The elder of the Zhang family unleashed Spiritual Qi from his entire body. Using his own Spiritual Qi as a catalyst and the energy of the Soul Crystals as the primary source, he activated the Array on the altar.
In the blink of an eye, densely packed lines appeared on the altar. These lines formed a complex Array Pattern, which rapidly absorbed the energy of the Soul Crystals. Soon, a shimmering door materialized in the center of the altar—the entrance to the Secret Realm.
"Enter in an orderly fashion. The rules are the same as before," the elder announced. "You have a total of seven days to gather resources and seek opportunities inside. Seven days from now, I will open the Secret Realm Gate once more, but only for two hours. Everyone must come out then. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" the crowd chorused.
"Oh, one more thing to remind you. Yesterday, the outstanding youths and several Elders of our Zhang family also entered the Secret Realm."
Hearing this, the people in the crowd furrowed their brows. With members of the Zhang Family inside, they would have their hands tied. Most importantly, what if the Zhang Family demanded the resources they had worked so hard to obtain? Could they even refuse?
Seeming to understand their thoughts, the elder spoke again. "I know what you’re worried about, but rest assured. I have already spoken to them. If you cross paths, they will not make things difficult for you, much less steal the resources you’ve painstakingly gathered."
Everyone’s eyes narrowed. Their expressions practically screamed, "You wretched old coot, like hell we’d believe you!"
"Maybe they won’t steal meager resources, but if we find something good, they won’t take it? Who would believe that? Do they think we’re three-year-olds?" they thought bitterly. However, they could only resign themselves to the situation. Since members of the Zhang Family were inside, they would just have to steer clear of them if they crossed paths.
"Alright, go on in," the elder said.
The crowd entered in an orderly manner, grouped by their respective towns. Soon, it was Ye Xuan and the Niu Family’s turn.
With a flash of light, Ye Xuan entered the Secret Realm. Beneath his feet lay a stretch of yellow sand, while vast Big Mountains and dense forests stretched out before him. Some of the mountains rolled on continuously with no end in sight, while others were shaped like pagodas, towering into the clouds.
ROAR!
The deafening cries of Beasts echoed from within the Big Mountains, rising and falling in an endless symphony.
"Everyone, charge straight in! Ignore the low-level Wild Beasts on the outskirts and focus on hunting the rank-two and rank-three Wild Beasts!" someone yelled.
"Charge!"
"Kill!"
The people who had just entered surged toward the Big Mountains as if possessed.
"Mr. Ye Xuan, this is the Secret Realm. The further we go inside, the higher the level of the Beasts..." Niu Tong’s voice trailed off. Before he could even finish his sentence, Ye Xuan sprang into action.
He swiftly dashed into the Big Mountains, completely ignoring the Niu Family behind him. They weren’t on the same path anyway, so there was no need to care about them.
Not long after entering, he spotted a rank-one, tier-one Beast. With a single punch, he shattered its skull, only to find nothing inside. Rank-one, tier-one Beasts had the lowest probability of forming a Beast Pill. Even if one killed twenty of them, it would be difficult to obtain a single one.
Ye Xuan didn’t linger and continued deeper into the realm. He only came to a halt when a massive pack of wolves entered his line of sight. These were Celestial Gray Wolves, rank-one, tier-eight Beasts.
They had gathered to hunt a Clouded Leopard that stood nearly two meters tall. As a rank-one, tier-nine Beast, the Clouded Leopard was individually stronger than a Celestial Gray Wolf, but its fate was already sealed. There were no less than a hundred Celestial Gray Wolves in the pack.
By the time Ye Xuan arrived, the Clouded Leopard was already riddled with wounds. A massive Celestial Gray Wolf stepped forward, opening its gaping maw to crush the Clouded Leopard’s skull with a single bite. A beam of light immediately emanated from the shattered head—the unmistakable glow of a Beast Pill!
Just as the Celestial Grey Wolf King prepared to dig out the Beast Pill with its claws—THUD!
With a muffled impact, its brains were blasted apart. Ye Xuan, his body radiating golden light, had appeared beside the Celestial Gray Wolf. He casually picked up the Clouded Leopard’s Beast Pill and glanced at the surrounding pack of wolves, which were now howling at him incessantly.
"Die, all of you," he said, his gaze turning icy.
There was no mercy. Golden Spiritual Qi surged in all directions like crushing tidal waves. Over a hundred Gray Wolves were instantly slaughtered, their heads blown apart or their bodies sliced in two.
Unfortunately, the entire pack of Celestial Gray Wolves only yielded eight Beast Pills.
"That’s far too few," Ye Xuan muttered, shaking his head. "It seems I’ll have to kill every Wild Beast I see along the way."
From then on, he transformed into a true Beast butcher, slaughtering everything in his path. Any Beast that entered his line of sight was doomed to die. If a hundred Beasts only gave him eight Beast Pills, then he would just have to kill a thousand, or even ten thousand. In any case, this Secret Realm was vast enough to provide him with endless prey.
"Holy crap, who is that kid? What a powerful aura! With a cultivation base like that, he must be in the Frenzy Spirit Realm!"
"But this is just the outskirts! Why is he going on such a killing spree out here?"
Ye Xuan’s actions eventually drew the attention of other Cultivators, though no one stepped forward to disturb him. The Secret Realm was incredibly expansive, and the number of Beasts was so massive that there was no need to fight over them. The realm only opened once every four years, which was more than enough time for the Beasts to multiply and the younglings to mature.
Rather than competing with others, what the Cultivators actually needed to worry about was being hunted down by the Beasts themselves. This was exactly why the people from each town banded together for survival. Cultivators who operated completely alone, like Ye Xuan, were extremely rare.
Ignoring the shock of the surrounding crowds, Ye Xuan continued his massacre, rapidly increasing his stash of Beast Pills.
This slaughter lasted for three days and three nights. He carved a bloody path from the rank-one Beast zone into the rank-two Beast zone, and then pushed all the way into the rank-three Beast zone. Bathed in golden light, he seemed completely impervious to fatigue.
Over these three days, he acquired thirty rank-one, tier-eight Beast Pills and twenty rank-one, tier-nine Beast Pills. Combining all the different tiers of rank-two Beast Pills, he amassed a total of one hundred and eighty. For rank-three Beast Pills, he collected a staggering three hundred and fifty.
The primary reason his yield of rank-three Beast Pills was so high was that for rank-three Beasts, the rate of Nascent Soul Formation was notably higher. The total number of Beasts he had slaughtered over these three days likely numbered no less than ten thousand.
In just three short days, Ye Xuan had made quite a name for himself. Every town knew about a certain Beast butcher who left absolutely nothing alive in his wake. Not a single Beast could last even three exchanges against him; the vast majority were instantly obliterated in a single strike. The number of Wild Beasts he killed on his own was ten times—or even dozens of times—greater than the combined kills of an entire town.
At one point, a certain Town Mayor grew murderous and attempted to secretly ambush Ye Xuan. The result? Every single Cultivator from that town who had come to gain experience was mercilessly slaughtered, and all the Beast Pills they had painstakingly collected were pocketed by Ye Xuan.
It was the textbook definition of shooting oneself in the foot.
Following that one-sided massacre, no one dared to provoke the golden-glowing Beast butcher.
"It’s the Beast butcher!"
"Take a detour! We can’t afford to cross this guy."
...
As time passed, Ye Xuan finally halted his slaughter. The rank-three Beast zone could no longer satisfy his appetite. Since nearly half of the allotted time had elapsed, he needed to focus on his own advancement for the remaining four days.
His next targets were the rank-four Beasts.
Even though Ye Xuan’s cultivation base was only at the Frenzy Spirit Realm, he was already more than capable of hunting rank-four Beasts. These formidable creatures resided in the absolute depths of the Secret Realm.