"The divination shows that the great treasure appears after reuniting with an old acquaintance," Gou Yutong replied, then glanced at Xiao Ran. "Windwheel Dandelion is indeed rare, but it cannot be considered a supreme treasure."

Xiao Ran thought for a moment.

Her attack power was weak against the stone beasts, but that did not mean she was weak against cultivators.

With her heaven defying healing technique, this might be the perfect chance to eliminate Yu Lin and Chi Jia, those two she despised and vent her hatred.

If she succeeded... then Xiao Shou would have to be wronged once again.

The fact that she killed fellow disciples must never be exposed.

As for the Gou brothers, Xiao Ran hesitated slightly.

After a brief pause, a glint flashed in her eyes and she nodded.

"Then we continue forward and see what lies at the end of this canyon."

Xiao Shou observed the group dynamic.

So the one making the final decisions in this group was indeed Xiao Ran.

Yu Lin was probably not pleased with that.

He then said, "I just arrived and am not familiar with you all. Our techniques and coordination won’t match well. It would be better if you maintain your current formation. I will attack from a distance. When anyone gets tired, they can retreat into the formation to recover."

As expected, Yu Lin nodded and adopting the posture of a senior sister making the final call, said, "Then it’s settled. Let’s move."

Xiao Shou pretended not to notice the hatred in Xiao Ran’s eyes.

After signaling to the group, he flew out of the formation, leaping past the encirclement of gray stone beasts and creating enough distance for the five of them to fight on their own.

His expression turned serious.

Immediately, he controlled his sword and launched attacks against the stone beasts emerging from the cliff walls on both sides.

The Dark Night Spirit Sword’s armor breaking effect was extremely powerful.

With only a fraction of its power, he could shatter the stone beasts into pieces.

However, their numbers seemed endless.

No sooner had he dealt with one wave than another surged forward.

Xiao Shou who is lack in real combat experience quickly found himself overwhelmed.

He did not even have time to collect the Windwheel Dandelion.

He could only keep controlling his sword, cutting down the stone beasts that were about to strike him.

But the moment he killed one, several more attacked even faster.

All along, Xiao Shou had focused on cultivating his technique and the spells within it.

He had little exposure to other combat methods.

Without the backing of a major sect, he had no access to a wide range of techniques.

Sword arts were even more out of reach.

When he fought Xiang Yu, he had relied entirely on clever tricks to win.

Now, in front of Xiao Ran, Yu Lin, and the others, he had to conceal many of his abilities.

He could only rely on his real abilities to deal with the situation.

This was practically the first true life and death battle of his life.

He had no choice but to focus completely.

He clumsily dealing with one stone beast after another.

In the distance, the others who each harbored their own thoughts about Xiao Shou watched his awkward movements.

To them, he looked like a child swinging a heavy blade. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

They felt disdain and gradually shifted their attention back to their own formation.

Xiao Shou was unaware of their thoughts.

All his focus was on the battle around him.

With his exceptionally powerful divine sense, his control over the flying sword became more and more refined.

Its speed increased rapidly, leaving behind afterimages that continuously flashed before his eyes.

As he watched those overlapping sword shadows, a certain skill animation from a game suddenly flashed through his mind.

He did not think about its meaning.

Acting on instinct, his divine sense moved, guiding the Dark Night Spirit Sword to follow the patterns from that image.

In an instant, it formed a dense web of sword energy within a five meter radius around him, shredding every stone beast that entered into finer fragments.

Not enough.

Still not enough.

With his mind completely focused and devoid of stray thoughts, Xiao Shou did not even realize the significance of what he had just done.

He had effectively created his own sword technique.

Instead, driven by the relentless attacks of the stone beasts, he instinctively felt that his power was still insufficient.

He poured even more divine sense and spiritual energy into the sword, expanding its range outward and unleashing sword energy.

The result was a larger, indestructible sword web that extended to an eight meter radius, annihilating every stone beast that entered.

"Just a moment ago he looked completely unskilled, and now he is using such a powerful sword technique so quickly. He really is a novice. At this rate, his spiritual energy will be drained very soon and he will need to rest," Gou Yutong said with a frown.

Meanwhile, Chi Jia continued attacking while observing Xiao Shou’s battle with interest.

"A single move is already this powerful. I would really like to see what the complete sword technique looks like. Our Heavenly Void Sect does not have anything like this."

"Judging by its power, it likely does not originate from the lower realms," Yu Lin said calmly, though inside she felt a mixture of jealousy and envy.

On the other side, Xiao Shou did not withdraw as they had expected.

He had never fought like this before and had no idea what would happen when he focused so intensely in battle.

He simply acted on instinct, using offense in place of defense and continuously cutting down the stone beasts.

However, something strange began to happen.

The stone beasts were becoming tougher.

Their bodies grew larger and their defenses became stronger.

When Xiao Shou briefly extended his awareness, he realized what was happening.

The Windwheel Dandelions he had no time to collect after killing the beasts were being devoured by the incoming waves of stone beasts.