Ten small black dots grew larger, soon resolving into ten distinct figures, and what gave Nie Kong a bigger headache was that five of them seemed to be carrying the same type of black bow and arrow.

The Spirit Sealing Stele could guard their rear, but it was impossible for it to block the front simultaneously. If those guys from the Spirit Venerable Hall used their bows to launch a pincer attack, the outcome was self-evident.

"Quick! Quickly! Stop Nie Kong! Don't let him escape!"

"Shoot them down with arrows!" "Hahaha, Nie Kong, you were so good at running, where can you run now?" "..."

The Black Spirit Masters chasing from behind were overjoyed to see their companions approaching head-on, shouting in high spirits. In their eyes, Nie Kong was now a turtle in a jar; as soon as their comrades rushed up, more than ten sets of bows and arrows would be enough to riddle Nie Kong and that spectral beast with holes.

"Nie Yan, what do we do?" Qing Yue couldn't help but ask anxiously, though her movements did not slow at all, the Spirit Sealing Stele whizzing as she wielded it.

"Big Brother, maybe we should run to the left, or we're finished!" Having suffered twice, the Ghostly Soul Eagle King was quite fearful of those bows and arrows and panicked.

"Left? How do you know there aren't any people from the Spirit Venerable Hall on the left?"

Nie Kong frowned, letting out a cold snort.

As things had developed, even though Nie Kong still didn't know how the Spirit Venerable Hall had tracked his whereabouts, his guess had basically been confirmed: the area around the God Extinguishing Cave was already swarming with the Black Spirit Masters of the Spirit Venerable Hall. Since there were people in front and behind, it was impossible for there to be none on the left and right flanks.

The fact that he hadn't seen anyone yet simply meant they hadn't arrived. But if Nie Kong turned left or right, he estimated it wouldn't take long before he was blocked, and then he would truly be trapped like a turtle in a jar. What worried Nie Kong even more was the Grand Manifestation Spirit Venerable standing behind the Spirit Venerable Hall forces.

Although the Grand Manifestation Spirit Venerable couldn't pursue him out of that bone-white space, who could guarantee that after several days, she hadn't found a way to leave?

To ensure his safety, he had to reach the God Extinguishing Cave in the shortest possible time.

To achieve this, retreating or changing direction was out of the question; he could only break through all obstacles ahead and press forward.

Nie Kong raced forward, and the ten figures ahead also sped up, the distance between them rapidly closing. The Black Spirit Masters following behind were delighted to see Nie Kong burying his head and running forward; they even refrained from verbally cursing him for fear of provoking him into changing direction and wasting their time.

In the span of a breath, the nearly two-thousand-meter gap shrank to a thousand.

Eight hundred meters, seven hundred meters...

Nie Kong's mind raced ceaselessly.

The Ghostly Soul Eagle King frantically spread and then closed its wings: "Big Brother, why don't you take me back? It will be easier for you to escape alone."

This creature was lethally ferocious when enraged, but as soon as it determined the enemy was insurmountable, it instantly reverted to an ostrich, attempting to have its soul detach from its body and retreat into Nie Kong's Mien-Heart center to hide. Even though it knew that if Nie Kong died, it would also find it hard to survive, surviving even a moment longer was better than nothing. If it didn't hide, once the five figures in front simultaneously loosed that bizarre six-arrow volley, it would die immediately.

Of course, if Nie Kong issued a strict command, it would have no room for resistance; even if Nie Kong wanted to use it as a human shield, it could only steel itself.

"Ghostly Soul, as you wish!"

Nie Kong's eyes flashed; he seemed to have made up his mind.

"Big Brother, are you serious?"

Seeing Nie Kong agree so readily, the Ghostly Soul Eagle King couldn't help but pause, suspicion creeping into its gaze. Nie Kong offered no vocal reply, only a mental query. Then, in the next instant, a wisp of black energy floated out of the Ghostly Soul Eagle King's head, sinking into Nie Kong's Mien-Heart. The creature, which had suddenly halted its movement, vanished abruptly, retrieved by Nie Kong into his Pet Pouch.

"What's going on? That ninth-rank flying spectral beast is gone?"

"Don't forget, Nie Kong carries an independent space; that spectral beast was probably stored inside." "An independent space can hold living things? Perhaps it used some kind of concealment technique to hide its form and is preparing for a surprise attack on us?" "..."

Seeing the Ghostly Soul Eagle King vanish without a trace, surprised and uncertain voices drifted intermittently on the wind.

"Qing You!" Nie Kong's expression remained utterly calm, and he let out a sharp, soft cry.

Although there was no explicit command, Qing You seemed to grasp Nie Kong's intention. The vine wrapped around Nie Kong's waist began to expand rapidly. A loud, splashing sound of intense water followed, and moments later, she had completely enveloped Nie Kong's body, transforming herself into a perfectly round ball of water that continuously rolled forward, its speed in no way slower than when Nie Kong used "Void Merging."

"Nie Kong, what are you doing?"

Amidst Qing Yue's startled whisper, Nie Kong sat down cross-legged, and the water ball shrank by half in response.

"Whoosh!" A purple shadow flickered. The phantom image of the 'Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense' immediately materialized, spreading over Qing You's body, intertwining in layers. In just two or three seconds, the water ball, which had shrunk by half, expanded once more, becoming several times larger than before.

"Qing Yue, get in!"

The stems and leaves entangled the Spirit Sealing Stele, and Qing Yue, transforming into a green flash, passed unimpeded through the thick 'Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense' layer, entering the interior of the water ball. Without the need for Qing Yue's dual hands to dance, the Spirit Sealing Stele, manipulated by the stems and leaves, continued to shift wildly up, down, left, and right, effectively blocking all the black arrows behind them.

At this moment, faced with the suddenly transformed scene, the Black Spirit Masters both in front and behind were momentarily stunned. In their sight, Nie Kong's figure had vanished completely, replaced by a colossal purple sphere nearly six meters in diameter, rumbling forward with imposing momentum. Especially the purple leaves, stems, and even roots protruding from the sphere's surface resembled nimble hands, expanding the covered area several times beyond what the snow-white stele alone could manage.

"Senior Brother, what is that sphere?"

"Who cares what it is! Nie Kong must be hiding inside the ball; I saw that Water Spirit wrap him up!"

"You think that will let you escape? Dream on! Shoot! Shoot..."

"..."

The Black Spirit Masters muttered their curses, but the movements of the eighth-rank Black Spirit Masters wielding bows were completely unaffected; they continued to gallop forward at high speed, drawing their black great bows.

"Swish! Swish..." Arrows, like black meteors, tore through the void.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between the purple sphere and the ten figures ahead had shrunk to about a hundred meters—they were entering the optimal shooting range. Instantly, the five archers, who had been silent until now, drew their great bows almost simultaneously, nocking black arrows onto the strings.

"Swish! Swish..." Then, more than a dozen black arrows shot toward the purple sphere like lightning.

The stems and leaves trembled; the Spirit Sealing Stele, which had just blocked one volley, instantly shifted forward, spinning furiously like a pinwheel. However, just as the stele neutralized the attack from the front, another ten black arrows shot in from behind, embedding themselves into the purple sphere.

The long arrows, trailing black light, pierced through the violently vibrating layers of stems and leaves... then pierced the fiery red water ball... The speed and force of penetration gradually diminished. The explosive power contained within the death energy at the arrowhead weakened continuously. By the time the arrowheads penetrated the water ball and struck Nie Kong's body, it felt no different than a mosquito bite, unable to pose the slightest threat to him.

"It really works!"

When Qing Yue sensed the ten black arrows coming from behind, she had been nervous, but now all her worries vanished.

Nie Kong smiled upon hearing this, but his heart was not as relaxed as Qing Yue's.

The Nether Fire Dark Spring could diminish or even devour attacks, but it wasn't omnipotent. Every time it reduced an attack, it incurred a huge drain on her energy; devouring an attack was exponentially more costly. Over the past few days, the only time Nie Kong had her devour an attack was when facing Ye Xiantian, the Sect Master of the Plume Sword Sect, at the edge of the White Tower Sect. As a result, Qing You took a long time to digest the consumed sword light.

Therefore, Nie Kong had only instructed her to reduce enemy attacks afterward.

Just now, at the edge of the dense forest, Qing You had already reduced several attacks. Nie Kong couldn't guarantee that if they were caught in a pincer attack from the enemy forces, she could reduce all the incoming black arrows and attacks from the front until they reached the perimeter of the God Extinguishing Cave. This was why Nie Kong recalled the Ghostly Soul Eagle King and sat curled up himself: to allow Qing You to keep her body as small as possible. For Qing You, the smaller the body, the stronger her tolerance.

Subsequently, Nie Kong activated the 'Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense' Mien-Heart, layering it around Qing You's body to filter through as much of the incoming assault as possible before passing the remainder to Qing You for weakening. At this stage, the effect created by the 'Purple Luo Illusory Spirit Incense' Mien-Heart was the absolute limit Nie Kong could achieve. Similarly, every time the Mien-Heart endured an attack, Nie Kong had to pay a considerable price.

This tactic could only be deployed in the final moments.

The Spirit Sealing Stele blocked a portion, and the rest was borne by the Mien-Heart, Qing You, and his resilient physical body. Nie Kong estimated that unless they encountered the Grand Manifestation Spirit Venerable or a peak ninth-rank expert like Zhan Xinzi before his Spirit Venerable breakthrough, he should be able to hold out until they reached the God Extinguishing Cave.

"Swish! Swish..." Volley after volley of black arrows followed. Over the several hundred meters, dozens of black arrows had already struck the sphere, yet the Spirit Sealing Stele continued to flash agilely, and the sphere kept rolling rapidly. Dozens of fierce arrow attacks seemed to have caused not the slightest impact on Nie Kong inside the sphere.

"What the hell is that thing? Shoot! Shoot again!"

Seeing their archery attacks prove futile, the expressions of many ninth-rank experts turned grim, roaring curses repeatedly.

The final few dozen meters passed in an instant. The five Black Spirit Masters with bows ahead quickly dispersed to the sides, while the remaining five ninth-rank experts stood rooted, blocking the purple sphere's path. At this point, more than a dozen figures from both the left and right flanks rapidly closed in. Within a hundred-meter radius, sixty to seventy ninth-rank experts and eighth-rank masters from the Spirit Venerable Hall had converged.

"Rumble!" The ground trembled slightly. The enormous purple sphere did not slow down, rolling like a moving mountain, smashing directly toward the five ninth-rank experts in front...

PS: Second update is here. Furthermore, this volume only has about four or five chapters left. I mentioned last month that I intended to finish this volume by the end of the month, but Ji Ge's writing pace couldn't keep up with the situation; as I wrote, I found it hard to stop, so at that time I only said I would 'try my best' and didn't make an absolute promise. And I certainly couldn't rush to conclude this arc just to meet the August deadline. Please bear with me, folks—this section is not charged.