Chapter 1440: And So It Begins

Among the three who flew over, a slender young man was the first to approach. He stopped a hundred zhang away from Li Yan and immediately began to size him up.

As the few of them drew closer, the aura they emitted became clearer.

Li Yan roughly judged that this slender young man should be a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, while the other two seemed to be at the Golden Core stage.

Li Yan immediately hovered in mid-air, looking at them with a vigilant expression.

“And who are you? Why do you block my path?”

Seeing that Li Yan did not answer his question, but instead shouted at him, the slender young man raised his eyebrows. After sizing up Li Yan’s face again, he finally spoke.

“I am a deacon of the nearby ‘Yellow Springs Path.’ You look very unfamiliar, fellow Daoist. What is your purpose in coming to our sect’s sphere of influence?”

“Just passing through. What, can’t I even walk here? I remember the last time I passed through here, there was no interrogation!” Li Yan asked with a vigilant expression.

“Fellow Daoist, ‘Evil Spirit Cultivators’ have appeared in this area recently. Please show your token!”

The slender young man became a little impatient when he saw that Li Yan kept not answering his questions.

A deacon of his sect’s soul lamp had suddenly extinguished. This had forced them to send out more people to search everywhere.

“So ‘Evil Spirit Cultivators’ have appeared. But I am just a rogue cultivator. I have no token!”

“A rogue cultivator?”

When the slender young man heard this, his eyes also became vigilant.

At the same time, his body’s soul power began to fluctuate slightly. Without even turning his head, he said to a short and stout cultivator behind him, “Please test this fellow Daoist!”

When the short and stout cultivator behind him heard this, while keeping his eyes firmly on Li Yan, his body first swayed slightly and he came to the front.

At the same time, a light flashed in his hand, and an octagonal object that looked like a formation compass appeared in his hand. He casually deployed it in the air.

Then, while the three of them were firmly staring at Li Yan, they immediately glanced at this object from the corner of their eyes.

Although the two sides were hundreds of zhang apart, Li Yan’s eyesight was keen. He saw at a glance that after this thing appeared, there were four red light spots flashing on it.

From the brightness, it could be distinguished that two were strong and two were weak. One strong and two weak were relatively close, while the other brighter light spot was separated from the other three by a distance.

After seeing the four red light spots clearly, the expressions on the faces of the three first relaxed slightly, and then they looked at Li Yan, as if they were waiting for something.

Li Yan secretly felt lucky. If he had encountered the gray-haired old man a few days ago, he really would not have known what this thing was for.

This was a magical treasure refined by the “Yellow Springs Path.” Without using any arts, it could directly detect the strength of a cultivator’s soul power.

Red soul, black po. Generally speaking, soul cultivators of course mainly cultivated their soul power, with their po power as a supplement. So most of the magical treasures were for detecting soul power.

This detection magical treasure had two functions. One of them was the situation Li Yan saw before him, displaying the soul power fluctuations of the nearby living beings.

This was also similar to the function of the magical treasures that he had seen in the hands of some cultivators a few days ago. It was just that the shape of the magical treasures refined by different sects was different.

The four red light spots displayed on it represented the soul power of the four of them. After seeing the distribution of the four red light spots clearly, Li Yan’s heart also moved.

His soul power was really not weak. It was comparable to this slender cultivator, and the red was even more vivid.

It seemed that his hard work in those ten-odd years had not been in vain.

But thinking about it, in those ten-odd years, Li Yan, Zhao Min, and Zi Kun had fought almost day and night. They had been beaten half to death by all kinds of soul arts time and time again, and then had continued to move forward.

It was thought that even the cultivation of any soul cultivator could not reach that desperate level. After all, they were not cultivating inside, but wanted to break through and leave.

Li Yan did not say much more. He raised a finger and, from a distance, gently pressed at the octagonal object in the void, and then quickly withdrew his finger.

Instantly, on the octagonal object, two light pillars, one black and one red, as thick as a little finger, rose up immediately after Li Yan’s finger pointed down.

And after Li Yan had withdrawn his finger, the two-colored light pillars disappeared.

After seeing the two-colored light pillars rise, the three of them, led by the slender young man, their guarded expressions finally relaxed.

To be able to easily mobilize the power of the Hun and Po souls, only a soul cultivator could do so with a wave of his hand.

Although Li Yan had only roughly read those introductory methods, he was proficient in “Soul-Tugging Execution,” so basically, after he had the manual, he had already been able to quickly master the activation of the power of the Hun and Po souls.

“Then please, fellow Daoist!” The slender young man was also straightforward. He immediately cupped his fists at Li Yan. The other party was also a Nascent Soul-level cultivator. Even if he was a rogue cultivator, he was still an existence of the same rank, so he was also quite polite.

Li Yan nodded and said nothing more, flying forward.

“Oh right, if this fellow Daoist discovers any traces of ‘Evil Spirit Cultivators,’ you must be careful. It would be best to find a nearby sect or family as soon as possible and quickly pass on the information to them. The number of ‘Evil Spirit Cultivators’ who have entered recently is unknown. It is either a large number of Nascent Soul cultivators, or a Spirit Transformation realm expert with extremely high cultivation. From the news I have received, two cultivators have already perished silently, and one of them was even a Nascent Soul realm expert!”

Just as Li Yan had flown a distance, the voice of the slender young man came from behind him again.

“Thank you!”

Li Yan’s figure also paused for a moment, and his voice came from afar. Then he had gone far away.

“Alright, this person is fine. You continue to search!”

After Li Yan’s figure had disappeared, a voice suddenly sounded from the void. This voice came extremely abruptly, but it was not from the three of them.

When the slender young man and the other two heard this, they immediately saluted a certain part of the void.

“Yes!”

Then, the three of them continued to fly in one direction!

They were setting a bait to lure the enemy. An existence of the slender young man’s level, if he continued to patrol outside, if the other party encountered him, he would basically be killed to silence him.

In these few days, the “Evil Spirit Cultivator” had already killed two cultivators without any scruples, and the clues left behind were very few. All of this, however, further demonstrated the other party’s super strength.

The “Yellow Springs Path” had carefully investigated the place where the gray-haired old man had disappeared. Through various means, they had found that there were almost no traces of a fight there, and the formation that the gray-haired old man had set up was still there.

Through various signs, it was indicated that the “Evil Spirit Cultivator” who had entered should be three to five people, and they acted ruthlessly and decisively. Either they did not act, or when they acted, it was a sure kill.

Not only were they merciless to mortals, but even a Late-stage Nascent Soul expert had only fought with the other party for five to ten breaths of time, and was captured by the other party.

Then, only after being interrogated, was the gray-haired old man killed, and all traces were completely erased.

But what surprised the “Yellow Springs Path” was that they were soul cultivators, cultivators who knew the most about souls. When a person died, as long as the soul disappeared and entered the void, they could track and find it through the soul lamp left by the sect.

Even if the other party had concealment methods, at the very least, they could confirm the approximate range where the soul had last disappeared.

But even with a Spirit Transformation cultivator from the sect, holding the extinguished soul lamp of the gray-haired old man, they had not been able to find out where he had died.

This meant that the other party either had a magical treasure that could conceal the laws of the heavenly Dao, or had completely refined the gray-haired old man’s soul into nothingness through a vicious method, making it impossible for him to enter the path of reincarnation.

The former was a normal method, but the latter was a loss of the heavenly Dao, and was something that would anger both men and gods.

This made the experts in the “Yellow Springs Path” overflow with killing intent. They believed that it was the latter situation that had occurred.

That kind of magical treasure that could conceal the laws of the heavenly Dao, judging by the level of cultivators that the “True Earth Domain” could absorb, nine out of ten did not exist.

It was precisely because of Li Yan’s earlier ruthlessness and decisiveness, not letting the soul cultivators probe the villagers’ memories and clearly know that he was only one person, and the various incredible means of the Five Immortal Sects, that the “Yellow Springs Path” had made a misjudgment.

They had determined that the cultivation of the “Evil Spirit Cultivator” who had entered was at least at the Nascent Soul realm, and the number might be around three to five people, and there might even be a Spirit Transformation realm existence among them.

It was impossible for a Late-stage Nascent Soul soul cultivator to be captured silently without sending out a warning.

It was precisely based on these judgments that Li Yan, after being checked and confirmed to be a soul cultivator, was let go.

Because he was only a Nascent Soul realm cultivator, and he was alone. It was impossible for the gray-haired old man to be easily captured by this kind of person. His suspicion was quickly eliminated.

Li Yan flew for three or four thousand li, and he still encountered several interrogations along the way, but they all let him leave without any surprises.

It was not until Li Yan had flown for another twenty thousand li that he finally encountered an interrogation by a Spirit Transformation cultivator. In the end, after questioning Li Yan, he asked him if he had any plans to join a sect.

A Nascent Soul cultivator was still something that some sects were willing to recruit, but it was politely refused by Li Yan. He was a fake soul cultivator, and he could only use some soul arts.

If he really became a guest elder of a certain sect, and when people really treated him at that level, after a little longer, he would most likely expose himself.

With Li Yan’s current soul cultivation methods, apart from his soul power being quite good, when he used soul arts to fight with others, he would be unable to do what he wanted. It would probably be about right to be a disciple.

So, Li Yan continued to fly east for more than ten days. The number of interrogations he encountered next had obviously begun to decrease.

In the air, Li Yan was flying at an unhurried pace. Below was a very large river surface.

“Through these days of trying, it should be possible to impersonate a soul cultivator. But fortunately, the checks were only to confirm whether I was a soul cultivator. There was no real fight with anyone. Otherwise, with my soul power not matching my soul arts, problems would be exposed. Next, these hidden dangers of my own must be resolved quickly and can no longer be delayed. Once an unreasonable thing happens, it will inevitably arouse the suspicion of others…”

After these days of detection, Li Yan felt that the plan he had tested a few days ago should be feasible.

…………

A few days later, in an inn in a market, Li Yan, in a black long shirt, was sitting at a table by the window.

At this moment, he was not in a hurry to cultivate. One of his fingers was constantly tapping on the table in a rhythmic manner.

On the table were seven or eight thin things, the size of a baby’s palm, like green leaves. In Li Yan’s mind, he was constantly thinking about some things.

“When I entered the market, the interrogation was even stricter. The problem of identity also needs to be resolved as soon as possible! I should join a sect now and get a formal identity… But… but with my kind of cultivation, there will be many problems when I join a sect…”

Li Yan had been in this market for four days. In these four days, he had been constantly buying some classics outside.

In the “True Earth Domain,” it was very difficult to use divine sense, so they would not refine and use jade slips. Using a jade slip was simply a kind of self-abuse.

What they used was a kind of thing called a “Soul Slip,” in which they could engrave some things with their soul power.

When checking, one only needed to probe into the stone with their soul power, and they could also sense the words or images inside, just like a jade slip.

This made Li Yan can’t help but sigh at the cultivator’s strong ability to survive. This “Soul Slip” was also refined from “Soul Crystal Sprouts” plus other auxiliary materials.

But the age of the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” used here did not need to be five hundred years. It only needed to be a sixty-year cycle or more, and different grades of “Soul Slips” could be refined.

And in the market, you could not only trade with Spirit Stones, but you could also trade with “Soul Crystal Sprouts,” but this would need to be calculated according to the grade of the “Soul Crystal Sprouts.”

They were graded by a hundred years. The lowest was also a hundred years of growth. The vast majority of “Soul Crystal Sprouts” grown by mortals could not be used as Spirit Stones and could usually only be used for alchemy and artifact refining.

Of course, there were also mortals who would open up special land to plant for more than a hundred years. At least with their lifespan, they might be able to harvest two or three times in their lifetime.

But there were also people who would plant them and never harvest them, also for the sake of their descendants, because they had inherited the “Soul Crystal Sprouts” left by their ancestors.

Li Yan had obtained a lot of information about the “True Earth Domain” from these “Soul Slips.”

Now, in the Soul Suppression Palace, it should be managed by two Body Integration Realm old monsters, but these two old monsters had not appeared for a thousand years.

It was rumored that the two were in seclusion, trying to break the heavenly dao shackles here.

If they could successfully break the heavenly dao shackles here, perhaps the “True Earth Domain” could open a passage to the outside world.

Also, there were at least four other dangerous places in the “True Earth Domain” that no one had been able to set foot in yet.

Perhaps the two old monsters had entered before, but it might have been too dangerous inside, and they had retreated, so there was no related record.

The Soul Suppression Palace had no prohibition on those four dangerous places. Anyone who was not afraid of death could try to enter.

Regarding the perilous land, there was also a piece of news. It was that the first generation Supreme Great Elder, as well as three elders, in order to explore a perilous place a long time ago, after the four of them had entered, they had never been able to come out again.

It was because of this matter that the Soul Suppression Palace had almost had a crisis.

Fortunately, the Sect Master of that generation who had stayed behind in the palace was already the strongest of the contemporary Void Refining Late-stage experts. In addition, with the help of other elders, he had barely managed to suppress the various forces.

It was not until he finally broke through to the Body Integration Realm that the power of the Soul Suppression Palace was re-stabilized.

The “Soul Slip” recorded that in the few days after that Sect Master had become a Body Integration Realm cultivator, the “True Earth Domain” had ushered in a bloody purge. A large number of cultivators had died, and many sects and families had been wiped out…

Apart from this news, Li Yan had also learned that in some areas of the “True Earth Domain,” there were indeed some outsider cultivators who had survived.

After they had escaped the pursuit of the soul cultivators, some had hidden in some remote or dangerous places. While cultivating, they would also occasionally come out to hunt soul cultivators to get more cultivation resources.

So, when walking in the “True Earth Domain,” apart from some places where sects were more concentrated, in the more remote places, or when walking alone, you really had to be careful of being ambushed by others.

And the matter that Li Yan was most concerned about was the news that the two Body Integration cultivators might still be trying to break through the shackles of heaven and earth and want to leave this place.

Seeing this news also made his heart fill with joy.

The other party still wanted to break through the spatial restriction here by breaking through their cultivation. Then the other party must have accumulated many other methods of trying.

It was just that the results of those attempts, in the end, should still be debatable, or had failed. But what Li Yan wanted to know was what specific methods they had used.

For example, whether they had already found a real exit restriction location, but were just unable to break the seal restriction there.

If there was such information, he had the “Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.” Of course, he wanted to try and see if he could successfully break out.

But if he wanted to get this kind of news, he couldn’t enter those small sects. He could only enter the Soul Suppression Palace to have a hope of coming into contact with these core information.

But Li Yan’s biggest problem now was that his own realm was inconsistent with the soul cultivator’s realm, and he could not enter by concealing his cultivation as he had when he had entered the Falling Star Valley back then.

Although he could once again conceal his cultivation to the Golden Core realm, or even the Foundation Establishment stage, there would be some problems.

The biggest purpose of Li Yan’s entry was that if he wanted to find out the core news as soon as possible, then his identity must have a certain status in the Soul Suppression Palace.

At this time, Li Yan wished that his cultivation could be a little higher. Only then would his status be higher.

In addition, even if Li Yan was willing to lay low and slowly approach the core disciples of the sect from a small cultivator, when he joined the Soul Suppression Palace, the other party would definitely conduct an assessment.

His realm of dual cultivation of law and body could be concealed. As long as it was not a Void Refining cultivator personally assessing him, it should be possible to deceive them.

But his soul power strength could not be concealed. Li Yan currently only knew how to use soul arts to attack and defend, and had not cultivated the cultivation method of a soul cultivator.

The other party would find out that a Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivator actually possessed the powerful soul power of a Nascent Soul realm. Then the trouble would definitely be great.

There were geniuses in this world, and there were also people who were born with strong souls. But Li Yan’s identity could not stand up to scrutiny. So, he had to at least keep the realm of a soul cultivator roughly the same as his soul.

“I’ll buy some better soul cultivation methods from the market again, and then after I have cultivated the soul cultivation methods to a certain level, I’ll go and join the ‘Soul Suppression Palace’!”

After Li Yan thought for a while, he could only give up the idea of quickly entering the Soul Suppression Palace. He could only carry out his plan step by step.

And what he had on hand now were only some basic cultivation methods obtained from the soul-search, but they were not very complete. They should just be memories that the gray-haired old man had memorized when he had casually read through this kind of cultivation method.

Since it was decided, Li Yan immediately collected the “Soul Slips” on the table, then stood up and walked towards the door!