Li Yan's mind replayed Zhao Min's message from the Jade Slip. For a moment, he was at a loss, dazed.
After a while, Li Yan suppressed his chaotic thoughts and forced himself to look at the Jade Slip again. This time, he quickly made a discovery.
'These words from Senior Sister are disconnected and don't make sense to me. Either it was inconvenient for her to speak, or she couldn't say what she wanted to say, and there is a hidden meaning.'
First of all, when were the two of them ever ambushed mid-journey? This was clearly a reason Zhao Min had fabricated. Why fabricate such a reason? It was because their origins could not be known to outsiders.
In other words, his and Zhao Min's true identities needed to be hidden.
From the next few sentences, Li Yan got two other important pieces of information. Zhao Min had become someone's disciple. Why?
It was probably related to him being saved, or there were other reasons.
Another important piece of information was that this place was actually a territory occupied by the Demon Clan, and the sect Zhao Min had joined was very likely a sect of the Demon Clan.
'The Profound Silver Chicken must also be a type of Demonic Beast, because its meat contains Demonic Qi...'
Li Yan thought of the food Shan Yiyuan had given him earlier. He had been wondering why the meat of a Demonic Beast would contain a trace of Demonic Qi.
Looking at it this way, many of his previous doubts could be explained.
At the same time, yesterday, because the spiritual energy in Li Yan's body had not recovered, he didn't have much sense of the outside world.
But as he slowly recovered and the spiritual power in his body became active, during his breathing exercises, he had already discovered that the spiritual energy here contained some Demonic Qi, though not a lot.
Li Yan had some speculations at that time but was not sure.
Now it seemed that his previous speculations might be possible. Had he been in a coma for too long, and the Human and Demon Clans were already in a state of confrontation?
He had somehow ended up on the Demon Clan's side. That's why the spiritual energy here had a trace of Demonic Qi.
'But, the human cultivators led by the Four Great Sects are hostile to the demon cultivators, in a situation of life and death. How were Zhao Min and I not killed?'
'Instead, we were taken in by the Demon Clan?'
'No, a mortal Demon Clan village... a mortal Demon Clan village, how could mortal demons cross realms? If they were to put down roots and spread, that would be too terrifying. How many years have I been asleep?'
'Then... there is only one possibility...'
All of this, coupled with the contents of Zhao Min's Jade Slip, made Li Yan even more suspicious. With his mind, he had already thought of a possibility, a possibility that made him somewhat terrified.
Li Yan's train of thought became clearer and clearer. Many memories came flooding back. He had passed out after walking out of a white light. At that time, the sky was dark, and it seemed to be a mountain forest...
For a moment, Li Yan was lost in thought...
Outside, the sky was gradually brightening. Li Yan's narrowed eyes slowly looked towards the whitening window.
Now that his cultivation had recovered a little, he had a certain ability to protect himself. It should not be difficult to find some answers.
Li Yan gently stood on the ground, silent and soundless, like a ghost.
A light flashed in his hand, and the two gray spirit stones on the bed that had lost their spiritual energy, as well as the Jade Slip, were directly taken into the "Earthen Patch."
He did not want to discard these things. Instead, he placed them in the "Earthen Patch" space like precious treasures.
Then, Li Yan pushed open the door. Soon after, Shan Yiyuan's somewhat surprised and joyful voice sounded in the courtyard.
"Great Immortal Master, you've recovered?..."
Two nights later, Li Yan, dressed in a green robe, sat on a chair in his room, staring out the window at the continuous rain for a while.
Only then did he gently wave his hand, and the two windows closed silently.
In the room, a pure white Jade Slip had appeared in Li Yan's hand. It was the one Zhao Min had left.
Now he knew clearly the environment he was in, but he could only make a rough guess about what happened after he fell into a coma.
With Li Yan's shrewdness, after going out during the day yesterday, he began to chat with Shan Yiyuan. In what seemed like a casual conversation, he had already obtained a lot of information.
Li Yan's worst fear had come true. The white light channel he had walked out of back then was actually the exit of a spatial barrier on the Forsaken Continent side.
He and Zhao Min had actually crossed two realms, and now they couldn't go back!
This was the world of the Demon Clan. This made Li Yan worried, but at the same time, he was curious why the two of them had not been killed by the cultivators here.
When he was in a coma, two women had brought him here. Li Yan also asked Shan Yiyuan about what happened afterwards.
How could Shan Yiyuan dare to hide anything from Li Yan's questions? He told him everything he knew, his attitude extremely respectful.
Li Yan also finally confirmed that one of them was Zhao Min, and the other, a woman in a palace dress, was the "Great Immortal Master" who had truly saved him.
As for the origin of the woman in the palace dress, Shan Yiyuan could only guess that she was a high-ranking immortal master in the border garrison. He really didn't know anything else.
With his mortal status, he didn't dare to inquire recklessly. He just had to follow orders and take good care of Li Yan, and he would be handsomely rewarded.
Afterwards, Li Yan spent another day walking around the village, occasionally chatting with some villagers.
Those villagers were very respectful to him, this recuperating Great Immortal Master.
From this, with just a casual sentence, Li Yan could get a lot of information out of them, which he secretly memorized. He was also very surprised by the relationship between mortals and cultivators here.
Although the mortals here had not stepped onto the path of immortality, they were not unfamiliar with cultivators. Moreover, they knew many cultivation methods and matters.
In the room, Li Yan sorted through the information he had gathered over the past two days, and then slowly connected the related pieces.
Gradually, he formed a general concept.
Forsaken Continent, known as the Demon Realm by cultivators from other continents. Here, the law of the jungle, where the strong prey on the weak, had evolved to a profound degree.
As long as you had powerful strength, you could survive on this continent, regardless of which race you belonged to.
As a result, many races existed on the Forsaken Continent. From Shan Yiyuan's mouth, Li Yan learned that there were no less than ten races.
But the most powerful here was the Demon Clan, followed by the Human Clan, Wood Clan, Fire Crow Clan, and others.
The Demon Clan was considered native to the Forsaken Continent, while the other races had migrated over for various reasons.
As for how they came over, Shan Yiyuan had no idea. But this confirmed one point for Li Yan: the Forsaken Continent must have some method for crossing realms.
Of course, it probably wasn't like the Devil's Cliff Crevice, but a normal cross-realm channel or an ultra-long-range teleportation formation.
However, to be able to get information from a mortal demon that a normal cross-realm method might exist on the Forsaken Continent already made Li Yan very surprised and shocked.
At the same time, infinite surprise and anticipation rose in his heart.
Regarding this, it was only after staying on the Forsaken Continent for a long time that Li Yan came to know the relationship between the mortal demons and cultivators here.
It was a completely different system from the Desolate Moon Continent. The interaction between mortal demons and cultivators had reached a surprising height.
And the demon cultivators did not hide their existence in the slightest, but constantly searched for disciples with spiritual roots from among the mortals to strengthen their sects.
The rulers of the Forsaken Continent were the Demon Clan, which was further divided into two groups: the Black Demon Clan and the White Demon Clan. Shan Yiyuan and his people belonged to the White Demon Clan.
The Black Demon Clan revered martial strength and had powerful combat abilities; the White Demon Clan had a gentler disposition but possessed the bloodline of the most primitive and ancient demons.
Tracing back to ancient times, the two groups were actually of the same lineage. But later, a major divergence occurred in their path of cultivation, and they slowly differentiated to form two groups.
In the very beginning, demon cultivators on the Forsaken Continent all followed a cultivation method that focused on absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, nourishing the physical body, and filling the "Demonic Core."
Because they had a "Demonic Core" in their Dantian similar to that of a demonic beast, and their appearance was very similar to humans, but their bodies were exceptionally strong and tall, very similar to the demons of legend, they were called the "Demon Clan."
The specific origin of the name might have been a term used by other races during the great ancient war.
When the Demon Clan finally won the war and took control of the Forsaken Continent, they also took "Demon Clan" as their name, and it has been passed down ever since.
The cultivation method of demon cultivators initially followed the path of cultivating the Dantian's Purple Mansion. At the same time, like demonic beasts, they had a "Demonic Core" in their Dantian's Purple Mansion.
After the "Demonic Core" was continuously washed and tempered, it would retain the most essential spiritual power of the whole body, but this spiritual power would also carry the unique power of the "Demonic Core."
This was similar to the function of a demonic beast's "Demonic Core," but the power in the "Demonic Core" could also continuously strengthen the physical body.
Furthermore, when condensed, its power was astonishing, much stronger than a "Demonic Core" in the usual sense.
Compared to human cultivators, for the same attack, the difference between using pure spiritual power and the power erupted from a "Demonic Core" was huge.
But the accumulation of the most pure spiritual power in the "Demonic Core" was also very slow. Therefore, demon cultivators often only erupted the power of their "Demonic Core" in life-or-death situations.
This most pure spiritual power in the "Demonic Core" was called "Demonic Origin Power" by demon cultivators.
The differentiation of the Demon Clan occurred around the ancient era. During the long years of cultivation, a demon cultivator unintentionally went to an unknown ruin for training.
This place would later become the renowned "Demon-Swallowing Abyss" of the Demon Realm. But at that time, the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss" was not yet filled with soaring Demonic Qi; it was considered a ruin left after the great ancient war.
That demon cultivator did not gain much from exploring this ruin. Unresigned, a viciousness grew in his heart.
After hardening his heart, he recklessly flew towards a very remote area of the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss," a place marked as a red restricted zone by many cultivators.
Finally, after nearly perishing several times, he obtained several strange, unknown spirit plants in a hidden place.
At first, that demon cultivator did not pay much attention to these spirit plants. Although such unknown spirit plants were not common in ancient battlefield ruins, there were quite a few of them.
For various reasons, such as death qi or resentful souls, they grew in strange and bizarre ways, but ninety-nine percent of them were highly poisonous.
In the past, people had also collected some unknown spirit plants to study, only to be possessed by a Vicious Soul without even knowing it, until one day they were suddenly subjected to Body Seizure.
Or there were cases where a single spirit plant caused a large number of cultivators in a sect to be poisoned and die for no reason.
Such things had happened quite a lot among demon cultivators. Of course, not all spirit plants in the "Demon-Swallowing Abyss" were problematic.
There were still people who had obtained unexpected gains after collecting some spirit plants, but the probability was much smaller.
The reason this demon cultivator finally picked these few spirit plants was because the aura coming from them made him feel exceptionally comfortable.
After carefully sensing them, he did not find any other use for these spirit plants, other than making his aura flow more smoothly.
But he did not dare to be careless. The lessons of the past were everywhere. After some thought, he felt that after risking his life several times on this adventure, he could not return empty-handed.
So, this demon cultivator still brought these few unknown spirit plants back to the Demon Clan.
Afterwards, after repeatedly probing them bit by bit with his Divine Sense, he discovered that these spirit plants would emit a faint aura at different times of the day.
This aura was almost negligible even when observed with Divine Sense, but under careful observation, it could be seen as a wisp of extremely faint black smoke.