Within the pit shrouded by blood mist, an eerie aura of murderous energy originally filled the air.
But as more and more evil spirits crawled out from underground, a chilling wind began to blow within the pit.
Guan Xiaoshun desperately unleashed his skills, attacking the horde of evil spirits, fearful they might come too close.
“So many… so many ghosts…”
The hands of the youth from the border town were trembling, under great mental strain.
All three were Outer Sect Disciples from Refinement Demon Sect, and aside from their cultivation techniques, they had hardly learned any decent attack spells.
Li Muyang and Guan Xiaoshun were planters of spiritual plants and had learned the “Little Cloud Rain Technique.”
Therefore, they summoned streaks of white mist, from which they sliced out tiny bolts of lightning to strike down the evil spirits.
Though the lethality was subtle, lightning was precisely the nemesis of ghostly souls. The mass of evil spirits were continuously repelled and struggled to approach.
Li Yuechan hadn’t learned the “Little Cloud Rain Technique,” so she could only use the most basic attack skill—compressing the spiritual power inside her body into a sphere and then releasing it to form a wave of light to kill the ghosts.
This crude and simplistic method of attack had average destructive power and consumed a vast amount of spiritual power.
Thus, it didn’t take long for Li Yuechan to complain about being tired with a fatigued expression, saying she needed a rest while letting Li Muyang and the others hold the front.
But Li Muyang, glancing at his younger adopted sister, noticed that the girl didn’t seem as tired as she pretended to be.
Could it be that his adopted sister was hiding her true strength…? But she had just started learning a few months ago, how could she possess such profound cultivation?
Li Muyang’s mind raced with surprise and speculation.
He too had been holding back, concealing his strength, and hadn’t appeared as weary as he seemed, only then noticing his sister who was also covertly slacking off while hiding her true strength.
But before he could ponder further, the number of evil spirits surging out from the underground pit was increasing.
Although most of the evil spirits rushing toward the array flags were weak, their dense swarm and visual pressure was still immense.
Guan Xiaoshun’s eyes widened in shock: “Just how many ghosts are hidden underground?”
At that moment, the Bloodstone Mine was practically teeming with vengeful spirits and lingering souls at every turn; one could not see the end of the swarming mass with a glance.
A conservative estimate feared that tens of thousands of residual souls and evil spirits were squeezed into this underground pit.
Li Muyang was somewhat alarmed as well.
Mainly because the group of evil spirits seemed endless, their numbers absurdly vast.
The purple light of the Soul Refining Formation continuously refined these residual souls, causing them to dissipate and vanish.
However, Li Muyang saw the number of evil spirits in his field of view increasing instead of decreasing.
The quantity of ancient residual souls crawling out from the ground was far beyond imagination.
The purple light of the Soul Refining Formation whirled rapidly, the array flags beneath the feet of the trio trembled violently, and the entire Soul Refining Formation almost reached its overload limit. Yet, the emergence of evil spirits from the ground still showed no sign of diminishing.
In Li Yuechan’s ears, suddenly, the low whisper of a mysterious woman sounded.
“…Something’s not right. Prepare to escape.”
The whisper of the mysterious woman caught Li Yuechan off guard.
The senior rarely spoke to her in the presence of others. Had the situation become so perilous that she needed to be ready to flee?
But no matter what, wasn’t the Soul Refining Formation presided over by Elder Yan himself?
Li Yuechan was somewhat skeptical.
It was at this moment that Li Muyang suddenly spoke up.
“Something’s off, Elder Yan’s voice has disappeared…”
Li Muyang had no warning from any mysterious mentor, yet he clearly noticed that the number of evil spirits emerging increased and that the power of the Soul Refining Formation seemed to be weakening.
The commanding voice of Elder Yan, which once echoed throughout the underground tunnels, had disappeared at some unknown time.
This Soul Refining Formation, ablaze with purple light, seemed to have lost its core, its power slowly waning.
And in contrast, more and more evil spirits swarmed out from underground.
These evil spirits continuously rammed into the protective array’s light, attempting to break through and attack the living.
Seeing the situation growing increasingly perilous with more evil spirits crawling out of the tunnel, Li Muyang made a decisive choice.
“Run!”
He grabbed Guan Xiaoshun and Li Yuechan’s hands, and they started running towards the outside.
Although there had been no orders to retreat, the situation seemed out of control. Elder Yan had vanished without a trace, and her voice was nowhere to be heard in the tunnels.
With more and more evil spirits emerging from underground, if they didn’t run now, they would be too late once the entire tunnel was blocked by the vengeful ghosts!
Li Muyang dragged the two of them as they sprinted through the underground passage.
Soon, they ran past a corner and saw three other Outer Sect Disciples still desperately holding out within the light of the array flags.
Upon seeing Li Muyang and the others, all three Outer Sect Disciples were stunned.
But without the slightest pause, Li Muyang continued to run forward, as if he hadn’t seen them.
After passing two more corners, they saw another set of array flags.
However, the area beside this set of array flags was eerily empty, with only splattered blood on the ground and claw marks on the walls and floor. There was no sign of the Outer Sect Disciples.
Clearly, those three Outer Sect Disciples had encountered danger, either being eaten or dragged away, without even their corpses left behind.
Li Muyang glanced at the traces of the grisly scene and felt a chill in his heart.
These marks, they did not seem to be the work of evil spirits’ lingering souls…
A certain uneasy premonition at that moment became reality.
Li Muyang hastened his pace, no longer caring about concealing his strength, and pulled Li Yuechan and Guan Xiaoshun as he ran towards the exit.
In the sinister blood mist-filled tunnels, visibility was extremely low.
Although the mouth of the tunnel was filled with purple light at this moment, the walls, floor, and ceiling were crawling with writhing vengeful ghosts.
They tried to squeeze into the tunnel teeming with purple light, to gnaw on the fresh blood of Li Muyang and the others.
The three of them ran through the tunnel packed tight with vengeful ghosts, as if they were on a highway through hell, where all they could see were the ferocious and malevolent ghosts.
Li Yuechan let out a panicked cry.
“It’s Sister Ning! Sister Ning has been attacked by demons!”
Around the corner in front of them, a three-meter-long gigantic scorpion was running in a tunnel filled with fierce ghosts.
In the claws of this giant scorpion was a woman, half-covered in blood and unconscious—it was Ning Wan’er, who had been taken as a Direct Disciple by Elder Yan.
Seeing this scene, Li Muyang completely confirmed that it was indeed the demons of Centipede Ridge who were causing mischief! Find adventures at empire
These demons had bided their time for so long, striking precisely when a myriad of ghosts surged from underground, and Elder Yan was busy suppressing the lingering souls. They must have attacked Elder Yan as well, causing her sudden silence and absence from managing the Soul Refining Formation.
As thoughts flashed through his mind, Li Muyang directly took out the Taiyi Split Light Talisman from his chest.
“Arise!”
A dazzling golden light flashed by, and thousands of golden Sword Qi shot out in all directions, instantly striking the giant scorpion at the corner.
The scorpion had initially wanted to turn around and attack Li Muyang and company, but the moment it stopped, it was overwhelmed by the overwhelming Sword Qi.
Amidst its agonized screams, the mutilated scorpion struggled to flee deeper into the tunnel, looking like it could die at any moment.
Li Yuechan and Guan Xiaoshun were shocked by the grandeur of the simultaneous strike of a myriad swords.
“Brother… you… how are you so fierce?”
Li Yuechan was dumbstruck.
She knew her elder brother had concealed his strength, but how could he have hidden so much?!
Is this the power a Qi Refining Realm cultivator should have?