abnabooks Chapter 103 The First Appearance of the Secret Realm: The Dangers of the Jungle
Chapter 103 The First Appearance of the Secret Realm: The Dangers of the Jungle
Qin Hao's gaze slid from Leng Feng's blood-stained battle blade to the array patterns at Su Muyue's feet that hadn't completely dissipated, finally settling on Lin Chen's Star Sword. "However, to make such a big fuss over a few beasts, it seems the rumored strength is somewhat overrated."
The people behind him laughed. The laughter wasn't loud, but it sounded particularly jarring in the quiet forest.
Lin Chen didn't laugh. He looked at Qin Hao, his face expressionless, and simply pulled the Star Sword an inch from its sheath before pushing it back in. The movement was very light and brief, not like he was drawing the sword, but more like a reminder to himself—the sword was still there.
"Qin Hao," Lin Chen's voice was neither loud nor soft, "Speak plainly, no need to beat around the bush."
Qin Hao's smile faded for a moment, then returned. He unfastened a jade pendant from his waist, tossed it in his hand, caught it, and tossed it again. The pendant was made of high-quality warm jade, its surface gleaming with a gentle, oily luster under the dark green light; it was clearly a valuable gift from Qin Cang.
"You're lucky Black Wind Ridge didn't wipe you out." Qin Hao hung the jade pendant back on his waist, patting it as if to make sure it wouldn't fall off. "But things will be different once you enter the secret realm. There are no school rules here, no patrol teams, and no Chen Feng to back you up. If you 'accidentally' perish in the belly of beasts, or 'mistakenly' fall into the ancient restrictions—ha, the school's investigation will only say two words: accident."
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Su Muyue's face, and the corners of his mouth curved slightly.
"Oh, right, the eldest daughter of the Su family is here too. Perfect, saves me the trouble of looking for them one by one."
Su Muyue's eyes turned cold, but she didn't speak. Her hand gripped the array flag, her knuckles turning slightly white, but she made no further move.
Chu Fan had already closed his notebook and tucked it back into his pocket. His hand rested on the array plate, his thumb gripping the activation groove; a single breath would unleash the trapping array. Su Ling'er fastened the clasp of her medicine box again, her right hand discreetly reaching for a bottle of high-grade Blazing Flame Pills in her waist pouch—not the usual kind, but ones she had secretly refined herself, more than three times more potent, though she hadn't fully tested them yet. The bloodstains on Leng Feng's battle blade were still wet; he didn't wipe them away, letting the red slowly darken on the blade, his gaze locked on Qin Hao's throat, as if measuring the distance.
Lin Chen took a step forward.
With just one step, he shielded Su Muyue behind him. His right hand hung at his side, silver starlight flowing beneath his skin at his fingertips, like phosphorescence in an underground river, appearing and disappearing intermittently.
"Losing a spar means resorting to such underhanded tactics." Lin Chen's voice wasn't loud, but it carried far through the woods. "Qin Hao, that's all the scale you've got. If you want to fight, don't make excuses. There are seven of you and five of us; you're welcome to try."
Qin Hao's face twitched. Lin Chen's words had struck his most painful spot—the battle on the sparring stage, where he had lost cleanly, a loss known to the entire school. He had gone to great lengths to suppress the title of "Number One Freshman" and prevent anyone from mentioning that match again, but Lin Chen was now reopening his wounds in front of so many people—not just reopening, but tearing them out with a knife.
"Sharp-tongued." Qin Hao gritted his teeth, forcing out these four words. He raised his right hand, pointed forward, and said, "Cripple them. If they die, it's on me."
The seven people behind him moved. Various colors of true energy lit up—cyan, crimson, and earthy yellow. The lowest grade of their cultivation techniques was at least mid-level Xuan, and the level of their true energy refinement was far beyond that of ordinary freshmen. Two of them even had the light of defensive jade pendants shining on them, with pale golden light shields adhering to their bodies, like wearing invisible armor.
Lin Chen did not retreat. The Star Sword was drawn, its silver light exploding through the dark green forest like a star bursting into light in the night sky. The Star Martial Core spun rapidly in his dantian, and the star power of the mid-stage Meridian Opening Realm surged into the sword without reservation, condensing a visible silver halo on the blade, which hummed.
Leng Feng stood to his left, his battle blade held horizontally in front of him, the amplification runes on the blade glowing with a dark red light, like flowing lava. His body leaned slightly forward, like a cheetah that had lowered its center of gravity, ready to pounce at any moment.
Su Muyue's array flags were already planted in the ground. Twelve silver-white flags unfurled simultaneously, the runes on them glowing and dimming under the infusion of spiritual energy, emitting a deep hum. The patterns of the trapping array spread outward from her feet like ripples on water, each pattern gleaming with a metallic luster, sharp as a knife.
Chu Fan crouched down, pressing his hands to the ground. The spiritual energy surging from his palms intertwined with Su Muyue's array patterns, reinforcing, filling gaps, and extending the range of the trapping array, nearly doubling its coverage compared to when Su Muyue set it up alone. His glasses slipped down to the tip of his nose, but he didn't have time to push them up. His gaze was fixed on the movements of Qin Hao and his seven companions, his lips moving rapidly as he silently calculated the time it would take for them to enter the array's range.
Su Ling'er took three steps back, hiding herself behind Leng Feng. She pulled out a handful of things from her waist pouch—not a bottle, but a whole bunch. Antidote pills, Flame-Burning Pills, Bewitching Powder, and two other things she had refined herself, wrapped in talisman paper, the effects of which even she wasn't sure of. She categorized them and held them between her fingers, like a gambler holding chips, ready to throw everything away at any moment.
Qin Hao didn't move. He stood still, coldly watching his men approach Lin Chen and his group of five, a faint smile playing on his lips.
He knew Lin Chen was a strong fighter, and he wouldn't stand a chance against him one-on-one. But now it was seven against five, and his seven men weren't the useless trash from the Black Serpent Organization in Black Wind Ridge—they were all direct descendants of powerful families, tempered with spiritual herbs and guided by renowned masters since childhood, each with resources ten times greater than Lin Chen's. Five against seven, he had no reason to lose.
"Lin Chen." Qin Hao's voice drifted over from twenty paces away, tinged with laughter, "You can still kneel down and beg for mercy now. I might consider breaking only one of your legs so you can crawl out of the secret realm."
Lin Chen didn't look at him. His gaze swept over the seven approaching figures, quickly reviewing their positions, cultivation techniques, and possible attack routes in his mind. Seven people, all at the Meridian Opening Realm: two late-stage, four mid-stage, and one early-stage. Overwhelming equipment, overwhelming cultivation techniques, and overwhelming numbers.
But this wasn't the first time he'd faced such a situation. In Qingyang City, he'd faced an army of evil spirits, the Twelve Capital Heavenly Fiend Formation, and the pressure of a city's survival. The seven people before him were merely Qin Hao's followers in school uniforms.
He lowered the sword tip three inches, not to show weakness, but to gather strength. The starting stance of the third move of the Starry Sky Sword Technique, "Starry Wrath," requires the sword tip to sink, the center of gravity to shift backward, and the star power to be compressed and rotated three times within the dantian to unleash its maximum power. This strike was not prepared for now, but for Qin Hao.
The wind in the forest stopped. The leaves ceased to rustle, the vines stopped swaying, and even the calls of the startled birds were gone. The air seemed to freeze, and the dark green light pierced through everyone, freezing them in that moment.
Qin Hao's men had already stepped into the edge of Su Muyue's array pattern.
Chu Fan stopped speaking, and with his right hand, he spread his five fingers and placed them on the array nodes on the ground.
Between Su Ling'er's fingers, the high-level Blazing Flame Pill, wrapped in talisman paper and which she hadn't yet tested, had already begun to heat up.