At the entrance to the secret realm.
With the downpour ceasing, many mystical beasts and humans gathered here.
The seventh-tier ferocious beast that had once guarded the entrance was now on the verge of death, prostrate on the ground, its breaths shallow, after being worn down by the sheer numbers of the crowd.
Lin Yu couldn't help but marvel at their tenacity; they had almost managed to grind this seventh-tier beast to death.
After his trip to the Chu Yun Kingdom, Lin Yu could roughly guess the origin of this seventh-tier beast.
It might have been placed here by the ancestors of the Chu Yun Kingdom back in the day to prevent outsiders from entering the secret realm. After all, the secret realm possessed a mysterious power that limited the strength of those who entered, and a seventh-tier beast would be a suitable deterrent.
Perhaps even that ancestor hadn't anticipated tens of thousands of people entering at once, almost grinding the guardian beast to death.
At this moment, from both the mystical beasts' and humans' sides, people began waving flags, signaling for everyone to assemble.
Lin Yu and his three companions walked towards the human assembly point. As soon as they arrived, Feng Mengqiu parted ways; she had to go to the other side to assemble, in the direction of the army.
As a general of the Blood Tiger Army, even though all her subordinates were dead, she still had to report back.
When leaving the secret realm, no melodramatic events occurred. Instead, they overheard people discussing.
"Huh? Why don't we see Shui Qianchou and the others?"
"The rain has stopped; why aren't they out yet? Did they find any divine artifacts?"
"Impossible, right? Look, even the little dragon beast from the other side has come out. There's no reason for them not to."
"With their strength, they wouldn't be in trouble. We should be more worried about ourselves."
"This trip to the secret realm, with a great downpour, yielded nothing!"
Everyone wore crestfallen expressions. The expedition into the secret realm had only brought suffering, with no benefits gained.
Most people felt deep regret, especially after witnessing several deaths caused by some strange phenomena, which filled them with fear and sorrow.
Outside.
Lin Yu and his companions emerged from the secret realm's entrance.
They looked up.
The first sight that greeted them was a group of people dressed in water-blue attire, exuding an air of arrogance, drawing considerable attention.
Their eyes, like those of eagles, scanned the crowd with utter impunity.
One of them, his eyes glowing with a faint light, seemed to pierce through everything with a single glance, causing discomfort and annoyance.
Bai Xiaosha whispered, "That person knows a pupil technique, but it's not an innate ability. His actual insight is average, but his strength is formidable. Don't look directly at him!"
Lin Yu nodded upon hearing this.
He suddenly recalled the reason for Lin Fan's suicide.
These people seemed to be from the Shui family. Were they searching for the Divine Vein Imprint?
Killing a divine descendant would brand one with the Divine Vein Imprint. To escape this, Lin Fan had no choice but to commit suicide.
Fortunately, this power was imprinted on the physical body; it would have been troublesome if it were on the soul.
If his guess was correct, these people were likely from Shui Qianchou's family.
The Shui family, a hidden divine descendant clan.
Divine descendant clans remained hidden from public view; only those with a certain status could interact with these mysterious families.
Having inherited divine bloodlines in the past, they possessed inherently stronger bloodline power.
Over the past three hundred years, although their bloodline power had weakened considerably, their output of geniuses remained astonishingly high.
The innate talent of clan members was generally above A-class, with many SS-class geniuses among them.
If other SS-class geniuses had died, the patriarch might not have personally come for revenge. However, Shui Qianchou had died this time, and he was the patriarch's son.
His personal appearance had a simple objective: to avenge his son.
At this very moment.
He was clad in a long water-blue robe, wearing an ice-blue feathered hat, and holding a slender short blade. He directly ignored most of the humans, considering them mere mediocrities who could not have killed his son.
Lin Yu and his companions were also ignored, but Lin Yu bore no resentment.
He was rather glad to be overlooked.
As long as he wasn't provoked, he wouldn't bother getting angry.
Just then, a commotion erupted from behind. Lin Yu turned his head to look.
He saw a little dragon coiled atop a giant red ox, basking in the attention of the crowd.
It lazily rolled over, looking disdainfully at the humans in front of it.
Everyone recognized this little dragon; it was the top mystical beast genius who had entered the secret realm this time. It was said to be a member of the royal family among mystical beasts, possessing extraordinary talent, comparable in strength to Shui Qianchou.
One a divine descendant, the other a descendant of a divine beast; it was not strange for them to have comparable talent. After all, neither had an ordinary bloodline, so their genius was understandable.
However, what was peculiar was why only the little dragon had appeared. Where were the other geniuses?
Furthermore, the several genius mystical beasts who had entered the secret realm with the little dragon were not accompanying it now. This was quite thought-provoking.
And the seven great human geniuses?
Had they all perished?
"No way! Our human race's seven great geniuses, plus the seven great geniuses of the mystical beasts, and only one little dragon survived?"
"The mystical beasts made a huge profit this time. I feel utterly humiliated."
"Don't be so hasty. Let's wait and see. They must have been delayed by something."
"No need to wait. I saw the bodies of Shui Qianchou and the others when I returned."
As this person spoke, he couldn't help but sigh mournfully. His talent was not weak; he was a minor genius. He had intended to try his luck in Cloud Capital, but he had encountered strange phenomena on the way and hid in a mountain cave overnight.
The next morning, as soon as dawn broke, he intended to continue his journey to Cloud Capital. However, he soon discovered several corpses.
After inspecting them, he found they were the bodies of Shui Qianchou and the others, seemingly having fallen from above.
A cursory examination revealed no other injuries on their bodies, suggesting their souls had been annihilated.
Even Shui Qianchou had died, so he dared not continue to Cloud Capital. Taking advantage of the rain stopping, he hurried back the way he came.
In his opinion, the secret realm was too dangerous, and it was best to leave as soon as possible.
At this moment, Shui Qianchou's father, upon hearing this, felt his aura surge to its peak. In an instant, he appeared before the speaker.
"Is what you say true?" the Shui family patriarch asked through gritted teeth, his aura formidable.
The man was startled. Seeing the aura of this mysterious elder, he dared not conceal anything and recounted everything he had seen.
As soon as he finished, six more astonishing auras appeared beside him.
"If you dare to lie to me, I will kill you!" a professor from the Divine Descendant Academy warned coldly.
The man did not recognize the Shui family patriarch, but he knew people from the Divine Descendant Academy.
He dared not hide anything and nodded, "I took pictures. If you don't believe me, you can send someone to see. I hope their bodies haven't been desecrated by ferocious beasts."
"Let me see the photos!"
"Yes!"
He quickly accessed his wristband and displayed the photos.
After viewing the photos, everyone fell silent.
Indeed, the seven deceased had no wounds other than those from falling, strongly suggesting death by soul dissipation.
At this point, someone remarked, "Yesterday evening, countless strange phenomena appeared in the Chu Yun Kingdom. Could they have died at the hands of these anomalies?"
As the words fell, everyone chimed in, "Yes, last night the anomalies ran rampant, it was terrifying. Cloud Capital, in particular, was a hotspot for anomalies. Fortunately, I didn't go to Cloud Capital, or I wouldn't have survived."
As more and more people emerged from the secret realm, everyone almost concluded that they had perished at the hands of the anomalies.
The Shui family patriarch's face turned grim.
He hadn't expected his most prized son to meet his end at the hands of anomalies.
Then what was the point of his furious arrival?
"Patriarch?" someone asked cautiously.
"Hmph, send people to retrieve Qianchou's body and take it back for burial!"
"Yes, Patriarch!"