The Hundred Kingdoms Trial officially began.

  In the very center of Mysterious Spirit City stood a vast, majestic plaza paved entirely from white jade. Thousands of young men and women filled the square, yet not a single sound escaped them. They gazed forward in silent awe and anticipation.

  The trial took place inside a secret realm. Within that realm lay both opportunities and dangers—demonic beasts and spirit beasts alike. Claiming opportunities earned points. Slaying demonic or spirit beasts earned points. Those with the highest scores would earn entry into the Profound Origin Sacred Land. Simple and brutally direct.

  A brilliant pillar of light erupted from the white jade plaza, piercing straight through the heavens. When the light finally faded, every participant had vanished.

  …

  Su Chen opened his eyes to an unfamiliar landscape. He stood atop a towering black mountain, gazing into the distance.

  The secret realm was enormous. It felt like an entire small world unto itself.

  Su Chen murmured softly, "So this is the power of those above the Profound Connection Realm?"

  Truly terrifying. Utterly inhuman.

  He began searching for opportunities.

  The Mysterious Spirit Secret Realm served as the Profound Origin Sacred Land's method of recruiting disciples, and they spared no expense. Rare treasures, difficult to find in the outside world, lay scattered throughout. Anyone who claimed them gained fortune, whether or not they ultimately entered the sacred land. That was precisely why so many forces beyond the Hundred Kingdoms had sent participants.

  It didn't take long before Su Chen encountered a demonic beast. A massive black-scaled serpent coiled along the high mountain, its scales blending seamlessly with the dark rock. It opened two dark crimson pupils and fixed them on Su Chen.

  "A variant beast no weaker than the sixth or seventh layer of the Spirit Sea Realm!"

  Surprise flickered through Su Chen, followed swiftly by battle intent. "They say places guarded by variant beasts often hide rare treasures!"

  Rare treasures—he was very interested.

  The moment the thought crossed his mind, the terrifying serpent moved. Its dozens-of-meters-long body swayed, hard scales grinding against the mountain stone and carving deep furrows.

  The serpent lunged like a python, striking, jaws wide to swallow the insignificant human in one bite. A howling gale swept forth, sharp as knives and swords.

  Su Chen sprouted a pair of ice wings from his back and evaded the strike with ease. The serpent's head smashed into the opposite hill, shattering it into rubble.

  "What terrifying strength. Truly worthy of a variant!"

  Greatly astonished, Su Chen drew the superior-grade spirit spear that Li Hongwen had given him. This was the weapon Li Hongwen had used himself before gifting it to Su Chen. Ordinary weapons could never pierce the black-scaled serpent's defenses. But a superior-grade spirit weapon could.

  Su Chen thrust the spear into the serpent's underbelly. The point punched straight through the tough scales. Blood gushed like a fountain. Enraged by the pain, the black-scaled serpent went berserk, thrashing its massive tail and smashing countless hilltops into fragments.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  Su Chen seized every opening. When the serpent attacked, he retreated. When an opportunity appeared, he struck back. After a full hour of grueling back-and-forth, the black-scaled serpent finally bled out and collapsed, unable to move.

  Su Chen harvested its Spirit Vein and inner core. A variant beast like this could fetch at least a million gold coins on the market.

  With the serpent slain, Su Chen returned to the original spot and began searching for the rumored treasure. He found it.

  Atop the mountain where the black-scaled serpent had coiled lay a fist-sized chunk of black crystal marrow—worth a million gold coins.

  Su Chen felt a surge of satisfaction. His points shot up to 300. This place was simply a treasure trove!

  "Next life, I'll come back here and take another stroll!"

  Su Chen decided he would thoroughly explore and mark this secret realm in this life. Any treasures he couldn't claim now would simply wait for his next reincarnation.

  For the following period, Su Chen wandered freely through the secret realm. He encountered other participants along the way. Most were far from friendly.

  Su Chen had no choice but to strike back and seize their treasures. He also came across several immature spirit plants and resources. Rather than harvest them prematurely, he concealed their locations, left subtle markers, and noted them for retrieval in a future life.

  As he moved on, a sudden ripple stirred the air.

  "A treasure is emerging!"

  Delight flashed in Su Chen's eyes. In the distance, a beam of golden light hovered in the sky. It was a stone stele. Dense runes covered its surface.

  Su Chen watched streams of light racing toward the stele from every direction. Among them, he crossed paths with a young prodigy roughly his own age, though the youth's cultivation had already reached the sixth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm—one layer higher than his own.

  Surprisingly, the young prodigy showed no hostility. After introducing himself as Ao Jin, he began explaining the secrets of the stele to Su Chen.

  The monument was known as the Profound Origin Ancient Stele. Legends claimed it bore imprints of cultivation methods and divine abilities seized by the Profound Origin Sacred Land through countless battles. By securing one of the Dao Platforms below, a cultivator could connect to the stele and comprehend its profound mysteries.

  "Rumors say someone once grasped a king-grade or higher inheritance from within the Profound Origin Ancient Stele!"

  Su Chen's heart shook at the revelation.

  As they talked, the two arrived near the stele. A dense crowd already surrounded it. Beneath the monument stood one hundred and eight lotus-shaped Dao Platforms, every single one already occupied.

  Ao Jin charged straight toward one of them and tossed a single sentence back at Su Chen.

  "Dao Platforms are taken by force. As long as you can hold it, it's yours!"

  Watching Ao Jin clash with an enemy to seize a platform, Su Chen wasted no time. He targeted a seemingly weaker opponent—a third-layer Spirit Sea Realm genius—and attacked without hesitation.

  "I am the descendant of the Thunderstorm King. You dare steal my Dao Platform?"

  The youth recognized Su Chen as the one who had dominated the Genius Battle and knew he stood no chance. He immediately resorted to threats.

  Su Chen sneered. In just a few moves, he defeated the youth and sent him tumbling off the platform. Who here didn't come from an illustrious background? If one lacked strength, one could only obediently step aside.

  Su Chen paid no mind to the youth's parting curses. He claimed the Dao Platform and settled in to await the opening of the Profound Origin Ancient Stele. Soon after, he spotted a familiar face—Lin Wu. The hemp-robed youth had arrived as well and challenged another occupant, swiftly defeating him to claim a platform.

  He also saw the prodigies from the Azure Wave and Barbarian Desert Kingdoms. The moment they spotted Su Chen, they turned and fled without a word, terrified of being caught and killed.

  Su Chen merely sneered inwardly. They could escape the first day, but could they hide forever? He had thought these two kingdoms' geniuses were too frightened to participate. Evidently, they still had some courage. If they crossed paths again, he would simply finish them off.

  Before long, all one hundred and eight Dao Platform found their owners. Among the one hundred and eight chosen geniuses, the one who drew Su Chen's greatest attention was a gentle-looking young man dressed in white.

  Ninth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm! Utterly inconceivable! After all, even after one full cycle of reincarnation and rebirth, Su Chen's cultivation had only reached the fifth layer of the Spirit Sea Realm!