Faced with the elder's furious reprimand, Chu Xingchen responded with an even more ferocious divine ability.

A sword intent, resembling a waterfall, surged towards the elder like a tsunami.

The situation with the second disciple didn't look good; no matter how you looked at it, it didn't seem fine.

From any angle, time was not on their side.

After all, his disciple was only at the Foundation Establishment Stage. Even with a teleportation talisman for protection, it wasn't entirely foolproof.

A swift victory was the correct strategy now.

Mo Chen was terrified, feeling as if his entire being was locked onto. Facing that terrifying sword, he felt the Death Omen flashing wildly above his head.

"Master, wait! Spare his life for now!"

Li Xingtian suddenly spoke at the entrance of the mine.

After a slight hesitation, Chu Xingchen withdrew his power just in time.

The sword energy slightly veered off, sparing the elder's terrified head from being severed.

Seeing his master hold back, Li Xingtian breathed a sigh of relief and then dashed forward.

He rushed straight at the elder, and blood-colored spiritual energy suddenly appeared in his hand, pressing down on the elder's head.

Although Chu Xingchen's sword didn't take the elder's life, the elder still bore the full brunt of its power.

Not on the verge of death, but severely injured, the elder couldn't even lift a hand against Li Xingtian's approaching figure.

He could only let Li Xingtian press his head down.

Then, the elder was horrified to discover that his blood power was being crazily absorbed by this Foundation Establishment novice.

Foundation Establishment absorbing Golden Core? Such a thing was unheard of, though partly due to his own severe injuries.

But Elder Mo Chen clearly felt it was a suppression from a cultivation technique!

This kid's unorthodox cultivation was even more sinister than his own!

This was something that even absorbed unorthodox cultivators!

Chu Xingchen watched as his disciple began absorbing the elder's blood power like an evil cultivator.

The two were surrounded by dark red blood qi, and Chu Xingchen couldn't help but frown and ask:

"What’s going on?!"

Li Xingtian could only slightly turn his head to look at his master and explain:

"There's an evil ritual formation here. They usually absorb the blood qi of those miners' spiritual roots to cultivate their evil arts!"

Chu Xingchen gripped his longsword tightly, glaring at Li Xingtian, and said irritably:

"I’m asking about you! What’s your situation?!"

"Me?!" Li Xingtian was taken aback, then looked down at his own blood-filled spiritual energy and suddenly realized,

"I'm fine, it's just that your cultivation technique seems to interact with those blood pools..."

As he spoke, Li Xingtian's expression turned a bit odd.

After all, he had never heard of a righteous cultivation technique that could interact with an evil ritual formation.

And now his own cultivation technique had a higher priority than those of the evil cultivators.

Would he end up leaving a trail of corpses and blood wherever he went?

But time was tight, and it wasn't the moment to get to the bottom of things. Chu Xingchen quickly said:

"As long as you're fine. The reinforcements from the other side should be arriving soon. What's the situation?"

Li Xingtian quickly felt his spiritual energy filling up, and his cultivation level rapidly rising with the operation of his technique.

He immediately replied, "I just saw Senior Sister heading into the mine. I've killed all the Foundation Establishment cultivators inside, so she should be safe. Master, you should go to the warehouse and take what you need, then leave immediately. I’ll handle this person!"

Chu Xingchen nodded slightly and then headed straight for the warehouse.

The other Foundation Establishment disciples of the Qingfeng Sect had already fled when their elder was struck down.

At this moment, no one was there to stop Chu Xingchen as he kicked open the warehouse door.

The sight that met his eyes made Chu Xingchen pause for a moment.

The number of spirit stones in the warehouse was decent, but there was a formation inside, using the blood qi from the mine to nourish these spirit stones.

The spirit stones before him were no longer the usual pale blue, glowing with spiritual energy.

Instead, they were a pale red, exuding a bloody scent.

If he took these spirit stones out to buy something, wouldn't he be immediately branded as an evil cultivator?

What were these people thinking, tainting spirit stones like this?

But there was no time to worry about that now.

Since he was already here, Chu Xingchen decided to shove all the spirit stones into his spatial ring.

The ring's space quickly filled to the brim, leaving some scattered spirit stones.

Chu Xingchen casually picked up two more spirit stones and stuffed them into his robe before deciding not to be greedy.

Outside, Li Xingtian had already dealt with Elder Mo Chen.

Elder Mo Chen now looked like a dried corpse, skin clinging to bones.

Chu Xingchen saw that Li Xingtian's cultivation had reached the Mid Foundation Establishment Stage.

He had caught up with Li Yingling's progress.

Now, Li Xingtian was preparing his first plan.

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He was setting up the simplest teleportation array, so simple that neither the destination nor the distance could be determined.

Chu Xingchen tossed a few blood-red spirit stones from his spatial ring to Li Xingtian to power the formation with spiritual energy.

Just then, Li Yingling emerged from the mine, dragging someone with her.

Li Yingling wore a ghost mask on her face, and she was holding Ning Kun—Ning Qianqian's father.

As Li Yingling emerged, many miners followed her out of the mine.

"You all saw it; staying here means certain death, sooner or later," Li Xingtian said as he worked on the formation. "I've drawn a teleportation array."

"This array's range and destination are uncertain! You might still get caught by the Qingfeng Sect."

"You can choose to stay; I won't force you, but this is your only chance! Think carefully! Those willing, step into the circle."

Li Xingtian's voice, amplified by spiritual energy, reached the miners' ears clearly.

All the miners looked on in confusion at the scene before them.

But among them were some quick-witted ones. During Li Xingtian's battle in the mine, the spiritual energy had shattered some of the illusory realm's formation cores.

As the illusion faded, the miners saw the bloody pool and the blood offerings extracted from them.

They understood that working like beasts here was one thing, but in the end, the Qingfeng Sect would drain even their marrow.

Among the miners, someone spoke up excitedly:

"Thank you, benefactor, for saving us. We have no way to repay you!"

Li Xingtian didn't respond, just continued drawing the final strokes of the formation.

He placed the spirit stones into the formation core.

The array suddenly burst into light.

Li Xingtian took a deep breath, "No need to thank me. Just, if you have the chance, don't stand by and do nothing."

For some reason, seeing those people reminded Li Xingtian of his childhood friends from the same village.

One of them had died here.

He couldn't help but smile wryly, unsure why he wanted to save them.

But isn't cultivation about following one's heart?

If you want to do it, then do it, whether for peace of mind or in memory of old friends.

Ultimately, it's what he wanted to do.

He then glanced at his master.

His master simply nodded gently at him.