secret dice.

Chapter 754 This punching bag, please do not approach the edge of the arena.

The sudden greeting startled You Hao. He turned around warily and found a young man standing behind him.
"Who are you?" You Hao sized up Luo Jun. "A candidate? Doesn't the exam start during the day?"

"You don't recognize me?" Luo Jun was also a little surprised. With his current fame, there shouldn't be many cultivators who didn't recognize him.

Luo Jun's confident attitude made You Hao a little unsure of himself. Was this kid some kind of formidable character?
It's no wonder he was ignorant. In the northern prison, where there's no sunlight, how could he have the chance to watch live broadcasts? After being imprisoned, prisoners are almost completely cut off from the outside world. The latest news can usually only be gleaned from the idle chatter among the guards. Only when a new inmate comes in can he find out some details of the news from the outside world.

Therefore, although he knew that the Tianyuan Tournament had just ended, he knew very little about the details of the process and the identity of the champion...

At this moment, he could never connect the young man in front of him with the champion of the Tianyuan Tournament, a top expert.

Even so, adhering to the principle of caution, You Hao still took a step back warily: "Who are you, and why have you come to see me?"

“I told you, don’t leave the work area.” Luo Jun pointed to the fence not far behind You Hao: “There’s electricity on that.” Then he pointed to the collar around You Hao’s neck: “That thing can explode.” Finally, he pointed to himself: “I’ll hit someone!”

"Heh..." You Hao sneered, "Young man, I don't know who you are, but aren't you being a bit arrogant?" As he spoke, he raised his hands, and his ten fingers began to transform. Soon, they turned into two iron-blue ghost claws, sharp and full of power!
"So, You Hao, the Marrow Hunter, is a master of the Transformation School." Luo Jun looked at the claws and smiled slightly. "But only transforming a pair of hands, isn't that a bit disrespectful?"

"A pair of hands is enough to deal with a brat like you!" You Hao sneered, then his figure suddenly disappeared and instantly appeared behind Luo Jun, his claws reaching down to grab the back of his head.

You Hao's attacks appeared brutal, but in reality, he was constantly calculating. He didn't recognize this kid, but his appearance at the exam venue in the middle of the night and his insistence on following the rules meant he was most likely someone sent by the academy. While the young man certainly wasn't a top-tier expert, it was hard to say he possessed any special skills…

Therefore, You Hao's move was primarily a test. He only changed his hands; if the opponent could withstand the attack, or if others secretly lurking nearby would intervene, he would still have room to maneuver since he hadn't killed him. He could then kneel and apologize, and the officials would likely not be too ruthless. However, if the opponent couldn't even withstand this move, he would simply seize the opportunity to capture him, perhaps forcing him to reveal his escape plan!
Seeing that his ghostly claw was less than a foot away from the back of his opponent's neck, You Hao made a judgment. He had rushed so close, and the opponent hadn't reacted yet, which could only mean that he was bluffing. This claw strike would...

The thought had barely formed in his mind when suddenly, You Hao felt a blur before his eyes, then his head buzzed, and he lost consciousness...

When he came to his senses, he found that his vision was focused on the ground, which was swaying slightly. He tried to move, but his whole body ached, as if his internal organs had shifted. Even the slightest exertion affected his nerves, making him afraid to move at all.

With difficulty, he turned his head and realized he was hanging from a tree...

Where is that kid? How long was I unconscious? You Hao was shocked. He struggled to look up at the moon and realized it was still midnight. He must have only been temporarily unconscious...

In the end what happened?
You Hao struggled to regulate his internal energy, continuously repairing his body's injuries and alleviating the pain. After a while, he finally climbed down from the tree. Dragging his aching body, he slowly moved towards the edge of the arena, and soon returned to the place where he had previously encountered the mysterious young man.

Ahead was the fence of the training ground, and on the open ground in front of the fence, a line of large characters was written: "Stay away from here if you don't want to die, okay?"

This seemingly joking tone sent chills down You Hao's spine...

He didn't know how the other person had taken him down, nor how they knew he would be back here, seeing this warning... but he knew for sure that if he didn't do as they said, he would die a horrible death...

It seems there's basically no way to escape this mission, so I might as well cooperate obediently; maybe I can even earn some merit...

Just as he resigned himself to his fate, suddenly, a powerful and terrifying aura emanated from the center of the arena!
"This is..." You Hao was startled. He had sensed a similar aura before, when he was arrested a year ago...

At that time, the pursuit team led by Zhuge Chi forced him into the mountains in the southwest. He defeated several pursuers by using his transformation technique and strong adaptability, but in the end he was cornered by Zhuge Chi himself in a valley.

Although Zhuge Chi is powerful, his primary skill is illusion magic. However, You Hao happens to possess a legendary treasure that can counter illusion magic. Therefore, despite Zhuge Chi's strength, he is helpless against You Hao and is even injured by him, with the possibility of him turning the tables and killing him at any moment.

Just then, a similar aura suddenly emanated from Zhuge Chi!

At the time, You Hao didn't understand what this meant. He thought his opponent had unleashed some ultimate move and was even somewhat wary, not daring to make a move. It wasn't until the fluctuations stabilized and Zhuge Chi suddenly displayed a power that he couldn't resist that he realized what had just happened!
This man just broke through to the peak right before his eyes!

Actually, calling it a breakthrough is not accurate. The current consensus in the Qi cultivation world is that the peak is not strictly speaking a realm, but rather a stage of enhancement achieved after perfecting and integrating the three realms of consolidating the foundation, cultivating the essence, and condensing the mind.

It can be said that as long as a cultivator reaches the seventh level of the Foundation Strengthening Realm, the seventh level of the Qi Cultivation Realm, or the advanced stage of the Mind Condensation Realm, he is likely to break through to the peak at any time, often just one enlightenment away.

Therefore, although both one's energy and physical abilities will be significantly enhanced after reaching the peak, achieving this step is often a natural process, and a breakthrough is achieved with just one opportunity!
Even so, because top experts are so rare, the opportunity to personally witness someone break through to the peak is extremely limited!
And just now, You Hao was certain that he had witnessed such a moment for the second time!

Within this testing area, someone has definitely broken through to the peak! Judging from the powerful aura emanating from them, this person who broke through is far stronger than Zhuge Chi! Moreover, their aura carries a terrifying quality that sends chills down one's spine—something Zhuge Chi didn't possess when he broke through!
This guy who broke through is too dangerous! No, I can't stay here. If the owner of this aura catches me, I'll die a horrible death!

Even being in the same space as the owner of this aura, You Hao's body began to tremble uncontrollably. Although he hadn't seen the person yet, his instinct was to flee, even if he were electrocuted, even if the collar exploded, even if...

Just as You Hao was desperately trying to escape, his gaze was once again drawn to the line of words written on the ground...

Good boy~~
You Hao calmed down, and the trembling in his body stopped.

Even now, he still doesn't understand that mysterious young man. He didn't sense any power or terror from him, and he doesn't even know how he defeated him... But for some reason, after seeing the words left by that young man, he instinctively stopped being afraid...

Compared to this understated threat, the terrifying aura behind him didn't seem so frightening after all...

Reason told You Hao that this was contradictory, that something was wrong... But his subconscious, his genetic instincts, were reminding him that he should face the newly evolved monster rather than provoke the owner of this handwriting...

"Forget it, I'll die whether I go forward or backward, I'm going to die sooner or later..." Torn by this internal conflict, You Hao developed a "give up" mentality. He leaped up a large tree, leaned against the trunk, and slumped down: "I'm tired, let's destroy it..."

Meanwhile, in the jungle, Gong Shiyue was running wildly, but she seemed to be uncoordinated, stumbling and falling all the way, looking utterly disheveled.

"Ah..." With a soft cry, Gong Shiyue tripped over a tree root and fell face-first into the mud, her face covered in dirt. But she didn't care about her appearance; she scrambled to her feet and continued running. A closer look revealed that she was trembling all over, her teeth chattering, as if she had endured immense fear...

"Run, you dead leg! You'll get eaten..." Gong Shiyue's eyes were filled with tears, and she was in a state of high tension as she kept running towards the edge of the field.

"I see it! It's a fence. We can escape by climbing over it!"

Finally, the fence at the edge of the field came into Gong Shiyue's view. She seemed to have lost her mind, completely forgetting that she was wearing a collar around her neck that could kill her at any moment, and rushed towards the fence without regard for anything!

Just then, a figure blocked her way.

“Hey, you punching bag, please don’t step out of your work area.”

Gong Shiyue was startled by the sudden appearance of the person blocking her way. She screamed and jumped back. After seeing who it was, her eyes widened: "It's...it's you?!"

The young man in front of me was of medium to tall stature, with a sturdy build, a angular face, and short hair. His most distinctive feature was a shallow horizontal scar on the bridge of his nose.

This image evoked memories of Gong Shiyue's arrest a year ago.

"You brat who gave me that over-the-shoulder throw, what are you doing here?!"

"Sister, you still remember me?" Luo Jun chuckled. Having seen the prisoner list, he already knew of Gong Shiyue's existence, and his face showed no surprise. "Didn't you say you were going to eat me up? How come you're in such a sorry state now?"

"I don't have time to bring up the past!" Sensing the increasingly powerful aura behind her, Gong Shiyue turned around and said, "Get out of the way! Once that monster stabilizes his cultivation, we'll all be dead!"

As she spoke, she slapped her thigh, leaped high into the air, and intended to jump over Luo Jun and out of the field!

Just then, there was a clanging sound of chains, and an iron hook shot out from the darkness, hooking Gong Shiyue's leg and pulling her back to the ground!

"What's going on?!" Gong Shiyue fell to the ground in a sorry state, trying to shake off the iron hook, but she couldn't break free no matter what she did: "Who is it? Don't stop me, let me go, let me go now, I don't want to die!"

Luo Jun slowly walked up to Gong Shiyue: "Sister, I'm doing this for your own good." As he spoke, he pointed to the collar around Gong Shiyue's neck: "If you go outside the designated area, this thing will kill you."

"I'd rather be blown up by this thing than be eaten!" Gong Shiyue pleaded. "Didn't you sense the terrifying aura behind you? Please, let me go!"

"I don't care about the aura..." Luo Jun didn't even glance at the depths of the dense forest: "My mission is to prevent any prisoner from escaping the area. As long as you stay here obediently, I won't interfere with what you do. But if you want to leave, sorry, absolutely not."

"Are you from the academy?" Gong Shiyue sized up Luo Jun. "Then you should quickly report to the professors and the dean that there's a major situation and the exams must be suspended, otherwise an unimaginable tragedy will occur!"

"I don't need you to teach me how to do things." Luo Jun snapped his fingers, and the iron chain began to retract, dragging Gong Shiyue deeper into the dense forest.

"You brat, don't you realize how serious this is?" Gong Shiyue struggled desperately, even using her charm on Luo Jun, but the boy remained completely unmoved, reminding Gong Shiyue of her failed attempt to absorb his essence a year ago.

Damn it, it has to be this brat, I wonder what kind of magic he has to resist charm!

Gong Shiyue gritted her teeth, wiped the mud off her face, pulled down her loose prison uniform, and winked at the dark depths of the forest: "Brother, could you please make an exception..."

Without seeing a specific target, she couldn't target her charm spell; she could only use it to enhance her allure, attempting to seduce the hidden owner of the iron hook.

"Sister, you might be disappointed," Luo Jun said with a laugh. "That 'big brother' who's dragging you along is probably even more difficult to deal with than I am."

Just then, the terrifying aura emanating from the center of the arena ceased...

This sudden turn of events sent a shiver down Gong Shiyue's spine, and then she lost even the strength to struggle: "It's over... He's succeeded... We're all doomed now..."

As soon as she finished speaking, a cold wind swept in, and a tall, ghostly figure suddenly appeared behind Gong Shiyue...

The girl's body stiffened instinctively. Her face was pale, but perhaps due to extreme fear, she couldn't control her body and slowly turned her head away...

Behind him stood a man who looked to be around thirty years old, his eyes gleaming green, his mouth twisted into a grin revealing jagged, white teeth with bloodstains between them, making him look like a hyena that had just devoured a corpse. He wore a blood-stained, tattered prison uniform and held a bald man with a thick beard in his hand.

However, judging from the name tag on his chest, this bald man is the true owner of the prison uniform.

“Gang Kai and Hu Pingwei are all gone now…” Gong Shiyue choked up a bit: “Zheng Bailu has reached his peak, and now no one can stop him…”

Just as she was sinking into despair, Luo Jun walked up and pointed at Zheng Bailu:
"Hey, you punching bag, please don't get near the edge of the field!"

(End of this chapter)