Chapter 1517: A Step Further

Li Yan sat in his reception hall, carefully recalling the events that had just transpired, planning his next steps in his mind.

Since the Soul-Suppression Palace was currently occupied with important matters, Elder Tang had not yet asked him in detail about his cultivation. In fact, Great Master Lan and the others would explain these things.

After all, they “knew” how he had successfully cultivated with his powerful soul.

However, Li Yan still had to perfect this matter as much as possible, to think more about the trouble that might come from displaying a cultivation art that surpassed the realm of others.

There was no other way. He had to get close to the sect’s core as quickly as possible, and he couldn’t do everything flawlessly. Some risks had to be taken.

‘There’s another matter. Although I rescued the two Supreme Elders, I still don’t know the specific situation behind that mountain, nor do I know the results of their exploration.’

‘The old Sect Master and the Void Refining elders he brought with him, did they ultimately perish, or did something else happen, or is there some other hidden story? These are the things I need to know most…’

When Li Yan thought of what Great Master Lan had said about the throat position, he still found it difficult to calm his heart. He wanted to leave this damned place as soon as possible.

But from what he had seen and heard this time, Li Yan also felt that the hope he had ignited was likely on the verge of being extinguished.

Body Integration Realm cultivators had explored that place, and the two Supreme Elders had been trapped inside for a long time. The result was already very clear: they had not found an exit to the other side.

After pondering for a long time, Li Yan felt that if he had the chance, he could only try to first understand the situation behind that mountain…

…

Two days later, the two Supreme Elders were the first to return to the sect. The moment they returned, they announced a piece of news to the outside world.

The nine major powers and all their subordinate forces had been completely eradicated.

Of all the cultivation resources of these forces, apart from a portion that would belong to the Soul-Suppression Palace, for those who had truly assisted the Soul-Suppression Palace in resisting the enemy this time, the Soul-Suppression Palace would divide the foundations of those rebellious forces among them.

As for those who had not helped either side before, in the coming years, the levy of various resources would be increased. For any delay, the levy would be doubled each time, or the sect would be directly exterminated.

Now, ninety percent of the cultivators of the nine major powers had been wiped out. The Void Refining elders of the Soul-Suppression Palace, as well as the subordinate Aegis Guard and various hall cultivators, were still outside doing the final cleanup.

Some of the escaped enemies were either out on business before and hadn’t been found yet, or they were extremely cunning individuals who had immediately fled after sensing that something was wrong. But they could no longer pose a threat.

And after the two Supreme Elders returned, they were still relentless towards those who had escaped. The news they released also declared that they would not stop until they had killed every last one of them.

Of course, the only ones who could make the two Supreme Elders take action would probably be the few Void Refining cultivators who had escaped by luck…

…

On this day, Li Yan was in his courtyard looking at a soul slip in his hand.

Now, the morale of the Soul-Suppression Palace was soaring, looking down on the world. The sect would send out battle reports to every disciple, which also included the names of some wanted criminals.

Of course, since these people could be called wanted criminals, the lowest among them had to be a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator.

If these Nascent Soul Realm wanted criminals were excluded, then there were actually no more than thirty cultivators recorded on the list.

Of these thirty people, more than ninety percent were still Spirit Transformation cultivators. Void Refining cultivators were already very rare among the nine major powers. To be able to escape could only be said to be the blessing of their ancestors.

And at this moment, Li Yan suddenly looked up towards the courtyard gate. Just as he looked over, a clear voice came from outside the courtyard.

“Brother Li, pack up and follow me to the back mountain’s lone peak!”

After Li Yan opened the courtyard gate, Tang Feng was also stunned for a moment when he saw Li Yan, because Li Yan had reverted to the late-stage Nascent Soul Realm.

However, he quickly reacted. This Li Yan had always liked to hide some things, just like when he was in the Nascent Soul Realm and had a soul slave spirit plant of the same rank.

However, there were actually many cultivators like Li Yan. Hadn’t he also concealed his cultivation before?

After the two exchanged a few simple words, Li Yan quickly called his two soul slaves to come out. Cultivators actually didn’t have much to pack; they usually carried their most valuable possessions with them.

In particular, Li Yan knew that he would be leaving in a few days, so he had long been prepared.

In the sky, Li Yan and Tang Feng stood side by side on a flying magical treasure. Behind them stood Mu Guyue and Feng Hongyue.

“Hehehe… Brother Li is no longer a disciple of the Strange Sparrow Hall. From now on, we will be in the same hall, and we can be much closer.”

“Two days ago, after the two Supreme Elders returned, they were busy with other matters. Only today did they confirm your reward. They want you to first report to the Soul Palace’s Rear Hall in the morning, and in the afternoon, the Sect Master and the others will have you go over, and then bestow the reward.”

Tang Feng chuckled.

“Oh? What is the reward?” Li Yan asked curiously.

“This? I don’t know. The Soul Palace has always given rewards. Apart from those meant to inspire the morale of others, where some news is revealed in advance and the rewards are also bestowed one by one in public, all other rewards are given individually.”

“The purpose of this is to prevent others from coveting the treasure if a great one is bestowed. If Brother Li wants to tell me at that time, I would be happy to listen, hehehe…”

Tang Feng chuckled. After hearing this, Li Yan rubbed his nose. He hadn’t expected the Soul-Suppression Palace to be so considerate of its disciples.

Soon, amidst the laughter and conversation of the two, they had already arrived at the lone peak in the back mountain.

After entering the lone peak, Tang Feng still led the three of them into a side hall. As expected, just as Li Yan had guessed, he saw another teleportation formation inside.

After checking their identities, Li Yan and his group were teleported into the so-called “Rear Hall.”

The Rear Hall was also located in a region of the perilous land behind the mountain. It covered an area of about two thousand li and was filled with pavilions and halls, one after another.

The Rear Hall also had its own Technique Transmission Pavilion. However, according to Tang Feng, there were not many cultivation methods inside, but they were definitely the core cultivation methods of the Soul-Suppression Palace, which only core disciples could cultivate.

The Rear Hall also had places like the Law-Enforcement Hall, the Hall of Deacons, and the Mission Hall. These were completely closed to the public; only disciples of the Rear Hall could enter.

There were a total of three hundred and sixteen cultivators in the entire Rear Hall, most of whom were at the Nascent Soul and Spirit Transformation realms, with three Void Refining elders.

These three were the true elders of the Rear Hall, stationed here year-round. Very few people in the sect knew of their existence.

This was also another reason why Xue Tieyi had been able to stabilize the situation in the past few years, even though he seemed to be inferior to the nine major powers in terms of high-end combat power. He still had some trump cards in his hand.

As for elders like Great Master Lan and Elder Ling, they had also cultivated in the Soul Palace’s Rear Hall before.

It was just that because they had climbed up from the lower-level disciples step by step and were more familiar with the outside world, after cultivating the arts here, they were still assigned to various important halls or the Aegis Guard in the sect.

With Tang Feng leading the way, Li Yan’s registration and other matters were completed very quickly.

And at the registration here, Li Yan clearly noticed something he had never encountered before. When registering for the Rear Hall, one needed to fill in the qualification for entering the Rear Hall.

This was a necessary condition for entering the Rear Hall. Only when your qualifications were met could you become the core of the core.

Faced with this question, Li Yan didn’t know how to answer. Tang Feng at the side immediately spoke up. After simply saying a sentence to the other party, the disciple in charge of registration was left with his mouth agape. It was not until Tang Feng urged him that he came to his senses as if from a dream.

But when he looked at Li Yan again, his eyes were filled with shock and disbelief. His mind was filled with Tang Feng’s words.

“He assisted the two Supreme Elders in coming out of seclusion. Everything was personally arranged by the Sect Master!”

Tang Feng then took out a soul slip and handed it to the other party. After the deacon disciple took it and inspected it, he finally confirmed Tang Feng’s words.

Still in a state of shock, he looked at Li Yan with an added sense of respect.

Afterward, Li Yan also received a purple token. Everything went unexpectedly smoothly.

After leaving the deacon hall, Tang Feng led the three of them on a brief flight around the Rear Hall area, showing Li Yan some of the important places. Then, he led Li Yan straight towards the rear area.

Not long after, Li Yan arrived at the residential area of the Rear Hall.

This area was composed of three mountain peaks, each covering four to five hundred li. The spiritual energy was about twenty percent denser than in the front sect area.

Tang Feng told Li Yan that the first mountain peak in front was the residential cave residence for disciples at the Nascent Soul realm and below. It was the most populous mountain peak. There were even some Qi Condensation stage disciples there.

These kinds of disciples were all born in the sect and would show their talent from a young age. Once it was discovered that they had the conditions and aptitude to surpass their peers, they would be directly selected to come here. Tang Feng himself was one such person.

Therefore, basically no one outside knew them.

And the middle mountain peak was where disciples at the Spirit Transformation Realm like Li Yan lived. As for the mountain peak at the very back, currently only three Void Refining elders resided there.

On each mountain peak, there were independent cave residences. The cave residences on the first mountain peak were not only of different sizes but were also more numerous.

As for the middle mountain peak where the Spirit Transformation cultivators lived, the number of cave residences was much scarcer. Tang Feng led the three of them directly to the top of the second mountain peak.

The higher up the mountain, the fewer the cave residences. And the cave residences at the top covered a much larger area. Both the spiritual energy and the defensive formations were the best on this mountain peak.

Tang Feng also told Li Yan that at the top of this middle mountain peak, there were a total of nine cave residences. He himself occupied one, and three others were used by others. The rest had always been empty.

Li Yan had also heard the Sect Master Xue Tieyi’s arrangements in the grand hall that day, so he roughly knew the level of his cave residence.

But when he heard that there were only nine cave residences at the top of the mountain, and only four people had lived there before, he immediately realized the preciousness of these nine cave residences, and he couldn’t help but marvel in his heart.

On the one hand, he thought of how powerful Tang Feng’s status was, truly basking in the glory of his Body Integration Realm ancestor.

On the other hand, he lamented that Spirit Transformation cultivators were a dime a dozen in the Soul-Suppression Palace. This one mountain peak would not have been enough to go around outside. It could only be said that whoever lived here would be the object of envy.

Soon, the few of them flew to the platform outside the cave residence. Tang Feng glanced down below, then cupped his fists towards Li Yan.

“I won’t go in today. You’ll probably have to tidy up a bit when you go in. If Brother Li needs anything, just find me or go to the Hall of Deacons. You just need to say the word.”

“The two Supreme Elders have just returned, and I still have many things to do. It’s only because it’s you, Brother Li. Otherwise, I wouldn’t show up for a small matter like entering the Rear Hall. You have to accept this favor, hehehe…” Tang Feng chuckled again.

Hearing this, Li Yan also chuckled and cupped his fists towards Tang Feng in return.

“Hehehe… then I really have to thank Brother Tang!”

Immediately, amidst loud laughter, Tang Feng turned and left.

Li Yan watched Tang Feng’s disappearing back. In his heart, he also held Tang Feng in high praise. This person had excellent character; he was worthy of being the successor to the next generation’s Sect Master.

Tang Feng was extremely shrewd, but he preferred to use open schemes. Especially when it came to managing people, Li Yan felt that he couldn’t even compare.

Some words spoken from Tang Feng’s mouth, even if they could be misunderstood, would not be taken amiss when he said them, and would leave one feeling comfortable.

‘What a pity. If they didn’t harbor enmity towards outside cultivators, perhaps he could have become a good friend, like Bu Luo.’ Li Yan thought to himself as he watched Tang Feng’s back.

He had to get out no matter what. He was just a passerby here. Taking a ten-thousand-step back, even if he were to live out his days and die here, he could never reveal his identity.

A few breaths later, Li Yan finally turned his head and looked at the two people who had been standing quietly to the side.

“Let’s go in.”

As Li Yan spoke, he had already landed on the platform below. At the same time, the purple token had appeared in his hand. With a light wave towards the cave residence gate in front, an invisible ripple flashed.

Li Yan sensed it for a moment. The formation restriction here was really good. In his senses, the pressure emanating from the formation here could possibly have the effect of preventing a Spirit Transformation cultivator’s attack.

‘It really is the best cave residence here. Just the defensive formation of the cave residence is so ridiculously strong,’ Li Yan thought to himself.

Then, amidst the invisible ripples of the formation, the gate of the cave residence rumbled open. Li Yan took the lead and walked in.