Soon, the spiritual avatar faded until it was almost invisible, and finally dissipated.
The ten Nascent Soul Ancestors were still battling the Golden Corpses. This time, they encountered two Golden Corpses, making the battle exceptionally fierce.
Ancestor Lou from the Earth Evil Sect was in the second position in the lineup. This was usually not a problem, as from past battle experiences, the Golden Corpses only attacked the cultivators at the forefront.
With the Fourth Grade Xuanjia Puppet present, Ancestor Lou was not expected to be attacked.
But unexpectedly, this time they faced two Golden Corpses; one indeed attacked the Fourth Grade Xuanjia Puppet, but the other targeted Ancestor Lou in the second position.
All the Nascent Soul Ancestors concentrated their attacks on the Golden Corpse attacking the Fourth Grade Xuanjia Puppet. By the time they noticed the second Golden Corpse, its attack had already landed on Ancestor Lou.
This strike severely damaged Ancestor Lou’s Nascent Soul Dharma Form, forcing it back into his body.
Ancestor Lou activated a life-saving talisman, transforming his figure into a stream of light, appearing behind Ancestor Lu’s Golden Corpse.
Although the life-saving talisman could escape far, in this spatial environment, staying with the other Nascent Soul Ancestors was safest.
The purpose of this life-saving talisman was to avoid a second strike from the Golden Corpse, as Ancestor Lou, in his current state, would perish from another blow.
Elder Jin Kai’s attack was the swiftest, landing on the Golden Corpse, almost shattering half its body.
But the Golden Corpse was not slain, and the other Nascent Soul Ancestors, who couldn’t match Elder Jin Kai’s speed, were a step slower, allowing the Golden Corpse to counterattack.
Despite the severe injuries, the Golden Corpse’s speed was hardly affected.
With a flicker of golden light, the Golden Corpse appeared before Elder Jin Kai, its intact fist striking his Nascent Soul Dharma Manifestation.
Elder Jin Kai’s face turned pale; this Golden Corpse’s strike, likely due to being heavily damaged by him, was more powerful than any before.
His Fourth Grade Defense Magical Treasure instantly consumed a large amount of spiritual energy and was knocked away, yet the punch continued downward.
At this moment, the attacks of the other Nascent Soul Ancestors arrived, their combined assault enveloping the Golden Corpse’s body, but the final punch still hit Elder Jin Kai.
"Cough, cough!" Elder Jin Kai spat a mouthful of blood, his aura weakened somewhat, but he hadn’t completely lost his combat capability.
The two Golden Corpses were slain, yet the Nascent Soul Ancestors didn’t immediately collect their cores; instead, they turned their worried eyes toward the two injured Nascent Soul Ancestors.
Two Nascent Soul Ancestors were severely injured, and with the previously incapacitated Ancestor Ren Xun, three out of the ten had lost combat capability.
Especially Elder Jin Kai, who was gravely injured, causing the Fourth Grade Xuanjia Puppet to be unable to clear the path or supply energy to Elder Sword. Most importantly, Elder Jin Kai was the team’s strongest combat force.
How could they continue under such circumstances?
Just as they were about to speak, they felt the space around them resist.
"Someone passed the challenge!" Elder Jin Kai exclaimed.
He rarely lost composure, partly due to his injuries affecting his mind, and partly because he couldn’t believe that despite their formidable team of Nascent Soul cultivators, someone else completed the challenge faster.
They had just reached the second level and were already struggling, suspecting there could be as many as six levels here.
Unfortunately, no matter how unwilling they were, they couldn’t withstand the spatial repulsion.
Ancestor Lu still stared at the Golden Corpse’s body on the ground, unable to extract its core, his eyes filled with reluctance and bitterness as his figure vanished from the space.
The ten Nascent Soul Ancestors appeared a thousand miles apart, each in a different direction.
Once in the real world, they assessed their surroundings and then all turned toward the direction where the Cave Heaven appeared.
Elder Jin Kai swallowed a Spirit Pill and used a talisman on himself to forcibly suppress his injuries. After just two breaths, he impatiently flew toward the Cave Heaven.
The other Nascent Soul Ancestors, including the heavily injured Ancestor Ren Xun, also hurried towards the Cave Heaven.
Everyone knew that if they were expelled from the Cave Heaven mid-way, it meant that there was now a successor within.
Although they had not passed the challenge, it didn’t mean they couldn’t obtain the inheritance and treasures from the successor.
Li Shiming was also sent out of the Cave Heaven, appearing at his original position with a crystalline sphere in hand.
He sensed a connection with the crystalline sphere, able to control it at will.
However, opening the crystalline sphere wasn’t easy, requiring enormous energy, and currently, the sphere only had enough energy for one activation.
Li Shiming’s level was too low, and his internal energy couldn’t meet the sphere’s activation conditions.
The crystalline sphere was naturally the transformed Cave Heaven, and after receiving the inheritance, Li Shiming became its master.
As Great Power Zhai Ge’s spiritual avatar had said, if Li Shiming opened the Cave Heaven, its internal energy would sustain only one opening, and once he entered, it would close.
It would take a thousand years for the Cave Heaven to recharge fully.
In the Golden Core Realm, even if Li Shiming cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage within the Cave Heaven, he would consume its energy. Even if he reached the Nascent Soul stage, he couldn’t meet the conditions to open the Cave Heaven again without replenishing the expended energy.
Being inside the Cave Heaven, any cultivation would deplete its energy.
It was like a deadlock, trapping him in an endless cycle.
He could only wait for the Cave Heaven to absorb energy from the void, which would take a millennium.
If Li Shiming couldn’t cultivate to the Nascent Soul Middle Stage inside, he would exhaust his lifespan before the Cave Heaven reopened.
Though the Cave Heaven held many treasures, cultivation resources were limited, making reaching the Nascent Soul Middle Stage unlikely.
Thus, unless faced with imminent death, Li Shiming wouldn’t choose to enter the Cave Heaven.
He connected to the drone satellite system, observing ten vague figures flying towards him across the surrounding void.
The ten Nascent Soul Ancestors were in various directions; without the drone satellite system, randomly choosing a direction to escape risked encountering one of them.
Li Shiming activated ’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’. In his current late-stage Golden Core level and with peak spiritual power, he could leap three miles at a time with ’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’.
Eager to depart swiftly, he engaged all ten brains to perform ’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’.
’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’ covered a greater distance than ’Step by Step Lotus’, though its energy consumption was over ten times higher.
Li Shiming, having just reached the late-stage Golden Core, had limited spiritual power reserves. However, he only needed a short burst to break out of the Nascent Soul Ancestors’ encirclement, after which he could switch to the less consuming ’Step by Step Lotus’.
His chosen direction provided an opening, and, exerting full power in ’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’, he moved continuously, with no intervals between steps, creating afterimages every three miles before disappearing again.
Venerable Huike had the fastest speed, using ’Zhi Chi Tian Ya’, followed by Elder Jin Kai. Although Elder Jin Kai took two extra breaths to consume a Spirit Pill and use a talisman to suppress injuries, his Nascent Soul Middle Stage cultivation and techniques surpassed any Beishu Continent cultivator.
Venerable Huike and Elder Jin Kai exchanged glances, then looked in different directions, searching for where that person had fled.