Crackle! Crackle!
A series of chaotic cracking sounds rang out.
The dozen or so Soul-Bewildering Stone Tablets surrounding Li Yun shattered one after another, sending stone fragments flying everywhere. In an instant, they were thoroughly destroyed.
Immediately, Li Yun turned his gaze toward Ye Qingxue and the others.
Just like him earlier, Ye Qingxue and the others were each surrounded by a dozen Soul-Bewildering Stone Tablets, which were rapidly devouring their flesh, blood, and vital essence.
The honest youth, who had fainted the earliest, had already lost about ten percent of his blood vitality. His face had become noticeably pale.
"Get lost."
Li Yun snorted coldly and swung his sword six times in succession.
After those six strikes, dozens of Soul-Bewildering Stone Tablets were all slain by him.
Although these demon beasts possessed strange methods capable of confusing the soul, their actual offensive and defensive abilities were not impressive.
Any cultivator at the 8th level of Heavenly Core Realm could easily slay them once they broke free from the soul attack.
"What happened?"
The honest youth finally woke up.
Still not fully understanding what had just occurred, he asked in confusion.
"What do you think happened? We were almost killed because of you."
Bei Tianque replied with annoyance.
If this honest youth had not recklessly gone forward to test the waters, they would not have been caught off guard like that.
However, since they had passed the earlier Silver-Patterned Beetle trial easily thanks to the honest youth’s efforts, Bei Tianque could not really blame him too harshly.
"Senior Brother Li, thank you for your help this time."
Ye Qingxue, however, looked at Li Yun and expressed her gratitude sincerely.
If Li Yun had not intervened, their essence and blood would have been drained unconsciously, and they would have died without even knowing how.
One could say that Li Yun had saved all their lives.
At her words, Bei Tianque and the others also came back to their senses and began thanking Li Yun one after another.
At this moment, they genuinely felt respect for Li Yun.
This kind of respect could not be earned merely through the title of elite disciple. It had to be proven through strength and action.
Next came the distribution of crystal cores.
This time, since Li Yun had single-handedly killed all the Soul-Bewildering Stone Tablets, seventy percent of the crystal cores belonged to him.
In principle, Li Yun could have taken all the crystal cores.
However, he was not petty or domineering and did not mind sharing some benefits with them.
After absorbing seventy crystal cores, Li Yun’s strength advanced significantly once more.
He was now only one step away from reaching the peak of the 2nd level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Boom!
Just then, a powerful aura suddenly erupted beside Li Yun.
The honest youth, after absorbing several crystal cores, had actually broken through directly to the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
His strength was originally at the perfection stage of the 8th level of Heavenly Core Realm. After absorbing so many crystal cores, his breakthrough was a natural progression.
Following the honest youth, another person successfully broke through to the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Thus, including Li Yun, five people in the group now possessed combat power at the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
"Starting from the sixteenth wave, we will be facing demon beasts at the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm."
Bei Tianque, who had the deepest understanding of the Endless Demon Cave among them, spoke up.
"Not only that, but each subsequent wave of demon beasts will include one lord-level existence."
"That demon beast lord possesses twice the strength of other demon beasts. Moreover, it can command the remaining ordinary demon beasts, making it very difficult to kill."
He looked at Li Yun and asked, "Senior Brother Li, shall we continue breaking through the trials?"
Clearly, Li Yun’s performance in the previous trials had earned everyone’s recognition.
Before making decisions, they now instinctively sought Li Yun’s opinion.
"Of course we continue."
Li Yun declared, "Using normal methods, the strength of our seven-person team would indeed make it difficult to pass the upcoming trials. However, I happen to have mastered a small-scale formation."
During his previous seclusion, Li Yun had not only studied texts related to the Mountain River Sword Art. He had also read many other texts, including one formation suitable for a seven-person joint effort.
This formation was called the Seven Star Spirit Formation.
As long as seven people stood in corresponding formation positions and simultaneously employed a special mind cultivation technique, they could connect their powers.
Any one person could unleash the combined power of all seven, while any damage would also be shared among all seven.
Although it was impossible for everyone to truly master the formation completely or achieve flawless coordination in such a short time, it could still significantly increase their strength, enough to handle the upcoming trials.
After that, under Li Yun’s direction, the seven of them took their respective positions in the formation and activated the mind cultivation technique.
A mysterious power instantly connected all seven of them.
Under the influence of this power, the two cultivators who had not broken through yet temporarily gained strength at the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Meanwhile, the strength of Li Yun and the others was greatly enhanced.
Now, even when facing a cultivator at the major accomplishment stage of the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm, Li Yun was fully confident that he could defeat them.
Not long after, the demon beasts of the sixteenth trial appeared.
They were a group of half-human, half-horse creatures wielding frost spears. Astonishing cold radiated from their bodies, coating the entire ground with a layer of frost.
Their leader was a full head taller than the other centaurs.
The cold aura around it had almost solidified into substance, and one could feel the bone-piercing chill even from far away.
These demon beasts were called Frost Centaurs.
They excelled at manipulating frost power, but overall, they were not a particularly difficult type of demon beast to deal with.
"Slow Sword."
Empowered by the Seven Star Spirit Formation, Li Yun’s current strength was enough for him to disregard these centaurs.
With a single sword strike, he directly slew more than a dozen Frost Centaurs.
Soon, this batch of centaurs was completely annihilated by him.
After absorbing the crystal cores, Li Yun’s strength directly climbed to the major accomplishment stage of the 2nd level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Meanwhile, the remaining two cultivators at the 8th level of Heavenly Core Realm also successfully broke through to the 9th level of Heavenly Core Realm.
Their breakthroughs made the power of the Seven Star Spirit Formation even stronger.
Coupled with the group’s gradually improving coordination as they fought, the strength they could unleash became increasingly greater.
In the end, they broke through two more trials consecutively.
It was not until they reached the nineteenth trial that they finally ran out of steam and had no choice but to give up.
Even so, everyone’s strength had improved significantly.
Especially Li Yun.
He was now infinitely close to the perfection stage of the 2nd level of Heavenly Core Realm.
In just a few hours, his cultivation had improved so much that it directly saved him months of effort. One could say that the gains from this venture far exceeded Li Yun’s own expectations.

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