Hearing Pingtu's words, Li Yan was startled. He quickly fixed his gaze on Pingtu, but Pingtu's expression was one of indifference. "Little fellow, I have already been very considerate of your Malevolent Spirit Sect. I did not separate the two teams that had already merged. The other sects, however, were all separated by a great distance. It's just that the little girl from the Malevolent Spirit Sect is now heavily injured, and I cannot intervene. You must know that this Wheel of Life and Death also has rules. I am the executor of some of those rules, and I cannot overstep them."
Listening to Pingtu's words, Li Yan's eyes narrowed. 'I can't believe Sixth Senior Sister is heavily injured. I just don't know who caused it. Pingtu is just an artifact spirit; it seems it's impossible for him to change some rules.' He calculated in his heart, his expression still calm. After a moment, he said, "Senior, are there no other small gifts for a first meeting between the Five Immortal Sects? For example, healing pills or something else."
A hint of a smile flashed in Pingtu's indifferent eyes. "Heh heh, little fellow, you could have just asked for pills to save that little girl. Why beat around the bush?"
"However, you will be disappointed. True Lord Qianchong did not provide anything beyond the three gifts," Pingtu said, the corners of his mouth curling into a half-smile. Li Yan's heart sank. He thought, 'I don't know how badly Sixth Senior Sister is injured. Maybe it's not as bad as I think. Perhaps the pills in my storage bag can heal her. I was just thinking that it's better to be safe than sorry, to try and get some better pills from here. I can't delay any longer. I'll go out and look for Sixth Senior Sister immediately.'
Li Yan was already getting anxious. Thinking of this, he stood up and was about to ask how to get out of this secret room, but unexpectedly, Pingtu continued to speak.
"True Lord Qianchong has nothing else besides the three gifts. However? Forget it... I myself have two doses of a medicinal pill here." Pingtu was very hesitant as he spoke, but then he still flicked his finger, and an item shot rapidly toward Li Yan.
"This is a 'True Essence Pill'. It has excellent healing effects on both external and internal injuries. One pill is divided into two halves. One half is crushed into powder for external application, the other half is taken internally. As long as the person's life soul is not severely damaged, it can basically heal anything. This is something I brought down from the Spirit Immortal Realm back then. I'll give you two. I imagine they don't exist in this Mortal Realm. You just need to know what this pill is used for."
Li Yan was stunned as he looked at the jade bottle flying toward him. After catching it, he immediately opened the cork. Instantly, a cool, refreshing medicinal fragrance shot straight to his head. Just one whiff, and Li Yan felt as if he were floating like an immortal. His whole being felt as if it were immersed in an indescribable sensation. Li Yan quickly focused his mind and only then did he wake up from this feeling.
'What kind of pill is this? Just a wisp of its aroma is enough to make one lose themselves. In the texts of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, only legendary seventh-rank and above pills have such an aroma. But seeing Pingtu's reluctant expression, it must be extremely precious. If I could have a few more, wouldn't they be life-saving divine pills?' Li Yan quickly capped the jade bottle, his eyes looking at Pingtu with a fiery gaze.
The corner of Pingtu's mouth twitched. "Don't even think about it. This is a mid-grade, eighth-rank medicinal pill that can only be refined in the Spirit Immortal Realm. Several of the main ingredients simply don't exist in this realm. When I came down to the Mortal Realm back then, the True Lord only gave me three bottles. Although this 'True Essence Pill' is an extremely valuable pill even in the Spirit Immortal Realm, with True Lord Qianchong's status, he could still buy it. I gave one bottle to Pei Buchong. The remaining two bottles, I was too heavily injured in the battle with the human Void Refining cultivators and have already taken most of them. Giving you two is my limit. The rest I still need for my own healing, so I absolutely cannot give them to you."
Pingtu seemed to have seen what Li Yan was about to say and pre-emptively blocked his request. This made Li Yan sigh in his heart.
"Senior, how do I get out of this secret room? Surely not by using the circular rhomboid crystal?"
"The circular rhomboid crystal, if you use it, will probably teleport you directly outside the secret realm. Since you haven't set a destination point by entering from the outside, it's uncertain where in the Desolate Moon Continent you will end up. So, you must not use the circular rhomboid crystal before you enter again next time. If you accidentally get teleported to an unknown place, you may never be able to return."
Hearing this, sweat broke out on Li Yan's back. He had been thinking of trying the circular rhomboid crystal. If he had, that would have been a huge mess. It would have been quite a show if he had ended up in some unknown place.
"However, you don't need to worry. Next time, as long as you enter once from within ten thousand li of the secret realm, then your return point will be the place you entered from," Pingtu continued.
"Then how does this junior get out of here to find my senior sister?" Li Yan was anxious, and his tone was already tinged with urgency.
Pingtu did not mind Li Yan's tone. "They are now all in the same space in the final trial. I will send you there directly. But I will not interfere in what happens next. Unless you are facing life and death, only then will I act. Otherwise, even if all the people from your Malevolent Spirit Sect die, that is their fate."
Pingtu said indifferently, his tone extremely calm, without any fluctuation regarding life and death. Li Yan believed that if not for Pingtu's loyalty to the Five Immortal Sects in his bones, no matter how fortunate he was, this person would not have shown him the slightest pity.
"Then I shall send you out. Remember: The Five Elements conceal the workings of creation; from them, nothing is born, yet nothing cannot be born." Pingtu did not hesitate any longer. With a wave of his hand, Li Yan was enveloped by a strong wind and vanished from the spot in an instant. But just as Li Yan disappeared, Pingtu's nonsensical words reached his ear.
Gong Chenying staggered forward, her steps unsteady. Wang Lang was in hot pursuit. She had only advanced about twenty li before Wang Lang had already caught up. Forced, she had no choice but to turn and fight. Facing Wang Lang's attack, she had only taken two blows before she was already coughing up blood and sent flying. Fortunately, her body was tough. Using the momentum of her fall, she actually managed to escape the battlefield and continue to flee forward.
Behind her, a cold smile hung on Wang Lang's handsome face. He followed unhurriedly, like a cat toying with a mouse. "Gong Chenying, I've long heard that your physical body is tough. As expected, even with such heavy injuries, you can still get up. But I'd like to see how far you can go," Wang Lang said, looking at the pretty figure dashing ahead and the trail of blood she left behind. His injuries were actually only slightly better than Gong Chenying's. In addition, his earlier all-out effort to break through the formation had also consumed a great deal of his spiritual power. The two blows he had just exchanged with Gong Chenying had seemed to give him a great advantage, but the wound on his chest and abdomen had already started to tear open, limiting his movements. Otherwise, he would have caught up long ago. This made him think of Quan Jiuxing.
'Truly a prodigy of his generation. If I hadn't used my sect's magical treasure, the 'No Trace' sword, I might have been the one who died.'
At this moment, Gong Chenying's face was pale and bloodless, with traces of blood at the corners of her mouth. But her gaze was still icy cold, without a hint of emotion. She kept her lips tightly sealed as she walked forward.
Just like that, the two of them, one in front and one behind, continued the chase, separated by a distance of no more than two li. In normal times, Wang Lang would only need a single stride to cover that distance, but now he was unable to catch up in a short time. When he flew, Gong Chenying flew. When he landed, Gong Chenying up ahead also landed. To conserve stamina and spiritual power, the two of them tacitly chose to continue the chase on foot. But after chasing for a dozen or so li, Wang Lang's face turned grim. He suddenly discovered that the direction Gong Chenying was heading was the complete opposite of the center. In other words, she was heading toward the outer edge. And not far ahead of the two of them, within their line of sight, black gas was already rising, and half the sky was gradually turning ink-black. It was so obvious. How could Wang Lang not understand that the young woman ahead wanted to drag him down with her to their deaths?
This made Wang Lang's steps instantly slow. 'This crazy woman.' A sharp light flickered in his eyes. After a moment, he grit his teeth. 'Do you think you can kill me like this?' He steeled his heart and continued the pursuit.
Although Gong Chenying up ahead did not turn back, her Divine Sense was constantly watching her rear. Seeing that Wang Lang was still chasing her even after reaching this point, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart. 'It seems he won't stop until one of us is dead. But that's fine. Now, even if he turns back to chase Mei Bucai and the others, he won't be able to catch them. He's also quite heavily injured.'
The place where the black gas was rising was only about a li away from Gong Chenying. Even though she was heavily injured, she still quickly reached the edge of the black gas. And in this stretch, because she was already close to the black gas, Gong Chenying's steps had long since slowed. Now, she was stopped just a hundred meters from the black gas, and she had to constantly move slowly forward with the pressing advance of the dark shadow. But after a dozen or so breaths, Wang Lang's grim face appeared in Gong Chenying's line of sight. Gong Chenying's pretty face showed no fluctuation at all, as if she were not the one facing death. She waved her jade-like hand, and the green long halberd appeared in her hand again. The green light on it pulsed unstably, and it was very dim, like a candle flame in the wind, on the verge of being extinguished. Seeing Wang Lang approach step by step, she simply stopped where she was, letting the black gas a hundred meters away slowly close in.
"You think I won't chase you down like this? After I kill you, I will still have time to escape from here," Wang Lang said slowly, enunciating each word as he closed in, forming a sword seal with each hand. Two flying swords whistled out from his Niwan Palace. But he was also extremely vigilant. Controlling two flying swords was now his limit. He didn't know if the other party had any other life-saving tricks up her sleeve. He would never underestimate the counterattack of a dying, powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator. It would either be weak and powerless, or its potential would be astonishing.
He drew his fingers together like a sword. Of the two flying swords, one shot like lightning straight for Gong Chenying's face, while the other was as soft as water, attacking in an arc from the side toward her waist. Her waist and abdomen were where she was injured, the area most affected in her movements.
Gong Chenying tossed the long halberd in her hand into the air. With a point of her finger, the green long halberd had already transformed into four strange green insects. Two of them met the two longswords, while the other two, their eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty crimson, shot straight for Wang Lang. Their momentum was even faster than Wang Lang's flying swords. The whistling sound they made actually lifted the short hair at the girl's ears, and her dark green robe billowed forward. Even at this point, Gong Chenying was still on the offensive. The word 'defense' was rarely in her vocabulary. When facing an enemy, she had always just attacked, attacked, and attacked again. This strike was as fierce as ever.
Seeing this, Wang Lang's eyes narrowed. He had never expected that this girl, whose expression was cold to the extreme, would have met all his attacks head-on ever since they had clashed. Even when she had coughed up blood several times before, she had still managed to aggravate his injuries with the rebound force. Now, she had reached such a state, yet this girl, who had not spoken a single word from beginning to end, still took the offensive. Her pale, bloodless face clearly showed that she was at the end of her strength, yet her offense was still as fierce as a tiger's. He could see that the two strange green insects blocking his flying swords were not strong. The girl had poured most of her spiritual power into the attack on him. Her intention was clear: to take her enemy down with her in death.
Looking at the two strange green insects rushing toward him, Wang Lang's expression did not change. He lightly slapped his storage bag, and a sharp sword gleaming with a cold light leaped into his hand. He was, after all, a Pseudo-Core cultivator, two minor realms higher than his opponent. Whether in terms of total spiritual power or comprehension of immortal arts, he was several notches higher. Although the number of intangible flying swords he could control had been reduced to less than ten percent of his usual, he had no problem with a tangible, solid sword. Looking at the strange insects rushing toward him, he poured his spiritual power into it, and the sharp sword was instantly covered in a dense white qi. Then he swung it out with great force. At this moment, he had no choice but to use his full strength.
At the same time as he swung his sword, two loud bangs had already sounded from the front. Gong Chenying's figure swayed, and she once again spat out a large mouthful of blood. She took nearly twenty consecutive steps backward with lightning speed. The sky-covering dark shadow rising from the ground behind her was now no more than forty meters away.