You're Asking Me? Who Am I Supposed to Ask?

"But if that's the case, then why is it said that Nascent Soul cultivators can survive the Cloud Burst stage? Does it mean that once you reach the Nascent Soul, you are no longer affected by this kind of blockage of Spiritual Power?" someone asked.

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? I'm not Nascent Soul!"

There were indeed Nascent Soul Cultivator in the city, but no one dared to ask.

No low-level cultivators dared to ask, but a Nascent Soul Cultivator had experienced the Cloud Burst stepped forward to explain, "This black energy is not caused by the Cloud Burst. At least, the Cloud Burst I experienced did not produce this kind of black energy that affected my Spiritual Power."

The people who received the explanation did not feel relieved; instead, they felt somewhat flustered by the result.

"If this isn't the effect of Cloud Burst, then what is it?"

The unknown is often more frightening than the known.

Some people remembered what Lin Xiao had said earlier, but when they looked outside the city gate again, they could no longer find anyone.

So, although the people in the city were anxious and fearful, they had no other choice but to stay in the city and wait for rescue. However, no one dared to use their Spiritual Power at will anymore.

But now it was too late. As the black energy gradually thickened, they not only felt the flow of Spiritual Power within their bodies become sluggish, but they also discovered that their Spiritual Power was slowly leaking away!

It was as if some invisible force was quietly eroding the Spiritual Power within them.

They could do nothing but sit there and wait for the invisible force to devour the little Spiritual Power left in their bodies.

Due to the influence of the Execution Qi, many array masters in the city who originally tried to break the array gradually gave up and began to conserve their Spiritual Power for protection, just like everyone else.

The city's protective formation remained as stable as a mountain, unshakable in the slightest. However, the rate at which Spiritual Power was draining from their bodies was gradually accelerating. No, it wasn't just within their bodies; they discovered that even the concentration of Spiritual Qi energy in the surrounding area was rapidly decreasing, causing even greater fear and unease among the people in the city.

Spiritual Power is equivalent to the life source of cultivators. Right now, not only is the Spiritual Power in their bodies being eroded, but if even the Spiritual Qi in the air disappears, it will completely cut off their life-giving water.

These cultivators, who had been living in the Immortal Cultivation Realm for a long time, could foresee that if this protective formation could not be broken, after their Spiritual Power was completely consumed, they themselves would likely be the next to be consumed.

As time passed, many cultivators were taking out various pills, protective Law Artifact, formations, and talismans, but their effectiveness was greatly reduced under the erosion of the Execution Qi.

But at this point, the cultivators couldn't care less about anything else; they just wanted to preserve their Spiritual Power as much as possible.

Eventually, all kinds of goods were exhausted, and the inventory of many shops in the city was also used to make ends meet.

Gradually, it became clear that even the shops' inventory was about to run out. If it weren't for the hope that external aid would not arrive, the cultivators in the city would be on the verge of a breakdown.

The only piece of good news, though not exactly good news, was that although the clouds above were falling rapidly, it seemed they would still be some time before actually reaching the ground, giving them at least a few hours to catch their breath.

The Execution Qi within the city was being released continuously, and Lin Xiao was so anxious that sweat beaded on his forehead.

After all, he had witnessed the aftermath of the Execution Qi' attack and knew that the longer it dragged on, the greater the impact on the cultivators in the city would be. He didn't want to see the scene he had witnessed in the Execution Stone mine again.

However, he was somewhat helpless in the face of the powerful city-protecting formation.

Although I wasn't completely clueless about breaking the formation, my clues were only about the same as being able to write the word "solution" when solving a problem, or perhaps a little more, at least knowing the general direction of the solution.

However, this clue is almost useless for breaking through this protective formation, because even if you master the method of breaking the formation, you still need to reach a certain level of cultivation to break through such a large formation. Otherwise, your realm and Spiritual Power will be completely insufficient to break the entire formation.

Lin Xiao, like everyone else in the city, was eagerly awaiting reinforcements. However, another question quickly came to mind: if the city lord himself couldn't be found, how long would it take for those powerful cultivators from various sects and Aristocratic Clan to break the formation?

He didn't need anyone else to answer this question; he quickly found the answer in his heart. If those powerful cultivators were only at the Spirit Transformation to the Void Returning Realm and didn't know the specific methods to break the formation, it would have been impossible for them to break the city's protective formation before the Cloud Burst arrived or before the people in the city were killed by the Execution Qi.

Although he cannot break the formation at present, he has been testing its strength.

Based on his understanding of formations and considering Senior Liao's cultivation level at the Nascent Spirit Transformation Stage, he could sense that this city-protecting formation was far beyond what some Spirit Transformation to the Void Returning Realm cultivators could break through with brute force. At least a combination of a group of Nascent Spirit Transformation and a few Void Return stage cultivators would definitely not be enough.

Unless all the cultivators invited are at least at the Void Returning Realm, and there are a sufficient number of them...

With this in mind, Lin Xiao only hoped that there would be more Void Returning Realm cultivators in the Chongxiao Domain, and that the disciples who returned home to ask for assistance could mobilize more Void Returning Realm elders...

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel annoyed that he hadn't made the most of his time to cultivate diligently; otherwise, he wouldn't be in such a helpless situation now.

Actually, he was blaming himself for this, because even if he was exceptionally talented and worked hard day and night to cultivate, he might not be able to reach a high level of cultivation in a few years.

However, he did have some ideas about the formation set up by Execution Cultivator outside.

Although he didn't know exactly what the formation was like, nor how to break Execution Cultivator's formation.

but...

He arrived at a point in Execution Cultivator array.

He looked around, then stretched out his hand toward the center of the array...

As time passed, the Execution Qi within the city had thickened into a dark fog, making it almost impossible to see people.

More than two hours had passed, and Jiang Qu's Spiritual Power had long been drained. After losing his Spiritual Power, he felt as if his body was being slowly hollowed out.

He was now lying weakly against the roadside, staring blankly at the sky.

The black mist in his vision had become so thick that he could no longer see where the clouds above had descended. His extreme weakness also prevented him from having much emotion about the Cloud Burst.

The black aura seemed to be devouring not only his Spiritual Power and body, but also his Divine Sense, to the point that he no longer seemed afraid of the impending Cloud Burst.

Gradually, all that remained before his eyes seemed to be darkness, and at the end of this darkness, he saw an even darker place, a black hole that shone brightly, as if something in the depths of that place was calling to him.

That depth seemed to fascinate him, and he couldn't help but walk towards it, step by step...