He had no idea what was happening.
The entire space was shaking rapidly, and rocks of various sizes were falling from the ceiling and the surrounding stone walls. It was like an earthquake, with constant rumbling sounds.
Clearly, something was about to happen. Zhang Ling didn't bother to conceal himself and decided to leave immediately. He transformed into a streak of yellow light, heading straight for the entrance he had come through.
Just as he was only ten-odd feet away from the entrance, a distance he could cross in an instant, a layer of black light suddenly appeared over the opening.
Then, the stone walls around the entrance began to flow like water. The entrance twisted and merged with the surrounding rock, as if there had never been an opening there at all.
The rumbling sounds continued, and countless boulders shook loose and fell from all directions.
Seeing this, Zhang Ling's face turned grim. With a wave of his hand, several sword beams struck directly at the location of the entrance. However, they only left a few white marks before being blocked by a black light barrier.
"Huh, what are you doing here, kid?"
Old Daoist Yangshan had also released his divine sense to explore the surroundings and keenly noticed the anomaly. He flew to the entrance and happened to see Zhang Ling's actions.
Although Zhang Ling was wearing the Spirit Concealing Veil and appeared thin, the old daoist recognized him instantly when he used his spiritual power.
Zhang Ling didn't reply, but waved his hand again, sending two flying swords to strike fiercely at the previous location of the entrance several times. However, they were blocked by the black light above, and his heart sank.
Then, he glanced in the direction of Old Daoist Yangshan. The old daoist had also discovered the disappearance of the entrance. His expression turned grim, and he immediately questioned Madam Cao, "What's going on here?"
Madam Cao was on the other side of the space and didn't answer the old daoist. Instead, she was manipulating a spell with one hand and pressing the other on her abdomen, green light flashing as she used a secret technique to alleviate her injuries.
Although the entire space was shaking, and many huge rocks were falling from above, this level of disturbance naturally couldn't hurt a Golden Core cultivator.
Zhang Ling, however, was staring at the stone wall in front of him with narrowed eyes. A black light screen was emerging, seemingly a formation.
But after a closer look, he noticed densely packed blood-colored runes flashing on the black light, indicating it was no ordinary formation.
He couldn't help but release his divine sense to sense it, and instantly discovered that these blood-colored runes were slowly spreading from underwater into the space.
The entire space was now shrouded in black light. And this layer of black light was gradually turning blood-red.
Although Zhang Ling knew a little about formations and had even refined several sets, he couldn't understand what this formation was all about.
It seemed to be two sets of formations stacked together.
But he could also tell that this formation wasn't just to trap them. If the entire black light turned blood-red, something bad was likely to happen.
At the same time, he released his divine sense to observe the water below, which had turned scarlet, and was bubbling with strange blood bubbles.
Even stranger was that these blood bubbles were unusual. They didn't burst, but floated into the air like soap bubbles, all heading towards the hunched middle-aged cultivator in mid-air.
When his divine sense swept over the middle-aged cultivator, he discovered that this middle-aged cultivator had originally died, but at this moment, his entire body was gradually becoming rosy, and he sensed a strong life force on him, as if he was about to be resurrected.
"Not good, he's feigning death."
In that short time, Madam Cao had temporarily suppressed her injuries. Seeing this scene, her face turned pale and she cried out in alarm. Her hands quickly formed hand seals, and with a flash of golden light, seven or eight black daggers shot out from her body.
After the clang of metal, her attacks all hit the motionless middle-aged man in mid-air. However, they were all blocked by a layer of blood-colored spiritual light that appeared on his body.
Seeing this, Madam Cao gritted her teeth and spat out a mouthful of blood essence, quickly waving her hands. The several black daggers she released lit up with dazzling golden light, transforming into streaks of golden light to attack.
For a time, countless golden rays struck the middle-aged man's body.
However, the blood-colored light on his body had extremely strong defensive power. No matter how the flying knives struck, they only dimmed slightly and were not broken through.
This made Madam Cao's expression even more unsightly. She suddenly turned her gaze to Old Daoist Yangshan and Zhang Ling, and anxiously shouted, "Attack quickly! We can't let this person wake up, or we'll all die here!"
Hearing this, Old Daoist Yangshan frowned and asked again, "You need to explain what's going on."
This time, Madam Cao didn't hesitate at all and quickly said, "This person's name is Mo Daoren. He is a special elder of my Snow Moon Tower. His strength has reached the Pseudo-Nascent Soul realm. A hundred years ago, he stole a treasure from the Tower Master and fled. Our other elders have been searching for him. We are now in the Bloodworm Gu Formation he set up. If we don't escape early, we will all be devoured when this formation is complete."
"What, a Gu formation? A Gu formation of the ancient Witch Clan?"
Old Daoist Yangshan's face darkened upon hearing Madam Cao's explanation. He glanced at the middle-aged man exuding blood light and, with a wave of his hand, his strange blade magic weapon shot out, transforming into a thick ice blade to strike.
Zhang Ling's expression also darkened. Without thinking, he activated his spiritual power, and under the rapid rotation of the two flying swords, he shot out streaks of azure sword light.
The Bloodworm Gu Formation was a strange formation recorded in some ancient books. Once the formation was activated, all living beings within it would fall into a strange fight to the death. The formation would only end when only one living being remained.
And the last remaining living being would often turn into a monster. This formation was said to have been used by ancient witches to refine Gu.
The so-called ancient Witch Clan was a branch of the human race, but it was quite mysterious, and no one could understand it completely. Moreover, the ancient Witch Clan had long disappeared into the river of time.
The three released various attacks, all hitting the middle-aged man. He remained motionless, maintaining a strange posture. The attacks all landed on his body, and various spiritual lights covered him.
However, the blood-colored shield on his body had amazing defensive power. Under the combined attack of the three, it only flickered, and was not broken through for a time.
Suddenly, the blood-colored light shield on his body turned pitch black, then suddenly swelled and, with a loud bang, transformed into an invisible black gale, blowing all the attacks away.
AWOOO!
Then, the middle-aged man seemed to wake up, howling strangely and opening his eyes, which were blood-red. At the same time, the aura on his body rose steadily, instantly reaching the late stage of the Golden Core realm, and was still slowly rising.
