Gong Chenying looked at the blue rhomboid crystals and green gourds flying toward her. Hearing Li Yan's voice transmission, she couldn't help but be startled. She immediately transmitted back without changing her expression, "What way to pass?"
"To be precise, including the crystal in your hand, there should be a way for three people to leave the passage of each trial and go to the outside. But I haven't actually tested it yet. However, I think one crystal can only take one person," Li Yan's voice transmission was filled with a sense of bitterness. This was the biggest secret he had discovered in the core of the blue rhomboid crystal. But there were too many people here, so he couldn't say it out loud, otherwise it would definitely cause a great commotion.
"Oh? Three crystals, three people. Are you sure?" Gong Chenying was silent for a moment, her voice becoming calm. At this moment, her mind was racing. Li Yan's news was earth-shattering. In the first and second trials, she had tried to leave the street and the great desert path. One was blocked by an invisible wall, making it impossible for them to leave the street; the other, after venturing only a hundred meters or so into the desert, almost resulted in their entire team being wiped out. Although she hadn't tested the magma cave or this trial's snowy path, she knew they were confined here. It was as if in every trial, they were trapped within a giant light barrier, unable to break out to the left or right, unable to retreat, with only the path forward.
As for the three sects, she speculated that although they knew some of the secrets of this Wheel of Life and Death, they were definitely unable to escape the passage of a particular trial. Otherwise, the Pure Land Sect wouldn't have been left with only eighteen monks in the first trial, nor would they have run into them alone.
"Not sure," Li Yan replied. He couldn't be certain, but from what he had seen inside the crystal's core, his feeling was that one crystal could only be used by one person.
"How long will it take to confirm?"
"Probably five or six breaths, but..." Li Yan hesitated, but Gong Chenying quickly interrupted.
"I'll find a reason for you to stay behind. We'll go ahead. If you can get out, you must be extremely careful. See what the situation is like outside the passage. If you find something wrong after getting out, return immediately. I believe you can catch up to the team in that short time." At this point, her voice paused as if in hesitation. "If it's possible, you... you try to see if you can find Baili Yuan's and Gan Shi's teams. Go and inform them of the situation with the three sects."
Li Yan was surprised to hear the hesitation in Gong Chenying's voice transmission, but the content of her words shocked him. He hadn't expected Gong Chenying to come up with such a plan in such a short time. His own plan was to first confirm if he could leave the trial passage, and then see what was outside. If it was truly usable, he would only tell this secret to Gong Chenying, to be kept as a last resort for the two of them to escape temporarily. As for who to take with the third crystal, he didn't care.
Li Yan didn't think there was anything wrong with his way of thinking. Call him selfish, call him heartless, Li Yan wouldn't feel the slightest bit of guilt. He only did what was within his capabilities. If there was only one blue rhomboid crystal, he probably wouldn't even tell Gong Chenying this secret.
"If I can leave? You're not coming with me?" Li Yan's voice transmission was devoid of any emotion.
"Do you think I would abandon them and leave with you?" There was a strange tone in Gong Chenying's voice.
Li Yan sighed inwardly. It was just as he had guessed. If there really was a quick way to pass the trial outside the passage, Gong Chenying would never abandon the others. That wouldn't be Gong Chenying.
"Right, perhaps going out is even more dangerous," Li Yan chuckled lightly.
"Besides the blue rhomboid crystal, do you need the green gourd?" Gong Chenying's faint voice came over.
"Heh, I don't need the green gourd. Don't you remember? I have miscellaneous spirit roots," Li Yan chuckled again and replied quickly.
Their voice transmission, though it seemed long, actually took place in a very short time. The blue rhomboid crystals had only just flown in front of Gong Chenying.
Gong Chenying didn't ask how he would enter their trial passages even if he could find Baili Yuan and the others. Li Yan didn't say any more on the matter either. Both of them were extremely intelligent. Since Li Yan could get out, he clearly had a way to enter another passage. Even if he couldn't enter another passage, returning should be possible.
Just like that, a decision was made in the span of a breath, without any wasted words.
Looking at the five items floating in front of her, Gong Chenying showed no hesitation. She extended a jade-like hand, her long index finger lightly formed a ring, and flicked a blue rhomboid crystal. With that flick, the crystal buzzed and flew back towards Li Yan. At the same time, she said faintly, "Little Martial Uncle, I just remembered something. Use this crystal to see if you can probe the current situation in the sphere we just came from. I have a great use for it. Come quickly after ten breaths. Be careful of everything!"
As she spoke, she waved her other hand, and one blue rhomboid crystal and three green gourds flew into her storage pouch. She then took a deep look at Li Yan.
Li Yan nodded. He knew what Gong Chenying meant by "be careful of everything." It would be dangerous for him to go out too; he might be met with extreme danger. The other meaning was, of course, to be careful on the road to find Baili Yuan and Gan Shi if he could really leave the trial passage.
Everything was understood without words.
This sudden turn of events left the cultivators, who had been staring at Gong Chenying, stunned, not knowing what this senior sister and junior uncle were doing.
"Let's go!" A giant light from a green halberd danced out a ring of light in the snowy sky. Then, dragging it with one hand on the ground, kicking up a thousand layers of snow waves, she strode off into the snow.
Mei Bucai, Wu Shixi, and a few other cultivators who were on good terms with Li Yan smiled at him before instantly merging into the world of ice and snow.
But no one noticed that the moment everyone turned their faces, four dark lights pierced through the wind and snow from ahead, flying rapidly towards Li Yan. The person who cast the spell was far superior to all of them; no one noticed.
Li Yan looked at the dark lights attacking him in the wind and snow without any surprise. He extended a hand to meet them and, with a light scoop, four things flashing with an extremely dim light landed in his hand. Three of the dark lights were three "Ghost-Chariot Talismans."
The life-saving items issued to everyone in the sect. Each person only had three.
The other dark light was a bottle of healing pills.
'Senior Sister Gong,' Li Yan smiled at the corner of his mouth, then sent his divine sense out into the wind and snow.
"Senior Sister Gong knows the use of the blue rhomboid crystal and the green gourd, right?" Gong Chenying, who had just rushed out a dozen steps, withdrew her hand. Li Yan's divine sense came through the wind and snow to her ear.
"Either find a chance to throw one into the sphere, or release the green gourd." Gong Chenying, who was speeding along, rarely had a smile on her lips. She sent back a wisp of divine sense and then said no more, riding the dust into the distance.
Li Yan withdrew his divine sense. He had just wanted to confirm why Gong Chenying wanted the crystals and gourds, and if they really had other uses. He hadn't expected this senior sister to have already thought of a use after watching his previous tests. This young woman truly couldn't be underestimated; she had a heart of seven exquisite apertures.
'Throw one into the sphere.' Thinking of this sentence, Li Yan seemed to see several sects of cultivators lying in ambush inside a giant yellow sphere, waiting for their prey to appear. Suddenly, with a flash on the sphere wall, a blue rhomboid crystal that had lost its five-elemental balance was thrown in. The balance inside the sphere was immediately broken. Without a life-or-death battle, the sphere's rules would judge that the trial could not be cleared, leaving only a large group of dumbfounded Qi Condensation cultivators from several sects inside...
'Or find a chance to release the green gourd.' Li Yan seemed to see again that during a fierce battle with the enemy, Senior Sister Gong had quietly taken out the green gourd and suddenly released a large amount of spirit qi, hitting the blue rhomboid crystal in the enemy's hand. The five-elemental balance within the crystal was instantly lost, and the face of the enemy's Foundation Establishment cultivator turned ashen.
The rules judged that one side could not have more than thirty-six Qi Condensation cultivators. Would this lead to a confrontation of three or even four parties of Qi Condensation cultivators inside the sphere? Even if their own side was completely wiped out, only one team would be left in the sphere in the end.
These two methods might not be effective against Foundation Establishment cultivators, but as long as the other side had more than thirty-six Qi Condensation cultivators, when the five-elemental balance in the crystal was lost, the rule of judging hostile parties would be activated.
He picked up the blue rhomboid crystal in his hand, took a "Ghost-Chariot Talisman" with his other hand, and slapped it on his body. After a quick scan of his surroundings with his divine sense to confirm there were no immediate problems, Li Yan's divine sense quickly sank into it. In the five-colored five-elemental space, Li Yan's divine sense didn't linger but flew directly to the core. Li Yan hadn't said what kind of core he needed, and Gong Chenying hadn't asked. She knew that as long as it was a blue rhomboid crystal, it would do, so she had casually flicked one back. Of course, she wouldn't give her own purple-cored one to Li Yan. Everyone knew that their own determined whether they would fight with their fellow sect members.
Li Yan's wisp of divine sense quickly arrived at the core. A deep green light radiated from here; it was the one held by the Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Supreme Mystery Teachings. Li Yan's divine sense directly crashed into the deep green light ball. This core light ball, which had repelled all the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators' attempts before, was now pierced by Li Yan's divine sense.
What appeared before Li Yan was a world of azure green. There was only sky and earth here. Of course, Li Yan had already entered a world of white and a world of purple in the other two crystals, so he knew a thing or two about this place.
Looking at the thirty-seven gray light spots in the azure green sky, Li Yan's divine sense slowly flew over. There was nothing in this sky but one large light spot and thirty-six small ones, all extremely gray in color. Li Yan's divine sense flew in front of a light spot and slowly transformed into his appearance. He extended a finger and pointed at one of the light spots, but in the next moment, his finger passed through the gray light spot and pointed at the void.
Li Yan's face showed no expression. He pointed his finger at another light spot next to it, and again, his finger instantly passed through the light spot and pointed at the void. When he withdrew his finger, the gray light spot was still floating there, completely unchanged.
Li Yan looked around and then towards the largest gray light spot not far away. His figure moved, and he flew over. Looking at this light spot, which was slightly larger than the dozen or so small gray light spots around it combined, Li Yan pointed a finger again. The result was the same; it passed through and pointed at the void.
Li Yan put his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, and fell into thought. When he had entered the white core before, he had already felt a very familiar taste. Thinking of the affinity he felt in this secret realm, the blue rhomboid crystals, the Wheel of Life and Death, and so on, everything was related to the five elements.
'Could this place have been established by people from the Five Immortal Sects? Perhaps before or after Dong Fuyi came to the Mortal Realm millions of years ago, people from the Five Immortal Sects also came here and established this world with their great divine powers? But why did all the immortals here disappear later? Looking at the records about the secret realm, in ancient or primeval times, there were many immortals here. They raised many ancient or primeval demonic beasts. Later, for some unknown reason, these immortals all disappeared, leaving only these ancient or primeval demonic beasts, which slowly became the masters of this secret realm. But didn't Dong Fuyi say that the Five Immortal Sects themselves are extremely secretive, and recruiting disciples is extremely difficult? If this place was created by a senior from the Five Immortal Sects, why do the records say there were so many immortals here? When did it become so easy to find special five-element miscellaneous spirit roots like his? When did recruiting disciples for the Five Immortal Sects become so easy? But to say this world wasn't created by a senior from the Five Immortal Sects, why does everything here reveal a connection to the five elements, and why is my True Scripture of Gui Water so sensitive to this place?'