The facial features of the purple elephant grew progressively clearer, eventually becoming distinct and recognizable. This continued for a full quarter of an hour before the purple elephant in mid-air finally stopped absorbing the heat waves from the surroundings. During this time, Li Yan made no move. This elephant had clearly come from the Great Dragon-Elephant Formation.
He had merely sent a wisp of his Divine Sense to check on Bu Luo's injuries. They were severe, but not yet life-threatening. So, Li Yan decided to focus all his energy on the purple elephant, placing the Spirit Power-wrapped Bu Luo on the ground beside him.
When the purple elephant's body had taken on a semi-corporeal state, it finally stopped its absorption. By now, the temperature inside the formation had dropped considerably, at least losing that sense of being able to melt all things.
After it stopped absorbing, its now-clear body and features made it appear unusually divine and handsome. It slowly lowered its head and looked at Li Yan, a trace of coldness and killing intent flashing in its eyes.
"Weak human, was it you who refined this formation? Before, you were barely able to control this formation. From this moment on, you can die."
The purple elephant's first words were chillingly murderous. It took a step forward in the void, a step that made the entire Great Dragon-Elephant Formation tremble. Then, it looked down at Li Yan from its superior height, as if it would stomp him to death in the next moment.
A sharp and imposing pressure emanated from the purple elephant, making it difficult for Li Yan to breathe. Yet, Li Yan's expression remained as calm as ever. A moment ago, he had seemed to be deep in thought with his head lowered; now, he slowly raised his head and swept a faint glance over the purple elephant.
"Oh? So you are the formation spirit of the Great Dragon-Elephant Formation. Weren't there supposed to be ten of you? How is it that you're the only one left?" Li Yan paid no heed to the purple elephant's death threat.
"A mere Foundation Establishment cultivator dares to speak so presumptuously here. It was I who was asking the questions. Well then, there's no need for an answer now. Die!" The purple elephant had not expected the little cultivator, who was like an ant in its eyes, to feign calmness in the face of death.
Following its words, a peerless, ferocious might billowed from its body, pressing down on Li Yan from all directions. It was confident that it could instantly destroy this human cultivator's Sea of Consciousness and soul.
Feeling a power that was impossible to resist pressing down on him, Li Yan first took a step sideways, moving to block the front of Bu Luo. Then, he raised a finger, pointed it toward the sky, and shouted, "Disperse!"
The pressure, which had seemed capable of destroying heaven and earth, actually collapsed and scattered the moment Li Yan raised his finger. Li Yan then slowly retracted his finger, a half-smile playing on his lips as he looked at the purple elephant floating in the air before him.
"You… you're a Golden Core? No, that's not right. Your Spirit Power clearly hasn't materialized yet." A trace of panic flashed in the depths of the purple elephant's eyes. It flickered for but an instant before being deeply hidden.
"My cultivation level is not important. Where did the other nine Purple Divine Dragon-Elephants go?" Li Yan asked, still calm.
"Oh, I understand now. You are a 'Ninth-Rank Foundation Establishment'. Only a Foundation Establishment cultivator who has touched the Lotus Throne could so easily break my pressure." A grave expression appeared on the purple elephant's face, and it similarly did not answer Li Yan's question, but the sharpness in its demeanor had lessened.
Hearing the purple elephant's words, Li Yan's face showed no change, but he was inwardly shocked. Not even Wei Zhongran, with his level of cultivation, had been able to see through his Ninth-Rank Foundation Establishment. Yet this demonic beast had exposed it in a single sentence.
"'This venerated one'? Hehe, does Your Excellency truly still possess the magical power you once had? Or perhaps, is the magical power Your Excellency has left still enough to withstand my next attack?"
'Venerated one' was a title generally used only by those whose cultivation had reached the Nascent Soul stage or higher. It was a symbol of status. As far as Li Yan knew, the ten Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant essence souls in the Great Dragon-Elephant Formation were no more than third-rank demonic beasts, equivalent only to the Golden Core stage in life. Yet this purple elephant brazenly called itself 'venerated'.
"Weak human, do you truly think you can be so complacent just because you dispersed my pressure a moment ago? Hmph!" A fierce glint flashed in the purple elephant's eyes. In the next instant, its long trunk seemed to cross space and time, appearing above Li Yan's head in a flash. Li Yan felt the space above his head emit faint 'kaka' sounds, as if a mirror were cracking, and even the air around him became as heavy as a mountain.
Li Yan, however, just let out a cold snort. He flipped his fists upward and met the attack head-on. "Boom!" The entire cave trembled. The magma below the cliff surged in waves, crashing violently against the cave walls, sending out a dazzling golden light.
"That brat really went down there. Is he trying to pass the first trial?" Outside the cave, the portly monk looked with a complicated expression toward one of the 'Fire Eyes'. In his Divine Sense, the magma there was raging like a furious, roaring wave.
Earlier, right after Li Yan entered the cave, the Divine Senses of the three monks had followed him in, only to lose his trail. After a quick sweep, they had retreated. With the portly monk's Mid-stage Foundation Establishment strength, his Divine Sense couldn't even remain inside for long; the stinging pain had already become unbearable.
The other monk with them, who was already at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, had likewise only managed to last two breaths longer than the portly monk before being forced to retreat.
The portly monk and his companions simply didn't believe that Li Yan would actually dare to venture into the "Fire Eye." None of them dared to enter. Under the protection of their Spirit Power, they could only stay on the rocks at the entrance for a short time, but they absolutely did not dare to enter the depths of the magma. Therefore, when they thought Li Yan had flown into the Fire Eye, they didn't dare to pursue.
However, if they had known that Li Yan was only a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, they would have refused to believe it no matter what. But how could the monk Yiming bring himself to state Li Yan's cultivation level? That would only bring him more shame.
Now, seeing the magma churning in that Fire Eye, they were somewhat certain that Li Yan had entered the depths of the magma.
Yiming, however, continued to sit in meditation to recover, not even opening his eyes. But he knew that with that brat's physical body and the abundance of his Spirit Power, it should be possible for him to stay in the Fire Eye for a long time. Still, he was skeptical that Li Yan would dare to enter the depths of the magma; that was a place even he was not confident about.
But what he needed to do now was to recover as quickly as possible, and then go in to see for himself. He was confident that inside the "Fire Eye," he had special items prepared for his breakthrough. Under that all-melting high temperature, even if Li Yan could stay inside, it would already be an astonishing feat. How could he possibly have the strength left to fight him? Unless Li Yan also happened to have a magical treasure that could counteract high temperatures. If that were the case, wouldn't it be too much of a coincidence?
"Chan Master Zhiyuan, did you say that another person captured that book boy and entered the 'Fire Eye'?" The one asking was a young cultivator in a Daoist robe standing not far away. He held a longsword and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with two others. Behind them were more than a dozen other cultivators. At this moment, streaks of light could still be seen flying toward this place from the distant horizon.
The Daoist and the two beside him were also cultivators at the Pseudo-Core realm. The people behind them were all cultivators who had been chasing Bu Luo. The three Daoists had just arrived when they heard the portly monk say that a black-robed cultivator had already taken the book boy and entered the "Fire Eye."
Furthermore, that black-robed cultivator was outrageously powerful, to the point that even Chan Monk Yiming and the 'Thousand-Li Flying Flower' Xu Yeyua, two martial brothers, had fallen at his hands, resulting in one injured and two dead.
However, the people who arrived later were inwardly speculative and somewhat disbelieving. A black-robed youth at the Foundation Establishment level had, by himself, killed the Pseudo-Core 'Thousand-Li Flying Flower' Xu Yeyua and his junior brother, and heavily injured Chan Monk Yiming? This all sounded so absurd. No matter how strong that person was, as long as he wasn't a Golden Core, how could he have accomplished the feat of killing and heavily injuring several people in such a short time?
They had been tracking the book boy and had not been far behind.
Although Xu Yeyua's corpse was still frozen over there, and his junior brother's body was long gone, they felt it was more likely that Yiming's group of four had been the ones to do it. That was the only way it made sense.
As for Xu Yeyua's Storage Pouch, it was currently placed beside Yiming. With Yiming meditating to heal, everything was being explained by the portly monk, Zhiyuan. The other monk, a thin and withered man at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, had a wooden expression and hadn't uttered a single word. He was clearly a man of few words.
After Zhiyuan told the Daoists everything that had happened, he offered no further explanation, whether they believed him or not. Why did the Jingtu Sect need to explain so much? It was just that the identity of 'Thousand-Li Flying Flower' Xu Yeyua was somewhat special, so the monk Zhiyuan had said a few more words and made it clear that they would not touch Xu Yeyua's Storage Pouch; it would be handed over to the sect for handling.
Regardless of whether they believed it or not, they all went over to inspect Xu Yeyua's corpse.
Xu Yeyua and his life-and-death Spirit Beast, the white crane, had indeed died from poison. The Daoists could all confirm this after their examination. However, they had no idea what kind of poison Xu Yeyua and the white crane had been afflicted with. Hearing Zhiyuan's account, they were even more incredulous. A life-and-death Spirit Beast attacking the master with whom it had signed a life-and-death contract—how utterly ridiculous was that?
"Amitabha. If you benefactors still doubt my words, why not enter the depths of the 'Fire Eye' right now and investigate for yourselves?" Zhiyuan was getting impatient. This Daoist was so long-winded. The three Daoists had already gone into that Fire Eye for a look after hearing his story, but they returned after only ten breaths, having found nothing.
Hearing this, the young Daoist looked at the other two Pseudo-Core cultivators beside him, momentarily unsure if they really needed to go back in for a more detailed look before making a decision.
How did this black-robed youth appear? In the end, didn't this mean that all the treasures on the book boy had been taken by him, especially that Silver Page? Many people felt unwilling to accept this, so for a time, no one left. Instead, more and more pursuers arrived one after another.
Li Yan stood on the spot, his feet planted firmly, his hands clasped behind his back. He watched the purple elephant, which was staring at him fiercely, with a placid expression.
"With your cultivation, the high temperature here doesn't harm you much. Are you a body cultivator? No, that's not right. Then how can you be a Ninth-Rank Foundation Establishment cultivator? Although there have been body cultivators who reached Ninth-Rank Foundation Establishment since ancient times, they are as rare as a phoenix feather or a qilin horn." The purple elephant's eyes were fixed on Li Yan's, as if trying to see right through him.
Li Yan's expression didn't change, but his hands, hidden in the large sleeves behind his back, were trembling slightly and involuntarily.
'This demonic beast was clearly using the high temperature here to recover its strength before, but it seems it didn't recover much. I almost couldn't take that one hit,' Li Yan thought to himself.
"My cultivation level is not for you to guess," Li Yan said, his tone neither salty nor bland.
"Arrogant!" Although the purple elephant spoke with disdain, this time it did not immediately attack.
Seeing the purple elephant begin to calm down, Li Yan chuckled lightly and continued to speak. "So, now, aren't you going to tell me your origins? Are you truly the essence soul of a Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant that was once refined into the 'Great Dragon-Elephant Formation'?"