Chapter 96: Are You People Out of Your Minds?
The moment they saw Ye Ze enter the Secret Realm first, everyone grew anxious.
“Damn it! How did he get in before us!?”
The Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire, in particular, looked especially frustrated.
Meanwhile, on China’s side, the other participants in the Secret Realm both admired Ye Ze’s decisiveness in entering first and immediately said, “Let’s go in too!”
But before the words had even fully fallen, the sixth-rank Blood King of the Lionheart Kingdom, whose face was deathly pale, lunged straight in front of the Chinese group!
Boom.
The ground trembled, forcing the Chinese group, who had just been about to approach the Secret Realm entrance, to retreat several steps...At once, China’s experts all moved forward. Wu Ming roared, “Dracula! What are you trying to do?”
Blood King Dracula revealed a ghastly pale smile.
“Nothing much. I suddenly felt a strong urge to spar with the Spear King...”
Spar?
With the Myth-grade Secret Realm having just opened, and him choosing this exact moment to block China’s exploration team, claiming he wanted to spar, his real intention could not have been more obvious!
At the same time, all seven sixth-rank experts from the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire stepped forward together!
“Knight Arthur wishes to seek a little guidance from the Sun King!”
“Azure-Robed King, get out here...”
China’s four sixth-rank experts on the scene were each singled out by the experts from the other two nations.
And the battlefield they chose was right in front of the Secret Realm entrance!
On the one hand, it blocked China’s exploration team.
On the other, it let more of their own people enter the Secret Realm!
Wu Ming let out a cold laugh. “I never thought your two nations would actually join forces.”
Previously, the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire had often clashed because their territories lay close to one another. The two nations had always disliked each other, even despised each other.
Yet now, in their shared goal of obstructing China, they had reached an agreement.
The reason was obvious enough...the Myth-grade Secret Realm!
Whether it was the possibility of obtaining the first Myth-grade item, or the chance to become the world’s first seventh-rank Class User, both were temptations powerful enough to drive people nearly insane.
And inside the Secret Realm, there were only forty slots in total.
Naturally, whichever country sent in more people would have a greater chance of obtaining the treasure...But China already controlled twenty of those slots, a huge advantage that the other two nations could not help but fear!
Because among Blue Star’s three great nations, China had already begun to show signs of becoming the strongest of them all. If it were then allowed to produce the world’s first seventh-rank Class User, who could possibly stop it?
Blood King Dracula’s smile turned cold and sinister. “China has an old saying...”
“Men die for wealth, birds die for food. I think it says things rather well.”
Their plan to intercept China’s exploration team had clearly been prepared in advance.
The only unexpected part was that they had originally intended to move the moment Wu Ming opened the Secret Realm, but Ye Ze had entered so decisively that he had snatched the initiative first.
At that moment, the balance of sixth-rank experts stood at four against seven.
Yet Wu Ming’s expression remained calm. He only sneered.
“Did you really think we wouldn’t see through those tricks?”
The moment those words fell, four more powerful sixth-rank auras suddenly erupted from among the Chinese delegation that had come to see them off!
Aside from Wan Feipeng and one other sixth-rank expert who remained behind to guard the Abyss, the other eight sixth-rank experts had all arrived!
At once, their combined presence overwhelmed the other two nations!
Among Blue Star’s three great nations, unlike the Freedom Empire’s endless exploitation of its lower classes, China was the nation most willing to accept and nurture talent, and so it was more likely to produce high-rank experts.
As for the number of sixth-rank Class Users, the Lionheart Kingdom had seven, and the Freedom Empire also had seven.
China alone had ten, the ten King-ranked experts!
It had to be understood that China’s possession of half the Secret Realm slots had not come from the key alone!
Wu Ming waved his hand toward the people before him.
“Get out of the way.”
The Class Users of the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire frowned.
Only Dracula, one of the Lionheart Kingdom’s upper echelon, revealed a savage expression.
“It seems our preparations weren’t wasted after all.”
With that, even more experts from the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire appeared!
The number of sixth-rank experts from the other two nations directly rose to fourteen!
All of their sixth-rank experts had come!
“Are you people out of your minds!!”
Wu Ming, whose expression had remained composed until now, could no longer hide his shock. “Have you abandoned the Abyss?”
Wu Ming had expected them to pull some stunt, but he had never imagined they would go this mad!
Because the Abyss lay in the center of Blue Star, and after years upon years of war, it had ultimately formed three battlefronts leading directly into the three great nations.
The moment no sixth-rank expert remained to hold the line, the Fiends would erupt outward like soda with the cap blown off!
If that happened, the first ones to suffer would not be anyone else...but their own border cities!
The Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire had withdrawn all of their sixth-rank experts, which would allow the Fiends to massacre the humans along their borders!
When that happened, the death toll in the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire would not merely be in the millions, but in the tens of millions!
If that had been China, it would have meant that all of Linyuan City, along with several of the neighboring cities, would have been turned into a living hell!
That was precisely why China always ensured that sixth-rank experts remained stationed at the Abyss.
Yet Arthur, one of the Freedom Empire’s leaders, only said mockingly, “They’re just worthless commoners. So what if tens of millions die?”
Blood King Dracula added, “As long as we obtain the Myth-grade treasure, or break through to the seventh rank, then it’s all worth it!”
“Their deaths will have had value!”
Looking at Dracula’s excited expression, and at the dozens of exploration team members from the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire continuously entering the Secret Realm,
Wu Ming let out a long sigh.
“The people living along your borders really must have had the worst luck imaginable.”
Then his eyes turned cold.
“Move!”
The moment those words were spoken, China’s eight sixth-rank experts clashed with the fourteen sixth-rank experts from the other two nations!
This was also the first time on Blue Star that so many sixth-rank Class Users had fought in a single battle!
A showdown involving over twenty sixth-rank experts shook the heavens and the earth.
If not for the transcendent nature of a Myth-grade Secret Realm, it might well have been destroyed outright.
But once the battle erupted, it became incredibly difficult for China’s exploration team to break through the battle line and reach the Secret Realm entrance!
Wu Ming said in a low voice, “Liu Anran, can you take people across the battle line and teleport them to the Secret Realm entrance?”
The birth of the world’s first Myth-grade Secret Realm, together with the chance to become the first person to break through to the seventh rank, made it impossible for anyone in China to give up willingly.
If no one from any country could enter, that would be one thing.
But if they gave way now and let the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire gain the upper hand, the consequences would be unimaginable.
With how crazed they already were, once they became stronger, their first thought would probably not be to drive back the Fiends, but to come plunder China!
So under the circumstances, there was no other option. They could only place their hopes in the few exploration team members who had already entered the Secret Realm!
Liu Anran immediately nodded. “I can teleport four people.”
Hearing that, Wu Ming wasted no time and instantly selected the four strongest among them.
“I’m counting on you all!”
Liu Anran used Spatial Teleportation to send the four of them directly into the Secret Realm entrance.
At that point, the total number of Chinese participants who had entered the Secret Realm was only six.
Wu Ming stood there, grief weighing heavily on his heart...
The original forty available slots had first become twenty, and now they had been reduced to just six.
If Ye Ze had not entered so early, they would likely have had only five.
But faced with the mad actions of the other two nations, there was simply no other way.
The great battle did not last very long.
The experts on both sides pulled apart, their auras still surging violently around them.
And on the ground, one corpse remained.
It belonged to the Freedom Empire.
That was right. On the one hand, China’s sixth-rank King-ranked experts had been robbed of their Secret Realm slots, which sent their battle intent surging.
On the other hand, the two enemy nations were not truly of one mind either. During the fight, each side had been more eager to let the other take the hits...
The result was that, even while fighting outnumbered, China had still managed to kill a sixth-rank Class User from the Freedom Empire on the spot!
Yet Dracula did not look the least bit distressed.
“The Secret Realm is already closed! There’s no point in continuing this fight!”
As he spoke, he revealed the smile of a man whose scheme had succeeded.
All forty entrants had already gone inside the Secret Realm...Of them, the exploration teams of the Lionheart Kingdom and the Freedom Empire accounted for thirty-four!
China had only six people inside the Secret Realm.
Even though the two nations had lost one sixth-rank expert, their objective had already been accomplished.
Thirty-four people hunting down six. It would be effortless!
Whether it was the Myth-grade item, or the chance to advance to the seventh rank, both would belong to the alliance of their two nations!
“Damn it, these people are absolutely despicable!” one of China’s sixth-rank experts cursed angrily.
No one had anticipated that they would abandon defense entirely, sacrifice the lives of tens of millions of their own citizens, and come here solely to block China’s exploration team!
Wu Ming’s heart burned with rage, but outwardly he still had to remain calm. He said in a steady voice, “Stop fighting for now.”
He looked toward the Secret Realm entrance and let out a heavy sigh.
“At this point, all we can do is trust them.”
“I only hope... that they can create another miracle.”
And so, China’s eight sixth-rank experts, together with the more than ten sixth-rank experts from the other side, all remained where they were.
Between the two sides lay the corpse of the Freedom Empire’s fallen sixth-rank expert...
...
Meanwhile, inside the Myth-grade Secret Realm, Ye Ze arrived atop a beautiful mountain peak, where the spiritual energy was extraordinarily rich. Merely standing there gave him a sense of clarity and ease.
Green mountains stretched endlessly into the distance, while clouds and mist coiled around them, lending the place the feel of a celestial paradise.
Even the white clouds overhead seemed no more than an arm’s length away.
【You have entered the trial-type Secret Realm — “???”!】
【Under the influence of the Secret Realm’s rules, all items and objects currently in your backpack cannot be used!】
Hearing that notification, Ye Ze immediately checked his backpack...Sure enough, almost everything inside had turned gray. The Escape Talisman, the Heaven-Restoring Herb, and the rest had all become unusable.
That included every recovery item as well. With that restriction in place, fighting for a prolonged time inside the Secret Realm would become a major problem!
However, Ye Ze noticed that the three Origin Fragments had not been affected at all!
“Now that’s a relief.”
Ye Ze took out the Evil Ghost Mask.
“Modify the rules — all items in my backpack can be used normally.”
【To make yourself exempt from the Secret Realm’s restriction on disabled items, 50 points of Source Power are required. Confirm?】
“That’s not too much. Confirm.”
【Modification complete. You are now exempt from the Secret Realm’s restriction on disabled items. Remaining Source Power: 1200!】
As the Source Power was expended, the Evil Ghost Mask seemed to let out a sharp, ghostly howl. It suddenly emitted violet light, and in an instant, a certain spiritual rule wrapped around Ye Ze was corroded away.
The notification for the modification appeared.
Ye Ze discovered that all the items in his backpack had changed from gray, disabled status back to normal.
“Not bad...”