From start to finish, Li Yan had been keeping a close watch on the group. After the few Qi Condensation disciples swallowed the pills Gan Shi had tossed them, their auras had already begun to strengthen.
'So these are the medicinal pills of immortals. And these are merely mid- to low-grade pills, yet they have such an effect. Cultivation, cultivation.' Watching them, a sense of helplessness suddenly rose in Li Yan's heart. He thought of his third brother and his parents back home.
'Back then, Third Brother's ankle was just injured by a farm tool, yet it left him with a lifelong disability. If he had just one medicinal pill, even the lowest-grade healing pill, he would be walking as nimbly as if he were flying. And my parents, with all the hidden ailments from years of hard labor, would only need a single low-grade pill to be as hale as they were in their prime.'
He thought this to himself, his mind momentarily drifting.
"Junior Brother Li, let's get going then. We'll figure everything else out once we reach the ten-li mark." A gruff voice interrupted Li Yan's thoughts. He snapped back to reality with a bitter smile in his heart. 'I need to raise my cultivation as soon as possible. It's time to make a trip back home.'
Looking at the others, whose auras had grown considerably stronger, Li Yan nodded in agreement. He once again charged ahead to clear the path. He knew that while they looked like they were recovering, it was only superficial. No matter how good a pill was, it still needed to be refined through meditation. Forcing the refinement with spiritual power as they were doing wasted the vast majority of the medicinal efficacy; they could only absorb about thirty percent of it. He still had to take on the task of opening the way. Fortunately, they were already approaching the seven-li mark, so the rest of the journey should be safe.
"Senior Brother Rui, this Martial Uncle from Little Bamboo Peak seems to only be at the eighth level of Qi Condensation, but judging by his attacks, he's no weaker than a tenth-level cultivator." As they traveled, the four at the rear recovered some of their stamina. Even the two heavily injured disciples had improved their auras somewhat. This allowed the stocky man from Lord Lao Peak and the petite girl from Four Symbols Peak to free up a hand and occasionally assist in the attacks. For a time, their pace quickened.
The petite girl asked the stocky man in a low voice, "Junior Sister Dai, I actually have some impression of this Martial Uncle from Little Bamboo Peak. He defeated Senior Brother Lu Qiutong from my peak in the great competition. His skill was truly impressive. To this day, none of us know if he truly possesses a poison that devours one's Divine Sense." After being reminded by Zhu Gaotai, the stocky man from Lord Lao Peak, addressed as "Senior Brother Rui," seemed to recall something.
"Oh, so he's the one who defeated Martial Uncle Du from my Four Symbols Peak?" Hearing this, the petite girl with the surname Dai couldn't help but show a change in expression. She glanced again at Li Yan up ahead and then muttered, "He only looks to be at the eighth level of Qi Condensation. How could he have defeated Martial Uncle Du?"
"I heard it's likely because he possesses the Fragmented Poison Body," a faint voice interjected. It was Zhu Gaotai. He was staring at the figure's back up ahead as he spoke slowly. He had paid attention to this mysterious Little Martial Uncle during the sect competition. Although the sect had not deliberately hidden the matter, they hadn't publicized it either, but he had still managed to find out some things about Li Yan.
Hearing this, shock appeared in their eyes. They couldn't believe the person before them possessed the legendary Fragmented Poison Body, the strangest of the three great poison bodies. The way they looked at Li Yan began to change.
A quarter of an hour later, Li Yan, drenched in sweat, arrived at the ten-li mark with Gan Shi and the others. Ahead was a sheer cliff, and in the middle of the snowy path stood a giant yellow sphere.
Along the way, Gan Shi's power was astonishing. It was incredible that even with such severe injuries, he still withstood the vast majority of the attacks. Li Yan, for his part, handled the attacks from one of the front flanks, which greatly increased their speed.
Similarly, Li Yan's performance also surprised Gan Shi. Although it was only a small portion of the attacks, Li Yan had single-handedly held off every single one that came his way, not letting a single attack get past him to the rear. His defense was so tight it was amazing. One had to know that previously, when they had a full team, several cultivators would defend a single direction together, and there would still be occasional breaches. Of course, this might have been related to their lack of coordination, as they had only formed their team before entering the Wheel of Life and Death. But it was still enough to show Li Yan's extraordinary ability.
'I heard this person only joined the sect about five years ago, yet his magical power is already that of a tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivator. Truly impressive,' Gan Shi thought to himself.
"Senior Brother Gan, you should all heal and recover first." Li Yan glanced behind him. He saw that although the massive dark shadow in the sky was pressing closer, they still had at least a quarter of an hour before it reached them. He had consumed a lot of magical power on the last stretch of the journey, but this was not the time for him to rest.
Gan Shi glanced at Li Yan standing before him. Recovery was indeed their most pressing need right now. Without another word, he took out several porcelain bottles, looked them over one by one, and then took out eight pills and several kinds of medicinal liquids, distributing them among the four behind him. As for the eight people in the Spirit-Storing Pouch, he paid them no mind. They had already used up almost all of their pills and were basically saved, but it would take a long time for them to recover fully. Although two of the four here were also heavily injured, their condition was much better than the eight in the pouch. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been left outside. With some recovery, although they couldn't help much, they could at least walk.
Then, Gan Shi also took out a few pills, swallowed them, and immediately sat down cross-legged. The pills he had taken before were forcefully refined, and much of the medicinal power had dissipated without being absorbed. Now that he had time, he naturally had to focus on recovering. But just as he sat down, a voice reached his ear. "Senior Brother, I'll be right back."
Amidst the astonished expressions of Gan Shi and the others, they saw Li Yan, holding the blue rhomboid crystal, vanish in a great flash of green light. Although Gan Shi already knew how Li Yan disappeared, seeing it happen before his eyes still filled him with a sense of disbelief. The few behind him were even more bewildered.
"Alright, hurry up and recover."
Gan Shi didn't turn his head, his voice drifting out faintly. The few behind him exchanged glances, then suppressed their questions and forced themselves to calm down and recover.
Li Yan stood in the multicolored space, watching another white band of light that was about to move in front of him. Without stopping, he flew directly toward it.
'White. Heh heh, to think it's the Ten-Pace Courtyard again. I just don't know which of their teams it is. But their speed is a bit slow; the light band is only just now approaching us.'
After landing on the white band of light, he quickly immersed his Divine Sense into the crystal's core. In his Divine Sense, the first nine gates were already dark, and the tenth gate was slowly dimming.
'They're about to clear the trial too.' Seeing this, Li Yan firmly locked his Divine Sense onto the tenth semicircular archway, and with a great flare of green light from his hand, he charged toward the tenth gate.
Inside the passage of the white light band, there was a sea of flowers. A small path wound its way forward through the flowers, but it seemed as if it would never reach the end of this floral sea. The flowers were in full bloom, in a myriad of forms. A gentle breeze carried their fragrance, and in the blue sky, a few white clouds drifted slowly. From time to time, the chirping of birds could be heard as they darted across the sky above the flowers. This should have been a beautiful and desirable place, but at this moment, on a small path in the sea of flowers, a bloody storm was raging.
Miao Zhengyi's face was dark. He carried a massive Sword Case on his back. He was one of the most powerful Outer Sword Foundation Establishment cultivators in the Ten-Pace Courtyard. His Sword Case held a total of three hundred and sixty Spirit Swords. Once arranged into the Earth Fiend Sword Formation, its power was unpredictable and god-like. At this moment, one hundred and seventy of his flying swords had been transformed into a vast rain of swords, flying in all directions, cutting a swath of destruction through the surrounding sea of flowers. With each slash, the faces that the flowers transformed into—some terrified, some cold, some vicious, some frightened—would be cut down. The flowers let out a chaotic mix of male and female voices, some screaming, some roaring. The flower stalks constantly shot out a volley of sharp thorns and leaves, like a dense rain of arrows.
Looking at the disciples behind him, whose expressions had become somewhat dazed as they walked, Miao Zhengyi couldn't help but let out a long cry. The disciples, who had been somewhat listless, became much more alert and once again summoned their spirit artifacts and spirit treasures to attack their surroundings.
He had to let out such a long cry every dozen breaths or so. This trial was very strange. In this boundless sea of flowers, besides being careful of every flower and plant along the road, one had to be even more careful of the fragrance emanating from the flowers. It made one's eyelids heavy and feel drowsy. So, for this entire trial, he had basically relied on his own strength to forge a path, making their progress extremely slow.
'What bad luck this time. In three trials, I haven't encountered a single person from the Supreme Mystery Teachings or the Pure Land Sect. And the difficulty of these trials is getting harder and harder. What is going on?' Miao Zhengyi thought, wearily fending off attacks from all directions. Since entering the Wheel of Life and Death, he had been hoping to meet the other two sects to carry out their plan, but he had never succeeded. What he understood even less was that since the third trial, the difficulty had been increasing, and the death toll had risen sharply. Now, only six people were left behind him. They had already lost seven people on the path of this trial alone, which filled his heart with grief and indignation.
'Malevolent Spirit Sect, Malevolent Spirit Sect, if I meet you in this trial, I will slaughter all of you. Even without the help of the other two sects, you will still die.' Miao Zhengyi thought hatefully as he looked at the corner of a yellow sphere, faintly visible in the sea of flowers ahead.
At the same time, three hundred meters in front of him, before the giant yellow sphere, a figure flashed and disappeared, all in less than a single breath.
Meanwhile, within the core of the Wheel of Life and Death, that aged voice was muttering to itself, "A group of people who are not from the Five Immortal Sects still want to use the power of the Five Elements. The difficulty of clearing the trials will only get higher and higher. Heh heh, you will encounter even greater difficulty in the final trial that follows."
Li Yan quickly flew out from the white band of light. 'It was just one team of Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivators. That Sword Cultivator is terrifying. The moment I re-entered the gate of light, he locked onto me. Sword Cultivators are truly difficult to deal with.'
Inside the white light band, Miao Zhengyi suddenly stopped, his eyes fixed on a spot a few hundred meters away, next to the yellow sphere. 'It definitely wasn't an illusion. It appeared in front of us. Could it be another unknown element added to the trial?'
Thinking of this, Miao Zhengyi couldn't help but slow down. The few people behind him also gradually slowed their pace, looking at their Martial Uncle with some confusion. However, no one asked. Their heads were throbbing, and after several trials, they were physically and mentally exhausted. They just wanted to rest immediately.
"For these last few hundred meters, you must all be on high alert. Something might happen," Miao Zhengyi warned, his voice laced with magical power, which once again jolted the disciples behind him. For the next three hundred meters or so, they walked for a full quarter of an hour. They reached the giant yellow sphere without any of the strange attacks they had anticipated.
This made Miao Zhengyi feel a faint sense of unease, even as he was puzzled. He absolutely trusted his Divine Sense, especially since the distance was only a few hundred meters. He just didn't know what was wrong.