Gong Chenying was stunned. She quickly looked back and saw Li Yan standing hundreds of zhang away, his face grave as he stared at Monk Zhizhong. It was clear the first half of his sentence was for her, and the second half for Monk Zhizhong. Yet, his words were filled with confidence.
As soon as Li Yan's voice fell, Monk Zhizhong was taken aback. The next moment, his face changed drastically. He felt a sharp pain all over his body. On his already swelling body, another layer of small bumps had appeared. With Li Yan's shout of "Detonate!", those small bumps popped one after another with a continuous "pa pa pa pa" sound, exploding into clouds of blood mist. Bloody holes appeared one after another on his body. The spiritual energy in his body seemed to have found a release point and rapidly flowed out from those holes. His swelling body quickly shriveled, and his internal organs felt as if they were set on fire, making him cry out in pain.
Everyone was stunned, looking at Li Yan from hundreds of zhang away, not knowing how he had done it.
Amidst Monk Zhizhong's miserable cries, the "pa pa" sounds continued, and his life force was rapidly draining away. His figure swayed before crashing to the ground. From Li Yan's shout to Chan Monk Zhizhong's fall, only a single breath had passed. The Chan Monk on the ground was now covered in black blood, which quickly stained the ground red. His hands and feet twitched, and his body was hunched. The wooden fish had long been thrown aside. Black blood still trickled from his mouth. His eyes were wide with anger. With a "heh heh" sound from his throat, he said, "It's a pity, we met a little early," and then he stopped moving. Although his voice was quiet, with the hearing of the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators, they could still hear it clearly, but no one understood what he meant.
After seeing him fall, Li Yan didn't pay him any more attention but quickly turned to the eighteen monks. At this moment, Gong Chenying had already flown over, the green light of her poleaxe extending to over ten zhang. She wasn't sure if she could kill them all in one blow. Her spiritual energy was now almost completely depleted, not even ten percent of her usual level. And she had no large-scale group-attack magical artifacts in her storage pouch. If it were a normal situation, she would only need one or two breaths to set up a formation and trap these dozen or so people within it. Even if they were to self-destruct, with the power of Qi Condensation cultivators, she was confident she could suppress it.
Seeing this, the other cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect were also panicked and threw all their attacks at the opponent, hoping for a decisive blow.
Seeing Gong Chenying's poleaxe slashing down like a meteor from the sky, followed by a rush of various spirit artifacts and spirit treasures like a stampede of horses, Li Yan was also extremely anxious. He didn't know if the method he had just used would work. He was usually very confident in his Fragmented Twelve, but the four or five breaths he had estimated now felt so long. It hadn't taken effect yet. Could it be that the method he had guessed was not feasible?
In an instant, Gong Chenying's meteor-like strike had already reached the sky above the eighteen monks of the Pure Land Sect. However, at this moment, a burly monk among the eighteen, his face sinking and a sharp glint flashing in his eyes, let out a low shout, "Hum!" As if by telepathy, nine monks beside him stepped forward with him, blocking the remaining eight. The spiritual energy that was already surging in their bodies suddenly intensified by several degrees, but their bodies did not continue to swell. However, blood was already gushing from the ears and noses of the ten men. Ignoring this, they all shouted "Hum!" again. Nine of them held up a single Buddhist palm in front of their chests, while the other hand simultaneously slapped the shoulder of another person. With this slap, the ten fingers of some of them exploded into a cloud of blood mist. This time, the golden light on the ten men shone brightly, so dazzling that it hurt one's eyes and was impossible to look at directly. And the bodies of the eight people behind them swelled even more.
At this time, the giant green light that seemed to have come from the sky had already slashed down. The ten men blocking in front raised their single palms held in front of their chests at the same time. A dazzling golden bell appeared in the air. With a "weng" sound, it met the giant green blade. At the same time, the ten men kicked backwards, and the eight people behind them, who had already swollen like balls, were sent flying in all directions by the chaotic kicks.
Seeing this action, the cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect understood the other party's intention. These ten people had used some kind of Buddhist secret art to stimulate their potential, intending to take a blow from a Foundation Establishment cultivator head-on to buy time for the eight behind them to self-destruct.
Just by looking at the presentation of this secret art, one could tell that those who used it would likely face a grim fate afterward.
In the blink of an eye, Gong Chenying's attack had already hit the large golden bell squarely. A world-shaking boom echoed in their ears, making everyone dizzy. A powerful airflow blew everyone backwards. As they retreated, they also saw the eight people flying away in the opposite direction. At this time, the figures of the eight monks were like round balls, their limbs shrunken. Everyone was horrified, knowing they couldn't immediately organize another attack.
Gong Chenying's figure swayed. Amidst the flying dust, she did not retreat. She looked at the eight people moving away, and with a surge of her spiritual energy, she was about to give chase. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her Dantian. She was instantly annoyed, knowing her spiritual energy was depleted. But she still stomped her foot on the ground. With another "boom," she used pure physical strength to chase after the direction where most of the people were. This decisive pursuit, in the eyes of the cultivators flying backwards, made them sigh inwardly. 'So what if you catch up? There are only three people in that direction. What about the other five?'
Li Yan, who was flying backwards, had been silently counting in his head. At this moment, his eyes narrowed. "Five breaths." From their group attack on the eighteen monks to Zhizhong crushing the Blue Rhomboid Crystal and launching his attack, a total of five breaths had passed. In these short five breaths, under the cultivators' attacks, thousands of changes had occurred. These Qi Condensation monks had only spent three breaths gathering energy for their self-detonation.
The moment Gong Chenying took to the air, the eight scattered people let out a painful roar, and spiritual light began to flow chaotically from their bodies. This was the prelude to self-detonation. Even Gong Chenying, in mid-air, couldn't help but falter when she saw this. "Too late."
Except for Gong Chenying and Li Yan, everyone else gathered the last of their spiritual energy to cast their strongest spiritual light shields. Some patted their waists and took out a stack of talismans, continuously slapping them on the outside of their shields. Gong Chenying had exhausted her spiritual energy and didn't take out the talismans from her storage pouch. Li Yan's eyes were fixed on the few monks who were also flying backwards in the opposite direction.
Just as everyone was in a flurry, the painful screams of the eight monks suddenly stopped, as if their necks had been wrung. The unstable spiritual light flowing from their bodies showed signs of dissipating. Clots of filthy blood oozed from their ball-like bodies. The next moment, pieces of flesh and blood began to fall off their bodies. That flesh could no longer be called flesh and blood. The flesh was green, the blood was black. Fist-sized pieces were peeling off their bodies. In the process of falling, a few pieces were still connected by meridians, bouncing in the air like springs a few times before falling to the ground with a "pa" sound, leaving a patch of black filth on the ground.
"Huu," Li Yan couldn't help but let out a long-held breath of frustration upon seeing this. Only then did he realize that his whole body was already drenched in sweat. He quickly looked around, scanning every Malevolent Spirit Sect member with his divine sense. Seeing that no one was showing signs of being poisoned like the monks, he was slightly relieved.
At this moment, everyone, including Gong Chenying, looked at the chunks of flesh raining down like black rain in mid-air. They were stunned at first, then felt a sense of relief after sensing the eight people's spiritual energy begin to dissipate. But after a few breaths, the cultivators couldn't help but suck in a cold breath. "What kind of poison is this? There was no sign of it before." The scene before them was somewhat nauseating, but for the cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, it was psychologically insignificant. They had seen things more disgusting than this. It was just that they hadn't been able to detect the method of poisoning, which sent a chill down their spines. For a poison user, not being able to tell who used the poison and when was terrifying. But soon, everyone's eyes were fixed on Li Yan, because he was the only one who had told them to withdraw their spirit beasts and retreat from the attack. This warning was clearly given to avoid accidental injury from the poison. And the fatal blow to the Chan monk was also delivered by Li Yan.
And just as everyone looked at Li Yan, his slightly relieved expression changed. He looked up. Just now, a great sense of crisis had welled up in his heart again. Looking in the direction of the palpitation, it was where everyone had fought the ten monks from the Pure Land Sect. At this time, the dust in the sky had gradually dispersed, revealing a shallow but vast pit. And there was no trace of the ten monks from the Pure Land Sect in the pit. What Li Yan was looking at was the sphere wall above the pit.
Gong Chenying, who had also been looking at Li Yan, saw his expression change and followed his gaze. When she saw the sphere wall above the pit, Gong Chenying shouted, "Find the exit, quickly!" and then her figure had already rushed out. Li Yan and the others also rushed to various parts of the sphere wall. Just now, some people had wanted to ask Li Yan how he had attacked twice, but now there was no time to talk.
Because they had just seen a chilling scene. Above the place where they had fought, the black shadow on the top was as clear as heavy water hanging down, as if it was about to break through the wall at any moment. And the black shadow covering the sphere wall in other places was slightly lighter than there. This must have been because dozens of cultivators had fought at the same time, plus Gong Chenying's final spiritual energy blow. Although it was only about one-tenth of her usual spiritual energy, a Foundation Establishment cultivator was a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Its power was unimaginable. After colliding with the ten Pure Land Sect monks' life-sacrificing secret art, the spiritual energy wave not only blew away all the Qi Condensation cultivators but also weakened the protection of the sphere wall above. At this moment, the black shadow there was about to break through the wall. As for the ten monks from the Pure Land Sect, they should have been hit by the powerful attacks of the dozens of cultivators that followed after the golden bell and Gong Chenying's green blade both disintegrated. They had no ability to resist and were instantly turned to ashes, as dead as could be.
In just one or two breaths, a cultivator had already shouted, "There's a passage here!" The other cultivators quickly flew over upon hearing this. When they were searching just now, they had already found that the place they had come from and the sphere wall the Pure Land Sect had come from were already sealed, and they couldn't get out again. And just as everyone was exploring, a faint purple light had lit up on a part of the sphere wall. A cultivator who was closer cautiously stabbed it with a long sword. With a soft "bo" sound, the long sword had pierced halfway through. He quickly withdrew the long sword and saw that it was undamaged. He couldn't help but turn his head and shout.
Gong Chenying quickly ran over. When she reached the purple light, without a word, her poleaxe also stabbed quickly and lightly. After pulling it out, she looked at it carefully, then stepped out. "You all wait a moment," she said without turning her head. Li Yan had also arrived by this time. Seeing this, he couldn't help but frown. 'Why is Sixth Senior Sister exploring the path by herself again? If something happens to her, how can we pass the next stage? She should just send a Qi Condensation cultivator over.' Li Yan couldn't agree with this. If he were the team leader, he would have sent a Qi Condensation cultivator to explore the path at this moment. After all, there was only one Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Just as this thought moved in his mind, the sphere wall was already rippling with light, and Gong Chenying had stepped back in. Her face was calm, leaving everyone wondering what she had seen outside. After coming in, she first glanced at the black shadow at the top. Her entry and exit had been extremely fast, but the black shadow at the top was like heavy water, already pressing down on the sphere wall, making it bulge out by the size of a fist. With a quick calculation in her mind...
"Everyone, clean up the battlefield quickly. We must leave in two breaths. After we go out, wait on the spot. Don't try to move forward or touch anything," Gong Chenying quickly arranged.
Two breaths later, Gong Chenying saw the last person step out from the rippling sphere wall in front. She took another look at the nine corpses on the ground, a strange look in her eyes, then her figure flashed and disappeared from within the sphere.
Three breaths later, above the pit in the sphere, a drop of black shadow the size of a fist broke through the wall from the drooping bulge at the top. It smashed to the ground like a heavy object, spreading out on the ground like black ink. And the fist-sized hole at the top was rapidly expanding. More black shadow seeped in but didn't continue to drip to the ground. Instead, it crawled along the inner wall of the sphere like a dense spider web, covering the entire inner wall of the sphere. In a short time, the inside of the sphere was as dark as night. The nine corpses on the ground had long since evaporated, and not even a trace of the fight remained.