One person: Orochi, starting with Feng Baobao's Eight Heroes.

"Just to my liking."

Lu Ren sneered and three purple-gold talismans slid out from his sleeve.

"Let these demons and monsters witness the true essence of Longhu Mountain's thunder magic."

Outside the barrier, the Eight Banners soldiers, their bodies crackling with electricity, had already formed a charge formation.

Blue-white flames danced in their empty eye sockets, and their decaying bodies were forcibly infused with the power of thunder. Every step they took left smoky footprints on the scorched earth.

In the unseen black-and-white spiritual world, Chen Qi was moving forward, stepping on illusory ripples.

Everything here is like a reflection in the water, or like ink marks on the back of rice paper, creating a strange and beautiful interplay between reality and illusion.

"How amazing..."

Chen Qi looked down at his palm and found that his skin was covered with a very faint silver light, which was the unique glow of a spiritual body.

He tried to clench his fist, but what he felt was not the realness of flesh and blood, but a strange tactile sensation that lay between existence and nothingness.

Countless bizarre and fantastical traces floated all around, some like elongated shadows, others flowing freely.

Chen Qi knew that these were spiritual imprints left by powerful individuals. If he were to touch them rashly, he would suffer mental damage at best, and his soul would be scattered at worst.

"The power exerted when invoking deities may be transmitted through this world..."

Chen Qi gazed thoughtfully into the distance.

From the unique perspective of the spiritual world, he could see the "lines" extending from the bodies of those cultivators in the material world. These lines twisted and turned, some connecting heaven and earth, and others leading to unknowable depths.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks.

In the direction of the Zhen position in the spiritual world, an unusual energy fluctuation caught his attention.

Looking closely, one could see a colossal creature, resembling both a dragon and a python, swimming towards them from the Qian position. Its entire body was composed of cyan-gold Feng Shui Qi veins, and wherever it passed, the "surface" of the spiritual world was stirred into violent ripples...

"Someone is performing a ritual in the Qian position!"

Chen Qi's pupils contracted slightly.

He could clearly see that the moment the giant python of Qi burrowed into the Zhen position, the barrier in the material world immediately trembled violently, and the electric light on the Eight Banners soldiers also surged.

Without hesitation, Chen Qi immediately changed direction and ran towards the Qian position.

The way the spiritual world moves is completely different from that of the material world.

With each step he took, his body slid forward more than ten feet, and the surrounding scenery receded behind him.

Just as he was moving forward at full speed, a chill suddenly ran down the back of his neck.

Chen Qi turned around, and his Divine Eye of Delusion instantly activated, his pupils transforming into dazzling golden vertical pupils.

However, apart from floating spiritual remnants, there was nothing in sight.

"strangeness..."

Chen Qi squinted.

The feeling of being watched was ever-present yet elusive, like someone observing him through frosted glass.

The Divine Eye of Delusion couldn't see through it, which was the first time this had happened since he began his cultivation.

Deep within the realm of the mind, a pair of eyes, darker than the night, slowly closed.

The being seemed surprised by Chen Qi's perception and quietly retreated into deeper shadows.

"Let's deal with the problem in the Qian position first."

Chen Qi suppressed his unease and quickened his pace.

He could sense that the battle situation in the material world was deteriorating, and the barrier might collapse at any moment.

In the material world, Shuten-dōji tore the head off the last Manchu soldier with a single claw.

Chapter 254 Terrible

It licked the rotting flesh that clung to its fingertips, its scarlet tongue suddenly pausing.

"Got you..."

A twisted smile appeared on the Ghost King's ferocious face.

It could clearly sense the presence of the human named Chen Qi nearby, but it couldn't pinpoint his exact location.

This contradictory feeling made it both excited and irritable.

"Master Shanqi wants to live..."

Shuten-dōji muttered to himself, his three eyes darting around simultaneously.

"But losing an arm or a leg shouldn't matter, right?"

It suddenly threw its head back and laughed wildly, and crimson flames rose around its body.

As a demon king who revels in killing, it never completely obeys anyone's orders.

Before the laughter had even subsided, it had already risen from the ground, tearing the air apart with ear-piercing sonic booms as it passed, heading straight for the epicenter.

Within the barrier 06, Master Hutu suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood.

The old monk, disregarding the wiping, shouted hoarsely.

"Found it! Thirty zhang southeast of the Zhen position, nine chi underground, there is a talisman nail!"

"Master of Cover!"

The Gao family head's soft sword shot out like a silver snake, instantly piercing the throats of three Eight Banner soldiers.

But the corpses, enhanced by electricity, disregarded their injuries and grabbed the sword with their backhands, as a violent current traveled along the blade.

At the critical moment, Lü Ren's purple-gold talisman arrived just in time.

Three talismans were placed in a triangular pattern on the foreheads of the three corpses, and immediately burst forth with dazzling lightning.

"Boom——"

The pure Longhu Mountain Five Thunder Orthodox Method clashed violently with the evil lightning, and the resulting shockwave sent all the Eight Banner soldiers within a five-zhang radius flying.

Lu Ren was also pushed back three steps by the recoil, and blood spilled from the corner of his mouth.

"These damn things are getting more and more troublesome!"

He gritted his teeth.

Zhang Shoucheng's situation was even worse.

He tried to use the compass to stop the Heavenly Blade's attack, but was struck on the right shoulder by a sudden bolt of lightning.

The Taoist robe was instantly charred black, and the flesh emitted a pungent, burnt smell.

"Brother!"

Lü Ren's eyes were bloodshot.

"It doesn't matter!"

Zhang Shoucheng endured the excruciating pain and used his left hand to make a hand seal on the wound, temporarily sealing the meridians.

"The barrier won't last ten more breaths, prepare to break out!"

As if confirming his judgment, the crack in the dome suddenly widened, and a palm-sized fragment of the barrier peeled off, turning into points of light and dissipating in mid-air.

Seizing the opportunity, the tengu simultaneously fired crimson beams from its three eyes, striking the vulnerable spot hard.

"Click——"

The sickening cracking sound echoed across the battlefield.

The pale gold barrier, like a shattered glass goblet, began to collapse rapidly from the top.

In his spiritual world, Chen Qi is already close to the Qian position.

The scene here is even more bizarre, with countless tiny streams of Qi, like glowing tadpoles, weaving into a complex network in the air.

At the center of the network, a blurry figure is forming hand seals, controlling the giant python of Qi.

"You are the one."

Chen Qi's eyes turned cold, and with a flick of his right hand, a longsword made of pure spiritual energy slowly took shape.

The sword's blade was as transparent as water, yet it emanated a chilling aura.

Just as he was about to make his move, the feeling of being watched returned, and it was ten times stronger than before!

Chen Qi turned around and activated his Divine Eye of Delusion at full power, finally managing to detect a trace this time.

At the edge of the spiritual world, there was an area where the light was unnaturally distorted.

"Who is there?"

Chen Qi shouted in a deep voice. Only silence answered him, but the feeling of being constantly threatened remained undiminished.

The rumbling sounds of the material world could be faintly heard through the barrier between the two realms.

Chen Qi knew he couldn't delay any longer, so he made a decisive move, channeling most of his mental energy into his longsword and hurling it fiercely at the blurry figure in the Qian position!

"Whoosh-"

The 607 Spirit Sword cleaved through the void, leaving behind a lingering silver trail in its wake.

Just as the target was about to be hit, a sudden change occurred!

A hand covered in black scales suddenly emerged from the void and casually caught the flying longsword.

The hand had only three fingers, each joint covered in hangnails, and the nails were curved like hooks.

“Nice toy.”

A hoarse voice echoed in the spiritual world.

Chen Qi felt a chill run down his spine as the voice resounded directly in his mind, carrying an indescribable aura of antiquity and decay.

With a gentle clench of the black hand, the spiritual sword shattered into countless points of light.

The light spots did not dissipate; instead, they were completely absorbed by the palm.

"who are you?"

Chen Qi was on high alert, his spiritual energy surging wildly within him.

He had never encountered anyone who could so easily break through his mental attacks.

Chapter 255 The Web of Death

There was no answer. The black hand slowly retracted into the void, and before leaving, it gently beckoned its three fingers towards Chen Qi's direction.

This simple action struck Chen Qi like a thunderbolt. He felt as if his spirit was bound by invisible chains, and he staggered forward a few steps uncontrollably.

"boom--"

A deafening explosion resounded from the material world.

The moment Chen Qi was distracted, that feeling of constraint suddenly disappeared.

When he looked up again, the black hand and the distorted space had vanished without a trace, as if they had never existed.

"Damn it!"

Chen Qi cursed. The figure in the Qian position seemed to sense the danger and was quickly retreating.

Worse still, through the connection between the two worlds, he could sense that the barrier of the material world had completely collapsed!

The celestial dog, accompanied by a sky full of thunder and fire, rushed towards the crowd, while the bronze celestial sword hung high in the sky, its tip condensing into an ever-growing ball of electric light.

The Eight Banners soldiers surged forward, their bodies crackling with electricity, forming a web of death.

At the edge of the battlefield, Shuten-dōji was approaching at a terrifying speed.

The ghost king seemed to sense something, and its three eyes simultaneously locked onto a certain point in the void.

That is precisely where Chen Qi's spiritual body connects with the material world!

"Time is running out..."

Chen Qi took a deep breath.