In the narrow passage, the three were locked in a stalemate. The old man and the woman seemed to be communicating via voice transmission for a while, and then two streams of Divine Sense began to probe Gong Chenying's location repeatedly.
Gong Chenying also saw the change in the two's eyes in her Divine Sense and guessed that they should be communicating secretly. In fact, it would be fine even if they shouted their discussion, as she couldn't understand it anyway.
Besides, what could they discuss? The road here was just this narrow. She only needed to guard her front and the possibility of a sudden change behind her.
After another dozen or so breaths, a few more people had appeared in the narrow cave, standing one behind the other.
After another few dozen breaths, the old man at the front began to approach Gong Chenying's side, while the few people behind him all remained in place.
Soon, the old man had already walked to a distance of about six hundred zhang from Gong Chenying. His speed immediately slowed down.
His Divine Sense was always firmly locked on Gong Chenying's body, to prevent the other party from suddenly attacking. Just as the old man's speed slowed down, he suddenly waved his hand.
Four small, black, marten-like demonic beasts flew out from a phantom.
As soon as they appeared, their bodies instantly became faint, and in the next moment, they had already crossed several hundred zhang and arrived at the corner elusively. And the old man also turned into a wisp of light smoke and disappeared from his original spot.
As soon as the four marten-like demonic beasts arrived in front of the corner, they began to wave their four limbs. In an instant, a series of black claw marks appeared in the air, like black threads hanging down from the sky.
Gong Chenying, who was sitting on the other side of the corner, had also been locking onto the old man with her Divine Sense, paying attention to his every move. Seeing four demonic beasts flying over, she began to hold her breath and focus.
And just in a trance, a slight dizziness came over Gong Chenying's mind. Then, with a wave in front of her, a figure appeared there like a ghost.
At the corner of the narrow cave wall, Li Yan, dressed in black, was holding an old man in his hand. The old man's stooped body was like a dead dog.
At the same time, the moment Li Yan appeared, his other hand also shot out a palm with swift speed.
Just a few feet in front of Gong Chenying, four marten-like demonic beasts stumbled out of the void. They bared their teeth and hissed at Li Yan, and then quickly retreated.
"A Ying, it's a good thing you left those marks. That's how I was able to get here in time. You don't have to worry now. I've already eliminated all those people behind!"
Li Yan looked at her with a smile, then raised a hand and reached towards Gong Chenying's shoulder, as if to pull her up...
There was a hint of confusion in Gong Chenying's eyes. Her cross-legged body also froze there.
At this time, from the outside world's perspective, four marten-like demonic beasts had already appeared above her head. They opened their sharp teeth and pounced towards her crown, cheeks, and both sides of her neck respectively.
And the old man had also, like a ghost, gotten close to Gong Chenying. A pair of dry and shriveled ghost claws had already clasped towards her shoulder.
The old man's extended, approximately half-foot-long pitch-black fingernails were emitting wisps of black smoke. It was clear at a glance that his palms were covered in deadly poison.
The old man looked at Gong Chenying, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, motionless, a triumphant smile on his face.
And just as all the attacks were about to land on Gong Chenying, she suddenly raised her head. Her beautiful face was filled with a chilling coldness, and the confusion in her eyes was completely gone, without a trace of emotion.
The long spear on her back suddenly flew up, rotating above her head like a wheel, like a fast-spinning pinwheel. In an instant, a sheet of red light burst out.
At the same time, her shoulders shook, and with a tremble and a bump, her upper body actually became blurry, transforming into a rapidly vibrating afterimage.
First, the four marten-like demonic beasts crashed into a sheet of red light. They were second-rank demonic beasts, which was why the old man had deployed so many of them at once. Once Gong Chenying made a move, they had no power to resist.
Since the old man had taken out demonic beasts of this level to deal with a Golden Core expert, he naturally had a certain degree of confidence. The purpose was to briefly affect Gong Chenying, who was hiding behind the corner.
He only needed half a breath of time to break through to the other side of the corner and immediately launch a thunderous blow.
The four marten-like demonic beasts were caught in the magical treasure of Gong Chenying's long spear after she had woken up. They didn't even have a chance to let out a miserable cry before they were churned into a rain of blood.
And the old man's claw had grabbed empty air. Just in his moment of hesitation, he felt a sharp pain in his palm.
In his haste, he saw that the woman he was about to attack had already moved horizontally several tens of zhang away. And where her shoulder had been, a blurry, thin, long spatial crack had appeared at some point.
The old man had just happened to grab into it. In the spatial crack, a gust of astral wind that made his heart tremble was faintly churning. The sharp pain in his palm was coming from that place.
The sharp pain shot straight to his mind, and the old man couldn't help but let out a loud roar. Using all his strength, he fiercely tapped the void with his foot, and his entire body retreated like lightning.
And what made his heart turn cold was that as he retreated, he saw his retracted arm, and a large section of it from the wrist down was gone.
That pair of palms that could break gold and shatter stone, in just an instant, had completely disappeared.
With a "qiang" sound, the cold and stunning woman's long spear had already returned to its sheath, resting on her back again. She was looking over with a cold expression.
The old man was so scared that the magical power on his body surged wildly. He let out a strange, inexplicable cry of alarm and, in an instant, had already passed the corner of the cave and was retreating rapidly in the direction he had come from.
Gong Chenying's throat bobbed slightly, and she forcibly suppressed the sweet taste.
The exchange between the two just now had only lasted for a brief moment, but it was like lightning and flint. In the hasty change of events, she had almost fallen for the other party's insidious trick.
The reason she didn't take the opportunity to pursue and kill was because Gong Chenying had already suffered some injuries.
The combined attack of those four marten-like demonic beasts had actually made her hallucinate. In that one moment, an inner demon had arisen in her heart.
This was exactly the purpose the old man wanted to achieve. It was to provide himself with a brief opportunity, so that Gong Chenying, who was hiding behind the corner, could not launch an ambush in time.
Although Gong Chenying's inner demon had arisen, her cultivation heart was firm, and the years of fighting had made her nerves as tight as steel.
The moment Li Yan's figure appeared, she knew she had entered an illusionary realm. And what followed, a move and a sentence from Li Yan in the illusionary realm, further confirmed her thoughts.
With Li Yan's cultivation, with just a casual palm strike, not to mention a second-rank demonic beast, even a third-rank demonic beast would be deader than dead. How could they still stumble out of the void?
In addition, although Gong Chenying had asked Li Yan to call her "A Ying" in private, due to habit, Li Yan had almost never called her that.
Instead, he addressed her as "Sixth Senior Sister." The two of them were in the Malevolent Spirit Sect back then, and this was also Gong Chenying's request back then. "A Ying" was just a subconscious thought in her own heart.
As soon as Gong Chenying realized something was wrong, she immediately made a move. But she had, after all, fallen into a brief illusionary realm, and the old man's ghost claws had already attacked. Gong Chenying could either clash with him head-on or dodge.
If she clashed head-on, Gong Chenying was not sure if she would be poisoned. And if she dodged, then the old man's attack would have missed, but his momentum would have already pressed down, and he would launch a continuous stream of follow-up attacks.
Gong Chenying would then be left with only continuous dodging. Under the suppression of the old man's offensive, the people behind would catch up. Although it was narrow here, they could still provide auxiliary attacks from some of the gaps.
Under such circumstances, with Gong Chenying having already lost the initiative, in her haste, she used all her magical power and forcibly unleashed a peak initial-stage fifth-layer attack of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art."
With just this one blow, she used her shoulder to bump and pull, forcibly tearing a very thin crack of Chaotic Flow Space in her original spot. She then used the rebound force of this power to push herself several tens of zhang away.
The exchange between the two had only lasted for a breath. Gong Chenying looked at the afterimage of the old man retreating, a feeling of fatigue and emptiness coming from her body.
Just that one blow, the power that erupted in an instant had not only consumed almost all her magical power, but had also torn several of her internal organs.
She seemed to lightly raise her hand to cover her crimson lips, and a drop of "Rongsun" quietly slid into her mouth.
In just an instant, her extremely empty body was immediately filled with a surging magical power in all parts. As soon as this magical power appeared, it immediately rushed towards the few torn internal organs.
Gong Chenying immediately stood up. As she stood up, the spiritual power on her body flickered erratically. Under this sheet of spiritual light, several more medicinal pills were swallowed by her.
Then, Gong Chenying walked to the corner again. After sitting down cross-legged, she once again closed her eyes and began to refine the medicinal power.
And this scene, in the Divine Sense of the few Ghost-Creature Wind Beasts in the distance, they only saw the old man successfully ambushing the corner.
But just as a look of joy had appeared, they saw the old man, as if he had encountered a snake or a scorpion, had already shot back from the corner.
At the same time, the magical power on the woman at the corner rapidly dropped, but in an instant, it was once again surging like a tide. Then she sat down at the corner again.
Although the old man had been forced back for some unknown reason, Gong Chenying's magical power had dropped in an instant. It was clear that in a head-on clash with the old man, her magical power had been greatly depleted. This actually made the few Wind Beasts pleasantly surprised.
But Gong Chenying's aura had instantly surged up again, which also left them at a loss for a moment, not knowing what had happened.
In just a moment, the old man had already shot back. As soon as he landed, he quickly took out a medicinal pill and swallowed it. At the same time, a black light erupted from his body.
From his wrist, wisps of black smoke also emerged under the stimulation of his magical power, and a blurry hand was slowly forming.
By the time the old man's hand had slowly formed, his face had already turned a bluish-grey.
The few Ghost-Creature Wind Beasts then began to whisper to him. The old man also replied with a face ashen with some strange words.
After just a few words, the few Ghost-Creature Wind Beasts all showed a look of horror, a look of disbelief on their faces.
Gong Chenying retracted her Divine Sense. Although she couldn't understand what they were saying, she guessed that they didn't believe what the old man had said.
The old man must have said that his attack was already strong enough to tear space, which was something only a Nascent Soul cultivator could do.
If she had that cultivation, these Wind Beasts would have died countless times already. So, they definitely wouldn't believe it.
And just as Gong Chenying was on guard while healing, she herself did not notice that a phantom had suddenly appeared from the long, narrow passage behind her.
At this moment, it had already silently appeared behind her!
And Gong Chenying was completely unaware of this. Even though she had already split off a wisp of her Divine Sense to scan behind her from time to time, the person was just standing quietly behind her, and Gong Chenying's Divine Sense swept over as if it were an empty place.
The phantom just stood there, staring at Gong Chenying, who was meditating with her eyes closed. After staring for a long time, it suddenly waved its sleeve, and it covered Gong Chenying's head.
Gong Chenying, who had her eyes closed, suddenly opened her beautiful eyes. As she was recovering, a feeling that made her extremely palpitate came from behind her.
With a thought, she had already made a move. But the long spear on her back had only moved slightly upwards before it was tightly gripped by a force that did not belong to her. And in an instant, the red-glowing long spear had lost its spiritual connection with Gong Chenying.
Gong Chenying was now completely unable to move. She was being held down in place by a huge force.
However, in her Divine Sense, apart from the few Ghost-Creature Wind Beasts in the distance who were still whispering and talking, there were no other discoveries at all. That force seemed to have appeared out of thin air, without a master or a root.
Just as her heart turned cold, a figure turned out from behind her. The person was holding a long spear flashing with a red light, and a pair of eyes were fixed on Gong Chenying's face...
Li Yan stared at the entrance of the cave for a while. Not only did the two men in the blood-dripping crimson scholar's robes not pursue him, but their figures also quickly disappeared, merging back into the thick black qi.
Li Yan did not go out again immediately, but began to look around.
If he were to go out again at this time, he would have to use his magical treasures. He would definitely not resist with his physical body again. The attacks of those two were very strange, and the Yin-Cold Ghost Poison they released was something that even he, with his Fragmented Poison Body, could not directly ignore.
This cave was very grand. From his position, he could see eight forks in the cave in his Divine Sense. In the deep and dark recesses, who knows where they led!
Li Yan just stood there, and his Divine Sense split into eight strands and probed into the depths of the forks. In his Divine Sense, the forks were deep and dark, filled with all sorts of strange whistling sounds of the wind, like the wailing of ghosts and wolves, and also like the sad cry of a night hawk.
These sounds, intertwined in his Divine Sense, gave people a sinister feeling.
When Li Yan's Divine Sense had extended for more than a hundred li, he still had not found a single living creature.
And at that distance, the eight forks had already split into more branches. So, Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense.
"The thick black qi outside has already made me lose my sense of direction. I wonder if Sixth Senior Sister is safe now? Is she still waiting for me in the same place?"
"What's so strange about this cave, and why didn't those two men in the blood-dripping crimson scholar's robes pursue me? They left and disappeared as soon as I entered. If I go out again, will they appear again..."
"This... this seems like they want to trap me here?"
When Li Yan thought of this, his expression froze, and his whole person became a little dazed.
"Trapped... trapped! They want to trap me here. The Tianli Clan's Clan Head and the others... they haven't returned for a long time, and they also seem to be trapped!"