After another quarter of an incense stick's time, Li Yan couldn't help but frown. When the two reached a distance of only three hundred li from the Flame Palace, the white-robed middle-aged man stopped first. Then, a faint white smoke rose from his body, enveloping both him and the white-robed young man.
Then, both their auras and figures began to fade. If Li Yan hadn't been paying close attention, he might not have been able to spot them.
A distance of three hundred li was within the range that a late-stage Foundation Establishment divine sense could cover, but it far exceeded the detection range of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense. The two's actions were clearly intended to prevent others from discovering them. This change made things interesting.
"This is to guard against the divine sense detection of cultivators below the late-stage of Foundation Establishment. It's clearly aimed at the mid-stage. A mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's divine sense is around two hundred li. To be safe, putting it beyond two hundred and fifty li would be enough."
Thinking of this, Li Yan's heart grew gloomy. What a coincidence. The two of them had been traveling with the Jingtu Sect Chan Monk from the daytime. And just half a day after that monk had discovered him, these two had crept over. And coincidentally, they began to hide their tracks just outside the controllable range of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment's divine sense.
With this, it could basically be confirmed that they were coming for him. That monk had really spread the news of his location. He had no grudge with them. Now he didn't know if it was because the peak second-tier Rhino-Horned Green Python had offered some benefit, or if they were friends of that Sun Jiuhe. These two points were the only conclusions Li Yan could draw at the moment.
"In that case, the Jingtu Sect monk who entered the Flame Palace mountain during the day probably hasn't gone far either!" Li Yan began to judge that the other party was targeting him, based on the fact that the two groups of people knew each other and were deliberately controlling their concealment outside a certain divine sense range.
So, he remained impassive and sent a wisp of his divine sense towards the "fire eye" cave that the Jingtu Sect monk had entered during the day. Li Yan didn't believe the other party could discover his probing.
But the moment Li Yan's divine sense entered the cave, it was swept up by a heatwave that could burn heaven and earth. His divine sense, upon entering the cave, could not spread out again and was pushed out of the cave by the heatwave.
Li Yan's heart couldn't help but stir. This was different from the situation when he had probed the cave with his divine sense a few days ago.
When he had first arrived, he had roughly probed many of the "fire eye" caves with his divine sense to prevent any accidents. Although he hadn't conducted a deep investigation, it hadn't been as difficult as today. And he had probed more than one cave; the situation inside was basically the same. But the repulsive force inside this cave that the Jingtu Sect monk had entered was very strong. A restriction must have been set up using a formation.
The other party must have used a fire-attribute divine ability to set up a formation. With it being fused with the environment, it would be very difficult for outsiders to discover.
This action was worth scrutinizing. If it wasn't to hide his figure, there were countless caves on this mountain, and very few people came here. Even if someone had entered the same cave as the Jingtu Sect monk at the same time, so much time had passed now, he shouldn't still be at the entrance of the cave.
Now, when Li Yan looked at the location of that cave entrance again, it became different. The "fire eye" position the Jingtu Sect monk had chosen was very remote, and the cave entrance was several circles smaller than most, looking like it could only accommodate one person. It was very easy to be overlooked.
But the straight-line distance to himself was not far. Judging by the flying speed of a Pseudo-Core cultivator, it would only take a little more than a breath of time to launch a surprise attack on him.
All of this made the already suspicious Li Yan even more cautious.
After a moment's thought, Li Yan's powerful divine sense was once again quietly released. This time, he was even more careful. He attached his divine sense to the entrance of the cave and did not immediately try to forcibly break through the formation restriction, but just quietly sensed everything inside the cave.
In his divine sense, the heatwave inside the cave was monstrous, and the golden lava below flowed slowly. Li Yan sensed it inch by inch.
Suddenly, Li Yan's expression moved. He had discovered that in a corner of the cave, in an area only ten feet in size, the temperature seemed to be lower than elsewhere.
"Someone is deliberately resisting the high temperature in the cave. If I didn't know about this cave, it would be really hard to discover."
By now, Li Yan had completely confirmed the intentions of the three.
"They want to ambush me. After seeing my previous battle with the Rhino-Horned Green Python, they have become very careful. However, I'd like to see what ability you have to keep me here."
Although the other party was already very careful, Li Yan still didn't know how this Chan Monk had transmitted the message. He had not felt any spatial fluctuations here.
Now, two more people had come. They were already treating Li Yan with great caution, starting to hide their tracks from three hundred li away and approaching stealthily.
Li Yan then turned his attention back to the two people hundreds of li away. The two white-robed men were approaching slowly and carefully.
After another half an incense stick's time, Li Yan's expression moved again, a look of astonishment on his face. He couldn't keep his divine sense spread out over a thousand li at all times, as that would be extremely consuming. But now that he had discovered an abnormal situation, his divine sense coverage naturally became much larger.
As his divine sense slowly spread out, and as the two cautiously approached to within a hundred li of Li Yan, strong spirit power fluctuations once again spread from the distant horizon.
With the white-robed middle-aged man's Pseudo-Core Realm, such a large commotion within several hundred li could naturally be felt. He and the white-robed young man beside him also stopped at the same time.
After he released his divine sense to carefully investigate behind him, Li Yan saw a look of joy on the white-robed middle-aged man's face. He then whispered to the white-robed young man beside him.
"This is great, that person is here!"
The voice was quiet but not transmitted, clearly visible in Li Yan's divine sense. Feeling the dozen or so auras in the distance getting closer and closer, like a scattered team, Li Yan became puzzled for a moment. He felt that the Jingtu Sect Chan Monk in the cave and the two approaching white-robed men didn't seem to be targeting him.
And at this time, the white-robed middle-aged man and the young man simply stopped where they were and hid themselves, facing a direction completely opposite to Li Yan's position. Li Yan was puzzled.
But he did not relax his guard in the slightest. He still kept a wisp of his divine sense on the cave where the Jingtu Sect Chan Monk was hiding. Only then did he turn most of his attention to the distant horizon. The spirit power there was becoming more and more chaotic. It was clear that many people were coming, and their cultivation levels were varied.
Soon, a look of surprise appeared on Li Yan's face. In his divine sense, a figure was flying rapidly towards his direction. This person was not old, and he carried a bamboo basket on his back. It was the book-boy named Bu Luo. And behind him, trailing along, were as many as fifty or sixty people. Seeing Bu Luo's teeth-gritting expression and the various shouts of the crowd behind him, Li Yan was even more inexplicably astonished.
"Is he being hunted? How much hatred does it take to attract so many enemies!" Li Yan felt a chill run down his spine, a sense of admiration for Bu Luo rising in his heart.
"Why are they also rushing in this direction? This trip to the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda is really cursed." The jade slip clearly recorded this place as a perilous land, and that few people came here. Yet today, a whole gang of cultivators had come rushing over. This made Li Yan even suspect if he was some kind of jinx incarnate.
Li Yan quickly noticed the broken oilcloth under Bu Luo's feet. Its flying speed seemed only slightly slower than his Cloud-Piercing Willow, but its turning was more flexible. But what Li Yan didn't understand was that even if the cultivators behind also had flying magical treasures, judging by their speed, Bu Luo should have left them far behind without a trace long ago. But now, the one closest to Bu Luo was less than one hundred and ten li away.
Li Yan didn't understand, and Bu Luo was even more indignant. These people seemed to have set an inescapable net. The moment he pulled away, one or even several cultivators would often appear in front to block him. He had been flying evasively the whole way.
It was only when he was one thousand five hundred li from the Flame Palace that the number of cultivators in front began to decrease, and he was able to slowly pull away.
Only then did he have a moment to get his bearings. To his surprise, he was heading towards the Flame Palace. But after thinking about it, in his current situation, this was the only place where he might be able to resolve the predicament of being blocked in front and pursued from behind. He had to temporarily give up on his plan to find medicinal herbs.
Now he just wanted to fly to the other side of the Flame Palace mountain in one go. As long as he didn't enter the Flame Palace mountain itself, the danger outside was still manageable for him. With the help of the Flame Palace mountain, he should be able to completely shake off his pursuers.
When he was six hundred li from the Flame Palace, Bu Luo began to feel a secret joy. He had already pulled a distance of more than one hundred and ten li from the closest person behind him. And in this distance, no more cultivators had appeared to block him from the front. It seemed his method of choosing a sparsely populated area and relying on speed to escape was correct.
As long as he exceeded five hundred li, then even the strongest Pseudo-Core cultivator who had joined the chase later would no longer be able to find a trace of him with their divine sense. At that time, he could approach the Flame Palace mountain and then turn to escape.
"You all just wait for me! I remember the faces of every single one of you. When I'm free, I will definitely hunt you down one by one," Bu Luo cursed in a low voice, hating the few who had directly cut off his escape route to the bone.
A distance of several hundred li was covered in just half an incense stick's time under Bu Luo's full-speed flight. With such desperate effort, he had pulled even farther away from his pursuers.
However, when he flew past a hundred li from the Flame Palace, he did not notice two pairs of eyes watching him from the shadows. But they did not immediately attack the whistling Bu Luo.
This made Li Yan frown. Why did the two white-robed men remain hidden and not move at that excellent opportunity? This ambush was truly strange.