One by one, the dark maidens fell to the ground. Following closely behind, Nie Yan and the Golden Earth Dragon advanced. The dragon spewed wave after wave of dragon breath, its scorching flames engulfing the dark maidens, wiping them out one after another.
A clear system notification chimed.
Golden Earth Dragon has leveled up!
Nie Yan checked the dragon’s level—it had reached level 89.
Thanks to its exceptional innate talent, the higher the Golden Earth Dragon’s level, the more absurdly powerful its attributes became. Each level-up granted stats many times greater than those of ordinary pets, which was the benefit of high growth potential.
The ground was littered with the corpses of dark maidens. Watching Lefus withstand attacks from dozens of dark maidens while charging forward aggressively, Nie Yan was deeply impressed. Lefus tanked in front, while the Golden Earth Dragon provided long-range support. Their teamwork was surprisingly smooth and efficient, requiring no intervention from Nie Yan as the dark maidens were mowed down in groups.
Nie Yan walked forward. The bodies of the fallen dark maidens were enveloped in white light and turned to ashes, vanishing into nothingness.
Nie Yan’s Purification Aura could purify the corpses of dark maidens to accumulate sacred power. Once a certain threshold was reached, he would obtain the Holy Spirit Heart, unlocking the seal on Zaynard’s Sword.
This was one of the most important main quests in Nie Yan’s quest log, so he naturally hadn’t forgotten it. Checking his quest progress, he found that his purification count had already reached 110,000—accumulated gradually through regular monster grinding.
Lefus charged forward relentlessly, possibly creating too much commotion. More and more dark maidens gathered, eventually numbering in the hundreds. The Golden Earth Dragon began chanting incantations, summoning a blazing meteor that crashed down upon the group of dark maidens.
With a thunderous boom, a radius of over thirty yards was engulfed in flames.
The dark maidens within the inferno screamed in agony before collapsing to the ground.
Suddenly, a beam of white light descended upon Nie Yan. He felt something strange in his left arm and looked down to see a white holy mark glowing on it. This mark resembled an ancient totem composed of various symbols and patterns, appearing extremely mysterious.
System: You have obtained the Holy Spirit Mark.
The properties of this Holy Spirit Mark were unknown, but it was likely related to the Holy Spirit Heart quest.
Nie Yan checked his status and found that he had advanced from a Novice Demon Hunter to an Intermediate Demon Hunter.
Compared to a junior demon hunter, an intermediate demon hunter gained an additional status effect called Demon Tracking. When demonic creatures appeared nearby, Nie Yan could sense their presence and quickly locate them. While attacking such demons, his attack power would increase by 200%.
Many of Nie Yan’s skills and equipment effects were specifically effective against demonic creatures, allowing him to deal several times more damage against them than against ordinary creatures. Henceforth, he should focus on hunting demonic creatures to level up much faster.
His Demon Hunter title had advanced another level. He wondered what would happen if he continued leveling it further.
They continued clearing forward. For about five to six hundred yards, dark maidens were everywhere, countless in number. If ordinary players or teams arrived here, they would be terrified by the sheer volume. Such an endless swarm of dark maidens would be nearly impossible to defeat. But for Nie Yan, it was pure bliss—he could keep grinding until he was satisfied.
After eliminating around eight to nine hundred dark maidens, Lefus’s mana was nearly depleted. Nie Yan ordered the Golden Earth Dragon to take over the front line, allowing Lefus to retreat and recover his mana.
The Golden Earth Dragon was also very durable. When surrounded by dark maidens, it could unleash several Counter Storms, sweeping them all aside.
If the dragon’s health dropped too low, Lefus could heal it from the backline.
Paladins were truly enviable—capable of tanking, healing, and applying buffs. While none of their abilities were particularly dominant individually, their overall versatility made them one of the strongest classes.
Leveling here was also very fast. After about an hour, Nie Yan’s experience bar had reached 71%.
These dark maidens had dropped many valuable items, including over a dozen high-quality gems and various pieces of equipment. Selling them would easily yield 20,000 gold coins, ensuring a substantial profit.
As they ventured deeper into the underground palace, the number of dark maidens gradually decreased. Long corridors lined with stone chambers stretched on both sides, their contents unknown.
While the Golden Earth Dragon and Lefus continued grinding, Nie Yan approached one of the stone chambers and slowly pushed open its heavy stone door. Suddenly, a series of whizzing sounds erupted from within. Sensing danger immediately, Nie Yan activated Quick Step and dodged sideways.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Dozens of thick, metal-tipped arrows, as thick as thumbs, embedded themselves into the spot where he had just stood. The arrows glimmered with a faint green glow.
Thieves frequently dealt with traps, so they had to maintain sharp reflexes at all times. Otherwise, they might die without even knowing how. Thieves had higher reflex stats, increasing their survival chances when encountering traps compared to other classes. Yet, countless thieves still perished in traps, often in gruesome ways.
Fortunately, Nie Yan reacted quickly. If those dozens of giant arrows had struck him directly, he would have lost at least half his life, if not died outright.
After confirming safety, Nie Yan approached the chamber entrance and peered inside. It was a small room, about three by three yards, with a stone coffin at its center and nothing else.
The coffin was rectangular, somewhat roughly crafted, with crude decorative carvings around its edges.
Beside the coffin was a protruding button—likely the mechanism to open it.
Such stone coffins could contain anything: sometimes rare treasures, sometimes powerful monsters, and sometimes deadly curses.
Hesitating briefly, Nie Yan stepped forward and pressed the button. The chamber trembled slightly as the coffin lid slowly shifted open.
As the coffin opened, Nie Yan stepped back cautiously, gripping Zaynard’s Sword tightly, ready for any possible emergency.
After the lid fully opened, the chamber remained eerily silent.
Confirming safety, Nie Yan approached the coffin and looked inside. Inside lay a skeleton, identifiable as female based on its physical characteristics. Her body had decayed completely. Beside the skeleton were three blue gems.
Nie Yan picked them up and checked their properties.
Shattered Shadow Aquamarine: Can be socketed.
Attribute: Equipment level requirement reduced by 10.
A level requirement reduction of 10 was already considered top-tier gem quality. Obtaining three at once was unexpectedly delightful.
Feeling lucky, Nie Yan placed the three Shattered Shadow Aquamarines into his backpack and scanned the chamber for anything else. Finding nothing, he exited.
After walking a few steps forward, another stone chamber appeared. Nie Yan cautiously opened its door. This time, no traps were triggered. The layout of this chamber was identical to the previous one, even with the coffin facing the same direction.
Nie Yan pressed the button as before. The coffin lid slowly opened, and a strong smell of gunpowder quickly spread.
Something was wrong!
Nie Yan’s expression changed instantly. A strong sense of danger surged in his mind. He immediately activated Shadow Dance and sprinted outward.
Boom! A deafening explosion erupted behind him. A powerful shockwave swept through the area, sending Nie Yan flying.
The entire underground palace shook violently.
After being thrown five or six yards, Nie Yan spat out a mouthful of blood. A damage number exceeding 6,000 floated above his head. Fortunately, his defense and health were high enough to survive. A regular thief would have been instantly killed.
Getting up, Nie Yan glanced back, his face pale. The entire chamber had been completely destroyed, its door and coffin shattered into pieces, leaving only ruins.
Thankfully, he had reacted quickly. A slight delay would have left him crushed like those stones.
Dust particles drifted down from the air, settling on the ground.
Everything returned to calm.
Nie Yan sat in a corner to recover. Ahead, there were still more chambers—at least twenty or more. He hesitated—should he continue exploring?
After a moment of silence, he thought—how many treasures might still be hidden inside these chambers? Missing them would be a shame.
To seize treasures, one must be willing to risk their life.
Nie Yan continued opening chamber after chamber. Sometimes, he obtained gems and scrolls. Other times, he triggered curses, nearly costing his life—fortunately, Lefus dispelled the curses in time. Besides curses, some chambers contained monsters—elite-level undead dark maidens. However, with Lefus the paladin and the Golden Earth Dragon assisting, Nie Yan quickly eliminated those elite dark maidens.
Despite the risks, this journey had yielded considerable rewards.
After advancing a certain distance, two golden stone doors appeared ahead, one on each side. These chambers were clearly more luxurious than the previous ones. The stone doors were intricately carved with elaborate decorations.
Nie Yan guessed that inside were likely more stone chambers. He hesitated before the golden doors—should he enter? Would there be danger?
He speculated that treasures found inside these two chambers would likely surpass those from the previous ordinary chambers in quality. However, the unknown dangers would also be far greater. Even ordinary chambers had contained deadly curses and explosive traps that nearly killed him.
After all, his level was still too low. In such a high-level area, a single misstep could lead to death.
He decided to think it over first and didn’t rush into a decision. He walked toward the Golden Earth Dragon and Lefus, first purifying all the dark maidens’ corpses on the ground and collecting the loot.
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