Seeing that every step forward on the street was entangled in dense attacks, Gong Chenying frowned. The pace was too slow. Taking a breath, she managed to fly onto the rubble of a collapsed building on one side. With the shops and houses gone, the view was unobstructed, revealing an endless field behind the buildings. But when she tried to fly further out, she felt as if she had hit an invisible wall, which bounced her back. After stabilizing herself, Gong Chenying slowly raised her right palm, which glowed with rich spiritual light, and then fiercely struck the space in front of her. A dull thud echoed, and her figure swayed several times in the air, almost falling. Despite her powerful physique, it felt like she had struck an ancient, eternal iceberg. The point of impact remained unchanged, transparent enough to clearly see the endless fields in the distance, yet she couldn't advance even half a step.
Seeing this, Gong Chenying had to rethink her plan. She quickly returned to the street, barely managing to keep her body stable about a zhang above the ground, and began to fly forward along the center of the street. Holding her poleaxe in one hand and forming seals with the other, she continuously attacked the shops on both sides with earth-shattering power. As the buildings on either side collapsed, the density of attacks aimed at them instantly decreased by more than half. This greatly reduced the pressure on the Qi Condensation disciples below, and their speed of movement along the center of the street began to increase.
Just as everyone began to relax a little, thinking they could leave this street in this manner, Li Yan's heart suddenly pounded. The earth-element spiritual energy cylinder in his body boiled up again, its spiritual energy level now exceeding that of the fire-element cylinder before it. Following the source of the palpitation, he turned his head to the side and was shocked. He quickly looked up. "Sixth Senior Sister, disaster is coming!" Then, forming a seal with one hand to block the objects attacking from the shops, he pointed with the other hand back down the street they had come from.
Everyone was stunned by his words and looked over. When they saw clearly, they were so frightened their souls nearly flew out. On the street they had come from, a giant black shadow in the sky blotted out the sun, slowly pressing down on them. As the shadow moved, it grew larger and larger, like an ink brush slowly dyeing the sky layer by layer, weighing down on everyone's heart like a heavy lead ingot. Some of the shops that hadn't attacked them when they first passed by were now turning into powder with an eerie silence as the black shadow swept over them. The dust was then sucked into the black shadow as if by a whale, making it thicker and more turbulent. All that was left below was the bare, dim street. And all of this happened in silence. If one didn't look back or deliberately scan with their divine sense, it was impossible to notice.
"Go, quickly! Resist with everything you have, talismans and spiritual energy! We need to put some distance between us and the shadow first!" Seeing that their current pace was not enough, Gong Chenying let out a sharp cry. The green and yellow light on her hands intensified, and she repeatedly struck the shops on both sides of the street. She was now expending a great deal of spiritual energy to clear a longer path for the Qi Condensation disciples below, reducing the bizarre attacks from the sides.
While Gong Chenying was attacking, the group below also sped up. They chose to block some of the incoming objects head-on. This was obviously a huge drain on their spiritual energy and talismans, something they would never be so willing to do normally.
Gong Chenying's spiritual light flashed wildly. At this moment, she had almost given up on dodging, using only her protective spiritual shield to withstand the attacks from the sides of the street. Most of her spiritual energy was focused on attacking and maintaining her flight. She took a moment to glance down. Seeing the group of disciples following closely about three zhang behind her, she breathed a slight sigh of relief. When her eyes fell on Li Yan at the rear of the team, she remembered that since entering the Wheel of Life and Death, Li Yan had already given three warnings. Except for the first time, when he had noticed it at almost the same time as she had, the other two times he had been the first to notice the change in the situation. Was he practicing some secret art? But this was not the time for questions.
None of the Qi Condensation disciples below remembered Li Yan's several warnings at this moment. They were all on edge. Besides, apart from his brief warnings, Li Yan was also doing his best to resist the debris from the shops, just like them, without any conspicuous performance. They knew how terrifying the black shadow was before entering the Wheel of Life and Death; contact meant instant death. Now, seeing the giant black shadow not far behind, like a sneering demon chasing them, they were all extremely nervous. What other thoughts could they have? They just wanted to get away from that black shadow as quickly as possible.
As the group desperately ran forward, they didn't notice that the sky, which had long been dim, showed no signs of turning to night even after more than half a quarter of an hour had passed since they entered. The light remained as dim as before, illuminating the street lined with shops as if it were the twilight of doomsday, depressing the heart.
The muffled or sharp sounds in the air became more frequent. Many wine jugs and dishes, after being shattered, turned into even more, finer, denser attacks. Heavy furniture, sharp farm tools, and even disgusting things from latrines came whistling through the air. They were subsequently blocked by protective spiritual light, shaking the cultivators. It was clear these were not ordinary mortal objects but were driven by some spell. In this desperate push, many cultivators already had wounds on their bodies.
At this moment, if someone could fly very, very high, they would be able to see twenty long strips flying and circling within a sphere. But the people on them could not feel the movement of the strips, feeling as if they were standing on solid ground.
Li Yan felt as if the attacks were coming wave after wave, with no sign of stopping, seemingly endless. At this moment, he understood the meaning of the Wheel of Life and Death. Since entering, they had been in a constant state of fighting and running, without a moment's rest. The five spiritual energy cylinders in his body were operating wildly, providing a powerful, unceasing core of power. But he knew that if this continued, he would be running on empty in about an hour, his spiritual energy exhausted. The earth spiritual energy in his body had gradually calmed down, and the five-element cycle was operating normally. But he still felt that since arriving here, the speed of his five-element spiritual energy cycle was two or three times faster than in the outside world. He believed others would not have this feeling, because he had a five-element Miscellaneous Spirit Root and could feel the endless cycle of the five elements.
"How does this damn street have no end?" someone next to Li Yan said at this moment.
Hearing this somewhat cold voice, Li Yan knew it was Wu Shixi from Spirit Insect Peak, who was in the same small team as him. At this moment, he was directing five colorful centipedes to crawl over his body, constantly spewing a five-colored mist that enveloped him. Any object that hit him would dissolve into puffs of smoke and disappear. But his scarred face was now even more ferocious, clearly angered by the endless attacks.
No one answered as they moved with all their might, but many faces clearly showed the same question. Many also looked in the direction the street extended. Under the dim sky, the front seemed to be just an endless street and shops, a dead silence completely different from the chaotic battle here.
"Perhaps there will be an intersection after ten li. There should be something different there," said the scholarly-looking Yu Yiyong, holding a large calligraphy brush. With each stroke, an ancient green character would appear in the air, then quickly break down into strokes, the dots of green meeting the incoming objects.
Li Yan had also thought of the ten-li mark, but he didn't say it. He also remembered Li Wuyi telling him before that the Wheel of Life and Death was only ten li long when they first entered. Why was this number singled out? Li Wuyi hadn't explained clearly, perhaps because he wasn't sure himself and was just quoting from ancient texts or sect instructions. If so, it was possible that beyond ten li was an intersection with another path, or that every ten li forward was an intersection.
On the dim street, the front was quiet, the rear a mess. Both ends were silent, while in the middle, various colored lights danced, and explosions sounded continuously. It was a gloomy and sinister scene.
Looking at the graceful figure in the air ahead, whose attacks were full of explosive power, striking the houses on both sides like an aggressive fire, causing them to explode and scatter, a picture of peerless might, Li Yan glanced back at the street they had come from. He silently calculated in his mind. They had been walking for about a quarter of an hour and had covered about four or five li. That meant in about another quarter of an hour, they would probably reach the ten-li mark. He didn't know what awaited them then. In the beginning, he had the same idea as Gong Chenying. Probably not just the two of them, but many cultivators wanted to break through from the side and get away from this street. But after seeing Gong Chenying's earlier attack and that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't break the side barriers, they knew they didn't have the ability to break out either.
After seeing Gong Chenying's move, Li Yan was lost in thought. He thought about how the team leaders who entered the Wheel of Life and Death in the past were Golden Core masters. They must have also thought about breaking through the sides to leave this damn place. They were now like they were in a narrow alley, with only forward and backward as options. Perhaps only a Nascent Soul Ancestor could break the space horizontally, but what would be the point of the trial then?
Every cultivator's lips were sealed tight, somewhat numbly resisting the attacks. At first, they felt aggrieved. Besides defending, they couldn't attack their opponents at all. Even if they did, they would just shatter the incoming objects, not kill the enemy. Defense, defense, constant defense. Their hand movements had become somewhat mechanical. But looking at the black shadow slowly pressing down from behind, it seemed that besides running forward while resisting, they could do nothing.
Time passed bit by bit amidst the oppressive atmosphere and constant explosions. The high-intensity, non-stop output had some cultivators drenched in sweat, and the spiritual light shields on their bodies began to show signs of instability. But most of the cultivators at the tenth level of Qi Condensation and above still looked like they had strength to spare. A few had been injured, but fortunately, they were all minor injuries. Their spiritual energy was running low. After being hit by dense attacks, a moment of carelessness would result in a sharp piece of debris piercing through their body, leaving a trail of blood. Fortunately, they all instinctively avoided their vital points.
"The outer perimeter of the six teams will be formed by those at the late-stage tenth level of Qi Condensation and above to form a defensive net. The inner members will form an auxiliary spiritual energy net to protect the outer members from close-range attacks," Gong Chenying said, turning around while attacking.
The most tired person here now was probably Gong Chenying. She was bearing the absolute majority of the attacks. To speed up, she only used her spiritual light shield to block the attacks from the sides of the street. Those lifeless objects seemed to know she was the biggest enemy and slowly increased their attacks, with more than half of them aimed directly at her in mid-air. This forced Gong Chenying to use more spiritual energy to resist. At this moment, she was drenched in sweat.
She looked around anxiously, but there was nothing she could do. This trial was designed to force people in one direction. The other three directions were either blocked by approaching death or were impossible to break through. Staring at the dim, endless fields on both sides was enough to drive a person mad.
Just as she felt her strength drop to only forty percent of her usual level, Gong Chenying immediately decided to change her plan and land on the ground. Although she couldn't unleash her full power from the air, she could reduce the spiritual energy consumption from flying.
Just as she was about to land, her eyes suddenly lit up. In the corner of her eye, she saw the end of the street. It was no longer an endless, winding street with shops, but a giant, yellow-glowing sphere blocking the middle of the street.