"Beast, get out of the way!" Wumie struck with her staff.
In front of the staff, the snake spirit swirled down, and on the other side, the Five Source Wanderer once again summoned a source beast, combining the two with greater power.
Inside the skeleton's eyeholes, the purple flames flickered and the bone claws retracted, but the five blood-red auras that sealed the ghost gate did not dissipate. Watching Wumie and the Five Source Wanderer's full force attacks, the glamorous skeleton lifted its right arm slowly, and the enormous iron chain made a crisp sound as it was dragged.
Looking at the iron chain, a shadow of Yin and Yang flashed in Ding Yan's deep pupils. He lightly tapped the ground with his foot.
A shadowy eight-trigram pattern flashed momentarily, and he moved dozens of meters backward as if it were a phantom. The handsome scattered immortal, who had not made a move all along, was shocked by this scene.
"Dao technique! This person actually masters dao techniques."
The iron chain rose and, amidst the shaking of the skeleton's bone claws, emitted a continuous sound that reverberated through the space. Dimly, Ding Yan saw the runes on the iron chain flicker, and a faint and indescribable strange aura emanated from the runes.
The sound echoed, like a devil's summoning.
"What is that?!" Ding Yan looked shocked.
Without thinking, he flew back again.
After hearing the sound, the Qi-refining cultivators who were clinging to a glimmer of hope gradually lost their calm, and a boundless madness took over!
Boom!
A master of alchemy with eightfold cultivation suddenly self-destructed.
Following that, several other cultivators also self-destructed, their blood mists, controlled by a demonic melody, attached themselves to the iron chains in the hands of the bewitching skeletal figure.
Puff!
The nearest Wuyuan and Wumei elders both spat out blood, their faces pale as if their minds had been severely struck. Further away, the Jinjiu Stream also turned pale, cold sweat rolling down their foreheads. The remaining scattered immortals were even worse off, with the one with the lowest cultivation level collapsing on the ground. Only when the handsome Immortal Jun saw Ding Yan's actions did he retreat many steps, barely avoiding the disaster.
"We must not let it absorb the blood source," said the Wumei elder, her expression changing.
If she had known that the bewitching skeleton had such means, she would never have forced her way in. After all, the last time she probed, the bewitching skeleton was not this strong.
"Golden Old Freak, why don't you make a move!" Wuyuan elder shouted angrily. "And you young ones, if you don't act, I'll kill you first!"
Ding Yan and Immortal Jun's expressions changed slightly upon hearing this, but at that moment, the previously inactive Jinjiu Stream suddenly drew out a black long knife, transforming into a black flow of light and attacking the bewitching skeleton's neck.
The strike was sharp, and black light filled the sky.
A full-force attack by a Thunder Tribulation Immortal.
Thud!
The black long knife struck the bewitching skeleton's neck, and the strong residual waves scattered, forming a storm. Despite Jinjiu Stream's cultivation level, he was directly knocked back by the residual waves, and, upon inspection, there was no damage to the skeleton's neck.
A full-force attack by a Thunder Tribulation Immortal, yet it couldn't leave a trace on its body.
The scattered immortals in the distance made symbolic attacks, and as for Ding Yan, he retreated further, reaching the edge of the mist layer, with one more step backward leading him back to the mist layer.
In the depth of his pupils, he could clearly see through the Cosmic Classics that the souls of those self-destructed Qi Refining cultivators were all bound by the iron chain. As the number of souls increased, the runes on the iron chain became brighter, and the eerie aura also grew thicker.
A strong sense of unease arose in Ding Yan's heart.
It was an intuition developed after years of cultivation, akin to how animals have a natural sense of danger—a kind of instinct.
"Roar!"
The bewitching skeleton was completely enraged, as countless souls on the iron chain merged into the runes, and an eerie aura permeated the skeleton's structure through the iron chain. The smell of blood on the skeleton grew stronger, and the purple fire in its eye sockets began to change visibly, forming a bloody flame!
"This is bad!" Golden Nine Streams' expression changed drastically.
Before he could react, the bewitching skeleton's gigantic bone claw grabbed down from mid-air, its speed ten times faster than before. Even with his cultivation level, Golden Nine Streams couldn't escape and was captured by the bewitching skeleton.
The bewitching skeleton stared at Golden Nine Streams, who looked terrified, and the blood flames in its eye sockets flickered.
Puff...
Blood spattered!
A Thunder Tribulation Immortal was actually crushed to death by the skeleton!
Run!
No one spoke, and all the remaining people immediately turned and fled towards the mist layer.
After being transformed by the flame, the strength of the bewitching skeleton increased by an unknown amount. Even the Thunder Tribulation Immortal, Golden Nine Streams, was effectively killed, let alone them.
Glows scattered, and they all fled in various directions.
Ding Yan was the first to enter the mist layer, followed closely by the Immortal Jun who had been watching him all along.
Inside the mist layer, Ding Yan did not leave immediately. Instead, he took out dozens of Level 2 runes from his sleeve and arranged them into a formation to blend in with the surrounding aura. These Level 2 runes were collected by Ding Yan when deciphering spatial formations, and in his sleeves, he also had many Level 3-7 runes, and even several Level 8 runes.
After setting up the formation, Ding Yan's aura sharply decreased and disappeared completely in just a few breaths, blending seamlessly with the surrounding mist.
A moment later, the Immortal Jun entered.
"The aura has disappeared..." Immortal Jun's divine sense swept past Ding Yan, but with his cultivation, he couldn't detect Ding Yan hidden within the formation.
"Forget it, let's leave here first."
After a brief search, Immortal Jun gave up and turned into a streak of light, fleeing into the distance.
In the formation, Ding Yan glanced in the direction where that person had disappeared, his eyes flickering.
After a while, several more auras rushed out, including two particularly powerful ones, namely the Wuyuan and Wumei elders who had used the Blood Escape technique. However, the two of them looked disheveled, and their magic treasures were nowhere in sight, clearly having suffered greatly at the hands of the bewitching skeleton.
Under the Gates of Ghosts.
The bewitching skeleton looked up and roared.
Its malevolent aura was boundless, and several scattered immortals who had not escaped in time were directly killed by the roar, their bodies turning into blood mists, surging towards the bewitching skeleton. At the same time, the iron chains in its hands grew dimmer. If one looked closely, they would find a faintly dazzling blood color within the black of the iron chains.
After a long time, when it was certain there were no more survivors, the bewitching skeleton's imposing manner gradually faded, and the blood flames in its eye sockets slowly dissipated and transformed back into purple flames.
After scanning the surroundings, the bewitching skeleton turned and walked towards the Gates of Ghosts.
Behind it, the black iron chains emitted a series of crisp sounds, echoing in the space...