Although the Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Great Green Mountains, where Li Yan's hometown was located, were both part of the Hundred Thousand Mountains, the actual distance between them was a million li. The name "Hundred Thousand Mountains" was just a term used by mortals who often entered the mountains to hunt. In their ancestors' exploration of the great mountains, they could never reach the end of them. In their minds, they felt that a hundred thousand li was the limit, hence the name.
Li Yan and the others traveled for three days. In these three days, they passed through six cultivation sects and four cultivation families. No matter which cultivation sect or family they arrived at, after seeing the Malevolent Spirit Sect token that the three of them produced, and sensing that the cultivation of the three was already at the level of their family or sect elders, or even ancestors, their attitude was extremely respectful. They were greeted with smiles everywhere, and even the Spirit Stones for teleportation were waived. Especially the young talents of some sects, upon seeing the unparalleled beauty of Gong and Zhao, and their demonic figures shaped by the Qiongqi Porgatory Art, were all stunned as if they had seen celestial beings. In private discussions, they sighed that such women actually existed in the world. Many of them were already head over heels, filled with admiration, and even a little jealous of Li Yan beside them, some even becoming greatly envious. But how could they dare to show it on their faces?
With the cultivation of the three, even if those young talents spoke in low voices, they could hear them very clearly. The two women couldn't help but frown, and Li Yan's attitude began to turn cold. The actions of these disciples angered the ancestors of those families and sects. They secretly ordered their disciples not to approach them, and violators would be severely punished. They knew how terrifying the Malevolent Spirit Sect was. If their disciples accidentally angered the three superior immortals, their sect would likely be not far from annihilation.
On the first day of their journey, they had already caused a sensation in the families and sects they passed through, with the beauty of the two women accounting for half of it. By the second day, the two women simply used an immortal art to cover their figures, so that others could only see two balls of mist. This saved them a lot of trouble.
On the morning of the fourth day, in an area about three thousand li deep within the Great Green Mountains, with mountains near and far, peaks rising one after another, and mist lingering in the mountains, only the chirping of birds in the forest could be heard, and low-level demonic beasts jumping or stopping in the mountain streams. Suddenly, a low "buzzing" sound came from within a mountain peak, startling the nearby beasts, who either scattered or pricked up their ears on the spot. But this sound came and went quickly, and after a moment, there was no more sound. A moment later, the mountain returned to its original state.
...
Li Yan watched as the light in front of him began to brighten. He stepped out of the teleportation array. Behind him, two faint balls of mist also lightly followed him down from the teleportation array.
Li Yan carefully sized up the place. It was a mountain cave, only about a dozen zhang in size. The surroundings were empty, with only a teleportation array altar in the middle. A huge night-luminous pearl was suspended in the center of the cave roof, making the light in the entire cave extremely soft.
At this moment, a person in a black robe was sitting cross-legged in a corner of the cave. This person had already woken up from his deep meditation when the light of the teleportation array lit up. He looked at the teleportation array with a vigilant gaze. When the light of the teleportation array dissipated and Li Yan walked down, he saw that the person who had come was not from his sect, and their face was extremely unfamiliar. He couldn't help but immediately stand up, secretly forming a technique in his hand. At the same time, his Divine Sense swept toward Li Yan. Just as he was about to shout in a deep voice, his face changed drastically in the next moment.
The moment the array stopped, Li Yan had already noticed the black-robed person in the corner of the cave. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, he had already seen that this black-robed person was about thirty years old, with a cultivation at the late stage of the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, which was quite impressive. They had encountered this kind of situation several times in the past few days, so he was already very familiar with it. Just as the black-robed person stood up, he flicked his hand, and a streak of dark light shot toward the black-robed person.
The black-robed person was about to brace himself and shout, but he saw a streak of dark light shoot toward him. His entire body instantly tensed up. But the streak of dark light that arrived in an instant revealed an aura that was extremely familiar to him. In a flash of thought, he already had a guess. Although he was still vigilant, he no longer dodged, but caught the streak of dark light in his hand.
It was a gray token. On the token was a very red, leaf-shaped pattern. This pattern was exactly the same as the one embroidered on the collar of this black-robed cultivator. When the black-robed cultivator held the token, his expression had already relaxed. After careful inspection, he was even more terrified. He hurriedly bowed deeply to Li Yan and the two people who were faintly visible behind him. "Xu An pays his respects to the three seniors. I did not know of your arrival. If you have any orders, I will surely obey."
The token in his hand was a sect's keepsake, and its grade was the highest gray. This sect token was only held by the sect master and the sect's ancestors. It was usually only given to extremely distinguished guests who came to the sect for their use. This made the black-robed cultivator who called himself "Xu An" horrified. What scared him even more was the cultivation of these three people. The young man in front who looked to be only about twenty had a cultivation similar to the sect master's, while the mist behind him clearly did not want to show their true faces. The faint pressure emanating from their bodies was something he had only seen on the sect's ancestor. And he was certain that the cultivation of these two was even stronger than the ancestor's. How could this not shock him?
"Oh, that won't be necessary. You can open the protective formation. We will just leave," Li Yan said faintly.
Hearing this, Xu An's heart relaxed. He knew that this should be a cultivator from a second-rate sect, or even a first-rate sect, who was passing by. Although their third-rate sect governed this area, and even the three mortal dynasties here were like ants in their eyes, they were well aware of the unpredictable moods of cultivators, especially those from second-rate sects and above. They were afraid that a single wrong word or a small mistake would not only cost them their own lives but would also lead to the annihilation of their entire sect in an instant.
Hearing this, Xu An hurriedly took a few steps forward, respectfully handed the gray token back to Li Yan with both hands, and then quickly took out a black token from his bosom and waved it at a corner of the cave. On the originally very ordinary mountain wall, under the illumination of the night-luminous pearl on the cave roof, the light distorted, and an entrance slowly materialized. Fresh morning light was pouring in from outside the entrance.
Seeing this, Li Yan nodded slightly and, without another word, walked directly toward the entrance.
Looking at the three who had stepped out of the cave and disappeared, Xu An wiped the sweat from his forehead. Although the three of them had not deliberately released their auras, the pressure from three high-level cultivators had still left him in a state of suffocation. He thought to himself, 'Where did these high-level cultivators come from? The spiritual energy here in the Great Green Mountains is thin. If it weren't for managing the three mortal dynasties here, we wouldn't have set up a teleportation formation here at all. Usually, at most, there are some rogue cultivators who fly here on their own and pass by. No cultivator would be interested in this place. This is really strange.'
As he thought to himself, he waved the black token in his hand again, and the entrance on the mountain wall distorted in the light and turned back into an ordinary mountain wall again. Xu An thought for a moment and felt that he had no clue, so he lost interest. He had been assigned to guard the teleportation formation here, and in another year, he could return to the sect. As long as the teleportation array was fine during his watch, it would be good.
Shaking his head, Xu An returned to the corner of the cave again, sat down cross-legged, and was about to enter deep meditation to cultivate. Although the spiritual energy here was thin, there was still some. Just as he closed his eyes, they suddenly snapped open, and he let out a cry of surprise. "Could it be... a cultivator from there?"
Li Yan stepped out of the mountain cave, and the entrance behind him slowly closed. He raised his eyes and looked around, finding that the three of them were standing on a cliff. They were standing on a rock protruding from the mountain. In front of them was a thousand-zhang cliff. The wind howled around them, and clouds and mist billowed and floated past their feet.
"This is indeed a good place to hide a teleportation array. And with a formation to conceal it, even if a passing cultivator didn't know the situation, it would be extremely difficult to find. The 'Bloodleaf Sect' has its own unique expertise in the way of formations. According to that 'Bloodleaf Elder,' this teleportation array was also set up by them, not by spending Spirit Stones to hire a formation master." Li Yan seemed to be talking to himself, and also to the two behind him.
He had been rushing for four days, but it was still much slower than a normal teleportation. He remembered that back then, Yu Yiyong had said that it only took three days to teleport him to the Malevolent Spirit Sect. But this time, every time they arrived at a sect or family, the host would warmly invite the three of them to stay for a few days. Li Yan was anxious to go home and was naturally unwilling. But of the ten places they had passed through, only three were second-rate cultivation sects, and the rest were all third-rate cultivation families or sects. For a behemoth like the Malevolent Spirit Sect, how could they have a chance to get close on a normal day? This time, with such an opportunity, they naturally took out many heavy treasures. This made it impossible for the three of them to leave without being unreasonable. They could only stay for a short while under the warm hospitality. As for some of the heavy treasures that caught their eye, the three of them were not polite at all. At the same time, in these few days, Li Yan had unintentionally obtained a piece of "Crimson Mother Essence" the size of a thumb. This was one of the five main materials for refining the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike that he had been searching for everywhere. This made Li Yan extremely surprised. He never thought that there would be such a precious thing in these small sects. It was just a little regrettable for Li Yan that the amount he needed was at least half a fist size, and this piece was obviously not enough. But this kind of rare material was often collected slowly. After thinking about it, Li Yan was still happy.
The "Crimson Mother Essence" was obtained from the "Bloodleaf Sect" last night. Although the "Bloodleaf Elder's" cultivation was only at the late stage of Foundation Establishment, he had already lived for one hundred and seventy-two years. He had traveled to many places in his youth, and his footprints had covered more than half of the Desolate Moon Continent. He had escaped from death several times. This time, he had taken out this incomparably precious "Crimson Mother Essence" and given it to Li Yan at any cost because he felt that his end was near. In the remaining twenty-odd years, with his aptitude and his constantly declining physical functions, unless there was a heaven-defying opportunity, it would be impossible for him to form a Golden Core anyway. And the sect master of the "Bloodleaf Sect" was his direct disciple, who had successfully established his foundation twenty years ago. There was also a mid-stage Foundation Establishment elder in the sect who was also over one hundred and thirty years old. In this way, when he passed away, the sect would have one less late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, and its overall combat strength would drop sharply. Although their sect had already chosen a place with not very dense spiritual energy, there were still two strong enemies lying in wait. These years, they had been deterred by his late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation and had not dared to attack. These two strong enemies were the other two cultivation families that jointly managed the three mortal dynasties in this area with the "Bloodleaf Sect." Don't underestimate the mortal dynasties; they could provide a lot of cultivation resources every year, and the Bloodleaf Sect only needed to send a disciple at the third layer of Qi Condensation or above to be stationed in the imperial capital. It was precisely for this reason that those two cultivation families were even more covetous. Once the "Bloodleaf Sect" was weak, they would swallow the other party. Their families each had a late-stage Foundation Establishment ancestor.
The Bloodleaf Elder endured the pain and gave away the item he had obtained through nine deaths and one life in his early years, all in the hopes of getting on the good side of the Malevolent Spirit Sect. After obtaining this stone back then, no matter how he studied it, whether by forging it with fire, destroying it with spiritual energy, or nourishing it in his Dantian, it was like a dead object. But the Bloodleaf Elder could feel a heart-palpitating aura within it. This time, he gritted his teeth and gave it away. At first, he was still worried that these three superior sect cultivators would not be able to see the mystery of this stone and was about to explain it carefully. He never thought that Li Yan would recognize it at a glance. Li Yan had long since memorized the materials for refining the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike. Pingtu had even explained to him the different forms and names from ancient times. How could Li Yan's knowledge be compared to the Bloodleaf Elder's?
After obtaining this "Crimson Mother Essence," Li Yan also asked in detail about the process of how the Bloodleaf Elder had obtained it. Seeing Li Yan so attentive, the Bloodleaf Elder naturally thought that he had made the right bet this time and told him the origin of this stone. After hearing it, Li Yan's heart stirred. This "Crimson Mother Essence" came from the Land of the Northern Abyss on the Desolate Moon Continent. It was from back when the Bloodleaf Elder, in order to break through to the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, had spent a great price to obtain a spot to train in the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" of the Pure Land Sect. That time, the moment this stone appeared, a crazy battle had broken out on the spot, and more than thirty Foundation Establishment cultivators had died directly. The Bloodleaf Elder had also escaped into a mud pit on the verge of death. By using the sect's secret technique, the "Blood Breath Grand Art," and relying only on a little bit of spiritual energy in his blood to maintain his life, he had deceived his pursuers. After hiding for seven days, he escaped.
Knowing the origin of the "Crimson Mother Essence," Li Yan naturally had a plan in mind. But this matter still needed long-term consideration. The Pure Land Sect had all been wiped out in the Wheel of Life and Death. With their relationship with the Ten-Pace Courtyard, it was possible that they had gotten some information about him from Wang Lang. This made Li Yan have to be careful. Although it was just a possibility, Li Yan had always been one to plan before acting. At the same time, he was also interested in the "Blood Breath Grand Art" mentioned by the Bloodleaf Elder. But after a brief thought, he gave up the idea. For now, he still couldn't do something like plundering someone's secret art.
Li Yan was never one to bully the weak with his strength. With his intelligence, how could he not know the Bloodleaf Elder's thoughts? Considering the value of this "Crimson Mother Essence" and its information, Li Yan thought for a moment and also took out a jade slip, carved his aura on it, and gave it to the Bloodleaf Elder as a token, telling him that with this token, he could act on behalf of the Bloodleaf Sect three times. The Bloodleaf Elder took the jade slip, his heart filled with joy. He cherished it and put it into his storage pouch. He believed that when the sect was in great danger, as long as Li Yan appeared once, it would be enough to deter those two sects from attacking for a hundred years. In a hundred years, the Bloodleaf Sect would definitely have a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Besides, Li Yan had promised to act three times.
In the end, the Bloodleaf Elder personally sent the three of them into the teleportation array before leaving with a happy heart.