In one hand, he was already clutching three Jade Scrolls tightly.

On his other arm, the Giant God Arm Armor had materialized, fitting it perfectly. He raised the ferocious, armored appendage high, and as it came crashing down, it knocked an incoming Flying Sword away!

He shifted his position. The next instant, he raised the Giant Divine Arm again and threw a punch. Even with a Magical Artifact Shield for protection, the Longevity Sect disciple at Qi Cultivation Perfection was sent flying backward, spitting blood from the terrifying shockwave of Power. He disappeared into the thick mist, vanishing without a trace.

"Scoundrel, you’re courting death!"

A thunderous voice boomed in his ears. Chu Mu’s heart shuddered, and he whipped his head around, only to see the middle-aged Foundation Establishment cultivator staring right at him.

The devastating blade, letting out a piercing shriek, was on him in an instant!

"Wind Thunder Burst!"

Chu Mu gritted his teeth. The Spiritual Light of the Artifact Pattern Array Prohibition on his Divine Wind Boots flared!

His figure, already like a Ghost, flickered in that instant, leaving behind a trail of afterimages. The next moment, he had already appeared dozens of meters away.

BOOM!

A monstrous roar erupted behind him as a wave of turbulent Spiritual Power swept over him. Chu Mu felt a heavy force slam into his back. With a muffled impact, blood seeped from the corners of his mouth.

The next second, like a kite with a snapped string, he was swept up by the shockwave and tumbled into the roiling, thick mist.

The world-spinning sensation, which had already grown faint in his memory, surfaced once more.

Imperceptibly, that scanning fluctuation also emerged.

"Puh..."

A mouthful of dark blood sprayed through the air, followed by two loud thuds. Then, the long-awaited sensation of solid ground beneath his feet washed over him.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Chu Mu wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and briefly assessed his injuries. After letting go of Wangcai, he finally took in his surroundings.

The records in the Jade Scroll Zhao Shuang had left him were very clear.

Whether entering the Secret Realm through a token or through that temporarily opened passage, one would be randomly teleported to some location within the Secret Realm.

It wasn’t impossible to land in a Demon Beast’s lair or even directly inside an Ancient Array Restriction.

After getting a clear look at his surroundings, he finally breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Whimper, whimper, whimper..."

Wangcai rubbed against the corner of his clothes, whimpering softly.

"Alright, Wangcai, you keep watch."

Chu Mu understood immediately. A dog’s nose was far more sensitive than a human’s, and the nose of a dog-like Demon Beast was much better for reconnaissance than even his own Divine Sense.

After all, the current coverage of his Divine Sense didn’t extend too far.

"Whimper, whimper, whimper..."

Wangcai whimpered twice more, then began to survey its surroundings vigilantly.

Chu Mu didn’t move, but continued to observe his surroundings meticulously.

He seemed to be in a valley. There weren’t many trees here, and he could take in the entire area at a glance.

There was flat grassland and surrounding mountains. At one end of the valley, there seemed to be a pool of water. At the other end, the valley’s exit was dense with trees, making it difficult to see through with the naked eye.

’And the Spiritual Qi in this Secret Realm...’

Feeling this incredibly dense Spiritual Qi, Chu Mu’s expression grew complicated.

Compared to the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the outside world, the difference was so vast that "night and day" wouldn’t even begin to describe it.

He could even clearly perceive the Spiritual Qi pouring into his body with each normal breath.

If a mortal were in this place... a single breath would probably trigger a transformation, a leap from a mortal to the limit of Qi Blood.

Of course, that was assuming a mortal body could withstand such dense Spiritual Qi.

If he cultivated here long-term, even with just a Pseudo Spirit Root Talent, he would be on the fast track of Cultivation.

’And the outside world...’

Chu Mu let out a soft laugh.

In the outside world, Spiritual Qi was a resource.

Within the borders of Great Chu, all Spirit Veins were controlled resources. Outside the Marketplaces, one was lucky to find any Spiritual Qi at all!

"Haaaah..."

He took a deep breath; the sensation was indescribably invigorating.

His entire body felt as if it were immersed in an ocean of Spiritual Qi. Every cell thrummed with a deep craving, an inexpressible comfort.

After a long while, he finally suppressed his body’s instinctive urge to start cultivating on the spot. He reached into his robes, and two emerald-green bamboo dragonflies hovered in his hand.

’Puppet Creation... bamboo dragonflies.’

They were refined using Tier One Upper Grade Cyan Bamboo as the main component, supplemented with other Spiritual Materials like Tier One Upper Grade Concentration Stones and Tier One Middle Grade Cyan Eyebrow Leaves.

Their function was similar to the Flying Insect Spiritual Artifact he had seen at the trade fair he attended back in Yuning Town.

Besides covert reconnaissance, it had no other effects. It was basically an enhanced version of a military micro-drone.

It could perform reconnaissance, track targets, and patrol...

Simple commands could be sealed into the bamboo dragonfly’s control center.

The inscribed Concealing Breath Array Prohibition, plus its tiny physical structure, made it basically invisible to Divine Sense probing, unless one deliberately focused on it.

Its power source was one-fifth of a Broken Spirit, which allowed the bamboo dragonfly to fly for about one hour under normal conditions.

He had refined four of them in total, all prepared for this trip to the Secret Realm.

With a mere thought, the two emerald-green bamboo dragonflies spread their wings and took flight. One flew after the other, heading toward the valley’s exit and the valley’s end, respectively.

Within Chu Mu’s Divine Sense Perception, it was as if two Celestial Eyes were now moving apart, one in front and one behind. Everything within the Celestial Eyes’ field of vision was clearly presented in his mind.

But once they exceeded the limit of his Divine Sense’s range, the two Celestial Eyes went dark. The two emerald-green bamboo dragonflies, however, continued flying toward their respective targets according to their pre-set logical commands.

Before long, the two bamboo dragonflies returned one after another.

The images from within their Memory Stones appeared in Chu Mu’s mind one after another.

’Two directions...’

The valley exit was safe, with no traces of human activity.

’But the pool at the end of the valley...’

Chu Mu’s brow furrowed. The pool was deep and murky, its bottom impossible to see. And by its edge... was a scene of utter devastation.

There were craters, bloodstains, broken trees, and scorched grass...

There were even fragments of clothing visible.

Clearly, a great battle had taken place at the pool at the end of the valley!

’But... who were the two sides fighting...?’

After pondering for a moment, Chu Mu glanced around once more, then led Wangcai toward the valley exit without hesitation.

’As for the pool at the end of the valley...’

The Cultivation of the Cultivators who entered the Secret Realm was restricted to the Qi Cultivation Realm.

But the Demon Beasts native to the Secret Realm had no such restriction.

The Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm was so dense, he wouldn’t be surprised if a Tier Three Demon Beast appeared, let alone a Demon Beast of the Tier Two Foundation Establishment Realm.

This was also explained in the information Zhao Shuang had left: there were no native Cultivators in the Secret Realm. If there were, no matter how tempting the realm was, he would never have set foot in it.

Demon Beasts were savage, but at least their Spiritual Wisdom wasn’t high.

But people... the human heart is treacherous...

...