Chapter 536 – Tianyuan Legend, Advance

“The Legendary materials ordered from the Tower Lord of Radiance have further narrowed the gap in the territory’s needs.”

“The rewards promised by the six principalities have also been deposited into the warehouse with the return of Sario and the others.”

Mu Yuan pondered to himself.

The World Secret Realm would soon be able to accommodate those in the Legendary Realm. He needed to settle the affairs of his territory before the Secret Realm entered its “second stage,” so that he could devote all his energy to exploring the Secret Realm.

Matters such as the arrival of the Tower Federation, the opening of the church, and material procurement were best resolved as early as possible.

He opened the panel to take stock of the Legendary Realm experts currently available.

“Some Legendary Realm experts still need to remain stationed at the major outposts outside and within Tianyuan City.”

Relying solely on Lapis and a few non-sentient angel statues for defense? He couldn’t feel at ease with that.

Fortunately, he himself, Isloria, and Sophia all possessed high-level Incarnation skills. Even if their true selves departed, they could leave Incarnations behind to oversee the territory and coordinate operations.

However, if any critical matters arose or if they needed to go all out in combat, they might not be able to attend to the territory’s affairs.

It was necessary to retain Legendary Realm experts, and these commanders needed strong leadership capabilities.

“Currently in the territory, the four of us—myself, Deadbone, Dolai, and Isloria—are in the Soul Realm.”

“If we wish to enter the World Secret Realm, we will have to wait until the batch after next. By then, we can have Seventeen, Xie Yi, Laney, and others who have returned from the Secret Realm guard the territory.”

By the time those in the Soul Realm could enter, the situation for Seventeen and the others would become more dangerous.

On the other hand, legendary beings like Lu Liu and Rakshasa could continue exploring until the stage after next without needing to be recalled.

Mu Yuan had never intended to put his own commanders at risk.

Under normal exploration conditions, the risks were highly controllable, and the rewards were quite substantial. Of course, Mu Yuan hoped his officers could participate, as any opportunity gained, regardless of size, would be a net benefit.

There were many opportunities inside the Secret Realm that could not be taken out; one had to enter personally to reap the rewards.

However, if it meant taking on significant risks, it wasn’t necessary.

Over the next few days, aside from the two Sky Patrol Squads still hunting legendary monsters, the Tianyuan commanders who had been away gradually returned to prepare for the upcoming Secret Realm campaign.

“Among the Sky Patrol Squads, the ones currently still on missions are Dolai and Sophia’s squads.”

“Dolai hunts alone, while Sophia’s squad has undergone a personnel change, with her teammate Sickle Moon replaced by Tree Spirit Grandma.”

The one Sophia left in the outside world was a Nethercrow Avatar containing half of her energy.

Her Incarnation wielded the authority of the Crow Sovereign, allowing it to continuously absorb energy from the outside world. As long as it did not engage in life-or-death battles, this Incarnation could be maintained indefinitely.

The Nethercrow Avatar was also surrounded by hundreds of Black Crows. With these crows, tracking and reconnaissance were not an issue.

Of course, the combat power of the Nethercrow Avatar ultimately paled in comparison to her true self. Therefore, her new teammate, Tree Spirit Grandma, took on the role of the primary combatant.

Tree Spirit Grandma’s frontal combat prowess surpassed Sophia’s, making her the strongest in the Heaven-Earth Realm within Tianyuan City.

She was the strongest, capable of defeating monstrously powerful experts like Sophia, Lu Liu, Rakshasa, Uta, and Sickle Moon—a testament to her genuine prowess.

After all,Tree Spirit Grandma wielded the authority of ancient trees. Though her life seed incarnation could only manifest 90% of her power, this power represented the collective strength of the entire Treant Forest.

Even Uta could only stand a chance of victory if he engaged in battle near Tree Spirit Grandma’s main form from the very beginning.

The combination of Sophia’s incarnation and Tree Spirit Grandma’s incarnation was sufficient to suppress and eliminate world-class powerhouses.

Moreover…

Tree Spirit Grandma could condense up to three life seed incarnations.

Theoretically, she could materialize three ancient tree incarnations simultaneously, provided the energy supply remained adequate.

As long as large-scale battles didn’t erupt simultaneously in two different locations, her energy supply could keep pace. Even during simultaneous conflicts, she could sustain them briefly without issue.

If absolutely necessary, she could abandon the incarnation that had entered the Secret Realm.

After all, these were merely incarnations, and Mu Yuan remained uncertain whether Tree Spirit Grandma could derive substantial benefits from within the Secret Realm.

…

「Prompt: Your troop ‘Heavenly Fortune Fox Woman · Daisy’ has evolved to Epic Two-Star, awakening the Epic Skill ‘Heavenly Fortune Verity’. Under this talent, Daisy’s spoken words carry mysterious influence—the more logically rigorous her statements, the more irrefutable they become. Additionally, by consuming sufficient energy, Heavenly Fortune Verity can manipulate matter and affect reality.」

…

“Prompt: Your troop ‘Heavenly Fortune Fox Woman · Daisy’ has evolved to Epic Three-Star, awakening the Epic talent ‘Nine-Tailed Fox Life’.” Daisy can continuously absorb high-grade nutrients to grow additional innate fox tails, with a maximum of nine tails. Currently possesses three fox tails.」

「Daisy can detach her fox tails and transform them into Heavenly Fox Incarnations. Furthermore, if Daisy faces mortal danger, she will automatically consume (permanently lose) one fox tail to evade certain death.」

Following Lapis’s evolution, through accumulated resources and additional income earned by Sario’s squad in the Shenluo Great Domain, Mu Yuan had amassed nearly two million units of Miracle evolution power.

He then began rapidly evolving his meritorious commanders.

The first was Daisy, who “didn’t want to evolve.”

Mu Yuan speculated that Daisy’s evolution of the nine-tail substitution ability was undoubtedly related to her cowardly, incompetent, and death-fearing nature. Yet, setting aside these traits, Daisy’s professional competence ranked among the top three in all of Tianyuan.

Her natural talent was remarkably formidable—she smoothly achieved a Breakthrough to the Legendary Realm while at “Epic One-Star,” surpassing 95% of Tianyuan’s Epic-tier beings.

However, her combat prowess remained undeniably lackluster.

As Daisy had no plans to venture into the World Secret Realm, Mu Yuan assigned her to oversee the territory temporarily.

“Absolutely no problem~! If enemies attack, hmph, I’ll immediately summon our family’s angel to eliminate them two by two.”

Bullying enemies through borrowed power was something she excelled at.

She brimmed with confidence, further bolstered by the two newly grown heavenly fox tails swaying behind her.

She caressed them—the tails were fluffy and silky, and she couldn’t keep her hands off them.

Besides Daisy,

The natural spirits ‘Flower Spirit’ and ‘Wood Spirit’ also evolved to Epic Three-Star, awakening the potent skill ‘Natural Baptism’. This skill could significantly enhance plant growth and even benefit humans.

Similar to heavenly baptism, professionals bathed in Natural Baptism could gradually elevate their own Ranks.

If Flower Spirit and Wood Spirit grew just a tad stronger, they might even substitute for the heavens in disseminating baptismal radiance.Of course, Natural Baptism also has its flaws. This skill must gather natural forces and consumes the Flower Spirit’s own natural source. After use, a considerable amount of time must pass before it can be cast again.

In recent days, new Legendary Realm experts have emerged in Tianyuan City.

Mu Yuan had been eagerly anticipating the Wind King’s Wings producing their second Legendary Realm expert. Additionally, Tina, the nun from the registration office, had also stepped into the Legendary Realm.

The head of Tianyuan City’s registration office was now at the Legendary level.

If Tianyuan City were to open to the public and welcome a large number of external adventurers, one could only imagine the expressions on their faces upon witnessing this scene.

Unfortunately, Tianyuan City is located in a remote area with dangerous travel routes. Even if Mu Yuan wanted to develop some commercial activities, he was helpless.

Tianyuan City could only rely on itself, building up brick by brick.

…

The next day.

Isloria emerged from the Advanced Mage Tower. “According to my divination, the World Secret Realm will open to the second threshold in at least 12 hours, and at most within 24 hours.”

Mu Yuan nodded and began mobilizing his troops.

At the military camp in the northern part of Tianyuan City, elite soldiers quickly assembled.

“The Undead Lord hundred-man formation is ready,” Bone Four announced clearly.

“The Fearless Warchief and Polar Star Arrow formation is ready,” Lu Liu stated solemnly.

“The Dragon Power formation…”

“The Snow Maiden formation…”

“The Specter formation…”

“The Nun squad…”

“The Nature Spirit squad…”

“The Musketeer squad…”

“The War Falcon squad…”

One military group and squad after another quickly gathered.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Fourth-Order elites had converged on this training ground.

Mu Yuan had recalled all the elites who were exploring outside and engaging monsters. Tianyuan City now maintained only the most basic defensive lines.

It wasn’t that he needed these elites to boost combat power, or to conduct widespread exploration through numbers.

He wanted to take this opportunity to let his own elites benefit as well.

Inside the World Secret Realm, there were opportunity treasure lands similar to the ‘Heavenly Revelation Pillar’ that could enable Fourth-Order experts to achieve epiphanies about their Domains.

Similar treasure lands in the periphery of the secret realm had already been used up and depleted.

But Mu Yuan believed that deeper regions of the secret realm still contained many similar treasure lands.

For Fourth-Order experts to reach such treasure lands, they needed Legendary backing.

In fact,

over the past few days, well-connected lords or professionals had been continuously contacting their backers to seek these opportunities.

Some Legendary experts had even publicly formed exploration teams, openly selling ‘exploration team member’ spots at fixed prices.

This wasn’t a bad way to make money.

However…

“The World Secret Realm isn’t that safe. Even Legendary experts, unless they possess invincible combat power, still face risks and dangers.”

Mu Yuan began appointing commanders.

Lu Liu, Sophia, Seventeen, Uta, Asun whose injuries had healed…

All ten of Tianyuan City’s Heaven-Earth Realm experts were assembled! The weakest among them, Laney, possessed a three-kilometer-level Domain and mastered three Epic Skills.

Beyond these ten experts, Bone Two Three Four, Azure Frost, Cold Frost, Mirena, and Ailin also took their positions one by one.

Mirena was accompanied by three elven Legendary experts and twenty Fourth-Order juniors.

With the exception of a few Legendary Realm experts like Daisy, Li Erniu, and Paoding who remained behind for defense, Tianyuan City’s Legendary experts were deploying in full force!

If we count the other three elven Legendary experts, the total number of Legendary Realm participants in this expedition was…

Thirty-four!”Then I declare, the World Secret Realm exploration campaign officially begins.”

“All soldiers, follow me into battle.”

The Star Gate opened, and Mu Yuan stepped through, disappearing within.

……

Before the World Secret Realm gate in the West Ridge City region of the Western Wasteland Domain.

Compared to previous days, even more powerful figures had gathered here, with renowned experts still arriving one after another.

“Linglong’s Radiant Light? It’s Linglong Lord! The Linglong Lord with three Legendary Realm experts from one school! The Linglong Lord who has slain sixteen monster legends!”

Someone exclaimed in awe, gazing at the group of over a dozen figures appearing in the distance.

Soaring through the air by harnessing the power of heaven and earth, the leading figure was the petite yet formidable Linglong Lord, who carried a weapon larger than herself on her back.

“A sword light illuminating nineteen cities? It’s Limitless Lord! Though his school has only two Legendary Realm experts, Limitless Lord’s combat prowess is terrifying. It’s said he once fought dozens of rounds against a Peak Heaven-Earth Realm monster without falling behind!”

“Hiss—”

Ordinary professionals gasped in amazement.

They were Elite-level warriors, the cream of society, yet they had never witnessed so many famous legends gathered in one place!

Even if they weren’t qualified to explore the World Secret Realm, merely seeing so many big shots with their own eyes made this trip worthwhile, giving them bragging rights for years to come.

“The Deputy City Lord of West Ridge City has arrived too, accompanied by four of the city’s top ten strongest experts.”

“The main force of the Sirius Exploration Corps has arrived. Their leader Sirius is a fierce character—he once found himself surrounded by over a dozen monster legends but fought his way out, even killing three legends in the process.”

Members of the first Sirius exploration team, who had just emerged from the Secret Realm, hurried forward to greet them.

Their big shot had finally arrived!

They would re-enter the Secret Realm later, but first they needed to leave and regroup with their leader outside. Otherwise, when the Secret Realm’s second phase began and numerous Legendary Realm explorers flooded in, those without legendary protection could be casually eliminated.

At this stage, teams without Legendary Realm leaders would find it impossible to make any progress.

Blazing Flame Lord’s team, White Shark Group’s First Combat Team, Taixuan Liangyi’s Sixth Exploration Unit, Tianze City’s Academy Team… one powerful squad after another arrived in succession.

Threads of legendary aura spread out, dancing and colliding in the space between heaven and earth, churning the entire region into turmoil. The air grew so heavy it felt suffocating.

The legends had actually restrained their pressure, but even the slightest leakage, when multiplied by their numbers, made the very atmosphere feel like it was solidifying.

Scattered teams without Legendary Realm protection had no choice but to retreat further to the periphery.

Not just anyone had the privilege of witnessing legendary figures up close!

You either needed considerable strength yourself, or powerful backing.

Suddenly,

“Hum—”

Ripples spread through the air as a massive stone amber came flying through the sky. Its approach stirred up fierce winds and continuous thunder.

But most legends outside the Secret Realm focused their attention on the burly figure seated atop the enormous stone amber.

“Giant Amber City’s Abyss-Suppressing General ‘Longqiushan Jingjing’!”

The number of human legends and monster legends who had fallen to this Abyss-Suppressing General numbered at least in the hundreds.

He was Giant Amber City Lord’s right-hand man.

Only someone formidable could establish Giant Amber City in the chaotic Neutral Lands and make it the central hub of the entire region.

“A Divine Soul Realm existence!”Some people wore grave expressions.

Although there were quite a few Taixuan legends present, none had reached the Soul Realm.

Of course, they weren’t necessarily afraid of Giant Amber City’s General Zhenyuan, but this was, after all, their Taixuan territory. Yet now, their Aura was being overshadowed by outsiders—this was undeniably irritating.

Leading his team, Giant Amber City’s General Zhenyuan descended in a corner outside the Secret Realm, forcefully occupying a spot relatively close to the entrance, and feigned sleep as he waited.

Suddenly, this General Zhenyuan opened his eyes and gazed into the distance.

Some of the legends also followed his gaze.

At the horizon’s edge, a shimmer of starry blue emerged.

Immediately after, the sky abruptly darkened, and stars glittered beneath the night curtain. A River of Stars, gathering the constellations of the entire sky, manifested at the far end of the heavens and advanced majestically.

Upon this vast starry river that seemed to span the entire firmament, stood numerous imposing experts, hands clasped behind their backs.

Their white robes fluttered fiercely, cloaks billowing in the wind.

The experts of Tianyuan City;

The army of Tianyuan City;

Had arrived.

(End of Chapter)