Chapter 1345: A Ferocious Beast Uncaged

In these decades, while Li Yan’s Sea of Consciousness had only slightly stabilized, his Nascent Soul likely remained dormant. He had only the faintest connection to it and was completely unable to probe its specific condition with his Divine Sense. Fortunately, that sliver of connection had persisted, and his condition had not worsened, which brought Li Yan a small measure of peace.

Through these years of cultivation, Li Yan’s other injuries had healed under the nourishment of his magical power. He felt that his magical power had recovered by at least half. The inability to fully restore all his magical power was likely related to his Nascent Soul.

On this day, as Li Yan was in the midst of his arduous cultivation, he suddenly felt the cave residence restriction token at his waist begin to vibrate with increasing intensity. Li Yan frowned in his meditative state. He slowly opened his eyes, lowered his head, and saw the token at his waist erupting with blinding bursts of red light, growing ever brighter.

“This is…”

Li Yan was momentarily confused. He couldn’t extend his Divine Sense into the restriction token and didn’t know if someone was sending him a message or if the token had been triggered for some other reason. He pondered for a moment, then immediately stood up. He quickly opened the door of the cultivation chamber and walked out. Li Yan’s expression had returned to calm. He walked slowly to the cave entrance, took out the token, and with a slight infusion of magical power, the cave’s main gate rumbled open.

The moment the gate opened, Li Yan saw a figure standing not far from the entrance, pacing back and forth. It was Yu Banjiang. Yu Banjiang had a look of utter anxiety on his face. One moment he would look up at the sky, the next at the cave entrance, his hands constantly clenching and unclenching… He had already sent several voice transmissions, but they were like stones sinking into the sea. Just as he was burning with anxiety, he suddenly heard the sound of the cave gate opening and quickly looked in that direction.

The moment he saw Li Yan’s figure, a look of joy appeared on his face, but his gaze still swept over Li Yan’s body, as if to ascertain the state of his injuries. In the next moment, he tapped his foot on the ground and landed in front of Li Yan in an instant.

“Fellow Daoist Yu, what is…” Li Yan disliked having his seclusion interrupted, but seeing the other’s anxious expression, he knew something urgent must have happened. He looked at Yu Banjiang with an unreadable expression.

“Elder Li, your… your injuries, have they improved at all? Something terrible has happened to the sect…” The moment Yu Banjiang saw Li Yan, he couldn’t wait and blurted out a string of events.

The flood of information made Li Yan’s head ache. He knew Yu Banjiang’s temperament; he was a mature and steady man, calm in the face of trouble. For him to be this anxious now was telling. But he finally understood: a rival sect had come looking for trouble, and Yu Banjiang’s master and martial uncle were currently fighting them. However, the enemy had arrived with four Nascent Soul cultivators, three of whom were late-stage Great Cultivators. If not for Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister’s long-standing coordination and their expertise in joint attacks, they might have already been defeated.

But now, the situation had turned dire. Shangguan Tianque, in order to protect his junior sister, had his left shoulder bone shattered, further reducing his combat power. Defeat was only a matter of time. The entire sect was trembling in fear. Left with no other choice, Yu Banjiang could only grit his teeth and come here. He knew Li Yan was still in seclusion and had said he would emerge in about a sixty-year cycle. It was certainly not good to interrupt his cultivation like this, but he had no other option. He could only come and wake Li Yan, hoping he would be able to help.

Hearing this, Li Yan was also slightly astonished. Since when were late-stage Nascent Soul Great Cultivators so cheap? To have so many appear here at once. But then he remembered where he was and realized his thinking hadn’t yet shifted; he had never been outside in the Immortal Spirit Realm. In this realm, Spirit Transformation cultivators were as common as Foundation Establishment cultivators in the lower realm, to say nothing of Nascent Soul cultivators.

Fearing the battle would affect the sect, Shangguan Tianque had activated the sect’s protective grand formation and then flown to a higher altitude. Li Yan quickly looked up. Pushing his eyesight to its limit, he was fortunate that there wasn’t a cloud in the sky for ten thousand li, so he could see clearly. He saw that the battle in the sky had reached its most intense point. Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister were on the defensive more than the offensive. While listening to Yu Banjiang’s account, he looked up and carefully observed for a few more moments.

“Can I kill people here?” Li Yan asked, uncertain.

“This is already a life-and-death struggle. The sect is about to be destroyed, what’s there to question about killing people…” Yu Banjiang hadn’t even processed Li Yan’s question before he subconsciously blurted out his reply. He hadn’t had time to explain the enemy’s background and reasons; he just wanted to know as quickly as possible if Li Yan could act.

Suddenly, Yu Banjiang’s head swam. Before he even knew what had happened, he was sent flying by a blast of air. Then, as he was thrown high into the air, a deafening “BOOM” finally reached his ears. A figure had already shot into the sky. In front of Li Yan’s cave residence, there was no one left.

Once Li Yan understood the situation, he had no desire for more pointless talk. His Divine Sense was unusable, and his magical power was only at about half. The power of his arts and divine abilities would not be enough to harm a Nascent Soul cultivator. So he decided not to even use his magical power. With a fierce stomp on the ground, he transformed into an afterimage and shot out. In an instant, a web of deep fissures crisscrossed the earth, and the entire cave residence shook violently. And in that same instant, he was already five thousand zhang in the air.

At this moment, the six people in the sky were locked in a fierce battle. Shangguan Tianque and the beautiful woman in red were both injured. But their thousands of years of fighting together had ingrained their defense and offense into their very bones. Even though the four of them had the upper hand with their combined assault, it was not easy for them to win. However, the space for the two to maneuver had already been compressed to within a thousand zhang. A thousand zhang might sound vast, but for Nascent Soul cultivators, it wasn’t even enough to turn and dodge. They couldn’t even properly execute their arts. In fact, the arts of Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister had begun to repel each other.

“Hahaha… you refuse a toast only to drink a loss! If you had just handed over the culprits earlier, none of this would have happened!” Mang Yan’s arrogant laughter filled the sky. He was extremely satisfied with the two guest elders he had hired this time. It was well worth the great price he had paid. These two new elders were also skilled in combined attacks, which had greatly reduced Shangguan Tianque’s advantage. Sure enough, with the four of them working together, they had injured their opponents in less than a hundred breaths.

“Let’s attack faster! Don’t let them notify the Blood Lantern Sect. It won’t be good to kill them then!” Mang Yan transmitted his voice quickly. The other three exchanged a glance, and in an instant, their auras surged again, their attacks growing even fiercer.

Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister felt the pressure increase immensely. Several magical treasures, carrying the might of heaven and earth, attacked from all directions, further compressing their space to maneuver.

“Junior Sister, take the disciples and flee later! I will let them know the true meaning of ‘killing a thousand of the enemy at the cost of eight hundred of your own’! If the Broken Army Sect is gone, I’ll make sure their sect is too weak to stand and gets devoured by others!” Shangguan Tianque, sensing the power of the attack, knew that today would likely not end well. He quickly sent a voice transmission to the red-robed woman.

“If we die, we die together! The disciples can fend for themselves. The two of us will trade our lives for their four!” Sweat beaded on the beautiful red-robed woman’s fair forehead. Blood was seeping from her mouth and ears, giving her a tragic and desolate beauty.

“No…” Shangguan Tianque’s heart sank upon hearing this. But one look at his junior sister’s attitude and he knew he couldn’t persuade her now. He knew her character better than anyone. But he still wanted her to leave. He estimated they could only hold on for another ten breaths or so.

And just at that moment, a loud bang came from below. The six of them were startled, and their Divine Senses instantly swept their surroundings. However, a figure had appeared before the sound, unbelievably appearing behind Mang Yan. While the figure was still a blur, a fist had already been thrown at Mang Yan’s back. As the fist shot out, black and silver light rapidly alternated on its surface. Although his magical power was insufficient, Li Yan was meticulous. He still used his magical power as a supplementary force in his attack, mixing it with the strength of his physical body to strike out, further enhancing the power of his attack.

“Watch out!” a woman’s shriek rang out. It was the bewitching woman. She and Mang Yan were positioned in a pincer formation, and the corner of her eye had caught a glimpse of a figure before the sound from below had even arrived. The bewitching woman cried out instinctively, but the person was already behind Mang Yan and had already struck. His speed was actually a fraction faster than their Divine Sense could perceive.

“Hmph!”

With danger imminent, Mang Yan also sensed the killing intent from the ambush. He snorted coldly in his heart, and the light around his body instantly flared. At the same time, he swung a ghastly wolf-tooth club fiercely behind him. He had already sensed the newcomer’s aura; it seemed to be that of an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. How laughable. Had the Broken Army Sect run out of people? To think they would ambush him with an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Mang Yan felt that even if such a guest elder were offered to them, he would have to think twice.

Just as the light around his body flared, and he had just swung his wolf-tooth club, another loud bang echoed in his ears. As Li Yan threw his punch from behind, he saw the light on Mang Yan’s body begin to surge and his shoulders hunch. He knew this was the start of the other’s defensive counter-attack. Li Yan’s face was expressionless. His striking arm suddenly accelerated.

“BOOM!”

To the utter astonishment of the others, they saw Mang Yan’s mountain-like, burly body, his protective light shield as fragile as paper. The moment the black and silver light made contact, it shattered into specks of starlight behind him. Then, the scene seemed to slow down in their Divine Senses. Mang Yan’s back, amidst the splashing starlight, had a large hole blown through the light shield. The black and silver light then invaded directly, striking him squarely in the back.

Subsequently, Mang Yan’s neck stretched forward, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets, his tongue lolling out. The wolf-tooth club flew from his hand… Then, everything returned to normal speed. Mang Yan’s burly body was instantly torn asunder, turning into a cloud of blood mist that rapidly spread outwards!

As the sound of his body exploding still echoed in their ears, a dazed and confused golden Nascent Soul appeared within the blood mist in their Divine Senses. That golden Nascent Soul, for a moment, didn’t even know where it was. It just stared blankly, looking around in confusion. Then, it finally saw that it was exposed to the outside world, no longer in its Dantian’s Purple Mansion. It let out a sharp, piercing scream. The small Nascent Soul’s body trembled, and a brilliant golden light erupted from its surface, about to teleport into the void. But its brief moment of stupor had already sealed its fate.

Just as the light around the small Nascent Soul’s body began to blur, a hand clamped down on it. The owner of that hand didn’t hesitate in the slightest. In an instant, his five fingers closed with force.

“POP!”

The scream was cut off abruptly. The entire world fell into an unnerving silence. From the cracks between the fingers of that hand, streams of golden light flowed out like water.

All of this had taken less than a single breath. Everyone’s mind was still reeling. Before anyone could react, the figure’s movements were as smooth as flowing water. With a single, fluid motion, he twisted his waist in mid-air. In an impossibly sharp turn, he instantly lunged towards the sinister middle-aged man on the other side, his speed unbelievably fast.

‘A powerful body cultivator!’ This thought immediately appeared in everyone’s mind. The sinister middle-aged man was holding a bronze bell. It was he who had just been shaking this bell to attack, causing the divine souls of Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister to become unstable. Every time the bell rang, their divine souls would tremble, while the four on Mang Yan’s side were completely unaffected. Clearly, he was controlling the range and direction of the sound waves. As soon as the bell rang, Mang Yan and the other two would press their attack, which was what had forced Shangguan Tianque and his junior sister to constantly dodge, creating openings in their joint formation and allowing them to be injured one by one.

Seeing the black shadow lunge towards him, the sinister middle-aged man, though terrified by Mang Yan’s instant death, could also see that it was because Mang Yan had underestimated his opponent, thinking he was only an early-stage Nascent Soul cultivator. Mang Yan hadn’t summoned more defensive treasures, which was why he had been successfully ambushed with a single strike.

The sinister middle-aged man’s actions were not slow. He shook the bronze bell in his hand at the approaching black shadow, and a strange sound wave covered Li Yan.

After killing one person, Li Yan’s face was icy cold. His Divine Sense was unusable, so he had to make this quick. He only had two or three chances to attack; he couldn’t let them react. Otherwise, if they used some strange art to attack him, he wouldn’t be able to track it at all, and his fate would be grim. Li Yan had, of course, seen the bell in the other’s hand and quickly assessed the situation in his mind.

‘This is a sound wave attack. It targets either the divine soul, the Sea of Consciousness, or it melts and paralyzes the physical body!’ He quickly identified the nature of the attack and was alarmed. His Sea of Consciousness couldn’t withstand any kind of attack right now, yet he was unable to use his Divine Sense to scan the range of the enemy’s sound wave attack.

Just as Li Yan was about to sidestep and evade, Shangguan Tianque’s voice, still laced with shock, suddenly rang in his mind. “Elder Li, be careful! That treasure attacks the divine soul!”

Hearing this, an even colder light gleamed in Li Yan’s eyes. He had faced dangers countless times more perilous than this. He knew what choice to make in an instant; the opportunity was fleeting. In that moment, he chose to trust Shangguan Tianque, but it was an extremely risky move. If he was wrong, Li Yan would be gravely injured at the very least.

To everyone’s astonishment, a black shadow, facing the shaking bronze bell, didn’t dodge or evade at all. His body didn’t even tremble in the slightest. In a flash, he was in front of the sinister middle-aged man.

From the moment Li Yan soared into the sky and killed one person, to the moment the sinister middle-aged man attacked, only one and a half breaths had passed! And no one could have imagined that this suddenly appearing person would be like a ferocious beast uncaged, so incredibly fierce that even a divine soul attack had no effect on him.

Li Yan felt a slight tremor in his divine soul. Ever since it was tempered in the depths of the Hellsoul Clan’s territory, his divine soul had long since surpassed those of his peers. And as his cultivation increased, his divine soul had continued to grow stronger. The principle was simple, just as the divine soul of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was almost always stronger than that of a Qi Condensation cultivator. The stronger the cultivator, the stronger their divine soul.

Closing the distance, he met the sinister middle-aged man’s terrified and desperate gaze. He simply couldn’t imagine why the other party seemed like an empty shell without a divine soul, completely unaffected. At the same time as his attack was launched, Li Yan had already launched his own with savage force!