Yuan Ming didn't know if a soul collision could break the illusion, but at this moment of life and death, even if it meant severely injuring his own Divine Soul, he spared no effort, making the soul crow hit his Divine Soul with full force.

An excruciating pain that almost exploded assailed him, his Soul Power in the Sea of Consciousness was scattered by thirty percent, but the illusion before his eyes also disappeared following this stimulation.

Yuan Ming quickly composed himself and took a deep breath.

Soul collision indeed had a miraculous effect on breaking illusions, though the force seemed too strong. He estimated that using half the power of the soul collision could have broken Sha Hao's illusion.

As his thoughts shifted, his actions did not stop; he continued moving underground, quickly reached Hua Zhi's side, waved his hand to put it into the Spiritual Beast Bag, and then continued moving forward.

He did not use soul collision to awaken the two beasts because, firstly, the power of soul collision was too great and could cause irreversible trauma to the Divine Souls of Hua Zhi and Vajra with just a slight mishap, and secondly, the soul crow had greatly drained his Soul Power, which he needed to conserve.

Based on his previous experience, Sha Hao's illusions had a distance limit; as long as they escaped far enough, the illusions affecting the two beasts would automatically dissolve.

Sha Hao sensed that Yuan Ming had broken free from his illusion, his eyes revealing disbelief. This was the illusion he had created at great expense of his Soul Power, deploying eight Blood Bats, which even he himself would struggle to escape. He had intended to kill Hagon in one strike, yet he had failed.

Sha Hao's gaze grew more serious—this was an unprecedented formidable enemy since his Foundation Establishment, and his desire to kill grew even stronger.

Just then, a black light pierced through the white fog and steadily landed in his hand—the Black Strange Sword.

Good, you are worthy for me to wield the Soul Destroying Sword!

Sha Hao gripped the Black Sword, the blade emitting a black sword light about a zhang long, vaguely spreading a wild aura. He swung it downward into the void, the Black Sword emitting a ghostly wail, and next the black light flashed, releasing a Black Sword Qi about thirty zhang long, plunging directly into the ground.

The surface showed no trace, and the soft soil and sand remained undisturbed as if the Black Sword Qi was just an illusion, disappearing in a flash.

Deep underground, Yuan Ming quickly advanced, quickly putting seventy to eighty zhang between him and Sha Hao. Vajra and Hua Zhi were faintly showing signs of awakening. Feeling slightly relieved, he continued moving forward, while planning in his mind how to counterattack next. Since he had come today, he had not planned to return without achieving anything. Just then, a light suddenly brightened ahead, and Yuan Ming tunneled out of the soil layer and landed in a large mining cave.

The area of this mining cave was about four or five hundred zhang, with a height of more than ten zhang, everywhere covered with dust, obviously abandoned for many years. Sha Hao's cave mansion was built on this vein, so it was normal to have several underground mines nearby. He didn't mind and was about to find a direction to continue forward.

Just at that moment, his heart skipped a beat, a bad premonition faintly arising. He swiftly turned his head to look behind, sensing a sharp aura rapidly approaching from behind. He shivered, hurriedly releasing his Divine Sense, but his Divine Sense was immediately shredded upon contacting that sharp aura, then forcefully swallowed.

A stinging pain surged in Yuan Ming's brain at the same time as a shock in his heart. He hurriedly retracted his remaining Divine Sense and turned to look behind. A flash of golden light passed by his side, and he summoned the Dragon Scale Shield in front of him.

In the blink of an eye, a black light flashed on the cave wall, and a Black Sword Qi burst out, heading straight for his face.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming activated the Dragon Scale Shield to meet it while stepping sideways to dodge.

However, the Dragon Scale Shield was also penetrated by the Black Sword Qi in a flash, offering no protection at all. The Black Sword Qi, as if it had eyes, changed direction and continued to slash towards Yuan Ming!

Yuan Ming, startled, hurriedly activated the White Jade Belt, his steps performing the Shadowless Step, creating several blurry afterimages.

But the Black Sword Qi was unaffected, directly heading for his real body, increasing in speed and soon cornering him in a corner of the cave.

With nowhere to retreat, Yuan Ming flung his hands outward, and dozens of Mid-level Talismans flew out from his hands, transforming into Fire Snakes, Water Swords, and Thunder and Lightning Magic, striking towards the Black Sword Qi.

The Fire Snakes, Water Swords, and the like also failed to have any effect; only the Thunder and Lightning Magic hitting the Black Sword Qi caused it to pause momentarily, but it was far from being crushed.

A look of elation appeared in Yuan Ming's eyes. Three silver talismans appeared in his hand, which he immediately activated through casting. These three talismans were called Heavenly Thunder Talismans, purchased as First-level Upper Stage Talismans in Little Lake City.

The sound of crackling was intense, and three bowl-thick silver thunders emerged, resembling three silver Thunder Flood Dragons, snapping their jaws as they pounced toward the sword qi.

Silver Thunder surrounded by dazzling silver thunder runes lighted up the entire cave, striking the Black Sword Qi.

With a thunderous "bang," the Black Sword Qi was greatly shattered.

The remaining Sword Qi still stubbornly shot forward, finally catching up to Yuan Ming, striking him on the head.

Yuan Ming's head remained unharmed; the remaining Black Sword Qi, upon touching his body, instantly entered the Sea of Consciousness and chopped directly at his Divine Soul!

An aura that made his Divine Soul tremble enveloped him, his entire Divine Soul feeling as if it were being crushed and then absorbed.

In desperation, Yuan Ming's mind moved, and three bursts of black light flashed in the Sea of Consciousness. Three soul crows formed, lined up to meet the Black Sword Qi, simultaneously employing the Soul Collision Divine Ability.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three loud bangs resounded, two soul crows struck the Black Sword Qi, were sequentially shredded by it, and the Black Sword Qi quickly shrank and weakened, finally being shattered by the third soul crow's Soul Collision Divine Ability, but the third soul crow also disbanded and dispersed.

Yuan Ming's complexion immediately turned as pale as paper.

With his current level in the Soul Cultivation Realm, he could only rally six soul crows in a single battle, and he had already used four of them, leaving only two. It was impossible to replenish them in a short time.

The Soul Power in his Sea of Consciousness was also greatly depleted, less than one third of its original amount.

The black Sword Qi could even target the Divine Soul directly; had its power been slightly stronger, Yuan Ming might have truly perished here.

Still shaken, Yuan Ming took out an elixir to recover, circulated the Moonlight Technique, and slightly soothed his agitated Divine Soul.

At that moment, a warm flow emanated from the incense burner mark on his arm, infusing into his Sea of Consciousness and rapidly restoring his sparse Soul Power, which replenished by a great extent in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Ming's heart then settled down somewhat.

At this time, Vajra and Hua Zhi in the Spiritual Beast Bag awakened from the illusion one after another.

Although the black Sword Qi released by Sha Hao was too bizarre and alarming, even surpassing that silver sphere, he was already poisoned. The newly formed Seven-step Immovable's power was astonishing, the deadly poison was undoubtedly corroding his viscera, and he would struggle to recover momentarily.

Yuan Ming's Soul Power, however, was rapidly recovering due to the Stealing Heaven Tripod, and along with the support from Hua Zhi and Vajra, the situation still remained under his control.

After a brief ponder, Yuan Ming only released Hua Zhi and then activated the Earth Tunneling Talisman, retracing the way he had come.

At this time, Sha Hao was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his face flickering with blood light, fully cultivating to expel the poison, and the black strange sword was nowhere to be seen.

Next to him coiled a massive yellow giant python with its head raised erect and two earth-toned eyes alertly scanning the surroundings.

During his subterranean journey, Yuan Ming had observed the presence of the giant yellow python through the soul crow.

The Qiu Snake was no ordinary demon snake but a mutant demon snake, possessing potential for a Flood Dragon Transformation like the Golden Flower Poison Python.

However, the Qiu Snake, an Earth Attribute demon beast, lacked the severe poison characteristic of the Golden Flower Poison Python but was renowned for its great strength and sturdiness and could cast various Earth Attribute Divine Skills, making it a rare spirit beast.

Observing the demon energy of this Qiu Snake, it had already reached the Second Rank Upper Stage.

During these swift thoughts, Yuan Ming immediately communicated with Lei Yu.

...

In the sky, Lei Yu was still chasing the White Eagle.

When Lei Yu was a Level 1 demon beast, its speed was already superior to that of the White Eagle. Now that it had broken through to the second level, its speed was far greater than its opponent, but in a head-to-head fight, it was only considered on par, thus it had kept the White Eagle entangled in the sky.

Feeling Yuan Ming's summoning, Lei Yu shook off the White Eagle and flew back above Sha Hao, emitting a sharp screech.

The originally clear sky suddenly filled with dark clouds. A fierce wind arose, and the sea of fog below also churned ceaselessly. Soon, thunder rumbled ominously.

The White Eagle quickly caught up, but Lei Yu had already hidden within the dark clouds. Streaks of electricity flashed through the clouds intermittently, making the White Eagle too cautious to enter and only anxiously circled nearby.

The Qiu Snake raised its head towards the sky, showing a trace of fear. A yellow glow radiated from its body. Most of its body submerged underground, seemingly finding solace in this manner. Being an inherently Yin Qi-bearing demon beast, it had a natural fear of thunder.

Sha Hao naturally noticed the situation in the sky as well but was at a critical moment in suppressing the violent poison within his body and could not afford to be distracted.

The dark clouds overhead quickly thickened, and soon, a heavy rain poured down. A series of dazzling thunderbolts began moving through the layers of clouds, significantly smaller compared to when Divine Skills were used inside the Rain Ruins Swamp.

The next moment, the dark clouds suddenly pressed lower, and five to six silver thunderbolts struck down towards Sha Hao and the Qiu Snake.

Sha Hao transmitted his thoughts to the Qiu Snake to help him withstand for a while.

Just as the Qiu Snake was about to forcibly overcome its fear to act, it felt the destructive aura emanating from the silver thunderbolts. Its body "slithered" instinctively, burrowing into the ground.

Sha Hao, both shocked and enraged, had to momentarily stop his detoxification efforts and waved his hand to summon a gray umbrella-shaped Magic Artifact.

The Grey Umbrella opened above his head, spinning with a swish, and dazzling golden light burst from the surface of the umbrella, forming a substantial golden protective shield in an instant that guarded the area below Sha Hao.

Several silver thunders struck the golden protective shield, sparking clusters of dazzling silver light, yet the golden shield remained unshaken.

A look of murderous intent flashed in Sha Hao's eyes. No longer caring to continue expelling the poison, a dark glow flashed through his right hand as the black strange sword reappeared. He took a deep breath and swung towards a spot on the ground behind him, slicing through the air.

With a "sizzling" sound, a slightly smaller dark black Sword Qi was chopped down.

Just as the Sword Qi was about three feet above the ground, a figure leaped from below and dashed towards the distance, unmistakably Yuan Ming himself.

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