Huchen Huiqing, on the other hand, was all smiles. "Wuding, you're sure to win now. Look at Huchen Wanmu's face; he's probably having a hard time passing."
Of course, the ones with ugly expressions at this moment were not just Huchen Wanmu, but also Ye Luoyan and Huchen Jianghai.
"Didn't Huchen Wanmu boast that his Ghostly Poison Scroll cultivation had reached the peak of the fifth layer? Is he going to fail after advancing less than halfway? Truly... truly a disappointment." Ye Luoyan's beautiful face was frosty, and she gritted her silver teeth as she spoke in a low voice. She had wanted to say the word "useless," but with several Nascent Soul cultivators around, she held her tongue. Her fists were clenched tightly, her heart filled with unwillingness. She had endured for so many years, and today, when victory was in sight, it had come to this critical juncture.
In this short period, Li Yan had advanced another twenty zhang within the peach blossom forest. However, his speed began to slow, as if his Spirit Power was running low. At this moment, he was only about twenty-five zhang from the opposite edge of the forest.
As Li Yan's movements slowed slightly, nearly twenty petals came crashing down on his head from the sky. Each petal carried the whistling sound of tearing through the air, with the force of a thousand jun. They no longer had any sense of lightness, but seemed like small mountains pressing down. Li Yan hurriedly waved his hands and repeatedly formed seals. A dozen "Ice Spike Arts" shot through the air, and in the next moment, they pierced the petals, sending a dozen of them flying into the distance. As soon as these dozen "Ice Spike Arts" were released, Li Yan, wrapped in the thick green mist, staggered. Then, as if a swarm of ants were crawling up a tree, a dense mass of Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms crawled up his legs. Although many earthworms and maggots had died, the green liquid from their deaths had stimulated the Stinking Earthworm Leaves. The earthworms had now fallen into a frenzy, crawling directly onto Li Yan's body and spitting out white liquid at close range. Although this caused their own bodies to be burned to death more quickly, the frenzied Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms were simply relentless.
In that brief delay, as Li Yan staggered, his legs were already covered in a dense black mass of Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms, causing the green smoke around him to visibly thin.
"He's not going to make it. His Spirit Power isn't enough to sustain it, and the medicinal effect of that unknown pill that produces the green mist is also running out. I wonder if he has any more of that pill."
"What a pity, he's only a little over twenty zhang from the edge of the peach blossom forest."
"Even so, he has the upper hand for now. Maybe he'll win just like this..."
The crowd in the plaza looked up at the light screen, letting out a series of gasps.
'Oh, running out of Spirit Power? Now is the time for you to die. Let the peach blossom forest be your final grave.' The Huchen Ancestor's half-closed eyes narrowed even further. At this moment, he didn't need to launch any attacks. He just needed to slightly alter the rules of heaven and earth inside when Huchen Tingchun was about to intervene to save him. He had only released about twenty percent of the magical treasure's power. If he secretly released a little more, the peach blossom forest would become a land of death. Li Yan's current appearance was perfect for dying. He would also not allow Huchen Wanmu to enter the peach blossom forest. Everything would fall into place naturally.
Everyone saw Li Yan unleash a dozen "Ice Spike Arts" to block the vast majority of the petal attacks in this wave. However, three petals, arranged in a line, still shot towards Li Yan like lightning, letting out a sharp, piercing sound. At this moment, Li Yan seemed to have exhausted his strength, unable to form another seal. Just then, Huchen Tingchun's figure appeared in the sky above the peach blossom forest, ready to make a move.
The Huchen Ancestor's Divine Sense stirred, about to secretly communicate with the magical treasure to release more power, when his half-closed eyes suddenly shot open. He immediately stopped his subsequent actions. And it wasn't just him; the expressions of the Chi Family Ancestor and the Xie Family Ancestor next to him also changed slightly as they looked at the light screen.
Because at that moment, Li Yan's swaying hands, which had dropped to his sides, casually slapped his waist. A cold gleam flashed, and a longsword appeared in his hand. Urgently, he raised the sword horizontally. The three petals, carrying the force of ten thousand jun, crashed directly onto the longsword. Li Yan's face turned white, and a trace of blood seeped from his mouth. He took seven or eight heavy steps back before finally stopping. He had managed to block the attack.
Li Yan did not hesitate. While holding the sword horizontally with one hand, two small porcelain bottles had already appeared in his other hand. He quickly flicked his thumb over the two bottle mouths, and the stoppers flew out. Li Yan then tilted his head back and swallowed all the pills from both bottles. As soon as the pills entered his mouth, his aura suddenly surged. Then, from within his body, the green smoke, which had become semi-transparent, billowed out once more. Piles of Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms rose from his body in plumes of white smoke, and countless shrill screams echoed again.
As the green mist rose around his body, Li Yan stomped his right foot on the ground, splashing a large amount of green liquid. A gleam of light flashed in his hand, and he formed a hand seal. The longsword disappeared, and seven giant rocks whistled up from beside him to meet the sky.
"Giant Rock Art." The seven giant rocks formed a massive barrier in front of and above him. Each rock was six zhang wide, blocking the subsequent petals. Li Yan ignored the dense swarm of Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms at his feet and charged forward, protected by the seven giant rocks. It was as if he had carved a long channel through the green lawn, a display of extreme brute force.
Huchen Wanmu's mouth was wide open as he witnessed everything. Li Yan's method of breaking through the peach blossom forest was extremely crude and simple, especially the final scene of him charging forward with seven giant rocks, which was somewhat shocking. In fact, Huchen Wanmu could also do this. With his Spirit Power absolutely overwhelming Li Yan's, he could even do it more directly and simply. But he couldn't completely ignore the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms at his feet like Li Yan did. That was what was truly terrifying.
Huchen Wanmu knew how much Spirit Power it consumed to simultaneously summon seven such huge rocks while running. He also knew that of the two types of pills Li Yan had just swallowed, one was the same type that produced the green mist, while the other was likely a pill for rapidly recovering Spirit Power. Although such pills were miraculous, they could not provide complete recovery. In fact, by swallowing a whole bottle at once like Li Yan did to maximize recovery, it would put a huge strain and cause damage to the body's meridians. So he also knew that using Spirit Power so recklessly like Li Yan was doing now could not last long. If Li Yan couldn't catch his breath midway, he would undoubtedly fail.
Unfortunately for him, Li Yan did not stop due to a lack of Spirit Power in the final twenty-odd zhang. He charged to the other side of the peach blossom forest in one breath, protected by the seven giant rocks, in less than six breaths.
As soon as Li Yan reached the edge of the peach blossom forest, the seven giant rocks around him could no longer hold. With a few loud bangs, they shattered and disappeared, turning into specks of crystal light that dissipated in the sky. Li Yan, enveloped in a cloud of green mist, sat down heavily on the ground. After a while, as the green mist around him slowly dissipated, the crowd saw Li Yan, his face pale, with his eyes tightly closed, meditating to recover.
As Li Yan made his final charge, everyone in the plaza fell silent, staring at the light screen in a tense atmosphere. Some hoped for Li Yan to suddenly run out of Spirit Power and fail, some hoped for him to meet an unexpected end in the mouths of the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms, and of course, some hoped for him to break through the peach blossom forest in one go. It was only after Li Yan had truly crossed the forest that the plaza buzzed with noise again.
Huchen Jianghai's mouth was wide open, a look of disbelief on his face. His usually honest and simple expression was gone for the first time today, replaced by deep unwillingness and suppressed resentment in his eyes. His gaze then turned back to the other side of the peach blossom forest, where another figure still stood.
The Huchen Ancestor's expression had returned to normal. The moment Li Yan broke out of the peach blossom forest, a hint of struggle had appeared in his eyes, but it quickly vanished.
The competition was not over yet, so the voices in the plaza gradually died down. Many people's eyes were once again fixed on the light screen.
At this time, although Li Yan's face was pale, he stood up shakily after only a short rest and began to walk towards the summit again. Having come this far, he certainly wanted to seize the time to explore deeper into the magical treasure. Besides, given his stamina, what he had just gone through was nothing.
Li Yan's purpose in breaking through the peach blossom forest was his belief that the higher he went, the more high-grade poisonous herbs and beasts the Huchen Ancestor's magical treasure would contain. And just now, he had seen Huchen Wanmu also beginning to enter the peach blossom forest, so he could not wait any longer.
In the end, Huchen Wanmu did not take out the talisman. It was something he regarded as his life. After weighing the pros and cons, he could not bring himself to use it, despite all the support Ye Luoyan had given him over the years.
He adopted a method of forcibly crossing with his own power. At the cost of a significant loss of Spirit Power, he desperately resisted the no-fly restriction here, allowing his body to float about a foot off the ground. This was his limit. At the same time, he slapped all ten of his "Vajra Talismans" onto the outside of his Spirit Power Shield. Although ten "Vajra Talismans" combined could not compare to his one life-saving talisman, the "Vajra Talisman" was no ordinary item.
Because the Huchen family was relatively close to the Jingtu Sect's territory, the Jingtu Sect often traded for items like medicinal pills with the renowned Huchen family. Similarly, the defensive "Vajra Talisman" refined by the Jingtu Sect was a Rank Two talisman that could withstand attacks below the Foundation Establishment stage, which was quite strong. Moreover, this talisman had a stacking effect. If ten "Vajra Talismans" were used at the same time, their power could even barely withstand a single blow from an ordinary initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Glancing at Huchen Wanmu, who was now glittering with thousands of golden lights, Li Yan quickly walked up the mountain. Behind him, Huchen Wanmu was slowly breaking through the peach blossom forest, but the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworms at his feet forced him to divert half of his power to kill these small demonic beasts. If he relied solely on the ten "Vajra Talismans" and his Spirit Power Shield for defense without killing them, he probably wouldn't make it halfway before either the talismans' power was depleted or his Spirit Power ran out from having to constantly reinforce the shield.
As Li Yan ascended, just as he expected, he soon encountered several rare poisonous spirit plants that he had only seen in records. These plants themselves had already developed a rudimentary intelligence. Although this intelligence was negligible, the toxins they produced were no longer naturally formed. They had begun to consciously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and even kill some of the small demonic beasts kept within this magical treasure to advance themselves, thereby strengthening or changing the intensity of the toxins they produced.
A magical treasure was in itself a small world, and one used by a Nascent Soul cultivator was even more formidable. The small world within this magical treasure had already evolved to the point where it could generate its own spiritual energy. There were many plants here that Li Yan had never even heard of. According to his speculation, these plants had already undergone mutation, either as a result of the Huchen Ancestor's spell-casting that mixed different plants in one area, or because this small world had changed their original way of survival.
There were still many demonic beasts here, both large and small. Small ones like the Three-Legged Carrion Earthworm, and large ones like a thirty-zhang-long Ground-Rolling Horned Python that Li Yan saw.
But none of this mattered. To Li Yan, they were all great supplements. He picked and chose along the way, occasionally stopping to gaze at a patch of vegetation, seemingly blocked by them and unable to break through. Often, after some time, Li Yan would take out a pill from his storage pouch and swallow it, or form a hand seal. After some time, when he had broken through, he would continue on. Sometimes, he would fight with a certain demonic beast. To outsiders, all of this seemed extremely normal.
However, there was one person here who was an exception: the Huchen Ancestor.