Chapter 1401: A Lull in the Storm

Donglin Tingyue’s gaze had grown complex. The man had indeed cultivated the ways of a Poison Cultivator. It wasn’t unheard of for a Body Cultivator to also practice Dharma Arts, but it was exceedingly rare.

The path of a Body Cultivator was one of unyielding, domineering force, while that of a Poison Cultivator was often sinister and venomous. Both were disciplines that stood on their own, and cultivating either one required an immense investment of time.

Beyond cultivating Magical Power, Body Cultivators had to spend most of their time ceaselessly tempering their Physical Body. Poison Cultivators, in addition to practicing their Poison Arts, had to spend vast amounts of time studying all manner of medicinal herbs and toxic substances.

Previously, Li Yan had claimed to know a little about the methods of Poison Cultivators, which wasn’t surprising in itself. With the right poison, even a child could take another’s life.

But now, Donglin Tingyue was no longer so naive. Li Yan was undoubtedly an expert at refining all kinds of Poison Pills, and might even cultivate a Poison Art himself. He was a Poison Cultivator, one who had hidden his skills extremely well, but she wouldn’t voice this thought aloud.

As for whether Li Yan was a Body Cultivator, what she had just witnessed left no room for doubt.

“What do we do now?” Donglin Tingyue asked.

“Let’s discuss it first. We don’t know what’s happened up there, and no one has come down to investigate yet. Still, it’s only been a few hundred breaths. If more time passes, they’ll likely grow suspicious.”

As Li Yan spoke, he gestured with his hand. The four “corpses” on the staircase—or rather, three bodies that were still twitching faintly—were lifted into the air.

As the four bodies flew high, several Storage Rings silently slipped into his sleeve. Then, they traced several arcs through the air and flew out of the giant boat, vanishing without a sound.

Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue watched it all unfold. They could even see the lingering desire for life and the thick fear in the eyes of the men who were still conscious as their bodies were flung away.

But Li Yan acted with clean, decisive ruthlessness, tossing them out like refuse without a hint of mercy.

The massive first deck, teeming with figures just moments ago, was now empty save for the three of them.

Watching the bodies arc into the distance sent a shiver down both their spines. In that moment, Li Yan’s placid expression transformed in their eyes into that of a grim, bloodless monster.

There was no direct passage between the first and second levels, only the staircase. That made the stairway a crucial chokepoint.

If they could block it, they could prevent people from coming down and stop anyone from going up to report what had happened.

Li Yan had laid three types of potent poison at the entrance to the stairs, each one meticulously chosen. Whether inhaled, ingested, or merely touched, they would instantly merge with one’s blood, flesh, and Spirit Power circulation.

His Fragmented Poison Body was constantly improving along with his cultivation. While the number and types of poisons had not increased, their toxicity grew more domineering and absolute with each passing day.

Against anyone at or below his cultivation level, if the poison wasn’t blocked from the body in the first instant, a single touch to the skin was essentially a death sentence.

But Li Yan hadn’t been satisfied with just that. In that tiny space, he had laid a concentration of poison so dense that, if it could be seen with Divine Sense, it would look like layers upon layers of black ink. Unfortunately, it was all formless and colorless.

At the turn of the stairs, Li Yan had set up the illusion formation, “Mirror Flower.” A Nascent Soul cultivator would likely be able to detect it with careful inspection.

But here, almost no one knew Li Yan had even been to the staircase. Especially in a moment of panic, anyone coming this way would only be thinking of rushing up or down the stairs as quickly as possible.

This was Li Yan’s grasp of the human heart. After a long history of scheming against others, he could envision dozens of different outcomes and predictions in an instant.

A few breaths later, the entire first deck was empty. Li Yan, Jia Fugui, and Donglin Tingyue had vanished, leaving the level a silent, dead zone.

Near a row of rooms, three figures now stood. To an outsider, however, they might as well not have existed.

Hovering above their heads was a feather, pure and white as jade. It was the “Illusion Tail Feather,” concealing their forms.

Li Yan hadn’t taken out the miraculous concealment item he’d used before, which led Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue to suspect that it might be a concealment art, so they didn’t ask.

After Li Yan had made his earlier suggestion, Jia Fugui and Donglin Tingyue had immediately retreated here, far from the side of the boat. At this point, neither of them wanted to stand near the railing.

Just seeing Li Yan standing on the deck, even though they felt he wouldn’t harm them, was enough to send shivers down their spines whenever he flashed a toothy grin.

It gave them a dreadful feeling, as if a great calamity was about to befall them. So the two had immediately retreated here, and Li Yan had followed.

With the “Illusion Tail Feather” concealing their presence, Jia Fugui glanced again at the distant railing, then swallowed dryly. Feeling the solid wall behind him, he finally felt a sliver of security.

“Fellow Daoist Li, what do you think we should do next? Can those poisons stop a Spirit Transformation cultivator from coming down?”

Jia Fugui’s attitude toward Li Yan was now profoundly respectful, almost reverent.

‘This is no joke,’ he thought. ‘The man before me single-handedly annihilated eighteen Nascent Soul cultivators, plus a Mid-stage Spirit Transformation expert.’

He was convinced that even if he and Donglin Tingyue hadn’t shown up, it wouldn’t have mattered to Li Yan. Judging by the way he killed the Nascent Soul cultivators, the result would have been the same.

All the Nascent Soul cultivators here were destined to die at Li Yan’s hands; it was only a matter of time.

But by showing up, they had not only drawn closer to Li Yan, but had also genuinely relieved some of the pressure on him during the fight.

Therefore, this King of Hell shouldn’t have any reason to be displeased with them.

When facing the old woman surnamed He, Jia Fugui had been filled with the resolve to fight to the bitter end. But looking at Li Yan now, he felt a different kind of fear—a fear that made him want to get as far away as possible.

And yet, he also felt a newfound confidence that they might actually escape this alive.

He wasn’t the only one who felt this way. Donglin Tingyue, though she remained silent, had her beautiful eyes fixed on Li Yan’s face almost constantly.

The joy of surviving the ordeal made her feel fortunate, but Li Yan’s series of unbelievable actions made her even more curious to understand the man before her.

‘How laughable I was,’ she thought. ‘Traveling with him all this way, I only spoke with Shangguan Tianque. This man stood right behind me, truly like an ordinary elder from the Broken Army Sect.’

‘Where did Shangguan Tianque find him? He’s most likely a cultivator who ascended from a lower realm…’ Donglin Tingyue mused, almost certain of Li Yan’s origins.

She knew, of course, that Li Yan had used the environment to his advantage, catching the old woman surnamed He off guard. But even so, in her heart, Li Yan had completely surpassed the realm of Nascent Soul.

Especially his formidable Physical Body, which could likely crush any cultivator in the entire Nascent Soul realm.

Hearing the question, Li Yan gently shook his head.

“I’m not certain. The methods of Spirit Transformation cultivators are impossible to fathom. Although I’ve laid potent poisons at the staircase, there’s an eighty percent chance they can get through that area. There’s another thing I’d like you both not to overlook—is this truly the only passage between the second and first floors? I, for one, do not know. As for what to do next, I am still considering it.”

Li Yan spoke these words, but in his heart, he believed a Spirit Transformation cultivator had only a fifty to sixty percent chance of passing through his poisons.

But he would never say that. He always prepared for the worst-case scenario to allow himself to formulate more plans.

His words, however, dashed the hopes that had just begun to rise in the other two, sending a chill through them once again. Spirit Transformation cultivators were experts they were utterly powerless against.

Only a monster like the one before them, with a Physical Body strong enough to clash with a Spirit Transformation cultivator, could stand a chance. But they had also discerned Li Yan’s true strength from that clash; this had to be his strongest state.

Li Yan could not afford a direct confrontation with a Spirit Transformation cultivator. Otherwise, if he had the ability to suppress the old woman, he probably wouldn’t have hidden and launched a sneak attack.

But on this point, they were mistaken. Even if Li Yan had the ability to suppress his opponent, he would still, without absolute certainty, resort to his preferred method of sneak attacks.

Li Yan had never cared for concepts like honor and integrity. To kill an enemy, one should use the simplest, most direct, and most effortless method.

“We can hide now! If we hide until we reach the ‘Great Nothingness Tree,’ escape the giant boat in time, and enter the depths of the Secret Realm, we have a chance of survival.”

Seeing that Li Yan had no plan to deal with the cultivators on the second floor, Donglin Tingyue and Jia Fugui felt a pang of disappointment, but then quickly realized their expectations were too high.

Upstairs, there were still two Spirit Transformation cultivators, Chongyangzi and another, both at the Late-stage. They were nothing like the single old woman surnamed He. ‘What was I thinking?’

Jia Fugui had only been asking for Li Yan’s opinion. His shock at Li Yan’s power didn’t mean he hadn’t been thinking about what to do next or that he lacked ideas of his own.

The same was true for Donglin Tingyue. Hearing Jia Fugui’s words, she nodded in agreement.

They had lived for a long time. At critical moments, they could make their own judgments in an instant.

Jia Fugui’s statement, though it seemed similar to his earlier idea of hiding until they reached the “Great Nothingness Tree” area, was now fundamentally different. The circumstances had changed drastically.

Before, the number of people here was fixed. It would have been easy to discover who was missing and from which sect.

What would have followed was a hunt until their hiding place was found and they were killed. But now, the entire level was empty except for them.

If the three of them hid now, even when the Spirit Transformation cultivators above noticed something was wrong and came down to investigate, they would first be assaulted by the potent poisons at the staircase. Second, they would find no trace of anyone, leaving them with no one to question.

This would leave the Spirit Transformation cultivators bewildered and fearful, wondering what had happened. Their primary objective would shift to finding the old woman surnamed He, to learn what had transpired.

In this way, the purpose and method of their investigation of the first floor would be completely different from the first scenario. Without a specific target, they wouldn’t even know of the trio’s existence.

Instead, they would become suspicious and paranoid over the disappearance of the old woman, shifting the entire focus of the situation. Under those circumstances, if the three of them hid well, they might be able to evade the second wave of searches.

Therefore, Jia Fugui’s proposal at this moment was, in fact, the most logical and best suggestion.

After speaking, Jia Fugui paused for a moment before adding, “This is just my personal opinion. Whatever arrangements Fellow Daoist Li has next, I will follow unconditionally. The fact that I, Jia, am still alive is thanks to Fellow Daoist Li. Every step you took before has now proven to be correct. If that old woman hadn’t died, we would have died long ago. Fellow Daoist Li’s earlier ambush was an act of unfathomable skill. And this method of killing a Spirit Transformation cultivator… I’m afraid even Fairy Tingyue and I wouldn’t have thought of it if we’d smashed our heads together. I’ve only offered my suggestion, but from here on, I will follow Fellow Daoist Li’s arrangements. If we can survive this, Fellow Daoist Li will be an esteemed guest of my Abacus Sect. In the future, for any purchase you make, I will only charge you forty percent of the cost. As for anything else, it’s too early to say. This is just a basic gesture of my sincerity.”

After Jia Fugui finished speaking, he fell silent, awaiting the opinions of the other two.