Third trial room of the Soul Puppets Labyrinth.
Screech!
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
Stepping to the side, Xiao Ning'er dodged the ten-foot-tall great sword that was slashing toward her. The owner of the great sword was a Gold Rank soul puppet that she was currently engaging.
Above her, a metallic bird screeched fiercely as it sent a barrage of attacks toward the Gold Rank soul puppet. Flying upward, NiHue let out an ear-piercing cry as her metallic form became enveloped by lightning-attributed spiritual energy, giving her the appearance of a human-sized lightning swan. She dived toward the sword-wielding soul puppet, shattering one of its arms into pieces.
GRAK-KLANG!
KLANGGGG!
Dropping its great sword, the Gold Rank soul puppet staggered backward. Xiao Ning'er ran toward it, jumped over its head, and extended her arm as NiHue flew into her grasp, transforming into a lightning sword. Wielding it, Xiao Ning'er brandished the NiHue sword toward the soul puppet.
"KYAA!"
WOOSH!
CRACKLE!
With a fearless cry, Xiao Ning'er slashed the lightning sword downward, cleaving the Gold Rank soul puppet in half. Its defeat was accompanied by the thunderous roar of the lightning sword.
Cut in half, the Gold Rank soul puppet collapsed to the ground, unmoving. At the same time, Xiao Ning'er's feet landed on the floor. She glanced at the result of her fight, victorious, the defeated state of her enemy filled her heart with immense pride.
That was a Gold Rank soul puppet, and she had single-handedly defeated it while she herself had yet to step into the Gold Rank.
Basking in her triumph, Xiao Ning'er let go of the NiHue sword, which reverted to its original form. Its small wings flapped as it flew to the top of Xiao Ning'er's head and nestled there.
Chest heaving, Xiao Ning'er looked in Xue Hui's direction. The sight of him floating in the middle of the room, surrounded by origin spheres flying all over the area and systematically destroying the Gold Rank soul puppets as if they were made of glass, made Xiao Ning'er eyed him with great admiration.
Unlike the previous room, which required them to compete in some kind of cooking showdown, the third trial room had fairly simple rules: survive the fight against twenty Gold Rank soul puppets.
The task itself was already daunting. After all, normal experts at their level wouldn't be able to fight even one Gold Rank soul puppet, let alone twenty of them.
But what made it even worse was the unique mechanism of the third room, its device that allowed the defeated soul puppets to repair themselves and rejoin the fight.
Xiao Ning'er's eyes landed on the green orb on the other side of the room. Xue Hui had mentioned that once they destroyed the orb, all the soul puppets they were fighting would stop repairing themselves after being destroyed.
Surrounded by enemies, Xue Hui's origin spheres flew at blinding speed and crashed into the soul puppets, turning them into fragments of metal.
With all the soul puppets down, Xue Hui didn't waste any time targeting the green orb, sending one of his origin spheres straight toward it.
Xiao Ning'er watched as the destroyed soul puppets showed signs of movement. Their fragmented parts began to rattle, creating metallic rustling sounds that made Xiao Ning'er's breath hitch.
If Xue Hui failed to sever the green orb from its power source, they would have to fight the newly repaired soul puppets once again.
WOOSH!
THUD!
CRASH!
Before the newly repaired soul puppets could brandish their weapons toward Xue Hui, the Origin of Piercing pierced through the distance between Xue Hui and the green orb, narrowing the gap before crashing into it.
But instead of destroying it, Xue Hui stored the green orb inside his subsidiary realm, cutting its connection to the third trial room.
As a result, the newly repaired soul puppets halted in their movement.
"What a hassle, that scared me to death." Xue Hui complained under his breath as he recalled all his origin spheres back into his soul realm. Now the trial is over.
Overhearing his words, Xiao Ning'er gave Xue Hui a complicated gaze. While Xue Hui complained about the hardship of the trial, he had dealt with it easily without even breaking a sweat.
He had even been relaxed enough to let Xiao Ning'er practice her combat techniques against one of the soul puppets while keeping an eye on her to ensure her safety.
All while fighting the remaining soul puppets by himself at the same time.
Xue Hui had mentioned to Xiao Ning'er during their talk inside the subsidiary realm that, in terms of combat capability, he only possessed strength comparable to a Gold Rank Demon Spiritualist.
But based on the fight earlier, how could he claim that he only had the strength of a Gold Rank Demon Spiritualist?
Even a Black Gold Rank Demon Spiritualist would have difficulty fighting that many Gold Rank opponents at once.
In the end, all Xiao Ning'er could do was stop overthinking about it. To her, Xue Hui was simply a powerful being whose actions could only be explained by him being extraordinary at everything.
To Xiao Ning'er, what she needed to do most was become stronger so that she could catch up to Xue Hui's strength and stand beside him instead of being left behind.
Xue Hui walked toward the rising platform where the reward box of the third room was secured. Since they had overcome the trial, naturally they would receive a reward from it.
"Xue Hui, are we continuing to the next room or...?" Xiao Ning'er hesitated, unsure whether it was safe for them to continue.
If the theme of the room trials in the Soul Puppets Labyrinth persisted, then there was a high chance that the next room would contain opponents with Black Gold Rank strength.
And the thought worried Xiao Ning'er. Everyone knew that Black Gold Rank experts stood only below Legend Rank. They were existences that possessed tremendous power.
"Yes. If they're only Black Gold Rank opponents, I can still hold my own. Don't worry, Ning'er. If the opponent is far too strong for me to handle, I will use the power of Origin so we can escape from here. At the very least, we can find out what kind of trial the fourth room has," Xue Hui reassured, easing Xiao Ning'er's worries considerably.
"But before that, let's see what's inside the reward boxes. They might contain something useful for our exploration."
Grabbing the boxes, Xue Hui and Xiao Ning'er entered the subsidiary realm, where the two of them took a break to inspect the rewards they had obtained.
Starting with the silver box, Xue Hui opened it, only for both him and Xiao Ning'er to reveal puzzled expressions. They had never expected the reward from the second trial room to be a book.
Reading the title, which happened to be written in a different language from the bygone era, Xue Hui explained to Xiao Ning'er that the book was actually Xan Kang Hang's diary, containing many of his secrets, mostly regarding his research on soul puppets and automaton creation.
In short, it was interesting but largely useless for their current situation, so Xue Hui casually tossed it into the pile of items inside his subsidiary realm.
Next came the gold box. This time, the item inside was something that would be useful for Chen Linlin.
Inside was a pair of gaudy-looking soul weapons called the Golden Scale Gauntlets, a perfect soul weapon for a brawler like Chen Linlin.
The gauntlets possessed the ability to convert soul force into physical strength, allowing the user to unleash punches far beyond their normal power.
With these gauntlets as her soul weapon, Chen Linlin, whose physical strength was already monstrous, would become even more terrifying in battle.
Of course, Xue Hui first asked Xiao Ning'er whether she wanted the gauntlets for herself, but she firmly insisted that Xue Hui had done most of the work obtaining them, so she was fine with him deciding who should receive them.
Xiao Ning'er also emphasized that she had already received a gift from Xue Hui as her fingers brushed against her hairpiece.
Her bashful expression was such a pleasing sight that Xue Hui was tempted to pull her into his embrace.
Although he was fully aware of Xiao Ning'er's feelings for him, the two of them were technically still just friends.
There was also the matter of her engagement to Shen Fei of the Sacred Family, a fact that was widely known throughout Glory City.
Doing overly intimate things while they were not officially together would only damage Xiao Ning'er's reputation as a maiden.
Because of that, Xue Hui deliberately held himself back from crossing the line in their interactions.
But that would change once they returned to Glory City.
As for Shen Fei, if he was smart enough, he would obediently break off the engagement without causing trouble.
If not, then Xue Hui would have no issue making him regret all the grief he had caused Xiao Ning'er in the past.
"Xue Hui! Are you okay? You kind of spaced out there." Xiao Ning'er asked. Her worried expression made her look soft and delicate, enough to make any man who saw her go weak in the knees.
Even Xue Hui, who was already used to seeing goddess-like beauties, couldn't help but admire just how beautiful Xiao Ning'er was.
"I'm fine, Ning'er. I was just lost in thought about how to make you my bride," Xue Hui laughed as he walked toward his pile of belongings and placed the Golden Scale Gauntlets on top of it.
Leaving Xiao Ning'er in a state of utter shock, her mind went completely haywire from what she had just heard, to the point that she felt as though steam was about to rise from the top of her head.
Eventually, she managed to recover her composure and decided to set the matter aside since they were still in the middle of their exploration.
However, Xiao Ning'er made sure to remind herself to ask Xue Hui about it once everything was over.
The thought that there was even the slightest possibility that Xue Hui had been serious about his words made Xiao Ning'er feel incredibly elated.
She had never imagined there would come a day when she would actually look forward to becoming someone's bride.
Once they had recovered their strength, the two of them returned to the real world and used the key to open the door to the fourth trial room.
Upon entering, their ears picked up the sound of heavy metal dragging across the floor, creating an ominous atmosphere.
This was followed by a loud thud, like a massive object slamming against the ground, shaking the entire room.
"Xue Hui, that's...!? Is that a Demon Beast!?" Xiao Ning'er asked in horror, her voice trembling as her gaze landed on the enormous creature before them.
Bound by huge metallic chains, the massive creature stood to its full height, casting an enormous shadow over both Xue Hui and Xiao Ning'er.
"Not a Demon Beast," Xue Hui replied as he looked at the gigantic creature with a mixture of fascination and alertness. He was trying to figure out how this being had managed to survive the passage of time when its kind had long gone extinct in the Tiny World alongside the other demi-humans.
"A giant."
As if hearing Xue Hui's voice, the giant slowly opened its eyes, seemingly awakening from a long slumber. A pair of golden irises hidden behind its long, disheveled hair peered at Xue Hui and Xiao Ning'er as though trying to recognize them.
Its arm slowly rose into the air. The movement appeared sluggish, yet Xue Hui felt a strong sense of foreboding just by watching it.
Instinctively, Xue Hui grabbed Xiao Ning'er by the waist and leapt away with her just as the giant's hand came crashing down, obliterating the ground where they had been standing moments earlier.
Landing far from their previous position, Xue Hui summoned all his Origin Spheres as he braced himself for battle.
At the same time, Xiao Ning'er called upon NiHue. The automaton chick's body became enveloped in electricity as its form transformed into a thunder swan.
"Ning'er, it's a Black Gold Rank giant. Don't let its size fool you. Despite its massive body, it moves just like any other Black Gold Rank expert, fast and powerful. Stay on your guard while I handle it," Xue Hui exclaimed.
He leapt forward, his body releasing the aura of a Bronze Rank Demon Spiritualist, yet the density of his aura was not inferior to the giant before him.
"B-But!" Before Xiao Ning'er could protest, Xue Hui had already engaged in a fight against the monstrous opponent.
Around him hovered the Origin Spheres like miniature planets. They attacked, defended, and constantly shifted forms to suit Xue Hui's needs.
Watching the battle, Xiao Ning'er felt the urge to rush forward and fight alongside him, but she restrained herself after realizing that her lack of strength might do more harm than good.
Worse still, her involvement might place Xue Hui in even greater danger if she joined the fight.
As the room became enveloped in the sounds of battle and destruction, Xiao Ning'er stood anxiously to the side. Watching Xue Hui dodge a lightning-fast attack, she became even more convinced that it was better for her to stay out of the fight.
Xiao Ning'er's fists clenched tightly. This was exactly what she meant when she said she wanted to become stronger. Without sufficient strength, she wouldn't be able to stand by Xue Hui's side even if she wanted to.
"I... I need to become stronger," Xiao Ning'er declared resolutely.
End of Chapter 53
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