His roar echoed with soul-stirring intensity, releasing all the pent-up frustration within his chest.
The grudge over the treasure snatch, the hatred from the body snatching — all would come to an end today!
He was no longer the worthless fool who was ambushed twice by the same person.
Instead, he had risen from shame to courage, single-handedly forming a vast alliance to defeat his enemies!
“Everyone, charge with me!”
“Roar!!!”
Before his words had even fallen, a thunderous roar filled with overwhelming fury erupted from the depths of the forest, accompanied by a dazzling sea of purple flames.
The other key player Hua Jian had been waiting for had finally arrived on the scene.
“Everyone’s here, so I won’t waste any more words. After all, time is like Spiritual Stones— I don’t want to waste too much of it on you.”
Seeing that the most crucial actor had arrived, Hua Jian no longer showed weakness. Her figure suddenly transformed into a wisp of fragrant breeze and soared into the sky.
To her, the encirclement formed by those cultivators was nothing more than a large fishnet full of holes.
She had been quietly waiting inside, merely to give them a glimmer of hope and lure them into a trap.
And now, the bait was set. It was time to close the net!
“Get lost in the Mirage Domain!”
A delicate Array Plate appeared in her hands, and a sweet-scented mist instantly enveloped the dense forest.
The first to react was the Black-Clad Man from the Magic Path. He had intended to take advantage of the chaos and seize the Mirage Incense back, but he never expected things to turn out like this.
That little thief had the same idea as him— using the precious Mirage Incense here to control both them and the attacking Spirit Beasts…
“Damn it! She must have an accomplice… the Spirit Beast Lair…” A terrifying thought flashed through the man’s mind amidst the whirl of his thoughts.
Why else would this thief trap the Spirit Beasts inside the Mirage Domain? Surely it wasn’t just for the sake of increasing difficulty out of boredom.
There had to be a reason. This thief had an accomplice, and the most likely explanation was to have that accomplice take advantage of the Spirit Beasts being trapped here to raid the Spirit Beast Lair.
But by now, he was unable to share this suspicion with anyone else. The Mirage mist blurred his vision, and horrifying scenes flashed before his eyes.
He couldn’t even utter a sound.
The cultivators were the first to fall victim, all ensnared by the illusion and unable to escape.
The Spirit King-level Spirit Beasts managed to hold out slightly longer, maintaining consciousness for a few breaths despite Hua Jian’s targeted assault.
But in the end, they too succumbed to the Mirage’s power, dragged into the illusion and unconsciously attacking nearby cultivators.
As the architect of the maze, Hua Jian did not know exactly what illusions each person faced, only that what they saw must relate to their own thoughts.
How much it related— she didn’t know.
The Spirit Beasts trapped in the illusion remained furious, biting and clawing at the nearby cultivators.
Before long, they shattered the Space Stones of several cultivators, achieving multiple kills.
Judging by this, it seemed the illusions they saw were not so different from reality— still an invasion of their Territory of the Spirit Beast, only the number and location of intruders differed.
Hua Jian noticed many of the Spirit Beasts’ attacks striking empty space.
The other cultivators caught in the illusion displayed all sorts of human behaviors—every kind imaginable.
The leader, Alliance Leader Lu, was currently grabbing another cultivator by the collar, punching him in the face repeatedly while shouting, “You stole my treasure! You stole my treasure!”
Apparently, he mistook that cultivator for Hua Jian.
The others were similarly embroiled in chaotic brawls, either fighting over the “treasures” they “saw” or attacking the “enemies” they “encountered.”
Within minutes, nearly half of the cultivators had been teleported out of the Secret Realm due to infighting.
Among all this, Hua Jian noticed something odd.
Why were there two cultivators using pitch-black Spiritual Power?
All the other cultivators used Five Elements Spiritual Power, distinct and easy to recognize, but this man and woman wielded black Spiritual Power that emitted a strange and unsettling aura.
When it struck someone, the effect was terrifying— as if it could dissolve a person outright, often triggering the target’s Space Stone with just a single hit.
“Could it be… Demonic Cultivators?” Hua Jian gasped, having thought the term was just a baseless accusation. She hadn’t expected real Demonic Cultivators to exist within this Secret Realm.
A classic case of the thief crying “Stop thief!” Now she had evidence to catch them!
Upon closer inspection, Hua Jian was surprised to realize that this man and woman had also been ambushed by her before—the woman’s Pseudo-Spirit Robe was still the one Hua Jian herself was wearing.
But with the situation escalating so drastically, and the appearance of Demonic Cultivators, the Linglong Pavilion would surely intervene, right?
She wondered if Linglong could successfully obtain the Dragon Scale. If they really managed to get it, Hua Jian thought she might be able to ask Linglong for a reward.
For the sake of some warm Spiritual Stones, she was even willing to pray for the cold-hearted Holy Maiden, hoping the Holy Maiden would succeed smoothly.
…..
Clatter!
Thunder struck the crude Spirit Beast Lair, scattering various small objects everywhere. Linglong frowned and stepped into the messy lair, digging through the ground to search for the possible True Dragon Scale.
The lair was cluttered with many odds and ends, mostly useless bones and stones, not even as valuable as the various Spirit Herbs Linglong had encountered on her journey.
After a rapid search, Linglong surprisingly didn’t find a single valuable item. She couldn’t understand it.
Could it be true that there was no treasure in this Dragon’s Den?
Not willing to give up, she continued searching through the lair, finally discovering a flicker of golden light in a hidden crevice.
Clenching her fist, Linglong smashed the stone wall and uncovered a Golden Scroll embedded in the rock.
At the moment she obtained the Golden Scroll, a line of small golden characters flashed before her eyes, revealing the scroll’s purpose.
It was a treasure sealed with a Spirit King peak-level strike, powerful enough to seriously wound the Spirit Beast guarding the Secret Realm.
The holder of the scroll had two choices.
One, take the scroll and exit the Secret Realm, free to do with it as they pleased— whether to keep it for themselves or trade it for Spiritual Stones.
Two, use the Spirit King-level strike within the scroll to defeat the Spirit Beast. The True Dragon Scale would be hidden within the beast’s body.
Yes, after all the twists and turns, the only way to take the True Dragon Scale was to kill the guardian boss.
To prevent anyone from skipping this step, the Linglong Pavilion had devised a clever plan.
They had lured the Spirit Beast away from the lair and then rewarded the player with a powerful, single-use weapon.
Now, it was a gamble of courage and skill.