The two strange green insects by Gong Chenying's side had already dissipated. Even the two insects that had lunged at Wang Lang, after forcing him back two steps, had transformed into two wisps of green gas and swiftly returned to Gong Chenying, reforming into the giant long halberd. However, the surface of the halberd was now completely devoid of spiritual energy, and there were sword marks on it; its spiritual nature had been greatly diminished.
Wang Lang also withdrew the longsword in his hand and recalled his two equally dim flying swords. He couldn't help but suck in a cold breath. 'This woman is truly formidable. She is clearly at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and her injuries look to be even more severe than mine, yet she blocked my full-powered strike. If I still had eighty percent of my spiritual power, I would only need to summon the 'No Trace' magical treasure sword again to take her life with a single blow. Even if she had other life-saving tricks, it would be no problem at all to blast her directly into the dark shadow a few dozen meters away. What a pity!' The magical treasure "No Trace" that his sect had given him was originally for Golden Core cultivators to use. It was extremely awkward and difficult for Wang Lang to wield. Otherwise, when he had used it before, Quan Jiuxing wouldn't have found a flaw and succeeded in his attack, inflicting a serious injury upon him. The most crucial aspect of the "No Trace" magical treasure was its need for immense spiritual power. Even with Wang Lang's Pseudo-Core cultivator's cultivation, a single strike would consume over eighty percent of his spiritual power, leaving him in his weakest state afterward.
However, a smile soon returned to his face. "Junior Sister Gong, impressive. But I wonder how many more of my sword strikes you can take." With that, under the infusion of his spiritual power, the two flying swords lit up again. With a humming sound, they had already formed an arc, slashing diagonally toward Gong Chenying's shoulders. As for him, he strode forward to meet Gong Chenying head-on. His actions were clearly intended to prevent her from escaping to the sides, using the two flying swords to seal off the left and right paths, while he himself attacked from the front.
Watching the attacks coming straight for her, a fierce look flashed across Gong Chenying's pale face. She was still fearless. She slapped the storage bag at her waist with her right hand, but although a faint spiritual light flashed on the bag, nothing appeared. Gong Chenying sighed internally. She had wanted to squeeze out the last of her strength to summon her small golden axe, but now she couldn't even open her storage bag. In Wang Lang's eyes, however, this action made the muscles on his face twitch. 'What kind of cultivation manual does this girl practice? She's clearly out of spiritual power, yet she still looks like she can fight. Her physical body is so tough. Is she human or a demon?'
Gong Chenying's action would have shocked any cultivator, not just Wang Lang. For a cultivator to be able to fight with their physical body like a demonic beast after their spiritual power was depleted—such physical strength was almost unheard of among humans. Only the legendary ancient body refiners of old were said to be capable of this when they reached a high level of cultivation.
Gong Chenying looked at the ever-approaching cold light. Enduring the searing, tearing pain from her muscles, she took a deep breath. Her bones cracked in a continuous popping sound, like roasting beans. She gripped the green long halberd before her, and the next moment, a circle of spear-flourishes, impervious to wind and rain, appeared before her. Two bangs, even louder than before, erupted between heaven and earth, the shockwave so powerful that it forced the advancing Wang Lang to retreat. He felt dizzy, his ears ringing, and his blood surged. After the thunderous crash, a powerful shockwave slammed into his body. Wang Lang felt a sharp pain in his chest and abdomen. The wound had instantly burst open, and copious amounts of blood gushed out. A sweet taste rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of blood. His face instantly turned gray.
On the other side, Gong Chenying was like a person made of blood. Blood sprayed from her waist and abdomen. In the previous clash, her green long halberd, lacking any spiritual enhancement, had actually been broken into two pieces upon impact with the flying swords. One of the pieces had a deep sword mark on it, almost completely severed by the flying sword. If this green halberd hadn't been refined from extremely fine materials, it would have been shattered into three pieces in that clash, and even she would have been cut into several pieces along with it. Fortunately, in that moment of crisis, she had managed to shift her body to deflect the force, barely dodging. But her body was still thrown high into the air by the rebound force, falling directly into the ever-advancing dark shadow behind her.
Gong Chenying traced a curve through the air, still tightly gripping the two pieces of the green halberd. She had already fallen into a semi-conscious state. A series of images flashed hazily through her mind, finally settling on one scene. It was a seven or eight-year-old girl, standing barefoot in a stilted bamboo house. Her eyes were filled with stubbornness as she looked at a large urn in front of her, an urn that was more than half her height. Inside the urn, multicolored centipedes, green snakes breathing white mist, and spiders, scorpions, and other poisonous insects of various colors that were clearly deadly, reared their heads and hissed. Though she was trembling all over, her face pale, she bit her lip and then resolutely stuck out her small, bare foot and stepped forward, standing before the large urn. She gingerly stood on tiptoe and reached directly into the urn, but her face was already turned away, her eyes tightly shut...
Just as she was about to fall into the darkness, a figure shot over from the side. Seeing that it was too late to pull her back, a fierce glint flashed in this person's eyes. He simply threw himself horizontally behind Gong Chenying, his arms outstretched. The next moment, he was hit hard by Gong Chenying. And with this impact, this person's body also flew rapidly backward. Before he could react, his back had already touched the rising dark shadow behind him. He grew anxious. With a powerful push of his hands, he sent the young woman in his arms flying forward several meters, where she fell to the ground. As for himself, black smoke was already rising from his back, and a sharp pain shot through his mind.
This person was Li Yan. Under Pingtu's escort, he had arrived here in a few breaths. But during this process, he had been pondering Pingtu's final words. He still couldn't understand them, yet it felt as if the answer was just on the tip of his tongue.
But just as he was thinking, his vision swam. When he opened his eyes, it was precisely the moment Gong Chenying was brandishing her green halberd in a circle to block. He saw at a glance that something was wrong. There wasn't a trace of spiritual energy on the spear-flourishes, and although Gong Chenying's gaze was resolute, her eyes were already lifeless.
The moment he landed, two loud bangs shook him, making his head spin, and he almost fell directly to the ground. When he managed to steady himself, he was horrified to see that Gong Chenying was already flying toward the dark shadow behind her. There was no time to think. Li Yan's spiritual power surged out with unprecedented speed. In less than a breath, he had flown nearly a hundred meters through the air, directly arriving behind Gong Chenying. But even though both were heavily injured Foundation Establishment cultivators, the aftershock of their clash was not something he could block. The moment he intercepted Gong Chenying's body, a great force carried him along with her into the dark shadow behind.
This horrified Li Yan, but at this point, he was powerless to change it. He only felt a chill on his back, followed by a heart-piercing pain seeping in from his back. Without a second thought, he pushed the warm, jade-like body in his arms away. Waves of pain that pierced his very organs washed over him, making him let out a muffled groan. At the same time, an image of what he had seen of the sky shadow passing over, where everything silently turned to dust, flashed through his mind.
'Well, this show of bravado is going to cost me my life. I suppose my body is about to turn into nothingness. Heh heh, in the end, I couldn't make myself a ruthless person. The good often die first.' As this thought went through Li Yan's mind, his hands did not stop moving. As his left hand pushed Gong Chenying away, his right hand punched viciously behind him. The full power of his late-tenth-level Qi Condensation spiritual power erupted from his fist, actually producing a pillar of light that shot toward the ground beneath the dark shadow behind him. The next moment, his body was also pushed forward forcefully. But a sharp pain shot through his right hand and into his brain, making his pupils contract. 'My right hand is done for too.' This was the thought that flashed through his mind. The next moment, he only felt himself fall heavily to the ground. The fall made him feel dazed, but the agonizing pain from his arm and from within his back immediately snapped him back to his senses. He subconsciously circulated the True Scripture of Gui Water. What happened next left Li Yan at a loss. A cool sensation spread to wherever the True Scripture of Gui Water passed, and the pain vanished like a receding tide. This stunned Li Yan. He quickly waved his right arm. What appeared before his eyes was a perfectly intact arm. It was just that from the elbow down, the sleeve of the sect's spirit-artifact-level robe was completely gone. Li Yan stared blankly for a moment, then quickly looked behind him. The black gas was a few meters away from them. Inside, it was pitch black. The trees, grass, and even the iron-hard rocks in that area had all been turned into nothingness, leaving only an endless darkness with a gaping, sinister maw.
Just as Li Yan was looking behind him, a killing intent suddenly rose from the front. This startled Li Yan. Disregarding looking back, he lunged toward the fallen Gong Chenying.
Wang Lang was looking in his direction with crimson eyes. There were large patches of blood on his chest, and blood was continuously gushing from the space between his chest and abdomen. He did not rush to get up but stared at Li Yan's back with eyes spitting fire.
Just now, Wang Lang had fallen to the ground with his ears ringing and his vision blurred. In addition, Li Yan's movements had been too fast. He hadn't clearly seen Li Yan reach into the dark shadow or his back being eroded by the sky shadow. He only felt his vision blur, and a figure had caught Gong Chenying's fall. The two of them had instantly escaped the dark shadow. At that moment, Wang Lang was completely unable to get up. When he saw clearly that the other person was also a Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivator, he was enraged. Just a mere tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivator dared to appear before him. As his eyes turned crimson, he tapped himself several times with one hand. Instantly, the flow of blood from his chest and abdomen greatly reduced. With his other hand, he slapped his waist, and several pills appeared in the air, which he sucked into his mouth.
A huge pressure bore down on Li Yan, making his legs feel weak and his spiritual power sluggish. Li Yan grit his teeth, completely ignoring the injury on his back and the strange situation with his right arm. With trembling legs, he suddenly picked up Gong Chenying, took a deep breath, and strode to one side. It was only after he was several hundred meters from Wang Lang that the pressure on him suddenly lessened, and he sped away into the distance. He had no thought of taking the opportunity to kill Wang Lang just now. A heavily injured Foundation Establishment cultivator was not someone he could provoke. Just the pressure from Wang Lang's Pseudo-Core Realm aura made his spirit tremble and his footing unsteady. But he could also see that Wang Lang was currently unable to give chase and could only watch helplessly as he carried Gong Chenying away. From beginning to end, Wang Lang had not seen Li Yan's face clearly.
As he ran, Li Yan scanned his own back with his Divine Sense. At the same time, he circulated his spiritual power. A moment later, he relaxed. In his Divine Sense, apart from his robes being completely shattered, revealing a large patch of dark, fine skin and muscle, there were no wounds. At the same time, as he circulated his spiritual power, there was nothing wrong with his body. This allowed him to relax for the time being. He couldn't help but think of the nonsensical words Pingtu had said when he sent him out of the secret room. A flash of insight seemed to pass through his mind. But he looked down at the jade-like person in his arms. Her long legs were almost half-dragging on the ground. Li Yan couldn't help but smile bitterly. Among the women he knew, this Sixth Senior Sister and that Zhao Min were really tall. Although he had grown a lot in recent years, he was basically just a little taller than these two. Carrying this slender girl now was not strenuous for him in terms of strength, but with her long legs dragging on the ground, it was inevitably inconvenient.
The faint fragrance from her body and the smell of blood made Li Yan frown. He had to find a relatively safe place to treat Sixth Senior Sister's injuries now. Otherwise, Gong Chenying would not last long. Gong Chenying's face was already a bluish-gray, her aura extremely weak.