Li Yan knew his idea was a good one. If he just crushed the iron block, those six people might be freed, and the wisp of their restricted soul would fly back to their original bodies.
But knowing was one thing; Li Yan didn't dare to do it. There were tens of thousands of restriction arts under the heavens.
If the essence souls in the crimson iron block were only under an ordinary restriction art, Li Yan was confident he could break the iron block without harming the essence souls, like breaking open a prison to release the wisp of soul within.
However, if the opponent's restriction art was superior to his, then when Li Yan crushed the iron block, not only would the six Clear Spirit Sect disciples not gain their freedom, but their souls in their original bodies would also be annihilated at that very moment.
Even taking a step back, even if Li Yan was confident, he wouldn't do something so foolish right now. The perception of an essence soul was far more intense than that of divine sense.
The moment he broke the restriction here, the six people over there would immediately sense that their detained souls were freed and would instantly realize that something might have happened to Jiao Hua.
How could Li Yan do such a thankless task? He now wanted to take these two crimson iron blocks and the Luoshu Lake disciple and leave this place. Then he would go back and hand him over to Wei Zhongran.
As for how to break the seal in the iron block, he would let his master and the others worry about it. And how the wisps of souls of the other five Clear Spirit Sect disciples in the iron block could travel ten thousand miles back to their respective bodies was not something Li Yan needed to consider. Even if those wisps of souls were captured by others again, it had nothing to do with him.
Moreover, through this restriction token and what Jiao Hua had said earlier, Li Yan could already be certain that the other, unseen Luoshu Lake disciple had perished.
But this was even better. They wouldn't have to search for the other person, reducing the risk by half.
Furthermore, if they could bring this one Luoshu Lake disciple back alive, not only would they have completed the mission, but the death of the other Luoshu Lake disciple would surely further incite the wrath of that Mid-stage Nascent Soul expert from Luoshu Lake.
Li Yan calculated for a moment. This outcome was better for the war effort.
Thus, Li Yan unceremoniously hung Jiao Hua's storage pouch at his waist. He put the two restriction tokens away separately, but he didn't put them into the Earthen Patch, to avoid revealing the Earthen Patch's secret if he needed to take them out.
At this point, Li Yan turned his gaze back to Jiao Hua, who was half-lying in the chair.
By now, the piercing pain in Jiao Hua's divine sense had eased considerably. Although his body was no longer trembling, fine flecks of blood were continuously bubbling from his mouth, and he looked extremely weak—a sign of severe damage to his divine sense.
Li Yan looked at the scene before him, his eyes narrowed as if he were contemplating something. He didn't leave immediately. After a moment, Li Yan slowly bent down and said softly to the still-conscious Jiao Hua, "In the courtyard just now, I heard about your methods of torturing the cultivators of my Desolate Moon Continent. I suddenly want to try it out myself. What do you think, Fellow Daoist?"
With that, Li Yan stared intently into Jiao Hua's eyes. Upon hearing Li Yan's words, the extremely weak Jiao Hua, whose trembling had stopped, actually swayed slightly.
The venom in his eyes grew even thicker, and there was even a hint of a cruel smile, as if he remembered the cultivators who had wailed and begged him, and he felt a little pleased.
The cold light in Li Yan's eyes grew brighter and brighter, and a soft laugh, as if from the Nine Netherworlds, escaped his lips.
Li Yan's voice was like something from the Asura hell. "Hehehe, I've heard that the bodies of demonic cultivators are incomparably tough, able to withstand even magical treasures. In that case, I won't use poison. Let's just see how powerful your body is."
With that, Li Yan suddenly extended his right index finger, curling the other four fingers into a fist. Then, he pointed a finger at the bald demonic cultivator's chest. Seeing Li Yan's finger pointing at his chest, a hint of disdain appeared in Jiao Hua's venomous gaze.
He was now certain that the person before him was a human cultivator in disguise. Did he really think that by transforming into the appearance of a demon clan cultivator, he would have the strength of the demon clan? Even if the other party was a Golden Core cultivator, he would only be stronger in terms of magic power and divine sense.
He was actually a little flustered, but seeing that there was not the slightest fluctuation of spirit power on Li Yan's finger, Jiao Hua temporarily relaxed. The other party seemed to want to pierce his chest with sheer physical strength. That was just a dream.
However, Jiao Hua also knew that if the other party failed to pierce his chest with one finger, in his anger and shame, he would definitely use magic power, or even some kind of poison. At that time, he would also die. But he still wanted to see the other's embarrassed and angry expression now.
As Li Yan's index finger pressed down, a faint silver light appeared on it. This faint silver light initially startled Jiao Hua.
But then, Jiao Hua still didn't feel any spirit power fluctuations from the other's finger, and only then did he understand. No wonder the other party was so confident. He had also practiced a Body Refining Art. This faint silver glow must be a manifestation of some Body Refining Art.
Very quickly, Jiao Hua's expression changed dramatically. Li Yan's movement was not very fast. His index finger first pierced through the black refined armor on Jiao Hua. At this point, Jiao Hua already sensed that something was wrong.
Although the black refined armor on his body was not a magical treasure, it was a high-grade spirit artifact. In his imagination, even a Golden Core cultivator striking with just their physical body would feel some resistance. But just now, the other party was like piercing a wet piece of paper; the black refined armor offered no resistance at all.
Li Yan's index finger next touched his sturdy skin, which was like black demonic rock. Li Yan's eyes remained indifferent as he stared into Jiao Hua's. Although the venom in Jiao Hua's eyes did not diminish, a bad feeling had already risen in the depths of his heart.
However, Jiao Hua also had his own trump card. If the other party really thought he was helpless after being poisoned, who would be the unlucky one in the end was not yet certain.
As long as he was alive, even if he couldn't use his spirit power, he had one last method for a desperate struggle.
Even if Li Yan's finger could penetrate his body, if it touched a certain joint inside him, he might be able to use the flow of blood to drive his tendons and bones, and in an instant, firmly clamp down on this person's finger or wrist. The force of that instant could even snap the other's bones.
But to use this method, Jiao Hua would also have to pay a great price. He would need to mobilize all the blood qi in his body in a very short time, and a large number of his internal organs would be crushed. The best outcome for him would be to preserve his soul and find a new body.
Jiao Hua was now thinking that even if he died, he had to make this cultivator pay a heavy price. He would either have to carry his corpse out, or sever his own arm. In that case, he would surely be exposed.
Thinking of this, Jiao Hua's mind raced. He suddenly felt that he should let Li Yan's finger pierce into his chest, but he also wanted to see the embarrassed and angry look on Li Yan's face when he failed to pierce his body. For a moment, he hesitated.
Just as a series of thoughts flashed through Jiao Hua's mind, his eyes suddenly bulged, his mouth flew open, and a stream of blood shot out, because Li Yan gave him no extra time to think.
Li Yan's finger was like plunging into a block of tofu, straight through the skin that Jiao Hua believed to be incomparably strong. Jiao Hua had no time to react. Li Yan's finger, along with a good portion of his forearm, instantly sank in.
Jiao Hua was jolted awake by the sudden, intense pain. Fear, disbelief, bewilderment, and unbearable agony made Jiao Hua's expression extremely complex. And until now, he hadn't had the chance to use his final trump card. The other party had shattered everything with unstoppable momentum.
At this time, Li Yan's index finger was already touching Jiao Hua's spine. With a little more force, he could pierce through Jiao Hua's body from front to back. But Li Yan didn't do that. When his finger entered Jiao Hua's body, he had avoided vital organs like the heart, precisely because he didn't want Jiao Hua to die easily.
After his index finger touched Jiao Hua's spine, he curled it back, firmly hooking onto the spinal bone, and then seemed to pull sharply into Jiao Hua's body.
With a crisp "crack," Jiao Hua's spine was snapped in two. The intense pain distorted his facial features. And what Jiao Hua lost even more was his hitherto indestructible confidence.
He had once believed that the warriors of the demon clan were powerful, that they could destroy all enemies with just their fierce physical bodies. After he and his clansmen arrived in the South Sea, they had indeed achieved this.
If the cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent didn't have magical treasures, their ridiculously weak spells would hit their bodies, and sometimes they wouldn't even bother to dodge. They would let the opponent cast their spells while they laughed wildly and charged. If the opponent got close enough to take a blow from them, they would either explode into a cloud of blood mist or have their bones broken and tendons torn.
But today, he felt the terror of the cultivators of the Desolate Moon Continent. Yet, a thought still forcibly rose in Jiao Hua's mind: "This is a powerful Golden Core, or even a Nascent Soul. It's not that I'm not strong enough, but that the opponent's realm is too high."
A cold smile on his face, Li Yan looked at Jiao Hua's miserable state, in pain yet unable to scream. He slowly withdrew his right hand.
"You call yourselves the strongest Body Cultivators, but you're nothing special. I know you're not convinced, but I have to tell you, I'm just a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Look at your expression. The power of the Desolate Moon Continent is not something you can comprehend."
As Li Yan spoke, his blood-stained right hand once again pointed at the spot below Jiao Hua's chest...
A moment later, Jiao Hua's body was in a strange, arched-back position, half-lying in the chair. There were three bloody holes from his chest to his abdomen. Although blood was oozing out, it couldn't gush out, having been sealed at the surface of Jiao Hua's body by a spell from Li Yan, making it look extremely terrifying and cruel.
Jiao Hua's spine was broken in several places, all from Li Yan inserting his finger from the front, hooking onto the bone, and snapping it.
By now, Jiao Hua's face was streaked with lines of blood that had burst from his orifices due to the pain. If he could make a sound, he would have long been begging Li Yan to kill him.
This human who claimed to be just a "Foundation Establishment cultivator" was too vicious. He not only tortured him but also constantly attacked him with words. Every time he broke his spine, he would say he was too weak. And now Jiao Hua was in this state, like a pile of rotten meat, without a trace of the demonic cultivator's strength.
Jiao Hua felt as if his Three Huns and Seven Pos were in purgatory. He just wanted to die quickly, but his physical body was too strong, making it impossible for him to even pass out.
With every breath, Jiao Hua felt as if a red-hot iron wire was being slowly pulled and sawed inside his body. The pain in his back was especially unbearable. It was truly a pain that went bone-deep.
Although Li Yan had broken his spine, he had viciously sent a trace of spirit power each time to protect the meridians on it, keeping the blood flow in his spine unobstructed.
As blood flowed past the broken parts of his spine, it felt as if someone was rubbing the two broken bone ends together. Jiao Hua was now covered in sweat, his muscles spasming uncontrollably.
Li Yan held his palm out in the air, and a small dark cloud appeared above it, in a moment washing the sturdy arm of the transformed demonic cultivator clean.
A corner of his mouth twitched, and he finally said with a sigh, "What a pity. If I take your Demonic Core now, you'll die immediately and won't be able to feel any more pain. To keep you in this state, your Demonic Core can only be wasted like this."
At this moment, Jiao Hua felt that the other party was the real demonic cultivator, the truly evil demon. He was a helpless baby standing on a dark wasteland, only able to feel the sneers coming and going from the darkness around him, and the bone-chillingly cold wind.