cause the spirit energy in the dantian to automatically and rapidly replenish without limit."

-

"Hmm?"

Chen Qiu raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled. So that was it. This ensured that whoever obtained the flag would have some confidence when facing the siege of the other nine, and they wouldn't be besieged to death.

Perhaps this was the reason why the Nascent Soul cultivator from earlier was so confident.

Unfortunately,

looking at it this way,

under these rules, the Secret Realm indeed had a lot of competitiveness, but for him, there wasn't much competition, after all, these were all early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.

Not much of a challenge.

Among all the cultivators on the Xuantian Continent, early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators likely made up a significant proportion of Nascent Soul cultivators, perhaps as high as three-tenths, or even four-tenths!

After all, considering the difficulty of cultivating at the Nascent Soul stage, it wasn't surprising that some cultivators might be stuck at the early stage for seven or eight years.

Not everyone had the luxury of abundant resources provided by their sects, allowing them to cultivate without a care in the world.

What if resources ran out?

Would they have to venture out and earn more?

Should they take on the risks of the Heavenly Dao Mystic Realm, seek out fortuitous encounters, or embark on expeditions?

Each of these options carried the risk of life, and if one perished, there was no need to say more. But if they survived with severe injuries and managed to escape, they would have to prioritize recovery over cultivation. Spending two to three months, or even longer, to heal their wounds, and if their previous expedition had been fruitless, they would have no choice but to continue seeking cultivation resources.

If they were fortunate enough to bring back some cultivation resources, they would cultivate for a year or so until those resources were exhausted, and then repeat the previous stage.

In reality, the life of a cultivator was arduous.

Afterward, Chen Qiu held onto the flag, sat cross-legged on the ground, and began cultivating by circulating his cultivation technique.

After all, he had nothing better to do.

He might as well cultivate while waiting for the Secret Realm to end, as opportunities for tenfold cultivation speed didn't come around often.

The remaining eight early-stage Nascent Soul cultivators exchanged glances and promptly chose to exit the Secret Realm early.

It was just a Nascent Soul Power Ranking Realm, and they knew they had no chance of making it onto the rankings anyway. Their cultivation was too weak, and they had only entered to go through the motions. There was no point in risking their lives here.

Soon—

A thousand breaths passed in the blink of an eye.

Then,

the spirit energy dome above the entire Secret Realm, shaped like a bowl, slowly dissipated. It was then that Chen Qiu realized he was standing in one of the squares of a massive chessboard.

Each square was surrounded by a bowl-shaped spirit energy dome.

As these domes dissipated, Chen Qiu saw the cultivators standing in the other squares. There were approximately a hundred or so Nascent Soul cultivators, all of whom had successfully passed through the first Secret Realm.

A panel then appeared before him.

"Second Stage: Battle Royale"

"The last cultivator standing will be able to enter the final stage, the 'Ultimate Victory Arena'."

"This stage has no time limit."

Chen Qiu narrowed his eyes, focusing on the information about the stage. There were around a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators here, and the weakest among them was at the fifth layer of the Nascent Soul stage.

They were all at the same cultivation level as him.

In this situation, the battle would become incredibly chaotic.

A moment of inattention could cost one's life.

He was confident that no one within the Nascent Soul Realm could defeat him, but facing a hundred Nascent Soul cultivators was still a bit overwhelming. He couldn't rely solely on brute force in this stage; he needed to hide first and wait for the others to thin out before making his move.

And just then—

"Sect Master!"

A voice filled with surprise came from behind him.

Chen Qiu turned around and saw that it was Qu Gui, the former Grand Elder of the Qu family. He asked in surprise, "Qu Gui? With your first layer of Nascent Soul cultivation, you managed to pass the first stage?"

This was truly an odd occurrence.

Logically, the first stage should have already eliminated all first-layer Nascent Soul cultivators, and this Secret Realm allowed for early exits. It was strange that Qu Gui, with his first-layer Nascent Soul cultivation, hadn't chosen to exit early.

"I used a little trick."

Qu Gui spoke softly, a bit embarrassed, "I have the 'Seize the Initiative' entry, and my specialty is illusion magic and invisibility, among other unorthodox techniques."

"At the beginning, I left a fake illusionary body in my original position, then I used invisibility to take the flag. I also left an illusionary flag in its place and hid myself again."

"After they were freed from their restraints, they went straight for the illusionary flag. The real flag was always in my hands, and I managed to pass by luck."

Chen Qiu's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise. After spending 100,000 virtue points to browse through the entries on Qu Gui's Nascent Soul, he patted Qu Gui's shoulder with a deep understanding and said with a smile, "This is no small trick.

"How's the progress on the Redemption Token?"

"Everything's going smoothly!"

"Keep it up! I think you have a great chance of becoming the first Outer Elder of the Mock Heaven Sect."

Qu Gui's face lit up with excitement at the mention of the sect master's recognition, and he nodded vigorously. "Thank you, Sect Master, for your appreciation. I believe no one can match my speed in selling Redemption Tokens!"

"Indeed, it's already impressive for a Nascent Soul at the first layer to reach the second stage. You can withdraw from this stage for now."

"Understood!"

Qu Gui nodded, and just as the restrictions of the secret realm were lifted, he transformed into a white light and disappeared from the spot, exiting the secret realm. However, his eyes couldn't hide his excitement. With the sect master's recognition and the fact that the sect master remembered his name, he felt like a fish in water within the sect.

With the sect master supporting him for the position of Outer Elder, who could possibly stand in his way?

As Qu Gui transformed into white light and left the secret realm, Chen Xiu shook his head and sighed softly. "The world is indeed full of wonders."

Without the purple entry, True Sight Eye, which could see through others' entries, he had no idea that there were so many bizarre entries in the world.

Qu Gui's entries.

Not a single one was related to combat power, which meant that Qu Gui's strength was probably the weakest among those at the first layer of Nascent Soul.

At the same level of cultivation, everyone was at the same stage. So, what differentiated their combat power?

It was their practiced spells, entry bonuses, all their spiritual treasures, and combat experience.

If a cultivator at the early Nascent Soul stage had no entries related to combat power, it could be inferred that they might cultivate quickly or excel in other areas, but one thing was certain—their combat power was undoubtedly weak! Qu Gui was a prime example.

His entries pointed in two directions: Illusion Magic and Concealment.

He was indeed a talented troublemaker. Chen Xiu silently noted this impression of Qu Gui in his mind, thinking that this troublemaker might come in handy one day.

Excellent.

This was the kind of talent the Mock Heaven Sect needed.

The sect didn't require much combat power; his alone was sufficient.

What the sect truly needed were talents like Xing Dou, Qu Gui, and the seal-breaking shopkeeper—individuals who excelled in specific fields. After all, in his pursuit of the Hundred Arts of Cultivation, he might need any of these arts at some point.

It was impossible for him to learn pill refining, seal breaking, array formation, and artifact crafting all at once.

But these secondary professions would undoubtedly prove useful in the future.

The best solution, therefore, was to gather talents in these fields and have them work for him. He only needed to focus on enhancing his combat power, becoming strong enough to protect and support them while they specialized in their respective fields.

This was his vision of an ideal sect.

Uniting the strengths of many to nurture an immortal.

Inheritance?

If he died, who cared about inheritance? Let the next generation do as they pleased.

Some main combat cultivators also studied secondary professions, primarily to earn cultivation resources for themselves.

But Chen Xiu felt this approach was putting the cart before the horse, akin to reversing the Heavenly Pole.

The purpose of main combat power was to seize, wasn't it?

Otherwise, what was the point of investing massive resources in combat power?

Meanwhile—

On the chessboard, white lights flashed continuously, and around seventy to eighty people made the same choice as Qu Gui, withdrawing from the secret realm.

After all, only the top hundred on the Nascent Soul Power Ranking Realm were eligible for rewards.

Most people had a realistic assessments of their abilities, and even fighting at a higher level was challenging, let alone battling the monstrous Heaven's Pride. Staying and not making the top hundred would be a waste of time.

If they lost their lives, it would be a complete waste, and even if they survived, any injuries sustained would be a significant loss.

Most importantly, they were the elite or top combat forces of their respective sects. If they remained in the secret realm, it meant their sects would be left vulnerable. Should an enemy sect leave the secret realm early and launch an attack, the remaining Foundation Establishment disciples would be no match, leading to a bloodbath and an even greater loss.

In the end, only about twenty people remained on the chessboard.

A significant reduction.

Chen Xiu, who had hidden himself in a corner from the start, held his breath, waiting for the chaos to ensue so he could pick up some fruits. But after a thousand breaths, the vast chessboard square remained eerily quiet.

There wasn't a hint of combat.

Everyone shared the same idea—to hide and wait for the opportune moment to deliver a fatal blow.

No one wanted to be the first to make a move.

As a result, everyone remained in place, waiting.

"..."

After a long silence, Chen Xiu looked at the last line on the second stage panel.

"This stage has no time limit."

In other words, if no one took the initiative, they would all wait here until their lifespans ran out, or until someone couldn't hold back any longer.

Chen Xiu shook his head, unwilling to wait any longer. He estimated the cultivation levels of the remaining twenty Nascent Souls.

Only two were at the peak of Nascent Soul, while the rest were at the middle to late stages.

If he unleashed his full power, with the addition of a Twelfth Stage Nascent Soul and a Divine Sense Attack, he might be able to defeat them all in one go.

The next moment—

Dark clouds gathered over the entire chessboard square, and a galestorm swept across it. Thunder rumbled in the clouds, and countless thunder dragons could be seen writhing within.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end