The day before yesterday, after a battle with the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, while in a state of extreme exhaustion, Li Yan once again cultivated the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
Suddenly, a series of dense cracking sounds erupted from his body, and then layers of a light gray, greasy substance seeped out from his dark skin.
The muscles on his body rolled in rhythmic waves, and small, concave vortices roamed over his body.
Li Yan's body arched like a moon-gazing ferocious beast, his head thrown back, and he let out an extremely deep sound, like a muffled thunderclap in this space.
Then, a ferocious aura emanated from him. The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had been lying lazily on the ground, suddenly shot up as if it had met a lifelong enemy. It raised its trunk to the sky and let out a long cry.
Fortunately, there was no one within a thousand li of the "Flame Palace," and no cultivators came here today, so it didn't attract anyone's attention.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's eyes were fixed on Li Yan, who looked like a ferocious beast waiting to pounce. A word suddenly flashed in its mind, a very distant and unfamiliar word: "Qiongqi."
A name related to a peerless ferocious beast from ancient times. In that instant, it finally understood why the aura that emanated from Li Yan whenever he cultivated made it extremely uncomfortable.
"Qiong... Qi, this is the peerless ferocious beast Qiongqi. I can't be mistaken, it's its aura!"
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant stared at Li Yan without blinking. It was now afraid that Li Yan would pounce on it directly. At this moment, it felt the urge to retreat, to flee as far away as possible.
Just as the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was on full alert, the aura on Li Yan's body suddenly receded like a tide, and then he sat down on the ground with a plop.
Two hours later, when Li Yan had once again restored his body to its peak state, he charged towards the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant with a loud laugh.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had been maintaining a vigilant expression. The moment Li Yan charged, any remaining hesitation vanished. It too had the pride of its noble bloodline.
It had never seen a "Qiongqi." The moment Li Yan charged, its mind was stirred, and its previous worries were swept away, replaced by a soaring will to fight.
It was a Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant. Even if it was just a remnant essence soul, as long as a trace of its soul existed between heaven and earth, it was the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant that could shake the heavens, move the earth, and tear apart dragons and tigers.
Then, a howling sound swept around the "Flame Palace." Every punch, every claw, caused the earth here to crack into countless pieces.
Li Yan had been here for six months and was very familiar with the area. He naturally knew from which direction people usually came, so his Divine Sense had already spread out, and he attacked with even more confidence.
The earth-shattering "rumble" continued unabated. After a quarter of an hour, Li Yan's body was slammed heavily against the mountain wall of the "Flame Palace," causing him to be deeply embedded in it.
But with a loud laugh, Li Yan shot out again. His black robe had turned to tatters. He was bare-chested, with only a pair of shorts on his lower body. A lustrous glow flowed over his dark skin. He was beaming with a smile, his body surging with a powerful will to fight.
As for the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, after this one blow, its body had become extremely illusory. It raised its head with difficulty to glance at Li Yan, then, without a word, it plunged into a "Fire Eye."
In that final blow, it had used ninety percent of its strength to send Li Yan flying. But the other party had reappeared before it, full of life and vigor. This made it feel a sense of helplessness. It felt that everything that was happening should be even more illusory than its own body.
Staring at the departing figure of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, the sharp light in Li Yan's eyes slowly dissipated, and the aura on his body also gradually retracted. But the smile on his face grew even brighter, until finally, he couldn't help but laugh out loud, his voice shaking the land for a hundred li.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was gone for two days before it came out again.
The look in its eyes when it looked at Li Yan again had become one of confusion. It didn't know if Li Yan was a man or a demon. In just a few short months, he had forced it to use ninety percent of its strength.
It felt that if it used ten percent of its strength, it could probably still heavily injure, or even kill, Li Yan. But in that case, it would also instantly vanish, its soul returning to the void.
At their level of cultivation, the application of an additional ten percent of strength was not a simple additive effect, but a multiplication of power by several, or even ten times. But the price to pay was also enormous.
Thinking of the scene from the day before, Li Yan couldn't help but smile. Then he turned his head to glance at the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had been half-closing its eyes, suddenly opened them as if struck by lightning. Its large ears instantly perked up. At this time, the unruliness and arrogance from before were long gone from its eyes.
Li Yan retracted his gaze. He was now at the peak of Mid-stage Foundation Establishment. Coupled with the newly broken through second layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, his cultivation should be the strongest in the Foundation Establishment realm.
Initial-stage Golden Core was no longer a great enemy to him. In a head-on fight, the odds of victory should be forty-sixty, with Li Yan himself having only a forty percent chance.
Although the probability of victory was less than half, this had already greatly boosted Li Yan's confidence. Before, if he encountered an Initial-stage Golden Core, apart from using tricks or sneak attacks, he could only flee.
However, all of this was Li Yan's own speculation based on his past encounters with Golden Core cultivators.
Right after Li Yan had successfully established his foundation, Gong Chenying had felt that the Qiongqi Purgatory Art he cultivated was already different from her own.
Back then, even after Gong Chenying had cultivated to the late stage of the second layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, she only felt that her physical body could defend against an Initial-stage Golden Core, but she still didn't dare to confront one.
The reason for this was the difference in her Dao Platform's level and the purity of her Spirit Power. Body tempering and Spirit Power were complementary.
The True Scripture of Gui Water had long since made Li Yan's Spirit Power far surpass that of his peers, especially since he had touched upon a trace of the true meaning of the Lotus Throne.
This was something that even Gong Chenying, who was already at the Pseudo-Core stage back then, yearned for but could not obtain. She was still bitterly searching for that faint path to the Lotus Throne.
Just this trace of the essence of the Lotus Throne had already brought about a qualitative change in Li Yan's Qiongqi Purgatory Art. Its power was no longer something that could be achieved through normal cultivation methods.
Li Yan had no one to guide him in his cultivation of the True Scripture of Gui Water, so he could only rely on his own judgment and exploration for everything.
He squinted his eyes in thought. Recently, when cultivating the True Scripture of Gui Water, he would occasionally find himself in a boundless void, with a very faint black lotus flower beneath his feet, carrying him forward aimlessly.
When he entered that state of meditation, he had no idea what he was doing. But whenever he woke up, he would think of what Pingtu had told him about the "Lotus Throne."
But he wasn't even at Late-stage Foundation Establishment yet; he was still three minor realms away from Core Formation, so he felt a little lost.
"I must ask Senior Pingtu about this when I return to the Malevolent Spirit Sect. My realm was too low back then, so he didn't explain it to me in detail."
Li Yan thought to himself. He couldn't ask anyone about his cultivation except Pingtu. Otherwise, if word got out from the Five Immortal Sects, it could bring him a disastrous calamity.
Just then, Li Yan's Divine Sense stirred. At the same time, with a wave of his sleeve, the small purple flag on the ground flashed with purple light, instantly enveloping a ten-zhang radius around him, leaving only an empty, desolate hill.
A fierce aura emanated from a "Fire Eye" in the mountain of the "Flame Palace," and then a figure shot out.
The Spirit Power on that figure was extremely sharp, like a sword or a saber, exuding a murderous intent from every pore.
This person was about twenty years old, dressed in a tattered black soap-dyed robe, with short hair like halberds. After coming out, his figure paused in mid-air, and then he looked around with suspicion.
He had clearly felt a fluctuation of Spirit Power here before he came out, but now there was no one around, which made him suspicious. He quickly spread his Divine Sense in all directions. A moment later, he retracted it with a puzzled look.
"Could it be that I was too tense inside and overreacted?"
Seeing that no one was ambushing him, the fierce aura on the man in the soap-dyed robe subsided somewhat, and he let out a few strange cackles.
Then he didn't linger here and flew towards the distant horizon, leaving only a piece of desolation and the ever-present rolling heat waves.
After another quarter of an hour, on the desolate hill where Li Yan had been sitting cross-legged, the space fluctuated slightly, and then Li Yan in his black robe and the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant lying on the ground reappeared.
"The Daoist from a month ago had formed a Golden Core before coming out. The one just now only reached the peak of the Pseudo-Core realm but still failed to break through. Still, it's not easy," the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant said lazily.
In the past six months, they had seen seven people enter the "Fire Eye," but as of today, this was only the second person they had seen come out.
"Hehe, this person's aura is clearly not smooth and unified, so he can't break through for the time being. Staying inside will only make his Spirit Power more chaotic. So he needs to find a quiet place to integrate his Spirit Power, and then he might be able to take that step to Core Formation," Li Yan said slowly.
"That's natural. The Daoist from last time had clearly been immersed in the Pseudo-Core realm for at least forty or fifty years. His aura was restrained, so he was able to break through here."
"The cultivator just now probably hasn't been in the Pseudo-Core realm for more than twenty years, and he's probably less than 120 years old. This is also considered rare."
Li Yan and the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant spoke casually, one after the other. With Li Yan's Divine Sense and the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's long years of experience, they could, of course, easily see the cultivation of the cultivator from just now.
"It seems I also need to enter the 'Fire Eye'," Li Yan's eyes flashed as he suddenly spoke.
"Oh, I thought Master wanted to enter several months ago. I didn't expect you to drag it out until today," the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant said, shaking its head.
"Actually, I didn't want to. Cultivating outside this 'Flame Palace' was already enough for me to break through. The environment inside the 'Fire Eye' is imaginable. One could die!"
Li Yan said helplessly. He had come here to find treasures. The so-called "seeking wealth in danger" was all nonsense to him. He wouldn't take risks lightly unless it was absolutely necessary. But seeing that half a year had passed, continuing to wait like this was also a slim hope.
Most importantly, his cultivation had improved a lot now. A place that even the monk Yiming dared to go down into, Li Yan also wanted to try. It was just a try; he wouldn't be greedy and rush forward. The moment he discovered something was wrong, he would leave that place of trouble as soon as possible.
"Then when do we set off?" A sharp light appeared in the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's eyes. The magma in the "Fire Eye" had already been of great help to it, so what about the depths of the magma?
In fact, it hadn't told Li Yan that when it was devouring the magma in the cave, it had also tried to go deeper underground. But when it had submerged a hundred zhang, its soul power was actually compressed into a very small range, and its strength was dropping sharply.
Startled, how could it dare to go down further? It could only sneak back up. This was a shameful matter, and it certainly wouldn't tell Li Yan about it.