"Gather everyone. Prepare to withdraw," Zhen Yuanzi shouted at once.
"What about them?" Yang Jian asked, glancing at Shen Luo and the others.
"They can only withdraw after Huang Mei's divine soul destroys their soul fragments. If we forcibly halt the magic formation to wake them, the connection between their main souls and their soul avatars will remain intact, and the damage will be even worse," Zhen Yuanzi said gravely.
With that, he cast an uneasy glance into the distance and added, "Stay here and guard them. I'll check the situation outside and try to hold out a little longer to buy us time."
Hesitation crossed Yang Jian's face, but he understood that this was no time to act on impulse. He could only nod.
Within Huang Mei's consciousness sea, Zhen Yuanzi's and Yang Jian's soul fragments had been destroyed one after another, making it even harder for those who remained to hold on.
By now, Huang Mei's divine soul had completely broken free, and his body kept growing within his consciousness sea. Before long, he towered like a mountain, while the soul fragments of Shen Luo and the others were no more than ants beside him.
"Don't be afraid. I won't destroy your soul fragments just yet. You still have other uses," Huang Mei's divine soul said, his voice rumbling through the consciousness sea like rolling thunder.
One of his palms pressed down, blotting out the sky like a black cloud and casting Shen Luo and the others entirely into shadow. Black demonic qi churned in his palm and poured down in torrents to engulf them.
"Watch out! He wants to demonize our soul fragments, then use them to corrupt our main souls and consciousness seas!" the Bull Demon King shouted sharply.
With that, he activated the **Divine Thought