Dimensional Gate III

Gu Tian unfurled his Blood Wings, attempting to take flight, but the giant serpents below immediately launched a barrage of venomous attacks. A myriad of toxic clouds spread through the air, the pungent stench potent enough to be lethal.

Without hesitation, Gu Tian summoned Death, giving a single command.

"Annihilate them."

Death's eyes glowed violet, and with a mere flick of its wrist, countless spectral swords materialized in the air, raining down upon the battlefield.

At the same time, Gu Tian summoned all of his beasts, fusing the powers of Xiao Bai and Death together to unleash a devastating attack combining the might of the Abyssal Flame Blade and Primordial Divinity.

BOOM!

Black flames erupted across the land, engulfing the entire jungle in an infernal blaze of death. Though several serpents managed to evade, their movements were rapidly restricted as the battlefield burned. Some ice-element serpents desperately unleashed frost energy in an attempt to contain the flames though unable to extinguish them completely, they at least managed to slow the destruction.

Suddenly, the Axe-Head Titan Serpent lunged at Gu Tian with astonishing speed, its massive blade-like head cleaving through the air with terrifying force.

CLANG!

Grim stepped in just in time, intercepting the blow. Its bone armor cracked slightly, sending it skidding backward, but the attack had been successfully blocked.

Xiao Bai let out a thunderous roar and charged forward, only to be intercepted by a massive black-scaled serpent.

Meanwhile, Xiu wasted no time, shifting into its dark blue dragon form, expanding until it dwarfed the serpents, and plunged directly into the enemy ranks.

Xiu's gelatinous body spread outward, ensnaring multiple serpents at once, binding them in a suffocating grip.

Above, Death unleashed an explosion of spectral energy, conjuring a storm of spirit swords, letting them rain down from the sky.

The giant serpents thrashed violently, trying to break free, but Gu Tian acted first—channeling Xiao Bai's lightning abilities and directing a bolt of divine thunder into Xiu's slime form.

SZZZT! SZZZT!

Electric currents surged through Xiu, conducting directly into the trapped serpents.

For a split second, their movements halted, their massive bodies stiffening.

That moment of paralysis was all that was needed.

SCHLUNK! SCHLUNK! SCHLUNK!

Tens of thousands of spectral swords impaled the serpents with merciless precision.

Their agonized shrieks filled the jungle as blood of various hues gushed across the ground.

Xiao Bai and Grim immediately followed up, unleashing attacks infused with blood energy and darkness, ensuring no survivors.

Suddenly, a severely wounded black serpent, drenched in its own blood, erupted into a final berserk charge at Gu Tian.

But Gu Tian simply snapped his fingers.

SCHLURK!

The serpent's own blood burst outward from within its body, slicing it into pieces.

Its mangled corpse convulsed violently before collapsing, its life force completely drained.

The battlefield fell into silence.

The fight had ended in mere moments.

Gu Tian scanned the carnage below, his expression cold and emotionless.

"Grim. Convert them into undead, but leave these seventeen serpents intact do not absorb their power."

Grim dropped to one knee, acknowledging the command.

Gu Tian wasted no time, instructing his beasts to scatter and resume the hunt.

Before long, the once-lush rainforest had devolved into a wasteland its trees reduced to ashes, its lands devoid of life.

Gu Tian observed the seventeen undead serpents now standing before him, along with over ten other reanimated creatures. The majority of Grim's undead army had been devoured, leaving only the strongest remaining.

Grim had absorbed the power of weaker undead, strengthening itself through Assimilation.

Turning to his beasts, Gu Tian saw that every single one of them had now ascended to Platinum-tier a significant milestone.

Yet, he was not satisfied.

Platinum-tier was still far from enough.

"This hunting method is fast, but acquiring these secret realm gates is a nightmare..." Gu Tian murmured, contemplating his next course of action.

He needed a faster way to accelerate his beasts' growth.

At this moment, he had no remaining Secret Realms to use.

The Central Government's Secret Realms were an option, but too risky to infiltrate for now.

As for the Seven-Colored Peacock Chamber of Commerce's Secret Realms, the majority were already booked out.

Gu Tian gazed into his spiritual domain. If he moved his beasts inside and continuously supplied them with resources, it might serve as a temporary alternative to direct hunting.

With that decision made, he recalled all his beasts into his spiritual domain before making a call. Without hesitation, he exited the secret realm gate and pressed the service button.

Upon receiving the signal, a male and female staff member immediately opened the dimensional exit for him. Gu Tian stepped through, emerging in a luxurious reception chamber, before striding straight to the counter.

"I need a top-tier room. Book it for three days."

The receptionist, upon seeing the VIP badge Gu Tian presented, quickly processed the request and handed him a key card, before instructing another employee to escort him to his room.

Meanwhile, inside the restricted chamber housing the secret realm gates, two staff members—one male and one female entered unauthorized, conducting their own inspection.

The young man clicked his tongue. "Cleared out completely? Just who was that customer?"

The young woman, however, hesitated before whispering, "Brother Wang… Are we even allowed to be here?"

The man let out a smug chuckle. "Of course we are. I'm the nephew of the department head, little lady."

The young woman's eyes widened in admiration. "That's amazing, Brother Wang!"

The man smirked mischievously, stepping closer to her. "So, tell me… tonight, do you want to...."

Her face flushed slightly, but before she could respond, her smile froze.

Her gaze shifted downward to where the young man's head had twisted 360 degrees in an instant.

THUD!

His lifeless body collapsed onto her, knocking her to the ground.

A wave of pure terror paralyzed her. Just seconds ago, this man had been laughing confidently, yet now he lay motionless, dead in an instant.

With trembling eyes, she lifted her gaze only to meet the sight of Huang Qingfu, the chief director of the Seven-Colored Peacock Chamber of Commerce's main branch.

She tried to scream but no sound came out.

Her entire body was frozen. Not by fear, but by an invisible force preventing her from moving or speaking. A piercing chill ran down her spine as her vision abruptly shifted, tilting sideways…

No.

She wasn't tilting.

She was rolling.

Her consciousness flickered as she watched her own decapitated body, lying limp on the ground. A final, silent scream echoed in her fading mind before everything went dark.

Huang Qingfu's calm yet chilling voice echoed through the chamber.

"Trespassing in this room without authorization… The punishment is death. In your next life, choose a better man, little girl. And… I'm sorry. If I didn't kill you, I would have been the one to die instead…"

In the VIP suite, Gu Tian sat at his desk, reviewing research notes while jotting down observations.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

A peculiar sequence of knocks sounded from the door.

"3…5…8…9…1."

Gu Tian's lips curled into a small smile. "Has my dry dumpling order arrived? No cilantro, right?"

A voice from the other side replied smoothly. "Apologies, sir, but it seems we mistakenly added cilantro."

Gu Tian stood and opened the door. A courier, dressed in a delivery uniform, stepped inside, handing over a stack of documents and several dozen spatial cards.

Gu Tian accepted the spatial cards and papers, flipping through them rapidly.

After exactly three minutes, he closed the documents, then retrieved a spatial ring from his pocket containing everything he had gathered from the seven secret realms and handed it to the courier.

"This auction doesn't seem particularly interesting. Whatever. If I need anything else, I'll message you. Also, deliver this ring to my mother when you return."

The courier gave a slight bow. "Understood, sir."

Without another word, the courier left.

Gu Tian, now alone again, returned to his bed, lying down as he contemplated the future.