Wang Sen sat on the ground, a look of confusion on his face. He had seemed to feel a gaze upon him.
At this moment, his injuries appeared to have worsened. His black robes, stained with blood, had formed hard scabs, giving him a rather disheveled appearance.
"I felt it too, but there was no malice. It shouldn't be those foreigners. Perhaps some weak subterranean creatures," Ling Xiaotian said. Both he and Wang Sen were nearing exhaustion of their mental energy after the battle, their senses no longer as sharp as they were at their peak. He continued, "Rest quickly. In about three hours, the saturation period of the medicine in our bodies will pass. Once our spiritual energy is replenished, we'll go find Xiao Yu. Without him, we can't last much longer."
The various restorative potions developed by the Supernatural Research Institute would cause the body to develop resistance if taken too frequently. This meant that supernaturals couldn't infinitely replenish their spiritual energy in the secret realm. It was also why lightning-element supernaturals were so precious in such places. This was why so many people had lamented Lei Jun's departure from Ning City.
Not long ago, after recuperating, their group had set out together to find Yu Zhibo. Halfway there, they had suddenly encountered six foreigners in strange attire. The foreigners seemed to have just finished exploring a spiritual energy vein and had been in a fight with chaotic magic bats, with several of their own members injured.
After confirming that the opposing party's strength was not enough to completely overwhelm them, a fierce battle ensued. By the end, their spiritual energy was depleted, and their side lacked lightning-element ability users for sustained combat. They were forced to flee.
Of the six foreigners, three had been heavily injured by Wang Sen's Overlord Blade's energy, exacerbating their wounds and severely diminishing their combat effectiveness. They had then barely managed to escape after Ling Xiaotian unleashed a full-power attack to push everyone back. Ling Xiaotian himself had been on the verge of collapse, his combat power plummeting to its lowest point.
"Doesn't the secret realm only have one entrance? How did a group of foreigners suddenly appear?" asked Zhao Tianru, looking puzzled. His chest had been pierced, and his wife, Zhao Xueyan, was using a green light to heal him.
Han Chen leaned against a dirt arm, his index finger tracing a circle in the air. A fist-sized water sphere condensed in front of everyone's mouths. He drank the water sphere in front of him and said, "What should we do now? Should we keep hiding? We must report the appearance of foreigners in Ning City's secret realm."
"We'll talk about it after we recover. We'll try to find Xiao Yu again!" Wang Sen said calmly, also finishing his water sphere before continuing, "I'll go find him alone this time. We can't search in groups anymore. If we make too much noise, who knows what might happen!"
"That sounds good," Ling Xiaotian agreed, then slowly closed his eyes to recover his energy.
"Ye Ling, don't deactivate your Void Eye. Keep an eye on the surroundings!" Wang Sen instructed Ye Ling.
"Okay!" Ye Ling nodded solemnly.
After Ye Ling nodded, the underground chamber fell silent again, and everyone quietly recuperated.
Seven minutes later, Ye Ling, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly changed her expression. Her eyes snapped open as if she had seen something terrifying. She urgently exclaimed, "Not good! At five kilometers in the six o'clock direction, two foreigners are flying this way. It's the spatial ability user and the air ability user we encountered before!"
As soon as she spoke, everyone present opened their eyes, and Wang Sen's expression turned completely grim.
Five kilometers was a mere instant for a supernatural. After Ye Ling's warning, a circular cutting blade sliced towards the underground chamber, distorting the void wherever it passed. This was the skill of a B-rank spatial ability user, Dimensional Slash.
Wang Sen, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly stood up, drew his long saber from his back, and unleashed a terrifying blade energy with a slightly reddish edge. The blade energy instantly pierced through the five-meter-thick soil layer above the underground chamber and then surged towards the Dimensional Slash, completely shredding it. The residual force continued towards the two individuals in the air.
"So you rats were hiding here!"
In the air, an air ability user with messy blonde hair and gold-rimmed glasses smirked. With a thought, a thick air shield appeared before him, blocking the blade energy, which had been significantly weakened after shattering the Dimensional Slash. These two were Captain Pete, the leader of the foreign team who controlled air abilities, and another spatial ability user, Tick.
"Is this Chinese Kung Fu? Truly terrifying. Blade energy combined with abilities, a brilliant concept!" Tick said with a smile, watching the group led by Wang Sen emerge from the broken dirt pit. His gaze was filled with the playful mockery of a cat toying with a mouse.
Due to his lack of spiritual energy, Wang Sen had directly utilized the vital energy contained within his physical body. After unleashing that strike, his body visibly withered, but his eyes shone with a terrifying brilliance. He looked coldly at Pete and the other man in the air and said, "Even without spiritual energy, I can unleash three more strikes like that!"
Upon hearing this, Pete and Tick's eyes flashed with apprehension. In their previous battle, this man named Wang Sen had used his blade energy to heavily injure three members of their group, even shattering his air shield and slashing his chest, nearly causing him to be critically wounded. Although they had also been greatly weakened after escaping from the chaotic magic bats, Wang Sen's group had been in no better condition, yet they had still managed to unleash such terrifying combat power.
"Speak! Why are you invading our Lighthouse Nation's secret realm?" Seeing a peak B-rank winged dragon in the distance seemingly notice them in the sky, Pete and Tick quickly descended from the air and then coldly posed their question.
"I don't know why you're spouting nonsense to stall for time, but I won't give you that satisfaction!" Ling Xiaotian said with a calm expression. As he spoke, he drew his long saber and unleashed a sword energy. He then turned to Han Chen and the others and said, "You guys, run quickly. Don't become a burden to Old Wang and me." As he finished speaking, a trickle of blood seeped from the corner of his mouth, indicating that his injuries had never fully healed.
"Run? It's too late!" Pete said with a kindly, amiable smile. "I've already separated all the hydrogen from the air. It's all gathered around you now. Enjoy the explosion!" With that, he flicked his finger. The phosphorus element extracted from the air fused with the hydrogen, forming phosphine. Upon encountering air, it spontaneously ignited, creating a faint green flame that detonated the hydrogen.
Instantly, terrifying blue flames, originating from the green phosphine fire, engulfed everyone, including Wang Sen. These flames contained spiritual energy and generated immense heat as they burned, making them extremely powerful area-of-effect attacks. As the burning hydrogen spread, Tick, the spatial ability user behind Pete, also waved his hand and released a Dimensional Slash.
The flames formed by phosphine are also known as ghost fire, often appearing in graves during dry summers. The principle behind it is that after a corpse decomposes, the phosphorus element in the bones transforms into phosphine, which has self-igniting properties. In the secret realm, there were countless dead magical beasts, so phosphorus elements were naturally abundant. Pete had been talking nonsense earlier precisely to extract hydrogen, laying the groundwork for a large-scale hydrogen combustion attack. Unfortunately, Ling Xiaotian had discovered it, forcing him to launch it hastily, resulting in slightly reduced power, but it was enough to cause trouble for these individuals who were on the verge of collapse.
Seeing the surging flames all around, Ling Xiaotian's expression changed slightly. He immediately channeled his meager spiritual energy and activated his sequence core, summoning a gust of wind to blow away the hydrogen. However, halfway through, it dissipated. Pete cupped his five fingers, using an air wall to completely block the incoming wind. Due to Ling Xiaotian's lack of spiritual energy, the wind was too weak and was easily blocked.
"Must my strongest strike be wasted on this mere hydrogen combustion?" Wang Sen's face showed a hint of bitterness. He regretted not having attacked Pete and Tick from the beginning, as that might have at least allowed him to heavily injure them.
As the blue flames spread towards them, and just as Wang Sen gritted his teeth, preparing to overdraft his life force and unleash a full-power blade strike to disperse the flames and Dimensional Slash, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind.
"Earth Style: Earth Wall!"
"Earth Style: Earth Prison!"