As Li Yan turned his head, Gong Shanhe had already caught up.
"How are you..."
"Just give me some pills to replenish my magical power. This place is dangerous; I can still lend you a hand!"
Gong Shanhe wasted no words, directly asking for medicinal pills. He knew what Li Yan wanted to say—that he wanted to put him in the Spirit-Storing Pouch as well.
As he spoke, Gong Shanhe had already taken the lead and shot upwards. Li Yan quickly followed, and with a flash of his hand, a bottle of medicinal pills appeared...
Two days later, in a vast black swamp, two large whirlpools suddenly appeared on the surface of the otherwise mirror-calm swamp.
The moment the whirlpools formed, two figures shot into the sky, their passage accompanied by a sharp, piercing sound of "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
High in the sky, Li Yan watched the whirlpools below quickly close up. He retracted his Divine Sense, which had been scanning the surroundings. There was no danger nearby.
"Son of a bitch, we finally escaped that godforsaken place!"
Gong Shanhe looked at the long-missed sunlight spreading around him and let out a long breath. A curse escaped his lips, but his eyes and brows were filled with joy.
He made no attempt to preserve his dignity as a powerful expert, straightforwardly using the word "escaped."
For the past few days, they had truly been on the run, not daring to stop for a moment. Along the way, they had encountered several more assaults from the wind pillars. They could tell that these wind pillars were being controlled.
Perhaps because the two of them were already far from the lowest mountain peak, these attacks, while troublesome, were no longer able to stop their ascent.
Even so, the sheer number of wind pillars that blotted out the sky left them exhausted. Gong Shanhe had to constantly swallow medicinal pills as if they were beans. Fortunately, Li Yan had accumulated a large number of pills from his years of killing and plundering.
Watching Gong Shanhe swallow the pills, Li Yan couldn't help but admire his constitution. They had no time to refine the pills along the way; he just kept forcefully activating their power, seemingly unafraid of any pill poison.
Li Yan finally concluded that this father-in-law of his was a peerless madman. If he ever reached the Late-stage Nascent Soul, he could probably thrash the likes of Yan San.
After saying his piece, Gong Shanhe immediately turned his gaze to Li Yan.
Li Yan smiled slightly, naturally understanding his meaning. With a wave of his hand, two figures appeared in the air: the unknown nun and Gong Chenying.
Li Yan had previously placed them in the Earthen Patch. Under the guidance of his consciousness, he had confined them to a small patch of space, making it appear to outsiders like a decently sized Spirit-Storing Pouch.
As soon as the two appeared, the unknown nun first looked around warily. When she was met with the dazzling sunlight, she couldn't help but close her eyes for a moment.
But her Divine Sense continued to sweep the area. When she saw Li Yan and Gong Shanhe under the sunlight, her heart relaxed slightly.
Then, she opened her eyes and immediately stared at the swamp below, her expression turning dazed. She looked around again, as if searching for something.
"A'ying!"
Gong Shanhe's gaze fell on Gong Chenying first. A trace of gentleness appeared on his face, which was usually as firm as a mountain.
"A'die!"
Gong Chenying did not fly over immediately. She remained standing where she was, just giving Gong Shanhe a smile.
Li Yan also watched all this with a smile, but after a few breaths, his smile slowly faded. His gaze fell upon the crimson spear in the nun's hand.
At this moment, the nun was gazing into the distance, ignoring them.
Gong Shanhe immediately noticed that something was wrong. A cold light flickered in his eyes, and he exchanged a look with Li Yan.
They had long seen that this clear-featured nun was only in a soul state, and that Gong Chenying was likely under her control.
At this moment, the pressure emanating from the nun was only that of a Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. However, Li Yan clearly remembered that deep within the swamp, the two attacks she launched at the blood-drenched red-robed man had faintly reached the pressure of a Late-stage Nascent Soul.
"Fellow Daoist, may I know your esteemed name!"
After exchanging a look, it was Gong Shanhe who spoke.
Hearing his words, the clear-featured nun, who was looking around, did not turn her head immediately. It was only after a few breaths, when Gong Shanhe's aura began to fluctuate, that she slowly turned around.
At this moment, the expression in the nun's eyes was very complex. There was reminiscence, astonishment, sorrow, doubt, and indifference... It was an inexplicable mix of emotions.
"This humble nun is Hong Yin. You are the chief of the Tianli Clan?"
The clear-featured nun, once a supreme expert of her generation, had quickly regained her composure.
"I am Gong Shanhe. I wonder how Fellow Daoist Hong Yin also ended up underground, and in such a state?"
Gong Shanhe had a smile on his face. He did not immediately ask about Gong Chenying, but instead inquired about the other's origin. He was an old hand at this; if he knew her background, he could act according to the situation.
Although he didn't know why Gong Chenying was being controlled, at least the nun Hong Yin had joined forces with them underground to deal with those beasts. This showed that she would not harm Gong Chenying for the time being.
"Me? You wouldn't know even if I told you. Your daughter has been sealed by me. Answer a few more of my questions, and I will release her seal. Then, we will go our separate ways!"
Hong Yin glanced at Gong Chenying and continued speaking to Gong Shanhe.
"Oh? How has my little girl offended you, Fellow Daoist, and what questions do you have?"
"It's not a matter of offense, just a transaction. If I had any ill intentions towards her, she would have already perished along with that other one you call the 'Sixth Elder'."
Hong Yin paused here, sweeping her gaze over Gong Shanhe and Li Yan. Seeing that neither of them reacted to her words, she felt a slight sense of relief.
"A transaction?"
Li Yan and Gong Shanhe were both baffled, not knowing what Hong Yin was referring to. But seeing that she didn't want to elaborate, neither of them spoke, waiting to see what she wanted to do.
At the same time, they guessed that the Sixth Elder's situation was likely not good, and he was probably in Gong Chenying's Spirit-Storing Pouch.
"The questions I want to ask are nothing to you. In fact, they are very simple. They are just about the current situation on the Wind God Continent!"
After Hong Yin finished speaking, she glanced at Gong Chenying again. She had asked Gong Chenying the same question before, and she had given a rough answer, but their conversation was cut short when they sensed someone fighting.
Seeing that Gong Chenying still wore a calm, water-like expression, without even a ripple in her eyes, Hong Yin thought to herself.
'She has been unable to send voice transmissions to those two all this time. To be so calm, it seems what she told me before was all true?'
At this thought, Hong Yin felt both fortunate and conflicted.
She was fortunate that she had made the right choice before. Otherwise, if she hadn't borrowed their strength, this wisp of her soul might have vanished beneath the swamp.
In the "Spirit-Storing Pouch," she had been silently counting the time. The result surprised her; the time taken couldn't be calculated in breaths, but in days!
Since Gong Chenying couldn't send voice transmissions and had been with her the whole time, she certainly couldn't have communicated secretly with the other two.
Therefore, the two days should be the actual time it took them to fight their way up from the bottom of the swamp.
But she clearly remembered that when she sealed that "Yin Mountain Beast," she had used a magical treasure and her own body as suppression. The magical treasure had transformed into the "Red Whisk Temple" above, and she had only entered a hundred li underground.
Two days was a long time. She didn't know if it was because they were constantly obstructed, or if they had really sunk very deep. In her current state, even if she maintained her cultivation at the initial-stage Nascent Soul and consumed it continuously, it was hard to say if she could last twelve hours.
The reason for her complicated feelings was that Gong Chenying had probably not lied. This meant that the "Red Whisk Temple" had truly vanished long ago, causing Hong Yin's last sliver of hope to become like a candle in the wind, nearly extinguished.
Gong Shanhe nodded.
"Since Fellow Daoist claims to have no ill intentions, I truly hope that is the case. If it's just about the situation on the Wind God Continent, I will of course answer everything I know without reservation."
He did not say what he would do if the other party did have ill intentions. That was the action of a reckless fool. Apart from making Hong Yin wary, threatening others was less intimidating than simply taking action.
Seeing Gong Shanhe agree and Li Yan's tacit approval, Hong Yin slowly spoke.
"Do you two fellow daoists know of the 'Red Whisk Temple'?"
After asking, Hong Yin stared intently at the two of them. Li Yan immediately shook his head. How many sects on the Wind God Continent did he even know?
But when Gong Shanhe heard it, he frowned slightly, as if in thought, and muttered to himself at the same time.
"Red... Whisk... Red... Whisk Temple... Red..."
He kept repeating the name to himself, giving the impression that he had never heard of it.
'Has it really been that long?'
Disappointment slowly crept into Hong Yin's eyes. After several dozen breaths, Gong Shanhe's gaze suddenly refocused.
"I remember now. The place you're talking about should be a temple, and it should be right here beneath this swamp..."
A sharp glint suddenly shot from Hong Yin's dim eyes. She didn't wait for Gong Shanhe to finish and immediately pressed him urgently.
"Do you really know? But do you know how it sank into the swamp, or if something else happened?"
"This... maybe... maybe it did sink into the swamp. It's also possible that it no longer exists!"
Gong Shanhe was interrupted by the other's urgent questioning. After a moment of hesitation, he gave an ambiguous answer, which made Hong Yin frown.
"Fellow Daoist, what do you mean by this? Since you know, why are you being so evasive?"
"Fellow Daoist Hong Yin, I hadn't finished my sentence. As for the name 'Red Whisk Temple,' I only felt that I had heard it before.
After thinking about it carefully, I remembered that the former Great Sacrificial Priest of the clan had mentioned it to me. At the time, while recounting other clan matters, she only mentioned the 'Red Whisk Temple' briefly.
But in fact, the Great Sacrificial Priest had also heard it from the previous generation's Great Sacrificial Priest, who had mentioned it while narrating the clan's history. She herself had also never seen this temple.
My clan did not originally settle here. Our former location was even more perilous. Although we didn't face the combined forces of three beast clans as we do now, it was a flat plain, easy to attack and difficult to defend.
Moreover, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was not very good. Later, the first-generation Great Sacrificial Priest went out to find a more suitable place for the Tianli Clan to live.
After some searching, she really found a place suitable for my clan's survival, which is this very area. At that time, there were only two clans of beasts here, occupying this piece of land, but they had not yet become a major force.
So, the Great Sacrificial Priest, by her own strength, beat them back into the 'Heaven's Eye Pit' and seized the land where our clan now lives.
As for why the name 'Red Whisk Temple' was later mentioned, it was because when the Great Sacrificial Priest first arrived here, there was indeed a temple, but it was a dilapidated one, long devoid of any living beings.
The Great Sacrificial Priest believed it was a place that had been slaughtered by the beasts and became more cautious, because under such circumstances, it could only mean that this place was not suitable for the clan to prosper.
However, after observing for nearly half a month, she did not find any frequent appearances of beasts.
Moreover, at that time, this place was already just a dilapidated temple and surrounding broken courtyard walls. More than half of the walls and rooms had sunk into a swamp.
At that time, she also saw that the name of the temple was still on the front hall—it was the 'Red Whisk Temple'!
Later, due to being busy with the clan's migration and the continuous wars against the beasts after arriving here, the first-generation Great Sacrificial Priest forgot about this matter.
After an unknown number of years, this place turned into a pitch-black swamp. As for where the temple went, no information was left behind..."
While Gong Shanhe was answering Hong Yin's questions, he was also secretly communicating with Li Yan via voice transmission.
"Daoist Li, do you think this person is from the 'Red Whisk Temple'? For a wisp of a soul to appear beneath the swamp, is it because she was a powerful expert, and her body underwent a strange transformation after she perished?"
"That's what I think. Otherwise, the mere fact that she appeared in the ground beneath the former 'Red Whisk Temple' is worth pondering!"
"And she happens to be a Buddhist. I also believe this is the case."
"Hong Yin is likely not someone who kills innocents. Otherwise, Senior Sister Gong's situation would be even worse. Clan Chief, if you want to rescue Senior Sister Gong, we should try our best not to fight her.
Moreover, since the Clan Chief knows that the 'Red Whisk Temple' may have already vanished, could the Clan Chief perhaps..."
Li Yan, though watching Hong Yin with a smile, had been constantly guessing her origins with Gong Shanhe, looking for any weakness they could exploit to smoothly rescue Gong Chenying.
Given her unique questions and special appearance, it was not difficult for Li Yan and the others to guess. Gong Shanhe, with more experience than Li Yan, naturally agreed with his point of view.
After hearing Gong Shanhe's account, Hong Yin fell into silence. Neither Gong Shanhe nor Li Yan urged her, continuing their secret conversation.
However, the occasional glances Gong Shanhe cast at Li Yan now carried a hint of camaraderie. Not only was Li Yan's cultivation astonishing, but he also liked his style of handling things—meticulous and thoughtful.
Moreover, the words Li Yan had just secretly conveyed made him feel that the other party was truly cunning. But this kind of cunning, he liked it!
In Gong Chenying's mind, voice transmissions from both Li Yan and Gong Shanhe arrived, telling her not to act rashly and to let them handle everything.
Listening to the voice transmissions from the old and the young, Gong Chenying looked at her father again and couldn't help but think.
'Little Junior Brother probably... probably never mentioned the 'Qing A Wang' matter, right? Why does it sound like A'die feels like he's met him too late and wants to become sworn brothers with him!'