On the contrary, they moved, and their motion was entirely without pattern—sometimes fast, sometimes slow, making them impossible to predict. Yet, these very vortices seemed to conceal some mysterious power, capable of snuffing out a life in an instant.

That master of the Wood Tribe, before even reaching Ji Changkong and the others, was struck by a mere small vortex on his chest and instantly died, demonstrating the uncanny nature of these whirlpools.

"This is too much!" Xiao Han gritted her teeth, her face etched with hatred, and cried out sharply, "What exactly do you want?" Due to her delicate appearance, even in her bared-teeth posture, Xiao Han seemed to lack true menace, instead appearing somewhat amusing.

"Little sister, you should already know what we want, shouldn't you?" Another Wood Tribe member sneered coldly, showing no concern for his fallen comrade. "This place is so bizarre, the vortices are everywhere, and no one knows the dangers they hold. Of course, within some of those vortices lies the power capable of helping us break through to the next realm, but no one can be certain. Naturally, we need people to test them. You, hehe, are the subjects we’ll use for testing." Xiao Han's face changed, and she angrily retorted, "So you are determined to be our enemy?"

"Not exactly," one of the Wood Tribe members replied. "While the vortices are extremely dangerous, some of them actually hold immense benefits. Perhaps if your luck holds, misfortune might turn into fortune? Isn't that right?"

"What is going on?" Ji Changkong frowned, turning to Tian Yue beside him.

"Within this Life Vortex, there are countless large and small vortices. Outside of us is one massive vortex, which continuously draws in external energy to supply this area, thereby altering the smaller vortices within. Inside these internal vortices is stored the energy that can allow us to break through to the next realm."

Tian Yue took a deep breath and continued, "However, the energy in most vortices is unstable. You just saw what happened: a vortex the size of a fist erased that Wood Tribe member's soul. No one knows which vortex here is beneficial and which one is fatal, so..."

"So you need people as cannon fodder to confirm?" Ji Changkong understood. "Exactly. These members of the Wood Tribe and the Three-Eyed Tribe intend to capture us and throw us into the vortices to locate the ones that are beneficial to those who enter." Tian Yue's face was grim. "We were almost caught before. I watched people around me get swallowed by the vortices one by one, never to emerge again."

There was no need for further explanation; Ji Changkong grasped everything. Having confirmed that the opponents would show no mercy, he calmed himself, weighing the strengths of both sides and secretly calculating how to fight.

Both masters of the Three-Eyed Tribe were at the Nirvana Realm, and the three Wood Tribe members—one possessing the Cultivation of Subtle Insight, the other two at the Nascent Nirvana Realm. With their vital essence and divine souls restricted, the Three-Eyed and Wood Tribes held an advantage due to their innate divine abilities.

On their side, Zou Tao, Qiu Yun, and Li Xing had long since perished, leaving only Fire Phoenix, Xiao Han, Tian Yue, and himself. He was unsure of Tian Yue's strength, but Fire Phoenix and Xiao Han were not weak. Dealing with the two Three-Eyed masters might be difficult, but likely not insurmountable.

This meant he and Tian Yue would have to face the three Wood Tribe masters: one at Subtle Insight and two at Nascent Nirvana Realm. Looking at it this way, the odds of victory seemed slim.

"If you surrender obediently, being sent into the vortices by us might turn into a blessing in disguise. But if you insist on resisting, there is only a dead end!" The Three-Eyed Tribe member, who had long disliked Ji Changkong, couldn't help but shout.

The Wood Tribe member, Sac, radiated intense killing intent; if not for maintaining the larger scheme, he might have attacked already.

"Eh! Someone over there!" Just then, a faint, crisp shout from the Ice Tribe was heard from a distance. Then, a group of Ice Tribe members, led by their haughty chief, appeared beside them.

"My Lord, what should we do?" a large, burly Ice Tribe member asked in a muffled voice, deferring to the Ice Tribe female leader beside him.

"Capture them all!" The Ice Tribe female leader pointed at the experts from the Three-Eyed, Wood, and Fire Phoenix factions without hesitation, waving her hand. "Once captured, I will use them for testing. Move out!"

More than a dozen Ice Tribe experts moved without a word, swarming forward and instantly surrounding Ji Changkong along with the masters of the Three-Eyed and Wood Tribes.

"Do not try to resist, or we will kill you right now. Cooperate obediently, and perhaps misfortune will turn into fortune." Wisps of cold air emanated from the Ice Tribe female leader, and pinpricks of icy light glittered in her slender phoenix eyes, conveying an atmosphere of extreme coldness and ruthlessness.

Seeing the situation suddenly shift, Ji Changkong couldn't help but manage a wry smile. He looked over at the masters of the Three-Eyed and Wood Tribes, who all wore expressions of terror, and couldn't help but feel a sense of schadenfreude rising within him. He observed the distance carefully and noticed that the experts from the Flame Demon Tribe and the Blood Tribe were busy capturing the scattered experts of various races, seemingly all sharing the same goal: using others' lives to test the strangeness of the surrounding Life Vortices.

After a cold shout from the arrogant Ice Tribe woman, her gaze fixed entirely on Ji Changkong. After a moment of contemplation, the Ice Tribe leader said, "You may leave alone, but you cannot take anyone else with you."

"Why?" The Three-Eyed Tribe fellow next to her immediately shrieked. "Why is this brat being treated specially?"

"He awoke later than most others here; he woke up along with the three great elders of the Blood Tribe. We do not wish to provoke such big trouble," the Ice Tribe female leader replied, looking impatient. She then looked coldly at Ji Changkong and added, "But if you insist on fighting us, we are not afraid either!" Ji Changkong was stunned.

He had not expected his early awakening to yield such an unexpected benefit. Fire Phoenix, Xiao Han, and the others beside him were all gritting their teeth, glaring first at the Three-Eyed and Wood Tribes, and then resentfully at the Ice Tribe experts, seemingly waiting for an opportunity.

"You can leave now; we will not stop you." The Ice Tribe leader seemed to sense his hesitation and proactively ordered two Ice Tribe members to release him, signaling that he could leave immediately. Xiao Han and Fire Phoenix both stared at him with unconcealed surprise.

"You should go; I won't blame you," Tian Yue said softly, her head bowed. "If it were me, I would leave too. Surviving here is what matters most." Xiao Han and Fire Phoenix remained silent, their expressions uniformly cold.

"Let's fight it out!" The taciturn expert from the Three-Eyed Tribe suddenly shouted, "If we join forces, we can break out of here! Although some of us might die, it's better than everyone becoming cannon fodder!"

His words were directed at the three Wood Tribe members, but the implication included joining forces with Xiao Han and Fire Phoenix as well. This person seemed to want to drag Ji Changkong down with them before he could leave. Without waiting for Ji Changkong's decision, he immediately launched an attack on an Ice Tribe member nearby.

As soon as he attacked, the other Three-Eyed Tribe expert immediately coordinated, and the three Wood Tribe members swiftly materialized their wooden forms, attacking the Ice Tribe experts without reservation.

The two Three-Eyed Tribe members opened their third eyes, projecting streams of cold, ethereal light that seemed to possess the power to mesmerize, affecting even the Ice Tribe members. Under the gaze of the two third eyes, the Ice Tribe members staggered momentarily, clearly stunned. The wood-transformed members of the Wood Tribe charged forward ruthlessly, unmindful of the biting cold of the ice.

Xiao Han, Fire Phoenix, and Tian Yue seemed to have been waiting for the move from the Three-Eyed and Wood Tribes, and without further hesitation, they launched their attacks on the Ice Tribe members near them, attempting a swift escape.

The passage deliberately left open by the Ice Tribe members, according to their leader's instructions for Ji Changkong to use, became the breakthrough point for Xiao Han, Tian Yue, and the others. They charged directly towards it without the slightest hesitation.

Inside this Life Vortex, the Ice Tribe proved extremely adept. Water instantly transformed into immense, razor-sharp ice pillars, or formed crystalline ice walls like cages, or manifested as shimmering ice cones that shot down from all directions towards the crowd.

The Wood Tribe Heaven Scholar, who was only at the Subtle Insight Realm, was practically executed in an instant by the Ice Tribe. A massive ice pillar struck him, slamming him violently into a grinding-stone-sized vortex. After a scream, his life force was severed.

"Fire Phoenix, watch out!" Ji Changkong, merely an observer, couldn't help but call out a warning.

Three immensely huge ice pillars, driven by the Ice Tribe leader, morphed into ice dragons and accurately blocked the path before Fire Phoenix. One of the ice dragons suddenly split, transforming into ice spikes as thick as arms, surrounding Fire Phoenix tightly from all sides. Fire Phoenix was startled, and with Ji Changkong’s warning, she broke through several ice spikes and rapidly ascended into the sky. A house-sized vortex appeared at the perfect moment, instantly swallowing Fire Phoenix within it.

"Fire Phoenix!" Xiao Han shrieked out loud.

"Eh!" The cold, arrogant Ice Tribe leader suddenly uttered a soft exclamation, pinpricks of icy light flashing in her phoenix eyes. After a moment of deep thought, her face suddenly lit up with excitement. She charged recklessly toward the vortex where Fire Phoenix was located.

"Fire Phoenix is fine!" Xiao Han froze for a moment, then understood, and exclaimed with wild joy, "This Life Vortex is strange!"

After a scream, Xiao Han also stopped fleeing and charged into that Life Vortex without regard for her own safety.

Ji Changkong stared blankly at the Life Vortex, closed his eyes, and sensed it. He discovered that Fire Phoenix, deep inside, was not only alive, but her Soul Sea seemed to have been infused with some marvelous power. Even Fire Phoenix's physical body appeared to be undergoing some kind of miraculous transformation.

"Whoosh!"

The vortex suddenly erupted into raging flames, a towering inferno within the Life Vortex, like a massive ball of fire, radiating astonishingly extreme heat.

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