Li Yan only spent a day in his Cave Residence before the Ninth Squad received a mission notification. And so, within a side hall of the Heavy Peak Battalion's post, after Bai Rou gave a brief overview of the mission, Li Yan stepped out of the great protective formation of Windy Cool Mountain alongside them.
...
The stars turned and the seasons shifted; time flew by. In this way, Li Yan and the others lived a life of constant peril, moving from one mission to the next.
Sometimes, Li Yan's squad would return to Windy Cool Mountain within a day. Other times, they would spend more than ten days in hiding, caught in a mutual chase of hunter and hunted.
It was impossible to know if it was the heavens protecting them or the gods showing favor, but in the past month and a half, Li Yan's Ninth Squad had only suffered four casualties. Still, that calculated out to one cultivator either dead or injured every ten days or so.
However, when compared to the casualty rates of other squads, Bai Rou's Ninth Squad was doing remarkably well. Some squads suffered five to ten casualties in a single month, a fact that had already instilled a deep fear of carrying out missions in many.
Yet, under the oppressive might of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, very few dared to desert. Those who fled and were caught suffered fates too horrible to describe, with the disaster even extending to the sects behind them.
Although requisitioned cultivators had been sent from the rear, Bai Rou, after discussing it with the others, chose not to bring in more members. Instead, she kept the Ninth Squad at a consistent twenty people.
In other words, after Li Yan joined, only three more cultivators were brought in as replacements.
This place was dominated by disciples from the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Four Symbols Peak, who were most adept at formations.
Therefore, whenever they went out on a mission, they would often divide the twenty members into four five-man teams. These teams would maintain a certain distance from each other, forming a defensive posture that faced all four directions and guarded the center, allowing them to support each other and monitor their surroundings from multiple angles.
The Ninth Squad had a total of six disciples from the Malevolent Spirit Sect. Besides Li Yan, all of them were from the Four Symbols Peak and were experts in joint combat. Each of them could lay out a formation in an extremely short amount of time.
Thus, Bai Rou arranged for the other five to assist them. In an emergency, if these five, who had been martial brothers for years, joined forces, they could deploy a veritable meat-grinding formation in an instant.
By maintaining the squad at this size, Bai Rou and the others could maximize their defensive and concealment capabilities.
The four casualties they had suffered previously were all non-Malevolent Spirit Sect disciples. Three had died, and one was so severely injured that he needed to recuperate.
These four casualties all occurred during a single operation. While scouting a stronghold occupied by the Demon Clan, the four had accidentally triggered a formation restriction set at the foot of the mountain.
This not only immediately alerted the large number of Demon Clan cultivators on the mountain, but the demon's formation had also been laid by an expert. The leading Malevolent Spirit Sect disciple was the first to realize something was wrong. With a furious roar, he barely managed to dodge the attack the instant the formation activated.
The remaining four were not so lucky. Thick smoke billowed from their mouths and noses, and amidst their mournful screams, their flesh and blood melted away, leaving only bare white bones.
Only one of them, who had been farther away, was caught in the periphery. In his desperation, he was rescued by Bai Rou and the others, but not before losing an arm and a leg.
In the end, Li Yan had to frantically activate the Cloud-Piercing Willow to escape, and they were pursued for a full night by a Demon Lord leading the enemy team before they finally shook off the large group of pursuers.
Afterward, whenever he recalled that mission, Li Yan's heart would still pound with lingering fear.
...
In a certain forest, the trees were as thin and sharp as swords, standing in rows and ranks, piercing straight into the sky.
Within the woods, several battle groups were engaged in exceptionally fierce combat. At this moment, Li Yan stood with his hands behind his back on a tree branch that was only two fingers wide.
In front of him, a white vapor churned, coating the surrounding trees in a thick layer of white frost. It made this small patch of the world, in the midst of summer's green shade, feel as if it had entered the depths of a harsh winter.
Within the space enveloped by the white vapor, translucent, crystalline swords would occasionally materialize and slash down...
The sharp swords carried waves of bone-chilling cold. Even from dozens of yards away, it could make one's blood run sluggish.
What was strange was that these frost-cold swords were not wielded by anyone, nor were they being directed by any spell. They seemed to be dancing through the air on their own.
At the edge of this white vapor, a demonic beast the size of a human infant hovered in the air, letting out piercing screeches from time to time.
This demonic beast's wings were like blades of ice, and its body was semi-translucent, its internal organs clearly visible. The blood and organs within its abdomen pulsed slowly, creating an extremely unsettling sight.
Right now, its pair of small, glittering eyes shone with a ferocious light as red as blood. Its long proboscis would periodically emit a sharp shriek, causing the eardrums of the surrounding cultivators to throb painfully.
Those cultivators had no choice but to circulate their energy to resist it, pulling their battles even farther away.
This demonic beast was none other than the Snow Mosquito King. Its small eyes were fixed on a person within the white mist—a human cultivator with a withered body, his eyes flashing with a savage, blood-red glint.
His skin was the color of iron, with narrow eyes and a wide mouth. He wielded a greatsword that looked as if it were carved from a meteorite, using it to fight off the crystalline, cold swords that surrounded him.
The man's appearance was somewhat similar to the foreign cultivators Li Yan had heard stories about. He was like a fierce beast, charging left and right within the white mist as seven exceptionally cold, sharp swords relentlessly besieged and slashed at him.
He roared continuously, his voice shaking the forest, letting out a series of high-pitched shouts that didn't sound human.
Standing on the tree, Li Yan did not make a move, simply watching the battle in the white vapor quietly. The cultivator within the mist gradually began to move with more stiffness and slowness.
His body looked as if it were clad in a thick suit of ice-frost armor. Most frighteningly, every time one of the seven bizarrely cold swords struck the foreign cultivator, the cultivator would spew a puff of white air. With each puff of this white air, the fire of life on his body visibly diminished.
The meteorite greatsword in his hands, which had once been a whirlwind of motion, was now suppressed to his immediate vicinity. As he looked on with a gaze of inexplicable ferocity, his body became firmly stuck to the ground beneath his feet, unable to move another inch.
Long icicles now hung from his hair, mouth, and eyes. He could only rely on his last vestiges of consciousness to desperately circulate the nearly frozen spirit power in his body.
Seeing this, a look of triumph appeared in the eyes of the Snow Mosquito King at the edge of the white vapor. It thought to itself, 'No matter how ferocious you are, you're no match for the sharp swords formed by thirty thousand Snow Mosquitoes. It's a pity that little elephant was taken somewhere by Master last time and hasn't shown up. It won't get to see this Mosquito Lord's heroic posture.'
Just as the Snow Mosquito King was feeling pleased with itself, intending to slowly torture its opponent to death and show the surrounding cultivators just how mighty it was, a cold voice drifted over.
"Little Rascal, what are you still dragging this out for? Hmph!"
Hearing this voice, the Snow Mosquito King's body shuddered violently, as if it felt a pair of cold, merciless, deathly eyes from the depths of its soul staring at it.
But then, its heart filled with a tooth-grinding hatred for that remnant-soul little elephant.
'It's all your fault, with your "rascal this, rascal that"! Now even this baleful star is calling me that... and... and "Little Rascal," why don't you just call me "Little Hooligan"... This Mosquito Lord's bloodline is incredibly pure, you can tell just by looking at my body... No, I have to give that remnant elephant a nickname too...'
After the jolt, although the Snow Mosquito King was filled with reluctance, it dared not show it on its face. In fact, it didn't even dare to look at Li Yan, who stood on the tree with his hands clasped behind him.
The Snow Mosquito King's expression turned solemn, its earlier triumphant look completely gone. In its place, an aura of iron-blooded determination instantly filled the air, as if it had always been this decisive and ruthless.
At this moment, however, the Snow Mosquito King shot a sidelong glance at Li Yan. Seeing that he said no more, it couldn't help but feel quite satisfied with its own performance.
It let out another sharp screech. A vast expanse of crystalline light suddenly appeared from the space beside Li Yan in the rear. The moment this light appeared, the coldness in a radius of several dozen yards intensified abruptly.
The foreign cultivator in the white mist saw this, and a look of utter despair filled his eyes.
A moment later, an unwilling roar echoed from within the white vapor in front of Li Yan, followed by a series of sounds like shattering porcelain.
When the white vapor dispersed, all that remained on the ground was a pile of crystalline, granular ice shards. The Snow Mosquito King, with a storage pouch dangling from its long proboscis, flew fawningly towards Li Yan on the tree.
Without a second glance, Li Yan took the storage pouch. He then pointed to another battle group. The Snow Mosquito King let out an excited screech and, leading a dozen crystalline swords and clouds of white, cold light, charged toward the next fight.
In the distance, there were also three puppets—two large and one small. Just as the Snow Mosquito King finished off its enemy, that battle also concluded in a very short time. Under Bai Rou's control, the three puppets likewise pounced on the next battle group...
Soon, Li Yan, Bai Rou, and the other twenty members had regrouped. Among them, three had pale faces, and two had large patches of blood on them, clearly indicating they had been quite seriously injured. They were off to the side, swallowing medicinal pills to heal.
At this point, the way many of them looked at Li Yan held a newfound respect. Chu Weixiong laughed heartily.
"Junior Brother Li, the icy venom of your demonic beasts is truly domineering. You took on a foreign cultivator all by yourself without even breaking a sweat. This demonic beast is truly peculiar. Why haven't I ever seen a description of such a creature?"
As he said this, many people nodded in agreement. Over this period, although Li Yan's own demonstrated cultivation was only about average among them, he possessed two magical treasures that left others in the dust.
One was the Cloud-Piercing Willow, and the other was this swarm of mosquito-like demonic beasts.
Except for Bai Rou, who knew the origin of the Cloud-Piercing Willow, everyone else assumed it was a gift from Wei Zhongran to Li Yan. They were filled with envy. Having such a master instantly boosted one's own strength by a large margin.
During this time, Li Yan had used the Cloud-Piercing Willow on several occasions to help them escape perilous situations.
Most of the time, it was when they were outnumbered and unable to cope with the enemy.
Another time, they had genuinely encountered a Golden Core cultivator just over two hundred miles away, a distance that far exceeded the strongest divine sense range of a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
If not for Li Yan's "demonic beast mosquito's keen senses," which allowed them to escape the opponent's pursuit at the first moment, the outcome would have been uncertain. Of course, this was all just Li Yan's own excuse for having discovered the Golden Core cultivator himself.
Nevertheless, this had given Li Yan a huge fright. That demon cultivator's concealment abilities were truly brilliant. If the opponent hadn't happened to encounter a scan from one of their own side's Golden Core cultivators' divine senses, forcing him to reveal a slight flaw while hiding, he might have really managed to intercept them at close range.
Li Yan smiled and shook his head. "The foreign cultivators just now were all at the initial or mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. Although formidable, they were still limited. I'm just relying on a slightly better magical treasure, that's all. How could I compare to all of you?"
"Fellow Daoist Li, you're being modest. These demon cultivators and foreign cultivators, even if they've just reached Foundation Establishment, can contend with our mid or late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators based on their own strength. Although we can eventually kill them, a single misstep can come at a price." This requisitioned cultivator gestured toward the three men who were healing off to the side as he spoke.
The three cultivators who were healing, though their eyes were closed, showed embarrassed expressions. They were recent additions to the team. The weakest among them was at mid-stage Foundation Establishment. They had underestimated the demon cultivators and, through carelessness, two of them had nearly lost their lives.