From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

Viscount Bast stored away the "crucifix brooch," one of the Spirit Realm secret treasures, and handed the transparent ring to Byrne.

That crucifix brooch was placed right in the middle of the three treasures, as if it was something of significant importance. A glimpse of uncontrollable excitement flashed through Viscount Bast\'s eyes.

After composing himself, he looked towards the others and said, "No objections, right? I was the one who found and led you all here, while Byrne sacrificed his own lifespan to open the door."

"As for this piece of forbidden knowledge, it can be known by ten people, after which it will disappear... Who among you wants the forbidden knowledge?"

The forbidden knowledge of the Spirit Realm is of two types, one being weaker forbidden knowledge that can be spread without restriction, their contained mysteries not very powerful.

The other type, stronger forbidden knowledge, can only "parasitize" in a limited number of human minds. If known by too many people, they will naturally fade away, and even those who originally knew of them will forget as well.

There were still fifteen people present, excluding the other two from the Lion clan, leaving only ten who chose to gain the forbidden knowledge. The remaining three would receive a Treasure-class rare artifact as compensation after leaving the Spirit Realm.

After receiving the Spirit Realm secret treasure, Byrne also desired the forbidden knowledge and traded with another Extraordinary Exponent, exchanging three Collectible-class mysterious rare artifacts for a spot.

He and the other nine each lightly touched an amorphous blob of light, and suddenly, fresh mysterious knowledge emerged in everyone\'s minds.

It was a very special Ritual Spell called the "View of Arnos," which required a certain symbol to be marked on a target beforehand. Then, by gathering several kinds of offerings to form an Array, as long as the symbol wasn\'t erased and the Array wasn\'t destroyed, the spellcaster would be able to continuously observe the surroundings through the target\'s view.

The target marked with the symbol could be a person or an object, and it was extremely covert, hardly detectable.

Unfortunately, it wasn\'t a method to extend life.

"Ah, Irene..."

Byrne couldn\'t help but sigh. His greatest hope for participating in this Spirit Realm voyage was actually to find a way to extend Irene\'s lifespan.

Unfortunately, could there really be no way to let Irene live longer?

Byrne had also inquired with the President of the Alchemy Council, who possessed the technology to take away lifespans. However, the President also said that he could only seal the taken lifespans into containers, but not bestow them in reverse to others.

He shook his head and looked at the Spirit Realm secret treasure he had acquired.

It was a transparent ring, capable of storing within it lifeless and soulless objects. It could hold up to no more than one ton of material, and the items stored inside would never succumb to decay from the ravages of time.

An undeniably good item, although it didn\'t compare to forbidden rare artifacts, it was still considered top-tier among Treasure-class rare artifacts.

"Eh? Be careful!"

Viscount Bast raised his head and suddenly issued a warning; all present immediately became alert. They quickly saw a purple glow emerging within the hardworking achievers space.

At that moment, a purple crystal leopard monster began to materialize out of thin air.

Its body was sleek, its crystal-built musculature distinctly visible. Its gait was elegant and swift, its eyes deep and sharp, every step radiating power, and its sharp teeth betrayed a lethal ferocity.

"It\'s roughly equal to a high-level Transmutation-powered monster, and can be considered a formidable enemy; let\'s all go together!"

Viscount Bast nodded slightly and issued the command while standing behind everyone.

In the next moment, over a dozen Extraordinary Exponents took action, with Colonel Abel Leone in the lead, who was also a high-level Transmutation Extraordinary Exponent and possessed the power of the Bronze Lion, alone capable of fully suppressing the monster.

Although the purple crystal leopard monster indeed had considerable strength, it was still swiftly defeated and shattered, unable to retaliate against such a powerful formation.

"We did it!"

"That was no pressure at all!"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, even feeling joy.

Only Viscount Bast and Byrne remained uneasy, both looking down at the remnants of the leopard monster.

Exchanging glances, they both nodded, sensing that things probably weren\'t that simple and that the palace likely contained even greater power.

At the next moment, sure enough, the remnants began to reassemble and slowly rise again, with more purple crystals sprouting on their shattered bodies, multiplying in number.

Right before their eyes, two purple crystal leopard monsters of identical strength suddenly emerged!

"What\'s going on?"

They were astonished and launched another attack, barely smashing the two dreadful creatures, but to their horror, they found that the remnants were still stirring back to life!

No matter what measures the group tried to stop the resurrection process, they were unable to interrupt it!

Byrne took a deep breath.

"This is bad!"

Resurrected once more, three cheetah-like monsters, whose bodies were composed of purple crystal and nearing high-level Transmutation, stared ferociously at the many Extraordinary Exponents gathered, ready to charge at any moment.

Viscount Bast said calmly.

"Run."

"Those creatures are opponents that we cannot wholly defeat, and their numbers will only increase. Escaping is the best option."

Since Viscount Bast had given the order, everyone else stopped contemplating other options and all turned to flee through the passage, while the three purple crystal cheetahs charged forward in unison.

"Heh."

Viscount Bast did not flee first but stayed behind alone, as if to cover everyone\'s retreat.

"According to the contract, entangle them!"

He extended a finger unhurriedly, calmly pointing at the three cheetah monsters as a dozen terrifying creatures with wholly dark bodies and various shapes suddenly emerged from the shadows at his feet.

They were like shades from hell, brimming with an eerie aura, and Viscount Bast stood in the dark shadow, his face blurred and dark, his eyes devoid of any trace of human emotion.

That ancient finger seemed like a baton of death, effortlessly commanding the truly evil creatures to entangle the purple crystal "cheetahs."

"The bodies of three Transmutation Extraordinary Exponents as a sacrifice, that should roughly satisfy your appetites for a while… Truly a profitable deal!"

Viscount Bast shook his head and turned to leave.

Byrne had already reached the palace with the other dozen or so Extraordinary Exponents. However, they suddenly sensed a terrifying presence just outside the palace!

"Monarch! It\'s a Monarch-level Extraordinary Exponent!"

"Why is there a presence of a Monarch powerful expert here?"

Everyone inside the palace was profoundly shocked; they were so frightened they could barely move, and soon the Extraordinary Exponents stepping out of the palace saw it.

Outside the purple crystal palace stood five unfamiliar Extraordinary Exponents.

The leading Extraordinary Exponent was a middle-aged man wearing a blue robe with six symmetrical patterns on his face, and blue flames erupted from his eyes.

What should we do?

People exchanged glances, and Byrne wanted to step forward to negotiate, but Lieutenant Colonel Abel Leone beat him to it.

"Sir, may I ask which Extraordinary Exponent you are, to which country you belong, are you also from the Ouden Continent? The situation inside the palace is somewhat complex, perhaps we can communicate and cooperate…"

Lieutenant Colonel Abel\'s face paled as he asked his question. He immediately felt an intense sense of suffocation erupting from the middle-aged man, filled with pure murderous intent!

In an instant, Byrne understood the Monarch powerful expert\'s intention.

He wanted to kill everyone here!

"…"

The deputy leader of the Spiritual Tunic Secret Priory remained silent, simply stretching out his hand to don the completely invisible and intangible "spiritual tunic," as if it never existed.

He transformed into the form of an elderly woman, dressed in a black robe and holding an old bronze pendulum in her hand.

"She" merely had to gently shake the bronze pendulum, and instantly an Extraordinary Exponent from the Lion clan died, turning into blue specks of light—everyone was stunned, not even knowing how that Extraordinary Exponent had died!

Byrne took a deep breath, realizing that the opponent had long been prepared to kill, otherwise they wouldn\'t have offered not even a chance for dialogue.

Viscount Bast walked out of the palace with an unrestful expression. He had harbored a slight hope, but when he truly saw the man outside blocking everyone\'s way, his expression finally changed completely.

He shouted loudly, "Let\'s split up and run!"

Of course they had to run. Byrne immediately used shape-shifting to exchange his position with a distant pile of rubble.

And the Monarch Extraordinary Exponent\'s hunt began. He watched as the numerous Extraordinary Exponents scattered in all directions, switching his "spiritual tunic" again, transforming into a bald middle-aged man, then murmuring to himself, closing his eyes, as the ground beneath him began to glow with rotting black light, summoning many powerful undead creatures out of thin air!

A flood of undead creatures began chasing the fleeing Extraordinary Exponents, and in the blink of an eye, two low-level Transmutation Extraordinary Exponents were surrounded by the undead creatures and quickly killed.

At that moment, three purple crystal cheetah monsters ran out of the palace. They immediately launched a fierce attack on the nearest Monarch powerful expert, leaping up to bite.

"Hm?"

The deputy leader of the Spiritual Tunic Secret Priory paused, then shifted his "spiritual tunic" again, turning into a beastman, and transforming into a colossal, immensely strong creature, shattering the three nearly high-level Transmutation "cheetahs" in a short time.

But they quickly revived and reformed into four purple crystal "cheetahs," causing the deputy leader to fall into thought.

Byrne looked back for a moment to see two knights in black armor riding spectral warhorses, approaching rapidly through the air towards him, each with strength comparable to mid-level Transmutation.