103: Chapter 103 A Secret Realm Within a Secret Realm

In just two short minutes, every Beast Tamer and soul beast in the cave had leaped into the lava lake.

Only Chen Yi and his group remained behind.

"How about it? Are we going in?"

Yan Jiuyue was the first to ask.

She was a fire-attribute soul beast, after all; the aura radiating from the lava lake triggered an instinctive longing within her.

Chen Yi smiled and asked, "I'm fine with it. It's up to you all—do you want to go explore?"

He wasn't sure what treasures lay inside or what dangers they might face.

But since the heart of the secret realm had opened right before his eyes and he had his cheats in hand, it was definitely an opportunity not to be missed!

"Of course we are! The treasure is right there, how could we miss it?"

"Exactly! Brother Chen Yi, you have so many trump cards, why should we be afraid of these weaklings!"

"It seems no high-ranking Beast Tamers have shown up yet. The news must not have spread, so many treasures likely haven't been unearthed!"

"Inside—there must be unimaginable treasures!"

"Alright, then it's settled!"

After taking a deep breath, Chen Yi led The girls to the edge of the lava lake.

Sure enough, they didn't feel the slightest bit of heat; instead, a cool sensation washed over them.

This lava lake was just an illusion!

No wonder those people dared to jump in without a moment's hesitation—

If it were a real, boiling lava lake, even knowing it was the entrance to a secret realm, it would take a great deal of effort to summon the courage to jump in.

"Everyone, stay sharp! This isn't a picnic! Jiu Yue!"

"Present!"

"You're the strongest and your attributes are the best match for this place. You take the lead! Activate your Armed Form and be on guard for any ambushes at the entrance!"

"Mhm, I understand!"

Yan Jiuyue responded, and nine fluffy silver-white fox tails instantly unfurled, wrapping tightly around her to protect her form.

Without hesitation, she leaped toward the churning lava lake, aiming straight for its center.

The moment her figure touched the lava, it only caused a slight ripple before she vanished without a trace.

"Mengxue, Shiyin, Tao Tao, let's go in too! Stay alert and immediately confirm our position and any threats once we're inside!"

"Okay!!!"

The three girls moved in response, their Armed Forms activating instantly as they followed Yan Jiuyue into the lava portal!

"Moon Pupil! Xing Tong!"

Chen Yi looked at the last two, The Hua Sisters. "You don't have much combat power, so wait ten seconds before entering! Don't panic once you're inside; move toward us immediately! Understand?"

"Understood!"

The sisters nodded heavily, gripping each other's hands tightly as they began to count down: "Ten, nine, eight—"

Seeing this, Chen Yi didn't hesitate further and leaped straight in.

Ten seconds later, Hua Yuetong and Hua Xingtong shared a look and jumped down into the churning golden-red molten rock together!

The moment their figures disappeared beneath the surface of the lava...

*Vrrr—*

The churning lava lake, the massive crater, the spiderweb-like cracks—every single anomaly vanished instantly, as if wiped away by an invisible eraser!

The massive lava cavern fell back into a deathly silence.

No one noticed that anything had ever happened here.

---

A sensation of spatial distortion, similar to when they first entered the Five Elements Secret Realm, washed over them.

Everyone's vision was swallowed by a burst of white light.

When Chen Yi's vision refocused...

What met his eyes was not the lava-churning purgatory he had expected, but a very strange sight.

It was a forest.

But the entities making up this forest weren't green trees, but raging flames of various shapes and sizes!

The entire forest was burning silently, filled with an unreal, dreamlike quality.

However, the strangest part was that standing in this forest of fire, he couldn't feel the slightest bit of heat!

Instead, a cool energy wrapped around his body, dispelling the sweltering heat brought by the Fire Zone.

Touching the flames didn't cause any harm either.

Was this entire forest of fire an illusion?

Chen Yi quickly surveyed his surroundings.

The various Beast Tamer groups that had rushed in earlier were now scattered in different directions, keeping a wary distance from one another. They were on guard, but there were no signs of immediate conflict.

Yan Jiuyue, Lin Mengxue, Luo Shiyin, Su Taotao, Hua Yuetong, and Hua Xingtong—not a single one was missing; all had arrived safely.

They weren't standing on flat ground either, but on a uniquely structured, circular high mountain!

The entire mountain was like a giant tiered cake, divided into five massive circular platforms based on the five different attributes.

If one were to look at this mountain from a distance, it would probably look like a mountain-sized rainbow popsicle.

In the area at the foot of the mountain shrouded in a five-colored glow, one could faintly see heaven and earth spiritual treasures radiating astonishing energy fluctuations!

Just sensing them from afar was enough to make one's heart race with excitement.

But there seemed to be only one path leading down the mountain—a circular mountain road that spiraled down level by level along the circular mountainside!

The drop between each platform was estimated to be over three hundred meters!

Even more bizarrely, this space was permeated with a powerful restrictive force that made flight impossible.

Even with the physical constitution of a Rank 5 soul beast, jumping from several hundred meters high would likely result in shattered bones!

From the looks of it, if one wanted to get the treasures at the foot of the mountain, they could only walk down step by step—in fact, two Beast Tamer groups had already started moving forward.

"Quick! Keep up! Don't let those Dragon Country guys get the jump on us!"

"Damn it, those bastards run fast!"

"Stop talking! Hurry up and follow them. If we're too slow, we won't even get the scraps!"

"Boss! Look over there! What's that?!"

An Indian man suddenly pointed toward a relatively open area within the fire illusions nearby and shouted loudly.

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing.

There, on the burning grass of fire, several fiery red flowers were actually growing!

The petals were made of flickering golden-red flames, while the leaves supporting them had a warm, heavy dark-gold luster, standing out remarkably against the backdrop of the fire illusions.

"Could... could those be starfire flowers?"

"starfire flowers? You've got to be joking! Don't those things only grow in lava? How could they grow in soil?"

"Don't forget, this forest of fire is all an illusion. Maybe these starfire flowers are illusions too!"

"They shouldn't be illusions! The fire-attribute spiritual energy radiating from the petals doesn't seem fake at all!"

The crowd instantly erupted in discussion!

Gaze filled with greed and doubt focused intently on those few starfire flowers.

Chen Yi frowned slightly.

Because of his system interface...

He could tell at a glance that these things weren't illusions, but genuine starfire flowers!

[starfire flower: 8-Star]

[A divine flower containing a massive amount of spiritual energy. When consumed by a fire-attribute soul beast during affinity training, the improvement effect will be significantly enhanced.]