Chapter 120: The Secret Realm’s Deadly Ordeal

Song Chunqiu is a Grandmaster of Martial Arts, the commander of the Third Army of the Aurora Legion, and the highest-ranking official on-site.

Although several other Martial Arts Grandmasters were present—men whose power and status were by no means inferior to his—they were all required to follow his command. While others could offer suggestions and advice during the decision-making process, the final judgment rested solely with Song. As the commander, Song also bore full responsibility for those decisions.

"The situation is critical. I will reiterate: anyone who acts in bad faith, plays fast and loose, or disobeys orders will be executed without mercy," Song said coldly. "Ensure you convey this clearly to those working under you, so that no ignorant fools become unnecessary casualties."

The others looked grave and responded in unison.

"Proceed according to the agreed plan. You are dismissed."

At Song’s command, the officials from the various local organizations of Yunling hurried out of the tent.

Gao Wu stood to the side, watching Song issue his orders. The crowd was as silent as cicadas in winter; even the Grandmasters wore solemn expressions, not daring to take him lightly. Witnessing such imposing authority, Gao Wu couldn't help but think of the saying: "A true man should be like this!"

After the officials left, Song’s expression softened slightly. He looked at Song Mingyue and asked, "Why are you here?"

"Gao Wu was summoned, and I am accompanying him," Song Mingyue replied softly. She felt no need to hide anything from her grandfather; she spoke plainly, admitting she had come for Gao Wu's sake.

Song Chunqiu nodded, though it was unclear whether he approved or simply understood. He turned his attention to Gao Wu. "They say you can sense the aura of the Demon God. I’ve brought you here to use your ability to locate the Demon God’s altar and the center of the secret realm's distortion. Are you afraid?"

"It is my honor to be valued by you all, and my glory to contribute even a small part to the great cause of slaying demons and eradicating evil," Gao Wu said earnestly.

His hatred and disgust for the alien beasts were marrow-deep. Now that he had the opportunity and the ability, he was determined to shoulder his responsibility.

Song Chunqiu looked at Gao Wu deeply, and Gao Wu met the Grandmaster’s gaze with calm composure. As their eyes locked, Song’s gaze turned profound and chilling. Gao Wu sensed that something was wrong; the man’s stare felt like an invisible blade, as if it were piercing his very soul.

Gao Wu understood Song’s intent. He knew he could not back down, so he braced his mental strength to resist. A true Martial Arts Grandmaster possessed exceptionally powerful mental energy. Under immense pressure, Gao Wu invoked the Azure Dragon Divine Qi Mantra to protect himself. Instantly, cyan electric sparks ignited in his eyes, shining as brightly as stars in the heavens.

Song Chunqiu offered a faint smile, and the mental pressure he had applied to Gao Wu dissipated. After not seeing him for several months, Song had wanted to test Gao Wu’s progress, and the result was far better than he had anticipated. He could also tell that Gao Wu’s previous words were spoken with genuine sincerity. Given Gao Wu’s childhood trauma at the hands of alien beasts, this mindset was perfectly natural.

"To understand the weight of one’s nation and be willing to shoulder responsibility—you are a good child!"

Song complimented him before adding, "Your cultivation has made great strides in the past few months. It is very impressive, and your mental strength has become even more refined."

"It is only thanks to your guidance that I managed to have a breakthrough and make this small progress," Gao Wu quickly replied.

"Ha..." Song Chunqiu laughed, amused. He knew Gao Wu was flattering him, but he found it quite agreeable. His granddaughter, while immensely talented, was incapable of casual conversation and was quite dull.

Song’s smile vanished as he grew serious. "The situation is dire. Wan Canglong fled into the Dacang Mountain secret realm and initiated a blood sacrifice, opening a void channel. This caused the entrance to expand a hundredfold, engulfing the legion guarding the site and the entire town of Dacang. Over two thousand soldiers and one hundred and twenty thousand civilians have been swallowed by the realm."

"We are urgently mobilizing all forces. The first priority is to rescue the survivors within the realm as quickly as possible."

Gao Wu was speechless. Someone had caused such a massive catastrophe while dealing with Wan Canglong—could it have been this Grandmaster himself? He quickly dismissed the thought; if Song were truly behind it, he wouldn’t be the one in charge of the entire operation. Furthermore, could a blood sacrifice really open a void channel? Were the Demon Gods truly that powerful? Gao Wu felt a surge of suspicion.

Song Chunqiu did not elaborate; the matter was incredibly complex and far-reaching, impossible to explain in a short time.

"Second, we must do our best to eradicate the alien beasts and alien races that have broken through, to prevent them from exiting the realm and wreaking havoc on the surrounding areas."

"Alien races?" Gao Wu was shocked. Were there intelligent, humanoid lifeforms in the other world?

"There are quite a few humanoid races in the other world. In truth, more than half of them were originally humans from our own world. A century ago, as the other world expanded, some populations were devoured by it. Over a hundred years, these groups were completely corrupted and transformed into followers of the Demon God. They have become the mortal enemies of humanity!"

Shen An, standing nearby, helped explain: "Don’t let their appearance fool you; they look like us, but their spirits are completely depraved and corrupted, and their bodies have undergone alien mutations. The Alliance doesn’t publicize the existence of these 'alien races' to avoid causing panic among the general populace. If you encounter one, do not hesitate, and do not attempt to communicate. Use every means necessary to destroy them."

"Powerful high-level beasts lack a social structure and, for the time being, do not pose a fatal threat to humanity. But the alien races are different. Once they enter our world, they will cause destructive ruin to human civilization."

Gao Wu’s expression grew heavy. From Shen An’s description alone, he could already imagine the terror of these alien races.

"Third," Song continued, "and most importantly, we must find the hub causing this spatial distortion and destroy it."

The emergence and expansion of a secret realm always follow clear, anomalous patterns. The Dacang Mountain secret realm was guarded by a military camp; had there been any distortion, it would have been detected. The fact that the town was suddenly engulfed meant someone had guided the Demon God’s power to manipulate the realm's space. Only by destroying the hub can the void be stabilized, preventing further expansion and bringing the situation under control.

An Ziru, Shen An, Bai Yan, and Zhang Yunyi all turned their gaze toward Gao Wu. In the Longclaw Peak secret realm, Gao Wu had been the first to discover the Demon God’s followers. In hindsight, the range Gao Wu had explored was at least ten kilometers. At that rate, searching a few thousand square kilometers of the secret realm wouldn't take a day. This was exactly why they had called for him.

Gao Wu was not entirely confident, but he replied solemnly, "I will do my best!"

Song patted Gao Wu on the shoulder. "A true young hero!"

He then looked at Song Mingyue. "The fourth generation of the Song family has lived in the lap of luxury; the comfort of life has dulled their edge. To have such courage at your age makes you the best among them."

"I cannot offer much help, but I will give you two sets of Type-7 Profound Armor combat suits. They should provide a bit more protection. The void in the secret realm is stabilizing—prepare yourselves and set out."

Song summoned a guard to take Gao Wu and Song Mingyue to collect the gear. They followed the guard to a temporary warehouse made of stacked shipping containers, heavily guarded and surrounded by sentries. The guard presented the documents signed by Song and retrieved two black combat suits from the quartermaster.

"The Type-7 Profound Armor is a new biochemical combat suit released by the Alliance in recent years," the guard explained earnestly. "It is woven from other-worldly golden-thread grass, special biochemical fibers, and alloys. It has three modes: casual, combat, and armor. By channeling your source energy into the core, you can adjust the mode. Minor damage can be repaired with nutrient solution, but severe damage requires factory maintenance..."

As a lightweight biochemical suit, it was easy to operate. After a brief introduction, the guard handed Gao Wu an operation manual. Gao Wu flipped through it, using his mental strength to memorize the contents instantly, then passed the manual to Song Mingyue.

The guard led them to a private tent to change. Once he was gone, Gao Wu touched the fabric of Song Mingyue’s suit. It felt soft and comfortable, slightly thick, yet tailored to fit perfectly. To the naked eye, it looked no different from their standard combat gear. If he hadn't activated the biochemical core with his source energy, he never would have guessed it was a suit of armor.

Changing modes wasn't difficult, provided one had the source energy to stimulate the suit. The armor mode offered the best protection, but it required a constant drain of energy to maintain. Gao Wu tested the suit and found that, with his current energy levels, he could maintain the armor mode for at most thirty minutes.

"How much does one of these cost?" Gao Wu asked curiously.

"Thirty or fifty million, perhaps," Song Mingyue replied, unsure of the exact price.

"Wow, that’s expensive!" Gao Wu had assumed standard military equipment wouldn’t be so pricey. Millions for a single set—the price was staggering.

The biochemical armor sold on the Hunter Association's official website cost roughly the same, but the technological approach was vastly different. To be honest, Gao Wu could understand the bulky, plate-like biochemical armor, but a suit that could change its external form gave him a sense of sci-fi technology that felt ahead of its time. Considering the suit was essentially a special kind of plant, however, having such properties made sense.

Gao Wu had a powerful constitution and wasn't overly concerned about the armor, but an extra layer of protection was never a bad thing. More importantly, it was vital for Song Mingyue, as it would greatly increase her survival chances.

Equipped and ready, they returned to the command center. Bai Yan, An Ziru, and Zhang Yunyi were already wearing their full biochemical armor. Only Shen An was not, clearly indicating that he would not be joining the mission.

Gao Wu felt a slight pang of disappointment. He would have preferred to be with Shen An, as they were closer and communication would be easier. Instead, the person he was most familiar with was staying behind, while he was left with the cold and stern An Ziru, the reserved Zhang Yunyi, and Bai Yan—whom he was meeting for the first time but could already tell was arrogant and unruly. None of them seemed easy to deal with!

He looked at Song Mingyue. In this situation, she really didn't need to come; it was too dangerous.

Song Mingyue looked back at him calmly, her eyes bright and firm. Gao Wu decided against trying to persuade her further. Their minds were linked and in resonance—an immense advantage in such complex and dangerous environments. Since she had made up her mind, it was a matter of living and dying together; there was nothing left to say.

The five of them drove a light mountain off-road vehicle to the small bridge at the southern entrance of Dacang Town. A small river flowed through here, and a concrete bridge had been built for convenience; it was the primary gateway into the town.

The secret realm’s boundary lay exactly at the bridgehead. A group of soldiers had established defensive fortifications, complete with fixed road blocks, interceptor cables, and barricades. A large number of hunters were lined up in orderly rows along the road, waiting for the order to enter.

Bai Yan drove the vehicle to the bridgehead, and they all stepped out to observe the town of Dacang within the realm.

The town inside the realm rippled and surged, as if everything before them were merely a reflection on the surface of a pond.

The guards found chickens, ducks, cats, and dogs, and threw them into the realm from a distance. The startled animals scrambled everywhere, driven by the sound and not daring to look back, scattering deep into the realm.

"No problem. Although the void is still a bit unstable, the ripples are just anomalies caused by uneven concentrations of source energy; the space itself is already quite stable," An Ziru said. As the dean of the Martial Arts Academy, he was not only highly skilled in martial arts but also deeply knowledgeable in the theories of other-worldly realms. Through simple living-creature experiments and observing how physical objects interacted with the space, he had formed a basic judgment of the void's condition.

Previously, the rapidly expanding void had been in constant flux, making the space extremely unstable. At the edges, such a state would be like a turbulent tide, causing destructive damage to anyone who entered. The military had arrived last night but couldn't enter due to the state of the realm; they had been forced to wait.

Bai Yan and Zhang Yunyi sensed the state of the void with their own Grandmaster-level mental energy and agreed with An Ziru’s assessment.

Gao Wu couldn't help but ask, "Dean, can a blood sacrifice really cause a secret realm to expand?" The ability to easily alter spatial conditions—if the Demon God’s power was truly that vast, how could humanity possibly compete? It felt like nonsense to him.

"In recent years, the space of the other world and our own have been accelerating their integration. What looks like a complete world is, in reality, riddled with holes," An Ziru explained after a moment’s thought. "It’s like an ant nest in a massive dam. We can’t see it, but the Demon God can. By inflicting a small amount of damage on the spatial fissures, they can open up a piece of the secret realm."

"The altar for the blood sacrifice acts as a spatial coordinate. Only by destroying this coordinate can we sever the Demon God’s reach. Without the Demon God, the other problems are not difficult to solve."

Gao Wu understood: the expansion of the secret realm was the Demon God exploiting existing conditions, not an infinite display of divine power. Even so, the Demon God was terrifying. They had to solve the problem of the Demon God first.

"Let’s go in," Bai Yan said, naturally assuming the role of leader. Zhang Yunyi and An Ziru had no objections.

Gao Wu took out his Scarlet Eye and put it on; it could filter toxic gases, purify source energy, and stop bullets—far superior to the built-in helmet of the Profound Armor. Song Mingyue lowered her transparent visor, sealing her suit completely.

The military off-road vehicle convoy, prepared in advance, moved forward one by one and crossed the bridge. There were several wireless communication vehicles in the convoy, responsible for maintaining contact.

As the off-road vehicle surged into the realm, Gao Wu clearly felt the resistance of the void barrier; ripples like water waves surged in the air. The sensation of resistance lasted less than a second, and then he felt the source energy particles around him become exceptionally active and unstable.

The stagnant town of Dacang suddenly became three-dimensional. There was wind blowing, a pungent, fishy odor drifting in the air, and large patches of purple-red bloodstains imprinted on the roads and walls. Doors, windows, and walls had been violently destroyed, with broken bricks and tiles scattered everywhere.

"This is not good," Bai Yan said, his expression grave. The town had been devastated, and more terrifyingly, he could not sense a single trace of human life.

An Ziru and Zhang Yunyi were equally cold and solemn. The hundred thousand people of Dacang Town were now in total silence. The best-case scenario was that they had all been taken captive; the worst was that they were all dead.

The three Grandmasters, though wearing biochemical armor, had not lowered their helmets to facilitate communication. Gao Wu could see their expressions and feel their heavy emotions. He quietly released his Yin Spirit. He could indeed see no aura of human life, but in the center of the town, inside a five-story restaurant, a wisp of black mist was rising straight into the clouds like smoke.

The black mist was not a fluctuation of source energy, but some kind of strange spirit, or an aura originating from the Demon God, laced with the deathly chill of extinguished lives. It interacted with source energy, but not directly—it felt somewhat like his own Yin Spirit.

The subtle shift in aura, masked by the void’s tremors, was something even Song Mingyue could not sense; the other Grandmasters likely couldn't either.

Bai Yan glanced at Gao Wu. He didn't really like the Scarlet Eye Gao Wu wore; it made him look cold and distant, which didn't help with communication. He asked, "What have you found?"

Gao Wu pointed toward the five-story building visible ahead: "There is something wrong with that building!"

Bai Yan was skeptical. He hadn't seen anything unusual. Furthermore, would they set up an altar in such an obvious location? Zhang Yunyi and An Ziru saw nothing either, but precisely for that reason, they were inclined to believe Gao Wu.

Whether there was a problem or not, they would know once they went to look...