Chapter 116: Gu Sanqiu's Black Golden Core and Ghost-Faced Infants

Chapter 116: Gu Sanqiu's Black Golden Core and Ghost-Faced Infants

"Xiao Fan, what did you notice?" Shen Mo immediately asked.

Xiao Fan didn't dare to hide anything and quickly responded, "Young Sect Master, I... I have a feeling that there's a fight happening at the end of the passage to our right."

Qin Feng frowned, tilted his head to listen, and then shook his head, "I don't hear anything."

Song Chaofeng and Elder Li also nodded in agreement, "We don't hear anything either."

Xiao Fan, feeling embarrassed, added, "I actually didn't hear anything either; it's just a feeling."

Qin Feng sneered, "A feeling? What good is a feeling? I feel like I could reach the Nascent Soul stage in five years too."

Shen Mo, however, raised an eyebrow, "Sometimes, a feeling can be very useful."

Xiao Fan was taken aback, "Young Sect Master, it's really just a feeling. It might be wrong."

Shen Mo shook his head, "Let's go to the right."

He took the lead and walked toward the passage on the right.

Song Chaofeng and the others scratched their heads but followed.

Xiao Fan hurriedly caught up as well.

Shen Mo glanced at Xiao Fan, who was trailing behind, with a slight smile.

Everyone else who had discovered Gu Sanqiu had ended up dead without exception.

But Xiao Fan, after discovering Gu Sanqiu, had somehow managed to avoid being detected.

Now, at this moment, if Xiao Fan suddenly had a feeling, there was a good chance that the fight ahead involved Gu Sanqiu.

As expected, when Shen Mo and the others arrived, they found Gu Sanqiu fiercely suppressing Murong Yue and Pang Longxiang.

Murong Yue was at the peak of the Core Formation stage, and Pang Longxiang had reached the perfected stage of Core Formation.

Yet, even the two of them together could barely defend themselves against Gu Sanqiu, struggling to hold their ground.

Shen Mo also noticed that Pang Longxiang's right hand and left cheek had shriveled, exposing the bones beneath.

It was clear that some of his blood and vitality had already been drained.

Murong Yue was relatively fortunate, with only some injuries on her body and no loss of blood or vitality.

When Murong Yue caught sight of Shen Mo from afar, she was shocked, "Shen'er, get out of here! We're no match for him!"

Gu Sanqiu also noticed Shen Mo and the others and let out a sinister laugh, "Oh, so many people at once? Perfect timing. I've recovered quite a bit now, and I can devour all of you in one go!"

With that, he stomped on the ground and released his golden core.

In the next moment, over thirty ghost-faced infants with grotesque expressions erupted from the black golden core, rushing toward the group.

Hee-hee, ha-ha!

The sharp laughter of the ghost-faced infants filled the air, causing intense pain in everyone's heads and making it difficult to focus.

Shen Mo quickly covered his ears, feeling as if long needles were being driven deep into his brain.

Ah-wooo!

Taking advantage of the group's distraction, the ghost-faced infants lunged forward, biting at their flesh.

Their mouths were filled with sharp, tiny teeth, and each bite tore away a large chunk of flesh.

Ordinary martial techniques had little effect on them, merely dispersing them momentarily before they reformed.

"Damn it! What are these things?" Song Chaofeng cursed as he endured the pain, unleashing a palm strike that sent ripples of water vapor outward, but it failed to repel the ghost-faced infants, prompting more cursing from him.

"It seems to be a secret technique produced by a special type of golden core," Qin Feng said as he swung his sword, emitting lightning from its tip.

The ghost-faced infant struck by the lightning screamed and exploded.

Although it reformed after a while, the process was noticeably slower.

Qin Feng immediately shouted, "Lightning attributes work against them!"

Boom!

Elder Li struck with a palm, unleashing flames that forced the ghost-faced infants back slightly.

"Fire attributes work too!" she quickly called out to Shen Mo.

Shen Mo nodded slightly upon hearing this.

While using the first form of the Nine Suns Divine Phoenix Art to launch fire palms at the ghost-faced infants, he subtly moved within the battlefield.

Each time he moved to a new position, he would naturally place a formation flag in the direction away from Gu Sanqiu's line of sight.

The formation flags of the Five Ghosts Seize Life Formation were only five in number—not many.

And with most of Gu Sanqiu's attention focused on fighting Murong Yue and Pang Longxiang, he didn't notice Shen Mo's actions.

Thus, placing the formation flags wasn't difficult.

Additionally, Shen Mo lit the Soul-Calming Incense, placing one on his left and one on his right, in unnoticed corners.

While doing these two tasks, he also kept an eye on the battlefield, observing the situation.

The ghost-faced infants had a very peculiar way of attacking.

Unless one possesses lightning or fire attribute attacks, these ghost-faced infants are virtually invincible.

Everyone else was struggling under the relentless assault of the ghost-faced infants.

Even Murong Yue, at the peak of the Core Formation stage, was no exception.

Pang Longxiang, who had reached the perfected stage of Core Formation, was in particularly bad shape, his body drenched in blood, teetering on the edge of collapse.

However, there was one person who was completely unharmed at this moment.

It was Xiao Fan.

Despite only being at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, he was incredibly fortunate—these ghost-faced infants seemed to ignore his presence, almost as if he didn't exist, avoiding him entirely.

At this point, Gu Sanqiu also began to notice something was amiss.

Shen Mo's fire attribute martial skill was extremely powerful.

Each strike would cause at least one ghost-faced infant to disintegrate into ghostly energy, forcing it to return to the golden core for recovery.

Gu Sanqiu had invested a great deal of effort in cultivating these ghost-faced infants.

If this continued, all his ghost-faced infants would be stuck in recovery and unable to be used.

Gu Sanqiu pointed at Shen Mo and ordered, "That kid's fire attribute martial skill is too strong. Kill him first."

As soon as he finished speaking, a portion of the ghost-faced infants attacking the others—seven in total—immediately broke off and charged straight at Shen Mo.

"Shen'er!" Murong Yue cried out in alarm at the sight.

Shen Mo's expression remained unchanged—this was exactly as he had expected.

If Gu Sanqiu didn't react after losing so many ghost-faced infants, he would have been far too foolish.

Without hesitation, Shen Mo activated the Red Lotus Flame.

Buzz!

The red flames surged, transforming into a wave of scorching heat that blasted toward the seven ghost-faced infants.

The intense heat instantly raised the temperature of the air to a terrifying level.

The seven ghost-faced infants shrieked in agony as they were engulfed by the flames, disintegrating after just six breaths.

Seven wisps of faint ghostly energy fled back to the black golden core, where they slowly began to reform into infant shapes.

But the process was agonizingly slow.

It was clear that it would take at least a hundred breaths before they could fully reform.

This scene instantly bolstered the morale of the group.

The eternal flame was highly effective against the ghost-faced infants!

Gu Sanqiu, however, turned his gaze toward Shen Mo, frowning slightly before breaking into a sinister laugh, "Oh? The Red Lotus Flame? Interesting. I didn't expect someone in Xuanjing Prefecture to be able to tame such a wild and explosive eternal flame!"

"Then I'll kill you first!"

He pointed at Shen Mo, and more than half of the ghost-faced infants immediately abandoned their targets, rushing toward Shen Mo!

Shen Mo's heart trembled.

Without hesitation, he unleashed the second form of the Nine Suns Divine Phoenix Art, pouring all his energy into the Red Lotus Flame.

His dantian's ocean of energy evaporated in an instant.

At that moment, the Red Lotus Flame reached its peak intensity.

Boom boom boom!

A massive red flame phoenix materialized out of thin air.

The phoenix let out a long, resonant cry, shaking the skies!

The sound swept across the battlefield, causing the ghost-faced infants to instinctively show fear, their expressions twisting in terror.

"Damn it, what kind of martial skill is this?!"

"Don't retreat! None of you retreat! Charge forward!"

"He's just a mid-stage Core Formation cultivator—no matter how strong he is, he can't compare to me!"

Even Gu Sanqiu was visibly shocked.

But he immediately channeled all his spiritual power into the black golden core.

With the infusion of overwhelming spiritual power, the golden core spun even more fiercely.

A dense, black mist erupted from it.

In an instant, all the ghost-faced infants grew larger!

Their eyes shone with a more intense ferocity, and their facial features became even more twisted.

The next moment, the red flame phoenix collided with more than twenty ghost-faced infants.

Boom!

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