At that time, Mei Hongyu had actually achieved "Riding the Wind with Ease, Mirror-like Clarity of Water" and was in the process of breaking through to the third layer. Unexpectedly, an accident occurred, and she ran into a "Young Master Jiang"...
Until later, there was no more news of that person, and all the information she gathered pointed to the fact that Li Yan had already perished.
For a period after that, Mei Hongyu's state of mind slowly recovered on its own. Until one day, her cultivation of the "Wind Brightness Manual" once again progressed by leaps and bounds. She finally let out a long sigh of relief.
This meant her cultivation had finally returned to normal, which later gave her the opportunity to break through to the Golden Core realm.
But today, she had once again seen that person's name. For a moment, she could even feel her breathing quicken!
"You... you... how did you appear again! Why? Why..."
Mei Hongyu murmured to herself. The state of mind that had been calm for years had once again become unsettled.
In fact, if it weren't for the great importance of a Nascent Soul's grand ceremony, and the fact that Li Yan had appeared in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, Elder Ge would not have collected such information.
And while he was gathering information on Li Yan, he subsequently collected some other things that had happened to this newly-advanced Nascent Soul in recent years and recorded them one by one.
Originally, Li Yan's engagement to Zhao Min was only known among the major sects, and this was due to Wei Zhongran's influence.
Such an event between two Golden Core cultivators would not be known throughout the world, especially here in the Jingtu Sect's territory, where there was much less attention paid to the Golden Core cultivators of the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
Therefore, even though Mei Hongyu had come to this market five years ago, Elder Ge had not collected news about two Golden Core cultivators from another major sect.
In addition, he was not like "Gui Qu Lai Xi," which specialized in intelligence gathering. Collecting information for Mei Hongyu was just something he did on the side.
Under these circumstances, even though Li Yan's engagement happened eight years ago, Mei Hongyu still did not know about it. This, in turn, was most beneficial for her cultivation.
Mei Hongyu's expression was somewhat dazed!
The matter of the "Wind Brightness Manual" had to be completely resolved sooner or later. Otherwise, unless she no longer wanted her cultivation to advance an inch and stop here for the rest of her life... but... could she really solve it?
If she could, she would have done so a hundred years ago. Today's Mei Hongyu was already all alone.
Her only son, due to his average spirit root and the lingering effects on his Divine Soul despite its recovery, ultimately failed to break through to Foundation Establishment. Mei Hongyu could only painstakingly accompany him on the final stretch of his journey.
After all her relatives passed away, she threw herself wholeheartedly onto the immortal path, no longer wanting any familial attachments. The "Wind Brightness Manual" progressed rapidly.
As a rogue cultivator, she had cultivated to the late-stage Golden Core in just over a hundred years. If this were to spread, it would surely stun many people. This speed was something even the elite disciples of the Four Great Sects could only look up to.
Under the moonlight, Mei Hongyu stood for a long time before finally flying off in one direction, her heart in a state of incomparable complexity...
The outside world was full of turmoil. Perhaps some had taken note of the news of the two Nascent Soul cultivators' ceremony in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, but for the vast majority of cultivators, this was just a distant piece of news.
Even if they wanted to attend, more than ninety percent of them were not qualified. The Malevolent Spirit Sect would not just let any Tom, Dick, or Harry enter its territory.
Thus, the news stirred up by the two Nascent Soul cultivators became unremarkable after a few months.
The cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent continued to fight, kill, plunder treasures, and cultivate bitterly as they always had...
...
In a secret chamber, a dense earth-attribute spiritual energy swirled and danced around Li Yan.
At this moment, Li Yan was holding his fingertip before his eyes, observing it carefully. To his naked eye, there was nothing on his fingertrifftip.
But when he channeled his magical power into his eyes, Li Yan could finally, faintly, see a blood-red thread as fine as a hair on his fingertip.
'What on earth does it do?'
Li Yan had been observing it for a long time. This was something forced out from the thirty-two thin, pale green threads. To be precise, it was the only additional toxin that had appeared after this separation of his Fragmented Poison Body.
Right now, five or six small formations had appeared in front of Li Yan. Trapped within each of these formations were several demonic beasts, mostly first or second-rank, all looking around in confusion or terror.
Some demonic beasts simply stood still, looking around warily, their ears constantly twitching.
Others ran ceaselessly. However, what they perceived as an endlessly vast space was in reality just them running desperately in a small circle.
Earlier, after Li Yan had forced this segment of blood thread out of his body, he himself had been startled. As soon as the blood thread emerged, it began to swim rapidly through the air at an incredible speed.
What surprised Li Yan was that this blood thread was already somewhat blurry in his Divine Sense. Once it started moving, even Li Yan himself lost track of it several times during his perception.
Li Yan initially thought that this was because this fragmented poison had just formed, so the toxin was unstable and he hadn't mastered it yet.
He believed that as his Fragmented Poison Body continued to consolidate, it would become as easy to control as his other poisons. But he soon realized that was likely not the case.
Fortunately, his Fragmented Poison Body still had some connection to it, which allowed him to regain control of the blood thread with his magical power.
Thus, Li Yan began to test the effects of this blood thread using his usual poison-testing methods.
He first took out a demonic beast and struck it with the blood thread. Apart from feeling fear from Li Yan's pressure, the demonic beast showed no other reaction after ten breaths.
Li Yan wasn't bothered by this; he had experienced such situations far too many times. So, he then used his magical power to force the blood thread into the demonic beast's body.
He waited another ten breaths, but there was still no reaction...
Next, Li Yan switched to demonic beasts of different attributes for testing. The world had Five Elements, and some poisons might be specifically targeted at a certain attribute.
But the final result was that even after he took out demonic beasts of the metal, wood, water, fire, and earth attributes, the blood thread had no effect, whether it was in their flesh or on their skin.
Li Yan remained expressionless, showing neither joy nor sorrow, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
The testing process for the Fragmented Poison Body was the most painful, and he was long prepared for all of this.
Over the next several hours, no matter how Li Yan tested it—against the demonic beasts' souls, essence blood—it was all useless.
He even released a Snow Mosquito in the end, thinking that this blood thread might have an effect similar to the "Illusion Poison" from before.
So, he communicated with the Snow Mosquito using his Divine Sense while asking it all sorts of strange questions. In the end, Li Yan even saw a strange, unreadable look in the Snow Mosquito's eyes.
It was probably wondering if something was wrong with Li Yan's head, asking questions while repeatedly brandishing something out of thin air at it. It was all too bizarre.
With its cultivation level, the Snow Mosquito was naturally unable to see the blood thread.
Helpless, Li Yan could only return the Snow Mosquito to the "Earthen Patch."
'It's not like the 'Illusion Poison,' and it doesn't affect the demonic beast's consciousness or actions... Could it be a time-based poison?'
Li Yan suddenly thought of the poison he used to defeat Du Sanjiang, a poison that could only erupt during the Hour of the Rat and the Hour of the Horse, and was useless at any other time.
Next, Li Yan struck a demonic beast with the blood thread and then slowly closed his eyes.
Just like that, it wasn't until the same time the next day that Li Yan opened his eyes.
After twelve shichen (24 hours) had passed, apart from being a little lethargic from constant running, the demonic beast showed no other signs of trouble.
Li Yan then placed the blood thread on another demonic beast and closed his eyes again.
He reasoned that since he already possessed a time-based poison, even if this poison was related to time, it might also involve other factors, like the Five Elements.
So he had to test all kinds of demonic beasts of the five elements. If that was the case, it meant that this poison might have additional damaging effects outside of its time constraint.
At that time, this poison might be able to specifically counter troublesome cultivators like those of the wind or ice attributes.
Another few days passed, and Li Yan still came up with nothing. This time, even with Li Yan's temperament, he couldn't help but feel a headache coming on.
He knew that every time his Fragmented Poison Body separated, the new poison that appeared would cause him a great deal of pain. But actually doing it, he found that his actions and behaviors were becoming somewhat neurotic.
'It doesn't target the soul, isn't triggered by time, has no corrosive properties, doesn't create illusions, can't cause fainting, and doesn't cause pain, itching, or any other sensation. What on earth is this thing for...'
Li Yan looked at the faint, flickering blood thread on his finger and fell into a long silence.
He had now tried every possibility he could think of, but it only made him more confused.
Time slipped away quickly as Li Yan stared. Suddenly, at a certain moment, Li Yan's body trembled slightly, and his gaze, fixed on the blood thread, refocused.
'The Fragmented Poison Body also changes with my realm. Just the fact that it has turned into thirty-two pale green threads this time is a huge difference from before. Could it be... could it be... that activating this poison requires...'
Thinking of this, Li Yan immediately closed his eyes.
In the next moment, a small golden figure, an inch tall, appeared above Li Yan's head. It looked almost identical to Li Yan; it was his Nascent Soul.
The moment Li Yan's Nascent Soul appeared, the small golden figure's eyes flashed, and it raised its hands as if to cast a spell.
Suddenly, the blood thread on Li Yan's finger seemed to come alive on its own. Without any need for Li Yan to cast a spell to activate it, it flashed and disappeared from his fingertip.
The instant the blood thread moved, Li Yan's Nascent Soul felt a heart-palpitating dread from the depths of its Divine Soul. Without a second thought, the Nascent Soul instantly vanished from above his head, returning to his physical body in a flash.
At the same time, a blood thread abruptly appeared above Li Yan's head. It was the same one that had flown from his finger.
Only then did Li Yan's physical body's eyes snap open. He looked up and saw the barely visible blood thread circling above his head, like a jackal or wolf that had lost its prey.
A trace of fear flashed in his eyes. Fortunately, he had a connection with the blood thread, so when the poison first made a move, Li Yan's Nascent Soul sensed that something was wrong.
It was also fortunate that the Nascent Soul had just left the body and was hovering directly above his head, allowing it to re-enter the body in an instant. Otherwise...
'This is a kind of 'Nascent Poison' that can attack Nascent Souls?'
Li Yan calmed himself and immediately recalled a description he had read in an ancient text on poison refining.
After a cultivator reaches the Golden Core realm, they are practically immune to ordinary poisons, unless it's a particularly special poison.
For example, "Pill Poison" was a vicious medicinal pill that even a Qi Condensation cultivator could use to plot against a Golden Core cultivator.
As long as this poison was placed in tea or food, it was almost impossible for a Golden Core cultivator to notice anything wrong. It had no effect on the physical body or meridians, which made it difficult for spiritual power and Divine Sense to detect.
Of course, this wasn't absolute. If a cultivator practiced a special cultivation method, or if the "Pill Poison" used was of insufficient grade, it was still possible to detect the abnormality.
After entering the body, this poison caused no harm to the internal organs, and the cultivator could not immediately detect anything wrong, so they couldn't promptly circulate their cultivation to resist it.
But once the poison reached the Golden Core in the Dantian, it would instantly envelop the Golden Core, simultaneously cutting off the body's magical power and rendering the Golden Core unusable.
This Golden Core cultivator would then lose all their divine abilities and could only be slaughtered at will.
Furthermore, a Golden Core cultivator's soul was hidden within their Golden Core. Once the Golden Core was sealed, the person would have no chance of escape.