Gong Chenying certainly sensed that something was wrong here, so he no longer hesitated and with a wave of his hand, the team stopped moving forward.
Then, she turned her head and looked back at the ancient road more than a hundred feet away, and immediately turned around and left.
But it was too late. In an instant, the yellow sand under his feet had rolled up a storm. The afterglow of the setting sun suddenly became dim, and countless stone statue remains slowly rose from the ground.
It was like bamboo shoots growing in the "sand rain", or like the hands of wronged ghosts from hell, and in the distance there were all kinds of sounds, high or low.
Through the gaps in the sandstorm, Li Yan and his companions could vaguely see that under the blood-red setting sun, the overwhelming black was like dark clouds dyeing the sky, surging layer by layer, and echoing the black shadow hundreds of feet away behind the ancient road.
Like two pairs of scissors flashing with cold light, they twisted diagonally in two directions.
The sudden situation scared Li Yan and the others to death.
What made them even more frightened was that a layer of something like red waves also came from the horizon. Layers of red, swaying up and down, approached them rapidly. Upon closer inspection, they saw that it was exactly that red lizard.
Seeing the scene in front of her, even Gong Chenying turned pale. With the red insect waves and black shadows, she had no chance of winning at all. She estimated that in one encounter, not even a bone would be left of her and others.
Seeing this, everyone burst out with unprecedented potential, and while only the remains of the statue continued to rise from the ground to attack, they used all their desperate magic and magical treasures.
In just five breaths, he rushed back more than seventy feet!
But the black shadow in the sky behind and the overwhelming black and red insect waves on the ground were sweeping over and had already caught up to him within a hundred feet.
Just as everyone was frantically fighting against the remains of the statue and advancing more than twenty feet towards the ancient road, the wave of insects had just caught up with them, and many people screamed in surprise.
They thought that their lives were going to end here, but at this moment, the black and red waves of insects and the remains of the statue rising from the ground suddenly stopped.
Only a few attacks were still directed at them, especially the waves of insects, which seemed to have encountered some kind of obstruction. Their speed began to slow down extremely much, and although they were very close, they could not catch up with the running speed of the crowd.
Although the insect clouds slowed down, they were still moving forward. The rotation speed of the surrounding sandstorms also gradually slowed down, and the broken limbs of the statues in the yellow sand under their feet were also rising with difficulty.
Everyone has begun to realize at this point that the closer they are to the ancient road, the smaller the power of the attack will be.
They took the opportunity to quickly retreat to the ancient road. The black and red waves of insects that covered the sky finally could not move forward at all when they were ten feet away from the ancient road.
As Li Yan and his companions were trembling with fear, the waves of insects unwillingly made a deafening buzzing sound, and slowly sank into the sand along with the broken limbs of the rising statues.
Afterwards, the yellow sand returned to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
Gong Chenying thought of what happened before, and after waving her hands to block another round of attacks from both sides of the ancient road, she couldn't help but feel lucky in her heart that they didn't go too far into the desert, otherwise no one would have been alive.
Everyone looked towards both sides of the ancient road with lingering fear. Even if they had a hundred times the courage, no one would dare to step out of the ancient road.
Although it was speculated that only a certain depth would cause a large-scale insect wave outbreak, no one dared to try it anymore.
No one showed any dissatisfaction towards Gong Chenying. Firstly, they knew that Gong Chenying had good intentions; secondly, even if they had complaints, they would not dare to show any disrespect in front of a powerful foundation-building expert.
However, after this battle, everyone's fear was overcome, and when facing attacks from both sides of the desolate ancient road again, they felt much more relaxed.
Anyone who has seen the waves of black and red insects covering the ground and the soul-catching hands constantly reaching out from the underworld would feel that these attacks are nothing more than drizzling rain on the face.
During the subsequent advance, the monks simply gave up active defense and began a large-scale counterattack.
This counterattack was much more effective than pure defense, and the advancement speed was also much faster. Thirteen red lizards were killed one after another, and tens of thousands of black insect waves were destroyed.
However, the consequence of this attack was the rapid consumption of mana. After walking more than six miles, the average mana of everyone was consumed by about 30%, which made everyone feel bad again.
If this continues, by the time they finish walking the next three miles, people with high mana will probably only have a little over 50% of their mana left, while those with low mana will even have less than 30%.
Look at the huge black shadow in the sky behind them, which is only about two miles away. Once they meet the other party in front, the scene of the Pure Land Sect in the previous level will be repeated, with insufficient magic power facing a powerful opponent.
Now they are praying constantly, praying that the road ahead for the monks or monsters will also be filled with difficulties and the resistance will be equally strong, so that they can stand at the same starting point.
Gong Chenying frowned at this time. She didn't have any better solution. If Li Yan hadn't suggested to take a good rest before setting off at the beginning, there would probably not be much magic power left here now, and some disciples might have died.
Her thoughts were racing in her mind. At the current speed, they would be able to reach the ten-mile location in a quarter of an hour, but by then their magic power would have been almost completely consumed.
Looking at the huge black shadow in the sky behind him pressing down all the way, the ancient road has disappeared. The collapsed ancient buildings and statues in the desert have all turned into black smoke and dust, quickly blending into the black shadow in the sky. There is no sign of life there.
Just before Gong Chenying looked back, the swarms of black insects that were flying in the air a few miles away turned into black smoke and disappeared completely from the sky the moment the black shadow in the sky came. As Gong Chenying walked forward, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. Before the black shadow in the sky arrived, if they did not enter the sphere for a decisive battle, could they simply rest outside the sphere
In the previous level, after they entered the sphere, they could not find any other exit until the Pure Land Sect came in. As soon as the Pure Land Sect entered, a huge black shadow quickly covered the sphere.
This means that there is only one party inside the sphere, and the other party cannot come out to find the other party, so they can only wait. In addition, after both parties enter the sphere, the speed of the huge black shadow covering may be accelerated.
After thinking about this, Gong Chenying had an idea in his mind and thought that maybe it could be worth a try.
The next three miles of the journey went just as they had calculated. A quarter of an hour later, with the desperate efforts of the monks from the Wuliang Sect, they had opened up a distance of about two miles between them and the huge black shadow in the sky behind them. This was the best they could do with the best of their ability.
At this moment, a huge yellow sphere appeared on the ancient road in front of them, and everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
They launched a series of attacks one after another, and after clearing out some collapsed buildings closest to the yellow sphere and the remains of statues in the ruins, the surrounding attacks gradually decreased.
"You, you, you... be alert to the surroundings, and the rest of you hurry up and recover your mana!"
Gong Chenying quickly scanned the area with his spiritual sense, then glanced at the sky behind him, pointed out eight cultivators in a row, and gave orders with an expressionless face.
The eight cultivators she pointed out are all in good condition at the moment, including Li Yan, and Gong Chenying herself also needs to recover briefly. She also bears the vast majority of attacks and defenses at this level.
As soon as she finished speaking, she no longer cared about those people's reactions. There was a flash of light in her hand, and the green halberd disappeared. She took out two spirit stones, holding one in each hand, and sat cross-legged in front of the yellow sphere.
Seeing this scene, the other monks did not dare to say much.
Only the eight cultivators including Li Yan looked at each other, and some of them smiled bitterly. In fact, they also needed to recuperate, and their magic power was only about 50%. But who made them the ones in the best condition here
Li Yan's magic power was flowing as he kept alert of his surroundings. Although most of the attacks here had been eliminated by them before, there were still some red lizards and black beetles coming over from time to time, but in very small numbers. Of course, Gong Chenying's arrangement was correct.
In about half a quarter of an hour, Li Yan and his eight monks repelled dozens of attacks from sporadic black and red insects, and were looking nervously at the huge black shadow in the sky a hundred steps away. It seemed like a bottomless black hole and a giant mouth that could devour people.
The ground covered by the black shadow began to twist and lift silently, and then without a sound, it merged into the covering black shadow.
A red lizard saw the black shadow coming and made a strange "squeak" sound, and quickly ran towards Li Yan and the others. But when it inadvertently looked back at the black shadow in the sky, it seemed to be immobilized in an instant.
Although its body swung violently as if trying to break free, its head was unable to turn back.
It watched helplessly as the black shadow in the sky approached little by little, and then cut it off piece by piece from the tail like a sharp knife cutting onion shreds. The red blood that flowed out immediately turned pitch black as soon as it flowed out of the body.
The red lizard was obviously in great pain. The sharp mouth on its spindle-shaped head opened and closed rapidly, and its eyes showed extreme pain. However, Li Yan could not hear any sound, as if all the sounds were sucked into the black shadow in the sky.
The red lizard had a painful expression on its face, with streams of bright red blood flowing from its eyes and mouth, while its remaining forelimbs were scratching painfully on the bluestone ground of the ancient road, leaving a pit nearly half a foot deep, which had embedded its front half of its body deeply into the bluestone ground.
But slowly, it and the ancient road turned into black smoke and became part of the dark shadow in the sky.
Seeing this scene, the other seven cultivators looked at Li Yan with pleading eyes. Although the black shadow in the sky was still about fifty feet away from them, the psychological pressure they were under had already reached their limit.
Everyone had the urge to turn around and run immediately. According to the movement speed of the black shadow in the sky, even if it was thirty steps away from them, they would have time to rush into the yellow sphere.
However, the oppression of watching death approaching was psychologically unbearable for them, but they did not dare to urge a foundation-building cultivator.
They were not sure whether Gong Chenying, who was practicing, had noticed the current situation. But if they were practicing at this time, they should not be able to find it.
This damn black shadow was completely silent and could not be detected at all in their spiritual consciousness, but in their naked eyes, the black shadow was already approaching.
Li Yan sighed in his heart. Looking at the god of death approaching step by step from a hundred steps away, he felt extremely nervous.
He gritted his teeth and said nothing, but stared at the huge black shadow pressing down from the sky. He knew that if he could buy more time for Sixth Senior Sister and the others, it would mean more fighting power for the whole group.
But Li Yan still had some confidence in his heart, that is, here, he could not rely solely on his naked eyes to judge, but he could sense the existence of the huge black shadow with his spiritual consciousness.
Moreover, the spiritual energy in his body would show different boiling performances as the black shadow approached. For now, he could feel the five elements of spiritual energy in his body running rapidly, like a frightened fish flying around, but it had not yet reached the level that made his heart palpitate.
Under the horrified eyes of the monks, the dark shadow that was sweeping across the sky was getting closer and closer. Eighty steps, seventy-nine steps, seventy-eight steps… thirty steps, twenty-nine steps…
The seven monks were now completely soaked in their clothes, their faces were pale, and they had already taken out a "Ghost Car Talisman" and a thick stack of various defensive talismans in their hands.
If something unexpected happens, they will immediately put the "Ghost Car Talisman" and dozens of talisman papers on their bodies without hesitation. Li Yan has already sent a message to them, giving Gong Chenying and the others a little more time, and finally giving a reminder!