Chu Tian and Lao Yang's meeting significantly reduced the pressure.
Moreover, he discovered that in his Cheetah form, using skills directly produced the effect of a 'Combined Skill.'
With a swipe of his claw, a trail of afterimages extended several meters. Wherever it passed, the sand worms were sliced into countless segments by the claw marks, their bodies dismembered. This was vastly more powerful than Lao Yang's every single spear thrust.
It was important to note that during the day, Chu Tian's Cheetah skills hadn't possessed such an effect. He realized it was due to his replenished spiritual power.
He then attempted to extend his divine sense outwards.
*Buzz...*
As expected, his long-absent divine sense instantly spread out. However, the moment it expanded, Chu Tian felt a prickling sensation on his scalp. Within a five-kilometer radius, both above and below ground, there were sand worms of varying sizes. Beneath the sand, at depths of over ten meters, they were densely packed, even more numerous than on the surface.
His divine sense could currently only detect up to ten meters underground. To probe deeper, he would need to increase the intensity of his divine sense. Chu Tian had no intention of wasting his spiritual power. After experiencing spiritual depletion once, he understood how crucial spiritual power was to him.
Through his divine sense, Chu Tian understood what Lao Yang meant by "The Tu Clan is finished!" In just a few minutes, of the entire Tu Clan encampment, only the four of them remained. The ground was covered in sand worms, and not a single living person was left. Not even a trace of flesh and blood remained. The sand itself had been gnawed down by these worms.
"Lao Yang, is there any way? There are too many!" As an outsider, Chu Tian naturally sought advice from the native.
Lao Yang, while protecting Dian Dian and her mother, wielded a black spear that flickered up and down. Not a single worm could breach his protective perimeter. However, each spear thrust merely created a hole in the sand worms' bodies relative to their size, provoking their ferocity and causing them to attack Lao Yang even more fiercely.
Hearing Chu Tian's words, he replied, "What way? These sand worms have tasted blood and gone mad. I fear even fire wouldn't make them retreat!"
"Now, we can only kill... We just have to hold on until dawn!" The continuous fighting had left Lao Yang sweating profusely, and his voice lacked conviction as he uttered the last sentence. However, Chu Tian knew about the bag of unknown liquid that could boost stamina. But he estimated that the remaining supply was only enough for two or three more sips.
How long would this darkness last? Holding on until dawn seemed utterly impossible.
After much thought, Chu Tian's eyes lit up.
"Lao Yang, cover me!" Chu Tian roared.
"Owl Beast form... activate!" Chu Tian chose to activate his transformation alone because he had discovered that activating the Combat Body Attachment System consumed spiritual power and stamina at an alarming rate.
Hearing Chu Tian's shout, Lao Yang's eyes sharpened. He knew Chu Tian might have a plan, so his movements, which had been circling Dian Dian and her mother, instantly accelerated. He expanded his defensive radius to encompass Chu Tian as well. However, in just a few seconds, more sweat poured from him. He had already taken out his water pouch and gently sipped the mysterious liquid.
Meanwhile, after activating his Owl Beast form, Chu Tian unleashed his spells: Sunflame, Moonflame, Moonfire Technique, and Sunlight Technique, in quick succession. After a flurry of actions, Chu Tian realized his Astral Energy wasn't increasing. He was immediately stunned and quickly opened his skill panel. He found that the Starfall skill, which previously required Astral Energy and could be cast instantly, had now become a channeling skill. The description read: Requires 1500 Spirit Power, channeling time of 12 sets of hand seals + 36 sets of syllables, duration of 8 seconds.
How much was 1500 Spirit Power? And what was the total Spirit Power in his Divine Platform? This thoroughly confused Chu Tian. However, he had no choice. Chu Tian immediately began to follow the incantation and hand seals described in the skill.
As he began casting, Chu Tian failed four times consecutively, either due to pronunciation errors in the syllables or slow hand seals.
"Chu Tian, can you do it? I'm about to collapse!" Lao Yang had already taken a sip of the mysterious liquid, but it was evident from his spear-wielding hand that it was trembling. Fighting the sand worms was even more difficult than fighting the Death Giant Scorpions. More importantly, the defensive area he needed to cover was quite large, requiring him to protect three people from all directions. Against the sand worms, one could never afford to be bitten. Especially the smaller sand worms, which carried more potent venom. A bite meant certain death!
Chu Tian uttered obscure syllables, not daring to reply. The syllables in his hand had to change according to the speed of his hand seals.
*Buzz...*
Finally, on Chu Tian's fifth attempt, the stars in the sky suddenly flashed. Chu Tian then uttered the last four syllables, which were understandable.
"Starfall!"
The final two hand seals involved first pointing a finger at the sky and clenching his fist, then forcefully pulling downwards, as if drawing down the stars from the sky with a mysterious energy.
*Swish...*
The first ray of starlight descended. Then the second... the third... countless more... The starlit sky made the vision of Chu Tian and the other three incredibly brilliant. Within Chu Tian's range, a radius of sixty meters, dense light orbs continuously rained down. Chu Tian knew that for every ray of starlight, there was a sand worm. But these creatures had tough hides. It took at least two rays of starlight to kill a small worm, and even five or six, or seven or eight, for a larger one. He could see their health bars but not the damage numbers. The effect of this skill was not what Chu Tian had expected.
"Holy crap... you still say you're not a Priest? Do it again... again!" Eight seconds passed, and he hadn't channeled a second cast during that time. Hearing Lao Yang's cry, Chu Tian looked at him with a troubled expression.
"What's wrong, can't cast it anymore?" Lao Yang, upon seeing Chu Tian's initial skill, had become even more convinced he was a Priest. Seeing Chu Tian's troubled expression now, he was alarmed, thinking Chu Tian could only cast it once.
"It's not that I can't cast it, it's just that its damage is too low. It's not as effective as me killing them one by one, and..." Chu Tian wanted to say that the consumption was too high; 1500 Spirit Power instantly reduced Chu Tian's spiritual power in his Divine Platform by about one-twentieth. Although it wasn't at full capacity, it was still too much. He had originally planned that with one skill, they could advance a certain distance. He hadn't expected the death rate of the sand worms to be disproportionate to their movement speed. Often, before one died, the next wave would already be upon them. Thus, they remained in place, not moving at all.
What to do? What to do? Chu Tian pondered. Starfall was his most powerful area-of-effect damage skill. Even with it, he couldn't clear a safe space for them to break through the encirclement. Although his divine sense detected the worms were like an ocean within a five-kilometer radius, there had to be an end to them. As long as they killed fast enough, they could break through.
Inside his Divine Platform, Chu Tian saw [Moon God's Wrath, Spear of the Healer's War] still impaled on the wild boar skull, frantically absorbing its energy. He attempted to drive it with a secret method to communicate with it. Moon God's Wrath conveyed: Busy, don't bother me. This human-like emotion appeared on a weapon. However, Chu Tian was helpless and couldn't summon it.
So... could its skill still be used? Chu Tian thought of the dynamic attribute 5: Upon equipping, in Owl Beast form, gain the skill "Forbidden Spell: Stellar Meteor Shower," summoning celestial stars from beyond the heavens to attack all enemies within a 620-meter radius, causing massive damage, lasting for 62 seconds, with a 30-day cooldown. Using it would also trigger a cooldown on other Forbidden Spells on the weapon.
Now that he had reached level sixty-two, the skill's range had reached an immense distance of 620 meters. The duration had also reached 62 seconds! He just didn't know how much damage it would deal; he hoped it wasn't another "scratching" skill.
He opened his equipment inventory. The weapon slot still displayed [Moon God's Wrath, Spear of the Healer's War] as equipped. Gritter his teeth, he called up the weapon's skill. [Forbidden Spell: Stellar Meteor Shower] was listed there. The skill description had no mention of channeling time or cost. Chu Tian directly chose to use it.
*Buzz...*
At that very moment, the sky changed color. The previously dark sky became even darker. Countless stars began to flicker on. A progress bar appeared before Chu Tian.