Staying in the sect, controlling beasts and cultivating immortals

A destructive, silvery-purple wave swept across, as if a piece had been forcibly ripped away from the boundless sea of ​​soul-devouring sand.

The three Black Wind Bone Guards, each carrying the will of the Black Fiend Old Demon, along with the sand and dust of that area and the space itself, were completely annihilated in that extreme light and heat, leaving not even a trace behind.

That chilling pressure from the Integration Stage vanished without a trace, like a candle flame being extinguished.

The cost was devastating.

The aftershocks of the explosion backfired on him. Yu Changsheng felt an indescribable tearing sensation instantly explode from his dantian foundation, spreading to his limbs and bones.

The majestic power of the Chaos Emperor's Blood and the cold, deathly power of the Starry Extinction Dao Law, having lost the suppression of external enemies, completely went out of control in his shattered meridians and internal organs, like two enraged ancient beasts, tearing and colliding wildly! Each collision caused him to see stars and his soul to tremble violently.

Warm liquid seeped from the mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, only to be instantly absorbed by the greedy sand and dust around it, leaving only dry and stinging traces.

"My lord!" Chen Xueqing exclaimed, her voice filled with unprecedented panic.

Ignoring her own depletion, the original imprint of the Pure Lotus in her sea of ​​consciousness burned wildly, and a vast and pure purifying divine light burst forth with unprecedented brightness, like a celestial river pouring down, instantly enveloping Yu Changsheng.

However, the sacred light barrier, which was powerful enough to purify the filth of demons, was torn apart by the raging, uncontrolled energy turbulence within Yu Changsheng's body, leaving behind streaks of pitch-black cracks the moment it touched him! The light barrier shook violently, Chen Xueqing's face turned deathly pale, her delicate body trembled slightly, and a trickle of bright red blood spilled from the corner of her mouth.

"Om-!"

The Myriad Transformations Returning to the Void Furnace, which floated in front of Mo Heng, emitted a piercing shriek. The mysterious runes on the furnace body swirled at an unprecedented speed, and the furnace mouth transformed into a deep vortex, desperately swallowing the destructive energy turbulence that was emanating from Yu Changsheng and was enough to easily annihilate a cultivator at the Void Refinement stage.

The furnace trembled violently, and fine cracks even appeared on the furnace wall. Mo Heng's hands formed hand seals so fast that they were just afterimages, and blood beads seeped from between his fingers as he forcibly kept the furnace from collapsing.

Wang Cheng reacted with lightning speed, his massive body exuding an indomitable ferocity as he took a single step to reach Yu Changsheng.

The bony arm, covered in purple-gold chaotic runes, suddenly stretched out and steadily caught Yu Changsheng's limp body.

When the massive, chaotic energy surge passed through Yu Changsheng's body and reached his bone arm, even with the powerful physique forged by Wang Chengba's blood and the resilience of the chaotic bone arm, he let out a muffled groan of pain. The glassy sand beneath his feet collapsed several feet deep with a loud rumble, and spiderweb-like cracks spread outwards.

Ling Wuying's figure silently blended into the shadows of the surging sand waves on the left, like a drop of ink merging into the night. Only his two cold, star-like eyes warily scanned the desert sea that had returned to deathly silence after the burst of light.

Gui Yinzi retreated to the right, his body surging with chilling and malevolent energy. Dozens of ethereal and distorted malevolent puppets floated around him, forming a sinister barrier.

The desert did not calm down after the brief outbreak. Instead, the soul-devouring sounds, like the whispers of countless dead souls, surged from all directions with a cold mockery, becoming denser and sharper, frantically attacking the Yuan-Stabilizing and Divine-Guarding Array set up by Mo Heng and the purification light barrier that Chen Xueqing was struggling to maintain.

The crisis is not over; in fact, an even greater terror is brewing.

"cough……"

Yu Changsheng coughed up a mouthful of dark purple blood clots mixed with specks of stardust from Wang Cheng's arms. The blood clots fell onto the sand and made a hissing, corrosive sound.

He forcibly gathered his scattered soul, his voice hoarse as if sandpaper were being rubbed.

"Keep going... don't stop... the desert... has awakened..."

His gaze strained as he looked into the depths of the desert, where the once monotonous, undulating sand dunes seemed to be writhing in some indescribable way, as if an ancient, purer form of malice was awakening.

As if to confirm his premonition, a sudden, intense, and heart-pounding pulse emanated from the ground beneath their feet! Like the heart of a sleeping behemoth being awakened.

Immediately afterwards, the sandy ground hundreds of feet ahead suddenly arched upwards, forming several huge sand dunes. The tops of the dunes cracked open, revealing the deep darkness below.

Countless sand monsters, composed of compressed and condensed pure sand grains, with dark stardust flowing throughout their bodies and distorted and bizarre shapes, the Soul-Devouring Sand Puppets, surged silently and swiftly from those cracks like an ant swarm bursting its banks!

There were thousands upon thousands of them, and two eerie green phosphorescent lights flickered in the empty eye sockets of each sand golem, locking onto Yu Changsheng and his group.

What's even more chilling is that they didn't charge in a chaotic manner, but rather formed a huge, ever-shrinking encirclement. The soul-devouring sound of the sand grains rubbing together was amplified several times over by their movements, transforming into sharp mental spikes that pierced the sea of ​​consciousness of everyone.

The light screen of the Solidifying Essence Guardian Formation emitted a piercing "creaking" sound, and its light dimmed rapidly.

"Damn it, we've stirred up a hornet's nest!"

Wang Cheng roared, and the Chaos Bone Arm surged with purple-gold light, shoving Yu Changsheng onto his back. His other iron fist slammed forward without hesitation, and the Tyrant Blood Qi transformed into a long river of crimson, lava-like fist energy, crashing fiercely into the surging sand puppet horde.

"Boom!" Dozens of sand golems exploded into a cloud of sand and dust, but more sand golems instantly filled the gaps and surged forward fearlessly.

Their bodies were exceptionally hard, and the moment they were shattered, the dissipating stardust miasma and soul-devouring sounds became even more intense, clinging to them like maggots clinging to bones.

Ling Wuying's figure flickered like a ghost among the shadows of the sand golems. With each leap in the shadows, the jet-black shadow dagger in his hand pierced precisely into the phosphorescent core of a sand golem's eye socket. The sand golem that was pierced instantly stiffened and turned into scattered sand.

However, there were simply too many sand golems, and as the encirclement tightened, the space for the shadow jumps was rapidly compressed.

A giant sand golem's claws, accompanied by a piercing sound, reached for the afterimage he left behind. Ling Wuying narrowly escaped into another shadow, his expression becoming even more grave.

Gui Yinzi uttered rapid and eerie incantations, and dozens of Yin Sha puppets surrounding him shrieked as they pounced on the sand puppet horde.

These puppets, crafted from pure Yin energy and vengeful spirits, were immediately corrupted by the sand puppets upon contact with them. The sand contained the power of star destruction and the soul-devouring sound, causing their movements to become sluggish and wisps of black smoke to rise from their surfaces.

Gui Yinzi groaned, clearly indicating that the injury to the puppet connected to his mind was also having a backlash on him.

He formed hand seals and forcefully activated the power, causing several core Yin Sha puppets to self-destruct. The chilling shockwave temporarily cleared a small area, but it was a drop in the ocean.

Chen Xueqing's Pure Lotus hung above her head, its clear light shining in all directions. Wherever it passed, the stardust miasma and soul-devouring sounds in the sandstorm were greatly weakened and purified, giving everyone a chance to catch their breath.

However, she was preoccupied with maintaining the light barrier surrounding Yu Changsheng and fighting against the raging energy conflict within his body. Her face was so pale that it was almost transparent, and the light of the lotus was like a candle in the wind, flickering uncertainly.

Mo Heng's eyes were fixed on the underground fissure from which sand golems were constantly spewing forth, while the phantom of the furnace above his head was frantically deducing the situation.

"The core of the formation is underground! These sand golems are merely expendable pawns; they are concealing the true core node and buying time for the 'Thousand-Eyed Evil Nest's' will to descend!"

He suddenly looked at Yu Changsheng, who was in the most dire condition, and then glanced at the others who were struggling to hold on, a resolute glint in his eyes.

"My lord! We must borrow strength again! Activate the Star Source Mine and set up the 'Return to the Void Star Dust Lock'! Forcefully seal the node and sever the Evil Nest's direct control over this area! This is the only way out!" Yu Changsheng lay on Wang Cheng's back, the intense pain making his consciousness almost blurred, but the Chaos Emperor Seal stubbornly emitted a faint light in his sea of ​​consciousness, the Emperor's will not be desecrated.

He heard Mo Heng's roar, felt the burning fighting spirit emanating from Wang Cheng's broad back, saw the glaring red at the corner of Chen Xueqing's mouth, and sensed the perilous situation that Ling Wuying and Gui Yinzi were in, as if walking on thin ice.

A chilling madness ignited within his shattered dantian.

“Marrow…for…Mo Heng!” He squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth, and with a slight movement of his fingers, a silver-blue stream of light wrapped in dense spatial fluctuations shot out from the storage magic treasure and flew straight to Mo Heng.

Mo Heng's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and his hands formed hand seals with lightning speed.

The precious Star Origin Marrow was drawn by the invisible power of the Returning Void, hovering in front of him, and instantly decomposed into countless dust particles shimmering with starlight.

He chanted ancient incantations, his ten fingers flying across the air, guiding the dust containing the immense power of stars and space to outline intricate and mysterious purplish-black runes in the void, imbued with the aura of annihilation.

The runes connected end to end, quickly forming a three-dimensional array with a diameter of tens of feet. The core of the array was directly facing the largest underground crack!

"In the name of Guixu, let stardust be used as a lock! Suppress!"

Mo Heng's hair and beard bristled as he pressed the completed array diagram down with all his might!
"Om-!"

The entire Soul-Devouring Sand Sea seemed to tremble.

A massive purplish-black array, imbued with the aura of annihilation and the power to devour everything, was deeply imprinted on the crack of the gushing sand golem.

Countless phantom chains made of star-source mineral dust burst forth from the array diagram, like living serpents, instantly burrowing into the depths of the earth, coiling and tightening!
The surging torrent of sand dunes came to an abrupt halt!

It was as if an invisible giant hand had choked the source.

The sand golems that had already reached the ground trembled violently. The sand grains that made up their bodies lost their core pull and began to disintegrate and dissipate in large swaths. The maddening, soul-devouring sound in the air suddenly weakened, as if it had been choked.

"It's now!"

Ling Wuying's voice trembled slightly, yet it pointed precisely to an extremely well-hidden, slowly expanding vortex in the shadows of the sand dunes to the left front.

"There! A weak point in the space, a fissure leading downwards!"

"Go!" Without any hesitation, Wang Cheng carried Yu Changsheng on his back. A deep pit suddenly exploded beneath his feet, and his body shot forward like an arrow towards the shadowy vortex.

With the Chaos Bone Arm in front, its purple-gold runes shone like a small sun, smashing the sand golems along the way, which had become fragile due to the breakdown of their formation, to pieces.

Chen Xueqing followed closely behind, and the clear light of the Pure Lotus contracted and condensed, transforming into a strong band of light that firmly protected Yu Changsheng on Wang Cheng's back.

Mo Heng's face was ashen, clearly indicating that the formation had been overdrawn. Gui Yinzi grabbed his arm, and the two of them were carried by the power of Yin Sha, desperately rushing towards the vortex.

Ling Wuying's figure flickered at the back of the group, wielding his shadow dagger to sever several tentacles formed from the dissipating sand that were trying to entangle him.

Six figures, filled with tragic despair and resolute determination, plunged into the swirling vortex of shadow amidst countless disintegrating sand golem remains and the Soul-Devouring Sound, which had become violent again but lost its precise target.

The feeling of weightlessness lasted only a brief moment.

When everyone fell from the vortex and landed on solid ground, they found themselves in a completely different space.

A cool breeze, carrying a faint musty smell yet brimming with a strange vitality, rushed into my lungs, instantly dispelling the pervasive heat and mental erosion of the desert.

The sky above was no longer filled with swirling dust and a gray dome, but instead formed by countless thick, gnarled, and unnamed giant roots that shimmered with a dull metallic luster.

These roots penetrated deeply into the surrounding glassy rock walls, which emitted a faint glow. The rock walls were covered with fine crystalline veins, emitting a soft, pure stellar vibration that effectively neutralized the stardust and miasma from the outside world.

Beneath our feet was a relatively flat ground covered with a layer of fine silver gravel, in which occasional specks of blue crystalline light could be seen.

This underground cave is not particularly vast, about a hundred feet in diameter, but it is exceptionally tall, with its root-like dome dozens of feet off the ground. The space is stable, isolating most of the soul-devouring sounds, with only a very faint humming sound, like a distant background, that can be faintly heard.

"Safe...for now."

Ling Wuying was the first to fully emerge from the shadows. He was breathing heavily, and the Shadow Dagger trembled slightly between his fingers, clearly indicating that he had exhausted himself covering the rear earlier.

His sharp gaze swept across every corner of the cave like a searchlight, confirming that there was no hidden danger.

"Pfft!" Mo Heng could no longer hold on and suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. His body swayed, but Gui Yinzi caught him in time. His face was ashen, and his aura was extremely weak. Forcibly activating the Returning Void Star Dust Lock had almost drained his magic power and soul.

"Quick...look at the master!" He disregarded his own safety and anxiously looked at Yu Changsheng on Wang Cheng's back.

Wang Cheng carefully laid Yu Changsheng flat on the flattest part of the ground in the center of the cave. At this moment, Yu Changsheng's condition was even more terrifying than before.

His body was enveloped in a layer of flickering silver-purple light, and beneath his skin, countless tiny earthworms seemed to be writhing and clashing wildly. It was the final battle between the Chaos Emperor's Blood and the Dao of Star Annihilation within his collapsing meridians.

His eyes were tightly closed, his brows furrowed with unbearable pain, and what overflowed from his mouth and nose was no longer blood, but a purplish-black mist with specks of starlight. Each breath was so faint that it sent shivers down one's spine.

If it weren't for the Chaos Emperor Seal on his chest still stubbornly emitting an extremely faint golden light, protecting the last thread of life in his heart, he would be almost indistinguishable from a dead man.

Chen Xueqing knelt beside Yu Changsheng, her hands lightly resting on his chest and abdomen.

The Pure Lotus floated above her head, its petals crystal clear, and a continuous stream of pure, primordial power, like the gentlest spring rain, flowed into Yu Changsheng's body.

But this force, at this moment, can only be like small pebbles thrown into a raging torrent, barely slowing down the rate at which the conflict between the two forces is destroying the internal organs, but it cannot fundamentally reconcile the fatal conflict.

Chen Xueqing's complexion was not much better than Yu Changsheng's. Her forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat as she forcibly supported the Azure Lotus Origin. Her body was also trembling slightly.

It could collapse in an instant, burying everyone alive!
Not to mention the seriously injured Yu Changsheng and Mo Heng, among others. (End of Chapter)