This adept wanted to shake his hands free, but unfortunately, the spiritual energy surged into his palms in an instant and was directly absorbed by the rock.
Instead, because he had suddenly expended a massive amount of spiritual energy, he had overdrawn himself. His face instantly turned much paler, and his arms visibly shriveled at an alarming speed.
He let out a hoarse shout, "Something's wrong! Don't use spiritual energy recklessly!"
Even without his warning, the other four adepts had noticed something was amiss.
At the critical moment, Great Dream Adept shouted, "Four Woods, cut off the Second Elder's hands!"
Four Woods was a sword cultivator at Mid Emergence from Dust, with only minor injuries. He was still one of the strongest combatants present.
He did not dare use sword qi, since that also fell under the category of spiritual energy. Worried that it would be ineffective, he instead sent out his flying sword.
A flash of white light shot toward the injured Golden Core cultivator—the Second Elder's hands—and slashed down viciously.
However, when the white light reached the Second Elder's hands, it abruptly halted, stopping right on the backs of his hands. After pausing there for a moment, it fell weakly to the ground.
Four Woods raised a hand, intending to summon the flying sword back, only to see Xiao Qiao's flying sword lying motionless on the ground.
"The connection is disrupted!" His expression changed, and he was about to use spiritual energy to retrieve the flying sword.
Fortunately, he remembered what had happened to those Golden Core adepts. He forcibly withdrew his spiritual energy, bent down to pick up a small stone, and flicked it out, striking the flying sword on the ground dead-on.
The flying sword sprang up violently, shot seven or eight zhang away, and fell