After Li Yan crushed the voice transmission talisman, Bai Rou's gentle voice came from within.
"Junior Brother Li, if you have time, the Ancestor would like you to come to my cave residence."
'Ancestor?'
The first thing that came to Li Yan's mind was the two ancestors, Zhu Luan and Mo Gu, whom he had seen at the Front Mountain today. But he quickly realized that was not right.
'Oh? She came too?'
In front of Bai Rou's cave residence, Li Yan descended from the distant sky in a streak of light.
After he landed, a white mist churned outside Bai Rou's cave, and then a small path was revealed. Bai Rou's beautiful figure appeared there.
"Junior Brother Li, you came quite quickly!" Bai Rou said with a radiant smile, a completely different person from the teary-eyed one before.
Li Yan also smiled slightly and walked forward.
"How could I dare to be slow when a senior summons me? Seeing Senior Sister's expression, Elder Chigong's injuries must have greatly improved."
Hearing Li Yan say this as soon as they met, Bai Rou's beautiful eyes sparkled. She hadn't expected Li Yan to see through her thoughts with just a glance.
She had experienced this junior brother's quick-wittedness before, but for him to be able to accurately see the source of her joy at a single glance still left Bai Rou filled with admiration.
Bai Rou just smiled demurely, gave Li Yan a slight bow, and then turned to lead the way…
Upon entering the cave residence, Li Yan immediately saw a beautiful young girl sitting in the seat of honor. The girl was dressed in a long purple dress and was in the prime of her youth.
The purple-robed girl's appearance was slightly different from what Li Yan remembered, but there was still a hint of familiarity.
Her beauty was like jade, her black hair was coiled high on her head, and a section of her fair, snow-white forearm, as smooth as jade, was revealed from the sleeve of her dress. At this moment, she was looking Li Yan up and down with her beautiful eyes.
The moment she saw Li Yan, a look of surprise appeared on the purple-robed girl's face. She had come to find Bai Rou earlier, but had been delayed for some time due to Elder Chigong's matter.
Afterwards, Bai Rou had only briefly mentioned what had happened after she was conscripted to Windy Cool Mountain.
Although it had involved matters concerning Li Yan, Bai Rou knew that Li Yan didn't like others paying too much attention to him, so she had deliberately avoided many things about him.
Even when it was related to herself, she had only mentioned it in passing. She hadn't even mentioned the time she had almost died escaping from "Zhouyang Town."
That matter involved too many of Li Yan's secrets, and Bai Rou had decided not to mention it to anyone in the future.
The last time she had reluctantly told Elder Chigong was because the mission had been assigned by Elder Chigong, and he had also participated in the plan to rescue Bai Rou and the others, so she couldn't hide it.
Today, after meeting the purple-robed girl, Bai Rou had not mentioned Li Yan's current cultivation for a while.
Li Yan was not suppressing his realm at the moment, and on the surface, he was in the Pseudo-Core Realm. This greatly surprised the purple-robed girl.
'It's only been about two years. Did this kid eat a dragon's bone and a phoenix's marrow? He was only just at the Foundation Establishment not long ago. How did he reach the Pseudo-Core Realm so quickly?'
The purple-robed girl was very confident in her eyesight. Even when she was just a wisp of a remnant soul back then, she would absolutely not have been mistaken about Li Yan's true cultivation.
Even now, with just a glance, she could see things that Wei Zhongran and the others couldn't.
'This kid's divine light is restrained, and his aura is several times stronger than Rou'er's. Just the speed at which the spirit power circulates in his body has already far surpassed the Foundation Establishment stage. With such a speed of spirit power circulation, the speed at which he can cast immortal arts is something even an ordinary Golden Core cultivator cannot compare to. If it weren't for the fact that his spirit power hasn't solidified yet, the power of the immortal arts he could release in an instant might even be able to defeat an ordinary Initial-stage Golden Core cultivator. To think the Malevolent Spirit Sect has such a talented disciple. I underestimated him back then. In that case, his chances of successfully forming a core are at least sixty percent, and it's highly likely he will succeed in one attempt.'
The purple-robed girl was somewhat shocked. Even she, who had been called a prodigy of her generation in her clan back then, had only had a less than forty percent chance of forming a core.
The shock Li Yan brought her upon meeting was not small, the greatest being his cultivation speed. The implications of this were huge.
After absorbing a trace of the "Undying Nether Phoenix's" essence blood, the width of Li Yan's meridians had long surpassed that of cultivators of the same rank.
The spirit power in his body flowed through his eight extraordinary meridians like ten thousand galloping horses, without the stagnation problem that existed for Foundation Establishment cultivators. His aura was much more vigorous than Bai Rou's.
Li Yan didn't know what Shuang Qingqing was thinking. He quickly stepped forward and gave a deep bow.
"This junior was unaware of Senior Shuang's presence and was remiss in my etiquette. Please forgive me, Senior. After a year's separation, Senior's elegance surpasses the past. It seems that even without the help of the 'Thousand-Web Ancient Ape,' your magical power can now look down upon all heroes, and your cultivation has been fully restored!"
The young girl above was observing Li Yan's aura. Hearing Li Yan's words, a bell-like laughter spread throughout the cave the next moment.
"Gegege…, you little fellow, your mouth is still as sweet as ever, but your mind is as cunning as always. You mean to say you still hold a grudge against me for taking away the 'Thousand-Web Ancient Ape' back then. I gave you the 'Cloud-Piercing Willow' back then. An insatiable heart can bring about bad consequences!"
As she spoke, her beautiful eyes even blinked a few times, so beautiful that it was otherworldly, making even Bai Rou below blush. At the same time, she also sighed in her heart that these two were both extremely clever people, their words carrying so many meanings.
The purple-robed girl was none other than the ancestor of the Wood Flow Sect—Shuang Qingqing.
Li Yan, however, remained bowed in a respectful posture, repeatedly saying that he wouldn't dare.
"How would this junior dare to have such thoughts? It is only natural for things to return to their rightful owner. It is just that seeing Senior in your true form today, your magical power has naturally recovered. My words just now were of congratulations."
With a quick glance just now, Li Yan could see that this woman's possession had been successful. It had just been a short time, so her appearance was only sixty to seventy percent similar.
After a cultivator's possession, once the divine soul merged, as long as they didn't deliberately preserve the original owner's appearance, as time passed and the divine soul and physical body became more and more compatible, the cultivator's powerful essence soul would slowly change the appearance of the original physical body, eventually becoming identical to the original appearance of the divine soul.
"Gegege…, you're so silver-tongued. I'll just not let you straighten up. Let's see how long you can stay bowed?"
Li Yan's head was suddenly swimming. Sweat began to bead on his forehead. He hadn't expected the purple-robed girl above to disregard her status so much and make him speak in such a posture.
Although for him, it would be no problem to stand like this for months or even years, it was just too awkward.
"Ancestor, you… you should spare Junior Brother Li!"
At this moment, Bai Rou's pleading voice came.
She now knew that this ancestor was capricious, but at least she was very good to her, so she was much bolder than before. Seeing the situation, she couldn't help but plead for Li Yan.
"Oh, Rou'er seems to be very concerned about this junior brother of yours…"
Shuang Qingqing deliberately drew out her words, a mischievous look on her face as she stared at the already crimson-faced Bai Rou.
Back in the Wood Flow Sect, this ancestor would often tease Bai Rou with Li Yan. Fortunately, only the two of them were present then. Although she was shy, as long as Bai Rou didn't respond, it wouldn't go too far.
Unexpectedly, today, in front of Li Yan, Shuang Qingqing was still so blunt, saying it so explicitly.
Bai Rou's heart pounded like a drum. She felt as if her whole body was on fire. Forcing herself to calm down, she quickly interrupted Shuang Qingqing's words.
"An… Ancestor, didn't you summon Junior Brother Li to ask him… ask him something?"
"Gegege… this is interesting. You brat, why aren't you reacting at all? Didn't you see Rou'er pleading for you?"
Upon hearing this, Li Yan took the opportunity to straighten up. He turned to Bai Rou and cupped his hands, a wry smile on his face.
"I am truly grateful to Senior Sister Bai!"
There was no other expression on his face, as if he hadn't understood the conversation between the other two at all.
Bai Rou also quickly returned the salute. "You are too kind. We were just going to talk about something with Junior Brother Li. Ancestor… Ancestor didn't really mean to blame Junior Brother!"
"Alright, you brat, just stand there. I have some questions for you, and then you can leave!"
Shuang Qingqing directly interrupted the two's low-voiced courtesies.
Seeing that this eccentric senior was no longer making things difficult for him, Li Yan also heaved a sigh of relief. He was already secretly guessing the reason for being summoned.
'What could be so important that a Nascent Soul cultivator would specifically seek me out to ask, especially a Nascent Soul cultivator who possesses an ancient immortal art? Apart from the 'Thousand-Web Ancient Ape,' I have no connection with the Wood Flow Sect. Could it be for Senior Sister Bai…'
A thought suddenly popped into Li Yan's head, startling him. He only had a good friendship with Bai Rou and had never had any other thoughts.
Seeing the changing expression on Li Yan's face, Shuang Qingqing didn't know what he was worried about.
"You brat, I summoned you to ask about a senior from your Little Bamboo Peak. What are you so scared of?"
Shuang Qingqing frowned her beautiful brows.
"Oh, then please ask, Senior."
Li Yan's heart suddenly relaxed, but then a wave of curiosity arose. If this Senior Shuang wanted to ask about Little Bamboo Peak, with her status, she could have just asked the two ancestors, Zhu Luan and Mo Gu.
A surviving Nascent Soul cultivator with an ancient immortal art like Shuang Qingqing was different from the current Initial and Mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivators.
Li Yan still remembered that Shuang Qingqing herself had said that with the help of the "Purple-Winged Ice Phoenix," her cultivation was infinitely close to that of a Late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivator. She had even escaped from the hands of a late-stage demon general before falling into the "Drifting Sand Ancient Grotto."
Shuang Qingqing's appearance at Windy Cool Mountain, Li Yan had already roughly guessed the reason.
With the cultivation of the two ancestors, Zhu Luan and Mo 竹, they should be able to tell that this woman's cultivation was astonishing and definitely not comparable to an ordinary Nascent Soul. So, they should take her questions very seriously. Why did she have to seek him out?
He was just a minor Foundation Establishment disciple and didn't really know much about the affairs of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, so Li Yan wasn't worried that Shuang Qingqing would ask anything involving the sect's core secrets.
Furthermore, if it was about Little Bamboo Peak, she could have directly asked his master as an elder. Why did she come directly to him? This series of speculations made Li Yan quite curious, but he didn't dare to ask.
'That means she didn't get the answer she wanted from the two ancestors, so she wants to find out from me, a disciple of Little Bamboo Peak, through indirect means!'
An answer quickly surfaced in Li Yan's mind. If Shuang Qingqing knew that this brat had thought of so many things in an instant from just her simple sentence, she might want to pry open Li Yan's head to see what was inside, to have so many thoughts.
Seeing that Li Yan's expression had returned to normal, Shuang Qingqing pursed her lips slightly. The situation was indeed as Li Yan had guessed. She had asked Zhu Luan.
Zhu Luan's answer was that the person had already ascended to the Immortal Spirit Realm, and there was no way of knowing his current situation.
And today, when she came to see Bai Rou and asked about her recent situation, she had inadvertently learned that the brat Li Yan was actually a core disciple of Little Bamboo Peak.
And that person seemed to have come from Little Bamboo Peak in the past. It was possible that Li Yan could read a large number of jade slips and classics about Little Bamboo Peak and might be able to find some clues from them.