Chapter 537 – Racing Moment, The True Value of Tianyuan's Fastest

“Tianyuan City’s experts have finally arrived.”

Someone murmured.

It was no secret that Tianyuan City Lord had chosen this entrance to the Secret Realm.

A Legendary general from Tianyuan City had been stationed here all along.

Everyone was quite looking forward to Tianyuan City Lord’s arrival.

This Legendary Lord who repeatedly created miracles did indeed come personally, only…

“Aren’t there just a bit too many soldiers coming from Tianyuan City?”

A vast river of stars had already flown to the periphery of the Secret Realm, and people could see the incredibly large number of warriors carried upon it.

Hundreds of elites!

Buddy, we’re here to explore the World Secret Realm, not to fight a war.

It wasn’t that the Lords didn’t want to bring more Fourth-Order elites to give them opportunities for training and transformation. For every additional person they brought, their territory might potentially gain another genius with Legendary potential in the future.

However, the Secret Realm was dangerous and filled with killing intent – even Legendary Realm experts might not be able to protect so many Fourth-Order experts.

Hadn’t they seen that even the clearly priced ‘Secret Realm Exploration Teams’ dared to take only seven members at most when led by Legendary experts? Any more? Those Fourth-Order experts weren’t fools either.

Moreover…

Bringing their own elites or junior relatives was ultimately just a side benefit. Legendary Realm experts needed to compete for their own Opportunities – why would they expend great effort to escort Third and Fourth-Order professionals under such circumstances? That would be putting the cart before the horse.

Though they thought this way, people only muttered privately.

How Tianyuan City Lord chose to act was his own business – they just found it somewhat hard to understand.

“Can’t figure it out? That’s exactly right! Tianyuan City Lord must have his reasons for doing this!”

“Don’t you think there’s a possibility that… Tianyuan City has brought many Legendary Realm experts this time. If Tianyuan City has dozens of Legendary experts, with a ratio of one Legendary to ten non-Legendary hangers-on, it’s completely possible!”

“Brother, wake up! Even Tianyuan City Lord’s brain-dead fans wouldn’t dare think like that! Can your reasoning have at least some logic?”

The speaker chuckled awkwardly – he was just making conversation to liven up the atmosphere.

How could he really believe such an outrageous possibility existed?

But among those present, some felt this possibility might indeed exist.

Linglong Lord pondered, “Having dozens of Legendary Realm experts seems utterly outrageous at first thought, and is actually super outrageous, but if it’s that freak Tianyuan we’re talking about… well, it’s not impossible!”

She had watched Tianyuan grow up! (Proud.jpg)

Although she had been defeated when sparring with Tianyuan at the same realm level in the Challenge Realm initially.

But was that even worth mentioning?

「I Once Narrowly Lost to Tianyuan」

She had also been to Tianyuan City, and had even joined Tianyuan in repelling the Monster Tide.

At that time, Tianyuan City had very few Legendary Realm experts, but they were already capable of defeating and slaying dozens of Monster Legends, creating miracles like decisively defeating Monster Overlords.

Now, after so much time had passed, the Legendary experts of Tianyuan City back then had already become world-class powerhouses. To say that Tianyuan had cultivated dozens of Legendary experts – this wasn’t an impossible thing.

“Besides, that guy Tianyuan is extremely cautious. If he weren’t 200% confident, he wouldn’t bring all the core strength of his territory with him.”

…Compared to other factions with exploration teams of a few, a dozen, or at most thirty to forty people, the Exploration Corps from Tianyuan City on the Stellar River indeed had a slightly larger number of members—by a margin of hundreds of millions.

Even disregarding Legendary Realm powerhouses, the assembled Fourth Order elites themselves possessed the capability to contend with Legendary Realm experts.

Other Fourth Order experts, unless leading over a dozen auxiliary commanders and resonating with a thousand elites to manifest a military soul, fundamentally stood no chance of opposing Legendary Realm powerhouses. As for Tianyuan elites? While it was indeed quite difficult for them to individually confront Legendary Realm experts, forming small teams made it nearly achievable.

The reason there were no super geniuses capable of overthrowing Legendary Realm experts while still at the Fourth Order was simple—those geniuses had already advanced to the Legendary Realm.

Those still lingering at the Fourth Order limit were essentially the “mediocre” ones.

At best, they ranked around the top two hundred or top hundred on the Dragon Gate List.

Mu Yuan exchanged greetings with familiar Lords like Linglong and Wuji without engaging in lengthy conversation.

The Secret Realm was about to enter its second phase, and at this moment, all Legendary Realm experts aspiring to seize opportunities were maintaining strict vigilance.

Time ticked away relentlessly.

Mu Yuan hadn’t arrived early, reaching the site just minutes before Isloria’s “divination prophecy,” making him part of the final batch of explorers to arrive on schedule.

He simply had confidence in Isloria.

At best, he only needed to wait a few minutes; at worst, it would be just over half an hour.

Yet the passage of time seemed unusually sluggish. The Secret Realm entrance was gradually expanding but hadn’t reached the point of transformation.

During this period, explorers continued to emerge from the Secret Realm intermittently.

Some appeared utterly disheveled, while others couldn’t conceal their joy. The latter had clearly made significant gains inside the Secret Realm.

However, no one paid attention to these explorers now, as countless eyes remained fixed on the slowly spreading rift of the Secret Realm.

Suddenly—

“Bzzz—”

An intangible ripple seemed to sweep through the space, and the Secret Realm entrance, resembling a spatial crack, appeared to be torn apart by some immense force. The approximately thirty-meter-long rift abruptly expanded to forty meters, then swelled further to sixty, seventy, and finally eighty meters.

An eighty-meter-long Secret Realm rift, shimmering with golden radiance, now gleamed brilliantly before the crowd.

“The Legendary Realm gate of the World Secret Realm has opened!”

…

Around the Secret Realm, the Legendary Realm experts who had been waiting for so long held their breaths. After two moments of silence, a lone Legendary expert harnessed the power of heaven and earth to soar skyward.

Pop—

He passed through the Secret Realm Gate as if crossing a watery ripple.

He wasn’t repelled.

He had entered.

“Let’s go!”

“We’re moving too!”

“Hurry, hurry! Time is money.”

Lone Legendary experts or small teams formed by several Legendary powerhouses were the quickest to act. In contrast, Legendary experts from other factions still needed to use their control over heaven and earth to lift their elites or juniors.

This back-and-forth naturally took extra time, preventing them from being the fastest.

In reality, there was no need to compete for these few seconds or dozen seconds—the Secret Realm was vast, and merely crossing the peripheral areas from the entrance would require considerable time.

“Let’s begin as well.”

Mu Yuan nodded to Isloria.

The Isloria present here was merely an incarnation, but with the “Starry Sky Scepter” and “Symbolic Star” allowing her power to extend, it made little difference from her true form being present.

She manipulated the vast Stellar River, slowly ascending and approaching the Secret Realm entrance.At the same time, Lu Liu, Deng Long, and Sickle Moon—these Legends positioned at the forefront of the River of Stars—soared into the air and entered the Secret Realm first to survey the situation on the other side.

The Skeleton Brigade, the Specter Brigade, the Defense Brigade…

Elite squads crossed through the Secret Realm Gate one after another.

Finally, the Legendary Realm experts bringing up the rear followed.

Soon, the bustling entrance area of the Secret Realm, which had gathered numerous Legends, grew quiet and deserted.

On the mountain peak occupied by Tianyuan City as a temporary camp, only Mu Yuan and Isloria remained.

In the distance, the Giant Amber City squad settled in, and General Long Qiushan of the Abyss Guard closed his eyes once more, waiting silently.

The excitement had shifted—from outside the Secret Realm to within.

Mu Yuan sat atop the Starry River, also closing his eyes to communicate with his own commanders inside the Secret Realm.

……

Inside the World Secret Realm, at the entrance.

It was far livelier here than outside.

The World Secret Realm had six entrances within the territory of the Taixuan Alliance alone, and the number of Secret Realm entrances and exits across the entire Eternal World was countless.

In contrast, the “starting point areas” inside the Secret Realm were much fewer.

Often, several, a dozen, or even more entrance passages converged at the same starting point—how could it not be lively?

The starting point was chaotic.

There was no concept of a safe zone here, and the area around the starting point was crowded with powerful individuals from various countries, even different races and factions. Under normal circumstances, friction was highly likely.

But not at this moment.

There were no monsters in the vicinity, and most of the Legendary Realm experts entering the Secret Realm had their own objectives, swiftly transforming into streaks of light and disappearing into the vast expanse.

“Woo-hoo, we need to hurry up too!”

Sickle Moon was impatient.

Lu Liu was organizing the squads and said, “We’ll proceed according to the Lord’s initial arrangements. If any of you encounter unexpected situations, report immediately.”

The Legendary experts of Tianyuan City were mainly divided into two groups.

The first consisted of commanders leading and protecting their elite forces.

Lu Liu, Bone Three Bone Four, Red Robe, Seventeen… these powerful individuals fell into this category.

Of course, aside from being protected and seizing Opportunities, the elite forces could also play significant roles during exploration.

However, the elite forces were only at the Fourth Order and couldn’t fly. If all the Legendary experts traveled with the Fourth Order elites, they would likely lose the advantage of speed.

At this moment, with the Legendary Gate just opened, speed was crucial.

Thus, another group of Legends would move swiftly, crossing the outer regions at lightning speed to reach the inner circle.

And the core of this “speed team” was…

“That’s right, it’s Falcon Lord!”

Rakshasa, Sophia, Sickle Moon, Uta, Xiliu, Grass Branch, Kibi, Bone Two—these Legendary experts quickly boarded Asun’s incredibly spacious bird back.

“Let me show you the ultimate speed of Falcon Lord!”

Asun spread its wings, soaring like a Kunpeng, and vanished from sight in an instant.

The wind howled, but it didn’t hinder Asun’s sharp eyes as it scanned the land.

Distant mountains and rivers came into view.

A faint white mist permeated these landscapes, making the entire Secret Realm world seem somewhat unreal, hazy, as if separated by a barrier.

And indeed it was.

With the mysterious white mist of the Secret Realm obstructing the way, even Epic Treasures couldn’t shine brightly; they could only be discovered up close.

The perception abilities of Legendary Realm experts were also significantly weakened.In such an environment, pure vision could actually see farther, even though the gaze was hindered by white mist when looking into the distance.

On the ground or in mid-air, one by one, team after team of swiftly moving explorers came into Asun’s view.

It simultaneously used the ‘Vision Sharing’ skill to share the scenes it saw with Sophia and the others, as well as Lu Liu and his group further away.

Asun also wanted to share the vision with the esteemed Lord, but unfortunately, it failed.

After all, Vision Sharing was only a ‘common-grade’ skill. No matter how practical it was, it still had limitations. Even when used by a powerhouse of this era like Falcon Lord, it couldn’t cross the barrier of the World Secret Realm to share vision with those outside the secret realm.

Thus,

Mu Yuan obtained the scenes from inside the secret realm through ‘Black Crow Vision’.

The entire world was tinged with a faint white, as if everyone was placed in an ink wash painting world, not quite real.

In fact, the pioneer exploration team had conducted simple sampling studies and found that the land and trees in the secret realm were indeed not real. Once these materials were taken out of the secret realm, they would instantly dissipate and disappear without even leaving a trace of dust.

Otherwise, given that there were many particularly hard special soils and stones inside the secret realm, the exploring powerhouses might have considered dismantling and moving the entire secret realm away.

Inside the secret realm, only the Treasures and Opportunities truly existed.

As Asun sped along, scenes different from normal mountains and rivers gradually appeared in its vision.

There were blazing crimson magma fields, giant stone formations with strange rocks standing tall, massive obelisks…

Asun didn’t stop.

By now, it was almost impossible for any Treasures to remain in these special areas of the secret realm’s periphery. Most of the mysterious power contained in the Opportunity Treasure Lands had already been exhausted.

Even if there were remnants, it wasn’t worth specifically landing to investigate.

Asun felt the wind around it.

The wind gradually became orderly under its command. It was time.

“Falcon Lord is going to accelerate.”

Soaring Nine Heavens!

While trying to maintain stability as much as possible, Asun merged into the storm. It soared upward, covering 108,000 meters with a single flap of its wings.

Swift-moving squads, speeding legends.

Powerhouses controlling wind and thunder, moving like lightning – all were left far behind in the blink of an eye.

This was the true value of Tianyuan City’s top speed.

Asun was continuously surpassing!

…

Across the vast land, white mist shrouded everything.

A figure transformed into a streak of light, tearing through the white mist and air, creating circle after circle of white ripples.

Extreme Wing Bird · Mach!

He was a legendary powerhouse from the Eternal Star Empire.

His combat power wasn’t particularly strong, only ranking average among the many legends, yet he had still earned great fame within the Eternal Star Empire.

The reason was simple – he was fast!

Speed was the truth of the world.

He had once been targeted by a Soul Realm monster but still escaped unscathed, simply because that Soul Realm being couldn’t fly as fast as him.

“My combat power isn’t strong enough to confront those prodigy legends head-on, but I don’t need to confront them directly either. I just need to break into the inner circle of the secret realm at the fastest speed and quickly gather high-level Treasures.”

“The advantage is mine!”

When the legendary gate of the secret realm opened, he swiftly flew inside.

He was among the first starters, and he had already left other legends far behind.

He was the undisputed number one, having left even the second place so far behind that their shadow was nowhere to be seen.The Extreme Wing Bird thought, glancing back, and indeed could not spot any trace of pursuers… or could it?

Whoosh—

A fierce gale roared as a massive figure flashed past from a higher altitude.

It rapidly shrank in size ahead of him, within his field of vision.

Extreme Wing Bird: “???”

The world is vast, and indeed, there are still formidable beings.

Its energy surged, patterns of light climbing across its cheeks. Simultaneously, the ends of the three pairs of light wings spread behind it extended further, growing longer, narrower, and sharper.

Extreme Wing Bird · Light Speed Form!

Tremble!

The heavens and earth seemed to hum, space itself etched with faint lines.

Yet the massive bird silhouette still vanished from its sight at an unreachable speed.

So fast that it extinguished any thought of pursuit.

…

“Has it been two hundred seconds since I last encountered a Legend?”

Asun muttered.

It had surpassed all the Legends running ahead by the thirtieth second.

The world stretched vast and desolate, with only a single great bird riding the storm, soaring high in the sky, relentlessly leaving clouds and mist behind in its lonely flight.

Four hundred seconds.

Six hundred seconds.

Eight hundred seconds.

At the eight hundredth second after entering the Secret Realm, it finally glimpsed the boundary land described in the intelligence, separating the outer and inner circles.

(End of Chapter)