193: Earth Spirit Leader

At that moment, Mu Wanqing's urgent cry rang out: "Senior Brother Lu! Something's wrong underground! The core energy flows... they're converging toward Sister Ning Hong!" Although her spiritual power was suppressed, her Wood-Yang Spirit Body remained sensitive to the flow of energy. She clearly sensed a massive, ferocious surge of leyline energy quietly surging from beneath the ground toward Ning Hong, who was currently moving along the perimeter clearing away Skeleton Soldierss!

"Honger, be careful!" Lu Yang and Spring Breeze both realized the danger simultaneously!

Just as Ning Hong had finished dismantling another skeleton and her feet touched the ground—

Crash!

The ground beneath her feet, which had seemed like ordinary soft soil, suddenly collapsed downward like a giant maw!

A deep pit several meters wide formed instantly. The bottom was no longer mud, but countless shards of stone and gravel spinning frantically with sharp edges!

A terrifying suction force, far exceeding anything before, erupted. It felt as if countless hands were death-gripping Ning Hong's legs, trying to drag her into that meat-grinder-like vortex of quicksand!

"Not good!" Ning Hong's expression changed drastically! Even with her peerless movement techniques, her feet were stuck fast, as if she had fallen into the thickest amber, making it impossible to break free! It looked as if the spinning vortex of stone was about to swallow her lower body!

Just as Ning Hong's lower body was about to be devoured by that terrifying vortex of stone and quicksand, at the critical moment!

"Freeze!" a clear shout rang out!

It wasn't Lu Yang or Spring Breeze, but Mu Wanqing! She forcibly suppressed the immense suppression her Wood-Yang Spirit Body suffered in this place and slammed both hands into the viscous swamp at her feet! Pure and majestic wood-attribute spiritual power, carrying a vibrant aura of life, plunged deep into the earth like the roots of a great tree!

Wood overcomes Earth!

Buzz!

An invisible force full of vitality instantly radiated outward from Mu Wanqing! The swamp beneath her feet was the first to be affected. The viscous, foul mud seemed to encounter its natural enemy, letting out strange "sizzling" noises and churning violently as if boiling. The previously terrifying suction force suddenly weakened by more than half! Immediately after, the mud trapping Xia Yuxuan and Transforming Rain also noticeably loosened!

More importantly, Mu Wanqing's target wasn't the mud at her feet, but the lethal vortex Ning Hong was trapped in! The wood spirit power, containing powerful vitality, precisely permeated the frantically spinning gravel and stones!

A miraculous scene occurred!

Those jagged, high-speed spinning stones acted as if they had been injected with a sluggish adhesive; their rotational speed plummeted visibly to the naked eye!

Between the grains of sand, countless tough, emerald-green phantom vines sprouted out of thin air! These phantom vines coiled and interlaced frantically, death-locking the operational core of the quicksand vortex!

The vortex's powerful suction was instantly interrupted and stalled!

"Good!" Ning Hong was incredibly sharp and seized this fleeting opportunity! With a delicate shout, her spiritual power erupted to its limit, and she gave her legs a fierce jolt! Bang! Using the precious moment Mu Wanqing had bought her, she forcibly yanked her feet out of the stalled quicksand vortex!

Although her calves were slashed with several bloody gashes by the sharp stones, she had finally escaped the desperate situation! Her figure retreated rapidly, landing on a relatively stable giant skeleton a short distance away. She cast a lingering, fearful glance at the trap, which was still slowly spinning but being bound tighter and tighter by the emerald-green phantom vines.

"Wanqing!" A flash of approval showed in Spring Breeze's eyes, and her pressure lightened as well. Taking advantage of the loosening mud beneath her feet, she immediately poured most of her energy into attacking. Although her water element was suppressed, her Peak Foundation Establishment spiritual power erupted, and waves of majestic Sword Qi forcibly repelled the approaching Earth Peoples and Stone People, buying everyone some breathing room.

However, the crisis was not over! Mu Wanqing's intervention to block the vortex, while demonstrating a great elemental advantage, was also like lighting a bright lamp in the darkness! The cold will originating from deep underground, which controlled all of this, was instantly startled by this pure wood spirit vitality. This was immediately followed by an even more greedy and violent malice!

"Roar!!!"

A dull, low roar that seemed to come from beneath the Nine Heavens penetrated the thick layers of soil and clearly reached everyone's ears! This roar carried a primitive and cruel sense of excitement!

It had developed intelligence! It was the core of the earth spirits in this area, a monster leader nurtured after devouring the blood, flesh, and inner cores of countless fallen Cultivators and Yao Beasts! In its perception, Mu Wanqing's pure wood spirit aura was even more delicious and nourishing than those bones and ordinary flesh! It was like a hungry wolf scenting the freshest lamb!

"Not good! It's targeted Wanqing!" Lu Yang instantly understood the meaning of that roar, and alarm bells rang wildly in his heart! The firelight in his hand surged as he pushed the Heaven Burning Art to its limit. Several crimson fire blades whistled out, incinerating a few Skeleton Soldierss that took the chance to pounce, while he moved rapidly, trying to get closer to Mu Wanqing!

But at that moment, another change occurred!

The Earth Spirit Leader's cunning far exceeded expectations! While it released a roar to attract attention, its true killing move had already been launched!

Xia Yuxuan had just broken free from the mud and was focusing all her strength on condensing water spiritual power, attempting to reinforce the defenses around Mu Wanqing, who had consumed a great deal of energy to save Ning Hong. She stood about two steps behind and to the side of Mu Wanqing, guarding against the Earth Peoples surging from the front.

Suddenly!

The ground split open beneath her feet without any warning! This time, it wasn't soft mud, but a giant hand composed entirely of viscous, foul, dark-red sludge mixed with shattered white bones! This hand was as large as a millstone, emitting a nauseating smell of blood and a thick, earthy stench!

The timing of its appearance was incredibly crafty! It was the exact moment when everyone was distracted by the leader's roar, Lu Yang was rushing forward, and Xia Yuxuan's attention was focused on the defenses in front of Mu Wanqing!

Whoosh!

The giant palm was like a predatory venomous snake, moving with lightning speed and terrifying power as it grabbed Xia Yuxuan's slender waist!

"Ah!" Xia Yuxuan only had time to let out a short cry of surprise! The five fingers of the giant palm suddenly tightened like iron bands! An irresistible, terrifying force surged through, mixed with cold, foul energy, instantly invading her body and causing her condensed spiritual power to suddenly collapse! Even more terrifyingly, as the giant palm grabbed her, it slammed her downward!

Splat! Half of Xia Yuxuan's body was instantly dragged into the fissure in the ground! Soil and stones squeezed her body frantically, and the immense force choked her until she could barely breathe! Her hands pushed against the ground in a futile attempt to resist the dragging force, her face turning as pale as paper!

Through the rapidly closing fissure, one could even see the churning, dark-red mud below that looked like a boiling pool of blood, along with the greedy, cruel, and murky yellow light flickering deep within the mud! Those were the eyes of the Earth Spirit Leader! It wanted to drag this woman with a Water Spirit Root underground to devour her blood essence and Spiritual Root Origin!

"Yuxuan!" Mu Wanqing was closest and was horrified. She subconsciously tried to condense vines to pull her, but the foul power contained in that giant palm instantly corroded and snapped the vines she had hastily formed!

Transforming Rain and Spring Breeze also saw this scene and were filled with rage, but they were pinned down by several Stone People and Earth Peoples, unable to immediately pull away to help!

Ning Hong was a bit further away and had just escaped danger; her footing was not yet stable!

Seeing Xia Yuxuan's arms trembling and twisting against the ground due to the immense dragging force, her entire lower body already completely pulled underground, and the fissure about to close and swallow her entirely—

"Vile beast! You seek death!!!"

A thunderous roar exploded! It carried sky-high fury and bone-chilling killing intent!

It was Lu Yang!

The moment Xia Yuxuan was attacked, he had already forcibly diverted his momentum! At this point, he was still several steps away from Xia Yuxuan, and it was too late to reach her! But there wasn't a hint of panic in his eyes, only a cold light refined to the extreme!

Clang!

An extremely ear-piercing sharp cry, as if it could tear through space, echoed across the wasteland!

Lu Yang pointed his fingers like a sword, and a refined, dazzling white-gold light erupted from his fingertips! That wasn't fire, but pure, incomparably sharp Metal-Attribute Spiritual Power!

Metal overcomes Earth!

That white-gold light was like a blade of judgment falling from the Nine Heavens, carrying an indestructible will as it instantly crossed the distance in space!

Squelch—!!!

It slashed with absolute precision at the wrist joint of the dark-red mud giant palm that was death-gripping Xia Yuxuan's waist deep in the ground!

There was no world-shaking explosion, only a muffled sound like a sharp knife cutting through thick grease! The white-gold brilliance flashed and vanished!

That giant palm, which contained terrifying power and foul filth, was actually severed at the wrist by this brilliance! The cut was as smooth as a mirror!

"Awoooo—!!!" A shrill, pained, and utterly enraged howl came from deep underground! The earth shook violently!

Losing its source of power, the severed hand instantly turned into a pool of stinking sludge, releasing its grip on Xia Yuxuan! Simultaneously, the terrifying dragging force vanished!

"Transforming Rain!" Lu Yang shouted urgently, his figure already pouncing forward like a gale!

The moment Lu Yang acted, Transforming Rain had already forcibly pulled away, even at the cost of taking a punch from a Stone Person! She arrived just in time, her hands infused with spiritual power as she grabbed Xia Yuxuan's arms and yanked upward with all her might!

With a "shloop" sound, Xia Yuxuan, covered in stinking sludge and gravel, was yanked out of the ground. she slumped to the floor, coughing and gasping for breath, her face completely bloodless and her eyes full of lingering shock!

Lu Yang stood in front of the two of them, the dangerous white-gold brilliance flickering at his fingertips. His gaze scanned the frantically vibrating ground like lightning, as if a terrifying beast was about to burst out. His entire body radiated a bone-chilling killing intent! That strike just now had clearly heavily injured the cunning Earth Spirit Leader, but the crisis was far from over!