ISWI Chapter 1401-1402 (Patreon)

Chapter 1401: Dropping By for a Visit?

Just as Bogu revealed his form and breathed a sigh of relief, the divine elephant's trunk suddenly elongated like a divine pillar. Surging with vast vital energy that locked onto everything, it smashed down with a thunderous force.

Bogu's face turned ugly. He found the space was still collapsing and had not recovered, leaving him no choice but to take the blow head-on. Yet his flesh and blood had only reached the Saint level. How could he possibly withstand it?

Even though Bogu instantly condensed a divine mountain before himself to block, the mountain shattered the next moment like one built of dirt. Bogu himself was blasted away, half his body exploding apart.

Soft blue water light radiated from his body as he rapidly repaired his flesh, but his expression was filled with extreme bitterness. Regret. True regret.

If he had not been greedy for Ye Chen's resources and simply sold the quota cleanly, he could have saved the time of hundreds of Ancestral Immortal tasks. He could even have found hundreds of female disciples who were short on funds, of ordinary backgrounds yet talented, for dual cultivation to raise his strength. Why suffer beatings here?

Although the divine elephant would struggle to kill him completely, the other side could afford endless mistakes. He only needed to err once, and he would be finished for good.

Just as the divine elephant raised its leg to stomp down again and Bogu prepared in utter misery to keep dodging, his eyes widened. In his field of vision, the spatial barrier exploded with a boom. A figure with black hair dancing wildly strode into the small space where he stood.

Bogu's eyes stretched to their limit. How was this possible? In the first stage of the Primordial Relic, one could still drop by for a visit? How had he never heard of such a thing? And the arrival was actually Ye Chen. What was he doing here? Could he know that Bogu had also joined the Kill Ye Alliance? It was over. Completely over.

Bogu was keenly self-aware. He knew he was no match for Ye Chen and had only come to pick up easy wins. Facing him alone, the odds were heavily against him. Bogu trembled, growing ever more terrified.

The divine elephant about to stomp also stared at Ye Chen in astonishment, confusion filling its massive pupils. It likely could not understand why another person had suddenly appeared. Yet Ye Chen was so close.

Without the slightest hesitation, the elephant turned its leg and brought it down straight toward Ye Chen's head. Its long trunk, flexible as a snake's body, sprayed endless water mist that froze the space solid, denying Ye Chen any chance of escape.

The newly arrived Ye Chen remained calm. He simply pointed lightly with one finger. The next moment, the elephant leg already crashing down seemed paused and came to an abrupt halt.

Cracks then appeared starting from that leg, spreading across the entire body, through the four limbs, head, and trunk. In the following silent instant, the creature dissolved into countless motes of light.

Bogu's eyes grew enormous. He knew Ye Chen, invincible across the Golden Immortal and Great Luo Golden Immortal realms, was powerful, and the gap between them was vast. But he had never imagined Ye Chen was strong to this degree. The divine elephant that had forced him to dodge frantically without harming it in the slightest had fallen so silently before Ye Chen. Could such an existence truly be something an Ancestral Immortal could kill?

Not to mention that Ye Chen was still in the first stage yet had directly shattered the spatial wall to drop by. Clearly, because Bogu had been unable to deal with the divine elephant and the secret realm could not advance to the second stage, the other party had grown impatient.

This was truly too outrageous. Just how strong had Ye Chen become? And he had still thought of fishing in troubled waters to share the other's resources? How was that any different from delivering himself straight to death?

At that moment, the regret and fear in Bogu's heart surged to the extreme. He truly regretted it. Had he known it would come to this, he should have sold the quota long ago.

He looked up at Ye Chen with reverence, not daring the slightest disrespect in his eyes, terrified that this prodigy of the Nineteenth Realm—rumored to be sensitive and insecure—might slap him to death with a single palm.

Ye Chen raised an eyebrow and scanned Bogu, about to speak, when he felt a force envelop him, intending to carry him upward toward the small world above. He sensed he could resist the force, but there was naturally no need. He allowed it to draw him straight through the upper barrier of the small space.

Bogu experienced the same. Flying above the small world, he looked down and saw countless small worlds. The next moment, his eyes widened. More than ninety percent of them showed no flowing light at all, only complete silence.

Bogu trembled all over and stared in disbelief at Ye Chen's slowly vanishing figure. A terrifying and bold guess formed in his mind. Some of those people might have been slain by the remnant species' vengeful spirits, but not this many. Ye Chen could break the spatial walls inside the relic. Was it possible that most of them had been killed by him?

The thought made Bogu tremble even harder. He recalled the look Ye Chen had given him after killing the divine elephant, as if he might casually finish him off as well, only holding back because the advancement to the second stage had arrived.

Bogu sucked in a cold breath, his body shaking more violently. If given another choice, he would refuse even a single point of credit and never enter the secret realm again. Those Great Luo Golden Immortal cultivators had been right. Ye Chen had emerged from the Nineteenth Realm with a twisted mindset and had already fallen onto the path of slaughter. Entering the same secret realm as Ye Chen was simply seeking death!

While Bogu's mind raced in panic, a flash of divine light appeared and everything dissolved. Then a brand-new small world slowly emerged, far larger than before. At its very center pulsed a massive, fuzzy heart shaped like a peach, beating violently and radiating endless blood qi.

Bogu immediately understood that the second stage of the secret realm had arrived. Yet thinking of Ye Chen's terror, he knew a slaughter was inevitable. His most urgent task now was to protect himself and leave the secret realm alive. But how could he survive?

…

He Yu slowly opened his eyes, gazed at the second-stage small world, and smiled. Scanning the distance, he saw figures standing high in the air, sparse and scattered. After a careful count, only forty-eight remained. He Guangkuan was still there, but the other two from the He family had fallen.

He Yu paid it no mind. His gaze swept the scene and finally locked onto Ye Chen. That was his true target.

The others, seeing how few had survived, showed surprise or remained expressionless. Even though the massive fuzzy peach-like heart below beat violently—the most important harvest of this secret realm—no one spared it a second glance.

All of them fixed their eyes on Ye Chen at once. Nothing else mattered. The benefits on Ye Chen's body were ten thousand times more precious than that peach.

The aura of the small world instantly turned icy, and everyone felt the heavy atmosphere.

Shen Qingge herself did not hesitate for a moment. She flew straight to Ye Chen's side, then began scanning every corner of the small world with her gaze.

Chapter 1402: Cooperation Brings Mutual Benefit!

The second-stage small world was larger than the individual rooms at the start, yet still limited. Shen Qingge's divine sense quickly swept every corner. Her expression then turned cold, brows furrowing tightly as she fixed a frigid gaze on the few members of the Shi family.

No Nine Aperture Marrow Birth Crystal had formed here. Such a crystal would bloom with nine-colored radiance, and a place this small could never hide it. Everyone had just been teleported in, so no one could have claimed it first. The information had indeed been false.

Clearly, the other side had deliberately drawn her into this secret realm. Their purpose? Most likely because she had slipped from their control and they now wanted her dead once and for all. Otherwise, why would Shi Er, the biological grandson of Shi Jian, the Shi family patriarch, suddenly join the War God Academy?

At that moment, Shen Qingge's heart sank to the bottom. The warmth Ye Chen had brought her, which had lessened her urgency for revenge, now gave way once more to rising killing intent. Once her flesh and blood reached perfection, she would soon attempt to break through to the Origin Immortal realm.

Then she would first find an opportunity in the War God Academy to dig out her own bone. Though already tainted and unworthy of returning to her body, she would never leave it for Shen Qinghuan's benefit, even if she discarded it.

After that, whether it was Shen Wanshan's so-called principal wife or the Shi family patriarch, she would repay every bit of what she and her mother had suffered as she grew steadily stronger.

"What is it?" Ye Chen asked.

Seeing only so few people left had soured his mood. A full thousand had entered, yet only forty-eight remained. Excluding himself and Shen Qingge, just forty-six.

Far too few. He understood it was the secret realm's mechanism. His own strength had caused so many deaths.

The thought brought a trace of regret. Had he known, he would have acted earlier, broken the spatial walls, and saved as many as possible.

Fortunately, apart from the waste he had rescued at the end, the rest all looked powerful. Whether sharp and outstanding or imposing with flowing divine light and strange phenomena, each was clearly worth ten ordinary cultivators. Harvesting them all should still yield a decent return.

Pulling his thoughts back, Ye Chen looked at Shen Qingge who had flown to his side. Seeing her fists clenched and anger in her eyes, he assumed something had happened to her and asked at once, "Qingge, what happened?"

Shen Qingge had originally planned to keep it from Ye Chen. These were her own affairs, and the enemies were strong; she should not involve him. Yet thinking of his feelings for her, if she said nothing and later met with an accident in the Shi family or Shen family, Ye Chen would never remain indifferent. Knowing nothing would only make him more likely to suffer and fall into a trap. Better to tell him so he could be on guard.

This was not the moment for details, however, so she gazed at him with soft eyes. "It concerns my origins, but I cannot explain clearly right now. Those four from the Shi family are all targeting me. They want to kill me. After this, you must be extremely careful!"

At her words, Ye Chen immediately raised his eyebrows and looked toward the four from the Shi family. A cold smile then appeared. "Rest assured. Striking at you is even less tolerable to me than striking at me. I will send them on their way!"

The others glanced over in mild surprise. They had not expected the Shi and Shen families, linked by marriage, to try to kill Shen Qingge. Yet they found it unsurprising. Shen Qingge was an illegitimate daughter. Such sordid dealings among great families and powers were all too common across the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths.

Shi Yi and the others had not expected Shen Qingge to realize the truth so quickly and even state it openly before everyone. They had lost Shi Jiu, a loss that was not severe, but they absolutely could not allow the matter to become public knowledge. After all, Shen Qingge's father was Shen Wanshan, not merely someone capable of becoming an Immortal King but a figure with hopes of reaching giant level.

Moreover, their aunt would never turn against Shen Wanshan. If word truly spread, the few of them would inevitably become scapegoats. Even if they survived, they would have to hide within the Shi family afterward and never dare venture out again.

At this thought, the four of them all felt the urge to withdraw. They absolutely could not strike at Shen Qingge again. Inwardly, they marveled at how decisive her methods were; a single sentence had left them hesitant and fearful.

"I did not, I have not. We came for the resources on Ye Chen. Although Shen Qinghuan is an illegitimate daughter, how could we possibly attack you? How would we face our uncle-in-law afterward?" Shi Yi spoke up, abandoning the opportunity.

They could still force a kill, yet the four of them could never eliminate everyone present, and the news would inevitably leak. Why risk their own lives to solve troubles for their aunt and Shen Qinghuan? It was out of the question.

Hearing this, Shen Qingge relaxed. She had done it on purpose. Although she and Ye Chen were not weak, her bone had still not recovered. Every prodigy who had survived was among the absolute elite. Surrounded by so many, she and Ye Chen would face far more danger than hope.

In such a situation, she naturally had to make the other side wary and hesitant.

…

Seeing no spectacle to watch, the rest of the group sneered coldly and fixed their stares on Ye Chen. Yet they also remained on guard against one another. After all, with so many people, killing Ye Chen was no problem. The real issue would be how to divide the spoils afterward. That was the true battle of this secret realm.

He Yu unfurled the Chaos Twin Wings that had remained hidden beneath his clothes. Endless chaos immortal qi flowed in all directions, giving rise to myriad strange phenomena. The aura startled everyone. None had expected He Yu to be so terrifying. The He family had actually hidden such a formidable prodigy.

He Yu himself smiled lightly. "My goal in coming here is Ye Chen. I believe everyone shares the same purpose. There are so many of us, each backed by our own forces. Our elders may even be friends. Fighting to the death would be inappropriate and would only leave openings for others to exploit. None of us wants to pay a huge price for a quota only to walk away empty-handed, correct?"

At his words, the others looked at one another and finally nodded. They were all prodigies of this level. Even if they had never met, they had heard of one another. Though differences in combat strength existed, no one could truly sweep through everyone else. Under these circumstances, fighting too fiercely held no meaning. Better to cooperate with one another.

Thus the crowd looked toward He Yu, waiting for his next words. Shen Qingge, seeing that everyone was about to unite first against Ye Chen, knew this was absolutely not a good development. Anxiety filled her. She immediately and quietly took Ye Chen's hand, transmitting her voice that the two of them should strike in advance.

They could not give the others a chance to join forces, or their chances of survival would become slim. She could not watch Ye Chen die, yet she still needed to exact her revenge. Therefore, the two of them absolutely could not perish here.

Ye Chen held Shen Qingge's tender, smooth little hand and immediately thought of his eldest senior sister. He then smiled lightly. "No need to worry. Stay calm for now."

They had already waited so long; letting these people live a little longer made no difference. Ye Chen also wanted to hear how they planned to unite against him and how they intended to divide his resources.