As the day of the Jiuli secret realm’s exit opening approached, the secret realm entered a state of silence. Everyone was in seclusion.

They used their remaining time to increase their cultivation base to the highest possible level, all to give themselves a greater chance of surviving in the upcoming battle.

There was no longer any time to go searching for opportunities. Their lives were much more important. No matter how good the opportunity was, if you didn’t have your life to enjoy it, it was still of no use.

Time passed. Within the cultivation world, time was like a constantly flowing river. Three months went by extremely quickly.

Within the depths of the secret realm, a huge mountain collapsed. A black-haired man stood on top of the rubble, his terrifying aura constantly soaring into the sky, causing space to constantly quiver.

This black-haired man was holding a worn down spear. But that spear emitted a killing intent like a bloodthirsty fiend.

“Long Chen, this time I’ll definitely kill you”!

This man was precisely the one Long Chen had almost killed, Yin Luo. After being in seclusion for so long, he had finally come out.

…

A scarlet flame lit up the sky. That kind of temperature could dry seas and incinerate the heavens. A man covered with flames was standing at the peak of a mountain.

“Long Chen, you stole my Phoenix Sparrow violet flame. Hmph, but I still managed to obtain the flame ranked fourth on the beast flame rankings! This time, I’ll burn you to ash!”

Standing on the mountain peak, Huo Wufang was surrounded by flames, looking like a flame god.

...

“Hahaha, I, Xue Wuya, have finally come out again. Little fellows from the Righteous path, come crawl beneath my feet!”

A fiendish laugh resounded through heaven and earth. A man wearing a blood-red robe had an evil smile.

Behind him was an illusory image. That image was an endless blood sea. Although it looked like a picture, an incredibly concentrated blood odor came from it, one that caused all of heaven and earth to change color.

…

“Long Chen, you killed my little brother. I’ll flay your skin, tear out your muscles, and turn your bones to dust.” These words were normally ones that were spat out through clenched teeth, but they were said with such a calm expression that it was even more frightening.

A tall man was standing with his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes radiated a bright light that was like the point of a sharp blade, making it so others didn’t dare look directly at him.

Although he was just standing there indifferently, he seemed to contain the imposingness of a devil god looking down on all. His handsome face contained an endless iciness.

This was someone who looked similar to Han Tianfeng. However, he was even more handsome than him. He was Han Tianfeng’s big brother, the supermonastery’s number one expert, Han Tianyu.

At this time, there were over a dozen people surrounding him. One of those people was the one Long Chen hated with all his being, Yin Wushuang. Yin Wushuang wrapped around Han Tianyu’s arm and said, “Brother Tianyu, let’s go kill Long Chen right now to get revenge for Tianfeng.”

Yin Wushuang had truly been terrified by Long Chen. Long Chen had become a serious heart-devil for her, and she couldn’t even close her eyes anymore without seeing his face. That face was one filled with killing intent.

She had become incredibly cowardly now, not even able to travel alone. She had to have a large group of people by her side so that she could use them to run in case Long Chen found her.

These past three months had felt as long as thirty years for her. She wasn’t even able to sleep, let alone cultivate.

Once Han Tianyu had left seclusion, he had activated his specific communication device, and Yin Wushuang had immediately rushed over. She felt that the safest place in this world was by Han Tianyu’s side.

“Let him live a few more days. To directly kill him is letting him off too lightly. Send out the news that I’ve exited seclusion and that depending on my mood, I’ll take his life whenever I want. Tell him to wash his neck and wait for me,” said Han Tianyu lightly.

“Then that’s good. Let’s make it so he has to spend every day restlessly waiting to die.” Yin Wushuang clenched her teeth.

…

There was still just over a month until the secret realm’s exit opened. Countless experts were coming out of seclusion. The secret realm immediately became lively again.

But this liveliness was accompanied by endless slaughter and blood. As experts came out, huge battles were fought everywhere.

The people exiting seclusion at this time were all top experts extremely confident in themselves. As for those people who were weaker, they were still in seclusion. Just increasing their cultivation base by the slightest bit was worth it to them.

Atop Compass Mountain, Long Chen and the others also exited seclusion. What gratified Long Chen was that everyone’s cultivation bases had reached the mid Bone Forging realm.

As for Tang Wan-er, who possessed a gold Spirit Root, she had reached the seventh Heavenstage of Bone Forging, which was the highest out of all of them.

Furthermore, as she constantly refined the purest energy from the wind spirit stones, her wind energy once more transformed and her wind blades had become much more solid and sharp.

Tang Wan-er was the one with the highest cultivation base, but second place was not Meng Qi or the others. It was surprisingly Guo Ran! He had reached the peak of the sixth Heavenstage, and he could advance to the seventh Heavenstage at any moment.

That had shocked all of them. Only Long Chen was still calm. He knew that Guo Ran walked an alternative path, and he wouldn’t run into any bottlenecks.

As long as he continued to firmly believe he could rely on forging items to become a crafting god, then by continuously consuming medicinal pills, his cultivation base would grow quickly and constantly.

But as soon as he received an impact on his Forging Dao, as soon as his confidence was shaken, then his cultivation base would forever stall.

Long Chen had already warned him about that, but Guo Ran had still decided to choose that path. He was blazing an unwalked path to godhood.

Walking that path was extremely dangerous, but at the same time, high risk signified high reward. Up until now, Guo Ran’s decision had been extremely correct.

Other than Luo Cang who was still at the fourth Heavenstage, the others had reached the fifth or sixth Heavenstage. That level of cultivation base was enough to shock the entire secret realm.

This was all because Long Chen had decided to refine ringed high grade pills. Because of that, his pill furnaces had all been ruined, and he didn’t have a single one anymore.

However, those trash furnaces had at least served their mission in the end before breaking.

At this time, Wilde also had come over. He had already finished the Violet Phoenix Sparrow and was now working on the Barbaric Wind Beast.

Wilde’s body hadn’t necessarily changed much this entire time, but his skin had turned a bronze color. With his current strength, he could crush steel into smithereens. His physical body was even more powerful than a Magical Beast’s.

Furthermore, after his skin had turned bronze, he became impervious to sword and spear. Even when Song Mingyuan launched a full power attack, he was only able to leave a small white mark on Wilde’s skin.

At that time, Gu Yang and the others’ jaws had dropped to the ground. This was no longer even human. Was there really someone who was impervious to sword and spear?

If Wilde was using a Battle Skill, then that was one thing, but Wilde didn’t know any, and even up to now, he only knew the simplest method to circulate qi.

Long Chen noticed a faint mark had appeared on his forehead. Although it was very faint, it was definitely there.

That mark wasn’t the same as ordinary ancestral marks. This mark wasn’t something Wilde had called out, but something that had automatically appeared. That mark seemed to be hiding a volcano that might explode at any moment.

Was this what the barbarian race expert had meant when he had said that as long as their physical bodies grew strong enough, they would automatically awaken their abilities?

But in any case, Wilde’s strength caused their collective team’s power to rise a great deal. Now their squad could truly be called elites amongst elites.

According to combat ability, each of them had at least reached the level of a Chosen. It was just that those with softer temperaments like Meng Qi and Chu Yao wouldn’t release that kind of undefeatable will.

However, Gu Yang, Song Mingyuan, and the others had all experienced fierce battles and a rain of blood. Their hearts had long since become tempered, and when they fought, their will far surpassed the other so-called Chosen.

Gu Yang and the others had grown to this point on their own, and their will was not man-made by their sects. They were completely different.

Other than their strength advancing, they also had four powerful helpers. Those four Violet Phoenix Sparrows had all reached the late fourth rank.

To help those four grow, Meng Qi and the others had expended a great deal of effort, and Long Chen had also refined quite a few medicinal pills specialized for them.

Of the four women, they would rotate, one of them bringing the four birds to go hunting. The reason they had all managed to grow so fast was because they had alternated hunting and cultivating.

Long Chen noticed that after being raised by Meng Qi and the others, these birds had become much more human. They weren’t as berserk as their mother, and they were extremely loyal. There was basically no need to worry about them suddenly betraying them. This was definitely because of the great care the four women had given them as they grew up.

Although Magical Beasts were known for being berserk, they also had emotions. Once they fully accepted a master, they would never betray that person in their lifetime. Compared to fickle humans, Magical Beasts were actually much more trustworthy.

The thing that excited Long Chen the most was that Little Snow, who had been in a slumber after consuming the Barbaric Wind Beast’s Neidan, had finally awoken.

After he called out Little Snow from his spiritual space, all of them were shocked. Little Snow had shrunk a great deal and was now only ten meters long.

But his aura was something that caused people to feel a profound reverence. As soon as he appeared, those four Violet Phoenix Sparrows all began to shiver.

Not only had Little Snow shrunk a great deal, but that fiery-red tuft of fur on his forehead had also become the shape of a rhombus.

When Meng Qi saw that, she was filled with disbelief. She told Long Chen that Little Snow was actually transforming his crystal core.

Seeing that Long Chen didn’t understand, she explained that Little Snow had dissolved his original crystal core and had condensed a new one. In other words, Little Snow had truly completely mutated and his rank would no longer be held back by his bloodline. As for how far he could actually grow, no one knew.

This kind of crystal core transformation was something Meng Qi had only seen in ancient texts. But even that ancient text had only said that this was only a theoretical possibility. As for whether it was actually possible, it hadn’t said.

Long Chen was delighted and surprised. He hugged Little Snow’s head and laughed. This way, Little Snow could always accompany him.

Just a week after they all left seclusion, taking a brief period of relaxation before the great battle, there was someone who came by to send them a certain item.