Even as she continuously materialized spirit stones in one hand, watching them rapidly turn from translucent crystals to dull, lifeless rocks, her face grew increasingly pale, and sweat poured down her forehead and temples like rain.
Facing such an onslaught, she struggled to maintain the Azure Cloak's defense, the spirit power in her body already more than half depleted.
She could only rely on constantly absorbing spirit stones and swallowing medicinal pills to replenish her energy, but the rate of consumption far outpaced the rate of absorption.
Her meridians began to throb with a stabbing pain from the excessively rapid absorption of spiritual energy from the stones.
This spiritual energy had not been properly refined at all; she was merely using her body as a conduit to channel it from her hands.
Under such circumstances, even with a considerable number of spirit stones and recovery pills, she wouldn't be able to hold on for much longer.
Under the corrosion of impurities from the unrefined spiritual energy and the pill poison from the medicinal pills, her physical body would collapse first.
And this was after only fifteen breaths since she had summoned the "Wetland Thunder Bear," having advanced about sixty zhang.
The female cultivator knew she could not persist like this. She had to immediately refine the violent spiritual energy within her.
Gritting her silver teeth, she immediately stopped the "Wetland Thunder Bear's" advance, having it guard her side. She had to seize the time to meditate and regulate her breathing.
Although she knew this would be even more dangerous, she had no other choice. She couldn't just let her body explode from the rampaging spirit power.
However, this meant she could no longer fend off the attacks from the rear.
The "Wetland Thunder Bear" would have to protect her completely, blocking all attacks from all directions, which would also accelerate its consumption.
The female cultivator's hands became a blur of afterimages as she quickly replaced the partially used low-grade spirit stones from the puppet's body and inserted ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
These ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones had been painstakingly accumulated; she didn't have many.
The moment the Mid-grade Spirit Stones were activated, the "Wetland Thunder Bear" erupted with an unprecedented radiance, its aura surging dramatically.
Its pair of thick bear legs were firmly planted on the ground, its fists a blur of afterimages, striking out with dazzling, deep-blue light clusters in all directions.
The female cultivator had no time to feel the sting of using the ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones and quickly closed her eyes.
She knew that if the "Wetland Thunder Bear" continued this explosive output, even with the support of Mid-grade Spirit Stones, it wouldn't last for long.
But as long as it could buy her at least a hundred breaths of time, she could recover slightly.
Faced with this puppet, the surrounding "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" were momentarily helpless. It was not a true living creature; it had no life.
Only at the core of its formation was the essence soul of a third-rank "Wetland Thunder Bear." Furthermore, the materials used to refine this puppet were exceptionally sturdy, especially the defensive power of its core formation.
These "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" were only two-winged, equivalent to Foundation Establishment cultivators. The only reason they could push the female cultivator to this extent was through a peculiar formation.
Only then could they jointly unleash a power almost equal to that of a Golden Core cultivator. Even so, they could not destroy the puppet's body.
They were even less capable of breaking through the surface of the "Wetland Thunder Bear's" body to inject venom and poison it to death.
The only effective attack against this puppet was their sound wave attacks, which could harm the refined essence soul within.
However, this puppet was of a high rank, and the formation at its core was exquisite. The vast majority of their sound waves were neutralized by it.
The few that managed to strike the "Wetland Thunder Bear's" essence soul did not cause it much harm; after all, it was the essence soul of a third-rank demonic beast.
Thus, the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" could only use blood and death to continuously trap their opponent.
Just as the female cultivator thought she could trade some resources for a brief moment of recovery, one of the surrounding "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" suddenly adopted a strange flying posture in mid-air.
Then, several more "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" followed suit, assuming the same flying posture.
The first bat to perform the strange flight suddenly spat out an extremely fine black thread from its mouth as it flew rapidly, shooting it towards the "Wetland Thunder Bear."
The moment the black thread flew towards the "Wetland Thunder Bear," it was struck squarely by a ball of deep blue light from the puppet.
However, the black thread was not broken or shattered. Instead, it appeared soft and weak, knocked aside by the force.
Then, in a fluid motion, one end of the black thread swung over, which made the "Wetland Thunder Bear" pause for a moment.
In just that instant, the black thread had wrapped around its fist, yet it did not unleash any power or corrosive effect.
The "Wetland Thunder Bear" sensed this and, though confused, could only continue to fight amidst the attacks from all sides.
In contrast, the "Dark Spirit Demon Bat" that had spat out the black thread instantly shriveled up, as if its entire essence, qi, and spirit had been drained in a moment, and it plummeted to the ground.
Then, the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" that had adopted the strange flying posture each spat out a fine black thread, striking at the enemy.
These black threads were exceptionally strange. Under the "Wetland Thunder Bear's" counter-shocks, only twenty to thirty percent were knocked away; the majority struck its fists and arms.
And the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" that spat out the black threads instantly lost their strength, plummeting from the sky one by one.
At this point, more and more "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" began to assume this flying posture, flitting about the cave like a chaotic dance of demons, a chilling sight to behold.
The sky seemed to rain as one "Dark Spirit Demon Bat" after another fell.
These bats did not die immediately upon hitting the ground. Instead, their bodies split open with deep, bone-exposing gashes, from which dark red blood gushed out.
They let out piercing shrieks, thrashing about on the ground, unable to fly yet unable to die immediately, in extreme agony, as if suffering in purgatory.
As more and more black threads were spat out by the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats," the "Wetland Thunder Bear's" attack movements gradually slowed down.
Each strike it made seemed to require immense effort, and soon, it could no longer guarantee the female cultivator's safety.
The female cultivator also sensed the mortal danger and immediately opened her beautiful eyes, staring in horror at the scene before her.
The "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" on the ground were shrieking pitifully, their constant thrashing almost blocking the entire tunnel.
Some of them were even crawling towards her, hideously baring their stark white teeth in their agony, as if wanting to take a bite out of her before they died.
Like vengeful ghosts dying with a grievance, they crawled towards her, wailing. A layer of icy shivers broke out on the female cultivator's fair skin.
Her ears were filled with nothing but a cacophony of piercing shrieks and the sight of countless gruesome, blood-streaked, ferocious faces.
And she had only meditated for about thirty breaths. Thirty breaths, a very, very short time, which would normally pass unnoticed.
The female cultivator realized that these "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" were employing an extreme, self-harming attack method.
Previously, even when killed by her and the "Wetland Thunder Bear," they had not used this method.
Now, just looking at the ghastly, densely packed "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" on the ground, like vengeful ghosts from Asura's hell, the female cultivator knew that the pain of this attack was more terrifying than death itself.
Therefore, this attack must be an extreme method that the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" were most reluctant to use.
But at this moment, she didn't have much time to think. The "Wetland Thunder Bear's" limbs were bound by some of the threads.
With every punch it threw now, the light erupting from its body became more dazzling; it was excessively consuming the power of the ten Mid-grade Spirit Stones.
The light on its body had already dimmed considerably. It would likely be completely depleted in another twenty breaths or so.
But at this rate of defense, it could no longer provide much protection for the female cultivator.
The Azure Cloak around the female cultivator surged with power again. The moment she executed the technique, a surge of spirit power made every meridian in her body ache and burn with excruciating pain.
It was as if ten thousand steel knives were churning inside her. She let out a muffled groan, and a trickle of crimson blood seeped from the corner of her mouth.
Upon smelling the blood, the surrounding "Dark Spirit Demon Bats," even the shrieking ones on the ground, became agitated, thrashing towards her even faster.
The female cultivator gritted her teeth and fiercely swung the Azure Cloak, instantly shredding another dozen "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" that had shot towards her like arrows in their excitement.
With her burst of courage exhausted, she felt the spirit power in her body become intermittent. The meridians in her swinging arm felt as if they were about to be torn apart.
Her eyes instantly turned to ash. She knew that death had arrived.
She let her arms fall limply. The essence soul within her natal "Wetland Thunder Bear" also sensed her danger and turned its head with great effort.
Its huge head drooped as it looked down, a touch of sorrow in its eyes. It threw a desperate punch with all its might, making the surrounding air tremble.
But because it seemed to be entangled by the threads, its movements were slow, and it only managed to kill three or four "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" before it was once again bound like an old man in his twilight years.
"A millennium on the immortal path, today my Dao becomes but blood and mud."
The female cultivator thought of this sentence. Today was the day her Dao would dissipate and her body would perish.
At the same time, she thought of some people.
"I hope they are all well! After searching for so many years, I never got to see them again."
Then, her eyes reflected the image of a dense black swarm of "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" swooping down on her...
The female cultivator suddenly revealed a silent smile. The spiritual energy in the surrounding space violently surged. She was not one to be slaughtered at will.
If her Dao was to dissipate and her body perish, she would be the one to end it. No one else could kill her.
Just then, a low voice sounded by the female cultivator's ear.
"Do you know Shuang Chongshan?"
The voice came abruptly. Though it was almost inaudible amidst the countless piercing shrieks, it rang in the female cultivator's ears like a clap of thunder on a clear day.
She snapped her eyes open, her aura becoming even more uncontrollably violent.
The dense black swarm of "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" rushing towards her had vanished, replaced by an unreal, illusory figure. The person's back filled her entire field of vision.
With his back to her, the dark figure waved his hand, sending out mountain-like layers of palm shadows. The surrounding "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" exploded into showers of blood.
The female cultivator was horrified, not by the opponent's strength—she herself was simply not skilled in such brutish, head-on clashes.
The "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" shrieked in anger, spitting out fine black threads that wrapped around the figure's fists and arms.
But the moment they made contact, they were burned to nothing by something, unable to bind the person's hands and feet at all.
She could sense that the person's strength was at most comparable to Song Rongdao's. The fluctuation of his spirit power was exceptionally strong, but judging from his aura, how was it that he seemed to be on par with her?
But what horrified her even more was what the person had said, that name!!!