When Ye Chen turned his head, he saw that within the pitch-black mountain cave, the white figure moved like a phantom, gliding soundlessly to his side. Had she not spoken, even relying on his sixth sense for danger, he wouldn't have detected her standing behind him. Terrifying!

Ye Chen’s gaze was heavy, and he murmured, "I was just passing by... I saw you, so I followed to take a look." Bai Yijun’s expression was icy. She scrutinized Ye Chen, then said coldly, "This is not a place you should be.

You had best leave now, or you’ll lose your life without even someone to collect the body." Ye Chen wasn't angered; he simply nodded, "Understood." Bai Yijun glanced at him, her delicate brows furrowing slightly, but she said no more, walking straight into the depths of the cave. After she was far away, Ye Chen remained rooted to the spot, frowning in thought. "This is just a C-rank Star Fragment.

The top-tier monsters inside are only at the peak of the Demigod Realm. On an entire Star Fragment spanning hundreds of millions of kilometers, such monsters are exceedingly rare. Why is she here alone?" Ye Chen had always felt that it was a waste of time for a woman of her caliber to lead an expedition to a C-rank Star Fragment.

Now, it seemed her presence here was indeed for private reasons. He pondered for a moment, then suppressed his aura, employing a secret technique called the "Dead Man" manual he had learned in a past life. Once activated, all his vital energy, breathing, and every other trace of life force would be completely masked, rendering him indistinguishable from a corpse.

As he executed the technique, a faint layer of ashen gray seemed to coat Ye Chen’s skin, and his eyes turned a dead, flat gray. He moved with the silent, light steps of a cat, carefully trailing after her. He advanced along the tunnel.

Ye Chen moved with extreme caution, lightly harvesting the special light matter from the numerous slain beasts littering the path, carefully extracting it from their bodies. Since there had already been some disturbance, Ye Chen deliberately slowed his pace, not following too closely. After walking for nearly ten minutes, he suddenly found the path blocked by a dead end—a wall of piled rock where corpses of demonic beasts and lost souls lay in heaps.

Ye Chen’s heart tightened. He scanned his surroundings, but after a moment, Bai Yijun was nowhere to be seen. He frowned slightly.

He hadn't seen the woman retreating along the path. How could she have vanished? Ye Chen flicked his finger, igniting a spark of firelight to illuminate the area.

He immediately began refining the special light matter from the slain beasts and used his divine sword to excavate the Soul Crystals from the heads of the Lost Souls. After busy work, Ye Chen noticed something: the Soul Crystals were gone from the heads of the Lost Souls who had reached the Demigod Realm; only those at the Ghost God Realm still possessed intact crystals. While excavating, Ye Chen used the Holy Flames from his Holy Flame Armor to cover his body, preventing contact with the blood of these Demigod beasts and Lost Souls, as even a tiny drop could lead to infection.

Upon finishing his harvest, Ye Chen counted twenty-five Soul Crystals in total. Most of these came from Lost Souls at the peak of the Ghost God Realm; only a few were from those at the sixth or seventh tier of the Ghost God Realm. Ye Chen surveyed the area but didn't immediately absorb the crystals.

He extended a finger, and a sudden flare of light illuminated the entire cavern. In that brief instant, Ye Chen intensely scrutinized his surroundings, and his gaze sharpened, locking onto the left wall where a demonic beast's claw, about a zhang long, was half-buried in the dirt... Ye Chen quickly moved over, nudged the claw aside with his divine sword, and immediately spotted a blackened iron handle beneath it—utterly unremarkable in the dark cavern.

Ye Chen approached, studied it for a moment, then retreated a few steps. With a flick of his divine sword, he sliced off a large chunk of rock and tossed it toward the iron handle. Bang!

The rock struck the handle, causing it to tilt slightly. Accompanied by a kacha sound, the seemingly solid rock face in front of the handle suddenly cracked open, and a brilliant light shone forth, cascading onto Ye Chen’s face and body—blindingly bright. Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and peered inside.

Beyond the rock was a wide, small path paved entirely with platinum, flanked by metallic huā grass that never wilted. At the end of this path stood a dilapidated, ancient ruin—a wall as grand as a city rampart, split by numerous fine cracks. "A hidden realm," Ye Chen murmured, his eyes narrowing.

He quickly scanned his surroundings to ensure safety, then stepped through. Walking onto the path, Ye Chen looked up. The sky above was azure, dotted with wisps of white clouds, offering a view of the clear blue heavens.

After watching for a while, Ye Chen realized the clouds were stationary; the sky appeared to be an artificial protective shield. He reached the broken city wall and looked inside. It was filled with huā grass and trees, covered in fallen leaves.

It was clearly a former street, now overgrown, with tender green sprouts pushing up through the stone crevices due to the passage of ages. As Ye Chen entered, the huā grass, of an unknown species, grew as high as his waist and was incredibly tough, like sheets of iron. Had Ye Chen not possessed a powerful physique allowing him to move unimpeded, any ordinary person with a weaker constitution would likely have had their body shredded upon entry by this foliage.

"Hmm?" After a few steps, Ye Chen spotted a piece of white silk fabric amidst a patch of huā grass. He reached out and grasped it; a faint, sweet fragrance still lingered on the strip of cloth... This must be Bai Yijun’s?

She passed through here too. Where did she go? Ye Chen mused, tucking the silk into his chest before stepping forward.

Not long after, he saw a second layer of the city wall. This wall was relatively intact, forged from rare metals, though it bore several cracks; it wasn't severely damaged, and the defensive systems mounted on the metal wall seemed to have long since failed. Crack!

Ye Chen's foot landed heavily, making a crunching sound. He quickly looked down to see a set of stark white bones in the weeds, about the size of an mastiff. It was impossible to tell how many years had passed, but they were brittle; a slight pressure shattered them into a pile of bone fragments.

Ye Chen frowned, stepped over the skeleton, and continued on. After walking only a short distance, he saw four or five more sets of bones scattered along the way. Just then, Ye Chen arrived before a ruined building.

As he was about to circle around it, a low growl emanated from within. Immediately after, a blood-red claw, radiating intense savagery, emerged from the doorway. It was the size of an elephant's leg and covered in crimson fur.

Ye Chen's expression shifted drastically. He felt an extremely potent divine energy fluctuation emanating from that claw! Flee!

Ye Chen hesitated for barely an instant, activating his Lightning Superman Mode and charging frantically toward the rock wall entrance. He had only dared to venture this far by relying on the Lightning Superman Mode. He hadn't even gotten a clear look at what lay inside before encountering a Demigod Realm beast—and judging by the aura, it was definitely not a lower-tier Demigod.

"Hmm?" Ye Chen's figure blurred as he covered several hundred zhang in an instant. He suddenly noticed that the rock entrance he had used was closed, sealed shut by the stone wall—when had that happened? His face changed slightly.

Does this mechanism close automatically after a set time? He examined the rock surface but found no trace of any mechanism. He swung his divine sword and struck it, sending up a shower of sparks, but the stone didn't even sustain a scratch.

"Roar!" A low growl sounded from behind him, thick with greedy savagery. Ye Chen’s brow furrowed. He decisively abandoned the sealed entrance, his form flickering as he darted into the distance.

As he ran, he swept aside the overgrown huā grass lining the street, parting it like waves in water. When Ye Chen reached the next dilapidated house, a low roar erupted from inside. Following it, a beast covered in pale golden fur, shaped like a tiger, rushed out with a ferocious expression and charged toward him.

Ye Chen started, quickly veering past it and rushing straight down the center of the street. Whoosh! A cold pinpoint of light zipped past Ye Chen's side.

Had he not been constantly shifting his trajectory while running, he would have been hit. Run! Run!

Run! Ye Chen mentally counted down the remaining time on his Lightning Superman Mode while desperately searching for an exit. Just then, on the eastern side of the second city wall, he spotted a small path winding through a bamboo grove, overgrown with weeds, that appeared to lead to another area.

Ye Chen rushed toward it. Bang! Just as Ye Chen was about to rush into the bamboo path, he slammed into an incredibly solid metal wall.

The impact rebounded him several steps backward. He looked up in astonishment to see what appeared to be an invisible barrier blocking the passage leading to the bamboo path. Ye Chen had no time to investigate further; the two roaring sounds from behind were closing in.

He turned back toward the city wall. Amidst the weeds, a beast covered in pale golden fur, resembling a gigantic tiger, and another beast—entirely blood-red, with a snake-like tail and four claws on its abdomen—were charging together, their forms expanding rapidly in Ye Chen’s vision. All this happened in the span of a breath.

Just as Ye Chen was about to loop around to another side, a whistle, sounding as if it were right beside his ear, shrieked from the distance, rocketing forward like an arrow released from a bow, piercing the air with an unstoppable momentum. Pfft! Low!

A flash of white light sliced across the heads of the two beasts. Immediately, the two creatures, which had been hissing softly, stiffened. Carried forward by their momentum, they tumbled four or five times before collapsing at Ye Chen’s feet.

Ye Chen’s pupils constricted. He turned to look where a slender figure stood poised on a nearby rock. She wore a white shirt as white as winter snow and held a silver-white pistol in her hand.

The space around the muzzle of the gun seemed to waver slightly, like burning flames. Under Ye Chen’s gaze, the woman slowly turned her head. Her expression was indifferent as she spared him a glance, her voice falling on his heart like raindrops: "I told you to leave.

Why didn't you listen?" Ye Chen froze for a moment, then lowered his gaze, remaining silent. Bai Yijun glanced at him, seemingly unwilling to say more. She tucked the pistol onto the loop of her belt, then said coldly, "That passage door can only be opened from the outside; it cannot be opened from within unless one has reached the Demigod Realm and can use divine power to force it open.

Otherwise, the only way out is through the spatial rift gate at the center of this ancient city." She then shot Ye Chen another look. "I won't waste my divine power for you. So, you can either wait here to die, or follow me to the city center.

If you manage to survive the journey, consider yourself lucky."