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

Chapter 368 A Daring Escape

Lin Yi felt a chill run down his spine, and his heart nearly leaped out of his chest.

It wasn't just because of the sudden exposure, but also because of this deep green light curtain!
He also possessed this power, but not in his main body, but in his clone.

It is precisely because we share the same knowledge that we understand how terrifying it is.

Because this is a projection of the divine kingdom!
One of the most direct manifestations of the power of a god-level being is its ability to project its own divine kingdom, temporarily bringing a portion of the real world under its absolute control by its own laws.

Although battles between gods usually do not involve the projection of divine kingdoms, as the power is dispersed and often only wastes divine power, it is invariably effective against beings below the god level.

"Come on!"

Lin Yi roared, not having time to say anything more. Twenty-one star domains within his body roared simultaneously, and the power of spacetime flickered violently on his body, attempting to tear apart the "shadow of laws" that shrouded heaven and earth.

However, Lin Yi immediately sensed the enormous gap.

His spacetime power was like being stuck in the thickest swamp, becoming extremely difficult.

But Lin Yi did not give up.

"Just break through a tiny crack."

His forehead veins bulged, and his internal energy surged wildly as he tried to "cut" a slit in the deep green light screen in front of him.

hum!
The space rippled violently, and a thin, silvery-gray crack appeared on the ripple. However, it lasted for less than a fraction of a second before the deep green light around the crack surged in like mercury, instantly smoothing it out.

Just as Lin Yi was trying to break free of the confinement, the dense, pale green energy cloud above the platform suddenly surged.

The next instant, the clouds suddenly parted to the sides, and two enormous hands, made of pure wood grain and with life law runes flowing across their surfaces, slowly reached down.

Every detail of these two hands is crystal clear, and the wood grain resembles ancient mountain ravines, exuding a vast aura of life.

The mere presence of the platform caused it to tremble violently, and a groan of unbearable strain filled the air.

The first giant hand, with a clear objective, grasped the tree spirit at the peak of the Derivation Realm, and then began to retract upwards without stopping, shrinking back into the surging pale green clouds.

The second giant hand, following closely behind the first, casually patted down on Paslan and Shikan on the platform.

Paslan and Shikan had already stopped attacking; the two hovered in mid-air, their eyes filled with horror.

The light of the laws surrounding them dimmed considerably, and under the dual suppression of the divine kingdom projection and the giant hand's pressure, even maintaining flight became extremely difficult.

"No!"

Paslan let out a furious roar of resentment, and his three pairs of light wings suddenly burst into flames. His longsword erupted with dazzling light, transforming into a huge beam of light that slashed upwards.

Xikan also let out a shriek, and the light spots around him spun wildly, causing the space to twist violently, attempting to form a distorted gravitational barrier to slow down the giant hand's strike.

However, when the giant hand fell, the seemingly powerful sword light shattered instantly, and the distorted gravity barrier, like fragile glass, crumbled inch by inch with the slightest touch of the giant hand.

"Bang!" "Bang!"

Two dull thuds sounded almost simultaneously.

The protective aura that had been emanating from Paslan and Shikan's bodies shattered like paper. As if struck head-on by a meteorite, the two coughed up blood, their armor instantly cracked, and their aura plummeted to freezing point.

Immediately afterwards, brilliant colored light burst forth from the chests of both individuals.

That was a sign that the life-saving seal bestowed upon him by the high-ranking members of the Spirit Clan upon entering the secret realm had been activated by a deadly threat.

Colorful light enveloped the two severely injured and dying bodies, and with a slight flash, it forcefully broke through the barrier of the surrounding divine kingdom projections and instantly disappeared from the spot.

They were directly kicked out of the secret realm!

The two giant hands moved with fluid grace; one grabbed the Tree Spirit at the Perfected Realm, while the other slapped away two top prodigies, all within a mere two or three seconds.

Then, the giant hand that had sent Paslan and Shikan flying paused slightly in mid-air, its five fingers spread out, and it turned to strike Lin Yi and Ya tide, who had exposed themselves and were also firmly imprisoned by the dark green light barrier, once again.

The shadow of death, like a cold tide, instantly engulfed the two completely.

Even before the giant hand arrived, the terrifying pressure that crushed everything made Lin Yi's bones crack, the circulation of his internal energy almost came to a standstill, and his soul seemed to be frozen.

He gritted his teeth, trying to gather the power of spacetime once more, even if it was just to create a slight disturbance and seize a sliver of hope.

However, the suppression from the divine projection was too strong; his power was like an insect trapped in amber, his struggles appearing pale and powerless.

Ya tide was not far from Lin Yi. Her delicate face was also pale, and her emerald eyes reflected the massive wooden hand that slammed down like a cloak of the sky.

The illusory aura surrounding her had already shattered when the deep green light curtain descended, and she was now also under immense pressure.

"It's over."

This thought inevitably flashed through Ya tide's mind.

Faced with an existence of this level, all illusory laws and hidden clones become meaningless.

In the face of absolute power and the suppression of rules, skill seems utterly ridiculous.

As she watched the giant hand slam down, thoughts raced through her mind.

"Fortunately, we only have one day left to stay. Even without this unexpected incident, we would have been expelled from the secret realm soon anyway. But..."

Ya tide glanced at the black-haired human youth not far away from her.

"Lin Yi's spacetime laws are indeed powerful; he was even able to briefly shake the divine kingdom projection just now. No wonder he's hailed as the number one genius of the Pan-Spirit Alliance. However, he still has a full thirty days left in his secret realm! If he's also forced out, the losses will be incalculable. On the other hand, if we can help him escape..."

"Even if I were to use the secret technique on myself, at most I would only struggle in vain like Paslan and Shikan. But if I help Lin Yi, with his strength in the laws of space and time, he might be able to seize the opportunity!"

In a flash, Ya tide made up her mind.

There was no time for further communication or explanation. She gave a low shout in her heart, and her eyes suddenly burst forth with an unprecedentedly brilliant light. Her source energy surged wildly within her body, and she directly used her trump card.

hum!
Strange fluctuations of law surged from Ya tide's body, transforming into an extremely complex pale purple rune in the air.

It is neither an attack nor a defense, but rather like something that exists simultaneously on countless superimposed illusory levels.

The pale purple rune flashed by in an instant, not flying towards Ya tide, but instead precisely imprinting itself on a certain point in the void surrounding Lin Yi, which was shrouded in a deep green light curtain.

In an instant, the deep green light screen on that point rippled slightly.

It's like a speck of dust being thrown into a calm lake, creating almost invisible ripples.

The divine kingdom projection's suppression of Lin Yi loosened for a negligible moment.

It might only be one-hundredth of a second, or even less!

However, for Lin Yi, who had been focusing all his senses on fighting against the confinement and searching for a weakness, this moment was like a spark suddenly igniting in the darkness.

He noticed it almost at the same time the restraints loosened.

Without thinking, without hesitating, and without even glancing at Ya tide beside him whose aura had suddenly plummeted.

His survival instinct and absolute grasp of timing led him to make the only correct choice.

"break!"

Lin Yi roared inwardly, his source energy surging into the spacetime law imprint like a burst dam, regardless of the cost, concentrating all his power on the tiny "loosening" node created by Ya tide using a secret technique.

The power of spacetime, like the sharpest awl, pierced deep into the center of the rippling waves.

boom!
A sharp buzzing sound came from the space.

Lin Yi's figure suddenly became blurry just before the giant wooden hand struck down.

Meanwhile, Ya tide, who had exhausted all her strength to use her secret technique to create an opportunity for Lin Yi, was now at her last gasp.

She made no further futile resistance, but simply hovered there quietly, looking up at the giant hand that blocked out all the light as it fell.

A giant hand slammed down.

Ya tide's body trembled violently, and the last remaining illusory halo on her body completely vanished. She clearly heard the sound of her bones breaking, and blood gushed uncontrollably from her mouth.

Sensing that its host was on the verge of death, the life-saving talisman burst forth with intense colored light, enveloping her severely injured body.

Bathed in the colorful light, Ya tide seemed to see Lin Yi's figure glance briefly in her direction before disappearing.

Her gaze was complex, containing shock, realization, and perhaps a trace of emotion she couldn't discern.

Then, a flash of colorful light appeared.

Ya tide's figure also disappeared from the platform shrouded in a deep green light curtain.

The giant hand slammed into empty space, leaving a deep palm print, then slowly rose and retracted into the swirling pale green clouds above.

The deep green light curtain receded like the tide, as if the breathtaking scene just now was nothing but a dream.
-
The Sacred Tree Secret Realm, Lower Level.

The space twisted violently, as if something was trying to force its way out.

puff!
With a muffled thud, a figure whose aura was extremely weak was thrown out as if by an invisible force. He staggered out of the distorted space, crashed heavily onto the surface of the air root, slid down, and knelt on one knee, barely managing to stay upright.

It was Lin Yi.

His condition was extremely bad at the moment.

Not only was his face as pale as paper, his forehead covered in cold sweat, and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, but even his azure battle suit was torn in several places, revealing the purplish-blue marks left by the terrifying pressure beneath.

Clearly, although he wasn't directly hit by the giant hand, the backlash from forcibly breaking through the spatial confinement still injured him.

In addition, there is the consumption of source energy.

In order to seize the moment created by Ya tide's secret technique and force a long-distance, "breakthrough" spatial jump under the suppression of the divine kingdom's projection, he almost drained all the source energy reserves in his twenty-one star domains.

At this moment, Lin Yi felt completely empty inside his body, his source sea was almost dried up, and only a few star fields in his body still had a faint flow of source energy.

Even with his current recovery ability, such a level of depletion would take him quite a while to return to peak condition without external assistance.

"Cough cough."

Lin Yi coughed up some foul air mixed with blood, leaning against the cold, hard air root, breathing heavily.

But he dared not relax in the slightest, enduring his weakness and pain, his soul perception like the most vigilant radar, scanning the surrounding tens of thousands of kilometers area again and again.

After confirming that this was a relatively safe "lower" area and there were no signs of powerful tree spirits for the time being, he breathed a slight sigh of relief and began to check his worst condition. "My source energy is almost exhausted," Lin Yi thought with a bitter smile.

In order to seize that fleeting opportunity, he almost drained all the reserves of the twenty-one star domains. At this moment, his body was empty, with only a few core star domains still slowly generating a weak flow of new source energy.

Even with his current recovery ability, such a level of depletion would require several days to barely regain his mobility without external assistance.

The most urgent task is to restore our strength as soon as possible.

Lin Yi managed to retrieve two tiny crystals, each only the size of a thumb, from the depths of his storage space. Inside, however, were sealed crystals that shimmered with light like a liquid galaxy.

This is the Lan Yuan Crystal, and the source energy it contains is enough to quickly restore an ordinary star-domain level expert to full strength.

These were supplies he exchanged from the War Merit Treasury before entering the secret realm, and they were quite valuable.

But now is clearly not the time to save money.

Without the slightest hesitation, Lin Yi directly grasped the two Lan Yuan Crystals in his palm. The pure, abundant, and easily absorbed gentle source energy flowed out of the crystals like a gushing spring and was absorbed into his dried-up source sea.

The recovery process takes time, but Lin Yi's thinking did not stop.

As he guided the flow of energy, he mentally reviewed the process.

God-level!
They were incredibly unlucky enough to encounter a god-like being.

He was so close, so very close, that he was knocked out.

It's Ya tide.
The final scene flashed through Lin Yi's mind. Clearly, it was Ya tide who had helped him, giving him a sliver of hope.

why?
Lin Yi pondered silently for a while and roughly guessed the reason.

Ya tide only has one day left to stay. Even if she uses a secret technique, the probability of her successfully escaping under the projection of the divine kingdom is extremely low. The greater possibility is that she will be kicked out as well.

Giving the opportunity to this "ally" who still has thirty days left is undoubtedly an extremely worthwhile deal, using one's own soon-to-be-extinguished opportunity, which is likely to fail, to gamble on a favor.

Very rational and decisive.

Although Ya tide most likely made her choice after analyzing the pros and cons, the result was that without her help, she wouldn't have been able to escape.

We really owe this favor.

Furthermore, the appearance of this god-level tree spirit is also somewhat strange.

The probability of a divine tree spirit appearing in the Sacred Tree Secret Realm is extremely low. Why did the projection of the divine kingdom descend without warning just when they were dealing with that perfected tree spirit of the Evolution Realm?
The timing was perfect!

Moreover, the way that god-level tree spirit made its move was quite intriguing.

Two giant wooden hands appeared. One grabbed the Tree Spirit who had reached the Perfected Realm, while the other slapped Paslan and Xikan away, before striking him and Yaxi.

For tree spirits at the peak of the evolutionary realm, they were captured; for these prodigies, they were "killed." They were ruthless and directly triggered the life-saving talisman.

This differential treatment
A cold glint flashed in Lin Yi's eyes, and a bold guess surfaced in his mind.

That platform with the Sacred Source Fruit grove and a large piece of Sacred Source Crystal, that area, might actually be the "territory" or "private property" of the god-level tree spirit who made the move!
That tree spirit at the peak of the realm of evolution is likely to have some kind of connection with it, perhaps it is its descendant, subordinate, or a "guardian" it left there to watch over the treasure!
That is why, when the guards were about to be defeated, the "master" hidden in a higher area descended the projection of his divine kingdom, took action personally, and took away the damaged guards.

Only in this way can we explain why the appearance of a god-level being was so coincidental, and its drastically different attitudes toward the Perfected Tree Spirit of the Derivation Realm and these geniuses.

The former means "recycling," and the latter means "cleaning."

This conjecture made Lin Yi fall into deep thought.

This trip not only yielded nothing, but also left Ya tide with a favor, a truly huge loss.

He wouldn't just silently admit defeat; that's not his style.

"We can't beat a god-level being, that's a difference in level, but that tree spirit at the peak of the Derivation Realm, along with that cluster of Sacred Source Fruits and Sacred Source Crystals, might not be entirely without a chance!"

Lin Yi was thinking rapidly in his mind.

Judging from the brief observation of the battle, Paslan and Xikan did not fight the Perfected Tree Spirit of the Realm for long. Although the Tree Spirit was at a disadvantage, it did not suffer fatal damage.

It is only when it is clearly at a disadvantage, starting to be slowly chipped away at its health, and feeling hopeless about turning the tide, that it might seek help from a higher-level "master" through some means, perhaps through blood ties or special markings.

This means that if planned properly, a swift and decisive surprise attack could potentially eliminate them before they can call for help again.

Paslan and Shikan could suppress him together. Although Ya tide is no longer here, if he were to improve for another thirty days, he might still have a chance.

The key is speed!
It was so fast that it didn't have time to react or call for help, or even if it did call for help, the god-like being wouldn't have time to come to its rescue.

Of course, this is on the premise that the tree spirit that has reached the pinnacle of its evolutionary realm will return to that platform.

If my guess is correct, that place is the "private property" of a god-level being, and it has sent guards to watch over it. It is highly unlikely that it will easily give up that precious cluster of Sacred Source Fruit Trees and Sacred Source Crystals.

After eliminating the "intruder," it will likely allow the guardian of the perfected realm to return to his post, or send a new guardian over.

In either case, as long as there are still guardians and treasures of the Transcendent Realm there, there is room for maneuver.

Lin Yi quickly made up his mind.

Prioritize restoring your strength and getting yourself into peak condition.

Then, leave that dangerous place, go to a more distant area, continue hunting, and improve your strength.

He currently only has twenty-one star domains within his body, leaving considerable room for improvement. More source energy means stronger explosive power and sustained combat capability, which is the foundation for implementing the next step of the plan.

After maximizing your strength, before your time in the secret realm is about to expire, find an opportunity to quietly sneak back to that area to investigate.

If the tree spirit at the peak of the Derivation Realm, or other Derivation Realm-level guardians, returned, it would confirm the speculation.

At that moment, the opportunity arises!
"The most urgent task is to recover and become stronger."

Lin Yi focused his mind and concentrated on guiding the energy within the crystal.

After about three standard hours, the two Lan Yuan crystals turned into powder and slipped from between his fingers. Lin Yi took out two more and continued to absorb them.

While having far superior source energy compared to others of the same level is an advantage, it is troublesome to recover once the source energy is depleted.

Half a day later, Lin Yi opened his eyes, exhaled a long breath, and his eyes regained their sharpness.

The source energy has been restored to 80%, which no longer affects the battle.

The remaining 20% ​​and some minor internal injuries can be gradually replenished through subsequent hunts and recovery.

Lin Yi stood up, and the twenty-one star domains within his body hummed slightly, as a powerful sense of strength returned.

Without delay, he activated the Illusionary Curtain once more, his figure becoming blurred and blending into the surrounding environment.

Then, Lin Yi sped uphill.

He needs to return to the area where the Tree Spirits were active around the middle stage of the Derivation Realm.

For him, that place offered the highest hunting efficiency and relatively controllable risks. It allowed him to quickly improve his strength by obtaining Saint Source Fruits of the Transcendent Realm and further hone his surging power through actual combat.

The next day.

A giant branching area covered with countless glowing mosses, resembling an emerald corridor.

Lin Yi's figure appeared like a ghost behind an aerial root, his gaze fixed on a tree spirit not far ahead, slowly absorbing the life energy of the Sacred Source Fruit.

The tree spirit's life law fluctuations were steady and profound, reaching the level of the late stage of the Evolution Realm.

"I'll use you as an example."

With a slight thought, Lin Yi's spatial and temporal power quietly shifted. He needed to practice how to efficiently defeat his opponent when he couldn't completely freeze time and space.

Instead of teleporting to the tree spirit, he made a precise spatial jump, appearing near the intersection of the roots of several main energy vines on the side of the tree spirit.

Upon appearing, Lin Yi also activated the laws of time with all his might, interfering with the flow of time.

The tree spirit's reaction was a beat too slow, and the circulation of energy within its body became momentarily disordered.

It tried to turn around in alarm and anger, waving its vines.

But Lin Yi's fist had already been thrown.

This punch had no flashy light; on the fist's edge, the power of spacetime was highly compressed, forming countless extremely fine spatial cracks and time faults that were constantly being created and destroyed.

They are not designed to tear apart external objects, but rather to inject violent spacetime destructive force directly into the target's body at the moment of impact, disrupting the structural stability of its internal world at the most microscopic level.

"Space-Time Blast - Internal Derivation!"

The fist landed silently on the tree spirit's bluish-gray body.

boom!
A deep, muffled thunderous roar came from within the tree spirit.

The tree spirit's massive body stiffened abruptly. The wooden surface of the part that was struck instantly cracked with countless fine gray lines, which spread rapidly outwards like a spider web.

Wherever the cracks passed, the tree spirit's incredibly resilient body seemed to lose all vitality and quickly turned gray.

"Roar!"

The tree spirit let out a shrill, short roar, its movements abruptly frozen, and its soul fire instantly extinguished.

The battle is over.

Lin Yi stood still, feeling the depletion of his internal energy, which was about 35%.

"The control over power needs to be more precise, and the application of spacetime power also needs to be more direct and effective."

Although the entire process from activation to the tree spirit's collapse took less than five seconds, Lin Yi was not entirely satisfied with his performance.

Lin Yi silently reviewed the situation in his mind for a while before stepping forward to collect the crystal core and valuable remains, and then picking the sacred source fruit guarded by the tree spirit.

In the days that followed, Lin Yi entered a new cycle of hunting.

Practice makes perfect.

As each World-Level Sacred Source Fruit was absorbed, the number of star vortexes in various star regions within Lin Yi's body steadily increased. More importantly, his control over his surging power became increasingly refined, and his application of the laws of spacetime in actual combat became increasingly cunning and ruthless.

He was like a patient yet dangerous cheetah, lurking in the shadows of the jungle, sharpening his claws and gathering strength.

(End of this chapter)