Li Yan didn't say anything more. He then took Gong Chenying and sank downwards. At the same time, he became doubly cautious.
The two of them had descended several tens of zhang in an instant. A series of dazzling lights erupted from the spiritual power shield around Li Yan.
"Thump, thump, thump... Clang, clang, clang... Ding, ding, ding... Bang, bang, bang..."
All sorts of different sounds rang out continuously. They had entered a field of wildly churning wind pillars. These wind pillars either crashed, rolled, sliced, or pierced...
But Li Yan was like a ten-thousand-jin boulder. With a flashing light, he descended in a straight line, completely unaffected.
"The yin wind here is a bit strange. It seems to contain the qi of yin ghosts!"
As he descended in a straight line, Li Yan continuously felt the force coming from outside. His expression had now also become somewhat solemn.
Although the wind pillars here had various forms and different sizes, they were all extremely yin-cold. The two of them had not been falling for long, but the attack power of the surrounding wind pillars was becoming more and more violent.
If that were all, it would be fine. But Li Yan could already feel the extreme cold coming from the wind growing stronger, even more intense than the strange cold on the giant sword formed by the Snow Mosquito Clan.
In these winds, Li Yan even sensed a special kind of yin qi.
Back when he was still on the Forsaken Continent, he had also dealt with real ghost creatures and had stayed in the Feng Family's ancient tombs. He was somewhat familiar with this kind of aura. It was an aura that only Ferocious Souls and Yin Spirits possessed.
Gong Chenying was protected within the spiritual power shield, so she couldn't feel any of this. Li Yan, while being vigilant of the changes around them, whispered in her ear, his warm breath continuously invading her ear.
This made Gong Chenying's crystal-clear, amber-like earlobes start to burn and turn red. Her body even felt a little weak. Her straight legs couldn't help but press together, and then she quietly moved a little to the side.
As Li Yan spoke, she nodded at the same time, to move the warm air he exhaled a little further from her earlobe.
At this moment, Li Yan had not noticed that after feeling the abnormality of the surrounding wind pillars, he had subconsciously moved closer to Gong Chenying and was continuously stating his judgment.
A ball of gloomy light streaked out, leaving an afterimage, and in the next moment, the afterimage was blown away by the strong wind without a trace.
The light outside the spiritual power shield around Li Yan became more and more intense, and the sounds of various collisions and cuttings also became louder and louder. The power generated by the surrounding wind pillars continued to increase.
"One hundred zhang, one hundred and ten zhang, one hundred and twenty zhang..."
Li Yan silently calculated the distance of his descent in his heart. When they had descended another hundred zhang into the pit, Li Yan felt that this was already the limit that a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator could endure.
The power of those yin-cold wind pillars was so great that it could instantly freeze a Late-stage Golden Core cultivator's protective spiritual light into an ice pillar. Then, with another churn of the wind pillar, the person inside would be shattered into a sky full of ice shards, and even their Divine Soul would not be able to escape.
When they descended to two hundred zhang, that was already the limit of a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator...
The two of them continued to fall like this. Apart from the increasingly massive wind pillars, the bottom of the deep pit was already a boundless space of howling, fierce winds.
Here, apart from the various wind pillars flying and crashing about, there was not a single living creature, not a single piece of vegetation. There were only wind pillars that swept over like sabers, swords, spears, hammers, mountains, and ice.
They churned wildly in this space. Li Yan felt that even if there was a mountain here, it would be blown to pieces in an instant!
Around the time Li Yan and the others had descended more than a thousand zhang into the pit, Li Yan's expression suddenly changed. He fiercely waved his large sleeve, and a strong airflow shot downwards.
Almost at the same time, the spiritual power shield around them actually emitted a "kaka-kaka..." cracking sound. In an instant, a series of cracks appeared on the spiritual power shield.
And the powerful airflow that had erupted from Li Yan's large sleeve also hit several wind pillars below.
"Boom!"
Using this powerful rebound force, Li Yan, along with Gong Chenying, shot straight up like an arrow amidst the various chaotic wind pillars.
At the same time, the black, gloomy light around him flashed wildly, and the cracks on the spiritual power shield also vanished in an instant, returning to normal.
They had only risen a few tens of zhang before they immediately stopped.
"What's wrong?"
Gong Chenying's beautiful face also changed. Everything had happened too quickly just now. In addition, she was not the one who had deployed the spiritual power shield. By the time she reacted, she had already returned to a position several tens of zhang above.
For a Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator to have to immediately avoid a danger, one could imagine how perilous it was. At the same time, she also quickly looked down. Li Yan had only risen a short distance before stopping, which meant that the attack had not followed.
"The power of the wind pillars there suddenly increased by more than ten times. The spiritual power shield I deployed before couldn't defend against it at all."
Li Yan pointed to a spot several tens of zhang below. The wind pillars there were no longer as chaotic and violent as the ones around them, but were swaying rhythmically like waterweeds, appearing exceptionally quiet instead.
After hearing what Li Yan said, Gong Chenying also pointed into the distance.
"The churning of the wind pillars is inherently unpredictable. The height below also has rhythmic swaying in other places. We'll have to go over and check to see further!"
Where she was pointing, extending from under their feet, were the same kind of wind pillars swaying rhythmically. But further away, Gong Chenying's Divine Sense could not reach.
Li Yan had also retracted his Divine Sense at this moment. His reaction was the same as Gong Chenying's. If they couldn't sink here, then they would see if they could continue to sink in other places.
"My Divine Sense is affected by the wind pillars here. Within the range I can probe, the wind pillars at this height below are all swaying rhythmically in the same way."
"It seems we'll have to search for a while. This might be the place where the Clan Head and the others met with danger."
After saying this, Li Yan took Gong Chenying and flew straight in one direction. He was just saying it for Gong Chenying to hear; he assumed she didn't have any other ideas.
After hearing Li Yan's last sentence, a strange light also appeared in Gong Chenying's eyes.
Although Li Yan and Gong Chenying were surprised by this situation, they were also somewhat pleasantly surprised.
The power of those rhythmically swaying wind pillars below was surprisingly great, so it was possible that they had caused harm to Gong Shanhe and the others. Perhaps they were somewhere below.
Thus, the two of them began to search along this height...
Four days later, Li Yan and Gong Chenying were hovering in a field of churning wind pillars, looking at the rhythmically swaying wind pillars below.
"We've searched the entire area. After reaching this height, below are all these powerful wind pillars. There are no gaps to pass through, and my Divine Sense can't probe any further..."
Li Yan looked down, a strange light constantly flashing in his eyes. It was as if he were narrating to Gong Chenying, and also as if he were talking to himself.
At his side, Gong Chenying frowned. She had once thrown a magical treasure down to test the wind pillars below. The grade of that magical treasure was quite good. Even in the hands of a Golden Core cultivator, it would be a relatively precious treasure.
Yet, in one breath of contact with those wind pillars, after erupting in a dazzling light, it had shattered.
"You wait up here for a moment. I'll go down and take a look myself!"
Li Yan suddenly said to Gong Chenying. Although Gong Chenying had cultivated the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" to the initial stage of the fifth layer, and her physical body was comparable to an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, that was only the result of a short burst of power.
Li Yan just wanted to go down and check the situation. If he found anything wrong, he would immediately withdraw. Of course, it was most convenient to go alone.
Gong Chenying looked at Li Yan. After a moment's hesitation, she still nodded.
"If you find anything wrong, retreat immediately. We'll discuss it again! Release a spiritual power rope; I can lend you a hand!"
Upon hearing this, Li Yan smiled at her.
"That's even better. Take out the 'Golden Bell Talismans.' When I'm not by your side, you must be careful!"
Although Gong Chenying's physical defense was no problem against the surrounding wind pillars at present, Li Yan still gave her a serious instruction.
As he spoke, he had already stepped out of the spiritual power shield. Another spiritual power shield instantly formed around his body, and the spiritual power shield he left behind should be able to last for about ten breaths.
A long spiritual power rope was tied around Li Yan's waist, and the other end was left inside the spiritual power shield, held firmly in Gong Chenying's hand.
The moment he stepped out of the spiritual power shield, Li Yan felt several gusts of strange, cold wind blow over. The strange cold in the wind made even Li Yan feel it drilling into his bones.
He turned back and pointed a finger again. A layer of gloomy black spiritual power net was cast over Gong Chenying, strengthening the spiritual power shield a little more.
Seeing Li Yan being so cautious, a wave of warmth rose in Gong Chenying's heart. For so many years, she had been fighting east and west, and had long been accustomed to life and death. Especially after her father disappeared, she had shouldered many things that did not originally belong to her.
But the appearance of this Little Martial Uncle, although he spoke as little as ever, was protecting her in an intangible way. Although this feeling was strange, it was... really nice!
Li Yan saw that Gong Chenying already had a "Golden Bell Talisman" in her hand, and her other jade-like hand was also firmly gripping one end of the spiritual power rope. He then nodded at her.
Then, he himself also flipped his palm, and a dark red "Primordial Chaos Earth-Suppressing Talisman" appeared, which he held in his palm.
The power of the wind pillars below was strange and deadly. After the previous contact, Li Yan felt that he should be able to escape in time if the situation turned bad.
But he had always acted with caution, so he still made preparations for the worst. The "Primordial Chaos Earth-Suppressing Talisman" had the "Fix" divine ability from an immortal art, which was effective even against the astral winds and the strange suction force of black holes in the Chaotic Flow Space.
This talisman could keep his body in a stalemate for one to five breaths. As long as it could stabilize his body for one breath, Li Yan would have a better chance of escaping.
What's more, there was also a spiritual power rope held by Gong Chenying. If she erupted with her full strength, it would be equivalent to having an Initial-stage Nascent Soul cultivator briefly lend him a hand, which gave Li Yan another layer of assurance.
After all this was done, Li Yan no longer hesitated, and his figure immediately plummeted downwards.
Above, Gong Chenying's expression became even colder and more stunning. Her Divine Sense followed Li Yan's path down firmly.
Soon, Li Yan had reached a position several tens of zhang below. In an instant, his feet touched a wind pillar below. The wind pillar, which had been rotating rhythmically within a thirty-zhang radius, suddenly became violent.
Like a shark that had smelled blood, it suddenly generated a huge force that pulled Li Yan downwards.
The power was so strong, more than ten times greater than the wind pillars just a few tens of zhang above.
Li Yan was already prepared. The gloomy light around him became even deeper, and his body, like a ten-thousand-year-old sunken wood, was not moved in the slightest and fell straight down.
Li Yan continuously spread his Divine Sense. He found that after entering the wind pillar below, his Divine Sense could only scan within a six-hundred-zhang radius to the left, right, and above. Downwards, it was only a distance of three hundred zhang. Any further, and it would be shattered by the wind pillar.
And as he descended, not only was his Divine Sense power rapidly consumed, but its range was also being sharply compressed.
In his Divine Sense, apart from the wind pillars turning black, a series of human faces faintly appeared on the black wind pillars. Although the faces were somewhat blurry, he could still distinguish them. There were men and women, old and young.
Their faces were all ashen, and their expressions were all pained and twisted, as if they were enduring endless torture. They opened their mouths wide, letting out silent roars.
Some showed incomplete, yellow or black teeth, chomping at the void in front of them with a "kacha-kacha" sound; some had dark red bloodstains dripping from their eyes, and in their pain, line after line of bloody tears flowed...
These faces rotated rapidly around on the wall of the wind pillar like a revolving lantern, making one dizzy and also sending a chill down one's spine.
As Li Yan continued to descend, the black wind pillars below had become as thick as heavy ink. Li Yan had only descended three hundred zhang, and a thick layer of grey ice crystals had already formed on the spiritual power shield around him.
Li Yan frowned. Apart from feeling the increasing pressure from the outside world and the grey, extremely cold ice qi that was difficult to dispel even without him deliberately trying, he did not feel the presence of any living creatures here.
"I've only descended a few hundred zhang, and I've already consumed nearly thirty percent of my magical power. And as I continue to descend, the consumption of magical power will increase exponentially."
"That Tianli Clan's Sixth Elder is only at the Initial-stage Nascent Soul realm. If he were here, he would already be struggling. Another hundred zhang down would be his limit..."
Li Yan quickly thought in his heart. He had not found any trace of Gong Shanhe and the other. Here, his Divine Sense had already been compressed to within a hundred zhang, and he could no longer even detect Gong Chenying's figure above.
His thoughts raced. Li Yan felt that unless the Sixth Elder had some special defensive magical treasure, at this height, he could at most descend another hundred zhang before reaching his limit.
Thinking of this, Li Yan decided to descend another hundred zhang to see. After reaching that height, he would quickly search again.
Although his magical power was abundant, he would still need the support of medicinal pills to search for a longer time at that height. He didn't have much "Rongsun" left, so of course he couldn't use it lightly.
As for the terrifying human faces rotating all around, Li Yan turned a blind eye. They didn't seem to be able to leave the wall of the wind pillar, so for now, they were not attacking him.
From the current situation, although the "Sky Eye Wind" had become strange, its main attack was the extreme cold contained in the wind.