A fire dragon howled as it surged out from the Demon-Slaying Sword!
This strike from Jiang Kai finally tore open a gap!
However, the cost of this blow was enormous, instantly worsening the corrosive effect of life erosion.
Almost at the same moment Jiang Kai used the Haotian Demon-Slaying Sword, large areas of decay appeared on his body. Flesh peeled away, exposing large patches of white bone, and his eyes instantly turned gray-white.
His mask was destroyed in an instant, and the flesh on his face fell away!
"Han Yi!" Ye Qingwu cried anxiously. "Life Revival!"
A cluster of green light floated around Jiang Kai, and his gray-white eyes slowly returned to their original color.
Wang Zhong grabbed Jiang Kai in a hug. "There's a gap, rush through!"
Sun Yuan and the others used every bit of strength they had to break out of the beasts' encirclement through the gap Jiang Kai had opened!
The moment they escaped the beasts' encirclement, they discovered a massive forest in front of them.
The plants in the forest were several times larger than those elsewhere.
A single mushroom was almost the size of an ordinary person.
The trees were even more enormous, shooting straight into the sky and blotting out the sun.
Although the scene before them was astonishing, what Ye Qingwu cared about most was still the life erosion state.
"It didn't disappear!"
The effects of life erosion were still present. Within the team, only she was unaffected thanks to the help of the Armor of Regeneration.
The other four had already become half-human, half-ghost, barely clinging to life.
"Hang on! We will definitely make it out!"
Ye Qingwu looked around and suddenly noticed those gigantic leaves. Each leaf was two or three meters long. She hurriedly gathered several leaves and spread them flat behind her.
She placed her four teammates on the leaves, grabbed them, and dragged all four forward.
"Don't fall asleep. Keep your eyes open. I need to see the color of your eyes!" Ye Qingwu said through clenched teeth as she moved forward.
Jiang Kai's unfocused eyes weakly stared at the sky.
Who would have thought that the four of them, grown men, would end up relying on Ye Qingwu to have even a chance of getting out of here.
The plants here were so huge. Was the Life God's ruins really here? Why would what a god known as the Life God left behind be death instead…
Thankfully, this badly battered team still had one Holy Healer left. Along the way, they did not encounter any more beasts.
Jiang Kai and the others lay on the leaves, having already suppressed the effects of life erosion to the lowest possible level.
From time to time, Ye Qingwu still had to use Life Revival to keep them conscious and prevent their injuries from worsening.
When the Armor of Regeneration was repairing itself, it could also provide the wearer with a slow recovery effect.
Thus the team formed a fragile balance. The Armor of Regeneration restored Ye Qingwu's condition, while Ye Qingwu ensured that the other four would not completely lose control or die from worsening injuries.
The team slowly advanced deeper into the jungle.
After an unknown amount of time, Ye Qingwu suddenly stopped.
"Senior brother… this, what is this…" Ye Qingwu turned back to look at the others.
Sun Yuan raised his head, struggling to prop up his withered, skeletal body, and looked back.
Jiang Kai and the others also turned to look ahead.
Before them stood a statue five to six meters tall, its entire body entwined by some kind of plant, with only a pair of eyes visible.
Those eyes were closed.
In front of the statue stood a stone tablet, with a sentence engraved on it.
[Life and death cycle endlessly. If you do not know death, how can you know life?]
[Nine times nine return to one. Trade death for life, and use life to explore the mysteries.]
Aside from the statue and the stone tablet, there was nothing else special here.
There was no system prompt. The effects of life erosion still existed. Nothing had changed!
"Han Yi, is this the place?" Sun Yuan gathered his strength and said. "What does that passage mean?"
Jiang Kai shook his head. "I don't know, but perhaps that sentence is the key to opening the Life God's ruins!"
Ye Qingwu temporarily set the leaves down and came to Jiang Kai's side. "Han Yi, you should use the Armor of Regeneration instead. There's no danger for now. I can hold on a little longer."
Jiang Kai shook his head. "Senior sister, only if you're here do we have any hope of going in together! How about this, you check the surroundings first."
"Senior sister, don't touch that statue!" Jiang Kai warned.
If that statue was the Life God's statue, touching it casually likely wouldn't end well.
Ye Qingwu nodded and searched the area.
Before long, Ye Qingwu returned.
"I found nine stone platforms on the ground around here. Each one looks like it can hold one person standing on it."
"In the middle of the nine platforms is this stone tablet. Other than that, I didn't find anything else special."
Jiang Kai frowned. It seemed the nine stone platforms, the statue, and the stone tablet were the key to entering the Life God's ruins.
Wang Zhong suddenly said, "What if we stand on the platforms and see if anything happens?"
Based on the clues they had, all they could do was try.
Ye Qingwu dragged the four of them to four different platforms. Jiang Kai and the others struggled to stand and positioned themselves on the platforms.
However, after all five were in place, there was still no change.
Unwilling to give up, the five kept switching positions, trying different arrangements to see if they could activate the statue.
But after trying for a long time, nothing happened.
"There are nine platforms here. Do we need four more people?" Liu Xuefei guessed.
Just then, a rustling sound suddenly came from behind them. Not long after, five people walked out from the forest!
These people were clearly in much better condition than Jiang Kai's group.
Among the five, three were still relatively intact.
When Jiang Kai saw them, his eyes widened and he blurted out, "The Dongfang family?"
The newcomers were indeed members of the Dongfang family, with Dongfang Ming and Dongfang Hao leading them.
The Dongfang family must also have had green-channel slots, so after Dongfang Ming was killed by Jiang Kai, he logged back into Ghost Star again in such a short time.
Dongfang Ming looked at Jiang Kai and sneered. "I really didn't expect there to be such a hidden place here! If you hadn't led us here, we wouldn't have known at all!"
"Han Yi, look at the state you're in now. Neither human nor ghost. Where's that arrogance you had back then? Just barely hanging on thanks to your Qingyun healer?"
Sun Yuan and the others immediately moved to Jiang Kai's side.
"You actually followed us!"
Dongfang Hao laughed wildly. "Do you think the Dongfang family's things are something you can take just because you say so?"
Jiang Kai frowned deeply. "You still have equipment that can resist the effects of life erosion?"
Dongfang Hao smiled faintly. "Didn't expect that, did you? The reason the Armor of Regeneration was kept by our Dongfang family was never because it could resist life erosion, but because of its grade, attributes, and two other special effects."
"As for life erosion, that kind of effect had never appeared in known battles. To prevent being caught without countermeasures if we ever encountered it in the future, our Dongfang family kept all equipment that could resist such effects."
"Since you needed the Armor of Regeneration, we could infer that the place you were heading to should have this life erosion effect. We just dug through our stores and found these pieces of equipment."
"And now it seems our Dongfang family really did plan ahead!"
"Han Yi, speak. What is this place?" Dongfang Hao pressed. "If you don't talk, I'll kill all of you right now!"
Jiang Kai sneered. "With the way your Dongfang family operates, whether I say it or not, you won't let us go anyway."
"Oh, pretty smart." Dongfang Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, fury surging within. "I won't let last time's grudge go just like that!"
"This life erosion is interesting. It leaves people neither alive nor dead. I think this place suits you very well! Han Yi, I'll let you enjoy staying here for a few years!"
Liu Xuefei stepped in front of Jiang Kai and said coldly, "You despicable people. You can't win in a fair fight, so you take advantage of others when they're weak! If you have the guts, fight Han Yi openly!"
Wang Zhong also shielded Jiang Kai. "If you want to touch my junior brother, step over my corpse first!"
Dongfang Ming looked at Sun Yuan and the others and snorted. "In your current state, you still dare to stand out? Han Yi, since you won't reveal this place's secret, then we won't waste time."
"Kill them!"
The three immediately rushed over.
Sun Yuan gave a low shout, "Nine Heavens Immortal-Slaying Sword: Heaven-Splitting Sword!"
Ye Qingwu immediately activated her skill. A powerful blue-green light erupted from her body, and a phoenix-tailed staff appeared in her hand. "Transcendent Talent, Source of Life!"
The blue aura rising from Ye Qingwu surged nonstop into Sun Yuan's body, rapidly restoring him.
At the same time, Sun Yuan had already swung his sword!
"Trash!" Dongfang Chen snorted coldly. "Sea and Sky Sword Art: Severing Separation Sword!"
Both men swung at the same time. Their long swords collided, sword energy clashing!
With a loud boom, Sun Yuan and Dongfang Chen were both knocked back!
However, Dongfang Chen was wearing some kind of armor that resisted life erosion, so this blow only pushed him back.
Sun Yuan was different. He had already been at the end of his rope. After using the Heaven-Splitting Sword, the life erosion instantly surged. His flesh peeled away, and even his bones shattered!
Ye Qingwu's eyes went wide. "Senior brother!"
"I won't let you die!"
Ignoring her own condition, Ye Qingwu tried to use another powerful healing skill.
At that moment, Sun Yuan reversed his sword and stabbed it into his own chest!
"Senior Brother Sun!" Jiang Kai and the others roared.
Sun Yuan looked at Ye Qingwu and smiled faintly. "Junior sister, don't waste any more strength saving me…" Then he looked at Jiang Kai. "Junior brother, sorry. Your senior brother is useless. I can't help you…"
With that, Sun Yuan tilted his head and died on the spot!
However, the Dongfang family gave them no chance to catch their breath. The other two also charged over.
Wang Zhong and Liu Xuefei rushed out at the same time.
"Han Yi, Qingwu, run! We'll hold them back!"
The two were already severely injured. Now Ye Qingwu didn't even have time to treat them. Their condition was even worse than Sun Yuan's.
With a single strike, both were knocked down, barely alive.
Seeing this, Jiang Kai felt a pain that pierced his heart, glaring furiously at the attackers.
At that moment, he noticed that the Armor of Regeneration had returned from Ye Qingwu's body to his own.
He turned to look at her in shock. "Senior Sister Qingwu!"
Ye Qingwu gave Jiang Kai a slight smile. "Junior brother, sorry. Senior sister can't save them… I know leaving you behind now is wrong, but… you are our last hope. Senior sister has to do this!"
As she spoke, Ye Qingwu raised the phoenix-tailed staff and used all her remaining strength to activate her final skill.
"Grand Reversal Technique!" Ye Qingwu's body was already enveloped in dark green light… more precisely, her body was breaking down into this dark green ball of light.
The light ball flew toward Jiang Kai, gently wrapping around him as a warm current flowed into his body.
Jiang Kai's condition rapidly recovered… yet his eyes were already soaked with tears.
"Hahahaha, Han Yi, this is the price of offending our Dongfang family!" Dongfang Ming's wild laughter came from behind.
"Watching your fellow disciples die miserably, and the treasure land you discovered being taken by us, doesn't that make you unwilling?"
"Too bad. No matter how unwilling you are, it's useless!"
Yet Jiang Kai seemed completely unable to hear the mockery behind him.
"I'm sorry, senior sister. I'm sorry, senior brothers. I lied to you all along." Jiang Kai lowered his head. "I'm not Han Yi. I'm not your junior brother…"
Suddenly, Jiang Kai turned around. On that disfigured face, his blood-red eyes stared fixedly at the five members of the Dongfang family opposite him.
"But I am also a disciple of Qingyun Sect!"
With a whoosh, more than twenty life-chasing blades all floated beside Jiang Kai.
The Yama King Token, the Light God Token, and the Earth God Token. Three main god plaques hovered at the very front.
Jiang Kai slowly drew the Demon-Slaying Sword… quenched in flame!
"I want you all… dead!" Jiang Kai roared!
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