"Alright, no need for overly emotional displays here."
Seeing Wu Chengqing and Yu Qingling about to turn and block the enemy, Ji Yuan immediately stopped them.
He glanced at them helplessly, unsure how to address them. With their cultivation levels, even sacrificing their lives would only delay the enemy for a few breaths.
The time gained would be instantly caught up by the pursuers behind them, rendering it practically useless.
"I'll go with you!"
Ji Yuan looked at Lin Yubai and said with utmost seriousness.
This was not a sudden impulse but a solemn decision made after careful consideration.
Among everyone present, only Lin Yubai possessed the strength to block a cultivator of the third realm. However, his spiritual power was heavily depleted, and his condition was rapidly deteriorating, making it impossible for him to achieve this under the siege of over ten cultivators of the second realm.
But with him by his side, things would be different.
Ji Yuan could fully deploy the Xuan Tian Shi Ling Tower to empower Lin Yubai, providing him with an inexhaustible supply of spiritual energy for him to unleash his full abilities.
Only by them joining forces could they temporarily stall the pursuers and buy enough time for the others to escape.
Upon hearing this, everyone showed concern. Zhao Yuansong and Wu Chengqing both voiced their objections.
The former was due to their camaraderie, while the latter, being the clearest about Ji Yuan's importance among them, knew he was no less than a prodigy.
"It's decided!"
Upon hearing that Ji Yuan could amplify his spiritual energy, preventing him from being limited by insufficient spiritual power, Lin Yubai said solemnly, "Don't worry, I will do my utmost to protect you. If we must die, I will die before you!"
Listening to these heroic words, Ji Yuan couldn't help but roll his eyes. It didn't sound quite right.
After a moment of thought, he took out three talismans radiating with spiritual light and handed them to Wu Chengqing.
These were precious talismans of rank, all of an offensive nature. If their core power were fully unleashed, they could release a strike comparable to the full power of a late-stage second-realm cultivator.
With these items, the group's safety would be further enhanced, compensating for the shortcomings in direct combat power of Wu Chengqing and Yu Qingling.
"Go!"
Ji Yuan stopped without hesitation, standing his ground with Lin Yubai beside him.
Watching the backs of the others disappear, the two exchanged a look, their hearts heavy.
"About thirty breaths left."
Lin Yubai said in a deep voice, gazing in the direction where more than a dozen presences were approaching.
Beside him, Ji Yuan nodded. Then, with a flash of a jade thumb ring, he immediately produced a set of formation array tools and began setting them up at the fastest speed.
Thirty breaths, not long, yet not short. It was just enough time for him to set up four layers of formations.
However, it was still somewhat rushed, and since these were temporary formations, even he was unsure of their effectiveness.
As the last layer of the formation was completed, the two felt the more than ten presences drawing incredibly close.
"Array rise!"
Ji Yuan's eyes flashed, and he activated a jade talisman.
Array patterns immediately appeared on the ground, and a soft halo flickered past. Then, the figures of the two vanished without a trace, their very auras undetectable.
A moment later, a streak of light streaked through the air and abruptly hovered in mid-air, revealing a green willow leaf about two to three zhang long.
"Hmph, mere illusions."
On the willow leaf artifact, the elder at the forefront's eyes glinted with cold light.
This elder, with his white hair and beard, slowly raised a hand and silently pressed it down. The surging spiritual power within him poured out, condensing into a giant palm five to six zhang in size.
In an instant, the giant palm descended from the sky, accompanied by rumbling sounds. Under the ravage of the violent spiritual power, dust billowed everywhere.
Amidst the swirling dust, a flash of lightning suddenly appeared, and then, with lightning speed, it broke through the thick smoke, striking a willow leaf in the blink of an eye!
Rumble!
Thunderous sounds erupted. Under the assault of the fierce lightning, the willow leaf's spiritual light flickered incessantly before rapidly shrinking to the size of a palm. It was then collected into the elder's sleeve.
The next moment, with a surge of powerful spiritual energy, the lightning in the sky dissipated. Then, figures descended from the heavens. As soon as they landed, they exuded dense demonic energy.
The more than ten demonic cultivators who appeared were all disciples of Chi Yan Mountain. They condensed their demonic energy into demonic projections, exuding powerful auras in all directions.
"Disperse!"
The elder with white hair and beard shouted from mid-air. With a shake of his sleeves, he unleashed a gust of wind that blew away all the dust.
As the dust settled, a semi-transparent light shield appeared, revealing Ji Yuan and Lin Yubai, who had stayed behind to block the enemy!
The two looked grave, their eyes fixed on the more than ten demonic cultivators, but their minds were largely focused on the elder's every move.
"Kill them."
The elder stood in the air, his gaze cold as he spoke faintly.
As his words fell, more than a dozen demonic projections charged forward ferociously. They didn't employ any spells, relying solely on the immense strength contained within their sturdy forms to engage the enemies before them.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan exhaled a stream of light, which transformed into a seven-story small pagoda, hovering above his head.
As soon as the Xuan Tian Shi Ling Tower appeared, with a thought from Ji Yuan, brilliant rays of light descended. Some protected himself, while the rest continuously flowed into Lin Yubai's body.
In mere moments, Lin Yubai's body was filled with streams of pure spiritual energy. A portion of it was used to restore his spiritual power, while the larger portion was used to cast spells.
Countless bolts of lightning erupted, and thick bolts of thunder shot out, immediately blasting the demonic projections before them away.
Even under the fierce power of the lightning, a large amount of demonic energy collapsed. Several weaker demonic cultivators couldn't even maintain their condensed demonic projections and were instantly shattered.
"Thunder Beast Descends!"
Lin Yubai shouted, channeling most of the spiritual energy within him.
In just a few blinks, the lightning power on his body became much denser, with a radius of more than ten zhang filled with dazzling, blinding lightning.
As he spoke, countless beams of lightning converged, forming a giant lion-like creature, roaring defiantly at the sky.
Fierce and savage lightning power surged from this lightning lion, emanating an aura as if it could destroy all things.
"Old geezer!"
Lin Yubai looked up and shouted, his eyes flashing with dense lightning.
The elder in mid-air twitched his face, and then a chilling killing intent erupted. Powerful spiritual energy surged from within him.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan's mouth twitched.
If you're going to fight, fight! Why are you shouting randomly!
A gaze fell upon him, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave. Under the oppressive killing intent, even the spiritual power within his body seemed to have frozen, and no matter how hard he tried, he could only mobilize a very small portion.
"You court death!"
The demonic elder's eyebrows shot up. He reached out and grabbed the air, and a spear entwined with demonic energy appeared in his palm.
The next moment, the spear shot through the air, and amidst the howling wind, dense, ink-like demonic energy erupted.
This person unleashed his full power from the start. This straightforward strike seemed capable of piercing through heaven and earth, easily smashing a mountain.
Seeing this, Ji Yuan's heart leaped into his throat. He fully activated the Xuan Tian Shi Ling Tower, though he knew that even in his prime state, he couldn't block such a strike with this artifact.
Therefore, what he did was to channel more spiritual energy into Lin Yubai's body. Although he felt helpless, he could only place all his hope on the person beside him.
Facing such power, Lin Yubai's face showed no fear. He suddenly let out a wild laugh, and the spiritual energy within his body surged forth.
The several-zhang-sized lightning lion suddenly leaped into the air, colliding with the spear that was piercing through the void!
There was no violent roar, only blinding light that filled heaven and earth, as if the entire world had fallen into silence. Waves of powerful, violent fluctuations swept outwards silently.
Countless trees snapped in half, some even uprooted. Large amounts of earth were churned up and swept into the air by the howling wind.
No one could have imagined that a cultivator in the middle stage of the Spirit Awakening Realm could unleash such astonishing spells!
Even with the demonic elder's cultivation, he had to take this seriously. He even went so far as to worsen his internal injuries, desperately unleashing waves of powerful spiritual energy.
"Break for me!"
He roared suddenly. Under his full effort, he finally controlled the spear and shattered the lightning lion before him!
As countless bolts of lightning collapsed and quickly dissipated into the heavens and earth, the anomaly in this area finally began to calm down.
However, when the demonic elder looked down, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood, and his face was filled with intense anger.
Below, where were the figures of the two? They had, under the cover of the collision of their attacks, stealthily slipped away right under his nose!
His heart filled with rage, the elder unleashed an angry strike, smashing his spear fiercely into the ground to vent his fury.
But with this strike, array patterns suddenly appeared on the ground. They didn't look particularly profound or complex, but they contained an immense amount of spiritual energy.
"This is... an ignition rune!"
The demonic elder swept his gaze across the array patterns and noticed an ignition rune. His expression changed slightly.
He was about to warn the demonic cultivators surrounding the array, but before he could speak, a bright, dazzling light suddenly flared.
Boom!
A deafening explosion resounded throughout the forest, even causing the earth for more than ten li around to tremble, as if an earth dragon had flipped over.
Such a shocking display made the two who had fled more than a li away unable to help but gasp internally.
"What did you put in there? How could it have such immense power?"
Lin Yubai asked.
With such power, it was enough to heavily injure any second-realm cultivator, and even a third-realm existence would be caught off guard if they weren't careful.
Hearing this, Ji Yuan was also bewildered. He had only infused some pure spiritual energy into the formation when setting it up and added an ignition rune.
Suddenly, he seemed to recall something, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.
The spiritual energy infused into the formation was refined from the Xuan Tian Shi Ling Tower's absorption of others' spiritual power, a large amount of demonic energy, and the Blood Sea of the Blood Fiend Hall, among other things.
At that time, when he casually filtered some refined spiritual energy, he had also put the impurities into the formation.
It was perhaps due to these reasons that such power had been generated.
"Regardless, it's a good thing in the end."
After pondering for a while, Ji Yuan decided not to dwell on it.
Although the power of this explosion was not enough to threaten the life of a third-realm cultivator, it would undoubtedly further worsen their already severe injuries.
Even a slight aggravation was good news for the two.
"That old geezer is quite lucky to not have been blown to bits!"
Lin Yubai glanced back. Within his perception, he could clearly feel a powerful aura erupting a li away.
After gazing for a moment, he withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the young man beside him.
"Are you ready?"
Ji Yuan nodded slowly, holding the Xuan Tian Shi Ling Tower in his palm. Rays of light continuously enveloped the two.