As the monk’s voice faded, his body unleashed golden Buddha Qi. The Buddha Qi swirled around him, accompanied by the ethereal chanting of myriad Buddhas in the surroundings.
A sense of impending death gripped everyone’s hearts, including Gongsun Xin’s. Even though he was still in his Beast Soul Transformation state, he knew he was absolutely no match for the monk. This man was simply too powerful.
Nearby, Ye Xuan’s brows were tightly knit. His mind raced, desperately trying to figure out a way to escape. However, with such a massive disparity in their cultivation bases, escaping was impossible. The opponent’s mere oppressive aura rendered him completely immobile.
Perhaps Blood Princess was his only lifeline. As a Spirit Corpse, Blood Princess was immune to any oppressive aura. But she was just one person. Even if she used Instant Movement to teleport people away, she could take two at most. In fact, time was so tight that she might only have the chance to take a single person.
"Blood Princess, take my mother first..." Ye Xuan sent a voice transmission to Blood Princess. As a son, it was only natural for him to protect his mother. He and Hua could figure something out later.
But before he could finish his sentence, just as the golden Buddha Qi was about to crash down on them, a figure suddenly charged in.
The person’s body was swollen, his muscles on the verge of tearing apart. Yet, instead of blood seeping from the ruptured flesh, a radiant light containing a terrifying energy leaked out. He moved incredibly fast, appearing beside the one-eyed monk in the blink of an eye. He only had one arm, but he used this remaining limb to firmly embrace the monk’s body. Boundless Spiritual Light burst forth from his form.
The moment this person appeared, Ye Xuan, Gongsun Yanran, and Gongsun Xin finally regained their mobility.
"Grand Elder!"
This suddenly appearing figure was none other than Gongsun Ancient Formula.
"Go!" Gongsun Ancient Formula uttered a single word. He was already losing control of the power surging within his body.
Originally, his cultivation base was inferior to the one-eyed monk’s. The monk had even managed to kill the Supreme Elder; how could he possibly be a match? But at this moment, radiating brilliant light and with his aura skyrocketing, he actually managed to restrain the one-eyed monk.
It was because he had initiated a self-destruction technique.
"No, Grand Elder, don’t!" Gongsun Yanran bit her lip so hard it bled.
Gongsun Xin was the first to react. He scooped up Gongsun Yanran with one arm and Ye Xuan with the other, swiftly retreating down the underground passage. Hua followed closely behind him.
Seeing the three flee, the one-eyed monk did not give chase. Being entangled by someone in the midst of self-destruction was extremely dangerous. He had to deal with Gongsun Ancient Formula first.
Fortunately, Gongsun Ancient Formula only had one arm and couldn’t hold him tightly enough.
The Buddha Qi around the monk’s body surged even brighter. Grabbing Gongsun Ancient Formula’s arm, he spun a hundred and eighty degrees. Upon breaking free from the restraint, he viciously hurled Gongsun Ancient Formula’s body high into the air.
The next moment—BOOM!
After reaching its highest point, Gongsun Ancient Formula’s body finally detonated. It was as if a second sun had appeared in the sky. Amidst the boundless radiant light, Gongsun Ancient Formula’s body was reduced to ashes.
Although the terrifying shockwave was powerful, it didn’t cause much harm to the one-eyed monk. After all, Gongsun Ancient Formula had exploded in mid-air.
"That was the Grand Elder... Ah, Sun family, we’ll fight you to the bitter end!"
The members of the Gongsun family went entirely mad with grief and rage. Even if they were missing arms or legs, even if the broadswords in their hands were broken, no one stepped back. If their swords broke, they used their hands. If their hands were severed, they used their feet. If both their hands and feet were gone, they would use their teeth, determined to bite off a chunk of the enemy’s flesh!
"This old man gave this poor monk a fright. How impolite, incredibly impolite. He deserved to be wiped from existence." The one-eyed monk patted the bloodstains off his clothes, then charged into the secret underground passage. Although those people had fled, they certainly hadn’t gotten far. With his speed, he could absolutely catch up to them.
Meanwhile, inside the secret underground passage, Gongsun Xin sprinted forward without pause. Suddenly, he skidded to a halt.
"Xin, why did you stop?"
"Yanran, I have reached my destination. You guys go on ahead."
"Xin, what do you mean?"
"Yanran, do you see the white coating on the ceiling?"
Gongsun Yanran glanced overhead. She seemed to understand his intentions. She bit her gums tightly, completely unable to speak.
"Give my Storage Ring to Po’Er. Although there aren’t many resources inside, there are a few things he can still use. Tell him that a man must stand on his own two feet. As long as he is alive, he hasn’t lost everything."
"Xin..."
"Enough, hurry up and go."
"Xin, you must follow us. I’ll wait for you at the Ye family’s home. Xuan’Er, Hua, let’s go." Gongsun Yanran turned her head, large teardrops falling continuously. She quickened her pace and swiftly departed.
Ye Xuan and Hua followed closely behind her. As Ye Xuan ran, he kept looking back. He didn’t understand why Uncle Xin had stopped in his tracks.
It wasn’t until he was three hundred meters away that he saw Uncle Xin radiate with Spiritual Light. His Spiritual Qi surged like serpents, shattering the white coating above him. The white coating zone stretched for three hundred meters, and Uncle Xin had to stand in the exact center to completely shatter the entire coated area.
RUMBLE.
In an instant, the earth and rocks collapsed. A massive pile of scrap steel crashed down from above the white coating. The scrap steel completely blocked the corridor.
It also buried Uncle Xin’s body beneath it.
Ye Xuan finally understood why Uncle Xin hadn’t left.
When the Gongsun family first constructed this underground corridor, they had set up a three-hundred-meter-long white coating zone as a countermeasure against enemy pursuits. This area was simply too long. Someone had to stand right in the middle and pay the price of being buried alive to destroy it entirely.
Furthermore, only a Cultivator in the Earth Spirit Realm could shatter the white coating. This was designed to prevent intense surface battles and violent tremors from accidentally destroying the passage.
In truth, Uncle Xin could have stood at the edge of the zone and destroyed only a hundred meters or so. If he had done that, he could have escaped alongside Gongsun Yanran. However, to be absolutely safe and ensure nothing went wrong, he chose to stand in the dead center, unleashing a strike that spanned three hundred meters and burying himself with his own hands.
At this moment, three hundred meters away, the one-eyed monk skidded to a halt, his vision filled with a sky full of dust and smoke.
Once the dust settled, he saw that the path ahead was blocked.
"You think blocking the passage will stop me?" The one-eyed monk sneered coldly. How could mere dirt stop an expert in the Earth Spirit Realm?
His golden Buddha Qi condensed into a claw, rapidly spinning like a drill. Barring any accidents, he would be able to quickly carve out a new underground path.
But soon, his smile froze.
"It’s not dirt! It’s scrap steel."
The obstacle blocking his path was not soil at all, but solid steel. Although scrap steel wasn’t refined steel, it still wasn’t easy to destroy.
After a moment of thought, he grabbed the pieces of scrap steel one by one, rapidly storing them into his Storage Ring. However, he only kept this up for ten minutes.
Ten minutes later, he stopped.
He had already advanced a hundred meters, but his sight was still met with endless scrap steel.
His forehead was now drenched in sweat.
Storing one or two pieces of scrap steel into a Storage Ring was no big deal, but after taking in so much, even an Earth Spirit Realm expert began to feel dizzy. The mental exhaustion was simply too great.
He could actually persist for another ten minutes or so, but what if there was still more scrap steel ahead?
Forget it. He was only doing them a favor; there was no need to risk his life for it.