Chapter 663: The Giant Tree [First Update]
Li Xiaoyao tossed down these words, lightly tapped his foot on the prow of the boat, and agilely weaved through the thunderstorm, transforming into a streak of light, and without hesitation, he plunged into the Secret Realm.
Li Yunchen wanted to stop him, but it was already too late. At this moment, his face was filled with worry as he watched Li Xiaoyao's retreating figure.
Some had seen Li Xiaoyao's actions and could only shake their heads, feeling that Li Xiaoyao was in a futile struggle.
Under these circumstances, the only way out was to escape the Secret Realm, yet he was going against the current.
Li Xiaoyao's speed was very fast; in the blink of an eye, he had reached the outside of the Secret Realm. At this moment, he was just one step away from the Secret Realm.
All he needed to do was raise his foot and take that step, and he would immediately enter the Secret Realm.
Inside the Secret Realm was an unusual calm, while outside, thunder and lightning raged. The stark contrast made Li Xiaoyao feel somewhat unreal.
"Whooosh~"
Not far away, a tornado began to sweep over here. Li Xiaoyao knew that as long as not everyone was dead, this disaster caused by triggering the Formation of the Secret Realm would never end.
Li Xiaoyao took a deep breath and finally still crossed the boundary between the normal sea area and the Secret Realm sea area.
As his body passed through this distinctly colored sea area, there were no abnormal phenomena.
On the contrary, everything was normal, so normal that it made the well-prepared Li Xiaoyao feel a hint of unreality.
He tried to use his intentions but regretfully discovered that they still could not be used. This point was somewhat similar to the Human Realm.
There was no danger, which meant that, comparatively, the Secret Realm was safer than the outside.
Realizing this, Li Xiaoyao immediately called out to Li Yunchen, "Great Elder, bring them all in, it's very safe here!"
Li Yunchen did not hesitate at all and made a decisive decision, "Enter the Secret Realm!"
Other Sect powers also heard the voice and saw Li Xiaoyao standing out of thin air in the Secret Realm.
"Quick, enter the Secret Realm!"
One after another, fishing boats began to change direction, quickly heading toward the Secret Realm.
This was a race against time, a silent confrontation with nature.
The Li Family was the closest and was the first to enter the Secret Realm, arriving safely.
Soon, the other fishing boats also entered the Secret Realm one after another.
Li Xiaoyao took a quick glance and found that out of nearly a hundred fishing boats, now only about twenty were left.
In just a few minutes, at least seventy to eighty fishing boats had been struck by Heavenly Thunder and left behind forever.
The thunder outside showed no sign of weakening, and just when everyone thought that this place was safe, the sea in the Secret Realm below suddenly began to ripple, spreading outwards in all directions.
"What's going on?"
"Could there be an earthquake?"
The frequency of this vibration became faster and faster, from the initial ripples to later almost forming waves more than half a meter high.
At the center of the Secret Realm, about several tens of kilometers away from the crowd, the source of the vibrations was emanating from there.
The faces of the people turned to look with confusion and suspicion, while Li Xiaoyao narrowed his eyes and, ignoring the distance, could clearly see at the source of the vibrations, the water violently shaking with columns of sea water, tens of meters high, shooting out.
This scene was somewhat reminiscent of a whale blowing water.
The columns of water gradually fell until they disappeared, and the next moment, the sea surface at the vibration source began to collapse, forming a massive whirlpool, with the sea level dropping instantly as if there was a huge hole beneath it.
The people only felt that the previously furiously slapping waves had vanished in the next second, to be replaced by a surge of sea water rushing forward, taking their fishing boats with it and floating towards the central area of the Secret Realm.
"What exactly is going on?"
These powerful Cultivators, faced with the might of the sea, seemed to be only able to wait anxiously and unsettled for the outcome.
The fishing boat slowed down, eventually stabilizing.
Li Xiaoyao flew above the fishing boat, his eyes fixed intently on the source of the vibration on the surface of the sea.
For some reason, he had a strange feeling, as if something was about to break through the water.
As if to prove his premonition, a branch suddenly broke through the surface of that patch of sea, extending out quickly.
On the branch, there were green leaves with a few droplets of seawater pressing down on them, causing the leaves to sink slightly.
"What in the world is that?"
"Green leaves?"
"Could it be that a tree is planted under the sea?"
This was too bizarre, a tree under the sea?
Even though cultivators could accept this odd and varied world, the phenomena they were witnessing still left them somewhat unable to comprehend.
"What exactly is hidden below here?" Li Xiaoyao muttered to himself, silently watching as the branch continued to reveal itself.
The branch and the green leaves were just a glimpse of the scenery hidden beneath the water; as the branch kept rising, the magnificent entity gradually unveiled its full image.
It was an enormous tree, its lush leaves shading the sun, sprawling across tens of kilometers.
Li Xiaoyao stood on a branch, looking out, and even he couldn't help but be shocked by the massive size of the tree.
"This is terrifying!"
"What on earth is this?"
"A huge tree growing in the deep sea."
"There are fruits on the tree," someone shouted.
Everyone looked up and indeed, hanging from the branches were crystal-clear, bright red fruits.
These fruits emitted a strange fragrance that made people feel an urge to pluck and swallow them.
"Can these fruits be eaten?"
Someone asked.
"Heh heh, if you want to die, go ahead and eat them. No one's stopping you."
Everyone actually hoped someone would be the first to "eat the crab" and test out whether the fruit was poisonous.
But no one was a fool; no one was willing to do such a dangerous thing.
Just then, Li Xiaoyao suddenly came down from the tree and, under the puzzled gazes of the crowd, began frantically harvesting the fruits.
Seeing this, everyone quickly realized what was happening, and some sect elders immediately leaped into the air to compete for the remaining fruits.
Even though no one knew whether the fruits were poisonous, now that someone had started picking them, they certainly wouldn't miss out.
This mindset was curious; even if the person picking the fruits wasn't Li Xiaoyao, or even if it wasn't a person but a demon beast picking them, it would still trigger a scramble among the crowd.
This was a common human flaw; poisonous or not, they would not allow anyone to have a monopoly.
Seeing others join in the fruit-picking, Li Xiaoyao smiled faintly without saying anything. He took out a storage bag from his Storage Space and tossed it into the air. Activated by spiritual energy, the bag unleashed a terrifying suction, pulling the bright red fruits from the branches and into the bag.
Seeing this scene, the crowd couldn't help but curse, "Bastard!"
"Li Xiaoyao, don't go too far!"
Li Xiaoyao simply ignored them; these people didn't even know what the fruit was, yet there they were picking it.