The intensity of Bai Rou's reaction startled even the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant. If it hadn't already opened a one-way exit in the formation, the three puppets would have crashed directly into the formation's restriction.
Immediately after, a mournful cry from the "White Blaze Demon Tiger" was heard from outside.
When the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant looked again, the three Long-armed Giant Ape Puppets were nowhere to be seen outside. In the night, only a few points of red light occasionally streaked past, leaving behind red afterimages. The air was filled with the heavy, muffled sound of something cutting through it.
'Isn't she afraid the puppets can't withstand the power of the Mid-grade Spirit Stones? She opened them to full power instantly...'
The Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was somewhat dumbfounded. The girl who had tears in her eyes just now was so fierce. She attacked the moment she said she would, and she had instantly opened the Mid-grade Spirit Stones to their maximum power. Wasn't she afraid her natal puppets would explode?
Regarding Teng Wuji's sneak attack, Li Yan was not only shaken but also greatly surprised. He had been fully focused, his divine sense at full power. Although not extended far, it had been circling within a few zhang of himself.
The moment Teng Wuji attacked, he had immediately dodged upon sensing it. If he hadn't turned his head in time, his skull would have been split open.
At the same time, he had also secretly swallowed a drop of "Rongsun" liquid. The True Scripture of Gui Water in his body circulated wildly, and his originally shriveled body was rapidly returning to its full state.
Although Teng Wuji was hesitant about Li Yan's true cultivation, his hands didn't stop for a moment. Several dark-gold light clusters had already been unleashed. Even if the opponent was a Golden Core cultivator hiding his cultivation, so what? He wouldn't be afraid at all, unless it was a Pseudo-Nascent Soul or higher cultivator.
He felt that Li Yan was too strange. The spirit power he released was clearly only at the Foundation Establishment stage, but some of his methods were beyond his comprehension, which was astonishing.
If you were to say he was just bluffing with magical treasures, his close-combat prowess was no less than that of an ordinary demon lord.
'This kid has many secrets. It's possible he was secretly cultivated by the Four Great Sects. I must search his soul.'
By now, apart from ruling out that Li Yan was a disciple of the Ten-Pace Courtyard, Teng Wuji still couldn't determine which sect he belonged to. At least, Li Yan hadn't used a flying sword.
But he was more inclined to believe that Li Yan was a disciple of the Jingtu Sect. After all, there were some in the Jingtu Sect who practiced cultivation without tonsure.
When Li Yan saw the dark gold flash in the opponent's hand in the night sky, he knew the man was about to launch those thunder-imbued light clusters again. He didn't dare to linger. His body instantly vanished into the night sky again.
Teng Wuji's several dark-gold light clusters whistled into the distance. With full alertness and the swiftness of the "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill, the light clusters didn't even touch the corner of Li Yan's clothes.
Li Yan now just wanted to stall for time. Since the demonic army was gathering, there would be few cultivators in this area, but they had hope of being rescued.
Li Yan's "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill could be used for nearly the time it takes for an incense stick to burn if he went all out. Any longer and his meridians couldn't bear the load.
With this much time, there was a great hope that rescue from Windy Cool Mountain would arrive.
After dodging several dark-gold light clusters, Li Yan's figure appeared like a ghost dozens of zhang behind Teng Wuji. Li Yan didn't dare to get too far, lest Teng Wuji, unable to find him for a moment, would vent his anger on Bai Rou and the others below.
He wasn't sure how many attacks the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" could withstand from this demonic cultivator.
But this time, as soon as Li Yan's figure appeared, his expression changed drastically. He quickly threw his hands behind him to block. With a deafening "boom," arcs of electricity flashed on Li Yan's hands, and his body was sent flying.
As Li Yan was thrown back, pieces of his clothing shredded like fluttering green butterflies.
Li Yan felt a sharp pain inside his body. His spirit power churned and surged chaotically. A sweet taste filled his mouth, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
With this mouthful of blood, Li Yan felt the sharp pain in his body lessen significantly, but he felt a little dizzy. He forcefully channeled spirit power into his hands, and the arcs of electricity on them were quickly covered by a layer of black qi and disappeared.
Li Yan staggered, not daring to stop. Amidst the churning of his qi and blood, he forcefully gathered his qi and cast a spell. This time, his figure appeared over a hundred zhang away from Teng Wuji.
At this moment, Li Yan looked quite miserable. The sleeves of his robe had been annihilated upon contact during the block, revealing sturdy arms with bulging, twisted green veins.
Although the arcs of electricity were gone, there were several deep, charred marks on Li Yan's arms, but no blood seeped out. The flesh and blood of the wounds had long been scorched by the arcs, forming black scabs.
On his right arm were two charred marks about half a foot long, like two infant mouths, revealing the pristine white bone.
Much of the green robe on Li Yan's body was gone, leaving him in tatters. Patches of his long hair were also scorched and curled. Li Yan seemed to feel nothing.
He raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth, not even looking at his wounds. Instead, he stared intently at Teng Wuji, his heart growing cold. The opponent had finally discovered his secret.
In fact, as long as he fought an enemy of a higher level and couldn't escape immediately, all of Li Yan's secrets would be revealed one by one. Unless he didn't want to live and let the opponent do as they pleased while trying to reserve his strength, which was obviously impossible.
'Even this didn't kill him. Today, even if I can't capture him alive, I can't leave even a sliver of a chance for such a person to live.'
Teng Wuji's pupils shrank abruptly, shooting out two beams of incomparably cold, dark light. In his heart, he had already identified Li Yan as the most core elite disciple secretly cultivated by the Four Great Sects. He just didn't know why they were willing to send him out this time. Seeing Li Yan stagger and reveal himself just now, Teng Wuji instantly confirmed his speculation. He wouldn't give Li Yan a moment's respite. With a flip of his black giant palm, another six dark-gold light clusters appeared.
At the same time, Teng Wuji's cold voice came over. "As expected, your cultivation is not what it seems. Your spirit power is as profound as that of a minor completion Pseudo-Core, yet your divine sense has the strength of a Mid-stage Golden Core. You're making me find this more and more interesting."
Ever since encountering this green-robed boy today, everything had become strange. The opponent had numerous high-quality magical treasures and a formidable physique.
Moreover, he might even have a "single fire attribute Saint Spirit Root." His divine sense was bafflingly strong, yet his own strength was truly only at the Foundation Establishment stage.
After his sneak attack failed, Teng Wuji had already felt that something was wrong. If the opponent didn't have a powerful divine sense, even with a protective magical treasure, his reaction would never have been so fast. At most, the magical treasure would have passively defended against his attack.
But it was clearly the result of the opponent actively dodging. So, for his second attack, Teng Wuji was fully focused and secretly held back a dark-gold light cluster as a follow-up.
Sure enough, his attacks all missed, one by one. The last dark-gold light cluster, under the full control of his divine sense, finally hit the boy. Unfortunately, it still failed to kill him.
Teng Wuji sounded calm as he spoke, but in his heart, he was shocked beyond words. 'A Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense is only a notch weaker than mine. He must have a peerless cultivation method for divine sense. Otherwise, there's no explanation.'
A look of excitement and thrill gradually appeared in Teng Wuji's eyes. He believed he had found the answer, an answer that no cultivator could resist.
As Teng Wuji spoke, his hands moved like lightning. The six dark-gold light clusters that appeared this time were almost instantaneous. In the next moment, the distant Li Yan's expression changed drastically. His body blurred, trailing a long afterimage.
At the same time, Li Yan's hands also waved repeatedly. Countless wind blades instantly filled more than half the sky, shining with a brilliant white light in the night, like ten thousand sharp blades slashing towards the dozen or so dark-gold light clusters.
"Overestimating yourself. This little bit of power is no more than an ant!" Seeing the sky full of snow-like wind blades, Teng Wuji sneered.
An attack from a Golden Core cultivator, and the opponent actually wanted to resist. He truly didn't know the meaning of death.
Sure enough, the moment Li Yan's sky full of wind blades met the dark-gold light clusters, they disappeared in large swathes, like snow meeting the blazing sun.
The dozen or so dark-gold light clusters were only delayed for less than half a breath before they passed through. Then, in the air, they suddenly changed direction and whistled towards an empty spot in the dark night.
And in that previously empty patch of night sky, Li Yan suddenly appeared, his face ashen. The moment he appeared, he disappeared again. Then, with a wave of his hands, countless wind blades, like a goddess scattering flowers, chopped towards the instantly arriving dark-gold light clusters.
This scene finally made Teng Wuji frown, and the killing intent in his heart grew a few degrees colder. 'This kid's spirit power is not only far superior to that of a Pseudo-Core cultivator, but what's most incredible is how fast he can cast his spells. Even an ordinary Golden Core cultivator can't match it.'
You must know, from the time Li Yan first disappeared to now, before he disappeared again, wave after wave of his attacks had been launched, and not even one breath of time had passed.
But the speed at which this strange human boy in front of him cast his spells even surpassed the speed of the dark-gold light clusters.
Although these wind blades couldn't block the dark-gold light clusters much, they did slow them down somewhat.
Teng Wuji was very confused as to how a Foundation Establishment cultivator could cast spells so quickly. Even a body refining cultivator's meridians couldn't take it.
Casting such a large number of wind blade spells placed extremely strict demands on both meridians and spirit power. In particular, the total amount of spirit power passing through the meridians in an instant was simply not something a Foundation Establishment cultivator could bear.
According to Li Yan's two rapid-fire attacks, even a Golden Core cultivator's physical body and meridians would be extremely sore, and there might even be a possibility of rupture. But seeing Li Yan, after casting two waves of sky-filling wind blades, still disappear from his original spot with undiminished speed, it was clear that his meridians were not much affected.
'Among human cultivators, is there such a high-level body refining art? Or is it to say, this kid isn't a human cultivator at all? He must have a demonic beast bloodline, and a high-level one at that, to have such a physique.'
For a moment, Teng Wuji was startled by his own speculation.
At this moment, Li Yan could only continuously use "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens." He was also extremely helpless. He posed no threat to Teng Wuji. Besides constantly running to stall for time, there was no other way.
And now, he might not even be able to stall for long. At most, he could only use the "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill for less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, and that was if he gave it his all.
But now he also had to cast spells to try to block those dark-gold light clusters, which required a large amount of spirit power to be consumed continuously, casting spells like wind blade or fireball from the side to wear down the power contained in the dark-gold light clusters.
If it were any other Foundation Establishment cultivator, without an extremely fast movement skill, besides taking the dark-gold light clusters head-on, there would be no other way. It's estimated that just one attack from Teng Wuji would be enough to take their life.
But Li Yan was able to dodge the trailing dark-gold light clusters head-on in the nick of time, and then release spells to attack from the side, finally causing the power of the six dark-gold light clusters to slowly weaken.
But under such circumstances, even with "Rongsun" to support him, Li Yan estimated that he wouldn't last more than half a cup of tea's time. Replenishing his spirit power was not a problem, but his own meridians had already started to show symptoms of sharp pain.