Chapter 154: The Supreme of Nines! The Blood of the Human Emperor!

"The Black Mage is simply too strong. I feel like even the two exotic beasts outside might not be his match."

"Indeed. Didn't rumors say earlier today that he just took down a basaltic tortoise? I'm starting to think it might actually be true."

"Yeah, it's not a rumor anymore. The report has already been submitted upward, and someone even recorded a video of it."

Because the Gates of Flames was the signature technique that made the Black Mage famous, quite a few explorers recognized it instantly.

However, reading discussions on online forums versus witnessing it with one's own eyes felt completely different.

Especially for the team that had to expend a tremendous amount of effort just to deal with a few Shadows of the Ancient Tombs, the difficulty of this ancient battlefield was by no means low.

Even if they banded together to carve out a path, it would undoubtedly be an immensely arduous task!

Yet the Black Mage in the distance seemed to treat this secret realm as if it were nothing at all, creating a fundamental gap between him and them!

Zhu Kaiyang pursed his lips, his heart churning with a complex mixture of emotions.

He felt as though the Black Mage had grown vastly stronger yet again.

Back at the Jingmen Safe Zone, he had already witnessed the Gates of Flames, but at that time, the skill hadn't exerted such crushing pressure on him.

Now, however, every single one of those forbidden spells lighting up the sky radiated an overwhelming sense of oppression.

He had previously harbored fantasies of whether he could ever catch up to the Black Mage's footsteps.

But at this moment, Zhu Kaiyang essentially abandoned that notion entirely.

Shen Shimao and the crowd were also watching from the side. They had been forced into the Human Emperor's Tomb by the exotic beasts.

Yet looking at it now, a unanimous thought involuntarily formed in everyone's mind: the Black Mage was undeniably an entity greater than them by an entire major tier. That was the only way he could possess the sheer capability to face a hundred thousand, or even a million enemies, all by himself!

Just as the others had guessed, Yi Shen's leveling speed was indeed astonishingly fast. In merely an hour or two, his level had already soared to 49, and it wouldn't be long before he reached 50.

The monster count here had actually undergone a round of cleansing. Most of the monsters they could see now were from the human faction, and slaying these would result in point deductions for Yi Shen, so he temporarily refrained from taking action.

When Shen Shimao and his group appeared, Yi Shen, currently within the spatial barrier of the basaltic tortoise's skill, became aware of their arrival almost instantly.

Unfortunately, there seemed to be a signal jammer active within this space, leaving Yi Shen with no way to establish contact with them.

Having slaughtered so many monsters, Yi Shen had gradually gained a solid understanding of this battlefield.

Judging by the current situation, this battlefield evidently belonged to the timeframe of the "War of the Three Races" depicted in one of the murals. At this juncture, the Celestial Race, the Terrestrial Race, and the Human Race were all vying for sovereignty over this world, having carved out a forbidden zone to stage their final decisive battle.

At the conclusion of the mural, the Terrestrial and Celestial Races ultimately formed an alliance to launch a surprise attack on the Human Race, which ultimately led to the death of a certain Human Emperor.

Yet with Yi Shen's intervention, he could no longer be certain whether the Human Race was destined to lose.

Yi Shen's total score had already surpassed seven hundred thousand, and it was safe to assume no one else in this secret realm could possibly rival that number.

Through prolonged observation, he also discovered that the various factions on this battlefield possessed their own strongholds, and these strongholds exhibited a distinct trend of gradually closing in toward the center of the battlefield.

The strongholds of both the Terrestrial and Celestial Races originated from the distant skies.

Yi Shen had attempted to approach them, but had consistently failed to reach them.

Only the stronghold of the Human Race resembled a palatial complex, and it appeared to hold no hostility toward Yi Shen.

After two hours of farming monsters, this palace had drawn much closer than it was at the beginning. Having cleared out a wave of monsters, Yi Shen finally began to fly swiftly toward the palace ahead.

Nevertheless, seeing Shen Shimao and his group stranded here, Yi Shen worried they might be utterly annihilated in the crossfire of the monsters, so he casually helped them eliminate a portion of the hostile creatures.

About three minutes later, the previously deployed Gates of Flames completed their cooldown, and tranquility settled over the battlefield once more. Only then did Shen Shimao and the others realize that the Black Mage had been aiding them.

"Let's go, keep up."

"Watch your spacing and don't fall behind. The monsters outside are not easy to deal with."

"Prioritizing self-preservation is paramount. This secret realm is bizarre; it's likely situated in a different dimension." After conferring with several group leaders, Shen Shimao immediately made his decision, preparing to follow in the wake of the Black Mage.

Otherwise, given their meager numbers amidst tens of thousands of troops, they would truly fall short.

The palace before them was not particularly large, and Yi Shen could see all the way to its end at a single glance.

Upon his arrival, he encountered a number of bizarre stone-carved exotic beasts. They bared their fangs and brandished their claws, radiating peculiar bursts of energy.

In the center of the palace stretched a flight of long stone steps. The palace was designed with cascading, multi-tiered rectangular halls, bearing a resemblance to classical Huaxia architecture, though not entirely identical.

In the midst of the grand hall, exotic beasts would occasionally materialize out of thin air, utterly ignoring everyone present as they rushed toward the aforementioned battlefield of the myriad races.

What caught Yi Shen's attention, however, was that within this palace, there were nine distinct regions, each harboring one of nine unique energies. Every single one of them exerted an immense gravitational pull on the Shanhai bloodline coursing through his body!

[Ding! An explorer of the Human Emperor faction has reached the Coffins of the Nine Emperors. Current ranking: 1st place. Points +500. Current total points: 832,991.]

Synchronized notifications of points and ranking appeared on Yi Shen's system interface.

He quickly reached the first region. Stationed here was an exotic beast unlike any seen outside, glaring at Yi Shen with covetous eyes. It had no name, resembling a hybrid between a tiger and an eagle, and boasting, at the bare minimum, yet another million-HP Lord-grade monster.

Naturally, this monster posed no significant pressure to Yi Shen, and the battle was concluded in less than thirty seconds.

However, the guardian monster did not immediately perish upon being killed by Yi Shen; instead, it drifted back into a deep slumber, and the ambient light in this region noticeably dimmed compared to the others.

On a special platform within the region, Yi Shen spotted a distinct red vessel. Approaching it to check its description, he discovered it was a material known as the [Blood of the Human Emperor], and an SS-grade material at that.

[Blood of the Human Emperor (SS): Blood originating from the legendary ancient Human Emperor, possessing ineffable properties.]

The description of the Blood of the Human Emperor was concise, and its utility was listed as a consumable that could be directly ingested or absorbed.

For Yi Shen, he also had the option to directly dismantle and research this item.

Yet Yi Shen did not make a move immediately; instead, he headed toward the next region. There were roughly nine portions of this Blood of the Human Emperor, and since he was the first to arrive here, he naturally intended to claim all nine portions for himself.

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