Despite being mentally prepared, Lin Hao was still profoundly shaken by the sight within.

The stone cliff opened to reveal a bottomless abyss below. As he stood at the edge, gusts of chilling wind assailed him, carrying a faint, foul stench.

In the distance, a full moon hung unexpectedly in the sky.

After all, it was still daytime outside.

’A secret realm is a world unto itself.’

Looking down, he could faintly make out the glint of waves in the distance, illuminated by the full moon.

According to Chu Tiandu’s memories, below the cliff lay the boundless Tongming Sea.

Of the eight great secret realms, the Tongming Sea was the weakest, requiring only a Blood Coagulation Realm cultivation base to enter.

Yet, once inside the Tongming Sea, no matter how sky-high one’s cultivation was, it would be suppressed to the Blood Coagulation Realm.

The Tongming Sea was home to countless strange and grotesque beasts, and slaying them could yield all sorts of rare and precious treasures.

Crossing the Tongming Sea to reach the end of the secret realm promised rewards beyond imagination.

Chu Tiandu had once said that he found a way to save Qingyan—an ancient formula. A pill made by Refining this formula could supposedly bring the dead back to life and regenerate flesh on bare bone.

At the end of the Tongming Sea was one of the ingredients required by that very formula.

Lin Hao had inherited the legacy of the Carefree Divine Monarch, yet even he had never heard of such an ingredient. This spoke volumes about how rare and precious it must be.

Lin Hao took a deep breath, stepped forward, and leaped into the void.

Behind him, the stone cliff sealed shut. Lin Hao’s body plummeted. Circulating a breath of True Essence, he landed on a massive ship capable of holding a thousand people.

The moment he landed, the ship began to move on its own.

Below, the inky black waters of the Tongming Sea remained perfectly still, without a single ripple.

A full moon overhead, a self-propelling ship below, and the pitch-black water—the scene was utterly bizarre.

Yet, Lin Hao’s expression remained unchanged.

Chu Tiandu had been here before. This great ship in the Tongming Sea had existed even back then.

Lin Hao knew something more: once the great ship began to move, the Tongming Sea would stir, and all manner of strange and grotesque beasts would leap from its depths to hunt any intruders.

Therefore, the moment the ship started moving, Lin Hao was already on high alert.

Sure enough, in the next moment, a foul gust of wind struck him.

Lin Hao’s eyes flashed, and he threw a punch!

BOOM!

The blow connected with a muffled thud.

On the deck of the great ship, a monstrously large crab had suddenly appeared.

Each of its legs was as thick as Lin Hao’s calf, and its two massive pincers were even more astonishing.

Lin Hao’s heart tightened. Though his last strike hadn’t involved any Cultivation Technique or martial art, it should have been devastating.

Yet this giant crab had only been knocked back, completely unharmed.

He had no time to dwell on it; the giant crab attacked again.

It moved with incredible speed, appearing before Lin Hao in the blink of an eye. Its two pincers snapped open, aiming for Lin Hao’s arms like a pair of giant scissors.

The clamping force of the crab’s pincers had to be immense. Lin Hao remained perfectly still. Just as the claws were about to snap shut on his arms, he arched his body backward, sliding beneath the crab’s underside before delivering another punch.

The crab’s shell was bound to be incredibly hard, so Lin Hao aimed for its soft underbelly.

BOOM!

This punch sent the giant crab flying straight into the air.

Lin Hao narrowed his eyes, his gaze fixed on the sky above.

In the next moment, his gaze hardened in surprise.

Two giant shears loomed in the air above.

The giant crab wasn’t dead. Its two pincer-claws, like giant shears, struck again.

Lin Hao stood as still as a mountain, but his body began to glow.

In the next instant, he struck, decisively grabbing both of the crab’s giant pincers and yanking them apart.

RIIIP!

With brute force, Lin Hao tore the giant crab clean in two!

A torrent of black blood rained down, yet none of it could touch Lin Hao.

His body had formed a natural armor of Gang Qi; the Protective Gang Qi repelled the black blood completely.

CLINK!

The sound of something hard hitting the deck.

Something from within the giant crab’s body had fallen onto the ship.

Lin Hao casually tossed the crab’s carcass aside. Just as he was about to bend down and pick up the object, his heart leaped.

In a flash, he dodged away from his original position.

BOOM!

An enormous shrimp slammed down where Lin Hao had just been standing.

It had fin-like wings on its sides, its two feelers were covered in barbs, and its eyes, like those of a malevolent spirit, stared right at Lin Hao. The sight was terrifying.

Under its gaze, Lin Hao’s mind grew hazy.

Just then, the monstrous shrimp lunged.

THWACK!

Unable to dodge in time, Lin Hao was struck head-on by its body.

The impact sent his blood and energy into turmoil.

’There’s something wrong with its eyes!’ Lin Hao realized instantly. A quick shift of his feet was all that saved him from being pinned down by the monstrous shrimp’s pounce.

In the next instant, Lin Hao closed his eyes. He relied on his hearing to pinpoint its location, having discovered that he couldn’t break free from the creature’s gaze.

BOOM!

Lin Hao’s fist, swift and vicious, collided with the monstrous shrimp.

His physical body was now terrifyingly powerful; his fists alone were dreadful weapons.

After the first strike, Lin Hao pressed his advantage, punching again and again...

In the end, the monstrous shrimp was literally beaten to a pulp by his fists.

CLINK!

Again, the sound of something heavy hitting the deck rang out.

This time, Lin Hao didn’t move.

At the bottom of the Tongming Sea were all sorts of rare treasures—fragments of weapons from the great war between gods and demons, perhaps, or all kinds of strange ores.

No one could venture into the depths of the Tongming Sea; only the grotesque beasts that lived within could bring these treasures to the surface.

These rare treasures would be swallowed by the Devil Beasts of the Tongming Sea, but the beasts could not Refine them.

The first time, Lin Hao’s move to pick up the object had been a mere reflex.

He wouldn’t make the same mistake a second time.

As the monstrous shrimp died, the air grew still.

Another foul beast was about to appear.

Lin Hao remained motionless, but a ferocious fighting spirit blazed in his eyes...

The great ship sailed on, carrying him into the depths of the Tongming Sea. All the while, Lin Hao fought relentlessly against an endless tide of grotesque beasts.

Lin Hao became a tireless machine.

For most of this time, he relied solely on his physical strength to combat the grotesque beasts.

He knew that even stranger and more terrifying creatures awaited him, so he had to conserve his strength.

Thousands of years ago, Chu Tiandu had come here and attempted to force a crossing of the Tongming Sea, but he had failed. There was only one chance; if defeated in battle, the ship would automatically return to the start.

Learning from Chu Tiandu’s failure, Lin Hao knew he had to conserve his strength.

He didn’t know how long the great ship had drifted—perhaps a day, perhaps ten.

The deck of the great ship was now a glittering spectacle, covered with the treasures left behind by the grotesque beasts Lin Hao had slain.

Lin Hao stood in the center of the great ship, motionless as a stone statue.

His energy was flagging.

Not long ago, a colossal beast had appeared. Lin Hao estimated he had fought it for at least a full day and night before finally slaying it.

He said "at least" because there was no day in this secret realm; the full moon was eternal.

Now, Lin Hao circulated his Cultivation Technique to regulate his breathing, all while keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings.

He suspected the end of the Tongming Sea was near.

Suddenly, Lin Hao’s eyes narrowed.

In the distance, at the very edge of the horizon, mountains appeared.

Lin Hao’s spirits lifted. The end was finally in sight.

But in the next instant, the hairs on his body stood on end as an intense sense of crisis washed over him.

BOOM!

From the Tongming Sea, a long, thick tail erupted, cleaving the surface of the water in two as if it were a giant sword.

A single tail to part the sea!

Lin Hao’s muscles tensed instantly.

Thousands of years ago, Chu Tiandu had reached this very spot.

Here, he had been stopped by a giant python, forced to gaze at the distant shore in despair.

Before Lin Hao could process this thought, the tail came crashing down.

Not daring to meet it head-on, Lin Hao dodged.

BOOM!

The force of the blow made the great ship shudder violently.

Lin Hao’s expression changed.

He had no idea what material the ship was made from, but for all these days, it had been as steady as solid ground, never so much as rocking.

But now, a single strike from the tail had made it sway.

VROOOM!

A colossal roar shattered the air.

The sea, calm until now, began to roil and churn at the sound.

In the next instant, a massive Devil Beast burst from the water, spread its great wings, and hovered above the surface.

Without its wings, it would have been a giant python.

Lin Hao was horrified at the sight.

Thousands of years ago, Chu Tiandu had been defeated here by a great python. The creature in his memory was strikingly similar to the one before him now.

But the one before him now was clearly even more terrifying.

’Could this be the very same one Chu Tiandu encountered all those millennia ago?!’

At this thought, Lin Hao couldn’t help but draw a sharp, cold breath.

’A fearsome beast that has been growing for thousands of years... Just how terrifying would that be?’

But in the next moment, Lin Hao calmed himself.

After being here for so long, he had already discovered one thing: the creatures of the Tongming Sea absolutely could not surpass the Blood Coagulation Realm.

"Let’s see just how powerful you’ve become after several thousand years!" Staring it down, Lin Hao’s fighting spirit soared.

The winged python’s response was a mighty beat of its enormous wings.

BOOM!

A sudden gale tore across the sea before him, sending a wall of black water surging toward Lin Hao.

Lin Hao’s expression changed drastically.

The water of the Tongming Sea was a thing of absolute evil; even with his body fortified by Gang Qi, he had to be wary.

In the next moment, he activated the Godslaying Celestial Slash Skill. A faint halo of light abruptly enveloped him.

Lin Hao used the Cultivation Technique to force his Protective Gang Qi to expand several times its normal size.

It worked.

The black water crashed against him but could not break through his defense.

However, before Lin Hao could celebrate, his expression shifted. Behind the wall of black water was a gaping, bloody maw.

Lin Hao shot backward.

The winged python followed like a shadow, one of its massive claws lashing out to grab him.

Dark and sinister!

Like the hand of death itself!

The claw carried a supreme power, as if it could crush anything in its path.

But with a furious roar, Lin Hao’s arms seemed to swell as he threw a punch!

BOOM!

In the next instant, Lin Hao’s fist collided with the winged python’s massive claw.

A massive shockwave radiated from the point of impact, exploding outward across the great ship.

The black water of the Tongming Sea erupted into the sky, momentarily obscuring the full moon.

The power of Lin Hao’s punch as it met the winged python was astounding.

Neither man nor beast gave an inch.

Then, the winged python’s other claw descended.

It struck at Lin Hao once more.

It was enraged.

A tiny human had actually blocked one of its claws.

Lin Hao’s other fist swelled in size, wreathed in divine light, and punched out with equal force!

BOOM!

Another massive collision, and the same scene repeated itself.

The sea, which had not yet had time to calm, churned violently once more...