As the monstrous giant roared at Li Yan, he beckoned with his huge hand. The giant black rod flew into his hand with a "hum," the massive club trembling slightly. The giant black net once again floated beside the monstrous man, fluttering in the wind.
The monstrous giant glanced at the pink-gowned young woman, then took a step forward. This single step seemed to cross a thousand mountains and rivers, bringing him right in front of Li Yan in an instant. The giant black rod swept horizontally towards Li Yan's waist. Li Yan felt the spiritual power in the surrounding space solidify, his body as if embedded in a small box, making it extremely difficult to move.
Li Yan hastily erupted with spiritual power. A dazzling light flashed around his body, and a fierce gleam shot from his eyes. Only then did his body manage to fly sharply to the side.
Even though Li Yan reacted extremely quickly and flew several dozen zhang in an instant, the giant black rod also grew larger in a flash, still sticking close to his body as it smashed towards him.
In a flash of lightning, Li Yan could only bend one knee and collide violently with the giant black rod.
With a deafening "boom," it was as if the nearby massive mountains trembled. The four Foundation Establishment cultivators felt their hearts clench, their minds buzzing as their bodies were forced back continuously.
Their eyes were filled with terror. A shocked thought ran through their minds, 'Could that person also be a Golden Core master? Otherwise, how could he withstand the Manor Master's strike?'
Li Yan felt as if his leg bone was on the verge of shattering. His entire body was sent flying sideways like a shooting star, crashing heavily into a mountain peak two hundred zhang away.
Another loud crash echoed out. Under the impact, rocks of all sizes rained down the slope like a sudden stone storm.
Then, a figure shot out from the splashing debris. Li Yan's right leg was already somewhat unresponsive. After transforming into a monstrous giant, not only could the rough-looking man suppress the Fragmented Body poison, but his strength had also greatly increased.
Ever since cultivating the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, apart from losing out during his initial sparring with Gong Chenying, in all his subsequent actual battles, even when he was at the Initial-stage Foundation Establishment, the Qiongqi Purgatory Art could serve as a surprise attack against an Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator.
But today, he had truly suffered a loss. In terms of physical strength, he was significantly weaker than his opponent, and this was now that he was at the Pseudo-Core realm.
Seeing Li Yan fly out from the rubble again, a look of astonishment flashed in the monstrous giant's eyes. He knew that after revealing his true form, not even a mid-to-late stage Golden Core cultivator could necessarily withstand his blow without using magical treasures and immortal arts. Yet this kid not only took it but also didn't explode into a bloody pulp. A thick killing intent rose in his heart.
"So when you took my first blow and spat blood, you were just pretending. You despicable brat, you're also a body cultivator!" Now he finally understood that he had been tricked by Li Yan before.
The moment Li Yan flew out, he knew he was in trouble today. He had thought that with his greatly increased cultivation, he would have a fighting chance against an Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator, but the result was not so.
Just as Li Yan flew out, his thoughts raced, and his expression suddenly changed. Forcing himself to ignore the discomfort in his right leg, his figure blurred. At the same time, a bloody maw of a mouth suddenly appeared above his head and chomped down.
With a "crack," the bloody maw closed, biting down on half of Li Yan's body. But the bitten Li Yan's body gradually dissipated, eventually turning into nothingness.
Li Yan had reacted extremely quickly. In that life-and-death moment, he had dodged just in the nick of time, leaving an afterimage that was bitten by the giant mouth.
Then, a pink figure appeared where Li Yan had been. It was the pink-gowned young woman. In front of her was that pink flower, its bud now open again, the stamens inside transformed into a row of sharp teeth, sweeping around in search of Li Yan.
Seeing that her attack had missed, the venomous hatred on the pink-gowned young woman's beautiful face intensified. She looked to the side, where Li Yan's figure was gradually becoming clear dozens of zhang away.
Before his figure could solidify, Li Yan tapped the Cloud-Piercing Willow. His newly revealed form suddenly stretched and became illusory again.
Time seemed to freeze for a moment. Then, two voices, one coarse and one fine, rang out of thin air.
"Where do you think you're running?"
"You little brat, you must pay for Mo'er's life!"
Li Yan was trying to escape.
He had no choice but to flee. Initially, he thought he had a good chance of dealing with one Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator. Even with two, he thought he should have no problem escaping if he wanted to. But now, these two opponents were unlike any Golden Core cultivators he had met before. Especially after the rough-looking man transformed into a monstrous giant, even his usually reliable Qiongqi Purgatory Art had suffered a setback.
Li Yan naturally couldn't fight anymore. At this moment, he felt that even escaping was going to be a problem. Behind him, the monstrous giant seemed to cross several dozen zhang with a single step. Even with Li Yan pushing the Cloud-Piercing Willow to its limits, he couldn't shake him off for a moment.
'The world is full of miraculous cultivation methods, not just the True Scripture of Gui Water. To think there are such powerful people in this bitterly cold land.'
Li Yan inwardly cautioned himself. He looked back and saw the monstrous giant, carrying his giant black rod, was only about three hundred zhang behind him. And that was only because he had a head start in fleeing. After the monstrous giant reacted, it became extremely difficult for him to widen the distance. In Li Yan's vision, the pink-gowned young woman behind the giant was not much slower. At some point, a flying sword had appeared under her jade-like feet. The flying sword seemed to tear through the sky, closely following the monstrous giant, whistling as it came.
The three of them thus turned into three streaks of colored light and fled into the distance, leaving only the four dumbfounded Foundation Establishment cultivators staring ahead.
"I scanned that person with my Divine Sense several times. He's at the Pseudo-Core realm. How can he still fight the Manor Master and Madam for several rounds? Did I see wrong?"
"He is indeed at the Pseudo-Core realm. No matter how well a cultivator hides their cultivation method, their spiritual power fluctuations will be completely exposed when they fight."
"What Brother Nian says is not entirely true. I've heard that powerful Nascent Soul cultivators can make their spiritual power fluctuations appear at any realm they wish. But... that's obviously impossible. If he were really a Nascent Soul, we would probably be..."
The monstrous giant and the pink-gowned young woman were fuming. What should have been a trivial matter today—Li Yan's arrival was simply his own bad luck in their eyes—should have ended with them quickly figuring out his background and killing him. But Li Yan's strange aura made them change their plan of immediately capturing him and performing a Soul-Searching Art. The subsequent events had left the couple utterly enraged.
Even now, it felt as if they were in a dream, unable to believe what had happened today. What they found most unacceptable was that even when they both attacked, they couldn't keep this Foundation Establishment cultivator from escaping. And it had even forced the Manor Master to reveal his true form to suppress a potent poison. If Li Yan escaped, their whereabouts would surely be exposed.
'This kid is incredibly cunning, even willing to harm himself to achieve his malicious goals, and he's slippery as an eel. The cultivation method he practices is both righteous and evil; he has the unyielding strength of a body cultivator and the sinister methods of a poison cultivator. His flying magical treasure is also a top-grade item. I wonder if he's with those ten cultivators in the manor?'
The monstrous giant thought, the ferocity in his eyes growing stronger. He had seen the extraordinariness of the Cloud-Piercing Willow under Li Yan's feet before, but at that time, Li Yan hadn't been pushing it to its full potential. Now that he was fleeing for his life, the monstrous giant was momentarily helpless.
Behind him, the pink-gowned young woman also felt a bone-deep hatred for Li Yan's ruthlessness. 'This kid is so meticulous, lulling people into a false sense of security while setting one trap after another. Even against Mo'er, who was of the same rank, he only used basic immortal arts to make people underestimate him, and then suddenly unleashed a great divine art. And... and, before killing him, he didn't forget to seal Mo'er's divine soul. I must not let his divine soul be annihilated. When I search his soul and find your family and sect, I will make them all die slow, miserable deaths. And I will make you watch every moment, to experience a fate worse than death.' The pink-gowned young woman's heart seethed with resentment.
While the two behind him were thinking this, Li Yan in front was no less frustrated.
'What kind of demonic beasts are these two? One not only suppressed the poison of the "Three Thousand Vexation Threads" but also became more ferocious. And his flesh can regenerate continuously. This is not something an ordinary Golden Core cultivator can do. Even if there's a secret art that can achieve it, it would be extremely draining on essence blood. An ordinary Golden Core cultivator would probably use up all their essence blood after two or three uses. This person, just at the beginning, due to his poor grasp of the poison's nature, regenerated his flesh four or five times. What kind of powerful bloodline is required to do this? What's more, why is that young woman still completely unaffected? Damn it...'
As he fled, Li Yan's thoughts spun. For a moment, he even began to doubt his Fragmented Poison Body. These killer moves that had always been successful in the past had repeatedly failed today.
One chasing, two following, in a moment they had already flown several hundred li. This area was already vast and sparsely populated, so their chase and fight did not alarm any other cultivators.
Suddenly, the pale, pretty face of the flying pink-gowned young woman changed. Her flying speed abruptly stopped. Then, large beads of sweat rolled down her smooth, jade-like forehead.
Earlier, she had felt some discomfort in her chest, but due to excessive grief, she had thought it was just pent-up frustration and suppressed it by circulating her spiritual power.
As she flew and rapidly circulated her spiritual power, the pain in her abdomen grew worse. By now, she was already having difficulty breathing. Her eyes began to fill with a pure white color, and her heart convulsed painfully. The muscles on her face twitched continuously.
The monstrous giant, striding across the void in front, also sensed something was wrong with his wife behind him. He quickly stopped his pursuit.
He turned back anxiously to look and saw his wife pressing a jade-like hand tightly against her heart, as if afraid it would leap from her chest. Her beautiful eyes were constantly filling with a white substance. The white seemed to want to cover her entire eyes, but she would then forcibly suppress it. In this way, her eyes flickered between pure white and normal. Her face had become extremely pained, as if she were desperately suppressing something.
As the monstrous giant looked back, the pink-gowned young woman could no longer maintain her stance in the air. She fell from her flying sword, plummeting downwards.