Li Yan, of course, had never experienced having his soul searched and refined, but he was certainly aware of the excruciating experience a cultivator goes through even if they only slightly injure their soul accidentally during cultivation.
"I might not be able to withstand the burning of my soul and could be annihilated during the casting of the spell, but I still want to try. Body Seizure is something I am unwilling to accept." The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's eyes slowly became determined.
It had never seen another of its kind. So, if it were to meet another Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant in the future, only joy would arise in its heart. Even if it could perform Body Seizure, it would be unwilling to take the other's life.
Li Yan remained silent. After a long while, seeing the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant just staring blankly at the piece of skull, he let out a long sigh.
"When do you plan to start? What do you need? Medicinal pills, Spirit Stones? Or do you need me to personally stand guard, or any other requirements?"
"I estimate in about three months, my soul body will be fully recovered and will have reached its peak state. Once 'Burning the Soul to Refine the Fire' is cast, I can no longer consume medicinal pills or vicious souls. There's no need for a guard either. If it's not safe here, there is no safer place for me. Master, if possible, could you gather a large amount of fire spiritual energy here at that time?"
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant knew that although this mysterious space was dominated by earth spiritual energy, Li Yan could use the method of the Five Elements in a certain place to create a world of a single type of spiritual energy. Just like the summit of this mountain, which was covered in ice and snow, a place where water spiritual energy converged.
"Of course. When you are ready, you can call me at any time. I will condense a space of fire spiritual energy for you!"
After glancing at the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, Li Yan did not take the skull this time. Instead, his figure rapidly faded. The next moment, the restriction of this cave was sealed again. Inside, only the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant remained, still gazing at the skull, along with the last ten thousand or so terrified vicious souls.
Li Yan's Divine Sense swept across the bottom of the lake.
'When was this battlefield from? How could an Ancient Ferocious Beast like the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant appear here? And an adult Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was killed. How powerful must its enemy have been? I have not seen any description of this place in the texts. The Yin Tomb Mountain, the water ghost at the bottom of the lake...'
After thinking for a while, Li Yan still had no clues. He looked around again, and then, with a flicker of his body, he was already ascending rapidly.
"That person is finally gone. But why did he take that broken bone? That thing is indeed very hard, but its Spirit Power is almost exhausted. It will probably completely decay and disintegrate before long. Did he come here just for that piece of bone?"
In a cave residence among a reef cluster, the water ghost-like demonic beast sensed the bald-headed man breaking through the water and leaving, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. The other party had come here, taken a broken piece of skull, and left directly. This made him heave a sigh of relief, but he couldn't understand the other's strange actions.
He also knew about that broken piece of skull. And when he first saw it, it was much larger than it was now. But as time passed, the originally huge skull had continuously decayed and disappeared, until it was its current size. It was still hard, but he could still shatter it with one blow. He didn't know that this piece of skull, which he thought he could easily shatter, would become as hard as vajra once it was fused with the blood or soul of the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant race. At that time, even if he used all his strength, he wouldn't be able to harm it in the slightest.
With Li Yan's departure, this lake once again fell into a deep silence. The night was long...
Just as the morning sun's first rays arrived the next day, a streak of green light tore through the air outside the Feng family's fortress. It was extremely fast, arriving above the fortress in the blink of an eye. The green light circled once before landing on the ground. The light receded, revealing a slender man within. The man looked to be in his late twenties, his face somewhat pale. He was one of the three Foundation Establishment cultivators who had tested Li Yan's group when they first entered the sect.
As soon as the green-robed man landed, he spoke in a clear voice that carried for several li.
"This one is Zhu Luomu of the Falling Star Valley. I request an audience with the Feng family's ancestor!"
Not long after his voice fell, the gates of the Feng family's fortress suddenly swung open in the morning light, and a group of people strode out. At the head were the two Feng family ancestors. The rest were the heads of the various branches, led by Feng Zaiyu. Among all the Feng family disciples, only Feng Tao appeared. At this time, even Li Yan's figure was not among them.
Seeing the visitor, the Feng family's ancestor already had a slight smile on his face as he cupped his fist in a salute. "This Feng has seen Fellow Daoist Zhu. How would I dare to be called 'Ancestor' in front of you? Just call me Fellow Daoist Feng. I have long heard of Fellow Daoist Zhu's great name, and Tao'er has the good fortune to be accepted as your disciple. I should have been the one to visit the upper sect, but some trivial matters delayed my journey. It is truly this Feng who has been discourteous."
Zhu Luomu also returned the salute. "Greetings, Fellow Daoist Feng!"
At this moment, a somewhat sorrowful voice sounded. "Master..."
Then, a slender figure ran towards Zhu Luomu. It was Feng Tao, who threw herself to the ground, her face already like pear blossoms drenched in rain. Since learning yesterday that her Senior Brother, Second Senior Sister, and Tian Denghu had all perished, Feng Tao had lost all sense of direction for a time. Besides the sorrow in her heart, there was more bewilderment. These people had all come to help her for free. Although the trip to the Yin Tomb-Cavern later was at their own request, for so many to perish at once, she was both scared and terrified. She didn't know how she would face her Master and Martial Uncle when she returned this time. Martial Uncle Zhang also thought very highly of Tian Denghu. Feng Zaiyu could only comfort his daughter from the side and hadn't left her side all night.
As soon as Zhu Luomu arrived, the Feng ancestor had immediately sent a voice transmission to Feng Zaiyu and the heads of the several branches, asking them to bring Feng Tao along to welcome him. He had heard that Zhu Luomu was also very fond of Feng Tao. This way, in front of the Feng ancestor, he wouldn't directly punish her for the matter of Tang Tian and the others.
Currently, only the two Feng ancestors and Feng Zaiyu knew about Fang Guangjun. Everyone else was completely in the dark, truly believing that Fang Guangjun had been in a secret meeting with the Feng ancestor all this time. So, even though Feng Zaiyu saw Feng Tao's distraught state, he didn't dare to reveal the reason why Tang Tian and Wu Yizhen hadn't truly perished.
In the great hall of the Feng family, the Feng ancestor had already activated the restrictions. Seeing Zhu Luomu take a seat, the Feng ancestor glanced at the still somewhat dazed heads of the several branches and got straight to the point. He had to let the other family heads know the inside story of this matter. Otherwise, Feng Zaihua would have died in vain. At that time, when it came to compensating with cultivation resources, it would be difficult to convince the masses.
The Feng ancestor gathered his thoughts and began to speak slowly. It was just that in this story, he had become a meticulous person, and it was he who had discovered the problem by peeling silk from a cocoon.
An hour and a half later, a streak of green light quietly flew out from the Feng family's fortress. Within the green light, Zhu Luomu, Feng Tao, and Li Yan stood on a large, brick-shaped seal.
Zhu Luomu stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes fixed ahead, his brow furrowed in thought.
'Tang Tian and Yizhen were lucky to have survived. If not for their high value and the limited number of Soul-Containing Bottles, they would have long been in the underworld like Tian Denghu. After we go back, although it won't be easy to find suitable bodies, we will find them eventually. It will just take a lot of time to recover. But how do I explain Tian Denghu's matter to Junior Brother Zhang? With his temper, when he learns that his youngest, newly accepted disciple has perished, I don't know how many artifact refining materials he will smash.'
Zhu Luomu had a headache. Last night, while he was out on patrol, he had received an urgent message from the Sect Master, saying that Fang Guangjun might be a spy, and that several of his disciples had been taken by him to the Feng family, and two of his own disciples were seriously injured. He was to immediately go to the Feng family to find out the reason. Nothing else was said, so he and his junior brother did not know that Tian Denghu was already dead.
After receiving the order, Zhu Luomu had immediately handed over the disciples he was leading to another patrol team and had come alone in a hurry. He had also been extremely anxious, not knowing what had happened at all. It was only just now that he had learned the cause and effect from the Feng family's ancestor.
After the Feng ancestor's group returned from the Yin Tomb Mountain, they had already become suspicious about the fact that so many disciples who had followed Fang Guangjun's group had perished. Especially since Tang Tian's group should have been the disciples Fang Guangjun needed to take special care of, but it was precisely these few who had run into trouble.
So, while the Feng ancestor was suspicious, he paid extra attention to Fang Guangjun's every move. Sure enough, after night fell, he discovered Fang Guangjun sneaking out of the fortress alone. He immediately arranged for his third brother to guard the family strictly and then quietly followed.
After leaving the fortress, Fang Guangjun had found an uninhabited place, and after searching around carefully, he had actually sent out a Voice Transmission Talisman. With him acting like this, the Feng ancestor of course wanted to intercept the talisman to find out what was going on. Who would have thought that Fang Guangjun was also a meticulous person? After discovering that someone was trying to intercept his talisman, he first pretended not to know, and then suddenly launched a sneak attack on the Feng ancestor.
Thus, in a mixture of shock and anger, the Feng ancestor had already determined that the Voice Transmission Talisman definitely contained something that couldn't see the light of day, some ulterior secret. So he started fighting with Fang Guangjun. But the moment Fang Guangjun attacked, he showed no mercy, every move was fatal, determined to kill the Feng ancestor. But there was still a considerable gap in their cultivation. Seeing that it was impossible, Fang Guangjun could only use a secret art in the end to try to escape.
The Feng ancestor, not confident that he could capture him alive, could only use his full strength in the end to kill him. But the Voice Transmission Talisman that had been sent out had long since disappeared over the horizon. So, what exactly was said in the talisman was also unknown.
The heads of the Feng family's several branches were dumbfounded by this. They had not known that such an important event had happened last night. Some parts of the Feng ancestor's story were still far-fetched.
After hearing it, although Zhu Luomu was also suspicious of some parts, the Feng family's ancestor was an old fox, and he was deeply versed in the principle of preemption. At the very beginning, he had taken out the two Soul-Containing Bottles. After first hearing the tearful accusations of Tang Tian and Wu Yizhen, Zhu Luomu was already both shocked and furious. He had initially thought that his two disciples were recuperating somewhere in the Feng family after being seriously injured, which was why they hadn't appeared. Who would have thought that his two disciples were now only souls, their physical bodies both destroyed by Fang Guangjun.
So, even if there were some small problems with the logic of what the Feng ancestor said, it couldn't stand against the tearful accusations of his two disciples. He naturally determined that Fang Guangjun was a spy. Thus, Zhu Luomu also gritted his teeth in hatred for that Fang Guangjun. He had also met this person several times. He was a particularly low-key person. Who would have thought that the moment he acted, he had almost taken his two disciples to be exchanged for Spirit Stones.
He had now brought back Fang Guangjun's corpse and storage pouch to be handed over to the Sect Master, Lin Xinghe, for disposal, to see if any related clues could be found on this dead body. Perhaps he still had accomplices left in the Falling Star Valley.
He glanced back out of the corner of his eye and saw the dazed look of the disciple named Zhang Ming, feeling somewhat resentful in his heart.
'This kid's luck is really too good. Not a single hair on his head was harmed, yet both my and my junior brother's disciples ran into trouble.'
As for Feng Tao being fine, that was within reason. She was by Feng Zaiyu's side at all times, and Feng Zaiyu was the head of the Feng family's main branch. Fang Guangjun didn't dare to touch them, of course, out of fear of the Feng family's ancestor.