23: Chapter 23 You don't want to be eliminated either, right?

"Found you!"

Deep within the dense forest, Wang Haoyu stood atop a treetop, his gaze locked tightly onto the distance, baleful energy surging in the depths of his eyes.

At his command, a dense army of retainers closed in from all directions, heavy with murderous intent, sealing off the entire mountainous forest.

At the same time, Su Ming, who was on his way, suddenly stopped, his brow slightly furrowed as a strong sense of crisis rose in his heart.

"Something's wrong; I'm being watched."

This feeling of surveillance was sharp and straightforward, definitely not from a secret realm monster, but other deities!

The Hanging Secret Realm was vast and boundless, with tens of thousands of people scattered within like drops of water into the sea, making the probability of encountering one another negligible.

Su Ming had originally thought he wouldn't encounter other challengers in the early stage, but he didn't expect to run into other deities so quickly.

At first, he intended to avoid them, changing direction to make a detour and withdraw.

But no matter which direction he moved in, the tracking figure behind him closely followed without letting up, doggedly biting onto his trail.

Su Ming's gaze turned completely cold.

"Deliberately tailing me, it seems they came specifically to cause trouble for me."

He no longer avoided them, making a prompt and decisive decision to recall all the Undead Retainers scattered for exploration back to his side.

He had always disliked being secretly spied on and targeted opportunistically; since the other party was pressing step by step, he would simply settle it face-to-face.

In a flash, a dense horde of orc retainers broke through the mist in the forest, surging forward grandly as Wang Haoyu's figure slowly stepped out.

His gaze swept over Su Ming's army of just over three thousand retainers, his eyes instantly filled with extreme contempt and arrogance.

After the battle with the magic dragon, Su Ming's elite retainers suffered heavy losses, and even though he continuously converted monsters to replenish them afterward, the total was barely around three thousand.

In contrast, Wang Haoyu had a full ten thousand orc retainers under his command, crushing the number by more than three times, with a ferocious aura that made victory seem assured.

"Did you snatch my treasure?"

Wang Haoyu looked down from above, his tone bone-chillingly cold.

Su Ming furrowed his brow slightly, responding calmly: "You and I have never met, how could I have snatched your treasure? I'm afraid you've mistaken me for someone else."

"Mistaken you?"

Wang Haoyu sneered, his face full of mockery, "The Nether aura remaining in the lair matches the spiritual power patterns of your retainers completely. The ironclad evidence is undeniable, and you still want to deny it?"

"I'll give you one last chance. Obediently hand over the treasure you obtained, and I'll spare you once, letting you leave safely. Otherwise, today I will directly eliminate you!"

Su Ming instantly understood that the treasure the other party was talking about must be that ancient dragon bone.

He sneered inwardly.

That lair was won by him through a desperate, bloody battle, and the dragon bone was also obtained by his own strength; how could he hand it over to others?

Leaving aside the fact that the other party was just asking with empty words, even if it truly was an opportunity discovered by the other party first, there was no way he would hand over a supreme treasure once it was in his hands.

Su Ming's expression was indifferent as he shook his head gently, his attitude resolute.

"You don't know what's good for you!"

Seeing that Su Ming was not afraid at all, Wang Haoyu's face turned completely dark and cold. Without a shred of hesitation, he shouted sternly: "Charge, entire army!"

Over ten thousand orc retainers roared and howled, charging fiercely across the dust in a dark, overwhelming mass straight towards Su Ming's three thousand Nether Retainers.

Seeing this, Su Ming said no more, silently raising his hand to order the counter-attack.

The two armies instantly collided with a boom, and the slaughter completely erupted.

Yet, after a mere face-to-face clash, Wang Haoyu's expression, previously so sure of victory, changed drastically in an instant.

He never expected that the retainers under Su Ming's command, seemingly few in number, would possess such terrifying combat power, completely crushing them!

On the battlefield, the Purple Zombie possessed an extremely formidable physical body.

Any orc whose body was torn apart by its sharp claws instantly became covered in pitch-black corpse poison, their flesh rotting away as they collapsed to the ground in mere seconds without any power to fight back.

Conversely, the weapons of the orcs, hacking onto the hard corpse body of the Purple Zombie, mostly failed to even break through the surface defense, leaving at most a shallow white mark that healed and repaired itself instantly.

The Nether underworld soldiers were even more eerie and unpredictable, with illusory, formless figures and extremely fast speeds.

While evading most of the attacks, countless lives were harvested wherever their blades passed.

As undead bodies, they directly immune to the vast majority of physical damage, perfectly countering the orc system.

The Red-robed Grievous Woman in the rear displayed a full aura of murder, with red silk ribbons shuttling across the battlefield.

The soft ribbons were sharper than blades, and with every flutter and stir, several orc retainers were strangled and torn to pieces, their corpses scattered.

Wang Haoyu's retainers were uniformly physically robust orcs, but in front of Su Ming's retainers, they were completely vulnerable, crushed into utter disarray.

Throughout the entire battle, only the ordinary Undead Retainers converted by Su Ming in the later stages suffered slight losses, while the rest of the elites slaughtered with almost zero injuries.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the battlefield was littered with corpses, and blood soaked the soil.

Over half of Wang Haoyu's ten thousand retainers had already been lost, with countless casualties.

Wang Haoyu was completely stunned in place, his pupils trembling and a bone-chilling coldness in his heart.

What kind of freakish monster is this?!

Wang Haoyu regretted it!

He was filled with endless regret at this moment.

But the battle had already reached a complete stalemate, and it was hard to back down.

If he retreated now, military morale would collapse, and he would only lose faster and suffer more casualties.

If he continued to fight stubbornly, his retainers would sooner or later be completely wiped out, and he would also be eliminated.

In the center of the battlefield, Su Ming looked at the one-sided battle, shook his head gently, and said with a hint of bland emotion:

"Am I too strong, or is he too weak? The other party couldn't even hold on before I even spread out the Nether Sovereign's battlefield blessing. I originally wanted to test the true caliber of other geniuses, but it seems I overestimated them."

If Wang Haoyu knew that the retainer army he built by exhausting his family's resources hadn't even forced out Su Ming's full strength, he would surely have his mind completely shattered and feel extreme terror.

Seeing his retainers suffering heavy casualties and retreating step by step, Wang Haoyu finally panicked completely.

His previous arrogance and haughtiness vanished completely, leaving only panic in his heart.

"Friend! It's a misunderstanding! Everything is a misunderstanding!"

He quickly gave in, speaking in a hurried tone: "I am a scion of the Wang family from the Xuanzang Star Domain! Leave a way out for others so we can still meet in the future; I won't hold today's matter against you!"

"Too late."

Su Ming shook his head faintly, his eyes clear and cold without ripples.

The other party had intentionally intercepted and killed him, already forging a deadly enmity.

Setting aside the contention within the secret realm, once outside, with the other party backing a noble family, they would inevitably use the family's influence to retaliate and suppress him.

Since they were already enemies, he would definitely not show mercy or let a tiger return to the mountains.

Seeing that Su Ming's killing intent had not dissipated and watching his retainers continuously fall, Wang Haoyu completely broke down and compromised through gritted teeth:

"I'll compensate! I'll offer 100,000 divine crystals! As long as you stop immediately and let me leave, the 100,000 divine crystals will be respectfully presented to you!"

Su Ming, who originally looked indifferent, suddenly lit up in the depths of his eyes the moment he heard the four words "100,000 divine crystals".

He exclaimed inwardly: Goodness me, these scions of noble families really are walking, plump sheep!

The previous hostility vanished instantly in a puff of smoke.

Enemies? What enemies?

This is clearly a benefactor actively delivering resources to my doorstep!

Adhering to the mindset of shearing wherever possible and never suffering a loss, Su Ming looked at the flustered and aggrieved Wang Haoyu, and spoke with feigned composure:

"Hehehe, today is the first day the secret realm opened, you wouldn't want to be eliminated today, right?"

This single sentence accurately hit Wang Haoyu's weakness.

Wang Haoyu's expression changed abruptly.

The secret realm qualification he exchanged at the cost of overdrawing his potential and exhausting family resources was something he definitely didn't want to exit in gloom on the first day.

But now he was the fish on the chopping board while others were the cleaver.

As long as Su Ming was willing to let him go, he would accept cutting off a piece of his flesh.

"Then what on earth do you want!"

Wang Haoyu growled through gritted teeth, filled with grievances yet helpless.

Su Ming stopped beating around the bush and directly opened his mouth like a lion: "One million divine crystals, and this matter is written off."

"One million?! Why don't you just go rob someone!"

Wang Haoyu's pupils shrank and he instantly flew into a rage, almost roaring out loud.

He had anticipated that the other party would make exorbitant demands, but he hadn't expected their appetite to be so terrifying.

Su Ming spread his hands, looking innocent with a frank tone: "Right now, I am indeed robbing you."

This simple and direct sentence instantly choked Wang Haoyu into speechlessness, his chest heaving violently as anger attacked his heart.

For a long time, he forcefully suppressed his rage and reported his bottom line through gritted teeth: "200,000! At most 200,000, not a single cent more!"

Su Ming's eyes grew slightly cold, pretending to be angry: "Your retainers slaughtered quite a few of my retainers. Every single one of my retainers fights shoulder-to-shoulder with me like brothers, and their casualties represent my hard work! You want to brush me off casually with 200,000?"

Wang Haoyu looked at the distant battlefield and roared through gnashing teeth: "Then what on earth do you want!"

Su Ming curved the corners of his mouth upward, his tone certain: "My sworn brothers cannot die in vain; you have to pay more."

"300,000!"

Wang Haoyu shouted the price with teeth almost shattered, his eyes full of ferocity.

"This is my bottom line! If you're still not satisfied, I'll shatter the trial token right now, and you won't get a single divine crystal!"

Su Ming glanced at his exasperated appearance and understood that this was indeed the other party's limit.

Feigning generosity, he sighed helplessly: "Fine, fine, who made me always so magnanimous. 300,000, let's settle it at that."

"Shameless! Simply utterly shameless!"

Wang Haoyu cursed angrily in his heart, but could only forcibly endure the grievance and said in a cold voice: "Establish a deity contract! Hand over the money with one hand, and call it quits with the other!"

"Rest assured."

Su Ming curled his lips, his tone relaxed: "My nickname is the Sincere Little Gentleman, could I possibly cheat you?"

Yet Wang Haoyu didn't believe it a single bit, insisting on a deity contract notarized by the Heavenly Dao.

The contract emerged with clear terms.

After verifying that there were no errors, Su Ming neatly and decisively signed his name.

The moment the contract formed and the Heavenly Dao imprint fell, Wang Haoyu stared fixedly at Su Ming, his gaze venomous and deeply ingrained: "Today's humiliation, I, Wang Haoyu, will remember it! You just wait for me!"

With that, he wretchedly gathered his remaining troops and turned to leave indignantly.

Su Ming looked at his panicked, fleeing figure and shrugged indifferently.

Grudges forged were forged; he never cared.

Now that he was rising steadily, the gap between the two sides would only grow wider.

As for the retaliation from the Wang family behind the other party, he had long considered it.

As a student of Xingyao Deity Middle School, he naturally had the school's protection.

As long as he didn't leave Blue Star, ordinary family checks and balances were simply nothing to fear.

With these thoughts settling, Su Ming looked at the 300,000 divine crystals lying quietly inside his star card, unable to hide the smile in his eyes as he slightly licked the corner of his lips.

"These noble family scions truly are walking treasuries. Should I shear a few more?"

The thought had just arisen when he immediately suppressed it.

Shearing one Wang family, the school could still step forward to protect him.

But if he wantonly plundered the prodigies of various noble families and made too many enemies, even Xingyao Deity Middle School might not be willing to face the entire noble family faction head-on for him.

Knowing when to stop while ahead was the best policy.