’If a Lord Player dies once, they become an Adventurer Player. If an Adventurer Player dies once, do they become a monster? If so, is a Player who’s turned into a monster considered alive, or dead?’

Wang Yi’s mind raced with a thousand thoughts. At that moment, the Wood Knot Monster, which had a face identical to Ma Changgui’s, had already charged right up to him.

"Hmph!"

Yang Qingniu stomped his right foot, activating the Earth Warrior Technique. Rock armor fragments instantly formed over his body. He met the Wood Knot Monster’s charge, raising his arms to block its heavy punch. With a BOOM, he was knocked back two steps, his feet gouging two deep pits in the ground.

"This monster is incredibly strong! Lengzi, attack with me!"

Yang Qingniu shouted and immediately rushed forward again, wrapping his arms around the Wood Knot Monster’s waist in a tight bear hug.

"Coming!"

Zhang Lengzi drew his Gale Battle Blade and charged forward, hacking ferociously at the Wood Knot Monster.

His Gale Battle Blade could slice through Mummies like a hot knife through butter, but against the Wood Knot Monster, it just rang out with a DING DING sound, as if striking iron. It couldn’t cut through either its rotting flesh or its plant-like body.

"Cyan Ox, hang in there! Wait for me to trigger Lethal Strike!"

Zhang Lengzi yelled, hacking away with even greater glee.

But a moment later, the Wood Knot Monster’s tail whipped him away. The monster roared, then grabbed Yang Qingniu and flung him into the air, causing a shower of stone fragments to fall from his body.

"Kill... kill you all... turn you all into... fertilizer!"

The Wood Knot Monster spoke in a dry, raspy voice. It seemed to lock onto Wang Yi, ignoring Yang Qingniu and Zhang Lengzi as it advanced on him menacingly.

SWOOSH!

A streak of golden light appeared out of thin air, hovering above the Wood Knot Monster’s head without descending.

At the same time, Fish-Transformed Dragon arrived, riding his elegant Jade Jiaolong.

"A disgusting, ugly monster dares to attack my Teacher?"

Fish-Transformed Dragon glanced at the Sword Pill above the monster’s head, then his cold gaze returned to the creature itself. With a cold snort, the Wood Knot Monster’s body lifted directly into the air. No matter how it kicked and struggled, it remained pinned in the void, unable to advance or retreat.

Even for a monster, a look of sheer terror was now plain on its face.

Fish-Transformed Dragon came before Wang Yi, dismounted, and bowed.

Wang Yi nodded slightly. "Cripple it, but leave it alive. Don’t kill it!"

Fish-Transformed Dragon cupped his fist in his palm and agreed. He flicked his sleeve, and with no other visible movement, four loud BANGS erupted. The Wood Knot Monster’s arms and legs simultaneously exploded, sending up four clouds of crimson wood chips.

"Die... I’ll kill you! Kill you! I’ll kill all of you!"

The Wood Knot Monster showed no signs of pain, only pure rage. It let out a low snarl, its expression so vicious it looked ready to devour someone whole.

Wang Yi, however, suddenly shouted at it, "Ma Changgui! Ma Changgui! Ma Changgui! Wake up!"

"Ugh..."

The Wood Knot Monster shook its head, a flicker of confusion actually appearing on its face.

’It’s reacting!’

A realization struck Wang Yi like a clap of thunder. He sighed and continued to call out, "Ma Changgui, can you hear me? When did you get here? Why did you turn into a monster...?"

"Aaargh!"

The Wood Knot Monster suddenly began to shriek, its face contorting in pain as it roared, "Who am I?! Pain... so much pain... it hurts so much...!"

As it shrieked, Ma Changgui’s body began to swell and twist. Something seemed to be changing, and it was growing unstable.

"Ma Changgui, are you still alive? Answer me!"

Wang Yi shouted again.

"I... I..."

An expression of extreme agony crossed the Wood Knot Monster’s face. It opened its mouth, trying to say something, but with a sudden RUMBLE, its entire body exploded, dissolving into a fine mist of wood dust.

Fish-Transformed Dragon snorted coldly and flicked his Cloak. The mist of wood dust was instantly swept away as if by a gale, blown far into the distance.

’It exploded!’

Wang Yi looked toward the grassy field again. ’This grass really is strange,’ he thought.

He knew the Wood Knot Monster’s disintegration wasn’t Fish-Transformed Dragon’s doing. Perhaps its body had simply collapsed on its own, but it was also possible that the grass was controlling it.

’This Secret Realm really is something else. To establish a foothold here and find the clues to clear it, I need to gather more information!’

Wang Yi then looked at Watermelon, who was sitting slumped on the ground as if stunned. He extended a hand to her and said, "Miss Watermelon, come. I’ll go with you to your village."

Watermelon dazedly extended her hand and was pulled to her feet by Wang Yi.

Wang Yi added, "Wait here a moment. I’m going to prepare some gifts."

With that, Wang Yi returned to the small train.

A short while later, Wang Yi reappeared, riding his Mobile Storm: Jade Dragon. He was accompanied by Fish-Transformed Dragon, also on a Jade Jiaolong, six Feng Yuxiu, and the stealthed, undetectable Qin Mo.

The others remained inside the small train, awaiting further instructions.

Watermelon, who was leading the way, had grown silent and withdrawn. She simply walked ahead, guiding Wang Yi and his group onto a small path at the foot of the mountain that led toward a shattered, desolate valley.

"Miss Watermelon, why so quiet?"

Wang Yi asked.

"Ah!" Watermelon touched her highly swollen cheek and mumbled, "My face is swollen. I don’t feel like talking!"

But despite claiming she didn’t want to talk, it was as if a floodgate had opened. She suddenly turned back to size up Wang Yi and asked mysteriously, "Are you... really from another world?"

Wang Yi nodded.

"Then... can you take us away from this world?"

"I can, but it won’t be easy. I need to gather a lot of information and find the method to ’clear’ your world. Otherwise, I can only wait ten years before I might be able to take you away."

"’Clear’? What does that mean?"

"It’s just a term. Specifically, it might mean killing a powerful monster, bringing about the end of this world, or maybe achieving a certain goal, finding some kind of truth... I can’t be sure right now!"

Watermelon fell silent at his words. After a long moment, she suddenly said, "The land we live in is filled with despair. Those terrifying Earth Deities are constantly shrinking our living space. Food is scarce, water is hard to find. If nothing changes, humanity might be extinct in this world in a few decades... But meeting you today, I feel like I’ve seen a glimmer of hope again!"

She suddenly stopped walking and stood silently in place for a few minutes. Then she turned to look at Wang Yi seriously and said, "The Wood Knot is dead, so the grassy field will need to recover. It shouldn’t make a move for the next three days. I’ve decided. I’ll take you to that place. We can’t get in, but maybe you can!"

"What place?"

Watermelon said, enunciating each word, "The Divine Suffering Place!" 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After that, Watermelon changed course. As expected, she was no longer leading Wang Yi to her village. Instead, she followed a deep mountain path for a full hour, arriving at a hidden gorge.

Within the gorge stood a giant, silver gate. It had two doors, left and right, each carved with figures resembling Celestial Gods and Demons.

Watermelon said, "Behind this great gate is the Divine Suffering Place. It’s said to have existed even before the disaster began, and it holds divine secrets within! But no one can push open these two great doors."

"What a gate, what a gate!"

Wang Yi stared at the two massive doors, his eyes practically glowing.

He could see the gate’s text information. It was forged from Mithril—a total of 10 units!

In other words, each door was five units of Mithril.

And Mithril was one of the three rarest materials needed to craft the exquisite weapon, the Yellow Springs Lock.

In Wang Yi’s eyes, since he had stumbled upon these two massive doors, he absolutely had to smash them and take them with him.

’If even the gate is this extraordinary, there must be even more incredible treasures behind it!’

Wang Yi’s heart raced with excitement. He turned, beckoned to Fish-Transformed Dragon, and said, "Yuxiu, go test the quality of those two Mithril doors!"