A moment later, after glancing at the nauseating mess of black and red bloodstains and the colorful assortment of internal organs, Li Yan also slowly flew over to the other person holding a blue rhomboid crystal. His posture was crooked and completely lacking in grace.
Just as he managed to fly next to the other corpse, a jade-like hand reached over. "For you." Gong Chenying had already taken the blue rhomboid crystal from the person's hand and passed it to Li Yan. Li Yan smiled slightly and took it. After looking down at the crystal, he was stunned. He then looked back at the ground. A person was lying face down. His clothes were relatively well-preserved, and one could tell at a glance that he was a sword cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard. His clothes were now bulging, and the man was as swollen as a pig.
After Li Yan took the blue rhomboid crystal, Gong Chenying beckoned with her hand, and two items, one far and one near, flew into her grasp. The storage pouch of the distant Supreme Mystery Teachings Foundation Establishment cultivator flew over from afar, while she snatched the storage pouch of the Ten-Pace Courtyard Foundation Establishment cultivator from below.
After putting away the two storage pouches, she looked up at the top of the sphere. The hissing sound was already loud, and the giant black shadow had covered it. Gong Chenying quickly flew to other parts of the sphere, leaving Li Yan alone beside the corpse of the Ten-Pace Courtyard sword cultivator. Li Yan seemed to be very interested in this corpse. He had wrapped his hands in spirit power and turned the person over, his gaze burning as he stared at him. This once-powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator, his swollen and blackened face, could vaguely be identified as a man of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. His neck, however, was covered in a circle of red spots that made one's scalp tingle, making it impossible to tell if he was handsome or ugly. His blackened face showed unwillingness, and his eyes held a deep hatred. One of his hands was empty, while the other was curled as if about to release a sword gleam. There was no sword case on his back; he must have been a powerful Inner Sword Cultivator.
As Li Yan was observing, the cultivators within the formation gradually fell silent. Many stared at Li Yan in astonishment. That person was just walking around inside the sphere like that. From his expression, there was no sign of anything being wrong. This made many of them exchange glances, their eyes filled with deep confusion and shock. It was no exaggeration to say that they had set up their strongest traps here. They were certain that their poisons, while not guaranteed to kill a cultivator of the same rank, would at least cause them immense suffering. Even a poison cultivator would have to be extremely careful. But this person was strolling around as if in a garden. That was an area interwoven with dozens of deadly poisons, yet he seemed completely unaware. Could there be a problem with the poisons they set? Could a simple protective spirit light ward them off? Then how to explain the corpses on the ground? Not to mention the two suspected powerful Foundation Establishment cultivators who were clearly deader than dead. Even when Li Yan moved their bodies, they didn't stir.
"He must have been given some spirit pill by Martial Ancestor Wei, otherwise it's impossible for him to be so relaxed," Mi Yuanzhi murmured.
"That must be it. He must have secretly taken it when he was preparing to go out, and we just didn't see it," Qi Busheng said unconvinced. His words caused many to nod in agreement. They didn't believe this little martial uncle from Little Bamboo Peak could resist poison with his own body, especially a mixture of various poisons. To be completely unaffected by an indiscriminate attack... even those among them who set the traps were only confident in dealing with their own poisons. They had no confidence at all against others' poisons, let alone a mixture like this that had exploded. Who knew what new mutations had occurred? So they preferred to believe in the unseen speculation.
"Could it be that the poisonous miasma there has already been absorbed too much by the other party, and is no longer fatal?" a Lord Lao Peak cultivator asked hesitantly. Some people thought about it and felt it was possible. Gradually, the crowd accepted some of these speculative answers, unwilling to accept that the so-called little martial uncle could resist poison with his body. In their minds, this was firstly a negation of their own skills in using poison, a blow to their pride; secondly, although this little martial uncle had shown something once or twice, it was hardly stunning. If he could resist poison with his body, wouldn't that mean he was one of the Malevolent Spirit Sect's three legendary poison bodies?
But they did not know that their unintentional speculation was actually close to the truth.
While the others were speculating, Gong Chenying had already swept through the sphere once, but her brow remained tightly furrowed. 'Twenty-seven sword cultivators from Ten-Pace Courtyard, twenty-four old Daoists from Supreme Mystery Teachings. Was there an accident in the Wheel of Life and Death? A three-way encounter? Or is this the trump card the three sects have for dealing with us?' She was mostly certain it was the latter, but she was unwilling to accept it. The former, a three-way encounter, could still be a free-for-all, where everyone relied on their own abilities. The latter meant almost certain death for her side. Thinking of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators, her heart sank to the bottom. No matter how powerful she was, she was still just a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Moreover, the cultivators who could come here were all carefully selected elites. Dealing with one was already extremely difficult. But faced with this hellish scene, she couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Lost in thought, she returned to Li Yan's side. Li Yan had been walking back and forth between the two Foundation Establishment cultivators for a while, observing. He hadn't glanced at any of the other dead cultivators, as if he were measuring something.
"Did you find anything?" Gong Chenying asked in a low voice.
"I have some theories, but we have to get out of here," Li Yan's heart pounded faster. He looked up; without the blue rhomboid crystal being active, the top of the sphere was already pitch black.
"The passage exit is over there. We'll talk after we get out." Gong Chenying had already found the exit when she was sweeping through the sphere. With that, she turned and flew towards the Malevolent Spirit Sect's protective formation.
"Clean up the battlefield quickly. We'll go out first. Be careful of the poison in the sphere, especially the four areas you shouldn't go to. I don't have the antidote for those either." After saying that, she pointed to four places. As soon as she finished speaking, several cultivators had already rushed out. Cleaning the battlefield was their favorite thing. This was also why they were dissatisfied when they saw Li Yan go out earlier. But it seemed Li Yan had only taken two blue rhomboid crystals; the storage pouches of the two Foundation Establishment cultivators had already been taken by Martial Aunt Gong.
When they went out, they subconsciously still believed their earlier speculation: the poison gas in the sphere had been mostly consumed. Even if some remained, they thought they could resist it for a few breaths. The moment they got the order, some rushed out. They couldn't run fast while levitating, but the blood and gore on the ground didn't bother them.
But as the few cultivators rushed out, after only a few steps, their faces changed dramatically. They quickly sat down cross-legged, one hand already taking out a pill to swallow. But it was clearly a bit too late; traces of black, red, or purple qi appeared on their faces. Fortunately, they took the antidote in time. Although it couldn't be completely cured immediately, it temporarily suppressed the poison. They just needed to find the corresponding antidote and take it later.
The cultivators behind them who had been eager to rush out froze, clearly understanding what had happened. Greatly alarmed, they stopped and looked at the people from Lord Lao Peak and Four Symbols Peak who hadn't left the formation yet. Those few were also clearly surprised; the situation outside was completely different from what they had imagined. They took out antidotes, exchanged them, swallowed them, and then threw some to the others. Only then did they carefully step out of the formation to test the waters before rushing towards the few who had been poisoned.
Only when they stepped out of the formation did they realize that the air here was not just foul but also chaotic, like a dormant volcano. Thinking of the places Gong Chenying had mentioned, their divine sense swept over them. Besides having more corpses, those areas were surprisingly quiet. Even the air was purer than where they were. But the more this was the case, the colder they felt. The deadly poison in the air couldn't even spread over there, which was extremely bizarre. This made the piles of corpses in those places seem even more sinister and bone-chilling under their divine sense. They couldn't help but take a few more glances at Li Yan, who was crouching on the ground, moving the corpses.
Three breaths later, Li Yan also went alone to the four places he had personally set up and collected twenty-three storage pouches. At this point, he was the only one left in the sphere. He moved the corpses on the ground again, then continuously probed them with his spirit power. Gradually, a strange look appeared on his face. He then took out a blue rhomboid crystal, closed his eyes, and slowly infused a little bit of spirit power into it. A moment later, after his divine sense entered the crystal, Li Yan's face was full of contemplation. Hearing the hissing sound above his head as if it were right next to his ear, Li Yan quickly put away the crystal and flew out of the sphere.
Including the Foundation Establishment sword cultivator from the Ten-Pace Courtyard, he had single-handedly ambushed and killed twenty-four people. Li Yan himself hadn't realized that he was beginning to pose a threat to Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Outside the sphere, a cold wind howled, and snowflakes fell like buckets.
Li Yan looked around. This was a narrow path between two snow-capped mountains. They were at the beginning of the path. The snow mountains on both sides were towering, their undulating peaks merging with the heavens. Snowflakes the size of fists fell from the sky, burying the mountain path in a vast expanse of white.
The group stood on the snowy mountain path, and in just a moment, their bodies were covered with a thick layer of snow. They looked at Gong Chenying, not knowing what to do next. In the last trial, they had barely consumed any spirit power. When they entered, the dozens of people on the other side were already dead. Although they had collected many storage pouches later, everyone now had a worried look on their face. If Gong Chenying's sudden plan hadn't produced an unexpected result this time, they would all likely be dead corpses on the ground by now.
"Martial Aunt Gong, are we going to charge all the way through this trial and set up another ambush?" a soft voice broke the silence. Everyone followed the voice and saw it was Cheng Jingnian from Lord Lao Peak. Her black hair was dotted with snow, and her small face was pale, making her look pitifully delicate. It was unclear if this was due to the weather or the thought of the outcome ahead.
Everyone quickly focused their gazes on Gong Chenying. They didn't know why the enemy suddenly had so many more cultivators, especially with multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators appearing. They were extremely apprehensive.
"I'm afraid the same situation will occur in this trial. To be safer, I think we won't even have time to recover. We must reach the ten-li mark even earlier, set up our traps, and then rest outside the yellow sphere," Gong Chenying said, meeting everyone's gaze after pondering in the snow. This was the best method she could think of at the moment.
"However, this way, we are betting that the other party is never faster than us. If they are faster than us even once, we can only say that it is our fate." Her voice was like the ice and snow here, chilling them to the bone.
The cold wind howled, and the mountain path grew even quieter. Everyone silently lowered their heads, a sense of helplessness rising in their hearts. As Gong Chenying had said, as long as the other party surpassed them once and got ahead, what awaited them would be an inescapable death.
"I also don't know what method the other party used for two sects to merge and arrive at the sphere at the same time. So we can only fight our way through," Gong Chenying said, as if to herself, extending a hand to catch a fist-sized snowflake.
"Then let's kill!" The scar on Senior Brother Wu's face twitched, his face contorting as he let out a low roar.
"Kill!" "Kill!" "Kill!" ... The voices began to stir.
"Old geezer, this young master is going to leave his flesh and bones here. Are you satisfied now!" The flesh on Mei Bucai's face trembled, having long lost the appearance of a rich young master.
"Is this little Daoist going to meet the Three Pure Ones? Why not bring a few more pill boys for Lord Laozi," Ding Yiwei said with a smile, tilting his head up.
The two female cultivators, Mei Jingnian and Hu Ziyi, had red-rimmed eyes, their jade-like fingers clenched so tightly they had lost all color. (TN: The author seems to have miswritten Mei Bucai's name as Mei Jingnian here, likely a typo.)
"Martial... Martial Aunt Gong, how many more trials do we have to go through?" Hu Ziyi's voice trembled slightly. Her question startled the other cultivators. They had forgotten about this. In total, they had already passed three trials. Perhaps there was only one left.
But Gong Chenying's answer disappointed them somewhat. "A total of five trials."
Everyone's eyes dimmed a little. Two more trials? With this kind of unexpected turn of events, every trial was a life-and-death struggle.
Gong Chenying took a deep breath. Since it was like this, they might as well set off early to gain more time. Just as she was about to take a step, she paused and looked at Li Yan, who had been silent with his head down. Li Yan had said he had discovered something, but he hadn't spoken since they came out. It seemed he hadn't been able to find anything after all. For some reason, a glimmer of hope had ignited in her just now, but she couldn't help but smile bitterly.