A silent dread filled the Secret Realm, chilling everyone who felt it.
The spirit beasts, usually so majestic and calm, started to act strangely. The huge beasts on the plains rumbled nervously, their eyes wide with fear.
The quick creatures in the forest became silent, hiding deep in the undergrowth. Even the giant fish in the lake swam deeper, trying to escape something unseen.
This dark aura and the wandering shadows made the beautiful, powerful Secret Realm feel wrong, tainted.
It was no longer just a place of wonder and challenge; it had become a place of silent, growing terror, where a hidden threat was slowly, steadily, coming to life, ready to consume all.
Bai Wei, a gentle boy with a kind, handsome face, was only fifteen years old. He was a very strong cultivator, almost ready to break through to an even higher level, currently at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm.
He wore a simple white uniform, and on its front, the word 'Wood' was clearly written. In his hand, he held tight to a silver chain that had a butterfly pendant, with three small chains hanging down from it.
A beautiful sect token of 'Eternal Sect' is hanging from his waist , which indicates he is a disciple from the Eternal Sect.
He had been thinking deeply. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't figure out who had secretly given him this pendant back in his sect. It was a mystery.
After much thought, he decided to keep carrying it. It wasn't just a pretty thing; the pendant had a hidden power.
It could block strong attacks from cultivators in the Void Refinement realm three times. That was a big protection.
Suddenly, as Bai Wei walked through the thick, shadowy jungle, a shadowy shape darted out. It moved like a blur, attacking him from behind without a sound.
But just as the attack was about to hit, a bright silver light flared around Bai Wei's hand, coming from the pendant.
The light glowed intensely, and the attack hit it, but then simply disappeared, doing no harm. The attack wasn't meant to kill him,
but it was strong enough to hurt him badly. He was saved by the silver necklace in his hand.
Bai Wei spun around, his eyes scanning the dense jungle. What he saw made his blood run cold. He was completely surrounded by countless rats.
They were not ordinary rats; these were black, ugly creatures, terrifying to look at. They moved incredibly fast, like flashes of lightning, swarming all around him.
He recognized these monsters instantly. They were called Nether Shadow Rats. This confirmed his fears,the invaders were indeed from outside this world, extraterrestrial races.
And they were sending these low-level creatures, these dirty rats, to kill everyone inside the Secret Realm. He understood the situation now. It was an extermination.
The problem was, all these rats were powerful, at least in the first or second level of the Void Refinement realm.
Even though they were considered "lower-level" creatures by the invaders, for most cultivators in the Secret Realm, they were a deadly threat.
A cold smile touched Bai Wei's lips. He wasn't scared; he was angry.
He began to move with incredible grace and speed. He was using two very powerful martial arts he had learned from his sect's two secret techniques, the Eternal Sutra and the Eternal Divine Technique.
One of these was called the Eternal Butterfly Footwork. With every step, he danced like a butterfly, moving swiftly but with a beautiful, flowing elegance. He wasn't just fast; his movements were mesmerizing.
The more he moved, the more countless, colorful butterflies seemed to appear out of thin air around him.
They weren't real butterflies, but illusions of light and spirit energy, and they seemed to carry him, guiding him wherever he went.
He used this special footwork to dodge and avoid the attacks of the thousands of rats swarming him. He was a blur of white and color, a dance amidst a tide of darkness.
His eyes, usually so gentle, became sharp and focused as he looked at the thousands of rats closing in.
He smiled again, a fierce, confident smile, and shouted out loud, his voice ringing through the jungle.
"Palm of Ancient Wood: First Form!"
"Palm of the Ancient Pine!"
As he roared the technique, a truly enormous, ancient pine tree seemed to appear behind him, made of pure spirit energy.
It was a giant, solid-looking tree, its branches thick and powerful. With a mighty push of his palm, the pine tree behind him also moved, its spectral branches and trunk slamming forward with immense power.
In just a few seconds, the countless Nether Shadow Rats that had surrounded him were crushed, exploded,
or simply disappeared, dying one by one. The sounds of their squeals and the impact of the attack filled the air, then quickly faded.
The ground where the rats had been was now a bloody mess, their black forms scattered and broken.
Bai Wei looked at the gory scene with cold, unwavering eyes. He felt no pity for the invaders' creatures.
Then, he quickly pulled out a burning talisman, a 9th-tier one, which glowed with intense heat. With a quick wave of his hand, a terrifying wall of fire erupted from the talisman, spreading over the battlefield.
The intense flames consumed all the rat corpses, burning them into ashes in mere seconds, leaving nothing but scorched earth and a lingering smell of burnt flesh.
The threat was gone, for now. Bai Wei stood alone again, the jungle silent around him, the only sound of the faint rustle of leaves.
While Bai Wei fought his desperate battle, many other cultivators in the Secret Realm were not so lucky.
Across the vast, dangerous landscape, the dark aura grew stronger, and the shadowy rats became more aggressive.
Many young disciples, caught alone or in small groups, met a terrible end.
Their cries echoed through the new, frightening silence of the Secret Realm as the endless waves of Nether Shadow Rats overwhelmed them,
leaving only scattered bones and broken dreams.
On another side of the dense, twisted forest, away from Bai Wei's fight, walked another disciple of the Eternal Sect.
His name was Zhao Tie. Like Bai Wei, he was also very handsome, with short, neat hair and sharp, intelligent eyes.
He was fifteen years old, the same age as Bai Wei, and his cultivation level was also at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm,
just like his fellow sect member Bai Wei. He, too, was on the very edge of breaking through to a higher realm.
But unlike some, Zhao Tie was not rushing his breakthrough. He was holding back, using his will to keep his power from advancing too quickly.
He did this because he wanted his current realm to be as strong and solid as possible.
A powerful foundation meant an even more powerful future. He wore a crisp white uniform, just like Bai Wei, but on his, the word 'Blade' was neatly stitched.
It was a perfect fit for him, for he carried a truly excellent sword, a Xuan-grade blade, strapped securely to his back. His eyes, always alert, missed nothing in the green depths of the forest.
Zhao Tie was walking through the jungle with a calm and easy pace. He wasn't rushing or panicking, even though the air felt heavy and strange now.
He was observing, taking in the details of the unfamiliar plants and the faint sounds of the wild.
His steps were light, almost silent, as if he belonged to the forest itself. He moved with the quiet confidence of someone who knows his own strength and is ready for anything.
As he walked, his sharp eyes suddenly caught a glint of color amongst the green. It was a flower, unlike any he had seen before.
It glowed with a soft, icy blue light, and its petals looked like tiny, sharp sword blades made of frost.
This was no ordinary plant. Zhao Tie's heart quickened. He recognized it instantly from the rare herb books he had studied back at the sect.
This was a Cold Sword Flower, a rare seventh-grade herb! Such a treasure was incredibly valuable for cultivation, especially for those who trained with blades or practiced ice-element techniques.
It could help sharpen one's spiritual senses and even purify a cultivator's internal energy.
Without thinking, driven by the excitement of discovery, Zhao Tie moved directly toward the glowing flower. He wanted to pick it quickly before anything else happened.
But just as his hand reached out, a familiar dark cloud surged from the shadows.
It was a swarm of Nether Shadow Rats, their black bodies twisting and flowing like a dark river, pouring out from behind the trees. Their tiny, red eyes glowed with hunger and malice.
Zhao Tie didn't even flinch. His hand, which had been reaching for the flower, instinctively dropped to the hilt of his blade.
With a smooth, practiced motion, the Xuan-grade blade whispered from its sheath.
It was a beautiful sword, dark and keen, reflecting the dim light of the jungle. Without a moment's hesitation, he slashed outwards.
Swish!
The blade moved like lightning, a silver arc cutting through the oncoming black wave. Some of the Nether Shadow Rats, those at the very front, were instantly sliced apart.
They fell to the ground, their shadowy bodies dissolving into wisps of dark energy,
gone as if they had never been. It was a horrific death for them, and a grim warning to the rest of the swarm.
Zhao Tie looked at the endless sea of rats still pouring towards him.
Thousands upon thousands of them, their squeaks and scuttling sounds filling the air.
He knew what they were. The same knowing smile that Bai Wei had worn touched Zhao Tie's lips. So, the invaders were here,
and they were using these creatures. It was clear.
These were not just animals; they were tools of war, and dangerous ones at that, each rat a minor cultivator in its own right.
He didn't waste time marveling at their numbers. Instead, Zhao Tie began to move. He used his sect's secret techniques, the same ones Bai Wei had used ,
the Eternal Sutra and the Eternal Divine Technique. From these, he had learned his own special footwork, a lightning-fast movement technique.
He wasn't dancing like a butterfly, but moving with the speed and precision of a sudden lightning bolt.
He dodged and weaved, a white blur amidst the black swarm, avoiding the snapping jaws and clawing feet of the rats.
His footwork was so quick that he seemed to vanish and reappear, leaving the rats to crash into each other as they tried to catch him.
As he moved, he prepared his attack. He focused his powerful spiritual energy into his blade, the Xuan-grade sword vibrating with contained power.
His eyes became like glittering steel, seeing every rat, every movement. Then, he let out a powerful shout that echoed through the jungle,
"Thousand Cut Blade Technique: First Form!"
"Thousand Cuts in a Single Blade!"
With a surge of power, a magnificent, silvery arc of lightning sparked into existence around his blade.
It wasn't just a simple lightning flash; it was a dazzling, living current of energy that danced along the edge of his sword.
Then, with a single, incredibly swift and wide slash, Zhao Tie unleashed his technique.
WHOSSSSH-CRACKLE!
The blade, surrounded by its silvery lightning, swept through the thousands of Nether Shadow Rats. It moved so fast that it seemed to be in a hundred places at once.
The rats at the front, in the middle, and even those trying to flank him, were caught in the powerful arc. They didn't just die; they were instantly cut down,
their shadowy forms are severed and disintegrated by the combined force of the blade and the lightning.
The air is filled with faint sizzles and the acrid smell of burnt shadows.
In an instant, the endless swarm was gone. Where there had been thousands of chittering, black creatures,
there was now nothing but a clear, wide path leading directly to the glowing Cold Sword Flower.
The ground was scorched and clean, utterly devoid of any rat bodies.
He had killed every single one of them that had been within range of his powerful attack. Not a single one remained.
The whole area was now covered with severed parts of the nether shadow rats. The whole place was bloody right now . But Zhao Tie didn't look at any of this his gaze was on the herb.