In May, the ink bamboo on Little Bamboo Peak was a verdant green.
In the early morning, the distant mountains were hazy, shrouded in a light veil, indistinct, appearing and disappearing in the ethereal clouds and mist, as if near yet far, seemingly within reach yet not. A light mist drifted through the bamboo forest, making the entire mountain range picturesque.
The gate of a bamboo courtyard on the back mountain of Little Bamboo Peak, after being closed for a year and a half, opened with a "creak." Li Yan walked out of the door with a calm expression. At this time, his temperament had changed a lot from before. The aura emanating from his body was deeper, and his spiritual energy was almost imperceptible. As he walked, he gave off a sense of stability like a mountain. His black hair was scattered over his shoulders, and he had grown to be over eight feet tall. The sect's dark green long robe, though not tight on him, revealed faint bulges of muscle under the clothes as he walked, which would then disappear in an instant, like a walking leopard.
The Qiongqi Porgatory Art had a very strong effect on reshaping one's constitution, flesh, and bones, causing an incredible transformation in Li Yan's physique.
Walking through the bamboo forest, the small path winding forward, listening to the chirping of kingfishers in the early morning and breathing in the fresh air, Li Yan was constantly calculating in his mind.
He had only teleported back to the small courtyard the night before yesterday. Since establishing his foundation, he had stayed in the Secret Room for three months. He had not only stabilized his realm and cultivation but also successfully nurtured the wisp of essence soul refined by Pingtu. At the same time, for three months, he had also diligently cultivated the "Stealthy Night Art." Although he had only reached the entry-level, Li Yan believed that with the powerful support of the True Scripture of Gui Water, even a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, he believed that when he used the "Stealthy Night Art," he could quietly approach them without them noticing, as long as they didn't check carefully. This made him value this art even more.
After returning to the small courtyard, Li Yan didn't do anything else. Instead, he went directly into his bedroom and fell asleep. He had been in the Secret Room for a total of one year and six months this time. For Li Yan, it was a relatively long seclusion. The hardships and twists and turns were not for outsiders to know, but they had exhausted him. This sleep lasted for a day and two nights, and he only woke up completely this morning.
After waking up, Li Yan first took a bath. Only then did he feel refreshed. He came to the living room, and with a wave of his hand, a huge puppet appeared in the middle of the room. Just as Li Yan released his Divine Sense to have it brew a pot of tea, his expression suddenly moved. In his Divine Sense, he had already sensed a buzzing sound outside the courtyard gate. Li Yan couldn't help but look puzzled. He got up and went out, opening the courtyard gate. The moment he opened it, he saw ten voice transmission talismans trapped within the formation outside the courtyard wall, like a few headless flies, bumping around. Li Yan quickly reached out his hand and drew the ten transmission talismans into his hand.
After closing the courtyard gate again, he strolled back to the living room and sat down. Li Yan sank his Divine Sense into each one. A moment later, his expression changed. These voice transmission talismans were all from Sun Guoshu, and they were all from more than half a year ago. Sun Guoshu had found many supplementary materials, which initially made Li Yan very happy. But when he saw the other seven or eight transmission talismans, his color changed. Sun Guoshu stated that he had found a five-hundred-year-old "Nine-Dragon Root," and even said that the shopkeeper planned to sell this "Nine-Dragon Root" to someone else. Especially in the last few voice transmission talismans, Sun Guoshu's words were extremely anxious.
Li Yan's face immediately darkened. He was not targeting Sun Guoshu, but the shopkeeper named Hu San for not being accommodating. Through Sun Guoshu's description, although he didn't say everything, Li Yan could roughly calculate that Sun Guoshu must have paid a lot of Spirit Stones as a deposit and was probably unable to continue, which was why he was so anxious.
At this moment, the giant ape puppet had already brought the fragrant tea and placed it on the table. Li Yan put down the voice transmission talismans in his hand and did not immediately rush to the market. Instead, he took out his token again. He wanted to sort out all the things that had happened in the past year and a half, and then plan the order in which to deal with them.
Not long after Li Yan sank his Divine Sense into the token, a joyful expression appeared on his face. In the token were several messages from his master, Wei Zhongran, asking about his cultivation progress and repeatedly reminding him to inform him when he was about to establish his foundation, so that he could come and help him. The other two were from Gong Chenying, also asking about Li Yan's cultivation and telling him not to be too eager for success and so on. Between the lines, there seemed to be a faint girlish fragrance.
But what surprised Li Yan the most, and also made him the happiest, was a message from Bai Rou. She had told Li Yan about how Sun Guoshu had gone to the sect in a panic, and also reassured Li Yan that she had already gone to the market and brought back the materials Sun Guoshu had collected and that "Nine-Dragon Root." When Li Yan came out of seclusion, he could go to her place to get them back.
This matter surprised Li Yan greatly, but the result made him very happy. He looked at this woman, Bai Rou, in a new light. Looking at the puppet before him again, Li Yan felt that he should reconsider and try not to use this puppet for combat in the future. After all, what Bai Rou had done since they met had all been extremely kind gestures.
There were a few other messages, from Li Wuyi and Lin Daqiao. Li Wuyi had come looking for him a few times, and only sent a message after seeing that Li Yan was in seclusion, asking him to get together with his senior and junior brothers when he had time. As for the messages from Lin Daqiao, Li Yan couldn't help but shake his head as he read them. Every single one asked when Li Yan would come out of seclusion, telling him not to just stay in seclusion. With his current strength at the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, he could go out with them and kill in all directions. Maybe he would break through in battle. It was as if he was doing very well in the outside world now.
After reading these messages, Li Yan sent messages to three people. The first was, of course, Gong Chenying, telling her that he had already come out of seclusion and had successfully established his foundation, and asking her to come over around noon if she had time, as he had something to discuss. The second was a message to Bai Rou, first thanking her for her help, and stating that if she was in the sect today, Li Yan would like to go over and thank her in person. The third was a message to his master, Wei Zhongran, telling him that he had unexpectedly established his foundation a few days ago, and asking if he needed to report to the sect and so on.
Soon, Li Yan received replies from the three of them. Gong Chenying only replied with two words: "I can." Wei Zhongran expressed his shock and said that he would have Li Yan go to the main hall in a while. Bai Rou may have been cultivating or had other matters. It took a long time for her to reply to Li Yan, but her words also revealed her surprise and joy, stating that she was on Four Symbols Peak and Li Yan could go find her at any time.
As Li Yan walked toward the main hall, he calculated the upcoming matters in his mind. He planned to deal with all the matters within the sect in these two days, and then he would leave the Malevolent Spirit Sect. First, he would go home for a trip to see his parents, and then he would go to find that "Infinite Roam Tree." This matter was already imminent. This was also why he had asked Gong Chenying to come over. He had said before that he would take Gong Chenying back to see his parents.
Half an hour later, Li Yan had already flown to Four Symbols Peak. At this time, he could fly freely in the air without a flying sword, and his speed was only about twenty percent slower than flying on a sword. Thinking of his master's surprised expression when he saw him just now, Li Yan couldn't help but have a smile on his lips. Wei Zhongran asked about Li Yan's Foundation Establishment situation and also asked him which tier he had reached. Of course, Li Yan had already prepared a story. In the end, he only said that he was a seventh-tier Foundation Establishment. But even so, it greatly surprised Wei Zhongran. As a Golden Core cultivator, if he didn't personally use his spiritual energy to probe, he couldn't know for sure which tier Li Yan had reached. But Wei Zhongran would not do such a thing. But for Li Yan to say seventh-tier Foundation Establishment from his own mouth already made Wei Zhongran look in disbelief. One must know that a genius like Li Wuyi was only a seventh-tier Foundation Establishment. People like Lin Daqiao were basically fifth-tier Foundation Establishment.
In the end, under Li Yan's suppressed cultivation, after he released the aura of a seventh-tier Foundation Establishment, Wei Zhongran was extremely happy and laughed heartily in the main hall. He had never thought that the decision he had made back then because he couldn't bear to see Li Yan possibly being taken by the other peaks for research would actually produce another Foundation Establishment master. The Fragmented Poison Body was truly worthy of its reputation.
In the subsequent chat with Wei Zhongran, Li Yan became more and more surprised. He had never thought that his Second Senior Brother, Seventh Senior Brother, and the other two were now so famous in the cultivation world. Thinking of the message Lin Daqiao had left in the token, Li Yan finally understood the reason. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He never thought that the pure young man from back then was now so infamous.
Afterward, Wei Zhongran formally accepted Li Yan as his disciple, no longer a disciple-in-name. But with Wei Zhongran's indifferent personality and Li Yan's dislike for liveliness, the two hit it off immediately and simply skipped the initiation ceremony for Li Yan. There were only the two of them in the main hall. Li Yan just offered a cup of tea and kowtowed three times, and the ceremony was considered complete.
After the ceremony, the master and disciple felt even closer. Li Yan took the opportunity to ask Wei Zhongran many questions about Foundation Establishment. Although he had already asked Pingtu many questions in the Secret Room, each cultivator's perspective was different, especially high-level cultivators who all had their own experiences and insights. These were different experiences gained from their own personal experiences, and they had different perspectives on cultivation. Of course, the more Li Yan knew, the better, so that he could better compare it with his own cultivation and make adjustments. What surprised Li Yan greatly was that Wei Zhongran seemed to have extremely extensive experience. No matter what question Li Yan raised, he would answer it without any hesitation or consideration. And the words he spoke would often make Li Yan ponder for a long time before he understood their meaning. After several sessions of asking for guidance, Li Yan had benefited greatly.
Li Yan was even more unable to guess Wei Zhongran's true cultivation. In his doubt, he deliberately raised a few questions he had asked Pingtu before. Wei Zhongran also answered them one by one. Most of them were similar to what Pingtu had said. Although there were some discrepancies in some places, they made Li Yan feel that there was another way, which broadened his horizons. This made Li Yan feel that Wei Zhongran's cultivation was even more unfathomable, as if his knowledge was on par with Pingtu's at the Golden Core realm.
In the end, Wei Zhongran took Li Yan to the sect to extract a wisp of his essence soul. But the place they went surprised Li Yan. He had thought they were going to Lord Lao Peak, but who knew that they ended up going to the Treasury Pavilion of Little Bamboo Peak. It was still that sleepy-looking old man in gray clothes who, with a wave of his hand, created a huge vortex in the air. Wei Zhongran took Li Yan to an independent space. There were two rows of wooden shelves, and on the shelves were ten lamps. The candlelight on each lamp was bright, and the aura emanating from them was extremely familiar to Li Yan. The two Soul Lamps on the top row were dazzling, their flames more than ten times the size of the seven of the eight candles below. Li Yan seemed to be able to feel the aura of his master and martial mother from them. And among the eight candles below, one candle flame was also five to eight times the height of the other seven. From it, Li Yan felt the aura of Li Wuyi.
But what surprised Li Yan was that the wisp of aura emanating from one of the seven lamps with shorter flames made Li Yan freeze. From that lamp, he actually felt Zhao Min's aura. This puzzled Li Yan greatly. In his heart, Zhao Min was like the other disciples who had switched to the other four peaks. Her uniqueness might still be that she had a memory of her time on Little Bamboo Peak, which was why she often came here. Why was her Soul Lamp left here alone? Li Yan felt as if there was a membrane in his heart, about to be broken but unable to grasp the key point. For a moment, he didn't know the reason.
At this moment, Wei Zhongran's expression was actually in a daze for a moment. Then his gaze also swept over Zhao Min's Soul Lamp, and a trace of warmth flashed in his eyes. Li Yan was standing behind him and naturally couldn't see Wei Zhongran's expression. But since Wei Zhongran entered this space, a trace of gloom had unnaturally appeared on his body. Li Yan could feel this and also noticed that his master had no intention of speaking at this time. Li Yan chose to keep his mouth shut.
After a long time, Wei Zhongran's figure suddenly trembled. After a light sigh, he turned his head and swept his gaze over Li Yan again. Only then did he step forward and take out a Soul Lamp. Li Yan, who had been standing quietly behind, clearly saw a strange expression in his master's eyes as he looked at him. This expression was fleeting, but Li Yan still saw it. But he had no idea what it meant, and he didn't dare to ask. He could only suppress the question in his heart with frustration.