This time, Li Yan had only used seventy percent of his magical power to test this branch. He just wanted to see if the "Infinite Wanderer" tree was the same as described in the True Scripture of Gui Water.
After one test, Li Yan's mind was at ease.
Next, Li Yan tested it with the other three types of spiritual power. Finally, Li Yan thought for a while.
The most basic characteristic of the "Infinite Wanderer" branch currently was its combination of hardness and softness. There was nothing else special about it, but this was just its performance without being refined.
Li Yan was very much looking forward to what it would be like after he had gathered all the materials and refined it.
However, through this test, Li Yan also learned how difficult it was to melt the "Infinite Wanderer" wood. He had used ten-tenths of his fire spiritual power to form a sea of fire and burned it for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, but there was no change in the branch at all.
Afterward, Li Yan also tried to use the Li Fire from his fan to burn it, but in the end, it only made the black surface of the branch turn a slight dark red, and after that, there was still nothing unusual.
After confirming that this "Infinite Wanderer" branch was no different from what was recorded in the True Scripture of Gui Water, Li Yan played with it for a while before putting it back into the "Earth-Spot."
Then he took out another item from the Earth-Spot, which was the Melting Bamboo Shoot. Looking at the Melting Bamboo Shoot, which was originally over two cun long and now only a little over one cun left, Li Yan felt a wave of helplessness. (TN: 1 cun is about 3.33 cm)
This time, in order to survive, he had used nearly half of the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" in these few months. Helpless as he was, Li Yan didn't feel too much heartache.
This time, he had obtained the biggest goal of this trip—the "Infinite Wanderer" branch. He thought that in the future, it would be difficult for such a reckless use of it to happen again.
"Although that ice throne has a certain promoting effect on the growth of the Melting Bamboo Shoot, I don't know how many years it will take to grow even a little. This thing is good, but it's too hard to grow, let alone be bought with Spirit Stones."
Li Yan thought to himself, and then he couldn't help but laugh at himself. To have obtained this small piece of Melting Bamboo Shoot, and to also have the ice throne that could allow it to continue to grow and survive, yet he was still not satisfied. He was being a bit too greedy.
Afterward, Li Yan carefully sealed the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" back into the ice throne. His eyes naturally fell on the Snow Mosquitos in the cave on the mountain top.
At this time, the number of Snow Mosquitos had reached thirty to forty thousand. It was time to refine them. For refining this kind of rapidly reproducing mosquito-type Demonic Beast, of course, it was not necessary to refine them one by one. If so, Li Yan estimated that even if he spent several more years, he might not be able to refine all so many Snow Mosquitos.
And during this refining process, new Snow Mosquitos would be constantly born. According to the terrifying reproduction speed of the Snow Mosquitos, Li Yan might never be able to leave this place.
For this, the cultivation world naturally had its own refining methods, especially in a sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect, where the cultivation methods of two peaks were specifically for Demonic Beasts and Gu-insects.
Gregarious Demonic Beasts always had their own leader. As long as it was tamed and refined successfully, all problems could be easily solved.
Although the Snow Mosquitos that Li Yan had taken into the "Earth-Spot" space at that time might not have happened to have a leader among them, after such a long time, a new leader, a new mosquito king, had long been born among these Demonic Beasts.
Under the sweep of Li Yan's powerful divine sense, he quickly found that leader from among the several groups of Snow Mosquitos in the caves.
In fact, before he started looking, Li Yan already had a confirmation, but he still carefully searched all the places to prevent anything unexpected from happening.
In the end, that leader was indeed right under his nose, on the ice throne.
On the paulownia branch carved on the back of the ice throne, where the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" was hidden, a head-sized Snow Mosquito was lying.
Around its body, on the huge ice throne, unlike before where there were layers and layers of Snow Mosquitos lying like icicles, now there were only nearly a hundred Snow Mosquitos lying at the edge of the ice throne.
These Snow Mosquitos did not dare to approach the backrest carved with the phoenix pattern at all. And these nearly one hundred Snow Mosquitos were all the size of a bowl, more than ten times larger than the Snow Mosquitos in other places.
When Li Yan had taken away the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" earlier, the largest Snow Mosquito lying next to the paulownia branch had let out a sharp cry. It was just that Li Yan's cultivation had greatly increased now, and it was unable to detect the presence of Li Yan's divine sense here.
So, after suddenly losing the "Melting Bamboo Shoot," it immediately flew into a rage. Its sharp mouthpart stood up, and while letting out a sharp cry, it angrily flapped its wings and flew around, searching everywhere.
And the nearly one hundred Snow Mosquitos lying at the edge of the ice throne, when this Snow Mosquito's sharp cry just started, also immediately flew up, their bodies trembling. They then scattered in all directions.
After searching in a circle to no avail, these nearly one hundred Snow Mosquitos fiercely used their sharp mouthparts to kill an unknown number of Snow Mosquitos. Finally, they carefully approached the largest leader, making low sounds, as if begging.
And that largest leader, after losing the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" for a period of time, was already furious. A fierce light flashed in its eyes as it looked at the nearly one hundred Snow Mosquitos lined up in front of it.
It suddenly raised its mouthpart and stabbed directly into the head of a larger Snow Mosquito. And that Snow Mosquito's eyes showed fear, its whole body trembling, but it didn't dare to dodge at all.
It no longer had the majestic presence it had when killing other Snow Mosquitos just now. It could only, with despair in its eyes, let a sharp mouthpart be inserted into its brain. Then, the leader just sucked hard, and this Snow Mosquito's already crystal-clear body was instantly left with only a thin layer of skin.
Just like that, the leader continuously sucked seven or eight Snow Mosquitos before flying away to look for the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" again. It was only later, when Li Yan returned the "Melting Bamboo Shoot," that it quieted down.
At its current level, it had long opened its intelligence. This phenomenon of the "Melting Bamboo Shoot" suddenly disappearing had occurred frequently for a period of time five months ago.
It knew at that time that it had been taken away by that human cultivator, because it could feel a familiar divine sense descending here, but it was completely unable to stop it. Under its unquenchable anger, it could often only fly around restlessly, venting its dissatisfaction by devouring other Snow Mosquitos.
Unexpectedly, this situation happened again today. But the scent it liked had disappeared for no reason. It was with the help of the scent emitted by this object that it had broken through to Tier-2, allowing its strength to advance by leaps and bounds.
Only then did it kill countless competitors of its own kind and become a mosquito king. How could it not be enraged by the disappearance of that scent?
After Li Yan failed to find any such ferocious and abnormally shaped Snow Mosquitos in the other caves, he finally confirmed it. Immediately, his divine sense transformed into a blurry human figure and grabbed directly at that leader.
The moment Li Yan's figure appeared, the first one to discover it was the leader. Its wings immediately bristled and stood up. This aura was too familiar to it; it was the cultivator who had occasionally entered here before.
But since more than a year ago, it could no longer sense this person's aura. For a while, it even thought that person had left this strange space.
But until half a year ago, the scent it liked would often disappear and reappear, then disappear and reappear, over and over again, which annoyed it greatly, but there was nothing it could do. At that time, it felt that person had returned, but no matter how it searched, it could not find a trace of this person.
Now, Li Yan's aura suddenly appeared again. It was the first to discover it. With a surge of ferocity in its heart, it was about to launch an attack on Li Yan. But the next moment, this leader felt itself being firmly grasped by a large hand, as if the heavens and the earth had been imprisoned, making it unable to move at all.
Before this leader could let out a sharp cry to call for other Snow Mosquitos to come and help attack, it had already disappeared from this space. And it was only then that the nearly one hundred Snow Mosquitos lying near the edge of the ice throne raised their heads in confusion and looked towards the place carved with the paulownia tree branch.
But at one glance, they couldn't help but all fly up in an instant, because the "King" that made them afraid was gone.
Outside the "Earth-Spot" space, a sharp cry suddenly sounded in the cave, which made the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had been lying on one side, raise its head.
When it saw the crystal-clear Demonic Beast in Li Yan's hand, a strange look flashed in its eyes first. But then, after a sweep of its divine sense, it asked doubtfully, "Master, this Snow Mosquito is from the first level of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, right? What do you want it for? Its highest level for its entire life is only Tier-2. Although such a low-level Demonic Beast has some extraordinary aspects, it won't be of much help to Master in the future."
Back then, when the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant entered the first level of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda with He Baiyi, the senior disciple of the Dragon-Subduing Sect, it was teleported to the edge of the snow plains, so it only encountered a very small number of Snow Mosquitos and didn't remember them at first.
It was only after careful identification that it recognized the origin of the Snow Mosquitos. But the number of Snow Mosquitos He Baiyi encountered back then was very small, so the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant did not know the power of the ice swords formed by the Snow Mosquitos.
Therefore, seeing Li Yan take out a Snow Mosquito, it didn't understand the reason, nor could it imagine that Li Yan had actually brought this kind of Demonic Beast from the first level of the pagoda out.
Li Yan chuckled, "Don't underestimate this Demonic Beast. I think you were also teleported very close to the ice and snow long wall back then. Their group attack skills are not weak."
And that Snow Mosquito, which was originally crying out sharply, trying desperately to break free from Li Yan's palm, upon hearing the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant say it was just a low-level Demonic Beast, its sharp cry stopped, and it spoke with some difficulty, "You... are just... a... soul body, without even a physical body, yet... yet you... talk so arrogantly."
Li Yan and the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant were not surprised that this Snow Mosquito could speak human language. Tier-1 Demonic Beasts already had intelligence and could speak human language, they just couldn't take human form.
Not to mention, this Snow Mosquito had already advanced to Tier-2. This Snow Mosquito had been with its own kind all year round, so it naturally wouldn't speak human language for no reason in the "Earth-Spot" space.
After hearing Li Yan's words, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant then knew that the Snow Mosquitos had group attack abilities. Then, hearing the Snow Mosquito's hesitant voice of dissatisfaction, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was not annoyed. It just lazily lay back down and said contemptuously, "Believe it or not, I can kill you with one slap. It's just that Master has a use for you. Grandpa Elephant can't be bothered to argue with you!"
What it said was also the truth. If this Snow Mosquito had not been taken out by Li Yan, it would have stepped on it and killed it long ago. But knowing that Li Yan was going to refine this Snow Mosquito, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant would not let itself get angry now.
However, the Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had already remembered this grudge in its heart. A low-level species dared to provoke its dignity. After Li Yan refined it, it would definitely have to find a time to let this low-level species know who the "King" of Demonic Beasts was.