Bai Wei and the other Eternal Sect members were watching. Xiao Yun turned to Bai Wei and Zhao Tie. They were the strongest and a year older than him.
"Brother Bai, Brother Zhao," Xiao Yun said. "Let me go out there and kill these rats and monsters. Please give me permission."
Bai Wei and Zhao Tie looked at him, surprised. But they saw his eyes were red. They understood he was upset about something.
They looked at Mu Chen without thinking. Mu Chen nodded, meaning it was okay for Xiao Yun to fight the monsters.
Xiao Yun didn't see Mu Chen's nod.
Bai Wei said, "I agree! Go and kill them all. They are why many of our human fighters died in this Secret Realm."
Zhao Tie nodded. "Yes, Bai Wei is right. I also want to see you kill them. It will be good practice for you. But use those special papers to kill them! The rats are very strong."
Xiao Yun nodded. The people who survived also looked at him with great respect.
All the survivors from the five regions were there now. Just a few days ago, when they entered this Secret Realm, they knew nothing about these Eternal Sect disciples.
But now, they admired them. If the Eternal Sect wasn't here, they would have surely died.
Xiao Yun clenched his hands. He looked at his friends, but not at Mu Chen. His heart wanted to look at Mu Chen, to see him clearly.
But he didn't want to make anyone in the sect feel bad. The sect was his home. So he didn't look at Mu Chen at all.
Mu Chen also didn't say anything. He just stared at Xiao Yun's back.
Xiao Yun left the settlement.
The Nether Shadow Rats and monsters looked at him with starving eyes. The strong Void Refinement rats even screamed at him.
But Xiao Yun's face showed no fear. He just looked at them with huge anger. He wanted to let out all the bad feelings he had felt all night.
And most of all, these rats had caused the death of so many human fighters. He wanted revenge.
The smaller rats and monsters, at the Nascent Soul level, attacked Xiao Yun right away.
Xiao Yun used his fast "Swift Wind Footsteps" to dodge their attacks. The more he dodged, the faster he became.
He used his special power completely.
"Whispering Current Waves!"
The area around him changed. He felt a power he hadn't felt before, like he was inside a strong wind.
From his center, a huge wave swept out. It was so strong, it seemed to shake the space of the Secret Realm.
Sharp wind blades appeared. Then, the killing began. One after another, Shadow Rats and monsters fell dead.
He counted them as they died, as if nothing else mattered,
One
Two
Fifty-five
One thousand three hundred and ten
Nine thousand five hundred and thirty-seven
Nine thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
He stopped. He stood on top of countless dead bodies of Nascent Soul and Soul Transformation level Shadow Rats and monsters.
He was breathing hard, completely tired. But he still looked at the thousands of Void Refinement level Shadow Rats.
Those strong Shadow Rats attacked him without giving him a moment to rest.
Xiao Yun looked at the Shadow Rats attacking him. He thought about his hundreds of 9th-tier talismans. Each one could kill one Void Refinement monster. To kill all of them, he would need thousands.
He reached into his space pouch and pulled out a light bluish-gray talisman.
The other Eternal Sect members inside the formation watched and nodded. They knew what that talisman was.
Xiao Yun shouted, "8th-tier talisman! Dark Wind Dragon Talisman!"
He sent his spiritual power into the talisman. It began to glow with a sky-blue light, which grew deeper and deeper.
The Shadow Rats were hit by this bright light. They couldn't see clearly and screamed in anger.
"Screekkkkk!"
The light disappeared.
In its place, a beautiful bluish-gray dragon appeared before Xiao Yun. It was about 100 times bigger than the dragons from 9th-tier talismans.
Even the people from the five regions gulped when they saw the dragon. Some looked at it in complete horror. The power coming from it was terrifying. Some had seen powerful cultivators at the Tribulation Transcendence stage before, and this dragon felt just as strong. "How is this possible?" was the question in everyone's mind.
Even the Eternal Sect disciples looked at the dragon and felt great respect for their Sect Master, Shen Huai.
They thought to themselves, 'What kind of being is their Sect Master? He has treasures like this, and he gave ten to each of them! That means they have a total of 80 different 8th-grade talismans!'
Da Zhuang sighed. "They are dead! Completely dead!"
Lan Ruo chuckled, "Heh! Who told them to attack us? It's their own fault for attacking our brother Xiao."
Mu Chen gave her a thumbs up and said, "You're right, Ruo. No matter who it is, if they dare to attack my Xiao Yun, they deserve to die." His eyes glowed.
Everyone looked at him with annoyed expressions. Everyone else was worried about the fight, but Mu Chen was still showing his loving feelings for Xiao Yun.
Zhao Tie said, "Tsk tsk tsk! I'm sure you're the only one responsible for his bad mood, aren't you?"
Everyone looked at Mu Chen for an answer. Mu Chen scratched his head and nodded.
Bai Wei asked, "What happened between you two? If it's not too personal, you can tell us. We can help you fix it!"
Mu Chen said directly, "Oh! I just teased him last night. He told me to stop lying about things like love. But I asked him if I wasn't lying, would he give me a chance?"
These words hit the Eternal Sect group like a bomb.
Even Lan Ruo and Da Zhuang looked at him as if he was an idiot.
Zhao Yue and Lan Suyin looked at him and said at the same time, "Don't you know that's not the right time for a proposal?"
Mu Chen looked at them and pointed to himself. "When did I propose to him?"
Bai Wei, who usually never got angry, walked up to Mu Chen, made a fist, and punched him on the head.
Mu Chen screamed. A big bump appeared on his head. Everyone gave a big thumbs up to Bai Wei for doing that.
Bai Wei yelled at Mu Chen, "You idiot! You indirectly proposed to him! Didn't you ask him that if you are not lying, would he give you a chance? If that's not a proposal, then what is it?"
Now it was Zhao Tie's turn. "Yes! And you should know how much he respects us, and the Sect Master, and the Peak Masters, and the Ancestor, and the sect itself. He definitely thought we would be disappointed in him!"
Zhao Yue added, "That's why he was upset!"
Lan Suyin sighed and whispered, "Poor Xiao Yun! He loves someone this much, that idiot."
Lan Ruo heard the whisper and laughed, covering her mouth.
While everyone was talking, the people from the five regions watched the gray-blue dragon with fear.
Even the Void Refinement Shadow Rats stopped. They felt a chill go through them, a fear deep in their blood.
Xiao Yun was breathing hard now, taking deep breaths after his fight.
Just then, a cheer came from behind him.
"Xiao Yun! Xiao Yun! You can do it! Kill those bad guys!"
Xiao Yun knew who it was. He didn't want to talk to him, but he couldn't ignore the voice. He looked to where the voice came from.
When he saw the person, he almost laughed out loud. He saw Mu Chen with a big bump on his head, looking at him and jumping, waving his hand.
Xiao Yun smiled, a beautiful smile on his face. Half of the bad feelings he had earlier were gone.
He knew Mu Chen must have done something silly and gotten hit by Senior Brother Zhao Tie.
He couldn't imagine Bai Wei doing it, because Bai Wei was too gentle to hit someone easily.
Xiao Yun sighed and focused on his fight.
He shouted to the dragon, "Kill them! Wipe out every last one! Make sure no one is left!"
The dragon had been waiting. It flew up high, then dove down into the thousands of Nether Shadow Rats.
The dragon was like a blue-gray storm. Its huge body smashed into the rats, crushing them flat. Its giant claws swiped, ripping through hundreds at a time.
A powerful wind came from its body, slicing through the air and cutting down even more.
Blue fire burst from its mouth, burning swathes of rats to ash in an instant. The ground shook with each powerful move.
Rats screamed, but their screams were swallowed by the roar of the dragon and the sound of so many bodies being destroyed.
In just moments, the ground was covered in dead rats, a messy pile of black fur and broken bodies.
After killing every single Nether Shadow Rat, the dragon nodded at Xiao Yun. Then, it vanished into thin air. A soft, light breeze swept through the area.
The area was now very different. Before, it was dark and bloody, full of dead rats.
Now, the ground was clear in many places, showing the dirt beneath.
The smell of death was still strong, but the feeling of danger was gone.
The air felt calm, and a gentle light seemed to be in the sky.
Xiao Yun let out a big breath. He felt safe.
Everything was quiet now.
Then, a voice broke the silence. "See! See! That's my Xiao Yun! He killed all the beasts and monsters! Hahahahahaha..."
Mu Chen was shouting excitedly. Then, a fist hit the other side of his head. This made a second bump, balancing the first one.
It was Zhao Tie who hit him. He was very annoyed by Mu Chen's silly words.
Xiao Yun heard the noise, looked at Mu Chen, and grinned at his two head bumps.
Mu Chen was now sitting on the ground, holding his bumped head. Tears were in his eyes. He looked at Xiao Yun, saw Xiao Yun smiling, and immediately smiled back.
He looked very funny. Everyone shook their heads. Mu Chen was completely gone, lost in his feelings for Xiao Yun.
At this moment, the other people from the five regions started cheering. They shouted, danced, and jumped.
Some even bowed deeply to the Eternal Sect team. Since they first came into this Secret Realm, they had only faced danger.
They ran, fought, and nothing else. All because of these extraterrestrial monsters.
Now, they were all gone. The feeling inside the Secret Realm began to get better.
The dark energy from the dead monsters started to be taken in by the Secret Realm itself.
The Secret Realm used these monsters to get its power back.
The air around the cultivators changed, becoming better for humans. Everyone felt these changes and became even happier.
Xiao Yun returned to his team.
Everyone gathered around him and congratulated him on his great win against thousands of Nether Shadow Rats and monsters.
Outside the Secret Realm, it was still dark and gloomy.
Many sects and groups from five regions were waiting for their members to come back.
Their faces looked worried. The longer they waited, the more dark energy came out of the Secret Realm.
This meant more evil Nether Races were inside. The more dark energy leaked out, the more uneasy they felt.
They knew their students might not have much time left. They thought maybe none of them would come back this time.
Just by feeling the dark energy, they could guess this much.
But that wasn't the most annoying part of waiting. Everyone looked at a mountain top. Four people were sitting there at a fancy table.
Shen Huai and Yan Wuhe were playing chess. This was their 18th game. Yan Wuhe always lost to Shen Huai. But they kept playing, making their minds grow.
Yan Wuhe was a powerful divine emperor before. He never thought he'd lose to a 17-year-old.
But it was true. Huai reached the stage of divine sovereign in every way possible. This chess game was like a child's game to him.
He could easily beat any powerful being like himself at chess, and Yan Wuhe was only a Divine Emperor.
But Nexus Sovereign and Commander Vulcan were watching.
They couldn't understand any of the moves Shen Huai or Yan Wuhe made. Both tried to figure out the moves but couldn't.
The more they watched, the more they felt something was wrong. Nexus was a Galaxy Sovereign.
With her knowledge of technology and data, she was the best at chess among humans. But she still couldn't understand any of their moves.
It was as if they were playing a totally different game, not chess. The more they watched, the more mysterious these two people seemed.
At this moment, Huai picked up a chess piece and put it on the board, saying, "You lost."
"No, not this time," Yan Wuhe said.
Huai sighed. "Yes! I thought they would at least get some advantages against the children."