A dozen breaths later, an afterimage landed on the meteorite where the small golden person had fallen.
At this moment, Li Yan, dressed in black, had no joy or sorrow on his face. In his hand, he was holding a fox-like "Libei Beast." Although this starfall beast was only third-rank, it was extremely difficult to deal with. Its speed was too fast. If not for the fact that Li Yan was also good at speed, and the "Libei Beast," perhaps after seeing Shi Pozhu's Nascent Soul unable to escape, had been wandering around nearby, it would have surely escaped.
Even so, it had taken Li Yan quite a bit of effort to capture it. To think that a Nascent Soul cultivator dealing with a Golden Core cultivator was almost as easy as blowing a breath of air. Why would it require so much effort? This showed how difficult the "Libei Beast" was to deal with.
Li Yan first casually threw the sealed "Libei Beast" at his feet. With a cold look in his eyes, he formed a claw with his five fingers and grabbed at the unconscious Nascent Soul, which had already lost all its golden light and turned a dark red. In an instant, Shi Pozhu's Nascent Soul was sucked into his hand.
Then, Li Yan raised his other hand, formed a sword finger, and pointed at the top of the Nascent Soul figurine's head. He then lifted it upwards, and a blood line, so fine it was almost invisible, was pulled out from the top of the Nascent Soul figurine's head like a silk thread. At this moment, the color of that blood line seemed to have become a little brighter. With a wave of Li Yan's hand, the blood line disappeared into his fingertip.
As the blood line was pulled out from his body, the Nascent Soul figurine's eyelids twitched slightly, but then returned to calm. The next moment, Li Yan's one hand unceremoniously covered the top of the Nascent Soul figurine's head. He had no intention of asking questions and directly used the Soul-Searching Art. Besides, he couldn't cure the "Nascent Poison" either. The time Shi Pozhu had left to live was not long. Instead of waking Shi Pozhu up to ask questions, it was faster this way.
Shi Pozhu definitely knew that he was going to die. Even if you asked, he would not say anything at all.
Li Yan waved his other hand again, and a circle of restriction appeared around him, covering the space of several zhang around him. As a dark light began to flicker in Li Yan's palm, a scream that did not sound human suddenly came from the Nascent Soul figurine's mouth. His eyes suddenly flew open. He had been instantly awakened from his coma by the pain, and at the same time, he understood what was happening to him.
"You... you... you why... are you so... so... sinister, a late-stage... stage... ah!!!"
He could not say the rest of the words, but just these few words were already filled with an incomparable resentment toward Li Yan. He could not have imagined that a late-stage Nascent Soul great cultivator would be so bored as to have the leisure to play with others. Shouldn't they be using their last moments to desperately search for an ascension node, or go into seclusion to see if they could transform into a spirit in the lower realm?
The shrill screams continued to sound, but Li Yan turned a deaf ear. After only six breaths, Shi Pozhu's screams became weaker and weaker. Li Yan frowned, a hint of regret in his eyes. The memories of a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator were too many. He had only just searched through some of his recent memories, and Shi Pozhu's Nascent Soul was already completely blood-red, his life force almost severed.
Li Yan hadn't even had time to search for "Shi Pozhu's" true origin, or whether his name was real or fake, when the soul in the Nascent Soul figurine had already begun to rapidly dissipate.
'The Nascent Poison is too domineering. If not for the delay caused by that "Libei Beast," I could have gotten more information. I must find a way to neutralize... or at least alleviate the Nascent Poison as soon as possible. Otherwise, even if I get the Nascent Soul of an enemy who has been poisoned with Nascent Poison, it won't be of much use in the end!'
Just as Li Yan was feeling some regret, the Nascent Soul of Shi Pozhu in his hand had already turned into a scalp-numbing "blood infant," as if it had been skinned. The last trace of its life force had completely disappeared from Li Yan's senses.
And at this moment, Li Yan's expression couldn't help but change. He quickly reached a hand toward the "Libei Beast" at his feet. The aura of the sealed "Libei Beast" at his feet had suddenly expanded rapidly.
Although Li Yan's movements were fast, he had only acted after sensing it.
"Bang!"
Just as the magical power in his palm was about to touch the "Libei Beast's" body, a mist of blood had already exploded at his feet. Li Yan then flicked his sleeve, scattering the mist of blood.
"Master-Servant Blood Contract!" Li Yan muttered, looking at the dissipating mist of blood.
From the moment this "Libei Beast" had attacked him, Li Yan had guessed that it was a spirit pet refined by Shi Pozhu. But because he was in a hurry to perform a soul search on Shi Pozhu, he had overlooked the fact that the other, like himself and Zi Kun and the others, had signed a blood contract. Now it was truly a case of the master dying and the servant following. In one fell swoop, Li Yan had ended up with nothing!
This starfall beast's combat power was truly unique. He had spent more than a dozen breaths to capture it before. In the end, not only did he not get this starfall beast, but he had also wasted time for the soul search on Shi Pozhu.
Seeing that the matter was already settled, Li Yan's face turned ashen. He squeezed his five fingers, and with a flash of dark light, "Pfft!" Shi Pozhu's Nascent Soul completely disappeared from this world, leaving no trace behind.
Li Yan held Shi Pozhu's storage ring and then put it away. There was no time to check it now. The commotion just now was not small. Although the time was short, it might have attracted unnecessary trouble.
Li Yan beckoned from a thousand zhang away. The seven small flags turned into seven streaks of light and shot toward him. They rapidly shrank as they flew. When they reached Li Yan, they turned into seven small black lights and disappeared into Li Yan's ring with a flash.
"I wonder how many people he has lured and killed with this method!" Li Yan glanced at the pavilion halfway up the mountain. Shi Pozhu's plan was too well-executed. It was obviously not the first time he had used this method.
"The human heart is unpredictable!"
Then, Li Yan did not hesitate any longer and immediately flew in one direction. He had no intention of going over to check the cave on the mountainside behind him. Since this place was a trap set by Shi Pozhu, if there were any ancient ruins, the things inside would have been taken by him long ago.
Relying on his memory of the way he had come, Li Yan's return speed was much faster than when he had entered. An hour later, when Li Yan's figure dashed out of the meteorite belt and he looked back at the dense meteorites behind him, he finally let out a long sigh of relief. The meteorite belt always gave him the feeling that it would "riot" at any moment. Every moment he stayed inside made his heart pound with fear.
After carefully identifying the direction, Li Yan flew in one direction…
Five days later, in the endless dark Chaotic Flow Space, a huge meteorite the size of a mu was slowly drifting. On this meteorite was a protruding small rock, which was actually quite common. At this moment, under a restriction here, Li Yan was sitting cross-legged. He held a spirit stone in each hand, and was slowly recuperating with his eyes closed.
In order to leave that area of fighting as soon as possible, Li Yan had been flying at his fastest speed for several days. Not only had his magical power been greatly consumed, but even his Divine Sense had been depleted by nearly half. Li Yan had to stop and recover to maintain his combat power.
During the journey of these few days, Li Yan had also reviewed the events of that day again, hoping to get more experience from it.
That day, when Li Yan had first made the deal with Shi Pozhu, it was because he was greedy for the possible treasures in the ancient ruin. A cultivator fights with himself, with the heavens. Even the most cautious cultivator has to take risks to find opportunities. All kinds of opportunities would not just fall from the sky. Necessary risks had to be taken.
However, even if Li Yan had agreed to the deal, with his personality, how could he have completely trusted the other? It was just that Shi Pozhu's method of setting up the ambush was very clever. He had disguised himself very well. Not only did he appear hearty, but he also showed sincerity in his answers to some of Li Yan's questions.
In the end, he even gave high-grade spirit stones to Li Yan as a down payment. This had made even Li Yan believe him by sixty to seventy percent. Especially later, when they were traveling through the meteorite belt where it was easiest to launch a sneak attack, Shi Pozhu's behavior was even more proper, completely looking as if he had interacted with Li Yan just for the sake of the deal.
So, when he finally saw the dilapidated pavilion, Li Yan's trust level had actually reached seventy to eighty percent. For the always cautious Li Yan, this was already extremely rare.
However, Shi Pozhu had never expected that his last action would arouse Li Yan's suspicion. There was no problem with the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" itself. Not only did Li Yan know this formation, but probably many cultivators had heard of its great name. It was a clever formation that used a formation to break a formation. Especially when Shi Pozhu had let Li Yan stand on the "Tianshu star," it had further demonstrated his magnanimity.
Anyone who knew the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" knew that the "Tianshu star" was the hub of the seven stars and could interrupt the operation of the formation at any time. But when Shi Pozhu himself stood on the "Tianxuan star," Li Yan's heart had skipped a beat. If Shi Pozhu had stood on any of the other five stars, Li Yan would not have been alarmed. But he had stood on the "Tianxuan star." Li Yan knew another secret of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation."
Back when he was in the Tianli Clan on the Verdant Continent, Shuang Qingqing had taught him and Zhao Min many things. What Shuang Qingqing had taught could neither be the secret arts of the Tianli Clan, nor could it be too low-end, otherwise it would be of no use to the two of them. Therefore, the puppet arts and formations she mentioned were all relatively clever or secret.
Among them, Shuang Qingqing had mentioned the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation." When she was talking about this formation, Shuang Qingqing had mentioned a secret. She said that there was an improved version of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation," but because the improvement was not very significant, it was gradually lost, and not many people knew about it. This was because Shuang Qingqing herself was a great master of puppet arts and was proficient in countless related formations, which was how she knew.
Once, a formation grandmaster wanted to improve the calculation power of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation," so he tried many methods. But because the Big Dipper was formed by the rules of heaven and earth and was a self-contained system, to modify this rule was undoubtedly to modify the rules of heaven and earth. He failed one after another without exception.
But later, he discovered that if he used the rule of the "Tianxuan star" controlling the rotation of the seven stars, when the angle and power of rotation reached a certain degree, he could use the power of the other six stars to increase the power of the grand formation after the stars had shifted. Although this person was a genius, at that time, he had only managed to increase the power of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" by ten percent. In fact, this ten percent increase was already very considerable.
And just as this formation grandmaster wanted to continue his research, he disappeared after going out once. This led to his disciples, although they also knew some methods of the improved version of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation," being unable to improve it any further.
A formation of the level of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" was in itself extremely precious, let alone a means to improve it. At first, many people came after hearing the news and bought it at a high price. But in the subsequent actual use, they found a big problem.
Although the "Tianxuan star" could use the method of shifting stars to borrow the power of the six stars to increase its power, because when the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" was breaking a formation, each of the seven stars itself needed to be included in the calculation, occupying a large amount of resources. If the "Tianxuan star" were to "pull away" in the middle of being busy, and at the same time draw out the power of the other six stars, then it would cause the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" to become unstable.
This instability would not show any abnormal signs in the early stage after the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" was activated, but as the formation-breaking calculation deepened, the adverse consequences would erupt. Breaking a formation with a formation was in itself a kind of "violent" breaking method. When the formation reached the middle and late stages of operation, the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" itself had to be at full load to activate various restrictive powers.
Once this improved version was activated, the power and breaking speed in the early stage would be improved, which would be excellent for breaking some ordinary restrictions. But once it encountered a clever and difficult-to-break formation, the further the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" operated, the more integrated the cooperation between the seven stars would become.
At that time, if the "Tianxuan star" were to "pull away," not only would it not be able to break the formation, but it might even cause the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" to self-detonate. And the consequences of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" self-detonating were not just itself. It would trigger the full activation of the restriction of the formation to be broken, either destroying the treasures inside, or the backlash would be even stronger, and even the person controlling it would be affected. At the very least, they would be injured; at worst, they would die.
In this way, the effect of the improved version of the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" seemed very chicken-rib. Gradually, no one used it, until finally, it was rarely mentioned. The reason Shuang Qingqing had told Li Yan and Zhao Min this was to warn them that if someone used this formation and took the initiative to activate the "Tianxuan star," then they should be on alert.
One was that the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" would become extremely unstable in a short time, and there was a possibility of it exploding and killing the cultivator. The second was that the person might know the method to change this formation with the "Tianxuan star" and would seize control of the other six stars.
So, the moment Shi Pozhu stepped on the "Tianxuan star," Li Yan immediately remembered Shuang Qingqing's warning, and an ominous premonition suddenly rose in his heart. At the same time, he also thought of a possibility. The reason Shi Pozhu had chosen the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" to break the formation was precisely because its name was famous enough.
Although the "Seven Stars Flowing Waterfall Formation" was hard to come by, many cultivators had heard of it, especially Nascent Soul cultivators. In this way, once they recognized that Shi Pozhu was using this formation, their vigilance would be reduced somewhat, especially since he himself would not be standing on the "Tianshu star."
Li Yan later guessed that even if the other person did not have a water spiritual root and was not good at using the "Tianshu star," Shi Pozhu would probably have taken out a water-attribute magical treasure or something similar to lure the other person to stand on the "Tianshu star" position.