The "Infinite Wanderer" was crucial for every advancement of the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon," so this beast was innately connected to the tree. As soon as any other living being touched the "Infinite Wanderer" tree, it would be immediately alerted.
Although the "Infinite Wanderer" tree itself was almost impossible to break off and take away, its already sparse leaves would fall off every once in a while, and new leaves would grow.
The leaves of the "Infinite Wanderer" tree were one of the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon's" favorite foods, playing an irreplaceable role in its bone growth.
Therefore, this beast basically guarded the "Infinite Wanderer" tree its entire life, only leaving after breaking through to Tier-4 and transforming into a dragon. But at the same time, it would use a great demonic art to take the tree with it.
The advice Ping Tu had given Li Yan was to strike when the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" went out to hunt, but Li Yan needed to complete the entire process of picking and taking away a branch of the "Infinite Wanderer" within five breaths.
After that, Li Yan needed to immediately use the "Stealthy Night Art" to escape. Otherwise, with the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon's" speed, it was like a flood dragon entering the sea; ten thousand li was only a matter of a dozen or so breaths.
At that time, Li Yan's chances of escape would be extremely slim. So, after finally finding the "Infinite Wanderer" tree, Li Yan could only wait for an opportunity.
Two months later, in the far north of the Sea of the Northern Abyss, a roar shook ten thousand li, "Which petty villain dares to steal my treasure? I will flay you alive..."
This sound scattered the dark clouds in the sky, and Demonic Beasts of all sizes trembled. For a time, a large area of the sea was like the apocalypse, with giant waves soaring to the sky, the booming sound echoing through the heavens and the earth.
...
Four months later, in a space above the surface of the Sea of the Northern Abyss, there was a slight distortion, and a figure stumbled out of it. It was a black-robed youth, undoubtedly Li Yan.
At this time, Li Yan was in a sorry state. His clothes were torn in many places, and the torn parts were stained with large patches of blood. His eyes were lifeless, and his spiritual power was fluctuating between strong and weak, very unstable.
Li Yan looked back. After a moment, he finally withdrew his divine sense. His expression was dazed at first, then he frowned slightly before letting out a long sigh of relief. In these four months, he had almost perished several times.
What he hadn't expected was that the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" would be so persistent. For a single branch of the "Infinite Wanderer" tree, it had ordered a large number of sea demons to guard the tree on the spot, while it alone pursued him relentlessly.
In the end, Li Yan's "Stealthy Night Art" failed to deceive this beast. Fortunately, Li Yan saw the opportunity early. When his divine sense sensed the opponent's intention to attack from five hundred li away, he had made preparations early. Otherwise, he would have been killed directly by the opponent.
Left with no choice, Li Yan used "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" for the first time in a battle against someone, clashing with the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon," which was equivalent to a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. But a Demonic Beast was a Demonic Beast; their physical bodies were inherently incredibly tough.
With one blow, Li Yan coughed up several mouthfuls of blood on the spot, and both his arms were instantly broken. However, he also used the great force of this collision to flee into the distance.
If he hadn't been holding several drops of "Melting Bamboo Shoot" in his mouth, he would have been captured by the opponent a few breaths later due to his spiritual power being almost depleted after that all-out clash.
It was also this clash that made Li Yan understand the terror of a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. It was far from what he knew of an initial-stage Golden Core; its combat power was at least ten times greater than an initial-stage Golden Core. What a terrifying level of cultivation this was.
He himself had also instantly erupted with more than double his strength under "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis," but it was still like paper. Fortunately, the opponent's attack was long-range.
Li Yan's injuries were not as simple as they appeared on the surface. Several ribs in his body were also broken at the same time, piercing into his internal organs. If not for his tough body and his cultivation of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," his internal organs would have been crushed into a pile of blood mud by that blow.
Next, Li Yan, regardless of everything, under the condition of consuming a large amount of "Melting Bamboo Shoot," continuously used the "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" technique, keeping himself in an explosive state for a long time.
In this state, Li Yan pushed the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to an unprecedentedly incredible level, which allowed him to barely pull away from the opponent by about four thousand li.
When he felt that he had reached the edge of the opponent's divine sense's maximum range, he hurriedly used the "Stealthy Night Art" again, immediately sinking to the bottom of the sea, finding a place, and hastily setting up the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" before starting to heal.
But Li Yan had underestimated the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon's" methods. After losing track of Li Yan, it quickly learned of Li Yan's location through other Demonic Beasts in the sea. This was something Li Yan had not expected; all the Demonic Beasts in the sea could be its eyes and ears.
Fortunately, the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" not only had strong defense but was also skilled in illusion. Li Yan, hiding in the formation, was temporarily unable to be found by the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon."
But to deal with the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon's" search, the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" could not just rely on Spirit Stones to operate as usual. It had to be personally presided over by the formation spirit, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
Only by operating the formation at high intensity at all times could the illusionary effect be maximized. But in this way, the formation spirit, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, could not last for too long.
At its current level of growth, it was still very weak. The price it paid for concealing itself from a late-stage Golden Core cultivator with the help of the formation was also enormous—constantly consuming a large amount of its own soul power.
After only one day, as soon as Li Yan's injuries had recovered a little, he had no choice but to take down the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" and flee again while the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" was away searching. But he was soon caught up by the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" again. This time, Li Yan did not dare to turn back and fight head-on. He could only rely on the flexibility of the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to constantly dodge the opponent's long-range attacks. From this, it could be seen that the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" was indeed, as Shuang Qingqing had said, a flying magical treasure once used by a Nascent Soul cultivator, possessing its own mysteries.
While dodging, Li Yan desperately urged the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to flee madly. Along the way, "Melting Bamboo Shoot" was used like it was free; he had to suck a drop every half an hour to recover from the terrifying rate of spiritual power consumption.
In this way, with one chasing and one fleeing, they had persisted for more than four months. Li Yan had also slowly approached the edge of the Sea of the Northern Abyss from its depths.
That "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" was an old demon. Seeing that it had been unable to take down this hateful little human cultivator for a long time, it had long known that this human cultivator must have a heaven-defying treasure for recovering spiritual power.
Initially, it wanted to kill this person to vent its anger, but now it also very much wanted to get the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" in Li Yan's hands. But as long as it used its great divine arts to approach the opponent regardless of the cost, Li Yan would also instantly experience a surge in cultivation and speed, causing the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" to fail repeatedly, all in vain.
The "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" hated this human cultivator in front of it to the core. Not only did this person have a heaven-defying item that could instantly restore spiritual power, but he also had a secret art that could double his cultivation in a short time. And to top it off, that little human brat's flying magical treasure was also not bad.
At the same time, it also saw that this secret art was a heavy burden on both the body and spiritual power. But that brat just happened to have a heavenly material and earthly treasure that could instantly restore magical power, leaving it helpless, and it could only pursue him with unwillingness.
As time and distance passed, on this day, after Li Yan used "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" once again, his cultivation suddenly surged, and he disappeared into the distant horizon again.
When he reappeared from the distorted space, his divine sense habitually swept back, and he couldn't help but be stunned, because he felt that the figure of the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" that had been following him closely had disappeared.
Li Yan only probed for a moment. How could he dare to delay any longer? He quickly left for the distance again.
...
Two days later, Li Yan could faintly see the mountain range in the distance. This meant he was about to leave the "Sea of the Northern Abyss." And the aura of the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" behind him never appeared again.
This made Li Yan's heart relax. Obviously, the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" that had been haunting his nightmares for half a year had really given up chasing him. After all, it had reached the edge of the Sea of the Northern Abyss, and the "Infinite Wanderer" tree it left behind was more valuable, so it finally gave up on him.
Next, Li Yan had to find a hidden place to meditate and recover immediately. Otherwise, the hidden injuries left in his body would bring immeasurable trouble to his future cultivation.
What the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" didn't know was that it actually only needed to continue tracking Li Yan for another four to five days, and Li Yan would have died on his own without it even having to act. This could be considered Li Yan's good fortune.
Li Yan's body had reached a limit. Although "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" was supported by "Melting Bamboo Shoot," it could not be used without restraint. This kind of high-power spell that squeezed one's potential was a very heavy injury to both the internal organs and bones.
This was only because Li Yan had cultivated the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" and had a heaven-defying item like "Melting Bamboo Shoot," so no matter how much he took, there was not a trace of residual poison.
Otherwise, if it were any other Foundation Establishment cultivator from the "Gui Water Immortal Sect" here, they would probably have died from their body exploding a month ago. The "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" technique, even in Li Yan's current peak state, could not be used more than three times in twelve hours.
He had already been injured from his clash with the "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" and had not fully recovered. In the subsequent escape, he seemed to use a lot of "Melting Bamboo Shoot," but it could not be used without a plan. Li Yan had no choice but to swallow a drop only when his spiritual power was about to be completely exhausted.
As a result, his body's organs needed to operate at full capacity for a long time, so problems had already appeared in both his meridians and his organs.
In addition, he still needed to use "Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" every day to deal with the most dangerous situations, which made Li Yan's body even more injured.
He had no choice but to grit his teeth and endure along the way. Every time he thought of this, the fleeing Li Yan was glad that he had gone to the "Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda" first, which had allowed him to get a piece of "Melting Bamboo Shoot." Otherwise, he would have been ten-tenths dead here this time.
As soon as he flew out of the Sea of the Northern Abyss, Li Yan felt his whole body lighten. The pulling force from below was swept away, and at the same time, a long-lost "rich" spiritual energy rushed towards him.
On a normal day, the spiritual energy in this northern part of the Jingtu Sect could only be called extremely thin. But at this moment, compared to the Sea of the Northern Abyss, Li Yan felt as if his body was swimming in an ocean of spiritual energy.
His exhausted body and mind felt much better in an instant. With Li Yan's habitually cautious personality, although he wanted to find a place to recover from his injuries on the spot, he still flew for several thousand li with a calm expression, his divine sense still paying close attention to the rear.
Only then did Li Yan finally let his heart rest. That "Blue Demon Flood Dragon" had really left.
Li Yan quickly found a deep mountain, plunged into it, and then, with a slight flash of formation light, Li Yan's figure completely disappeared.