"...The Elephant God Secret Realm that's currently being activated was discovered together with Havel's team. They've provided a portion of the keys. I've just checked; the team Havel has brought this time is headed by Koyle, who's ranked among their top ten and is seventy-sixth in the overall Supernova rankings..."

"One rank higher than your historical highest ranking?"

"That's not the point."

Yin Muqing casually swiped through the virtual screen before her, and new information promptly appeared. The screen displayed the image of a young man. He had deep-set eyes and a high nose. His gaze was icy, and a knife scar, about three centimeters long, lay on his right brow bone.

Yin Muqing looked at the man on the screen and lightly tapped to send the information. A few seconds later, a faint gasp of surprise came from the communicator.

"Xilin?!"

"Yes."

Yin Muqing murmured in a complicated tone, "One of the top three experts in Atesdan, ranked sixty-sixth overall in the Supernova rankings..."

The Supernova rankings are the most precise and fairest rankings, determined by the comprehensive abilities of each Supernova member. The difference between each rank might be small or quite significant. Regardless of the situation, a difference of more than twenty ranks was substantial.

Even as proud as Yin Muqing was, she had to admit that the opponent named Xilin was definitely far superior to her in strength. There was a huge disparity in their inherent abilities, and she faced two such competitors. Her earlier assessment of the situation as "not so optimistic" could now almost be seen as self-comfort.

"...Xilin is Atesdan's 'national treasure'; why would he show up here?" A perplexed inquiry from her companion came from the communicator.

Yin Muqing rubbed her forehead and sighed, "Who knows. He seems to get along well with Havel and the Egersis. It looks like they must have reached some sort of agreement and are planning to outdo us in this Secret Realm exploration..."

"Did you not report this to the higher-ups?"

"Of course, I did," answered Yin Muqing.

At this moment, she noticed a Fly Shuttle bearing the Great Sum and Yellow Bear logos approaching from the sky. The Fly Shuttle stopped near them, and a young man in a black battle uniform disembarked. He was lean and handsome. Yin Muqing glanced at him, and the virtual projection in front of her automatically pulled up his information. After seeing the sparse resume, Yin Muqing frowned slightly. But her frown quickly smoothed out as she withdrew her gaze and dismissively swiped away the insignificant profile with a cold expression.

"...The higher-ups didn't expect this." Yin Muqing picked up the conversation with her companion, continuing, "We'll be entering the Secret Realm shortly, and there obviously isn't enough time to rally experts now. Besides, aren't all the well-known individuals already with you?"

"Yes." Her companion's voice was laced with a trace of cold hardness. "Havel has been making quite a few moves recently. We were tricked by them in the recent outer space exercise. Including your situation, this would be the second time. Don't worry, I'll inform everyone about this..."

Yin Muqing nodded, continuing, "The only good news at the moment is that since we provided a majority of the keys to activate the Secret Realm, after negotiations, the Egersis agreed to let us enter ten hours in advance....."

***

After bidding a brief farewell to Xiao Rui, Lu Yuan disembarked from the Fly Shuttle. The first thing he saw was a massive black vortex surrounded by numerous Fly Shuttles.

He didn't need to ask to know that this was undoubtedly the entrance to the Elephant God Secret Realm they were about to explore. The size of this entrance was much larger than that of the Lament Ruins he had explored previously. Judging by its dimensions, a Fly Shuttle could probably fly directly into it.

Xiao Rui had just mentioned to him as he was disembarking that the entrance to Ash Mountain was even larger. Exploration teams from all over the world had indeed driven their Fly Shuttles and Mechas directly into it. They would start with a few rounds of energy cannon bombardment to level a large area, then set up camp, and subsequently send in troops and experts to slowly advance inwards.

So this was the exploration method for Legendary Level Secret Realms. A large-scale joint exploration operation. Lu Yuan felt a thrill just listening to it.

Lu Yuan slowly approached the Yellow Bear camp. With only a pair of wings behind the Gold Bear emblem on his left chest, he was rather inconspicuous. His youthful face attracted a few curious glances, but they were quickly withdrawn. Lu Yuan scanned the people currently waiting in the area. The majority were, like him, Double Winged Flying Bear Generals.

There were four at the Four-winged Flying Bear level. Lu Yuan looked at each of them one by one as their information popped up before his eyes.

Suddenly, his gaze landed on one of the Four-winged Flying Bear level individuals.

Ordinary looks, dressed in black, with a temperament as cold as an iceberg. Who else could it be but Han Xun, who had been his "sparring partner" in the Consciousness Space for more than half a month?!

Ever since Han Xun had rescued Lu Yuan in the Lament Ruins, the two had added each other as friends, although they had hardly conversed since.

But he could still be considered an "old friend." Various factors combined to give Han Xun a natural "friendliness" in Lu Yuan's eyes.

He pulled up his contact list, pondering whether or not to send Han Xun a message. Surprisingly, Han Xun noticed him too and took the initiative to approach.

"Mr. Han." Lu Yuan's eyes were clear, his face wore a slight smile, and he enthusiastically greeted Han Xun, who was walking slowly towards him.

Han Xun responded with a quiet "HMM," his gaze softening slightly. It was clear he wanted to smile at Lu Yuan, but achieving such an expression seemed difficult for his ice-cold features.

"I saw your name on the team's member list. You arrived just in time. Any later, and we'd have gone in....." Han Xun looked at Lu Yuan with a somewhat complicated gaze.

If he remembered correctly, this was only Lu Yuan's second Secret Realm exploration. Although the events of the Lament Ruins were still fresh in his mind, the young Flying Bear before him, in terms of both strength and experience, seemed somewhat green for this exploration team. However... who was he to question the judgment of the Lord who favored this young man? That alone was enough reason for Han Xun to make an effort to connect with him. His presence in this team probably also meant that the Lord specifically wanted him to gain some experience.

"We're going in now?.." Hearing Han Xun's words, Lu Yuan blinked. "But the message I received said tomorrow."

"It was moved up by ten hours." Han Xun didn't offer much explanation. He paused for a moment, then said seriously to Lu Yuan, "Once we enter the Secret Realm, let's move together."

Lu Yuan was momentarily stunned, then quickly smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Mr. Han."

It was obvious Han Xun intended to look out for him. Even though I've always used him as a punching bag in the Consciousness Space, his kind gesture is appreciated, Lu Yuan mused. It seems ever since I latched onto Lord Tong, I keep running into 'good people' everywhere.

Having a brief conversation with Han Xun provided Lu Yuan with quite a bit of valuable information. In the team, Han Xun was a top-tier expert, second only to Yin Muqing, and received a lot of attention. His initiative in speaking to Lu Yuan also gradually drew more eyes towards Lu Yuan.

"So that's Yin Muqing." As soon as Han Xun left, Lu Yuan immediately turned his attention to a woman in a silver battle suit at the front of the team. The woman had a cool demeanor and wasn't strikingly beautiful, but her expression held a faint, seemingly innate arrogance.

Lu Yuan could understand. Every member of the Supernova organization was a super genius, selected from tens of millions, even hundreds of millions. They were the truly fortunate ones who had survived an incredibly fierce selection process. If it were him, he'd be proud too.

"Let's see just how powerful the Starry Sky Martial Path I've just begun to master truly is!" Lu Yuan shifted his gaze from Yin Muqing, found an empty spot, pretended to close his eyes in rest, and quickly did so.

[Grandmaster Meditation Battle] activated!

Very quickly, Lu Yuan appeared in the Consciousness Space. Yin Muqing—his Imaginary Enemy—stood not far from him, looking at him indifferently.

Instead of attacking immediately, Lu Yuan chose—Consciousness Inhabitation!

Instantly, he entered Yin Muqing's body.

"Huh?!" As soon as Lu Yuan entered, he sensed something was off. He instinctively looked down at his chest, a somewhat speechless expression appearing on his face. "She padded it... Do women in the Supernova organization care this much about their figures?" he grumbled internally, then quickly focused his mind.

Yu Wentong's strength was too immense; even now, he couldn't discern what lay hidden within the dazzling galaxy inside Yu Wentong's body. Yin Muqing, however, was a suitable subject for study.

Lu Yuan noticed two fist-sized silver vortexes within Yin Muqing's body. Countless dazzling points of light streamed out from these vortexes, constantly infusing every part of her body, refining every cell.

"So these are developed Star Caves. Yin Muqing has developed two Star Caves..." Lu Yuan pondered. He felt that the energy circulation path in Yin Muqing's body was far less perfect than his own Martial Arts Grandmaster physique, which was guided by his blood spheres. Of course, this might also be due to her current limited strength, having only developed two Star Caves and not yet illuminated a complete Star Map.

"Let's test her combat power." "Three Stages of the Light of Spirit, plus two Star Caves..."

Lu Yuan's consciousness returned to his own body. A faint glow flickered in his eyes as he muttered quietly, "Let's see how she compares to me, a Level Two Martial Arts Grandmaster... Who is stronger?"

After saying this, Lu Yuan looked at Yin Muqing's chest with a contemptuous expression.

Sensing his gaze, a murderous intent instantly burst forth in Yin Muqing's eyes!

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