Chapter 126: The Secret Realm Shatters! Absorbing the Energy!

Yi Shen was unaware of the horrific information the Lord of Moonlight had received within a mere second or two. However, judging by his reaction, Yi Shen was certain that the Heart of the Magic God within his own body was likely superior to the strength of the Lord of Moonlight. This realization brought Yi Shen some relief. Otherwise, if the Lord of Moonlight had foolishly decided to attack him, he was not sure if he could defeat such an entity.

In the distance, the golden form of the Lord of Moonlight slowly regenerated. However, his body was visibly a size smaller than before. When he looked at Yi Shen again, both his tone and gaze had changed.

"Are you certain that this power belongs to you?" the Lord of Moonlight asked with a hint of astonishment, for Yi Shen appeared far too ordinary. He had encountered gods before, even entities that transcended the level of digitization, but all those combined did not pose a threat as intense as the one Yi Shen had just projected!

Given his current energy level, which had reached the level of the Eternal long ago, even gods could not pose a substantial threat to him. Yet, just a moment ago, if he hadn't withdrawn quickly and if Yi Shen hadn't lacked the conscious intent to attack, his avatar would have been completely destroyed, and even his true form would have suffered severe annihilation!

Seeing the Lord of Moonlight pose this question, Yi Shen didn't know how to answer. The Lord of Moonlight, however, could tell that Yi Shen was likely just as clueless. After all, if Yi Shen could truly master the power within him, let alone the Moonlight Civilization, even this entire digitized network would likely be unable to exert any influence over him. No wonder the Lord of Moonlight had always felt that many things were off; if there truly existed a higher-dimensional power within Yi Shen, those anomalies were easier to explain.

The Lord of Moonlight spoke: "I have already obtained the information I sought. As promised, the remaining half of the scepter key will be given to you when I depart."

To be fair, at this point, the Lord of Moonlight no longer really wanted the scepter. After all, a lost scepter could be reforged, but offending this unknown power would be a loss that outweighed any gain. Moreover, the scepter had already been connected to the information of the data network, and he had no desire to be tainted by it. His initial intent in sending people over was merely to investigate what had happened, but he had never expected to unearth such a massive threat.

This also piqued the curiosity of the Lord of Moonlight. It was well known that this data network stood in opposition to numerous gods and had occupied many planes and spaces, yet no one had ever been able to trace its source or origins. Now, facing a person backed by a new system of power, he was curious to see what the data network would eventually become once a power beyond that of gods intervened, and whether it could still achieve its intended goals.

After a pause, the Lord of Moonlight continued: "Regarding those vampires, their true forms are not flesh and blood, but a special kind of spiritual entity, akin to shadows. They are currently primarily hidden in the large lake to the north. Many have already revived, though their form of existence differs from yours, and they are currently attempting to gain recognition from the data network."

"If you have any other questions, I can answer them, though I don't know much. Your power just now damaged my avatar; I fear I cannot remain in your world for much longer."

The blow Yi Shen had dealt him was truly too fierce; had he not retreated quickly, he feared this avatar would not have survived at all. Even now, his power structure had suffered severe losses. If he did not want to be "read" and assimilated by the data network, it was better for him to withdraw as soon as possible.

"What exactly are those vampires? I heard you mention before that they are relics of a previous civilization?" Hearing the words of the Lord of Moonlight, Yi Shen did not stand on ceremony and asked his question.

The Lord of Moonlight thought for a moment and replied: "If I remember correctly, they should be just like you—original inhabitants of this world. They are the remnants of the previous generation that gained data access. In your history, they are referred to as demons or ghosts. Their strength is actually quite significant; one of them once reached the threshold of divinity. But later, their world lost contact with us, and I have no way of knowing information after their digitization."

Nearly twenty minutes had passed since the Lord of Moonlight first appeared. Since his attempt to probe Yi Shen resulted in a backlash, his attitude had become noticeably calmer, losing its previous aggression. Even the pressure exerted on the Jingmen Safe Zone had diminished significantly.

Throughout this conversation, Yi Shen had truly learned information he had never been exposed to before. First and foremost, Yi Shen was most interested in the issue of digitization. According to the Lord of Moonlight, this digitization did not seem to involve only Blue Star, which explained why so many different worlds were connected here!

The Moonlight Civilization had also been a peaceful world long ago, but one day it was suddenly attacked by outsiders. The Lord of Moonlight had not reached his current strength then and could only hide with his subordinates. By the time he had the power to resist, the world had essentially been occupied by digitization and had become one of the "alien worlds." Even the human civilization currently in the world where the Moonlight Civilization resided was not the first wave of explorers, but the sixth!

In other words, before human civilization, other civilizations had also possessed system panels. The Vampire Civilization were the fifth wave of explorers. Judging by the attitude of the Lord of Moonlight, they were also native inhabitants of the Earth. As for the first four worlds, they likely were not from Blue Star, but from other, more peculiar creatures.

During those earlier invasions, the Lord of Moonlight had used the power of the scepter to establish his own territory. Thus, those semi-spiritual entities were completely different from the monsters that had already been digitized; they belonged to a civilization, while most creatures in the Moonlight Lands were monsters, some of which were not even original to the Moonlight world.

Regrettably, the Lord of Moonlight did not explain the origins of digitization clearly, or perhaps he truly did not know why such a situation had occurred. Instead, he hoped that Yi Shen might find an answer in the future; he, too, wanted to reclaim the world that once belonged to him.

The second piece of information concerned the Vampire Civilization. The Lord of Moonlight had not had much interaction with them. This time, the vampires stole the scepter likely for the revival of their race. Under some unknown circumstances, the vampires had lost their recognition by the data network and were now seeking new ways to enhance their power or consolidate their revival. However, in the assessment of the Lord of Moonlight, the vampires within this light curtain were essentially incapable of making any waves; Yi Shen’s current strength alone was enough to easily resolve them. The only concern was what lay outside the light curtain; the Lord of Moonlight had sensed other vampires waiting beyond it. The specifics of the digitization process were unclear to him, and Yi Shen would have to explore those himself.

The third piece of information concerned Yi Shen’s own power. Although the Lord of Moonlight had been backlashed by Yi Shen’s power, he also sensed that Yi Shen possessed immense potential. Simply by absorbing moonlight energy and the power of the scepter, Yi Shen could achieve a new elevation in his bloodline. The Lord of Moonlight suggested that Yi Shen try to use moonlight energy to explore realms beyond digitization.

Because moonlight energy and scepter energy were, in many cases, beyond the parsing capabilities of the digitization process, they were closer to "true" power. Within these energies lay the origin power of the Lord of Moonlight, and he was curious to see how far Yi Shen could go under the reinforcement of this origin power. In the future, this might even influence the subsequent path of the Lord of Moonlight himself.

His explanation was very similar to the "domain" mentioned by Zhan Yu and the others, yet distinct. Zhan Yu and his group sought a physical breakthrough, while the moonlight power was more of an extension of spiritual strength. Of course, for Yi Shen, he would certainly research both types of power; after all, he had been in contact with extraordinary powers for less than two months, and he would have plenty of time to improve himself in the future.

After their brief communication, the Lord of Moonlight used moonlight energy to map out the distribution of the vampires and gave it to Yi Shen. This map was much more detailed than what Zhan Yu’s group had provided and included information on what lay outside the city.

After the Lord of Moonlight departed, the atmosphere in the Jingmen Safe Zone returned to normal. Following the guidance of the Lord of Moonlight, Yi Shen proceeded to clear out the remaining vampires. This time, Yi Shen did not focus on the smaller, miscellaneous beasts, but targeted the vampires that possessed shadows. According to the Lord of Moonlight, vampires were divided into "true bodies" and "kinsmen." As long as the true body was eliminated, the kinsmen would naturally dissipate. Although there appeared to be a vast number of vampires, most were actually "kinsmen," which was why they appeared so numerous and chaotic.

With about ten hours left on the countdown, Yi Shen absorbed more energy, and the entire light curtain began to change, with cracks appearing in the sky. The Lord of Moonlight used a mirror image to hand over the remaining half of the key to Yi Shen. Even without the key, however, Yi Shen was already close to absorbing most of the scepter's power.

Once the scepter keys merged, Yi Shen finally received the system notification!

[Congratulations, you have acquired the Scepter Key (Blue) and the Scepter Key (Red). You have successfully obtained the first level of recognition from the Moonlight Scepter. The second part of the scepter's content will be unlocked in ten minutes.]

[Ding, the basic structure of this secret realm has suffered unknown damage. The second part of the content is canceled. The secret realm is about to end. All explorers, please prepare.]

There were many notifications, but two were primary: one was that the second part of the content was about to unlock, and the other was that the secret realm was coming to an end. Other explorers might have been confused as to why such conflicting information appeared simultaneously, but Yi Shen understood: because of his and the Lord of Moonlight’s intervention, the entire scepter had lost its energy, and naturally, there would be no subsequent second part.

After acquiring the scepter, Yi Shen’s perception of the world became much clearer. The phantom entities and crystals created by the scepter vanished one by one. Before the light curtain completely disappeared, he conducted a comprehensive cleaning of the vampire true bodies, and soon, the kinsmen in the city fell one by one.

In the northern part of the Jingmen Safe Zone, only a massive, lusterless pillar of revelation remained, surrounded by crumbling walls and ruins, testifying to the world that these events had truly occurred rather than being an illusion. This disaster had arrived with great momentum, yet it had come to an abrupt end.

Now, with the light curtain gone, the eyes of almost the entire nation of China were focused on the Jingmen Safe Zone. They had only learned a fraction of the information, yet they were already filled with shock. Once they understood the deeper layers of information, the name "Black Mage" spread even further!

After all, the information brought by this secret realm was simply too staggering. The formal appearance of two civilizations before the public already contained profound implications. They might have encountered other civilizations before, but those were limited to top-tier explorers or had not been recognized by the digitization process, and thus had not been spread to the public. But this time, although the secret realm ended early, it was experienced by all explorers, high-level and low-level alike; it was impossible to conceal.

This was the first time that creatures from another civilization had competed with human civilization for rankings! Naturally, the Black Mage, who had occupied the top of the leaderboard from beginning to end, attracted even more attention!