Just as Li Yan finished speaking, a cool voice rang out. Amidst the snow, Gong Chenying raised her beautiful eyes to look at him.
Li Yan seemed prepared. With a faint smile, he spoke in a clear voice, "This is the question I've been thinking about, and it's something that might need testing to confirm. I believe the people outside the sphere can enter at any time, and the key should be the blue rhomboid crystals in their hands. You all saw it before; when those two Foundation Establishment cultivators died, they were still clutching the crystals. This might indicate that their method requires the constant support of the crystals, or that they used some means to deceive the rules within the yellow sphere. Once put away, the effect would be lost, and the two sides might have to fight until the rules are satisfied."
"You mean the opposing cultivators relied on the blue rhomboid crystal to deceive the rules of the yellow sphere, but they still entered in two separate waves, one after the other? The greatest significance of this is that if we enter the sphere unknowingly, we'd have to kill waves of cultivators one by one, instead of facing two waves at once? In that case, although their chances of victory would still be very high, the first batch to enter would either suffer immense losses or be completely wiped out by us. If the opposing side were two teams from the same sect, it would be one thing, but if they are from two different sects, who would be willing to be in the first wave?"
The moment Li Yan's voice fell, Ding Yiwei asked after a moment of thought. His question was indeed very important. Even if Li Yan could explain the previous point of doubt, there were still more questions, and these questions could still lead to their deaths.
Li Yan also frowned, then said, "This question should be related to the secret of the three sects' alliance, but it needs further verification. Also, the other party might not be a merger of two paths, but perhaps more." With that, he looked at Gong Chenying.
Gong Chenying had been thinking ever since she asked her question. She understood what Li Yan meant by looking at her. He needed time. Time was extremely precious to them now. Giving Li Yan time meant giving up on arriving at the ten-li mark early, a gamble with everyone's lives.
Gritting her teeth, Gong Chenying stared at Li Yan and said slowly, enunciating each word, "Including the time just used, one hour."
For the first time, Li Yan felt such seriousness from Gong Chenying, and he also sensed the anxiety in her heart. He too stared at his beautiful senior sister and said seriously, "I also need all the storage pouches of the Foundation Establishment cultivators you collected earlier."
With that, he turned, walked to the side of the snowy path, and sat down cross-legged, letting the falling snow land on him.
"Alright," Gong Chenying said without hesitation. With a wave of her hand, four storage pouches flew toward Li Yan.
Their conversation was extremely fast, and a decision was made in a very short time. Many people were still dwelling on Li Yan's previous words—that the other side might be a merger of more than two paths. This undoubtedly placed another heavy mountain on their hearts, adding frost to the snow.
"Recover your spirit power," Gong Chenying said, leaving these words behind as she looked at Li Yan's back.
Upon hearing this, some people hesitated for a moment before sitting down cross-legged in the snowstorm. Although they hadn't consumed much in the last trial, they had nothing better to do. Some truly began to recover their spirit power, while others sat in contemplation. A portion of them stood a few dozen feet away from Li Yan, watching to see what he was up to.
Li Yan reached out and took a storage pouch, scanning its contents with his divine sense. The divine sense imprints on these pouches had been erased by Gong Chenying when she tossed them over. This didn't mean Gong Chenying was stronger than the three cultivators and one demon; it was because they were already dead. For a cultivator of the same rank, erasing the divine sense imprint was not a difficult task.
With a sweep of his divine sense, Li Yan was stunned. The storage pouch of a Foundation Establishment cultivator was truly impressive. The space was at least ten times larger than his own, and the contents made him feel a surge of greed. In the first pouch he picked up, there were nearly a thousand low-grade Spirit Stones alone. In a corner, there were even three mid-grade Spirit Stones, the kind Li Yan had seen a Golden Core elder take out outside the secret valley. The spirit energy on those three stones was vigorous. The moment Li Yan's divine sense touched them, he felt an urge to groan in pleasure.
Li Yan forcefully suppressed the greed in his heart. Senior Sister Gong had thrown these four pouches over without hesitation. Though he was greedy, he couldn't just take them for himself. Amidst his turbulent emotions, his divine sense quickly swept through the items one by one. There wasn't a single low-grade spirit artifact, but there were over a dozen mid- and high-grade spirit artifacts and spirit treasures. There was even a Magical Treasure flying sword whose grade Li Yan couldn't identify, and a green gourd.
Li Yan pondered for a moment and thought, 'This must be the storage pouch of that Ten-Pace Courtyard sword cultivator.' His judgment wasn't based on the flying sword magical treasure he couldn't identify, but on the unique aura of the Ten-Pace Courtyard on some other accessories. This was an Inner Sword Cultivator; his entire cultivation was in the flying sword within his Niwan Palace. When he died, his Niwan Palace shattered and the sword was destroyed. The flying sword in this storage pouch was at most a spare for that Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator.
After looking, Li Yan didn't hesitate. He put down the storage pouch and quickly picked up another. A few breaths later, he had inspected the contents of all four pouches. At this moment, Li Yan's eyes lit up. He had a purpose for this inspection. He had always believed that the blue rhomboid crystal was the most suspicious part of the sects' scheme. Other than that, they must be using some other magical treasure to control this strange situation. No matter which of these two methods it was, there was one prerequisite: all parties had to hold the same item. This item either had to look the same or have the same aura. Clearly, the blue rhomboid crystal was the only item that fit the criteria.
Li Yan naturally had to confirm this first. The best way was to check the storage pouches of the Foundation Establishment cultivators. Such a precious item would likely only be held by them. As for the Qi Condensation cultivators, Li Yan had already collected the storage pouches in the four areas he had controlled within the sphere. He had checked them at the time and found nothing too suspicious. Furthermore, he had discovered another important issue on those cultivators; he had basically confirmed the problem with the Qi Condensation disciples.
And after checking the storage pouches of the several Foundation Establishment cultivators, he had made a discovery. Three of the pouches each contained a green gourd. These three pouches came from the Pure Land Sect, the Supreme Mystery Teachings, and the Ten-Pace Courtyard, respectively. The one without a green gourd was precisely the storage pouch of the second-tier demonic beast.
Li Yan tossed the demonic beast's pouch to the side, then picked up the three pouches one by one. With a pat on each, a series of lights flashed, and three green gourds appeared on the snowy ground before him. The cultivators observing from a few dozen feet away all focused their gazes. Although they didn't know why Li Yan had thrown one pouch away, seeing three almost identical green gourds appear on the snow, their eyes lit up. They knew that the appearance of the same item in storage pouches from three different sects held an extraordinary meaning.
Gong Chenying was also staring at him. When she saw this scene, she was momentarily stunned. She hadn't had time to check these pouches since collecting them. Being pursued by the giant black shadow, her only thought was to clear the trial, clear the trial, and clear the trial again. She hadn't expected to overlook this. She did not go forward to disturb Li Yan.
Li Yan picked up a green gourd and examined it closely, finding nothing amiss. He carefully released his divine sense and probed the surface of the gourd. A breath later, his expression relaxed, and he felt slightly relieved. With a wave of his hand, the lid on the gourd's mouth flew off. Li Yan once again carefully extended his divine sense into the mouth of the gourd. After a short while, a strange expression appeared on his face. He then waved his hand again and replaced the lid.
He then picked up the other two gourds on the ground. Each time, he wrapped his hands in spirit power, stared at it for a moment, then carefully extended his divine sense to its surface before opening it and probing again. Every step was done with extreme caution.
But after he had inspected all three gourds, the strange look on his face intensified. He tilted his head in thought, then patted his waist pouch again. With a flash of light, two blue rhomboid crystals appeared before him, floating in the air. Li Yan reached out and took one, holding it up to his eye. The core of this crystal was white. If Li Yan remembered correctly, Wang Lang had chosen a white-cored crystal when entering the passage, which meant this one should belong to the Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator.
Li Yan didn't infuse spirit power this time. In truth, he wanted to test if continuing to infuse it would provide him with even more spirit power, like the black-cored one did, allowing him to break through to the next level again. But now was not the time for recklessness. He had already released his divine sense.
This was a five-colored space, completely different from the pure blue seen from the outside. There were five regions—white, black, green, red, and yellow. But these five regions were not the same size; some were large, some were small, and they all radiated an astonishing amount of spirit power. These five regions were arranged in a circle, and in the center of the circle was a huge white ball of light. Even though Li Yan's divine sense was far from this ball of light, he could feel the pure, tide-like spirit power. This white ball of light was constantly pouring out spirit power, expanding outwards, but it was blocked by the surrounding five-colored light balls and couldn't spread further, creating layers of turbulent tides like a sea of clouds.
Li Yan's divine sense was like a fish in water in this five-colored space, quickly approaching the central white light ball. When his divine sense finally stopped outside the white light ball, the ball seemed to sense its arrival. The wild tides immediately subsided and calmed, and a gentle force brushed against Li Yan's wisp of divine sense. Li Yan was not flustered; he had already briefly probed it inside the sphere earlier. The moment the gentle force came into contact with his divine sense, his consciousness had already entered the white light ball. At this moment, his divine sense felt like a fish returning to the sea, a sense of belonging that was very pleasant. And from deeper within the white light ball, it seemed as if someone was calling to him, making him feel not the slightest bit of danger.
Li Yan's divine sense paused only for a moment before flying directly into the depths of that white light ball. Just as his divine sense had advanced some distance, a powerful suction force enveloped it. Li Yan felt his divine sense firmly controlled by the white light ball. If something unexpected were to happen now, it would be too late for him to escape. He would have no choice but to abandon this wisp of divine sense.