Li Yan retreated a few steps and watched the eighteen monks' movements. The monks would constantly rotate and move within a radius of less than seven zhang. This was also the reason why Li Yan had been unable to use the divine sense detonation poison of the Fragmented Twelve. It required these people to move to the position where he had laid the poison. But this group of monks was just huddled in one place and wouldn't go anywhere else. Now that the Pure Land Sect monks' spiritual energy was about to run out, their range of movement had shrunk even more. Li Yan's attempt to use the divine sense detonation poison had come to naught.
The eighteen monks had long been on guard against the Malevolent Spirit Sect's methods. So, for the red and green mists in the air, these monks had long since closed their six senses and sealed their breath. It was extremely difficult to even harm their eyes. It was more than enough for a low-level Qi Condensation cultivator to hold their breath for half an hour. As long as their spiritual energy was not consumed violently, there was no need to breathe in spiritual energy. Now, most of the poisons the eighteen monks were afflicted with were some with extremely strong adhesion and corrosiveness. But it was easier said than done to directly attack the opponent's body with this kind of poison. They had long since propped up a protective shield. In the attacks of the thirty-six cultivators over these dozens of breaths, only a very small amount of poison had entered the formation, poisoning only five of them.
If not for the time limit, then Li Yan and the others could just slowly attack like this. After half an hour, when they needed to breathe, more potent poisons would take effect, and the monks who were already poisoned in the formation would also die from the poison over time.
But this was all hypothetical. What they lacked now was time.
Time was both slow and fast. Li Yan and the others hoped that time would slow down, so they would have enough time to wait for the opponent to die. But time was also very fast. The battle had already passed for thirty breaths in the blink of an eye. The two on the earthen platforms had changed from standing to sitting cross-legged. Chan Monk Zhizhong's gaunt face had begun to turn waxy yellow. When he entered the sphere, his spiritual energy had already been consumed by nearly half. If he could have distributed it evenly and used his combat skills, the outcome of the battle with Gong Chenying would have been hard to predict. But now, with this straightforward infusion of spiritual energy without any tricks, they could only rely on their own solid foundations.
Li Yan fought on the edge of the Eighteen Arhats. At this moment, the Malevolent Spirit Sect was not worried about the opponent's attacks. The remaining spiritual energy of the opponent was only enough to maintain the formation's operation, and counterattacks were only occasional. Li Yan's mind raced. He thought of a plan, but he didn't know if it would work. It was just a guess. If it didn't work, then his own side might also be affected. He had no antidote for the Fragmented Twelve. And there were no Golden Core masters here. That would be a mutually destructive tactic.
He suddenly glanced at Monk Zhizhong, and his heart skipped a beat. He saw a hint of struggle in Monk Zhizhong's eyes as he looked at the eighteen people in the field. Li Yan thought of a possibility. These eighteen people had no strength left to attack now. Thinking of what might happen next, he couldn't help but be horrified.
"You few, help me send a voice transmission to the other sect members at the same time. When I attack in two breaths, you all attack from a distance with all your might. Then quickly recall all your spirit beasts and close your six senses, especially sealing the circulation of your spiritual energy. Quickly! Any delay and things will change."
After covering a few cultivators around him with his divine sense, Li Yan quickly transmitted. He didn't care which team they belonged to. He didn't have the time or ability to transmit to a large area with his divine sense at the same time. He had to transmit regardless, using his "Martial Uncle" privilege this one time.
After speaking, he silently calculated the time in his heart. Eight cultivators from the Malevolent Spirit Sect received Li Yan's voice transmission at the same time. They were stunned for a moment. A scan with their divine sense showed Li Yan with his head lowered and eyes downcast, clearly brewing some kind of art. They were surprised, not knowing what Li Yan was going to do. But seeing him say this, out of trust for their fellow sect member, and since several of them had seen Li Yan's terrifying poison during the competition, they quickly transmitted to the people nearby. Divine sense transmission was instantaneous. The most time-consuming part was the judgment time after a cultivator received the transmission. Just as some cultivators were hesitating, two breaths had passed. Li Yan's eyes suddenly opened, a sharp glint flashing. He waved his hands, and a large dark cloud had already covered the eighteen monks. His action made Monk Zhizhong, whose eyes had already shown a look of ruthless determination, pause for a moment. The dark cloud was too conspicuous, but the spiritual energy contained within it was not terrifying. It was just an ordinary "Cloud and Rain Art," only larger in area.
At the same time as Li Yan released the "Cloud and Rain Art," more than a dozen cultivators from the Malevolent Spirit Sect frantically poured their spiritual energy into their attacks. Spirit artifacts and arts all attacked the eighteen monks at once. The remaining dozen or so cultivators, who were still hesitating, also subconsciously followed up with their full strength. After their arts and spirit artifacts were released, some cultivators had already recalled their symbiotic spirit beasts and insect clouds to their spirit beast pouches with their divine sense. Then they quickly retreated, instantly closing their six senses and reducing the circulation of spiritual energy in their bodies. The cultivators who reacted a little slower, just as they were recalling their spirit beasts, saw Li Yan activate the Cloud and Rain Art. A large amount of rain poured down, drenching the eighteen monks. The eighteen monks were also startled at first. They looked up and saw that the spiritual energy fluctuation was weak, just an ordinary "Cloud and Rain Art." They couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. At most, the Malevolent Spirit Sect had added some potent poison to this "Cloud and Rain Art." What use could that be? They had already held their breath, and with the formation's defense down, they didn't know how it could be effective.
And when the dark cloud had just formed, an unprecedentedly huge pressure had already pressed down from the sky. Various colored lights flashed, and a barrage of attacks followed. It seemed the Malevolent Spirit Sect was going to forcibly break the formation now. A sneer hung on the lips of the Pure Land Sect monks. 'The "Eighteen Arhats Formation" is not so easy to break.' With a collective shout of "Amitabha," their voices actually drowned out the whistling attacks. The eighteen monks gathered all their spiritual energy, and the Arhat Formation operated rapidly, using its momentum to reduce the force of the attacks.
After a series of sounds as dense as popping soybeans, the brilliant lights before everyone's eyes dissipated. The Arhat Formation was still there, but the people inside were staggering. Five of them were as pale as paper. Although the others still had their lips sealed tight, clearly holding back the urge to breathe, their chests were heaving violently, obviously circulating their remaining spiritual energy to recover forcefully. The eyes of the cultivators lit up. In this situation, they estimated that one or two more full-strength attacks would definitely break it. But just as this thought arose, a sharp shout suddenly rang out, "Amitabha, let's go to hell together!"
Chan Monk Zhizhong, who had been sitting on the ground, suddenly had a great flash of light in his hand. With a "kacha" sound, he had crushed the Blue Rhomboid Crystal in his hand. The next moment, he had gotten up and flown towards Gong Chenying. The moment the Blue Rhomboid Crystal in his hand shattered, everyone heard a loud "zi zi" sound from above their heads. They quickly looked up and saw that the black shadow covering the top of the sphere had become a few shades darker. The translucent sphere instantly thinned by several degrees, and the giant black shadow became much clearer.
Monk Zhizhong had been hesitant before this wave of attacks from Li Yan's group. At that time, he had already seen the situation clearly. Defeat was certain, and the thought of death had already sprouted. It was just that these Pure Land Sect Qi Condensation monks had taken decades to cultivate. Although they had no hope of reaching Foundation Establishment, they were sharp weapons for cutting off the Malevolent Spirit Sect's foundation. He still felt it was a loss for them to die with these thirty Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators. Just as he was hesitating and struggling, the Malevolent Spirit Sect had launched a desperate, full-strength attack. Even if they could hold on, the final result would still benefit the Malevolent Spirit Sect. So, they might as well die together.
In a flash, Chan Monk Zhizhong had reached Gong Chenying. He patted his waist, and a light flashed. A wooden fish had appeared in his hand. He held the wooden fish and brought it down on Gong Chenying's head from the air.
Gong Chenying's face was expressionless, but the spiritual light in her hand dimmed, and she had also put away the Blue Rhomboid Crystal. At the same time, she had disappeared from her original spot. When she reappeared, it was as if she had switched places, appearing at the opponent's previous position. A green poleaxe had already pierced towards the descending wooden fish from the side. With a loud "hong long" sound, a ball of dazzling light had exploded from Gong Chenying's original earthen platform position. The earthen platform there had instantly turned into a pile of dust. Two figures in the space quickly separated, then stepped back on the ground with continuous "deng deng" sounds. Each step back left a footprint half a meter deep in the ground.
Finally, the bodies of the two "hong-ed" again, and only then did they stop their retreat. With a "pu" sound, Gong Chenying had retreated nearly a hundred meters and hit the side of the sphere wall, spitting out a large mouthful of blood mist. Monk Zhizhong, however, had hit the sphere wall where Gong Chenying had been standing before. His face was even more miserable, with blood flowing from all seven orifices, his eyes wide with rage. It was clear that he had been at a disadvantage in the fight just now. He didn't say anything, shook the wooden fish in his hand, and pushed off the sphere wall behind him with his heel, as if to pounce again. But just as he pushed off, he felt the world spin, and his body swayed. Monk Zhizhong couldn't help but sigh inwardly, 'My spiritual energy is finally exhausted. If only I had attacked earlier.' This thought only flashed in his mind. When he got up to attack just now, he had felt that his spiritual energy was less than twenty percent of his usual level. After clashing with Gong Chenying again, he realized his judgment was wrong. He had originally thought that a female cultivator, even a body cultivator, would still have less stamina than a man, not to mention a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. After these dozens of breaths, he knew very well that the other party's spiritual energy should be about to bottom out, just like his. Who knew that the moment they clashed, he knew his judgment was wrong. The other party's physical body was so powerful. This young woman, unexpectedly, had given up on spiritual energy and used pure physical strength to take his full-strength blow. Although his spiritual energy at this time was much less than normal, twenty percent of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's spiritual energy would have been more than enough to crush an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in normal times. In his mind, if he clashed with the other party at this time, the other party would be dead or crippled. He didn't expect the young woman's body to be so cultivated.
Monk Zhizhong swayed as he stood up. He didn't wipe the blood from his face. Holding the wooden fish in one hand, a great golden light suddenly erupted from his body, and his abdomen instantly bulged high. He turned his head to look at the eighteen monks and shouted, "My Buddha is merciful! From bliss you come, to bliss you shall return!"
The exchange between the two of them, from Zhizhong's shout and crushing the Blue Rhomboid Crystal to the attack hitting the sphere wall, had only taken a single breath. On the other side, the other cultivators were all stunned. Just as they were about to react, the eighteen monks, who had been struggling to hold on but could have defended for a while longer without any problem, after hearing Monk Zhizhong's sharp shout, looked at each other. With no joy or sorrow on their faces, they had "hu-ed" and broken their formation, chanting sutras in low voices. For a time, the sound of chanting filled the sphere. A great golden light erupted from the eighteen people, and their bodies began to swell rapidly.
"Not good, they're going to self-destruct!"
The cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect were horrified. The self-detonation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator would leave no survivors within a fifty-li radius. Although the power of a Qi Condensation cultivator's self-detonation was much smaller, there were eighteen of them here. This sphere was only about eight hundred zhang in size. What's more, there was also a Foundation Establishment cultivator on the other side who had also chosen to self-destruct. No one here would be able to escape with their lives.
To put it another way, even if a cultivator from the Malevolent Spirit Sect had some rare protective talisman to save their life, this sphere would probably be shattered, and they still wouldn't be able to escape the black shadow outside.
Seeing that they couldn't win, these monks had resorted to such a mutually destructive method.
A sharp glint flashed in Gong Chenying's eyes. She didn't expect their attack to provoke such ferocity from the Chan monk. She wanted to rush over, but it would be meaningless. Even if she could stop Monk Zhizhong, what about the eighteen people? Missing even one could be fatal for the sphere. But for now, she could only do her best to subdue the most threatening Monk Zhizhong. Just as she stood up to charge towards Monk Zhizhong with all her might, a voice echoed in the space, "Sixth Senior Sister, stop the Qi Condensation monks! Detonate!"
Everyone was stunned, looking at Li Yan, who was hundreds of zhang away with the eighteen monks, not knowing what he was going to do.