Wait a minute, where is my master?

The skeleton under the palm tree suddenly burst forth with a dazzling purple-gold radiance, shooting straight up into the sky.

Little Taoist's purple-gold box also began to shake violently as if it wanted to fly back towards that purple-gold light column.

However, Jin Xu's hand emanated golden spiritual power, and the box instantly stopped shaking, as docile as a quail.

"Young Master/Temple Master."

After the strange occurrence, the two women uneasily called out and stepped in front of Little Taoist.

Yu Yaoer raised her hand and condensed several water arrows from the air, while Little White took out a fragment of a pill furnace that looked very much like a hammer and held it in her hand.

"Don't be afraid, Young Master, the two of us..."

Before they could finish speaking, Little Taoist grabbed them by the shoulders with one hand each and threw them behind him.

"Stay put, the two of you, don't cause trouble."

As he spoke, Jin Xu expanded the golden spiritual power shield that had always been over their heads, enveloping the two women tightly within it.

Then, he glanced cautiously at the Age Chicken that was staring dumbfounded at the corpse undergoing transformation, and carefully tossed it into the spiritual power shield behind him as well.

After doing all this, Jin Xu's gaze fixed intently on the purple-gold skeleton that had now stood upright, and a thread of golden thunder arc quietly climbed up his wrist from the palm of his right hand.

"I knew it, this secret treasure wouldn't be so easy to take."

Little Taoist appeared ready for battle on the surface, but inwardly he was constantly considering which angle to use "Hand Palm Thunder" from to minimize the damage to the palm grove.

"Or maybe... use the 'Fire Condensing Skill' instead,"

he muttered softly, then suddenly noticed a slight fluctuation in the space before his face.

"Hmm!?"

By the time he looked again at the purple-gold skeleton under the palm tree, it had already stepped forward and disappeared from its original spot.

"So it's a skeleton that can do space teleportation."

Little Taoist commented in surprise, then lightly lifted his right hand, preemptively aiming at where he predicted the purple-gold skeleton would appear, targeting the spot between its eyebrows.

However....

His finger found empty space.

Jin Xu's prediction was correct.

The skeleton had indeed teleported directly in front of him through space.

However, Little Taoist had not expected that, although the purple-gold skeleton had clearly been standing when it took that step, when it emerged from the space, its pose had changed to kneeling on one knee.

"Is this some kind of strange custom from ancient times?"

Little Taoist looked at his fingertip, still half a body's length away from the purple-gold skeleton's head, and inwardly muttered a wordless complaint.

Then he swiftly moved his finger downward, planning to strike first.

Yet, this second strike also failed to connect.

Just as Jin Xu's finger, wrapped with threads of thunder arc, was about to touch the purple-gold skeleton's skull, a very hoarse and sour voice forcibly stopped his motion.

"Master, you have finally come to pick up Little Zi!"

"(((ﾟДﾟ;)??

Little Taoist was stunned upon hearing this, though the name the other provided sounded very much like his own style of naming

he genuinely did not remember ever taking possession of a purple-gold skeleton.

He was a Taoist, not a Necromancer, moreover, that entity was said to have existed thirty thousand years ago.

And thirty thousand years ago... well, best not to mention it.

"Why do you call me master?"

Jin Xu pondered for a long while, then bent down to inquire from the purple-gold skeleton.

In response to Little Taoist's question, the skeleton seemed a bit slow-witted.

It took a full ten breaths before it spoke again in that sour and raspy voice.

"It was Master who commanded Little Zi to address you as master."

"Sss, this skeleton doesn't seem to be very sharp."

Little Taoist complained helplessly, withdrew the golden thunder arc from his fingertip, and planned to reformulate his question.

Yet, Jin Xu could never have anticipated that the moment he withdrew the golden thunder arc, the light around the kneeling purple-gold skeleton suddenly intensified!

Then, a massive Bone Fist came smashing toward his face, accompanied by a fierce wind.

"You dare to deceive me, you're not the master!"

As the sour and angry voice arose, the Bone Fist had already reached the face of the little Taoist.

"This skull isn't just dim-witted, it also lacks martial morality, resorting to a sneak attack!"

This thought flashed through Jin Xu's mind before he stared at the fist growing larger in his field of vision and, with determination, nodded heavily.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of breaking bones resounded.

A burst of purple-gold bone shards exploded in mid-air.

The purple-gold Fist Bone, which seemed incredibly hard and extraordinarily divine, was shattered by the Taoist's headbutt into fine pieces.

"Roar!"

The purple-gold skeleton roared angrily, not caring about losing one fist, and continued its attack on Jin Xu.

The little Taoist, observing the skeleton's repeated assaults, flashed a hint of contemplation on his face while retreating and dodging, conjuring a Golden Thunder Arc at his fingertips once more.

However, as the Golden Thunder Arc appeared, the purple-gold skeleton's offensive actions didn't cease.

"Hiss, did I guess wrong?"

Jin Xu muttered to himself, continuing to dodge the other's attacks.

The moment for the purple-gold skeleton's unprovoked sneak attack had been precisely when he dispelled the Golden Thunder Arc.

Therefore, he boldly speculated that the skeleton might be identifying his identity through the Golden Thunder Arc.

But upon experimentation, it seemed not to be the case.

The little Taoist furrowed his brow and looked towards the silent purple-gold skeleton that kept swinging its fists at him.

"Uh, Brother Skeleton, why don't we stop fighting for a moment and have a chat before we continue?"

"Brother Skeleton?"

"Hiss, why won't it listen?"

The purple-gold skeleton turned a deaf ear and relentlessly targeted Jin Xu with its remaining good hand.

"Enough, if the soft approach doesn't work, then let's try the hard way," the little Taoist said with a sense of resignation.

Following that, he grabbed the purple-gold skeleton's last good hand.

With a slight exertion of force in the palm—

"Crack!"

Another burst of purple-gold bone dust explosively shattered in midair.

Then, without waiting for the other to move, Jin Xu's feet traced phantom images as he tapped twice swiftly.

Two crisp sounds were heard.

Upon looking at the purple-gold skeleton again, its two shin bones were broken into fragments.

Despite having its limbs disabled, the purple-gold skeleton didn't fall; instead, it took to the air and continued hurtling toward the little Taoist.

It bore the attitude of a fighter determined to bring down the emperor at the cost of their own life.

"Hiss, I was careless, I forgot this creature was once a Cultivator, not the kind of skeleton soldier that becomes immobile when its limbs are broken," said Jin Xu as he saw the skeleton lunging at him, realizing it belatedly.

With his doubts unresolved, he really didn't want to just finish it off with "Hand Palm Thunder."

Thus, the little Taoist waved his hand, and several chains of golden spiritual power flew out, weaving in and out of the gaps in the skeleton's bones, binding it tightly and hanging it from a coconut tree.

"That should do it.

"Alright, Little Yu, Little White, you can come over now, it should be safe...

"Hiss!!! Little White, what are you doing!"

Jin Xu, after securing the purple-gold skeleton, proceeded to call the two girls over.

But turning his head and seeing what was happening within the Spiritual Power Shield shocked him to the core!