At this moment, Li Yan slowly regained his composure. As if to be sure, he felt it again. Finally, after confirming, a secret joy filled his heart.
"I actually broke through to the Pseudo-Core Realm!" Li Yan muttered, clenching his fists tightly. A vast and mighty force filled his entire body.
At this moment, Li Yan was completely confident that he had a seventy percent chance of defeating an Initial-stage Golden Core expert.
There were many cultivators who could fight across realms, but most of them were in cases where the major realm was the same, and even then, only a few could do it. To challenge and defeat an opponent a major realm higher was one in ten thousand.
This was because the form of Spirit Power between major realms was vastly different. The power contained in a single wisp of Spirit Power was like a chasm.
The Spirit Power of a Qi Condensation cultivator was a formless gas. In the Foundation Establishment stage, it was liquid. In the Golden Core stage, it had solidified into a golden core. And in the Nascent Soul stage, the golden core transformed into the shape of an infant.
This gap could not be bridged by talent and arduous cultivation alone. It required a top-tier cultivation method to cultivate Spirit Power that was different from the normal realm.
The only person Li Yan could think of who could fight across a major realm was Pei Buchong, back when they were in the mortal realm. Of course, there might be others in this world, but Li Yan didn't know of them for now.
He now felt that his six senses were sharp to an unbelievable degree. Everything in the entire secret chamber, without him needing to specially use his Divine Sense, fell into his mind with perfect clarity.
Even if a single hair fell, he could even hear the process of it falling, the sound of it twisting and turning in the hot air currents.
Originally, although the Spiritual Energy here was so dense it was almost tangible, Li Yan had mainly sensed it through his Divine Sense and breathing. Now, he could see the originally invisible Spiritual Energy, like tiny, transparent particles flowing in the secret chamber.
At this time, due to the abundance of his Spirit Power, Li Yan's muscles had already become full again, and he had returned to his previous appearance. Before he could continue to feel his power, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's voice came again. "Master, can you wash up first? Really, it stinks!"
Li Yan was taken aback for a moment, then smiled helplessly. This time, breaking through several levels in a row, the impurities discharged from his body were indeed a thick layer!
...
The stone door behind him closed with a low rumble. Li Yan stood alone in a huge palace. The secret chamber he was in before was a place similar to a side hall.
Li Yan couldn't tell how many side halls there were in this great hall because as soon as the stone door closed, the secret chamber disappeared, leaving only a flat wall without a trace.
As soon as he came out, Li Yan felt that the Spiritual Energy density in the great hall outside the secret chamber was about ten times less, but the temperature made him feel comfortable for the first time.
It was no longer the high temperature that could burn everything. It had dropped to about the same level as outside the mountain of the "Flame Palace." Although it was still a high temperature, for a cultivator who had entered the "Fire Eye," it was undoubtedly as cool as an autumn breeze.
The great hall was supported by eighteen huge pillars, each one requiring seven or eight people to encircle. The ceiling was sixty to seventy zhang high.
The entire hall was a blackish-gold color. The hall was empty, but whether it was the huge pillars or the black-gold walls, they were all carved with large and small patterns of demonic beasts.
Li Yan only recognized a small portion of these demonic beasts; the vast majority were unknown to him. They were all lifelike, as if they could roar and pounce out in the next moment.
There were no windows on any of the four sides of the great hall, only a large door in front. The door was burning with raging flames, sealing it completely, making it impossible to see the situation outside.
And on the wall behind the door, between two huge pillars, hung a huge black curtain.
Apart from these, there was nothing else special about the great hall. Li Yan stood in the center of the hall and first sent his Divine Sense towards the burning door. A teleportation force was instantly transmitted.
"As expected, that should be the exit from the Flame Palace."
Li Yan's purpose in coming here was not for a breakthrough, but to find the Crimson Mother Essence. Of course, he would not go out now.
So, Li Yan strolled towards the side of the hanging black curtain at the back. After bypassing the huge curtain, another large door appeared in his sight.
There were no flames on this door, and the scenery outside was in full view.
It was a place similar to a back garden, filled with flowers and plants. A small path extended from the door, winding through the flowers and plants, then connecting with more small paths and spreading out.
The garden was dotted with rockeries and pavilions. The flowers and plants in this garden were mostly crimson or golden-red, giving one the feeling that they couldn't be picked casually, a feeling that they could burn one's hand.
As Li Yan released his Divine Sense, he had already crossed the high threshold and entered the garden.
His Divine Sense could now extend to more than three hundred zhang here, more than double the hundred-zhang distance when he first entered the "Fire Eye." So, Li Yan estimated that in the outside world, his Divine Sense could probably compete with a Mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, or even surpass it, probably in the range of two to three thousand li.
Therefore, if a cultivation method like the True Scripture of Gui Water were known to others, Li Yan would surely be subjected to Soul-Searching.
He stepped onto the small path, made of some unknown material. Beside him were patches of dark red grass that rose and fell with the hot wind.
The bright red or golden-yellow flowers among them also swayed with the wind. The sky above was a sheet of gold; it was the river of magma churning and flowing in the air.
Li Yan knew that it was definitely not a place one could fly to and leave. Apart from the flaming door in front of the great hall, there should be powerful restrictions in all other places here.
Li Yan's gaze swept across both sides. "Dragon's Eye Grass, Aged Vigor Flower, Gold Ant Flower..." He was surprised. These were all fire-type spirit grasses, which were very rare in the outside world.
However, all that appeared here were seedlings, at most no more than two years old.
This was not surprising. It would be strange if old-year spirit grasses could survive in a place where cultivators had appeared.
But Li Yan still felt it was strange. He pondered for a moment, then stretched out his right hand and pointed lightly. A rope formed of Spirit Power coiled towards a "Gold Ant Flower."
Just as his Spirit Power rope was about to make contact, the dark red grass that had been swaying rhythmically beside it suddenly went wild, like a chaotic dance of snakes, wrapping around Li Yan's Spirit Power rope and protecting the "Gold Ant Flower" in the middle.
At this moment, Li Yan, without a second thought, quickly retracted the Spirit Power rope. The dark red grass, having lost its target, swayed rapidly for a long while in frustration before slowly shortening and shrinking back to its original appearance, continuing to sway with the wind.
Just now, Li Yan had sensed a strong soul power fluctuation from those dark red grasses. Moreover, a terrifying ghost face had actually appeared on the petals of that "Gold Ant Flower," flashing by and hidden very deeply. If Li Yan hadn't been paying close attention, he probably wouldn't have discovered it.
That ghost face brought a spiritual danger to Li Yan.
"A Vicious Soul! A soul attack!"
Li Yan made a judgment in the first instance and immediately dispersed his Spirit Power. If the attack had landed just now, it would have probably triggered a group attack from all the surrounding dark red grass.
And the most terrifying thing was the "Gold Ant Flower" transformed from a Vicious Soul. A Divine Soul attack was what all cultivators were most unwilling to encounter.
Li Yan now basically had the answer. All the fire-type spirit grasses here were either transformed from or parasitized by Vicious Souls. The reason was probably that they wanted to cultivate a real body.
It was just that these young Vicious Souls had not had enough time to evolve, so they could not move freely, and their attack range was limited.
A cultivator's physical body possessed abundant Spirit Power, which was exactly the great supplement that Vicious Souls craved. Therefore, they simply transformed into rare medicinal herbs that were not very old to let cultivators who came here discover their existence.
The reason they didn't transform into mature medicinal herbs was that it was easier to make people believe this way.
Mature medicinal herbs, although a cultivator would be overjoyed upon seeing them, would become more vigilant with just a little thought. The reason was none other than that such rare medicinal herbs of sufficient age should not still be here.
Although not many cultivators could come to the depths of the Flame Palace, there were still some. How could there be benefits left for others?
Wherever a cultivator went, it was no exaggeration to say it was like a plague of locusts. Even if they couldn't get it or take it with them, they would often destroy it.
But if they transformed into one or two-year-old herbs, it might make cultivators think they had just grown here in the last few years. It was very common for no cultivator to have reached this place in two years.
Encountering this situation, a cultivator's vigilance would naturally relax a little. Picking and transplanting them to take away would be the first thought, and then they would fall into the trap.
"They are soul-type things, after all. They all carry some memories from their past lives. Their intelligence developed early," Li Yan thought.
With this situation, Li Yan became even more cautious. He even walked extremely slowly on the stone path under his feet, his Divine Sense constantly scanning the surroundings.
When he passed a pavilion, his Divine Sense swept over it, and only then did he discover that the pavilion was spacious, about ten zhang in size, and the Spiritual Energy inside was particularly abundant. This Spiritual Energy seemed to be confined within the pavilion and did not spread out.
The Spiritual Energy inside the pavilion was at least five or six times higher than the surrounding area. Although it was not as dense as the Spiritual Energy in the previous secret chamber, it was already an excellent place for cultivation.
For a period of time after, all the pavilions Li Yan encountered were like this. Li Yan's mind raced, and he already had some guesses, but he had no intention of entering to cultivate. For Li Yan, who had just successfully advanced, this would not be of much help in the short term.
The garden was very large. With his Divine Sense suppressed, Li Yan could not detect the end of it. After walking for two hours, his speculation about the Crimson Mother Essence appearing here began to waver.
Li Yan had not seen any sign of the Crimson Mother Essence appearing, and now he could only wander around aimlessly like this. But Li Yan still had some plan, which was to first roughly understand the internal situation of the "Flame Palace" and then make a judgment.
Just like that, Li Yan walked forward for about another half an hour. His Divine Sense was already somewhat numb and tired. All the scenery was very similar, as if he had been walking in circles.
However, Li Yan had not relaxed his vigilance in the slightest. He didn't know where those Vicious Souls that could already leave the grass with their bodies had gone, and he still hadn't encountered any other cultivators.
"Could it be that every cultivator who enters the 'Flame Palace' is separated into different areas and isolated from each other?"
Li Yan thought to himself, but soon, this idea was shattered. After he had walked for another incense stick's time, a strong Spirit Power fluctuation appeared in front of him in his Divine Sense.