"This is truly fine tea. My thanks to Clan Head Ting!"
Li Yan chuckled and drained the rest of the tea in a single gulp.
A dark, ethereal light flashed across his face before everything returned to normal.
This time, he had condensed the tea's full medicinal power within his Dantian's Purple Mansion, not attempting to refine even a small portion. A spirit medicine of this caliber was, of course, best refined during seated meditation.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang possesses such pure magical power. Impressive, truly impressive!"
A strange light flickered in the eyes of Ting Bixiao and the other two as Ting Bixiao sized Li Yan up once more.
On the other side, A Guxi also downed the spirit tea in one go. A layer of frost immediately appeared on his dark yellow skin.
After three breaths, A Guxi exhaled sharply, and the frost on his body slowly dissipated. He too had temporarily suppressed the medicinal power within his Dantian's Purple Mansion.
Ting Bixiao was equally astonished. He had heard about the results of A Guxi's test when he first returned to the clan—that his cultivation was exquisite—but he had never seen A Guxi in action.
'This A Guxi's magical power is just as pure and refined. It's no surprise for someone who has fought and bled for years. His magical power has been polished to the hardness of refined steel, perhaps even rivaling the profoundness of some cultivators who relied on pills to reach Core Formation.'
After consuming the Snow-Covered Clarity Tea, refining it would expel impurities, most noticeably in the breath one exhaled.
The breath A Guxi expelled was a long, jet-black stream, containing not only the stagnant injuries within his body but also the impurities in his magical power and sinews.
For A Guxi, the impurities were mostly from old wounds and his physical frame. Since he began cultivating, he had barely consumed any cultivation-aiding medicinal pills, having forged his strength entirely through brutal, life-and-death slaughter.
In contrast, the air Li Yan exhaled was a stream of white gas, already bordering on translucent.
Even Ting Bixiao was incapable of such a feat. The breath he now exhaled after refining the spirit tea was also white, but it still contained hints of gray and was completely opaque.
As for the other two Giant Wood Clan Golden Core cultivators, the air they exhaled after refining the spirit tea was still a brownish-white, a far cry from Li Yan's.
Even Li Yan hadn't expected that a single cup of spirit tea would expose a fraction of his cultivation level.
But the moment he saw the breath A Guxi exhaled, he understood, though his expression remained perfectly neutral.
At this moment, after receiving a voice transmission from Li Yan, Zhao Min also drank the spirit tea from her jade cup.
However, she was already on guard. Her spirit power enveloped the tea completely, preventing any refinement and directly suppressing all its medicinal power within her Dantian.
For the time being, this prevented Ting Bixiao and the others from discerning the purity of her magical power.
With Li Yan's mastery over poisons, although there were countless deadly toxins in the world he couldn't identify, his Fragmented Poison Body would instinctively react to anything containing a potent poison.
This allowed Li Yan to determine, even faster than a sweep of his Divine Sense, whether the Snow-Covered Clarity Tea contained any lethal toxins.
Furthermore, the Fragmented Poison Body possessed the ability to devour other deadly poisons to enhance itself. Thus, contrary to their expectations, he drank it.
Although Zhao Min had a sliver of worry about this, she ultimately chose to trust the records concerning the Malevolent Spirit Sect's three great poison bodies.
"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Ting, for the gift of spirit tea. However, our purpose in coming here is the Wood Essence Pool. I believe A Guxi has already made this clear. I wonder, what is Fellow Daoist Ting's decision on this matter?"
Li Yan had no intention of beating around the bush.
As he spoke, he glanced at A Guxi, who was seated below. A Guxi nodded at him, indicating that the matter had indeed been explained.
Hearing this, Ting Bixiao fell silent for a moment. The faces of Ting Shan and Wusitu, however, were already etched with understanding and displeasure.
Wusitu, in particular, let out a cold snort.
Li Yan's expression remained unchanged, his gaze fixed calmly on Ting Bixiao.
"Fellow Daoist Zhang, A Guxi has already spoken to me about this. However, in the past, he only knew of the Wood Essence Pool's existence; he has never actually seen it."
"That place is the sacred land of our clan and has never been opened to outsiders."
"Furthermore, A Guxi was unaware that it can only be opened at specific times, and the number of people who can enter is also limited!"
Neither Li Yan nor Zhao Min spoke, their gazes quietly resting on Ting Bixiao. Ting Bixiao looked back at them, his expression just as impassive.
"However, considering that you two saved the lives of so many of our clansmen, and A Guxi has already made a promise, I have decided to make an exception and open the Wood Essence Pool for you."
"But... there are still conditions!"
Ting Bixiao's tone shifted once more.
"What conditions?"
Li Yan frowned. He had long suspected that gaining entry to such an important place, a sacred land of the Giant Wood Clan no less, would not be so easy.
"This is not our clan going back on our word. The Wood Essence Pool is formed from the essence of a ten-thousand-year-old spirit tree, which is why it is generally only opened once every hundred years."
"This allows the spirit wood essence within the pool to reach an extremely concentrated level."
"The next opening is scheduled for seventeen years from now. A maximum of three people can enter each time, for a duration of fifteen days."
"How much spirit wood essence each person can absorb and refine depends entirely on their own abilities."
"In the past, the slots for entry were always decided through an internal competition among cultivators below the Golden Core realm, with the top contenders earning the qualification."
"Since Golden Core cultivators have occupied the slots for the past three openings, the clan has already decided that the next entry will be for two Foundation Establishment disciples and one outstanding Qi Condensation disciple."
"Moreover, a person can enter the Wood Essence Pool a maximum of four times in their life, as it has no effect on the body after the fourth time."
"The effect is best the first time, then diminishes with each subsequent entry, decreasing by half each time. By the fourth time, the effect is already negligible!"
As Li Yan listened, his expression soured.
First, he was being asked to wait another seventeen years. While this amount of time might just be a single session of closed-door cultivation for him and Zhao Min, he was unwilling to wait here.
Li Yan knew better than anyone the truth in the saying that delays breed trouble; only what was in his hands was truly his.
Second, the latter part of the other's speech undoubtedly implied, 'Are you going to compete with three junior cultivators? That would be the strong bullying the weak.'
"Fellow Daoist Ting, you need not talk in circles. How do we resolve this? Are you suggesting I wait over a hundred years and then come back?"
Li Yan's fingers tapped gently on the tea table.
"There are three solutions right now. One, we compensate you with a sufficiently large reward, the specifics of which we would need to discuss;
"Two, I will need to find a reason, one that can convince my clansmen, but I cannot guarantee this will succeed;
"Three, you may indeed have to wait a hundred years before coming back."
Ting Bixiao shifted his massive frame in his large chair, a sharp glint in his eyes as he glanced askance at Wusitu and Ting Shan below.
Li Yan's thoughts spun, and he seemed to understand Ting Bixiao's meaning.
"Hehehe, Clan Head, there's no need to find another time to convince the clansmen. As long as one of these two fellow daoists has a bout with me and wins, I can give up one of the slots from my branch."
"Of course, if they lose, they can forget about entering our clan's sacred land, even a hundred years from now."
"As for the other slot, that will depend on whether Ting Shan is willing."
Just then, Wusitu, who was opposite Li Yan, suddenly spoke with a twitching, mocking smile, his words taking Li Yan by surprise.
From Ting Bixiao's earlier glance, Li Yan had guessed that he was signaling him, implying that the "clansmen" who needed convincing were none other than Wusitu and Ting Shan.
'It seems the three slots come from the branches of these two!'
Li Yan had initially thought that after he brought the matter to light, they would discuss it amongst themselves before giving him an answer.
He hadn't expected them to propose a duel, which struck him as odd.
Ever since this Wusitu had seen him, he had shown a certain hostility.
'Could it be that the confirmed slots Ting Bixiao mentioned belong to this Wusitu's direct line, hence his dissatisfaction!'
Li Yan speculated internally, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the yet-to-speak Ting Shan.
Ting Shan, however, just chuckled.
"A duel, eh? I don't mind joining in on the fun. Defeat me, and you can have the other slot!"
In their eyes, they had initially only paid a little more attention to Zhao Min, since her displayed cultivation level was higher.
But ever since Li Yan had exhaled that breath, Wusitu and Ting Shan no longer saw him as an ordinary Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator.
However, Wusitu was a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator. No matter how formidable that Zhang Ming was, it was impossible that he would dare to gamble on a duel spanning two minor realms.
"Clan Head Ting, if we agree to your duel, can the time to enter the Wood Essence Pool be moved up? I imagine a difference of a dozen years or so won't have too great an impact, will it?" Li Yan asked slowly, looking up at Ting Bixiao.
His words not only stunned Wusitu but also caused Ting Bixiao to look at him with some surprise.
After a few breaths, the three of them seemed to understand Zhang Ming's intention.
'He plans to accept the duel. Judging by the purity of magical power he displayed earlier, he should be able to contend with the Mid-stage Golden Core, Ting Shan.'
'Then he'll have that woman fight Wusitu. That's one way to do it!'
At this, it wasn't just Ting Bixiao who thought he had figured out Zhang Ming's plan; Wusitu and the other man had the same idea.
Involuntarily, their gazes all turned back to Zhao Min. Seeing that she showed not the slightest hint of fear, it was clear that the woman's strength also couldn't be measured by her realm.
Zhang Ming had said the woman was his Senior Sister. She had likely cultivated the same technique as him, and judging by the purity of Zhang Ming's magical power, one could infer a thing or two about her strength.
Wusitu, however, sneered inwardly.
'You two both have the ability to fight across realms, but do you think I don't? Do you really take Ting Shan and me for ordinary Golden Core cultivators?'
'Only when I've heavily injured you will you realize that the number of cultivators in this world who defy common logic is beyond your imagination!'
Up top, Ting Bixiao looked at Li Yan and, seeing he wasn't joking, pondered for a moment.
"As long as the slots are decided, opening it a dozen or so years early will have some effect, but overall, the concentration of the spirit wood essence will only be about ten percent less. It is acceptable."
"If we lose this competition, we will never mention this matter again, and A Guxi will have fulfilled his oath. So, how will victory and defeat be determined?"
Li Yan once again looked at Wusitu. He could tell that Ting Shan was just there for the fun of it.
If he wasn't mistaken, he was likely from the same branch as Ting Bixiao and didn't harbor as much hostility towards him.
"Two matches in total, each one deciding a slot. Win, and you take a slot. Lose, and you get nothing."
Wusitu's gloomy gaze swept over Li Yan and Zhao Min's faces.
"Very well, how about tomorrow then? After the battle, how long will Clan Head Ting need to open the Wood Essence Pool?"
The moment Li Yan's voice fell, Wusitu had already let out a cold laugh.
"Heh, tomorrow it is. It seems this Fellow Daoist Zhang is quite confident in his own strength, certain he can defeat both me and Ting Shan!"
"Not at all. Since we are all negotiating terms, it's only natural to ask for clarity!" Li Yan said with a calm expression.
Ting Bixiao thought for a moment.
"As long as one of you two wins, I will immediately arrange for the clan's disciples to compete for the final slot. Hmm... three days should be enough. The Wood Essence Pool can be opened on the fourth day!"
Wusitu slowly rose to his feet.
"Then it is settled. We shall meet at the Sparring Arena tomorrow morning. I trust you two fellow daoists won't mind letting our clansmen observe?"
"Let them see for themselves the strength of outside cultivators, so they don't spend their days thinking they're invincible. At the same time, it will make them concede the slots willingly!" Wusitu said with pointed meaning.