Hearing Chi Dongli's words, Huchen Qiukong and Huchen Gu first bid farewell to Huchen Wuding, then bowed to Li Yan and Zhuo Lingfeng with respectful attitudes, saying, "Then we will not disturb you two seniors."
Huchen Huiqing, however, blinked her beautiful eyes at Li Yan, then extended a snow-white, jade-like hand gracefully. "You're definitely not that old, are you? Well, seeing as you and Wuding were calling each other brothers before, I won't call you senior. Thank you for this time. Thank you for letting me see the result I wanted."
Looking at the fiery-figured young woman, Li Yan gave an awkward smile and had no choice but to reach out and lightly touch Huchen Huiqing's hand, nodding in acknowledgment.
When the Chi Family Ancestor left without a word, the group also left the plaza together. However, Li Yan unexpectedly received a voice transmission from the Chi Family Ancestor. 'Are you really a Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator? But coming to my Malevolent Spirit territory to train is not a good thing. You should leave as soon as possible.'
Just as Li Yan was surprised by the Chi Family Ancestor's attitude, a voice sounded in his ear.
"S-Senior Li, are you really sure the Ancestor won't make a move?" Huchen Wuding had also retracted his gaze. Huchen Wandong's earlier voice transmission had surprised him. From the sound of it, it seemed the family was about to make a move against the Xie and Ye families. But he immediately thought of his current situation and spoke to Li Yan with a worried expression.
Hearing this, Li Yan said in a low voice, "The Huchen Senior didn't make a move during the assessment just now. I think my first step was a success, which gives us a chance to live."
"Oh, Fellow Daoist Li, did you perhaps use some life-saving measure during the assessment that made the Huchen Senior not act?" Zhuo Lingfeng couldn't help but ask. He had witnessed the entire process of Li Yan entering the back mountain for the assessment. At first, he was also worried that the Huchen Ancestor would kill Li Yan indiscriminately. But until the very end, the Huchen Ancestor didn't make a move. He had already guessed that Li Yan had used some means to ensure the Huchen Ancestor didn't kill him immediately, but he had never figured out the reason.
As the three of them were talking in low voices, another group of people came up from behind. The Ye Family Ancestor walked over with Ye Luoyan and Huchen Jianghai. The Ye Family Ancestor smiled at Huchen Wuding's group of three and said, "We have all left. The Huchen Ancestor asked me to inform you that you can go over now."
Huchen Wuding hurriedly cupped his hands. "Thank you, Senior. We will go over right now!" With that, he gave a look to Li Yan and Zhuo Lingfeng and led the way towards the viewing platform. From beginning to end, he never looked at Ye Luoyan and Huchen Jianghai, whose faces were so gloomy it seemed water could drip from them.
Li Yan and Zhuo Lingfeng exchanged a glance, knowing that the moment that would decide their fate had arrived. In front of a Nascent Soul Old Monster, no matter what skills you had, it was all child's play. They could only follow Huchen Wuding.
Watching the three figures' backs, the Ye Family Ancestor, who had slowly turned his head, had a sinister look in his eyes. He sneered in his heart. 'Kid, you ruined my plans. Then pay for it with your life. No matter where you come from, I will take your life.' But since they were still in the plaza, he didn't even dare to voice his thoughts in a transmission and instead walked straight away.
With Huchen Wuding in the lead, the three of them soon arrived at the viewing platform. At this time, the vast plaza was completely silent except for the four of them.
After Huchen Wuding's group of three arrived in front of the Huchen Ancestor, they all bowed deeply. No matter what you thought in your heart, even if you knew the other person wanted to kill you, as long as they hadn't truly revealed their intentions, you still had to pay your respects. This was the helplessness of the weak.
Looking at the three people standing before him, the Huchen Ancestor looked directly at Li Yan and said faintly, "What is your name? Where are you from? Are you really a cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard?"
Being looked at so casually, Li Yan suddenly felt his mind go blank. The qi and blood in his body seemed to be frozen, and even his usually smooth-flowing spiritual energy became abnormally slow, almost impossible to circulate. In an instant, his entire consciousness seemed to be out of his control, and he was about to subconsciously open his mouth and say everything. But at that moment, the five spiritual energy cauldrons in his Dantian, like trapped giant beasts, suddenly let out a collective roar. However, this sound only appeared in Li Yan's mind; even the Huchen Ancestor didn't notice it at all.
With that roar, the spiritual energy within the five cauldrons, which were glowing with a faint light, began to boil like water. But just as it reached the brim of the cauldrons, it was once again firmly restricted within the Dantian's Purple Mansion, like a trapped beast unable to break free. Even so, it gave Li Yan a moment of clarity, and the words that were about to leave his lips were abruptly swallowed back. Then, beads of sweat seeped out from his forehead. Li Yan was terrified. He never thought a Nascent Soul stage Old Monster would be so fearsome. A single glance had almost made him lose consciousness. His own cultivation was like a baby in front of a giant. His body couldn't move at all.
Seeing Li Yan's dazed eyes suddenly clear up, the Huchen Ancestor couldn't help but let out a soft "Yi?" Then, his gaze softened slightly, but the chilling intent remained.
The moment the Huchen Ancestor's gaze softened, Li Yan felt the unbreakable restraints on his body instantly disappear without a trace. His bodily functions immediately returned to normal. The moment the restraints were gone, his clothes were soaked with sweat in a short instant.
"Ancestor..." Huchen Wuding had already noticed that something was wrong with Li Yan. Anxious, he quickly spoke up. Zhuo Lingfeng, beside him, also took an urgent step forward. But at this moment, the Huchen Ancestor waved his hand at Huchen Wuding, stopping him from saying more, and then gave a faint look at Zhuo Lingfeng who had stepped forward, a murderous glint flashing deep in his eyes.
The moment Zhuo Lingfeng took a step, he felt an invisible pressure, like ten thousand great mountains crashing down on him. His entire body was like a kite with a broken string, flying backwards. While still in the air, he had already spat out a large mouthful of blood, then fell heavily to the ground a few zhang away.
Seeing this, Huchen Wuding, who had just been stopped from speaking, had his eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins. He hurriedly rushed to where Zhuo Lingfeng had fallen, too concerned to say anything else.
"Hmph, I am asking questions here. What right do you have to interrupt!" The Huchen Ancestor's calm voice reached Huchen Wuding's ears. Seeing the anger flash in Huchen Wuding's eyes, his killing intent flared even more. This child dared to show anger towards him for an outsider. But now was not the time to kill Zhuo Lingfeng. He had to first figure out the origins of this kid surnamed Li. With that, he turned his head back to Li Yan.
"I didn't expect the cultivation method you practice to be so peculiar. If you don't want me to perform a Soul-Search on you, then speak up. What's the deal with that sword from the Ten-Pace Courtyard? And one more thing, you need to understand, even if you are from the Ten-Pace Courtyard, if you perish here, no one will stand up for you."
Li Yan was still panting heavily. He looked back at Zhuo Lingfeng, who was being helped up by Huchen Wuding. Seeing that besides the bloodstains on the corner of his mouth and his chest, his expression wasn't too dejected, he felt slightly relieved. He hadn't expected the Huchen Ancestor to give them a show of force right at the beginning. Although he didn't immediately take their lives, it was clearly a strong warning.
He also knew that the Huchen Ancestor must have guessed that Zhuo Lingfeng had told him and Huchen Wuding about his intentions. So now the Huchen Ancestor was simply laying it all out in the open. As long as he killed the two of them, if Huchen Wuding wanted to fight to the death or seek revenge, he would need strength. In that case, he would inevitably fall into the Huchen Ancestor's calculations. Huchen Wuding would have to endure the humiliation and stay in the Huchen family, using its resources to cultivate desperately. As he quickly thought, Li Yan's mind had already calmed down.
Looking at the calm, dark-robed young man before him, Li Yan took a deep breath. "I am not a sword cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard."
It turned out that when Li Yan was being assessed in the peach blossom forest, he had begun to deduce when the Huchen Ancestor would make his move. The moment the Huchen Ancestor would strike would surely be after he had surpassed Huchen Wanmu. Therefore, the moment he surpassed Huchen Wanmu, he had to be ready to face the Huchen Ancestor's killing blow at any time. So, when he was twenty-five zhang from breaking out of the peach blossom forest, he didn't dare to gamble on continuing forward. He implemented his initial plan, directly pretending to be out of spiritual energy. When he saw twenty petals smashing towards him, Li Yan only blocked seventeen of them, deliberately leaving three petals that were coming in a straight line. This was to set up his subsequent blocking move and the quick retraction of his spirit sword. Otherwise, if the petals came at him one after another, he would have to block them one by one, which would not achieve the effect he wanted.
At the last moment, facing the three petals, Li Yan pretended to have no other choice but to take out his spirit treasure to block. The spirit treasure he took out was precisely Miao Zhengyi's sword. After blocking the petal's attack, he immediately put the sword away. His movements were extremely fast, and he had even deliberately used his sleeve to cover half of the sword. But Li Yan was confident that with a Nascent Soul cultivator's Divine Sense and eyesight, they would definitely be able to see clearly. As he had expected, although he drew and sheathed his sword extremely quickly, it was still seen clearly by the three Nascent Soul cultivators in the plaza. Only the Ye Family Ancestor did not see it clearly.
Thus, the Huchen Ancestor, who had been about to make a move, stopped. In his eyes, Li Yan should be a cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard out on a training expedition. But in the territory governed by the Malevolent Spirit Sect, he had been deliberately hiding his identity. This explained some things. The reason Li Yan possessed a powerful treasure was likely because he was a leading figure among the younger generation of the Ten-Pace Courtyard, someone highly regarded by the elders. In that case, the Huchen Ancestor couldn't act immediately. Although the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the other three sects were at odds with each other in private, and the Huchen family was affiliated with the Malevolent Spirit Sect, he couldn't let a Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator die in the Huchen family right under the noses of two other Nascent Soul cultivators. The Huchen family did not have the ability to directly confront the Ten-Pace Courtyard.
And all of this was precisely the result Li Yan needed to achieve.
For this result, he had not used any other spirit artifacts or magical treasures during the entire trial, only basic immortal arts. In fact, he only knew basic immortal arts, but it happened to support the possibility that he might be a Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator. It was common for disciples of the four major sects to hide their identities when they went out to train, just like Li Yan going to the Jingtu Sect's territory. So it was reasonable for Li Yan not to use the Ten-Pace Courtyard's sword techniques and divine abilities.
However, the more Li Yan used basic immortal arts, the more the three Huchen Ancestors believed that he was likely a disciple from the Ten-Pace Courtyard.
Li Yan opened his mouth and directly denied his identity as a Ten-Pace Courtyard disciple, which stunned the Huchen Ancestor. The young, handsome face began to darken. "So you're saying you obtained a Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator's sword by chance? And your actions during the assessment just now were also deliberate, weren't they?"
With just one sentence of denial, Li Yan had allowed the Huchen Ancestor to guess some of the truth. This made Li Yan marvel at the fearsomeness of a Nascent Soul Old Monster; his mind was truly as cunning as a fox.
The original intention of everything he had done before was to avoid exposing his identity as a Malevolent Spirit Sect disciple in public. So he had to use the name of the Ten-Pace Courtyard as a buffer, to make the Huchen Ancestor wary and unable to kill him at will.
"You could say that. However, I am a disciple of the Malevolent Spirit Sect," Li Yan said, having regained his composure.
With that, Li Yan looked back at Zhuo Lingfeng and Huchen Wuding, who had just been helped up. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. In the end, two more people had to know his identity. But the Huchen Ancestor didn't give him a chance to speak alone, so he had no choice. Li Yan slapped his waist, and a small, dark token that was neither iron nor gold appeared in his hand.
Looking at the token in Li Yan's hand, the Huchen Ancestor's expression first faltered, then after a sweep of his Divine Sense, his expression changed slightly. He of course confirmed that the token in Li Yan's hand was by no means a fake; it was the real thing.
Behind Li Yan, Zhuo Lingfeng and Huchen Wuding first heard the name "Ten-Pace Courtyard," and their faces were already filled with disbelief. In their minds, Li Yan had never used the terrifyingly sharp sword techniques of the Ten-Pace Courtyard, but had instead been using the methods of a Poison Cultivator. This was completely inconsistent with that identity.
And just as they were puzzled, they heard Li Yan say the words "Malevolent Spirit Sect," and then take out a token. Everything changed too quickly, leaving the two of them with stunned expressions.
For a moment, the plaza was even quieter. But after a moment, the Huchen Ancestor's eyes flickered, and he said calmly, "Heh heh, I suppose you've guessed what this old man is going to do. So what if you're a Malevolent Spirit Sect disciple? Malevolent Spirit Sect disciples also perish outside. Who can find out? And who would investigate for a mere Foundation Establishment disciple?"