1043: The Ever Reliable Man

The Ever Reliable Man

This was a crimson skeleton about the size of a grown man with a large head, holding a sharp ridged bone whip in its hand.

An Lin couldn't help but feel like this scene was a little familiar.

"Kukuku!" The big-headed skeleton let loose a sinister chuckle before the bone whip in its hand swept through the air toward Lan Xiaoni.

"Time starts now!" An Lin began the stopwatch.

Lan Xiaoni's heart was surging with battle intent, and she let loose a delicate war cry as she pounced toward the big-headed skeleton.

Her white ball materialized into a wall of ice by her side and she manipulated her little blue fish at the same time to transform into a streak of light that crashed directly toward the skeleton's large head!

The bone whip struck the ice wall and ice crystals exploded.

This was one of Lan Xiaoni's trump cards, so it was pretty effective and managed to block a strike from the BOSS.

At this moment, the little blue fish was already too close for the big-headed skeleton to evade!

"This world's treasure is mine!" Lan Xiaoni yelled with excitement.

However, right at this moment, a peculiar smirk appeared on the big-headed skeleton's face.

Boom!

The skeleton's large head exploded upon impact with the little blue fish.

Before Lan Xiaoni had even realized what the skeleton's smirk entailed, a fist had already flown through the air and struck her smooth stomach!

An earth-shattering boom erupted, and shockwaves shattered the ground within a radius of over a kilometer.

Lan Xiaoni felt like her body was going to be torn apart, and she threw up a mouthful of blood as her body flew back through the air like a cannonball.

Never would she have thought that the skeleton monster could still move freely after having its head blown off.

A faint smile appeared on An Lin's face.

Was he really kind-hearted enough to give Lan Xiaoni a chance to obtain the treasures? There was a chance, but it was only an extremely slim one.

Lan Xiaoni had underestimated the BOSS of this world. Just because An Lin could insta-kill the other treasure monsters in the other worlds did not indicate that they were weak. One had to realize that An Lin's full-power strike was something even Return to Void Stage mighty figures were afraid of. How was Lan Xiaoni supposed to compare?

The BOSS-level monsters of these worlds were at least at the Soul Formation Pinnacle Stage, so it would be next to impossible for Lan Xiaoni to defeat them within a minute!

The headless skeleton unleashed another whip strike toward Lan Xiaoni's body!

Bam!

"Ah…!"

Lan Xiaoni's lower abdomen was struck by the whip, leaving a bloody gash behind.

She had no time to assess her injury and immediately manipulated the little blue fish to attack the headless skeleton again.

The headless skeleton's whip techniques were extremely refined and exquisite, and the bone whip was always able to change direction and angle extremely quickly before descending upon the little blue fish with a fearsome force.

The whip and the fish collided, upon which a violent boom erupted.

The little blue fish was swatted away by the bone whip.

At the same time, the headless skeleton gripped the air toward Lan Xiaoni!

Crack…

The space around her was suddenly sealed, and everything congealed like a snapshot frozen in time.

An Lin's heart jolted in surprise upon seeing this. This headless skeleton had just unleashed a spatial seal!

The skeleton was a little more powerful than the previous monsters they had faced, but it was still only at the Soul Formation Pinnacle Stage, with its most powerful attacks perhaps rivaling a strike from a rookie Return to Void Stage mighty figure.

However, it was a bit inexplicable for it to be able to use spatial spell techniques in a place like this!

The headless skeleton's gruesome laughter reverberated through the air, and its bone whip suddenly solidified to form a peerlessly sharp bone saber. It flew through the air and quickly approached the immobilized Lan Xiaoni wielding its bone saber.

An expression of despair appeared on Lan Xiaoni's face. She had many trump cards and mystic techniques that she hadn't had a chance to use yet. Now that the space around her had congealed, she didn't even have the chance to resist anymore…

Is this the end?

The crimson bone saber slashed through the air in a lethal trajectory.

Lan Xiaoni was extremely indignant and wanted to cry, but she couldn't even cry in her immobilized state.

The bone saber fell!

A figure suddenly appeared before her and blocked the bone saber with the inky-black longsword in his hand.

Boom!

A violent collision ensued, sending his hair flying in all different directions.

The man quickly swatted the bone saber aside before unleashing a vast black sword projection of his own, which engulfed heaven and earth, and sliced the headless skeleton cleanly in half!

The skeleton didn't even have a chance to react before it fell to the monstrous sword strike.

Insta-killed again!

Lan Xiaoni stared at the man positioned before her.

"An Lin…"

Emotional tears welled up in her eyes again.

This was different from the emotions of despair she had experienced when witnessing An Lin insta-killing the other treasure monsters.

This time, her heartstrings had been violently tugged on.

She was touched beyond belief!

Ever since Lan Xiaoni had entered this tomb, she had always been trailing behind this man. No matter what dangers they encountered, as long as he was there, it seemed like there was nothing to be afraid of.

This was an ever-reliable man, and he gave her an indescribable feeling.

"Lan Xiaoni, I didn't fulfill my promise and let you battle for the full one minute. You won't hold it against me, right?" An Lin turned to her before speaking in a gentle voice.

"No! Of course not! That's not your fault! Thank you, An Lin! I… I was too willful…"

Tears flowed down Lan Xiaoni's face, and she was both touched and a little self-critical.

An Lin nodded. "I'll be right back. Just stand here and don't move."

"M-hm." Lan Xiaoni gave an instinctive, obedient nod.

"Hmm? What is he doing?"1

She came to her senses and turned to look at An Lin with a perplexed expression.

She was greeted by the sight of An Lin making his way toward the shattered pile of bones. He then pulled out a red bone and gleefully put it away into his storage ring.

Lan Xiaoni: "…"

For some reason, she was a little less touched now.

A rush of dizziness ensued.

The two of them appeared before the Xi Haizi statue again.

The Xi Haizi statue spoke again, "Congratulations, fated ones, on passing the trial of the ball of light. I hope you can take this treasure to contribute to the development of your tribe!"

An Lin slapped his chest with conviction. "Don't worry, Senior. I'll be sure to do so!"

An involuntary smile appeared on Lan Xiaoni's face as she turned to look at An Lin.

"Here, have some mandarins. These are Paragon Mandarins local to the Southern Heavenly Wing Nation, and they taste pretty good." An Lin tossed two watermelon-sized mandarins toward Lan Xiaoni.

His underling had been busy cleaning up the small fry for him this entire time, so he naturally had to give her some benefits in return.

Lan Xiaoni hugged the mandarins to herself with a blank expression and was at a loss for what to do.

Perhaps it was because the mandarins were too big, or perhaps it was because An Lin suddenly gave her a present.

In any case, a unique emotion welled up in her heart.

"Th-thank you…" Lan Xiaoni spoke in a low voice.

These were two ninth-grade spirit fruits that weren't very valuable to a pampered princess of the Sea Heart Palace. However, she carefully put them away as if they were priceless treasures.

These were the literal fruits of her labors and held great meaning to her.

If all of the treasures in the tomb got taken by An Lin, leaving her with nothing, then she could at least bring out these two huge mandarins for the High Priest and her father to see…

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