Ethan made a guess in his mind.

The silence here was not natural.

It was not peace—but suppression.

He had already activated the Heaven-piercing Mind Eyes several times along the way, sweeping the swamp from surface to depth, yet every result came back empty. No beasts. No hidden formations. No obvious killing formations.

But the more "clean" it appeared, the more dangerous it felt.

In the Training Trial Secret Realm, danger never announced itself.

"Huh…"

Ethan exhaled slowly and came to a halt atop a massive branch. His eyes narrowed, then slowly ignited with a deep, cold-blue glow.

The Heaven-piercing Mind Eyes opened fully.

His consciousness sea surged violently, roaring like an awakened tide. In an instant, the world before him changed. The muddy water of the swamp turned transparent in his vision, layers of silt peeling away like veils.

His sight pierced downward.

Ten feet.

Fifty feet.

A hundred feet.

Then—resistance.

Ethan's brow furrowed slightly.

His mental energy slowed as if sinking into thick mire, tangled and restrained. Each advance required far more effort than before.

"That's strange…"

The soil beneath this swamp contained a peculiar power.

It wasn't formation energy.

It wasn't demonic energy.

It was something ancient—heavy, dull, yet stubborn, capable of blocking mental perception itself.

Ethan increased the output of his mental energy, his temples throbbing faintly.

Two hundred feet.

Three hundred feet.

His mental energy felt as though it were being dragged into a vortex, every inch costing effort.

"Heaven-piercing Mind Eyes… see through illusions!"

Ethan roared silently within his heart.

Blue fire burst fiercely within his pupils.

In that instant, his perception shattered through the final layer of resistance.

The pressure vanished.

Relief flooded him.

What appeared before his eyes made his expression change.

Beneath the swamp's depths lay a massive underground cavern.

Stalactites hung upside down like jagged vertebrae, sharp and uneven, as if the bones of some colossal beast had been frozen mid-collapse. The space was vast—far larger than the swamp above should allow.

Ethan raised his gaze.

Above him was mud.

Endless mud.

Yet it did not fall.

Instead, it pressed against an invisible ceiling.

A spatial barrier.

Thin, nearly imperceptible, but undeniably present.

Dark-golden light flowed faintly across it, weaving like ancient script. The aura it carried was profound and unfamiliar—close to divine power, yet tainted by something older and more savage.

"Protected by a spatial barrier…"

Ethan's heart sank slightly.

This was no ordinary hiding place.

Either a terrifying inheritance… or a sealed calamity.

Just as this thought crossed his mind—

A low roar echoed from the depths of the cavern.

Not loud.

But heavy.

As if something enormous had stirred.

Ethan's gaze snapped forward.

In the darkness, two golden pupils slowly opened.

They were cold.

Ancient.

Filled with hunger.

A terrifying aura surged outward, rolling through the cavern like a tidal wave.

Ethan's expression changed instantly.

"What kind of monster…?"

Before he could probe further, the pressure spiked violently.

Ethan did not hesitate.

His mental energy withdrew like a receding tide.

In the next instant, his consciousness snapped back to reality.

On the giant tree, Ethan's body stiffened slightly, then steadied.

"Mr. Aether, what's wrong?" Elara asked immediately, her expression tense.

"Junior brother?" Kara frowned. "Why did you stop all of a sudden?"

She glanced around uneasily. "Also… don't you find it strange? We've been walking through this swamp for so long, yet we haven't seen a single monster."

"That's because," Ethan said coldly, "they're all dead."

The moment the words fell—

"Run."

Before the others could react, Ethan seized Kara and Elara by the wrists and vanished.

Golden lightning tore through the air.

Kara and Elara were dragged along helplessly, their hair and clothes whipped violently by the wind.

Risa reacted instantly, summoning her flying spiritual weapon and barely keeping up.

BOOM!

The swamp exploded.

The earth trembled violently, trees shook, and the water below began to boil as if scorched by invisible flames.

The entire swamp convulsed.

The four figures halted atop a towering ancient tree and looked down.

From the depths of the swamp, a terrifying demonic aura surged upward like a volcanic eruption.

"So strong…!"

Risa's face turned pale. "Something is coming up from below!"

Even suppressed by the secret realm's rules, the aura alone made her blood run cold.

"If this were outside," she muttered, "I wouldn't fear it… but here…"

Ethan's eyes were dark.

"That thing," Kara said grimly, "is at least a Demon Lord."

"Not just any Demon Lord," Risa added sharply.

"Its aura is infinitely close to an Intermediate Demon Lord!"

A chill spread through the group.

Under the rules of the Training Trial Secret Realm, they were all suppressed to the Ninth Turn Mahayana.

Against a Demon Lord-level existence—

There was no margin.

No mistake allowed.

"This swamp," Ethan said quietly, "is its hunting ground."

That explained everything.

The silence.

The absence of life.

Every creature that entered had already been devoured.

"Up," Ethan ordered.

He leapt skyward.

The others followed without hesitation.

They shot upward through layers of branches and dense canopy, breaking past the humid air until sunlight flooded their vision.

What they saw made Kara inhale sharply.

Endless forest.

As far as the eye could see, towering trees stretched beneath drifting clouds, like a green ocean without end.

"This doesn't make sense," Kara muttered.

"We just entered the swamp. Where are the mountains?"

"Because," Ethan said calmly, "we stopped seeing reality the moment we stepped inside."

"This place… is an illusion."

Risa's pupils contracted.

An illusion vast enough to cover an entire swamp.

That alone was terrifying.

Suddenly—

"Look!"

Risa pointed toward the horizon.

A brilliant golden pillar of light erupted in the distance, piercing the heavens and earth alike. Spiritual energy surged violently, forming ripples visible even from afar.

"A heaven and earth treasure…?" Kara whispered.

Elara quickly unrolled the map, her fingers trembling slightly.

"…That direction," she said slowly, "is marked."

"It's where my ancestor once found his inheritance."

She looked up, eyes uncertain.

"Could this… be the end of the map?"

Ethan's gaze was cold.

"No."

He turned sharply.

"That might be a bait."

"The monster beneath the swamp deliberately released this phenomenon to lure cultivators in."

"It hides below, waiting."

"And now that it knows I've seen through it…"

The swamp below erupted again.

The water split violently.

A massive shadow surged upward.

"Everyone," Ethan said, stepping forward, his voice firm and cold, "retreat."

Before they could argue, a wave of force pushed Kara, Elara, and Risa backward.

Ethan remained alone.

His body straightened.

His aura shifted.

At the same time, he mobilized the energy and star power within his body.

A/N:

Extra chapters

100 power stones - 1 Extra chapters

200 power stones - 2 Extra chapters

Massage Chair - 1 Extra chapters

Luxury Car - 2 Extra Chapters

Dragon - 5 Extra Chapters

Magic Castle - 15 Extra Chapters

...

Thanks for the Magic Castle: @Chuckalotapus

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.