"Let's take a break and recover our mana," Lin Jichen suggested. Everyone agreed and sat down in the corridor to meditate.
Using elixirs while meditating would speed up the recovery of health and mana significantly.
While the others closed their eyes to meditate, Lin Jichen took the opportunity to secretly observe each of them. Of course, he had no ulterior motives, just pure admiration.
It wasn't often that five of the top ten beauties gathered in one place. As a man, and a normal one at that, it would be a shame not to appreciate such a sight.
Once everyone had fully recovered, they opened their eyes. Lin Jichen quickly averted his gaze and stood up, leading the way as if nothing had happened.
The group of ten reached the third level of the prison, the final stage of the Secret Realm.
Before they even set foot on the third level, they heard loud noises coming from within, like something crashing, accompanied by eerie, beast-like roars that sent shivers down their spines.
The women, unaware of the situation, became alert and ready for anything.
"What is that sound? It's terrifying."
"I don't know. Could it be a ghost?"
"What? I'm most afraid of ghosts."
"I've never heard of ghosts in the Snowstorm Prison."
The women huddled together, visibly nervous.
Familiar with everything, Lin Jichen remained silent and continued to lead the way.
The third level was vast, with prisoners locked up on both sides. Three figures sat on chairs in the middle.
On the left was an old man with a beard, meditating with a golden staff in hand. The staff shone brightly, adorned with a coiled Flood Dragon and several embedded gems, clearly not an ordinary item.
On the right was a bald man in a gray robe, his head completely hairless, even lacking eyebrows. He wore black gloves with red patterns, exuding a strange aura.
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In the center sat a fat man with a dark long knife, smirking at the group.
The three of them radiated mana, their auras restrained. Lin Jichen recognized them at a glance as being in the Gathering Spirit Realm.
The man with the long knife had the most terrifying aura.
Lin Jichen wasn't surprised. These three were the final bosses of the Snowstorm Prison Secret Realm, known as the Three Illusions of the Snowstorm Prison.
The man in the center was the late-stage Gathering Spirit Realm boss, Ti Wushen. The other two were at the early and mid-stages, respectively.
No player had reached this stage before. Jiang Luoyu's face grew serious, clearly not expecting such a tough challenge.
It seemed impossible for players at their current realm to clear this stage.
Just the late-stage Gathering Spirit Realm boss was already a huge challenge, not to mention his two subordinates. How could they possibly get through this?
"This Hell difficulty for the Snowstorm Prison is way too high. How are we supposed to fight this?" Su Wanling complained.
"I think the game developers just don't want us to clear it," Zhou Tiantian said with a bitter smile.
"I remember the last stage of the Snowstorm Prison on hard difficulty only had an early-stage Gathering Spirit Realm boss. It was easy. This Hell difficulty is just ridiculous," Liu Xiazi said, frustrated.
The women seemed to have lost confidence. After all, none of them were even in the Gathering Spirit Realm. How could they fight three Gathering Spirit bosses at once?
Jiang Luoyu noticed Lin Jichen hadn't spoken and asked, "What do you think? Can we do it?"
No one wanted their efforts to go to waste. They had reached the final stage and obtained so much supreme-grade equipment. Quitting now would be a huge loss.
The unique rules of the Snowstorm Secret Realm were frustrating. If they failed, they couldn't take their loot with them. It was like being promised $500 for a task, getting to $499.99, and then being told a mouse stole the last penny.
No one wanted to give up halfway, and no one wanted to see their hard-earned equipment vanish.
All eyes turned to Lin Jichen, clearly seeing him as their backbone.
Lin Jichen smiled nonchalantly and said, "I don't have much confidence either. If we can't do it, we'll just have to accept defeat."
The women's faces fell. Even though they had expected this outcome, hearing it from Lin Jichen was hard to accept.
If even Lin Jichen had no confidence, it seemed this Secret Realm clear was just a dream.
"But I don't believe in giving up easily. Even if we lose, we should give it our best shot," Lin Jichen continued. "I don't believe the Secret Realm is designed to be impossible. There must be a trick to it, like the Blazing Fire Formation earlier."
"You mean there's a shortcut?" Jiang Luoyu asked, catching on.
"Exactly," Lin Jichen nodded. "Let's look for it first without alerting the three bosses."
The women began searching the prison for any clues.
Lin Jichen watched them for a moment, planning to reveal what he already knew.
But Jiang Luoyu's eyes suddenly lit up. "I think I found something."
"What did you find?" Lin Jichen asked, surprised.
Jiang Luoyu pointed to the prisoners. "Look at the prisoners. They're all weak, except for the one in the first cell. He's strong and keeps banging on the door. That's where the noise is coming from!"
Everyone looked and saw a burly man in the first cell, repeatedly crashing into the profound crystal iron bars, causing loud noises and making the ground tremble.
The profound crystal iron had a backlash effect, causing the man to cry out in pain with each impact. But he kept trying to break free.
This discovery brightened everyone's spirits.
"He seems strong. Maybe we can free him to help us fight the three bosses?" Ren Lan suggested.
The group felt a glimmer of hope. It seemed possible!
Lin Jichen smiled wryly to himself, thinking he had lost his chance to shine.
But outwardly, he praised Jiang Luoyu, "That's a great find. I think it could work!"
Jiang Luoyu frowned again. "But how do we find the key to the cell? Do we have to defeat one of the bosses to get it?"
Everyone paused. How would they get the key? Even if it was on one of the bosses, attacking one would alert all three.
Proofreader & Editor: Lotas