In a flash, the two beasts had collided over a hundred times, appearing to be evenly matched.
One must remember that just a few months prior, the Snow Mosquito King had been significantly weaker than the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
Seeing that seven breaths of time had already passed and it still held the upper hand, even showing signs of growing bolder with every clash, the Snow Mosquito King couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement.
After glancing at Li Yan in the sky, it let out a series of sharp shrieks from its long, pointed proboscis, the white mist surrounding its body churning with even greater intensity.
But in the very next breath, the Snow Mosquito King's body, which had been as nimble as a soaring phoenix, suddenly froze in mid-air. Its aura, as if seized by an invisible hand, began to diminish at a rate visible to the naked eye.
A wave of confusion washed over the Snow Mosquito King's eyes, quickly replaced by panic. It desperately tried to beat its wings, but it was all in vain.
At this moment, it found it exceedingly difficult to even stabilize itself in the air. As the power within it rapidly receded, its body swayed and began to plummet.
Although the Snow Mosquito King knew that Li Yan wouldn't let it die, the sudden loss of the power it relied on most filled its heart with terror.
It could no longer be bothered with maintaining its image in front of its kin. Flapping its wings with all its might, its body still crashed heavily onto the ground.
Then, it saw one of the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's enormous feet stamping down toward it.
"Damn it, you… you're for real… This is… unfair!"
Staring at the foot that seemed to blot out the sky, the Snow Mosquito King roared with the last of its strength.
In the sky, just to the side of the massive foot, Li Yan's figure hovered silently, not moving an inch.
For a moment, the Snow Mosquito King truly believed that Li Yan was using this as an opportunity to eliminate it, and a helpless fear welled up in its heart.
Just as a powerful gust of wind struck its head, sending the surrounding snow mosquitoes into chaos, the enormous foot came to an abrupt halt less than an inch from the Snow Mosquito King's head.
The tremendous force of the wind sent grass clippings flying everywhere. Then, to the Snow Mosquito King's lingering fear, the massive foot that seemed to block out the entire sky slowly moved to the side.
With that, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's punchable face was revealed.
"Hehehe, quick, call me Granddaddy Elephant and let's have a listen!"
The Snow Mosquito King felt a wave of dizziness, but it understood that the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant was deliberately using this chance to torment it. It cried out with great effort.
"You little bastard…"
It was then sent flying a great distance by a single slap… a very, very great distance.
Inside the cave residence, Li Yan gazed at the miserable-looking Snow Mosquito King. One of its wings was slanted and dragging, the other was pointed straight up, and its long proboscis drooped as if devoid of strength.
Before the Snow Mosquito King, a figure paced back and forth, its eyes gleaming with excitement. It was the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant.
"What did I tell you? I said you wouldn't last ten breaths!" Li Yan finally spoke, seemingly nonchalantly, a hint of sympathy in his eyes.
Stealing a glance at Li Yan's expression, the Snow Mosquito King spotted that trace of pity and instantly felt as if it had been stung on the rear, its defiance flaring up.
"It… it was despicable! It… it used poison…"
The Snow Mosquito King spoke indistinctly, like a human with a swollen face.
After being brought back into the cave by Li Yan and fed some medicinal pills, the Snow Mosquito King slowly regained some of its strength.
By now, it had figured out why it had lost so quickly. That little elephant had used poison.
"Ma… Master, it's just a collection of hun and po souls. There are no poisonous substances in that space for it to use. How could it poison me? It must be that Master gave it some poison pills or a poisonous mist just now. Th-this is blatant favoritism, Master. You clearly wanted me to lose, so it's only natural that I did. But a loss like this doesn't count!"
The Snow Mosquito King's gaze toward Li Yan was filled with grievance, like a scorned wife.
Although it wasn't an expert in using poison, it knew a thing or two. For a living entity like an essence soul, being able to use divine abilities was already its limit.
And usually, that required burning its essence soul power, which was why the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant had to devour vicious souls to recover after using a powerful art.
Otherwise, relying on its own cultivation without a physical body, it would be impossible to sustain such consumption. At most, it could only cast some minor arts.
Furthermore, whether it was poisonous fangs or venom, demonic beasts absolutely required a physical body to support them.
There was another reason: it was very familiar with the "Earthen Patch" space. There were no external materials it could have used. It had to be that Li Yan had secretly given the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant some poison pills or liquids.
"That's where you're wrong. The poison in the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's attack just now wasn't something I secretly gave it to help. It was something it slowly cultivated on its own over the past few months."
Li Yan shook his head.
"Th-that's impossible…"
The Snow Mosquito King's first reaction was disbelief. But as the words left its mouth, it saw Li Yan's serious expression and the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which had grown even more arrogant by its side.
The rest of the Snow Mosquito King's words trailed off unconsciously. Its eyes were still filled with doubt and disbelief, but only for a moment. Suddenly, it recalled what Li Yan had said before.
"Is this the method you mentioned that could increase my strength?"
It wasn't stupid and immediately connected the dots to Li Yan's intentions.
"Mm, you're not slow. Such a method does exist. It can increase your strength by a fair amount in a short period of time, but it requires enduring great hardship and risk. There's even a possibility of severe injury or death. That's why I only sought the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's opinion before, asking if it was willing to cultivate it. After all, it has been with me for longer, and I know it possesses a powerful desire to seek the Immortal Dao. So, for the past few months, you haven't seen it because it was in seclusion, diligently cultivating this method."
As Li Yan said these words to the Snow Mosquito King, a look of hesitation appeared on his face.
However, when he mentioned 'seeking the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's opinion before letting it cultivate,' the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, which was strutting about proudly, couldn't help but freeze for a moment.
At the same time, it was cursing up a storm in its heart.
'You baleful star, you plague god! When did you ever ask for my opinion? You forced me to cultivate it! I was so close, just a hair's breadth away from having my soul fly and scatter. It's lucky that my divine soul is solid and my ancestors were watching over me from the heavens that I managed to survive that calamity. You, Li Yan, you who deserves to be sliced a thousand times! Just wait until the day I get a physical body or my strength surpasses yours. I'll definitely let you have a taste of what it's like to be thrown in a wok of boiling oil, plunged into a sea of fire, and deep-fried three times over!'
And just as it was cursing Li Yan in its heart, Li Yan seemed to sense something and casually swept his gaze over the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant once more.
That single glance sent a shiver down its spine, and the bit of vengeful resentment that had just sprouted was instantly extinguished, vanishing without a trace.
Especially when it heard Li Yan follow up by praising its determined mind-nature and so on, it couldn't help but feel joy return to its brow. It lifted its head higher and once again began to strut around gently, only looking at the Snow Mosquito King, whose face was gradually filling with resentment, from the corner of its eye.
"Master, you're being biased! Although I entered your service a bit later, my loyalty to you goes without saying. Moreover, how can you not see that my will to seek the Dao is incomparably firm? In a place as cruel as the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, where it was survival of the fittest, I was able to survive. If I didn't have the mind-nature of a king, I would have died long ago. I wouldn't have had the chance to accompany you, Master. Yet, Master sees me as some timid, weak, and mediocre creature. This is truly an insult to me, and a show of distrust in your own judgment."
The Snow Mosquito King's face was now filled with indignation. Ever since it learned that the remnant soul had somehow won the Master's favor and been granted such a cultivation method by that baleful star, its heart was filled with imbalance.
What kind of divine ability was this? A mere remnant soul had cultivated for only a few short months and reached such a level, defeating it so thoroughly that it had no chance to fight back.
It hadn't even lasted ten breaths. How could it possibly swallow this insult?
'No, I must learn this powerful method. Otherwise, won't I be trampled on by this remnant soul every single day? What face and authority will I have left in front of my beloved concubines? What domineering presence will I have before my children?'
The Snow Mosquito King was already extremely dissatisfied with Li Yan in its heart, dissatisfied with his differential treatment. This time, the favoritism was just too blatant.
Hearing the Snow Mosquito King's words, Li Yan's brow furrowed at first. This made the Snow Mosquito King's heart leap. Its words had been disrespectful, and it had seen Li Yan's dark-heartedness many times before.
Just as it was about to speak again and offer some flattery, it saw Li Yan's expression relax into a smile.
"What you say does make sense. It's possible that I truly didn't understand you well enough before. You can consider it my oversight. Now that you've put it this way, I've also realized, since you were able to become the king of a species, your bloodline must contain the will to reign over the world. With this will alone, you are destined to become a hegemon in the future. That way, even if you were to enter the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda again, you would have the true ability to subdue your entire race."
Li Yan surreptitiously added more fuel to the fire. His words made the Snow Mosquito King's blood surge, its blood beginning to boil and burn.
In its eyes, a scene even appeared of it rampaging across the snowy plains of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, unifying its entire species in a grand display of power.
These expressions on their faces made the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant, standing to the side, twitch its eyelids repeatedly. Yet, it didn't dare say a word, let alone make any suggestive gestures.
It even started to let out a few dry, foolish chuckles of "hehehe." Li Yan, however, shot it a dissatisfied, sidelong glance.
The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant's laughter immediately ceased. After a brief stun, its expression returned to its previous arrogance, vigorously cooperating with Li Yan's tempting words.
But in its heart, it had already erected a large gravestone for the Snow Mosquito King.
'Once you start cultivating, you'll know what it means to wish for both immortality and death, what it feels like for pain to seep into your very soul, and what it means for joy to turn to sorrow. My Buddha is merciful, Ami…tabha!'
For a moment, the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant couldn't find the words in its heart to express its thoughts. Recalling the hellish experience of its own cultivation, it began to chant a Buddhist scripture for the Snow Mosquito King.
"Yes, Master! You underestimated my mind-nature from the start!" the Snow Mosquito King said, now wearing a wronged expression. Paired with its current miserable appearance, it truly looked the part of someone filled with righteous indignation.
When Li Yan saw the Snow Mosquito King's expression, although he was already praising it, a trace of hesitation still remained on his face.
Seeing this, the Snow Mosquito King grew even more anxious. 'It seems the method the Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant is cultivating is extremely precious. That baleful star is reluctant to part with it,' it thought resentfully.
"Master, you said before that you needed me to improve my abilities so that I could better assist you and share your burdens in the future…"
Li Yan waved his hand, seemingly weighing the outcomes in his mind. Under the Snow Mosquito King's expectant gaze, he finally spoke slowly.