Kent had initially worried that the Light-devouring Shadow Beast wouldn't be able to digest and absorb the pill, but the creature's digestive abilities turned out to be incredibly efficient. Within just a few breaths, it had absorbed the energy of the pill, expelling the residue shortly after.
Kent realized that the creature could affect physical entities—after all, how else could it have moved the corpse into this space?
"Better head out first," Kent decided. Although many questions remained in his mind, his oxygen supply was running low, so he needed to leave as soon as possible.
He stored the Light-devouring Shadow Beast into a new beast-familiar bracelet and gathered the gold, silver, and jewels from the copper coffin. These treasures were worth a lot and could likely fetch a good amount of money.
When he entered the exit of the cloud cluster, he felt the familiar pulling sensation similar to the exit of the Bullhorn Mountain Secret Realm, almost as if he were being ejected by some force.
Back in the tomb room, Kent took a quick look around, collected a gold hairpin, and closed the coffin lid. The newly discovered secret realm would likely remain hidden forever.
Kent stepped over the remains of yellow weasels scattered across the ground, and with the last bit of oxygen in his supply, he left the cave and decided to seal it off. He threw several large rocks into the entrance, ensuring the place was completely blocked.
Then, he released the Light-devouring Shadow Beast and began communicating with it. This beast was unique and surprisingly intelligent. Using mental communication was straightforward.
After a while, Kent sighed. Although he hadn't fully figured out his new beast, he already knew that its diet wasn't particularly special. The creature could consume almost anything with energy.
As a result, it had consumed all the available energy in the small secret realm, which explained why it was only at level 9—despite being 8 years old, which was relatively old for its species. Kent could sense that the beast was still quite young, and it had a long lifespan. It could also survive without eating for extended periods.
He immediately took out some food. The beast's greedy eyes glowed, and its form shifted like a wisp of smoke to envelop the food.
A minute later, the Light-devouring Shadow Beast moved away, leaving behind a pile of food scraps devoid of any energy.
Kent couldn't help but chuckle. He doubted even microorganisms would touch these scraps, as there was no energy left in them.
"Since you eat so cleanly, I'll name you Bajie," Kent said with a smile.
Though the beast was far from resembling Bajie in any way, Kent had his reasons for the name. After all, he already had Wukong, so adding another Bajie didn't seem like a big deal, and names were a small matter anyway.
Kent then gave Bajie a few bottles of mid-level nutrition liquids. As the beast consumed them, its experience points surged.
"Level up!"
Kent muttered under his breath, and a series of black lights surrounded Bajie's form. The beast's body became more robust and agile.
"Level 10."
"Level 11."
"Level 12."
The beast continued to level up until it reached level 15. With its experience exhausted, Bajie wasn't ready for further upgrades. Kent stored it back in the bracelet and headed toward the secret realm in the sky above Pan Mountain.
On the way, Kent decided to try out Bajie's abilities.
First, he tested Light-devouring.
As the light around him fell, it was absorbed, rendering Kent invisible to anyone else. However, Kent noticed that he couldn't fully apply the ability. It seemed that some light didn't get absorbed, likely due to the differences between his physical body and Bajie's smoke-like form.
After all, one was flesh and blood, and the other was a wisp of smoke.
Kent understood that this issue arose because of the inherent limitations of humans. It was like trying to create fire with water—some abilities were simply beyond the reach of human bodies.
Next, he tried using Shadow Theft, but found it even more ineffective. He couldn't use it at all.
"Well, that makes sense," Kent quickly thought, abandoning the idea. "How could a physical body turn into a shadow?"
Although Kent couldn't utilize Bajie's two main abilities, he didn't regret the bond. Bajie was incredibly unique. Its powers could be used in various situations for surprising and effective results.
Although Kent hadn't discovered any offensive abilities yet, the creature's stealth, infiltration, and ability to gather intelligence made it more than worth it.
After about half an hour, Kent finally arrived at the cloud cluster entrance of the Pan Mountain Secret Realm. The road was difficult due to the heavy snow, and the journey had taken much longer than expected. Occasionally encountering wild monsters had delayed him even further.
"I've heard the Xiao Pan Mountain Secret Realm is much larger than the Bullhorn Mountain Secret Realm—it's about a thousand miles wide and classified as a four-star secret realm."
Secret realms were categorized by size, ranging from one-star to ten-star. The small tomb realm didn't even qualify as a one-star, and the Bullhorn Mountain Secret Realm was only a two-star.
Kent wasn't about to take any chances. The Xiao Pan Mountain Secret Realm was a four-star realm, home to many powerful primordial beasts. Even level 50 royal-grade monsters could be found there.
Looking at the cloud cluster entrance nearly a hundred meters high, Kent first jumped onto a tree canopy, then made another high leap to reach sixty meters.
Garfield, at level 20, could jump over ten meters high. Now, at level 40, with enhanced jumping abilities, Garfield could leap to these heights with ease.
However, it still wasn't enough to reach the entrance, so Kent used Wukong's flying ability to jump another 40 meters, finally arriving without any external aid.
Entering the secret realm, Kent found himself in a large lake surrounded by dozens of small islands and one large island that spanned over a hundred miles, occupying about one-tenth of the entire realm.
The lake was turbulent, with trees on the islands and numerous creatures—flying birds, swimming fish, and roaming beasts.
Kent quickly realized he was having trouble breathing. He took a Breath-purifying Mushroom to improve his oxygen intake. It helped, but the air was still toxic.
In the past, mercenaries had used these mushrooms to stay in the secret realm for several days, but they still suffered severe internal organ decay. Even with modern technology, they couldn't be saved.
Because of this, visitors to the Pan Mountain Secret Realm had become rare, especially during the harsh winter months when fewer people ventured in.
Kent didn't linger on these thoughts and summoned Wukong. He gave the creature three more Breath-purifying Mushrooms to guard the cloud cluster entrance before diving into the lake below.
Although it was winter outside, the secret realm operated on its own climate system. The temperature inside was about 20°C, and Kent felt no discomfort from the water.
However, he noticed many strange fish swimming in the lake. Scanning with his system, he found that some of them were quite powerful, and Kent felt a sense of dread as if he were a regular person encountering a shark.
Quickly swimming toward one of the nearby small islands, Kent finally breathed a sigh of relief when he landed. Time was running out. He needed to leave the secret realm within five hours, or the environment would begin to take a toll on his body.