Looking at the map in his hand, various speculations arose in Li Yan's mind. He knew that this map must have been drawn by Qi Jinghong after careful confirmation. At the same time, he also became very interested in this map.
Moreover, Li Yan also noticed that all the red dots that were not crossed out were either the location of a first-rate sect or some small sects and families close to a major sect. Even Nascent Soul cultivators had to be careful when going to these places, as they could be discovered by other high-level cultivators if they were not careful.
"There are still nine places on this map that are not marked with a red cross. They should be the places Qi Jinghong has not been to, or has not succeeded. Even if only one of these places has a silver paper, it would be the best result for me."
For a moment, Li Yan stood there, his eyes constantly flashing.
With this map, he was much more certain than with the information he got from Bu Luo. But he knew that one couldn't be too greedy. It would be good to get even one sheet; having something was better than nothing.
He actually wanted to set off immediately right now. After a long while, Li Yan finally let out a long sigh, calming his turbulent emotions.
"I can't go now. Because of the demon cultivators' incident, the defenses of the major sects have been tightened by at least several times. Now is not the best time. And many of my cultivation methods have not even reached lesser completion. This matter is mainly about stealing. Once discovered, I will definitely have to fight. My current strength is still a bit lacking. I must at least be able to escape successfully even if I can't win, and not leave any evidence behind. Getting the silver paper is urgent, but it must be done with certainty. I would rather not get it than act so recklessly. Once this matter is exposed, the silver paper will surely attract the attention of many Nascent Soul cultivators. Then, the possibility of the 'Undead Nether Phoenix' essence blood's secret being exposed will greatly increase. And, it would be hard for me to explain my actions of snatching it to the sect..."
Li Yan calculated in his mind and quickly rejected his own idea. At the same time, he could tell that Qi Jinghong had the same thought, which was to keep his discovery a secret. The purpose of drawing this map was simply to act more accurately and with more specific targets.
Li Yan's guess was basically not far from the truth.
Not long after the great war with the Demon Clan, Qi Jinghong was on his way to the Ten-Pace Courtyard on business when he unintentionally killed an inconsiderate cultivator. For the storage pouch of such a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, he naturally wouldn't care. With a casual strike, the opponent's physical body turned into nothingness. But as a cultivator, it was a habit to always open the storage pouch of an opponent to check, no matter how high or low their status was. Because the saying that a small cultivator can have a great opportunity was common in the cultivation world.
Qi Jinghong just casually shook out the contents of the pouch, and they fell to the ground. After a glance, there was nothing that surprised him, so he punched the ground. With his strike, even the storage pouch was instantly shattered into dust. But a single sheet of silver paper floated out, which stunned Qi Jinghong.
He knew very well how powerful his casual strike was; it could easily turn a large mountain into a pile of dust. In his surprise, he took the silver paper into his hand and carefully observed it with his Divine Sense. But after a while, he couldn't find any clues. He just faintly felt that this silver paper was extraordinary. At that time, because he was in a hurry to deal with some matters, he put this sheet of silver paper away.
After he flew out of the Ten-Pace Courtyard a few days later, he remembered this matter on his way back. So he found a place and began to study this sheet of silver paper carefully. As his research deepened, Qi Jinghong became more and more amazed. Not only did he fail to discover the secret in the silver paper using various methods, he couldn't even damage it in the slightest.
However, in the end, because the "Yuanyang Art" he cultivated was special, and he had already cultivated the fire of pure yang in his Dantian, when he burned the silver paper with this fire, he sensed a power hidden within that made his heart palpitate. This surprised Qi Jinghong at the time. What kind of power could make even him feel frightened? So he became even more eager to figure out the secret of the silver paper.
After that, even after continuously burning it for more than a month, the sheet of silver paper showed no further changes. With such a result, although Qi Jinghong felt discouraged, he also knew more and more that this item was definitely a supreme treasure.
Since this sheet of silver paper appeared on a small Foundation Establishment cultivator, he could roughly infer that it had not yet been noticed by other Nascent Soul cultivators. Perhaps even few Golden Core cultivators knew the secret in this silver paper. Otherwise, that small cultivator would have died countless times already, and it wouldn't have been his turn to have a chance encounter.
Since it was a silver paper, Qi Jinghong felt that being made into such a shape meant that there might be other similar silver papers. So after he returned to the "Fire Cloud Sect," he immediately gave a secret order to a few of his trusted disciples, telling them to secretly investigate news of the silver paper.
Finally, four years later, he received a report from a disciple, stating that the silver paper had appeared on the second floor of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda of the Pure Land Sect more than ten years ago, and many cultivators had fought over it at that time. Moreover, the number of silver papers that appeared was about ten.
After getting this news, Qi Jinghong was overjoyed. He had not been idle in the past four years either, but had used more means to study this silver paper. But whether it was eroding it with various poisons, refining it in earth fire for more than a year, or using the sect's ancient grand formation to refine it, etc., the sheet of silver paper showed no change at all.
He had roughly come to a conclusion by then. This silver paper was a treasure refined by a cultivator whose cultivation was countless times higher than his own, and its preciousness far exceeded his imagination. So, after getting the news from his disciples, Qi Jinghong decided to search for the matter himself.
With his means as a Nascent Soul cultivator, even though more than ten years had passed since the incident, he still managed to reconstruct about seventy to eighty percent of what had happened with the silver paper after three years, and finally drew a map. At the same time, he also found out the names of many of the cultivators who had entered and exited the second floor of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda during that time.
In fact, at the very beginning, the name of the Pure Land Sect was also marked on this map, but it was later erased by him. The reason was that the news he got at that time said that several monks from the Pure Land Sect had also participated in the snatching of the silver paper. So, Qi Jinghong had once gone to the Pure Land Sect for a short stay under some pretext, ostensibly to discuss the Dao with several Arhats. Occasionally, he would wander around the temple. He had also secretly approached the few small monks mentioned in the news, but he had not gotten any clues from them.
He didn't dare to make a move in the Pure Land Sect, and he had no reason to stay in the temple for a long time. In the end, he could only let the matter of the Pure Land Sect go. Qi Jinghong was afraid that this map would be accidentally leaked. The Pure Land Sect was powerful. If someone saw the name of the Pure Land Sect, it might attract endless trouble, so he modified the map again.
However, those other small sects were not so lucky. They were either slaughtered, or their cultivators were killed. Anyway, at that time, the remnants of the Demon Clan had not been eliminated, and there were many people causing trouble everywhere. Many people died just like that, and no one knew the real reason...
Among those on the list was also a person from the Huchen family that he had inquired about, named Huchen Jianghai. After confirming the other party's identity, Qi Jinghong did indeed go to the Huchen family. But the Huchen Ancestor had not yet left the family for his long journey at that time. He hid for a period of time and did not dare to sneak in.
But Qi Jinghong's luck exploded. Unwilling to give up, he was wandering in a market ten thousand li from the Huchen family when he discovered a small cultivator on the street. That person had used an art to conceal and change his face, but with just a casual glance, Qi Jinghong saw through his illusion. To his surprise and joy, that person was the Huchen Jianghai he was looking for.
And so, the pitiful Huchen Jianghai, after escaping from his family for nearly twenty years, was still implicated by Li Yan. After Qi Jinghong captured Huchen Jianghai, he naturally would not be polite to him. After leaving the market, he performed a soul search on him. But in the end, what angered Qi Jinghong was that there was no experience of going to the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda in Huchen Jianghai's memory.
With such a result, Qi Jinghong was naturally extremely frustrated. With one palm, he turned Huchen Jianghai into dust. The pitiful Huchen Jianghai died without knowing why he had offended a Nascent Soul cultivator. It could be said that he died with a grievance!
Although there was no memory of going to the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda in Huchen Jianghai's memory, Qi Jinghong did not believe this result. On the contrary, he felt that there was something fishy going on. Perhaps the Huchen Ancestor had discovered the secret of the silver paper from Huchen Jianghai, not only taking the silver paper away but also modifying his memory.
But this made things difficult. The Huchen Ancestor's poison arts were unparalleled in the world. Qi Jinghong was very wary of him and was unwilling to fight him easily. He could only wait for an opportunity. But after waiting, that Huchen Ancestor lost all trace.
By the time he got the news of the Huchen Ancestor's departure and, unwilling to give up, planned to go to the Huchen family to search in person, he was approached by the demon cultivators. They wanted him to continuously provide various information about the cultivation world and be on standby at all times.
Only then did Qi Jinghong know that he had already betrayed the human race long ago. With an uneasy heart, he no longer had the mind to go out and search for the silver paper. This delay lasted until the Nascent Soul Formation Ceremony, and in the end, it was Li Yan who benefited.
It could be said that this was all the work of fortune, and immortal fate was determined by heaven.
Li Yan first put away the three sheets of silver paper. He planned to refine these three sheets during his upcoming seclusion. Then, he reclassified the items in the monk's pouch and storage ring and put them into the "Earthen Patch." The few storage magical treasures were also put away by him. These were the storage space magical treasures of a Nascent Soul cultivator and were very valuable.
After doing all this, he took out a sixth-rank medicinal pill—the Bodhi Pill—and divided it into three parts. With a thought from his Divine Sense, he first sent one part into the "Earthen Patch." He woke up the recuperating Qian Ji and told him to take it and refine it well. Then, he flashed out of the courtyard and reappeared in front of Li Wuyi. He also took out the other two portions of the Bodhi Pill and told Li Wuyi of its use. Li Wuyi was naturally overjoyed.
Miao Wangqing had been unconscious all this time, and he couldn't calm down. After taking the pills, he left in a hurry. As for people like Wang Tian, Li Yan didn't care. Anyway, their lives were no longer in danger. He only had one of this kind of pill left. He wasn't their master. As long as they didn't die, they could rely on themselves to recuperate from their injuries.
...
This was a boundless dark space. The endless dead silence made this place seem like an eternal land of death. Being in it would make one feel lonely and helpless.
Li Yan stood in it, holding a small gray stone block, carefully looking around. At this time, around his body, a gray wing was enveloping him. Li Yan felt the astral wind constantly impacting the gray wing, but he himself did not feel a single trace of the astral wind on his body.
This was after he had left the sect's range and used the "Sand Star Stone" to try and cut through the void and enter the Chaotic Flow Space. But he didn't know that this item was called "Sand Star King Stone" by the First Sir and his group. Li Yan's current cultivation could already tear the void with his bare hands. To test this "Sand Star King Stone," he still decided to consume some of its power.
After entering the Chaotic Flow Space and seeing the meteorites rapidly flying past, Li Yan was slightly relieved. The location he chose to enter was quite good; there were not too many meteorites around.
Standing there, Li Yan looked at the distant, huge meteorite, which was several thousand zhang in size, slowly drifting in the void like a giant ancient beast, as well as the occasional small meteorites that streaked past like shooting stars. Li Yan felt the deathly aura in the Chaotic Flow Space.
He had stopped at the spatial crack he had just entered from the beginning. Only after confirming that the surrounding environment was safe did he retract the gray wing around him. The gray wing was constantly consuming the power of the "Sand Star King Stone." Li Yan certainly didn't want to waste it just like that.
The moment the gray wing was retracted, the dark light on Li Yan's protective light shield flashed continuously. Now, the astral wind that made people's blood run cold could no longer cause him any harm.
After observing for a while, Li Yan found that although the astral wind in the Chaotic Flow Space was fierce, it was not continuous, but came in intermittent gusts. This gave cultivators time to recover their magical power.
Li Yan's Divine Sense once again swept over the "Sand Star King Stone" in his hand. Soon, he sensed a faint, almost imperceptible connection from the stone, drifting toward the distance…
Thirty breaths later, in a clear blue sky, the white clouds suddenly shrank, as if they had been pulled in by something. A large patch of white clouds instantly disappeared. A crack appeared in the calm and waveless sky without any warning, and a figure quickly flew out from it. It was Li Yan, holding the "Sand Star King Stone."
The moment Li Yan's figure appeared, his Divine Sense swept around. Finally, his gaze fixed on a certain spot on the ground. The crack behind him had already healed at a very fast speed.