Library of Heaven’s Path

With the appearance of the golden dragon, the surrounding air seemed to grow thin, and the spiritual energy in the surroundings became even more viscous.

Ao Feng was displaying his true might as a Conferred God King of the Sky of Cloud Dragon.

Weng!

As soon as the golden dragon appeared, innumerable spirits in the surroundings began charging frenziedly toward him, even imploding themselves in order to deal some damage to him. In an instant, layers of spatial ripples diffused into the surroundings, destabilizing the space in the vicinity.

Under the relentless attacks of the phantasmagoric spirits, his resilient scales tore apart, and several glaring gashes were inflicted all over his body. His golden dragon blood dripped to the floor and crushed the rocks beneath with a sizzling sound.

Hu!

Knowing that he was in a desperate situation, Ao Feng did not hesitate to use his dragon breath, dissipating the dozens of phantasmagoric spirits that stood in his way. That opened a temporary passageway for him to pass through.

Sou!

Ao Feng quickly made use of the opportunity to dash forward, and just as he was about to reach the Condensed Earth Essence, a light barrier suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking him out.

“It’s a formation created by the phantasmagoric spirits!” Ao Feng’s face darkened as he felt goosebumps rising all over his body.

Not only did these phantasmagoric spirits possess sentience, they were even able to collaborate with one another to set up a formation… This far exceeded his expectations.

Ao Feng quickly lifted his claws to smash a hole through the light barrier.

The light barrier wavered under Ao Feng’s strike, but it did not shatter.

Even with someone as powerful as Ao Feng exerting his full might, he was still unable to tear down the formation before him easily.

“I don’t believe it!”

Ao Feng could not accept letting the Condensed Earth Essence slip through his fingers when it was right before him. No matter what, he was determined to make the mission a success.

Otherwise, once word began to spread about the dangers that lurked there, it would be difficult for him to gather a new team. In other words, he only had this one shot at success, and failure was not acceptable!

However, he also knew that he did not have much time left. With every second that he was stalled there, his group members would be facing even greater pressure from the phantasmagoric spirits.

Boom boom boom!

Ao Feng swiped his claws and tail repeatedly on the light barrier, causing it to tremor nonstop. Yet, he was simply unable to break it apart.

But while it was still refusing to shatter, it grew considerably thinner under his furious offense. With each strike, a fair bit of the spiritual energy that made up the light barrier diffused into the surroundings.

Observing that scene, Zhang Xuan’s eyes lit up in excitement.

It’s not a formation but a cocoon formed out of the purest essence extracted from innumerable phantasmagoric spirits…

At first glance, it did appear to be a barrier, but based on how the energy was leaking outward with each strike, it was apparently not the case.

If he was not mistaken, the reason the plants in the area were able to birth spirits was due to the presence of the Condensed Earth Essence in the area. For this reason, the spirits viewed the Condensed Earth Essence as their mother.

In order to protect their mother, the phantasmagoric spirits extracted the essence from their spirits and accumulated it over time in order to form this protective layer of defense.

In other words…

The light barrier was actually an incredible tonic for him!

If I absorb that, I should be able to advance my soul cultivation considerably, right?

With such a thought in mind, he quickly smacked away the two phantasmagoric spirits charging at him before moving closer to the light barrier. Indeed, he could sense the spirit essence that had diffused from the light barrier lingering in the air.

His soul cultivation grew significantly just by absorbing a sliver of it.

This confirmed Zhang Xuan’s thoughts. If he could absorb all of it, he would surely be able to bring his soul cultivation to new heights!

It would be foolish to miss out on such good stuff!

He turned his eyes toward the light barrier, only to see the barrier being torn off layer after layer by Ao Feng’s relentless attacks. The concentrated soul energy was then absorbed by the phantasmagoric spirits in the area, strengthening them.

“What a pity…”

At this rate, the pressure on their side would only continue to increase as the phantasmagoric spirits grew stronger. Besides, it was such a huge waste to give such tonics to the phantasmagoric spirits when they were hardly alive.

If he could have it instead, the benefit he gained from it would be even greater than consuming the Condensed Earth Essence!

This won’t do. I should just take it for myself, Zhang Xuan thought as he walked over to the light barrier.

Boom boom boom!

Meanwhile, the golden dragon in the air was still striking the light barrier relentlessly, and the rebound from striking too hard was causing its claws to bleed profusely. At the same time, the phantasmagoric spirits in the area were still attacking him from all directions, causing his injuries to pile up.

It felt like he would succumb very soon and fall from the sky.

Ao Feng clenched his teeth tightly as he thought, I am deeply indebted to the Cloud Dragon Monarch. The Condensed Earth Essence is something that can allow the Cloud Dragon Monarch to further his cultivation, so no matter what, I must complete this mission.

Most of the Conferred God Kings had received guidance from their God Monarchs, and in the Northern, Eastern, Western, and Southern Skies, the Conferred God Kings were all related by bloodline to the God Monarch.

This meant that their relationship ran even deeper.

If the God Monarch needed something, even if it was at the cost of their life, they would still find it for them!

Ao Feng continued to attack frenziedly, but the stronger his strikes were, the greater the rebound was. It did not take long for his body to be nearly completely tattered, and it looked as if he was on the verge of collapsing.

Ao Feng knew that he had reached the limit of his body, and if he pushed on like that, he would die before he could lay his hands on the Condensed Earth Essence. Feeling utterly helpless, he was just about to give the order to retreat when he saw a young man standing in front of the light barrier that he had been hitting a moment ago.

With a gleeful smile on his face, the young man started to absorb the diffused energy of the light barrier.

“…”

Lowering his dragon head, Ao Feng soon recognized who the young man was.

It was one of the last two God Kings whom he had recruited.

“Pay no heed to me. You can continue if you want. I’ll just absorb a bit before leaving,” the young man said with a friendly wave of his hand.

“…” Ao Feng nearly blacked out.

Bro!

I nearly got killed by the phantasmagoric spirits while trying to get to this light barrier! Even now, my body is still bleeding profusely.

How did you get here without the slightest crease on your clothes?

You are even in the mood to smile and wave at me…

Damn it, I am already dying! If you had such capabilities, why didn’t you just use them earlier?

Ao Feng glared at the young man with an aggrieved look, only to see the young man completely focused on absorbing the energy scattered all around. He was so focused that a small tornado of energy started to form around his body.

Two of the largest phantasmagoric spirits in the area sensed that the source of their strength was being absorbed by the young man, and they began charging over while screeching in fury.

“Be careful!” Ao Feng shouted out.

But before the phantasmagoric spirits could get close, the young man waved his hand casually.

Peng! Peng!

With two dull thuds, the phantasmagoric spirits were reduced to dust before being absorbed by the young man as well.

The young man suddenly raised his head once more to look at Ao Feng once more, and he said in an earnest tone, “There’s no need to be bothered by me. You can continue scratching at the light barrier. It’s already very thin now. If you hurry, you should be able to break it within ten minutes!”

“Ten minutes?” Ao Feng spurted a mouthful of blood.

He had been thinking that he could break it soon, but in the end… ten minutes?

Despite putting his life on the line and attacking desperately, he had not even ground away a tenth of the light barrier?

What the hell! Was this even possible to break apart?

While wallowing in his sorrow, Ao Feng lowered his head once more, only to see that the young man had finished devouring all the energy lingering in the area.

Seeing that there was nothing anymore, the young man raised his head to direct a dissatisfied look in his direction, asking, “Why are you standing there in a daze? Get moving!”

“Ah…”

Without any thought, Ao Feng’s claws began striking the light barrier once more, causing its energy to scatter in the surroundings.

Zhang Xuan nodded in satisfaction before turning his attention back to absorbing the spirit essence around him.