Divine Root Bone

A chilling wind, carrying a deathly aura, raged wildly along the mountain path. The scattered cultivators and Qingyun Sect disciples on either side were all pinned to their spots by an invisible pressure, their breathing becoming heavy and difficult. A malevolent clone hovered in mid-air, its body shimmering with a faint golden core light. A three-foot-long protective shield of core essence remained permanently spread out—a passive, innate protection inherent to those at the Golden Core stage, constantly enveloping the body without needing to be activated.

The difference between the Golden Core stage and the Foundation Establishment stage is not only the permanent protective shield of the Golden Core, but also the fact that the Golden Core stage allows for flight, unlike the Foundation Establishment stage where flight is short and low-altitude. The Golden Core stage allows for long-term flight.

Zhang Yang stood alone in the open space, his Qingyun Sect robe torn in several places during the fierce battle, surrounded by a small spiritual energy field exclusive to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment. The power of the third level of Foundation Establishment could have directly blocked the spiritual power circulation of all Qi Refining cultivators, but as soon as his spiritual energy field approached the evil spirit's three-foot-long Dan light, although it was not as strong as before, it still dissipated layer by layer like snow meeting boiling water.

After breaking through to the sixth level of Foundation Establishment and solidifying his foundation, he took the initiative to rush forward to intercept this evil spirit's clone. He originally thought that his greatly increased cultivation level would be enough to contend with the evil spirit, but he only realized after truly fighting that the gap between the Golden Core stage and the Foundation Establishment stage was like heaven and earth. For dozens of rounds, he exhausted all the sword techniques and movement methods of his sect, and the purifying power of the black jade in his arms erupted in turn. His eyes were fixed on the evil spirit's clone's death energy flow and every subtle flaw in its body, constantly changing his attacks to find its weakness.

However, the opponent's golden core protected him flawlessly, and the pressure from the golden core continued to make his foundation numb. No matter how hard he tried to attack and pull, he could only get stuck in a stalemate that could not be fought to the death.

The prolonged battle had completely depleted his spiritual energy, leaving his spiritual aura increasingly thin and his stamina completely depleted. The evil spirit seized the moment when his spiritual power was stagnant, and its dark, deathly claws, imbued with corrosive power, slammed into his chest.

Bang!

A deafening thud exploded, and Zhang Yang crashed heavily into the dust like a kite with a broken string. He staggered to his feet, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. His shoulders and waist were covered with dark, bruised wounds caused by the corrosive effects of death. The injuries weren't fatal, but he looked extremely disheveled, and his hand holding the sword trembled violently.

The evil spirit's murky eyes swept over Zhang Yang's Qingyun Sect-style blue robe, then turned to look at the back of the crowd.

Deep within the crowd, twelve inner disciples of the Qingyun Sect stood back to back, their layers of Qi Refining stage spiritual energy forming a barrier, fiercely protecting the slender girl Lin Wanqing trapped in the center. Each of the twelve was on edge, and even though their spiritual energy was already mostly depleted, not one of them retreated a single step. Beside Lin Wanqing stood a graceful female cultivator, her white robes from the Yunlan Sect particularly striking; she was none other than Su Qingyao, a woman of meticulous mind and perception far surpassing her peers.

A sinister, grotesque smile slowly spread across the distorted, malevolent face. A chilling, piercing voice pierced through the deathly aura, reaching everyone's ears:

"You junior of the Qingyun Sect, after dozens of rounds of fierce fighting, you couldn't break through my Dan Yuan protective barrier even with all your might. Just now, I saw these fellow disciples desperately protecting that woman; I suppose she is the one you care about. If I were to personally extract her soul and steal her lifespan, letting her die a miserable death before your eyes, how utterly devastated and desperate would you be?"

Before the words were finished, the deathly aura surrounding the evil spirit suddenly contracted into a pitch-black torrent, its target being only Lin Wanqing from beginning to end, and it charged straight towards the center of the crowd.

Su Qingyao, with her keen eye, immediately saw through the evil spirit's murderous intent and knew it intended to kill Lin Wanqing. Her cultivation was stuck at the peak of Qi Refining, and despite knowing the vast difference in their levels, she didn't flinch. She channeled her spiritual power to its full potential, her white robes fluttering, and charged straight at the evil spirit, sword in hand, intending to block its attack with her own body.

"Qingyao! Don't go forward!"

Zhang Yang's pupils constricted sharply, and he roared loudly, enduring the excruciating pain as if his meridians were being torn apart. He knew that the pressure of a first-level Golden Core clone was enough to cause a Qi Refining cultivator's blood and qi to become disordered and their legs to go weak. For Su Qingyao, with her peak Qi Refining cultivation, to step forward would be no different from sending her to her death.

But the reminder came too late.

The evil spirit didn't take Su Qingyao, who was dressed in the Yunlan Sect's attire, seriously at all. It regarded her as an irrelevant rogue cultivator who had rashly interfered in the battle. It didn't even bother to use its proper killing moves. It simply waved its hand, and a faint palm wind of death energy whistled out.

The palm strike hit Su Qingyao without any resistance. The girl groaned, her longsword flew out of her hand, and her body flew more than ten feet away, crashing heavily onto the hard rocks. A mouthful of hot blood gushed out, and her meridians were damaged inch by inch. She was seriously injured and collapsed on the spot, unable to get up again.

The twelve inner disciples of the Qingyun Sect who were protecting Lin Wanqing were furious at the sight. They activated their Qi Refining stage spiritual energy fields, and twelve beams of azure light intertwined to form a defensive barrier, charging towards the evil spirit together.

However, the combined strength of a few people at the Qi Refining stage was no match for the pressure of the Golden Core realm.

The evil spirit casually raised its arm and swept it, and a surge of death energy crashed up.

Snap, splat—

The sounds of bones cracking and blood spurting echoed continuously.

All twelve disciples were sent flying backward, crashing haphazardly into the grass. Some had a caved-in chest, their blue robes soaked in blood; others had twisted and bent arms, flesh torn open; still others clutched their throats, vomiting blood, their breaths weak and feeble. Fortunately, the evil spirit had not targeted them, but had only attacked randomly. None died on the spot, but each was severely injured and completely incapacitated.

With all obstacles cleared, the evil spirit's greedy gaze locked onto Lin Wanqing, who was powerless to resist in the center of the crowd. Its death energy coalesced into a killing move, ready to deliver a fatal blow.

suddenly!

At this critical moment, the evil spirit clone suddenly began to tremble violently!

It clutched its head tightly with both hands, an extreme, tearing pain appearing on its ghostly face. The surging death energy within its body went wildly chaotic and dissipated, its body sometimes solid and sometimes illusory, alternating between reality and illusion. The three-foot-long protective shield of Dan Yuan that had once enveloped its body dimmed and dissipated layer by layer, flickering between light and darkness, until it finally almost completely disappeared.

The immense pressure of the Golden Core Stage 1 plummeted like a cliff, the faint light of the core flickered, and the realm became completely unstable.

Unbeknownst to anyone, deep within the mountains behind Shou'an Village, the true form of the evil spirit had suffered a fatal blow. The damage to its source affected its external avatar, causing its power to continuously decline. Only Zhang Yang, with his keen mind, instantly noticed this once-in-a-lifetime anomaly.

Although he didn't know the root cause, he clearly saw that the opponent's Dan Yuan shield was almost dissipated, and the Golden Core Heavenly Might that suppressed the entire field dropped significantly. Suddenly, a glimmer of hope for victory ignited in his heart.

The evil clone endured the excruciating pain of its origin being torn apart, briefly regaining some of its senses. Ignoring the danger of its own clone collapsing, it was still determined to kill Lin Wanqing, and once again urged the remaining death energy to attack the girl.

Zhang Yang's heart suddenly tightened.

Even though the opponent's protective aura dissipated, his foundation was still a Golden Core clone. He was severely injured and his dantian spiritual fluid was almost depleted. He had no power to resist with conventional foundation-building techniques. The distance between the two was too great, and there was no time to rush over and protect Lin Wanqing.

Seeing that Lin Wanqing was about to perish under the aura of death, Zhang Yang's eyes suddenly erupted with determination and ferocity.

He suppressed the excruciating pain tearing through his body; the black jade in his arms was burning hot, and the ancient forbidden technique inherited from the past, found in the mysterious space of the side hall, flashed through his mind—

【Reversing the Heavens Finger】

This was one of the few trump cards he kept hidden deep in his heart, but now that his fellow disciples were seriously injured and trapped in a deadly situation, he no longer hesitated.

Zhang Yang knelt on the ground, and all the remaining spiritual power in his body surged without reservation. The free spiritual energy in the world frantically gathered towards his body. He raised his fingertips and began to gather the power of this ancient forbidden move that was enough to shake the Golden Core!