The place Li Yan was staring at was just a very ordinary cluster of bushes, not much different from the surrounding ones, very common.
Li Yan, in the air, took a step down, and his entire figure flew over. While still in the air, he had already waved his hand and sent out a wind blade. The huge wind blade swept out with a sharp whistle and struck the cluster of bushes.
With a "hiss," the originally very ordinary cluster of bushes did not shatter as expected. Instead, a gray light flashed on its surface, and it actually blocked Li Yan's attack.
"Oh? There's a decent defensive formation too!"
There was no surprise on Li Yan's face. On the contrary, he appeared very calm, as if everything was within his expectations…
A dozen breaths later, a muffled "boom" came from the ground. The entire ground shook a few times.
Looking at that spot on the ground again, the cluster of bushes had disappeared. In its place was a small gray stone block almost identical to the one in Li Yan's hand, spinning gently, suspended above the ground.
Li Yan reached out his hand and pulled the small gray stone block into his grasp. After sensing the aura in the stone, it was indeed the same as the one in his hand. He nodded in satisfaction.
Li Yan looked around and carefully identified the direction. He determined that this place should be a location southwest of the sect. Li Yan was relatively familiar with the terrain and location near his own sect. He was surprised to find that this place should be about three thousand li away from where he had previously cut into space. But he hadn't flown for a very long time in the Chaotic Flow Space before. Li Yan felt that he had at most flown a hundred li or so.
"The distance in the Chaotic Flow Space is not the same as the actual distance on the continent. This is caused by the different rules of space!"
Li Yan did not delay. After putting away the two "Sand Star Stones," another "Sand Star Stone" appeared in his hand. The one he had taken out earlier was from Chan Master Dajing, while this one was Qi Jinghong's.
He rose into the air again, held the "Sand Star Stone" and gently swiped at a certain spot. The void twisted, and a spatial crack appeared. Li Yan flashed and drilled into it…
Just seven or eight breaths later, at the same place where the spatial crack had appeared before, the space fluctuated, and Li Yan stepped out of the crack again. He had actually been waiting here all this time and had not gone far.
Li Yan in the void looked at the "Sand Star Stone" in his hand and could only shake his head in regret. After entering the Chaotic Flow Space again, he had failed to sense another exit location from this "Sand Star Stone."
"It's probably already been taken away!"
Since he couldn't find the corresponding "Sand Star Stone," Li Yan didn't plan to delay any longer on this matter. His body once again disappeared from where he stood.
...
In a secret chamber filled with extremely dense earth spiritual energy, Li Yan's figure flashed into existence. He looked around but did not find any trace of Ping Tu. So he immersed his Divine Sense into the round Rhomboid Crystal in his hand and communicated with the imprint inside.
When he withdrew his Divine Sense, even after ten breaths, there was still no movement. Li Yan couldn't help but become anxious. Just as he was about to communicate with the imprint again, the dense earth spiritual energy in front of him churned, and a huge face appeared.
At this time, Ping Tu's phantom face was somewhat dim. The moment he appeared, he said impatiently, "What is it? I'm using this wisp of divine will to deal with that person!"
"Oh, it's been a few days. I just wanted to ask if the First Sir is dead yet. There shouldn't be any accidents on your side, right, Senior?" Li Yan asked quickly.
"What accident could there be? It's just that without my main body, dealing with him is not that easy! He's not dead yet, but he will be soon! I must personally control the restrictions there with this wisp of my divine will to unleash enough power to be fatal to him. When he's dead, if you're not in the middle of cultivating, I'll let you know."
Seeing that Li Yan had no other business, Ping Tu's eyes showed dissatisfaction. He wanted that person to die sooner, but Li Yan had summoned him over.
Seeing that Ping Tu was about to leave, Li Yan quickly said, "Senior, wait a moment!"
"Kid, if you have anything to say, wait until I've killed that person!"
"Senior, I'm about to enter seclusion. These few items are for you. Perhaps they can be of some help to your main body!"
As Li Yan spoke, light flashed in his hand, and three splendidly glowing crystals—one yellow, one green, and one blue—floated in the air.
"Supreme-grade spirit stones!"
The moment these three crystals appeared, a sharp glint flashed in Ping Tu's originally impatient eyes.
"Oh, you got three supreme-grade spirit stones at once, and you want to give them to me?" Ping Tu looked at Li Yan.
"Of course. Senior needs this item the most right now. This junior still remembers what Senior said back then. It's just that this junior has only recently entered the Nascent Soul stage and only obtained these three in the previous great battle. If possible in the future, this junior will naturally help Senior recover sooner!"
Li Yan bowed in respect. His respect for Ping Tu was from the bottom of his heart. The other party had helped him a lot, but Ping Tu himself was still seriously injured. Li Yan had not been able to help before. Now that he had the opportunity, he of course did not hesitate to take out the supreme-grade spirit stones.
After hearing this, Ping Tu's huge eyes turned on Li Yan for a moment, and a hint of warmth appeared in them. Then he looked at the three supreme-grade spirit stones again. The yellow earth-attribute spirit stone was the most suitable for him. Of course, this didn't mean the other two couldn't be used, but he would need to convert them. He was just an artifact spirit, not a true disciple of the Five Elements Sect. As long as there was conversion, there would be consumption. So he could probably utilize about seventy percent of the green and blue supreme-grade spirit stones, but this was still very considerable.
Ping Tu of course knew what cultivation method Li Yan practiced: "True Scripture of Gui Water" — a top-tier water-attribute cultivation method. That blue water-attribute supreme-grade spirit stone was actually what Li Yan needed most. Once Li Yan absorbed it, his strength would advance by leaps and bounds in a short time, but Li Yan still took it out.
"Alright, you can cultivate in peace!" Ping Tu just glanced over and said no more. The three supreme-grade spirit stones vanished into thin air, and then the huge face disappeared as well.
Watching Ping Tu disappear, a knowing smile appeared on Li Yan's face. This was just how he was. Although selfish, it depended on who it was for.
...
Not long after this surprise attack by the Demon Clan, the Four Great Sects conducted a major purge. The methods were quite bloody and brutal. Anyone who was even slightly suspected was mostly annihilated. Only a very small number, after being summoned for talks, had their entire sect imprisoned for three to five hundred years.
Especially the Supreme Mystery Teachings in the South Sea, which became the target of public criticism. Not only were they monitored by the other three sects during the purge, but they also had to pay compensation in land and spirit stones, almost emptying their coffers. At the same time, the territories they had previously disputed with the Malevolent Spirit Sect were not only completely ceded, but other areas were also carved out and given to the three sects.
The Supreme Mystery Teachings themselves, due to the execution of a large number of cultivators related to Hang Lin, saw their cultivator ranks, which had taken over a hundred years to recover, plummet back to a low point. Finally, the remaining Nascent Soul cultivator, Daoist Yinliang, announced to the world that they would seal their domain for three hundred years. No cultivator from the South Sea domain was allowed to take half a step out of the South Sea domain. Violators would bring disaster to their entire sect.
The current strength of the Supreme Mystery Teachings could only be considered at the level of a first-rate sect. Apart from having a relatively large number of Golden Core and Foundation Establishment cultivators, the only Nascent Soul cultivator left was Daoist Yinliang. As for whether the Spirit Transformation cultivator Yuandu was still on the Desolate Moon Continent, he hadn't shown up even when the Supreme Mystery Teachings was in such a mess.
From then on, the Supreme Mystery Teachings truly fell to the bottom of the Four Great Sects. And within the South Sea domain, a competition between the first-rate sects quietly began. Taking advantage of the domain sealing, they all had the idea of replacing the Supreme Mystery Teachings. The three great sects also turned a blind eye to this.
After all, the scourge Hang Lin's whereabouts were still unknown. Among the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Four Great Sects, only he was known to be a traitor. Whether there were other deeply hidden individuals within the Supreme Mystery Teachings remained to be seen.
This matter caused a stir for a full ten years before the cultivation world slowly returned to its former peace. The demon cultivators and foreign cultivators never appeared again. And according to the news successively released by the three great sects, after the Spirit Transformation cultivators took action, they had killed another three Demonic Generals and one foreign cultivator in the past ten years.
Once this news spread, the vast majority of people chose to believe the news released by the three great sects. For a time, many people were more at ease. But there were still many who were not entirely convinced, because the number of people announced did not quite match the number who had escaped from the attack on the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony. Moreover, the news did not specify the identities of the opponents, but it could be guessed that it did not include that First Sir and Hang Lin.
Although many people were still worried about that terrifying First Sir, as time flew by again, twenty-four years passed in the blink of an eye. Apart from the constant internal strife among the various sects on the Desolate Moon Continent, there was no more news of the Demon Clan's side. It was as if they had become the distant past, a sealed memory…
On this day, the door to Li Yan's cultivation chamber, which had been closed for a long time, suddenly opened. Li Yan, dressed in a dark green robe, walked out. He strolled into the courtyard. It was now the dead of winter, but the Malevolent Spirit Sect was located in the southwest of the Desolate Moon Continent, and the change of seasons was not too obvious. The outside was still shaded by green bamboo.
This time, Li Yan had not entered the secret chamber of the secret realm for his cultivation. The main reason was that Li Yan was also afraid that the demon cultivators would launch a counterattack at any time. Although the First Sir was trapped in the "Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl," it was also possible that the demon cultivators, having lost track of their Spirit Transformation cultivator, would decide to launch a desperate counterattack. After some thought, Li Yan decided to stay and cultivate on Lesser Bamboo Peak. If anything happened, he would immediately come out of seclusion to face the enemy.
He was now also an ancestor of the sect and had an inescapable responsibility to protect it.
After more than thirty years of cultivation, Li Yan had cultivated "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water" to the third level. As an auxiliary cultivation method for the "True Scripture of Gui Water," after truly cultivating it to completion, its effects were surprisingly astonishing. The magical power in Li Yan's Dantian sea was now abnormally refined. One drop was now compressed to be comparable to about five drops from thirty years ago, concentrated and pure.
The "Demon-Sealing Needle" had also finally been cultivated to the first level; the "Tidefall" cultivation method had also reached the lesser completion stage. Because Li Yan had too many things to cultivate, "Stealthy Night Art" and "The Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" had only improved slightly. The second level of "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art," "Soul-Tugging Execution," had still not been cultivated. That was because when Li Yan checked his pair of Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes today when he came out of seclusion, they had only just basically recovered and might need another one to three years of nurturing before they could be used.
As for the "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood, after Li Yan had dissolved it with the help of that mysterious blood river, he had only refined one drop, with two drops still unrefined. This was also due to the short amount of time. Li Yan felt that time was not enough. He had only given up cultivating other cultivation methods in recent years and started refining the "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood. Unexpectedly, he received a voice transmission from Zhao Min today.
Li Yan was not in death seclusion this time, so he had not set up a restriction on the sect token that could transmit voices. He was instantly awakened. After seeing the content, he immediately interrupted his cultivation and walked out.
More than thirty years, for a cultivator, was almost the blink of an eye. Especially for high-level cultivators, they had no sense of it at all.
Li Yan sat in the courtyard and sorted out his current situation, and he was basically satisfied. Not only had his cultivation risen to the late-initial stage of Nascent Soul, but the strength of his physical body, which had been a source of distress before, had also rapidly increased again. Li Yan felt that the strength of his physical body had increased by at least seventy percent compared to thirty years ago. He had only refined one drop of essence blood this time, so the effect should be as expected.
When Li Yan's cultivation was low back then, refining ten percent of a drop could double the strength of his physical body. That kind of effect would certainly not appear again. In fact, this improvement was already extremely rare for Li Yan at the Nascent Soul realm!
Feeling the long-lost sense of expansion in his body, Li Yan couldn't help but clench his fists. Currently, with his physical strength alone, he could beat an ordinary mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to a pulp. However, he also knew that as his realm continued to rise in the future, the "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood would only be able to increase the strength of his physical body by a smaller and smaller amount.
But Li Yan still guessed that if he could gather ten drops of "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood, the strength of his physical body should be able to reach a level comparable to that of an initial-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator. This was because the level of this dead "Undead Nether Phoenix" was relatively high, and the power contained within was enough to support the improvement of a Nascent Soul realm cultivator.
"If I can finish refining the remaining two drops, I wonder if the strength of my physical body can reach the level of a late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivator. It's truly something to look forward to! If I can really reach that step, it would be impossible to defeat them, but at least I would have the power to protect myself against a late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivator. If I can get the later cultivation method for the 'Qiongqi Purgatory Art,' the strength of my physical body will be even more terrifying..."
Li Yan thought to himself.
Currently, he had refined a total of four drops of "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood. The reason he could crush a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator was not entirely due to the power of the "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood itself. It was also due to the bonus from the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," as well as the fact that Li Yan's own realm had reached the initial stage of Nascent Soul, and his physical body had greatly improved under the heavenly tribulation.
For a moment, Li Yan thought of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," and his longing grew even stronger.
"It should be about time to find a time to go to the Wind God Continent!"