Chapter 438 - 179: The Beauty Snake’s Charm, Speedrunning the Secret Path

And it was all because of that half-hour window to attack the health bar. Someone started stirring up trouble, pointing the finger at Shen Fei. They started to clamor, demanding to know why he hadn’t destroyed its health bar last time.

The Monster Nest that wasn’t destroyed had spawned monsters again. This defense against the monster tide consumed so much manpower, wasted time, and even left some people seriously injured—all for absolutely no reward. This was a complete waste of manpower and resources, simply the wrong move. Then, as if following a script, the blame was ultimately directed at Shen Fei, the one who had decided to leave the Qing City Monster Nest intact in the first place.

Led by individuals with ulterior motives, a set of tightly reasoned accusations targeted Shen Fei. Then, after various deductions, the final conclusion they reached was this: Shen Fei left the monster tide to fester, letting the threat linger to make himself indispensable, ensuring everyone would always need him and always be grateful to him. Shen Fei was painted as the kind of person who would "help" various cities with their monster problems, all to earn their thanks and advance his own sinister agenda.

This narrative and slander, bolstered by the fact that there were no rewards after defending against the monster tide, actually managed to sway quite a few people.

As for Shen Fei, he couldn’t be bothered to explain himself in the face of this uproar. In fact, he went ahead and released even more Monster Nests in Qing City.

Sure enough, a dumbfounded Sun Yu posted the Attributes of the five new, higher-level Monster Nests that Shen Fei had released on the outskirts of Qing City to the Forum. Instantly, all those deliberately planted, trouble-making posts came to a screeching halt.

"Holy shit!"

"Brother Chongtian is meeting the challenge head-on?"

"I love it!"

"Holy shit! ’You say I won’t destroy it? Not only am I not destroying it, I’m putting out even more?’"

"Holy shit!"

"Now that’s our Brother Chongtian, full of character! I love it, I love it!"

"Holy shit!"

"You can even build Monster Nests yourself!"

"I want to build one near our settlement to train the team’s combat skills!"

The moment Sun Yu posted about Shen Fei and the Attributes of the five new, high-level Monster Nests, the entire tone of the Forum shifted instantly. Countless players who had always believed in Shen Fei spoke up. And those who had been swept up in the narrative, the ones who thought Shen Fei might have truly been ’letting the threat linger to make himself indispensable’ by leaving the Monster Nest, couldn’t help but start to reconsider.

Shen Fei had instantly placed even more, even stronger Monster Nests right in his own backyard. This action was more powerful than any explanation or words could ever be.

"Thank you, Brother Chongtian!"

"Thank you, Brother Chongtian!"

As Zhao Li and Huang Yi chimed in, the public opinion that had been stirred up just moments ago seemed to shift once more.

BUZZ.

Faced with this turn of events, Shen Fei paid it no mind whatsoever. He couldn’t be bothered with the schemers working behind the scenes.

As long as it doesn’t affect me, it’s fine. The moment it does, I’ll strike back with everything I’ve got...

"Get ready for the Secret Realm!"

Taking something out, Shen Fei looked at Sun Yu, who was visibly hesitating and clearly still preoccupied with the drama on the Forum. Shen Fei simply moved on to the next item on the agenda.

It was time for the Secret Realm. After the Version 4.4 update, the early release of Version 4.5 had introduced a new quest: "Enter the Secret Realm." It had a seven-day time limit, and every player was required to complete it at least once.

Now, the monster tide was over. All NPCs in the special zones who had dared to approach Great Xia had been annihilated. With less than four days remaining before the mandatory Secret Realm quest expired, they had just entered a period of calm. Shen Fei decided it was the perfect time to lead everyone through the Secret Realm.

Over the past three days, Secret Realms had popped up everywhere. Since some of them were simple, single-player modes, many people had already completed the quest. However, here in Qing City, none of the people close to Shen Fei had entered a Secret Realm yet.

For their first time, everyone wanted Shen Fei to lead the way. After all, large-scale multiplayer Secret Realms existed, which meant Shen Fei could indeed carry them through. The people of Qing City, who were all too familiar with his Combat Power, were eager to run the instance with their Brother Chongtian.

"You got it!!"

Sun Yu had been fuming about the comments on the Forum regarding his Big Bro. He was planning to take advantage of the shift in public opinion to post a long tirade and restore even more of his Big Bro’s "reputation." He never expected his Big Bro, Shen Fei, to suggest they do the Secret Realm first.

Sun Yu hadn’t entered a single Secret Realm since the mandatory [Enter the Secret Realm] quest appeared. He was waiting for his Big Bro to take him. Although his own power wasn’t insignificant, Sun Yu just wanted to go with his Big Bro. Hearing Shen Fei’s instructions, Sun Yu practically jumped for joy.

Then, he rushed off to gather everyone, ready to enter the Secret Realm with Shen Fei. As for which Secret Realm they would enter, the choice was obvious—the Heaven-Reaching Tower.

Of course, Shen Fei also had another Secret Realm, one that belonged exclusively to him: the special Secret Realm located within the borders of Hang City, [Lin’an City]. But the first clear of [Lin’an City] clearly couldn’t be done with a team. He had to complete it alone.

Right now, the monster tide was over. Before the fourth Game Ability Inheritance, most of the major tasks were already complete. It was the perfect time to tackle the Secret Realms. Not only would this complete the mandatory quest, but more importantly, completing this quest was required to officially activate everyone’s Version 4.5 quest panel.

Once this initial quest was done, everyone would have a chance for random quests to appear on their quest panels at midnight each day. Completing those random quests would grant various rewards. Sun Yu had already learned all of this from posts on the Forum by players who had already entered and cleared their Secret Realms.

As for Immortal Emperor and Huang Yi’s Secret Realms, I’ll just let them handle those themselves.