The game starts with escaping from the famine and flipping the table

Le Zhengxibei's fingertips were hovering above the light green jade communication talisman. As soon as his fingertips touched the warm jade surface, he felt a stagnant chill spreading up along his fingertips.

The jade talisman, which should have emitted a bright white luster when infused with spiritual energy, was now as silent as an ancient jade covered in dust. Only the word "communication" engraved on the talisman glowed an almost imperceptible gray in the dim light.

His heart sank suddenly, and he gathered spiritual power at his fingertips again. This time, he injected 30% of his cultivation into the jade talisman. Ordinary messages only needed 10% of spiritual power to penetrate a hundred miles, but at this moment, the spiritual power was like a stone sinking into the sea, not even a ripple was stirred up.

It was as if all the spiritual energy inside the jade talisman had been sucked out, leaving only a dead and silent void. There was even a faint strange, fishy fluctuation, as if something was greedily absorbing the spiritual power she had injected through the jade talisman.

"Oh no, the communication has been blocked and I can't contact anyone else." Le Zheng Xibe clenched the jade talisman tightly, and his knuckles turned white from the force.

He looked up at the valley not far away. It was supposed to be their agreed meeting point, but now it was shrouded in a hazy black fog. Even the sound of the wind passing through the valley became muffled, as if something was blocking his throat.

This wasn't just ordinary signal interference. He could clearly sense that the power blocking the transmission carried the unique "corrupted spirit" aura of the extraterritorial demons—an aura they were all familiar with.

"Xibe! Come here quickly!"

Gui Wujiu's voice came from the front, with a barely perceptible urgency.

Le Zheng Xibe put away the jade talisman, jumped over several rugged rocks, and just as he stood firm, his heart was gripped by the scene before him - he saw Gui Wujiu standing in the center of a Bagua formation, with his hands making complicated hand seals. The seven black iron formation eyes in front of him were glowing golden red, forming a translucent light shield, covering the black crack that was constantly overflowing with black air.

But the black gas was not "overflowing" at all, it was clearly surging like a bursting dam tide!

Every impact caused the light shield to vibrate violently, and the golden-red light flickered under the erosion of the black air. There were even a few black lines on the center of the formation, like ink dripping on rice paper, slowly spreading along the veins of the formation.

From where the light shield collided with the black air, a constant "sizzling" sound was heard. It was the sound of spiritual energy being dissolved by the corrosive aura, accompanied by bursts of dull roars, as if a giant beast was roaring at the other end of the crack.

Gui Wujiu's hair had long been soaked with sweat, sticking to his pale forehead. His lips were pressed into a tight straight line, and his originally clear eyes were now filled with concentration and solemnity.

Le Zhengxibe could see clearly that his fingers had begun to tremble slightly when he formed the seal - maintaining such a formation that could trap the rift consumed far more spiritual energy than imagined, and he was afraid that he could not hold on for much longer.

"The rift is expanding much faster than expected," Gui Wujiu said, his voice breathless. "The 'Soul Locking Formation' I set up can only temporarily trap it, but the evil demons within... seem to be gathering strength, trying to forcibly break the formation."

As soon as he finished speaking, the black crack suddenly shrank violently, and then suddenly expanded outwards. A black gas thicker than before gushed out, and the light shield was instantly pressed inward, and the golden-red light was almost extinguished.

Gui Wujiu groaned, a trace of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth. He bit his tongue hard and sprayed a mouthful of blood on the center of the formation in front of him. The light shield was barely able to hold up again, but the black lines on the center of the formation became deeper.

"How's Xiaofu doing?" Le Zhengxibe said as he took out three high-grade spirit stones from his storage bag and threw them towards the center of the formation.

The moment the spirit stone touched the light shield, it turned into a stream of pure spiritual energy and merged into the formation, making the shaky light shield a little more stable.

Just as he finished speaking, he heard a sharp scream coming from not far away - it was the voice of Gui Xiaofu's treasure-hunting rat. This snow-white little animal always nestled docilely on Gui Xiaofu's shoulder when it was free, and its calls were all soft "squeaks", but at this moment the scream was full of fear, as if it had encountered some deadly danger.

Le Zheng Xibe and Gui Wujiu turned their heads at the same time, only to see Gui Xiaofu standing on a huge rock not far from the crack. The treasure-hunting rat in his arms had its hair standing on end, and its originally lively red eyes were staring at the black crack, but its body was shaking constantly. It even ignored Gui Xiaofu's obstruction and tried desperately to get into his clothes.

Gui Xiaofu's face turned pale in an instant - ever since he made a contract with the treasure-hunting rat, this little beast has been born with an extremely keen sense of danger.

But at this moment, the treasure-hunting rat's reaction was so intense, even... with a fear that was almost desperate.

"Something's wrong!" Gui Xiaofu was about to step back when he saw the black crack suddenly roll violently, like boiling ink.

Immediately afterwards, a huge hand covered with dark purple scales suddenly stretched out from the crack - the hand was more than ten feet wide.

Each finger of the giant palm was like a thick stone pillar, with a cold blue-black light on the fingertips. The palm was covered with pus-oozing wounds, and a fishy black liquid was constantly dripping from it. When it fell on the ground, it made a "sizzling" sound and corroded deep pits in the hard rock.

"Be careful!" Le Zhengxibe shouted, and at the same time drew out the long sword at his waist. The sword body was shining with silver-white light, and slashed towards the evil hand.

But the evil demon's hand seemed to be unaware of anything and went straight towards the soul-locking formation set up by Gui Wujiu.

With a loud "bang", the moment the palm collided with the light shield, the entire valley shook, the ground cracked into fine lines, and gravel flew everywhere.

The light shield of the Soul Locking Formation was instantly dented, and the golden-red light flickered violently. The center of the formation, which originally had only tiny cracks, now had obvious cracks, as if it would break at any time.

Gui Wujiu suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood, his body swayed, and he almost fell from the center of the formation.

He gritted his teeth and formed seals with his hands faster, but the consumption of his spiritual power was like a flood. He could clearly feel that the spiritual power in his body was decreasing at a speed visible to the naked eye, while the power of the evil hand was still increasing.

"Hold on, Gui Wujiu!" Le Zhengxibei waved his sword to block the evil spirit that leaked out from the cracks, and shouted to Gui Wujiu, "I'll replenish your spirit stones, hold on!"

But at this moment, Gui Wujiu's body suddenly stiffened - he found that the evil hand was not only hitting the formation, but also continuously releasing corrosive aura from its palm. Those auras were following the cracks in the formation, eroding the spiritual power of the formation's core bit by bit.

If this continues, the Soul Locking Formation will be completely broken before they can find support.

Le Zhengxibei's heart sank to the bottom. Communication was blocked, and he couldn't contact his companions. Gui Wujiu's formation was shaky, and who knew how many evil demons were hiding in the cracks. Was this really the day they would be killed?

At this moment, several brilliant rays of light suddenly flashed across the distant sky - one was dazzling gold, the other was cool blue. The two rays of light streaked across the dark sky like meteors, carrying sharp fluctuations of spiritual energy, and rushed towards the valley.

"That's..." Gui Xiaofu was stunned at first, then a look of surprise appeared on his face, "It's Yuangungun and Xiaochuang!"

Le Zhengxibe also breathed a sigh of relief - the two rays of light, the golden one was the breath of Hao Xiaoji's natal spirit pet, the Iron-eating Beast, while the blue one was the breath of the poisonous mist released by Hao Xiaochuang's seven-colored poisonous spider.

Unexpectedly, they were also looking for opportunities nearby. It really is true that there is always a way out.

In just a moment, two beams of light descended upon the valley. Hao Xiaoji—everyone liked to call him "chubby"—flew in, dressed in a loose yellow robe.

He lived up to his name, with a chubby build. Now he ran like a rolling ball, but his speed was astonishingly fast.

Hao Xiaochuang beside him was wearing a light blue robe, with a tall and handsome figure, and strands of blue fluorescence on his fingertips.

That is - spider silk.

At the other end of the spider silk, a colorful spider the size of a palm was resting on the palm, staring vigilantly at the black crack. Its eight legs continuously spit out fine poisonous silk threads, weaving a transparent poisonous web in front of it.

"Here they come!" Le Zheng Xibe looked over, his tone filled with a hint of anxiety and surprise.

"We were searching for spiritual medicine nearby," Hao Xiaochuang said as he took out a few bottles of pills from his storage bag and handed them to Gui Wujiu and Gui Xiaofu. "Suddenly, we sensed a strong demonic aura surging from this area, along with the spiritual energy from the formation being attacked, so we hurried over. Luckily, we made it in time!"

Hao Xiaoji patted his chest and said proudly, "Luckily, my Ah Tie has a sharp nose and was the first to smell this stinky smell, otherwise we would have been a little late."

The iron-eating beast in his arms also growled in cooperation, its black eyes fixed on the evil demon's hand that was still hitting the formation, revealing its sharp fangs.

This iron-eating beast was born with immense strength. It could chew ordinary fine iron into pieces in its mouth. Now that it encountered the evil demon, its ferocity was aroused.

Gui Wujiu took the pill and swallowed it. He felt the spiritual energy that had been lost in his body finally recovering slightly. He took a breath and nodded to Hao Xiaoji and Hao Xiaochuang: "Thank you very much. If you had come a step later, this soul-locking formation might not have been able to hold on."

"Now's not the time to say thank you!" Le Zhengxibei held a long sword, his eyes sharp as he stared at the black crack. "That evil demon is still gathering strength, and I'm afraid there will be a second wave of attacks soon. The five of us should gather now and find a way to force the evil demon's hand back first, and then reinforce the formation!"

Everyone nodded.

The other partners may not be able to make it now, so it would be more reliable for them to put all their efforts into finding a way to deal with this evil demon.

Gui Xiaofu comforted the treasure-hunting rat in his arms, then took out a jade flute that was completely emerald green from his storage bag. This was his natal magic weapon, the "Spirit-Guiding Flute", which could draw on the spiritual energy between heaven and earth to assist in attack and defense.

Hao Xiaochuang let the colorful poisonous spider crawl onto his shoulder, and a wisp of blue poisonous mist condensed at his fingertips. The poisonous mist had a pungent smell, and even the evil spirit in the air was suppressed a little.

Hao Xiaoji patted the iron-eating beast's head. The iron-eating beast growled and its body instantly grew larger. It was originally only half a person's height, but now it has turned into a giant beast about ten feet tall. Its body is covered with black hair, and its claws are shining with cold light. It looks very intimidating.

Gui Wujiu took a deep breath. After taking the pill, the spiritual power in his body recovered a little. He readjusted the position of the array eye and embedded all the remaining high-quality spirit stones into the array eye. The light shield of the soul-locking array glowed with golden red light again. Although there were still cracks, it was much more stable than before.

"Are you ready?" Le Zheng Xibe held a long sword and glanced at everyone.

"Ready!"

As soon as he finished speaking, a shrill roar came from the black crack.

Immediately afterwards, the evil demon's hand suddenly retracted, and then with even stronger momentum, it slapped towards the Soul Locking Formation again.

This time, the dark purple scales on the palm glowed with a strange light, and countless tiny black insects emerged from the wound in the palm. Those insects flew in the air and pounced towards everyone.

"A Tie, come on!" Hao Li shouted loudly, and the iron-eating beast pounced forward, its huge claws carrying a strong wind, slapping towards the black insects.

With a "bang", the moment the claws collided with the insects, the insects were smashed into powder, but the powder fell to the ground and gathered into tiny insects again, continuing to pounce on the crowd.

"It's the Soul-Eating Bug!" Hao Xiaochuang's face changed. "These bugs feed on spiritual energy. If you get touched by them, your spiritual energy will be sucked away instantly!"