"Hmm..." Yuelan crossed her legs in thought. "So you’ll be turning every single spirit beast from here on out into your personal candy collection?"

"Is that how it looks?" Xuan sighed, clicking his tongue. "Well, you’re not wrong. Though I doubt I’m going to be eating many of them. Right, Mei Mei?"

Mei Mei flinched, flying back onto Hanbi’s shoulder.

"Get that greasy gaze away from me. Don’t even think of me as your food."

A faint chuckle escaped Hanbi’s mouth.

"If he tries eating you, I’ll punch him, okay?"

"Hmm... We have a deal," Mei Mei replied, and after giving Xuan the side eye, he dissipated, going back inside Hanbi’s body.

Sierra stepped forward, leaning close to Xuan and taking a big whiff.

Everyone stared at her in silence until she finally backed away and put a hand on her chin.

"You smell exactly like that spirit beast, but the scent is fading. My guess is that after 24 hours, your scent will be back to normal."

Yuelan raised a brow. "So he smells like a horse?"

Not even a single person humored Yuelan, and instead, Xuan thanked Sierra and stood up. After doing a quick stretch, he was prepared to leave again.

He glanced around, spotting a few mountains and several dozen dungeons in the distance. Yet from the climate and the clouds, he had an inkling where they were.

"We’re close to Europe, right?" He turned to Yuelan. "Is the tomb close?"

Yuelan smiled.

"Actually, it’s only a few steps away from you."

Xuan froze.

"It is?"

Her smile widened, and after taking five steps forward, she slammed her foot down onto the grass. In the next instant, the ground shook as four giant pillars emerged from around them.

Sierra staggered, her senses overwhelmed. Before she could fall, Xuan stuck his hand into one of the pillars and grabbed her hand, earning a grateful nod.

Hua Lian and Huang Shuying weren’t even fazed. They stabbed their swords into the ground and held on tightly, meanwhile Yuelan...

"WAAAAAAAH!"

She began slipping, then catching herself, and slipping over and over again. It got to the point where he began to wonder if she had hit her head sometime during the month.

But despite that, he chuckled and let her struggle until eventually, the ground stopped shaking.

In the very center of the four pillars, a single small moss-covered shrine had formed. It was the exact same one that he had seen last time.

He glanced around, then sighed. Ning Linhua, the woman he had seen last time, was nowhere to be seen now.

"Ugh... Bleghhh!" Yuelan vomited all over the pillar, then slipped on her own vomit, falling onto the grass and making a fool of herself once again. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Xuan rolled his eyes at her behavior and finally let go of Sierra, turning to the shadows.

"I’m going to cultivate here and break through. Could you guys protect me?"

The shadows nodded.

"Of course," the two replied in unison.

"Thank you," Sierra expressed again. "I’ll be the scout then. I’ll inform you guys if anyone tries to approach."

Xuan gave them an appreciative thumbs up, and then turned to Hanbi.

"I hate to ask... but could you check up on Yuelan? She might’ve gotten hurt."

Hanbi tilted her head.

"She doesn’t look like someone who’d get hurt from that though."

Noticing his puppy-eyed stare, Hanbi gave in.

"Fine..."

With that, she walked toward Yuelan, who was laid out flat on the ground, her cheeks red in embarrassment.

But now, with everyone settled into doing what they should be doing, Xuan approached the moss-covered shrine and sat down.

<Do you wish to undergo the Spirit Master tribulation?>

<Yes / No>

He exhaled, calming his mind and preparing himself.

But the moment he pressed "Yes," a large spatial crack appeared above him. Without even having time to react, the spatial crack swallowed Xuan and the shrine before vanishing into thin air.

.

.

.

"..."

"Huh?"

Everyone’s eyes widened in horror, as no matter how much Qi they used, they weren’t able to detect Xuan.

"Y-You! Sierra!" Hanbi yelled. "Where did he go?"

Sierra froze. "I... He just disappeared. I don’t feel him anywhere near us."

Before Hanbi could lash out, Yuelan raised her hand, letting out a sigh.

"He’ll be fine. Last time, he created a similar crack in space. He wasn’t, uhh... absorbed into it, but I’m sure nothing bad is going to happen."

She scratched the back of her neck with a silly smile.

"After all, it’s only a Spirit Master tribulation."

.

.

.

Xuan opened his eyes to a sea of stars stretching endlessly in every direction.

In front of him was a large black castle. Blood covered parts of its walls, and a red mist drifted from the open gates. Chains hung from the towers, and the air smelled like rusted metal.

"..."

This doesn’t look like a tribulation, Xuan thought, stating the obvious. I can’t even open my status screen or contact Yuelan. Huh. This might be a little dangerous.

That also meant he couldn’t use his skills, but thankfully, he had learned how to use his skills without the system.

Still, with such an ominous castle in front of him and nothing else behind him, Xuan was a little on edge.

But since he knew there was no way out of this, he decided to make his way over to the castle.

It looked close, but he had to void step nearly twenty times to reach the entrance, and when he arrived, he realized that the castle was far larger than he was expecting, almost like it belonged to a giant.

Heading in through the open gates, he found himself in a large flower field. However, the only flower that grew here was the red spider lily.

Xuan looked around, and after not spotting anybody, he leaned down, and despite knowing what the red spider lily symbolized, he picked it without hesitation.

The moment he picked it, however, the red spider lily wilted, and as did every single red spider lily in the flower field.

It all happened so fast, and now he felt slightly guilty. He had just ruined someone’s entire flower field in the blink of an eye.

Not knowing what else to do, Xuan grumbled and stood back up, prepared to continue his journey to the main keep of the castle.

And yet, when he brought his gaze in the main keep’s direction, he spotted a tall figure clad in pitch-black armor, effortlessly holding a tree-sized greatsword. Its features were covered by a helmet, but Xuan didn’t need to be an oracle to know that the person he had pissed off was none other than this black-armored figure.