Mingdu City had four gates, located in the four cardinal directions. At each gate, there were ten Demon Clan soldiers in the Qi Condensation stage openly standing guard.
However, Li Yan sensed several powerful auras secretly scanning the entire city from time to time.
This was also the reason why he had spent two extra spirit stones to rent a room with a defensive formation.
Those Divine Senses that secretly patrolled the city would not forcibly enter a formation, but would just sweep past, ensuring that no major incidents occurred in Mingdu City.
Of course, Li Yan could also rent a room without a defensive formation. He thought that if he set up a formation in the room, the other party would not forcibly break through it either.
However, that would attract the attention of observant people, so Li Yan preferred to spend a few more spirit stones.
"Mingdu City is only about sixty li in circumference. In two hours, I sensed eight extremely strong auras."
Although Li Yan did not dare to sense them carefully, he could be sure that the owners of these auras were all Golden Core cultivators.
Among them, the auras of two people were unusually powerful, giving Li Yan the feeling of two dormant ferocious beasts.
Although he did not dare to investigate carefully, he could roughly determine that the other parties were late-stage Golden Core cultivators.
Li Yan did not expect that in a town with a radius of only sixty li, there could be two late-stage Golden Core experts.
It was just that he did not know if these people were stationed in Mingdu City, or if they were powerful experts who had settled in this city.
A forty-li town was already considered very large for mortals, but for a cultivator like Li Yan, it was a matter of a single thought.
A distance of several dozen li, even for a Qi Condensation stage cultivator without using a flying artifact, would not take too long to run a lap.
So, Mingdu City was not large at all, but rather very small.
However, Mingdu City was not like "Zhouyang Town," which was in the middle of a battlefield. So, the Golden Core cultivators here did not constantly release their Divine Senses to patrol.
This was also unnecessary. Any disturbance in the city would be almost under their noses and could be sensed in an instant.
Li Yan rubbed his chin. In this case, he might have an opportunity to exploit.
Li Yan could confirm that there was only one mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator in the Hundred Dao Heavenly Treasure Pavilion. It was just that that person was not in the front shop of the Hundred Dao Heavenly Treasure Pavilion; his aura was coming from the courtyard behind.
"The Hundred Dao Heavenly Treasure Pavilion is not very famous. When I asked some mortals about it before, some knew of it, and some did not."
"The scale of the shop is not eye-catching. Many shops in the city have two or three Foundation Establishment cultivators stationed, and some even have Golden Core cultivators."
"It would be too easy for this kind of shop to conceal the power behind it. It would be very difficult to investigate."
"Even if the other party is just an ordinary shop, as long as you make some arrangements with them in advance, what's wrong with them collecting a jade slip for you?"
"After all, the thing I'm here to deliver to Zhao Min is not some cultivation method or immortal art, just some verbal messages."
"Considering all these factors, it will be difficult for me to find Zhao Min."
"I can't use force here. If something goes wrong, the stationed Golden Core cultivator will kill me first."
After comparing the map, Li Yan began to think about some of the things he had discovered about the Hundred Dao Heavenly Treasure Pavilion.
Since the sect Zhao Min was in did not want Li Yan to know the situation and wanted Zhao Min to cultivate in peace, it was, of course, normal to set some obstacles for Li Yan.
If Li Yan acted recklessly and was killed by others in the end, the other party would be very happy to see it.
It would both relieve Zhao Min of her worries and the sect itself would bear no responsibility—killing two birds with one stone.
Li Yan constantly calculated his next plan in his mind. He would definitely have to go to the Hundred Dao Heavenly Treasure Pavilion openly, otherwise, how could he pass his message to Zhao Min?
But how to probe the other party's background without alerting them, that was the key.
Li Yan also had to consider, if he could not find the information he wanted in the shop, what would he do next?
Would he secretly knock the other party out and take them away in the "Earthen Patch"?
But there were too many Golden Core cultivators here. Li Yan was not confident that he could do it silently. The biggest accident would not be on Li Yan's side, but on the other party's.
Li Yan did not know if the other party had any life-saving means, such as a powerful defensive magical treasure or talisman on them.
If his one attack was blocked by the other party's magical treasure or talisman automatically unsealing for defense, it would definitely alert the Golden Core cultivators in the city.
Besides, even if he successfully took the other party away, should he kill them or not in the end?
No matter what the situation, as long as this person's disappearance was discovered, the sect behind Zhao Min would guess that he did it. Would it bring any trouble to Zhao Min?
For a time, a thousand thoughts ran through his mind. Li Yan felt that he was too constrained and could not let go.
After a long time, Li Yan could only sigh in his heart. Because there were some things he did not understand, he still could not come up with a better plan.
This time, he really could only take one step at a time. This was completely different from Li Yan's usual style of doing things, which made him feel completely uncertain about this trip.
For the next day or so, Li Yan did not leave his room, but stayed quietly inside. He was reading the various classics about the Forsaken Continent that he had bought from the shops in the city.
These classics could help Li Yan understand more about the Forsaken Continent, which would be very helpful for his actions. So he would rather spend more time on this than act rashly.
However, when Li Yan saw these classics in the shop before, he was also stunned. He had not expected that there would be so many classics about the Forsaken Continent just lying out there. In the markets of the Desolate Moon Continent, such historical classics of the cultivation world were extremely rare. For a time, Li Yan even thought that there were not many authentic copies here.
Most of them were just unofficial histories used to exchange for some spirit stones.
But looking at the shop assistant's nonchalant appearance, Li Yan felt that he might have guessed wrong. After probing for a while, he was relieved.
The Forsaken Continent was originally a plane where many foreign races gathered.
It was very normal for shops here to sell this kind of classic. Every cultivator who first came to the Forsaken Continent would first want to understand this continent as quickly and as much as possible.
The most primitive way was to ask around, or take the opportunity to inquire, or even use methods like soul-searching.
As a result, the merchants of the Forsaken Continent recorded their origins in classics for sale, which became a way to earn spirit stones.
Although a single classic might sell for less than half a spirit stone, and sometimes several classics together only cost one spirit stone, the number of foreign cultivators was huge, and this income added up to be very considerable.
Moreover, there was no difficulty in engraving this kind of classic, and there was no need to worry about cultivators seeking revenge later.
What was recorded here was something that almost every native cultivator of the Forsaken Continent knew. They were not afraid of you checking. If it was wrong, it meant everyone was wrong, and you couldn't blame the seller.
However, you couldn't hope to get any too-secret things in this kind of classic. At most, it would be appended with some unofficial histories and interesting anecdotes.
But even so, for Li Yan, it was like finding a treasure. The information he had obtained in Shan Yiyuan's small village was just the tip of the iceberg for him.
Li Yan read the few classics over and over again. He began to repeatedly deduce the answers that were not on the classics from every small detail.
Slowly, he would combine it with his current situation and plan his next steps and procedures.
After more than half a day, Li Yan finally put the classics into his storage pouch. He slowly stood up and began to pace back and forth in the room.
He had learned many things from the classics that he had never heard of before. For example, the Black Demon Clan was ruled by the largest sect called the "Demon God Hall."
The Black Demon Clan was a race that loved to kill. The cultivation methods they practiced were basically of the fierce and powerful type. These cultivation methods usually required a large amount of Demonic Qi to support their cultivation.
Demonic Qi and Demon Crystals were the unique cultivation resources of the Black Demon Clan. They were all produced after being covered by those spirit plants that could produce Demonic Qi.
Demon Crystals were the essence of extremely dense and pure Demonic Qi, a kind of crystalline mountain range that had slowly materialized in places with dense Demonic Qi since ancient times.
A small Demon Crystal often contained an astonishing amount of Demonic Qi.
And after cultivating with Demonic Qi for a long time, the Demonic Origin Power produced in the Demonic Core far exceeded the origin power cultivated with spirit stones. This was also the reason why the Black Demon Clan most advocated cultivating with Demonic Qi.
But it was criticized by the White Demon Clan, who believed that it defiled the most holy bloodline of the Demon Clan, and that that Demonic Qi was the evil power emitted by demons.
The Black Demon Clan was a warlike race that liked to invade other continents across realms. They constantly tried to expand their territory, invading one plane after another.
And they continuously brought those demonic plants that could produce a large amount of Demonic Qi into other planes, causing many planes to be filled with demonic shadows and soaring Demonic Qi.
As for which planes the Black Demon Clan had invaded so far, the classics Li Yan bought did not record it, and Li Yan had no way of knowing for a time.
Combining this with the current attitude of the White Demon Clan towards human cultivators, Li Yan also confirmed that the White Demon Clan cultivators did not participate in supporting the invasion of the Desolate Moon Continent from behind the scenes.
At the same time, since ancient times, no one had ever discovered the appearance of White Demon Clan cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent.
Moreover, in these classics from the White Demon Clan, whenever the Black Demon Clan was described, words like brutal, insatiable, and bloodthirsty were invariably used to depict this mutated race.
There were also many other racial sects and families within the jurisdiction of the Black Demon Clan.
But strangely, the Black Demon Clan was very hostile to the Human Race. It could be said that they would kill them on sight.
They also did not allow human cultivators to establish sects in the eastern region, and would even send people to secretly sneak into the western White Demon Clan's territory to assassinate human cultivators.
However, the Black Demon Clan had an attitude of recruiting cultivators of other races. This point made Li Yan very puzzled.
As for why the Black Demon Clan targeted the Human Race in this way, there was not a single explanation in all the classics Li Yan bought. It seemed that these authors were very wary of this matter.
It was unknown whether they really did not want to mention it, or if it was a high-level secret that they knew nothing about.
In contrast, among all the other racial sects, the White Demon Clan was the most friendly with the Human Race, as if it were deliberately done to target the Black Demon Clan.
This reminded Li Yan of the attitude of the three White Demon Clan cultivators towards him at the city gate a few days ago.
"At least this way I know that the Human Race still has a certain status in the western part of the Forsaken Continent. I don't have to worry about being hunted down by the Demon Clan because of my human identity."
It was just that as time passed, Li Yan saw a very cryptic sentence in a newer classic. Li Yan was already trying to figure out the authenticity and information in these classics.
He finally understood the meaning of the words, which was that "the current White Demon Clan is slowly treating the Human Race on the same level as other races. The Human Race is slowly losing some of its advantages."
Regarding this, Li Yan's thought was that the Human Race might have had some connection with the White Demon Clan a long time ago, either a mutual interest, or a promise made by the great powers of both sides.
Only with this explanation did Li Yan feel that it made sense.
But now, in general, both he and Zhao Min had descended upon the White Demon Clan's territory. It had to be said that this was the work of luck in the unseen world.
The current White Demon Clan was ruled by the "Sacred Demon Palace." This was the descendant of the oldest and most primitive Demon Clan. Even the Black Demon Clan had to admit this.