Previously, Lin Daqiao and the others had only scanned Li Yan with their Divine Sense and were utterly astonished. Judging purely by realm, Li Yan was already second only to Gong Chenying and Wei Chituo. Even Yun Chunqu was still hovering in the Late-stage of Foundation Establishment. Except for Lin Daqiao, the others were all considered veteran Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Therefore, Li Yan's recent move felt extremely surreal.
They had all assumed that Li Yan must have had some great fortuitous encounter during his training outside, which was why his strength had increased so dramatically and his cultivation had advanced by leaps and bounds.
However, a situation like this often required a cultivator to go into seclusion for several years to stabilize. This was especially true for someone like Li Yan, who had crossed several minor realms from Initial-stage Foundation Establishment in less than two years to reach the peak of Foundation Establishment. His foundation was already extremely unstable and would likely require about ten years of secluded cultivation to stabilize his realm.
So, although Li Yan's realm was astonishing to them, they thought his combat power would be at the level of a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator at best. This was unlike Lin Daqiao, who had almost died a dozen times to accumulate a vast amount of experience, making his Spirit Power as pure as steel and his foundation as stable as a mountain.
They had firsthand experience of the combat power and physical toughness of demon cultivators. For a cultivator of the same rank to make a demon cultivator vomit blood in a head-on clash, they either had to have a realm far higher than their opponent or be a top-tier body refinement cultivator, like Gong Chenying, Zhao Min, or Wei Chituo.
But Wei Chituo could only gain the upper hand when fighting an Initial-rank Demonic Soldier head-on, and it wasn't an easy victory.
Just now, Li Yan didn't seem to use any magical treasure—at least they didn't see him deploy one—and that powerful, thin demon cultivator was already deader than dead.
"I… Did you eat Dragon Bone and Phoenix Marrow?" Wei Chituo said feebly.
Gong Chenying's beautiful eyes quickly swept over Li Yan. She was once again trying to determine if Li Yan's "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" had broken through to the fourth layer. Otherwise, even with her own ability at the peak of the third layer of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," she would not be able to do what he did.
However, she was only curious. It was obviously impossible. Li Yan did not have the cultivation manual for the third layer and beyond of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art." And from her understanding of the art, she could tell that Li Yan's was only at the second layer. This point was particularly baffling. She had never seen the divine movement skill Li Yan had just displayed.
Gong Chenying and the others didn't know that when facing an opponent head-on, Li Yan didn't need to use the full power of his "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill. He had only used forty percent of its speed just now. Otherwise, in their Divine Sense, Li Yan probably wouldn't have moved at all, and the death of the thin demon cultivator would have been attributed to someone else's secret attack.
At the same time, the three of them did not stop their actions. Their attacks continued unabated, and their questions were just casual exclamations.
Li Yan was also extremely satisfied with his performance. Since absorbing some more "Undead Nether Phoenix" Essence Blood for the second time, he had rarely met an opponent of the same rank who could challenge him. At least, so far, he had not encountered a peer who could make him use his full strength. Seeing his fellow disciples so astonished also brought a sense of pleasure to Li Yan's heart.
…
Wei Zhongran's figure transformed into a shadow, rapidly moving through the dense fog below the cliff. He had fully unleashed his cultivation, and his Divine Sense spread out in all directions without reservation.
He was well aware that it was very difficult for a Demon General to break through from the Demon Realm into the Devil's Cliff Crevice. He was particularly familiar with the environment here.
At this moment, in the sky above the Devil's Cliff, the Spirit Transformation and Nascent Soul cultivators from both sides were fighting fiercely. No one would be paying special attention to him.
Earlier, just as Gu Jiuqi was chasing after the First Sir, Wei Zhongran was about to call out to Zuo Qiudan to team up again against the demon cultivators. But suddenly, Gu Jiuqi's voice sounded in his mind, which Wei Zhongran found very surprising.
"Junior Brother Wei, you must now complete a task with all your strength. Place this item at a location twenty-four thousand feet below the Devil's Cliff Crevice. You know the location, there is a plant there…"
Soon, Wei Zhongran received an order. As Gu Jiuqi's voice transmission ended, he discovered that a storage pouch had appeared on his waist at some unknown time. This made Wei Zhongran admire the methods of a Spirit Transformation ancestor. Although he considered himself knowledgeable, that realm was still beyond his imagination.
The greatest advantage of Divine Sense transmission was that vast amounts of information could be conveyed in an instant with just a thought, something that could never be achieved by speaking.
Gu Jiuqi still addressed Wei Zhongran as "Junior Brother Wei," as he had on Little Bamboo Peak. But as for calling him "Senior Brother," Wei Zhongran wouldn't dare to utter the words even if it killed him.
Perhaps it was due to their decades of interaction, but Gu Jiuqi's tone and way of addressing him were as casual as ever, just like their usual conversations in front of the "Treasure Pavilion" on Little Bamboo Peak. It was just that this time, Wei Zhongran only listened and did not speak, at most giving a sound of acknowledgement.
Gu Jiuqi also briefly told Wei Zhongran that he spent most of his time under the Devil's Cliff Crevice. When someone went to the "Treasure Pavilion" on Little Bamboo Peak, they would either see a wisp of his Divine Will transformed into the gray-robed elder, or he would return to Little Bamboo Peak in an instant.
So, Wei Zhongran and the others could always see Gu Jiuqi there, but he was always sleeping, as if living out the rest of his muddled life.
Of course, this only described a period of time he was on Little Bamboo Peak. Over these tens of thousands of years, Gu Jiuqi had appeared on different peaks of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, constantly showing himself with different faces, but always so inconspicuous. There was no need to tell Wei Zhongran all this.
The reason Gu Jiuqi told Wei Zhongran this was, of course, related to the task he was about to entrust to him.
For the past tens of thousands of years, besides protecting the Malevolent Spirit Sect, his other most important task was to research how to seal the Devil's Cliff Crevice and completely sever the connection between the Desolate Moon Continent and the Demon Realm. This was another important mission and task passed down through generations of Chimei Emissaries since the demon invasion.
But because the laws of space were too profound and obscure, no generation of Chimei Emissaries had been able to complete this task. Gu Jiuqi had also failed time and again in his attempts.
It wasn't until a thousand years ago that his true body made a major breakthrough in the Immortal Spirit Realm, which in turn improved the comprehension of spatial laws for this wisp of Divine Will incarnation left in the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
Finally, he discovered a place twenty-four thousand feet below the Devil's Cliff Crevice where the space outside the barrier was different from elsewhere. The planar barrier there was abnormal. The flow of the laws within it was not balanced, but rather split seventy-thirty, with the flow of the laws favoring the Demon Realm's side.
Logically speaking, such a planar barrier should collapse toward the side with the greater flow, or break and reorganize into a balanced flow of laws, forming a new, stable barrier. But for some reason, the planar barrier here had remained intact, a point that Gu Jiuqi could not comprehend at his current level.
But this discovery made Gu Jiuqi ecstatic. If this place were to be broken, given that the surrounding spatial laws were balanced, then at the moment of breaking, the surrounding laws would all surge toward this point. And since the trajectory of the spatial laws there was biased toward the Demon Realm, when the laws rushed in to supplement, before reaching equilibrium, the laws at this focal point would be suddenly pressurized, causing the planar barriers of the two realms to misalign and stack up.
In the end, it was highly likely that this would cause the already formed spatial cracks in the vicinity to reorganize, meaning the Devil's Cliff Crevice would be reorganized. This would completely close the passage between the two realms. In other words, the Devil's Cliff Crevice would completely close, thoroughly severing the connection.
This discovery made Gu Jiuqi extremely excited, and he began to work on this matter.
In the following years, he tried many methods, but ultimately, he was frustrated to find that with his power, he couldn't even break the planar barrier at that location, let alone reorganize it.
He calculated that perhaps only his true body descending could accomplish it. But if his true body descended, his cultivation would likely cause him to be ejected from this world by the laws of Heaven and Earth the moment he unleashed it. And if his control was even slightly off in his haste, the result would not be sealing the Devil's Cliff Crevice, but completely opening it. The catastrophic consequences would be unbearable for the Desolate Moon Continent.
Furthermore, there was another important reason. Could cultivators at the Void Refining Realm and above directly interfere in the Mortal Realm? If his immensely powerful true body were to forcefully descend, it would disrupt the laws of Heaven and Earth in the Mortal Realm, which would only sever the root of the cultivation world.
The Demon Clan's side also had the Divine Will of a Black Demon Emperor. Nominally, he was also just protecting the Black Demon Clan, and his true body could not descend either. The strength of that Black Demon Emperor's Divine Will was also at the Spirit Transformation stage, similar in nature to Gu Jiuqi.
Although Gu Jiuqi had found a seemingly feasible method, the absolute power needed to shatter the planar barrier, which was far from an unstable one, was simply unattainable.
Gu Jiuqi finally thought of a solution: the "Realm-Breaking Pearl" refined by the Demon Realm. This was a peerless magical treasure that the Demon Clan had poured all their resources into, and in tens of millions of years, they had only managed to refine a total of four.
Three of them had ended up on the Desolate Moon Continent. But what infuriated Gu Jiuqi was that the refining method of the "Realm-Breaking Pearl" was extremely special. Even with his divine abilities, after searching the entire Desolate Moon Continent, he could not find a single clue. This item could only be found using a sensing magical treasure that was refined in the same way.
After that, his search lasted for over a thousand years. At the same time, he was constantly trying to see if he could break the barrier at that location through other methods, but all he got was one failure after another.
Until last year, the three "Realm-Breaking Pearls" finally appeared, and the Four Great Sects had even obtained one.
However, when Daling and the others first got the "Realm-Breaking Pearl," they also studied it day and night. The pearl never left their sight, which made it impossible for Gu Jiuqi, who did not want to expose his identity, to get his hands on it immediately.
Finally, after a period of time, Daling and the four others gave up on their research of the "Realm-Breaking Pearl," and Gu Jiuqi finally had an opportunity to act. Just as Gu Jiuqi thought he could try to destroy the Devil's Cliff Crevice before the demon invasion, his plan was disrupted. First, when he sneaked into the Jingtu Sect to check on that "Realm-Breaking Pearl," an accident happened on that very day.
On that exact day, a Demon General led his men into the Devil's Cliff Crevice and, regardless of the consequences, activated another "Realm-Breaking Pearl" and threw it into the crevice.
The "Realm-Breaking Pearl" was easy to activate, and once activated, even Gu Jiuqi would not dare to catch it.
By the time Gu Jiuqi sensed the fluctuations from the Devil's Cliff Crevice, it was already too late, and he could no longer stop it. The result of this was that the Devil's Cliff Crevice had widened even more.
At the same time, with this change in the planar barrier, the spatial laws changed again. To his great anger, the thickness of the barrier at the location he had worked so hard to find had increased. Gu Jiuqi was furious but powerless to reverse the situation.
Gu Jiuqi could only conduct many more experiments afterward, which made his once-lively hopes sink instantly. After repeatedly examining the power of the explosion of the "Realm-Breaking Pearl" that Mo Qing had brought back, he finally came to the helpless conclusion that the power of a single "Realm-Breaking Pearl" was no longer enough to completely shake the barrier at that location.