Missing her target made the beautiful woman in the green gauze pause. Her Divine Sense quickly scanned the surroundings. Then she let out a soft "huh," because there were no other cultivators here in her Divine Sense, only a faint fluctuation of Spirit Power on the mountainside below Su Hong.
This phenomenon made the beautiful woman in the green gauze's face show a look of suspicion. In her perception, Su Hong had been pulled away by the Spirit Power from below. The place with the Spirit Power fluctuations seemed to be a restriction, but she had not found any cultivator.
'Could this be a restricted secret area? In the process of falling, did Su Hong just happen to trigger the restriction here and get pulled away?' The beautiful woman in the green gauze's speed also slowed, and she couldn't help but think with hesitation. Such things were not impossible. Remote places were often favored by cultivators.
'Could this be someone's Cave Residence? In that case, our previous conversation was heard clearly by the other party. What a careless oversight.' The beautiful woman in the green gauze's face became unsightly. She hadn't carefully checked her surroundings with her Divine Sense just now, nor would she have thought that after chasing for several days, just by stopping for a moment, she would happen to be within the range of another cultivator's Cave Residence.
Seeing Su Hong stumble and land on a protruding rock on the mountainside, but still no cultivator appearing, the beautiful woman in the green gauze couldn't help but be on full alert.
At this moment, Li Yan had already used the "Stealthy Night Art" to get within the range of the formation restriction outside the cave, merging with the mountain wall. It was precisely because of the assistance of the formation restriction that it was even more difficult for the beautiful woman in the green gauze to see through the "Stealthy Night Art." Moreover, when her Divine Sense penetrated the restriction, all she saw were several layers of formation protection, so her Divine Sense did not linger for long, and her attention was ultimately focused on the inside of the cave.
Let alone the current Li Yan using this art, even when he used it in the mid-stage Foundation Establishment, not even the Golden Core stage Ancestor Redfire had seen through it. The beautiful woman in the green gauze was also unable to. So in her Divine Sense, behind the rock where Su Hong stood, there were only the Spirit Power fluctuations of the restriction, and no cultivator appeared. When she carefully searched the inside of the cave with a grave expression, her face relaxed slightly. In her Divine Sense, although the restriction here was not bad, it was at most set up by a Foundation Establishment cultivator. And inside the restriction was just a small cave, which was empty.
'This should be a simple Cave Residence established by some Foundation Establishment cultivator. Either this person has gone on a long journey, or it has been abandoned.' Seeing the cave was empty, the beautiful woman in the green gauze judged. Cultivators generally took everything with them when they left their Cave Residence for a long time, leaving only the protective restriction. As for whether there might be a high-level cultivator inside whose cultivation was too high for her to see through, just by looking at the simple formation outside and the crude excavation of the Cave Residence inside, it was not the work of an old monster.
As the beautiful woman in the green gauze lingered in the air to observe, Su Hong had already landed on the mountainside. During her fall, she had heard Li Yan's continued voice transmission: "To be frank with you, I know you have Crystal Bone Water on you. I only want this item and will not ask for anything else. If possible, I will help you escape once. But if you try to drag me into this, warn the other party, and are still unwilling to part with the Crystal Bone Water, not only will you die, but your bones will not even remain. You need to think carefully. Just stand on the rock and don't move. Otherwise, if you trigger the restriction and get poisoned, I don't have the antidote. This is not a false statement. If you agree to my suggestion, just raise your hand to signal. Otherwise, we can pretend I never said anything to you."
Li Yan said this as if he were robbing her while she was down, but that was not what he was thinking. Even if Su Hong didn't agree, he would have to find a way to keep her. As the beautiful woman in the green gauze had said, Su Hong's things were definitely not just in the Storage Pouch at her waist. She must have other storage-type treasures on her. But if he had to search a young girl's body, Li Yan still felt awkward, so he mainly resorted to threats and enticements.
Still in mid-air, Su Hong saw a streak of light rolling towards her. She didn't have time to reply and was greatly anxious. But she suddenly felt her body being pulled to the side by a suction force, narrowly dodging the green light's entanglement. When her heart relaxed, it tensed up again, because she thought of Li Yan's words.
'How does this person also know about the Crystal Bone Water? I've been fleeing for two days. Could this person be with the beautiful woman in the green gauze? But that shouldn't be. I've been flying aimlessly for the past two days. It's impossible for this person to have predicted this and set up an ambush here from ten thousand li away. He's not like that woman, who ambushed me on the only path outside Yuguan City, where there were still tracks to follow.' Su Hong stood on the protruding rock with incomprehension, her mind racing. For Su Hong to be able to come and go in the business world, she was an exceptionally clever person. With just a few words from Li Yan, she had already gathered a lot of information.
'Bones will not remain? This person must be a Poison Cultivator. And he has a Cave Residence here. Then the probability of him being from a sect or family is reduced by a few points. But maybe it's a temporary foothold after leaving his sect. In general, the probability of him being a Rogue Cultivator is greater. He seems to be fearless in the face of a Golden Core stage cultivator. His strength must not be weak. A famous idle Poison Cultivator within the range of the Jingtu Sect, who would also appear within tens of thousands of li of Yuguan City... then according to what I know, there should be two people...' Su Hong's mind raced, and in just a moment, she had listed two Poison Cultivators in her heart. She was truly sharp-witted. It was just that she had guessed in the wrong direction from the very beginning. Li Yan was not someone under the jurisdiction of the Jingtu Sect.
At the same time, hearing Li Yan's question, Su Hong didn't delay. Since the other party was only after the Crystal Bone Water, and she was already in such a state, and it would be relatively easy for the other party to capture her, this mysterious cultivator who had suddenly appeared didn't need to be so clear. This gave her some hope for her own fate. After standing on the rock, she inconspicuously raised her left hand and stroked her forehead, as if she were already exhausted and on the verge of collapsing.
While Su Hong appeared so on the surface, her mind continued to turn. She would agree to this mysterious cultivator first, and as for the matter of the Crystal Bone Water, she would decide on the next step later. It would be best if this mysterious cultivator could fight with the beautiful woman in the green gauze. She just needed to take the opportunity to heal her injuries a little, and then she could find a chance to escape again. The worst-case scenario would be that she would at least have the ability to commit suicide.
How could Li Yan have known that he had met an equally quick-witted person today? With just a few words from him, the other party's mind had spun, and she had immediately begun to guess his identity and pretended to agree, using the limited time.
Seeing Su Hong unhesitatingly pretend to raise her hand to her forehead to signal her agreement, he couldn't help but praise her in his heart. This woman's small details were also flawless. This made him relax a little. Otherwise, it would be really difficult to kill this woman. As for whether the other party would go back on her word, Li Yan didn't care. If the other party really wanted to use him, the result would definitely disappoint Su Hong, because the moment Su Hong landed on the rock, she had already been poisoned by the poison he had set up beforehand. It was not as Li Yan had said, that she might trigger the restriction and be poisoned only if she moved around carelessly.
Li Yan always planned before he acted. If Su Hong knew that this mysterious cultivator, even when she had no ability to resist, was still scheming against her with every word, it was unknown if she would secretly curse Li Yan for being utterly shameless. But there was one thing Li Yan had said that was true. Before he decided to act, he had quietly opened the cave's restriction and had only set up the "Heaven and Earth Isolation" poison on the rock. This poison could even make Ancestor Redfire temporarily lose control of his own Spirit Power, let alone Su Hong. But if Su Hong really triggered the formation Li Yan had set up outside the cave before, he really didn't have the antidote for the potent poison in the formation's restriction. This point was true.
The two of them had only exchanged a brief Divine Sense communication, which took a very short time. To the outside world, it was just Su Hong falling from the sky, being pulled to the rock during the beautiful woman in the green gauze's attack, and then shaking her body and stroking her forehead as if trying to clear her head.
The beautiful woman in the green gauze, standing in the air, probed the inside of the cave with her Divine Sense again and still returned with nothing. But this sudden change still made her instinctively become cautious. Since her Divine Sense had detected nothing wrong after several probes, the beautiful woman in the green gauze no longer hesitated. Without a trace of her previous cat-and-mouse mentality, she charged down towards Su Hong.
The cave's restriction here was a bit strange. After failing to capture Su Hong from a distance once, her whole body erupted with Spirit Power. In just the blink of an eye, she had arrived above Su Hong's head. The beautiful woman in the green gauze protected her chest with one hand, while her other hand had already formed an illusory large hand above Su Hong's head, grabbing for her Crown of the Head.
Su Hong felt the wind and snow above her head empty, and a sharp, fierce energy parted the wind and snow in the air and grabbed at her. She instinctively wanted to dodge, but she couldn't even muster the last bit of Spirit Power in her body, as if she were cut off from this piece of heaven and earth. This terrified her. She hadn't thought her injuries had reached such a point that even her dantian was empty, without even the previous feeling of being pricked by needles. She just couldn't muster a bit of strength. For a moment, her mind was in chaos, but she didn't cry out. She didn't know how that mysterious cultivator would deal with the beautiful woman in the green gauze, but if she cried out, although it would only be for a moment, she would definitely alert the beautiful woman. She still knew this point.
Just as the extremely sharp energy had already touched the tips of her hair, and Su Hong was beginning to suffocate without the protection of Spirit Power, a figure suddenly appeared beside her like a ghost, and then shot diagonally into the sky.
Su Hong only felt her breathing suddenly ease, and the surrounding wind and snow tore at her like flying catkins. That figure had already thrown a punch at the large hand pressing down from the sky. A dull thud echoed through the empty valley. The figure of the beautiful woman in the green gauze, standing in the air, first paused, then let out a muffled grunt and flew backwards. Although her backward speed was fast, this figure was even faster. A green light flashed under his feet, and he had already caught up with the beautiful woman in the green gauze, arriving above her head.
Another "whoosh" of air being torn apart, the black figure descended from above, his right forearm held vertically, elbow pointing down, and fiercely struck at the beautiful woman's Crown of the Head. These few movements were as fast as a rabbit starts and a falcon swoops. Su Hong only felt a blur before her eyes. Seeing this person was so fierce, with just one punch, he had sent a Golden Core cultivator flying back. His next attack was even more relentless, directly closing in. If this blow landed, the beautiful woman's entire head would either explode or be driven into her neck.
The beautiful woman was also truly skilled. She had been extremely careful, but she still hadn't expected someone to launch a close-range sneak attack. This kind of attack was actually disadvantageous for both sides. If she detected it with a moment of carelessness, the attacker would be the first to be in a desperate situation.
The beautiful woman's aura was a bit chaotic, but she didn't panic. With a delicate shout, her body spun to the side, her left hand crossing to support her right arm, using force to meet force, to counter the downward momentum of the black figure's elbow.
"Crack! Bang!" Two dense, crisp sounds, followed by a miserable scream from the beautiful woman. Her entire body fell like a heavy object, plummeting rapidly into the deep valley below.
In that split second, the beautiful woman in the green gauze's right arm, which she had raised to meet the attack, was bent at a strange angle, broken by the black figure's elbow strike. Even her left wrist, which had been supporting it from below, hung limply. Although it wasn't broken, the bones in her wrist had already cracked.
The black figure did not stop. After succeeding consecutively, the green light at his feet flashed again, and he chased after the falling beautiful woman. In just two breaths, he was above her head again. He was like a giant spirit god. He suddenly lifted his right foot and, in mid-air, stomped down fiercely on the beautiful woman in the green gauze's head again, the force powerful and heavy.