Jiang Li's expression changed, unsure of what had happened.

At this moment, Housekeeper Le, leading Lu Sheng's personal soldiers, charged from the side street next to Vermilion Bird Dao, shouting angrily, "Kill!"

The current Housekeeper Le, even without using innate spiritual qi, was unmatched by ordinary people due to his sheer physical power alone.

"Whoosh..."

But in the instant he showed up, he fell to the ground with a thud, an arrow pierced through his brow, his mouth slightly open as if trying to say something, but ultimately remained silent, his eyes wide open, dead without peace.

Lu Sheng's personal soldiers behind him were startled by the scene, but did not hesitate to charge forward after a brief pause.

Without Jiang Li and the others needing to be distracted, a contingent split off from the Vine Armor Army and Chen's army that were covering them from behind, advancing forward to slaughter.

Earlier, part of Chen's army had split into crossbowmen, climbing to strategic heights on both sides of Vermilion Bird Street, aiming with strong bows and crossbows to pick off the imperial guard soldiers three abreast, alleviating pressure on Jiang Li and the others.

Now Lu Sheng's personal soldiers charged from the side street, these crossbowmen instantly shifted their aim, suppressing them preemptively, forcing them to constantly dodge.

At this moment, the separated Vine Armor Army and Chen's army reached them, crashing into their arrow-rain-disrupted formation and mercilessly stabbed them.

...

Chen Mo, who had put down his bow and arrow, also sensed something strange from the sudden "earth movement" within the city, but while wondering what was happening, his innate spiritual qi involuntarily began to leave his body.

The Snow Dragon Steed beneath him emitted a distressed whinny.

Chen Mo initially thought it was some special martial arts attack, and hurriedly mobilized his innate spiritual qi for defense, but it was useless; instead, the feeling of being drained intensified.

His face changed, and he glanced around, trying to see what was happening. Suddenly, he noticed a pot of plants on the window ledge of a civilian house, and the greenery on the plants was visibly yellowing and withering at a rapid pace.

"Soul Devouring Array..."

The term suddenly appeared in Chen Mo's mind, recalling the Soul Devouring Array he encountered while in Xia Lin, which seemed very similar to the current scene.

But as he thought back, during his time in Xia Lin, he didn't notice the Soul Devouring Array had the effect of extracting others' innate spiritual qi?

He immediately stopped his cultivation technique, attempting to retract his innate spiritual qi, but found it useless; the qi was still being drawn out bit by bit.

If there was a progress bar, the innate spiritual qi inside Chen Mo now only had 80% left.

Of course, this 20% drain wasn't all absorbed by the Soul Devouring Array; fighting against Lu Sheng and that one arrow earlier consumed at least 15%.

Even so, in such a short time, having 5% drained was still terrifying.

It's known that Chen Mo's dantian capacity is several times larger than that of a martial artist of the same realm.

If it were anyone else, wouldn't it have drained several levels?

Chen Mo hurriedly looked towards Jiang Li, discovering that the red numbers on Jiang Li's forehead had dropped to 700, a decrease of over a hundred.

He quickly turned back to look at Nalan Yiren.

2223, unchanged.

So was Xia Zhining.

"What's wrong?" Nalan Yiren asked curiously, seeing Chen Mo intensely staring at her.

"Try running your cultivation technique and release some innate spiritual qi to see," Chen Mo urged.

"???"

Though puzzled, Nalan Yiren gave it a try, as it wasn't a difficult task.

But soon, Nalan Yiren felt something, her expression changed slightly, "What did you do to me?" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Xia Zhining looked over.

"Didn't you feel your innate spiritual qi being drawn out bit by bit?" Chen Mo asked.

"What did you do to me exactly?" Seeing Chen Mo hit the mark, Nalan Yiren was more convinced that Chen Mo did something to her and shouted in anger.

"Marquis, I also feel the innate spiritual qi in my body being drawn out bit by bit," Sun Meng, who was bending his bow and manipulating innate spiritual qi as a crossbowman, suddenly noticed something and quickly spoke up.

"This isn't good."

At this moment, Chen Mo finally understood the strange feeling he had since entering the city.

Faced with Xia Zhining, Nalan Yiren, Sun Meng and others' questioning looks, Chen Mo didn't explain much, just about to give the order to retreat, he suddenly realized that if they retreated now, the favorable situation would surely reverse.

Moreover, he realized that martial artists of lower grade and ordinary people who cannot gather innate spiritual qi were not affected at all.

After all, without innate spiritual qi in their bodies, there's nothing to draw away.

He looked at Sun Meng, then shifted his gaze to a personal soldier and said, "You, quickly inform General Yue and General Wu, ask if they are also having their innate spiritual qi extracted. If they are, ask them to withdraw immediately. Remember, they should withdraw alone, to avoid alarming the entire army."

At this moment, Nalan Yiren also realized that the problem might not lie with Chen Mo.

Without Chen Mo needing to say more, she leapt up from her horse, turned around, and jumped onto a rooftop. With a few more leaps, she was dozens of yards away from Chen Mo.

"Zhining, stay here and command, mind not to be too aggressive, be cautious." After instructing Xia Zhining, Chen Mo said a word to Sun Meng, telling him to also retreat from the city.

Chen Mo then leapt off his horse, touched the ground lightly with his toes, leapt again, and in mid-air, performed the Cloud Traveling Step, his foot lightly stepping on raindrops. With a few steps, he landed on Jiang Li's warhorse.

Jiang Li, vaguely aware, just turned back, but was immediately lifted by Chen Mo.

Chen Mo lightly tapped the ground with his foot, taking flight. Meanwhile, the Tang Blade hanging at his waist was instantly drawn, swiftly swung forward.

"Great Sun Qi Slash!"

A terrifying invisible blade arc landed among the enemy troops, severing hundreds at the waist, flesh and blood flying.

The street was instantly cleared.

Chen Mo didn't linger long, carrying Jiang Li, they retreated.

After leaving Vermilion Bird Street, Chen Mo put Jiang Li down.

At this time, Chen Mo noticed the rate at which his innate spiritual qi was being extracted had begun to slow down.

Chen Mo inquired Jiang Li, discovering he was experiencing the same.

"Duke An, what happened?" Jiang Li asked.

"Let's talk after we get out," Chen Mo replied without lingering.

...

South Gate.

Outside the city, Diwu Fusheng and Liu Ji, seeing Chen Mo, Jiang Li, and Sun Meng running out of the city, quickly stepped forward to meet them.

Diwu Fusheng asked, "Duke An, what happened in the city? How did the ground start shaking?"

"Yeah, Duke An, is everything alright?" Liu Ji inquired.

Before Chen Mo could speak, Jiang Li exclaimed with delight, "Duke An, that feeling is gone."

Jiang Li noticed that the innate spiritual qi within him was no longer leaving his body uncontrollably.

Chen Mo also noticed this and said, "I suspect Lu Sheng activated the Soul Devouring Array. The situation in the city is almost identical to when I encountered the Soul Devouring Array in Xia Lin, except it can absorb the innate spiritual qi from General Jiang and me."

"What, the Soul Devouring Array?!"

As Chen Mo finished speaking, Diwu Fusheng, Liu Ji, and Jiang Li were all shocked. Then Diwu Fusheng furrowed his brow, as an ancestor who served as the Grand Ancestor Emperor's minister during the deployment of the Soul Devouring Array, he naturally knew its terror.

He inquired, "Luonan's Earth's Dragon Vein Qi had long been drained by the Grand Ancestor Emperor. Even if reactivated, it should only draw the innate spiritual qi from the world, Lu Sheng's attempt to assemble an array to break through…"

Saying this, Diwu Fusheng recalled Chen Mo mentioning "it can absorb the innate spiritual qi from me and General Jiang," his brows furrowed, and he said, "Lu Sheng must have obtained the array map for the Soul Devouring Array and altered its operation to use martial artists' innate spiritual qi to compensate for the lack of Dragon Vein Qi."

"No, Lu Sheng wants to take that step," Liu Ji's face changed.

Chen Mo also realized the seriousness of the situation; if Lu Sheng broke through to First Grade, everything would be over.

Back then, the Grand Ancestor Emperor accomplished the seemingly impossible by breaking through to First Grade as a martial artist.

"By the way, where is Miss Nalan?"