After Song Yan and the other two stepped through the Gate of Light, the gate vanished, and the Stellar Divine Temple shrank into a speck of dust, piercing through the world's barrier as Song Yan requested, and reappeared inside the Secret Realm world.
It was only about eight hundred kilometers from the base.
Song Yan let Susie and Kara Moran stay inside the temple for now, while he stepped outside and landed in the forest.
At that moment, the system's cold voice rang in Song Yan's ear: "Host, you have returned by cheating and will be penalized. Five hundred million Fame Points will be deducted. Reminder: If this happens again, fifty billion Fame Points will be deducted!"
Hearing the system's notification, Song Yan couldn't help but grit his teeth.
He had already lost three billion Fame Points for failing the third mission, and now another five hundred million were gone. Not only did he earn nothing from that world, he actually lost 1.5 billion. Still, thinking of the two wives he brought back, his newly refined Dark-Gold Body, and his basic usage rights for the temple, Song Yan felt much more balanced.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host has reached level 16. One system lottery draw awarded."
"Well, that's good news," Song Yan sighed.
"Ding! Congratulations, Host has reached level 17. One system lottery draw awarded."
"Ding! Congratulations, Host has reached level 18. One system lottery draw awarded."
Leveling up three times in a row left Song Yan quite satisfied. When he first entered this world, he was only at the early Foundation Establishment Realm; now, he'd reached the late Foundation Establishment Realm, and his physical strength was already at the early Golden Core Realm—so much so that not even early Golden Core cultivators could break through his defense.
With a thought, Song Yan brought up the system interface:
Host: Song Yan
Level: 18
Physical Power: 12,000 points
Mental Power: 1,732 points
Skills: Body Arts, Piano Master, Driving Mastery, Gun Master, Super Chef, Calligraphy Mastery, Eastern Medicine Mastery, Gambling Mastery, Language Master, Dance Master, Surging Waves, Thousand-Hand Buddha, Dragon Soaring Nine Transformations, Whirlwind Thirty-Nine Styles, Huarong Golden Needle Method, Fire Arts
Divine Arts: Eidetic Memory, Mastery Integration, Clairvoyant Vision, Radiance of Life, Spatial Stasis, Gravity Domain, Condensing Core Technique, Puppet Mastery Divine Art, All-Heaven Divine Eye, Soul-Control Brand
Cultivation Methods: Origin-Nurturing Scripture, Azure Lotus Sword Codex, Dark-Gold Body
Fictional Worlds: Unlocked
Fame Points: 3.26 billion
Next Draw Fame Cost: 200 million points.
His Physical Power had jumped by more than seven thousand points, likely due to completing the first stage of Dark-Gold Body. Mental Power only increased by a little over two hundred. Closing the system interface, Ian Song called out, “Meowu, help me merge the three system lottery draws and start the draw!”
“All done!”
Meowu responded in a flash, and the lottery interface popped up in front of Ian Song.
Last time, after merging five lottery draws, Ian Song won the seventh-grade divine art Soul-Control Brand.
He wondered what kind of good stuff he’d get this time.
He pressed his finger on the giant 'Prize' button, and the pointer started spinning.
Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, violet—the pointer finally stopped on the blue square.
Seeing it was the blue square, Ian Song was pretty satisfied.
In the next moment, the word 'Teleportation' appeared on the square.
Then, the word 'Teleportation' fused into a golden light and shot straight into Ian Song’s forehead.
After a brief jolt of pain, Ian Song successfully received the Teleportation divine art.
Teleportation is a sixth-grade divine art. There’s no limit to how many times he can use it, but each use consumes Mental Power.
The cost is calculated at one point of Mental Power per ten kilometers.
With 1,732 points of Mental Power available, if he went all out, he could instantly teleport over seventeen thousand kilometers away.
Since he hadn’t completed the system mission, not even the hidden mission, the system didn’t give him a lottery reward for mission completion this time.
He’d been away from the base for quite a while—it was about time to show his face again.
But since it was still morning in the Secret Realm world, Ian Song released Susie and Kara Moran from the temple, and the three of them went to gather spirit herbs in the Secret Realm.
The strongest beast in this area was only at Innate Ninth Layer. Susie had reached mid Foundation Establishment, Kara Moran was at early Foundation Establishment, and as for Ian Song—even Golden Core beasts weren’t a threat to him.
So to them, the supposedly dangerous Secret Realm forest wasn’t dangerous at all.
The Secret Realm forest was basically untouched, overflowing with spirit herbs. Since no one else came to this area, by evening Ian Song had already gathered a huge haul.
As evening approached.
Ian Song sent the two women back into the temple, then rode his flying sword toward the base.
He’d been away from the base for more than ten days. When he returned, Wang Chongshan, King Kong, Zhou Jie, and Dragon Sword—the four deputy commanders—came out to greet him together.
Technically, as a War God deputy commander, Ian Song should’ve stayed at the base to handle affairs like Zhou Jie and the others. But his position was only nominal, so he didn’t need to be as diligent as the other four.
After some brief small talk, Ian Song asked about the War God team’s situation during his absence.
Aside from the eight cultivators who acted independently, the other nine War God squads generally teamed up to hunt monsters and gather spirit herbs. Except for two members who were injured in a group beast encounter, there were no deaths.
“By the way, Brother Song, do you smoke?” Wang Chongshan offered him a cigarette.
“Thanks.”
Ian Song didn’t really smoke, but he accepted it anyway.
“Let me light it for you.”
With a click, Wang Chongshan lit the lighter and brought it to Ian Song’s lips. With no way out, Ian Song put the cigarette in his mouth and lit up.
Zhou Jie leaned in, smiling. “Brother Song, I heard you made a big haul this time?”
Ian Song nodded. “I found a patch of spirit herbs in the Secret Realm forest. I’ll share some with everyone later.”
King Kong grinned. “Brother Song is really generous!”
Dragon Sword said, “If Brother Song hadn’t joined us, we’d still be struggling in the outer circle.”
Ian Song smiled. “We’re all in this together.”
The group chatted for a while, then Ian Song handed out some spirit herbs to his four deputy commanders.
Afterward, Ian Song went to his own quarters to rest.