After closing the door, Li Yan immediately sat down cross-legged and began to meditate again. Everything was proceeding according to his plan, which left him very satisfied.
Fang Guangjun's identity had been discovered by the Feng family, and they should have already notified the Falling Star Valley. The reason he said "should have" was because Feng Zaiyu's account had not actually told him anything about Fang Guangjun. He had only said that several Falling Star Valley disciples had perished here, and that Senior Fang was discussing the matter with the two Feng family ancestors. He had also told Li Yan to stay put and not disturb Senior Fang, and that they would be able to set off back to the sect in a day.
'A day later, hehehe. Someone from the Falling Star Valley will definitely be here tomorrow!'
This was them using Fang Guangjun's name to make him stay put. The Feng family had only two Foundation Establishment cultivators. Under the current circumstances, no one would leave the family estate, so naturally, the Falling Star Valley would have to send someone over. Otherwise, were he and Feng Tao supposed to take Tang Tian's and the others' souls back by themselves?
After sensing several more Divine Senses sweep past in the dark, a slight smile touched the corners of Li Yan's lips as he sat with his eyes closed.
'They're quite cautious. They don't fully believe Tang Tian's and Wu Yizhen's words either. They're afraid I've disguised myself too well and fooled the others.'
Of course, Li Yan didn't care about these Divine Senses monitoring him in secret. He just let them watch. In any case, he would just stay put peacefully and return normally after a day.
Time passed bit by bit. When it was late at night, Li Yan, who was in the middle of cultivating, suddenly snapped his eyes open. His gaze instantly fixed on a certain direction, as if he wanted to see through the layers of walls and courtyards to something far away.
"Hm? Strange, could my senses be wrong?"
The next moment, Li Yan's Divine Sense seeped into the Earthen Patch. After just a few breaths, Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense with a look of confusion. Subsequently, he quietly closed his eyes again. After about another hour had passed, he suddenly opened his eyes again. In the next instant, his figure had already silently vanished from the room.
All that was left in the room was the dazed Snow Mosquito King, and Li Yan's voice echoing in its mind.
"Transform into me and stay here!"
The Snow Mosquito King was so angry it almost spat out a mouthful of old blood. It had been in the middle of cultivating when Li Yan had unceremoniously yanked it out, causing the qi and blood in its body to surge and nearly triggering a backlash from the potent poison it was cultivating.
"You... you... you... O, heavens, please save me..."
The Feng family cultivators, however, were completely unaware of this. In the occasional sweeps of their Divine Sense, Zhang Ming was still sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
In the dark of night, Li Yan's figure was like a ghostly shadow. With just a flicker, he had already flown high into the sky. He looked around, got his bearings, and instantly merged back into the thick night.
More than three hundred li due east of the Feng family's fortress, there was a very large lake. The lake was about five or six hundred li in size, vast and boundless. Under the starlight of the deep night, the lake's surface shimmered, stretching endlessly. Against the backdrop of the dark night, it appeared exceptionally quiet and gloomy.
Occasionally, the cry of a bird from the forest near the shore would pierce the night sky, sounding particularly sinister and harsh. Coupled with the undulating bushes under the starlight, which stretched into the pitch-black jungle like crouching monsters, the sight was enough to make one's scalp tingle.
On the tranquil surface of the lake, there was a sudden, slight distortion. Then, an illusory figure slowly materialized, hovering motionless above the water.
"This is the place, that's right!"
At this moment, Li Yan was dressed in black, having long since changed out of the Falling Star Valley's sect uniform. His appearance had also been transformed into that of a middle-aged, bald man, and his aura had soared to the initial-stage of Foundation Establishment.
Gazing at the lake surface below, Li Yan's Divine Sense swiftly swept into the water.
Ten zhang, twenty zhang, thirty zhang... one hundred zhang... three hundred zhang... After a good while, Li Yan finally withdrew his Divine Sense with some surprise and doubt.
"This lake is actually about five hundred zhang deep. And after three hundred zhang, a great deal of killing intent surges out from under the water, and the further down you go, the stronger the killing intent becomes. No wonder the aura just now was so faint. If the aura originated from the bottom of the lake, to have even a wisp of it penetrate the surface after being weakened by layers of killing intent is already extremely difficult."
Li Yan's Divine Sense scanned the surroundings again but found no trace of cultivators or demonic beasts. He formed a hand seal, and a faint black halo rose around his body, merging with the night. Then, he stepped into the lake.
As he entered, a whirlpool appeared at his feet on the originally tranquil lake surface. The whirlpool expanded and contracted once, and Li Yan's figure had already disappeared.
Beneath the lake's surface, Li Yan, having cast the Water Evasion Art, was descending rapidly. The surrounding lake water always remained about five inches away from his body. The Water Evasion Art was a common immortal art that even Qi Condensation cultivators could practice, similar to the Fire Evasion Art. This was what mortals often referred to as an immortal's ability to be impervious to water and fire. It wasn't particularly profound. But it was rare to find someone who had cultivated all sorts of common, introductory immortal arts to the state of great perfection. Only someone like Li Yan would have had the time to practice almost every kind of basic manual, and to a very profound level at that. This was the result of the initial stages of the True Scripture of Gui Water having no specific offensive immortal arts, with everything focused on increasing magic power.
Li Yan, who was descending straight and fast, suddenly slid to the side without any warning. At the same time, the water rippled slightly, and eight long tentacles shot out like lightning, aiming for the spot where Li Yan had just been. It wasn't until the eight tentacles had missed that a "swish, swish, swish..." sound was heard in the water. The speed of the thrust had far surpassed the speed of sound.
By the time the eight tentacles were fully extended, their momentum was spent. Li Yan paid them no mind. With his hands behind his back, he released his aura and once again sank downwards rapidly. He had matters to attend to and didn't want to waste even a moment.
The instant he released his Foundation Establishment aura, the tentacles paused.
Just a few breaths after Li Yan continued his descent, another ripple occurred above his head. Several more tentacles, holding sharp weapons, stabbed towards the crown of his head, poised to pierce right through his skull.
Li Yan frowned. "A thing that doesn't know life from death!"
In Li Yan's senses, a creature twice his size, an octopus-like monster with eight tentacles but also two long legs, was in hot pursuit. At this moment, its eight tentacles were holding forks, swords, and spears. As its two long legs trod water, four tentacles shot out. Two fine black steel forks and two long spears stabbed towards his head and shoulders.
Li Yan didn't recognize this demonic beast. He had only sensed that it had the cultivation of about the seventh level of Qi Condensation, so he hadn't paid its sneak attack any mind. But this aquatic demonic beast had recklessly pursued him, and its speed in the water was incredibly fast. Even with his Water Evasion Art, it had managed to catch up.
This didn't mean Li Yan was truly slower than it; after all, the gap in their cultivation was vast. But Li Yan sensed something unusual about this lake, so he hadn't used his full strength, instead descending quickly while ensuring he had enough leeway to counterattack.
Li Yan's face darkened. He abruptly raised a hand, lifting it above his head in a flash. With a sweep of his large sleeve, his arm had already made a large circle above his head. In one roll and wrap, he had caught both forks and both spears together. His large hand also took the opportunity to seize the two spear shafts. With a gentle turn of his wrist, his forearm unmoving, his wrist drew a small circle on its axis. Then, with a sharp shake of the hand gripping a portion of the spear shafts, an irresistible force was transmitted up the four weapons.
First, the four weapons twisted and deformed in an instant. Then, a series of muffled "thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack" sounds rang out. Following that, several of the demonic beast's tentacles exploded into powder with a "thump." And then, before the horrified eyes of the aquatic demonic beast, its body exploded into a cloud of blood mist in the water with a "boom."
It was just that Li Yan had already sunk several dozen zhang below the surface by now, so the sound of the explosion did not travel far. Only a large cloud of blood was quickly diluted and absorbed by the water.
Li Yan had long since retracted his arm, his face expressionless as he continued to sink.
Several nearby aquatic demonic beasts that had been rapidly approaching all froze for a moment. The power Li Yan had just unleashed made them feel the profound threat of death. Demonic beasts were extremely sensitive to death to begin with. The force of Li Yan's blow immediately stopped the nearby monsters in their tracks.
Li Yan paid them no mind and continued to descend rapidly. In about four breaths, Li Yan had quickly descended over two hundred zhang.
Suddenly, Li Yan's descending body also came to a sharp halt, just like the aquatic demonic beasts he had just stunned. As his body slowly stopped, dense red dots suddenly appeared all around him, numbering in the thousands. And these dots were approaching Li Yan at an incredible speed.
In Li Yan's Divine Sense, these red dots swarmed in from all directions. When he got a clear look, even Li Yan felt his scalp tingle.
They were pairs of blood-red eyes. And their owners were strange, palm-sized fish. A pair of eyes grew in the middle of their crowns, and their entire bodies were covered in cracks. These were slits like the small mouths of babies. The strange fish were entirely black, and their mouths were filled with fine, sharp teeth.
What was most terrifying was that each strange fish had an aura of around the tenth level of Qi Condensation, with demonic qi surging from their bodies. In just that instant, Li Yan's Divine Sense detected at least ten thousand of them in the surroundings, giving one the feeling of being trapped in a vast ocean.
'Even if you combine the Falling Star Valley and all its vassals, they don't have this many Qi Condensation disciples, and all of them are at the peak of the Qi Condensation stage.'
This was equivalent to being besieged by ten thousand tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivators. Apart from a Golden Core cultivator using a high-powered immortal art to force them back or kill them, a Foundation Establishment cultivator facing so many tenth-level monsters would almost certainly face a dead end, filled only with despair. Even if the strange fish just floated there and let a Foundation Establishment cultivator kill them, their Spirit Power would likely run out before they could finish.
These ferocious-looking strange fish were clearly bloodthirsty and cruel creatures. If they all pounced at once, how long could a Foundation Establishment cultivator's magic power last? A few breaths? A dozen?
Seeing this situation, the corners of Li Yan's mouth couldn't help but twitch. He hadn't expected so many demonic beasts to appear here. He had only roughly scanned this lake with his Divine Sense before and knew there were quite a few aquatic demonic beasts inside, but he hadn't expected there to be a colonial species.
"How careless of me!"
Li Yan admonished himself internally. He had been dealing with low-level cultivators recently. Compared to his time on Windy Cool Mountain, where Golden Core cultivators seemed to pop up at every turn, his mentality had invisibly become somewhat complacent. This was the consequence of getting by in a chaotic world and becoming accustomed to comfort. Li Yan reminded himself of this.
However, when it came to dealing with demonic beasts of this level, Li Yan still had a way.