Zhang Er Gou's spear danced, conjuring illusions.
However, the things they couldn't grasp moved with incredible speed and at extremely tricky angles.
Several times, they lunged towards them, yet the two couldn't even touch their shadows, let alone slay them.
"Use spells," Zhang Er Gou transmitted telepathically to Li Xun. The two immediately sheathed their weapons.
Facing the lunging black shadows, they employed magical attacks. Zhang Er Gou directly wrapped his fist in spiritual fire and slammed it towards the incoming shadow.
"Screech~" Upon successful impact, the black shadow let out a piercing shriek, transforming into a wisp of black mist and vanishing into space.
"Hmm?" Zhang Er Gou felt a slight change in his spiritual consciousness, though not much.
Seeing that the magical attack was effective, Zhang Er Gou continued to strike at the flickering shadows around him.
To verify if his previous feeling was an illusion, Zhang Er Gou observed carefully, dedicating a portion of his attention to the changes in his spiritual consciousness.
As before, after slaying a black shadow, his spiritual consciousness grew slightly.
"There's such a benefit!"
Zhang Er Gou's mood instantly brightened. The flickering black shadows were no longer elusive demonic beasts but nourishment for his growing soul.
Likewise, Li Xun felt the changes in his own spiritual consciousness.
Immediately, his attack speed increased considerably.
The two, shaking off their previous slightly dejected demeanor, were now full of energy.
It was as if they were in a competition, seeing who could kill more. They used both hands and feet, and the speed at which they dispatched the black shadows grew ever faster.
These things were not merely obstacles preventing them from finding the cracks in the formation.
They were treasures for enhancing spiritual consciousness.
If not for the somber atmosphere, they might have even let out a sigh of contentment.
As the two's fighting spirit transformed, the battle also shifted.
Although the black shadows swirling around them continued to increase, coming one after another, seemingly unafraid of being slain,
Zhang Er Gou and Li Xun not only did not grow tired,
but they fought with increasing fervor.
The growth of spiritual consciousness was inherently difficult, and techniques for enhancing it were extremely rare in the world.
This was why many cultivators, despite their cultivation levels rising, had relatively low spiritual consciousness.
Their spiritual consciousness typically increased passively as their cultivation grew; they never deliberately practiced it, hence they had no opportunity for active enhancement.
As an alchemist, Zhang Er Gou knew the benefits of increasing his spiritual consciousness.
During the alliance's alchemist assessment, had his spiritual consciousness not been slightly stronger than others of the same cultivation level, he would never have been able to refine a fifth-grade pill.
Yet, even after succeeding, he had nearly lost half his life.
He recuperated for over half a month before his soul finally recovered. Zhang Er Gou never wanted to experience that feeling of depleted spiritual consciousness again.
The two fought with increasing passion, even resorting to area-of-effect skills.
The black shadows before them vanished in swathes, and Zhang Er Gou felt his spiritual consciousness growing faster and faster.
...
"How was it? A good harvest?"
At the bottom of the abyss, two figures were acting suspiciously.
"Haha, this trip was not in vain."
Spiritual consciousness had always been Li Xun's weakness. With this gain, his cultivation would become even more stable.
After his cultivation advanced to the Nascent Soul stage, due to his relatively weak spiritual consciousness, there was a significant gap between him and those veteran Nascent Soul cultivators.
Although he was hailed as a rare genius, Li Xun knew his own limitations.
He was simply incomparable to those veteran Nascent Soul cultivators, primarily due to the gap in spiritual consciousness.
Upon breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, a cultivator's training primarily focused on the refinement of spiritual consciousness.
This was because the deployment of their domains was inseparable from the assistance and control of spiritual consciousness; the stronger the spiritual consciousness, the more stable the deployed domain.
This was also why those veteran Nascent Soul cultivators, after breaking through, were reluctant to advance to the next stage for a long time.
Cultivating spiritual consciousness was akin to cultivating the Nascent Soul within one's body.
Currently, the Nascent Souls within Zhang Er Gou and Li Xun were not only transparent but also only about the size of a fist.
However, for those veteran Nascent Soul cultivators with strong souls, their Nascent Souls were not only solid but also changed in size with the growth of their spiritual consciousness.
Zhang Er Gou and Li Xun had also noticed the changes within themselves.
The two were stealthily searching, specifically to find the black shadows that had nearly overwhelmed them earlier.
Indeed, those fearless black shadows had eventually retreated due to their attacks.
They vanished without a trace in an instant.
The two had become addicted to killing the black shadows; the feeling of spiritual consciousness growing was simply too pleasant.
However, those creatures had hidden themselves, making them incredibly difficult to find again.
Even though their spiritual consciousness had undergone significant changes, they couldn't track those figures that were determined to escape.
"I feel the demonic energy here has become even more concentrated."
While searching for the black shadows, the two had not forgotten their primary objective for descending into the abyss.
Zhang Er Gou's expression remained unchanged as he discreetly observed the surrounding environment.
"There."
The two almost simultaneously spotted a massive fissure not far away, from which black demonic energy was continuously seeping out.
"What do we do?"
Li Xun appeared somewhat helpless, as his abilities were utterly useless here.
If it came to destruction, he could enlarge this fissure into an even bigger opening with two or three sword strikes.
But if it came to repair, it was as difficult as ascending to heaven for him.
"Let's observe first. Is this the only place with a fissure, or are there others?"
Zhang Er Gou didn't rush to repair the massive fissure, to seal it shut, but rather wanted to discover if there were any other openings.
The two explored the vicinity again but found no other cracked areas.
"You guard me while I set up a formation to temporarily seal it. Once we return, I'll call Elder Bai and the others to come again."
Zhang Er Gou knew that his array formation skills were somewhat insufficient for repairing this kind of interdimensional barrier.
However, with no one else present, he could only employ a temporary measure to seal the demonic energy.
Otherwise, with the invasion of demonic energy, not only the small town they had arrived in earlier, but also the nearby cities and villages would be attacked by the demonic energy.
Cultivators could resist to some extent, but for mortals, it would be an utter catastrophe.
Zhang Er Gou certainly did not wish for such a thing to happen.
Li Xun also understood the gravity of the situation. He did not refuse, but nodded, signaling Zhang Er Gou to begin, and he would stand guard.
...
"You're finally out. If you didn't come out soon, we were about to go down to look for you."
Li Zhan and Qu Yao's eyes were nearly weary from staring. After they had discussed countless times about going down to search for Zhang Er Gou and Li Xun, they finally saw Li Xun carrying Zhang Er Gou fly up the cliff.
"What's wrong with him?"
Li Zhan and Qu Yao immediately reached out and took Zhang Er Gou from Li Xun's arms, asking nervously.
"Nothing serious, just a bit of spiritual consciousness exhaustion."
Li Xun's tone was calm, but his heart was tremendously shaken.
No one knew better than him what Zhang Er Gou had gone through.