Soul-Piercing Needle

As the peak Foundation Establishment evil spirit was on the verge of breaking through to the Golden Core stage, the atmosphere around them became unbearably oppressive. The deathly energy surged like a tidal wave, enveloping everyone's minds, and the sense of crisis was overwhelming.

At this critical moment, the leader of Yunlan Mountain's group—a robust Foundation Establishment cultivator with deep spiritual energy—suddenly tensed. He reached into his storage bag and pulled out a strange, gleaming azure needle.

"Soul-Piercing Needle!"

Fengming Daoren's eyes lit up, immediately recognizing the treasure.

This was a powerful artifact from Yunlan Mountain, specifically designed to deal with spirit-type entities. It could directly attack an evil spirit's soul, disrupting the cohesion of its form—a natural nemesis of evil spirits. Clearly, the leader had prepared this weapon in advance, having acquired it from his sect for the purpose of hunting these spirits.

"Soul-Piercing Needle?!"

Wang Quan was taken aback. With a quick probe using his spiritual sense, he immediately sensed the pure soul power contained within the needle. It could pierce through a spirit's body, directly targeting the soul, making it lethal to spiritual beings.

The leader grasped the Soul-Piercing Needle tightly, channeling his spiritual energy into it. The azure needle instantly radiated a brilliant light. With a glint of murderous intent in his eyes, the leader hurled the needle toward the evil spirit, which was in the midst of breaking through.

"Go!"

He shouted. The Soul-Piercing Needle shot through the air like a meteor, trailing a sharp azure light as it pierced the evil spirit's form.

The needle struck the evil spirit's body, penetrating its defenses and hitting its core. The spirit let out a piercing screech as its form trembled violently. Black mist billowed around it, clearly indicating the spirit had been gravely wounded.

"Hiss—!"

The evil spirit roared in pain. A massive crack appeared in its body, with deathly energy pouring out of the wound. Its soul power began to rapidly drain, and the Soul-Piercing Needle had directly attacked its soul core, violently interrupting its breakthrough process.

"Now's our chance!"

Fengming Daoren shouted, slashing his sword toward the spirit, the blade glowing with azure energy. The other cultivators joined in, launching sword strikes and spiritual attacks at the spirit, hoping to destroy it while it was weakened.

However, despite being severely wounded, the spirit continued to resist with all its might. Though the Soul-Piercing Needle had inflicted serious damage, the evil spirit had absorbed enough energy from the spirit fragments to reach the threshold of its breakthrough.

At the moment the needle struck, the spirit's body suddenly erupted with a brilliant flash of light.

"It broke through!"

Wang Quan's eyes widened, and his spiritual sense immediately detected a terrifying surge of power. Even while suffering, the evil spirit had managed to break through to the Golden Core stage. Its form became even more solid, and the deathly energy surrounding it surged into a massive spiritual storm.

The evil spirit's blood-red eyes flashed menacingly, its aura growing increasingly ferocious. It roared as the crack in its body remained, but its strength continued to soar, signaling the completion of its Golden Core breakthrough.

"Quick! Don't let it escape!"

The leader of Yunlan Mountain yelled, knowing they had to act quickly to finish the spirit off while it was still gravely injured.

The evil spirit, however, was aware of its precarious situation. Even though it had broken through to the Golden Core stage, the damage from the Soul-Piercing Needle left its body in no shape to continue fighting.

Just as the cultivators prepared to launch a final assault, the spirit let out a low growl, and its form twisted violently. In an instant, it dissolved into a mass of black mist, using the array's power to retreat deeper into the formation.

The black mist vanished in a flash, and the evil spirit's aura quickly faded along with it.

"It's hiding!"

Wang Quan's gaze sharpened, realizing the spirit had chosen to flee. Though it had broken through to the Golden Core stage, the severe injuries prevented it from continuing the battle, so it opted to retreat and recover.

Fengming Daoren gritted his teeth, his face grim. "This evil spirit is cunning. It escaped while we were off guard. If we don't find and eliminate it, it will become an even greater threat once it regains its strength."

The leader of Yunlan Mountain clenched the Soul-Piercing Needle tightly, his expression dark. He knew that although the spirit had been severely wounded, if they didn't destroy it now, it would return with even greater power once it had fully healed, putting everyone in extreme danger.

"It's too injured to return immediately, but we must find where it's hiding. If it recovers, we'll all be in serious trouble,"

he said, scanning the group.

Wang Quan nodded, silently contemplating the situation. Though the evil spirit had fled, the array clearly remained active. The spirit had used the formation to retreat, likely to a hidden sanctuary within the array. If they wanted to deal with it once and for all, they would have to venture deeper into the core of the formation.

At this moment, everyone's attention turned to the depths of the array. With a newly ascended Golden Core evil spirit lurking in the shadows, they had to find and destroy it before it fully recovered, or else they would be the ones facing certain death.