Heavenly Dao Engine
Chapter 1243 - 1243 0717 Shield

Chapter 1243: Chapter 0717: Shield Chapter 1243: Chapter 0717: Shield Chapter 0717: Shield Against the Arrows

To ensure a one-shot kill of Qi Tian, the Ghost Face Illusion Demon Spider used an ace from its treasure trove. After the jade talisman exploded, the released spiritual arrowheads numbered in the hundreds, perhaps thousands. Regardless of their quantity, these spiritual arrows weren’t as large as ordinary arrows used in crossbows; in fact, they were only about half an inch long each, with the thickness of a strand of hair, compact and powerful. Each individual spiritual arrow was small, but encapsulated highly concentrated energy. Moreover, this was not ordinary energy, but rather psychic energy.

This psychic energy was incompatible with the psychic energy of cultivators; the two were like cold water and hot oil, with no possibility of peaceful coexistence, only explosive reactions. Should this kind of explosion occur within a cultivator’s sea of consciousness or meridians, the consequences would be, as one can imagine, severe.

Qi Tian, using the sensing function of the Heavenly Dao Engine, detected the existence of these spiritual arrowheads immediately. When he realized the scale of the incoming psychic attack, his face turned pale in horror.

For cultivators, psychic power is never easy to cultivate. Accordingly, attack methods involving psychic power are rare and precious in the Cultivation World. What caused Qi Tian’s alarm wasn’t the magnitude of the psychic attack he faced, nor the unprecedented nature of the psychic attack technique, but rather the scarcity of methods available to him to counteract the attack.

The saying “match soldiers against soldiers, generals against generals” applies here; to defend against a psychic attack, you must use psychic defense methods. Relying on other means, such as Defense Talismans or shields and similar magical tools or talismans, will have little effect—they might weaken the psychic attack slightly, but that’s about it. Most of the psychic attack’s power would be preserved and bypass these various defensive measures, attacking directly at the cultivator’s sea of consciousness, meridians, and other vital areas.

Qi Tian himself had the Transporting Whirlwind and the Heavenly Dao Engine, and regardless of how strange psychic attacks might be, they were essentially just a form of energy. Qi Tian could perfectly defend against them, preventing the spiritual arrowheads from harming him at all, but the problem was that, inside the Inner Underground Palace, no one else apart from him could do the same.

At this moment, in the Inner Underground Palace, there were dozens of Gold Core Realm powerhouses including Emperor Jianwu, Liuli Sand, and nine Ghost Faces that had just been subdued. Like him, they were all within the coverage area of the spiritual arrowheads. Almost none of them possessed methods to defend against psychic energy, and even if they did, their methods were elementary and ineffective against such a potent psychic onslaught—nothing more than a drop in the ocean.

Qi Tian was almost certain that if he didn’t block this psychic arrow attack, once the spiritual arrowheads fell, most of his assistants would perish—possibly more than ninety percent—leaving only a few survivors for which he’d be grateful.

This outcome was something that Qi Tian could not accept under any circumstances. If it came to pass, he would be left completely alone, and the many hard-won opportunities he gained in the Saint’s Tomb would be wasted.

Of the nine Ghost Faces, none would be likely left in the end; the Liuli Sand might fare a little better but would still suffer a significant loss of strength. It would be uncertain if they could retain their Nascent Soul Stage combat power. If Liuli Sand didn’t suffer a severe psychic blow, things might look a bit better. But if they were also attacked by the spiritual arrows and their psyche was severely hurt, their strength would plummet, and even submersing them in Spirit Liquid would not restore them to their peak condition.

Without the existence of a Nascent Soul Stage assistant, Qi Tian’s subsequent situation would be dire—he wouldn’t even dare to guarantee his own safe exit from the Saint’s Tomb, as he still had walls to clear, and couldn’t be sure that the Ghost Face Illusion Demon Spider wouldn’t take the opportunity to strike even more viciously. Even with the Transporting Whirlwind for protection and the Heavenly Dao Engine as his trump card, he might not be able to withstand it. And even if he managed to escape the Saint’s Tomb, would he be safe? No, he would have to face retaliation from Manager Chen, and without a Nascent Soul Stage assistant, it would be hard to survive.

Beyond Liuli Sand and the Ghost Faces, Qi Tian had to pay some attention to the safety of people like Emperor Jianwu—they couldn’t all be allowed to die. If Emperor Jianwu, Huoyang Emperor, Emperor Bahuang, Emperor Wenzhi, and Emperor Yonghe, all five princes, perished inside the Inner Underground Palace, especially while exploring the Saint’s Tomb with him, then he would inevitably be held responsible for their deaths. Consequently, his movements within the Imperial Family Secret Territory would become extremely limited. Other princes might wish for Emperor Jianwu and the others to die sooner, but they wouldn’t mind stepping forward under the guise of seeking “justice” for them after their deaths. If they banded together to blockade Qi Tian and probe the secrets he held, he would likely be unable to withstand them.