Chapter 1380: Heading to the Blood Lantern Sect
“Is there anything else Elder Li would like to ask? Regarding the matter I proposed earlier, I will really have to trouble you this time. There are some matters within the sect that I still need to explain to you…”
Ren Yanyu calculated the time. The Blood Lantern Sect’s request this time was urgent. She still had many things to explain to Li Yan and could not delay any longer.
Afterward, she would go back, pack her things, and set off immediately.
She and Shangguan Tianque had experienced this kind of thing several times, so they were familiar with the process.
There would definitely be danger in fighting with others, but as long as she wasn’t really fighting for her life, she was fully capable of retreating unscathed. Therefore, she wasn’t too worried about this point.
“For this trip, why don’t I go instead? What do you think?”
And just at this moment, Li Yan suddenly said something that was both surprising and not so surprising to Ren Yanyu.
From Li Yan’s earlier questions, she had already had some guesses about his thoughts.
Having cultivated to their realm, who wasn’t incredibly shrewd? As long as the other party revealed the slightest hint of their intention, they would quickly have their guesses.
But Ren Yanyu felt that she had already made herself very clear just now, yet the other party still made such a request.
After a moment of hesitation, Ren Yanyu seemed to have thought of something else, but she decided to be even more explicit.
“Elder Li, even if you contribute the most in the competition for the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit,’ even if you end up personally snatching several ‘Great Nothingness Fruits,’ in the end, only one will be awarded to the Blood Lantern Sect.”
“A fourth-rate sect like ours will definitely not get one!”
“And it’s possible that because you forcefully stand out for the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit,’ you will become the target of public criticism. In that case, you will be in a life-and-death situation. Spirit Transformation cultivators will even attack and kill you.”
“Usually, after we go, we just need to hold back some of the enemy’s Nascent Soul cultivators. We won’t take such a huge risk and really go and snatch the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit’.”
“Also, it is extremely difficult to obtain supreme-grade Spirit Stones. That would mean that the Blood Lantern Sect must obtain the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit,’ and you would need to have made significant contributions.”
“I hope you can understand this, Elder Li. In the Immortal Spirit Realm, supreme-grade Spirit Stones can actually be exchanged for.”
“You can even obtain them directly from the ruins of ancient cultivators during some treasure hunts, or even find a supreme-grade ore vein. Although this hope is also very slim, it’s still much better than openly fighting with others for your life!”
Ren Yanyu felt that she had guessed Li Yan’s thoughts. After hearing about the wonderful uses of the “Great Nothingness Fruit,” he had gotten other ideas, but that was no different from a fool’s dream, a path to self-destruction. The Blood Lantern Sect would even personally kill him.
Second, Li Yan probably also wanted to obtain supreme-grade Spirit Stones. Even though the Spiritual Energy in the Immortal Spirit Realm was extremely rich, supreme-grade Spirit Stones were still supreme treasures.
She and Shangguan Tianque had long guessed that Li Yan had a sect he belonged to in the upper realm, but it was probably not in the Northern Pastoral Realm. Therefore, while improving his cultivation, he would need to continuously accumulate supreme-grade Spirit Stones for future teleportation.
This was something that even Void Refining cultivators wouldn’t dare to say they had a lot of. If Li Yan really wanted to leave the Northern Pastoral Realm, he would definitely have to start preparing in advance.
It had to be said that what Ren Yanyu had guessed was exactly what Li Yan was thinking, but he had more ideas and plans.
That was that he had also been searching for “Gui Qu Lai Xi” for a long time without any clues. Even with Shangguan Tianque’s knowledge, he did not know of the existence of this shop. It would be even more difficult for him to find it himself.
However, Li Yan felt that with the strength that “Gui Qu Lai Xi” had displayed in the lower realm, it should also have very strong cross-domain capabilities in the upper realm.
But perhaps because a single realm was too large, or the shop’s name was completely different from the one in the lower realm, he had not been able to find it.
Li Yan also didn’t believe that his luck was that bad.
Among the information he had about the upper realm, neither the Gui Water Immortal Sect nor the Malevolent Spirit Sect was in the Northern Pastoral Realm. And the only way he knew of to send messages to the lower realm, “Gui Qu Lai Xi,” had he also guessed its origin wrong?
He had never been to the areas where sects like the Pure Yang Hall and the Blood Lantern Sect were located. If he could take this opportunity to go there, he could inquire about news on the way. And if he could meet more people, he might gain something.
What Li Yan was most anxious about at the moment was sending a message to the lower realm!
Therefore, he wanted to use every possible avenue.
“Please rest assured, Fellow Daoist Ren. How would I dare to think about the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit’? I am just a Nascent Soul cultivator and would like to live a little longer.”
“I am not good at handling sect affairs. And as for guarding Elder Shangguan’s alchemy, it is naturally more appropriate for you to do it.”
“As for this trip, I actually want to learn more about other sects and know more things. After all, I have been in the Immortal Spirit Realm for a long time, and I can’t just cultivate in seclusion all the time!”
Ren Yanyu looked at Li Yan’s calm gaze. Although she was still doubtful in her heart and also didn’t quite believe his words.
But she had already said everything she could say. And now, she herself really did not want to go.
Since Li Yan had said so, as an elder of the sect, as long as he acted according to her instructions, nothing would go wrong. So she let him go.
Next, she took out a jade slip and explained in detail various matters that needed attention. Then she inscribed a map on another jade slip and handed them both to Li Yan.
Just as she was about to leave, she didn’t forget to remind Li Yan one more time.
“Elder Li, you can decide on everything else yourself, but you must not have any ideas about the ‘Great Nothingness Fruit.’ Otherwise, it will be a catastrophe!”
Li Yan nodded solemnly. He did have thoughts of obtaining the “Great Nothingness Fruit,” but the premise was that it would not bring disaster. If there was a real opportunity, he probably wouldn’t let it go.
The purpose of this trip was really to get more information about the Immortal Spirit Realm. Even if there was no news of “Gui Qu Lai Xi,” it would be good to inquire about other ways to get to the lower realm.
His message had to be delivered to the lower realm as soon as possible.
As for whether he would have a chance to get supreme-grade Spirit Stones, just in terms of assisting a Spirit Transformation cultivator to snatch the “Great Nothingness Fruit,” his opponents would be Nascent Soul cultivators. He still had some confidence in that.
Of course, all of this would depend on the strength of the Blood Lantern Sect’s Spirit Transformation cultivator in his team. If he was very weak, he would simply adopt a similar mindset to Ren Yanyu, and he wouldn’t even think about the supreme-grade Spirit Stones.
After Ren Yanyu left, Li Yan checked his belongings, sorted out the matter once more, and then floated out of his Cave Residence.
Normally, the things he needed were all in the “Earthen Patch.” He still wore two decorative storage rings and spirit-storing rings on his hands. There was nothing else he needed to pack.
Among his magical treasures, the copper bell and the Immortal-Striking Stone he had obtained from the sinister middle-aged man and Liu Huaigu had also been re-refined by him over the years.
These two magical treasures could both be considered sound-wave type magical treasures. One attacked the divine soul, and the other attacked the sea of consciousness. They were also a great threat to Nascent Soul cultivators.
It was just that the Immortal-Striking Stone also had a direct attack effect. During his seclusion, Li Yan had refined them all and had also tested them briefly.
He was very satisfied with the results of the test. Although the copper bell was not as good as the “Soul-Tugging Execution,” in the Immortal Spirit Realm, Li Yan did not want to use the methods of the Gui Water Immortal Sect at will.
…
Li Yan flew in a northwesterly direction from the Broken Army Sect. Li Yan knew that there was an endless desert there, and the level of danger inside was no less than that of the Heavenly Demon Prairie. At the very least, Nascent Soul cultivators would not easily venture deep into it.
However, that desert was still very far from the Broken Army Sect. And the Pure Yang Hall had a small territory that bordered that dangerous desert.
The place Li Yan was going to was the Blood Lantern Sect. After that, he would be led by a Spirit Transformation cultivator from the Blood Lantern Sect and teleported all the way to the Pure Yang Hall. Super-long-distance teleportation formations had already been established between the second and third-rate sects.
Along the way, Li Yan carefully avoided the dangerous areas marked on Ren Yanyu’s map jade slip, constantly detouring and flying. But during this period, he still fought four times.
But he usually would not get entangled with the other party. After killing and scaring away the three demonic beasts and one Nascent Soul cultivator that attacked him.
Nearly two months later, a huge, blood-red mountain gate finally appeared in Li Yan’s Divine Sense.
The mountain gate was shrouded in a layer of churning black and red clouds, about four or five li wide, towering into a patch of black and red clouds.
Within those black and red clouds that seemed to be stirred by the wind, three scarlet blood eyes, like the opened eyes of a giant, would occasionally be revealed, appearing and disappearing, giving a sense of being both far and near amidst the etherealness.
It was the three blood-red characters for “Blood Lantern Sect”!
Each character seemed as if it could suppress heaven and earth. The blood-red light they shot out pierced through the black and red clouds, like a divine giant probing with three blood-red giant eyes, scanning everything in the world.
Just the oppressive aura emanating from this mountain gate made even Li Yan feel a wave of pressure.
As he approached, under the illumination of the three huge blood-red characters, Li Yan’s qi and blood actually began to feel as if they were solidifying.
“What a terrifying formation restriction! A third-rate sect in the Immortal Spirit Realm. This kind of aura is something that even the Malevolent Spirit Sect cannot compare to…”
Li Yan felt that he was as insignificant as a speck of dust in the wind here, liable to be submerged without a trace at any moment.
“Who dares to trespass on the important grounds of my sect!”
When Li Yan was still a hundred li away from the huge mountain gate in the clouds, a cold voice came from the thick fog.
Li Yan had been probing the surroundings before. At least after approaching within five hundred li of the huge mountain gate, in his Divine Sense, there wasn’t even a single wild beast here, and he hadn’t seen any cultivators entering or leaving.
This was different from what Li Yan had imagined. All the sects he had been to, even the Malevolent Spirit Sect itself, had cultivators flying in and out at almost all times of the day. But this place was like a land of the dead.
Li Yan had been wondering before, were all the cultivators of the Blood Lantern Sect in seclusion at home? Or were they all living dead who did not appear during the day?
He did not know that the disciples of the Blood Lantern Sect could directly teleport out of the sect in all directions for a thousand li using their sect tokens.
There was no need to go through the mountain gate. Their tokens contained a small teleportation formation. It was just that when Li Yan encountered cultivators at that time, both sides had deliberately avoided each other after sensing each other.
The Blood Lantern Sect did this, on the one hand, to prevent outsiders from easily prying into the sect. On the other hand, if an enemy were to invade, the Blood Lantern Sect could instantly teleport a large number of disciples to a distant place and attack from the rear.
Of course, this required the sect to have a strong foundation. Otherwise, just the refining of each token could empty the coffers of a large sect.
The Blood Lantern Sect was not afraid that the tokens would be used by others after their disciples were killed.
Each token had the disciple’s Divine Sense imprint on it. If the person died, the token would shatter. But this was just one layer of protection. It was still possible for it to be cracked.
Therefore, the disciples entering and leaving the sect all appeared in the underground palace within the sect. The inspection there was even stricter, and there were layers upon layers of large formations sealing it off.
If even the slightest problem arose, they would be killed on the spot. Even if a Spirit Transformation cultivator appeared there, they would be trapped for a time and unable to break out.
Hearing the cold voice, Li Yan immediately swept his Divine Sense over. Then, amidst the churning black and red clouds, a figure first appeared faintly before quickly solidifying.
It was a cold-faced man in his thirties, dressed in a red robe. He stood in the void, looking coldly at Li Yan.
“Initial-stage Nascent Soul. He must have been concealed by the great formation before, otherwise I should have been able to detect his aura!”
Li Yan had not detected the other party’s presence before. This person had appeared very suddenly. He couldn’t help but quickly think to himself.
He had not expected the Blood Lantern Sect to use a Nascent Soul cultivator to guard the mountain gate. This was something that would absolutely not be seen in the lower realm.
The moment the other party appeared, Li Yan had already taken out a jade slip. It was the one that the Blood Lantern Sect had given to Ren Yanyu in the past.
“I am Li Yan of the Broken Army Sect!”
After saying this, Li Yan immediately gave the jade slip a gentle push. An invisible force gently supported the jade slip as it floated towards the other party.