In an instant, the lightning-fast attacks of the two cultivators, surnamed Ma and Gao, which had been surging like a crashing tide, suddenly dwindled into a gentle stream trickling through a forest.
This abrupt shift from speed to slowness was so swift that the three members of the Shuang family watching from the side found the scene utterly bizarre, almost comical.
In their eyes, the two cultivators' dragon-swift movements had become strangely distorted. They could even see the slow, deliberate motion as they formed their incantation seals.
Accompanying this was another extreme. As everything slowed down, a light breeze suddenly brushed past them.
This breeze was completely out of place with the sluggishness pervading the space, yet it arose abruptly, blowing past with a silken smoothness…
Then, the cultivator surnamed Ma and the tall, thin, green-robed cultivator watched in horror as four figures suddenly materialized fifty feet away.
It was a young man in black robes and the grey-robed old man's family of three, who were still in a daze.
Only then did they realize their attacks were still descending with meaningless slowness, falling… and falling…
'He… he's definitely a mid-to-high-level cultivator!'
The cultivator surnamed Ma and his companion understood instantly. Only a cultivator at Golden Core or above could accomplish such a feat.
But they couldn't be certain if the other party was Golden Core or some great Nascent Soul cultivator out for a leisurely stroll.
Terror seized their hearts. They paid no mind to the spirit power still flowing from their hands or their ongoing attacks. Their consciousness reacted several times faster than their bodies.
They cried out in alarm.
"Senior, spare…"
"Sen…"
The words had just left their lips when everything returned to tranquility in a flash.
It was all too late. When that gentle breeze had blown past, they were already dead. Li Yan's movements had been so fast that their consciousness lingered for a moment.
Only after Li Yan appeared with the three people did the finality of death arrive. The two still managed to utter their final words.
But as they spoke, their upper bodies slid cleanly off from their shoulders at a slant, leaving only the lower halves of their torsos, with smooth-cut surfaces, suspended briefly in the air.
After a single breath, a splash of red erupted—a gruesome mess of red and green that tumbled to the ground.
Instantly, blood splattered across the ground, which now hosted four severed corpses and several piles of mangled flesh.
As a flicker of light revealed their true forms, Li Yan identified them.
"An Iron-Tail Swift and a Mountain-Severing Demonic Bear!"
Meanwhile, the other three people had yet to recover from their shock. They had felt death so close, the fear seared deep into their hearts.
Everything had been so terrifying. Just as they had fallen into despair, their vision blurred, and all the pressure vanished.
Then they saw the two men, who had been perfectly fine moments ago, speaking as their upper bodies slid grotesquely off their shoulders.
A blinding splash of crimson followed, and the stench of blood assaulted their nostrils.
The three of them were cultivators, accustomed to seeing people kill and be killed, but a death as bizarre as today's was something only the grey-robed old man had witnessed once or twice. The other two were already trembling uncontrollably.
The large-bellied woman, in particular, felt her stomach churn violently. Acid filled her mouth, and bending over, she began to vomit profusely.
Her reaction immediately snapped Shuang Lianzhou back to his senses. He ignored his uncontrollably trembling hands and quickly helped the woman up.
Forcing himself to calm down for five or six breaths, he finally channeled a stream of spirit power into her body.
The grey-robed old man, still immobilized by the talisman on his forehead, could only stand motionless, but his eyes were filled with deep terror.
He had thought of much more. The opponent was at least a Golden Core cultivator. What did that mean? It meant he couldn't protect his secret at all.
The man could use the Soul-Searching Art and obtain all of his secrets. The old man possessed no magical treasure to protect his Sea of Consciousness.
He saw the green-robed young man beside him withdraw his gaze from the ground and look at him, slowly raising a hand.
The grey-robed old man knew that in the next moment, he would suffer the legendary pain of having his soul extracted and refined.
Although he couldn't move his body, he felt his organs tremble as if a frigid winter wind had pierced his very core.
Glancing sorrowfully at the two people beside him, he immediately decided to reveal his secret.
Since he couldn't protect it anyway, perhaps the man would spare his son and daughter-in-law if he spoke up voluntarily.
However, he also knew that he couldn't escape the fate of being soul-searched, whether he lived or died. Even if he revealed his secret, a cultivator's selfish nature would surely demand a soul-search for verification.
"Senior…"
He had just uttered two words when Li Yan moved even faster. The old man felt a coolness on his forehead.
Anxiety flared in his heart like a raging fire, desperate to speak. The man was giving him no chance at all. He wanted to cry out and beg.
But in the next moment, he sensed that something was wrong. The spirit power that had vanished from his body suddenly reappeared.
Although he was extremely weak from the poison and the intense battle, the return of his spirit power instantly gave him the feeling of regaining long-lost strength.
Then, the same faint voice reached him.
"The poison in you should be 'East-Flowing Water.' Use this to dispel it first."
"As for your injuries, they aren't fatal, but they won't heal in a short time."
"I assume you have healing pills. Tend to your wounds later when you have time. After you've dispelled the poison, I have questions for you."
After speaking, Li Yan's figure flickered and descended to the ground first.
In the air, the grey-robed old man saw a faint yellow light shoot toward him. In his dazed state, he subconsciously reached out and caught it.
It felt warm and smooth in his hand. A scan with his Divine Sense revealed a white, bean-sized pill.
Only then did the old man process what the other person had said and come to his senses. Though he didn't understand the man's intentions, his rapid thoughts told him the situation might not be as dire as he had imagined.
Slightly relieved, he opened his mouth and swallowed the pill, then staggered down to the ground.
After a few ragged breaths, he looked down at his abdomen, where a large hole was clearly visible. He managed to take out some medicinal pills and apply them to the wound.
After a simple bandaging, he immediately sat down cross-legged.
If the man had wanted to harm him, he wouldn't have gone to so much trouble. What was there to hesitate about?
The young man in green robes had identified the poison with a single glance and casually produced an antidote, further confirming his identity as a supreme expert.
For someone like him, obtaining the secrets in his heart was all too easy.
The "East-Flowing Water" poison was a fourth-rank, lower-grade poison. It was transparent and odorless, and its use produced only a slight fluctuation of spirit power. A single drop was enough to cause a Foundation Establishment cultivator's magic power to stagnate and slow down.
However, the grey-robed old man had been stuck in the Pseudo-Core Realm for a full forty-three years. Although he still couldn't break through that final shackle, his spirit power had become so pure that it was on the verge of condensation at any moment. The spirit power in his body was exceptionally refined.
And being a teetotaler, even though he had drunk a small cup of wine containing a drop of "East-Flowing Water," he could still circulate his spirit power to cast arts, just not for very long.
After doing all this, Li Yan stood with his hands behind his back, gazing at the distant night sky, silent and unmoving.
He didn't question Shuang Lianzhou and his wife. No one knew what he was thinking, like a stone statue in the dead of night…
An hour later, the grey-robed old man let out a long breath, expelling a plume of turbid, greyish air.
Then he stood up. The dark aura on his face had vanished, but his ashen complexion remained.
On the other side, Shuang Lianzhou had already tended to his own wounds, but he hadn't taken any medicine or meditated to recover. Instead, he had been supporting his wife, standing guard by his father's side with a wary expression.
From time to time, he would sneak a glance at the figure in the night.
Seeing that the man remained silent, he didn't dare to approach, only occasionally whispering words of comfort to his terrified and bewildered wife.
"Thank you, Senior, for saving our lives! Might I ask for Senior's great name? This Shuang will surely erect a longevity tablet for you at home and worship it daily!"
The grey-robed old man who had stood up immediately kowtowed. Shuang Lianzhou and his wife, being clever, followed suit, kowtowing toward the dark figure.
The old man was wily with age. This move of his was nothing short of masterful.
Regardless of the other party's true intentions, he first placed the hat of a benefactor on him, preemptively gaining his favor.
Li Yan, who had been staring into the night sky, finally moved slightly and slowly turned around. His pair of pitch-black eyes calmly gazed at the three of them.
He didn't use any spirit power or pressuring aura, but the three people in front of him felt as if two bolts of lightning had struck them, sending an involuntary shiver through their bodies.
Li Yan was noncommittal about the old man's words.
"Of the three of you, only she is of the Human Clan, correct?"
Li Yan's question stunned the three people. For a moment, none of them reacted.
'Shouldn't he be asking about the 'Divine Puppet Art' he mentioned before? What… what does this mean…'
The grey-robed old man was equally astonished, but he was the first to react. A flicker of joy appeared in his heart as he seemed to guess something.
"Senior's discerning eye is like a torch. Ming Ling is indeed a pure-blooded human. My son and I are of the Duye Clan."
"The Duye Clan? That doesn't sound like a demonic beast clan."
Li Yan could see that the young woman was human, but he had never heard of the Duye Clan she mentioned.
Among the demonic beast clans Li Yan knew of, he didn't recall this clan ever being mentioned.
"Reporting to Senior, the Duye Clan is a branch of the Spirit Plant Clan on the Forsaken Continent. Our branch is sparsely populated."
"Only some very ancient races of the Forsaken Continent might know of us. Therefore, it is quite possible that Senior has not heard of us!" the grey-robed old man answered respectfully.
Li Yan finally understood.
"Oh, so it's a rare Spirit Plant race!"
Spirit Plant races were exceedingly rare on both the Desolate Moon Continent and the Forsaken Continent. Their earliest ancestors were all ordinary plants that had not yet awakened their spiritual intelligence.
Achieving a humanoid form was a hundred times more difficult for them than for Demonic or Beastial races. Their physical bodies were immobile, forced to remain deeply rooted in one place.
Only by the grace of the heavens could they, by some fortunate coincidence, grow in a place rich with spiritual or demonic qi.
It would then take countless years, enduring the trials of wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, year after year.
Only then could a sliver of spiritual intelligence be born, after which they would learn to actively absorb the essence of heaven and earth, until they could finally take on a walking form.
Therefore, Spirit Plant races had never been numerous. Li Yan's time on the Forsaken Continent had been short, so it was reasonable that he didn't know about the Duye Clan.
However, Li Yan knew that not all places in the Mortal Realm had such scarce Spirit Plant races. On the Verdant Continent, it was the complete opposite.
It was said that the Verdant Continent was dominated by Spirit Plant races, followed by the Elf Clan and other demonic beast races.
"Well then, tell me why you were being pursued by those two."
Li Yan suddenly changed the subject again, his eyes glancing at the four severed corpses not far away.
His erratic line of questioning made the three people, who had just begun to relax, tense up once more.
'His main goal is still the 'Divine Puppet Art'! This…'