Watching Huchen Wuding's departing streak of light grow more and more distant, Li Yan did not leave immediately. Instead, he sat down cross-legged on the mountaintop.
He then closed his eyes, and it was not until half a cup of tea's time had passed that he reopened them.
"The Ghost Realm Poison Scroll is truly remarkable. Although I only got a few hints from his words, it has already shown me some more incisive methods of using poison."
"At the same time, there is also the method of fusing poisons of different attributes. This can be considered a small gain. However, these are just rough memories for now, and will need to be tested one by one in the future."
Seeking out Huchen Wuding was partly for old times' sake, but Li Yan also wanted to truly discuss the art of poison cultivation with him.
The stone of another mountain can be used to polish jade, but an ordinary poison cultivator would not even enter Li Yan's eyes. And a skilled poison cultivator would not tell Li Yan about their own cultivation method.
Huchen Wuding, whether out of gratitude to Li Yan or wanting to curry favor with this great backer, often said things that would make Li Yan's eyes light up.
Li Yan guessed that these might be some methods of using the Ghost Realm Poison Scroll, but certainly not the core of the cultivation method. Huchen Wuding would never reveal those things no matter what.
After all, that was related to the foundation of a family. No matter how much Huchen Wuding wanted to climb the social ladder, he still had his own bottom line.
Therefore, Li Yan also returned the favor by pointing out some shortcuts in Huchen Wuding's cultivation method.
Li Yan had always been like this. He would not casually teach a man to fish, but he would also not let others suffer a loss...
...
Lord Lao Peak—in a courtyard of the Junlin Pavilion, in a wing room, a young man with a slightly pale face sat at a table, bored out of his mind.
On the table were actually several secular delicacies like five-spice peanuts and braised chicken feet, which smelled quite fragrant.
At this moment, the young man was leaning back in his chair, lifting a jar of wine to his mouth and pouring it in like a great whale drinking water.
After drinking for more than ten breaths in one go, he finally placed the wine jar heavily on the table. After a long burp, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.
He scanned the outside with his Divine Sense and found that the other people in this courtyard had not yet returned. He shook his head slightly and picked up a chicken claw to gnaw on.
"This is really so boring. Tomorrow, after I see that person, if I can say a word, I'll say a word. If there's no chance to talk, so be it. I've come, so he can't find fault with me in the future!"
He muttered to himself. The people he had followed had all gone to some trade fair, while he did not dare to be too conspicuous. He could only find an excuse to stay here, bored and alone.
And just as he had torn off a chicken toe and was about to chew it, a voice suddenly sounded in his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Bu Luo, you're in a fine mood. I wonder if you could come out for a chat?"
"Who?"
The pale-faced young man was startled and jumped up from his chair. He was still holding the oily chicken claw with a bite taken out of it, his eyes vigilantly scanning his surroundings.
But in the next moment, he seemed to remember this voice, and that voice sounded in his mind again.
"Hehehe, Fellow Daoist, you seem to have a guilty conscience. I am at..."
...
Li Yan sat cross-legged on the same mountaintop, a smile playing on his lips.
When he sensed Bu Luo's aura and saw him drinking alone, he had thought of going over to share a cup. But in the end, he had regrettably given up the idea because of the several Nascent Souls on Lord Lao Peak.
Although he felt that his concealed aura would not be discovered, he did not dare to speculate about Buddhist divine abilities. The secret arts of Buddhism like the Heavenly Eye Power and Heavenly Ear Power were also very powerful.
Not long after, another extremely faint streak of light approached from a distance and soon landed on the same mountaintop where Li Yan was.
"Fellow Daoist Bu Luo, after all these years, you've changed your skin!"
Li Yan turned his head slightly and saw the pale-faced youth who had retracted his escape light. He immediately joked.
"It really is you. I thought Little Bamboo Peak had produced another Li Yan. You really didn't die!"
As soon as the pale-faced youth landed, he heard Li Yan's teasing. He couldn't help but curl his lip and actually said these words directly, without a trace of respect for a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Li Yan, however, laughed heartily.
"Hahaha... after so many years, you still don't know how to get along with people. Didn't Young Master Zuo teach you to temper yourself well? It seems he wasted his breath on you!"
Li Yan also felt joyful in his heart. This Bu Luo was still the same. It seemed that in his memory, this person had never known what fear was.
But this, in turn, made Li Yan feel relieved. He had never liked so-called seniority. Someone like Huchen Wuding was too bogged down by etiquette, and he couldn't correct him.
"The Young Master taught me to be cautious in making friends. The martial world is extremely treacherous. I see that is indeed the case!"
Bu Luo walked a few steps to Li Yan and also sat down on the ground with a plop.
Li Yan smiled at his words.
"Everyone else is out trading or meeting friends. Why are you hiding in your room alone? With your appearance, aren't you with the Zuo family of Shengzhou? But with the Zuo family's reputation, they would certainly be on the invitation list this time!"
Li Yan had actually already roughly guessed Bu Luo's methods, but he still asked. Just now, when he had sent the voice transmission, Bu Luo had jumped up in his room.
"The Zuo family of Shengzhou? I wouldn't go looking for them. The Young Master has long since left. I'm just a book-boy, and I'm not related to them by blood."
"This time, they've brought all their closest disciples. You want me to go and ask for that trouble?"
"Then, Fellow Daoist Bu Luo, whose identity did you steal?"
"Easy. Just a sect under your Malevolent Spirit Sect's jurisdiction. Their sect master, an initial-stage Golden Core, led a group of disciples, swaggering all the way. I just found one in a city and knocked him out."
"But you can rest assured, I didn't kill him. I just put him in a spirit-storing pouch. I was planning to let him out after seeing you tomorrow, but I didn't expect you to come looking for me."
As Bu Luo spoke, he looked Li Yan up and down. No matter how he sensed, he couldn't sense a trace of magical power from Li Yan. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
'I've followed the Young Master's instructions, desperately taking pills and cultivating. I finally reached the late-stage Golden Core not long ago. But why is the gap between me and this guy so big?'
Li Yan was actually also sizing up Bu Luo. Although the other party's cultivation had reached the late-stage Golden Core, he could only be considered a strong one among Golden Core cultivators.
What interested him was that he was very familiar with Bu Luo. He had just sensed his aura, but he couldn't see through the illusion of Bu Luo's appearance. This was strange.
Li Yan was already a Nascent Soul cultivator, and his Divine Sense was far superior to his peers. How could there be such a strange thing?
"Your illusion art is truly exquisite. Even I can't see through it. No wonder you could deceive the people of that sect, and even pass through the illusion check of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's grand formation to enter safely!"
After Bu Luo saw Li Yan in person and confirmed that he was the Li Yan he knew, he thought about the gap in their cultivation and felt a sense of loss in his heart.
When he heard Li Yan's words, a proud smile immediately appeared on his pale green face. He had been holding it in for days.
Although his method of substitution had not been seen through, he still did not dare to have too much contact with the people of that sect, mainly because he was afraid that if he talked too much, he would inadvertently reveal himself.
"Hehehe, I thought you had really seen through me. So even a Nascent Soul cultivator like you can't see through my... my disguise art!"
He had originally wanted to say "this young master" out of habit, but he managed to stop himself. He had a casual personality, but he wasn't really stupid. He knew that some things couldn't be said carelessly.
This time, Li Yan heard him clearly.
"Oh, this is a disguise art, not an illusion art? I've seen many disguise arts, but one so brilliant that even Divine Sense can't see through it, this is truly the first time!"
Li Yan caught the two words in the other's speech and immediately understood.
It wasn't that he didn't know about disguise arts. Especially since he had trained in the martial world for a few years, these were common methods used by people in the secular world.
But Li Yan found those methods to be very ordinary, and he could see through them at a glance. After hearing Bu Luo's words, Li Yan became interested. Bu Luo's disguise art had actually reached the point of being indistinguishable from the real thing.
"Oh! It seems you're very interested in this. The Young Master and I researched this for a long time before we came up with it. It's really hard to find a similar method in this world."
"I'll give you some things in a moment and teach you how to use them, then you'll be able to do it too."
Then, a hehehe laugh came from Bu Luo's mouth.
He said this very directly, as if someone had seen through another's intentions and had to point it out.
But coming from his mouth, it seemed so natural.
Li Yan also smiled and nodded. He was really interested in this thing.
"Then I'll thank Fellow Daoist Bu Luo in advance. So this thing was jointly researched by you and Fellow Daoist Zuo. No wonder it's so miraculous."
"My Young Master's alchemy skills are not the best in this world, but his understanding of medicinal pills, I have yet to see anyone who can surpass him."
When Bu Luo heard Li Yan praise him and Zuo Qiudan, he immediately became happy. In this world, his only relative was Zuo Qiudan. Unfortunately, there had been no news of him for over a hundred years.
The reason he was close to Li Yan was also because he had followed Zuo Qiudan's advice back then.
"This is a bottle of 'Verisimilitude Pills'..."
Bu Luo did as he said, without any hesitation. A light flashed in his hand, and a green jade bottle appeared.
"Oh, so this thing is called 'Verisimilitude Pill.' It really lives up to its name."
Li Yan nodded. He couldn't even tell if Bu Luo's appearance was real or fake. This "Verisimilitude Pill" was no empty boast.
Bu Luo, however, opened the bottle stopper as he spoke and casually poured out a gray pill.
The pill was about the size of a small fingernail. Its surface had no spiritual energy fluctuations, and its appearance was dull and lusterless, colorless and odorless.
"Just dissolve it in water and apply it to your cheeks. After fifty breaths, you can freely pull and stretch the skin of your face."
"And the bones under the skin will also be somewhat soft at that time, and can also be slightly squeezed and adjusted."
"Then, you adjust it bit by bit according to the appearance you need. After the adjustment is complete, apply this bottle of medicinal pills again, and you can fix that appearance."
As he spoke, he flipped his palm again, and another yellow jade bottle appeared in his hand. He also poured out a waxy yellow pill and explained.
"That is to say, the 'Verisimilitude Pill' is actually composed of two kinds of pills, and neither can be missing!"
Li Yan immediately understood the usage of the "Verisimilitude Pill."
'After dissolving the pill from one bottle and applying it, you can freely adjust your facial features. Not only does it allow the skin to deform at will, but even the bones under the skin can be slightly adjusted.'
'The other bottle is the pill to fix the appearance again in the end, which should re-solidify the skin and bones...'
Li Yan thought to himself.
'No wonder restrictions and Divine Sense can't see through it. This is simply a shift of one's own skin and bones, and has nothing to do with illusion arts. It would be strange if it could be seen through with Divine Sense!'
Only then did Li Yan understand why he couldn't see through it. In fact, for a cultivator to change their appearance, besides using illusion arts to transform, they could also use magical power to change the shape of their muscles and bones.
But in that case, they would have to constantly maintain it with magical power, and the traces of the magical power's operation could still be detected by some formations or cultivators with their Divine Sense.
"Here, these two bottles are for you!"
As Bu Luo spoke, he pushed the two jade bottles over through the air.
If an outsider saw this, they would really think this Bu Luo was a fool. In just a few sentences, he had given such a strange treasure to someone else. He was really easy to talk to, or rather, easy to deceive.
But if anyone really thought so, they would probably think that the real fool was themselves when they were dying.
Apart from Zuo Qiudan, the only friend Bu Luo could trust in this world was Li Yan.
And he did indeed treat Li Yan as a friend. So even though Li Yan's cultivation realm was many times higher than his, he still felt that Li Yan was the same Li Yan from back then.