As Yue Shen's sword fell, the red skeleton's already inferior bone blade finally gave way, shattering into fragments across the floor.
"I win," Yue Shen said calmly, resting the blood-red blade in his left hand against the red skeleton's shoulder blade beside its neck.
The red skeleton stared at the young human in silver armor before him. After a long silence, he said, "Holy Guard No. 12 reporting for duty, my master."
"Thank you for your guidance, senior. I learned a great deal." Smiling, Yue Shen lifted the blood-red blade from the skeleton's shoulder and reached out to pull him to his feet.
"Your gifts are exceptional, Master. I merely followed my instructions." The red skeleton shook his head slightly, then suddenly dropped to one knee and bowed before Yue Shen. "Holy Guard No. 12 hereby swears allegiance to you, Master," he declared solemnly.
The moment he finished speaking, Holy Guard No. 12's enormous body transformed into a streak of red light that shot straight toward Yue Shen. In the blink of an eye, the huge mass of red light shrank into a tiny red flame, slipped into the Eternal Melody on Yue Shen's right forearm, and disappeared.
A burning sting shot through him. Yue Shen discovered that, after he subdued Holy Guard No. 12, a diamond-shaped crimson gem had appeared on the light brown tattoo on his right forearm.
At the same time, as though sensing that Yue Shen had passed every trial on the Eternal Tower's first floor, another pillar of white light descended from above, just like the one that had appeared before. Its white radiance flowed upward toward the tower's second floor.
So the second floor is unlocked...
Yue Shen stretched in relief, but he had no intention of going up to take a look.
After