Hong Yu slowly rose to his feet.
He let out a long breath. It twisted before him like a long snake, and after completing a full circle, returned to his body.
'Although I didn't reach the Ninth Refinent, with my current strength, I should have a chance to kill a Mid-stage Celestial Soul Realm expert if I go all out!' A confident smile curved Hong Yu's lips.
Just then, Aunt Leng's voice ca from outside the door. "Hong Yu, the Celestial Essence Secret Realm is about to open. The Royal Family's contingent is about to depart. Are you ready?"
Hong Yu straightened his clothes and said lightly, "I'm coming out now!"
"Alright!"
Hong Yu walked out of the room.
Twenty guards in Refined Battle Armor stood on either side, their presence as fierce as wolves and tigers.
'These are definitely elite, battle-hardened warriors!'
"Hong Yu, how is your progress with the *Celestial Soul Nine Refinents*?" Aunt Leng asked, looking at him with a surprised expression.
She suddenly felt that Hong Yu was sowhat different than before.
Although she couldn't pinpoint what had changed, he now gave off a distinctly different and peculiar aura.
Hong Yu smiled faintly. "I had a small breakthrough!"
"Oh?"
A glint flashed in Aunt Leng's eyes, and a wave of excitent stirred just beneath her expression.
He had reached the Fifth Refinent of the Celestial Soul Nine Refinents in less than five days, which was already shocking enough.
Now...
Only two days had passed, and Hong Yu had made even more progress. This left Aunt Leng utterly amazed.
Overco with shock, Aunt Leng sighed emotionally. "Qin'Er was right about you. It's as if you were born to cultivate the *Celestial Soul Nine Refinents*. In a re seven days, you've already reached the Sixth Refinent. I doubt anyone has ever been faster since the *Nine Refinents of the Primordial Spirit* was first created."
Seeing Aunt Leng so filled with emotion, Hong Yu simply smiled without saying a word.
He didn't correct her mistake.
He had indeed made more progress, but he hadn't just gone from the Fifth to the Sixth Refinent. He had skipped three entire levels to reach the Eighth Refinent.
Of course, Hong Yu had no intention of saying any of this out loud.
'It's always better for fewer people to know about your trump cards!'
"Aunt Leng, who are these people?" Hong Yu asked, looking at the more than twenty elite soldiers.
Aunt Leng paused for a mont, then smiled. "These are elite warriors from the Tiger and Wolf Corps. His Majesty the King assigned them to be your guards!"
"Warriors from the Tiger and Wolf Corps are my guards?"
Hong Yu was stunned.
Growing up, he had heard countless legends about how formidable the Qin Kingdom's Tiger and Wolf Corps was.
Every young boy dreams of being a soldier!
Hong Yu had once shared that dream: to command the most elite warriors and fight on the grandest of battlefields!
He had never imagined that he would one day have the most elite soldiers in the Southern Ten Nations—the Tiger and Wolf Corps—as his personal guards.
Although the token Sister Qin had given him allowed him to command ten thousand soldiers from the Tiger and Wolf Corps, he had never actually used it, so it hadn't felt real.
"Alright, the Celestial Essence Secret Realm is about to open. Let's go!" Aunt Leng urged.
Hong Yu nodded.
The large group set off with great fanfare...
......
The entrance to the Celestial Essence Secret Realm was located within the Sacrificial Hall of the Qin Kingdom.
The entrance was a movable Spatial Array, inscribed upon a massive, strange black stone.
Strange runes covered the black array stone, emitting energy fluctuations powerful enough to make the void itself tremble. It seed that if one were to infuse it with energy, it could unleash world-destroying power.
"So this is the legendary entrance to the Celestial Essence Secret Realm, the Celestial Essence Stone! This is my first ti seeing it!"
"I've seen it once before. Back when the Celestial Essence Stone was activated, the sheer montum made the entire Qin Royal City tremble."
"Legend says the Spatial Array behind this Celestial Essence Stone leads to another dinsion. I can't imagine what kind of expert could create such a powerful array. You have to understand, the person with the greatest mastery of arrays in the history of our Southern Ten Nations was the founding patriarch of the Guiyuan Sect, but even his knowledge of arrays ca from the Celestial Essence Secret Realm!"
"Compared to all that, I'm more interested in who will be the final winner of this Celestial Essence Secret Realm trial!"
"I heard that if the Guiyuan Sect wins the championship in this trial, it will be their fifth consecutive victory, and control over the Celestial Essence Secret Realm will be handed over to them. The Royal Family has gone to great lengths to secure a victory this ti. It's said they've invited many powerful experts to help!"
"What good will inviting more people do? In the entire Qin Kingdom, is there anyone who can compare to Zheng Tian?"
At these words, the crowd, which had just been arguing, fell silent.
Zheng Tian. Like the Blood Killing Tower, his na had beco taboo in the Qin Kingdom.
If the Blood Killing Tower's reputation was built on its endless assassination techniques and infallibly powerful killers—a status cented by the corpses of their targets—then Zheng Tian's was built on strength and talent that far surpassed his peers, and on ruthless thods that made others tremble at the re ntion of his na.
Zheng Tian entered the Guiyuan Sect at the age of ten and beca the head disciple of Chief Elder Wang Ba.
From then on, his progress was unstoppable. He reached the Celestial Soul Realm at eighteen, and now, in his twenties, he already possessed the strength of a Late-stage Celestial Soul Realm cultivator.
A Late-stage Celestial Soul Realm expert in his twenties. How terrifying was that?
With Zheng Tian's current strength, he was a strong contender for the title of the number one True Dragon Genius at the Southern Ten Nations' summit in a year's ti!
"The Blood Killing Tower is going after Hong Yu too?" Zheng Tian frowned, looking at the blood-robed figure beside him.
A rare hint of apprehension appeared in his eyes.
The blood-robed figure nodded and said flatly, "Relax, I won't be making a move this ti. To deal with a brat who hasn't even reached the Celestial Soul Realm, just having Blood the Second and Blood the Third is enough. The only reason I ca to you is to ask for your help getting them into the Celestial Essence Secret Realm."
"You should know that Hong Yu is already fish on my chopping block. I'm the only one who gets to kill him!" Zheng Tian said ferociously.
The blood-robed figure gave a sinister chuckle. "I know your personality," he said in a chilling tone. "But rest assured, we won't fight you over Hong Yu. You can play with him, torture him, and abuse him however you like. We'll just be collecting his head at the very end."
"Even so, what's in it for ? Why should I help you?" Zheng Tian was unmoved, his voice cold.
The blood-robed figure grinned, an ancient parchnt scroll appearing in his hand. "This scroll was given to us by a client as paynt. My predecessors at the Blood Killing Tower have studied it, and it's said to contain information about a great secret within the Celestial Essence Secret Realm. I can give it to you as paynt!"
"A secret of the Celestial Essence Secret Realm?"
Zheng Tian paused. "I've never heard of any secret."
"Jie jie, have you ever wondered where the Celestial Essence Secret Realm ca from? Or what kind of expert created it?"
The blood-robed figure said nacingly, "Back then, the founding Sovereign of the Qin Kingdom and the founding patriarch of your Guiyuan Sect... only reached their peak after returning from the Celestial Essence Secret Realm. Don't you desire the sa?"
A flicker of interest shone in Zheng Tian's eyes. He took the parchnt scroll and said flatly, "Rest assured. Once I've killed Hong Yu, I'll be sure to give you his head."
"A pleasure doing business with you!"
The blood-robed figure suddenly paused. "The Royal Family is here. I'm leaving."
Zheng Tian nodded and looked toward the royal contingent, his gaze fixing on one person at the front with a fiery intensity.
Dressed in a fiery red gown with her black hair cascading down her back, her simple yet noble and elegant air made her as alluring as a blooming rose.
Zheng Tian licked his lips, a lecherous, evil expression on his face. "Heh heh, Qin Qin, oh, Qin Qin. You are mine. No one will ever take you from !"
His gaze swept past her and landed on a young man at the back of the group who had just arrived.
The fire in his eyes instantly vanished, replaced by a chilling aura as cold as Thousand-Year Cold Ice. 'Hong Yu, is it? Hmph. Once we're inside the Celestial Essence Secret Realm, I'll make you wish you were dead!'
......
Once both parties had assembled.
The Guiyuan Sect's contingent was led by none other than Chief Elder Wang Ba. The sect's Sect Leader had remained behind the scenes for many years, reportedly attempting to beco a Tier Four Spiritual Craftsman and having long since ceased to manage sect affairs.
Because of this, the Guiyuan Sect was now almost completely under Wang Ba's control.
His gaze was grim and sharp as it swept across the Royal Family's experts, finally landing on the middle-aged man in the Dragon Robe. He said lightly, "His Majesty the King, after this trial is over, the Celestial Essence Secret Realm will belong to my Guiyuan Sect!"
A flicker of emotion crossed the King's eyes, but he quickly concealed it without a trace. He said calmly, "Until the very last mont, no one can say for sure who will have the last laugh."
"Hahaha! Surely you don't think that ragtag band of Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals you've gathered can stop my disciple, Zheng Tian?" Wang Ba laughed arrogantly.
The King's expression darkened, and he said no more.
But anyone could see the fury burning in his eyes.
Just then, the array on the Celestial Essence Stone suddenly erupted with a brilliant light. Azure pillars of light slowly rose from both sides of the stone, eventually coalescing to form a glowing blue energy gate.
Powerful spatial energy emanated from within the glowing gate. Beyond it lay the famous Celestial Essence Secret Realm!
"All experts participating in the Celestial Essence Secret Realm trial, listen up. The trial will last for five months. After entering, you will face a series of tests and trials. At the sa ti, you must face deadly combat with your rivals..."
As the King spoke, he glanced at the experts from the Guiyuan Sect.
One could well imagine...
...that the rivals he spoke of were the experts from the Royal Family and the Guiyuan Sect.
The King continued, "Whoever can ultimately step onto the Championship Platform and claim the title of champion will be the winner of this trial! Over the next five months, I hope you will all perform well and strive for victory! Now, everyone, please enter the Secret Realm!"
The experts from the Guiyuan Sect and the Royal Family were already eager to go. Hearing this, they charged forward at the sa ti.
Hong Yu followed beside Qin Mutian and entered the Secret Realm.
A wave of subtle spatial energy washed over them, and the group was abruptly swallowed up and teleported into the Celestial Essence Secret Realm.
They had just appeared in a vast wasteland when Qin Mutian shot Hong Yu a look of disgust.
Hong Yu glanced back at him, unfazed.
Qin Mutian snorted coldly. "Let's go!"
A contemplative look on his face, Hong Yu followed behind him.
However...
Just as the Royal Family's experts were about to leave, powerful shockwaves suddenly erupted from behind them. Among them was a profound aura, like that of a Celestial Venerable Demon, which locked onto Hong Yu, and a cold, sharp rebuke shook the heavens like a thunderclap...
"Hong Yu, co and et your death!"
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