As the aftershocks of the great battle rapidly dissipated, it was estimated that in less than five breaths, the two-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bats would surround Li Yan.
Of course, if Li Yan wished to leave, they wouldn't even be able to find his shadow.
But now that there was a possibility of leaving this bizarre tunnel for good, Li Yan naturally wanted to hear what the other party had to say.
"I... I am very weak. I need to borrow the power of my physical body. I will now... now return to my main body. Fellow Daoist, please do not... do not pierce me with that magical treasure again. Otherwise, I will surely die on the spot!"
Although Li Yan couldn't see it with his eyes, he kept his gaze fixed coldly on that spot in the void.
"You had better not try any tricks. If you're harboring any illusions of getting lucky, you will die!"
Only then did he slowly withdraw the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike that was stabbing into the void.
In his Divine Sense, the greyish-white, almost transparent thing breathed a slight sigh of relief when it saw the other party retract the terrifying magical treasure.
Then, under Li Yan's Divine Sense, it returned, at a speed Li Yan could follow, to the front of the four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat pinned in the void, and merged into it in the next moment.
Then, Li Yan witnessed a startling scene. The four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat, which had been completely devoid of life, slowly opened its eyes again.
It was just that the thick green light in its eyes had faded to a pale green, giving off a feeling of being shrouded in the aura of death.
'It can repossess a corpse?'
Li Yan thought to himself.
The moment the four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat opened its eyes, it first focused its gaze on the space between its own brows.
Seeing that the magical treasure was still embedded there, but the other party was not channeling any Spirit Power into it, it couldn't help but swallow drily.
Immediately after, it let out a low, weak hiss.
In Li Yan's Divine Sense, the formation of the madly charging two-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bats fell into disarray, and then, as expected, they ceased their attack.
A look of confusion appeared on their faces, and they looked towards the "resurrected" four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat at the center.
Li Yan paid them no mind. He still did not pull out the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike, but stared at his opponent.
"Have you cultivated some kind of soul-strengthening cultivation method?"
He asked bluntly, getting straight to the point. This was what concerned him the most.
Li Yan didn't know if there was a problem with the "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art" he had cultivated. He had always been self-taught, with no one to guide him.
Li Yan himself was very suspicious, even of himself. He was already beginning to wonder if there was an error in his own cultivation.
"This... this can be considered a soul cultivation method. It is a high-level secret art of the Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan, called 'Spirit Soul Dark Soul'.
"Only upon reaching the late-third rank can one... can one barely cultivate it. It allows the Essence Soul to cultivate an outer shell, giving... giving the soul an extra layer of def... defense!"
He was truly weak, panting heavily several times as he spoke.
"'Spirit Soul Dark Soul'? Cultivating a protective shield for the soul. You just used this art to escape death, and you can voluntarily return your scattered soul to its place?"
Li Yan's eyes flickered continuously. The world was truly full of wonders.
"Fellow Daoist... Fellow Daoist, this is actually the true life-saving technique of my Dark Spirit Demon Bat clan. As long as a trace of the soul remains, one's own physical body can be abandoned, and one can return to it again.
"When abandoning... abandoning it, it can be used as a method to feign death and escape. After the opponent... opponent leaves, the soul can return to its body.
"It's just that this period cannot be too long, half an hour at most, and the physical body must not be completely destroyed. But it's at least a thousand... a thousand times better than Body Seizure, is it... is it not?
"This is also the... the origin of my clan's name, but... but not many outsiders know of it!"
As he said this, he looked at Li Yan helplessly.
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Their method of escape was exceptionally secretive. Firstly, arts that attacked the soul were not common to begin with.
So, after most people had beaten them until all signs of life were gone and taken their Demonic Core, they would naturally assume they were dead. The chance of the physical body being destroyed was about fifty-fifty.
The most likely scenario was that the body would be taken by the opponent, as it was a decent material for artifact refining. They could then quietly have their soul re-enter the body, and at that time, they might even be able to pull off a miraculous counter-kill.
Secondly, the dissipation of the soul required a brief process. Even if someone had an exceptionally powerful Divine Sense and discovered a soul scattering in the air, they would only assume it was a normal phenomenon of death.
It was not like with Li Yan, where under the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike, the soul didn't even have time to leave the body and scatter; it was directly pinned until it flew apart and dissipated, never scattering outside the body at all.
Therefore, the fact that its soul was still able to float away made Li Yan realize there was a problem.
Of course, this wasn't absolute. If the opponent's cultivation was particularly formidable, it was possible that the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike wouldn't be able to dissipate their entire soul in one strike.
But, unfortunately for it, it had encountered a cultivator of the same rank as itself, and one who was exceptionally suspicious at that—Li Yan.
The moment Li Yan sensed something was amiss, he immediately moved to eradicate it completely, turning its last sliver of a chance to escape into a bubble.
It could be said that in encountering Li Yan, it had met its bane. If it had been any other cultivator, it might have already escaped.
For a moment, Li Yan's gaze began to flicker uncertainly. The four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat seemed to understand Li Yan's thoughts, and it let out a soft sigh.
"Fellow Daoist, even if you were to obtain this cultivation method through soul-searching now, you would be unable to cultivate it. This art can only be practiced by our clan.
"Our souls are different from other races. We are born with Four Huns and Nine Pos, one more hun and two more pos than other races.
"And when cultivating this art, one must... one must separate one hun and one po to serve as the 'shell,' thereby giving us an extra layer of defense.
"The last po is then refined into the Sea of Consciousness, serving as a... a beacon to guide the soul back after it leaves the body.
"Otherwise, if the soul wanders too far, or if the body is taken by someone, it might truly be impossible to return.
"Besides, although this art is secretive, some people are aware of it. If everyone could cultivate it, my clan... my clan would have been extinct long ago!"
The four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat, pinned in mid-air, said while panting heavily.
It naturally knew what Li Yan was thinking. Although this art was extremely secretive, some high-level cultivators from other races were aware of it.
Just as it said, if this art could truly be cultivated by others, their clan would probably no longer exist, as everyone would want to capture them and force the cultivation method out of them.
Sure enough, after Li Yan heard this, although he remained silent, his mind was already racing. He felt that half of what the other party said was believable.
This cultivation method wasn't just having an extra life; it was like having two extra lives.
First, it could defend against a soul attack.
Second, every cultivator could only perform Body Seizure once in their life. But if the soul could return to its own body, it would preserve the chance for Body Seizure, which was equivalent to having a spare opportunity.
However, Li Yan continued to press.
"Who else here has cultivated this technique? Do those two-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bats know of this technique's legacy?"
"I am the strongest here. There are currently only five of us with four wings. As for those who can cultivate this art, there is also Old Second and Old Third. Their strength is barely sufficient for them to cultivate it.
"As... as for the legacy of this technique, one is only permitted to know of it upon reaching the third rank of Demonic Beast. None of the other children here... none of them know of it!"
This four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat was very clever. It knew that the other party was testing the veracity of its words.
"So you were planning to force all of us into this tunnel, where there is a terrifying presence that can instantly render a Golden Core cultivator unconscious?"
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Li Yan's questioning became rapid, and he abruptly changed the subject without any connection, giving his opponent no time to think.
"Yes, but not entirely. To be precise, we were to force you into three tunnels in the end. The one just now was only one of them.
"However, the outcome is the same upon entering any of these three tunnels. There is a power there that even Nascent Soul cultivators cannot resist. It is..."
Hearing this, Li Yan was already greatly astonished in his heart. But precisely because of this, he immediately raised his hand to signal the other party to stop talking.
He still had many questions, including judging the truth of whether the other party's cultivation method could be practiced by other races.
But there was no time for that now. The four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat he was facing was the strongest one here, which was why that Green Cloud Sparrow had been the first to be forced into the final tunnel.
"There are two more tunnels with such a terrifying power?"
Li Yan confirmed again.
"Yes!"
The four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat saw the killing intent in the other's eyes and answered hastily. It already knew what the other party was thinking.
"Do those junior brothers and sisters of yours obey your commands?"
"They do. I can take you to the other two final tunnels right now and stop them from continuing their siege!"
"Good, let's go and see now!"
Li Yan was anxious. If Xing Ming and the others were forced into the so-called final tunnels, it would truly be a matter of life and death. Xing Ming's strength was not much greater than that Green Cloud Sparrow's.
He simply had no time to ask in detail what the terrifying power in the final three tunnels was. Saving them was the priority.
Xing Ming was anxious. Previously, he could still sense Feng Moru in a nearby tunnel. They were each being relentlessly besieged by a four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat leading a group of two-winged ones.
But now, they had lost contact with each other.
Facing such a group of ferocious beasts, what gave him the most headache was their coordinated siege attack. A semi-transparent, black, spiked sphere was actually a type of sound wave attack.
With the four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat assisting from the side, although he kept retreating, many wounds had already appeared on his body.
The seeping blood drove the surrounding Demonic Beasts into an even greater frenzy, making their attacks fiercer.
During his retreat, he tried to find Feng Moru, who was closest, but under such a step-by-step siege, his goal of meeting up with Feng Moru was simply impossible.
What made him even more anxious was that Zhang Ming had been the first to disappear, followed by Xuan Caijun, who had moved farther and farther away.
'Although Junior Brother's own strength is not weak, he is young after all. I hope he doesn't fall for their tricks...'
Xing Ming also felt that something was wrong, because that four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat had been attacking at a steady, unhurried pace all along.
Xing Ming had already clashed with his opponent more than ten times. He knew clearly that even in a one-on-one fight, his opponent would not necessarily lose to him.
What's more, there were over a hundred two-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bats here that could form a strange coordinated attack formation.
If they swarmed him, he likely wouldn't have been able to last this long.
Just then, another tunnel appeared before Xing Ming. Helpless, he could only retreat in that direction. In the blink of an eye, he had already approached the tunnel entrance.
But just as he was about to plunge in, a sudden, inexplicable palpitation arose in his heart, and his flying figure came to a halt.
His Divine Sense habitually spread out in all directions. With this sweep, Xing Ming immediately discovered something amiss.
The pursuing two-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bats had suddenly slowed down.
But that four-winged Dark Spirit Demon Bat suddenly accelerated and flew rapidly towards him.
"Hmm?"
Xing Ming's heart stirred, and he immediately stopped before the tunnel entrance. The opponent's sudden change in attack pattern made him even more uneasy!
(End of Chapter)