Fang Zhen was now wary of Avera, but he didn't let it show on his face.

Avera walked over, her voice filled with emotion.

"I grew up listening to stories about the Forbidden Realm Gatekeeper. There are countless legends about him in the Kingdom."

"I never thought I'd one day meet him, let alone team up with you to temporarily seal him away," Avera said.

"Sealed?" Fang Zhen latched onto the word.

"Yes, sealed," Avera confirmed with a nod. "The Forbidden Realm Gatekeeper is immortal. Even if his physical body is destroyed, he'll revive and regenerate after a certain amount of time. It's a power granted to him by the Netherworld."

"That's why the legends of the Gatekeeper have persisted for so long."

Fang Zhen nodded slightly.

'Other things aside, that immortality is quite enviable.'

He wasn't worried, though. 'As long as I continue down my current path, I'll reach that level sooner or later.'

Just then, the mist that permeated the space began to fade, revealing an Obsidian Stone Gate in the distance.

"That's the entrance to the Netherworld," Avera said, her face flushing with obvious excitement. "Anlon Lie Feng's treasure is in there."

Fang Zhen nodded.

He turned to retrieve his equipment from the Holy Garment box.

Avera glanced at the spear still burning with flames in Fang Zhen's hand and stayed put. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Fang Zhen quickly returned with the Holy Garment box slung over his back.

After being activated several times, the Magic Grease fueling the Magic Flame on his spear was running low.

He flicked his spear, and the flames gradually died down.

"Let's go," Fang Zhen said.

When Avera saw the Magic Flame on the spear go out, a strange glint flashed in her eyes.

"You know," Avera said suddenly from behind Fang Zhen, "you're not a bad guy. You're handsome, powerful... I think I might even like you a little."

Fang Zhen stopped and turned to look at Avera.

Avera blushed slightly, and like someone confessing their feelings, she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's just..." Avera began.

"Just what?" Fang Zhen asked.

Avera seemed almost shy. She leaned forward as if to whisper a lover's confession into Fang Zhen's ear.

"It's just that you're in my way," Avera whispered.

As she spoke, a blue dagger shot silently from her hand.

Her face was still flushed, her eyes held a look of adoration, and her voice was soft and intimate. But using her own body to create a blind spot, the blue dagger shot toward a gap in Fang Zhen's plate armor!

The dagger's blue hue came from a layer of poison. If it slipped through a gap in the armor and pierced his skin, death would be instant.

Suddenly, a large hand in an iron gauntlet clamped down, catching both the poisoned dagger and Avera's hand.

Fang Zhen's expression remained unchanged, his left hand already in firm control of Avera.

"What do you think you're doing, Miss Avera?"

"Is this how you express your affection?"

Fang Zhen asked Avera, his tone mocking.

Avera's expression changed instantly.

She tried to yank the dagger back, but Fang Zhen's grip was like an iron vise, pinning both the blade and her hand. She couldn't break free.

Avera cried out in pain, "Let go! You're hurting me!"

"But you were trying to kill me, my dear lady," Fang Zhen said.

A black glimmer suddenly flashed in Avera's eyes.

Behind Fang Zhen, the Crystal Bone Crow circling overhead suddenly let out a hoarse caw and beat its wings.

In an instant, more than a dozen phantom-like crow apparitions materialized around the Crystal Bone Crow.

The Crystal Bone Crow beat its wings again, and the phantom crows dove toward Fang Zhen's back in a suicidal charge.

Keeping Avera's hand clamped tightly in his left, Fang Zhen swung the spear in his right.

The supposedly depleted Magic Grease suddenly reignited. Guided by Fang Zhen's Spirit, the spear once again erupted with the Five-Colored Flame.

Without even looking back, Fang Zhen swung his spear behind him, unleashing a rolling, tumbling dragon of fire.

Wherever the fire dragon passed, the Crystal Bone Crow's phantom apparitions were swept clean, completely burned to ash without a trace.

He never once glanced back. The sight of him wielding the spear and its fire dragon with one hand was both dashing and effortless, as if he had everything completely under control.

Avera, however, was in no state to appreciate Fang Zhen's stylish attack.

On the contrary, her face was a mask of utter shock and disbelief.

"You can still use that Five-Colored Flame?"

"You were holding back on me on purpose?" Avera cried out.

"Weren't you doing the same?" Fang Zhen replied, a knowing smile on his face as he looked at Avera.

He'd long suspected Avera was hiding a few trump cards.

'Thinking back, ever since we entered the Land of Rest and the domain of the Forbidden Land Netherworld, Avera had only seemed to be passively answering my questions. In reality, she had been secretly guiding me toward the Path of the Dead, the alternate route.'

'A moment of calm analysis was all it took. If Avera knows the most about the Land of Rest, wouldn't she have guessed that the Sea Tide and Lei Ming families would take the main passage?'

'And if she knew that, the only way she would still dare to compete for Anlon Lie Feng's treasure is if she had planned to take the Path of the Dead all along.'

'There was more evidence, too. When I said I had a way to deal with phantoms, she believed me instantly. She used the Feather Fall Technique to enter the deep well at the entrance to the Path of the Dead without a moment's hesitation.'

'I had only known her for a day. How could she have trusted me so quickly?'

'Besides, what if I had been bluffing? Wouldn't we both have died in there?'