We agreed to set sail, so you'd become the ruler of the deep sea?

Chapter 94 The True Boundary of the Secret Realm, the Opportunity to Advance to the Second Tier!
The moment I came to my senses.

Xia En's first reaction was not to observe the surrounding environment, but to return his consciousness to his body.

He breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he could still wake up at any time in the captain's cabin.

"I thought it would be something powerful, but it just kicked out my projection body."

A new status has appeared on his panel.

[Exile of the Brand]

【Type: Status】

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Description: A mark jointly applied by the vampire patriarchs in the "Blood Moon Realm," bearing the will of the Crimson Lord.]

You will not be able to enter the "Blood Moon Realm" until this status is lifted.

"As expected, we've pushed them to the limit..."

Xia En sighed softly to himself.

In fact, before this, the vampires had tried to restrict his movements by sealing and imprisoning him.

However, due to the unique mechanism of the projected body, their methods were ineffective.

This time, the vampires were smarter and directly expelled the projected body from the country.

This perfectly illustrates the saying, "If I can't afford to offend them, can't I at least avoid them?"

This [Exile Mark] is clearly a mechanism against mechanism, forcibly isolating Shaen from the [Blood Moon Secret Realm].

It must be said that this was actually a very correct choice.

For a moment, Xia En really didn't know how to remove this mark.

Fortunately, in terms of mechanisms, he ultimately has the upper hand.

"At worst, we can just give up exploring the Blood Moon Secret Realm, leave Silvermoon Island, and go somewhere else to continue developing."

Only after confirming that he could still advance or retreat did Xia En begin to look around.

So, where exactly is this place?

This is a dark space that is very different from the [Blood Moon Secret Realm].

The surrounding light was extremely dim, and it was unclear where the light source came from.

However, this was not a big deal for Shane, who possessed the ability to sense light without light.

But after taking a clear look at the scene around him, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

As far as the eye could see, there was a vast, desolate, and dark plain.

The nearby plains were empty, except for a very distant place where giant trees stood.

crunch...

Xia En took a step forward, and immediately felt a disgusting sensation under his feet.

He looked down and saw that the "soil" under his feet was dark red and sticky and slippery like mud.

It appeared filthy and eerie.

"What a disgusting thing, and it seems to be alive?"

Just as Xia En had this thought, an unsettling wriggling sound came from beside him.

He turned his head and saw an indescribable monster emerging from the dark red ground!

It looked like an amorphous mass of red and black mud, but at its center, it kept wriggling and taking on a barely human shape.

It's like... it's clumsily imitating the human form, yet it can't become a real human.

"A new monster?"

Xia En was initially surprised, then his eyes lit up.

If the monsters here could also grant ship soul experience, wouldn't that be just what he wanted?
As for experience, it doesn't matter where you gain it, right?
Thinking of this, Xia En immediately drew the Blood Demon Sword from his back.

Compared to more than half a month ago, this blood-red greatsword has undergone considerable changes.

The most obvious change is that the number of black lines on the sword has increased from one to more than ten!

The lines of varying thickness, like blood vessels, are distributed across the greatsword, constantly writhing and trembling.

This transformation occurs precisely after absorbing the souls and blood of vampires.

The weapon's name was also changed to [Blood Demon Sword (Deirdre, Ezkiel, Tivan...)]

A strong aura of malevolence and resentment lingered around the dark red sword, sending chills down one's spine just by looking at it.

From this perspective.

It seems only natural that Shaen would receive such a strange nickname as "The Faceless Shadow."

At that moment, he drew his sword and slashed at the mud monster.

laugh!
The ugly head fell to the ground with a thud.

The mud monster trembled slightly before collapsing and quickly merging into the dark red soil.

"……Um?"

Xia En raised his eyebrows.

This battle seems a little too easy.

However, the panel does not display the number of monsters killed, nor does it have the option to absorb [Secret Sea Crystals].

"How is this going?"

"Is it because it doesn't have the [Secret Sea Crystal] inside it, or... is it not dead?"

Shane tried touching the remaining "mud" on the ground with his hand.

Desecrating flesh and blood

[Type: Material]

[Quality: Ordinary]

[Description: Residue left after the "Crimson Ancient Tree" was digested.]

[Influenced by the mysterious power within the "Secret Sea," the remnants of soul and power within the flesh and blood were awakened. They will not completely die, nor will new life be born; thus, they have become true objects of desecration.] [The flesh and blood are wailing...]

"Another [Crimson Ancient Tree]?"

Xia En frowned in thought.

It is known that the Bloodstone is a secretion from the Crimson Ancient Tree after it absorbs fresh blood.

【Desecrating flesh and blood】 refers to the waste products after digestion.

This indicates that although this mysterious space is not in the [Blood Moon Secret Realm], it may not be too far away.

What concerned Xia En even more was the influence of the [Secret Sea] power described in the text.

"Since the power of the Secret Sea can penetrate here..."

"Wait, could this be...?"

Xia En suddenly raised his head and looked at the "sky" of this space.

The sky here is noticeably lower than in the Blood Moon Secret Realm.

What's shocking is...

This sky is shattered!
Some indescribable, yet real, cracks are scattered throughout the chaotic, dark sky.

A few bright lights and shimmering turbulence are quietly seeping out from the cracks, turning into a faint source of light for this place.

Seeing this, Xia En thought to himself, "Holy crap!"

It's obvious that this is the [Secret Sea]!
Moreover, unlike the Blood Moon Secret Realm, this space is significantly closer to the Secret Sea and has a more intimate relationship with it.

During his earlier explorations, Shane had deliberately gone to the city's borders to peek around, hoping to see if he could enter the [Secret Sea] from the opposite direction.

The final answer, however, was no.

When he is on the edge of the city, he will feel an extremely strong resistance.

The Secret Sea seems so close, yet it feels as if there's still an invisible "membrane" or "barrier" separating us.

It serves as both a protective shield against the intrusion of the [Secret Sea] forces and an obstacle to the departure of those inside.

However, in this space, Xia En seemed unable to sense the existence of the "barrier," and even had the illusion that he could break through the sky and leave.

"A place even closer to the Secret Sea than the Secret Realm..."

Xia En already had a guess in mind, but it still needed to be verified.

He looked at the indistinct shadows of trees in the distance and wondered, "Could those tree-like structures be the so-called [Crimson Ancient Trees]?"

For some reason, while gazing at those tree shadows...

Xia En felt an inexplicable urge to get closer and to observe him.

This impulse bore a subtle resemblance to the call he heard when he was promoted to captain.

Suddenly, an idea popped into Xia En's mind.

"The most crucial step for a Mystic to advance is to receive the call of the Mystic Sea."

"But this feeling is often mysterious and requires the use of magic potions to enhance inspiration and experience it."

"But now... I'm in a place that's incredibly close to the Secret Sea. If I were to call out to the Secret Sea and try to get closer to it, would it respond?"

This idea is just as audacious as the idea that "the Secret Sea is also a sea, and it can be used for underwater navigation."

But in any case, Shane is a projection.

Since you won't die from doing something reckless, why not give it a try?

If we can reach the second-tier advancement ritual, taking some risks is worthwhile!
Xia En estimated the height of the sky and confirmed that he couldn't jump that high, and that he hadn't mastered the ability to turn blood into wings to fly.

He resolutely moved towards those incredibly tall tree shadows.

Those "trees" were incredibly tall, seemingly piercing the sky.

If you climb up them, you might be able to reach that shattered sky.

Given its suspected identity as the [Crimson Ancient Tree], exploring it should yield some rewards.

However, as soon as Shane began to move, he heard that disgusting wriggling sound beside him.

The dark red mud, devoid of any biological tissue, began to twist and rise from the ground, stretching out arms that resembled neither human nor inhuman, and slowly but resolutely walked towards Shane.

"Could this thing be voice-activated?"

Xia En's heart skipped a beat, and he thought to himself, "What do you mean?"

He's fine as long as he doesn't move, but once he does, he'll attract the attention of [Desecrating Flesh and Blood].

In just a short while, several mud monsters appeared around Shane.

"It seems... we must finish this quickly!"

Wielding his greatsword, Shane raced toward the shadows of the trees, sweeping away the mud monsters along the way.

In fact, this monster is not strong individually, and its movements can even be described as "slow".

But the problem is...

On the plains of this space, there was a layer of [blasphemous flesh] spread out!
At first, only a few scattered monsters stood up and surrounded Shane.

But soon, the entire land began to undulate slowly!
boom!
With a deafening roar, the surging of the flesh and mud suddenly accelerated, with countless bubbles churning and indescribable wails echoing across the flesh and mud plain.

Immediately afterwards, a three-meter-tall flesh and blood giant stood up out of thin air and chased after Shane ahead.

Xia En turned around and swept his sword horizontally!
The flesh giant was cut in half at the waist, and its upper body crashed to the ground.

But then, another five-meter-tall mud monster blocked his way.

Upon seeing this scene, even Xia En couldn't help but twitch his eyelids slightly.

Just as described in "Desecrating Flesh and Blood," the monsters here are unkillable!
He simply ignored the mud monsters appearing around him, burst into full speed, and ran across this plain of flesh and blood.

I don’t know how much time has passed.

Chased by countless monsters, Shane's ship spirit power plummeted.

But before the projected body completely dissipated, he still managed to see the true appearance of those "tree shadows"!

(End of this chapter)