I fabricated myths to guide the revival of spiritual energy.

East China Sea, 2,000 meters above the ground.

Time seemed to stretch out infinitely at that moment.

Sizzle—!!!

The light membrane vibrated violently, attempting to devour this power. However, it was shaken by the "drill of will" formed from the essence, energy, and spirit of the Kunlun disciples.

Multicolored flames danced wildly at the tip of the sword, carrying the reckless arrogance unique to young people, and forcefully pierced into that indestructible tortoise shell.

"Break for me!!!"

Chu Tian's eyes were bloodshot, and a roar like that of a wild beast burst from his throat.

puff!

A muffled thud—the sound of a sharp blade piercing flesh.

Immediately afterward, the black chitinous carapace became extremely fragile under the cutting power of spiritual energy, and green pus and blood gushed out like a high-pressure water gun, mixing with purple void energy, instantly staining the sea surface within a radius of hundreds of meters green, and even boiling the seawater below.

"Awooo—!!!"

This was the first time Leviathan had let out such a scream of real pain.

The sound was no longer the previous "murmur" like thunder, but a piercing, soul-wrenching shriek. Its massive, island-like body churned violently on the sea, creating waves hundreds of meters high that smashed nearby reefs.

"It's broken! The defenses have been breached!"

On the communication channel, the long-suppressed cheers exploded instantly, like a flood bursting its banks.

"We've pierced that seemingly indestructible barrier!"

"We won! We won!"

Even Chu Tian, ​​who had been keeping a tense expression, smiled with relief as he looked at the flying sword "Qingming," which was deeply embedded in the monster's back with only the hilt remaining.

The heavy weight of despair that had been weighing on his heart was finally crushed as the green blood sprayed from the sky.

Cultivators can truly defy fate and change their destiny.

Gu Qing did not lie to them.

however.

The cheers lasted for less than ten seconds.

As the adrenaline subsided and the desperate gamble dissipated, a more terrifying and deadly feeling overwhelmed everyone like a tidal wave.

emptiness.

It's like the emptiness you feel after spending an entire night in an internet cafe, feeling completely drained.

Chu Tian tried to raise his hand to recall his Azure Nether Sword in preparation for the next attack.

Based on past experience, with just a thought, the flying sword connected to his bloodline would transform into a stream of light and fly back into his hand.

But this time, it didn't happen.

He felt as if his consciousness was sinking into a quagmire, and the once crystal-clear connection point had become weak and heavy.

It was as if... that originally light and agile magical artifact had suddenly turned into a piece of scrap iron weighing tens of thousands of kilograms, stuck tightly in the monster's bone crevice.

"Come...back!"

Chu Tian gritted his teeth and desperately activated his dantian.

sizzle...

His response was a chilling electrical hum.

He lowered his head and looked at the jade identity pendant hanging on his chest.

That was the "cheat code" that Gu Qing gave to everyone; it was the core energy source that enabled them to fly on their swords, provide shields, and replenish their spiritual power.

At this moment, the jade tablet, which was originally as warm and lustrous as jade and radiating a deep blue light, was turning gray at a visible speed. The runes on it flickered wildly, and finally let out a mournful cry of despair.

[Warning: Spiritual Energy Pool Depleted.]

This line of blood-red text also appeared on the retinas of all Kunlun disciples.

"Wha...what happened?"

A disciple stared in horror at the flying sword beneath his feet. The spiritual light on the sword was fading, like a candle flickering in the wind.

"My sword won't obey me! It's falling!"

The panic was even more intense than when facing the monster.

That attack just now was a "full-power output" induced by Gu Qing.

In the heat of the moment, these students, who had no practical combat experience, didn't even consider holding back. They poured all their spiritual power, and even the reserve energy in their jade tablets, into that one sword strike.

That sword strike was truly amazing.

That sword strike did indeed break through the defense.

But what happened after that sword strike?

They became tigers with their teeth pulled out, and fighter jets with their fuel drained.

hum-

With a final soft thud, the formation that had been maintaining the flight technique completely collapsed.

"ah--!!!"

A heart-wrenching scream echoed through the sky.

They lost the ability to fly at an altitude of two thousand meters.

They were like a human rain.

Chu Tian is falling.

The intense feeling of weightlessness made his heart pound, and the wind howled in his ears like ghosts wailing. He saw his junior brothers and sisters flailing their arms and legs in the air, trying to grab onto something, but all around him were thin air and their companions who were also falling.

"Help! I can't fly!"

"Senior brother! Help me out!"

"Oh my god!!!"

Chu Tian desperately tried to mobilize even a sliver of spiritual energy to catch his junior brother beside him.

But in his parched dantian, only a deathly silence remained.

He even coughed up a mouthful of blood due to the forced exertion, staining his clothes red.

despair.

True despair.

It's not the helplessness when facing a powerful enemy, but the feeling that when you think you've won, you've been stripped of even the right to stand.

At this height, once it touches the sea surface, the surface tension of the water will make it harder than that of concrete.

They would be smashed into a pulp and become the monsters' buffet.

……

Gu Qing remained standing there, dressed in pristine white, her expression indifferent.

Gu Qing stretched out her right hand towards the void, spread her five fingers, and then gently clenched them.

"凝".

Then, as if it had exhausted its last bit of power, it simply dissipated.

……

Five hundred meters above the East China Sea.

Just as the first student was about to fall into the sea, the previously turbulent airflow suddenly became viscous.

Countless streams of white spiritual energy converged from all directions, rapidly intertwining, compressing, and condensing five hundred meters above the sea.

hum!

A huge, semi-transparent platform appeared out of thin air.

It is like a cloud solidified by the gods, or a floating island in the sky, steadily lying between heaven and earth.

boom! boom! boom!

The falling students crashed onto the platform one after another.

Although somewhat disheveled, the gentle spiritual energy on the surface of the cloud platform perfectly cushioned the fatal impact.

No one died from the fall.

Everyone lay sprawled on the platform like dead fish, panting heavily, still shaken.

"Where...am I?"

A girl shakily got up and looked at the swirling light at her feet.

Although Gu Qing's figure had disappeared, his voice resounded directly in everyone's minds through their divine senses:

"Exhausting one's spiritual energy is a major taboo for cultivators."

"The spiritual energy concentration on the cloud platform is ten times that of the outside world. You have ten minutes to take your medicine, regulate your breathing, and recover."

"Ten minutes later, figure out how to survive."

After saying that, the voice disappeared completely.

The disciples, disregarding their shame, hurriedly took out the "Qi-restoring pills" or spirit stones they carried with them, immediately sat cross-legged, and raced against time to recover their spiritual power.

On the cloud platform, faint patches of light instantly illuminated the area, indicating the need for breath control.

However, the battlefield never plays out according to the script of the weak.

Ten minutes?

That's too extravagant.

Just two minutes after everyone had entered meditation...

From the sea below, a sickeningly loud, bone-crushing cracking sound came from the surface.

Click... gurgle...

Chu Tian suddenly opened his eyes; he sensed something was wrong.

An extremely terrifying aura was rapidly rising from below.

He endured the excruciating pain in his lower abdomen, climbed to the edge of the platform, and looked down.

Just one glance.

His pupils contracted sharply, and a chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head, making the hairs on his entire body stand on end.

"How is that possible..."

On the sea, the Leviathan that they had just "pierced" was undergoing a nauseating and terrifying transformation.

It did not die.

It didn't even lose its fighting ability.

The flying swords that were stuck in its back were forced out by the undulating muscles of its back after it lost the support of spiritual power.

Ding ding ding—

Countless dull flying swords fell into the sea like trash.

The enormous blood hole, tens of meters in diameter, was now being filled with countless purple fleshy buds.

Those fleshy buds were like thousands of venomous snakes mating wildly, intertwining, weaving, and merging together.

Driven by the terrifying "indestructible vitality" of the Golden Core stage creature, the wound was healing at a speed visible to the naked eye!

In just a few minutes, the wound, which was originally deep enough to expose the bone, had already scabbed over, and a new black carapace was rapidly covering it, becoming even harder and more menacing than before.

"It...it's healing?"

A boy watched this scene in despair, his voice trembling, "We fought with all our might, even depleting our mana, and it only suffered minor injuries?"

"How can we fight this? We can't kill it at all!"

"It's a monster...it's a true immortal monster!"

A sense of despair spread across the platform even more intensely than when it had just fallen.

If the fear before stemmed from the "unknown," then the despair now arises from the "known."

They finally realized the difference between the Foundation Establishment stage and the Golden Core stage.

What separates them is not just a realm, but a chasm of different levels of life.

No matter how many ants there are, if one bites an elephant, the elephant won't die; instead, it will be enraged.

roar--!!!

It seems to be to confirm everyone's guess.

Once recovered, Leviathan suddenly raised its head and let out a deafening roar at the cloud platform in the sky.

This time, its cry was no longer filled with indifference, but with a brutal killing intent.

It was hurt by the swarm of ants.

It was angry.

Whoosh!

The sea surface exploded instantly.

Leviathan’s massive, mountain-like tail fin slammed heavily against the water’s surface, and relying on its powerful void energy, it completely detached itself from the sea!

Like a black intercontinental ballistic missile, it hurtled toward the cloud platform five hundred meters in the air with the force of destruction!

It will smash this platform and the people on it together, as if swatting a fly!

A shadow fell over the gimbal.

As the abyss's gaping maw drew ever closer, and as the rows of sharp teeth resembled a meat grinder, the disciples' spiritual energy, which had just begun to recover, became chaotic once more.

We can't beat them.

Really can't beat it.

This is a qualitative difference that cannot be bridged by mere enthusiasm.

Even if we retrieve the flying sword now, it's just like scratching an itch again.

"Don't panic!"

A furious roar resounded through the crowd.

Chu Tian stood up.

He swayed unsteadily, his face as pale as paper, but he still managed to stand up.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, a resolute glint in his eyes.

As the eldest disciple and the one with the highest cultivation among this group of disciples, he knew very well that even if he launched another attack like the one before, he would not be able to kill this monster.

To kill a Golden Core cultivator, one must possess Golden Core level power.

"Conventional methods are no longer effective."

Chu Tian turned around and looked at the fearful and helpless faces behind him.

Those were his junior brothers and sisters.

Those were his comrades.

If anyone has to die, he must be the first one.

"Junior brothers and sisters, do you still remember that forbidden formation?"

Several core disciples in the crowd were stunned upon hearing this, and then their expressions changed drastically:

"Senior Brother, you mean... the 'All Spirits Return to One' formation?"

"But that formation requires burning one's life essence! And it puts an enormous strain on the body of the person in charge of the formation; it could easily sever their meridians!"

"That's still better than being eaten!"

Chu Tian pulled out an ordinary longsword again, its tip pointing directly at the approaching giant beast.

"It can regenerate health, right? Let's blast it to smithereens in one hit, then let's see how it regenerates!"

The wind suddenly stopped.

The atmosphere on the platform shifted from extreme panic to a tragic, deathly silence.

"Everyone, listen up!"

Chu Tian's voice was hoarse, yet it carried an undeniable air of leadership.

"Sit cross-legged on the spot! Cut your palm! Offer up your life essence!"

He bit his tongue hard, spitting a mouthful of blood onto the broken sword, while his hands frantically changed hand seals.

"I will be the core of this formation, and your lifeblood will be the catalyst!"

"Lend me all your strength!"