Ordinary People: Starting with the Chen Clan

Chen Xuanzhou quickened his pace and arrived at the edge of the underground palace in an instant. As his view opened up, the palace slowly revealed itself before him. On the side he could see, the entire top was covered in a glassy luster.

Although shrouded in mist, a few glimmers of light still shone through.

Instead of rushing inside, the puppets that had been protecting it so tightly began to move outwards, their mouths opening as they indiscriminately cleansed the surrounding area.

Chen Xuanzhou, however, disregarded the outcome and began setting up array flags around the area.

Nothing else, just having lots of spirit stones makes you incredibly extravagant!

With a snap, Chen Xuanzhou could no longer maintain his composure as he watched the five talismans on his body turn to ashes once more, and his brows furrowed tightly.

It wasn't because the attack came unexpectedly, but because of the direction in which it occurred.

At this moment, he was facing away from the palace, and the attack struck his back again. Because he was prepared this time, he was able to sense a trace in his divine sense—a soft, long tongue.

The unexpected direction left him momentarily unsure whether this was the same sneak attack he had encountered before.

What troubled him even more was the opponent's ghostly speed, which made him, someone who was used to using speed to outmaneuver others, feel the fear of being dominated by extreme speed for the first time.

He retrieved the array flags from the ground; given the opponent's capabilities, his methods were clearly insufficient.

The puppets around him gathered again, surrounding him completely. Without any fancy moves, they headed straight for the exposed window. It was only a few steps, but Chen Xuanzhou dawdled for dozens of breaths.

During this process, the long tongue did not reappear, nor did it employ any other means of attack.

Chen Xuanzhou's face grew increasingly grim. He wasn't afraid of his opponent's ferocity and strength, but rather of his continued restraint.

If it were the black dragon next door, he could teach it how to be a snake in no time.

The three puppets in front of him leaped over the window one after another, easily stepping inside and seeing the situation inside through the puppets.

It was a large hall that could be seen from all sides, with nothing else besides two rows of pillars that were about ten feet thick.

Chen Xuanzhou led the other puppets and slowly walked into the main hall.

At this moment, the compass in front of him was constantly heading towards the center of the main hall, but Chen Xuanzhou did not rush to investigate. Instead, he used his divine sense to scan the surroundings.

Inside the main hall, without the suppression of the mist, his divine sense finally had a chance to be put to use.

Chen Xuanzhou scanned most of the hall with his divine sense but still found nothing unusual. As a result, the initial impatience on his face disappeared.

Surrounded by puppet beasts, they steadily made their way towards the center of the main hall.

"A teleportation array?"

Looking at the intricate pattern etched on the ground that triggered the compass's reaction, Chen Xuanzhou immediately recognized its origin.

Not daring to be careless, Chen Xuanzhou set up an array around him again, but unexpectedly, the strange beast still did not make a move.

There was no time to investigate the reasons, so they turned to a detailed study of the teleportation array in front of them.

Since he began planning the Crimson Secret Realm, he had started studying formations, and the teleportation array was a key part of it.

That's why he was able to figure out the origin of this formation so quickly. However, this formation deviated somewhat from the existing formations, which is why he didn't activate it rashly.

Chen Xuanzhou took out a bronze spirit mirror from his storage bag, pointed it at the array on the ground, and the spirit mirror emitted a hazy blue light that fell onto the array.

The formation, which had been completely still, flickered a few times before falling silent again.

Within the spirit mirror in Chen Xuanzhou's hand, array patterns were being revealed. Soon, a complete array diagram was copied. Chen Xuanzhou turned the mirror upside down, looked at the array patterns on it, and gently moved his fingers.

The originally still array began to operate, but in less than ten breaths, the array on the mirror surface began to fluctuate continuously.

Chen Xuanzhou withdrew his fluctuating hand, and the mirror returned to calm, but the array diagram also disappeared without a trace.

"This high-grade magic artifact-level Spirit Mirror is indeed somewhat unworthy of my array cultivation. It's a pity that time was too short, and the materials and my own weapon-refining skills need to be improved."

Somewhat disgusted, they put the bronze mirror away.

The time was too short, so he could only deduce that the teleportation array was working properly and that the distance was not far, so there was no need to use teleportation talismans or similar means to combat spatial pressure.

He took out pieces of spirit crystals from his storage bag and placed them into various nodes of the formation. With a flash of white light, the puppet in front of Chen Xuanzhou disappeared without a trace.

"Fortunately, the teleportation array still works."

Although it was impossible to sense the situation on the other side, at least the puppet was not attacked and was still intact.

However, the strange monster that hadn't appeared yet made it difficult for him to teleport to the other side with peace of mind.

As for the array surrounding him, it gave him no sense of security whatsoever.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Xuanzhou took out a pill bottle from his storage bag, poured out a few pills, had a puppet beast beside him carry them, and walked out of the array's protective barrier.

The puppet beast wandered around the main hall, but nothing changed.

"Looks like we'll have to use our ultimate weapon!"

As he spoke, Chen Xuanzhou took out a spirit crystal with extremely rich spiritual energy from his storage bag. Just as he was about to hand it to the wolf-beast puppet beside him, he thought for a moment and took out another one.

They were stuffed into its mouth together. The two spirit crystals had similar spiritual energy, but one was rich in fire element and the other was rich in earth element.

With a snap, the outer array suddenly shattered, and a long tongue abruptly appeared before Chen Xuanzhou, giving him no time to react before directly lashing out at the two spirit crystals.

Seeing the long tongue intertwined with his hand in mid-air, and feeling the stinging pain on the back of his hand, Chen Xuanzhou retreated instead of advancing, showing no concern for the two spirit crystals.

The doubts I had in my heart are now completely clear.

What happened to the promise of no second-tier monsters? Is this secret realm so buggy that it actually works?

The Mo Jiao was relatively well-off, since it had been kept in confinement. This one that suddenly appeared was roaming freely on the mountain.

While complaining, Chen Xuanzhou ordered the surrounding puppets to unleash a barrage of firepower on a spot on the ground. And that wasn't all; the puppet beasts scattered, and the various talismans on their bodies were activated in an orderly fashion.

First, a series of wind blades sealed off the surroundings, which was also to force it to reveal itself.

"Quack quack!"

A three-foot-long, yellowish-brown toad suddenly appeared on the previously empty ground. Its appearance was unremarkable, exactly like the clod of earth that Chen Xuanzhou had in the fields in his previous life.

These cries were not in vain; a stream of earthy yellow air swirled around its chin as it bulged a few times, transforming into a vortex.

It blocked out both the beams of light and the wind blades around it.