Now that Zhao Min had appeared below in the Devil's Cliff Crevice, Wei Chituo and the others could no longer stand by and watch. There were only a few people on Little Bamboo Peak, and all of them had a good relationship with Zhao Min.
Although Zhao Min was a woman of few words, she never put on any airs with them, nor did she ever show any of the arrogance of a pampered young lady.
On the other side, Lin Daqiao also took a deep breath, preparing to follow them down.
At that moment, several more demonic cultivators charged forward to block them, but they were determined to break through, even if all the people from Little Bamboo Peak died here today.
Just then, Li Yan's voice echoed in Gong Chenying's and the others' minds.
"It's useless for you to go!"
At the same time, Gong Chenying and Wei Chituo, who were charging downwards, felt themselves being blocked by a powerful force that they could not resist.
Lin Daqiao's body, which had just lifted off the ground, was pushed straight back down.
"Little Junior Brother, you..."
A fierce glint flashed in Wei Chituo's eyes. He hadn't expected Li Yan to stop them.
On the other side, Gong Chenying's brow furrowed, and she was about to erupt with power to break through Li Yan's obstruction.
A sense of displeasure rose in her heart. She hadn't asked anything of Li Yan, nor had she stopped her second senior brother. Everything was based on individual will.
Cultivation was not just about cultivating power, but also one's own state of mind. Acting according to one's own will would make one's Dao heart even more stable!
Moreover, Gong Chenying and Zhao Min had grown up together like sisters; their bond was no weaker than Li Wuyi's.
They didn't ask Li Yan to do anything, but with Zhao Min's life on the line, what reason did Li Yan have to stop them?
However, in the next moment, something that horrified Wei Chituo, Gong Chenying, and Lin Daqiao happened.
When they erupted with power again, trying to break free of the restraints on them, they found themselves facing what felt like a bronze wall of iron. They couldn't break through at all, unable to move even a single inch.
Only then did the three of them realize with a shock that this little junior brother of theirs had still not been using his full strength before. Now, he was blocking the three of them all by himself.
'Golden Core!'
This absurd thought flashed through their minds for only an instant. But just as Wei Chituo's eyes turned bloodshot and he was about to curse, an even more shocking scene unfolded.
Amidst the several demonic cultivators who had already pounced over to block them, Li Yan's figure moved like a ghost, appearing at the edge of the Devil's Cliff Crevice in an instant.
It was as if the layers of demonic cultivators blocking his path simply didn't exist. It was as if he was meant to be standing there all along.
Only then did the rest of Li Yan's voice transmission reach their minds.
"I'll go. We can't all go down at once. Senior Brothers and Sister, guard this small area well and be ready to receive Master!"
Wei Chituo's face was filled with disbelief; for a moment, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
Lin Daqiao swallowed hard.
"Little Junior Brother, he... he can use Instantaneous Movement?"
Gong Chenying, on the other hand, felt her hand tighten. When she looked down, she found an exquisite jade vase had appeared in her hand at some point. At the same time, Li Yan's voice rang in her mind.
"Keep this. It will be useful for your breakthrough!"
The charging demonic cultivators only saw a blur, and one of the four people opposite them had vanished. When they looked around again, they were met with the sight of three figures flying toward them...
Li Yan was even more anxious now. He knew that with both sides fighting desperately, some Golden Core cultivators from Windy Cool Mountain should have been able to make it over.
But nearly nine breaths had passed, and still, no Golden Core cultivators had appeared. This could only mean that not all of them were willing to risk their lives.
This place had become the focal point of all attacks. Anyone who came here would become the prime target of the demonic cultivators. Some Golden Core cultivators were indeed harboring their own selfish thoughts.
But Li Yan had no time to think about that. The moment Wei Zhongran fell unconscious, he had hesitated. His Divine Sense was stronger than Gong Chenying's and the others', and he could sense the terrifying suction from the abyss below even more clearly.
For Gong Chenying and the others to go down would be suicide, and he himself wouldn't be able to resist it either. But he still wanted to try. It was in that moment of hesitation that Zhao Min had made the first move.
The two below were falling at an absurdly fast speed. Li Yan no longer cared about hiding his cultivation and sealed off Gong Chenying's group of three.
At the same time, he passed a fourth-rank "Dustless Pill" that Zuo Qiudan had given him to Gong Chenying.
His going this time was a matter of life and death. With so many powerful cultivators here, it shouldn't have been his turn to act.
But in less than ten breaths, such a bizarre scene had unfolded on the battlefield.
With "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" at full power, Li Yan's smoke-like figure appeared at the edge of the Devil's Cliff Crevice. With no mid-stage Golden Core cultivators or above targeting him, no one here could stop him. This was one of the reasons he hadn't unleashed his full power before; doing so would only attract the attention of powerful enemies.
Otherwise, his killing speed was something that Gong Chenying's group of three combined could not match. Being able to kill enemies without drawing attention to himself, protecting himself wisely, was Li Yan's principle.
In any case, the attacks of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's poison cultivators were already eye-catching enough; it wasn't just him.
Only then did Gong Chenying's anxious voice reach his mind.
"You have to be careful!"
But Li Yan had no time to worry. The moment he entered the space below the Devil's Cliff Crevice, he lost control of his body. A powerful force pulled and dragged him continuously downwards.
However, he was still relatively close to the edge of the crevice. With his full strength, there was still a chance he could turn back.
Li Yan gritted his teeth and used his movement skill again. Using the powerful suction from below his feet, he flickered and appeared at Wei Zhongran's side.
In less than two breaths, Wei Zhongran had fallen about fifty zhang from the edge of the crevice. The speed of his descent was astonishing.
Zhao Min was about thirty zhang above Wei Zhongran. She tried several times to stabilize her body but was unable to hold her position in the air. There was nothing to push off of to stop her descent.
Li Yan felt the suction grow stronger the further down he went. Zhao Min was currently trying to use another cultivation manual to first grab hold of Wei Zhongran's rapidly accelerating body.
But the rope of Spirit Power she formed was like a chaotic leaf in the wind under the suction, completely without aim.
Spirit Power flickered around Zhao Min's body. She didn't dare to approach Wei Zhongran too quickly, because her cultivation was insufficient. If she let her breath slip for even a moment, she would plummet past Wei Zhongran.
Forget saving him; she would be the first to reach the bottom of the abyss.
So, while she couldn't stabilize her body, the first thing she had to do was maintain her own speed. Only then could she use her cultivation manual to successfully catch Wei Zhongran.
She didn't look up. At this moment, her eyes were only on the unconscious Wei Zhongran, letting the continuous rain of stones strike the Spirit Power shield around her.
Her descent was getting faster and faster. Fortunately, in this short time, the mountain peaks around the Devil's Cliff Crevice had mostly collapsed, leaving only flying chunks of dirt and rubble.
Otherwise, the unconscious Wei Zhongran could very well have been smashed directly into the ground by a falling mountain peak, turning into a pile of meat paste.
A faint amber glow still lingered on Wei Zhongran's body. It was this glow that protected his physical body and even offered some resistance to the suction from below.
Zhao Min's beautiful eyes, under her dark brows, were fixed on Wei Zhongran as she constantly told herself to relax.
Just then, she saw a black shadow pass through the rain of rubble, flash past her side in an instant, and arrive next to Wei Zhongran below.
"It's you!"
Zhao Min's heart skipped a beat as she looked at the once-familiar young man.
She wouldn't have been surprised if it had been Li Wuyi, Wei Chituo, Gong Chenying, or Li Changting who had appeared. After all, the first two had the deepest feelings for her father.
And Gong Chenying and Li Changting had an unbreakable friendship with her. Her own reckless actions meant that those two would not just stand by and watch. But that wasn't something she wanted to see.
As for Li Yan, she couldn't be sure. After all, Li Yan had only joined the sect a few years ago, and his bond with her father wasn't that deep. More importantly, her relationship with him was vague and unclear.
Li Yan was taciturn and never expressed anything to her, while she had always been muddled, unwilling to think too deeply about it.
Li Yan didn't look back at all. He reached out a large hand.
With a "thump," he grabbed the silk sash at the waist of the falling Wei Zhongran. His figure, like a ghost, was instantly beneath Wei Zhongran.
With both hands raised high, his body erupted in a dazzling spirit light. A power that made Zhao Min's heart palpitate burst forth from Li Yan.
'He... he has formed a Golden Core?'
For a moment, Zhao Min found the Li Yan before her to be a stranger, no longer the weak, skinny, dark-skinned boy from Little Bamboo Peak she had seen on the back platform under the round moon.
And just as Zhao Min was in a daze, the five Spirit Power cauldrons inside Li Yan's body began to vibrate violently with a "buzzing" sound only he could hear.
Black qi surged from his body like layers of thick fog, instantly enveloping him in a cloud of black. Coupled with his bizarre appearance, he looked like an evil ghost that had suddenly risen from the abyss.
In the black mist, the veins on Li Yan's forehead bulged, and he let out a loud shout.
In the next moment, he actually began to slowly fly upwards, supporting Wei Zhongran's body. Before Zhao Min's disbelieving eyes, he had already flown up several zhang.
At this moment, Zhao Min was also falling at an accelerating speed. The distance of several zhang brought her face to face with Li Yan.
The powerful pulling force from the abyss made Li Yan feel as if he were holding up a mountain. In a short time, his robes were completely soaked.
The Spirit Power in the cauldrons within his body was like boiling water, splashing and rising, and his Spirit Power was disappearing at an astonishing rate.
In the lake of his Dantian, large patches of Spirit Power liquid were visibly receding and disappearing.
At the same time, the bright glint in Li Yan's eyes was also rapidly dimming. The consumption was like a bottomless pit.
However, if someone's Divine Sense could penetrate Li Yan's body at this moment, they would discover an astonishing anomaly.
Just as the Spirit Power in his Dantian lake and five Spirit Power cauldrons was about to bottom out, a drop of sweet dew descended from the heavens and landed in the Dantian lake.
The Dantian lake was filled in the blink of an eye, and the five Spirit Power cauldrons began to roar and boil once more, like five peerless, heaven-swallowing beasts roaring at the sky.
That was a drop of "Rongsun" that had come from the "Earthen Patch" on his raised left wrist, which Li Yan's Divine Sense had communicated with, and had quietly slid into his mouth.
Then, the dim light in Li Yan's eyes shone again, and a powerful force erupted from his entire body as he lifted Wei Zhongran and steadily ascended.
After rising another five or six zhang, Zhao Min's falling body brushed past Li Yan.
Zhao Min looked at Li Yan, her face showing no signs of panic, and said softly.
"Thank you!"
Then, without another glance at him, she closed her beautiful eyes and circulated her Spirit Power to resist the tearing force from the abyss below her feet. But her figure continued to sink.
"Wait for me!"
Li Yan's voice echoed in Zhao Min's mind. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, but she did not look up at him.
Looking at the height of over forty zhang above and then at Zhao Min, who was getting further and further away below, a series of crisp cracks, like popping soybeans, sounded from Li Yan's joints.
A sense of mockery rose in his heart, directed at himself.
'Since when did I become a noteworthy part of this great battle? I'm only at Foundation Establishment. When was it ever my turn to step up!'
This thought flashed through Li Yan's mind the moment he saw Zhao Min. Among all the gods and buddhas, his appearance here was truly unexpected.
Following that, his aura began to climb steadily. The rain of stones around him was sent flying outwards by the force. He had already begun to use the art of "The Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis."
Li Yan's speed of ascent suddenly increased. It was a race against time, a race for Zhao Min's life and death!
Above, the cultivators on both sides were still fighting desperately. The demonic cultivators were doing everything they could to stop the cultivators from Windy Cool Mountain from getting close.
They were also shouting loudly, ordering the group of Demonic Soldiers near the edge of the cliff to go down and kill the three human cultivators.