Li Yan first brought the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief before his eyes, examining it meticulously. In the past, although he knew its function was somewhat heaven-defying, he only knew it was a very powerful Magical Treasure. But ever since he learned of the existence of a type of Magical Treasure called "Ancient Treasure," Li Yan had developed a keen interest.
The Heaven-Stealing Kerchief was as smooth as water, slipping through his hands like flowing silk. Li Yan immersed his Divine Sense into it and found, as before, a web of crystalline threads. They were interwoven without any discernible pattern, tangling before spreading out in other directions. At the center of these pure white, jade-like threads were numerous translucent red threads. This was the location of the red maple leaf embroidered on the kerchief. Viewed from within by his Divine Sense, these intertwined red crystalline threads resembled a ruby, firmly occupying the center of the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, stretching from heaven to earth like curtains of red silk descending from the sky.
Li Yan's Divine Sense carefully observed the area near the red threads. He wanted to see if he could identify them as ancient materials. After a long while with no particular discovery, Li Yan cautiously controlled a wisp of his Divine Sense to touch one of the red threads. He immediately felt a sharp pain in his Divine Sense.
'As expected. It seems my cultivation is still too shallow. The threads embroidering the red maple leaf are likely the ancient or primordial materials used to refine this Magical Treasure. What they are is not something I can investigate right now.'
Li Yan frowned, enduring the sharp pain as he withdrew that wisp of Divine Sense. He had known this result from before. Gazing at the white jade threads in the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief for too long would make him dizzy and nauseous, and every time he touched the red threads at the center, he would be asking for trouble. It was just that he didn't know about Ancient Treasures before and had only guessed that it was the core formation of the kerchief, a protective restriction set by its refiner.
Now, having heard a little about the origin of Ancient Treasures, Li Yan guessed that while the red threads were likely the core formation of the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, they were also an ancient or even more ancient material. This material itself should possess the ability to ignore restrictions. In that case, the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief might have other uses that he was simply unaware of.
Even knowing just this little bit made Li Yan incredibly excited. He believed that as his cultivation continued to improve, he would one day figure out the origin and function of the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief. This time, if not for the kerchief, he might have already perished in the Astral Wind or been captured by Ancestor Redfire. He would certainly not have met Shuang Qingqing.
Li Yan had already refined the "Heaven-Stealing Kerchief" before, but he always felt a sense of disconnect when using it. Now he understood the reason. The kerchief likely had its own unique cultivation and control manual, which was required to truly wield it.
Having confirmed that the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief was likely an Ancient Treasure, Li Yan's mood brightened considerably. He glanced at the Folding Fan, and after a moment's thought, he did not open it. Instead, with a wave of his hand, he stored the Cloud-Piercing Willow, the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, and the Folding Fan away. He had more important matters to attend to.
Li Yan's Divine Sense sank into his body, appearing in his Dantian's Purple Mansion in the next moment. Gazing at the five cauldrons of Spirit Power shrouded in watery mist, Li Yan was somewhat lost in thought. He remembered when he first started cultivating the True Scripture of Gui Water; back then, there were only five small Spirit Power jars in his dantian, their Spirit Power so weak it seemed it could dissipate at any moment. Now, not only had the entire dantian lake expanded several dozen times, but the five great cauldrons floating upon it also shone with a textured, deep light. The Spirit Power within them was as endless as the tide. For a moment, Li Yan was filled with a multitude of emotions, his thoughts surging like a flood.
After a long while, Li Yan took a deep breath. His hands swiftly formed an ancient and complex seal in front of his chest. A pained expression appeared on his face, followed by the appearance of colorful, scalp-numbing patterns on his exposed skin. They writhed ceaselessly beneath his skin as if about to burst forth, a horrifying sight to behold.
Li Yan's expression was one of agony, but the hand seals he formed were not chaotic in the slightest. His ten fingers moved like flying butterflies, forming one seal after another. As the seals were formed, runes of five colors—black, green, crimson, yellow, and white—flew out from between his fingers. After flying out, these runes swirled around Li Yan's body before combining into groups of five, forming larger runes. Then, in time with his breathing and following the sequence of black, green, crimson, yellow, and white, he inhaled them one by one into his body.
As his hands formed seals with increasing speed, the pain on his face did not lessen but grew even more twisted, making his ordinary features appear utterly ferocious. His entire body flickered unstably, illuminated by the growing number of five-colored runes. In the dark Cave Residence, he looked like a cocoon of fire, flaring and dimming, both demonic and ghostly.
At this moment, Li Yan was undoing the seal that contained the potent poisons. These poisons were obtained from devouring the rare poisonous Spirit Qi and the venom of rare demonic beasts from the Huchen Ancestor's Magical Treasure. Sealing them had seemed easy, but once he began to release and absorb them, the process would be excruciatingly painful for Li Yan.
Li Yan intended to use this Poisonous Spirit Qi and venom to reach the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. He had entered the Foundation Establishment stage less than half a year ago. According to normal cultivation, it would likely take several years, or even more than ten, to reach the mid-stage. But with the heaven-defying cultivation method of the True Scripture of Gui Water, where the five elements catalyzed each other, this process could be shortened to about three years. Similarly, the True Scripture of Gui Water would have this effect when he broke through to the late-stage Foundation Establishment and the Pseudo-Core Realm. But when it came to Core Formation, it would be the same as for Li Wuyi and the others; it would depend on opportunity. It was very normal to be stuck between the Pseudo-Core and Core Formation for several decades or even a century.
The path of cultivation Li Yan walked was different from that of the normal Five Immortal Sects cultivators. He also possessed the Fragmented Poison Body, which allowed him to rely heavily on external objects to break through. In fact, for Poison Cultivators, using external items to break through their own realms was a common cultivation path.
The path of a Poison Cultivator was an unorthodox one, and their advancement speed was often many times faster than that of normal cultivators. They would either devour Poison Pills, or absorb the venom of poisonous insects, using potent poisons to forcefully stimulate the meridians in their bodies or mutate their Spirit Power to seek an alternative breakthrough. The methods of some disciples from the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Spirit Insect Peak and Never-Parting Peak were even more extreme, causing others to pale at the mere mention. They would often merge with their symbiotic demonic beasts or Gu-insects, allowing these supremely poisonous creatures of the world to live inside them. When they cultivated, their symbiotic demonic beasts and insects would also cultivate. As the creatures grew stronger, the master's strength would also continuously increase in a complementary fashion. When cultivated to the deepest level, the cultivator and the creature within them would become one. If one died, the other would perish simultaneously—an utterly vicious method.
Although the amount of Poisonous Spirit Qi and venom Li Yan had swallowed this time was not enormous, the poisonous spirit plants and demonic beasts in the Huchen Ancestor's Magical Treasure were rare species. The poison they contained had reached a chilling level. If Li Yan were to release all the potent poison he had swallowed this time, he could poison a city of one hundred thousand people in less than half a day. This was no exaggeration.
It was precisely because of the existence of such a vast amount of Poisonous Spirit Qi in his body that Li Yan was confident in attempting to break through to the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Moreover, he could not suppress it for too long. If the seal were to break, it would be fatal for him. The instantaneous eruption of poison would be something even he, with his Fragmented Poison Body, could not withstand. Therefore, he had to put everything aside and enter seclusion to cultivate, releasing the terrifying power within the seal little by little to refine it himself.
This process was complex and painful. Li Yan first needed to refine the Poisonous Spirit Qi and venom, which were not of the same attributes, into his own Five Elements Spirit Qi. Then, he had to perform Heavenly Cycle circulation again and again to purify the Spirit Power that did not come from his own cultivation. After the purification was complete, he needed to rebalance the Spirit Power in the five cauldrons. If any one attribute's Spirit Power was in excess, even if it meant waste, it had to be expelled from his body to maintain the balance of the Five Elements Generating Cycle. Only then, after quietly conditioning his state, could he make the final attempt to break through the Bottleneck. Li Yan estimated that this would take at least three to five months to complete.
The place Li Yan had found was a remote and barren mountain range he had located after searching many places. There was not a shred of Spiritual Energy here. However, since Li Yan was refining the poisonous Spirit Power in his body, he had no need to absorb the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth. The lack of Spiritual Energy on this barren mountain meant that very few demonic beasts appeared, and cultivators stayed far away. Usually, only some wild beasts without awakened intelligence roamed about. They were utterly incapable of breaking through the several layers of formations Li Yan had set up, so it was quite safe. With his hands forming seals, Li Yan slowly began to undo the seal within his body.
Two million li north of the barren mountain where Li Yan was located, there was a medium-sized city called "Da Ning City." This area was already within the jurisdiction of the Jingtu Sect. The city's population exceeded five hundred thousand, and surprisingly, worldly people accounted for more than seventy percent.
The Jingtu Sect was somewhat similar to the Supreme Mystery Teachings; most of their cities had immortals and mortals living together. This was a stark difference from the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Ten-Pace Courtyard. The reason was actually related to their respective legacies. The Jingtu Sect and the Supreme Mystery Teachings were two great traditions that believed in Buddhism and Daoism. In both sects, whether they were monks or Daoist priests, besides cultivating Spirit Power, they also needed to cultivate Willpower and Votive Power. This was actually a unique power that was not among the five elements, belonging to the Power of Faith.
Buddhism and Daoism were staunch practitioners of the Power of Faith. Willpower and Votive Power could not be obtained through self-cultivation. It required building temples and monasteries and having people continuously worship and believe. Over time, the statues of deities in the temples and monasteries would generate Buddhist Willpower and Daoist Votive Power. This power could be absorbed by the monks or Daoist priests. High-level Buddhas and Daoists could even devour it from afar through the golden bodies sculpted for them. Neither Willpower nor Votive Power was the Spirit Power of cultivation, but in some aspects, their might was even stronger. Therefore, when facing monks and Daoists, one had to be wary not only of their cultivation techniques but also of their other methods of attack. The most difficult to defend against were attacks of Willpower and Votive Power. Their attacks were bizarre and extremely difficult for Divine Sense to detect. Once unleashed, very few of those struck would survive.
Given this characteristic, the Jingtu Sect and the Supreme Mystery Teachings would not only intervene in mortal dynasties but also build temples and monasteries in the secular world, spreading the benefits of Buddhism and Daoism to make more people believe in and worship them, in hopes of obtaining more Willpower and Votive Power. Although there were many temples and monasteries within the domains of the Jingtu Sect and Supreme Mystery Teachings, the places where immortals appeared were often only a few of the larger cities. In other places, they would only send people to build temples and monasteries, but immortals rarely appeared there. After all, the paths of immortals and mortals were different.
And in the few larger cities under the jurisdiction of these two great sects, although immortals and mortals coexisted, the cities were also divided into zones. Some places were only accessible to immortals, and most mortals would never know what was inside for their entire lives, let alone enter. But they knew that land-walking immortals existed.
The Ten-Pace Courtyard and the Malevolent Spirit Sect, however, only had control over the dynasties they governed and rarely appeared in mortal cities. This was the biggest difference.
Da Ning City was only three hundred thousand li from the Jingtu Sect, which was not too far for some cultivators.
On this day, in a secret chamber in Da Ning City, the room was filled with panting. Waves of white flesh rolled as a naked man held a beautiful woman in his arms within a red vine-like canopy, breathing heavily. The beautiful woman clutched the man's strong back, her face flushed crimson, her eyes misty. Following a roar from the man, the beautiful woman's snow-white body went ramrod straight, trembling a few times before she lay back limply on the bed.