"Oh, right. You need to hurry back to the Huchen Family now. You can't linger within the Jingtu Sect's territory, lest someone fails to recognize your status and causes you trouble. I imagine the Malevolent Spirit Sect's secret order has also been sent to your family."
Just as Li Yan had taken a few steps, the withered Buddha behind him suddenly spoke again.
Li Yan's footsteps paused, and he turned to look back with a puzzled expression. But after saying this, the withered Buddha simply flicked his wrist. A streak of black light flashed, and a copper coin flew before Li Yan.
"Within the jurisdiction of the Jingtu Sect, if you encounter anyone for an inspection, just show them this item, and you'll be fine." After speaking, he seemed unwilling to explain further and slowly closed his eyes.
Li Yan reached out and took the copper coin. He could feel a grand and righteous Buddhist power emanating from it; it was surely a token of passage for the Jingtu Sect.
He recalled the strange incidents he had encountered before entering the pagoda, and a chill ran down his spine. 'Could it be that the matter Su Hong mentioned, that unknown force, has made another move? The old monk's words are clearly telling me that the Four Great Sects have already dispatched a large number of personnel to screen unidentified individuals within their territories.'
That unknown force was extremely mysterious. To this day, Li Yan had no idea who would dare to launch an attack on the Four Great Sects. The sheer power required to even attempt such a thing was terrifying to contemplate.
Any one of the Four Great Sects was a behemoth that could make the entire continent tremble with a stomp of its foot. Take the Malevolent Spirit Sect, for example; it had thousands upon thousands of subordinate sects under its jurisdiction. Even if all those sects united, they would likely be unable to shake the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
This was because the Malevolent Spirit Sect possessed an absolute top-tier cultivator—a Spirit Transformation stage expert. Even those families or sects with Nascent Soul cultivators did not dare harbor any rebellious thoughts.
Spirit Transformation. This was the legendary trump card of the Four Great Sects. Although no one had ever seen one, no Nascent Soul cultivator dared to test this truth.
"Many thanks, Senior. This junior was just about to return to my family!"
Seeing that the other party did not want to say more, Li Yan knew that asking would be useless and would only serve to annoy him. Besides, the man's words implied that if he returned to the Huchen Family and held some status, he would naturally learn of the situation.
After Li Yan flew away, a silence fell outside the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda. Suddenly, a voice echoed in the withered, gaunt Buddha's mind. "Senior Brother, why do you show such favor to a junior like him? At the end of the day, he is merely a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and a cultivator from under the Malevolent Spirit Sect at that."
It was the voice of the other, stouter Buddha. The withered Buddha did not open his eyes and also replied via voice transmission, "Junior Brother, the Huchen Family's path of poison cultivation is quite extraordinary, and they have always maintained a good relationship with our sect. Out of respect for the Huchen Ancestor, it is proper to show them appropriate care. Besides, the outside world is in turmoil right now. Every bit of new strength is a boon. It is time to set aside the gaps and grudges between the Four Sects. Those demonic creatures have already appeared, and what follows may well be a catastrophe."
Hearing this, the stout Buddha, whose eyes had been tightly shut, suddenly opened them, a brilliant light exploding within. "Senior Brother, in four months, our watch will also be over. I hear there are already plans to send us out..." He did not finish his sentence, instead taking a deep breath.
"I've heard as well. In just these four months, our sect has lost over three hundred people. Among them, Senior Brother Yiyuan has fallen, and Senior Brother Yizeng is gravely injured. Yet we've only found four of the enemy's lairs and eliminated a mere four demon lords. The other three major sects have also made little progress, suffering similar losses. The world is changing... it's changing. After so long a period of peace, what was bound to come has finally arrived. How many sects will survive this time? The Four Great Sects will also pay a heavy price. How many mortals and cultivators will perish in this calamity..."
"Senior Brother, you are being far too pessimistic. If the demonic creatures could be slain once, they can naturally be killed a second time!" the stout Buddha said with some dissatisfaction, though deep in his heart, he too harbored many worries.
The two senior brothers, Yiyuan and Yizeng, were no less powerful than them, yet such a heavy price was paid in a single encounter after finding one of the enemy's lairs.
"It is not that I am pessimistic, but that there are too many traitors among human cultivators. It is impossible to guard against them all. Otherwise, how could the demon lords have survived countless extermination campaigns over these long ages? From last year to now, the Four Great Sects have already confirmed one hundred and twenty-six sects, large and small, that have turned traitor. And how many more have yet to surface?"
After saying this, the withered, gaunt Buddha did not continue the discussion. Although they were the core strength of the sect, such morale-damaging words were only for a few private sentences between them. They were all intelligent men who understood the point had been made.
After flying away from the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, Li Yan noticed that something was wrong.
He was currently in the core area of the Jingtu Sect. In the past, cultivators would come and go, but it was always a scene of peace and tranquility. Large numbers of Jingtu Sect monks would pass by with composure. Although they might engage in unsavory dealings in private, on the surface, they all wore expressions of Buddhist compassion that brought peace to onlookers' hearts.
But today, ever since leaving the platform of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, Li Yan had sensed an unusual atmosphere. There were far fewer foreign cultivators here than when he had arrived.
In the short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, Li Yan encountered two patrol teams composed of Jingtu Sect monks. Each team had twenty members, led by two Chan Monks, with sixteen Novice Monks following behind. The lowest cultivation base among these Novice Monks was the tenth layer of Qi Condensation, with most being at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation. Their overall strength was formidable.
Such a team could easily take down a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Even if a Golden Core cultivator were to attack, it would be very difficult to annihilate them silently in an instant.
When these two teams of patrolling monks saw Li Yan, they both stopped him and questioned him thoroughly about his purpose and destination.
Upon learning that he had just come from the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda and seeing the grey copper coin he presented, the monks verified its authenticity. A strange look appeared in their eyes, and they respectfully allowed Li Yan to pass.
This made Li Yan realize that the withered Buddha truly held the Huchen Family in high regard, which was an unexpected discovery.
Li Yan quickly flew out of the Jingtu Sect's core area. Only then did he find a secluded mountain peak to land on and sink his Divine Sense into the Earth-Spot.
In the space rich with earth-attribute energy, on the summit of the sole mountain, a biting cold wind blew year-round. Thick, dark clouds hung motionless in the sky. As snowflakes drifted down, the mountaintop was draped in a blanket of silver. Inside a cave, a massive ice throne rested on the ground, covered in layers of ice crystals. On it, countless Snow Mosquitos lay quietly.
The reproductive ability of the Snow Mosquitos was astonishing. In just over a year, their numbers had grown from the initial thousand to more than twenty thousand, filling the entire cave and the ice throne like layers of distinct ice crystals.
Li Yan observed for a while longer. Seeing that everything was in order, the worry that had long been in his heart was finally put to rest.
Then, his Divine Sense quickly flew to a cave at the foot of the mountain. Inside lay rows of rigid souls, their eyes vacant. They were Vicious Souls of the fire attribute, all sealed. The ground was densely packed with them, numbering twenty to thirty thousand.
Both the Snow Mosquitos on the mountaintop and the Vicious Souls in the cave below were acquisitions Li Yan had risked his life for. Now, seeing that they showed no signs of dying even after leaving the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, Li Yan finally let out a long sigh of relief.
Right now, Li Yan had no extra time to refine the Snow Mosquitos or examine the silver page. Knowing that everything was normal, he could only set these matters aside for now.
Li Yan's Divine Sense swept over the grand formation at the entrance of the cave storing the Vicious Souls several times before he finally withdrew it from the Earth-Spot space.
Li Yan had always been cautious. He was unwilling to see either the Vicious Souls accidentally breaking their own seals or the Snow Mosquitos sensing the souls' presence and hunting down the already sealed Vicious Souls. Thus, he had set up a grand formation at the entrance of the cave sealing the Vicious Souls, one that neither the souls nor the mosquitos could break through.
After doing all this, Li Yan set off again. Along the way, he encountered several more patrol squads. Some were no longer Jingtu Sect monks, but after inspecting Li Yan's copper coin, they still let him pass.
This tense atmosphere weighed heavily on Li Yan's heart. He wanted to end this journey as soon as possible and return to the Malevolent Spirit Sect. Only then could he get reliable information and understand what was truly happening. But for now, he naturally could not go back.
After flying north for several more days, Li Yan noticed that any cultivators he encountered would immediately assume a posture as if facing a great enemy upon seeing a stranger. They would only relax once both parties were far apart, quickly disappearing over the horizon.
On this trip, he had already obtained three of the refining materials for the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike. He still needed the Jade-Horned Serpent and the Ice-Cloud Feather. The Jade-Horned Serpent was one of the easier main materials to find among the five. He had heard before that they existed within the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, but at that time, right after his successful Foundation Establishment, he had gone home to visit his family and thus had not ventured deep into the mountains. (TN: The Ice-Cloud Feather is Bīng Yún Líng.)
As for the Ice-Cloud Feather, he still had no leads. However, his main purpose on this trip was to collect the "Infinite Wanderer" tree. This item was produced in the Sea of the Northern Abyss and was not found anywhere else.
His current location was still over a million li from the sea. Li Yan estimated that if there were a super teleportation formation, he could reach it in just a few days.
But Li Yan knew that a super teleportation formation like the one in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, which could directly teleport someone seven hundred thousand li, probably only existed within the Jingtu Sect. He definitely had no authority to use it. Therefore, he could only look for teleportation formations of ten thousand or a hundred thousand li along the way, constantly teleporting northward.
Fortunately, the Jingtu Sect had many subordinate sects, so Li Yan was able to find one every few days.
Half a month later, after leaving a teleportation node provided by a sect, Li Yan identified his direction and, relying on his own power, rode his light and flew north again.
Along the way, Li Yan clearly felt that it was not as easy to find teleportation nodes as it was a year ago. Some sects that originally offered teleportation services had closed their gates. And before Li Yan could even get close, a cultivator would transmit a warning for him to leave quickly.
Even when Li Yan presented the copper coin given by the withered Buddha, it was no use. At most, they would not pursue the matter of him trespassing on their mountain gate, but they would absolutely not let him enter the sect, let alone use their teleportation formation.
In this way, after half a month of intermittently searching for teleportation points, he had finally neared his destination. The journey had been uneventful.