Li Yichen's eyes widened, filled with disbelief. He hadn't expected Chu Chen to strike so decisively.

If he could have delayed a moment longer, the black dog would have returned, and he would have had the confidence to kill his opponent. Unfortunately, it was all too late.

If Chu Chen were to learn of his opponent's thoughts, he would probably be at a loss for words.

Chu Chen looked at the opponent's corpse, his expression hardly changing.

He bent down to search Li Yichen's body and found nothing of value except the Spatial Bracelet.

After hiding the Spatial Bracelet, he returned to carefully dig up the Dark Flower and took the opportunity to collect the loot from the beetle.

After doing all this, Chu Chen commanded the two beasts to head in the direction where the black dog had just pursued.

Soon, Chu Chen found its corpse, and not far behind it lay the body of a jackal, clearly the work of the black dog.

Once Chu Chen had confirmed that there were no fish that slipped through the net, he identified the direction and set off again.

Perhaps through experience, he finally recognized the survival laws of this world; strength is everything, and he naturally had to snuff out those with malicious intent.

Kindness would only bring endless trouble upon himself. Fang Tao was the best example, and he wouldn't let such things happen again.

As for these corpses, nearby Star Beasts would naturally come to scavenge once they smelled the blood. It wouldn't take long for nothing to be left.

While making his way, Chu Chen took out Li Yichen's Spatial Bracelet and found only some Elixir Pills and daily necessities, indicating that this guy wasn't wealthy, and perhaps the Spatial Bracelet also belonged to his family.

Chu Chen walked and paused intermittently, enduring several battles along the way. However, the battles weren't large in scale, and they didn't last long, so the strain on the Star Beasts was naturally much lower. Of course, the gains were also fewer, with only two Fifth and Sixth Grade Star Treasures acquired.

Such a haul left Chu Chen somewhat disappointed, but through several battles, he gained some understanding of the Secret Realm's situation.

The Star Beasts he encountered were all insect-type Star Beasts. Chu Chen didn't think this was a coincidence; the likelihood was high that this Secret Realm was an insect-type realm, similar to the previous First-Level Secret Realm, where all Star Beasts had multiple heads, tails, and feet, completely different from those found in the wild.

However, Chu Chen was quite excited about this. Insect-type Star Beasts generally had weaker individual strength and high numbers. With the right tactics, they could win with fewer defeating more.

For Chu Chen, this was practically a freebie. As his strength continued to increase, the consumption of Slaughter Value grew larger, especially for Talent. Each level-up multiplied the Slaughter Value cost by ten-fold compared to the last.

Chu Chen planned to find a large swarm of insects to farm a significant amount of Slaughter Value.

Currently, his Slaughter Value had reached twenty thousand points. He planned to enhance the strength of his two beasts with a wave of upgrades; the Secret Realm held too many unknown dangers, and the stronger they were, the safer they would be.

Chu Chen summoned the Slaughter Atlas and first checked his own Talent. Currently, Heaven Rewards Diligence had upgraded to C-level. If he wished to upgrade it to B-level, he would need a hundred thousand points of Slaughter Value, an amount he couldn't afford now.

His gaze dropped to the Wind of Recovery, which was currently at D-level. Upgrading it to C-level required ten thousand points of Slaughter Value.

Chu Chen deliberated for a moment and directly spent ten thousand points of Slaughter Value, upgrading the Wind of Recovery to C-level, improving its restorative effect by twenty percent once more.

In Chu Chen's view, the Wind of Recovery was simply a Divine Skill. During battle, it could continuously restore all of a Star Beast's consumptions. When of equal strength, the two beasts blessed by the Wind of Recovery stood in an invincible position.

Chu Chen then turned his gaze towards Nirvana. The Talent Disguise was still at E-level, while The More You Fight, the Braver You Get had already upgraded to D-level. To better conceal Nirvana's aura, he decided to spend a thousand points of Slaughter Value to upgrade Disguise to D-level.

Subsequently, Chu Chen shifted his focus to Nirvana's Skills; the Skill Level of Jaw Scissors was Minor Achievement Realm, which was somewhat low.

Chu Chen didn't think much before directly spending eight hundred points of Slaughter Value to upgrade it to Great Success Realm.

Wooden Cone, Earth Rock Armor, and Limb Regeneration were all at Mastery Realm. Wooden Cone was Nirvana's primary attacking method, Earth Rock Armor its primary defense method, and Limb Regeneration its survival mode. Naturally, these core skills needed an upgrade.

Chu Chen spent two thousand four hundred points of Slaughter Value, upgrading the three skills to Minor Achievement Realm.

The last one was Cycle of Mutual Birth, which could enhance the power of skills and whose importance was self-evident.

Chu Chen directly spent one thousand two hundred points of Slaughter Value to upgrade it to Mastery Realm.

Looking at the remaining forty-eight hundred points of Slaughter Value, Chu Chen couldn't help but frown. In just a minute, he'd spent fifteen thousand two hundred points of Slaughter Value, which pained him greatly.

However, the strength was genuinely enhanced, and it was truly a gain regardless.

Finally, Chu Chen set his sights on Lei Yao's skills.

Lei Yao's Lightning Fist and Thunderbolt Fist had both reached Great Success Realm, which was adequate for now.

Next were Thunder Blade Slash and Thunder Armor, both of which were at Minor Achievement Realm.

Chu Chen pondered briefly and upgraded the two skills to Great Success Realm, which cost three thousand two hundred points of Slaughter Value.

The final skill was Thunder Shocking Mountain Fist, currently at Entry Realm. Chu Chen gritted his teeth and spent one thousand two hundred points to upgrade it to Mastery Realm.

After all this, Chu Chen felt unsettled; he'd exhausted his twenty thousand points of Slaughter Value, leaving merely four hundred points remaining.

Yet his overall strength had increased by at least thirty percent, which could only be described as exceeding value.

At this moment, the two beasts were basked in the joy of their increased strength, unaware of the drawbacks of such rapid advancement.

As their Beast Master, Chu Chen had already considered this issue.

He urgently needed to find some weaker Star Beasts to fight and quickly let the two beasts master their newfound strength.

Moments later, Chu Chen arrived at a canyon, which was eerily quiet, with even the usual sounds of insects absent.

This instantly put Chu Chen on high alert. According to past experiences, such situations usually signaled danger.

However, taking a detour would require several extra hours.

After some thought, Chu Chen decided to proceed. With the recent boost in the beasts' strength and several trump cards up his sleeve, he was brimming with confidence. Ordinary Star Beasts posed little threat to him.

Even if he encountered a tough opponent, he was confident he could escape safely.

After moving a little further, they found a massive cave at the base of the cliff in the middle of the canyon.

Looking at the cave from a distance, Chu Chen couldn't help but feel curious. With such a large entrance, Star Beasts were certainly residing inside. Regardless of their strength, the possibility of a Star Treasure within the cave was tantalizingly real.

His heart grew hot with anticipation at the thought.

But he quickly quashed that thought.

The priority was to rendezvous with Zhang Yuyan. Besides, he had no idea about the situation within the cave. Recklessly charging in would only land him in danger.

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