Final Boss

Bai Lan and An Xiao’s group of three did not pursue the thief.

It was already too late, and chasing someone inside the secret realm would only attract more monsters.

Seeing that the target had completely disappeared, Ziyun and Xuan Ye returned to Bai Lan with helpless expressions.

“What happened?” Bai Lan asked, frowning slightly.
“Your treasure chest was taken? Why didn’t you collect it immediately?”

“Me?” Ziyun said in frustration.
“Sister Bai, we never expected someone to be hiding nearby. The moment we killed the Golden Scorpion and the treasure chest appeared, that person suddenly rushed out from the shadows and snatched it!”

“And their speed was terrifying. It didn’t feel like someone in the Qi Refinement realm at all. It must have been some kind of special movement technique or ability.”

Bai Lan more or less understood the situation.

Since both Ziyun and Xuan Ye had participated in killing the monster, neither of them could immediately claim the treasure chest first.

The reactions of An Xiao and his companions proved this.

When they saw Ziyun’s treasure chest being stolen, their first instinct was not to chase the thief but to guard their own chest.

This clearly showed that there was no absolute trust between them.

It was different for Bai Lan.

Whenever she killed a monster alone, she would immediately collect the treasure chest to prevent anyone hiding nearby from stealing it.

“There’s nothing to be done,” Bai Lan said calmly.

“This was your own mistake, so you must bear the consequences.”

Although she didn’t say it outright, the meaning was clear.

Since they had lost their own treasure chest, they shouldn’t expect a share from the others.

Ziyun and Xuan Ye naturally understood.

Although they were angry, they could only swallow their frustration.

After all, it had been their own carelessness.

Once they confirmed there were no more hidden threats, An Xiao and his two companions excitedly opened their treasure chest.

The Golden Scorpion at the ninth level of Qi Refinement had produced quite a generous reward.

Inside were ten thousand spirit stones, several pills, and a few mid-grade Rank Nine treasures.

It was an excellent harvest.

The three of them divided the items according to their needs.

Although Xuan Ye hadn’t obtained anything directly, his younger brother shared some of the rewards with him, so he wasn’t completely empty-handed.

Only Ziyun gained nothing.

She stood to the side with an aggrieved expression, watching An Xiao’s group divide the treasures.

“Damn that bastard!” An Xiao cursed through clenched teeth.
“If I ever run into that guy again, I’ll definitely deal with him!”

Bai Lan had also opened her own treasure chest.

The contents were quite abundant.

For the first layer of the Void Heaven Realm, it was already an extremely good reward.

After finishing her inspection, Bai Lan glanced at the furious Ziyun beside her.

She hesitated for a moment and then sighed softly.

“Ziyun.”

Hearing her name, Ziyun looked over.

At that moment, a whip-shaped treasure suddenly flew toward her.

Instinctively, Ziyun caught it.

It was a blue whip, a mid-grade Rank Nine treasure.

Unlike her lightning-attributed whip, this one appeared to carry a water attribute and was even slightly higher in quality.

“This…?” Ziyun looked from the whip to Bai Lan, confusion written all over her face.

“I use a sword,” Bai Lan replied calmly.
“So this whip is useless to me.”

“Xuan Ye’s brother shared some of his rewards with him, so he didn’t end up with nothing.”

“But if you receive nothing at all, it feels somewhat unfair.”

“Next time, be more careful. You don’t seem like the careless type.”

Hearing this, Ziyun’s face flushed slightly.

She quickly thanked Bai Lan and accepted the treasure.

Bai Lan rarely spoke unnecessary words.

After giving away the whip, she immediately sat down, took out several spirit stones, and began meditating to recover her spiritual power.

The others, having finished dividing their spoils, also sat down to rest.

Time slowly passed.

About half an hour later, the secret realm suddenly began to shake violently.

A beastly roar erupted from the center of the realm.

“ROAR!”

The sound instantly awakened Bai Lan and the others from their meditation.

Bai Lan immediately understood what the roar meant.

The strongest monster in the secret realm had appeared.

Judging from the fluctuations of its aura, it was most likely a demonic beast in the early stage of Foundation Establishment.

“The strongest monster in the secret realm has appeared,” Bai Lan said.

“Let’s go. It’s time to claim the final treasure.”

Ziyun and the others nodded and followed Bai Lan as they quietly moved toward the largest palace located at the center of the secret realm.

Killing a Foundation Establishment demonic beast usually yielded high-grade or even top-grade Rank Nine treasures.

Sometimes it could even drop rare materials such as cultivation techniques.

They had already spent about three to four hours inside this secret realm.

Once the strongest monster was killed, the entire realm would collapse.

Therefore, they had no time to explore the other palaces.

Their only choice was to defeat the strongest monster.

Fortunately, the secret realm they had entered was only a small one, so the difficulty wasn’t too high.

After avoiding several sand monsters along the way, Bai Lan’s group arrived near the largest palace.

However, they soon discovered that many other groups had already gathered there.

“Sister Bai, it’s him!” Ziyun said immediately.

“He’s the one who stole our treasure chest!”

Bai Lan followed her gaze.

The person was wrapped entirely in a black cloak.

The figure also seemed to glance toward Bai Lan.

However, it was impossible to see their face or determine whether they were male or female.

Still, Bai Lan could sense their cultivation level.

‘Qi Refinement Stage Nine.’

‘No wonder Ziyun and the others didn’t notice him.’

‘But… why does his aura feel somewhat similar to people from the Soul Clan?’

The Soul Clan was an ancient and mysterious race from the Eastern Continent.

Bai Lan had encountered them once before.

They were extremely strange and always concealed their true appearance—very similar to the figure standing before her now.

“I understand,” Bai Lan said calmly.

“If we get the chance later, we’ll retrieve our things from that person.”

Now was not the time to settle personal grudges.

The current situation needed to be handled first.

Soon, nearly fifty people had gathered outside the palace.

Some had arrived earlier, while others came later.

In front of the palace stood a large number of sand monsters.

All of them were at the ninth level of Qi Refinement.

Only by defeating these monsters could anyone enter the palace.

But the question was—

Which team would make the first move?

No one wanted to charge forward first.

After all, the first team to attack would definitely be surrounded by the sand monsters.

It would be like the nail that sticks out and gets hammered down.

After a long stalemate, someone finally spoke through divine sense transmission.

“Everyone, we can’t keep waiting like this.”

“If everyone wants to take advantage of others, then none of us will get inside. We’ll just end up watching the secret realm disappear.”

“I suggest we all attack the sand monsters together, then enter the palace and cooperate to deal with the Foundation Establishment demonic beast inside.”

Hearing this proposal, everyone silently prepared themselves.

When the unknown cultivator counted to three, everyone rushed out from their hiding places and attacked the sand monsters simultaneously.

Bai Lan’s group also joined the assault.

Under the combined attack of more than fifty cultivators, the sand monsters quickly collapsed.

In less than ten minutes, all of them were killed.

These ninth-level Qi Refinement sand monsters were much weaker than the Golden Scorpions.

The moment the sand monsters were cleared, several quick-thinking teams rushed straight into the palace.

They hoped to be the first to kill the Foundation Establishment demonic beast.

However—

The instant they stepped inside, a violent sandstorm erupted from the palace.

Accompanied by the furious roar of the demonic beast, the powerful blast sent everyone who had rushed in flying straight back out.