Li Yan quickly shifted his gaze to Gan Shi. "Senior Brother Gan, I don't know if you've encountered a powerful enemy or the inconceivable alliance of several sects. My team, with Senior Sister Gong, ran into a joint attack by the Supreme Mystery Teachings and the Ten-Pace Courtyard. We were lucky enough to defeat them and also discovered some secrets. Therefore, Senior Sister Gong ordered me to come and inform you and Senior Brother Baili." Li Yan knew this was no place for a long chat, so he quickly got to the point. He believed that if Gan Shi's group had also encountered the joint attack, they would understand his words. Otherwise, he would have to waste more breath explaining.
"Oh? You encountered a joint attack by the Supreme Mystery Teachings and the Ten-Pace Courtyard? What was the outcome of the battle? And how were you able to come here?" A glimmer of light flashed in Gan Shi's eyes, but he remained vigilant, his gaze fixed on Li Yan.
Li Yan glanced at the whirling snow pillars attacking them relentlessly. Gan Shi was on guard against him while also struggling to maintain his defensive formations, his face growing paler by the second. After Li Yan spoke, Gan Shi was still looking at him with utter vigilance, which prompted a bitter smile from Li Yan.
"Senior Brother Gan, I know my appearance is highly unorthodox. As I said before, Senior Sister Gong and I also discovered some secrets about the three sects' alliance. Since that's the case, allow me to explain briefly." After speaking, he actually turned and walked forward, putting some distance between himself and Gan Shi's group. As he flew, he circulated the spiritual power of the True Scripture of Gui Water and struck at the blood-red infant faces to the side, taking a considerable burden off Gan Shi. Seeing this, the sharp glint in Gan Shi's eyes softened slightly.
While attacking, Li Yan quickly sent a Divine Sense transmission to Gan Shi. Li Yan knew that Gan Shi couldn't comprehend his bizarre appearance, so he took the initiative to distance himself while also helping them fend off the surrounding attacks. Although he wasn't a Foundation Establishment cultivator, his condition was several times better than the few behind Gan Shi. His magical power was abundant, comparable to a tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivator's attack. Under these circumstances, he had already lightened Gan Shi's burden considerably.
A Divine Sense transmission was dozens of times faster than speaking. He didn't want to waste any more time.
He saw that Gan Shi was still clutching the Aged Vigor Pill. If he just swallowed it, then Li Yan's trip would have been for nothing. Gan Shi would recover for a short time, but once the pill's effects wore off, without a certain period of recovery, he would be so weak that even a fifth or sixth-level Qi Condensation cultivator could easily kill him.
"Senior Brother Gan, don't take that Aged Vigor Pill just yet. After I'm done explaining, if you believe me, we can figure out the next step. If you don't, you can still take it then. It won't be too late."
Li Yan sent this transmission to Gan Shi. If Gan Shi believed him, then everything would be fine. If he truly didn't believe him, then Li Yan would just pack up and leave immediately to find Baili Yuan. He didn't want to be dragged to his death by someone who couldn't keep a cool head.
A cold light flickered in Gan Shi's eyes. He wasn't moved by Li Yan's transmission. Ever since the last trial, everything here had been strange. He had to be on his guard. But seeing Li Yan stop approaching and instead actively move away to help them fend off the surrounding attacks, he relaxed slightly, though he remained highly alert. He continued to drag his injured leg forward, still clutching the Aged Vigor Pill. If anything went wrong, he would swallow it immediately.
The four people behind him had no idea what the two of them were communicating via transmission. They only saw the suddenly-arrived Little Martial Uncle walk forward on his own, so they could only follow with hesitation on their faces.
After creating a distance of several dozen meters, Li Yan began to barely hold off the attacks continuously emerging from both sides ahead of him, while rapidly transmitting the details of his group's situation. As Li Yan's rapid transmission continued, Gan Shi's expression grew more and more solemn, but the cold glint in his eyes slowly softened. Finally, the hostility in his gaze toward Li Yan faded considerably. He sent a transmission back, asking, "So, you're saying those three sects used this blue rhomboid crystal to plot against us? No wonder the last trial was so strange."
"Senior Brother Gan, if we hadn't entered early to set up formations and various poisons, we would have likely ended up in the same situation as you," Li Yan transmitted back. During their exchange, he had also learned about what Gan Shi's group had gone through in the previous trial, and he felt a sense of shared experience and lingering fear. If Gong Chenying hadn't changed their tactics at the last minute, it was highly likely that Li Yan's entire group would have been ambushed and killed.
"You said you can come and go freely through the passages because of this blue rhomboid crystal in your hand. Then why did you come alone?" Gan Shi asked slowly, looking at Li Yan up ahead. At this point, although he wasn't fully convinced, he was halfway there. After all, given their current state, even if Li Yan was an illusion created by the restrictions, the worst that could happen was that they would die in this trial a little sooner. They were definitely not going to make it through the next one. The best outcome was to barely reach the ten-li mark of this trial and take a few more opponents down with them. Moreover, he had never read anything in the sect's records about the Wheel of Life and Death that mentioned restrictions attacking other restrictions. And right now, Li Yan was helping them block a significant number of the surrounding restrictive attacks. With his perception, he knew this was really happening.
"One blue rhomboid crystal can only be used by one person. This one I have was taken from the Supreme Mystery Teachings," Li Yan said, panting heavily. His transmission was gradually turning cold. Then he turned his head and stared at Gan Shi.
Gan Shi wanted to continue confirming things, but he saw Li Yan suddenly turn and stare at him, his gaze growing cold. He also noticed that the blue rhomboid crystal in Li Yan's hand began to emit a green glow, which gave him the feeling that Li Yan was about to leave. He couldn't help but smile bitterly. 'It seems this Junior Brother Li has lost his patience.' After some thought, he made a decisive choice and lightly cupped his hands. "Junior Brother Li, my apologies for my earlier offense."
Li Yan was already growing impatient. He didn't want to waste any more words here. If Gan Shi was still half-believing and half-doubting, he would leave immediately and go find Baili Yuan. If Baili Yuan believed him, he would try to figure something out. If he was met with the same reaction, he would go back to find Gong Chenying as quickly as possible. He was starting to have a bad feeling that Gong Chenying's team might run into immense trouble. Although he had used the band of light to inflict heavy casualties on that demonic beast team in the last trial, he still felt that something was about to happen.
Seeing the two of them exchange transmissions nonstop, and then seeing the newly appeared Little Martial Uncle suddenly turn around with an impatient look on his face, followed by Senior Brother Gan cupping his hands in apology, the few people behind Gan Shi couldn't help but sigh in relief. This abruptly appearing Little Martial Uncle had a considerable psychological effect on them. Although Li Yan's magical power was only at the Qi Condensation Realm, his mysterious appearance gave them a sense of hope for survival.
"Senior Brother Gan, in your current state, even if you make it to the ten-li mark, you'll likely be completely exhausted. If you run into another situation, you'll have no strength left to fight," Li Yan said, glancing at Gan Shi and his group, his eyes then settling on the pill in Gan Shi's hand.
Gan Shi gave a bitter laugh at his words. "Junior Brother Li, I have eight heavily injured disciples in my Spirit-Storing Pouch right now. We've used almost all of our medicinal pills on them; otherwise, we might only have four or five people left. In the last trial, because we were locked in a stalemate, the enemy destroyed most of their Storage Pouches before they died, so we couldn't replenish our supply of healing pills. We have very few pills left. If I take the Aged Vigor Pill and get you all to the ten-li mark, will you have a way to get them out of here, Junior Brother Li?" Gan Shi said helplessly, looking at the gray pill in his hand. His leg injury was also being suppressed with spiritual power due to the lack of pills.
"Heh heh, perhaps some of the pills I have might be of use." With that, Li Yan slapped his waist, and with a flash of light, seven or eight medicine bottles flew toward Gan Shi. He had collected dozens of Storage Pouches in the third trial alone. Although they belonged to Qi Condensation cultivators, the three sects had spared no expense to deal with the Malevolent Spirit Sect, so there were quite a few medicinal pills, spirit artifacts, and spirit treasures inside. The Storage Pouches themselves were not large, and Li Yan had tied a dense circle of them around his waist. He hadn't handed them over to Gong Chenying when he came out. On his way here, Li Yan had already roughly sorted their contents. The medicinal pills filled four entire Storage Pouches. He recognized a small portion of the pills; over the past few years in the Malevolent Spirit Sect, he had spent a lot of time studying texts on medicinal pills and poisons.
Seeing the seven or eight medicine bottles fly over, Gan Shi managed to cast several formation restrictions to temporarily block the external attacks. With his other hand, he quickly levitated the bottles in front of him.
Then, with a wave of his hand, a cork popped off a bottle. He slowly probed it with his Divine Sense. A moment later, his face showed no particular surprise. He continued to inspect them one by one with his Divine Sense. When he got to the last two porcelain bottles, a trace of joy finally flashed across his face.
"This is the Ten-Pace Courtyard's 'Soaring Qi Pill', and the Supreme Mystery Teachings' 'Three-Revolutions Golden Body'. These are comparable to some of our sect's mid-grade pills. With this Soaring Qi Pill, after I take it and briefly assimilate it, I might just be able to hold on until the ten-li mark, and then we can figure things out from there."
Li Yan smiled faintly. The pills he took out were, of course, for emergency use. It wasn't that their Malevolent Spirit Sect didn't have good pills; not only did they have them, but their effects were even better. It was just that each person wasn't allotted very many, unlike him, who had plundered them from numerous disciples of two different sects.
He had specifically chosen the Soaring Qi Pill and the Three-Revolutions Golden Body—one for internal use, one for external application—with Gan Shi in mind. As for the other pills, they could temporarily alleviate the condition of the others behind him.
The Soaring Qi Pill was a relatively precious pill for the Sword Cultivators of the Ten-Pace Courtyard. It was specially designed for their fast attack speed and high spiritual power consumption, as it could rapidly replenish the spiritual energy in the body with very few side effects.
The Three-Revolutions Golden Body was a simplified version of the Supreme Mystery Teachings' "Nine-Revolutions Golden Body Pill". Even Nascent Soul Old Monsters coveted the Nine-Revolutions Golden Body Pill. Apart from being unable to regenerate things like severed limbs, the Three-Revolutions Golden Body was extremely effective on other external wounds.
The Malevolent Spirit Sect's pills, on the other hand, focused on killing or on balancing the distribution of medicinal power to maximize its effects. If not for that, there would probably only be one or two survivors in Gan Shi's Spirit-Storing Pouch.
Gan Shi was overjoyed. He never thought this Junior Brother Li would be so generous. This was a solution to their urgent problem. So he waved his hand, and five or six pills from different porcelain bottles flew toward the four people behind him. "You lot, recover some of your injuries and strength for now. We'll treat you properly after we get past these last three li."
With that, he tipped out three golden pills and swallowed them. The moment these three pills left the bottle, a sharp intent filled the air, as if sword qi was dancing about. After Gan Shi swallowed them, a layer of golden light washed over his face, and his aura began to climb at a visible rate. Two breaths later, he opened his eyes, a sharp glint flashing within them.
"Haha, this really is good stuff for replenishing spiritual energy. It seems my Malevolent Spirit Sect will have to refine more of these pills." Then he reached out and grabbed a porcelain bottle from the air. He tilted it, and a viscous, golden-green liquid slowly dripped onto the mangled flesh of his leg. The moment a few drops touched the wound, a faint golden halo rippled out, spreading a cool sensation.
Gan Shi felt a coolness in his leg, and the pain immediately began to subside. Soon, a numb, itchy sensation arose. The flesh of the wound squirmed as it regenerated at a visible rate. He clicked his tongue and muttered, "The effect is decent, but it's much worse than our sect's 'Ghost-Soothing Balm'. If I hadn't used all my bottles of Ghost-Soothing Balm on those little rascals, this injury would have healed long ago."