Inside the Wheel of Life and Death, a tall tower reached into the clouds. The tower was entirely bronze-colored, with countless small windows densely dotting its body. The sky was gloomy, as if it was about to rain, making one's heart feel heavy. From a distance, a small staircase path spiraled up from the bottom of the tower. At this moment, a group of people was rushing down the small path from the top of the tower. Behind them in the sky, a patch of black shadow was spreading down along the spiral staircase. This group of people looked back from time to time. The giant black shadow was only about a li away in a straight line, but fortunately, it was only following the spiral staircase on the outside of the tower, so the distance was somewhat increased.
As this group of people ran, they simultaneously gathered their magical power to attack the sky, while also having to resist the various flocks of birds constantly flying out from the countless small windows on the tower. There were huge Bloodshadow Eagles, dense swarms of Black Abyss Bats, and groups of Bloodthirsty Red Mosquitos. Lights of five colors and six hues flashed wildly, and explosions sounded continuously. And the birds were like an endless stream, flocking to the cultivators on the small path without fear of death. Under the desperate resistance of the cultivators, they died batch after batch, one after another, bravely facing death.
The cultivators' downward speed was not fast. They were being attacked from almost all four sides. Although all the birds came from inside the tower, they scattered after flying out, appearing everywhere.
A Qi Condensation cultivator in a Supreme Mystery Teachings Daoist robe was attacked by three huge Skywing Birds at the same time. This person sacrificed a lantern-shaped spirit treasure, from which large patches of crimson candlelight would occasionally shoot out. When the crimson candlelight shone on the Skywing Birds, green smoke rose from their purple feathers. The few Skywing Birds let out sharp, miserable cries, but the red light in their eyes was even stronger than before. After a few breaths of attack from the lantern spirit treasure, more than half of the originally bright purple feathers on one of the Skywing Birds had fallen off. It seemed it could no longer even fly. That Skywing Bird let out a long cry, and its huge, ball-like body, ignoring the spreading crimson light of the lantern, had already pounced on it in an embrace. Instantly, plumes of black smoke rose from its body, and a burnt smell filled the air. It seemed it was no longer alive. But its action had actually blocked a large part of the crimson candlelight from the lantern spirit treasure for a time. Seeing this, the other two Skywing Birds had already rushed over from the air. This Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator had not expected these demonic beasts to be so intelligent, to disregard their own lives to cover the attacks of their companions. For a moment, he was greatly shocked. Just as his mind was unstable, two huge gales of wind from the wings had already fanned him. An irresistible tearing force had landed on his body. The cultivators next to him had no time to save him. Amidst his miserable cries, that Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator had been pulled off the small path and had fallen directly into the bottomless clouds on the suspended side of the tower path. In an instant, his miserable cries had grown more and more distant.
At this time, the two people at the very front looked back. One of them, while resisting the attacks from the air, spoke with a gloomy face, "Brother Wang, at this rate, even before we meet the Malevolent Spirit Sect or the demonic beasts, we ourselves will have lost more than half."
"Brother Quan, although we have obtained the secret here, it is only the speculation of that Golden Core senior. Now, although we have merged, the attacks seem to be even denser than on one path. But now, it has been six or seven li. I think we should have more than fifty people left by then. Even so, we will have a steady victory against either the Malevolent Spirit Sect or any single path of demonic beasts," another refined man of about thirty said. As he spoke, he waved his hand, and several sword lights crisscrossed and flew into the air, cutting a dozen or so Black Abyss Bats into a bloody mist. He was actually an Inner Sword cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard.
"Brother Wang, although that is so, only two Foundation Establishment cultivators can fight on one path at the same time. At that time, it will still be one-on-one. Unless one of us is lost or comes out, the other can then enter to fight. It would be great if this point could be like the Qi Condensation disciples, reaching seventy-two people," the previous cultivator said, glancing at the Inner Sword cultivator next to him. But he himself was wearing the Daoist robe of the Supreme Mystery Teachings.
And both of them were exuding the aura of the Foundation Establishment realm. What was strange was that both of them were now appearing in the Wheel of Life and Death at the same time, on the same path outside the bronze tower. And there were more than sixty cultivators scattered on the small path behind them. The number of people on one path was actually more than thirty-seven, and they were from two different sects. After the two sides had not fought, the small path ahead seemed to have not noticed anything amiss and just continued to extend forward. This scene, which should not have appeared, had actually appeared in the Wheel of Life and Death...
In a space in the very center of the Wheel of Life and Death's sphere, the air was filled with a lingering earthen yellow qi. In the empty space, an ancient voice was now muttering to itself, "Heh heh, I didn't expect someone to see through this five-element space and use it to their advantage. To think they could find so many Qi Condensation cultivators of the same attribute. But those two Foundation Establishment cultivators have to rely on the Blue Rhomboid Crystal to maintain being together. I have slept for too long, I don't know how many years have passed. If not for the opening of the Wheel of Life and Death this time, I would have continued to sleep. But why does a cultivator with a Miscellaneous Spirit Root have a familiar smell on him? What's going on? This aura is very familiar, very familiar." This ancient voice slowly grew quieter, and finally, this place returned to silence.
This was a desolate ancient road. On both sides of the road were endless deserts. An ancient road snaked towards the end of the desert under the setting sun, its destination unknown.
Under the blood-red setting sun, a group of people stood at the starting point of the ancient road. In the desert on both sides, ancient buildings had collapsed, near and far. Many huge, broken limbs of Buddha statues lay in the ruins, either revealing a Buddha head looking up at the blood-red sky, or half a broken limb buried in the sand, revealing a mottled arm. A few sand scorpions quickly crawled out from under the sandthorns, leaving faint traces on the sand under the setting sun as they stretched towards the distant desert...
"Recover for half an hour. No matter how much spiritual energy you recover, we leave immediately. During this time, do not move forward, do not touch anything," Gong Chenying said after being the last to come out. Seeing that everyone was either standing or sitting—those standing were basically those with more spiritual energy reserved, and many had already started meditating to recover immediately after coming out—she couldn't help but nod.
After experiencing the shop-lined street stage, although they hadn't had time to discuss it, everyone here was an outstanding disciple chosen by the Malevolent Spirit Sect from the Qi Condensation stage. How could they be foolish? They probably all guessed that when they first arrived at a stage, as long as they didn't move or touch things randomly, the restriction didn't seem to trigger immediately. But everyone also understood that this was not absolute. It was also possible that the black shadow would appear immediately after a certain amount of time.
Li Yan found a place. Seeing that there was still some distance from the roadside, he immediately took out a Spirit Stone and started to meditate. But he did not completely immerse himself. Instead, he was always paying attention to his surroundings. He believed others were doing the same. No one here dared to completely enter deep meditation. At most, they just absorbed as much spiritual energy as possible.
Li Yan understood Gong Chenying's helplessness. It was actually not suitable to recover here. But most of them had now consumed nearly seventy percent of their spiritual energy, and only a few still had about half left, like himself. He still had at least eighty percent of his spiritual energy left, thanks to the endless replenishment from the five-element circulation of the True Scripture of Gui Water in his body.
These few people who had reserved more than half of their spiritual energy were not necessarily those with abundant magical power or powerful arts. Although their spiritual energy was slightly deeper than other Qi Condensation disciples, or their skills were more profound, this was all based on Gong Chenying bearing nearly seventy to eighty percent of the attacks and almost exhausting all her spiritual energy in the final fight with the opposing Foundation Establishment master. If they were to advance immediately now, once they encountered something beyond the ability of Qi Condensation cultivators, everyone here would die.
With no other choice, Gong Chenying had to choose the lesser evil and let everyone risk recovering their spiritual energy here. In fact, there was another way, which was to recover while moving forward by holding a Spirit Stone. But this absorption effect was extremely poor. In half an hour, they couldn't even recover ten or twenty percent of their spiritual energy. And by then, the restriction here would have definitely been triggered. While resisting the attacks, they probably wouldn't be able to walk a few li before their spiritual energy was completely exhausted.
On the ancient road, a group of people sat cross-legged in silence. Half an hour was almost like a few breaths for cultivation. Gong Chenying opened her beautiful eyes and was stunned, because at this time, someone had already stood up by the roadside. It was Li Yan. The spiritual energy here was extremely dense, and with the help of Spirit Stones, although the recovery was extremely fast, Gong Chenying had only recovered to about thirty percent. As one's cultivation improved, the total amount of spiritual energy became larger and larger. If this were in the valley of the Green Mountain Pass where Li Yan had stayed before, Gong Chenying estimated she couldn't even recover half of one percent. Even on Little Bamboo Peak, it would be at most one percent. This Secret Realm was strange. It seemed this recovery was not just due to the dense spiritual energy.
Seeing Li Yan standing there, looking into the distance as if observing something, Gong Chenying thought to herself, 'Could it be that his spiritual energy consumption was not much? But in the previous battle, Little Junior Brother didn't seem to be slacking off. His constitution is truly strange.' With a scan of her divine sense now, she knew that Li Yan had fully recovered his strength. When she had just come out of the sphere, her spiritual energy had already bottomed out. She was anxious to recover. After observing the surrounding environment, she had hastily started to recover and had not carefully checked everyone's condition.
At this time, the others had also opened their eyes one after another. She scanned them with her divine sense and couldn't help but sigh inwardly. 'Half an hour seems to be not enough. If we set off like this now, the combat power we can exert is probably less than forty percent of when we first arrived.' Just as she was thinking, a voice broke the silence here.
"Sixth Senior Sister, this junior brother has a few words. First, we are already half an hour late in setting off. If we advance now, even if we reach the end, how many of us will be left with our remaining combat power? Also, if we intersect with another path, our situation will be like the Pure Land Sect just now, with few people and little combat power. Second, the recovery of spiritual energy in this Wheel of Life and Death is very strange, several times faster than in the outside world. So, did the person who designed it provide recovery time in every stage? Third, since there might be recovery time given, where is the safe place to recover? And how much recovery time is there? Fourth, this junior brother has almost recovered now and can temporarily stand guard. If there is any problem, I will give an early warning." Everyone looked for the source of the voice. It was Li Yan standing by the roadside. At this moment, he had withdrawn his gaze from the distant desert, turned to look at everyone, and then looked seriously at Gong Chenying again.
Everyone was stunned, not knowing why Li Yan would say such things at this time. But after a little thought, they were relieved. The only one here who could talk to Gong Chenying was Li Yan. And everyone understood the meaning behind Li Yan's words and couldn't help but nod. People like Wu Shixi and Yu Yiyong were even more relieved. Their spiritual energy had been greatly consumed in the fierce battle just now, and they had only recovered to a little over fifty percent. If they had to fight their way through like last time, it was hard to say if they could survive.
Seeing Li Yan speak to her first, Gong Chenying listened quietly. Her beautiful eyes lingered on Li Yan for an extra moment. After a little thought, she reached up and tucked her short hair behind her ear. "Alright, we will recover with all our might. Little Junior Brother, you keep a close watch." After speaking, she was the first to close her eyes, without any hesitation.
She was an intelligent person. Li Yan's long speech was just to avoid wasting time. Of course, she understood what he meant.
First, if they were to fight their way to the end in their current state, there would definitely be casualties. How much spiritual energy would they have left by then? If the people on the other path arrived at the end first, the situation would be just like when their side had rested in the yellow sphere for a while and then met the Pure Land Sect. She hadn't given the Pure Land Sect any time to recover just now, and even so, they had barely managed to get out with everyone intact.
Second, the difficulty of the stages in the Wheel of Life and Death was very high. The cultivators inside were almost always in a state of combat. If there were no recovery places and recovery time, then even if they had the ability to kill the weaker party on the other path, how would they pass the next stage? This was not logical. So, there should be a place to rest and recover in every stage, and there should also be a certain amount of recovery time. Now it seemed that the recovery places in each stage should be the starting point and the end point. Only the party that arrived first at the end point was qualified. As for the recovery time, Li Yan was right. Instead of recovering in fear and hesitation, it was better to recover openly this time and see what the limit of recovery time was. This would allow them to be fully prepared for the subsequent stages.
Third, Li Yan meant that he would stand guard. Many people had already noticed his timely reminders in the previous stage. Li Yan's reminders in this Wheel of Life and Death might not be much worse than hers, a Foundation Establishment cultivator. This gave her the bargaining chip to make a decision.
In a flash of thought, Gong Chenying had already made the most correct judgment at the moment.