Director Morrison said, "Wait for news from my negotiations, little Locke."

Immediately, he disconnected from the gray stone tablet.

Locke put away the gray stone tablet, then sat in his office and began writing the two articles he wanted to submit.

Three days later, Locke submitted the two completed articles to "Southeast" and "Cloud Marsh" respectively. Even in Cloud Marsh Wetland, these two journals weren't ordinary.

Locke just needed to wait quietly for the results.

After completing all this, Locke decided he should exchange his opportunity to enter the wizard secret realm that he had earned in the Land of Six Towers as soon as possible. After all, who knows which day the results of Director Morrison's negotiations would come out and he would leave the Land of Six Towers.

Exploring secret realms also required quite a bit of time, so rather than choosing another day, it was better to take advantage of having time now to explore Poisonous Valley and first collect the resources inside this First Circle wizard secret realm.

So Locke submitted an application to Alicia and Grand Wizard Sulla. After the application was approved that afternoon, he proactively took White Dragon Tower's floating ladder and descended 20 kilometers underground to reach the Poisonous Valley secret realm located underground.

The ordinary First Circle wizard from the Plutarch family responsible for leading the way bowed to Locke with great respect, then said, "Lord Locke, Poisonous Valley is just ahead. Once you walk through that stone gate, you'll have entered Poisonous Valley. Inside the valley is miasma formed from strange poisons. Just breathing will cause death. Of course, in wizard secret realms, even death won't result in true death."

"Only soul damage will occur. So as soon as you enter Poisonous Valley, you need to deploy your permanent defensive force field. Poisonous Valley is a valley formed by the convergence of many bloodline powers, and this is also the resting place of a Second Circle wizard in bloodline studies from the Basil family. You must enter with respect."

"Because Poisonous Valley is one of the three major First Circle level secret realms in the Land of Six Towers, wizards from other families also appear here. According to our agreement, we cannot attack each other inside Poisonous Valley."

The First Circle wizard from the Plutarch family said, "Besides that, once you enter Poisonous Valley, aside from death, you cannot forcibly exit. The only way to leave is to find five Poison Pearls inside Poisonous Valley and place them into the Poisonous Blood Pool inside Poisonous Valley. Then you can open the path to leave the secret realm."

This family wizard bowed to Locke. "Feel free to enter. I will wait at the entrance for your return."

"This is the task Lady Alicia assigned to me."

Locke nodded slightly. "I understand."

Alicia was probably afraid he might suffer severe damage inside Poisonous Valley, so she deliberately sent one of her trusted subordinates to support him at the Poisonous Valley entrance.

He passed through Poisonous Valley's gate and entered it. After passing through a natural stone gate, he felt as if the world itself had changed.

He looked back again. On the other side of the natural stone gate, there was no one—no wizard from the Plutarch family, no wizards guarding the secret realm at all. The secret realm application form in his hand also self-ignited upon entering the wizard secret realm.

It disappeared in an instant.

Locke surveyed his surroundings and saw that the sky in this area was entirely dark green. Looking carefully, he discovered the sky was filled with countless poisonous mists.

That's why the sky was dyed green.

Locke felt his internal mana being suppressed. "Just as I thought, just like apprentice-level wizard secret realms are formed by the convergence of echoes after First Circle wizards die, Second Circle wizards also produce echoes upon death, and the scale is even larger. This Poisonous Valley is fundamentally a special echo produced after a Second Circle wizard's death."

"The scale of this echo far exceeds the apprentice-level secret realms I entered before. Entering here is like entering a new world. Even the world's laws have changed somewhat."

"So this wizard secret realm will suppress my mana."

Locke thought for a moment and understood the reason.

Right, a portion of Second Circle wizards' Grand Magic was itself made using World Stones, and echoes formed after a Second Circle wizard's death would definitely possess portions of world laws from other worlds.

He wasn't even certain whether remnants of Grand Magic existed in this secret realm.

Locke walked through Poisonous Valley. Inside Poisonous Valley were all bare rocks. On the rocky ground were wells one after another, except these wells didn't contain clear spring water but dark green poisonous liquid.

Locke instinctively deployed his Life Force Field. A light green crystal barrier shield surrounded him, but in this toxin permeating the air, the Life Force Field was actually slowly being damaged.

"There's a toxin in the air sufficient to invade permanent defensive force fields." Locke was somewhat shocked. He hadn't encountered toxins that could invade First Circle wizards before.

Even elemental infusions from First Circle magical plants needed to rely on wood elemental crystal clusters or wizard magical attacks to break through a wizard's permanent defensive force field before they could successfully perform elemental infusion.

Or they relied on the powerful force of elemental infusion to forcibly shatter a First Circle wizard's permanent defensive force field.

But the special toxin in the air before him wasn't breaking through his permanent defensive force field with powerful attack power, but using a method of contamination, invasion, expansion, and contamination to rapidly disintegrate his permanent defensive force field.

"Worthy of being a First Circle level wizard secret realm, truly bizarre." Locke frowned because that bizarre toxin actually had portions penetrating through the permanent defensive force field, appearing in the air and being breathed in by him.

Although extremely dilute, it still managed to do so.

"Toxins can actually reach this level." Locke's expression changed. He hurriedly took out a bottle of Spirit Spring Soul Surge Potion and a bottle of Minor Viridian Potion from his astral ring and drank both simultaneously.

His condition thereby recovered to its peak, and at the same time, his mana's magic resistance activated to resist this unknown Second Circle toxin.

"Wait..." Locke's expression was strange. "So that's how it is."

He directly used the Scorpion Woman Ring to activate Berserk, excavating his bloodline potential and strengthening his physical body. After his physical body was initially strengthened, the toxin that had originally begun raging in his body actually disappeared at a visible speed.

"Bizarre." Locke said, "The permanent defensive force field cannot completely defend against toxins inhaled from the air. They ignore my magic resistance and begin continuously replicating and increasing the total toxin amount. But as long as I strengthen my physique and exceed a certain limited range, I can completely suppress this Second Circle toxin."

The Scorpion Woman Ring on Locke's right middle finger flashed with magical radiance again on its surface. His pupils instantly turned yellow, like a beast's.

At the same time, his entire body's skin turned red, as if his blood was boiling.

This was a First Circle bloodline universal magic—Beast Body.

First Circle bloodline universal magic—Boiling Blood.

Under the enhancement of three bloodline universal spells, Locke now had yellow-tinged eyes, bulging muscles all over his body, and was three parts taller. When he walked, he exuded fierce power, and at the same time, the special toxin in his body completely disappeared.

"This is, after all, a bloodline wizard's wizard secret realm, so the problem-solving approach for this wizard secret realm must be based on bloodline wizards' spell pools from the start."

Locke thought, "Although I don't understand the specific principles of this... Second Circle bloodline toxin, bloodline wizards generally possess powerful physiques, so in this Poisonous Valley, one must simultaneously enhance one's physique and deploy permanent defensive force fields."

Locke sensed that his internal bloodline power seemed to be constantly suppressing that toxin.

In this process, his Three-Eyed Tiger Cat bloodline and mysterious true dragon bloodline—both bloodline powers were actually slightly strengthening.

Locke thought, "Resisting that toxin in the air can make my bloodline power increase?"

"Worthy of being a First Circle bloodline wizard's secret realm."

"Unfortunately, I don't dare close my permanent defensive force field. The instant I close it, no matter how powerful my physique is, I'll be killed by this mysterious bloodline toxin in the air."

"Without knowing its specific principles, it's better not to act rashly. Observation first is better."

Locke walked past an area of wells. Suddenly, the dark green liquid in one well churned, and a massive black wolf spider suddenly emerged from it, spitting dark green poisonous silk at Locke.

On the back of that wolf spider was actually a human face. That face said full of resentment, "I will offer you to the great Lord Wizard Basil as blood food!"