4: There won't be a problem as long as you don't participate.

Among Cultivators, there was no lack of those who feared death. A wretched-looking middle-aged man spoke up and asked, "Mountain Master Pang, my Aptitude is poor and my strength is meager. I'm afraid I won't be of any help in the Secret Realm. May I ask if it's possible for me not to go?"

Hearing this, Hong Yu's eyes lit up, and he pricked up his ears, waiting for Pang Hu's answer.

A cold sneer appeared at the corners of Pang Hu's mouth. His figure instantly vanished from the stage, and when he reappeared the next moment, he was already standing in front of the man who had just asked the question.

Pang Hu raised his right hand. His palm, as large as a cattail leaf fan, shimmered with a luster and actually turned black. He struck directly at the man's head, accompanied by gusts of a fishy wind and intense pressure. The Disciples surrounding the man felt like vomiting and fell back one after another.

The man facing Pang Hu seemed paralyzed with fear, standing dazed and motionless. Even an ant would struggle to live, let alone a human; thus, the man's behavior was particularly eerie when faced with a clearly murderous Pang Hu.

When the palm landed on his head, the man's body instantly turned into a pool of bloody water, like a giant rock falling from a height and crushing an egg.

Even the bloody water began to vanish rapidly. After a moment, what was once a living person left only a black stain on the ground of the square.

Hong Yu watched from the side, trembling with fear. He knew the man who had asked the question; he was at the Sixth Level of Qi Refining, a solid minor expert among the Outer Sect. He hadn't expected the man to die so inexplicably under Pang Hu's palm, without even a hint of resistance or a single sound. This gave Hong Yu a new understanding of the strength of a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.

With a flash of his silhouette, Pang Hu returned to the central high platform and said indifferently and coldly, "This is an order, not a negotiation. If the task is done well, there will be rewards. If not, that man just now is your fate! Have you all understood?"

The expressions of the crowd below varied, but they still shouted in unison, "We respectfully obey the Mountain Master's decree!"

Pang Hu nodded with satisfaction. Then, he turned and bowed to the woman in the center, restraining his previous arrogant and overbearing aura, and said respectfully, "Senior Sister Xu, let us set out now. I'll have to trouble you."

The woman addressed as Senior Sister Xu by Pang Hu did not speak. She simply beckoned with her delicate hand, and suddenly, clouds and mist rose from the square, enveloping everyone. As the mist grew thicker, a sensation of weightlessness followed.

When the mist cleared, the crowd was surprised to find themselves in a valley thirty miles outside the city.

It turned out that the woman had used a great Divine Ability and immense magical power to teleport everyone here.

Hong Yu frowned slightly. Besides the ferocious Pang Hu who made him extremely wary, there was now this unfathomable Senior Sister Xu. It seemed he had no choice but to enter the Secret Realm first and wait for a better opportunity.

Once everyone had acclimated, Pang Hu spoke, "The entrance to the Secret Realm is just ahead. Go forth. I will say it one last time: those who perform meritorious deeds will be rewarded. If you cannot retrieve the relics, or if you attempt to pocket them for yourselves, you know the consequences."

Seeing that no one had any objections, Pang Hu began to urge them into the Secret Realm.

Hong Yu followed the crowd, walking step by step toward the entrance of the Secret Realm.

He had already made up his mind to find a place to hide and slack off inside. Once someone successfully retrieved the relics, he would exit with the main group and then take the chance to flee far away.

The entrance to the Secret Realm was an oval halo of light. When a person passed through, they would instantly disappear. Hong Yu watched from the side with amazement, and soon it was his turn.

As Hong Yu took a step forward, he felt the world spin instantly. A suction force came from the entrance, drawing him inside involuntarily. His vision blurred, and when things became clear again, the surrounding scenery had changed drastically.

From a lush valley filled with greenery, he had arrived in a desolate plain in the blink of an eye.

The plain was vast, stretching beyond the horizon, completely barren of grass and filled with jagged rocks. In the middle of the plain stood a wooden hut.

The people who had entered this place were now standing not far from the front of the wooden hut. The door of the hut was wide open, revealing everything inside.

Hong Yu focused his gaze on the wooden hut. In the center sat a prayer mat, and upon it sat a skeleton dressed in magnificent robes.

To the skeleton's right lay a Dharma Sword; to its left was a pure black Jade Slip; and directly in front of it was a small pile of glittering miscellaneous items.

Some sharp-eyed Disciples immediately recognized the items in front of the skeleton and cried out in surprise.

"It's a Cultivation Technique Jade Slip! Heavens, there are so many High-Grade Spirit Stones and even top-grade magic tools!"

Hearing this, the breathing of the surrounding crowd became noticeably heavy. However, out of caution, no one took action yet. Soon, all one thousand plus Outer Sect Disciples had entered. Many people's eyes turned red with greed as they looked at the treasures inside the hut.

Hong Yu, however, clearly felt that this place was too eerie, something was definitely wrong.

If the skeleton was indeed the great Core Formation Cultivator Shu Wangnian, why would he leave all his treasures on the ground? Moreover, the value of most of these treasures could be seen through at a glance even by a Cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage.

There was absolutely a trap here!

Among the watching Cultivators, someone finally lost their patience. Stirring up the Spiritual Qi throughout their body, they dashed straight toward the wooden hut.

With a first, there was naturally a second. Soon, countless Cultivators were scrambling toward the wooden hut, with some even starting to fight along the way.

"Get lost! These treasures are all mine!"

"Zhang Meng, I've treated you well in the past, yet you actually sneak-attacked me for mere treasures? You're looking for death!"

"Brother Wang, why don't we join forces? We'll take the treasures first and then decide. With our combined strength, won't the treasures be ours for the taking?"

The scene suddenly turned into a chaotic mess.

Hong Yu took this opportunity to retreat instead of advancing, running away from the wooden hut.

"Fight for them, fight until the world turns upside down. Once you have the treasures, I'll just leave with you and then slip away."

Hong Yu muttered to himself, his feet never stopping. After reaching the Fourth Level of Qi Refining, he clearly felt his speed had increased significantly. The sound of the wind whistling past his ears gave him a sense of incomparable exhilaration.

After a while, he felt the commotion behind him had weakened considerably. He looked back, and what he saw shocked him.

The crowd that had been rushing toward the wooden hut was now lying all over the place about ten zhang away from it, their status unknown. A wall of bodies had thus been built in front of the hut.

Fortunately, everyone was a Cultivator with extraordinary physical constitutions; otherwise, those pressed at the very bottom would likely have lost a layer of skin even if they didn't die.

Some Cultivators who hadn't yet run into the ten-zhang range also stopped in their tracks, cautiously surveying their surroundings.

"As expected, there's a big problem," Hong Yu said to himself as he turned back to continue focusing on his escape.

After running for an unknown amount of time, until the wooden hut and the crowd were just a small dot in his vision, Hong Yu finally stopped.

Next, he just needed to wait quietly. Although there was nothing but rocks in the Secret Realm, the concentration of Spiritual Qi was very high, nearly several times what Hong Yu usually had during cultivation.

So, he sat cross-legged on the spot and took out the blood tempering pill 'gifted' by the System from his robes, intending to begin cultivating.

With a Medicinal Pill in hand this time, surely nothing could go wrong again, right?