Each leaf stem of this weed cluster was three to four times thicker than the surrounding ones. When they moved, they didn't make a "swish" sound, but a deep, muffled "whoosh," as if someone were swinging heavy clubs. Every strike that landed on Li Yan's Spirit Power shield caused the light of the shield to flash wildly.
"This is it!"
The next moment, Li Yan kicked the clump of roots, which now had only its severed stems, and said with a low shout, "If you don't get out of the way, I'll pull you out by the roots."
As soon as Li Yan's voice fell, the clump of roots shot away like an arrow from a bowstring, instantly lifting off the ground. Hundreds of root tendrils pulled up from below, acting like over a hundred thin legs, and it scurried away towards a nearby patch of weeds. At the same time, several other root clumps at Li Yan's feet, which had also had their stems severed, pulled up their roots from the sand and fled. It was just that they were much smaller than the one Li Yan had kicked.
In an instant, an empty space about ten feet in size had been cleared around Li Yan's feet.
Li Yan wasn't surprised that spirit plants with simple intelligence could grow at the bottom of the water here. With so many broken weapons imbued with spiritual energy, the vegetation in this area had been washed and nourished by it over the years, so it was natural for them to gradually develop intelligence. Even the birth or gathering of the demonic beasts in the water was likely closely related to this ancient battlefield.
It was just that the grade of these spirit plants was too low, and Li Yan was no alchemist, so he had no interest in harvesting them.
Li Yan's Divine Sense swept towards the spot where he had kicked away the huge clump of weed roots. The departing roots had taken a large amount of sand with them, leaving behind a huge pit that was instantly filled again by the lake water. Li Yan scanned it briefly with his Divine Sense and then beckoned with his hand.
With a "splash," a gray object carrying a large amount of water flew towards his hand. The next moment, he was holding it. It was a thing that resembled a large wok, about half the size of Li Yan's torso. The bottom of the "wok" was mottled and messy due to the thick mud, with a large amount of silt accumulated on it.
The moment this wok-like thing was in his hand, Li Yan felt a slight warmth, a stark contrast to the icy cold lake water around him.
Li Yan's expression didn't change, as if he had known all along. Spirit Power surged from his hand, and in an instant, the sand and mud inside and outside the "wok" were blown away as if by a fierce wind. The silt on it quickly disappeared piece by piece. After just a few breaths, the "wok" in Li Yan's hand had changed its appearance.
It was an arc-shaped piece of bone with two long cracks, its color as crystalline as jade, completely different from its previous appearance. There were some fine lines on the arc-shaped bone, which didn't look like they had been deliberately carved, but rather naturally formed. These fine lines were light purple. If one stared at them for a long time, one would even get the feeling that the purple lines on the bone were constantly flowing in one direction.
Li Yan held the "wok"-like arc-shaped bone in one hand while carefully examining the object with his Divine Sense. After a long while, he murmured to himself, "This is a... a skull?"
Just then, a voice suddenly sounded in Li Yan's mind. The object in his hand instantly vanished.
In the Earthen Patch space, the illusory figure of Li Yan formed by his Divine Sense appeared. With a flash, he was in front of a cave at the foot of the giant peak. With a flick of his sleeve, the restriction at the cave's entrance disappeared, and Li Yan stepped inside.
"Master, you've come!" a long-unheard voice sounded in Li Yan's ear.
"Oh, you've finally woken up. How are your injuries?" Li Yan said with a smile, looking at the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant that had stood up.
"My... my injuries haven't fully healed, but I've recovered about eighty percent. Master, I wanted to ask you..."
The vast majority of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's body was already very solid, but there were still some parts that felt illusory and blurry. Seeing Li Yan's concern for its injuries, it hesitated for a moment before briefly explaining its condition. But in its anxiety, it immediately wanted to voice the question in its heart.
But before it could finish, Li Yan smiled slightly. With a flick of his sleeve, a crystalline object was suspended in front of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
"You wanted to ask about this, didn't you? I didn't expect its aura, even after becoming so faint, could still awaken you from your slumber."
What Li Yan said was true. If he hadn't been circulating his techniques and refining his qi, his spirit wandering beyond his body, he wouldn't have been able to sense that intermittent wisp of an aura, so faint it had almost vanished. The moment he sensed it, Li Yan himself thought he had been mistaken. He had thought the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had somehow gotten out of the Earthen Patch. Although he felt that was impossible, he had still entered the Earthen Patch at the first opportunity to check. He was relieved only after seeing the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant still unconsciously breathing in its slumber.
The moment the "wok"-like crystalline arc-shaped bone appeared in front of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, its body stiffened, and it fell into a momentary daze. Its large eyes stared fixedly at the object before it, its body trembling more and more. It said in a low voice, as if answering Li Yan's question from before, "That wasn't my Divine Sense... it was the calling... of my bloodline!"
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant tried hard to control its trembling body, but it only trembled more violently. It stared at the arc-shaped bone without blinking.
"Aren't you going to sense it properly?"
Li Yan's words were very soft, but they sounded like a thunderclap to the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
"Right, right... right!"
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant did not, as it usually did, pull the object over with its long trunk. Instead, it slowly walked forward. Although it was only a soul body at the moment, every step it took on the ground made a dull "thud," causing one's mind to tremble with it.
When it reached the suspended crystalline bone, it gently curled its long trunk and slowly touched it.
And the moment the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's trunk touched it, the bone, which had only been gleaming with a crystalline luster, suddenly had the purple lines on it burst forth with a brilliant light. Like slithering snakes, they came alive in an instant. Streaks of purple light flowed rapidly across the surface of the crystalline bone. And with the flow of the purple light, waves of scorching heat, each stronger than the last, radiated outwards. Even Li Yan, in his Divine Sense form, couldn't help but take a step back.
It wasn't that he couldn't resist the heat; this temperature was still far from that of the Flame Palace in the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. However, this was an extremely pure and yang force. The moment the heat wave touched Li Yan's Divine Sense, it felt like red-hot iron pokers were stabbing at him. Li Yan was unwilling to face it directly. At the same time, he was also very surprised. His Divine Sense was on par with that of an ordinary Golden Core cultivator, yet this heat wave actually gave him a faint stinging sensation. This power was definitely not coming from the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, so it had to be from this piece of crystalline bone.
And just as Li Yan was pondering, the heat waves suddenly vanished without a trace. This was because the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had retracted its trunk. As its trunk was pulled back, the flowing purple light on the crystalline bone instantly stopped and dimmed.
It stared blankly at the two long cracks on the crystalline bone. Just now, as its soul power had traveled along with the purple light, in that instant, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had felt a joy it had never experienced before. It was a feeling that arose naturally from the bottom of its heart, without reason. The moment its soul power touched the purple light, it was like a fish returning to the sea, a perfect fusion.
But when the purple light traveled to one of the two cracks, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant suddenly heard a heaven-shattering roar in its mind. To the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, this sound was deafening, soul-shaking, yet Li Yan, standing beside it, was completely unaware. The voice was filled with despair and unwillingness, as well as a hatred so thick it could not be dissolved.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant stared blankly at the crystalline bone, its expression growing sadder and sadder. A soul could not shed tears, but it had joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.
Li Yan did not speak. He just stood to one side, quietly watching the scene before him.
After a very long time, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant gradually regained its composure. It turned its head to look at Li Yan, its voice very low, filled with endless sorrow. "It is one of my kin, a very powerful kinsman. I can sense its power, but it... has fallen!"
It could hear the endless battle intent in that roar, as well as an unyielding fighting spirit. The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's cultivation was still too low. It couldn't judge whether this fallen kinsman was a Nascent Soul, a Spirit Transformation, or an even more powerful being. But it was definitely a top-tier existence in this mortal realm. Yet even such an existence had fallen here, leaving behind only this small piece of bone in the end.
Li Yan nodded. He didn't know what the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had sensed, but he knew of its deep sorrow. They had signed a contract.
"This is the skull of that powerful kinsman, but only a part of it. It died in battle, facing the enemy head-on. I can sense its boundless battle intent, a will to die on the path of advance, always moving forward!" the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant turned back to look at the two long cracks on the crystalline bone and said in a low voice.
It couldn't imagine what kind of powerful existence could leave such long scars on the skull of a peerless ferocious beast that was at least at the Nascent Soul level. It was likely this very blow that had caused its powerful kinsman to fall.
Although the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had never seen any of its other kin—it was just the soul of a small Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant that had failed to fully condense when three heavily injured ones had exhausted their last bit of soul power to jointly cast a legacy divine ability—the moment the purple patterns on the skull lit up, it had felt a kinship it had never felt before. It was a feeling of being connected by blood and accompanied by soul.
"I can also sense its power. When things have settled down in the future, you can find a place to bury it."
The pure heat waves that had rushed out just now, as the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had said, had already let Li Yan know how powerful the owner of this bone had been in life. Now that the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had confirmed it, this was an adult Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
What was a Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant? It was an Ancient Ferocious Beast that could rank in the top hundred. Although it wasn't one of the absolute best, neither its physical body nor its innate divine abilities could be compared to cultivators of the human race. At the same level, it could almost completely crush them, but it still couldn't escape the reality of being killed.
Seeing the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant still standing there somewhat lost, Li Yan couldn't help but sigh. The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant seemed carefree on the surface, but its desire to meet its own kind had never disappeared. But whether the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant race still existed in the mortal realm, he couldn't say. It was no exaggeration to say that finding one would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"You should focus on recovering from your injuries. I will keep this skull for now. When you have recovered, I will give it to you!" Seeing the unprecedented sorrow of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, Li Yan felt that this was not a good thing. So he reached out, and the crystalline skull flew towards him.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had been in a daze, was suddenly jolted awake.