After absorbing the lava, the unknown monsters all raised their heads and let out strange cries towards the body of the Flame Palace mountain. However, not a single monster dared to approach the mountain, and none came to attack Li Yan. This allowed Li Yan to relax slightly; otherwise, facing such a large number of monsters, he really wouldn't know how to respond.
A few breaths later, after crying out for a while, the monsters flicked their tails and swiftly disappeared over the horizon. Li Yan's divine sense followed them, finding that they stopped only a hundred li away before plunging headfirst into the ground.
The moment they burrowed into the earth, their auras merged with the environment, becoming indistinguishable. No wonder Li Yan hadn't detected anything before.
For a moment, Li Yan didn't know how to deal with this type of monster. He had thought that the jade slip given to him upon entering the pagoda had recorded all the demonic beasts here, but now it seemed that was not the case.
Li Yan pondered for a moment. He felt it was possible that the Jingtu Sect wouldn't mark down information about some of the more perilous places. For example, there was no record of the Crimson Mother Essence in the jade slip. However, this was understandable; no sect was truly willing to leak all of its information.
The monsters hadn't attacked him just now. He didn't know if they had ignored him or if there was some other reason, but Li Yan dared not let his guard down because of it.
Next, Li Yan began his vigil. Gradually, he found a pattern. The golden lava here would erupt once every three shichen (six hours). The monsters would also arrive punctually in large numbers. After absorbing all the lava, they never lingered and would immediately return to the earth a hundred li away.
Without knowing the specifics of the monsters, although Li Yan had several times thought of capturing one to study, he helplessly gave up after some consideration. Some demonic beasts might not actively attack cultivators, but if you attacked them, it could lead to catastrophic consequences.
Just like that, Li Yan waited here for three days. In these three days, Li Yan gained nothing. Forget the Crimson Mother Essence; not even a single fire-attribute medicinal herb appeared in the lava.
On the third day, the deserted place finally welcomed a middle-aged monk. The monk, of course, also noticed Li Yan. The moment he saw Li Yan, a strange look appeared on his face, and his body paused slightly. But in the end, he only recited a Buddhist chant to Li Yan before flying into a "fire eye" cave on the body of the Flame Palace mountain.
Although the middle-aged monk passed by in a hurry and had a friendly attitude towards Li Yan, the moment he flew away, Li Yan's vigilance increased greatly. He had seen this monk before with his divine sense. It was when he was fighting the main body of the Rhino-Horned Green Python; five people were spying from a distance, and this monk was among them—a Chan Monk at the Pseudo-Core Realm.
'He was traveling with those two white-robed cultivators and the two women from outside the pagoda. Now he comes here alone, his aura exceptionally stable and profound. With every move, the spirit power around him is like a mountain. This is the sign of reaching the peak of the Pseudo-Core Realm. He is undoubtedly here to use this place to break through. It's just... why was there a strange look in his eyes when he looked at me?'
Under Li Yan's powerful divine sense, he had seen through the monk's true cultivation at a glance and thus deduced his purpose for coming here. The other four must have separated from the monk for this reason.
But while the middle-aged monk appeared friendly and smiled at him, Li Yan had keenly detected something unusual in his gaze. It was like interest, and also like... 'It's surprise and hesitation!' Li Yan quickly read the meaning in his eyes.
'Interest, surprise, and hesitation. Why these three changes? Interest, perhaps because he saw me fight a hegemon-level demonic beast on the second level before, which is why he'd be interested in a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator, even wanting to know my background. Surprise... what's the reason for that? ... It's probably because my appearance here surprised him. After all, I am sitting here in meditation and not entering the Flame Palace. This is clearly the behavior of someone waiting for a treasure to appear, and the probability of a treasure appearing here is almost nil. So he is surprised by my actions. Hesitation... why hesitate? Was he hesitating about asking me something? What could he possibly have to say to me? To befriend me? To ask why I'm lingering here? That's a possibility. He paused before entering just now. That was hesitation about whether to enter immediately. Why?'
He watched the monk enter the Flame Palace, but the momentary changes in the depths of the monk's eyes had been seen clearly by Li Yan.
Li Yan slightly closed his eyes, his mind racing.
Li Yan pondered the last question he had raised for a long time. Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.
'Hesitating about whether to enter immediately can only mean he wanted to stay behind for something. To kill me? Unlikely. He has seen my methods; he should know it would be very difficult. Then, removing the possibility of befriending me, there is one other possibility... to stay behind and pass on a message.'
Li Yan quickly thought of one point: passing on a message, or tipping someone off. His face couldn't help but darken.
"Could it be that the Rhino-Horned Green Python has also chased me here? Right, Duan Weiran once said that Sun Jiuhe also has some friends in this pagoda. Both of these situations are possible..." Li Yan almost immediately thought of several outcomes, but all of them were unfavorable to him.
"But apart from his slight pause just now, I didn't see any Voice Transmission Talisman or similar items fly out."
For a moment, Li Yan felt his guess was wrong again, so he simply sent his divine sense inward to probe.
The moment Chan Master Yiming entered the Flame Palace cave, a brilliant green light erupted from his body, instantly blocking the onslaught of the heatwave. At the same time, he pinched a finger in the sleeve of his wide monk's robe, and a prayer bead quietly shattered. The green light from his body intertwined with the golden heatwave in the cave, raising puffs of green smoke. The slight anomaly from him crushing the prayer bead was completely concealed by the green smoke around him.
A sharp glint flashed in Yiming's eyes. He didn't look back at Li Yan but gave a strange smile before his figure disappeared.
A thousand li away from the Flame Palace, the white-robed middle-aged man stood on a tall, broken wall. He was staring intently ahead.
There, his junior brother in the white robe and the two female cultivators from the Blue Sea Sect were fighting a "Flying Locust Beast." He didn't intervene, just watched the scene before him faintly. Only when his gaze fell on the bodies of the two female cultivators from the Blue Sea Sect would a fiery heat and greed show in his eyes.
'Although these two women are rather plain in appearance and their cultivation is only at the initial and mid-stages of Foundation Establishment, their figures are first-rate. But they already have the intention of leaving. Then, I'll find an opportunity to let them think they have succeeded in leaving. It's just that their solitary figures must be seen by other cultivators. Then I'll secretly capture them for some fun. But the Blue Sea Sect is also a major power, so they must not know about this. In that case, they can't blame me for being ruthless!'
Amidst his seemingly indifferent expression, he suddenly felt a movement from the storage pouch at his waist. Without looking, he casually slapped it, and a small sandalwood prayer bead appeared in his hand. At this moment, the sandalwood prayer bead was flashing with a green light, sending out circles of ripples.
"This Yiming has only been gone for half a day, and he's already used this prayer bead. No matter what, it's impossible for him to have encountered the 'Bright Fire Qilin' so quickly after entering the Flame Palace. But this is good too. I didn't expect to repay his favor so quickly, and with a large amount of spirit stones in return. Truly excellent."
Yiming had long since made an agreement with him. Yiming would help him hunt a soul-type demonic beast because Buddhist techniques naturally restrained soul-types, so with Yiming's help, his chances were much greater.
The white-robed middle-aged man, in turn, would enter the Flame Palace when Yiming needed him to help hold off the "Bright Fire Qilin," allowing Yiming to smoothly enter the depths of the Flame Palace to train and break through.
However, the difficulty of dealing with the "Bright Fire Qilin" was several times harder than hunting a "Mud Beast Soul," so the monk Yiming had promised that as long as he held off the "Bright Fire Qilin" for two breaths, he would then offer up twenty thousand spirit stones.
After Chan Master Yiming had helped the white-robed middle-aged man hunt the soul-type demonic beast the previous evening, he had proposed his departure. Before leaving, he had given the white-robed middle-aged man a sandalwood prayer bead. This was a high-grade "Voice Transmission Pearl" he had bought from the Jingtu Sect at a high price. Its range alone could reach two thousand li, and its usage fluctuations were small, which could avoid attracting the attention of the "Bright Fire Qilin."
The white-robed middle-aged man hadn't expected Chan Master Yiming to use this item after being separated for only half a day. He casually crushed the prayer bead, and an aged voice immediately entered his mind.
"Fellow Daoist Xu, I have found the young man who fought the Rhino-Horned Green Python. He is near the Flame Palace. It seems he has no intention of entering, but is rather waiting for some heavenly material or earthly treasure to be ejected from the Flame Palace. This means he will be staying here for a long time. The promise Sun Jiuhe made to us outside Red Maple Pool, we can now claim our share. I am entering the Flame Palace now, but I will not go deep. We can coordinate from inside and out and act according to the situation. Otherwise, if Fellow Daoist Xu feels you are not confident, you can inform Sun Jiuhe in advance."
After hearing this, the cultivator surnamed Xu's expression flickered. He hadn't expected Chan Master Yiming to be talking about something else entirely. He couldn't help but narrow his eyes and start to think.
He naturally understood Chan Master Yiming's meaning. He wanted to obtain even more benefits at the same time.
Earlier, outside Red Maple Pool, when Sun Jiuhe saw them, he had proposed that if they encountered the person engraved in the jade slip in the palace under Red Maple Pool, he was willing to offer a six-hundred-year-old "Black Lotus Seed" and ten thousand spirit stones as a reward.
As for how they would divide these two things, Sun Jiuhe would not interfere. Whether they sold it and split the spirit stones or someone bought it out at a high price was none of his business.
Now, after hearing Chan Master Yiming's voice transmission, how could the cultivator surnamed Xu not understand? The old monk Yiming was willing to waste two Voice Transmission Pearls at once to secretly let him know this news, all because he wanted to join forces with him to simply kill that young man.
That young man with formidable combat power definitely had many good things on him. After killing him, he and Yiming could split the treasures on his body, and then use the corpse to demand the six-hundred-year-old "Black Lotus Seed" and ten thousand spirit stones from Sun Jiuhe. This way, they would get a double benefit.
However, given how formidable that young man was, Chan Master Yiming was also not confident. So, if the white-robed middle-aged man felt that the two of them joining forces was still not enough, he could just pass the news to Sun Jiuhe and settle for one benefit.