There is a beast in the bright morning.

Chapter 193: Getting there first

Although the Demon Emperor's Secret Realm is located in the Tianduan Mountains, it is a world of its own, and it was created by the Demon Emperor.

Therefore, even if Hao Chen activated his Heavenly Venerable Divine Sense, he could not cover the entire secret realm with a single thought, and could only honestly search for opportunities like everyone else.

Fortunately, before entering, he had specifically inquired about some details of the secret realm from the elders of Qingqiu.

According to the elders of Qingqiu, the secret realm only opens once every ten thousand years, so there is enough time to nurture rare and precious materials.

Demon clan forces like Qingqiu Sacred Land and Demon Dragon Palace, whenever they enter a secret realm, besides searching for the elusive inheritance of the Demon Emperor, try their best to collect spiritual herbs and immortal roots within the secret realm as the foundation of their forces.

Hao Chen originally planned to show Zhan Hu his skills in the secret realm, letting Zhan Hu see how efficiently he collected treasures.

What puzzled Hao Chen was that he and Zhan Hu walked for a long time and did not see any spiritual herbs, or even grass roots.

Moreover, the earth was crimson red, as if it had been soaked in blood, which gave it an eerie feel.

"Zhanhu, do you know what's going on? Wasn't it said that medicinal herbs were everywhere?"

Hao Chen lay on Zhan Hu's back, somewhat irritated, and drew circles on Zhan Hu's body with his paws.

Upon hearing Hao Chen's words, Zhan Hu stopped, sniffed the ground, and then frowned, saying, "Although the smell is faint, it seems that others have been here before. Perhaps they beat us to it."

"other people?"

Hearing Zhan Hu's words, Hao Chen was somewhat surprised. Logically speaking, they had just entered, and even those people from those forces shouldn't have been faster than them. How could someone have gotten there first?

Unconvinced, Hao Chen jumped off Zhan Hu's back and sniffed the ground like Zhan Hu did.

Soon Hao Chen discovered that, just as Zhan Hu had said, in addition to his and Zhan Hu's scent, there was also the scent of other living beings. Although it was very faint, Hao Chen could still smell it.

"Judging from the smell, it seems to have been left not long ago, and there were quite a few people there."

Hao Chen gleaned a lot of information from the lingering scent, and there was one thing he was unsure about: the scent gave him a familiar feeling, as if he had smelled it somewhere before.

After thinking for a long time, Hao Chen still couldn't remember where he had smelled this scent before.

"Haochen, if you can't remember, then don't think about it anymore. Let's keep searching. As long as they are still in the secret realm, we will definitely find them."

Seeing Hao Chen's brows furrowed, Zhan Hu grabbed Hao Chen by the back of the neck without saying a word, lifted him up, and put him on his back.

Interrupted by Zhan Hu, Hao Chen decided to stop thinking about it. Just like Zhan Hu said, as long as the other party is still in the secret realm, they will eventually meet again.

"Zhanhu, let's go find those people from Qingqiu Holy Land first. They must have already collected the treasures." Haochen patted Zhanhu on the back and pointed ahead.

"Murderers and arsonists wear golden belts"—this saying will never be outdated.

After entering, Hao Chen and Zhan Hu discussed it and decided to find treasures and opportunities on their own first.

Once the others have found most of the loot, then we'll rob them and make a killing.

Given the current situation, it's clearly unrealistic for them to find the treasures on their own, since they don't know where many of these precious herbs and medicinal plants grow.

In comparison, forces like the Qingqiu Holy Land, which have entered the secret realm multiple times, have an advantage in this regard.

"If Tianlu were here, he would be more adept at finding treasures."

Hao Chen suddenly thought of Tian Lu and realized that they had been separated for a long time. He really missed him.

And they would be very surprised if they found out that she was with Zhanhu.

Thinking of this, Hao Chen suddenly said, "Zhan Hu, you said that after this, let's go home."

"Go home?" Zhan Hu stopped and turned to look at Hao Chen with a puzzled expression. "Hao Chen, do you mean leave this world?"

Hao Chen noticed the fleeting excitement in Zhan Hu's eyes.

That makes sense. Although Zhanhu can see his beloved master Chiyou here, this is, after all, another world, not the world Zhanhu is familiar with.

Besides, Zhanhu is already with him now, so he shouldn't be so attached to Chiyou anymore.

Meeting Zhanhu's questioning gaze, Haochen nodded heavily: "Yes, let's go home. Zhanhu, we'll go back to our world together then."

Hearing Hao Chen's answer, Zhan Hu grinned and said, "Okay, then we'll go home and have a litter of little devils..."

"boom!"

Before Zhan Hu could finish speaking, Hao Chen, in a fit of rage, smacked him on the head, causing him to swallow the rest of his words.

Hao Chen blushed and said, "Who wants to have a baby tiger with you? If you want to have one, you can have one yourself."

Zhanhu noticed Haochen's embarrassment and didn't continue the conversation. He got up and continued on his way.

However, Zhanhu has already decided that after he and Haochen return to their own world, they will not only find a time to officially confirm their relationship, but also preferably have a few tiger cubs.

Hearing the occasional silly laughter coming from Zhanhu beneath him, Haochen knew that Zhanhu was probably thinking about offspring again.

Zhan Hu's words also made Hao Chen think. Should he and Zhan Hu lay eggs directly, or have tiger cubs directly?

"Wait, why would I think about that? I'm a male animal, how can I lay eggs?"

"But it doesn't seem to make any mistakes. I'm a Pixiu, and I can't make Zhanhu lay eggs. Thinking about it this way, it seems like I'm the one most likely to lay eggs?"

For a moment, Hao Chen's mind became more and more confused, and finally his face turned red as he buried his face in Zhan Hu's fur.

Zhan Hu noticed Hao Chen's subtle movements and his steps faltered. However, he quickly realized that Hao Chen was probably just shy because of the previous topic, so he stopped thinking about it and continued searching for the people of Qingqiu Holy Land.

On the other hand, because of Hao Chen, the people from the Qingqiu Holy Land did not act separately after entering the secret realm as before, but instead gathered together.

Apart from Hao Chen and Zhan Hu, who cut in line, each of the other factions has five slots to enter the secret realm.

Therefore, under Hao Chen's pressure, a group of people, mainly Su Li from Qingqiu Holy Land, Long Shan from Demon Dragon Palace, Ao Changkong from Immortal Valley, Qingming Daoren from Jietian Dao, and Hun Shang from the Underworld, formed a team of fifty people.

Originally, Su Li and the others thought that with more people, there would be more strength. With their familiarity with the secret realm, they could take advantage of Hao Chen and the others before they could react, loot the place, and then leave the secret realm quickly.

But as they began their search, they suddenly realized something was amiss.

The original location marked as the site of the medicinal herbs was now completely bare. Not only were the herbs gone, but even the soil that had grown them had been shoveled away.

"who is it?"

Su Li's suspicious gaze swept over Long Shan and the others, immediately making them unhappy.

"Su Li, what do you mean? Do you want to fight?" Long Shan clenched his fists and glared fiercely at Su Li.

Su Li snorted coldly: "Hmph, you still have the nerve to ask me what I mean? Only our five forces know where the spiritual herbs grow. Now that the spiritual herbs have disappeared, who else could it be but you?"

Qingming Daoist was also very uncomfortable when he heard Su Li's words, but considering the threat Hao Chen posed to them, he still stepped forward.

"Su Li, stop throwing mud at us. This has nothing to do with us. We've been together ever since we came in, and we haven't had a chance to act alone at all."

“Qingming is right. Besides, our families have an agreement that we will only harvest the fruit of the medicinal herbs, and we will also harvest the head of the herbs that do not bear fruit.”

Soul Sorrow stepped forward and spoke up, then pointed to the spot where the spiritual herb had originally grown: "And look, this mark has been there for several days."

Upon hearing Hun Shang's words, Su Li observed carefully again and found that, as Hun Shang had said, the secret realm had not yet been opened when the spiritual herbs were picked.

"Who could have done that?"

The question instantly popped into their minds, but after thinking about it for a long time, they still couldn't come up with a clue.

Rumble~

Suddenly, a loud explosion came from afar, followed by a golden light shooting straight into the sky, instantly attracting the attention of Su Li and his group.

"what is this?"

"Could it be that a legacy has been passed down?"

Upon hearing this, everyone present became agitated and rushed towards the direction of the golden light without prior arrangement.

Meanwhile, Zhan Hu also saw the strange phenomenon. He turned his head and exchanged a glance with Hao Chen, instantly understanding from Hao Chen's eyes.

"Haochen, sit down."

What Hao Chen and Su Li didn't know was that this strange phenomenon wasn't some kind of treasure appearing in the world.