207: An Qian advances to the Gold Realm

A heart-pounding pressure emanated from the flames, spreading in all directions.

At the same time, the fire suddenly surged, extending to a radius of ten meters.

Qin Shilei quickly pulled Zhang Xiaoli back more than ten meters.

At this moment, the Phantom Sound Butterfly King also recovered from its paralysis.

Covered in flames, it spread its wings, wanting to leave the fire and find a place to extinguish it.

However, after the Phantom Sound Butterfly King merely made the motion of spreading its wings, it stopped moving, as if paralyzed again, continuing to burn in the flames.

Zhang Xiaoli asked worriedly, "Is An Qian alright?"

Qin Shilei said with some uncertainty, "She seems to be undergoing Phoenix Nirvana right now, so she should be fine."

Seeing An Qian in such a state, he instantly thought of the fixed Nirvana trait on her.

Perhaps awed by the pressure emanating from the flames, all the pink and red Illusion Sound Butterflies around kept their distance.

After the flames burned for half an hour, the pressure sharply increased again, giving Qin Shilei a faint feeling of invincibility.

Immediately after, the flames rapidly contracted inward, revealing An Qian, who was enveloped by the fire.

Through the flames, An Qian could be seen; her skin was fair, and her figure was sexy and charming, even more radiant than before her Nirvana.

She looked around but did not find Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli, and immediately cried out in surprise, "Shi Lei, Zhang Xiaoli, where are you?"

Qin Shilei then remembered that the Concealment Array he held was still active, so he first put the array back into his Qiankun Ring before speaking, "We’re here."

She looked up and saw Qin Shilei in front, immediately rushing towards him with joy.

"An Qian, can you put away the flames on your body first? Otherwise, if your husband gets burned away, you'll be a widow."

Qin Shilei looked at An Qian, who was covered in flames, unsure whether to hug her or not.

"Ah." An Qian only then realized that a layer of flames was still burning around her. She quickly controlled her vital energy to retract the flames, then turned around, took out a set of equipment, and put it on.

"Roar!"

Just then, the surrounding Illusion Sound Butterflies roared again and charged towards Qin Shilei and his companions.

"Annoying things, go to hell!"

Disturbed by those Illusion Sound Butterflies, An Qian's pretty face turned cold, and she immediately unleashed her ultimate skill, Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix, again.

As soon as those fiery-red giant birds appeared, Qin Shilei immediately noticed the difference in this ultimate skill; it was at least ten times more powerful than when An Qian had previously cast it.

The Phoenix phantom let out a high-pitched cry, then charged towards the Illusion Sound Butterflies with an aura of sweeping away an army.

In an instant, the surrounding Illusion Sound Butterflies were burned to ashes, leaving behind only treasure chests and crystals.

In the blink of an eye, not a single Illusion Sound Butterfly could be seen within a hundred-meter radius.

As for the Illusion Sound Butterflies further away, they also turned and scattered into the distance.

"Husband, I thought I was going to die just now."

An Qian turned and hugged Qin Shilei tightly, her eyes revealing the relief of surviving a disaster.

Qin Shilei also hugged her tightly.

Remembering An Qian's painful expression when her essence blood was being absorbed right before him, he thought of how she almost dried up into a mummy and died.

Qin Shilei felt a surge of lingering fear.

Since learning he was ranked first on the leaderboard, although he wasn't ecstatic, he was somewhat complacent, losing some of his sense of urgency.

Qin Shilei sometimes even felt that with Hope City's tall city walls protecting them, coupled with his and his companions' cultivation being far ahead of everyone else on Blue Star, they would surely be able to live well.

However, today, less than half a day after exploring the Other World, they encountered a Golden Realm bug.

This Golden Realm Phantom Sound Butterfly King must not be the strongest combat power in this world.

Qin Shilei also thought of Andrei; he was merely a projection of the Abyss Lord, and he almost caused Qin Shilei's untimely death.

The Abyss Lord's true body must also be terrifyingly strong.

Although these powerful existences seem to have been unable to invade Blue Star for various reasons for now.

But they will eventually enter Blue Star one day.

Upon thinking of this, Qin Shilei felt an urgent sense of crisis.

He reached out and embraced Zhang Xiaoli as well, saying in a deep voice, "I must become stronger, and I will absolutely not let you two get hurt."

An Qian suddenly said playfully, "Shi Lei, now it's my turn to protect you! I'm now a Golden Realm One-Star supreme expert, you know."

"Golden Realm One-Star?" Qin Shilei and Zhang Xiaoli asked with surprised expressions.

"Yes, as soon as I woke up, I found myself inexplicably promoted to Golden Realm One-Star."

An Qian said with some confusion.

Qin Shilei thought for a moment and speculated, "Perhaps when you underwent Nirvana, you happened to burn that Golden Realm Phantom Sound Butterfly King as well. Its massive life force completely transformed into energy, allowing you to advance."

An Qian nodded, "What you said makes sense, and Nirvana also played a huge role. After Nirvana, my control over flames has increased countless times, allowing me to successfully advance."

Therefore, the Illusion Sound Butterfly did not drop a treasure chest after it died.

In fact, Qin Shilei also played a significant role in this.

If it weren't for his divine ability causing the Illusion Sound Butterfly to enter a state of paralysis, it would surely have broken free from An Qian the moment she began her Nirvana, and it might even have affected An Qian's Nirvana.

Zhang Xiaoli asked curiously, "An Qian, how powerful are you now? Can you defeat that Phantom Sound Butterfly King from earlier?"

"I don't know that," An Qian replied. "It's just that now, even if I use Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix five times, I won't be unable to move due to exhaustion."

She paused and then asked, "Shi Lei, should we continue exploring this world now or go back?"

Qin Shilei pondered for a moment and said, "Let's first return to the valley where we just came from and see if we can find the leader among that group of bugs. We'll capture it and make it help us guard the Space Rift."

This was their original plan.

For this, they had even specially prepared several contract scrolls.

An Qian nodded in agreement, "Alright, this time we can fly directly back. Because my current vital energy recovery ability can fully support the consumption of Phoenix Wings."

The three of them collected the spoils of war on the ground and then flew back along the original path towards the beetle valley.

About an hour later, they finally returned to a small mountain near that valley.

At this point, Qin Shilei had once again taken out the Concealment Array, completely enveloping the three of them.

Qin Shilei took out his binoculars and carefully observed the beetles in the valley, hoping to find their leader.

Zhang Xiaoli suddenly pointed to a cave in the valley and said, "A giant golden beetle came out of that cave over there. Could it be their leader?"

Qin Shilei turned his head and looked in that direction.

It was a bug similar to a Scythe Beetle but incredibly huge.

It was five or six meters tall, entirely golden, and shimmered under the sunlight.

Name: Gold Beetle.

Description: The leader of the Scythe Beetles and Silver Beetles, with Golden Realm Five-Star strength. Its shell is incredibly hard, and it can cast Golden Wheel Slash, and can attach a layer of energy shield to itself.