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

Chapter 391 I'll be back! I'm really in a hurry! (Seeking monthly votes at the beginning of the month)

"Ok?"

A fierce glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes.

I'm already being lenient by not even looking for you, yet you dare to spare some of your defense to help your comrade?

Lin Yi remained outwardly calm, but deep within his mind, the Void Annihilation Condensation Technique was already quietly operating, and a Void Annihilation Point was silently embedded behind the Bone Erosion God.

Then, he let out a low shout, and the Sky-Piercing Shuttle spear in his hand transformed into a silver dragon, thrusting out fiercely.

The target is the massive bone shield in front of the Dark Corruption God.

The minds of the Dark Corrosion God and the Bone Corrosion God were instantly drawn to this massive attack.

Dark Eclipse roared as it poured its divine power into the Shadow Shield, while Bone Eclipse desperately maintained the stability of the Bone Shield, even slightly adjusting its defensive center of gravity to cope with possible impact and recoil.

However, just as the spear tip was about to touch the bone shield, the most tense moments of the Dark Erosion and Bone Erosion, Lin Yi's figure suddenly disappeared and appeared directly behind the Bone Erosion deity.

Immediately afterwards, Lin Yi's right hand, which was originally thrusting towards the Dark Erosion Sky Shuttle Spear, suddenly appeared and stabbed towards the Bone Erosion God at an extremely tricky angle.

"not good!"

The compound eyes of the Bone-Eroding God were instantly filled with horror.

Despite its rich combat experience, it reacted the instant Lin Yi's figure disappeared, frantically activating its bone shield defense and using all the divine power it could muster to condense a thick, gray, decaying bone armor and layers of death ripples.

But how could a hasty defense withstand Lin Yi's long-planned and deadly surprise attack?
The tip of the Sky Shuttle Spear, equipped with the annihilation properties of the "Spatial Annihilation Point," pierced through the hastily condensed death law ripples first, and the bone armor shattered in less than a tenth of a second.

Then, the spear tip plunged straight in, piercing the Bone-Eroding God's true form.

laugh!
Dark green divine blood mixed with carapace fragments splattered everywhere!
The terrifying spatial and temporal power contained in the spear tip, and the local spatial structure annihilation caused by the detonated spatial void point, unleashed a dual destructive force within the Bone-Eroding God's body.

The Bone-Eating God let out an extremely mournful soul-wrenching cry, its massive insect body convulsed violently, and its aura instantly weakened considerably.

A single, decisive blow severely damages the target!

The cold light in Lin Yi's eyes had not faded, yet he did not linger for a moment.

He vanished from beside the Bone-Eating God like a ghost, just in time to avoid the Bone-Eating God's massive scythe, which was shrouded in dense death energy, from its counterattack.

The scythe slashed fiercely at the afterimage left by Lin Yi, eroding a patch of void with a hissing sound.

Lin Yi appeared near another pre-set annihilation point coordinate, his expression calm, as if the thunderous strike just now was not his doing.

The invincible war god's reserves of divine power are ultimately a weakness, especially in high-intensity, sustained combat.

If possible, Lin Yi would never choose to engage in a head-on confrontation with an enemy of the same level for defense, as that would consume a large amount of precious divine power.

Therefore, his tactical style has always been to dodge whenever possible, and to use every bit of his divine power on the most lethal attack blade.

The Bone-Eroding God's attack missed its mark. Feeling the excruciating pain from his side and back, and the divine power and life force rapidly draining from his body, his compound eyes were already ashen.

"My divine power... that attack just now wiped out nearly 12% of my total divine power! And caused serious injuries!" It roared through telepathy to the equally shaken Dark Erosion God beside it, its voice filled with despair, "We can't continue! I have to go!"

"Leave? How?" The Dark Erosion God was startled. "You want to forcibly leave the secret realm?"

"Not bad!" the Bone Erosion God hissed, desperately urging the Law of Death to suppress his injuries and repair his carapace, while simultaneously retrieving all the bone shield fragments that had been separated to assist in the Dark Erosion's defense, tightly surrounding himself to form the innermost layer of close-fitting defense. "I'm forcibly activating the life-saving mark to exit. Although all the gains from this secret realm, as well as the treasures I brought with me, will drop here, as long as I rest slightly and recover from my injuries, I can apply to enter again!"

It spoke very quickly, clearly having already weighed the pros and cons: "But if we get hit by that human one or two more times, and are severely injured to the point of near death, passively triggering our life-saving mark, the losses will be enormous. Not to mention, after we get out, we'll need to spend a huge amount of rare treasures and time to heal, and we might completely miss the opportunity to open this secret realm! It's not worth it!"

Upon hearing this, the Dark Erosion God looked at his dimly lit Shadow Devouring Shield and gritted his teeth as he transmitted his voice: "But if we go out like this, all our weapons, armor, and treasures will be gone! Next time we come in, our strength will be greatly diminished. Who will we be able to fight? We might not even be able to save our lives!"

"Borrow from our tribe! Or just leave without anything, hoping to survive and scavenge for scraps!" The Bone-Eroding God's aura grew increasingly unstable. It had just been surrounded and attacked again, and its divine power had plummeted once more. "I don't have time to waste! In just this short while, my divine power has dropped by another 3%! You must leave with me! Otherwise, if I leave, you'll be left alone to face the four of them. You'll be severely injured instantly, and that human might even find an opportunity to kill you! The losses will be even greater then!"

Seeing the miserable state of his companions, and feeling his own rapidly depleting divine power and crumbling defenses, the Dark Erosion God knew that what Bone Erosion said was true.

That terrifying human race has too much attack power and unpredictable tactics; there is no chance of survival if they are left alone.

"Alright! Together!" The Dark Erosion God finally made up his mind, a ruthless glint of resentment flashing in his eyes. "Let's go!"

Almost at the same time that the Dark Eclipse God uttered the word "go," the two Eclipse Gods held nothing back and frantically activated the secret realm's life-saving mark.

hum!hum!
Two dazzling, seven-colored rays suddenly burst forth from their bodies, instantly forming two thick, seven-colored light shields that completely enveloped their figures.

The protective shield emitted strange fluctuations and was indestructible. It was the absolute protection granted by the rules of the secret realm, ensuring that the exit process would not be disturbed.

Inside the protective barrier, the Dark Erosion God's bloodshot compound eyes stared intently at Lin Yi in the distance, filled with resentment and unwillingness. It roared, "Human! Just you wait! I will return!!"

The next moment, a burst of seven-colored light flashed violently.

The figures of the two Devourer Gods, along with the seven-colored light shield, suddenly vanished without a trace.

In the starry sky, only their original positions remained, with a large number of objects floating around.

The Dark Corruption God's "Shadow Devouring Shield," the Bone Corruption God's enormous pale death scythe, along with other miscellaneous treasures and several strangely shaped insect-shell-like containers that were clearly storage equipment, drifted slowly in the void of space.

Hui Lie, Luna, and Serena, who were preparing to launch the next attack in coordination with Lin Yi, all stopped and watched the scene before them.

Looking at the various remains and storage equipment left behind where the two Eclipse Clan gods had previously hovered, Lin Yi said in a deep voice, "It seems that they forcibly activated their life-saving marks and withdrew from the secret realm."

Luna's emerald green life aura slowly faded, and she smiled as she continued, "They're not stupid. They can't run away, and if they continue fighting, the loss of being seriously injured and on the verge of death is far greater than if they voluntarily withdraw. Making this choice was expected."

Lin Yi nodded.

Those who can cultivate to the level of high-level gods and have gone through countless battles and trials are not fools; they possess all the necessary decisiveness.

Lin Yi completely disregarded the Dark Erosion God's harsh words, "I will be back," before he fled.

If we meet again in the secret realm, it will simply be another fight.

In this star-studded world where strength reigns supreme, the clamor of the defeated is utterly meaningless.

At that moment, Servila, the Eldar god who was providing support from not far away, flew over.

Although her moon-white battle robe was still damaged and scorched, her complexion had recovered considerably.

Serena's emerald green eyes showed obvious gratitude. She first bowed slightly to Luna and said, "Luna, thank you for your help."

Then, she turned to Hui Lie and nodded in greeting: "Your Excellency Hui Lie, I have long admired you."

Finally, Serena's gaze fell on Lin Yi, and she quickly thought about what to do.

Such a powerful spatial law expert, whose attack power touched the threshold of a high-level god and who could perform precise teleportation over extremely long distances, was someone I had never heard of before.

Could it be an ancient deity who has lived for countless years and was drawn out of a long period of seclusion or cultivation by the allure of the secret realm?
She dared not be negligent and respectfully inquired, "Sir, human sir, Servia will never forget your life-saving grace. May I ask how I should address you?"

Looking at the awe and suspicion in her eyes, Lin Yi calmly said, "I am Lin Yi. I've just changed my appearance."

Upon hearing this, Serena's emerald green eyes widened slightly, and a shock even stronger than during the battle welled up in her heart!

Lin Yi?

Lin Yi, the number one genius of the Pan-Spirit Alliance in this era, who turned the tide in thousands of secret realms and later shone brightly on the battlefield of the Two Realms Abyss.

He has actually grown to this level?

Not only did they enter the 45th level of the secret realm, but their strength has also reached such a formidable level!
Immediately, the level of importance she placed on the matter rose to another level.

The significance and future potential of a veteran powerhouse who has cultivated for a long time and emerged from ancient seclusion are completely different from that of a peerless genius who has risen to the same level in just ten thousand years!

"So it's Lord Lin Yi!" Serira quickly suppressed her shock, lowered her posture even further, and spoke with even greater solemnity. "I have long admired your name, but meeting you today is even more remarkable. I have no way to repay your life-saving grace."

As she spoke, she flipped her wrist, and three treasures that radiated a soft light and were clearly of great value appeared in her palm.

One was a vibrant green, heart-shaped crystal of life; another was a crystal that was entirely translucent with starlight flowing inside; and the third was a strange metal sheet entwined with faint spatial fluctuations.

"This is just a small token of my appreciation. I thank you all for your help, and I hope you will accept it," Serena said sincerely.

Lin Yi, Luna, and Huilie were not surprised by this.

This is considered an unwritten rule among the powerful beings of the Star Sea.

Discussing compensation before a rescue operation is not only a waste of time and undignified, but also appears mercenary.

However, it is only right for the rescued person to offer a gift of thanks afterward, both to express gratitude and to maintain their own reputation.

If they refuse to give even a penny, their reputation will be ruined, and they'll find it hard to get help in times of trouble. "Servera, you're too kind," Luna, as a member of the same clan, spoke first.

Without much formality, the three of them reached out and took a treasure.

Lin Yi took the metal piece that emitted spatial fluctuations, Luna took the life crystal, and Hui Lie took the starlight crystal, which signified that they accepted each other's gratitude.

“I’ll collect these spoils for now, and we’ll distribute them later.” Then, Lin Yi pointed to the equipment and storage containers left behind by the Eclipse Clan gods floating in the void and said, “Now, let’s go rescue Shi Feng.”

Shi Feng is also being hunted, and his situation may be even more dangerous than Serira's, because he is being pursued by the captain of the Eclipse Clan, a high-level deity, and there is no time to lose.

No one objected.

Lin Yi looked at Serena and asked directly, "Serena, can you track down Shi Feng, or any traces of his movements?"

Serena nodded immediately: "Okay! When we split up to escape, we agreed to leave hidden divine marks along the way. Whoever encounters reinforcements first and resolves the danger will immediately lead people along the direction of the marks to rescue the other."

This is also a common means of communication for small teams when they encounter a strong enemy and scatter to escape.

“Very good,” Lin Yi said. “Give me directions.”

Without the slightest hesitation, Serena sensed the surroundings briefly and quickly reported a coordinate.

Upon hearing this, Lin Yi reached out with his right hand and grabbed at the spoils in the void. A wave of silver-gray spacetime power swept over them, collecting all the spoils and temporarily storing them in his storage bracelet.

Immediately afterwards, he thought again, and the silvery-gray light once again enveloped himself, Luna, Hui Lie, and the newly joined Serena.

"Walk."

Lin Yi murmured something and raised his hand to make a gesture forward.

The space rippled violently, and the four figures vanished instantly from the star field where the battle had just ended.
-
at the same time.

In a frigid star field filled with sharp, ice-crystal-like meteorites and extremely low temperatures.

A figure was weaving through the dense cluster of meteorites, looking rather disheveled.

It was the human god "Shi Feng".

At this moment, his armor was covered with traces of corrosion and cutting, and his aura was fluctuating, clearly indicating that he had consumed a great deal of energy.

The dark red streak of light chasing from behind was none other than Kirama, the captain of the Eclipse Clan squad and a peak-level high god.

It resembled a ferocious beetle covered in dark red bone spikes, exuding a violent and bloody aura. Every time it swung its forelimbs, it could unleash a dark red blade of light that tore through space, forcing Shi Feng to frequently dodge or withstand the attacks, causing his divine power to be consumed like water.

While desperately dodging and defending, Shi Feng anxiously asked his intelligent life form in his mind: "Has no distress response or ally signal from the Pan-Spirit Alliance been detected yet?"

A calm yet urgent voice from the intelligent life form rang in his mind: "No valid response signal received. Master, your current divine power reserve has dropped to 39.7%, below the 40% warning line. Based on the current consumption rate and the enemy's attack intensity model, if your divine power reserve falls below 20%, your comprehensive defense system will have a structural vulnerability, and you are very likely to be instantly and severely damaged in the next round of high-intensity attacks."

Shi Feng's heart sank.

He was experienced in combat and knew that the judgments of intelligent life forms were generally accurate.

The sustained attack pressure from a peak high-level deity was too great; although his defenses were thick, they couldn't withstand such attrition.

"If we hold on a little longer and our divine power drops to 30% without any hope of turning things around," a resolute glint flashed in Shi Feng's eyes, "then we'll force our way out of the secret realm!"

Although this means losing all the gains and treasures carried during this exploration of the secret realm, it's still better than being severely injured and on the verge of death, and having your life-saving mark triggered passively.

Just as his divine power reserves were slowly dropping to 38%, the tension in his heart was getting tighter and tighter.
"Master! Communication request received! Signal identifier: Eldar Servila!" The intelligent life form's voice suddenly carried a hint of urgent joy.

Shi Feng was overjoyed, as if he had seen the light of dawn in the darkness. He immediately shouted in his mind, "Connect! Connect now!"

Communication was established instantly, and Serena's voice immediately rang in his mind: "Shi Feng! I've met reinforcements! It's Lord Lin Yi of your human race, and Luna of our spirit race, and Lord Hui Lie of the Holy Radiance race! They've already driven those two Eclipse race gods who were chasing me out of the secret realm!"

"Lord Lin Yi is leading us through spatial teleportation. According to the mark you left behind, we have arrived at the area where your last divine power mark was located! Quickly, report your precise real-time coordinates! You'd better find a way to entangle that guy chasing you and not let it get away easily!"

The amount of information was enormous, but Shi Feng instantly grasped the key point: Serena was out of danger! The reinforcements were three gods, including Lin Yi, and Lin Yi possessed spatial teleportation abilities, so they were almost there! Let him hold the enemy off!

"Great!" Without thinking twice, Shi Feng immediately sent over his most accurate spatial coordinates.

After doing all this, a fierce glint flashed in Shi Feng's eyes, and the frustration of being forced to flee instantly transformed into boiling fighting spirit.

He no longer conserved his divine power, suddenly stopped and turned around, his body radiating light that thickened layer by layer. At the same time, he condensed a heavy fist aura as thick as a mountain on his fists and slammed it fiercely at the dark red stream of light that was chasing closely behind him!
"Let you chase me!"

This counterattack came suddenly and violently, completely overturning the previous posture of simply fleeing.

The captain of the Eclipse Clan, who was in pursuit, had a flash of red light in his eyes, and alarm bells immediately went off in his mind.

There must be a demon in the abnormal situation!
Why did the opponent suddenly turn around and fight desperately when their performance was clearly declining?
Kirama, with his extensive combat experience, instantly considered a variety of possibilities.

"Hmph! You think you can take me?" it sneered, its movements not slowing down at all.

Despite saying that, it did not choose to confront the heavy fist aura that Shi Feng was unleashing head-on. Instead, it twisted its body strangely, and dark red blade aura poured out like a rainstorm, weaving into an impenetrable defensive blade net in front of it. At the same time, dark red bone spikes stood up on its body, emitting strong bloody law fluctuations, and a solid blood light shield instantly took shape.

In the blink of an eye, Kirama had upgraded all his defensive measures to the extreme, making himself completely protected!

It needs to stabilize itself first and assess the situation.

really!

Just as the fist's energy collided violently with the blade net, unleashing a massive energy shock, the void not far behind Shi Feng's side began to ripple violently without warning.

As spatial ripples spread, four figures stepped out.

The moment Lin Yi appeared and saw the situation clearly, he didn't waste any words and directly made a fist with both hands towards the area where Kirama was located!
Kirama suddenly felt the space around him become viscous, as if he had sunk into an invisible swamp, and his originally smooth defensive posture and energy flow became slightly stagnant.

Its heart skipped a beat, thinking to itself, "This is troublesome! As expected of a master of spatial laws, and this method of interference is very strange!"

Kirama immediately realized that the chances of escaping were extremely slim.

Fighting five opponents alone, and surrounded by spatial law deities, attempting a forced breakout would only expose one's back and hasten death.

In a flash, a fierce glint appeared in Kirama's eyes as he made his decision.

Instead of trying to break free from the spatial stagnation, it suddenly unleashed its aura, its dark red, bloody divine power burning like flames, radiating an extremely dangerous and violent aura.

It even subtly triggered signs of divine power burning within an instant!
At the same time, Kirama roared, "Pan-Spirit Alliance! I can leave behind treasures worth nearly 300 million Origin Tower points on my person! Let me leave! Otherwise, I will immediately burn my divine power to the fullest extent. Even if I can't kill all of you, I will at least knock one or two of you out of the secret realm! None of you will have an easy time!"

Upon hearing this, everyone paused their attack.

Burning divine power!

This is a truly desperate measure. Once activated, the divine power will continue to burn until the divine body collapses and the soul is annihilated. It is a true suicidal attack.

Although the secret realm has a special survival mechanism that will forcibly teleport people out when they are on the verge of death or when they actively activate the mark, it is still unknown whether this mechanism can effectively intervene and protect the gods in the process of self-destruction, which has already begun to "burn divine power".

After all, during the previous advance expeditions, it's unlikely that any god would be idle enough to try burning their divine power in a secret realm.

Even if we take a step back and assume that the rules of the secret realm are powerful enough to forcibly send the one burning divine power out at the last moment, preventing them from dying on the spot, the burning of divine power is a permanent and irreversible loss.

After leaving, it will take a long time and a huge amount of resources to cultivate and accumulate again. This is by no means as simple as resting or using treasures to recover after the consumption of ordinary divine power. The costs involved are vastly different.

That's why the two Eclipse Gods who were driven to the brink of despair just now so decisively chose to withdraw from the secret realm, preferring to lose all their gains rather than even considering "burning their divine power" in a desperate gamble.

The Eclipse Clan member before them, being a peak high-level deity, could not possibly be unaware of the terrifying consequences of burning divine power.

It actually used this as leverage for threats?

This behavior is too unusual!
Lin Yi gave a look to Luna, Hui Lie, Serira, and Shi Feng, who had just stopped attacking and was looking at them with suspicion, signaling them not to make any rash moves.

His mind raced, and he quickly began his analysis.

"Once it truly begins to unleash its divine power, regardless of the final outcome, all the treasures it carries and the spoils of this secret realm will inevitably fall to this place. As for our side, even if some are knocked out of the secret realm during its desperate counterattack, as long as at least one person survives and successfully cleans up the battlefield, the loss of our fallen companions can be fully compensated. Overall, the only losses are the time and number of attempts spent exploring the secret realm."

"Of course, there are risks too. If the survivor is killed by other enemies in the secret realm, the loss will be huge. This Eclipse God is obviously gambling on this risk, betting that we are unwilling to bear such a possible loss."

"However, once war breaks out, regardless of winning or losing the gamble, the price it pays by burning its divine power is real, enormous, and almost irreversible. Moreover, it should be well aware that the three races have just experienced a full-scale war, and this is only a temporary ceasefire. The probability of us agreeing to let it leave is extremely small, yet it still said so."

A glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, and a guess crossed his mind:
"Either it's just trying to trick us, hoping to risk its life for some treasures, and if that doesn't work, it can always make a move later. Or its gains in the secret realm this time, or the treasures it brought into the secret realm this time, are extremely valuable, making it feel that losing them would be even more unacceptable than burning its divine power to rebuild itself, and it might really be no different from being dead."

"So, it was really desperate, which is why it was willing to risk everything to protect what it had!"

(End of this chapter)