Chapter 1435: The Arrest

The two of them had not found anything in the village, especially since all the mortals in the village had also disappeared without a trace.

In the sect, a Golden Core cultivator’s soul tablet had suddenly shattered. Originally, the death of a cultivator of this level was not a big deal.

But after investigation, it was found that this person was a disciple on duty in the sect. He had died while going out to investigate after receiving a warning message.

After his soul tablet shattered, it was immediately reported to the higher-ups. When the elders above learned the cause of the matter, this matter immediately attracted the attention of this sect.

A disciple who had gone to investigate an Evil Spirit Cultivator had suddenly perished. This was a big deal.

This meant that it was very likely that an Evil Spirit Cultivator had really appeared. The other party either had a large number of people, or their cultivation was at the Nascent Soul realm or above, to be able to do it so cleanly.

So the sect immediately sent two Nascent Soul realm deacons to investigate this matter. After they had checked Wu Lei’s village, the two cultivators immediately confirmed that it was a powerful evil spirit that had come.

In the village, the place with the most intense fighting was at the entrance of the village. But the traces there were only left by the Qi Condensation stage.

In the end, they searched the entire village and did not find any other traces of fighting. They finally found the underground “Crystal Smoke Land,” where they felt it was most suspicious.

But they still couldn’t find anything. In addition, all the villagers in the village had disappeared, which meant that the outsider Evil Spirit Cultivator had acted extremely ruthlessly.

In order to cover his tracks, he didn’t care about the other party’s identity at all. The purpose was to completely cover up the traces of his appearance.

It had to be said that Li Yan’s move had really bought him some time.

Otherwise, a piece of news about an “Evil Spirit Cultivator,” plus the complete disappearance of a Golden Core cultivator, these villagers would definitely be thoroughly investigated inside and out.

The news that there was only one person, Li Yan, and his appearance and so on would have been confirmed. Then in the subsequent search and capture, there would have been a clear target.

Li Yan had never considered himself a gentleman. Although he would not kill the innocent indiscriminately, he would not be polite to anyone who could threaten his life.

Immediately, after the two Nascent Soul cultivators had discussed it, one of them quickly returned to the sect and began to report back to the sect and deploy the disciples of the sect to search everywhere. They were also very familiar with dealing with this kind of thing.

And the other Nascent Soul cultivator immediately began to search carefully in the surrounding area.

So, after this sect received the report from that Nascent Soul cultivator, not only did they send out their own people, but they also immediately passed on some news to the neighboring other forces.

They began to cast a large net around and capture the outsider “Evil Spirit Cultivator” everywhere. It was precisely because of this kind of united front of the “True Earth Domain” that outsider cultivators basically had a hard time escaping.

Their hatred for Evil Spirit Cultivators was bone-deep and abhorrent. It was these people who had forced them here, unable to enjoy more cultivation resources from the outside world.

Therefore, soon, many cultivators looking for the outsider “Evil Spirit Cultivator” appeared outside. Even Foundation Establishment and Golden Core disciples also appeared.

These cultivators here had long since developed the habit of being the only ones who were respected, so they were not afraid of outsider cultivators. Moreover, they might not have to go up personally. As long as they found any abnormal situation, they just had to issue a warning.

Because of Li Yan’s decisiveness, the other party, in an unclear situation, had lost a clear target.

This had allowed Li Yan to escape the most densely searched area in the first instance, which had allowed him to escape.

Although he had been traveling in a hurry, he had still encountered many cultivators after flying for more than twenty thousand li. Li Yan saw that the other party all appeared in groups of five or ten or more.

And it was obvious that they were searching. Without the help of Divine Sense investigation, Li Yan, after knowing the means of the soul cultivator who had been poisoned by the Fragmented Body poison, still decided to temporarily avoid the brunt of the attack, lest he expose his existence once he attacked but failed to kill everyone in time. Then his fun would be over.

Moreover, in Wu Lei and the others’ account, they had said that the means of dealing with outsider cultivators, after they were caught, they might be subjected to extracting the soul and refining the spirit.

At that time, Li Yan had thought it was just the ordinary meaning of extracting the soul and refining the spirit. Now that he had some judgment, he knew that he might have accidentally entered a place where soul cultivators gathered.

The thought of the existence of soul cultivators, Li Yan had been cultivating for so long. Of course, he knew that sects like soul cultivators and poison cultivators often cultivated in seclusion.

This kind of sect, you could rarely come into contact with them in the outside world. They had always been known for their mystery. Basically, you couldn’t even find their sect’s location, and they were all ruthless and sinister.

Just from the attitude of the mortals here towards outsider cultivators, that was a kind of psychology of killing them and then being done with it. You could imagine the scene after you were caught.

That was the true meaning of extracting the soul and refining the spirit, and not just a metaphor.

“The matter of that village has already been discovered. These people may be looking for the so-called ‘Evil Spirit Cultivator.’ This is a territory controlled by reclusive soul cultivators. The appearance of outsider cultivators will affect their peace. Therefore, they do not hesitate to even use mortals, instilling in their minds the evil of outsider cultivators, making them have a common enemy, not at all afraid of the gap between cultivators and mortals, and brazenly ‘attacking’ me. The soul cultivators here will not allow any small stone to break the peace here, let alone allow someone to leave here and tell the story of discovering the soul cultivators.”

Li Yan thought constantly in his heart. A reclusive sect or ethnic group, in order to protect its own secrets, would kill all outsiders who knew about it.

Li Yan even felt a little excited in his heart. He felt that his inability to leave here might be a means of these soul cultivators.

In that case, he might have a chance to get out.

Li Yan had dodged several waves of searches along the way. After passing by these people from a distance in his concealed state, an uneasy feeling arose in his heart.

Li Yan saw the cultivators holding some magical treasures in their hands, constantly activating them, making them show some changes in light and shadow, and so on. The shapes of those magical treasures were also different.

As they activated the magical treasures and swayed them around, Li Yan felt his Hun and Po souls become uneasy, and a sense of palpitation and disturbance constantly appeared.

And when those soul cultivators activated the magical treasures, the aura fluctuations emanating from their bodies, Li Yan could also roughly sense that most of them were only at the Golden Core realm.

Fortunately, his Hun and Po souls were also powerful, and he had also tempered them in the underground long alley of the “Hellsoul Clan” for more than ten years, so he also had extremely strong control over his Hun and Po souls.

Every time he encountered this kind of situation, he would stop, and in his stillness, he would forcibly suppress the various discomforts in his Hun and Po souls.

Then, he would see some cultivators looking in his hidden direction with a look of doubt in their eyes. Li Yan felt more and more that soul cultivators were terrifying.

“In this strange place, Divine Sense cannot be scanned. These magical treasures must have been refined specifically to detect others. This kind of method is a bit scary. Even the effect of my concealment art is greatly reduced!”

This also made Li Yan feel shocked. His cultivation concealment method was all aimed at Divine Sense investigation.

He secretly rejoiced that he had not been careless and had not flown desperately because he was in a hurry to leave here, without discovering the presence of an expert.

Li Yan’s meticulousness and decisiveness had allowed him to escape the most densely searched area before the other party had dispatched a large number of disciples to search.

Due to the size limitation of the “True Earth Domain,” the place he was now had already reached the sphere of influence of other sects, and the number of searching cultivators had become much smaller.

In this way, he walked and stopped, hid and dodged. Along the way, he also encountered many towns, villages, and even some sect locations.

But Li Yan carefully went around them. But because of the continuous appearance of those cultivators holding magical treasures, Li Yan’s speed suddenly dropped, and time flew by quietly…

A day later, he had flown for another four thousand li. Although Li Yan had encountered some single cultivators along the way, after weighing the pros and cons, he still did not make a move.

Since he had guessed that there were cultivators searching for him nearby, after considering it, he still did not want to risk exposing himself. In that case, if he failed to get information, he would have sent himself out…

Li Yan was stealthily moving along the ground of a wilderness. As he was moving forward, he suddenly stopped in place.

Because the Hun and Po souls in his body suddenly had an impulse to rush out of his body. Li Yan immediately stopped and forcibly soothed the fluctuations of his soul power.

But this time, the fluctuations of his soul power were severe, and when he tried to regulate his breath and soothe them again, it was already a little too late.

At this moment, a voice suddenly came from a forest on one side.

“Sneaky, show yourself, or I’ll beat you out!”

As this voice fell, a figure jumped down from a large tree. It was a tall old man in a black long robe.

This person’s skin was pale, as if he had not seen the sun for many years. His hands were behind his back, and his gray hair was tied in a knot at the back of his head, looking quite like an immortal.

As the gray-haired old man spoke, he had already looked at Li Yan’s location. He was about a thousand zhang away from Li Yan.

Li Yan’s heart was alarmed. After losing his Divine Sense, he was like a blind man. The other party was just hiding in the canopy of a tree on the side, and he was completely unaware.

After the other party appeared, the faint pressure emanating from his body, after the pressure spread in the air, Li Yan could also sense the strength of the other party’s aura.

His heart tightened. He felt that the other party’s cultivation should be between Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation.

As for Void Refining cultivators, since Li Yan had come to the Immortal Spirit Realm, because the Broken Army Sect was remote, he had only seen one in Pure Yang Hall.

He felt that he shouldn’t be so unlucky as to run into one. But this was just a hope of his. But at least for now, the pressure emanating from the other party made Li Yan feel that it would not exceed the Spirit Transformation range.

Seeing that he had already shown himself, but the other party was still hiding his figure, the black-robed old man let out a cold laugh.

“It seems you are the Evil Spirit Cultivator who appeared recently. So it’s only one person!”

The gray-haired old man stared coldly at the direction where Li Yan was hiding, his hands still behind his back.

Just as he was speaking, Li Yan, who was in a concealed state, suddenly felt his hair stand on end. While he was startled, it seemed that a sinister wind had appeared behind him.

His body suddenly slid to the side, and at the same time, his concealed state had been canceled.

Since his whereabouts had been exposed, it was meaningless to hide anymore. Especially in his concealed state, Li Yan could not use his full strength.

He had not appeared in the first instance because he was quickly observing the surrounding situation. It seemed that there was only this one cultivator here. Li Yan also had a killing intent arise in his heart. He wanted to end the battle quickly.

It seemed that he could no longer go east. He should change direction and take another look. He had only flown twenty or thirty thousand li and had been discovered.

But he didn’t know that if he hadn’t escaped in the first instance and destroyed the traces, he might not have even been able to get out ten thousand li.

Because, the sect of the cultivator he had killed, after guessing that the other party had a large number of people, or that the enemy’s cultivation was very strong, had already dispatched a Spirit Transformation cultivator. He had almost become a turtle in a jar.

These thoughts, that is, when Li Yan was observing, quickly arose in his heart, but the other party’s attack had already arrived silently behind him.

Just as Li Yan dodged, a faint shadow suddenly appeared at the place where he had originally stood. The faint shadow floated past that position without making any sound.

If it weren’t for the human soul of his three huns suddenly shaking violently in his heart, he might not have known that the other party had already attacked.

This made Li Yan, who had dodged the attack, also startled in his heart. This old man was too insidious. He was still talking to him on the surface, but he had already quietly launched an attack.

The faint shadow, after failing to hit Li Yan with one blow, just floated out a zhang before it turned around again and faced Li Yan.

At this time, Li Yan also saw clearly the face of the faint shadow. It was actually exactly the same as the gray-haired old man on the other side.

Just as Li Yan was quickly observing the other party and thinking about what kind of attack that faint shadow was, his pupils suddenly shrank, and a great chill rose from the soles of his feet.

At this time, it was almost noon. The faint shadow, under the scorching sun, actually had no shadow at all. And its body, front and back, looked very thin, like a paper man.

‘Is this his soul?’

Li Yan was a little incredulous. After having a guess about this place, he immediately thought of a kind of attack method.

But the gray-haired old man opposite him was still the same, and he did not appear to be in a daze, with his three huns and seven pos out of his body. And his gaze had also moved to him who had appeared.

This made Li Yan feel that the other party’s attack was not like he had sent out his soul.

“What do you mean?”

Although Li Yan was horrified in his heart, he still pretended not to understand.

The other party had been hiding in a large tree before and had used some kind of cultivation art to make his soul power fluctuate. But on what basis could the other party think that he was an outsider cultivator?

Just from the fluctuation of his soul power? This should not make sense. Even a soul cultivator himself would have strong and weak soul power. You couldn’t say that a person with weak soul power was not a soul cultivator…

The gray-haired old man was also a little surprised to see that his attack had been dodged by Li Yan in an instant. This meant that the other party had sensed his attack.

But even those outsider Spirit Transformation cultivators could not dodge his sneak attack. How did this kid discover his attack?

He had set up a formation in this vicinity, and this kid had plunged headlong into it. Only then had he discovered in the first instance that someone had hidden his figure and was stealthily moving.

He was a cultivator from a nearby sect called “Yellow Springs Path,” a deacon of a hall at the Late-stage Nascent Soul.

After receiving the news, while he had sent out some of the disciples in the hall, he had also set up a formation here himself.

“Hmph!”

The gray-haired old man snorted coldly. After the other party had used his Magical Power, he was also a Nascent Soul cultivator, but his movements were very suspicious, as if he was completely afraid of being seen by others.

Just as he snorted coldly, the human soul in Li Yan’s body fluctuated again, making his mind suddenly unstable. Then, a burning sensation came from between his eyebrows.

Li Yan instinctively turned his head to the side, and at the same time, a faint black mark appeared in front of his forehead.

As soon as this black mark appeared, it rippled. In these ripples, a purple needle as thin as a hair was stuck in between.

And at this moment, Li Yan’s body also flashed and flew to the side. The black mark that had stayed in its original place also shattered, and the purple needle pierced through it and disappeared in an instant.

At this moment, Li Yan’s face had turned pale.

“Hmm? You’re not an Evil Spirit Cultivator, you’re a soul cultivator. Which family or sect are you from?”

After the gray-haired old man saw the black mark on Li Yan’s forehead, his always cold expression was stunned for a moment, and then he immediately stopped his attack.

And Li Yan, in the distance, after dodging the other party’s second silent attack, was enduring the pain from the impact on his Hun and Po souls, but he had immediately used the “Phoenix Soars to the Heavens” movement skill and brazenly launched an attack.

He had quickly dodged, and his body had bent and shot towards the gray-haired old man. He had left behind a figure of himself. He had taken the opportunity to attack. He could not be passively beaten.

Otherwise, he might die here today. Feeling the other party’s sharp and strange two attacks, how could Li Yan dare to let the other party continue to attack?

However, soul cultivators were most afraid of close combat…

“Die!”

Just as the gray-haired old man was in a daze, this time it was his turn to have a cold voice suddenly appear in his ear.

“Ah!”

The gray-haired old man was instantly shocked. He was a thousand zhang away from the other party. This was the normal distance maintained in a soul cultivator’s usual attack.

And he was a native cultivator here. In fact, he had only fought with outsider cultivators three times.

Although those cultivators also wanted to attack him at close range, within the range of his soul power, he could keenly sense that a strange soul power was constantly approaching.

Each time, he had made the other party hold their head and scream in pain during their attack.

Today, this concealed cultivator was still in the formation he had set up. This was under the dual perception of his own body and the formation.

But the gray-haired old man had just detected that the soul power fluctuation in the formation was abnormal, and the other party’s voice had appeared in his ear. It was so abrupt and close, almost right next to his ear.

This scared the gray-haired old man out of his wits. He had never known that there was such a speed in this world.

Li Yan’s palm was covered with a crimson light, and he had already cut at the gray-haired old man’s neck. His physical strength and Fragmented Body poison were circulating crazily at the same time.

At the same time, his other hand was not idle. He also suddenly formed a hand seal, and the “Five Elements Disarray Mantle” was immediately deployed. As soon as he attacked, he used all his strength.

A soul cultivator’s attack was too terrifying. He couldn’t let the other party have any chance to breathe. And the distance between the two was only a thousand zhang.

This distance, which the gray-haired old man felt was safe, under Li Yan’s extreme speed, even if he could use his Divine Sense, even a Spirit Transformation cultivator might not be able to keep up.

The gray-haired old man’s heart warned him loudly. This was the first time he had been attacked at such a close distance. The Magical Power in his body surged, and he hurriedly dodged to the side. At the same time, his soul power was activated again.

However, the gray-haired old man, although he knew of the existence of Body Cultivators, and Body Cultivators had also appeared in the “True Earth Domain,” he himself had never fought against a Body Cultivator.

He had no idea what the consequences of letting a Body Cultivator get close meant.

So, just as his figure had just risen.

“Bang!”

Li Yan’s palm cut down and had solidly landed on his neck.

The protective light shield on the gray-haired old man’s body had just produced a white light, and the circulating Magical Power suddenly became chaotic.

His body’s defensive shield instantly turned into specks of white light like a mirror and scattered in the air. At the same time, an inexplicable corrosive power also entered his body in an instant.

A numbness seeped in from his neck and spread throughout his body in an instant.

The soul power that the gray-haired old man had condensed in his body also stagnated. He immediately rolled his eyes and fell down, unable to even make a sound.

Li Yan then grabbed the other party and immediately fled in one direction at high speed.

The gray-haired old man had never dreamed that he, a dignified Nascent Soul soul cultivator, would be captured by the other party in an instant after his two attacks on the other party had failed.

The two sides had fought back and forth, and it had all ended in a few words. Li Yan did not dare to delay for a moment and also fled, leaving this place!