Achieving physical sainthood begins with the Iron Shirt technique!

Outside the cave.

As soon as Anan finished speaking, the wind direction in the sky instantly reversed.

Outside Broken Immortal Mountain. Without the barrier of the Heaven-Locking Array, the vast spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside completely lost its original flow. A series of extremely muffled explosions erupted in the air. Massive amounts of spiritual energy poured in from all directions, completely filling the enormous void above the Valley of Extinction.

This immense concentration of spiritual energy pressed directly onto the ground surrounding the valley. The originally hard rocks were instantly covered with a layer of damp spiritual liquid. Extremely abnormal phenomena erupted within a few breaths.

At the edge of the Valley of Desolation, the old tree trunks, withered for many years, crackled and splintered. A powerful life force ripped through the dark brown bark, causing it to swell violently from within. Strange, crimson buds, almost purple in color, burst through the bark and emerged from the depths of the trunks. These buds expanded rapidly in the wind and rain, growing into palm-sized blood-red leaves in just a few breaths. The withered roots beneath them also came alive, their tendrils digging deep into the crevices of the granite, crushing the entire boulder.

The spiritual energy pouring down from the sky continued to press down, crashing head-on into the absolutist energy field emanating from the town's Dao stele.

The laws of immortality and the repulsive force of the ultimate path collided fiercely in mid-air.

Visible, transparent shockwaves exploded in the void. These shockwaves swept outwards, severing all the newly grown crimson leaves around them. The two diametrically opposed forces clashed fiercely, violently disrupting the celestial phenomena above.

A vast, extremely thick thundercloud rapidly gathered high in the sky. Lightning bolts, a mixture of blue and red, danced wildly within the clouds, accompanied by a series of crackling claps of thunder that shone intermittently, illuminating the night sky with its flickering light.

At this time, on the outskirts of Broken Immortal Mountain.

The celestial phenomena changed drastically, and the spiritual energy went berserk, completely disrupting the natural order of this region. The low-level demonic beasts lurking in the mountains and forests were the first to succumb to this upheaval.

The violent spiritual energy surged directly into their bodies through their mouths and noses. The blood and qi in the demonic beasts' meridians were forcibly disrupted by this external force, causing them to flow wildly backwards in their blood vessels. The pupils of these massive beasts, which had previously appeared normal, were quickly stained red by the ruptured capillaries. All the demonic beasts stared with crazed, crimson eyes, their mouths and noses constantly spewing out thick, hot breaths.

The oppressive force of a thunderstorm descended from mid-air, plunging the entire mountain forest into utter chaos.

Several first-tier armored bulls opened their mouths wide, instinctively trying to mobilize the surrounding spiritual energy to condense a defensive light shield on their bodies. However, the spiritual energy in the air simply wouldn't cooperate. The magic was completely ineffective. No matter how hard they breathed, they couldn't even muster a tiny bit of magical light from their mouths.

Having lost their magical powers, these wild beasts were stripped of their remaining intelligence and could only rely on their powerful physical instincts, falling into a state of utter madness.

Hundreds and thousands of first-tier demonic beasts completely lost their minds.

Different groups, usually fighting and avoiding each other, were now all mixed together, converging into an unstoppable black torrent. They rampaged through the mountains and forests. Ancient trees as thick as two people could hug were snapped in two by dozens of bison, their trunks collapsing and killing many. Thorny bushes were trampled flat by their dense hooves, and even the ground was plowed up.

On the muddy mountain road in the distance.

The two cultivators from the vassal families who had just abandoned the miners and fled were desperately trying to rush out by forming hand seals.

The two had just turned a corner when they were directly confronted by this dark, frenzied horde of beasts.

The cultivator at the front was so terrified that he stumbled backward, frantically forming hand seals and shouting, "Earth Wall Talisman! Activate!"

His companions behind him also threw out several talismans and pointed forward with both hands: "Fireball!"

Several low-level earthen walls, shimmering with white light, had just risen from the ground, and several fireballs the size of fists had just flown into the air.

The maddened armored bulls and venomous boars had already charged forward. The immortal magic that the two were so proud of was utterly fragile and vulnerable under the pure brute force of thousands of demonic beasts.

The first dozen or so crazed armored bulls crashed directly into the earthen wall.

"boom!"

The earthen wall crumbled instantly into a pile of yellow dust flying everywhere. The fireballs that hit the cowhide didn't even burn a small piece of the fur before being completely trampled into the mud.

"No--"

The two cultivators didn't even have time to scream. The armored bull at the front shattered their breastbones. They were instantly swept beneath the horde of beasts.

In the blink of an eye, countless heavy beast hooves trampled over them. Their storage pouches burst open, scattering low-grade spirit stones across the ground. Their flying swords were crushed into pieces of scrap metal. The muffled thuds of breaking bones were completely drowned out by the beast roars. The two once-proud cultivators were reduced to two puddles of minced meat, completely mixed with mud.

The marshland not far from here.

The earth trembled violently. The sewage in the swamp rose rhythmically. The tremors grew more intense, and turbid waves, half a foot high, surged up on the surface of the water. A foul-smelling wind, mixed with the mournful roars of countless monstrous beasts, hurtled towards the location of Li Laosi and the hundreds of mine slaves.

With his legs submerged in the dirty water, Li Laosi immediately sensed something was wrong. His eyes narrowed, and he turned to look behind him.

Several miners were so frightened that they lay face down on the water's surface, pretending to be dead, their bodies trembling uncontrollably, their hands tightly covering their heads.

Li Laosi raised his thick, powerful foot and kicked the nearest miner who was pretending to be dead, sending him sprawling to the ground. The miner rolled twice in the mud and water before raising his head, his face covered in blood.

"Don't lie down! If a wild beast tramples you, you'll all be turned into mincemeat! Pick up everything on the ground!" Li Laosi's gruff voice completely drowned out the sound of wind and rain in the distance, and his voice boomed over the mud.

This butcher, who had spent his youth in the mountains, possessed an extremely keen hunter's intuition. He didn't lead his group aimlessly into open ground. He fixed his gaze on a cliff to his left. There, he found a narrow crevice in the rock, flanked by towering cliffs.

"Go that way! Hurry!" Li Laosi grabbed two limp miners and threw them towards the cliff. He then brought up the back of the group, pushing the crowd forward.

The team of over a hundred people scrambled through the mud and water, discarding the cumbersome broken iron chains, and quickly retreated into the rock crevice.

The terrain of this crevice is extremely peculiar. At its widest point, it's only a little over three feet wide. This width allows only one adult demon beast to pass through at a time. Both sides are solid granite walls, with the crevice extending straight inward. This place is completely unclimbable, forming an excellent natural defensive barrier.

Li Laosi roughly pushed the last miner into the depths of the crack. He then turned around and strode to the outermost edge.

The extreme blood furnace in his chest roared like thunder. The scalding wild blood burned his flesh until it turned red, and the veins bulged from his neck to his forehead. He gripped the nicked butcher knife tightly in his hand.

The butcher, splattered with the black blood of the venomous python, stood alone at the very entrance of the crevice. His legs were spread wide, his shoulders almost wedged against the stone walls on either side. The violent, murderous aura emanating from him evaporated the raindrops falling around him, creating large wisps of white mist.

The pack of crazed wolves had already reached the bottom of the cliff.

The first wolf, baring its fangs and with its red eyes, charged straight into the crevice.

Li Laosi raised his knife and brought it down. There were no fancy moves, just brute force, like butchering a cow. His thick arm pressed down on the blade, and he slashed down hard across the wolf's head.

"Snap!"

The hard skull cracked instantly. Hot wolf brains mixed with blood sprayed directly onto Li Laosi's face. He reached forward with his left hand, grabbed the wolf carcass by the neck, and shoved it outwards, smashing the corpse into the pack of wolves that had followed behind.

Behind them, dozens of miners, with nowhere left to retreat, huddled together in the narrow passage. Their eyes widened as they stared at the burly man who stood at the forefront, his flesh and blood forming a desperate barrier. They watched the dilapidated butcher's knife flashing, relentlessly reaping the lives of demonic beasts.

The fear that had been suppressed in these mortals for decades was finally pushed to its limit under this desperate situation, and it completely transformed into rage.

"kill!"

A young miner let out a blood-curdling roar. His eyes were red, and he gripped the blood-stained black iron spear tightly in his hands, frantically stabbing it forward through the gap beside Li Laosi.

"Stab these beasts to death!"

"Avenge Old Zhao!"

More miners erupted. They raised their iron tools and sharp stones, frantically smashing and stabbing at the wolves that pounced in from both sides. Spears pierced the wolves' bellies, and their foul-smelling intestines spilled out, blocking the entrance to the crack.

Just then, a very dull thud came from outside the pass ahead.

The ground suddenly sank. A massive, top-tier Tier 1 Rifttooth Leopard, its body covered in sharp white bone spikes, leaped high into the air, stepping over the pile of wolf carcasses, and charged straight at the crevice.