104: Monsters are rampant

The sky was a dull, dark gold, as if shrouded by endless metallic dust, with no sun, moon, or stars visible.

The earth was cracked, displaying a color scheme of black-brown interwoven with dark gold, and everywhere were rugged, steep metallic Ore mountains, their bodies gleaming with a cold, chilling light.

The air was permeated with an extremely dense, yet incredibly sharp and piercing metallic Qi, causing a scraping pain when inhaled into the lungs.

From afar came the sound of whistling wind, but this wind was not ordinary airflow; it was a "metallic Qi gale" composed of countless tiny metallic particles, scraping against rocks with a teeth-grinding friction sound, leaving deep etchings.

The gravity here also seemed to be much greater than the outside world; he could feel a noticeable sluggishness in his movements.

Spiritual Qi was exceptionally sparse, and almost ninety-nine percent of it was violent, metallic Spiritual Qi that was difficult to absorb directly.

"What aJedi!" Lin Feng's heart tightened, and he immediately circulated his Cultivation Technique, forming a faint Spiritual Qi shield around his body to isolate himself from the pervasive erosion of the metallic Qi.

His Divine Sense cautiously spread outwards, but due to the interference of the dense metallic Qi in this place, its detection range was compressed to less than three li.

The place where he appeared seemed to be a random teleportation point, with no other Cultivators in sight, which made him slightly relieved.

Without rushing deeper, Lin Feng first carefully observed the ground and the mountain walls, and soon, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.

In some wind-sheltered mountain hollows or rock crevices, some peculiar plants with a metallic luster, extremely drought-resistant, were growing!

Clusters of "Swordtooth Grass" with blade-like sharp leaves; several short but exceptionally tough "Ironbone Wood" trees bearing small, metallic lump-like fruits; and even in the shadow of a massive Xuan Iron Ore, he discovered several "Shattered Gold Mushrooms" that looked like they were forged from platinum and exuded a sharp aura!

Without exception, these Spiritual Plants all contained pure metallic Spiritual Power and unique metallic Qi, making them excellent Materials for refining metallic Medicinal Pills, tempering Magical Artifacts, and even Cultivating certain special metal-element Cultivation Techniques!

They were already rare in the outside world, perhaps even extinct!

"As expected of an ancient Secret Realm!" Lin Feng wasted no time, carefully transplanting these discovered Spiritual Plants, roots and all, into jade boxes specifically prepared in his Storage Pouch, and placed preservation Restrictions on them.

Just these unexpected gains alone made this trip to the Secret Realm worthwhile.

After collecting the Spiritual Plants, Lin Feng chose a direction with relatively dense metallic Qi and began to move forward cautiously.

The ground beneath his feet was as hard as iron, emitting a dull sound when stepped on.

Not far after, from a pile of rubble ahead, suddenly came a series of teeth-grinding "crunching" sounds!

Lin Feng's Divine Sense immediately swept over, only to see three Yao Beasts, entirely composed of dark gold metal, shaped like giant mantises, with forelimbs like two huge guillotines, feasting on the freshly torn remains of an unknown Yao Beast!

Their compound eyes flickered with cold red light, and their bodies exuded a fierce aura equivalent to Foundation Establishment!

"Metallic Blade Mantises!" Lin Feng immediately recognized these common Yao Beasts of the Secret Realm.

They had extremely strong defenses, swift attacks, and were adept at hiding in metallic environments to launch surprise attacks.

Just as Lin Feng discovered them, one of the Blade Mantises seemed to scent a living being, suddenly raised its head, and its cold compound eyes instantly locked onto Lin Feng!

"Hiss!" It let out a sharp hiss, and the other two Blade Mantises immediately stopped eating, abruptly turned around, and their three pairs of guillotine-like forelimbs rubbed together, emitting a harsh metallic scraping sound!

The next moment, all three Blade Mantises moved simultaneously!

Their figures were as fast as lightning, and six huge metallic guillotines tore through the air, accompanied by piercing shrieks, slashing towards Lin Feng from three different directions!

Their coordination was seamless, blocking all his evasion space!

Lin Feng's eyes turned cold; instead of retreating, he advanced!

He executed the Treading Wave Step, his figure subtly swaying like a ghost, narrowly avoiding the two blades slashing directly at him.

At the same time, the Azure Edge Sting clanged out of its sheath!

The ethereal blue sword body cut a clear, cold arc in this metallic world, and the passive Demon Slayer power was instantly activated, with the thin yet incomparably sharp dark gold aura on the sword's edge reappearing!

"Overturning Sea - Divergence!"

The sword light did not clash head-on, but rather, like flowing water, it guided and pulled along the inner side of one of the Blade Mantis's slashing guillotines!

The Blade Mantis's powerful strike was immediately deflected, hitting the nearby rock with a "clang," sparks flying, and the rock was split with a deep gash!

And Lin Feng's sword, leveraging the force of this pull, suddenly accelerated, like a venomous snake striking, accurately piercing towards the relatively fragile joint connection of another Blade Mantis!

Chii!

The Demon Slayer's characteristic suppression of Yao Beasts manifested once again!

The Azure Edge Sting pierced into the joint gap without any obstruction!

Dark golden destructive energy surged in instantly!

"Hiss—!" That Blade Mantis let out a painful shriek, its entire forelimb instantly turned dim, and with a "crack," it broke off!

Having succeeded in one strike, Lin Feng did not stop, his figure whirling like a whirlwind, the Azure Edge Sting drawing a Perfection sword circle!

"Overturning Sea - Vortex!"

The sword light transformed into a viscous gravitational vortex, temporarily trapping the last Blade Mantis and the one with the broken arm for an instant!

And he himself appeared as if by instantaneous movement behind the Blade Mantis whose attack was initially deflected!

That Blade Mantis had just retracted its guillotine and had not yet reacted when a faint blue sword tip already emerged from its compound eye!

Pfft!

The sword tip twisted, and dark golden light erupted!

The Blade Mantis's massive body suddenly stiffened, collapsing to the ground, the red light in its compound eyes rapidly extinguishing.

In a blink of an eye, one of the three was gone!

Of the remaining two Blade Mantises, one had a broken arm, its strength greatly reduced, and the other was also injured by the sword circle, its movements sluggish.

Lin Feng no longer gave them a chance, his sword momentum unfolding, striking, piercing, or slicing, specifically attacking their joints and compound eyes, and other weak points.

The Demon Slayer passive gave his attacks extra defense penetration and damage bonus against these metallic Yao Beasts!

In just over ten breaths, the other two Blade Mantises were also successively torn into pieces, turning into a pile of cold metallic parts on the ground.

The battle ended, and Lin Feng breathed slightly.

These three Blade Mantises had seamless coordination and astonishing defense; if not for the Demon Slayer's suppression, dealing with them would never have been so easy.

Three wisps of pure, sharp, light golden energy rose from the Blade Mantises' remains, entering Lin Feng's body, rapidly replenishing his consumption, and subtly strengthening his Physical Body and Meridians.

He skillfully removed the Blade Mantises' hardest guillotine forelimbs and the core containing their Yao Power; these were good Artifact Refining Materials.

After collecting the spoils, Lin Feng continued forward.

In the following days, he cautiously explored this metallicDesolate Land, encountering and slaying many Secret Realm-specific metallic Yao Beasts, such as the "Iron Spiked Hedgehog" that could spray metallic spikes, and the "Armored Iron Beast" adept at burrowing and sneak attacking.

At the same time, he also harvested many rare metallic Ore and Spiritual Plants.

During this period, he also remotely sensed the aura of other Cultivators, but he cautiously avoided them and did not meet them face to face.