A murmur filled with helplessness and resentment echoed faintly through the cave.
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the "cocoon" woven from peach branches erupted with endless purple light, like a purple sun rising inside the cave abode.
"Ah, my eyes! My eyes!"
The purple light was blinding. Even Immortal Master Wu, a Fifth Grade cultivator, felt an agonizing sting in both eyes the instant he saw a sliver of it, as though he were going blind.
The "purple sun" rose far too abruptly. The other eight Immortal Masters were also terrified, seized by the panic of being caught completely off guard.
"Boom, boom...!"
Nine mighty auras erupted. The Immortal Masters activated the Seeking Dao Bell together, drawing on its divine light to shield their bodies and faces. They squeezed their eyes shut, intending to use their sect-protecting Magic Treasure to escape the cave abode for now and return beyond the stone gate.
Yet, despite being activated jointly by nine Fifth-Grade Immortal Masters, the sect-protecting Supreme Treasure, the Seeking Dao Bell, released only a glimmer of radiance before its light abruptly dimmed before the Peachwood Blade. It even gave off a humming that sounded like "terror."
"Why... why is this happening? The sect-protecting Ritual Artifact is... is restraining its own aura, as though it has encountered its natural bane?!"
Shaken to his core, Immortal Master Xun cried out in a stammer, then tried to activate his Divine Power and retreat from the cave abode first.
"Boom, boom, boom...!"
Just then, the Peachwood Blade, which had only just quieted down, released an endless, surging Devouring Power. Like a bottomless whirlpool, it dragged wantonly at everything inside the cave abode.
At that moment, the nine Immortal Masters trying to force their way out felt as though they had sunk into a muddy swamp, unable to move