Xiaoxiao.

Upon entering the cave, Ying Yue dared not delay for a moment. She quickly found a relatively quiet corner to sit down, closed her eyes, adjusted her breathing, and began to fully circulate her energy to recover her depleted spiritual power.

She knew very well that at this moment, every minute and every second was a matter of life and death, and no time could be wasted.

In this vast and perilous wilderness, powerful wild beasts are as numerous as hairs on a cow.

There are countless beings whose strength far surpasses theirs, and among them, the three lords are the most terrifying.

The strength of these three lords was so great that they could only look up to them, and even if one exerted all one's strength, it would be difficult to contend with them.

Ying Yue was once quite satisfied with her cultivation speed.

However, the moment Zhu Xian appeared, her confidence was shattered.

Before this, she had never imagined that she would encounter such a formidable opponent so soon.

According to their initial plan, even if the King of Vermilion Fruit really came to their door, they would at least have to wait until one of them broke through to the Golden Core stage.

After all, both the legendary Lu Chunyang and the famous Zhang Sanfeng were forced to possess each other by the Vermilion Fruit King when their cultivation reached the Golden Core stage.

Therefore, based on the experience of these predecessors, they naturally believed that the appearance of the Immortal Zhu should occur after their cultivation reached the Golden Core stage.

If that were the case, they wouldn't be afraid; in fact, they might even harbor a faint sense of anticipation deep down.

After all, if they really reach the Golden Core Realm, the outcome will be uncertain!

After all, they speculated that Zhu Xian was just a level 5 beast, at most at the peak of level 5, because the legendary level 6 was just as difficult as the human Nascent Soul realm.

If that's the case, it's really hard to say who will win or lose.

It's important to understand that the combined power of three Golden Core stage experts is far more than simply one plus one equals two.

When they cooperate seamlessly, it is not impossible for them to challenge opponents who are stronger than themselves.

This confidence stems from their high degree of self-assurance regarding their own strength and teamwork.

However, the ideal is good, but the reality is bad.

Zhu Xian's sudden appearance instantly disrupted the entire situation.

Originally, everyone thought that the enemy they were going to face was at most at the peak of the fifth level, but in reality, this mysterious opponent had already successfully stepped into the sixth level!

There is a world of difference between the peak of the late Golden Core stage and the Nascent Soul stage!

The former is still in the realm of "transcending the mundane," while the latter has already entered the realm of "entering sainthood."

The difference between the two is like that between a firefly and the bright moon—they are simply incomparable.

Looking at their side, Wu Ren, who has the highest cultivation level among the three, is currently only at the mid-stage of the Enlightenment Realm.

As for Kuang Zheng, although his combat power is truly astonishing, he is only at the initial stage of enlightenment at this moment!

Given this disparity in strength, the gap between them and Zhu Xian is so vast that it defies imagination and cannot be measured by common sense.

As their cultivation improved, they gradually realized that many of their deeply ingrained beliefs were now completely wrong.

What was once considered truth now seems so naive and ridiculous.

For example, people have always taken it for granted that only when the difference in strength between two sides reaches a full three levels can one side completely suppress the other.

This concept was considered an absolute truth before the initial attraction phase.

However, once the crucial watershed of the Golden Core stage is crossed, this so-called "truth" instantly becomes shaky and vulnerable.

It should be noted that even cultivators at the late stage of the Golden Core realm already possess enough strength to suppress opponents who are still at the early stage of the Golden Core realm.

If this early-stage Golden Core cultivator did not possess any extremely powerful life-saving techniques or methods, then his or her demise was inevitable.

However, it is worth mentioning that in the real world, it is virtually impossible for cultivators at the same Golden Core stage to eliminate each other.

The reason is simple: as long as one's cultivation level is successfully advanced to the Golden Core stage, every cultivator will possess, to some extent, their own unique life-saving technique or magic weapon.

Therefore, it is almost impossible to kill them openly and legitimately.

At the same time, there was another widely circulated and deeply ingrained view: only when one's own cultivation level is three whole realms higher than the other's will one be completely unable to perceive the other's specific cultivation level.

However, this statement is actually limited to the initial stage of attraction and even earlier.

Once someone successfully breaks through to the Golden Core stage, even cultivators at the lower level of the same realm will have no way of sensing the spiritual energy contained within the body of a cultivator at the later stage.

For example, cultivators at the early stage of the Golden Core realm are limited by their own strength and their spiritual sense is not strong enough. Therefore, they have difficulty perceiving the flow of spiritual energy in the body of cultivators at the late stage of the Golden Core realm, and naturally they have no way of knowing the other party's true cultivation level.

They had speculated that those cultivators who dared to forcibly extract spiritual energy from Zhang Sanfeng and others must have possessed at least the profound cultivation of the Nascent Soul stage, but in reality, even those at the Golden Core stage were sufficient to complete this task.

Because the Vermilion Fruit they absorbed was itself a trap, with a wisp of Zhu Xian's divine consciousness already planted inside. This was equivalent to planting a time bomb within the absorber's body from the very beginning.

When the time is ripe, it will be time for him to reap the rewards of his victory.

At this point, the "time bombs" buried in these absorbers' bodies will explode immediately, so Zhu Xian doesn't need to expend any effort at all.

Naturally, his strength doesn't need to be much higher than those "furnaces" (the powerful beings in the furnace), and even if his strength is lower than theirs, it won't affect the final outcome at all.

Because this was a complete conspiracy from the very beginning, a one-sided battle.

It is important to understand that there is a vast, insurmountable gap between the Golden Core stage and the Nascent Soul stage.

The former can be considered the ultimate in "mortal" existence, while the latter has already stepped onto the path to "sainthood" and has even been slightly tainted with "immortal" aura. The two are simply incomparable.

Even those at the Golden Core stage are so cautious, avoiding encountering their opponents too early.

Now, they are facing an even stronger Nascent Soul stage cultivator, which undoubtedly jumps from the difficult level to the hellish level.

On one hand, there was a severe underestimation of the opponent's strength; on the other hand, there was extreme weakness on their own side. Even more despairing was the fact that their encounter with the opponent had come far too early, far too soon...

But life isn't a script; you can't start over.

Now, the only option is to exert every ounce of strength to try and find a glimmer of hope!