In an instant, the werewolf teleported before Yaxiu once more. Tremendous strength propelled his shield, whipping up roaring gales and thunder out of thin air, crashing forward like a mountain or a tsunami. When physical power surpassed a certain threshold, every gesture became indistinguishable from a divine miracle. The werewolf had spoken the truth—he genuinely had no need for offensive wonders. He himself was a humanoid wonder!
Yet at that very moment, a shudder ran through the werewolf. The battle intent saturating his entire body was abruptly ripped away, and the shimmering curtain of his shield dimmed.
He realized at once what had happened to him—his connection to the Eternal Wonders was severed! No, not just the wonders... the entire Ancient Battlefield had ceased to be his home ground!
Simultaneously, both Sword Princess and the Witch unleashed their strongest wonders to shake the edges of the Ancient Battlefield, desperately tearing open a fleeting fissure. The moment they spotted this fissure, Silver Lantern and the maid followed up without hesitation. One activated Silverization, and the other unleashed Soul Lock, burrowing into the wound like a virus to infect and usurp the authority over the Ancient Battlefield!
Ever since the battle at the Sword Rain Pool, a pressing topic had naturally been added to Yaxiu and his companions' combat preparations: if they were trapped within a world secret realm again, how were they supposed to escape and counterattack?
They had discussed this hypothetical scenario for a long time without arriving at any good answer, because it simply wasn't a problem they were meant to solve. A world secret realm was inherently an offensive instrument of the God-Leader tier. For a God-Leader to entrust a secret realm to an angel to deal with them was tantamount to striking down from an entire realm above—a dimensional beatdown. Their defeat and demise should have been a foregone conclusion, so how could there possibly be a way to fight back?
If they could solve such a problem, on what grounds would God-Leaders reign supreme above demigods?
Moreover, the conditions across different secret realms varied drastically. Even if they figured out how to counter the Sword Rain Pool, wouldn't they still end up suffering just the same if they encountered a different secret realm next time?
In the end, it was actually the Witch who seized upon an inspiration. She reasoned that a God-Leader could never completely transfer ownership of a secret realm to an angel; at most, the angel had usage rights, not true dominion. Furthermore, every time they used it, the angel had to bring the secret realm out. It was just like an object: even though it was currently your turn to use it, the moment you brought it out, it became possible for someone else to snatch it away.
Everyone agreed that the Witch's line of thought was wonderful, though it would have been even better if she had waited until they woke up before sharing it—bringing it up at that particular moment had made things rather awkward.
As for how to seize a secret realm, only Silver Lantern and Vichy currently possessed the means. The former could silverize the world, while the latter held the Soul Lock god to unleash a Domination miracle. Even so, the success rate of this method was hardly high. After all, angels were no fools and would most likely have ways to reclaim dominion over the secret realm; at best, the girls could only carve out a split-second window.
Furthermore, this only applied to secret realms managed by angels on behalf of their masters. If a God-Leader personally wielded the secret realm, or if a God-Leader had completely relinquished it to the angel, this trick would be useless... but it was still far better than sitting by and waiting for death.
Thus, Sword Princess and the others hadn't been searching for an escape route just now. Instead, they were searching for a way to tear open a wound along the Ancient Battlefield's perimeter through which they could breach the secret realm. Once their preparations were complete, they gave Yaxiu the signal. Working in tandem, they successfully seized upon the opening when the werewolf launched his assault to rip open the secret realm and hijack its authority!
In just that single breath, the werewolf was cut off from the Ancient Battlefield and could no longer draw upon the three Eternal Wonders. Even so, the Ancient Battlefield was ultimately his; it would take merely a few breaths for him to reestablish his connection.
Yet Yaxiu didn't give him even a single breath!
Intermediate Wonder: Sword Retainers!
Four phantoms materialized beside Yaxiu—violet-crimson fury, black-and-white malice, silver-gray frenzy, and deep-blue cruelty! The werewolf, who had once prided himself on crushing everything beneath him, finally met a brand of violence far more refined and far more brutal than his own.
The shield shattered upon contact, and the battleaxe instantly broke apart. The werewolf's soul body was torn into thirty-six pieces by silk threads and sword blades, before silver flooded the flesh and pulverized the soul! Yaxiu swept straight through the werewolf's remains and bloody mist, bringing with him a gale of slaughter.
After a single breath, victory, defeat, life, and death had already been decided. The second angel sent by the Lord of the Endless Abyss had fallen!
His mind easing slightly, the taut string wound tight by high-intensity combat suddenly slackened, and Yaxiu nearly collapsed as a wave of exhaustion hit him. Felix rushed to his side as though she, too, could use Duel, holding him upright. Yaxiu waved his hand to show he was fine, then turned to Sword Princess and the others as they returned, smiling. "We won."
"I'm sorry." Weise lowered her head. "They were lurking right beside my true body, yet I didn't even notice them..."
"They were demigod angels under a God-Leader, while you're only a small god. Isn't it only natural for them to hold the upper hand when calculating against the unprepared?" Yaxiu consoled her. "What matters is that we achieved a total victory."
"A secret realm!" Diya looked at the blood-misted Ancient Battlefield, declaring with excitement, "We have our own secret realm now too!"
"One of the prerequisites to becoming a God-Leader is wielding a world secret realm." Sonia looked at Yaxiu, letting out a long, heavy exhale. "We've finally come this far."
"Yeah," Yaxiu said with a smile. "We have."
While everyone was celebrating this flawless counterattack, only Vichy still wore a troubled expression.
"Something's wrong," the Spectre Prophet muttered. "This was a matter of life and death, so why didn't I feel the slightest premonition?"
"Did you have any premonition before we encountered the Sword Law last time?" Yaxiu asked.
"That was different. Traversing a spatial gate to jump straight into the view of the Divine Lord of Stars was already an exceptionally perilous act in itself. I could deduce that much on my own; the appearance of the Sword Law merely added frost to snow. But over these past few days, I've constantly been prophesying our upcoming future, and the feedback has always been a 'peaceful night' without the slightest sign of danger. That makes no sense."
Weise said, "Could it be that the Lord of the Endless Abyss concealed their traces?"
"I don't know much about the Lord of the Endless Abyss, but could he completely counter me in the prophecy faction to the point that I couldn't detect a single trace?" Vichy was deeply skeptical. "You all know my record. Throughout my entire life, I was either causing trouble for others or having others cause trouble for me. The moment anything felt off, I would immediately flee ten thousand li away. I avoided fatal perils several times thanks to that vigilance.
"What's even stranger is that even right now, I don't feel any sense of crisis in my heart." Pressing a hand against her chest, she murmured, "It's as if something is suppressing my prophetic intuition..."
"Let's leave at once." Making an immediate decision, Yaxiu waved his hand. "Take the Ancient Battlefield if we can, and if not, break through it! Open a spatial gate to the Kingdom of Gospel immediately! Vichy might not be trustworthy in other matters, but you can never trust her too much when it comes to fearing death!"
Yaxiu placed complete faith in Vichy, willing even to abandon the world secret realm they had just acquired, despite it being a vital bargaining chip for ascending to God-Leader. It wasn't that he failed to understand what the Ancient Battlefield meant for him, but no matter how important a chip was, it could never be compared to everyone's safety.
He would rather push the secret realm onto the gambling table as a stake than let anyone else be put on the line. Yet sometimes, when you yourself were the chip someone else desired, how could you possibly walk away from the table?
"No need to rush off," a familiar female voice rang out across the Ancient Battlefield. "Those two fools failed to offer proper hospitality, so allow us to welcome our distinguished guests instead."
Yaxiu and the others turned around to see three groups of sorcerers appearing against the sky illuminated by the blood-red setting sun. The Ancient Battlefield prevented them from leaving, yet it didn't seem to stop others from entering.
The one speaking to them was a beautiful lady wearing spectacles. She possessed amber eyes and wore a pair of luxurious headphones that looked to be crafted from obsidian, with a small bell hanging from each side. Her avant-garde, stylish attire made her resemble a warm and approachable older sister.
"Please believe me, violent negotiation is by no means our first choice," her voice sounded clear and melodious. "However... my position makes it awkward to say much, but the throne angels of the Lord of the Endless Abyss have always acted quite self-indulgently, and we couldn't restrain them. We were supposed to arrive together, never expecting they would take the initiative to ambush you ahead of time. This was our dereliction of duty, and we apologize.
"As for your killing those two fools, please don't take it to heart. Even if you hadn't killed them, we wouldn't have let them off either. When it comes to idiots who act on their own and violate everyone's shared interests, we don't care about their lives in the slightest.
"And... Yaxiu Heath, Lisidiya Yisu, it has been a long time." As she spoke, the bells jingled along with her movements. "Lisidiya, you were still just a tiny little thing the last time I saw you. Look how much you've grown."
Yaxiu recognized who she was at that moment. The Bell-Listening Angel.
Back when Yaxiu and Diya had gone to the All-Knowing Heaven to make a wish, she was the one who had received them!
Yaxiu flashed a hand signal, indicating for everyone to prepare to flee. Yet the Bell-Listening Angel merely clapped her hands at that moment, speaking leisurely, "The Ancient Battlefield is simply too dreadful a place for conversation. Let's move somewhere else instead."
In the next second, her voice turned solemn and clear, the bells ringing incessantly: "Hanging Gardens, open!"
Yaxiu flashed a hand signal, indicating for everyone to prepare to flee. Yet the Bell-Listening Angel merely clapped her hands at that moment, speaking leisurely, "The Ancient Battlefield is simply too dreadful a place for conversation. Let's move somewhere else instead."
In the next second, her voice turned solemn and clear, the bells ringing incessantly: "Hanging Gardens, open!"
At the same time, the other two groups of sorcerers proclaimed in unison:
"Wind, Flowers, Snow, and Moon, appear!"
"Mountain of Corpses and Sea of Blood, arise!"
With the solemn proclamations of the angels, three secret realms descended in silence. Combined with the blood-misted Ancient Battlefield, four world secret realms descended upon Dark Senluo at once!
Chapter 1164