The surging power from below made Li Yan's heart pound. This violent power had already materialized, a sea of golden yellow, like rolling clouds. He could only watch helplessly as he continued to fall, the golden tide below surging upwards. They were rapidly approaching. At this moment, he sadly discovered that he couldn't even find a target to self-destruct his magical treasures on.
In just a flash of thought, the edge of the golden tide was already at his feet. Although it was still more than five hundred zhang away from Li Yan, he could already feel a sharp pain in his legs, a strong burning sensation that was about to melt his body.
Although it was like a rolling volcano below him, and Li Yan was like a bird with broken wings, at this moment, Li Yan felt no fear. He sighed in his heart. 'Father, Mother, A Ying, goodbye!' Then, the peerless face of another woman in a white robe appeared in his mind.
'Heh heh, you have to be well too. I won't be able to talk with you on the back mountain platform anymore.'
Then Li Yan saw that the edge of the golden tide below was already a hundred zhang away. No matter how he circulated his spiritual energy to resist, it was like entering a furnace. The scorching heat had already made his mouth and nose suffocate, and his mind was becoming dizzy. He had done all he could. In more than a day, he had resisted the pursuit of three Golden Core cultivators, one of whom was a mid-stage Golden Core. But alas, it was fate.
Just as Li Yan closed his eyes to wait for death, a high-pitched bird cry, as if tearing through the clouds and silk, echoed through the entire void. Li Yan first felt a coolness all over his body, a refreshing feeling he had never felt before. He couldn't help but hurriedly look down and open his eyes. What came into view was a patch of purple light. This patch of purple light was like a sharp arrow, shooting out from the endlessly rolling golden tide below. The uppermost edge of the purple light had already touched Li Yan's feet. And the moment the purple light shot out, several earth-shaking roars echoed continuously, shaking the golden clouds below into a violent surge. Then Li Yan heard a thunderous voice. "You will stay here for me!"
At this time, the purple light had completely separated from the large patch of golden clouds below. Li Yan looked closely. The purple light seemed to be a huge phoenix, but it didn't look like one overall, because this bird only had one wing, and it didn't have a single long tail feather that a phoenix should have. But its head and neck were truly the appearance of a phoenix.
The purple light around the strange purple bird was like a raging purple flame. The outermost purple flame had already touched Li Yan's side. Li Yan didn't feel like he was being burned by the purple flame. Instead, a refreshing coolness emanated from the purple flame, allowing Li Yan to breathe smoothly.
The moment the huge strange purple bird broke away from the golden clouds below, the large patch of clouds was like a pot of boiling golden soup. Amidst a series of violent boiling, a thunderous roar echoed through the heavens and the earth, and three hundred-zhang-tall golden giants were revealed. They stood on golden clouds. The three of them looked almost identical, all holding golden forks. It was just that the luster of the skin on their bodies was somewhat different. The skin of the leading giant had a metallic luster. Of the two behind him, one's skin was a gilded gold, and the other's was a dark gold. In terms of momentum, the leader was the strongest.
Seeing the strange purple bird fly out of the clouds, the three golden giants were all furious. Three shouts echoed at the same time. "Die!" They leaned back at the same time, bent their arms, and raised their forks. In the next moment, to Li Yan's horror, the three giant forks shot towards the strange purple bird above like three sky-piercing sharp blades, with a sharp sound of tearing through the air. But the three golden forks also had different speeds. The foremost one was thrown by the leading golden giant, and the last one was thrown by the giant with the dark golden skin. They had attacked at the same time, so it was clear that their strengths were different.
Li Yan didn't know the strength of the strange purple bird, but he saw that when the three giant forks were tearing through the air, their tips were already burning with golden flames. What shocked Li Yan even more was that the space around the three giant forks was clearly distorted and deformed. The space they passed through had shattered like a mirror, forming three long traces.
"To be able to Shatter the Void... these... these are all Nascent Soul cultivators!" Li Yan felt his mouth go dry. Although he had seen Nascent Soul cultivators before, this was the first time he had seen one truly make a move. And he had seen three at once. And Li Yan also roughly estimated that these three golden giants were very likely, as he had guessed before, at the initial, mid, and late stages respectively. But what was this strange purple bird that had suddenly rushed out from the bottom? Why was it being jointly pursued by three golden giants at the same time?
Although the strange purple bird was fast, it seemed that because it was missing a wing, its flight was affected. When it was sixty zhang away from the golden sea of clouds, it was caught up by the first golden giant fork, which stabbed towards its lower abdomen. The strange purple bird only turned sideways, its body in a side-sleeping position. Its only remaining wing was spread out towards the bottom. That wing had also at this moment condensed into a giant fork, which was seventy to eighty percent similar to the golden giant fork. The side edge of the purple giant fork formed by the wing slashed at the side of the golden giant fork's head. The moment the wing hit the fork's head, Li Yan clearly saw the space at the point of impact shatter into pieces with a crisp cracking sound. The giant fork immediately changed direction under this blow, flying towards the side void with world-destroying power, its momentum unabated, like a sharp blade cutting a long trace on a canvas as it flew into the distance.
When had Li Yan ever seen such a terrifying attack? The attack just now was only twenty zhang away from him. But Li Yan found that he had long been enveloped in the purple light. Not only him, but even the three magical treasures and the ancient ape puppet were also wrapped in the purple light. This was why Li Yan only felt the power and sound, but was not affected. Li Yan of course understood that this strange purple bird was at least at the Nascent Soul stage. At such a close distance, if he hadn't been standing in the purple light, just the aftershock of the space shattering from the giant fork's attack would have turned him into dust.
After the strange purple bird had flown sideways and used its wing to knock away a golden giant fork, the other two giant forks were only seven or eight zhang away from it. The strange purple bird no longer cared about what was behind it. Instead, it flapped its single wing and suddenly accelerated again, flying towards Li Yan. Li Yan, however, saw that after the strange purple bird had slashed with its wing just now, the purple light on its body had dimmed a lot, as if it had consumed a lot of power.
At a distance of twenty zhang, the strange purple bird arrived in front of Li Yan with just a flap of its wing. At this time, Li Yan, enveloped in the purple light, was no longer falling, but was suspended within it. Looking at the strange purple bird that had arrived in the blink of an eye, Li Yan didn't know what the other party was going to do. But this was a genuine Rank Four top-tier Demonic Cultivator, or even higher. But the situation couldn't be worse than before. From the looks of it, it seemed that this senior Demonic Cultivator might have come to the "Flying Sand Grotto-Caves" to search for treasure. It was clear that she had encountered a strong enemy before, which was why she wanted to leave this place. And it was just by chance that he had run into her. But this senior was already seriously injured. But a Nascent Soul Old Monster could not be easily killed. Maybe she could really save him and take him away from this place.
The strange purple bird's next action made Li Yan think that the other party was playing with him. Because the moment it arrived, Li Yan only felt the purple light around him suddenly disappear. As far as his eyes could see, a large patch of purple light was rapidly condensing at an incredible speed. The strange purple bird's huge body was also shrinking rapidly. In less than half a breath, the strange purple bird had shrunk to the size of a palm. Then it shot towards the slowly descending ancient ape puppet. In an instant, it turned into a point of purple light and shot into the ancient ape puppet's body.
And the ancient ape puppet, without receiving an order from Li Yan's Divine Sense, was just floating dazedly in the air.
It wasn't that Li Yan didn't control the ancient ape puppet, but that he was in an even more tragic situation at the moment. The moment he lost the cover of the purple light, unprepared, he and his three magical treasures began to fall downwards at an even faster speed than before. He could only watch helplessly as the large patch of purple light turned into a point and shot into the ancient ape puppet's body. The first thought that flashed through his mind was 'So this Demonic Cultivator wasn't trying to save me, but was seizing the ancient ape puppet because she was too seriously injured, and then take the opportunity to escape.'
This thought had just risen when an even more desperate scene appeared in his vision. Because in the process of his fall, two golden giant forks were constantly enlarging in his pupils, coming at him from below. Although the strange purple bird had pulled away from the other two golden forks just now, they had caught up again in just a moment.
Li Yan hurriedly communicated with the ancient ape puppet with his Divine Sense, because he saw that the ancient ape puppet had not fallen downwards like the other three magical treasures. He wanted to take the opportunity to have the ancient ape puppet pull him up, because now, even if he moved sideways, with the speed of the giant forks, he couldn't possibly fly away and dodge. It was not as fast as controlling with his Divine Sense. But to Li Yan's despair, he found that the wisp of his Divine Sense that he had left in the ancient ape puppet's body had already been disconnected from him.
Such a result was by no means acceptable to Li Yan. But although he was unwilling, the reality was so cruel. He couldn't change his own ending.
The two giant forks kept enlarging in Li Yan's pupils. Li Yan felt his whole body in excruciating pain, about to be melted by the pressure brought by the giant forks. And at this moment, Li Yan felt a coolness coming from above again. Then came a loud roar. To Li Yan's disbelief, the ancient ape puppet, which had been floating dazedly in the air, suddenly erupted with all its spiritual light. A bright green light shone from its body, and its entire figure grew several times larger. In Li Yan's eyes, it was like a sky-supporting giant spirit god.
The ancient ape puppet extended one of its giant palms, and in one go, it scooped up Li Yan and the three magical treasures beside him into its palm, bringing them before its eyes. Then, with its other palm, it directly slapped at the two giant forks whistling up from below.
In the next moment, Li Yan, who was caught in the other palm, only felt the ancient ape's body shake. Then he heard two earth-shaking loud bangs. Through the gaps between the giant ape's fingers, he saw two balls of green and gold light flash below.
From the moment Li Yan was enveloped by the purple light from below, to the appearance of the strange purple bird, to the strange purple bird knocking away the giant fork, flying to Li Yan's side, entering the ancient ape puppet's body, catching the falling Li Yan again, and clashing with the last two golden giant forks, all of this took a very long time to describe, but in fact, it all happened in less than two breaths. Everything was completed in a flash. When the last two golden giant forks were knocked away, the "Die!" shout from the three golden giants before was still ringing in his ears.
It was just that from Li Yan's perspective, he had a more comprehensive view. This was the terrifying thing about cultivators. With a single move, there were a thousand changes in an instant.
Li Yan only felt his vision blur. When he could see clearly, he was already standing on the ancient ape puppet's shoulder. At this time, it should be called a giant ape puppet. Li Yan stood on its shoulder like a dwarf.
Li Yan's mind was a blank. Looking at the giant ape puppet under his feet, he still hadn't reacted to what had happened. Everything was like a dream, not very real. He had just seen through the giant ape's fingers that it had knocked away two golden giant forks with a single punch. Those were the attacks of Nascent Soul stage cultivators. Li Yan couldn't believe that this was that ancient ape puppet.
"Giggle, it really is a Thousand Luo Ancient Ape. It wasn't a waste of my effort. But why are they all low-grade spirit stones? Sigh, hey kid, do you even know how to use it? To waste an Ancient Treasure like this!" A crisp, silver-bell-like voice suddenly came from the ancient ape's mouth. Li Yan was instantly petrified.