"Master, you two know each other?" Long Chen asked, his tension easing slightly. A sliver of hope sparked within him—perhaps they could talk things out, and he could leave this place unharmed.

The Moon-Burial Warden snapped his fingers, and an exquisite chair materialized behind him. He sat down with one leg casually draped over the other, exuding an air of dominance.

"How did you find me, Sun-Severing Monarch?" he asked, his tone cold and composed.

"It was a coincidence," replied the Sun-Severing Monarch flatly.

"Oh really~? Then shouldn't you have turned away the moment you saw me in that coffin?" the Moon-Burial Warden asked, a sinister smile creeping onto his face, his expression darkening like a gathering storm.

The Sun-Severing Monarch, though only manifesting in soul form, gave off a chilling presence. His incomplete figure flickered like hot air over stone, with hands and legs yet to materialize—only his neck and partially formed head could be seen if one looked closely.

Long Chen dared not interrupt. The mere names of these two beings were enough to make his imagination run wild. If they are known as the Moon-Burial Warden and the Sun-Severing Monarch... what kind of title will I have in the future?

"Don't act all high and mighty," Sun-Severing Monarch snapped. "You've only just awakened from your slumber. You're no match for me now."

His voice grew sharper with each word, his pride evident.

"You came for this, didn't you?" Moon-Burial Warden raised his hand. In his palm, the Dragon Lord's vanished Blood Essence appeared once again, glowing with divine might.

Long Chen's eyes flickered with greed, and for a fleeting moment, even the Moon-Burial Warden's gaze revealed a hint of covetous desire.

"Let the younger generation make use of it," Sun-Severing Monarch said, gesturing toward Long Chen. "We've already died. The eras we lived in are long gone."

With a firm but gentle push, he nudged Long Chen forward. Long Chen stepped forward arrogantly, like the rightful heir to the Dragon Lord's Blood Essence.

"You're right," the Moon-Burial Warden said with a twisted smile. He snapped his fingers again, and Mei Xueyin appeared in front of him. She was half-conscious, barely clinging to life.

Without warning, he grabbed her throat, cutting off her air supply as she struggled weakly.

The drop of Blood Essence floated in front of him.

Sun-Severing Monarch's eyes widened in alarm. He shouted, "Disciple! Master will be borrowing your body for a moment!"

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Without waiting for consent, he plunged into Long Chen's body. Long Chen's eyes snapped shut, and when they opened again, they burned with ancient intensity.

The very air around him changed.

The aura that now surrounded him was different—older, heavier. The killing intent Long Chen had previously cultivated was nothing compared to what now emanated from him. It was as if the weight of centuries bore down on the world through his gaze.

"NO!" Long Chen—now possessed by Sun-Severing Monarch—roared, unleashing his might.

He activated the Solar Tyrant Scripture, his most powerful technique.

Three medium-sized spheres—miniature suns—appeared behind his head, forming a half-opened fan.

In the blink of an eye, his cultivation surged from the Foundation Building Realm all the way to the Soul Transformation Realm.

The suns behind him blazed with terrifying energy and then shot forward like celestial projectiles, aimed straight at the Moon-Burial Warden.

But it was too late.

With a cruel smile, the Moon-Burial Warden forcefully fed the Blood Essence to Mei Xueyin. She was unconscious, unaware of what was being done to her.

"If I can't use it, I'd rather feed it to the dogs on the street than hand it to you Monarchs," he said coldly.

He raised his palm, and all three solar projectiles halted mid-air, suspended in place by an invisible force. A mocking smile played on his lips as he looked at the Sun-Severing Monarch.

Sun-Severing Monarch's soul trembled with fury, and Long Chen's body began to crack under the pressure. The spiritual energy he was exerting far exceeded what Long Chen's body could withstand. It trembled violently, threatening to burst apart at any moment.

But in his rage, the Sun-Severing Monarch forgot something important—his sudden power-up had alerted the true master of the Scarlet Territory: the Secret Realm itself.

Imagine a realm that was created to host cultivators below the Gold Core Realm. Now, a Soul Formation Realm cultivator had just flared on its radar.

The Moon-Burial Warden, having just awakened, was unaware of this danger. Even if he had known, he might have scoffed at the idea of being caught. He was confident that even in his weakened state, he could escape if needed.

But the Realm had already begun to react.

Dark clouds started gathering above the ground, right above where Long Chen and the others stood. The storm grew rapidly, its ominous energy expanding with every passing second. This was no ordinary weather—it was the Realm itself reacting to the broken rules.

Cold winds howled across the landscape. The sky turned a dark, reddish-brown, as if soaked in blood. Lightning crackled in the clouds, and the spiritual energy of the entire realm began to converge on a single point.

Unlike Xu Mo's Dao of Silence, which could mask the flow of Qi, this disturbance was impossible to hide.

Every remaining cultivator felt the change. Alarmed and curious, they rushed toward the source of the commotion. Many thought it was someone from Verdant Sky Hall—or perhaps another top-tier sect—attempting a breakthrough to the Gold Core Realm within the secret realm.

But isn't that far too risky? they all wondered.

Still, the opportunity was too grand to ignore. If a disciple managed to survive the tribulation and break through, their name would resound throughout the cultivation world.

Wei Rong and his team, as well as Xu Mo and Su Wenqing, were among those heading toward the epicenter. But their reasons were different. Both Wei Rong and Xu Mo felt a deep, unexplainable sense of dread. Something terrible was happening to Mei Xueyin—they could feel it.

Wei Rong was already halfway through the tomb, but Xu Mo wasn't far behind. Normally, he would've avoided such chaos—but this time, he flew headfirst into it.

Dozens of disciples flew in the same direction, some finding old friends or sect elders mid-flight.

Xu Mo, however, had no one to stop him for idle chatter. He focused solely on his speed.

His strength had recently surged—perhaps doubled or tripled—and though he didn't understand exactly why, he could now explode with force and speed using only half his Qi.

Riding his flying sword, he streaked across the sky like a comet.

Some couldn't even follow his movement with their eyes.

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