ISWI Chapter 1399-1400 (Patreon)

Chapter 1399: Begin the Slaughter!

The individual small spaces resembled private rooms, one after another. Anyone observing from a high vantage point would inevitably frown. The situations within the many small spaces were simply too tragic.

Some disciples had already fallen, swallowed by residual souls of the relic species, their flesh and origin essence converted into the origin of resentment. Others were being hunted and driven to the brink, their deaths already certain.

These, however, were only the minority. Most of the disciples remained extremely powerful. Yet even though the majority could contend with or even defeat the residual souls, their victories were hard-won.

They dared not completely slay the residual soul opposite them, for once it was killed, a new one would form, continuing until the origin essence accumulated by the secret realm over many years was completely exhausted. Defeating and slaying even one had already been extraordinarily difficult and had left them heavily depleted. If another new one appeared, their chances of survival would be slim at best.

Yet while they calculated that they could drag things out, the residual souls they had crippled suddenly roared and self-detonated. Immediately afterward, under the astonished and terrified gazes of the disciples, new residual souls formed and charged forth with earth-shaking force.

This time, most of the disciples could no longer hold them back. They fell in despair. In their final moments, they all felt themselves ridiculous and absurd. They had never imagined that after coming for the resources on Ye Chen's person, they would not even manage to endure until the second stage and obtain a chance to encounter him before directly perishing.

Within her small space, Shen Qingge faced a towering giant beast that resembled a centaur. She handled it with ease yet could not help frowning. The residual souls of the relic species that had appeared this time were indeed far more terrifying than she had understood, having reached the upper limit of strength.

She was not worried about herself or Ye Chen. She had personally experienced Ye Chen's combat strength. Until her bones recovered, she was absolutely no match for him. Since she herself could cope, Ye Chen naturally could as well—and even more effortlessly.

She only worried whether this special situation within the secret realm might be the result of someone meddling behind the scenes. Could it be experts of the Shen Clan or the Shi Clan targeting her? That made her grow even more cautious, not daring to allow herself the slightest injury.

He Yu's expression remained icy. The chaotic divine feathers on his back unfurled. With a casual flap of his wings, he avoided the residual soul's bombardment at an extremely subtle angle. While dodging, he casually sent a fist forward, directly shattering both divine wings of the giant bird before him.

He had of course noticed that the residual soul's strength had reached an unprecedented upper limit for residual souls within the secret realm. Yet he paid it no mind. Instead, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

In his view, it was clearly because he himself was too strong, far exceeding the other disciples of the War God Academy. With his strength alone, he had greatly raised the average level of all the disciples, resulting in this unprecedented scene.

It was perfectly normal and nothing worth feeling particularly proud about. When he encountered Shen Qinghuan after leaving the secret realm, a casual mention would suffice. There was no need to deliberately let everyone know just how terrifying He Yu of the He Clan truly was.

Before Shi Yi of the Shi Clan stood an enormous residual soul resembling a true dragon. Its massive dragon body coiled like a divine mountain. Yet Shi Yi's expression remained calm as he stood leisurely in the void.

His immortal eyes rolled and swept across the scene, easily imprisoning the roaring giant dragon whose head had already charged before him. He then raised a fist and struck. Divine light bloomed from his arm as it drove straight into the depths of the dragon's head. With a light tremble, the dragon's head exploded outright.

Gazing at the dragon body that still struggled to revive, disdain appeared in Shi Yi's eyes. "Back then, my ancestors could slaughter your entire great demon world. Now a mere residual soul dares act so arrogantly…" He waved a large hand. Endless thunderbolts descended, transforming the area into a sea of lightning. Only the space around Shi Yi remained like pure land.

Shi Yi also believed that it was because he himself was too powerful that he had raised the average level of the disciples. Yet his expression showed no self-satisfaction. Instead, his brows furrowed tightly.

With residual souls of the relic species this strong, he and Shi Er of course had no problem. But what about Shi Qi, Shi Ba, and Shi Jiu? They had not even reached the peak of the Ancestral Immortal realm, let alone perfected their flesh and blood. Their chances this time were slim at best.

Shi Yi did not particularly care about his brothers. Rather, the three had entered entirely with points he had paid to purchase their quotas, and he had also given them quite a few benefits. They had entered the secret realm in order to help him. If they died, he would still have to give an account to the clan upon his return and would likely receive considerable punishment.

At that thought, Shi Yi's face grew even darker. At present, he only hoped that the resources on Ye Chen's person would leave him satisfied. Moreover, killing Shen Qingge would also bring a substantial opportunity from his aunt's side. It would clearly be a huge profit.

Even so, Shi Yi still accelerated the speed at which he annihilated the residual souls, hoping to resolve matters as soon as possible so that a few more of his brothers might survive.

At the same time, the figure of Shi Hu floated into his mind, and he sighed that the boy's luck was truly excellent.

Apart from the few from the Shi Clan and the He Clan, more than ten other prodigies also faced the residual souls from a lofty position and handled them with ease. After all, no matter how powerful the residual souls were, they remained only remnant souls revived through the essence of flesh and blood generated by the secret realm.

They were nowhere near their peak of years past. While easily killing the monsters, these prodigies also felt rather self-satisfied, believing that it was their own entry into the secret realm that had raised everyone's average level and caused the residual souls to become unprecedentedly powerful.

Yet apart from these most top-tier existences, everyone else struggled simply to survive. In a mere single day, nearly one-third had already fallen. Those who remained were also lingering on their last breaths.

The true culprit, Ye Chen, remained completely unaware. He idly toyed with the nine-headed serpent while waiting for the system's cooldown to end.

In this manner, six days passed. Ye Chen's gift system cooldown formally concluded. "I can give gifts now. Time to get to work!"

For some reason, Ye Chen felt that the bloody soil beneath his feet seemed to have grown even redder. He slowly stood and locked eyes with the nine-headed serpent in his palm, whose face was filled with terror. Then he gently clenched his hand. The nine-headed serpent instantly vanished without a sound.

Immediately afterward, the small space Ye Chen occupied bloomed with divine light. Endless residual soul power boiled. In a single breath, a new residual soul appeared—a terrifying existence resembling a giant whale.

Yet the moment it emerged, before it even had time to roar, Ye Chen merely swept it with a glance. The giant whale exploded with a thunderous boom and was completely extinguished.

Next, another residual soul surfaced. Ye Chen's might surged, and the instant it appeared, he crushed it outright with pressure alone.

It could be said that Ye Chen and these residual souls of the Ancestral Immortal realm were no longer existences on the same level. He did not even need to truly act. A single gaze, a wisp of aura, a layer of might, or even a drop of blood was enough to erase them with ease.

In this fashion, within a mere half an hour, nearly two thousand residual souls were completely extinguished without a sound inside the small space Ye Chen occupied. After the final residual soul fell, no further figures appeared. Cracks emerged in the surrounding spatial barriers; they were on the verge of collapse.

Ye Chen watched and revealed a smile. Clearly, there were no more new residual souls. Once the residual souls in the others' spaces were resolved, the first stage could formally end.

Chapter 1400: Who Is So Useless?

Whether it was Shi Yi, He Yu, or the other top-tier prodigies, all of them killed residual souls of the relic species with great enthusiasm and full of drive. There was no other reason: they all urgently wished to end the first stage and quickly push the secret realm into the second stage so they could suppress Ye Chen and plunder his resources.

Recalling Ye Chen's domineering appearance at the auction only made them grow more impatient.

In these few days, He Yu had slain nearly a hundred residual souls of the relic species. At present, seeing cracks already appear in the space, a trace of surprise crossed his face. It was ending already?

Yet he quickly realized. It must be because the residual souls were too strong, so their numbers had decreased. Killing them so quickly and ending the first stage ahead of time was only natural.

Gazing at the cracks, a sharp light flashed through He Yu's eyes. Ye Chen had to die! Not only would it curry favor with Shen Qinghuan and her mother, but there was also an internal clan bounty to collect.

After all, Ye Chen had previously killed a prodigy of the He Clan, and the blood curse upon him was especially dense. Although the He Clan would not go so far as to dispatch a great expert to kill Ye Chen, there were still internal rewards. If he could annihilate Ye Chen and avenge his clansman, the rewards would not be small.

Yet compared with the resources on Ye Chen's person, those rewards were nothing more than a drop in the ocean. If he could obtain everything, what was Shen Qinghuan worth?

This marriage need not be contracted at all. In the future, when he became an Immortal Monarch, he would marry a female prodigy from the First Realm. A female prodigy of the First Realm would certainly provide him with greater assistance.

Shi Yi, Shi Er, He Guangkuan, and the others, looking at the spatial walls that were about to collapse, also felt things were a little fast. Yet they all shared the same thought as He Yu. They believed the residual souls were too strong and therefore fewer in number. Having easily slain vast quantities of residual souls, they had naturally shortened the duration of the first stage by a large margin.

Thinking this way, everyone grew even more confident. They erupted with strength in a fierce manner, determined to blast the residual souls before them to death at the fastest possible speed. Once they entered the second stage later they would immediately suppress and kill Ye Chen and seize everything he possessed.

They were also clear that killing Ye Chen did not count for much. The subsequent struggle over distribution would be the true focus of the great battle. Yet that was fine. They were all extremely confident.

After all, since each of them could rely on his own strength to greatly raise the average level, he was naturally the strongest existence within this secret realm. No one would be his enemy.

Yet after these most top-tier prodigies had all finished their battles with the residual souls and waited for a long time, they discovered that more and more cracks appeared, yet the barrier that seemed about to transform into its next form never shattered.

Clearly, someone still had not finished fighting. That left them grinding their teeth in frustration as they guessed who could be so useless. Yet what could they do? These were simply the rules of the Ancient Relic Species Secret Realm.

Either the other party killed that final residual soul of the relic species and ended the first stage, or the other party was killed, and the final residual soul was directly transmitted into someone else's space until it was slain.

Otherwise, they could only drag things out until three months later when the first stage ended on its own. If the residual souls were not all killed, it would not only waste time but also greatly affect the quality of the final essence of flesh and blood.

At that thought, they grew especially irritable, guessing who exactly was so slow. If they truly could not win, why bother clinging to life? Would it not be better to just die? They were wasting everyone's precious cultivation time!

Yet irritation remained irritation. Encountering such a situation left them with no real options. They could only wait patiently for that person to either fall or kill his opponent.

In this manner, another week passed in the blink of an eye.

Ye Chen furrowed his brows as he scanned the countless spiderweb-like cracks covering the spatial barriers around him.

Why had it still not ended? Who exactly was so useless? How much longer would he have to wait?

Ye Chen did not particularly mind waiting, yet wasting time like this was truly dull. After a moment's thought, an eerie light radiated from his eyes and shot in all directions, piercing through the barriers to survey every side.

Wherever his gaze reached, he frowned. Most of the small spaces were actually empty. What was going on? Had they all died?

That left Ye Chen especially pained. After all, these were the origin essences he had reserved for Yi Qingwu.

Next, Ye Chen spotted Shen Qingge and the others, each of them also waiting. Then he finally locked onto one particular small space. Within it, a divine elephant blazed with ferocious flames and rampaged unchecked.

The cultivator inside relied on the laws of space to dodge about in every direction, yet no matter what he did, he found it difficult to harm the divine elephant's thick flesh. Ye Chen swept the scene for a moment and could not help shaking his head. He almost wanted to shout for them to stop fighting.

One could not land a hit while the other could not inflict injury. The two of them fighting together looked more like dancing. If they truly continued, another three months would still fail to produce a victor.

Ye Chen knew he could wait no longer. His gaze fixed on the barrier before him. He punched outward. The terrifying Ancestral Immortal laws condensed from the three thousand Mixed Origin Great Luo laws surged forth together with the force of the punch.

The barrier ahead—something that not even an Origin Immortal, let alone an Ancestral Immortal, could possibly break—emitted a crisp crack under Ye Chen's fist and exploded with a sharp report.

Looking at the hole before him, Ye Chen's expression remained largely unruffled as he strode forward with large steps.

Bo Gu was a disciple ranked eight hundred twenty-seventh in the Ancestral Immortal sequence of the War God Academy. Outside the academy, he still counted as a genius of his region. Yet in this secret realm, he was somewhat insufficient. When he entered, many people had advised him to give up. Would it not be better to sell the quota at a high price and enjoy some good food?

Yet Bo Gu was unwilling to accept it. Moreover, the leader of the anti-Ye Chen alliance he had joined had promised that as long as he participated and contributed, he would receive at least one percent of the resources on Ye Chen according to his contribution. That made Bo Gu even more reluctant to abandon the chance, and so he had entered the secret realm.

During his Great Luo Golden Immortal realm, he had mastered the three Great Luo laws of space, water, and earth, and he was most proficient in these three. After entering the secret realm, he had encountered this divine elephant.

Yet the divine elephant truly countered him too perfectly. Spatial methods only allowed him to flee and could not harm the opponent. Neither water nor earth excelled at offense and simply could not penetrate the divine elephant's thick hide. Even when he finally managed to blast it open, the opponent recovered in the blink of an eye. There was simply no way to resolve the situation.

The greatest difficulty, however, was that every stomp of the divine elephant sent force rippling into every corner of the space. Even by controlling space, he could not completely neutralize it. At this rate, he could hold out for at most three months.

Fortunately, the Ancient Relic Species Secret Realm only opened for three months each time. Although after three months the secret realm would vanish on its own, failing to enter the second stage would bring no benefits whatsoever, let alone the chance to kill Ye Chen. Yet Bo Gu no longer considered any of that. As long as he could live, everything else was secondary.

While he was still thinking an elephant leg came crashing down with a thunderous stomp. Endless force rampaged in every direction of the space. Bo Gu's form instantly vanished from its original spot, dodging that leg.

Yet the omnipresent power of the divine elephant within the space still left his face pale. Even though he could recover quickly, deep in his heart he could not help regretting. Had he known earlier, he truly should have sold the quota at a high price!