Finding mountains that absorbed spiritual energy was difficult, and finding people who drew spiritual energy from mountains was also hard.
At least, it was difficult without first opening the spiritual eye.
Opening a spiritual eye required observing the mountain's terrain and then determining its feng shui, a process that was quite tedious!
Unless, of course, one already had complete knowledge of the situation, making the task effortless.
Just like Shen Qian Four at this very moment, he knew where to open a spiritual eye, and it certainly wasn't in this cave.
At this point, Mo Qi quietly grabbed the pillar behind Lu Xiaoyue, his body shaking uncontrollably.
In the eyes of the crowd, he was losing strength and needed to hold onto something to steady himself.
This pillar was his natural crutch!
Lu Xiaoyue looked at Mo Qi, whose expression was dejected, and felt immense regret. "I'm sorry, I've dragged you down."
Mo Qi looked dispirited. "Alas, it's fate! I brought this upon myself. When I was young, I heard storytellers talk about how all stories where a cowherd fell in love with a young lady ended in tragedy. I didn't expect to escape the same fate."
Bringing this up now was like poking a sore spot!
"But you're not a cowherd, you're a boatman," Lu Xiaoyue said somewhat indignantly.
At this moment, Shen Qian Four impatiently called out from outside, "Have you decided yet? Are you going to help us remove the restriction or not? My patience has its limits."
Mo Qi said with distress, "I want to help you remove the restriction, but removing restrictions also requires spiritual energy. I'm completely drained right now, without a trace of spiritual energy, how can I remove the restriction for you?"
Yes, this was a problem.
If they let him recover his spiritual energy, he might resist, and no one would be able to control him; if they didn't let him recover his spiritual energy, he truly couldn't help everyone remove the restriction.
Shen Qian Four fell into thought, caught between a rock and a hard place.
At this point, Mo Qi said to Lu Xiaoyue again, "In any case, whether I'm a cowherd or a boatman, it's hard to win your favor!"
Lu Xiaoyue's eyes welled up with tears. "No, I was young and ignorant then. Unlike you, who was mature beyond your years, your heart had already matured before you grew up. Back then, I didn't even know what marriage was; I just instinctively felt that marriage was terrifying."
"Don't make excuses," Mo Qi said feigning weakness. "You just don't like me."
"I like you," Lu Xiaoyue said, blushing.
"How do you prove it?"
Lu Xiaoyue pondered. Since they might all die anyway, she decided to be bold.
"Bring your face closer," Lu Xiaoyue said, her face flushed.
She was going to kiss him!
Everyone around stared with wide eyes, their gazes fixed on them.
Shen Qian Four also stopped thinking, staring intently at Mo Qi.
Mo Qi quickly brought his head close to Lu Xiaoyue, even puckering his lips.
So fast? He didn't seem completely drained of spiritual energy!
Lu Xiaoyue hesitated a little. Mo Qi's boldness and initiative also startled her, just like twenty years ago by the river in Fengxi Village.
Forget it, if he's bold, he's bold. It wouldn't be him if he wasn't.
Lu Xiaoyue closed her eyes, preparing to kiss him.
Just then, a person burst into the cave, stumbling in, shouting as they ran, "Patriarch, something terrible has happened!"
Everyone turned their gaze towards the newcomer, including the two about to kiss.
Shen Qian Four angrily slapped him on the head. "You come in now of all times... Speak quickly, what is it? If it's not important, I'll kill you."
The person was startled by his sharp gaze. "Reporting, reporting to the Patriarch, the leaves on the mountain outside have all fallen in the blink of an eye, and the trees have withered."
"That's it?" Shen Qian Four was furious. "I'll kill you!"
At this moment, Elder Wei's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly realized the seriousness of the situation. "Patriarch, this matter might not be that simple. The leaves on the mountain falling instantly must mean there's a problem with the spiritual energy absorption space."
As he spoke, he looked up and anxiously watched Mo Qi, as if searching for a clue on his face.
However, Mo Qi was still puckering his lips towards Lu Xiaoyue.
Lu Xiaoyue suddenly felt a warm current flowing into her body through the stone pillar, and her spiritual energy was gradually recovering.
Not only her, but everyone who was bound felt the same. Some began to quietly meditate, while others even exclaimed in surprise.
Therefore, no matter how well Mo Qi hid it, the others had already betrayed him.
He could no longer hide it!
Shen Qian Four naturally saw that the formation had a problem, but where was the problem? He couldn't figure it out.
No one could cause spiritual energy to flow back through this formation!
To make spiritual energy flow back, one had to go to another place, the Azure Dragon of the mountain range.
So, at this moment, he still held onto a sliver of hope, thinking perhaps they were putting on an act.
He saw Murong Yanran still lying on the ground, closest to him.
He could try to control her!
If the spiritual energy truly flowed back, then the formation would have no effect on him; if the spiritual energy didn't flow back, he could act quickly and bring her out before losing all his spiritual energy and physical strength.
The spiritual energy and physical strength of cultivators were closely linked, especially for someone as aged as him, the link was even tighter. In fact, his physical strength was maintained entirely by spiritual energy, and losing spiritual energy meant losing physical strength even faster.
But why should he do it himself?
"Elder Wei, go and capture that girl," Shen Qian Four commanded.
Elder Wei was thinking the same thing. Upon hearing this, he didn't hesitate and immediately moved like lightning, lunging towards Murong Yanran.
At this moment, Murong Yanran was still lying on the ground like a puddle of mud, her spiritual energy almost drained, her entire body limp. Initially, she had tried to crawl towards Mo Qi a couple of times, but now she couldn't even move.
Seeing Elder Wei lunging at her, she turned pale with fear but was powerless, able only to watch as she fell into the clutches of the devil.
Suddenly, there was a flash of light, as fast as lightning.
Those nearby saw it clearly. The figure disappeared from Lu Xiaoyue's side, then reappeared beside Murong Yanran, scooped up Murong Yanran's body, and returned to Lu Xiaoyue's side.
Murong Yanran only felt her head spin, her vision blur, and her body fly uncontrollably, landing next to Lu Xiaoyue's pillar.
Lu Xiaoyue, still blushing and puckering her lips in response to Mo Qi, kissed Murong Yanran squarely on the cheek.
Huh? What is this?
Both of them froze for a moment!
Everyone around looked at the two of them strangely. Murong Yanran and Lu Xiaoyue were both so embarrassed they couldn't contain themselves, turning their faces away from each other.
Mo Qi placed Murong Yanran's hand on the pillar, and she also felt her spiritual energy rapidly recovering!
And Murong Yanran couldn't keep secrets. She suddenly screamed, "This pillar can restore spiritual energy!"
Mo Qi rolled his eyes: Such a bad teammate!
Elder Wei, having missed his target, stood stunned. In his daze, his spiritual energy rapidly drained, and his body gradually weakened. He tried to take a few steps and then collapsed to the ground.
However, his consciousness remained clear. He crawled and scrambled, managing to quickly crawl out of the formation.
But by then, his spiritual energy was almost depleted, so he immediately sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate on the spot.
He knew that his spiritual energy wouldn't recover in a short time, but he couldn't stop trying!
Hearing Murong Yanran's scream, Elder Wei's mind flashed, and he then flew into the air, quickly heading towards a nearby unoccupied cubicle.
While in mid-air, his body suddenly went limp, and he fell to the ground.
Without hesitation, he crawled forward again.
"This is utterly disgraceful!" Shen Qian Four roared, raising his palm and striking through the air.
A surge of dark energy erupted, engulfing Elder Wei.
Elder Wei was powerless to dodge and could only watch as the dark energy consumed him.
At that moment, a figure flashed again, and a dazzling white light burst forth, blooming in the air. With a loud boom, it instantly scattered the dark energy.
The white light gradually dissipated.
Elder Wei's figure disappeared. Looking again, he was already in a cubicle, hugging the pillar of that cubicle.
It was Mo Qi who saved him, but he placed him in another cubicle. He remained with Murong Yanran and Lu Xiaoyue, hugging the same pillar, not allowing others to disrupt this harmony.
As for why he saved Elder Wei, he felt it was for no other reason than that anyone Shen Qian Four wanted to kill, he would save.
At this point, his hatred for Shen Qian Four had reached its peak.
Seeing this, Shen Qian Four was furious. He roared, "Let's see how you fight me while hugging that pillar."
As he spoke, Shen Qian Four summoned a hammer-shaped magical artifact, unleashing countless hammer shadows towards Mo Qi.
Mo Qi raised his Qiankun Ring, and with a loud crash, shattered the hammer shadows and sent the hammer flying back.
Then, he consecutively cast several formation flags, setting up a barrier in front of this cubicle.
Shen Qian Four struck again with the hammer-shaped magical artifact, hitting the barrier with a deafening roar, sparks flying, and light flashing wildly.
However, the formation remained unbroken.
Shen Qian Four, enraged, shouted, "Attack together, destroy him!"
As the words fell, countless spells and divine abilities erupted, emitting multicolored lights like raindrops, all striking towards the cubicle where Mo Qi was located. The barrier's light flickered violently, rising and falling, deforming in various ways, and even the ground was pulled and trembled, causing the entire mountain to shake. Yet, the barrier remained unbroken.
Meanwhile, Mo Qi, within the barrier, was frantically absorbing spiritual energy, attempting to draw in the spiritual veins of the entire mountain range.
Because they were trapped in this cave, if they wanted to get out, they had to break this spiritual energy absorption space.
To break this space, the method he was considering was to absorb the spiritual veins of the entire mountain range, rendering the mountain range's spiritual veins unable to support the space. Without the replenishment of spiritual veins, the entire spiritual energy absorption space would naturally fail.
Without the formation absorbing spiritual energy, they could walk out brazenly. Otherwise, they could only hug the pillars and endure the enemy's attacks.
But Murong Yanran watched the barrier's light screen bulge, almost touching her, and her face turned ashen with fear. "Husband, quickly find a way, he's going to hit me."
I'm trying to find a way, damn it!
Mo Qi was speechless, unable to stop, nor could he reply to her. He could only continue to urge his spiritual energy to absorb the spiritual veins.
However, absorbing the spiritual veins from this angle was difficult and extremely strenuous.
In a short while, he was covered in sweat.
Murong Yanran's continuous noise made him extremely agitated.
At this moment, Lu Xiaoyue looked at Murong Yanran, feeling shocked and angry. "What did you call him?"
Murong Yanran casually replied, "Husband! What's wrong? We've already performed the wedding ceremony, what's wrong?"
Lu Xiaoyue became furious, glaring at Mo Qi. "Boatman, what are you doing? Aren't you going to explain?"
Mo Qi felt a headache coming on, one wave of trouble after another, surging like a relentless tide.
He simply stared with red eyes, continuing to absorb the spiritual veins.