Gong Chenying, of course, also sensed that something was amiss. Without the slightest hesitation, she waved her hand, and the team halted its advance. She glanced at the ancient path several hundred meters away and immediately turned to retreat, but it was too late. In an instant, the sand beneath their feet erupted into a sky-blotting tempest. The light of the setting sun instantly grew dim, and countless fragmented limbs of stone statues began to rise slowly from beneath the ground, like bamboo shoots sprouting from the sand, or like the hands of vengeful ghosts reaching from hell. From the distance, a cacophony of sounds, both high and low, drifted over. Through the gaps in the sandstorm, Li Yan and the others could vaguely see, under the blood-red setting sun, a world-spanning blackness like an ink-stained cloud. It echoed a black shadow several hundred meters behind them on the ancient path, like the cold, gleaming blades of two great shears, scissoring in from two directions. This sight terrified Li Yan and the others, nearly scaring their souls from their bodies. But what chilled them to the bone even more was a layer of something like a red wave, which also came rolling in from the horizon as if treading on water. Red layers, one after another, rose and fell, undulating as they rapidly approached. Upon closer inspection, they were those same red lizards.
Even Gong Chenying's face was pale at this moment. She had no chance of victory here; she estimated that in a single encounter, not even her bones would remain. Seeing this, the group unleashed an unprecedented burst of potential. Seizing the moment when only the fragmented statues rising from the ground were attacking, they desperately unleashed their immortal arts and spirit treasures. In the span of just two breaths, they managed to charge back more than seventy meters. However, the overwhelming black and red tides in the sky and on the ground behind them had already pursued them like a plague of insects to less than a hundred meters away. Just as the group desperately pushed forward another thirty meters toward the ancient path, the insect cloud was practically upon them. Many had already cried out in alarm, believing their lives were about to end here. But at that very moment, the black and red insect clouds, as well as the statue fragments continuously rising from the ground, suddenly stopped. Only a few attacks struck them. The insect clouds, in particular, seemed to have encountered some kind of resistance, their speed becoming incredibly slow. This allowed the group, after breaking out in a cold sweat, to slowly calm down.
They saw that although the insect clouds had slowed, they were still advancing. The surrounding sandstorm also began to rotate more slowly, and the statue fragments underfoot rose with sluggish difficulty. How could they not understand now? It seemed the closer they got to the ancient path, the weaker the attacks became. They took the opportunity to quickly retreat onto the ancient path. The overwhelming black and red insect clouds were halted several meters from the ancient path, unable to advance another inch. To the terror of Li Yan and the others, the insect clouds let out a heaven-shaking buzz of unwillingness before slowly sinking back into the sand, along with the risen statue fragments, as if nothing had ever happened.
Gong Chenying recalled what had happened earlier. After waving her hand to block another round of attacks from both sides of the ancient path, she couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. It was fortunate they hadn't ventured too far into the desert, or not a single one of them would have survived. The group looked at the sides of the ancient path with lingering fear. Even if they were given a hundred times the courage, they wouldn't dare take a single step off the path now. Although they guessed that a massive insect cloud eruption might only be triggered after venturing a certain distance, no one dared to try again. No one spoke out to blame Gong Chenying. Firstly, they knew her intentions had been good, an attempt to probe the area. Secondly, even if they held a grudge, they wouldn't dare show the slightest hint of it in front of a Foundation Establishment expert.
However, after this battle, their fear seemed to have been broken through. When facing the attacks from the sides of the desolate ancient path again, they actually felt much more relaxed. Anyone who had witnessed those ground-covering black and red insect clouds, and the soul-snatching hands constantly reaching out from the underworld below, would feel that the current attacks were nothing more than a light drizzle on their faces.
As they continued their advance, the cultivators simply gave up on passive defense and began to counterattack on a large scale. The effect of this counterattacking was indeed much better than pure defense, and their pace quickened considerably. They successively killed thirteen red lizards and annihilated tens of thousands from the black insect clouds. However, the consequence of these attacks was the rapid consumption of their spirit power. After traveling just over six li, they had consumed about thirty percent of their spirit power. This cast a dark feeling over everyone's heart. At this rate, by the time they finished the remaining three-odd li, those with high spiritual power would likely have just over fifty percent left, while those with less might not even have thirty percent. Looking at the massive black shadow in the sky about two li behind them, if they were to meet the other party, the scene from the last trial with the Pure Land Sect would be replayed—facing a powerful opponent with insufficient spiritual power. Right now, they could only pray that the path of the other cultivators or demonic beasts was just as fraught with difficulty and resistance. Only then might they stand on an equal footing.
At this moment, Gong Chenying's fine brows were tightly furrowed. She didn't have any particularly good ideas either. If Li Yan hadn't suggested resting and recovering before setting out, there would probably be very few among them with much stamina left, and there might have even been casualties already.
Her mind raced. At their current speed, they would reach the ten-li mark in a quarter of an hour, but by then, their stamina would also be heavily depleted. She gazed at the immense black shadow in the sky behind them, pressing down on them. The ancient path had already disappeared, and everything in the desert, whether collapsed ancient buildings or statues, had turned into black dust. There were no signs of life there. Just before, when Gong Chenying had glanced back, she saw swarms of black-shelled insects that had occasionally flown up from the ground a few li away turn into puffs of black smoke and vanish from the sky the instant the black shadow arrived.
As Gong Chenying moved forward, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. Before the black shadow arrived, if they didn't enter a battleground similar to the sphere from the previous trial, could they perhaps rest briefly outside it? In the last trial, after they entered the sphere, they couldn't find any other entrance before the Pure Land Sect arrived. As for the Pure Land Sect, right after they entered, the giant black shadow from their corridor's direction covered the sphere. Did this mean they hadn't managed to create enough distance from the massive black shadow? With this thought, Gong Chenying felt it might be worth a try.
The next three li went just as they had calculated. A quarter of an hour later, through the desperate efforts of the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators, they had managed to pull about two li ahead of the giant black shadow in the sky. This was the absolute best they could do.
And at this moment, a massive yellow sphere appeared in the middle of the ancient path before them. Everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. After launching a continuous barrage of attacks to clear out the nearest collapsed buildings and the statue fragments within their ruins, the surrounding attacks finally began to subside.
"You, you, you... stand guard. The rest of you, seize the time to recover your spirit power." After sweeping the area with her divine sense and glancing at the sky behind her, Gong Chenying pointed out eight cultivators in a row and spoke with a blank expression. The eight she pointed out were all currently in better condition, and Li Yan was among them. Gong Chenying herself also needed a brief recovery; she had borne the brunt of the attacks and defense in this trial as well.
With that said, a light flashed in her hand, and the green halberd vanished. She directly took out two Spirit Stones, holding one in each hand, and sat down cross-legged before the yellow sphere. The other cultivators dared not say another word. Only Li Yan and the other seven cultivators exchanged glances, a few of them with bitter smiles. They also needed to rest; their spirit power was less than seventy percent. But who could they blame? They were currently the ones in the best shape.
Li Yan looked around. Although the vast majority of attacks here had been cleared by them earlier, red lizards and black beetles still came over, though their numbers were extremely small. Gong Chenying's arrangement was, of course, absolutely correct.
About half a quarter of an hour later, the eight cultivators had repelled a dozen or so sporadic attacks from the small black and red insects. They were now staring nervously at the massive black shadow in the sky, now just a hundred paces away. It was like a bottomless black hole, a man-eating maw. The ground there was silently twisting and rising, then merging into the black shadow without a sound. A red lizard, seeing the black shadow approach, let out a strange "zhi-zhi" cry and scurried rapidly toward Li Yan's group. But when it inadvertently glanced back at the black shadow in the sky, it seemed to be hit by a paralyzing spell. Its body thrashed violently, but it couldn't even turn its head back. It could only watch as the black shadow drew closer, bit by bit, and sliced it up like a sharp knife dicing green onions. Starting from its tail, it was cut down section by section. The crimson blood that flowed out turned pitch-black the moment it left its body. The red lizard was clearly in extreme agony. The sharp mouth on its shuttle-shaped head opened and closed, its eyes filled with utter torment. Li Yan, however, heard no sound; it was as if all sound had been absorbed by the black shadow. Amidst the red lizard's pained expression, fresh blood began to pour from its eyes and mouth in spurts. Its remaining forelimbs clawed painfully at the bluestone of the ancient path, gouging a pit nearly half a foot deep and embedding the front half of its body deep into the ground. But slowly, even that section of the ancient path turned to black smoke and became a part of the black shadow in the sky.
The other seven cultivators looked at Li Yan with pleading eyes. Although the black shadow was still over a hundred meters away, the psychological pressure they were under had reached its limit. They felt an impulse to turn and flee immediately. Given the shadow's speed, even if it were twenty paces away, they should still have time to rush into the yellow sphere. But this suffocating feeling of watching death approach was psychologically unbearable, yet they dared not urge a Foundation Establishment cultivator. They weren't sure if the meditating Gong Chenying had noticed the current situation. If it were them cultivating, they probably wouldn't have noticed. This damned black shadow was completely silent, and their divine senses couldn't detect it at all, yet with their naked eyes, they could see it was already near.
Although they would leave a small part of their minds alert to the outside world while cultivating here, for Qi Condensation cultivators, this level of alertness was fine for preventing attacks from things like black beetles or statue fragments. The moment such attacks approached, a sense of danger would arise in their minds, and their reserved divine sense would also react. But for something like the black shadow in the sky, they knew they wouldn't be able to sense it in the slightest.
Li Yan sighed inwardly. Watching the god of death approach step by step from a hundred paces away, he too felt uneasy. He gritted his teeth and remained silent, his eyes fixed on the oppressive black shadow in the sky. He knew that every extra moment he could buy for Senior Sister Gong and the others meant an extra bit of combat strength. But he still had a degree of confidence. Here, he wasn't just relying on his naked eye for judgment. His divine sense could perceive the existence of this black shadow, and the spirit power within his body would churn differently as the shadow drew nearer. As of now, he could feel the five elements of spirit power racing through his body like frightened fish, but it hadn't yet reached a level that made his heart palpitate with fear.
Under the terrified gazes of the cultivators, the sky-blotting black shadow advanced: eighty paces, seventy-nine, seventy-eight... thirty paces, twenty-nine... The seven cultivators were now soaked in sweat, their hands already holding Ghost-Chariot Talismans and thick stacks of various defensive talismans. If anything unexpected happened, they would not hesitate for a moment to slap the Ghost-Chariot Talisman and dozens of other talismans onto themselves all at once.