64: Malicious plot

Castro never expected that,

simply accepting a drink from a stranger in a bar would plunge him into such an inescapable abyss.

His life was like a puppet on strings, firmly clutched in someone else's palm.

His Talent was [Spatial Backpack] from the spatial element.

Knowing it was a carefully designed trap, but in order to survive, he could only mechanically obey, using his Talent to send the Nuclear Bombs brought by the person in front of him deep into the Secret Realm.

"Very good, come here." Rodi's voice was flat but chilling.

"I will now remove the 'Spirit Worm' for you."

Castro gritted his teeth, each step like treading on knife edges, as he painstakingly approached Rodi.

Rodi's large, bony hand covered Castro's head.

"Don't resist, or if you alarm the Spirit Worm, even God can't save you!"

Before he finished speaking, a cold and domineering force, like an invisible ice pick, fiercely pierced into Castro's skull!

"Ugh ah—!"

The excruciating pain from the depths of his Soul made Castro let out a shrill scream.

"What are you doing?! Stop! Stop it now!"

"Relax, dizziness is normal." Rodi's voice carried a hint of mockery.

"Rodi! How dare you kill me! Your Talent secret, all your dirty deeds, will be exposed to the public!

You will become an enemy of the whole world!" Castro roared in agony.

"Little Castro, you're truly adorably naive." Rodi chuckled deeply, greed flashing in his eyes.

"How could I bear to let go of such a rare spatial Talent like yours?"

"Once I've collected enough top-tier Talents, what does it matter if the whole world is my enemy?" A wild arc spread across his lips, his voice filled with an all-consuming madness.

"On this planet, who else is qualified to be my opponent?"

"Now, let me first enjoy you, this appetizer... an SSS-grade spatial Talent, just thinking about it makes my mouth water!" Rodi extended his crimson tongue and slowly licked his lips.

In an instant, a silvery-gray misty energy violently extracted itself from Castro's seven orifices, writhing like a live snake, and was deeply inhaled into Rodi's nose and mouth.

"Mmm..."

Rodi closed his eyes, an expression of extreme ecstasy on his face, as if savoring the most exquisite delicacy.

"Burp~!"

He let out a satisfied burp, rubbed his stomach, and spoke with a hint of lazy contentment.

"As expected of SSS-grade, just one is a bit much... Looks like I'll need to digest for a day before I can eat again."

The light in Castro's eyes completely extinguished, his body slumped to the ground, pupils unfocused, mouth agape and lifeless.

A pale, worm-like creature with a sharp proboscis at its front slowly crawled out of his mouth, coiling back into Rodi's open palm.

The worm was completely pale, its slender body covered in mucus, and its conical proboscis gleamed with a chilling light.

"Little darling, eating human brains makes you grow so fast..." Rodi gently poked the worm with his fingertip, his tone intimate.

"Now go back to your mother and rest."

The white worm's figure flickered and vanished into thin air, having been taken into Rodi's Beast Taming Space.

And this Beast Taming Talent was merely one of the Talents he had devoured and plundered.

"The time... has come."

Alexander Rodi's gaze locked onto the Secret Realm entrance.

Inside the Secret Realm.

Before Zhang Sheng and the other four, the last Divine Breath Realm Beast let out a dying wail amidst the violent lightning.

"Be good, don't be afraid, it will be over soon." Zhang Sheng's expression was stern, a single finger pointing skyward, dazzling electric arcs leaping from his fingertip, as several thick bolts of lightning formed within the low-hanging thunderclouds.

"Wang Yu, replicate one for me!"

"Alright, Brother Sheng!"

Wang Yu responded, drawing closer, his eyes slightly closed, Mental Energy surging, as he raised his hand in Zhang Sheng's posture. Several miniature silver electric snakes crackled in his palm.

"Brother Sheng, your Talent is simply divine! It's practically made for battle!" Wang Yu's voice was full of excitement.

Lin Jin, watching their tacit cooperation, was filled with envy:

"You two are a perfect match! One instantly casts Spells, the other replicates instant casts. This firepower coverage is just too satisfying!"

However, before he finished speaking—

Boom!!!!

Without warning, a world-ending white light suddenly erupted!

The light was so scorching, so pure, that it instantly swallowed the entire Secret Realm!

Vision was completely stripped away, leaving only an boundless, retina-searing pallor!

"Defense!!!" Zhang Sheng's roar was heart-wrenching amidst the deafening blast!

"Nine-Layer Spirit Shield, rise!" Almost instinctively, nine layers of light shields instantly rose around Zhang Sheng, enveloping him like a fortress.

At the same time, he waved his hands rapidly, and the same nine layers of Spirit Shield glowed, precisely covering each of his teammates!

Boom, rumble, rumble—!!!

Twenty Nuclear Bombs simultaneously detonated within a confined Secret Realm with a diameter of only three hundred kilometers!

Twenty mushroom clouds, representing absolute destruction, wildly expanded, ascended, and merged, finally transforming into a sea of death that filled the heavens and earth!

A scene of world destruction!

The blinding white light instantly rendered everyone's eyes useless.

This was followed by unimaginable high temperatures and an extremely violent shockwave!

They swept across the entire Secret Realm like invisible, countless heavy hammers, with an unstoppable force!

Cultivators closer to the epicenter didn't even have time to scream before instantly vaporizing in the thousands of degrees of high temperature, turning into nothingness.

The boundless lush grassland was torn apart, rolled up, and turned into scorched earth by the shockwave, like paper!

Countless human and Yao Beast remains were flung into the air, colliding, shattering, and turning into dust in the destructive energy turbulence!

Zhang Sheng's pupils constricted as he watched his Nine-Layer Spirit Shield shatter one after another like fragile glass the moment it encountered the shockwave!

One layer, two layers, three layers... Six layers instantly dissipated into points of light!

"Hold on!"

He roared, Spiritual Qi in his body frantically pouring out, and another nine brand-new Spirit Shields instantly condensed!

The Spirit Shields in front of the other four teammates also shattered by six layers amidst intense flickering!

"Spirit Shield, rise again!" Zhang Sheng's eyes were bloodshot. Disregarding his own consumption, he forcibly activated his Spiritual Qi again, re-applying nine layers of Spirit Shields to his four teammates!

However, this was only the beginning of the nightmare.

The high-temperature, high-pressure shockwave was like an unending tsunami, crashing down wave after wave!

The Spirit Shields stubbornly lit up in despair, only to be mercilessly crushed the next instant!

Shattering, forming, shattering again, forming again... a continuous cycle.

Each shattering was accompanied by the muffled sounds of his teammates' bones breaking and gushing blood.

Although Zhang Sheng's Spirit Shields desperately protected them, the four still endured terrifying recoil force. Their internal organs felt displaced, their entire skeletons seemed to crack, and their aura rapidly withered, already severely injured!

Wang Yu, who had replicated Zhang Sheng's Nine-Layer Spirit Shield, was slightly better off. The other three had faint auras, their lives unknown!

Zhang Sheng didn't know what had happened in the Secret Realm; this world-destroying scene far exceeded his comprehension.

He only knew that the rapidly depleting Spiritual Qi in his body was like a sand timer counting down his life; at this rate, everyone would surely die!

He gritted his teeth, enduring the violent energy turbulence, and painstakingly moved towards Wang Yu, who was closest.

If the two of them worked together to support the Spirit Shield, perhaps they could hold on for a little longer!

Finally, as he approached Wang Yu, Zhang Sheng suddenly froze—Wang Yu's face had actually changed due to intense pain and the inability to maintain his Mental Energy!

The disguise dissipated, revealing a face he had never seen before:

A neat, short black hair was soaked with sweat, clinging to her pale temples;

Beneath the originally tightened combat uniform, the full, feminine curve of her chest, dramatically rising and falling with her rapid breathing, was revealed;

Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed in pain, and a small, fair face with a hint of baby fat was stained with blood and dust.

"Brother Sheng..." Wang Yu's voice was weak and hoarse, with a peculiar clear beauty.

"This... this is what I look like... Don't... don't waste any more Spiritual Qi on me... cough cough..." Before she could finish, she coughed up another large mouthful of blood, staining the front of her clothes red.

Zhang Sheng's heart was severely shaken; at this moment, he couldn't care less about the gender disguise.

He quickly helped the tottering Wang Yu, his right hand rapidly pointing, and a vibrant emerald green light of the Rejuvenation Spell enveloped her entire body.

At the same time, his left hand pulled out two milky-white capsules radiating rich Spiritual Qi and unhesitatingly stuffed them into Wang Yu's mouth:

"Swallow them!" He himself quickly swallowed three, and the pure Spiritual Essence instantly transformed into a torrent, refilling his nearly depleted Spiritual Qi.

Just as his Spiritual Qi recovered—

The world spun!

Space violently warped!

Zhang Sheng felt a blur before his eyes, and the enormous roar and scorching sensation suddenly vanished, replaced by the cool air of the outside world.

He found himself, holding Wang Yu, already standing outside the Secret Realm!

Right where the huge light gate used to be. And now, that Secret Realm light gate, leading to Hell, had completely disappeared.

Not far away, Lin Jin, Lin Yidong, and Leng Qinghe also fell out, looking disheveled.

"Help... me..." Lin Jin let out a weak, hoarse cry, like a broken bellows. His entire body was charred black, skin torn and flesh ripped, almost unrecognizable.

Zhang Sheng suppressed the churning Qi and blood, waving his hands continuously, and three vibrant green lights of the Rejuvenation Spell accurately landed on the three of them.

Lin Yidong and Leng Qinghe were completely unconscious, their auras as faint as candles in the wind, but thankfully, they still had a breath left!

Zhang Sheng quickly stepped forward, stuffing the Spiritual Essence Capsules into their mouths, while the light of the Rejuvenation Spell continuously shone, like life-giving nectar.

Under the effect of powerful recovery Spells and Spirit Medicine, the terrifying wounds on their bodies began to stop bleeding and scab over at a visible speed.

"Pfft... pfft..." Lin Yidong and Leng Qinghe successively spat out several mouthfuls of black blood mixed with internal organ fragments, finally slowly regaining consciousness. They struggled to sit up but could only collapse weakly to the ground, barely managing to sit cross-legged and circulate their remaining faint Qi to recover, their faces still ashen.

Zhang Sheng now understood.

That world-destroying explosion, that familiar destructive white light and shockwave... could only be the legendary forbidden weapon—Nuclear Bombs!

The only explanation for their five-person survival was that the Yao Beasts in the Secret Realm had all died in the nuclear explosion!

How vicious!

What a grand scheme! Who exactly was it?! How dare they defy the world and use Nuclear Bombs to trap and kill elites from various countries in the Secret Realm!

His sharp gaze swept across the plaza.

On the originally empty plaza, besides the five of them, there was also a charred, cracked giant object, resembling the remains of a burnt giant turtle.

A human-shaped creature, completely charred and resembling charcoal, was struggling to crawl out of the broken turtle shell, emitting a faint groan:

"Help... me..."

Zhang Sheng frowned slightly and casually flicked a green light of the Rejuvenation Spell over.

But the next second, his attention was firmly drawn to the tall Caucasian man in the center of the plaza, who was completely unharmed and composed.

The man even wore a playful smile on his face.

"Clap clap clap!"

Crisp applause suddenly echoed in the silent plaza, carrying an eerie note of appreciation.

"Truly unexpected," Rodi's voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears.

"Under the feast of twenty Nuclear Bombs, seven actually managed to survive... more than I imagined. Very good, very good!"

Zhang Sheng's eyes instantly sharpened like knives, and his Spiritual Qi surged. Nine layers of solid verdant Spirit Shields instantly lit up around his body, thoroughly protecting him!

"The Nuclear Bombs in the Secret Realm... was it you?" Zhang Sheng's voice was icy and bone-chilling, every word carrying heavy killing intent.

"A Huaxia person? Interesting..." Rodi's gaze scrutinized Zhang Sheng with keen interest, as if appreciating a rare collectible.

"I didn't expect Huaxia to have a tough nut like you, besides Song Xian."

"As for those wastes who died in there?" Rodi shrugged, his tone as dismissive as if discussing trash.

"They shouldn't have been alive in the first place, merely wasting precious Cultivation resources. The world... should thank me!"

"Only Awakened with top-tier Talents like you..." He spread his arms, a nearly divine fanaticism on his face.

"Are qualified to be devoured by me, to merge with me, and achieve my supreme great undertaking!"

"Bastard! You devil!" The 'Turtle Man' whom Zhang Sheng had just saved struggled to lift his head, his charred face full of fury, black smoke still wafting from his mouth as he spoke.

"Who exactly are you?! I will definitely report your crimes to the United Nations! You will face judgment!"

"Judgment?" Rodi sounded as if he had heard the biggest joke. He looked down at the disheveled crowd on the ground, his eyes contemptuous.

"You seven are worthy of remembering my name. Remember it well—"

He slightly raised his head, enunciating each word, his voice like a proclamation:

"Alexander Rodi! From the great Federation of Milijian!"

"When you reach God or King Yama, don't forget to mention my name, so they know who sent you down."

A cruel and sinister smile bloomed on his lips.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Two crimson, extremely condensed, high-energy lasers radiating destructive aura shot out from his eyes without warning!

Directly targeting Zhang Sheng!

Puff puff puff!

The lasers instantly struck the Spirit Shield in front of Zhang Sheng!

The verdant light shield trembled violently, emitting an unbearable hum, and the outermost three Spirit Shields shattered in response, dissipating into points of light!

A hint of surprise flashed in Rodi's eyes, followed by even deeper interest—this Huaxia person was indeed the biggest threat!

The restrained yet powerful aura on him was definitely not ordinary!