Among Jin Shi and the others, Yu Gui looked panicked. "Big Brother, what should we do?"
Jin Shi glared at him and continued to attack the stone wall. "What else can we do? Keep going!"
The others paused for a moment then sped up.
"This won't do." Only Jianxin said, "We have to stop it, otherwise …"
"But what can we use to stop it?" Yong Ruyu said anxiously, "Whether it's spells or weapons, they're useless against that monster …"
Jianxin's gaze fell on Mo Tiange with a pensive expression. "Fellow Daoist Qin, your magic weapon …"
Mo Tiange understood what he meant, so she said, "My magic weapon isn't powerful enough, but it's good at defending. Maybe we can try."
Jianxin was very satisfied with her initiative. He nodded and said nothing more.
Mo Tiange hesitated for a moment then reached her waist and released all three spiritual beasts, including Feifei, who wasn't good at attacking. "You three, attack the restriction with all your strength."
Feifei was fine, but Xiaofan and Xiaohuo were released with great difficulty. They were just about to come up when they heard such an order, blinking their eyes in confusion.
Mo Tiange said again, "Don't take it lightly. This is a matter of life and death, understand?"
"… Yes, Master," Xiaofan answered obediently then turned around to attack the restriction.
Xiaohuo, seeing that Mo Tiange was ignoring it, whimpered aggrievedly then followed Xiaofan.
Feifei, on the other hand, didn't say anything and started to help attack the restriction.
Seeing her three spiritual beasts, the others widened their eyes and looked at her in surprise.
Three spiritual beasts, all of them in the fifth rank, and one of them could speak!
This was really shocking.
Mo Tiange sighed inwardly. She knew this was a bit ostentatious, so she only released one spiritual beast at most. Now that things had come to a head, she had no choice but to do this.
If they could escape, Castellan Mei would definitely not let them go. Even if they were greedy, they wouldn't have a chance.
Only Jianxin and Nie Wushang were a bit surprised.
The monster's breath was getting closer and closer. Mo Tiange took out several magic weapons.
"Fellow Daoist Qin!"
Jianxin shouted from behind her, "Go and stop it now. It's best if you can lure that monster away. If you can't, I'll help you."
"… Got it." Luring them away was indeed a good idea, but it involved two problems.
First, it was trust. If she led the others away, and they broke the restriction without informing her, she would fall behind. And then, City Lord Mei would find out that she was the unlucky one.
However, with Nie Wushang here, she was willing to believe him this once.
The second problem was whether or not the monster could be lured away. After all, there were so many people here. As long as it had some intelligence, it should be able to give up as many as it could.
However, this was also uncertain. Who knew what this thing was? Perhaps it had no intelligence at all, only instincts.
Mo Tiange tossed these thoughts to the back of her mind then walked out of the passage with the restriction node and headed in the direction the monster came from.
When Mo Tiange saw this monster, she was shocked.
This monster's aura was surging, and it was actually much stronger than what they had seen before!
Strange, those demonic cultivators who had been turned into puppets were all killed by them, so how could this monster become stronger?
Could it be that there was something strange in this cave?
She didn't have much time to think. The monster had already discovered her and stopped in front of her, its strange aura surging.
Without hesitation, Mo Tiange waved the Heaven and Earth Fan. Countless flowers, grass, and leaves flew out of it and rolled into a ball. However, they didn't roll towards the monster, but fell around it and wrapped it up.
Direct attack wouldn't work. This was something they had verified, and Nie Wushang also indirectly proved it.
That being the case, they could only try not to make direct contact with it. Only in this way could they avoid spiritual aura being absorbed by it.
Seeing these flowers, grass, and leaves with spiritual aura scattered around it, the monster was indeed confused.
It stood in place for a while at a loss before it tried to move forward again.
In its opinion, although there were countless scattered spiritual auras around it, they weren't as delicious as the cultivator in front of it.
But Mo Tiange didn't give it this chance. As soon as it moved, the Heaven and Earth Fan immediately waved, and the flowers and grass around it rolled up again. They still scattered around it without moving forward or backward, but they coincided with the position of the Eight Trigrams, forming a simple formation.
The monster paused again as if it didn't know where to go.
Mo Tiange wasn't an expert formation master, so she couldn't be like Tian Zhiqian, who could instantly lay an Invisible Formation. Her formation could only confuse this monster, making it unable to see the spiritual aura situation in its surroundings for a while.
Originally, she was worried that this monster was invisible and didn't know whether the formation would work on it or not. But after seeing its reaction, she felt a little relieved.
At least, the direction in which this monster sensed spiritual aura was similar to cultivators, so this formation could also confuse it.
However, after several times, the monster simply stopped moving. It stayed in place for a while then floated forward along the passage.
Mo Tiange was shocked. She wanted to continue laying the formation, but Feifei's voice suddenly appeared in her mind. "It's useless, Master. This thing is stupid, but its intuition is very accurate. You can't confuse it forever."
By the time it finished speaking, Feifei had already run over from behind.
Mo Tiange saw it coming but didn't ask anything.
She knew Feifei was very smart, so smart that it could judge the situation by itself.
She said, "Do you recognize this thing?"
Feifei shook its head. "Master, my memory isn't omnipotent. I just feel that this thing has the aura of the Distant Past."
"The aura of the Distant Past …" Mo Tiange couldn't help but think of those sacrificial temples. Cultivation techniques came from stone tablets, stone tablets came from sacrificial temples, and sacrificial temples were born in the Distant Past … In that case, it wasn't strange for Feifei to feel the aura of the Distant Past.
She didn't have time to think too much. The monster was already very close to her, so she couldn't attack it directly. A simple formation also couldn't trap it, so Mo Tiange was in a dilemma.
"Boom!" Nie Wushang's heavy punch landed on the stone wall's restriction. The restriction swayed and flashed with light, but it still managed to hold on.
She anxiously turned her head to look. In fact, from this angle, she couldn't see the monster. However, she had a treasure on her, so she was much more sensitive to this monster's aura than others. She could clearly feel that Mo Tiange was having a hard time resisting it.
"Fellow Daoist Jianxin." She turned her head and called out to Jianxin, "Fellow Daoist Qin …"
Jianxin was still controlling his flying sword, concentrating on attacking the restriction. Although he was only in the middle stage of the Core Formation realm, his cultivation level was much higher than Mo Tiange's and Nie Wushang's, who had just advanced to the Core Formation realm. Moreover, he was also a sword cultivator, so the flying sword in his hand shone brightly and was extremely powerful.
After retrieving his flying sword, Jianxin swallowed a medicinal pill. He then glanced at Nie Wushang and said faintly, "This restriction can't hold on much longer. We have to hurry. When Fellow Daoist Qin retreats here, I'll go and help her."
Nie Wushang still wanted to say something, but in the end, she swallowed her words.
She didn't really trust this Jianxin, but what he said wasn't unreasonable.
This restriction was already on the verge of collapse. Maybe one attack could break it, and Jianxin's attack power was the strongest among them, so it'd be best if he could stay here.
However, when she thought of Mo Tiange, who was holding on by herself, she clenched her teeth and sped up her movements.
Mo Tiange retreated step by step. Even with Feifei's help, she still felt powerless.
She didn't know why, but this monster's aura was a lot stronger than before. When they encountered each other before, no matter how she attacked it, it would always return to its original state. This time, however, it could even counterattack!
With Ren Yufeng's experience, she didn't dare to directly come into contact with these auras. Who knew what was strange about these auras? As a result, she could only be slowly pushed back by this monster.
"Fellow Daoist Jianxin!"
Seeing that she was about to be pushed back to the passage where the restriction was located, Mo Tiange clenched her teeth and shouted, "I can't hold on anymore! Please come and help me!"
Jianxin naturally heard her plea for help, but he still didn't stop moving his hands. He simply said, "Fellow Daoist, hold on a little longer. We're almost there."
Upon hearing this answer, Mo Tiange couldn't help but feel annoyed. She said, "How can I hold on by myself?"
Nie Wushang also turned around and said, "Fellow Daoist Jianxin, this …"
Jianxin was indifferent. He coldly glanced at her and said, "This is a crucial moment. I won't leave. If you go and help her, it'll be the same."
Nie Wushang was also angry. "You said you'd help her, but now you're actually going back on your word!"
"Hmph!"
Jianxin's tone was indifferent. "Say whatever you want. If she dies and we can all escape, it'll be worth it."
"You —" Nie Wushang was seething with anger. She raised her fist, almost wanting to kill Jianxin first. However, her reason reminded her that even if she killed this person now, it wouldn't help at all!
She looked around. The other five people were all attacking in silence; no one was willing to say anything.
Nie Wushang couldn't help but sneer. In the past day or so, the two of them could be said to have given these five people a lot of advice. However, in front of their lives, they wouldn't come forward.
She clenched her teeth, gave up on continuing to attack the restriction, and turned around to leave.
"Fellow Daoist Tiancan." At this time, Jianxin's voice came from behind her. "According to my estimation, another cup of tea's time should be enough. Just hold on!"
Nie Wushang paused for a moment. She glared at him then immediately ran towards Mo Tiange.
Mo Tiange had already heard their conversation a moment ago, so she was also very angry in her heart.
These past few years, she encountered a lot of things, but there were only a few people like Jianxin!
You really couldn't judge a book by its cover. This person looked very opinionated, and he didn't seem like a person who would go back on his word. However, she didn't expect that when things came to a head, he would act like this!
However, her thoughts were the same as Nie Wushang's. Although Jianxin had the intention of abandoning her, now wasn't the time to turn hostile. If she really persisted for another 10 minutes, she would be able to break the restriction. In that case, she could give it her all.
However, the current situation wasn't optimistic, and they didn't know whether their efforts were worth it or not.
Nie Wushang ran over and saw the monster's current appearance. She was shocked. "How could it become so powerful?"
Mo Tiange shook her head. How could she know?
Upon seeing Nie Wushang's extremely depressed appearance, she asked, "What's wrong?"
After a long time, Nie Wushang finally exhaled and said helplessly, "This thing's already this powerful; I can't stop it."
Mo Tiange was stunned. Among them, the one who was most familiar with this thing was Nie Wushang. If even she couldn't do anything, wouldn't that mean they could only let this monster swallow them all?
After hesitating for a while, Nie Wushang's eyes revealed a resolute expression. "Since that's the case, we can only do this …"