Lin Feng also shifted back into human form. He took another step back, still a bit nervous as he looked at Zhang Ze. "Then what did you mean just now? What did you mean by 'changing the flavor'?"

"I was bluffing. If I didn't say that, how else was I supposed to gross out that Yun and make her leave?" Zhang Ze straightened up as he spoke, and began laying out an Array.

"Places like brothels—quiet and out of the way as they are—are bound to have cameras everywhere.

"That's just how the business works. That Yun obviously is a Mo Family Giant's plant left here to keep an eye on this ghost market called the Dark Channel.

"If I didn't disgust her into leaving, how could I feel safe setting things up?"

Zhang Ze pointed at the Second Layer Barrier he was setting up. "This is a new trick developed by that Taoist and the others. Besides blocking outside snooping, it can reflect any Spell used to probe or crack it back at the caster at full strength.

"The outer layer is a warning Array. It's not hard to crack, but it has one quirk: no matter who cracks it, it will trigger the alarm.

"Getting caught spying on two guys sleeping together—word like that spreads, it sounds pretty bad."

Lin Feng felt that made a lot of sense, but he also felt something was off.

"Hold on a second! If you do this, won't our reputations get ruined too? I—"

Zhang Ze gave Lin Feng an exasperated look. "What's it got to do with us? The names I registered at the front desk were A-Dao and Gargamel, not Zhang Ze and Lin Feng.

"So what do two perverts renting a room have to do with the two of us?"

Lin Feng: "Who's Gargamel?"

Zhang Ze: "Your current codename. I just made it up. Don't worry about it."

Lin Feng: "..."

As Zhang Ze said this, the real A-Dao—that thief Dragon who'd done nothing good in his last life and thus ran into Zhang Ze in this one—was currently holed up inside Cyan Lotus Dust, crunching away on a pancake.

Beside it was a pile of Four Continents snacks that Zhang Ze carried with him.

Under Zhang Ze's combination of big stick and sweet dates, it had completely fallen captive to gourmet food, utterly unaware that its reputation was about to go down the drain.

...

After the second Array was set up, Zhang Ze suddenly grew serious.

He poured Lin Feng a cup of tea, then asked a question.

"Say we lived in a sealed box, with borders on all four sides and limited resources—what do you think would happen?"

Lin Feng eyed the tea warily and didn't drink. "A box… If it were me, I'd definitely look for a way to get out."

Zhang Ze said, "And if you can't get out? What happens inside the box?"

After thinking for a moment, Lin Feng said, "The living beings in the box will keep increasing, and the resources inside will be used up. In the end, everyone dies."

Zhang Ze nodded. "So if it were you, what would you do?"

Lin Feng thought about it, then answered honestly. "I'd try to become the strongest one, occupy the most resources, give everyone else a limited supply and then… then try to find a way to get out of the box."

Zhang Ze said, "Exactly. Very efficient. But that's on the premise that the box can withstand your thrashing—and that you actually have the ability to survive in the void outside once the box blows apart."

Zhang Ze knocked on the wall beside him that was covered by an Array. The pale-blue Spiritual Qi Barrier rippled.

"This Secret Realm called Mountain and Sea is precisely such a box—limited resources, and no way out."

Lin Feng frowned slightly, recalling those Raptors in the butcher shop gnawing furiously on spicy raptor feet. "So that's why they eat their own kind…"

"Population control. Resource recycling. Necessary measures so this Secret Realm can last."

Zhang Ze picked up his teacup and looked at the red tea inside.

"It's just like drinking tea. Take a sip, spit a sip back. The tea will still gradually decrease, but if you don't mind how disgusting it is, you can drink it all day."

Putting the cup down, Zhang Ze relayed to Lin Feng, one by one, the intel he had gotten from the thief Dragon.

"In the legends of these dinosaurs, it was a Saint who awakened their sentience and let them live in this Mountain and Sea Secret Realm.

"But not long after, the Saint disappeared, the system vanished, and chaos began. The various races hunted each other, war never ceased.

"Until one day, the first generation Horror Saint was born. With sheer dominance, it ended the chaos and set down ritual and law for all races.

"After that, imitating the Saint, it passed the Dao on to every race.

"At that time, the various dinosaur races believed that the borders of Mountain and Sea were a trial the Saint had set for them—that once they gained the Dao, they could cross the boundary and reach a vaster world.

"They called that era the Peach Blossom Spring Epoch."

"Unfortunately, outside of it there was nothing but a very talkative tree."

Thinking of that void-like Earth Sea, Zhang Ze sighed.

"That Horror Saint never saw this coming either. By passing down a cultivation method to all races, it hastened this Secret Realm's depletion.

"And by then, their bodies had already reached the point where they couldn't survive without Spiritual Qi.

"If things went on, there were only two possible outcomes. One: Spiritual Qi dries up completely, and aside from a few of the strongest, the rest of the dinosaurs all die.

"Two: as the wars for Spiritual Qi escalate, this Secret Realm gets directly smashed to pieces and every last Dragon is wiped out."

Lin Feng: "So, they…"

Zhang Ze: "They chose to launch a plan called Era Reincarnation."

As he spoke, Zhang Ze tossed the token engraved with the character "Shuai" into Lin Feng's hand.

"The Horror Saint of that generation joined forces with the Lord and beat down everyone of their own realm.

"After that, all the ruling leaders of each house drafted a covenant: three thousand years make up one era, and at the end of each era, only those holding a token can live to see the first day of the next epoch.