Chapter 175: The Incident
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Over a dozen third-tier Devil Beasts lay in ambush nearby; the moment they revealed themselves, Lu Heming and his comrades instantly fell into despair, knowing they not only had no way to escape, but also stood a very high chance of dying there!
At the same time, a third-tier Spirit Bird flew off to notify Jin Yu, who was leading the Devil Beast Army to sweep through the entire Secret Realm, hoping that he could come up with a new idea as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Jin Yu had on him a set of messaging artifacts brought into the realm by Zi Jing's orders, so he was quickly found, and the news of Li Zhirui's escape from the Secret Realm was relayed to him in full detail.
"I will notify all Devil Beasts to gather at the exit of the Secret Realm right now!" Jin Yu pondered for a moment before coming up with another idea.
He decided to act in advance!
Regardless of whether Li Zhirui had spoken of the massacre of Cultivators by the Devil Beasts in the Secret Realm, alerting the Great Void Tao, their action now would take the Great Void Tao by surprise!
As for the Secret Realm? They would deal with it after resolving the Great Void Tao issue. After all, judging by the brightness of the Spirit Light in the Sea of Consciousness, the realm was not likely to close anytime soon.
What's more, they had killed too many Cultivators. Even though Jin Yu later purposely spared the lives of those from the Profound Ice Sect and the Great Void Tao, it could still possibly arouse their suspicion.
Thereupon, the Devil Beasts, who had been scattered throughout the Secret Realm, killed the Cultivators before them and immediately flew towards the exit of the realm.
The old turtle and other Devil Beasts of the Secret Realm, who had long wanted to leave but were bound by a Heavenly Oath and had to stay to assist Jin Yu, suddenly saw a glimmer of hope; they were the fastest to act, revealing just how desperate they were.
"Everybody, after leaving the Secret Realm, there is yet another great battle to fight!"
Jin Yu shouted excitedly, "If we can successfully end it, then we will have a greater territory, more Spirit Veins, improved strength, and we will be able to secure a better ranking in the Devil Race competition, gaining more resource allocation!"
The Devil Race respects the law of the jungle, the survival of the fittest; to be valued, one must either have great strength or exceptional abilities.
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The so-called Devil Race competition is a time for various factions and races within the Great Snow Mountain to compete, with rewards of various precious Spiritual Objects. The higher the rank, the greater the rewards.
In previous competitions, their branch typically ranked at the bottom, hardly able to secure any valuable items.
Without sufficient resources for cultivation, their strength could not be improved, and naturally, they could not achieve high ranks in the competition, creating a vicious cycle.
When Jin Yu led the Devil Beast Army towards the exit, Li Zhirui also emerged from underground.
Seeing no one around, he immediately summoned Xiaoqing and flew towards the Taixu Market.
Since he had previously altered his appearance with a mortal's disguise technique, he was not worried that his lies would be exposed, leading to a bounty being put on his head by the Profound Ice Sect and the Great Void Tao.
Li Zhirui's plan was simple: before the issue in the Secret Realm was resolved, he would refine Spirit Pills in the marketplace to earn Spirit Stones and hasten the maturity of the Golden Ganoderma and Purple Patterned Emerald Bamboo in his space.
After all, Great Void Province was indeed an excellent place for his cultivation, with plenty of Cultivators to fight against, allowing him to quickly consolidate his Foundation Establishment. Therefore, Li Zhirui had no intention of leaving in the short term.
Before long, Li Zhirui entered the marketplace, rented a simple cave dwelling, and began refining second-tier Spirit Pills like the Consolidating Yuan Pill; he even prepared to sell the Hundred Herbs Pill, seeing that this was, after all, the Great Void Province.
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Moreover, his current identity was that of a well-known Sect Disciple, so masquerading as a disciple of Medicine King Valley wasn't out of the question, even though Medicine King Valley was tens of thousands of miles away from this place.
With the ability to hasten the growth of plants in a spatial field, Li Zhirui was not at all worried about a shortage of Spiritual Medicine, and it would also save him a considerable amount of Spirit Stones.
However, after two days of seclusion to refine Spirit Pills and preparing to go out and sell them, he suddenly sensed that the atmosphere in the marketplace was a bit off, as if a dark cloud was hanging over the sky.
"May I ask, fellow Daoist, what has happened?" Li Zhirui asked as he took out a bottle of Consolidating Yuan Pills.
The cultivator, who initially didn't want to respond, stopped in his tracks upon seeing the Consolidating Yuan Pill and said, "Fellow Daoist may not know, but at dawn today, a large number of devil beasts suddenly rushed out of the Secret Realm, and Great Snow Mountain has once again erupted with a beast tide."
"I heard from those who have just escaped and are preparing to take their relatives away that almost all the cultivators near the Secret Realm were slaughtered by the Devil Race, including the Nascent Soul True Lord from Profound Ice Sect who escaped grievously wounded!"
"So everyone is now very panicky, fearing that the devil beasts will reach the marketplace, and they are all fleeing towards the east."
Li Zhirui's complexion changed drastically; combining what he knew from the Secret Realm, he instantly deduced the reason for the two Devil Races joining forces—they were weakening the cultivators' power!
As for why the Devil Race was doing this, whether to monopolize the Secret Realm or for other reasons, Li Zhirui had no idea.
At this moment, he no longer thought about selling Spirit Pills but, like the other cultivators, hurried towards the exit of the marketplace.
Li Zhirui was not only worried that the devil beasts would attack but also feared that Great Void Tao would forcibly conscript them to act as cannon fodder against the Devil Beast Army.
His suspicions were quickly confirmed when the Golden Core cultivators stationed at the marketplace activated the Formation and trapped all the cultivators who hadn't managed to escape yet.
"You Great Void Tao, how could you act so heinously! Are you trying to drag us into death along with you?" a Loose Cultivator at the Golden Core stage yelled furiously and scolded loudly.
This person was one of the few Golden Core Loose Cultivators who had not entered the Secret Realm, preferring to stay outside and plan to loot others, but had not expected to encounter such an incident.
If it weren't for the fact that he had several blood descendants in the marketplace, and he was on the very outskirts, being one of the first cultivators to flee, he would have never come back to the marketplace!
"Jiang Qi, don't be presumptuous!" The Golden Core cultivator from Great Void Tao's face looked very unsightly, but he could neither admit nor dare to accept the accusations, and he could only say, "The outside world is dangerous right now, I am protecting all of you!"
"Hmph!" Jiang Qi snorted coldly, "Enough with the nonsense, open the Formation now! To tell you the truth, the Devil Race has dispatched several fourth-tier Great Devils this time, it's more likely misfortune than fortune for Great Void Tao, you should also escape quickly, don't end up like ants under the wheel."
Seeing that the other party was impervious to reason, Jiang Qi's face instantly darkened, and he shouted loudly, "Everyone, join me in breaking the Formation, otherwise when the Devil Race comes, we will all perish here!"
Not a single cultivator wanted to stay, to die alongside Great Void Tao; everyone exerted their full strength to attack the Formation.
Li Zhirui no longer concealed his strength; his cultivation at the late Foundation Establishment stage drew sidelong glances from those who recognized him, turning their expressions extremely strange.
Black Asura, who had always held a grudge against Li Zhirui and wanted to exact revenge, immediately discarded the thought upon seeing his true cultivation level and silently slipped into the crowd, afraid that Li Zhirui would notice him.
And the Formation, under the attacks of thousands of cultivators, was quickly broken.
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