Bai Rou had always given off a gentle and weak impression. Even though Li Yan had been to the Woodstream Sect twice and found that his senior sister's realm had improved, he had never seen Bai Rou truly fight. She was still the same senior sister in his memory who was a little timid in battle.
Li Yan had, of course, also seen the battle reports submitted by the disciples below a few days ago. His senior sister had actually killed five Golden Core cultivators in this battle. The combat power she displayed was dazzling among her peers; even Li Wuyi could not compare to her.
Although the initial battle report might have discrepancies, the Hall of Deacons would later conduct detailed verifications with everyone to confirm the number of enemies each person killed, and rewards would be given based on merit. When Li Yan saw the battle report, he almost suspected that this person was not the Senior Sister Bai Rou he knew.
At this moment, Bai Rou's already fair, jade-like face looked even paler. Although several days had passed since the great battle, she still looked exhausted. In this fierce battle, although the actual fighting time was only a few dozen breaths, Bai Rou saw that Li Yan's side was in extreme danger. She couldn't help at all, and her heart was filled with anxiety.
What angered her even more was that these people had ruined her junior brother's Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony. Filled with indignation, she had used all the puppets in her possession from the very beginning. As a result, even though she had practiced the secret art of the Heavenly Spirit Race and her Divine Sense was much stronger than that of her peers, releasing so many puppets at once was still something she could not sustain for a long time.
And the stronger her combat power, the more she was noticed by the enemy cultivators. Later, several people surrounded her directly. By the time those enemies received the voice transmission from the Nascent Soul cultivators to escape, Bai Rou only had about thirty percent of her usual Divine Sense left, which left her with no strength to participate in the pursuit.
"Here, this is a bottle of pills for restoring Divine Sense. It was fortunate that this battle was in the sect, and there were fellow disciples around to make the enemies wary. When you showed your fatigue, and those enemies besieged you again for a counter-kill, your fate would have been uncertain, Senior Sister. The most important thing in killing is to first protect yourself. You must not do this again next time, Senior Sister. Otherwise, if something happens to you, the Woodstream Sect will surely decline again in the future. Senior Shuang will definitely be heartbroken when they find out! Next time you face an enemy, you must not be like this!"
Li Yan quickly took out a small red jade bottle. He had just come out of seclusion, and the pills he had were actually all leftovers from his Golden Core stage. This bottle he was holding was something he had specifically requested from Mo Qing. It was a bottle of fifth-rank "Spirit-Replenishing Pills," which were very beneficial for restoring Divine Sense. Mo Qing had a pained expression when he gave it to him. But this was the first time Li Yan had asked for something, and it was right after a great battle. He knew that Li Yan would use it for his senior brothers and sisters on Lesser Bamboo Peak, and the sect couldn't be too stingy with the injured participants.
Since Li Yan had entered the cave residence, Bai Rou had been watching him quietly. Seeing Li Yan turn to her after hastily asking about Sun Guoshu and constantly complaining that she didn't know how to fight, a faint smile appeared on her face, and she didn't speak. Then, she extended a fair, jade-like hand and took the red jade bottle. Seeing that Bai Rou didn't answer and only smiled, Li Yan could only sigh helplessly.
"By the way, you don't need to worry about that First Sir anymore. He won't appear again. You just need to cultivate well!"
Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu had also heard the news circulating in the sect a few days ago, but there was no information about the First Sir. Now, hearing this, their eyes lit up.
"The meaning behind Junior Brother Li's words... is it because of that Chimei Emissary?" Bai Rou's delicate brows relaxed slightly. She had been worried about this matter, but she wasn't worried about herself, but about Li Yan.
Li Yan had killed one of the opponent's Nascent Soul cultivators. Everyone had seen it. With such a performance, Li Yan would definitely be marked by the opponent, especially by a Spirit Transformation cultivator who could easily kill a Nascent Soul. She had always had a kind of confidence in Li Yan, always feeling that it was difficult for him to be plotted against by cultivators of the same rank. But if he was noticed by a Spirit Transformation cultivator because of this, it would be very dangerous. Unless Li Yan never left the sect, his life would be in danger at any time.
"That's right. Currently, only a few people at the top know this news. You must not leak it. In short, just believe what I say!"
He, of course, knew this matter best, and the answer he gave was even more accurate. This was something that only he and Ping Tu knew on the entire Desolate Moon Continent. Li Yan had no doubt about Ping Tu's words. If he said the opponent would surely die, then there was no possibility of escape.
After hearing Li Yan's repeated warnings and seeing his serious expression, Bai Rou and Sun Guoshu's hearts were finally at ease, and a relaxed look appeared on their faces. After all, anyone would be afraid of having a terrifying sword hanging over their head all day. Although that person would not target them individually, he might launch another such attack.
"It's only been a few years of peace, and so many cultivators have fallen this time. I really don't want to encounter this kind of thing again. I finally succeeded in forming my core, and I want to live a good life," Sun Guoshu said, looking at the wounds on his body with a look of lingering fear.
"Junior Brother, will your Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony continue?" Bai Rou suddenly asked.
"Oh... that... that won't happen. The other three sects will have Nascent Soul cultivators coming over again in the next few days to discuss the follow-up plans. There's no time for such worldly matters." Li Yan was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected Bai Rou to be so concerned about this matter. However, he had never liked the idea of a Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony, so this was a welcome turn of events.
Bai Rou nodded calmly, but she had already committed the troublemakers to memory.
Next, the few of them chatted for a while longer, and then Li Yan and Sun Guoshu left together. Bai Rou sat alone in the cave for a long time before entering the cultivation chamber. She was not in a hurry to return to the Woodstream Sect now. She had to restore her strength as soon as possible. Although she had Li Yan's guarantee, she still felt it was better to stay here and observe for a few days. If an enemy attacked, she could act in time.
As for the Woodstream Sect, there was no need to worry. It was part of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's territory. As long as the Malevolent Spirit Sect was fine, it would be safe. Moreover, after the Malevolent Spirit Sect activated its Sect-Protecting Grand Formation, it had actually included the Woodstream Sect within its scope. Besides, the Woodstream Sect had its own grand formation for protection. Under this double protection, even if attacked, there would still be time to send out a distress signal. And with the Woodstream Sect being so close to the Malevolent Spirit Sect, would the demon cultivators' side risk attacking a small sect? Besides exposing their target, they would gain nothing. She had sent Tang Yuniang back just as a precaution.
...
After returning to Lesser Bamboo Peak, Li Yan immediately sealed off his courtyard with a formation. Qian Ji was recuperating. Zi Kun was now almost no different from a disciple of Lesser Bamboo Peak. Especially with the current shortage of manpower, he had long been assigned tasks by Li Wuyi, which Zi Kun was also happy to do.
After entering the cultivation chamber and closing the main door, Li Yan walked to the middle of the room and sat down cross-legged. This battle was the first time Li Yan had fought since forming his Nascent Soul. He had gained a lot of insight from this battle and needed to integrate and digest it well, which would surely benefit him greatly.
In addition, he had also exposed his weakness of having an insufficient foundation. With only a short ten years of cultivation, besides stabilizing his cultivation base, none of his various immortal arts had reached lesser completion. He had fought this battle with great difficulty, and in the end, could only rely on repeated calculations to deal with his opponents.
"I've already informed Master. If there's nothing special, I will be entering seclusion!" Li Yan thought about his next plan. But before cultivating, he still had some things to do.
With a wave of his sleeve, three monk's pouches and one storage ring appeared before him, floating in the air. They were the storage magical treasures of Chan Master Dajing and Qi Jinghong. Two of the three monk's pouches were gray, and one was golden-yellow, indicating their difference.
Li Yan's Divine Sense directly probed the golden-yellow monk's pouch. The moment his Divine Sense approached the opening of the pouch, a powerful and fierce Divine Sense swept back at him, accompanied by a roar similar to the Buddhist Lion's Roar, which made Li Yan's Divine Sense tremble. Li Yan was unconcerned by this.
The Divine Sense imprint left by a dead person was like rootless water. No matter how strong it was, how long could it last? Moreover, Li Yan's own Divine Sense was already stronger than his opponent's.
In just a single breath, with a "poof," the Divine Sense imprint on the opening of the monk's pouch was like a candle being blown out, dissipating into specks of golden light. At the same time, Li Yan seemed to hear a voice full of venomous resentment, which disintegrated amidst a roar. It was the unwillingness of the resentment in Chan Master Dajing's Divine Sense.
With a calm expression, Li Yan's Divine Sense entered.
The space inside the monk's pouch was very wide. As expected of a storage magical treasure used by a Nascent Soul cultivator, Li Yan saw at a glance that the space inside was over four hundred zhang in size. This was almost the same size as the two Spirit-Storing Pouches he had obtained from Meng Zhiyuan, clearly an extraordinary item.
This monk's pouch was filled with various items, neatly arranged. There were a large number of spirit stones and medicinal pills. And those spirit stones were all high-grade spirit stones; there wasn't a single mid or low-grade one. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Li Yan found that there were over ten thousand high-grade spirit stones.
"This... this is too rich..."
Li Yan was dumbfounded. He had never seen so many high-grade spirit stones. He usually considered himself a wealthy person. But just by opening one of the opponent's storage spaces, he was stunned. Compared to his opponent, his own wealth was like that of a beggar holding a few taels of silver.
Then Li Yan's gaze fell on a pile of items on the ground that formed a small hill. There were more than thirty bottles of medicinal pills of various sizes...
Dozens of breaths later, Li Yan looked at the bottles of medicine before him, his face beaming with a smile. The lowest-grade item here was a bottle of third-rank "Golden Bone Pills," the most common body-tempering pill used by monks. Although it was of no use to Li Yan's current physical body, it could be sold for about three thousand low-grade spirit stones.
The rest of the pills for replenishing magical power were all fourth-rank and above. In particular, there were two healing pills, "Bodhi Pills," which were good sixth-rank items. They could allow a person to regrow severed limbs in a short time, top-grade pills that could bring the dead to life and grow flesh on white bones. Moreover, this pill also had a significant healing effect on the soul.
Li Yan had seen it in some ancient texts before, but "Bodhi Pills" could usually only be refined by high-ranking Buddhist monks. It was almost impossible for outside cultivators to obtain them.
"Hehehe, with such a pill, in case of severe physical injury, recovery would be thirty percent faster than with the Undead Nether Phoenix essence. A pity there are only two! The medicinal power of this sixth-rank pill is very potent. Later, I can divide one of them into three parts and give them to Second Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Sister, and Qian Ji respectively. This should be enough for Golden Core cultivators. Although they have the pills I brought before for healing, those are only fourth-rank. After they take a portion of this pill, they should be able to fully recover in about a year." Li Yan thought to himself.
Subsequently, Li Yan's gaze fell to the side of the medicinal pills. A string of prayer beads was floating there in mid-air. It was Chan Master Dajing's natal magical treasure.
"This thing was extremely difficult to deal with before. Not only does it have the effect of suppressing space, but it also possesses Willpower!"
In the cultivation chamber, with a thought from Li Yan, a string of eighteen prayer beads appeared before him. Li Yan grabbed it with one hand, and magical power surged in his palm. Streams of metal-attribute magical power were poured into it. He had seen Chan Master Dajing use metal-attribute magical power to control it, so this was not a problem for him at all.
The eighteen prayer beads indeed burst with a brilliant golden light in an instant, and each bead immediately swelled to the size of a head. But after Li Yan channeled his magical power for a while, his brow furrowed. He didn't have the method to use this string of prayer beads. So while he could forcibly use it to smash or bind people, he couldn't grasp its true transformations at the moment. However, Li Yan felt that if he spent time, he should be able to slowly figure out some ways to use it.
But for now, no matter how he channeled his magical power and infused his Divine Sense, not only did the Vajra visage not appear, but he also couldn't sense a single trace of the "Willpower" he was most concerned about. It was as if this treasure didn't contain a single trace of "Willpower" at all!
Li Yan tried for another half an incense stick's time, but still to no avail. He could only shake his head helplessly and give up for now.
Among the remaining treasures, Li Yan found four high-rank "Golden Bell Talisman" defensive talismans. They should be able to withstand the attack of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator for about three breaths. Although it might not seem like much, it was actually extremely precious. In a battle between cultivators, the situation could change in an instant. With even a little bit of buffer time, one might be able to turn the tables in an instant.
The remaining talismans seemed somewhat ordinary compared to these four "Golden Bell Talismans," but in fact, each of these talismans was priceless, all of them treasures that Golden Core cultivators longed for.
In this monk's pouch, Li Yan found two more magical treasures, a circlet and a rope. But after testing them, Li Yan felt that their power was not as strong as he had imagined. He didn't know if he was using the wrong method to control them, or if the rank of the magical treasures themselves was just that.