Feng Yuan arrived and yelled, "Ying Mo, what the hell are you doing?"
The Black Hawk Cavalry had a smoother time than the Storm Cavalry but also gained nothing. They’ve been running around in circles around the Secret Realm. They did not find any Marked Beasts or any Marked Insects. They then arrived here purely by chance.
Ying Mo replied, "Elder Feng, I've been lonely for hundreds of years. You don't even want to talk to me?"
"That's not true," Feng Yuan replied, taken aback. "Wait, Ying Mo, how did your strength rise so fast?"
Ying Mo used to be at the beginner Marked Warrior Grandmaster level, but now he is much closer to the intermediate level.
"Hehehe!" Ying Mo laughed before responding. "That's because I’m no longer a wandering Marked Warrior Grandmaster."
"Are you now following Luo Jie?" asked Feng Yuan.
"Wrong! I'm following Old Timer's apprentice, Guo Shier," Ying Mo triumphantly answered,
"Elder Guai, don’t talk to that guy," Elder Storm Xie interrupted. "There must be a reason why he's doing this. The reason must be behind them. Just rush past him!"
Upon hearing this, Qi Nanshan smiled and slowly straightened his spine. Suddenly, an unparalleled pressure originated from him and soared through the heavens. His appearance completely changed.
Qi Nanshan was an advanced-level Marked Warrior Grandmaster. After the breakthrough at the altar, he did not experience a level advancement. So when he activated his energy, he automatically initiated his own promotion and suddenly advanced.
A raging stream of energy circled around him. All of a sudden, everything disintegrated—including his horse. It turned into a bloody mist revolving around him.
Everyone was stunned. They didn't know what the hell Qi Nanshan was doing.
Only Luo Jie and Guo Shier understood why this was happening.
Luo Jie whispered, "Incredible. He actually advanced."
Qi Nanshan's thunderous roar was deafening. The steeds shrieked and retreated in horror.
Guo Shier pulled hard on the bridle to control his horse, then said, "This time's advancement… I don’t know if it’s dangerous."
Elder Storm Xie was surprised. "He … what is he doing?"
Elder Storm Du felt danger from this situation and shouted, "Retreat! Back off!"
Feng Yuan and Ma Shang Dian behind him were also frightened. The leaders retreated and took their team with them.
Ying Mo stared intently at Qi Nanshan and muttered to himself, "He advanced? What kind of strength would he have?"
He was extremely curious and extremely envious.
"This guy's luck is as good as Old Timer's," he mumbled.
The roar grew louder. The raging wind completely wrapped Qi Nanshan. Even his silhouette was no longer visible.
Guo Shier worriedly declared, "Nanshan Grandpa… he'll be able to smoothly advance!
He knew he was having a bit of a crow's mouth lately, so he wanted to be positive.
(Note: 'Crow's mouth' means whatever he says comes true.)
"From my own experience in advancing, Da-Shan will be fine. The altar is amazing!" Luo Jie exclaimed.
Roar!
Boom!
The air surrounding Qi Nanshan was suddenly blown away. The immense pressure forced everyone to retreat. A look of trepidation shrouded everyone's faces.
Everybody gaped when they saw a tall and sturdy young man standing naked in the center of all the chaos.
Guo Shier stared and said, "Holy shit! It’s too hard!"
Chen Hong suddenly blurted out, "Pooh!" She then immediately turned around and dared not to look again.
The Rune Marks on Qi Nanshan's body completely disappeared. He now looked like an ordinary person—not a top-notch professional.
Gou Shier shouted, "Xiao Feng, get me a pair of pants! Pops had a fucking wardrobe malfunction."
Qi Nanshan stared blankly at the crowd. That’s when he found out that he was naked.
Aside from the people who reached Grandmaster level, everyone burst into laughter. To those high leveled individuals, including Shier—this to them was a strange phenomenon. The Marks on Qi Nanshan's body were gone. In this world, this was beyond the common sense.
So far, Grandmaster Elder Storm Xie were yet to realize that Qi Nanshan has advanced. They thought that what happened was merely an accident.
Qi Nanshan whispered curses while putting on his underwear. It was a big loss of face. Fortunately, all the people present were men. As for little Chen Hong, he didn't care. She was just a child. Qi Nanshan was feeling miserable and was looking for an outlet. He also just advanced, so he wanted to measure his newfound strength.
He directly initiated a challenge. "Elder Xie, I won't hurt you. Come over and play!"
Elder Storm Guai was depressed and angrily said, "Why pick me? There's Feng Yuan and Ma Shang Dian!"
Qi Nanshan disappeared and emerged suddenly in front of Elder Storm Guai's horse.
Elder Storm Guai freaked out. He shrieked and jumped off his horse. Qi Nanshan was 50 meters away—and in a blink of an eye, he was suddenly in front of Elder Storm Guai!
Strangely enough, even Qi Nanshan got terrified. He couldn't even begin to fathom his advancement. How could he be so fast?
"Stop!" Elder Storm Du yelled. "We'll go!" He knew he couldn’t get through.
Qi Nanshan was very upset. He turned to Feng Yuan and dared him, "You play with me!"
Feng Yuan was not stupid. "We'll withdraw!"
No one was a fool. No one would come over for a blood bath—not Storm Cavalry or Black Hawk Cavalry. Seeing Qi Nanshan's strange changes, no one was willing become a test dummy.
Qi Nanshan was lost in his trance-like state. By the time he could think straight again, the two groups were lost in sight. He asked, "Are they gone? Ugh, I really… I really want to hit something. There is nothing to be afraid of…"
No one cheered. Everyone just stared at him with a weird look.
Qi Nanshan thought himself as a flower. He touched his chest and said, "What are you guys staring at?"
Luo Jie laughed and said, "Da-Shan, after your advancing… your strength should be at the Marked Beast Variant level. You've become very powerful, you even scared them away. Hahaha!"
Guo Shier also chucked. "Nanshan Grandpa, you're at least a Rank 5 Marked Beast Variant. Hahaha!"
"Wait—there's a level difference between Marked Beast Variants?" Ying Mo asked.
"Of course," Guo Shier replied. "But I don’t know the exact power distributions. I only know that one rank 7 Marked Beast Variant would decimate everyone here. No one would even have a chance to escape."
Surprised, Ying Mo quickly reacted. "Are you kidding? We have so many Grandmasters here. Are you telling me that we still can't fight a Rank 7 Marked Beast Variant? "
Luo Jie knew Guo Shier was referring to the variant Earth Dragon.
"Ying Mo, Shier is right," he said. "It's not that we can't fight it, but a Rank 7 Marked Beast Variant is too powerful. "
"Old Timer, have you seen one?" Ying Mo asked.
Feeling bad, Luo Jie hurriedly replied, "We didn't do it on purpose, we we're just curious. Hehehe!"
According to Luo Jie and Guo Shier's theory, if they have seen a Rank 7 Marked Beast Variant, then they should be dead.
Luo Jie and Guo Shier said in unison, "We saw it!"
Ying Mo smiled. "Old Timer, are you playing with me?"
Luo Jie laughed. "It was a seriously injured variant Earth Dragon. We were lucky… it was still breathing," he said. "We barely killed it with dozens of people."
Ying Mo sighed. "That was such real lucky break," he said, his voice fading. "Unfortunately, I was not there".
The sight of the Secret Realm vanished quickly. In a blink of an eye, the scenery was replaced with a view of the grasslands.
Time's up!
Luo Jie smiled with satisfaction and said, "Yes, we kept the secret of the altar for the time being."
But in fact, he knew in his heart that it was almost impossible to keep this under wraps forever. Ying Mo brought friends—and they might talk. Some of them even advanced to Marked Warrior Grandmaster level.
But this secret can be kept for a while, so Luo Jie was satisfied.
The Storm Cavalry and Black Hawk Cavalry emerged in sight along with several wandering team of people, but they rode away quickly and did not dare to linger. They didn't even bother to say anything and simply went on their own way. They dared not provoke Luo Jie's team.
Luo Jie exclaimed, "We only stayed fifteen days… I thought I was going to stay in there for a year. Hahaha! At this rate, we can still make it to the West Rune Sect conference."
Qin Lang came over and asked, "Old Timer, shall we go?"
Luo Jie smiled. "Wait a moment. Let Ying Mo bid farewell to friends."
Ying Mo was thinking of doing exactly that, and nodded his thanks to Luo Jie.
There were only more than a dozen people who were friends with Ying Mo. Some of them—those who joined the Luo Clan—stayed, and the rest said farewell. Shortly after, their horses ran towards the boundless grassland.
Guo Shier looked up and down Qi Nanshan, and later he said, "Nanshan Grandpa, you’re not as handsome as my master!"
Qi Nanshan originally looked younger than Luo Jie. After advancing, his appearance obviously became even younger. When the wrinkles and beard disappeared, his long horse face was revealed. His chin was very prominent, like a spatula protruding outward. This marked his identity.
"Kid, why do I want to be handsome when I can fight anyone?" Qi Nanshan smiled and retorted. "Ugh! Old Timer, do we have a cultivating system now?"
Luo Jie said, "Da-Shan, I don't know. My own situation is not clear either. Don’t worry, we have time to fumble slowly."
"Master, Nanshan Grandpa, we have the opportunity to go to the world linking Secret Realm in the future," Guo Shier declared. "If we can find books for cultivation—that will solve our problems. Hahaha!"
Ying Mo said farewell to his friends and went back to Guo Shier's side. After hearing their conversation, he couldn't stop himself from asking, "Shier, what's in that Secret Realm?"
Guo Shier smiled. "It's a Secret Realm that can lead to other worlds," he replied.
Ying Mo already knew that there were other worlds. This world was not the only one that existed.
"Shier, do you know when this Secret Realm opens?" he asked.
Guo Shier laughed and answered, "I know, but it only opens once every one thousand years."
Ying Mo was surprised. "Forget it!" he said. "A millennium? I can't live that long. Hahaha!"
Guo Shier smiled and did not continue to explain. He won't go anytime soon. He has to at least wait until his strength grows to the level of an Artificer Grandmaster.
Qin Lang looked up at the sky and said, "Old Timer, we should go. It’s going to snow. We have to arrive at the next resting spot as soon as possible."
Luo Jie nodded in agreement. "Da-Shan, take charge and let's go!"
"Qin Lang, I'll lead the way with you," Qi Nanshan said. "Everybody keep up!"
Qi Nanshan and Qin Lang lead their teams out.
"Keep up!" Guo Shier shouted.
Their horses dashed off.
Translator: Glasses TangGu
Editor: M