Sun Chenghao thought he was going to die. An unprecedented sense of crisis spread through his heart. A voice in his mind urged him to escape, to escape quickly!

But he couldn't escape! He couldn't even move!

The killing intent and powerful pressure of the fifth-tier demonic beast enveloped him, making him, who was already at his limit, unable to muster any will to resist. He even found it difficult to move a finger.

When the fifth-tier demon beast decided to kill him, he realized that all his previous resistance was in vain; it was nothing more than the fifth-tier demon beast toying with them.

At this moment, the fifth-tier demon beast had had enough fun and was ready to eat.

Sun Chenghao felt sharp claws pierce his shoulders on either side of his head, and a long, sharp mouth opened above his head, clamping down on it...

A stench and a feeling of suffocation washed over him, and Sun Chenghao was filled with despair; he was going to die!

However, in that split second, he sensed that the fifth-tier demon beast paused for a moment.

The next moment, a sharp, painful scream pierced the eardrums of everyone present. Sun Chenghao was also thrown out of the fifth-tier demon beast's mouth and slammed heavily to the side.

Sun Chenghao was thrown around and saw stars, but he ignored the pain and immediately gripped his longsword before looking sharply in the direction of the fifth-tier demon beast.

With just one glance, Sun Chenghao froze. In front of him, the frail boy was tightly hugging the neck of a fifth-tier demon beast, and the long sword in his hand was still stuck inside the beast's body.

The longsword pierced into the beast's feathers and flesh, and blood flowed out along the sword, trickling down the tip.

The damage inflicted on the fifth-tier demon beast by the three Golden Core cultivators' two-hour life-or-death struggle was still less than the power of the sword strike from the Qi Refining youth in front of them.

"Don't just stand there, get up there!"

The boy roared loudly, but before he could finish speaking, he was flung away by a fifth-tier demonic beast. He crashed through two trees before coming to a stop, his eyes rolled back, and he lost consciousness, his fate unknown.

Sun Chenghao and the other two Golden Core cultivators regained their senses. Their will to survive overcame their physical exhaustion, and the three of them gritted their teeth and charged forward again with their swords drawn.

Li Ze's longsword was still stuck in the neck of the fifth-tier demon beast. At this moment, the fifth-tier demon beast was violent and frenzied, slamming its head against the ground and trees from time to time, just like a headache attack.

Sun Chenghao and the others didn't have time to investigate the reason for the fifth-order demon beast's abnormal behavior. Now was their chance, and they had to kill it before it recovered.

Sun Chenghao looked at the long sword on the neck of the fifth-tier demon beast and shouted, "You cover me, I'll try to grab that sword."

"Received!" the two Golden Core cultivators replied in unison.

With the unusual monster and the two Golden Core cultivators holding him back, Sun Chenghao finally managed to grab the longsword that Li Ze had left on the neck of the fifth-tier monster after a lot of effort.

"Go to hell!"

Sun Chenghao used all his strength to extract the last bit of spiritual power from his golden core. He was going all in, placing all his hopes on this long sword!

"Execute him!"

Click!

The crisp sound was just like celestial music from heaven.

Sun Chenghao fell from mid-air, his longsword falling from his hand. He had a smile on his face, his eyes fixed on the severed neck, which was now just a thin layer of skin. He muttered, "Finally dead."

Thump!

Sun Chenghao crashed to the ground.

Then, with another loud bang, the body of the fifth-tier demon beast crashed to the ground, its large head landing squarely on Sun Chenghao's body.

Sun Chenghao groaned, and blood gushed from his mouth again.

"Second Senior Brother is injured! Quickly, go save Second Senior Brother!"

Those at the Foundation Establishment stage who were not far away saw the fifth-tier demonic beast smash into Sun Chenghao and rushed over.

They moved the fifth-tier demon beast's large head and asked with concern, "Second Senior Brother, are you alright?"

"Don't move him." Sun Chenghao stopped them from helping him up. "I have broken ribs, don't touch me. Send a few people to check on He Yu over there, he seems to have passed out."

"Yes, Second Senior Brother, we'll head over right away."

Several Foundation Establishment stage cultivators immediately rushed towards Li Ze.

"Huh, this place seems even colder." A Foundation Establishment disciple shivered.

“It really does seem colder than other places,” another disciple agreed.

Those in the Foundation Establishment stage did not notice that the surrounding malevolent energy was surging into Li Ze's body like a violent storm.

"Hiss! Fellow Daoist He Yu is so cold!"

"Cold? Wasn't it less than a quarter of an hour before Fellow Daoist He Yu's body got cold?"

"Don't talk nonsense, Fellow Daoist He Yu still has breath."

"Phew, that startled me. I knew it! Fellow Daoist He Yu was so brave just now, and he even severely injured a fifth-order demon beast. He doesn't seem like he's that fragile at all."

"Do you think it's normal for a Qi Refining stage cultivator to severely injure a fifth-tier demonic beast?"

Everyone looked at each other and fell silent.

"Perhaps Fellow Daoist He Yu has some unspeakable difficulties. In any case, we are very grateful for Fellow Daoist He Yu's sword strike, otherwise we would be in grave danger today."

"That's right, let's check his injuries first."

After a while, the Foundation Establishment disciples breathed a sigh of relief. "The injuries are not serious. They just lost their spiritual energy and were exhausted, which is why they fainted."

"I'll feed him a few pills, then I'll take him to my second senior brother. You all go and take care of the others."

"Alright. Quite a few people are injured, and if we were to leave now, we'd be under a lot of pressure."

"If we don't leave, the smell of blood will attract other monsters, which will be even more dangerous."

......

Sun Chenghao ordered them to leave, and the others also leaned towards leaving. So, they helped each other, carried each other, or put their backs on their backs as they struggled to set off.

Liu Haozhi dealt with a fourth-tier demonic beast on his own, and his body was also injured, but compared with other Golden Core cultivators, his injuries were the lightest, so he took on the task of carrying Li Ze on his back.

"Tsk, did you not eat? You're so light." Liu Haozhi muttered. "Next time I see Senior Brother, I'll have to tell him to feed you properly. I have to say, no wonder Senior Brother has taken a liking to you, you're so extraordinary even in the Qi Refining stage."

Liu Haozhi had already concluded that the relationship between Li Ze and Mo Xingjue was unusual, and even if Mo Xingjue explained it to him personally, he probably still wouldn't believe that there was no relationship between the two.

"Junior Brother Liu, what's the deal with this Fellow Daoist He Yu? Is he really in the Qi Refining stage?" Sun Chenghao asked, as he was being carried in a princess carry by a Foundation Establishment stage disciple.

As soon as Sun Chenghao spoke, everyone perked up their ears.

"I don't know either. I just examined the corpse of the fifth-tier demon beast, and apart from the neck wound, I didn't find any other fatal injuries," Liu Haozhi said, frowning.

“You’ve forgotten, fifth-tier demonic beasts are extremely agitated and abnormal before they die. Their bodies are not damaged, perhaps their sea of ​​consciousness is injured? Otherwise, a Qi Refining cultivator would not be able to break through the defenses of a fifth-tier demonic beast at all,” another Golden Core cultivator said.

"If a Qi Refining cultivator can't break through the defenses of a fifth-tier demon beast, how can they possibly launch a spiritual attack on it?" Sun Chenghao asked a soul-searching question.

Upon hearing this, everyone fell silent.