However, in the end, this divine technique enveloped eighteen Foundation Establishment individuals, and its mighty power was relatively dispersed.

Lu Qian’s Consciousness Collection operated with full force, automatically resisting the external force invading his Divine Soul. Desire and clarity intertwined in his eyes, and after one breath, he was about to awaken.

Several Late-Stage Foundation Establishment and Foundation Establishment Perfection cultivators were the same, especially Li Xingyuan, whose lifespan was nearing its end. Even when hit by the divine technique, he still tightly grasped the Immortal Dragon Slayer Painting, his entire body tense, without relaxing.

But Skull Child only smirked coldly.

How could Golden Core Divine Techniques be grasped by you Foundation Establishments?

He circulated his spiritual power, and the divine technique turned.

Red Powder Skull, Red Powder Enchantment, Skeleton Soul-Shattering!

In an instant, Lu Qian’s vision blurred; the Celestial Demon Desire Woman, whom one couldn’t help but rush towards, suddenly had her flesh rot, black hair fell off, skin eroded, swarming with maggots, her entire body bursting with thick fluid, seemed slow yet fast, transforming into a skeletal figure!

In the blink of an eye, the Supreme Desire Woman turned into a decaying skeletal corpse, and the body and mind that had just relaxed were instantly consumed by boundless terror!

It wasn’t that this skeleton was particularly terrifying, but rather the profound horror of life and death contained in the transformation, from which no living creature could escape.

Fear arises from the heart, a prison of terror!

This divine technique will directly awaken the deepest fears in everyone’s hearts, trapping them in terrifying illusions from which they cannot extricate themselves. The karma of the heart must be resolved by oneself; once ensnared, unless the caster perishes or one’s willpower is extraordinary enough to overcome one’s own fears, they will be devoured by their own heart demon of terror, dying within the illusion.

This is the divine technique of a Golden Core Master! After surviving the Celestial Tribulation, the Dao Pattern evolves and elevates into a divine technique!

At this moment, Lu Qian’s last clarity completely sank. In the final moments of falling into the terrifying illusion, he heard the terrified cry of Guh Niqiang beside him, and the suddenly tightly grasping hand with his own.

His last thought was, Guh Niqiang, what did you see?

All eighteen Foundation Establishments were drawn into the illusion, unable even to maintain flight, and directly plummeted from a hundred feet high.

Skull Child casually flicked out the White Bone Soul Splitting Sword, with a gleam of jade light, instantly cutting down the few closest to the Immortal Dragon Slayer Painting at the forefront of the formation, their souls returning to the Netherworld in the illusion!

Like cutting melons and vegetables, easily and effortlessly!

Sect Leader of the Xuanguang Sect, Li Xingyuan, dead!

Two of the Five Peaks Peak Masters of Xuanguang Sect, dead!

Sect Leader of the Shouzhuo Sect, Tang Gongcheng, dead!

Skull Child stretched out his hand to call forth the Immortal Dragon Slayer Painting.

Hot blood spilled over the firmament, and Master Fengfeng finally noticed this place, erupting in an earth-shattering roar, abandoning the Primordial Pearl and plunging directly down.

Master Moyun took the opportunity to continually activate the secret technique, but the Treasure Pearl remained unmoving in mid-air, refusing his control.

"Skull Child, you’re courting death!"

Master Fengfeng’s originally delicate features twisted with rage, and with a gesture, whirlwinds caught and gently lowered the falling Foundation Establishments, while the spiritual power across his body poured into the Celestial Cyan Fan. With a flip, the dark side faced Skull Child.

With a whoosh, the dark side of the fan swept down, and within a hundred feet, it suddenly brightened. The wind blades, fine as cow’s hair, appeared gentle like slanting rain, yet they were full of killing intent. They could shatter bone and flesh in an instant, covering Skull Child.

Skull Child was startled, not expecting Master Fengfeng to so decisively abandon the Primordial Pearl and dive down directly.

Before advancing to Nascent Soul, solidifying divine techniques into Innate Divine Techniques, using divine techniques would greatly consume spiritual power and Divine Sense. Typically, a Golden Core can use them only one or two times per battle, using them as ultimate techniques.

He had already consumed a significant amount of spiritual power during the previous battles, and after using the Red Powder Skull Divine Techniques, his spiritual power was more than half exhausted. Biting his teeth, he recklessly threw the half-damaged Kui Beast Spirit Capturing Umbrella, activating the Bone Burst Secret Technique. With a rumble, Thunder Light surged everywhere, using self-detonation as the price to block the strike from the dark fan.

He then gestured, and the White Bone Soul Splitting Sword expanded, transforming into a whip, lashing towards Master Fengfeng.

While the two were entangled in combat, the remaining fourteen Foundation Establishments, under the support of the whirlwind, landed slowly across Yuqing Mountain.

The most feared things deep in their hearts transformed into illusions, engulfing each individual, with Foundation Establishments struggling to cope, unable to awaken.

... Initially, it should have been so.

But here with Lu Qian, the situation seemed, a bit strange.

When Lu Qian opened his eyes, he was seated in his office, lounging in a wide leather chair, a small 22-inch monitor sitting on the spacious mahogany desk, where the large "Windows XP" screensaver was flashing.

Lu Qian glanced at the hanging clock; it was eight o’clock, time to start work.

The tea on the desk had already steeped, and just as he took a sip, the office door was rhythmically knocked three times.

"Come in."

The door was gently pushed open, and the office manager, Jiang Qingfeng, walked in, arms holding several documents. She wore a neat and professional outfit today, a knee-length skirt, and flesh-colored stockings.

Why does it feel somewhat strange?

"President Lu, there are a few things to report to you."

Lu Qian nodded.

"These are the items to be discussed at the upcoming meeting, please review them."

Lu Qian flipped through a few pages: "The proposal for the exceptional promotion of Comrade Wu Yan... Has this been discussed by the team members?"

Receiving a positive response, Lu Qian continued to flip through a few pages and then signed his name.

Jiang Qingfeng continued, "Chairman Wang from the headquarters will be visiting Chongming County for research tomorrow afternoon. The office has already coordinated the research plan with us, and the first stop is our Yunshan Sect. Please review it."

The strange feeling grew more intense. Lu Qian hesitated for a moment, then said, "First draft a report, let Lin Le prepare it. Ensure that we highlight the unique work of our Yunshan Sect and provide accurate data from the past five years."

As he spoke, Lu Qian took the research plan and was about to look at it when the office door was suddenly pushed open.

Lu Qian frowned and looked toward the door, and was suddenly shocked, cold sweat immediately pouring down his face.

There were two people, one was Group Vice President Yang Jiye, who accompanied with an apologetic face, and the other had a particularly familiar face, a photo of whom President Zhuang of the Spirit Talisman Sect had shown him during a dinner yesterday.

This was the newly appointed deputy leader of the inspection team stationed at the headquarters, Tan Hong!

Seeing Lu Qian’s face turn ashen instantly, Tan Hong sighed slowly, as if he were very regretful: "President Lu, there are a few things our inspection team needs to discuss with you. Please come with me."

Jiang Qingfeng sensed something, his body starting to tremble. Lu Qian took a deep breath, feigning calmness: "Alright, let me finish the work at hand first—"

"No need," Tan Hong said firmly, "Your work has been suspended, please cooperate with the investigation."

Lu Qian felt his legs trembling, his heart suddenly sinking, his entire body felt cold as he struggled to stand up, feeling the world spinning around him.

So soon, it’s my turn? It shouldn’t be—surely, some schemer wrote a letter—

Wait, why does this Group Leader Tan feel so familiar?

The previously persistent strange feeling intensified, a title flashed in his mind, and Lu Qian blurted out, "Senior Brother Tan!"

Tan Hong’s face changed: "This is official business, no need for familiarities!"

But the surreal feeling had already surfaced in his mind, and the entire space began to shake violently, suddenly transforming before his eyes. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

The setting sun was like blood, four floating battleships emitted terrifying cracking sounds in the sky, and the mangled bodies of Yunshan disciples fell in a cascade. Lu Qian’s eyes widened, a feeling of despair gripping his heart.

Master Moyun and Skull Child laughed heartily in the sky: "Master Fengfeng is dead, now it’s Yunshan Sect’s turn!"

His hand was suddenly grabbed, and he turned around to see Jiang Qingfeng, dressed in professional attire and high heels, pulling him along: "Run, Junior Brother, the inspection team is about to arrive!"

What?

The twisted absurdity reached its climax at this moment, Lu Qian’s rationality pierced through the illusion following the flaws, and he shook off Jiang Qingfeng’s hand, coldly reprimanding: "Absurd!"

With a loud crash, the whole world froze, then shattered like glass.

The Illusion Realm of the Fearful Cage was broken!

Lu Qian awoke with a start, above him, Master Fengfeng and Skull Child were entangled in a fierce battle, while Master Moyun exhausted his energy suppressing the Treasure Pearl.

In an instant, all his memories flooded back.

He chuckled ruefully as he sat up, Skull Child’s divine technique was indeed profound, yet it had met its match in the two souls of Lu Qian!

Combining two different fears turned into a series of absurd flaws, ridiculous and laughable. Besides, I have a clear conscience, what should I fear from an inspection team? It’s completely nonsensical!

Then he realized, lying beside him with closed eyes, was Guh Nishang.

This divine technique seemed to have greatly harmed Guh Nishang. Her exquisite features were tightly drawn, her body curled up, cold sweat covering her forehead.

What on earth did she see?

"Elder Guh! Guh Nishang!" Lu Qian called out anxiously, tried using spiritual power to stimulate her, but Guh Nishang remained unresponsive. Golden Core Divine Techniques are not easily broken!

Frantic, he glanced about, seeing chaos reigning around him, with no one paying attention to their side. Apart from himself, no one else was awake.

Suddenly, not far from him, his divine sense detected an object emitting a treasure glow on the ground.

He used his spiritual power to pull it toward him and saw that it was an Array Base for the Ten Extremes Ten Directions Array!

After the Grand Array had been forcibly broken, the Array Base and Array Map often got scattered and were unusable for some time, hence why he found it here.

An idea struck him, recalling that he and Guh Nishang had fallen not far from the Spirit Vein cave on Yuqing Mountain.

If the Array Base hadn’t been taken... Lu Qian’s heart pounded intensely.

He collected the Array Base, quickly activated his spiritual power, used a secret technique, and his Cloud Incarnation emerged to lie beside Guh Nishang. His real body, however, flashed into the cave.

Rushing hurriedly forward in a matter of breaths, he saw it embedded in the rock wall, a resplendent array map for the Ten Extremes Ten Directions Array!

At that moment, the Spirit Vein of Yuqing Mountain, shriveled to its limit, could no longer hold and transformed into a light sphere.

With another crisp sound, the light sphere emitted a noise akin to shattering porcelain, releasing a misty vapor that was neither cyan nor white, which then dissipated into the heavens.

An immense vitality and boundless energy overflowed from that vapor, causing Lu Qian’s eyes to widen.

Innate Spiritual Qi! It was the last remaining Innate Spiritual Qi from the collapse of the Spirit Vein!