Celestial Beast Taming

But it failed to dodge the sinister Bone Flowers shot by the Fern Bone Puppet.

The Fern Bone Puppet fired over a dozen Bone Flowers, but only two found their mark on the figure.

The Bone Flower embedded in the left arm and the one in the waist—less than three centimeters in diameter—suddenly began to swell and expand as if they were growing.

The Bone Flowers seemed to transform into greedy, bony maws, frantically chewing away at the flesh they touched.

The War Puppet transformed from the Decaying Mist Owl didn’t join the fight.

Hong Ji commanded the Decaying Mist Owl to dematerialize into mist, rise high into the air, and survey the surroundings.

Hong Ji was now a battle-hardened warrior, having fought in numerous campaigns of all sizes alongside Zhong Yi.

Without any reminder from Zhong Yi, Hong Ji realized that their current battlefield was fraught with peril.

Besides this assassin, there were likely others lurking about.

As for the War Puppet transformed from the Ice Robe Mist Scorpion, it didn’t immediately join the battle either.

Instead, it burrowed into Ice Glaze’s fluffy fur.

When Ice Glaze fought, this War Puppet, transformed from the Ice Robe Mist Scorpion, would provide support.

Hong Ji’s fighting style had always been exceedingly bizarre.

Now that she had undergone an Evolution from a Fusion Secret Puppet into a Demon-taming Combat Puppet, she could not only fight on her own but also command four War Puppets. Hong Ji’s current combat methods could no longer be described as merely "bizarre."

Now, Hong Ji’s fighting style was filled with a grim and terrifying aura.

Once the two Bone Flowers pierced the flesh of a living being, they were extremely difficult to remove.

The best way to get rid of them was a drastic sacrifice.

The assassin clearly had a wealth of combat experience. They made a decisive call and severed their own left arm.

Their sharp right claw then swiped toward the Bone Flower on their lower back, which had already grown several times in size.

Hong Ji had devoured nearly forty Extraordinary Tier and Fantasy Tier Bizarre creatures of the Bone Element.

This Fern Bone Puppet, serving as her War Puppet, had long since been strengthened to the point of a complete transformation.

The Bone Flowers it produced were not so easily removed!

Even though the core of the Bone Flower was crushed, the fragmented parts could still regenerate.

The regeneration was just a bit slower than before.

The tenacity of these two Bone Flowers clearly exceeded the assassin’s expectations.

As the assassin scrambled to get rid of the Bone Flowers, a dark red thread suddenly shot out from Hong Ji’s ink-black hair.

The thread, as fast as lightning, wrapped around the assassin’s body.

This dark red thread seemed to become a deadly weapon, not even giving the assassin a chance to make a sound.

It had already sliced the assassin’s body into several pieces.

After dying, the assassin’s body dissolved like a mirage, disappearing from the Divine Wood Secret Realm.

This all happened less than a minute after the Divine Wood Secret Realm had opened.

Kang Qianying hailed from a B Level Influence called Yin Sha Palace.

Within Yin Sha Palace, Kang Qianying was a talent with a distinguished record.

Although she had not yet taken the grand examination held by the Wanyu Soul Fighting Company to become a C Level Talent, Kang Qianying had already successfully accumulated 2,000 Soul Fighting Points.

Kang Qianying was very confident that she could become a C Level Talent.

Because she excelled at stealth and assassination, back when she was still First Level, Kang Qianying had once achieved an impressive rank of 291st in a Secret Realm opened by the Wanyu Gambling Company.

Although she had only managed to survive by hiding, and hadn’t found many resources despite her high rank, she had still placed in the top 300!

But Kang Qianying never expected to be so lucky upon entering this Second Level Secret Realm.

She had run into a competitor less than fifty meters away.

Kang Qianying had thought it was a heaven-sent opportunity, but instead, she was killed without being able to put up any resistance.

’Eliminated just one minute into the Secret Realm... I’ll probably be the most disgraced participant, ranked 3,000th!’

Her mind still reeling, Kang Qianying thought back to the young girl who had attacked her.

For a moment, she couldn’t tell if the girl was another contestant or a Guardian Beast Contracted by that young male Guardian Beast Master, which had somehow taken human form.

The shock that girl had given Kang Qianying was simply too immense.

It wasn’t just because the girl was incredibly fierce, but because the offensive methods she displayed left Kang Qianying with lingering fear.

’Bones, blood vessels... very much in the style of a Demon Spirit Ecosystem!’

Calming down, Kang Qianying thought about her 3,000th place ranking and secretly stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

She was at a bit of a loss as to how she would explain this to her Influence.

Meanwhile, after summoning all his Guardian Beasts, Zhong Yi quickly climbed a nearby ancient tree.

Zhong Yi didn’t rush to the top. Once he reached the middle section of the ancient tree, he and his Guardian Beasts all concealed themselves among the dense leaves.

Zhong Yi then directed the Endless Wood Demon to consume Endless Wood and use the Basic Skills Fantasy Combination and the Skill Wood Casting Concealment to start building a scene.

At the same time, he had the Endless Wood Demon place an Endless Mark on him.

It condensed a Wooden Eye, using it to perceive the surrounding environment in all directions.

With the Wooden Eye condensed by the Endless Wood Demon and the mist from Hong Ji’s Decaying Mist Owl scouting the surroundings, it was now impossible for an opponent to ambush Zhong Yi without him knowing, unless they possessed extremely powerful concealment Abilities.

Logically, in a Secret Realm where one could sweep the area and gather resources, Zhong Yi should have been actively searching for and collecting valuable items.

But only a fool would rush to find and collect resources from the environment.

In a Secret Realm opened by the Wanyu Gambling Company, if you were killed, you could only take 20% of your resources with you at random.

The other 80% would remain in the Secret Realm.

This was very similar to the "loot drop" mechanic from games Zhong Yi had played in his previous life, where killing other players made them drop their gear.

Right now, all the contestants scouring for resources were essentially walking loot boxes.

True experts didn’t need to gather resources from all over; they just needed to kill these walking loot boxes.

They could simply claim the 80% of resources inside for themselves.

Zhong Yi had the Endless Wood Demon expand the range of the scene created with Endless Wood as much as possible.

As a Fairy Type Guardian Beast, the Endless Wood Demon possessed the Ability to absorb the Origin of other trees in the environment to temporarily produce more Endless Wood.

One could say that the Divine Wood Secret Realm was the most suitable Secret Realm for the Endless Wood Demon to create its scenes.

Each of these colossal trees, towering over a thousand meters high, could allow the Endless Wood Demon to temporarily produce several hundred extra pieces of Endless Wood.

As the Endless Wood Demon absorbed the Origin from these towering, ancient trees one by one, the scene it created would grow larger and larger.

Once the scene grew large enough, Zhong Yi could have the Endless Wood Demon use Wood Realm Prison, the Exclusive Trait it gained upon advancing to the Gold Tier.

Within this small world created by the Endless Wood Demon, it could randomly match contestants who entered the area against each other!

Hong Ji and Ice Glaze were both Zhong Yi’s Guardian Beasts. Even if they were killed by a powerful enemy in this environment, they wouldn’t truly die.

As the scene created by the Endless Wood Demon continued to expand, Zhong Yi had Hong Ji and Ice Glaze move freely at opposite ends of the scene, one to the left and one to the right.

They acted as bait, luring contestants from different directions into the intricate trap woven by the Endless Wood Demon.

Under normal circumstances, after entering the Virtual Source Network, one would receive a notification as soon as their Soul Energy was no longer full.

Previously, Zhong Yi would usually leave the Virtual Source Network immediately after receiving this notification.

This ensured he had enough energy in the real world the next day.

But once you entered a Secret Realm opened by the Wanyu Gambling Company, you would be fighting constantly until you were eliminated.

This was precisely why Zhong Yi hadn’t logged into the Virtual Source Network for the past few days, instead conserving his strength.

The Divine Wood Secret Realm also had sunrises and sunsets, allowing contestants to clearly perceive the passage of time.

They could use the sunrises and sunsets to calculate exactly how long they had been in the Secret Realm.

During his time in the Secret Realm, Zhong Yi hadn’t actually encountered many opponents who had a chance to fight him directly.

But he had been incredibly busy!

Because in less than three days, Zhong Yi had orchestrated at least 150 battles!