However, the gray-haired old man among the three, Wutu, frowned. Their side was extremely strong; even Tie Lianggu and his junior sister were both at the Late-stage Golden Core. The enemy's choice was not necessarily the most correct one. If these two enemies had some trump cards, Bate and Balu up ahead would have been the best chance for a breakthrough.
While he was still puzzled, Li Yan and Zhao Min had already turned back and charged. With a loud laugh, Tie Lianggu also rushed forward to meet them. Seeing the two sides instantly engage, Wutu said no more. With him here, and with Tie Lianggu and his junior sister's cultivation far surpassing the enemy's, what kind of trouble could they possibly stir up? He thus focused his attention on the approaching enemy but did not join the fight himself. His mission, besides protecting Tie Lianggu, was more about letting him participate in such battles. In his eyes, Li Yan and Zhao Min were no match for Tie Lianggu and his junior sister.
Li Yan and Zhao Min's sudden counterattack was indeed partly due to the fear of being surrounded. In that situation, the enemy would have a total of five Golden Core experts, including a Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. Such a cultivator was someone that the current Li Yan and Zhao Min were unwilling to encounter. It was difficult to gauge the true strength of a Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm cultivator. They were incredibly close to the Nascent Soul realm, and some might even be on the verge of facing their heavenly tribulation. Some of them had a primal, vague perception of the laws of heaven and earth. Although it couldn't even be considered a superficial understanding, with just this, they could easily suppress any cultivator below the Nascent Soul realm.
To suddenly engage the three pursuers now, especially with the addition of a female cultivator whose strength had reached the Late-stage Golden Core, seemed unwise to others.
But in Li Yan's view, it was completely different.
When he first encountered the arrogant youth, Li Yan only knew roughly that he was not far from the border between the Tianlan Prairie and the Tingyun Kingdom, but he was not sure of the exact distance. Fighting with Tianlan Clan cultivators in the heart of the Tianlan Prairie would only attract more and more enemies, leading to them being surrounded. Therefore, after their one failed assassination attempt, the two had immediately fled without getting entangled in a fight.
But now, things were different. Ever since Li Yan had advanced to the Mid-stage Golden Core, the strength of his Divine Sense had not only surpassed those of the same rank but was also incomparable to those at the late stage. The range of his Divine Sense was almost on par with some Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators, covering a radius of about four thousand six hundred li.
A moment ago, Li Yan had not only clearly seen the two Mid-stage Golden Core experts leading the green-clad guards in a blockade, but he had also clearly seen the continuous mountain range behind them. This instantly overlapped with the information he had obtained from his soul-search. At the southern border of the Tianlan Prairie was a barrier called the "Chuyun Mountain Range." That was the border with the Tingyun Kingdom. At that moment, Li Yan instantly made a decision.
He quickly transmitted his voice to Zhao Min. After hearing his plan, Zhao Min gave a slight nod of her head without the slightest hesitation.
They did not act immediately but flew forward for another six hundred li or so. This was just at the limit of what a typical Late-stage Golden Core cultivator's Divine Sense could perceive, and a distance from which the two Mid-stage Golden Core cultivators at the border could not sense the situation here. This way, the two Golden Core cultivators blocking them at the border would have a hard time knowing what was happening here. Li Yan and his companion were now at the shortest possible usable distance from the "Chuyun Mountain Range."
Although Li Yan knew that the enemies had some special means of communication, like short-distance voice transmission talismans, using such things definitely required time. In the few breaths it took for him to suddenly turn back and collide with the enemy, none of the three, Tie Lianggu included, had thought to immediately use that strange red grass to call Bate and Balu over. In their eyes, dealing with the two opponents before them didn't even require Wutu's intervention; they could resolve it quickly themselves. What's more, the ambusher Nasen was still lurking in the shadows, ready to deliver a fatal blow at any moment.
Tie Lianggu faced Li Yan. He had long found this brat an eyesore. His junior sister instantly closed in on Zhao Min, and the battle was on the verge of erupting.
Wutu, standing in the rear, still didn't think that these two, Li Yan and Zhao Min, were capable of much. Their previous attack had been nothing more than a sudden sneak attack. Although Tie Lianggu himself was arrogant and lecherous, his cultivation talent was truly strong. His cultivation was not built up by relying on medicinal pills but was advanced through genuine cultivation. Otherwise, how could he have become a disciple of the great Heavenly Master of the clan?
"Brat, how dare you come to the prairie to spy for information and kill my concubines! You will receive the most severe punishment!" Tie Lianggu swiped his hands in the air, and a Mourning Staff appeared above the head of the pouncing Li Yan.
The moment the Mourning Staff appeared, the originally cool and crisp early autumn morning was suddenly filled with whimpering sounds, and soul-piercing ghostly wails and sharp howls resounded through the heavens and the earth. In the originally clear blue sky, dark clouds rapidly gathered. At the same time, a dozen or so floating phantoms appeared in the dark clouds. These phantoms flickered and then lunged toward Li Yan.
The phantoms were dressed in floor-length white robes, their faces all expressionless. Their skin was a pale, grayish-green, and long fangs protruded from their lips. As their mouths opened and closed, long, blood-red tongues dripped with crimson saliva, and from their throats came heart-wrenching, miserable cries that could seize one's soul. These cries were enough to throw one's mind into chaos, causing the Sea of Consciousness to roar incessantly. Even a Golden Core cultivator could have their soul hooked and snatched away.
On the suspended Mourning Staff, strips of foul-smelling white cloth fluttered in the wind, turning the area of several dozen zhang into a gray, hazy space, filled with a stench that made one want to vomit. Wherever the mist shrouded, the green grass on the ground instantly withered, revealing the black soil beneath. Then, twisted, half-human-sized figures swayed up from the ground. Their bodies continuously elongated, and with bared fangs and brandished claws, their long-nailed, blackish-green talons clawed at Li Yan's ankles from above.
Tie Lianggu's attack instantly formed a pincer from above and below, trapping Li Yan within the gray mist. This move of his was almost always successful against cultivators of the same rank. While the ghostly wails confused the opponent's mind, the vicious ghosts attacked from above and below, and the poisonous mist trapped their body, killing them in one fell swoop. The name of this magical treasure was "Malevolent Spirits of the Eight Directions," a truly sinister item.
To refine this magical treasure, he had, over time, refined the living souls of nine Golden Core cultivators, twenty-seven Foundation Establishment cultivators, and eight hundred and eighty-one Qi Condensation cultivators. All the spiritual intelligence of these people's souls had been completely refined away, but the emotions of resentment and anger from the seven passions were preserved, their resentment and anger soaring to the heavens. They would never have a day of reincarnation, trapped in this magical treasure for all eternity, only to be released to unleash boundless resentment and fury.
Tie Lianggu could never have refined this magical treasure on his own. The Golden Core cultivators were all captured by his master, some from the Tingyun Kingdom, and some foreign cultivators who came here for training.
Li Yan only felt his vision darken, and he was already in a gray mist. The soul-seizing cries made his emotions surge like a tide, making it impossible to calm down!
Before Li Yan's eyes, a scene appeared: the small village in the Great Green Mountains being occupied by the enemy forces of the State of Meng. In a sea of fire, familiar faces were filled with extreme terror, fleeing in all directions in a panic. Their clothes were disheveled, their hair in disarray, and they cried out the names of their loved ones as they ran.
And under the old locust tree at the head of the village, Li Yan discovered to his horror his father and mother. Both were being stomped on the ground by a Meng soldier. Their frail, stooped bodies struggled in vain against the trampling of the sneering Meng soldiers. Then, the two Meng soldiers began to use their sabers to slowly cut their parents' necks. A large amount of blood spurted from their necks. As his parents' bodies convulsed, their old, large hands clawed at the ground, their coarse cloth clothes already stained a dark brown. Their expressions were pained and twisted, their mouths wide open, but not a sound could come out. Every attempt to cry out only brought more blood gushing from their necks! Finally, their hands reached out feebly into the air a few times before falling limply to the ground…
And not far away, Li Yan was horrified to see the figures of Li Xiaozhu and Li Wei, as well as his eldest and second sisters. The women were being pressed to the ground, their clothes being torn away, revealing their fair bodies. The men had long nails hammered into the crowns of their heads, and they let out shrill screams and mournful wails…
Li Yan's mind exploded with a "boom," and his Sea of Consciousness felt as if it had been ignited by a raging fire. His body, which had been lunging toward Tie Lianggu, suddenly slowed down.
To an outsider, Li Yan's forward-lunging body had come to an abrupt halt in mid-air. Then, his ankles were seized by several sharp claws from below, which desperately tore and pulled him downward. The resentful souls, in their excitement, seemed to want to climb up Li Yan's legs onto his body. As these sharp claws dug into his ankles, puffs of foul-smelling green smoke rose from Li Yan's spirit artifact-grade robes, and his skin quickly took on a grayish, deathly color.
And the dozen or so phantoms swooping down from the sky were upon him in the blink of an eye, their large, blood-red mouths biting at Li Yan's throat and head. And Li Yan, at this moment, was still in a dazed state, standing in mid-air, allowing the green smoke to rise from his body, like a wooden statue.
Not far away, Tie Lianggu's eyes showed a bloodthirsty viciousness. Like those vicious ghosts, he stuck out his scarlet tongue and licked his lips.
On the other side, Zhao Min had only just met the female Tianlan Clan cultivator in the air. Seeing Li Yan instantly fall into such a state, she became extremely anxious and immediately shouted out, wanting to wake Li Yan. Unexpectedly, the gray-haired old man, Wutu, who had not made a move, now stretched out a hand and gently swiped it through the air. An invisible barrier appeared between the two battlefields of Zhao Min and Li Yan.
A sound-insulating restriction!
Zhao Min's voice was blocked by an invisible force. Wutu sneered inwardly. It was already generous of him not to have attacked. Did the opponent really think she could interrupt Tie Lianggu's magical art? It was simply a dream!
But at the same time, a trace of palpitation suddenly shot through Wutu's heart. This was an instinct honed from his many years of battle. He had always trusted his premonitions implicitly. Without a moment's hesitation, his Divine Sense instantly swept across the surroundings. After one sweep, he moved his feet with some doubt. He had found nothing, and at the same time, that trace of palpitation had vanished.
Wutu then fixed his eyes on Zhao Min. "The palpitation occurred when I was blocking her. Could there be something strange about this woman?" He couldn't help but focus his attention on Zhao Min.
Seeing that her attempt to call out was blocked, Zhao Min's heart went cold. Her plan with Li Yan was good, but she hadn't expected the arrogant youth's attack to be so bizarre. Li Yan had fallen for it in an instant. She made a sharp turn and shot off to the side, no longer intending to engage the enemy.
"Your opponent is me. Where do you think you're going!" the woman's clear voice rang out.
"Get lost!"
"Hmph, words are useless!"
On the other side, more hands from below appeared on Li Yan's ankles. The sharp teeth of the foremost phantom in the air had already touched his throat. Tie Lianggu pointed a single hand at the Mourning Staff in the air. This time, the Mourning Staff emitted an even thicker, foul-smelling, gray mist, and the mist enveloping Li Yan grew denser.
"Hahaha, so weak!" Tie Lianggu's triumphant laughter echoed far across the empty prairie. At this time, Zhao Min was once again entangled by the female Tianlan cultivator, separated by a world of distance, unable to provide aid!