Soldiers of the Dongsang Kingdom all had inscriptions on their weapons and uniforms, which greatly enhanced their capability.

Their power was also enhanced by the formation their troops used.

Because of that, the Junwu Empire couldn’t make any advancement in Peace Grassland. If they hadn’t continually sent talents to Peace Grassland every year, the Junwu Empire would have lost the battle a long time ago.

Zuo Qingluan’s master had asked her once, “Do you know what the Junwu Empire is lacking?”

Zuo Qingluan said affirmatively, “Formation masters and inscription masters.”

The head of Firmament Palace nodded. “Yes, they’re the most scarce talents in the Junwu Empire. You need to have adequate talent if you want to marry Jun Linyuan, so you have to train yourself in these two aspects. It’ll give you much more of an advantage.”

Zuo Qingluan had been searching for people with such talents, but had so far come up empty.

She had been researching these fields as well. However, the True Phoenix Blood didn’t give her much help on that front, and she wasn’t much more efficient than ordinary cultivators.

She stared at Elder Mei and was determined to become his disciple.

Elder Mei didn’t know he was being watched. He was standing at the entrance of the Secret Essence Mine, trying to find his way in.

Feng Wu and the others got in so easily because the mine had just been activated and the wind hadn’t started up yet.

It was much more difficult to open the entrance now.

Time slowly passed by.

Meanwhile, in the mine.

The students were under attack.

“Oh my god!”

“What should we do?”

“Have all the Spirit Stone Worms gathered here?”

“Are we going to die?”

They all panicked.

The worms were flooding in, and they were panic-stricken.

Shan Jingfei, Ye Han and Xin Zhixuan wouldn’t get into the circle at first.

When Xin Zhixuan saw the endless stream of worms, she paled and jumped into the circle.

The circle wasn’t too big, and there were so many students inside already. People pushed up against one another.

They swayed, and some almost fell.

Since they were all classmates, no one tried to push Xin Zhixuan away. Those standing in the center even stood on one foot.

Shan Jingfei smirked. “Do you seriously think that circle will work?”

Shao Xiao frowned. “It has protected us so far. You have to trust Feng Wu! Ye Han, come here!”

Ye Han shook her head. “No!”

She would have joined them if Shao Xiao hadn’t mentioned Feng Wu, but he had, and she would never admit defeat.

She refused to step into the circle.

The worms were approaching them at high speed.

They looked like a tidal wave.

Ah!

The first few worms charged at Shan Jingfei and Ye Han.

They finally burst into tears.

“Help us! Help!”

The others would have helped them, but that was before they realized how impossible Shan Jingfei and Ye Han were.

They couldn’t save the two girls even if they wanted to.

Cheng Fang asked, “What should we do now? They’re surrounded! Should we help them?”

The others all stared at him. “Do you want to go?”

Cheng Fang paled and shook his head. “I can’t… I really can’t!”

He had learned from his lonely journey with the crane. He knew better now.

Lin Juncheng asked, “Why aren’t the worms attacking us? Why them?”