Volume Three: Rising Fame Chapter Thirty-Seven: Entering the Secret Realm

Li Yu’s unease was not groundless. Until now, his judgment had rested on the belief that, although the clans might form alliances, there would surely still be some neutral clans content to stand aside and watch.

He had never expected that, besides himself, every other clan would choose to huddle together for warmth.

It was clearly the same logic he had used when choosing his weapon:

What others have, we must have; what others have, we must surpass.

They probably all thought the same thing: if everyone else is banding together, and we do not find a few clans we are on good terms with, would that not be foolish?

Come to think of it, Li Yu was not exactly fighting alone. Weren’t there still two others from the Qing Clan who were not on friendly terms with him? And wasn’t there still the Xiong Clan?

All told, that made three people. Not much, but better than nothing.

So long as he avoided being focused down from the very beginning, that would be enough. After all, he was now a member of the disadvantaged camp, and those clan groups with a dozen or so people were most likely to strike first.

He did not have to wait long before a middle-aged man slowly stepped up onto the high platform set before them.

The emperor, alive and in the flesh.

Even in another world, that could not hide the excitement Li Yu felt at that moment.

He looked toward the platform. Whether it was an illusion or not, when Ying Tianhe’s gaze swept across the crowd, it seemed to pause briefly on him, as though their eyes had met, before moving on.

For a moment, Li Yu could not tell whether that had truly happened or not.

“All of you are elites chosen from your respective clans. I will not waste words. I shall briefly explain this secret realm, as well as a few matters concerning participation.”

Standing upon the platform, Ying Tianhe did nothing at all, yet the entire square fell into absolute silence under his presence.

“First: age. Only those under twenty-five may enter the secret realm. After exploration, we have confirmed that the realm forms a world of its own, with a complete ecosystem. If any of you are beyond the age limit, do not entertain false hopes. The realm is not a peaceful place.”

“Second: each token contains one point by default. When you defeat an opponent, or slay a beast within the realm that bears a token, the one point within that token will transfer to the winner’s token. There is no upper limit. The lowest score is zero. A loser may still earn points again. Final scoring will be based on the closing tally.”

“Third: entry into the realm will place each of you at a random location. After two days, dangers capable of killing a fourth-rank cultivator will begin to appear from time to time. The nearer you are to the center, the safer it is. On the final day, only the center can be occupied, and the withdrawal formation is also located there. The tokens you are given will guide you in that direction.”

“Fourth: there are a few little surprises waiting for you inside the realm as well. Do your best... and survive.”

When Ying Tianhe finished speaking, a colossal pillar of light rose behind him, as though it would pierce the heavens.

The clans at the front of the square were the first to move forward. The moment their figures entered the pillar of light, they flickered once and vanished without a trace.

“What a magnificent formation,” Li Yu praised.

The pace of entry was very fast. Soon, it was nearly Li Yu’s group’s turn, and then another gaze came sweeping over.

Ying Tianhe stood on the high platform, looking down at Li Yu from above, a smile on his lips and a scrutinizing light in his eyes.

As expected, it is a thunder bloodline. Remarkable. Truly remarkable.

With his profound cultivation, Ying Tianhe had instantly seen through Li Yu’s spiritual attribute. But the more certain he became of Li Yu’s bloodline, the more fascinating he found the matter.

Li Yu felt it, looked up, and met Ying Tianhe’s eyes by chance.

Unexpectedly, Ying Tianhe actually spoke.

“Li Yu, I am optimistic about you.”

“Thank you for your praise, Your Majesty,” Li Yu replied, surprised, though he did not lapse in manners.

Even after he was swallowed by the pillar of light, he could still feel Ying Tianhe’s gaze upon him.

“Be careful,” Li Yu said aloud. Then, especially when he looked at Qing Yuan, he sneered, “And do not hand your points over so easily.”

Qing Yuan was just about to retort when his form had already begun to twist and blur, leaving him no chance to answer.

...

After a period of dizzying distortion, as if the world itself had been shaken and turned, Li Yu opened his eyes again to find that his surroundings had already changed entirely.

He looked to his waist. Before entering the pillar of light, a eunuch had tied a token there. On it was the character for one. The number on the token would change depending on the owner’s gains and losses.

How curious. What are the principles behind the counting and judgment?

Li Yu raised his head at once and leaped to the treetops to survey his surroundings.

It was a forest. To the left, in the distance, stood a mountain so towering that it seemed to pierce the clouds. Behind him lay a broad, level plain, stretching beyond sight.

Not a trace of the other entrants could be seen anywhere nearby. Clearly, just as Ying Tianhe had said, everyone had been scattered upon entry.

That suits me fine.

Li Yu murmured to himself. This was quite in line with his wishes. Within the secret realm, the most important thing for him was to find the whereabouts of the White Fox Clan; only after that would he care about scoring in this competition.

“If the White Foxes carry snow fox bloodline, then they should favor the cold as well. I can start by searching that mountain.”

With that thought, Li Yu stepped off lightly and drifted toward the mountain that rose into the clouds. As he left, his gaze briefly lowered, but he did not stop. He went straight on.

With his departure, the forest instantly fell silent.

A long while later, amid luxuriant growth, a figure crawled out from the underbrush.

A young man covered head to toe in leaves and branches, almost as if he were wearing a full suit of camouflage, looked in the direction Li Yu had gone with lingering fear.

“He definitely spotted me just now. As expected of a thunder bloodline. Truly formidable. I just do not know why he did not make a move against me.”

The place where he emerged was exactly where Li Yu had been staring.

Li Yu’s identity was easy enough to recognize. Most of the clan representatives entering the competition were around twenty-five years old, chosen right up against the age limit. After all, the older one was, the greater the advantage.

Only the Qing Clan had selected participants through martial contests, which was why an eighteen-year-old like Li Yu had ended up here.

Li Yu had not revealed his fifth-rank cultivation. He had not flown, choosing instead to rush over the ground.

That way, he could avoid becoming a thorn in the eyes of the other competitors.

After all, the stronger one was, the more likely one was to be focused down and eliminated first.

Besides, there were many beasts in the forest. In a very short time, Li Yu had already seen several seventh-rank beasts. Moving on the ground would also help him avoid disturbing even more of them.

“No wonder the emperor said, ‘do your best and survive.’ You have to know, most of the participants are at the sixth or seventh rank, which puts them on roughly equal footing with these beasts. The clans might hold back from killing each other, but the beasts will not!”

Li Yu tapped the ground lightly, blasting apart a seventh-rank azure-patterned snake concealed in the canopy above. Without slowing, he dodged around two clan members locked in combat.

The two of them tacitly paused, plainly wary of becoming the fisherman’s spoils while the clam and the heron fought.

I am not in a hurry to score points right now.

Li Yu curled his lip and headed away at once.

“Points do not disappear. They only transfer and accumulate over time.”

For this journey into the secret realm of the Hundred Clans Assembly, Li Yu had already planned everything. He would wait until later before making his move.

That way, he would not need to gather points bit by bit from the start. It was a waste of time and energy, and it would force him to search everywhere for people. By the later stages, the points would surely have gathered in the hands of the stronger ones.

He only needed to strike at those people.

In any case, the later it got, the harder they would be to avoid.

As for Qing Xiumin and Qing Yuan, their points were of little consequence. The final result would be decided by the total of all three people’s scores, and Li Yu was confident he could shoulder that burden alone.