23: Miracle? No, this is the norm!

His figure flickered.

When Lu Chen's figure became clear again, he had already arrived above the You Beast's head.

"Who's there?"

The guard herding the You Beast discovered Lu Chen's figure and immediately acted as if facing a great enemy.

But once he saw Lu Chen's form clearly...

"A Little Skeleton?"

"A Little Skeleton that can teleport?"

"That's rare. Kill it."

Disdain for Lu Chen flickered in the depths of his eyes.

What kind of random riffraff dares to approach a You Beast?

They really don't even know how to write the word 'death'!

He gripped a Jade Talisman and gave an order to the Second-Tier You Beast.

In his eyes, Lu Chen was already a dead skeleton.

Hmm?

Arrogant!

Lu Chen clattered his mandible.

On this side...

The You Beast obeyed the command.

It raised its right claw high, and a dense purple aura surged. In the blink of an eye, the claw-shaped purple aura grew thirty percent larger than its entire body.

Heart-Shattering Claw!

Heart-Shattering Claw?

I can do that too.

Lu Chen lowered the bone saber in his right hand.

He formed a claw with his left hand, and a dense aura surged.

Unlike the You Beast's deep purple aura, what Lu Chen condensed was a cold, ghastly white aura.

In an instant...

The cold, ghastly white bone claw surged to a height of a hundred meters!

"What!"

The guard was terrified out of his wits.

The same Heart-Shattering Claw!

When the invincible-at-its-rank You Beast condensed it, it was only three meters in size.

But when that unremarkable Little Skeleton opposite him condensed it, it was a hundred meters large!

In comparison, it was like the difference between clouds and mud!

"No!"

In his pupils, which had shrunk to pinpoints from fear,

The cold, ghastly white Heart-Shattering Claw suddenly expanded!

Boom!

The entire sky seemed to be torn apart by the ghastly white light!

The You Beast and the guard were turned to ash within Lu Chen's giant Heart-Shattering Claw.

It wasn't just the You Beast and the guard.

Even the densely packed Secret Realm monsters nearby were shaken into powder by the residual power of the giant Heart-Shattering Claw.

Great!

The spirit crystals and Demonic Beast meat have turned into nothingness again.

Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed.

In a while, he would inevitably be nagged by the young girl's resentment.

Of course.

Even though the You Beast had crumbled into ash, the mixed spiritual power within its body still surged out from where it died.

Then, it all rushed into Lu Chen's body.

In an instant, Lu Chen sensed that the amount of spiritual power was even greater than that from slaughtering a thousand third-tier Secret Realm monsters!

Exhilarating!

The next rank isn't far off!

A new gold affix,

Here I come!

Lu Chen laughed with a 'ka-ka' sound.

Then, he wholeheartedly converted this majestic spiritual power.

Exhale.

Inhale!

[Realm] Rank 1 Stage 8 -> Rank 1 Stage 9

Not just Rank 1 Stage 9, but Stage 9 Peak!

Only one step away...

...from Rank 2!

Whoosh!

Lu Chen disappeared from the spot and returned to Ning Xiwei and the other girl's side.

"It looks like the Little Skeleton went off to kill monsters on the sly!"

"Oh, this guy is about to rank up!"

Sensing Lu Chen's aura, Sun Feifei couldn't help but exclaim,

"Even though the Little Skeleton's aura hasn't reached Rank 2 yet, this quantity is just too much!"

"As a great expert at Rank 2 Stage 6, why do I feel like a leaf in the middle of a vast ocean when facing the Little Skeleton?"

"He's too strong!"

While Sun Feifei was happy for her Best Friend, her heart was also aching with envy.

Hearing Sun Feifei's lament about Lu Chen's formidable strength,

Ning Xiwei felt as if she had eaten a mouthful of honey.

The sweetness reached her heart.

Similarly, she also saw the envy in Sun Feifei's eyes.

After all, Sun Feifei's envy was almost condensing into droplets and leaking out!

If it were anything else,

Ning Xiwei would be willing to give it to her good Best Friend.

But Lu Chen was the only exception!

Lu Chen was the person she was willing to protect with her life.

"Little Skeleton, are you about to Breakthrough to Rank 2?"

Lu Chen's aura, as majestic as the ocean, allowed even Sun Feifei to clearly sense the barrier of his Realm.

Hearing this, Lu Chen nodded his smooth, forest-white skull.

Immediately,

Sun Feifei felt as if she had eaten a whole box of sour plums.

She was so sour that her entire stomach was filled with acid!

Lu Chen was about to Breakthrough.

Then, her Best Friend would receive the feedback from Lu Chen's Breakthrough, and her Realm would increase significantly again.

Right now, her Best Friend was still at Rank 1 Stage 9.

While she was at Rank 2 Stage 6.

She had only been leading for less than three hours, and she was already about to be overtaken by her Best Friend in an instant.

Sigh.

She sighed and asked,

"Xiwei, do you think that with the Little Skeleton's Breakthrough this time, you'll still be able to jump a whole rank?"

Ning Xiwei thought carefully for a moment and replied,

"Impossible."

"Last time, I was only at Rank 0 Stage 9, so the energy needed for a Breakthrough was naturally small."

"But now it's Rank 1 Stage 9!"

"To jump a whole rank from Rank 1 Stage 9 would mean reaching Rank 2 Stage 9. Not to mention the resistance of breaking through the Realm, just for the Rank 2 Realm alone, the amount of Spiritual Qi required for each stage is the sum of everything before it!"

"Furthermore, my Physique has improved significantly, so the energy required is even greater!"

Ning Xiwei of course also wanted to jump rank by rank.

But she also had to consider reality.

A whole rank jump has happened once, which was already unprecedented.

How could it possibly happen again?

Sun Feifei also nodded repeatedly,

"A miracle is called a miracle because it only happens once."

"I also believe it's impossible for another whole rank jump to occur."

"But Xiwei, to have had such a legendary experience once, I'm truly so envious!"

Sun Feifei gently hugged Ning Xiwei.

Ning Xiwei nodded with a slight blush.

A whole rank jump is truly too shocking.

Having it happen once is already unforgettable for a lifetime!

Lu Chen is truly the dawn that illuminates all the gloom in her life!

At this moment,

the surrounding Secret Realm monsters happened to refresh.

A blade light flashed in Lu Chen's hand.

The Secret Realm monsters had just refreshed, their hooves hadn't even touched the ground before they turned into pure spiritual power, divided equally into three portions.

The final step is here!

Lu Chen spread his arms and embraced the spiritual power.

The energy in his body instantly surged, like boiling water, vibrating with a 'hua-la-la' sound.

Suddenly—

A loud bang erupted from within Lu Chen's body!

The barrier of Rank 1 Peak...

...broke!

Rank 2!

At the same time,

an unimaginably massive amount of energy,

emerged out of nowhere from the contract deep within Ning Xiwei's mind!

Boom!

Ning Xiwei, who was gently hugging her Best Friend, felt as if her Realm had boarded a rocket!

Without any obstruction,

the barrier of Rank 1 Peak was instantly smashed through!

The momentum of the energy's advance was invincible!

The surging energy within Ning Xiwei's body startled Sun Feifei, who was holding her!

She quickly pulled away in fright, staring intently at Ning Xiwei, whose Realm was continuously breaking through.

Rank 2 Stage 1, broken!

Rank 2 Stage 2, broken!

...Rank 2 Stage 7, broken!

Rank 2 Stage 8, broken!

Rank 2 Stage 9, broken!

In the blink of an eye, the energy fed back from Lu Chen sent Ning Xiwei's Realm directly to Rank 2 Peak!

Ning Xiwei spread her hands, blankly sensing the surging Spiritual Qi within her body.

She lifted her head with difficulty and spoke in a low, disbelieving voice,

"Feifei, I... I'm at Rank 2 Stage 9."

Boom!

Sun Feifei felt a bang in her head, and her entire mind went blank!

Didn't they say a whole rank jump was a miracle?!

Didn't they say it was unprecedented and would never be repeated?!

So it turns out, your Little Skeleton treats miracles as the norm!

It's true that there was no one like you in the past, but the only one following in those footsteps is you as well!

Sun Feifei was heartbroken.

She had clearly witnessed a miracle once again.

But why did she feel so much like crying?