At the critical juncture when everyone faced the siege of giant crocodiles, Ji Wudi unleashed a talisman treasure to slay them.
A talisman treasure crafted from the life-bound magical artifact of a Golden Core cultivator was a great weapon even in the hands of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, capable of killing enemies across different cultivation realms.
Now, wielded by Ji Wudi, it was used to kill giant crocodiles that had not even reached Foundation Establishment, akin to using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken.
After the golden miniature sword, formed by the talisman treasure, flew several circles around the battlefield, not a single giant crocodile remained intact.
Finally, the talisman treasure completed its task, transforming back into a talisman and drifting back into Ji Wudi's hand.
Ji Wudi was now drained of spiritual energy, nearing a state of collapse. Urging a talisman treasure with only Qi Refining cultivation was still too strenuous.
A crisis that could have easily led to everyone's death multiple times was resolved with just a single talisman treasure.
At this moment, the survivors, having narrowly escaped death, gazed at the ground covered with giant crocodile corpses, their hearts filled with indescribable shock.
Then, their gazes involuntarily turned to Ji Wudi, their eyes filled with fervor and greed.
"If only I possessed such a talisman treasure…"
Imagination took flight, further fueling the greed in their hearts.
Coincidentally, Ji Wudi was at his weakest.
Previously, in the face of an almost certain death, everyone had shown their selfless side, supporting each other, sharing hardships, and rowing the same boat.
Now that the crisis had just abated, and they hadn't even found a way to leave, the dark and selfish side of human nature immediately surfaced.
Sharing hardships was easy, but sharing prosperity was far too difficult.
Several individuals had already begun to stir, contemplating action.
Ji Wudi remained seated, motionless, as if oblivious.
Xiao Fei suddenly took two steps forward, as if intentionally or unintentionally, positioning himself three steps in front of Ji Wudi, his back to him.
"Fellow Daoists, although the giant crocodiles are dead now, who knows what dangers lie ahead!"
Xiao Fei stood before Ji Wudi, subtly conveying a protective intent. Anyone wishing to approach Ji Wudi would have to pass Xiao Fei first.
Coupled with Zhu Yu, who was allied with Xiao Fei, remaining silent, everyone could only temporarily abandon their thoughts.
However, they had already begun to resent this Lin Aotian, for blocking someone's path to wealth was like killing their parents.
Ji Wudi slightly raised his eyes to glance at Xiao Fei, showing no particular reaction, and continued to meditate to recover his spiritual energy.
"Oh ho! I didn't expect you to be so eager to stick your neck out!"
Zhu Yu, having just experienced a fierce battle, perhaps due to sufficiently high adrenaline levels, felt his heart pain less and even had the mood to transmit a message to mock Xiao Fei.
"I repay kindness with kindness and vengeance with vengeance.
Whether intentionally or not, Ji Wudi just saved my life, and I cannot stand by and watch him be taken advantage of!"
Xiao Fei replied via divine sense transmission.
In truth, when Xiao Fei stepped forward, he was quite nervous, his heart trembling a little.
If a fight were to break out, he truly wouldn't be able to handle it alone.
But a true man knows what to do and what not to do.
Seeing that the talisman treasure was temporarily out of reach, the others turned their attention to the corpses scattered on the ground, both of cultivators and giant crocodiles.
This was a vast fortune! Their eyes once again gleamed with brilliance.
"Ah! That's not right!"
"Why are the corpses shriveled?"
A cultivator flipped over a giant crocodile corpse and saw that it looked as if it had died a long time ago, desiccated like cured meat.
The corpse was shriveled, its once shiny black scales had become dull and lusterless, extremely fragile.
"What's going on?"
At this point, the others also began to examine the corpses.
The earliest deceased corpses, whether of humans or giant crocodiles, had all turned into dried husks like aged cured meat.
For corpses that had died more recently, their blood was draining, seeping into the ground and disappearing.
Pushing aside the soil on the ground, they saw that at the bottom of the soil layer was a large piece of black stone, inscribed with some mysterious runes.
"This is a formation!"
With this discovery, everyone worked together, overturning the accumulated soil beneath their feet. The bottoms were all identical black stones with runes.
"Everyone, hurry! Collect any fresh corpses you can, and burn any you can't."
Someone shouted, reminding everyone present.
Although they couldn't understand what kind of formation this was, nor what anyone was trying to achieve,
They could confirm one thing: the person behind the arrangement had first lured them here and trapped them with a formation.
Then, over a hundred giant crocodiles appeared to fight them.
If not for the talisman treasure in Ji Wudi's possession, they would all be corpses by now.
Even if Xiao Fei and Zhu Yu possessed potent poisons, they would likely have been torn to shreds by these over a hundred giant crocodiles before the poison could take effect.
Therefore, no matter what was happening, anything the enemy wanted to achieve should be thwarted with all possible means; there was no mistake in doing so.
At this moment, the twelve cultivators present regained their previous unity.
Some even kindly reminded Ji Wudi to meditate with peace of mind and quickly recover his spiritual energy. People's hearts are always so fickle.
As various magical artifacts were relatively scarce and expensive throughout the cultivation world,
And given that everyone had been searched and forbidden from carrying storage artifacts upon entering the Fallen Dragon Abyss,
Looking at the piles of giant crocodile corpses now, they felt immense regret for being unable to take them away.
These giant crocodiles, not to mention anything else, their tough, impenetrable scales alone could fetch a good price.
Although Zhu Yu had secretly smuggled a storage artifact, its space was not large enough to accommodate an entire giant crocodile, and there was no time to skin them.
In their haste, everyone could only snatch a few useful items from the cultivators' corpses.
Fireball spells were cast one after another, igniting the corpses on the ground.
Only Xiao Fei moved swiftly among the corpses, casually collecting some fresh-looking ones into his spatial artifact, his efficiency extremely high, faster than others using fireball spells.
Just as everyone was working diligently to destroy the corpses, bloodlines began to appear on the ground, spreading among the numerous bodies.
These bloodlines burrowed into the corpses, causing them to rapidly shrivel and dry up at a visible rate.
"Quick! Speed up!"
"There's no time!"
At this moment, everyone was racing against time, competing with the spreading bloodlines for the corpses. They didn't even have time to grab valuables from the bodies, burning them all.
Finally, there were no fresh corpses left on the ground. The remaining dried husks were inconsequential to burn.
However, the spreading bloodlines on the ground, as if unsatisfied after being robbed of their food, continued to roam the ground.
"What in the world is this thing?"
Out of curiosity, a cultivator used his flying sword to slash at a bloodline, instantly cutting it into two.
However, like cutting flowing water that only deepens, the bloodline reconnected after a moment.
As a bloodline roamed to a cultivator's feet, it suddenly burrowed into his calf.
"Ah! The bloodline has entered my body!"
The cultivator tried to break free, but at this moment, more bloodlines burrowed into his body from various parts.
"Ahhh…"
This cultivator, at the eleventh level of Qi Refining, only managed to let out a few terrified screams before his physical body rapidly withered and shriveled, turning into a dried husk.