Right after his scream, Klein fell to the ground, rolling and writhing in agony. In less than two minutes, his skin began to show signs of decay in multiple places. The most lethal part was that much of the venom had already entered his bloodstream, rendering him powerless to seal the toxins even with his Chi.
“Lord Klein!” the remaining man from Northfortia shouted and ran towards him. But before he could reach halfway, he felt something was wrong as the poisonous gas in the air had already entered his body. Without much thought, the man quickly sat down, crossed his legs to force out the poison.
“Kill me… Kill me quickly…” Klein looked towards Billy with great difficulty. His skin had already rotted extensively, and black blood kept oozing from his mouth.
He had brought this upon himself. With his cultivation, he could have easily killed the giant python, but instead, he had thought of using the snake to deal with Billy and the others. The result was a dramatic turn of events.
“Please… I beg you… Kill me…” Klein continued to plead. He no longer had any desire to live, only hoping for a quick death.
After giving him a glance, Billy raised his hand and sent out a palm strike. In an instant, Klein disappeared without a trace.
“You… You killed Lord Klein… Northfortia will never let you off…” The last man saw this scene, gritted his teeth in anger.
“Boss, should I kill him?” Azure Fang asked.
“Yeh!” Billy waved his hand.
As soon as Billy finished speaking, Ian raised his hand and sliced forward with his knife. He had wanted to take action against these lackeys for a long time. The blade cut a line of blood across the man’s throat. Immediately after, the man opened his mouth but couldn’t utter a word before falling down, lifeless, legs kicking in the air.
At this point, apart from Billy, Azure Fang, the princess of Aquilandia, and Jess, everyone who had entered the Ice Cave had perished. It was truly a life-or-death exploration.
“Boss, there shouldn’t be any more problems now. I’ll go check on that ice coffin.” Azure Fang looked at Billy and spoke.
“Wait!” Casey said, then drew his war blade and slashed at the circular area with the spirit stones.
Almost as soon as the blade touched the spirit stones, a tremendous roar echoed out. In the next moment, a cylindrical light barrier descended from the top of the space, perfectly encircling the area with the embedded spirit stones. Following that, just like in the previous corridor, countless sharp and formidable Chi force rampaged within the cylindrical light barrier, creating an astonishing scene.
What was even more astonishing is that those chi force seemed to have a sense of intelligence, perfectly avoiding the ice coffin in the middle, not causing the slightest harm.
“What the hell! What’s going on? So miraculous?” Stout couldn’t help but exclaim.
“It’s like the chi force formation in the corridor, both empowered by some kind of array!” Billy replied.
“Boss, can we break it?” Bob asked.
“It’s challenging!” Billy shook his head in response. “I can only sense a faint array aura. To break the formation, it would take a long time, and even then, there’s no guarantee of success!”
“What should we do then? Should we give up just like that?” Stout smacked his lips.
“No matter how strong a formation is, it can’t last forever. It’s likely to end after a long time.” Billy responded again. After a brief pause, he continued, “That giant python probably isn’t guarding this ice coffin. Go over there and see if there’s anything else.”
“Damn it! I almost forgot about it.” Stout replied. “Generally speaking, where there are fierce beasts guarding, there’s a high possibility of valuable treasures. The stronger the beast, the rarer the treasure!”
Billy and the others followed Stout to walk towards the corner of the cave entrance. Once they glanced inside, their faces simultaneously showed a hint of surprise. In the not-so-big ice cave, right in the center, there stood a green leaf tree that was about two meters tall. The trunk and leaves had a translucent feel, just like those self-illuminating plastic trees used for decoration at night in the city. Moreover, there were ten oddly-shaped fruits growing on the tree, all of them a vibrant green.
Billy raised an eyebrow as he saw the fruits.
“Stout, do you recognize these? What kind of fruits are they?” Ian asked Stout.
“I’ve never seen them before!” Stout looked puzzled. After saying that, he turned to Billy and asked, “Boss, do you recognize them?”
“Bob, do you know?” Billy asked Bob instead.
“Me?” Bob also looked confused. “If Stout doesn’t know, then I definitely don’t know!”
“Think again!” Billy smiled faintly. “Do you remember a few years ago when the old master gave us something to eat…”
“Holy crap! I remember now!” Bob shouted loudly.
“These… these are Mysterious Ice Spirit Fruits!”
“What?!” This time, it was Stout who shouted, “Are you sure?!”
“Absolutely! These are definitely Ice Spirit Fruits!” Bob responded loudly. “A few years ago, the old master gave us this! He told us the name as well!”
“Oh my god! There are actually treasures like these here!” Stout exclaimed in an exaggerated manner. After a brief pause, as if remembering something, he turned to Billy and Bob and shouted. “Boss, Bob, you guys actually ate Ice Spirit Fruits before?”
“Not only us, but Ivy and Opal also ate them!” Bob replied.
“Well, you guys sure are extravagant!” Stout clicked his tongue. “No wonder each of you has such abnormal talents!”
“Bob, what’s that?” Azure Fang, who was standing nearby, asked with a puzzled expression.
“You better ask Stout about that!” Bob shrugged. “I only know that they taste good and make you feel great after eating them. I don’t know much else!”
Stout coughed.
Azure Fang turned to Stout.
“I’ve only read about them in ancient texts!” Stout replied. “It is said that if an ordinary martial artist is fortunate enough to consume a Mysterious Ice Spirit Fruit, it can cleanse their essence and marrow, allowing for a rebirth and improvement in cultivation! That giant python earlier was obviously guarding these fruits. Not only are they beneficial to humans, but they also greatly aid ferocious beasts.”
“Why didn’t it eat them?” Azure Fang continued to ask.
“I don’t know about that,” Stout shrugged his shoulders. “It’s possible that it thought it was unlikely for anyone to come in, so it never had the heart to eat them! It’s also possible that it already ate a few and wants to savor these ones slowly!”
“Stout, pick the Spirit Fruits and take them with us!” Billy said before turning and walking out of the ice cave.
“Okay!” Stout replied, bouncing happily.
Soon, the group arrived in front of the ice coffin and took a look inside.
“Hmm?” Immediately after, everyone was stunned.