A certain plane.
An area with high mountains and treacherous terrain.
Dozens of warships emanating powerful auras hovered in mid-air, with warriors of various appearances standing upon them.
“Whoosh whoosh!”
Right in front of the ships, before a smooth-as-mirror stone wall, several powerhouses with considerable strength stood at different angles. Surging with mighty energy all around their bodies, they seemed to be endlessly bombarding a barrier.
“Second Brother, could this be a scam?”
On a certain warship, a dark-skinned warrior asked in a low voice.
“Impossible.”
The warrior called Second Brother said: “Several bosses have been jointly bombarding this for so long without breaking through—there must be an incomplete volume hidden inside.”
“The Starry Sky Pirate King is full of lies—would he really tell us the location?” the dark-skinned man questioned.
Second Brother sneered coldly: “With the temperaments of the several bosses, if that guy really dares to deceive them, he can expect to be hunted across the entire universe.”
“That’s true.”
The dark-skinned man frowned and said: “However, the Pirate King is as slippery as a loach. The several bosses finally caught him—why let him go?”
“Ha ha ha.”
Second Brother laughed and said: “That guy likes to plunder other planes. The several bosses kept him around hoping to shear the sheep from time to time in the future.”
“I see!”
The dark-skinned man understood suddenly.
That’s right, the Pirate King they were discussing was the Handsome Character Man killed by Jun Changxiao. As for the great secret he mentioned before dying, it was also related to the Seven Mysterious Radiant Breaking Incomplete Volume Four.
The Seven Mysterious Radiant Breaking was considered a top-tier martial art even in the upper realm, causing various powerhouses to rush toward it like ducks. Appearing in the mortal world, it went without saying, so this secret truly qualified as ‘great’ level.
Unfortunately.
Jun Changxiao didn’t follow the usual path.
He didn’t give the Handsome Character Man a chance to use the secret as an excuse to escape from death, directly and decisively severing his head.
Letting him escape once was unavoidable—after all, at that time he was controlled by the power of the statue, locked onto Black-White Twin Slayers. Letting him escape twice and keeping a potential threat that could harm himself and his loved ones was absolutely not Jun Changxiao’s style.
“Boom!”
Just then, an explosion sound came from the smooth stone wall.
The defensive barrier that seemed to have existed for eons was finally broken through by five powerhouses whose strength was no less than the Handsome Character Man!
“Swish! Swish! Swish!”
After the flowing light fragments scattered, they directly flew in, landing in a cave dwelling emanating an ancient aura, locking onto the stone platform in the central area.
But… there was nothing on it!
“Damn it!”
A burly middle-aged man said angrily: “That guy deceived us—there’s nothing here!”
A man with cold eyes beside him said through gritted teeth: “The Pirate King must have known the method to enter and taken the incomplete volume first!”
“So we’ve been busy for a whole month for nothing!”
“I said before, this guy can’t be trusted. Now look, we’ve been played for fools by that guy!”
The five powerhouses’ eyes flashed with fury, almost incinerating the entire cave dwelling.
“Hmph!”
The white-haired elder in a long robe sneered coldly and said: “Does that guy really think that after deceiving us, he can rest easy and roam freely outside?”
“Swish!”
His large hand waved, and a compass appeared out of thin air.
“Buzz buzz!”
Soul power poured into it, and the compass began to flash with light, finally stopping at a certain direction.
The white-haired elder said: “Let’s go find him!”
“Whoosh!”
“Whoosh!”
In a moment’s work, the dozens of warships hovering outside the stone wall tore through the firmament, penetrated the spatial barrier, and disappeared without a trace.
These several people had misunderstood the Handsome Character Man.
Actually, before the spatial barrier was broken through, the stone platform did indeed hold the Seven Mysterious Radiant Breaking Incomplete Volume Four, but later it disappeared and appeared in… Jun Gou Sheng’s spatial ring.
This time didn’t count as stealing.
Because the incomplete volume sealed in the cave dwelling was an ownerless item.
If the Handsome Character Man, currently queuing on the Yellow Springs Road, knew that his great secret had been easily obtained by Jun Changxiao, he would definitely come back to life just to die again.
…
Desolate plane.
Five cultivators with considerable cultivation stood outside the palace ruins, looking at the Starry Sky Pirate King’s corpse with head and body separated, their eyes revealing disbelief.
This guy… was actually killed!
The burly middle-aged man said in a deep voice: “The Pirate King’s strength was no less than any one of us. Now that his head has been severed, the one who acted must be extraordinary.”
“The spatial ring is gone, the starry sky warship is also gone—this was probably encountering a fellow practitioner,” the man with cold eyes deduced.
The white-haired elder said: “We let him go for over half a year, during which he certainly robbed quite a few good things. Now someone else beat us to it—this is really quite unpleasant.”
“Resources and such aren’t important. What’s important is that even Incomplete Volume Four was taken!” the man with cold eyes said.
“Elder Wu.”
The burly middle-aged man asked: “Can you find out who the killer was?”
The white-haired elder sat down cross-legged and said: “I’ll perform the Great Time Reversal Technique. You all guard me.”
“Good!”
The four immediately stood at four directions in strict readiness.
“Swish! Swish!”
The white-haired elder formed intricate hand seals, then pointed his two fingers at his brow. His entire person seemed to merge with the surrounding space, and scenes of what had once occurred in this place appeared in his sea of consciousness.
…
Eternal Sect.
Jun Changxiao didn’t know that after his act of violence, someone would investigate using an ability similar to time reversal. At this moment, he stood at the back mountain, pointing at the newly arranged vortex entrance, announcing loudly:
“This is the Nine Heavens Secret Realm. Inside there are nine layers of heaven.”
“Each layer of heaven counts as a trial. If you all can pass the trial, you’ll obtain corresponding rewards.”
“Sect Master, what rewards?” Li Shangtian asked.
Jun Changxiao said: “Enter and you’ll know.”
“Good!”
Li Shangtian strode forward, the first to enter the Nine Heavens Secret Realm.
“Poor child,” Su Xiaomo shook her head.
Even the usually steady Li Qingyang gave Li Shangtian a sympathetic look, silently praying he could come out safely.
As veteran disciples of the sect, they knew better than anyone that whenever the Sect Master brought out a brand-new secret realm, pioneering it would definitely result in being tortured to near death.
Sima Zhongda, Lin Jianghang, and others really wanted to go in, but seeing that senior brothers with more seniority hadn’t moved, they forcibly suppressed the thought and quietly waited for Li Shangtian to scout ahead.
“Whoosh—”
About half an hour later, a streaming light shot out from within the vortex like a cannonball, immediately followed by a ‘boom’ sound.
Everyone turned their heads in unison and saw Li Shangtian collapse from the embedded mountain body in a ‘big’ character shape.
Sun Bukong ran over, placed fingers on his pulse, and said: “He’s not dead, still alive.”
The disciples immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as he wasn’t dead, then there wasn’t any big problem.
If Li Shangtian knew, he would definitely stand up and curse loudly: “What about the promised sect fellowship? What about the promised master-disciple affection? You bunch of big bastards!”
Jun Changxiao said: “This is the consequence of not passing the trial, so before you all enter the Nine Heavens Secret Realm, you must be extremely cautious.”
Ye Xingchen stepped forward and said proudly: “I’ll give it a try.”
“Swish!”
He strode into the Nine Heavens Secret Realm.
“Whoosh!”
The scene before his eyes transformed, replaced by bizarre and fantastical scenery. Several options were listed in the sky above:
Simple Mode.
Normal Mode.
Difficult Mode.
Hell Mode.
Ye Xingchen smiled coldly.
Back when he first entered the Life-Death Secret Realm, he chose Hell Mode and was instantly killed by a sacred beast. No helping it—his strength had just stepped into Wuwang.
“The me now.”
“Is no longer the me of before.”
“Therefore!”
Pei Aniu clenched his fists tightly, surging with an aura comparable to a Martial Emperor around his entire body. With imposing presence that could swallow mountains and rivers, he said: “I choose, Simple Mode!”