I have a high-risk profession in the cultivation world.

The Golden Bell Shield... perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it the Purple Gold Shield now, as it has been expanding slowly at a steady pace.

With his eyes closed, Huaisu could clearly see that his spiritual meridians were already overburdened. At first, he felt pain, but now even the pain was numb. It was probably beyond the help of any miraculous medicine.

Since the demon bone could not temporarily convert spiritual energy when casting spells, he could only convert the spiritual energy that was channeled into his body into demonic energy before repeatedly casting the spell.

Use demonic energy to roam within the spiritual veins, and use demonic energy to activate the Golden Bell Shield technique.

This sounds like it's almost impossible to do.

The spiritual veins are the most important and indispensable part of a cultivator's body.

Back in Echo Valley, even though Luo Suichen had a demonic vein within him, the demonic energy Mo Qiluo injected into him was already making it very difficult for him to endure.

Huaisu's face was pale from the beginning, largely due to the pain.

The spirit and the demon are in conflict; he is now like trying to contain a raging fire with a vessel made of ice.

He didn't know how long he could hold on; in fact, it had been a while since he felt he was about to give up. But even just one more moment would be better.

Just one more moment.

Just one more moment.

Huaisu's consciousness was in a state of chaos; only his body was subconsciously circulating the cultivation technique, and only one thought remained in his mind.

...just one more moment.

His chest was smeared with blood, which was oozing from his mouth and nose. Chu Chenmu couldn't bear to look at him after just one glance. "Faster, faster!"

Everyone had tried their best to narrow the gap between them, but there were still quite a few people outside.

One cultivator staggered, with only one hand forming a hand seal in front of his chest. After a dozen breaths, he turned into specks of light and vanished from the spot, leaving behind only his storage ring, which had been deliberately left open before his death, and scattered pills and magical artifacts.

The eyes of those around him reddened for a moment, but their hands, which were channeling spiritual energy, did not stop.

This is a different way for cultivators to die than through self-destruction: physical disintegration.

The former is a suicidal approach when facing an enemy, resulting in the destruction of both body and soul; the latter sounds gentler, abandoning the physical body and leaving only the primordial spirit. But it is still a fall.

Those who have no physical body and only their primordial spirit are extremely rare and can be resurrected. Before possessing sufficient strength, disintegration of the body and the dissipation of the primordial spirit are only a matter of time.

"Disintegration" was actually a way for people to abandon their aging bodies in an attempt to achieve a younger body and be reborn. It was usually followed by the process of "possession."

It was once considered a heretical path on par with demonic possession.

But now this severely wounded cultivator used it to commit suicide. The spiritual energy spread around, nourishing his equally wounded comrade.

Some people who were so badly injured that they couldn't even channel their spiritual energy saw a glimmer of hope.

"Junior brother, I won't take up so much space. I'll go first, you take good care of yourself for me."

"Ashu, I have wronged you."

"Uncle-Master, I've come to find you."

"...Keep it up!"

They simply murmured something to the people around them, whether they knew them or not, and then, without hesitation, chose to dissolve themselves.

He also left behind the elixirs he had accumulated throughout his life.

Some people, even though they could have been saved, would get up and go to the edge of the encirclement to exchange wounds, taking one or two people with them, before returning to die.

The spiritual energy within the purple-gold cover slowly diffused, like a unique world formed in a desolate apocalypse, complete with all five elements.

Huaisu was unaware of this; he simply felt that he was reaching his limit.

He hoped someone would come and tell him, "That's enough, stop now." But no one ever spoke.

Six of his meridians had been severed, and the Golden Bell Shield technique could no longer be used smoothly. He forcibly carved out a path of spiritual energy within his flesh and blood.

But it's not over yet...

Why isn't it over yet...?

Huaisu finally opened his mouth, vomited a mouthful of blood, and whispered, "How many more... people are we still short?"

"Almost there, almost there, just hang in there a little longer." A muffled female voice reached Huaisu's ears, tinged with sobs. Huaisu immediately recognized it as Tian Yige.

"Please, don't cry..."

A warm finger touched his lips, carrying a pill: "Nourish the Essence Pill, take it."

Huaisu turned his head away from the pill. "There's no time to refine it; we can't stop."

There was one more thing he didn't say—

It seems like nothing he eats works for him now.

But since Benefactor Tian already sounded quite distressed, he decided not to say anything more.

There are a total of 36 main meridians and 72 auxiliary meridians. He now only has 17 main meridians and 25 auxiliary meridians left.

He also completely altered the original Golden Bell Cover technique, replacing one broken piece with another, and crushing one in flesh and blood when all the adjacent pieces were broken.

I wonder if the abbot will be angry when he learns that he was... expelled from the Brahma Sound Pavilion, and then, in this way, ruined the secret teachings...

There are twelve main meridians and nineteen auxiliary meridians.

Finally, a voice told him, "That's enough, that's enough, there's no need to expand it any further, everyone is already inside."

That's probably what they were talking about, but he couldn't hear it very clearly.

Huaisu wanted to open his eyes to take a look, but before he could open them, he sensed an attack landing on the Golden Bell Shield. He could only calm himself down and close his eyes again to maintain the Golden Bell Shield.

He swayed and spat out another mouthful of blood.

Tian Yige looked at the person who was almost soaked in blood, her brows furrowed, and the wound on her forehead was also stained red with blood, making it impossible to see the original gold color.

Does a person have that much blood on their body?

Is it about to run dry?

Why can't I keep vomiting?

How long will it take to recover from such a serious injury...?

Huaisu coughed up blood again, which dripped down his chin. Tian Yige reached out and caught the warm blood in mid-air.

Blood trickled down between her fingers and dripped onto the tassel of her sword. She tried to wipe it away, but the more she wiped, the more blood flowed.

A tear fell onto the back of her hand.

Her other hand, which was channeling spiritual energy, never stopped, so she used that bloody hand to wipe her face, smearing away the bloodstains. The smell of blood in her nose didn't get any stronger.

Her breath was already filled with the smell of blood.

After the purple-gold shield covered everyone, Chu Chenmu stretched out a willow branch, repelled several demonic cultivators, grabbed Luo Suichen who had been restraining them from the very beginning, and pulled him into the shield as well.

At the same time, Ren Junmo and Li Chenglin, who had been waiting outside, struck down, shattering the light circle.

Mo Qiluo suffered a backlash and was seriously injured.

Those within the circle displayed a mixture of joy at surviving a calamity and even greater anger. In an instant, everyone who could walk rushed towards the demonic cultivator.

Today, their friends, relatives, and comrades have perished or been seriously injured here, and they vow to avenge this tragedy.

Only a few people remained still, but immediately surrounded Huaisu the moment the light circle broke.

"That's enough, stop Huaisu, that's enough."

The enormous, purplish-gold-colored object vanished in an instant. Yan Jian'an took out a pill that the old man had given him many years ago.

They said even if it was just a breath, they could save him.

He pinched open Huaisu's cheek and pushed in the pill.

Luo Suichen, who was so badly injured that he could barely move, came to Huaisu and reached out his finger.

Among these people, he was the only one who cultivated demonic arts, and he was the only one who was confident that he could detect Huansu's inner energy without harming him.

Therefore, only he could directly perceive the decay within Huaisu's body.

Like a piece of paper that has not been treated well, it has turned yellow and become soaked in water. Now, even a gust of wind would tear it apart.