Meanwhile, the other red-robed man flicked his sleeve, and one after another, blood-red scholar's hats flew out, swarming towards the inkstone that was continuously pouring out black characters.
At the same time, he let out a low shout.
"The tools of a scholar's studio are but instruments in my hands. To offend my official might is to have your spirituality executed!"
As he spoke, the long, thin brims on the sides of the blood-red hats began to vibrate rapidly, like two quickly flapping wings. Beneath the brim of each hat, a somewhat blurry face materialized.
These faces were ugly or handsome, young or old. As the brims vibrated, the blood-red scholar's hats began to rotate rapidly around the black inkstone, as if they were disembodied heads dancing up and down!
On the faces beneath the blood-red hats, mouths opened and closed rapidly, yet not a single sound was made.
As their lips moved, a sheet of blood-red paper swiftly appeared beneath each of their necks, fluttering and flapping with the movement of the hat brims.
The blood-red paper looked as if it had been soaked in fresh blood, ready to drip at any moment. As it fluttered, it resembled a thin, vicious ghost drifting in the night sky.
As these blood-red papers danced along with the heads beneath the scholar hats, they began to absorb the black characters floating out from the inkstone at the center.
The black characters constantly emitted a dark glow, as if unwilling, trying their best to escape the blood-red paper. But as the paper absorbed more and more black characters, it became increasingly viscous, its suction power unbreakable.
The black characters were like drowning victims in a sea of blood, their bodies glowing darkly as they struggled, submerged and resurfacing. But soon, each character was dyed blood-red and then merged, disappearing without a trace...
All of this took a long time to describe, but the clash of magical treasures happened in the span of two breaths, as fast as lightning.
The white, bare bodies had already floated to within thirty zhang of Li Yan, a sky full of pink sweeping towards him.
Yet Li Yan stood his ground, seemingly oblivious to the scene unfolding before him.
While he had launched the two magical treasures, within the sleeves of his robe, two long, dark glints had appeared in each of his hands—the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes.
The moment Li Yan grasped his natal magical treasures, the two spikes transformed into two short, pitch-black brushes.
The bodies of the brushes were carved with rows upon rows of ancient seal characters, like flowing black gold, exuding a dark light and a sense of oppressive weight.
Among them, two larger seal characters occupied an entire row—"Soul Tugger"!
The moment the pitch-black brushes appeared, the space around them and Li Yan's palms distorted slightly, but he managed to control it well.
At that same moment, the crimson brush and black inkstone had only just clashed with the opponent's magical treasures.
No one noticed that as the True Scripture of Gui Water circulated within Li Yan's body, the small golden figure in his Dantian had suddenly stood up. Forming sword-fingers with both hands, it pointed to the Taiyang acupoints on either side of its head.
Within the small golden figure's eyes, a vast, endless river of water appeared. The river surged, its angry waves crashing against the sky; the water was as black as ink, as heavy as a mountain. It was the legendary source of all water—the "Heavenly Stem Gui Water."
The moment the "Heavenly Stem Gui Water" formed in the eyes of the golden Nascent Soul figure, deep within the eyes of the Li Yan outside, a similar tide of utterly black, pure Gui Water began to churn.
At this moment, Li Yan's eyes were fixed on the two red-robed men ahead. To any observer, he seemed to be fully engaged in a magical duel with his opponents.
But in reality, what Li Yan's eyes saw were the golden lines that had appeared on the surface of the two men in the void ahead. The moment those golden lines appeared, Li Yan's hands, hidden in his sleeves and holding the brushes, moved!
As the short brushes drew rapidly within his sleeves—dragging, dotting, pulling, and stroking—similar golden lines formed within his wide sleeves. Once formed, these golden lines were fixed in place, not drifting or dissipating.
Outside, the two red-robed men had already blocked Li Yan's initial attack.
In this extremely short period, Li Yan's eyes remained fixed on the two men, the Gui Water in his eyes churning ever more violently. The golden lines within his sleeves were continuously drawn, weaving together densely.
Within his two wide sleeves, the golden threads had each formed a human shape. On the still-blurry faces, one could make out a striking resemblance to the red-robed men in front.
Just then, the naked, snow-white bodies floated before Li Yan, a vast expanse of pink descending upon his head.
At the same time, with boundless, sensual moans, they coiled towards Li Yan in various poses, a scene ripe with passion...
Simultaneously, the utterly black, pure Gui Water in Li Yan's eyes suddenly receded and vanished. The instant his vision cleared, the tips of the brushes in his sleeves abruptly lifted and jabbed fiercely at the Dantian of the still-blurry, golden-lined figures.
As the tips of Li Yan's pitch-black brushes struck the golden-lined figures, a pitch-black talisman instantly appeared behind each one.
The tips of Li Yan's brushes seemed to embed themselves in the golden-lined figures. The True Scripture of Gui Water in his body surged, and a ball of thick ink erupted from the brush tips, shooting like a stone into the golden-lined figures.
The golden-lined figures, as if struck by a tremendous force, were instantly embedded into the black talismans behind them.
At the same time, a black iron hook immediately appeared at the top of each black talisman, like a strange, dangling hook.
The black hooks instantly latched onto the connection point between the neck and the back of the golden-lined figures' heads, as if to hoist them up.
All of this was completed within Li Yan's sleeves in an instant, as fast as lightning.
The snow-white bodies had already lunged forward. Li Yan flicked his great sleeves forward, and at the same time, his hands, still pressing the brushes into the golden-lined figures within the black talismans, abruptly paused and pulled.
The brush tips hooked heavily upwards with a rhythmic flourish, as if grading an essay.
The golden-lined figures turned into streaks of gold, embedding themselves directly into the black talismans. The talismans instantly lit up with a circle of dark light, shooting out like two arrows propelled by immense force.
The black talisman from his right sleeve instantly struck the foremost woman, while the one from his left sleeve shot towards the blood-red scholar hats on the side.
The snow-white, naked woman, now less than a foot from Li Yan, saw the black talisman approach and let out a coquettish laugh.
"Come on, my lord!"
At the same time, she opened her red lips and blew a puff of pink smoke at the black talisman.
"Hiss!"
The moment the black talisman came into contact with the pink smoke, a strange transformation occurred. The dangling black hook within the talisman suddenly jerked upwards.
The several snow-white, naked women who had closed in on Li Yan found their wanton laughter suddenly cut short!
At the same time, one of the red-robed men in the distance let out a blood-curdling scream. His aura instantly began to weaken, and shockingly, in a mere moment, it had dropped to the initial-stage of Nascent Soul.
With that scream, all the snow-white bodies before Li Yan contorted in horror and disintegrated into specks of gray ash, drifting away.
Simultaneously with that scream, Li Yan's ghostly figure vanished, reappearing the next instant behind the incessantly screaming red-robed man.
The two pitch-black short brushes in his hands had transformed back into the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes. He thrust them up and down towards the back of the man's head and the life gate acupoint on his lower back.
As Li Yan appeared behind this red-robed man, on the other side, the blood-red scholar hats collided with the other black talisman, and another muffled grunt was heard.
Li Yan paid no mind to the other man who grunted. The Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes he thrust out pierced into the body of the screaming red-robed man like lightning.
At this moment, his opponent only had the cultivation of an initial-stage Nascent Soul cultivator and was completely unable to block Li Yan's unstoppable attack.
Ever since this red-robed man let out his first shrill scream, he had been frozen in place. Besides the sounds coming from his mouth, his entire body seemed to have gone rigid, not dodging or moving at all.
After the pair of Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spikes pierced through, Li Yan once again frantically channeled his magical power. The spike in the back of the head was like a nail, his arm as steady as a rock, unmoving.
But the spike that had entered the lower back stirred within the body and was then abruptly pulled out. As this spike was withdrawn, several extremely faint black shadows, visible only to Divine Sense, were pulled out along with it.
These black shadows were laughing, crying, happy, dazed, or sad...
As these shadows left his body, the screams of the red-robed man immediately turned into a guttural "Huo... huo... huo..." sound, and his entire body trembled as if having a seizure.
His aura plummeted again. His cultivation dropped at an unbelievable rate: Pseudo-Nascent Soul, Late-stage Golden Core, Mid-stage Golden Core... Foundation Establishment... Qi Condensation. The light in his eyes also faded rapidly!
A sharp glint flashed in Li Yan's eyes. He kicked the man's lower back and simultaneously pulled out the spike embedded in the back of his head.
At the same time, the black talisman that had collided with the snow-white bodies in the distance suddenly erupted with a brilliant black light. The dangling black hook within it gave another fierce pull.
A terrifying scene unfolded. The head of the golden-lined figure within the talisman was instantly torn from its body, and the black talisman disintegrated into specks of dark light.
The few black shadows that had been pulled from the life gate acupoint on the man's lower back by Li Yan's spike also vanished into nothingness amidst unheard screams of terror.
The red-robed man's body that Li Yan had kicked away let out a final, castrated-like gasp from his throat, and his head drooped heavily. All signs of life vanished, and his corpse fell straight down into the black gas below.
From the moment Li Yan launched his attack to the moment he kicked the man away, a mere five breaths had passed.
In the air, Li Yan's movements didn't pause for a second. He immediately pounced towards the other red-robed man, his actions as smooth as flowing water!
But just as he flew out, a "pfft" sound was heard. The black talisman that had plunged into the blood-red scholar hats had already disintegrated, turning into specks of dark light.
Li Yan, in mid-pounce, couldn't help but pause, stopping in mid-air.
'Fighting here, they have a buffing effect. This one attack can't take care of two powerful experts at the same time!'
Li Yan felt a pang of regret. At the same time, his mind stirred, and he glanced around.
Because at the same moment he killed one opponent, the black gas here had begun to thin considerably. He had just felt the suppression on his Divine Sense lessen for an instant.
But this thought was fleeting. This was not the time to dwell on other things.
The other red-robed man, after letting out a muffled grunt, had his face turn deathly pale in an instant. But under the forced circulation of his magical power, he quickly returned to normal.
At this moment, he stood amidst a fluttering cluster of blood-red scholar hats, specks of dark light from the shattered black talisman still floating around his hands like scattered fireflies.
The blood-red scholar hats, still trailing sheets of blood-colored paper, were flying wildly around, firmly suppressing the black inkstone. But the inkstone was still emitting black characters, though they were becoming increasingly sparse.
Now, the remaining man was staring at Li Yan with an incomparably cold gaze. At the same time, he had brought the long flute to his lips, and a whining sound emerged from it.
Li Yan's expression was normal. He raised a hand and beckoned. His Divine Sense erupted, and the crimson brush and black inkstone burst forth with light, dodging and weaving as they flew back to him.
The light of these two magical treasures had become extremely dim, especially the black inkstone, which had lost much of its spirituality.
Although Li Yan had only thrown these two treasures out as bait, he still felt a pang of heartache.
To break through the encirclement of these three as quickly as possible, Li Yan certainly wouldn't bet everything on Gong Shanhe. He used the magical treasures to attack and pin down two Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators, buying himself time to use the "Soul-Tugging Execution" art.
Currently, Li Yan's cultivation of this art could only be considered minor mastery. The chances of pulling an opponent's soul out of their body from thin air were not very high, especially when simultaneously engraving two "Black Water Talismans."
Therefore, Li Yan focused his efforts on one person, the red-robed man who had already attacked him, while the other was merely a distraction.
Although "Soul-Tugging Execution" was not like the first layer of "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art," which required the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike to touch the enemy's physical body to be effective, it at least required the "Black Water Talisman" to come into contact with the opponent's spiritual or demonic power.
Using their own origin power as a guide, it would trace back to them.
Under Li Yan's focused attention, when the "Black Water Talisman" made contact with the spiritual power of the red-robed man who was controlling the snow-white bodies, the talisman instantly invoked the power of the world's rules.
It caused the weakest "Life Soul" in the man's body to be instantly hooked and pulled from his body. With his three huns and seven pos incomplete, this red-robed man's cultivation immediately plummeted, and his mind was thrown into chaos.
Apart from the soul-deep pain that made him scream incessantly, he had temporarily lost the ability to think and was frozen in place.
Using "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens," Li Yan flickered and appeared behind him. Taking advantage of his opponent's weakness to deal a fatal blow was Li Yan's consistent style.
He once again used the first layer of "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art." Only this time, he was even more ruthless, directly piercing the opponent's head with one spike to pin down his Primordial Spirit.
This plunged his remaining two huns and seven pos into complete unconsciousness. Then, the other spike stabbed into the vital point on his lower back, piercing into his unconscious Nascent Soul.
With a stir, it ripped out all his remaining souls and annihilated them.
This was because Li Yan had only cultivated "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art" to the second layer, and only to a minor mastery at that.
In the future, as this art reached great mastery and subsequent techniques were unlocked, the heaven-defying terror of the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike would reveal its ferocious nature step by step.
For now, Li Yan still struggled to pull out the weakest "Life Soul." In the future, he would be able to pull out the "Earth Soul," the "Heaven Soul," and even all three huns at once, annihilating them in an instant.
Some people die, but not completely...