"Something is not right!"
Ji Yuan's expression immediately turned grim as his gaze swept over their surroundings inch by inch.
At this moment, a feeling, as if being targeted by a ravenous beast, suddenly arose in his heart, sending a chill spreading silently within him.
Yet, his spiritual sense gave no warning. Even when actively sensing, he could only feel an aura of peace.
The two exchanged glances, confirming that they were not the only ones experiencing this sensation. Their expressions immediately turned somber.
"Let's withdraw first!"
Li Buwei said in a low voice.
No matter how good the treasure was, one needed to be alive to take it. This place was clearly problematic, and there was no need to risk their lives to probe.
However, as they turned to leave along the original path out of the formation, they suddenly felt an all-encompassing chill, a coldness shooting straight up to their spiritual crowns.
They saw that as the last cultivator entered, the slowly recovering gap instantly closed. Formation patterns emerged, completely sealing the area.
As the formation closed, the runes slowly faded, and the luminous barrier covering the sky and earth became invisible.
Unbidden, a sense of isolation from the world arose in the hearts of all the cultivators present, as if all connection to the outside world had been severed.
"Ambush?"
Li Buwei's eyebrows twitched, his eyes filled with surprise.
But he quickly dismissed the thought. Using two Golden Branch Jade Leaf bones and Golden Cores as bait, even powerful sects could not afford such a price, only to trap cultivators no higher than the third realm.
"The spiritual energy is draining!"
Ji Yuan suddenly exclaimed and then abruptly turned, looking at the distant small hill with disbelief.
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth, as if summoned, was rushing towards the small hill. In just twenty to thirty breaths, a dense spiritual mist had formed.
At this moment, all fighting had ceased. Numerous cultivators stopped their attacks and looked towards it with uncertain expressions.
Under the gaze of the assembled cultivators, two Golden Cores slowly rose from the Golden Branch Jade Leaf bones, hovering in mid-air. Radiant colors immediately illuminated an area of a hundred zhang around them.
If one counted carefully, the radiant colors blooming at this moment were exactly seven in number!
A vast spiritual pressure swept in all directions. Even a group of third-realm cultivators had to obediently descend to the ground, daring not to continue to fly with their magical power.
Under this pressure, dozens of Enlightenment realm cultivators knelt down, unable to even lift their heads.
"The Golden Cores have revived?"
Feeling the spiritual pressure upon him, Ji Yuan muttered to himself, disbelief flickering in his eyes.
Who could have imagined that the Golden Cores left behind by two great cultivators who perished thousands of years ago could revive and release such immense pressure?
"If they had never perished, perhaps it would be understandable."
Li Buwei's eyes flickered as he voiced a bold guess.
However, what he had merely said casually, his expression changed in an instant, and he sharply turned to look beside him.
At this moment, Ji Yuan also had a complex expression, his eyes showing deep apprehension and shock.
"It can't be this strange, right?"
After a long while, Li Buwei murmured, though in his heart he had already figured out many things. The fact that people who should have perished thousands of years ago were still alive was somewhat difficult for him to accept.
Ji Yuan, on the other hand, accepted it more quickly. After all, he had seen similar situations before. A peak third-realm Pill Dao Grandmaster could persist for thousands of years by converting to spirit cultivation and using numerous elixirs.
Then, for two great cultivators of far higher realms to revive after a long period through some method seemed no longer difficult to accept.
"Ah!"
"What is this!"
"No!"
Suddenly, screams rang out, and a strong, pungent smell of blood wafted from all directions.
Ji Yuan quickly looked around and saw Enlightenment realm cultivators wailing, blood flowing from their seven orifices, their skin inexplicably cracking and spewing out large amounts of bright red blood!
"Blood sacrifice!"
A guess instantly surfaced in both of their minds.
In their eyes, dozens of Enlightenment realm cultivators shrieked in agony, their blood uncontrollably gushing out, staining vast swathes of the earth.
Just then, in mid-air, tens of feet high, strange blood-red patterns suddenly appeared.
The moment they appeared, pillars of blood shot up into the sky, converging into a stream in mid-air, rushing mightily towards the small hill.
"Stop them quickly!"
A cultivator cried out in alarm, first urging the magical power within him, attempting to forcefully fly into the air against the spiritual pressure.
However, the moment he suspended himself, a blood-red lightning flashed and struck down fiercely, instantly smashing him to the ground. With a violent echo, it even smashed a pit several zhang wide.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan's heart suddenly turned cold. A third-realm cultivator had no power to resist under the blood-red lightning!
While this was partly due to the element of surprise, it also showed its immense power.
The next breath, several techniques rose, striking directly at the stream of blood in mid-air, preventing it from approaching the distant small hill.
Several third-realm cultivators made fierce attacks. Although somewhat rushed, each blow could heavily injure a second-realm cultivator, and was even enough to pose a significant threat to an enemy of the same realm.
However, the stream of blood in mid-air merely surged and swallowed the several techniques, as if they could not cause it any harm.
"What are you dawdling for! Attack!"
A third-realm cultivator's expression darkened. As he formed hand seals, he roared at the second-realm cultivators around him.
As his voice fell, the second-realm cultivators reacted, repeatedly casting techniques towards the blood stream in mid-air.
Although they did not know what this stream of blood was for, everyone could imagine that if it were allowed to reach the distant small hill, nothing good would happen.
Ji Yuan and Li Buwei attacked together, but only threw out a few talismans. Those who, like them, were conserving their strength were not few. Most cultivators did not go all out.
Even several third-realm cultivators were no exception. Otherwise, they would have already brought out their respective magical artifacts instead of hastily forming seals to cast techniques of moderate power.
This was both a probing action and a display of self-awareness. Even though the two great cultivators of the Golden Core realm had perished thousands of years ago, no one believed they could contend against the Golden Cores they left behind.
Not to mention, judging by the current situation, it was likely that those two great cultivators had not truly perished, and at least some traces remained in this world.
Those who had already reached the base of the hill immediately scattered to the left and right, retreating more than twenty zhang at the fastest speed, their faces grim as they watched the blood stream land on the hill.
A powerful fluctuation was brewing on the small hill, as if awakening from a long slumber!