Pretending to be a genius starts with the civilization advancement assessment.

Chapter 329 Came in and then went out again (Seeking monthly votes at the end of the year)
Lin Yi stared at the slowly rotating entrance to the passageway in front of him.

Based on experience with the transition from the gray fog layer to the black fog layer, once the passage is opened, it will remain permanently, and there will be no situation where one is randomly teleported after entering and cannot return.

However, the passage opened by the crimson crystal core leads to a completely unknown location, and its level of danger is bound to be far greater than before.

"I'll send my clone in first to scout ahead."

Lin Yi turned around and addressed the more than seven hundred prodigies gathered behind him.

“This blood mist passage looks strange. We need to check the situation inside first, lest we fall into a pile of mist beasts as soon as we go in. You wait here. Do not enter without my signal.”

Edith and the others nodded, offering no objections.

In this completely unknown environment, sending Lin Yi's accomplices to conduct reconnaissance first is the safest option.

No one would be foolish enough to show off at a time like this.

Without saying a word, the clone stepped directly into the blood-red vortex.

Immediately followed was a feeling of weightlessness and detachment.

This time the feeling was more pronounced than the previous two times, as if my soul was being torn apart by that blood-red vortex.

But after only a second or two, the clone felt a hard sensation under its feet.

The texture is similar to that of the black fog layer; it is some kind of cold, hard rock.

But the surrounding environment
Blood mist.

The thick, blood-red mist, like congealed blood, filled every inch of space.

The sense of oppression from the rules here suddenly increased to a whole new level. The clone immediately felt its soul perception range being drastically compressed, and its visibility becoming pitifully low.

Five meters away, there was only a chilling dark red.

"Xuanji, environmental scan."

The clone immediately gave the order.

"Yes, Master."

Xuanji responded from the left arm tactical core, but the sound seemed to be interfered with.

"The intensity of the rule suppression is about 1.8 times that of the black fog layer, and the concentration of soul interference particles has surged. The effectiveness of the detection equipment has been greatly suppressed, the basic scanning function is barely usable, and the accuracy has decreased by 87%."

It's good enough if it's barely usable.

Lin Yi quickly took out a tiny detector, about the size of a fingernail, with mimicry and concealment functions from his bracelet. After activating it, he carefully placed it in an inconspicuous rock crevice near the entrance of the passage.

The detector's surface quickly lost its luster, almost blending into the dark red crystals condensed in the surrounding blood mist.

After making the initial arrangements, Lin Yi did not go any deeper. Instead, he immediately turned back and passed through the passage back to the black mist layer.

"how is the situation?"

Lin Yi immediately asked.

"The suppression of rules is stronger, soul perception is greatly compressed, and the visible range is extremely short," the clone said succinctly. "The blood mist concentration is extremely high, and the detection equipment is severely weakened, but it is still usable. At first glance, there are no mist beasts gathering near the entrance of the passage."

Lin Yi nodded slightly, as long as the entrance is safe.

He then said:
"Everyone, prepare to enter. Maintain maximum alert. Keep your three-person formation intact."

With the order given, everyone solemnly checked their equipment and status again, and then, led by Lin Yi, they stepped into the blood mist passage one by one.

Blood mist layer.

More than 700 people crowded near the entrance of the passage, and everyone felt the heavy sense of oppression.

In this blood-red world, they seemed to have become a group of half-blind insects, having to be careful with every step they took.

"Deploy concealed detection devices," Lin Yi instructed Xuanji, while also glancing at several mechanical prodigies in the team who were skilled in this area. "Cover the area around the entrance to the passage, focusing on monitoring energy reactions and signs of life."

"clear."

Soon, several detectors that blended seamlessly into the environment were quietly deployed in key locations, forming a preliminary early warning network.

Under the cover of the blood mist, these detectors are extremely difficult to detect.

"Clean up the traces."

Lin Yi continued to give orders, his gaze sweeping over the ground where the crowd had trod and the blood mist that had rippled slightly due to their arrival. "Erase all footprints and traces of source energy. Leave not a single trace."

Everyone took action immediately.

In this environment, although traces are easy to cover up, it is essential to be absolutely certain of success when facing the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan, who may possess special detection methods.

After cleaning up the traces in the entrance area, Lin Yi chose a direction.

"Follow me, keep formation, and don't explore beyond the repeater's coverage area. In any situation, prioritize warning others, don't engage in direct combat."

The team began to slowly advance through this blood-red, desolate world.

Lin Yi's main body was positioned in the middle, while his clones acted like the most sensitive antennae, scouting ahead.

The cruelty of the Blood Mist layer was soon fully revealed.

The frequency of the appearance of the Fog Beast is astonishingly high.

Almost every hundred or two meters they advanced, the scout clones ahead would be attacked.

The mist beasts here have undergone a qualitative leap in strength; even the lowest level exhibits energy fluctuations at the peak of the Star Swirl level.

Their bodies, formed from the blood mist, are more solid, and the rule-corroding power accompanying their attacks carries a sense of madness, far surpassing the relatively gentle mist beasts in the black mist layer.

This is just the most ordinary Blood Mist Beast.

Soon, they encountered a large blood mist beast.

Its size was comparable to a small mountain, and the energy pressure it emitted had reached the early stage of the Star Domain level.

When the clone first encountered it, the thing was lying in a low-lying area where the blood mist was particularly thick, as if it were absorbing something.

As soon as the clone entered its hundred-meter range, the massive dark red body suddenly opened several eyes made of pure blood-red energy, and a mist blade, as condensed as blood and incredibly fast, silently slashed out.

The clone reacts extremely quickly, using time delay to activate instantly, and narrowly avoids danger by combining spatial teleportation.

The mist blade grazed past the clone, silently slicing the blood-red rock behind it in two.

Without hesitation, the clone immediately transmitted the information and location back.

Upon receiving the news, Lin Yi immediately ordered the main force to turn around and take a detour.

Although he could deal with the mist beasts at the early stage of the Star Domain level, it would consume a considerable amount of source energy. In this unfamiliar territory, the first priority was to get away from the initial passage and create distance.

However, the dangers don't end there.

The seventh day of exploration.

The clone that was scouting ahead suddenly stopped, and then without hesitation activated spatial teleportation, retreating rapidly backward.

Almost at the same moment the clone disappeared, a terrifying pressure that sent shivers down one's spine swept in from the depths of the blood mist ahead, like a sleeping primordial beast awakening.

"Turn around! Turn around immediately and get out of this area."

The clone immediately issued an alert.

Lin Yi gave the order without hesitation: "Everyone, turn right."

Without the slightest hesitation, the team immediately turned around.

Everyone could feel the powerful pressure behind them, as if a terrifying being was staring at them through the blood mist.

The palpable pressure gradually dissipated after the group had walked for more than half a standard time.

"What the hell was that just now?" Kenx leaned against a blood-red crystal pillar, his face pale.

He felt as if his source energy was about to solidify, and even his rule-based armor was trembling slightly.

"A giant mist beast at the mid-stage of the Star Domain level should be approaching the late stage." Lin Yi's expression was solemn.

In the fleeting glimpse transmitted by the clone, there was a shadow several times larger than a large blood mist beast. The energy ripples it naturally emitted caused the surrounding blood mist to form a vortex with a diameter of over a hundred meters.

Judging from the clone's assessment, its energy level is already close to the late stage of the star field.

But just when they thought they had avoided the most dangerous area and breathed a sigh of relief, something even more dangerous happened on the eleventh day.

The team was taking a short break at the edge of a stone forest composed of countless blood-red crystals, and as usual, the clone was scouting ahead.

Suddenly, the clone seemed to have crashed into an invisible wall, and even the spatial rules around it showed signs of disorder.

Immediately afterwards, a powerful and violent will swept across like a tangible tide, causing the clone's soul to feel a momentary stinging sensation, as if it had been pierced by an invisible needle.

"escape!!"

This was the clone's only thought.

He didn't even have time to describe it in detail, nor did he dare to rejoin the main force. He immediately launched a space shuttle in another direction.

Lin Yi's hair stood on end instantly.

"Immediately conceal all your aura and slowly retreat!" He didn't even dare to speak, but immediately gave the order via soul transmission.

Everyone immediately suppressed their own energy fluctuations to the minimum and slowly moved backward.

Time seemed to freeze, with only the blood mist silently churning.

The crowd was deathly silent.

Only when they were ten kilometers away and the oppressive aura had completely dissipated did everyone breathe a sigh of relief.

"What is that?" Liu Yun asked quietly as the wings of light on her back folded tightly.

Lin Yi slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air and said slowly, "I will temporarily call it a King-level Blood Mist Beast at the peak of the Star Domain level."

Peak of the Star Domain level!
Everyone was deeply shaken.

If it hadn't been Lin Yi's clone scouting ahead, any other scout would probably not have had a chance to escape.

This encounter made the team more cautious, and their progress slowed down.

While meticulously clearing away their tracks, they also deployed repeaters along the way, painstakingly expanding their living space in this blood-red fog.

Time passes day by day.

Around the fifteenth day after entering the Blood Mist Layer, Xuanji suddenly reported some news.

"Master, the hidden detectors deployed outside the initial entrance to the Blood Mist Channel have transmitted a large-scale energy reaction. Analysis of the energy characteristics confirms that it is the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan. They have already entered the Blood Mist layer through the channel."

coming.

Lin Yi understood and wasn't too surprised. The other side had indeed found their camp in the black mist layer and followed the passage.

This was what he expected.

"The enemy has caught up with us," Lin Yi informed everyone.

The atmosphere in the team immediately tensed up, and their previously relaxed nerves tightened again.

"But there's no need to be too nervous."

Lin Yi immediately said, "We carefully cleaned up the traces along the way, and the blood mist has already smoothed out the path again. Along the way, we passed through the activity areas of at least twenty or thirty giant blood mist beasts, and there may be a king-level blood mist beast's territory on the outskirts."

"This layer of blood mist is also fraught with danger for them. Finding us won't be easy."

Everyone felt relieved after hearing this.

Indeed, compared to their team, which had Lin Yi's clone scouting ahead and avoided numerous deadly dangers, the "welcome ceremony" that later arrivals would face when entering this blood-red fog would likely be far more enthusiastic.

Therefore, Lin Yi simply instructed the team to remain vigilant and slightly increased their pace, without altering the original plan.

He even secretly hoped that these pursuers would encounter more obstacles with the Blood Mist Beast and expend more of their strength.

However, three days later, an accident occurred.

“Master, it’s an emergency.” Xuanji’s voice rang out again.

"Data was transmitted back from a more concealed backup monitoring device located further out at the edge of the Blood Mist Passage. The two teams, which had been searching separately, suddenly returned to the entrance area of ​​the passage about an hour ago, and then the energy reaction disappeared collectively."

"Disappeared?" Lin Yi was taken aback.

The monitoring device next to the entrance of the passage must have been detected and destroyed when the enemy entered on a large scale.

However, at the outermost monitoring points, shrouded in blood mist, the other party would not be able to detect this unusual movement unless they turned the surrounding area upside down.

“It’s confirmed that they disappeared, not that they moved away from the monitoring range,” Xuanji affirmed. “The monitoring equipment did not capture the energy trajectories of the large group leaving in different directions. Based on the direction of the last captured energy gathering signal, we speculate that they collectively returned to the black mist layer.”

At this moment, Edith, Huiyao, and others also learned of this situation through the relay network and all looked at Lin Yi.

"They... withdrew?"

Aoba was somewhat incredulous, and stopped wiping his longsword. "It's only been a few days? Even if they encountered danger and lost some men, with their strength and numbers, they shouldn't have given up the pursuit so quickly, right? Isn't this just throwing away all their previous efforts?"

“Unless the danger they encounter is far greater than anticipated,” Edith pondered, “or they have new plans and need to concentrate their forces.”

Lin Yi frowned slightly.

This is indeed somewhat unusual.

Logically, if the other side has gone to great lengths to catch up with them, even if they can't find them immediately, they should at least try to establish outposts, expand the search area, or leave some people to monitor the passageways.

Their rapid collective withdrawal is inconsistent with their previous style of eliminating them at any cost.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation.

"I'll send my clone back to check on the situation," Lin Yi decided.

The clone beside him nodded slightly, the rules of space around him rippled silently, and his figure blurred instantly, merging into the blood mist.

One shuttle, two shuttles, three shuttles.
Under the powerful suppression of the Blood Mist layer's rules, the distance and efficiency of spatial travel were greatly reduced. The clone spent 20% of its source energy before finally and with difficulty approaching the area where the passage entrance was located.

The clone concealed itself within the dense blood mist, suppressing its aura to the extreme, and cautiously probed.

Sure enough, the area near the entrance to the passage was deathly silent, with only the blood mist slowly churning.

The noisy energy remnants and subtle traces left behind when the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan entered on a large scale are being slowly covered by the omnipresent blood mist.

They really all left, and they left very cleanly.

The clone moved silently and arrived in front of the slowly rotating crimson passage.

The vortex remained, its blood-red light swirling, like a gaping maw waiting to devour everything.

The clone hesitated for a moment before stepping into the passage.

After a brief moment of disorientation and disorientation, the relatively thin layer of black fog came into view.

However, before the clone could even get a clear look at its surroundings...
"attack!"

"Space lock!"

"Don't let him go back!!"

A furious roar and a sharp, piercing shriek exploded simultaneously.

In an instant, figures from the shadows around the entrance of the passage sprang up.

An overwhelming barrage of rule-based attacks, like the most violent downpour, enveloped the newly appeared clone.

The attacks of various rules are densely packed, weaving together a web of death that seals off all possible dodge space in all directions.

At the same time, the clone clearly sensed that the space within a radius of several hundred meters centered on the entrance to the passage was firmly sealed off by multiple spatial rules.

These rules and forces clearly originate from different individuals, collectively forming a complex barrier specifically designed to prevent spatial movement.

Here, the ability to travel through space is completely sealed off and cannot be used.

In a flash, the clone made the most correct response.

He made no attempt to fight back; under such a meticulously prepared siege, it would be pointless and would only hasten his death.

Therefore, just a moment before the first wave of the most rapid attack was about to hit.

"Time to stop!"

The silver-gray ripples spread rapidly outwards from the clone, disregarding the energy expenditure.

The range is extremely small, only covering the nearest dozen or so attacks and a few enemies who are closest to the front.

The time is extremely short, possibly less than half a second.

But for the clone, who was right at the edge of the passage and whose body was almost still pressed against the crimson vortex, it was enough.

Taking advantage of this momentary pause, the clone leaned back without hesitation, its body disappearing back into the not-yet-fully-closed crimson vortex.

*Puff puff puff! Sizzle! Boom!*

Countless attacks landed in empty space, either colliding with each other or blasting against the black mist and rocks at the edge of the passage, stirring up violent energy turbulence and explosions that turned the area upside down.

The clone fell back into the blood mist layer, glanced at the passage behind it, and immediately activated spatial teleportation, quickly returning to the exploration team and appearing beside Lin Yi.

In the temporary rest camp, Lin Yi, who was sitting cross-legged on a blood-red crystal to regulate his breathing, suddenly opened his eyes. His expression darkened slightly, and a cold glint flashed in his eyes.

"How about it?"

Edith, who had been keeping a close eye on his condition, immediately asked in a low voice.

The prodigies who were busy setting up defenses and healing their injuries noticed the change in atmosphere and gathered around.

Lin Yi slowly recounted the situation his clone had encountered.

"They have heavily fortified the entrance and used multiple spatial rules to block it, making spatial travel impossible."

Lin Yi concluded, his voice calm, but the content of his words sent a chill down everyone's spine.

"They...are they trying to trap us here to die?" Liu Yun exclaimed.

Huiyao coughed, his face looking rather grim: "It seems they ran into a wall in the Blood Mist Layer, and may even have encountered a King-level Blood Mist Beast. They're not stupid; they saw through our intention to use the complex environment and powerful beasts of the Blood Mist Layer to wear them down."

He paused, his voice tinged with bitterness: "So, they simply gave up and retreated to the relatively safe black mist layer. They also have a few geniuses who know spatial rules, so they joined forces to block the exit. This is the easiest way."

Qingye gritted her teeth and said, "This is an open conspiracy. They don't need to risk coming down here anymore. As long as they guard the entrance to the passage on the other side of the black mist layer, we will have nowhere to go. If we want to leave the secret realm, we must return the way we came."

"Yes."

Edith frowned. "To return to the gray fog layer, we must pass through the black fog layer. But the entrance to the black fog layer has been heavily guarded and blocked by them with spatial barriers."

"Unless we can break through their blockade head-on and carve a bloody path through, we will be trapped in this layer of blood mist until the secret realm naturally closes in a year."

She didn't finish her sentence, but everyone understood the unspoken meaning.

Based on the patterns observed in countless secret realms over the years, the exit will be wherever the entrance appears. Since the entrance was in the first layer of gray fog when they entered, they had to return to the gray fog layer to get out.

Or, they might die here before the secret realm closes.

The atmosphere inside the camp was very oppressive.

Ahead lies a constant stream of powerful Blood Mist Beasts, and behind lies a heavy enemy blockade.

They seemed trapped in an elaborately crafted cage, unable to see a glimmer of light.

Lin Yi remained silent for a moment, his gaze slowly sweeping across everyone's faces. He saw the unwillingness in Huiyao's eyes, the solemnity between Edith's brows, and Qingye's tightly pursed lips.
He suddenly spoke.

"Alright."

Everyone was stunned and looked at him.

Lin Yi even slightly tugged at the corner of his mouth, revealing a smile.

“It’s not necessarily a bad thing that the enemy isn’t chasing us.” He smiled and continued, “Now that there are no more pursuers, we don’t have to be constantly on the run and worry about being surrounded by the main force like before.”

He stood up, walked to the edge of the camp, and looked at the thick, impenetrable blood mist around him.

"This layer of blood mist is a harsh environment, and the mist beasts are ridiculously powerful."

He sighed, but then changed the subject, "But on the other hand, this place is dangerous for us, and it's also a forbidden zone for the Abyss Clan and the Eclipse Clan. They dare not come down here, so this place has become our temporary safe zone."

Safe place?
The group exchanged bewildered glances, looking at the blood-red, hazy environment where king-level monsters might be lurking, and found it impossible to associate this place with safety.

“At least,” Lin Yi turned to face the crowd, “we no longer need to worry about being attacked from both sides. We can temporarily focus all our energy on dealing with the immediate threat.”

"And we have time to catch our breath, time to act at our own pace."

Edith seemed thoughtful. "You mean..."

Lin Yi nodded: "The fact that they retreated from the blood mist layer at least indicates that their primary mission was probably not to obtain the source essence, but rather to ensure the extermination of us and eliminate any potential threats. That's normal. However..."

His gaze deepened, as if piercing through the thick fog of blood.

“They want to trap us with this door, so let’s see if they can trap us here, or if we can gain the strength to break through first.”

Lin Yi looked at everyone and said, "The most urgent task is to get rid of this aimless state of existence. We need a relatively stable base to truly rest and recover."

"at the same time."

"The mist beasts here are stronger, and the crystal cores obtained from killing them may contain more and purer source matter. This may well be an opportunity for us."

　The new book has been running for over four months, reaching over 120 million words. Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the results; it wasn't a waste of time. Most of the criticism and suggestions from readers are based on discussions of the plot, and the atmosphere seems quite positive. Judging from the current feedback, the subsequent plot developments haven't been predicted, which is good. I'll be releasing a monthly pass bonus chapter tomorrow, so interested readers can keep an eye out. That's all for today—spending New Year's Eve with family!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)