Chapter 1376: The Disciple is Missing

Hearing the news about Li Yan, Dong Fuyi’s expression turned grim.

Thus, just before True Lord Qianchong was about to leave Zhao Min’s courtyard, unseen by anyone, he handed a Nine Yang Profound Bird egg to True Lord Qianchong.

He could not show himself. Zhao Min was already somewhat entangled in the affairs of the Five Immortal Sects, which might have already brought latent disaster upon her. It was better for her to know as little as possible.

Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianchong both possessed many fine things, but they couldn’t give away too much. Items like the True Essence Pill and the Nine Yang Profound Bird egg were already beyond what Zhao Min and the others could reasonably possess.

If they gave them any more, the Yin-Yang Chaos Sect, which had already begun to establish a presence in the lower realm, might be able to trace it back to the Desolate Moon Continent, uncover suspicious points, and bring a fatal calamity upon Zhao Min and the others.

Dong Fuyi had originally wanted to give Zhao Min and Gong Chenying two magical treasures, but he was stopped by True Lord Qianchong, who said that medicinal pills were better. The less conspicuous the external items were, the better.

Even if the True Essence Pill were to be recognized, it could be explained away as having flowed down from the upper realm.

Given the status of these two women, their respective sects and clans were top-tier powers in the lower realm and had elders in the upper realm, so such an explanation would be plausible.

But if they were given magical treasures, the range of possible sources would be greatly narrowed, making it relatively easier to investigate.

After True Lord Qianchong flew back into the sky, the two of them spoke in low voices for a few more moments and thought of another method. In many sects, cultivators would leave behind a natal tablet or a soul lamp.

As long as Li Yan had left behind a sliver of his soul, with Dong Fuyi and Qianchong’s divine abilities, they were quite confident they could deduce Li Yan’s location, or at the very least, determine if he was alive or dead.

Therefore, they decided to search the Malevolent Spirit Sect for Li Yan’s Soul Lamp. But when Ping Tu, who was standing to the side, overheard their discussion, his face immediately fell.

“True Lord, Martial Uncle Dong Fuyi… um… that… that Soul Lamp Li Yan left in the sect is a fake!”

“A fake? How do you know?”

Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianchong were just about to act when they heard Ping Tu’s stuttering words. They asked in unison.

This was currently their only means of accurately locating Li Yan. Both of their gazes immediately fixed on Ping Tu.

Ping Tu instantly grew uneasy. He stammered.

“This is because Li Yan didn’t want to be controlled by others. Back… back then, it was he who asked me to create it. Later, after his cultivation improved, he reinforced it himself…”

Ping Tu never would have imagined that the fake Soul Lamp he and Li Yan had created would one day cause such great trouble for their group.

He himself felt a pang of regret. Otherwise, they might have been able to find out if Li Yan was alive or dead.

Hearing this, Dong Fuyi and True Lord Qianchong looked at each other, a sense of helplessness washing over them.

Pei Buchong, who had been silent all this time, grinned at Ping Tu, flashing his pearly white teeth, and gave him a thumbs-up.

“Uncle, that’s a complete dead end!”

After True Lord Qianchong left, Ping Tu had always looked after Pei Buchong like an elder, but he was not qualified to be called “Martial Uncle” by Pei Buchong.

Therefore, out of respect, Pei Buchong had always called him “Uncle.” Hearing Pei Buchong’s words, Ping Tu’s face fell even further.

But Pei Buchong didn’t think Li Yan could die so easily. Although the cultivators of their lineage were few, each one of them had been forced to be extremely cautious in everything they did, and their lives were stubbornly hard to extinguish.

“Buchong, watch your words!”

Hearing this, a dark cloud formed over True Lord Qianchong’s head. Although he knew Pei Buchong meant that all clues were cut off, what did he mean by “dead end”? Martial Brother Dong Fuyi was still right here.

Dong Fuyi could naturally understand Li Yan’s actions, but at this moment, it had become a huge obstacle. This way, they couldn’t even be certain if Li Yan was truly alive or dead.

Afterward, they decided to head immediately to the Tianli Clan on the Wind God Continent to search for clues about Li Yan there.

But before that, True Lord Qianchong had to move the Secret Realm. As for whether to punish the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they ultimately followed Ping Tu’s advice.

Here, only Ping Tu understood Li Yan best. He said that Li Yan had deep feelings for this sect and had twice fallen into perilous situations for its sake.

Once, it caused Li Yan and Zhao Min to be stranded on a foreign continent, a near-death experience.

Another time, Li Yan had fought a life-and-death battle against several Nascent Soul cultivators at his Nascent Soul Formation ceremony. But afterward, Li Yan had never said anything bad about the Malevolent Spirit Sect.

Ping Tu could sense from his daily conversations with Li Yan that he had deep feelings for this sect. Moreover, his two Dao Companions were also in this sect, so they naturally couldn’t make a move against it.

Since they couldn’t act against the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they had no choice but to let the other three sects go as well. With Dong Fuyi and Qianchong’s insight, they could tell at a glance that someone was deliberately maintaining a balance in secret.

If they were to punish the other three sects, it would most likely be a slap on the wrist, which would be meaningless.

If they were determined to inflict serious damage, it might allow the Malevolent Spirit Sect to become the sole dominant power. This could upset some kind of balance, so in the end, they let it be.

The reason for all this was, in fact, for Li Yan’s sake. Once the Malevolent Spirit Sect dominated the entire Desolate Moon Continent, the factions backing the other three sects in the upper realm would certainly not let the matter rest.

At that time, disaster would still befall Zhao Min and the others. In a war between super-sects like that, it was normal for Nascent Soul cultivators to perish.

Dong Fuyi and the others did not act for momentary satisfaction; they considered the long-term consequences. They were certainly unwilling to personally bring about such a situation.

Afterward, Dong Fuyi proposed that he go to the Wind God Continent alone, while True Lord Qianchong take Pei Buchong back to their sect in the Immortal Spirit Realm so that Pei Buchong could raise his strength as soon as possible.

For so many years, Pei Buchong had been unable to advance to the Void Refining Realm in the lower realm and had already been delayed for far too long.

But Dong Fuyi’s proposal was rejected by True Lord Qianchong. He still wanted to accompany Dong Fuyi in the lower realm to search for Li Yan for a period of time before considering when to return to the Immortal Spirit Realm.

Pei Buchong felt the same way. He also wanted to see this junior brother of his with impressive combat strength. Li Yan’s decisive and ruthless nature was much to his liking.

Even Ping Tu’s inner thought was to find Li Yan. In truth, his relationship with Li Yan was more like that of a teacher and a friend.

After all matters were settled, adhering to the consistent caution of the Five Immortal Sects, Dong Fuyi still personally descended upon Little Bamboo Peak and finally found the Soul Lamp that Li Yan had left behind…

That night, four figures shattered the void and flew directly away from the Desolate Moon Continent, heading for the Wind God Continent. And all of this happened without the slightest knowledge of the several Spirit Transformation cultivators on the Desolate Moon Continent.

…

In the Immortal Spirit Realm, within the Broken Army Sect, Li Yan activated his formation restrictions and took out the entire bottle of silver ice sand, which he was now studying intently.

He had no idea that his so-called master had finally arrived in his homeland, only to hurriedly set off in pursuit of his footsteps once more!

The reason Li Yan was willing to risk exposing his abilities as a poison cultivator to obtain this bottle of silver ice sand was that the layer of water mist it formed when taken out gave him a strange feeling.

To be precise, the floating water mist was more like a cloud of silver that condensed and did not disperse, from which a bone-chilling coldness emanated.

This reminded Li Yan of the Blood River he had refined into his Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan. It, too, would give rise to clouds of red mist, and when forced out, those red clouds would transform into flames capable of killing Nascent Soul cultivators.

He had not yet tested whether those flames were effective against cultivators above the Nascent Soul Realm.

After all, in his fight with Xue Longzi, every breath was a matter of life and death. Li Yan had only dared to use the techniques and magical treasures he was confident in, lest a single misstep lead to his own demise.

And when he saw the silver “water-cloud” formed by this bottle of ice sand that day, Li Yan felt it was quite similar to the red clouds, and coincidentally, one was hot and the other was cold.

Li Yan had always been curious about what the Blood River and the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief were and where they came from, but he had never been able to figure out their origins. This included the red lantern he had purchased last time, which was also bought with the same thought in mind.

Therefore, he only used these two items in specific situations. Li Yan couldn’t fully gauge the power of these two items and was also afraid of accidentally damaging them.

Compared to the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, Li Yan felt that the Blood River definitely concealed other secrets, but no matter how many times he had tried to decipher them in the past, he had failed.

When he sensed that day that the “water-cloud” rising from the silver sand seemed somewhat similar to the red clouds rising from the Blood River, he felt a connection.

Later, Donglin Tingyue further described the properties of the silver sand. This sand could not be affected even by being calcined with Nascent Fire, as if it were indestructible, yet it was not a purely earth-attribute material.

This made Li Yan’s heart stir. He instantly thought of the Blood River’s power, its ability to refine the silver pages that even Nascent Fire couldn’t melt, and its ability to condense clouds of mist.

This was just like that handheld red lantern. Li Yan wanted to try it out if there was even the slightest possibility, which was why he had not hesitated to expose some of his methods to finally obtain this item.

When Li Yan opened the small bottle, wisps of mist rose up.

Holding his breath, Li Yan used his magical power to draw out a small pinch of silver sand and immediately recapped the bottle. He did not touch it directly with his hands but levitated it in the air with his magical power.

At this moment, the entire cultivation chamber had become icy cold, but since he had only taken out a small amount of silver sand, it was not a bone-piercing cold.

This chill was emanating from the “water-clouds” that were beginning to gather in the air.

The “water-clouds” were a pale bluish-white. After rising from the ice sand, in the blink of an eye, they rapidly transformed from their initial misty state into something resembling bluish-white cotton wadding. They floated in the air, condensed and unmoving.

Seeing this, Li Yan’s eyes lit up. The amount of silver sand he had taken out this time was a bit more than what Donglin Tingyue had shown him before, and it did indeed look more and more like the red clouds above the Blood River.

But he still did not act rashly. He first observed with his eyes for a while before slowly releasing a thread of Divine Sense, probing into the middle of the “water-cloud”…

The interior of the “water-cloud” was no different from its exterior. It was still a mass of gently churning, bluish-white, cotton-like mist.

A wave of coolness was transmitted through Li Yan’s Divine Sense. The longer his Divine Sense stayed within the “water-cloud” to observe, the colder it became.

When Li Yan began to notice this, he did not immediately withdraw his Divine Sense but began to carefully experience it.

Another ten breaths later, Li Yan sensed that his Divine Sense had quietly become somewhat numb.

It was like a person staying in seawater. At first, you only feel the coolness, perhaps even finding it pleasant. But as time goes on, your skin, flesh, and internal organs begin to go numb, and finally, you freeze solid.

This process was not one of extreme cold rapidly entering the body and depleting its heat, nor would it make you feel the biting coldness quickly.

Instead, there would be a period where a large amount of heat is consumed without you realizing it. This had the same effect as “boiling a frog in warm water”—it would dull your senses.

After another five breaths, Li Yan found that the Divine Sense he had left inside even had a feeling of being “frozen solid,” and this was while he was deliberately paying attention.

Otherwise, he would only have felt a slowly increasing coolness, making it very easy to overlook its true power.