The thirteen realm masters who entered the realm have died, leaving only eleven behind in less than two years.
And of these eleven realm masters, how many can make it back is still unknown, but definitely not many.
Yi Huo had discussed with the Great Elder before, asking the Great Elder how many people he thought would be left in the end.
The Great Elder held up five fingers and said in his mind: "No more than five people, and of those five, I have to include myself as well."
Yi Huo's eyebrows twitched. According to what the elder said, only four geniuses would make it back alive.
He asked from another angle again, "So who do you think will die?"
The Great Elder frowned, pondered for a moment, and slowly responded in his mind: "That’s hard to say. You rest of the Heaven Mending Realm geniuses still have a chance to survive, but if I had to pick someone destined to die, it would definitely be the Sea Inversing Realm’s healing medicine.”
Yi Huo nodded, feeling that the Great Elder was making sense.
Bringing Ma Xiaohong along this time, there was no intention for her to make it back alive. She was the best healing medicine after all. It would be wasteful if she wasn’t used up.
The Great Elder went on, "Of the two Sea Inversing Realms, the healing medicine will certainly die. As for Chen Xia, it’s not definite. It depends on his own fortune, but his chances of survival are definitely much smaller than you Heaven Mending Realm cultivators.”
"That's natural, after all there's a whole great boundary between us," Yi Huo said with a nod and a laugh.
"Mm, your boundary is the highest in the team, so you should be the last cultivator to survive theoretically, but nothing is absolute. For example, I had high hopes for Zuo Ri before, but unexpectedly he was nailed to death directly, so it still depends whether one has the fortune or not."
The Great Elder said before waving for everyone to hurry up. His expression was solemn as he said,
"The eye of the formation is up ahead. Hurry up, we may be able to break through the outer great swirling formation and enter the Quasi-Saint Ruins inside!”
Everyone immediately perked up and followed the Great Elder’s steps, gradually approaching the eye of the formation.
Ma Xiaohong was about to catch up when she realized something was wrong, because she saw that Chen Xia had not moved.
Although Chen Xia's crimson eyes did not make him easy to talk to, Ma Xiaohong still felt he was better than these realm masters.
At least the way Chen Xia looked at her seemed to look at a person, not like how the other realm masters looked at her as if she was an object.
So Ma Xiaohong still preferred to act together with Chen Xia.
Seeing that Chen Xia was still static, she couldn't help but ask softly, "Wha...What is it?"
"Don't worry," Chen Xia said, patting Ma Xiaohong's shoulder.
"My game system crashed."
"Ah...Ah?" Ma Xiaohong did not understand, but still asked anxiously: "Is it serious? Do you need me to heal you?"
Chen Xia shook his head. "It's no big deal, just an extra system popped up."
"Oh, oh," Ma Xiaohong heard him but still did not understand. She could only nod.
"What are you dilly-dallying for? Get over here now!" the Great Elder bellowed, frowning at the same time, "Don't tell me you two are getting cold feet?"
Ma Xiaohong was definitely getting cold feet. She lowered her head at once, clutching the hem of her clothes, not daring to say a word.
Chen Xia patted her shoulder and said, "Let's go."
The two caught up before reaching the eye of the formation.
The other cultivators were still observing and no one had rashly entered yet. The Great Elder surveyed for a moment, shook his head slightly, and said solemnly.
"Can't make anything out. Don't know if it's an exit or a trap."
And so they had reached a deadlock.
"Why don't we get someone to check out the path first as a test. We'll leave a soul lantern here. It'll be safe if we can follow the lantern, and if not, we can still find our way back."
Chen Xia, who was adjusting his system at the back, suddenly looked up with knitted brows upon hearing this.
Sounds of agreement followed.
"That's a good idea, but who should we send? It doesn't seem suitable for anyone to go."
The eleven of them fell silent for a while before someone else spoke up.
"We are a team, which means we're an entity. We share glory and humiliation alike. To preserve the maximum battle strength, I suggest sending the cultivator with the lowest boundary to scout ahead. That way, even if something happens, we can still retain the bulk of our strength."
Ma Xiaohong turned deathly pale. Her petite body froze instantly.
"We should send Ma Xiaohong. Xiaohong's physique and abilities are no less than a Heaven Mending Realm cultivator. I think we should pick someone else."
And so it went round and round, beating about the bush.
In the end, everyone's eyes fell upon Chen Xia.
The implied meaning was loud and clear.
Chen Xia patted Ma Xiaohong's shoulder with a laugh. "I think you should be the one to go."
Ma Xiaohong's petite body stiffened like a zombie. The poor girl was scared stiff.
"Just kidding," Chen Xia patted Ma Xiaohong's shoulder again and looked towards everyone else with a serious expression. "I think what you all said makes sense. It is indeed for the good of the team. As such, let my feelings be summed up in a sentence..."
He pondered for a while under everyone's expectant gazes before speaking.
"If anyone fucking wants to go in, then fucking go the fuck in. But I sure as hell ain't fucking going in."
He put his hands behind his back, chin tilted up, the very image of not giving a shit.
"How can you utter such words? For the glory of the realm, for the restoration of the realm’s brilliance, how can you be so selfish?!" the Great Elder bellowed furiously.
"If you wanna fucking restore your fucking brilliance so damn much then go the fuck in yourself, you fucking Lao Bi Deng!" Chen Xia rolled his eyes. If it was Mo Fa instead, who knows what curses would spew out from him.
"Fine!" The Great Elder bellowed angrily, about to attack.
"Stop," Chen Xia said calmly.
The Great Elder did indeed stop because he saw Chen Xia grab Ma Xiaohong by the throat.
"I'm fucking done with you worthless useless pieces of shit. You can't do jack shit in a gang of fucking twelve. All fucking talk and no guts when fighting. And you still want luck and fortune? Don't you find it fucking funny when you hear yourself say that shit?"
Veins popped on the Great Elder's forehead as he condensed spiritual energy in his hand.
"Loosen the spiritual energy. If you condense it any further, I'll kill your fucking healing medicine right here!" Chen Xia said coldly, increasing the spiritual energy in his hand.
"Ah!" Ma Xiaohong let out a miserable shriek as a mouthful of blood spurted from the corner of her lips. Her expression was tense and her face deathly pale.
The Great Elder loosened his spiritual energy and said in a deep voice, "There is no need to tear off each other's masks. If you and Ma Xiaohong lose my protection as the two Sea Inversing Realms, you won't last long in the Great Death Realm!"
"You and your fucking dad wouldn't die even if you died!" Chen Xia spat as his final words before disappearing into the spiritual vortex with Ma Xiaohong.
Some realm masters wanted to give chase but were stopped by the Great Elder. He let out a cold laugh, "With their souls marked, they can't escape from my palm. After dealing with the Quasi-Saint Ruins, I'm going to make him die in this Great Death Realm!"
On the other side of the spiritual vortex,
Chen Xia stopped and patted Ma Xiaohong's shoulder. "No need to keep running. They won't chase."
Ma Xiaohong was pleasantly surprised but also worried as she asked, "Did we get away?"
"Not really," Chen Xia shook his head. "They have many tricks and can always find our location."
"What should we do then?" Ma Xiaohong became somewhat at a loss. Panic crept into her expression.
"Simple," Chen Xia broke into laughter. That crimson eye seems to glow brighter, containing no hostility or coldness, yet the mere sight of it still struck fear. It was like a profound demon eye.
He continued in a casual tone,
"We'll just let them all die in the Quasi-Saint Ruins."
Ma Xiaohong's body shuddered. As if possessed, she asked,
"Who are you?"
As if possessed, Chen Xia patted his head and blurted out reflexively,
"Dual system dual standby."