Although Zhao Zhihuan hadn't seen the three of them in action, he had heard Zhao Yuan's description and knew that these three were highly skilled. Zhao Yuan had said that he probably wouldn't be a match for any of them, and that they were clearly seasoned experts who had traveled the martial world for years.
Hearing this, Zhao Zhihuan couldn't help but develop an appreciation for their talent. Not just in the Great Qi Kingdom, but in any country, what was most lacking were experts with outstanding martial arts. Even after committing a capital crime, they had more than a fifty percent chance of being able to redeem themselves and live. The fundamental reason for this was the existence of the special demonic beasts on the Wind God Continent.
Killing one Wind Beast could save many more people from its maw, whereas ten strong ordinary men might not be a match for a single Wind Beast.
"My two brothers and I would like to travel for a few more years and see more of the unheard-of and unseen ferocious beasts. For now, we haven't thought about these things!" Li Yan refused directly.
Next, Zhao Zhihuan tried to persuade him a few more times, but seeing Li Yan's noncommittal attitude, he could only give up.
Then, Li Yan asked for a map of the surrounding area. Zhao Zhihuan just thought for a moment and then ordered a servant to get it. After a long while, a servant brought a silk scroll. Li Yan did not stand on ceremony and spread it open directly.
This was a map of the Great Qi Kingdom and the surrounding dynasties, not just a map of Jiaoming Province. However, the markings could only be said to be fairly detailed. More of it was marked with the range of Wind Beast activity, as well as the names of the Wind Beasts. Li Yan even saw traces of wet ink on it.
He knew that this had been specially drawn for him by Zhao Zhihuan. There must be a lot of hidden information in it. Li Yan didn't need to guess to know what was hidden; it was definitely military fortresses and the like. At the same time, the other party had also treated the three of them as wandering heroes and had specially marked the known range of Wind Beast activity more clearly.
Li Yan didn't want to know about the military fortresses, but this map could already fill in some of the blanks on his own map.
For the rest of the time, Zhao Zhihuan chatted with the three of them about some other matters. Li Yan also seemed to intentionally or unintentionally mention the matter of cultivators. Although Zhao Zhihuan knew some things, he acted as if he didn't know much. This made Li Yan a little strange about the set of formation restrictions in this mansion.
"Could it be that little demon's doing? But with her cultivation realm, she shouldn't be able to set up a formation of that level!"
It was just that the formation restriction did not seem to be aimed at them. Li Yan did not want to cause any more trouble, so he got up and proposed to go back to rest, saying that he would leave early the next morning and would not come to say goodbye then.
After Zhao Zhihuan tried to persuade them to stay again, seeing that the three of them had made up their minds to leave, he had a servant lead them away.
In the middle of the night, Li Yan, sitting cross-legged on the bed, suddenly had a strange smile on his face, but he did not open his eyes. At the same time, Qian Ji's voice transmission sounded in his mind.
"Master, what should we do? Zi Kun says to kill her directly!"
Li Yan, with his eyes closed, replied via voice transmission after three or four breaths. "Let's see what she's going to do. Don't take her life for now. Just capture and restrain her!"
In the deep of the night, it was pitch black everywhere. A figure was floating in the sky above the courtyard where Li Yan and the other two were staying. Even in the darkness of the night, one could see that the person had a curvy figure and should be a woman. She was carefully listening to the movements in the rooms below. The sound of even breathing and rising and falling snores had already come from the different rooms.
She floated in the air like this, listening quietly for more than ten breaths. She couldn't help but frown slightly.
"They're really sound asleep. Was I just being paranoid?"
The woman sensed the movements below and couldn't help but confirm her previous judgment in her heart. After another three or four breaths, she still chose to believe her own judgment. She should not have been wrong in sensing that the three of them had been paying attention to her. Although those senses were almost imperceptible, she was very confident in her innate divine ability. It should have been the power of a Divine Sense secretly probing her back, but the other party had concealed it quite well.
So she raised a slender arm. As the silky sleeve slid down, a small section of snow-like jade skin was revealed. Then she waved her hand toward the three rooms below. Some gray powdery stuff flashed in the night sky and then went straight into the three rooms.
As the gray powdery stuff entered the rooms, the breathing and snoring in the three rooms instantly disappeared. Seeing this, the woman no longer hesitated. Her voluptuous body flickered and was about to descend.
Suddenly, a light laugh tinged with mockery sounded in her ear, as if someone had gently blown a breath of air by her ear.
"Hehehe, you really don't know the meaning of death!"
The woman felt a bone-chilling coldness rise up her back, which made her whole body tremble in an instant.
"Not good!"
The woman was terrified. She tapped the void with her foot, and her whole person turned into a phantom and shot to one side. At the same time, her palm was about to slap the sachet at her waist.
But the next moment, she felt her hands and feet turn ice-cold, as if they had been frozen. In an instant, she could no longer move a single inch. And what terrified her even more was that the magical power in her body could no longer circulate, and her whole person lost all strength. At this moment, she couldn't even speak. Her body fell stiffly…
In the room, Li Yan was already sitting at the table, with Zi Kun standing beside him. Then, with a flash, Qian Ji appeared in the room, holding a person. He let go of his hand and threw the person on the ground.
With a "thud," a voluptuous body lay on the ground. She was covered in a layer of frost. Her pair of apricot eyes were wide open, a look of extreme horror in them. Her small mouth was slightly open, but she could not make a sound.
At the long table, Li Yan was looking down at his fingers. On his fingertips was some gray powder. There was not the slightest fluctuation of magical power on his hands. He just rubbed the powder between his thumb and forefinger, and then brought it to the tip of his nose to sniff.
Seeing Li Yan's action, although the woman on the ground could not speak, her heart was in turmoil. She knew better than anyone the toxicity of that powder. This burly man, without any magical power protection on his hands, was rubbing it as if it were ordinary flour. Probably not even a Golden Core cultivator could do this so easily.
By now, she already knew that she had misjudged this time, and had also mistaken the person. In extreme fear, a hint of pleading appeared in her eyes.
"A second-rank little demon… a potent poison that can kill a Golden Core cultivator. This should be your innate divine ability, right!"
Li Yan said softly. At this moment, the room had been protected by Zi Kun's restriction, so there was no fear that the commotion here would spread out.
As Li Yan spoke, a puff of smoke rose from his fingers. The gray powder, as if it were being burned, made a slight "crackling" sound and disappeared with a gentle flick of Li Yan's hand.
At the same time, a speck of light so fine it was almost imperceptible struck the maid. The voluptuous maid's body trembled slightly, and the magical power on her body immediately returned to normal circulation. But at this moment, her face was as pale as paper, and her whole body was trembling like a leaf. She quickly turned over with great effort, prostrated herself on the ground, and kept kowtowing to Li Yan above.
"Gr... Great sir, spare my life! I just mistook you for someone else. I didn't mean to offend you, I didn't mean to offend you, great sir! Great sir, spare my life..."
In her fright, she did not answer Li Yan's question at all, but just kept kowtowing and begging for mercy. The look of terror on her face was extreme, as if she had been scared out of her wits.
"I'm asking you a question. Why did you poison us? We kindly saved your master, yet you came to harm us in the middle of the night. Hmph!"
Zi Kun took a gentle step forward, his body filled with killing intent, his eyes flashing with a fierce light as he glared at the person on the ground. The poison this woman had used could have caused considerable harm to him and Qian Ji. And the other was just a small second-rank demonic beast.
"I... I really mistook you for someone else! I thought my enemy had come to my door. I really... really mistook you for someone else!"
The maid still kept kowtowing. In just a short time, her forehead was already a patch of crimson.
Seeing that the other was just begging for mercy and saying nothing else of substance, Li Yan couldn't help but frown. The next moment, he beckoned with his palm. The maid's voluptuous body, as if it weighed nothing, flew directly toward him.
"Great sir... great sir…"
The maid's voice trembled so much that she could hardly speak. She was scared out of her wits. A large hand instantly covered the top of her head. She immediately realized what was about to happen. Her three huns and seven pos were about to leave her body.
A soul search was more terrifying than being flayed and having your tendons pulled out. Not only would she become an idiot, but she would also experience the most painful torture in this world. But Li Yan had no time to listen to her explanation. To know everything, it was better to just do a soul search directly.
Then, the maid only felt her head sink, and then she lost consciousness.
Seeing this, Qian Ji and Zi Kun couldn't help but look at each other. Li Yan had not used a forceful soul search method, but had used a Nascent Soul level divine ability that did not harm the other's soul.
"Master is too merciful. This little demon is very vicious!"
The two demons thought to themselves. According to them, it would be better for them to do the soul search, to let this little demon know what it meant to be better off dead, and what it meant to not know what was good for her. They had no ill intentions, but the other had attacked them without reason. If not for the fact that their cultivation was higher than hers, wouldn't they have died in vain here today?
As the dark light in Li Yan's palm continued to flicker, the maid seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep. And the expression on Li Yan's face also became more and more strange. His gaze also began to change somewhat, as if he were thinking about something.
In Li Yan's Divine Sense, the past of this little demon slowly appeared in his sea of consciousness.
A long, long time ago, a "Six-Eyed Demon Moth," after swallowing a broken medicinal pill that had been left in some cave, slowly developed some spiritual intelligence. As the days and months passed, this "Six-Eyed Demon Moth's" spiritual intelligence gradually increased, and she also began to consciously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, which also made her cultivation increase bit by bit.
Although she was called the "Six-Eyed Demon Moth," she did not really have six eyes. Instead, besides her real pair of eyes, she had two pairs of patterns on her pair of wings, which looked like two pairs of eyes, hence the name.
One day, when this "Six-Eyed Demon Moth" flew to a forest, she saw a golden-yellow fruit that made her drool. With her little cultivation, she of course couldn't tell what it was, but the golden-yellow fruit exuded a tempting fragrance, which made her curious and also gave her the desire to eat it. Driven by desire, she flew over!
However, what awaited her was a disaster that would wipe her out. The moment she approached the golden-yellow fruit, before she could even see the fruit clearly, the golden-yellow fruit transformed into an ugly snake head. The ugly snake head showed a ferocious smile and bit down at her. The "Six-Eyed Demon Moth" was immediately terrified and almost fainted on the spot.
But fortunately, she had been cultivating for some years, and her instinctive reaction was faster than her consciousness. She was already good at flying, and after having a certain amount of magical power, she burst out with an unprecedented speed on the verge of death. In her haste, she actually managed to turn and escape from under the snake's mouth. This made the ugly snake head's expression also slightly stunned!
It was just that the gap in cultivation between the "Six-Eyed Demon Moth" and the other was too large. That ugly strange snake had also just not expected a first-rank little demon to be able to dodge its sneak attack. But it quickly reacted.
Its giant tail, with a gust of rank wind, swept over. With just a single sweep, the "Six-Eyed Demon Moth" was like a small boat in a stormy sea, no longer able to control her flight direction and speed. Her breath was suddenly cut off, and she was immediately caught by the snake's tail. With a wrap, she was sent toward the mouth full of fangs…
The "Six-Eyed Demon Moth" knew that her life was over today, but she still struggled unwillingly. It was just that her fear and struggle only made the ugly strange snake's eyes fill with a playful look!
Just as she was about to be buried in the snake's mouth, suddenly, a white streak of light pierced through the sky and earth from the horizon, like a long rainbow streaking across the sky. It arrived in an instant, and at the same time, a shout came from the sky.
"A 'Golden Fruit Bright Snake.' My luck is not bad!"
With a "hiss," the head of the ugly strange snake, which had been flashing with a sinister, man-eating light, suddenly broke off from its body and moved horizontally away from its body. Then, a stream of golden-yellow blood shot out from its neck cavity like a sharp arrow. Then a white jade bottle appeared in front of the jet of blood and immediately collected the golden-yellow blood.
However, a small drop of golden-yellow blood still fell on the "Six-Eyed Demon Moth's" body. Immediately, a heart-wrenching pain came, instantly filling her entire sea of consciousness!