The reason Ancestor Redfire did this was, one, his desire to obtain Li Yan's cultivation method and that kerchief, the Ancient Treasure. He no longer cared about the other magical treasures on Li Yan. And according to the past experiences of cultivators who had entered the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves," even if someone could occasionally break some of the restrictions inside and enter a black hole grotto-cave, besides Nascent Soul cultivators, there were usually only two outcomes. One outcome was that this cultivator would never appear in this world again. The other was that this cultivator would soon flee. According to the cultivators who came out, without a great Nascent Soul cultivator, it was impossible to stay inside for long, and one could perish very quickly. Therefore, Ancestor Redfire judged that Li Yan would flee out before long. All he had to do was to constantly scan the inside of the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves" with his Divine Sense. At most, he might lose a wisp of his Divine Sense when the Astral Wind was generated, causing his injuries to worsen a second time. As for whether Li Yan could get out of the black hole grotto-cave, he had no doubt at all. As long as one could get in, one could break the restriction and get out again, especially with Li Yan possessing that magical kerchief, the Ancient Treasure.
The other reason that made Ancestor Redfire resolutely choose to stay, even knowing that his cultivation might drop, was his most direct hatred for Li Yan. This hatred had reached an incomparable level. No matter what, he had to persist for a few days. If he couldn't capture Li Yan, he had to at least confirm that Li Yan had perished inside. He believed that with Li Yan's cultivation, he might come out in less than a quarter of an hour. He would risk everything to wait and see the result.
The "Fire Bath Pills" that Ancestor Redfire had refined were only five in number, which could probably last for about three days. By then, no matter the result, he would have to leave. Thinking of Li Yan's kerchief, the meditating Ancestor Redfire couldn't help but lick his chapped lips. It wasn't a certainty that his cultivation would drop, but opportunities were fleeting. It was certainly worth it to gamble for it.
Darkness fell before Li Yan's eyes, and then he felt a scorching wind blowing on his face. Li Yan's spiritual energy shield was already activated, and several "Ghost-Chariot Talismans" were also stuck on the outside of it.
Li Yan had already scanned his surroundings with his Divine Sense. After feeling that everything was fine, he closed his eyes. After feeling that he had probably adapted to everything in the cave, he opened his eyes again. What came into view was a relatively spacious cave. The walls of the cave were flickering with a faint yellow light. All of this had already been captured by Li Yan's Divine Sense the moment he entered the cave. But now, looking at it with his eyes, the feeling was different.
Li Yan stood at the entrance of the black hole and did not move casually. He had also seen a related introduction to the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves" in the records. After entering a grotto-cave, one could not move around casually; everything had to be done with caution. As for what kind of situation he would encounter, the records were varied, as if the situations encountered by the vast majority of cultivators who entered the grotto-cave's secret caves were not the same.
The entrance behind Li Yan was sealed by a layer of semi-transparent yellow light. He first looked back and could vaguely see the situation outside the cave through the semi-transparent yellow light. At this time, Ancestor Redfire's figure could no longer be seen. Li Yan also couldn't sense anything outside the cave entrance with his Divine Sense, as if everything outside the cave was a silent, yellow, hazy world in his eyes.
While being vigilant of his surroundings, Li Yan still sent a stream of spiritual energy towards the semi-transparent yellow light at the entrance. Soon, he breathed a sigh of relief, because the spiritual energy could not penetrate outside the cave and was directly repelled. It seemed that the restriction at the entrance was a two-way restriction. Whether entering or leaving, one had to break the restriction.
Only at this moment did Li Yan's suspended heart relax a little. At least for the time being, he didn't have to worry about Ancestor Redfire being able to easily enter. After a little more thought, Li Yan guessed why Ancestor Redfire had left. It was probably because he couldn't enter the black hole grotto-cave for the time being and was worried about the Astral Wind appearing at any time. At this moment, he suddenly remembered Ancestor Redfire's earlier cry of alarm.
'Ancient Treasure? What's that? Could the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief that Ancestor Redfire mentioned just now be an Ancient Treasure?' This was the first time Li Yan had heard this term, and he didn't know what it meant. But now was not the time to think about it in detail.
Having temporarily removed the threat from behind, Li Yan focused all his energy on the inside of the cave. Standing at the entrance, there were more than ten steps extending into the interior. The entire cave was generally a dim yellow color, but with the faint yellow light flickering from the cave walls, the situation inside could still be seen.
In Li Yan's eyes, the cave looked very much like an ancient grotto. He didn't know if the cave walls were the result of an earth-element spell or something else. A layer of yellow light flickered on and off, making the entire grotto-cave's secret cave seem somewhat strange. The grotto-cave's secret cave was about twenty zhang in size, which was much larger than it looked from the outside. Li Yan remembered that the black hole grotto-cave entrance he had chosen had four or five black holes of different sizes on either side, only one or two zhang apart. This had initially made Li Yan think that every black hole was an entrance channel, and that they would eventually converge into the same large grotto-cave's secret cave. Apparently, he had guessed wrong.
The grotto-cave's secret cave was empty, with nothing particularly eye-catching. This surprised Li Yan greatly. He had scanned the twenty-zhang grotto-cave's secret cave clearly with his Divine Sense. No matter how he looked at it, this was not the legendary place for exploration and treasure hunting.
'Could it be that every grotto-cave's secret cave is independent? Either the one I entered was originally empty, or the treasures have already been taken by previous treasure-hunting cultivators? In that case, the mechanisms and restrictions here have long been broken, so it should be safe.'
Li Yan stood on the steps and did not move casually. Instead, he kept looking around the grotto-cave's secret cave, his mind racing. But after a little thought, Li Yan denied his own idea. 'It shouldn't be like that at all. If that were the case, as long as a cultivator could enter a previously explored grotto-cave's secret cave, they wouldn't have to fear the Astral Wind outside. After the Astral Wind dissipated, they could continue to break the restrictions of the nearby grotto-cave's secret caves to search for treasure, without worrying about going too deep and not having enough time to return to a safe place, and thus being blown to pieces by the Astral Wind.'
'Although the generation of Astral Wind has no pattern, according to the records, the interval between two occurrences is at least a quarter of an hour. And after a quarter of an hour, the Astral Wind could come at any time, with no pattern at all.'
'In that case, as long as you know the time of the last Astral Wind's extinction, you are safe for at least a quarter of an hour. When the next grotto-cave's secret cave's restriction has not been broken, and you feel that it's almost a quarter of an hour, you just need to return to the previously broken grotto-cave's secret cave. In this way, you can conquer them one by one, slowly going deeper. The treasures here would be easy to get. How could it be called a perilous land, a forbidden place even for Nascent Soul cultivators?'
Thinking of this, Li Yan became even more careful. He suddenly narrowed his eyes, because he had discovered a problem. He had discovered it outside the cave before. The yellow sand outside, for one reason or another, would form streams of quicksand of different sizes and flow into different black hole grotto-caves. It was precisely because of this very deceptive phenomenon that he had thought the cave entrance was unobstructed and had run headfirst into the invisible membrane at the entrance.
When Li Yan looked down, he saw that on the steps where he was now standing, there were quite a few streams of sand slowly flowing in from the cave entrance, and then forming thin lines like an hourglass, flowing down the steps into the cave. And what made Li Yan feel that this place was strange was that after these fine sand streams passed through more than ten steps, they flowed to the bottom of the grotto-cave's secret cave, and then disappeared as if they had been melted.
This phenomenon should have been easy to discover, but the surrounding cave walls were flickering with a faint yellow light, and even the top and the ground of the cave were the same, which could easily confuse the senses. What made Li Yan feel even stranger was that the ground below, in his Divine Sense, was just hard rock with a faint yellow glow. As soon as the fine sand flowed in, it was as if a clay ox had entered the sea, and it was melted.
There was another scene that made Li Yan feel uneasy. Although these fine sands looked like only seven or eight very thin streams of sand flowing down the steps, thinking of the long years this place had been formed, even a larger grotto-cave's secret cave should have been filled with yellow sand long ago, let alone this mere twenty-zhang-sized grotto-cave.
To take a step back, even if the grotto-cave's secret cave before Li Yan was tens of thousands of zhang in size a long time ago, and had only been filled with quicksand until only twenty zhang were left, after Li Yan's Divine Sense had locked onto the ground below for a period of time, his expression became more and more grave.
Even after a long time had passed, there was no sign of the dozen or so steps at his feet being buried. At least after Li Yan's Divine Sense had firmly locked onto a small crack on the last step, which was close to the ground, as a reference, after half an hour had passed, the ground had not risen at all.
Li Yan stood on the highest step at the entrance of the cave for a whole hour without any intention of moving. This place looked ordinary and unremarkable, but it made Li Yan's hair stand on end. He felt that an attack could come from all around at any time. Before he could think of his next plan, he did not intend to move his body casually.
And in this one hour, Li Yan occasionally glanced at the cave entrance. He had seen the wind raging outside the cave at least four times, making it impossible to see anything. As far as the eye could see, there was only a gray haze at the cave entrance. The scene could make one imagine a devastating sandstorm raging wantonly.
For a time, he was at a loss. After thinking for a while, Li Yan simply planned to sit cross-legged at the entrance of the cave to cultivate and recover first. The earth-element spiritual energy in the grotto-cave's secret cave was very strong, even a notch stronger than some first-rate sects' territories. Li Yan had discovered this phenomenon when he had first approached the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves."
The earth-element spiritual energy outside the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves" was only slightly higher than the surrounding area, not particularly good. Only after entering the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves" could one feel the abundant earth spiritual energy inside. But no one dared to cultivate in the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves." One careless mistake, and the Astral Wind would rise. That would not be cultivation, but courting death. However, Nascent Soul cultivators could use this place to cultivate earth spiritual energy. But the earth-element spiritual energy here was not better than that in the cave residences of those Nascent Soul Old Monsters. It could only be said to be upper-middle grade. Besides, it was only earth-element spiritual energy. Nascent Soul Old Monsters with other main spiritual roots would not come here.
Thinking of this, since he couldn't move around for the time being, Li Yan simply began to meditate and cultivate here. He had originally wanted to find a safe place to refine the poison spiritual energy he had devoured. And he had stood here for an hour without any abnormality. Since there had been no attack for an hour, Li Yan began to relax. His spiritual energy had been greatly consumed this time, so it was better to recover first. He could first set up a defensive warning formation and observe for a while. If there were no problems, he could start cultivating. Maybe this time he could break through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment here.
But just as Li Yan moved slightly, shifting half a step to the right to take out the formation flags, a sudden change occurred. Everything happened too suddenly. Although Li Yan had been on his guard, he was still caught off guard. Because the change came from under his feet, which had been normal for an hour. His focus of attention had been on the ground below the steps. He only felt the ground under his feet give way, and he fell rapidly downwards.