Chapter 872: Snatching Food from the Tiger’s Mouth

It’s water spirits, they’ve appeared!

Nie Yan anxiously watched the progress of the chest opening. It had reached 78%. Almost there! If interrupted, all efforts would be in vain.

The water spirits seemed to have noticed Nie Yan. They emitted sharp, ear-piercing sounds, like glass being slashed. Very quickly, more water spirits gathered from all directions, about a dozen in total.

At this moment, the chest-opening had reached a critical stage. He needed about seven or eight seconds more to complete it.

The water spirits were like a swarm of flies that had smelled meat, quickly surrounding Nie Yan.

Just as Nie Yan was about to pull his hand back, abandoning the chest to retreat onto the boat, something stirred in the water.

At that moment, the Lost Ferryman guiding the small boat had just arrived directly above Nie Yan. Xie Yao noticed Nie Yan was in danger, her heart pounding with anxiety. Her right hand moved, and a white glowing orb appeared in her palm. She threw the orb into the water.

The white orb was dazzling, illuminating the entire lakebed.

Under the white light, the water spirits screamed in agony and retreated in panic.

Nie Yan was about to interrupt the chest-opening to deal with the encircling water spirits when suddenly a white orb fell from above. He immediately realized it was cast by Xie Yao. Seeing the spirits retreating in fear of the white light, he relaxed slightly and continued opening the chest.

With a loud bang, the white orb exploded, instantly turning the entire lakebed into a blinding white world.

It was the Holy Light Explosion from a Holy Word Mage!

The water spirits couldn’t even scream anymore. In this blinding white world, they couldn’t tell directions at all.

Nie Yan couldn’t see clearly either. He couldn’t even locate where the chest was. He could only sense its presence directly in front of him, his tactile perception still sharp.

Click! The chest finally opened. Overjoyed, Nie Yan reached in with his right hand and grabbed two items—a spherical object and something like a necklace. No time to check what they were, he quickly tossed them into his backpack.

Nie Yan immediately swam upward toward the surface. The white light in the lake gradually faded. He could feel the water spirits rapidly approaching him, the icy lake water surging around him.

For the distance to the surface, he had to endure the spirits’ attacks.

Bring it on! Nie Yan tightened his grip on the Bloody Dagger, ready to fight the spirits to the death.

The Lost Ferryman kept rowing the wooden oar, completely unaware of what was happening underwater. He had no intelligence. Only a faint lingering willpower in his soul drove him to repeat his mechanical actions. Xie Yao wanted to stop the Ferryman, to make him stop, but she had no way of doing so. Any random attack might kill the Ferryman, and then the quest would be impossible to continue.

But the boat was getting farther and farther away from Nie Yan’s location. Xie Yao anxiously looked toward where Nie Yan was.

“Nie Yan, hurry up, or it’ll be too late!” Xie Yao shouted loudly.

The fog thickened, and visibility became blurrier.

Soon, even if Nie Yan surfaced, he might not be able to find the boat. If it came to that, she would have no choice but to kill the Ferryman and rescue Nie Yan, though she had no idea how to handle what came afterward.

Hurry up, hurry up! Xie Yao, like an ant on a hot pan, kept praying desperately.

At this moment, Nie Yan had no control over the situation. Feeling a water spirit approaching, he quickly turned around, passing by the spirit. His right hand thrust the Bloody Dagger deep into the spirit’s head. Instantly, a piercing scream rang in Nie Yan’s ears, his eardrums feeling as if pierced by needles, causing unbearable pain and dizziness.

It was a mental attack!

Nie Yan’s heart jolted. He immediately used his Mental Immunity skill, and his mind cleared significantly.

Powerful Intimidation!

Nie Yan used the skill, and the water spirits retreated slightly. He immediately swam upward toward the surface. If he delayed any longer, the boat would leave!

The water spirits didn’t flee because of Nie Yan’s intimidation. Instead, they closely followed behind, looking for opportunities to attack.

Finally nearing the surface, Nie Yan accelerated his swimming speed. He surfaced and looked around. Except for the vast white fog, there was no sign of the boat.

The boat was gone! Nie Yan’s heart sank. If the boat was gone, he had no way to return and would only be able to wait here to die.

He hadn’t noticed it while diving in, but now he realized his limbs felt numb and weak. It was a poison effect!

The lake water here wasn’t lethal, but it contained paralyzing toxins.

Nie Yan quickly drank a high-grade antidote potion. The poison effect immediately weakened significantly, but it wouldn’t last long. The only way was to return to the boat as soon as possible, or he would surely die.

“Nie Yan, how are you doing?” Xie Yao anxiously asked through the private chat. “Should I kill the Ferryman and bring the boat back?”

“No, cast a Light Spell!” Nie Yan replied calmly, maintaining his usual composure despite the situation.

Xie Yao waved her staff, and a glowing orb flew into the sky. With a loud bang, it exploded, bathing the area in white light.

Nie Yan scanned the surroundings. In the distance, several beams of bright white light pierced through the fog. Although faint, he spotted them immediately and swam toward that direction.

After swimming a bit, Nie Yan said in the party chat, “Another one!”

Another white orb flew into the sky.

Nie Yan looked toward it. This time, the light was much brighter than before, proving he was getting closer to the boat!

Nie Yan accelerated, exerting all his strength.

The water spirits closely followed behind him. Their underwater speed wasn’t much faster than his, but they never gave up pursuit.

More and more spirits gathered below. If not for Nie Yan’s Powerful Intimidation, they would have already attacked him.

After about two or three minutes, Nie Yan finally spotted the boat’s silhouette. Though blurry, it was definitely good news for him.

Xie Yao kept watching the lake surface around her. When she noticed Nie Yan surfacing, her heart nearly leaped out of her chest. Waving her staff, she shouted toward his direction, “Nie Yan, over here! This way!”

Hearing Xie Yao’s voice, Nie Yan swam even harder.

Xie Yao waved her staff, hurling one Holy Light Explosion after another toward Nie Yan’s direction. These glowing orbs sank underwater and exploded with loud bangs. Her distance control was extremely precise—none of the Holy Light Explosions harmed Nie Yan, but the spirits below were thrown into chaos by the explosions.

Knowing the spirits wouldn’t let Nie Yan go, Xie Yao used the Holy Light Explosions to drive them away.

Since the explosions occurred behind Nie Yan, wave after wave of shockwaves propelled him forward. Riding the water currents, Nie Yan finally reached the boat and climbed aboard.

The previous events had sent Xie Yao’s emotions on a rollercoaster. Seeing Nie Yan return safely, she excitedly threw her arms around him.

Nie Yan was momentarily stunned by Xie Yao’s emotional outburst. He quickly understood. Having experienced similar situations often, he had become calm about it. But Xie Yao, who had been anxiously waiting on the boat, thinking the mission was about to fail, couldn’t help but feel extremely excited seeing Nie Yan return unharmed.

After being soaked in the icy lake water, Nie Yan’s body was cold. Feeling Xie Yao’s warm embrace, a naughty thought flashed through his mind. He reached out and patted Xie Yao’s bottom. A firm, soft sensation came through his hand. He couldn’t help but think to himself, “So round, so sensual,” and chuckled, saying, “Don’t worry. What challenge could ever stop me? I’m back, aren’t I?”

Xie Yao let out a startled cry as her bottom was touched. She pushed Nie Yan slightly, not expecting him to do such a thing at a time like this, especially with a ghost nearby—even though it was just a virtual monster. This made her feel a strange sense of embarrassment, and her face instantly turned red.

Nie Yan nearly fell into the water. He barely managed to steady himself, smiling bitterly, “I just touched it a little. Is pushing me overboard really necessary?”

“You deserve it!” Xie Yao glared at Nie Yan with a mix of annoyance and embarrassment.

The Lost Ferryman looked up at Nie Yan and then at Xie Yao, clearly unable to comprehend their behavior. He continued his mechanical ferrying motion.

Seeing the Ferryman’s blank gaze, Xie Yao realized this ghost had no cognitive abilities at all, slightly easing her embarrassment.

Nie Yan could sense that Xie Yao was quite reserved. She only felt slightly relaxed when it was just the two of them. If there were others around, she would become very shy. Seeing Xie Yao’s blushing face, Nie Yan couldn’t help but smile.

“We still have a while to go,” Xie Yao changed the subject to hide her embarrassment.

“Isn’t this already the shore?” Nie Yan asked in confusion.

The small boat slowly approached the bank.

“This isn’t the destination yet,” Xie Yao shook her head. “We still need to wait a bit longer.”

The Ferryman steered the boat to the shore, gazing blankly, as if waiting for someone to board. After five or six minutes, he started rowing again, and the boat slowly departed from the shore.

“How did you know this wasn’t the destination?” Nie Yan asked Xie Yao.

“It’s part of the quest—a riddle. But I’ve figured it out. The third time the Ferryman docks is where we need to go,” Xie Yao roughly explained. The riddle was quite long and required careful solving. She had spent quite some effort on it.

“I see,” Nie Yan nodded.

“What did you get from opening the chest?” Xie Yao asked.

Nie Yan suddenly remembered. He had obtained two items from the chest but hadn’t had time to check them yet. He took them out from his backpack. One was a black gemstone, and the other was a silver-white necklace with a red gemstone pendant. The necklace was crystal clear, emitting a mesmerizing glow that made one lose themselves in its beauty. As for the black gemstone, its color was relatively normal, but surprisingly large—just fitting in one hand.