"Buzz!"
Yuan Ling seemed to sense something as well. The purple light in her eyes flashed, and her figure instantly vanished from where she stood. A stone appeared where she had been.
However, this time, the Goblin Great Priest did not attack the stone. Its figure, like Yuan Ling's, disappeared.
"Bang! Clatter!"
The moment Yuan Ling reappeared near the altar, the Goblin Great Priest appeared almost simultaneously. The skeletal staff in its hand slammed down towards Yuan Ling's head.
The purple light in Yuan Ling's eyes flashed again, and the space in front of her distorted slightly.
Almost at the same instant, Xueyi in Yuan Ling's hand erupted with flames, slashing towards the Goblin Great Priest.
But like how it dealt with Ye Feng, the Goblin Great Priest did not dodge. It clapped its left hand, instantly extinguishing Yuan Ling's fiery slash. The skeletal staff in its right hand continued its assault towards Yuan Ling…
"Ugh~!"
A muffled groan of pain from Yuan Ling reached Ye Feng's ears. She was very close.
Ye Feng turned his head and saw Yuan Ling had instantly teleported beside him, less than two meters away. Yuan Ling's shoulder was a bloody mess…
In that brief moment, although Yuan Ling used instant movement to escape, the Goblin Great Priest's skeletal staff missed her head but struck her shoulder…
The Goblin Great Priest did not continue to teleport to attack Yuan Ling. It stood in place, extended its scarlet, pointed tongue, and licked the blood from Yuan Ling on the skeletal staff, a sinister smile appearing on its face!
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, the Goblin Great Priest vanished from its spot and reappeared behind Ye Feng in the blink of an eye.
Ye Feng was halfway through turning when the opponent was already in front of him, swinging the skeletal staff towards Ye Feng's head. Ye Feng twisted his body sharply, barely evading it.
"Gagaga!~"
But just then, the skeletal staff in the Goblin Great Priest's hand glowed red, forming a bloody maw with fangs, and bit off a chunk of flesh from Ye Feng's shoulder.
"Whoosh! Clatter!"
"Boom boom!"
Ignoring the pain, Ye Feng leaped, pulling Yuan Ling with him, and jumped back a considerable distance. Several Goblin Priest Guards who had seized the opportunity to charge forward were turned into ice sculptures by Yuan Ling's Xueyi…
"Clang~ Crack!"
"Yuan Ling, are you alright?"
Ye Feng killed two Goblin Paladins and quickly turned to look at Yuan Ling. It seemed that after using instant movement, Yuan Ling appeared quite weak…
"This… this spatial energy… it consumes too much of my strength…"
Yuan Ling replied breathlessly, simultaneously unleashing a large ball of flames to push back the attacks of two Goblin Paladins.
"Spatial energy?"
Ye Feng frowned and, with a scissor kick, snapped the head off a Goblin Paladin. "Is that Goblin Great Priest's instant movement the same spatial energy as yours?"
"It should be!"
Yuan Ling nodded. "But its spatial energy is much stronger than mine. My instant movement requires an exchange of something to move something else. It seems to not need that!"
"And when I teleported to the altar earlier, it knew where I was going to move and arrived before me!"
As she spoke, Yuan Ling summoned a vine and dragged a Goblin Priest Guard into the ground.
At this moment, Ye Feng frowned again. He had been paying attention to the Goblin Great Priest's movements and noticed that it was not continuing to attack him or Yuan Ling. Instead, it walked back onto the altar.
"Quack quack!~"
As if sensing Ye Feng's gaze, it gave him a sinister smile and produced a scarecrow, which bore some strange runes.
"Pfft!"
The skeletal staff in the Goblin Great Priest's hand again manifested a bloody maw with fangs, spraying blood and a piece of flesh onto the scarecrow – the very flesh it had just bitten off Ye Feng.
Upon contact with the blood, the strange runes on the scarecrow instantly flashed red. The originally empty eye sockets turned into two scarlet holes, looking quite terrifying.
Then, under Ye Feng's watch, the Goblin Great Priest slammed the scarecrow hard with its skeletal staff.
"Pfft!"
"Crack crack~ Crunch~"
Ye Feng suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body felt the sound of bones fracturing in multiple places.
"Wh… what the heck?"
Ye Feng didn't even have the energy to care about the pain, which felt like his internal organs were exploding, only an endless sense of confusion.
When the Goblin Great Priest hit the scarecrow with its skeletal staff, it felt as if it had struck himself, the pain so intense that Ye Feng couldn't even cry out…
The next second, a bright red, fist-sized fruit that looked somewhat like a tomato appeared in Ye Feng's hand – a Strengthening Fruit.
Without any hesitation, Ye Feng popped the Strengthening Fruit into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it whole…
He had originally intended to save it for when his strength was higher, or when he suffered some serious internal injury during his physical cultivation, as he only had one Strengthening Fruit.
But now, there was no time. If he didn't eat it, he might not have a future…
"Ah!~ Ah!~"
After eating the Strengthening Fruit, a tremendous heat erupted from Ye Feng's stomach. He felt as if his entire internal organs were being scorched by intense flames, feeling like they were about to explode.
The immense heat of the Strengthening Fruit spread from the inside out, rapidly permeating Ye Feng's entire body – internal organs, membranes, bone marrow, muscles… Finally, it pierced through Ye Feng's skin… a large amount of bloody mist sprayed out…
"Ugh~ Ah~ Ah!"
Ye Feng could no longer suppress his pain and let out a scream!
On the altar in the distance, the Goblin Great Priest continued to tap the scarecrow, stained with Ye Feng's blood, with its skeletal staff. Seeing Ye Feng writhing in pain on the ground, his entire body like a bloodied mess, it smiled in satisfaction and began its sinister dance on the altar again, clearly continuing the summoning ritual…
"Ye Feng, how are you?"
Seeing Ye Feng's tragic state, Yuan Ling was equally anxious.
After repelling a dozen Goblin Paladins and Goblin Priest Guards with Xueyi, she quickly flashed to Ye Feng's side, reaching out to check his condition.
"Boom!"
The moment Yuan Ling's hand touched Ye Feng's body, a red light flashed from him, and a powerful force repelled her.
"This…"
Yuan Ling was very surprised.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"
"Clang~ Clang~ Boom!~"
"Clang clang~ Boom!"
At this moment, a barrage of wind-attributed arcane energy arrows rained down, followed by a multitude of golden longswords, and a massive ball of fire – it was Xiao Lu, Alak, and Xiao Xiao who had caught up.
"Big brother, are you okay?"
Xiao Xiao, now clad in angel armor, punched the head off a Goblin Paladin and broke through the horde of goblins to reach Ye Feng's side.
Seeing Ye Feng, covered in blood and slumped on the ground, Xiao Xiao's eyes instantly turned red.
…