If Li Yan were to encounter an early-stage Golden Core cultivator now, besides relying on his formidable physical body and newly augmented, abundant Spirit Power to fight, if the opponent attacked him from a distance with an Immortal Art, he would only be able to dodge or flee in disarray.
Thinking of the self-destructed Pine-Inkstone and Qin Chengyi's puppet, Li Yan felt a pang of heartache. The only thing he could refine now was the Folding Fan from Bloodhand Flying Sickle. The items from the He Brothers, who were demonic cultivators, were useless to him.
With a flick of his sleeve, a Folding Fan appeared in his hand. The moment he opened it, the hissing roar of a Flying Sickle Blood Mantis could be faintly heard from within the blood-red surface of the fan.
Li Yan's expression turned solemn. He tossed the fan into the air, where it hovered before him. Without further delay, he began to shoot a series of hand seals, like needle points, into it.
…
Li Yan flew rapidly through the air, standing atop a three-foot-long, verdant willow leaf. He stood against the wind, his hands clasped behind his back.
He was now far from the barren mountain that lacked Spiritual Energy. Nearly a month had passed since he advanced to the Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. He held a Folding Fan in his hand, held vertically against his back. Gazing at the puffs of white clouds rushing towards him, Li Yan felt exceptionally cheerful.
In the past month, he had not only refined the Folding Fan but had also meticulously consecrated the Flying Magical Treasure, the Cloud-Piercing Willow. Now, when he controlled it, the initial clumsiness was gone. With a mere thought, the Cloud-Piercing Willow would move as he willed.
Taking a deep breath of the long-missed fresh air of heaven and earth, Li Yan brought the Folding Fan before his eyes with one hand. After gently opening it, the fan revealed a pale yellow color, devoid of any bloody aura. Instead, the entire surface of the fan exuded a faint hint of nobility.
If a cultivator from the Bloodhand Sect saw this fan now, they would never associate it with Bloodhand Flying Sickle. This was the result of re-refining. Li Yan had now renamed the fan the "Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan." The technique Bloodhand Flying Sickle cultivated was the Bloodhand Sect's secret art, "Burning Fire Blood Sea," and his spirit root was a three-lineage Earth Spirit Root with fire as the main attribute. No matter how much Li Yan refined it, he could not change the fan's fundamental fire-attribute nature, so it remained a fire-attribute Magical Treasure.
The original blood-red color of its surface was a result of Bloodhand Flying Sickle's cultivation method, allowing him to fully exploit his technique's strengths. Now, Li Yan had refined all the blood-red color, absorbing it into the blood river within, to be used for the cultivation of the eight Flying Sickle Blood Mantises inside. The Level 2 initial-stage Flying Sickle Blood Mantis's Essence Soul had also been refined and claimed by Li Yan. This was equivalent to Li Yan gaining a Foundation Establishment initial-stage cultivator as a fighter by his side. At this thought, a smile appeared on Li Yan's face. A Foundation Establishment cultivator, in a third-rate sect, would be a Sect Master or an elder.
During the refining of the "Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan," Li Yan also discovered another way to use the Magical Treasure, which should be its true power. The fan could emit a type of flame. When Li Yan fanned it towards the cave wall, a flame instantly burned a straight channel about a hundred feet deep into the hard rock wall. This left Li Yan dumbfounded, standing there in a daze, before he became excited. The power of this flame was so tyrannical. If he were to attack with his Spirit Power, firstly, he could not create such a straight and smooth channel, and secondly, while blasting a large pit would be easy, reaching a depth of a hundred feet would be impossible.
Li Yan had only heard of the might of a Golden Core cultivator's Alchemical Flame, but in his opinion, although this flame might not be comparable to an Alchemical Flame, it was still a rare Exotic Fire.
In his excitement, Li Yan tried a few more times. To his frustration, after fanning it twice, the flame in the fan began to diminish. By the fifth time, no matter how he drove it, not a single spark emerged. This frustrated Li Yan, and he probed the inside of the fan with his Divine Sense for a serious inspection. But no matter how carefully he searched, he couldn't find anything related to fire. After a long while, Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense and fell into deep thought.
Finally, Li Yan thought of Bloodhand Flying Sickle's cultivation method. Back at the Xuanqing Temple, Daoist Gong had mentioned that his technique was called "Burning Fire Blood Sea." The name alone revealed a thing or two. This fan was definitely related to fire. Besides, how could a Magical Treasure only be used once? Eventually, after some observation, Li Yan discovered that the fire was being generated again. Although it was very little, after watching for half a day, he realized that the fire originated from the blood river within the fan. A sliver would be generated every hour, then transform into a red cloud floating above. After twelve hours, it would form a large patch of red cloud. After twelve hours, although more red cloud would be generated, it couldn't remain in the sky for long, meaning this patch of red cloud would not continue to expand.
This large patch of red cloud, if fully activated, could be used for two consecutive attacks. If used slowly, it could be used multiple times, but the power would be much weaker.
Even so, this meant that Li Yan could only use this fire at full power twice a day. For such a powerful flame, it was a pity. But then Li Yan laughed at himself, feeling that he was being greedy. The reason this Magical Treasure was only elementary-grade was surely because it had its shortcomings. The most mysterious part was the blood river inside the fan. He didn't know what it was refined from, or where Bloodhand Flying Sickle had obtained and refined it. Perhaps the blood river was too small, or the Artifact Refining Grandmaster who crafted this Magical Treasure was not of a high enough level, leading to its low rank. Since he didn't know the origin of this fire, Li Yan decided to call it "Li Fire."
Li Yan felt that knowing this was enough. The Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan was not his Natal Magical Treasure, and it was sufficient for him to use in emergencies.
Lost in thought, Li Yan flew rapidly north.
Soon after, Li Yan began a repetitive cycle of teleporting and transferring. Over the next few days, his journey was smooth, but the cost in Spirit Stones pained him. The Malevolent Spirit Sect's territory was too vast, and he needed to constantly make long-distance teleports.
Four days later, Li Yan once again flew away from a Teleportation Formation. He was now only seventy or eighty thousand li from the territory of the Jingtu Sect. Li Yan decided not to look for any more Teleportation Formations; it was too expensive. At the speed of his current Magical Treasure, he could reach the Jingtu Sect's territory in five or six days. Although he would still be far from the Sea of the Northern Abyss, he would finally have set foot in the Jingtu Sect's domain.
Yuguan City was an important border city of the Jingtu Sect, located relatively close to the area under the Malevolent Spirit Sect's jurisdiction. This was also a city where immortals and mortals coexisted. There was a temple built by the Jingtu Sect in the city, with a Buddha presiding over it and guarding the location.
On this day, outside Yuguan City, a long streak of light tore through the sky. As it approached within a hundred li of Yuguan City, a soft "Eh?" sound came from within the light, and it immediately stopped in mid-air. The light gradually dissipated, revealing a young man with ordinary features. He was dressed in a green robe and stood on a giant willow leaf. It was none other than Li Yan.
Li Yan watched as flashes of light appeared in the distance, both near and far, a strange expression on his face. He stared intently at the city ahead. There, his Divine Sense sensed many mortal auras, as well as the auras of numerous cultivators.
Li Yan had looked up many records concerning the Jingtu Sect, but there was scant mention in these texts about the relationship between sects and mortal dynasties. The paths of immortals and mortals were inherently different. Logically, immortals should not interfere in the internal affairs of mortal dynasties. However, to gain more power and cultivation resources, the four major sects still meddled in mortal affairs, just with different methods. Therefore, these matters were not recorded in the texts.
In the cities under the jurisdiction of the Malevolent Spirit Sect where Li Yan lived, such a situation of immortals and mortals coexisting would not occur. Even if it did, Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators would only appear in the imperial palace, and even then, only one or two of them.
Sensing the large number of mortal auras with his Divine Sense, and seeing the many streaks of light still descending towards the distant city, Li Yan's face showed a hint of confusion, and he stopped in mid-air.
His act of stopping in mid-air seemed rather unconventional, causing the nearby passing streaks of light to pause for a moment. Li Yan felt numerous Divine Senses land directly on him. He couldn't help but frown and let out a soft snort. He no longer concealed his Foundation Establishment aura, releasing it directly. Immediately, he heard cries of surprise from the streaks of light, and many of them quickly distanced themselves.
With Li Yan's current cultivation level, he could roam the world. As for randomly encountering a Golden Core cultivator, the probability was not high. Even in a city like Yuguan City, it was only guarded by a single Buddha. After reaching the Golden Core stage, cultivators spent most of their time either in arduous cultivation or searching for opportunities in remote places to advance to a higher level as soon as possible. They rarely appeared in public, let alone a Nascent Soul Old Monster.
Li Yan paid no more attention to these people, but he also felt it was inappropriate to just stand in the air like this. He decided to continue flying forward and then see what the situation was.
Just as Li Yan was about to move, a thought suddenly struck him, and he simply stood his ground. By now, the cultivators in the streaks of light around him had already flown around him. Behind him, some cultivators were still flying in his direction. Li Yan's Divine Sense swept over them and locked onto one group.
Four streaks of light were flying toward Li Yan's direction. When the leading streak was still a hundred zhang away from Li Yan, it sensed the fluctuation of his aura and abruptly changed direction, flying off to the side.
However, Li Yan's feet glided, and the Cloud-Piercing Willow shot out diagonally. With just a burst of speed, it blocked the path of that streak of light. Seeing this, the people in the other three streaks of light behind accelerated and fled into the distance.
"Fellow Daoist, what is the meaning of this?" Just as Li Yan blocked the path of the streak of light, a shocked and angry voice came from within. The light then came to a halt, revealing three cultivators.
The three cultivators stood on a flying magical artifact. The leader was a burly man with a fierce face and an initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation. Behind him were two young men with only Qi Condensation ninth-level cultivation, staring nervously at Li Yan.
Although the burly man was also at the Foundation Establishment stage, he felt the deep, ocean-like aura from Li Yan. His heart was filled with shock and anger, but he only dared to question him. According to his usual temper, if even an initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator blocked his path like this, he would have attacked without a second word.
Li Yan looked at the burly man, who had a hint of fear on his face, and said calmly, "It was indeed reckless of me. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you, Fellow Daoist. I wonder if I could trouble you for a moment." Li Yan's tone was quite polite, but his actions did not seem particularly so.
Hearing this, the burly man was first stunned, then the expression on his face relaxed slightly. In the world of cultivators, strength was paramount. The opponent's strength was unfathomable, and he had spoken respectfully, giving him some face, which made him feel a little better.
"Oh, what does Fellow Daoist wish to ask? It's just that my cultivation is average, so I might not be able to resolve your doubts," the burly man paused and could only consider himself unlucky. There was no escaping this. He could only suppress his anger and speak.
"It's nothing much. I just wanted to ask why there are so many mortals living in the city here," Li Yan knew what the burly man was thinking, but he didn't care about his dissatisfaction. If a cultivator with a higher cultivation than him treated him this way, he could only swallow his anger as well.
"Just... just... just this question? Fellow Daoist, you are not a native cultivator of the Jingtu Sect, are you? Could it be that this is your first time in the Jingtu Sect's territory?" The burly man was first stunned, then said something that shocked Li Yan.
He had just entered the Jingtu Sect's territory, and he had already been seen through. Why was this?