A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Dozens of feet away from the formation, everyone stopped in their tracks. With a flick of their wrists, they summoned their own magical weapons—wolf-tooth clubs, bone banners, ghost-head knives, and other magical weapons that hovered in the air. The black evil aura surrounding the weapons suddenly surged, and faint sounds of ghosts wailing and wolves howling could be heard.

"kill!"

As a deep shout fell, more than ten demonic artifacts simultaneously erupted with dazzling black light, converging into a ferocious black torrent that crashed into the protective array with earth-shattering power!

Although the demonic cultivators' attacks could not harm those inside the formation for the time being due to the barrier of the formation, their blatant consumption of the formation's power was clearly something that could not be ignored.

Organized by several late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed here, everyone inside the formation unleashed their magical artifacts and launched a counterattack against the demonic cultivators outside, attempting to disrupt their offensive rhythm.

In an instant, the sky above the formation blazed with light, and various spells and supernatural powers intertwined and collided, erupting into a thunderous explosion.

Just as the two sides were locked in a stalemate, a middle-aged cultivator with a gloomy face in the Tian Sha Sect's ranks suddenly raised his hand and summoned a black flag covered with strange patterns.

The black flag fluttered in the wind, and thick, billowing black energy instantly rose up, directly enveloping the entire formation. Inside the formation, a Foundation Establishment cultivator attempted to use his divine sense to penetrate the black energy and investigate the outside world. However, as soon as his divine sense touched the black energy, it froze as if frozen, unable to penetrate any further.

"This is bad, they're trying to cut off our surveillance!"

Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly realized the other party's intention—they were obviously going to use some kind of powerful supernatural ability, and blocking their divine sense detection was to prevent them from interfering.

Just as he was about to warn everyone to be on guard, a huge cyan fireball carrying a terrifying heat wave broke through the black mist and slammed into the array's protective barrier!

The moment the blue flames collided with the shield, they did not explode as a normal spell. Instead, they stuck to the shield's patterns like viscous asphalt, and a sizzling sound of corrosion could be clearly heard through the black mist.

The originally bright white spiritual energy shield darkened and melted at a visible speed in the area stained by the demonic fire. The light patterns were like paper corroded by strong acid, with the edges turning black. Even the spiritual energy flowing around was frantically devoured by the flames. The halo on the shield suddenly dimmed a bit, and the people inside the formation could even feel the spiritual energy fluctuations transmitted by the formation rapidly decreasing.

"It's the Azure Sun Demonic Flame! Quickly, find a way to stop them!" Lu Tianmeng's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed in alarm. The Azure Sun Demonic Flame is one of the famous divine abilities of the Demon Flame Sect. The flames are fierce and difficult to extinguish. Once someone is exposed to it, even spiritual energy can be completely burned away.

He had witnessed this kind of supernatural power during the border war some time ago. The Azure Sun Demon Fire, which was unleashed by the enemy in groups of four, would lose its spiritual power if it touched a magical artifact.

At this moment, the entire formation was shrouded in black mist, and the people inside could not see the outside situation at all, let alone know the exact location of the Azure Sun Demon Fire. There was no way to intercept it in advance.

If anyone were to rush out of the formation to stop them, it would be tantamount to walking into a trap, and no one would be willing to die in vain. Although the people inside the formation were extremely anxious, they could only watch helplessly as streaks of Azure Yang Demonic Fire attacked one after another, constantly crashing into the formation and rapidly depleting its defensive power.

According to previous reports from the front lines, cultivators captured alive by the demonic path would have their cultivation sealed and be taken to the demonic territory's rear. While their ultimate fate was unknown, given the demonic cultivators' cruel nature, their lives would undoubtedly be worse than death. Therefore, even though the people within the formation were in dire straits, none were willing to surrender.

"At worst, we'll wait for the great formation to break, then fight them to the death! Taking one demonic cultivator with us in death wouldn't be a waste of my life!"

A monk, his face filled with grief and indignation, clenched his fists and said unwillingly.

Upon hearing this, everyone inside the formation showed expressions of despair. The originally chaotic scene gradually quieted down, leaving only heavy breathing and the booming sound of external spells colliding with the formation.

Just when all hope seemed lost, a calm voice suddenly rang out: "I know of an underground passage that connects to a monster cave. Perhaps we can escape from there." The speaker was Dong Zheng, one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators guarding the mine.

This man has been stationed here for many years, so he must be extremely familiar with all kinds of conditions in the mine. Everyone believed him without a doubt.

"real?"

"Great! We're saved!"

"Brother Dong, are you sure you mean it? Don't try to fool us!"

The previously deathly silent crowd instantly erupted into a frenzy, their eyes regaining their vitality as they swarmed around Dong Zheng, demanding answers. Even if there were demonic beasts lurking ahead, it was still a hundred times better than their current certain death.

Dong Zheng said no more and turned to walk deeper into the mine: "Follow me."

The group quickly followed, heading deeper into the underground spirit stone mine. They hadn't gone far when a muffled, loud noise suddenly came from above, causing the entire mine tunnel to shake violently.

"The formation is broken!" This thought arose in everyone's minds at the same time, and everyone quickened their pace, wishing they could escape this deadly place immediately. Led by Dong Zheng, the group finally arrived at the end of a branch of the mine.

"By clearing this passage, we can reach the tunnel that connects to the monster's cave," Dong Zheng explained to the group, pointing to the thick rock wall in front of them. "However, the depths of that tunnel are occupied by a powerful monster. When we explored this place back then, we were too weak to eliminate it, so we sealed it off completely."

"So this is it!" Luo Ming suddenly realized, finally understanding why he couldn't find this passage before.

He had been to this area once before and had even carefully explored it with his divine sense. However, the range of his divine sense would be greatly reduced in the thick rocks. He had only been able to explore to a depth of less than ten zhang when he found that there was still solid rock behind it, so he gave up exploring. He did not expect that the passage would be sealed in such a deep place, obviously using some kind of powerful earth attribute magic.

"There's no time to lose! Let's all work together to clear this path as quickly as possible!" Xuan Le from the Hidden Moon Sect stepped forward and calmly instructed, "When we encounter demonic beasts later, everyone must work together to deal with them. With so many Foundation Establishment and Qi Refining cultivators like us, as long as we don't encounter any demonic beasts above level five, we'll definitely be able to take them down!"

Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement and immediately unleashed their respective magical weapons, launching an attack on the rock wall in front of them.

For cultivators, carving through rocks is commonplace; many even personally use magical artifacts to dig caves and build their own cave dwellings when choosing a cultivation site. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators took the lead, and with flashes of light from their magical artifacts, large chunks of rock were shattered and cleared away. In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the group had carved out a distance of thirty feet into the rock wall, finally opening a path to the hidden passage.

Just as everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thinking they could finally escape the danger, the entire mine suddenly began to shake violently. Rocks above began to peel off continuously, and gravel fell like raindrops. Dense cracks also began to appear on the rock walls on both sides of the mine tunnel.