By sending those Spirit Stones, Li Yan simply felt that Meng Zhiyuan was a man of character and worth befriending.
Thirty thousand low-grade Spirit Stones probably wouldn't be nearly enough to buy even one of their Spirit-Storing Pouches on the open market.
"If there is nothing else, Meng will take his leave. I wish you both a safe journey!"
Meng Zhiyuan once again slowly ascended into the air.
"Fellow Daoist Meng, this formation can lead to the Forsaken Continent. Although the other side was destroyed by my ancestor, I still hope that the fewer people who know about this place, the better!"
Meng Zhiyuan's figure paused upon hearing this. Then, without turning back, he waved to Li Yan and Zhao Min, who were still standing on the cliff.
"I know what to do!"
Gazing at Meng Zhiyuan's disappearing back, Li Yan fell silent for a moment.
Not long after, figures shot into the sky one after another. The five leading figures all clasped their hands in salute to the two figures on the cliff.
After seeing Li Yan and Zhao Min smile and nod, a series of roars followed, and the five figures revealed their true forms, taking the lead as they flew upward.
As the five giant "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" spread their wings, casting a large shadow, one demon bat after another also shot up from the ground.
In an instant, it was as if a stream of dark meteors streaked across the sky.
In Li Yan and Zhao Min's line of sight, a vast, dense swarm flew toward the southern sun. As the sunlight showered down on their bodies, it reflected a dark, ominous sheen.
"They're being too conspicuous like this. It will attract trouble!"
Zhao Min furrowed her delicate eyebrows.
"It probably won't. There are no high-level cultivators or demonic beasts in this sea area at the moment.
Most of these 'Dark Spirit Demon Bats' were born at the bottom of the sea; they have never seen the world outside.
Now, seeing the sky outside for the first time, it's impossible for them to be willing to return to a Spirit-Storing Pouch, given their avian instincts.
Even those like Meng Zhiyuan, who have seen the outside world before, are unwilling to return to a confined space after being locked up for so long.
They need some time to vent their frustrations and fully express the instincts of their avian race.
So, Meng Zhiyuan certainly knows all this, and his Divine Sense must have already scouted this endless sea.
Meng Zhiyuan and his fellow disciples can let their clansmen fly for some distance. After their emotions have calmed, Meng Zhiyuan will naturally put them back into the Spirit-Storing Pouches.
Did Senior Sister not notice that even the young Qi Condensation stage demons among them are flying? Relying on their physical bodies and that little bit of magical power to keep up with their clansmen, they won't be able to fly for long!"
Only then did Zhao Min remember that she had overlooked something.
Because the "Dark Spirit Demon Bat" clan was an avian race, when they left, they all transformed into their original forms and flew high into the sky with beating wings. Zhao Min had forgotten that they were also cultivators.
Even the "Dark Spirit Demon Bats" below the Foundation Establishment stage could fly on their own, which was completely different from human cultivators.
"What's our plan next?"
As Zhao Min turned her head to look at Li Yan, sunlight showered down on her long, elegant neck. The smooth, porcelain-like luster of her skin was dazzling, making her jade-like face seem even more flawless.
Zhao Min was most beautiful from the side. Her nose was high and straight like a scallion, her jade-like face as if carved by the most skillful craftsman in the world.
Her features were soft yet firm, with the three-dimensional quality of a foreign woman.
The sea breeze blew her skirt back, making it billow and flutter. Her pair of full breasts appeared even more magnificent. Her long, black ponytail constantly swung and swayed...
For a moment, Li Yan was lost in a daze.
"I'm asking you a question."
Seeing Li Yan in a daze, Zhao Min raised her pair of dark, delicate eyebrows, then gently kicked him with the tip of her foot.
This action carried a rare hint of playful annoyance.
She and Li Yan had experienced life and death together time and time again. Now, faced with Li Yan's fiery gaze, she no longer felt uncomfortable or shy so easily.
"Oh... oh, oh!"
Li Yan felt a slight pain in his calf and immediately came to his senses. He reached up and scratched the back of his head, his short hair making a rustling sound.
"We'll continue to wait here!"
"You want to wait until Meng Zhiyuan and the others are out of Divine Sense range!"
"Min'er, you're absolutely right, hehehe..."
Looking at Li Yan grinning foolishly, Zhao Min ignored him and turned her gaze toward the distance once more.
The sapphire-blue sea was boundless. In the world, only two figures stood on the cliff, side by side.
...
A boundless sea, with seabirds occasionally skimming over the surface, touching down and taking off in an instant. Occasionally, they would let out a crisp cry at the two people on the cliff, the sound soaring to the nine heavens!
Two hours later, two figures, riding on a verdant willow leaf that resembled a small boat, flew towards the east.
"Are you sure it's east?"
Zhao Min's cold voice came through.
"Does it make a difference? Or should we follow Meng Zhiyuan south?"
Li Yan's puzzled voice asked in return.
"No difference. It's all a gamble!"
Zhao Min's voice was as cold as ever. Soon, the voice grew farther and farther from the deserted island, gradually fading away...
After Li Yan could no longer sense Meng Zhiyuan and the others with his Divine Sense, he immediately restored the stone gate on the cliff to its original state.
Then he began to work tirelessly again. After a full hour, he finally set up another formation around the entire small island.
After some arrangement, the deserted island had completely changed its appearance.
From a distance, only a small cluster of reefs sticking out of the sea was left, looking as if it would be submerged by the seawater at any moment. The original island was nowhere to be seen.
Li Yan believed that even if Meng Zhiyuan returned in the future, as long as he hadn't left a marker, it would be extremely difficult to find the deserted island again.
And those birds that flew over this place daily would not crash into the mountain peak after entering the formation. Instead, they would be lost and sent far away by the formation's restriction.
Zhao Min actually suspected in her heart whether the teleportation formation at the other end on the Forsaken Continent had been destroyed.
Once it was destroyed, just having this end of the teleportation formation would be useless.
But she also knew that Li Yan had always been extremely cautious in his actions and always prepared for the worst. Therefore, she also felt that Li Yan was just cleaning up the remaining traces.
However, Zhao Min did not press the issue. If Li Yan didn't say, she rarely asked for the reasons behind his actions.
Li Yan's own formation skills were actually not very high, but since he was prepared to leave the Forsaken Continent at any time, he had been making all kinds of preparations.
His "Earthen Patch" contained a large number of fourth and fifth-rank pills, and even some precious sixth-rank pills.
There were also various demonic beast bones, furs, demonic cores, and so on, with all five elemental attributes.
At the same time, he had also bought more than ten sets of very high-level formations at the auction house—illusion formations, killing formations, parent-child interlocking formations, defensive formations, and so on.
Among them, four sets were more than capable of dealing with Golden Core cultivators.
With his usual caution, for such a cross-realm teleportation grand formation, although Qianchong Zhenjun had said he would seal the other end, he also didn't want too many people to know about this place.
It could be considered a last resort he had left for himself.
With Meng Zhiyuan's intelligence, after he had said what he said, the five of them, master and disciples, would not hesitate to use their magical power to erase that part of the memory from all their clansmen.
Actually, according to Li Yan's thinking, it would be best if Meng Zhiyuan and the other four also had their memories erased, but this was obviously a very tricky matter to do, and it also contradicted his original intention of bringing them back.
On the "Cloud-Piercing Willow," Li Yan and Zhao Min each closed their eyes to regulate their breathing.
Day after day of flying, at first, Zhao Min was still interested in watching the flying seabirds in the distance and the huge demonic beasts swimming in the water.
The level of demonic beasts in this sea was not very high, the highest being only second-rank.
Initially, due to their occasional attacks, Zhao Min would strike and kill them from a distance.
But after a long time, the two of them had grown tired of the monotonous scenery of sea and sky. They simply stopped flying close to the sea surface. This reduced the attacks from the demonic beasts below, but it became even more boring.
Sometimes, after staring in one direction for a long time, they would even have an illusion of up and down, as if the sky and earth were reversed.
The two of them then both entered a state of cultivation.
But every time night fell, Zhao Min would often stop cultivating and silently look into the distance. And at this time, Li Yan would also interrupt his cultivation.
Li Yan knew that Zhao Min was looking at the moon in the sky. This was something she hadn't been able to see for decades on the Forsaken Continent. Seeing the moon, she thought of her hometown.
The Verdant Continent was the same as the Desolate Moon Continent. At night, there was also a bright moon and numerous stars.
But there was also a difference. The largest moon here was only half the size of the huge full moon on the Desolate Moon Continent.
The size of the moon seen every night was constantly changing. Sometimes it was only as big as a few stars put together.
Even though there were differences, every time the moon rose in the dark night, it was the most peaceful time for the two of them.
The two of them would often sit on the edge of the "Cloud-Piercing Willow," their legs hanging in the air, while looking up at the sky, their hands behind them, supporting the edge of the willow leaf.
At that moment, it was as if they had returned to the cliff platform on the rear mountain of Little Bamboo Peak. They would talk about random things.
Just like that, they flew for half a month, and their Divine Senses still only detected a vast sea line, endless and boundless...
Until noon one day, the wind and clouds in the sky changed dramatically. Dark clouds seemed to suddenly surge out from the sea level on the distant horizon.
In just a dozen breaths, the sky, which had been as clear as a washed blue, became overcast with low-hanging dark clouds, with lightning and thunder. A torrential downpour rained down like pillars.
Li Yan and Zhao Min felt a threat from these bolts of lightning, but their speed did not decrease. After a few breaths, they had already flown to the edge of the large patch of dark clouds.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck. A sharp light flashed in Li Yan's eyes, and he punched out.
With a "crack," a silver light flashed on Li Yan's fist, and he felt his entire arm go a little numb.
With a thought from Li Yan's Divine Sense, the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" quickly retreated, and at the same time, he said, "Very strong!"
Looking at the dense web of lightning in the dark clouds, he thought that if he were struck by all these bolts of lightning at the same time, even with his physical body, it would be extremely uncomfortable, and his strength might even decrease for a period of time.
"I can withstand no more than four simultaneous strikes!"
Zhao Min sensed Li Yan's aura just now and came to a judgment for herself.
Li Yan, however, had already swept his Divine Sense back and forth through the dark clouds. He chuckled lightly.
"We don't have to force our way through!"
The next moment, Li Yan walked to the front of the "Cloud-Piercing Willow." This time, he gave up on using spirit stones to fly and took control himself.
If the current Li Yan were to control the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" with all his might, its speed might only be a little slower than that of a Nascent Soul cultivator's flight. In a single flicker, it could leap several hundred li away.
The "Cloud-Piercing Willow" was like a small boat in a storm. With a flicker, a green point of light would appear in the dark clouds from time to time. Each flicker would cross at least a hundred li...
The heavy rain continued unabated, as if the sky had collapsed. It seemed that once it started, it would never stop.
The protective shield outside the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" was already covered in a sheet of water, beaten by soybean-sized raindrops into a continuous dense sound. The scenery outside had long since become hazy and unclear.
Thick bolts of lightning formed "Z"-shapes, flashing with a dazzling blue light as they continuously slid past both sides of the "Cloud-Piercing Willow."
And the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" was like an extremely agile sea swallow, appearing and disappearing in the dark clouds and bolts of lightning, weaving through the ink-like cloud layers...
Six days later, Li Yan, who had been looking straight ahead, suddenly had a sharp light erupt from his eyes.
On the side, Zhao Min sensed the fluctuation of his aura and immediately turned her head, her beautiful eyes looking over.
Now, she had already confirmed that Li Yan's Divine Sense was far superior to hers.
Li Yan's Divine Sense could scan a range of more than four thousand three hundred li, while Zhao Min's Divine Sense, although also far exceeding that of other mid-stage Golden Core cultivators, was only about three thousand li at most.
So, she knew that Li Yan had discovered something!