Wei Zhongran looked at Li Yan lying on the bed. Due to the pain, his face was so twisted that his original appearance was unrecognizable. Sweat had already formed layer after layer under his body, and his body was trembling unconsciously.
But what was incomprehensible was that, although Li Yan had an expression of inexplicable pain, he hadn't woken up from it. His body was as if firmly pressed onto the bed by a pair of invisible hands. Besides the continuous trembling, there was no other movement.
Wei Zhongran could feel that this pain originated from the depths of the soul, enough to make a man of iron writhe on the ground in agony.
"If this is really the reason of the Fragmented Poison Body, then the Three Great Peerless Poison Bodies are truly so fantastical. It's truly incredible!"
Wei Zhongran did not intend to continue to collect Li Yan's soul, nor did he intend to help, because he could see that the injuries in Li Yan's body were recovering at an incredible speed, and Li Yan's life force was becoming more and more vigorous.
At this time, of course, he couldn't just intervene.
Cultivators were inherently believers in spirits and ghosts. For things that couldn't be explained, they were usually more willing to believe that it was the work of the Heavenly Dao.
However, this was also because Li Yan had used the "Fragmented Poison Body" too many times to explain away various inexplicable things to those familiar with him, which led to many in the Malevolent Spirit Sect knowing about the strangeness of the "Fragmented Poison Body."
In addition, the "Three Great Peerless Poison Bodies" of the Malevolent Spirit Sect were inherently formless and unfixed, constantly growing. No one could say to what extent they would change the physique of the poison body's owner.
Even those with the same poison body would walk different cultivation paths in the future.
Wei Zhongran even thought at this moment that Li Yan might have cultivated the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, but he had done so with the Fragmented Poison Body, so he might have already embarked on a different body refining path from Zhao Min and the others, which was why such a strange change had occurred.
However, he was only speculating on this. Wei Zhongran intended to find a time in the future to ask Li Yan whether he had cultivated the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
Wei Zhongran's speculation was already partially correct, but he would never have guessed the real reason for the change in the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
The silver light on Li Yan's body became more and more dazzling. And in the strange space, Li Yan saw a scene not entirely the same as Wei Zhongran's.
What Li Yan saw was that his body, which had been covered by faint blue flames, was shedding them with the appearance of the silver light. And following the falling faint blue flames were pieces of dark purple flesh from Li Yan's body.
After these pieces of flesh fell off, they slid down the side of the bridge into the endless abyss below, leaving only long, shocking streaks of blood on the bridge.
And at the broken bones where the flesh had fallen off, a patch of silver light points would emerge. The moment these silver light points landed on the broken bone shards, it was as if drops of potent poison were adhering to the bones.
The immense pain made Li Yan's eyes feel like they were about to split open, but he could do nothing, and he was powerless to hide.
The consequence of the boundless pain was that those bones were instantly softened, and many parts began to rejoin and grow.
White flesh buds and green meridians slowly grew on the surface of the bones, and it was as if ten thousand ants were crawling on them, which made Li Yan feel an unbearable itching amidst the great pain.
In fact, at this time, Li Yan no longer knew which part of his body he should be feeling pain in, because at the same time, in his internal organs, it was as if someone was swinging a giant hammer with sharp spikes, randomly stabbing and swinging it around in his body.
The sharp pain in his internal organs was soul-deep. Li Yan's originally clear consciousness, in the pain, seemed to have been shattered, becoming somewhat hazy and illusory.
It was as if in the next moment, his consciousness would collapse and disappear, and then he would fall into a permanent coma.
In the strange space, looking from afar, between heaven and earth, only Li Yan stood alone on the bridge, covered in blood.
Most of his body was covered in white bones, and dark purple flesh was constantly falling off, while new white flesh was constantly wriggling in various parts of his body, like a flayed blood man.
It was like a skeleton draped in a tattered skin of frothing blood.
His body was convulsing like he had a fever, and in his mind, that ancient, indifferent voice, every few breaths, would sound again, constantly repeating.
"Nine Heavens of the Netherworld, one rebirth per heaven. Crossing the Yellow Springs River, a will undying and unextinguishable." Like a series of incantations, even though Li Yan's consciousness became blurred from the pain, this saying was like thunder in his mind.
This voice turned into a series of golden runes in Li Yan's mind, landing on his internal organs, and then emitted a low "buzzing" sound.
Every time this happened, Li Yan's life force would become stronger.
…
In the cave, an hour had passed. Looking at Li Yan lying motionless on the bed, Wei Zhongran quietly watched for a while longer.
He had repeatedly probed with his divine sense several times. The strange silver light on Li Yan's body had long since disappeared. And now, Li Yan's originally battered and bruised body, besides the still-present fresh red or dark black bloodstains, had actually completely returned to normal.
"What kind of fortune does this disciple of mine have, and what kind of cultivation method does he practice? Is it really unrelated to the Qiongqi Purgatory Art?"
At this time, Wei Zhongran would certainly not believe that Li Yan was cultivating the "Myriad Essence Art" anymore, and he once again suspected whether Li Yan had really cultivated the Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
But his reason told him that even the elders and clan leader of the Tianli Clan could not achieve such a state of fleshing out white bones and bringing the dead to life with their Qiongqi Purgatory Art cultivation.
The Qiongqi Purgatory Art was mainly for strengthening the physical body and enhancing defense. Although it also had the effect of repairing the body, that was only when one cultivated to the final layer. Otherwise, it was absolutely impossible to have the divine ability of body remodeling.
"Body remodeling," the power that was said to be possessed only by true immortals. Wei Zhongran had read the introduction to the Qiongqi Purgatory Art in his family. Even if one cultivated to the final layer and could regenerate limbs, that would still require at least one to three years of seclusion. It never said it could be done in an hour.
Wei Zhongran fell into deep thought.
If it was the effect of the Fragmented Poison Body, the Malevolent Spirit Sect had also had experts with the Fragmented Poison Body, but the ancient texts had never mentioned that the Fragmented Poison Body could remodel the physical body.
After a long while, Wei Zhongran looked at Li Yan, whose breathing had returned to a long and steady rhythm. He did not touch Li Yan again but turned and walked out of the cave residence.
He had his pride. He guessed that Li Yan must have had some other opportunity, but he did not want to use his divine sense to carefully probe Li Yan's secrets again.
Before, it was for Li Yan's injuries that he had used his divine sense irregularly and had already discovered many of Li Yan's secrets. But that was the limit. Wei Zhongran was still the upright fatty from back then.
Outside the cave, Elder Chigong, with the air of an immortal, stood there. Bai Rou had originally wanted to come with him to confirm Li Yan's injuries, but due to her own serious injuries, she had been given a medicinal pill by Elder Chigong and sent back to heal.
"How is Li Yan?"
"His injuries have stabilized, I suppose. But he'll need to rest for some time."
Hearing Wei Zhongran's words, Elder Chigong's long eyebrows raised. "Injuries stabilized? He doesn't need Body Seizure?"
He had also seen Li Yan's miserable state before. He was just being held in Wei Zhongran's arms, so the few elders hadn't used their divine sense to scan him.
But with their sharp eyes, they had seen at a glance that Li Yan's injuries were life-threatening. That physical body was almost completely shattered.
Now Wei Zhongran was actually saying that his injuries had stabilized. This answer was clearly far beyond Elder Chigong's expectations.
This was also why he had rushed over immediately after handling other matters. He had heard a simple account of what had happened from Bai Rou and was very shocked by Li Yan's performance.
It was also a blessing for the Malevolent Spirit Sect that Wei Zhongran had such a disciple. A great sect naturally needed generations of outstanding disciples to be passed down in order to maintain its strength.
Wei Zhongran just gave Elder Chigong a faint sideways glance. "My disciple's injuries have stabilized. Is Senior Brother not happy?"
"You... what are you saying? I say, Junior Brother, is my concern wrong? Just now, the few of us elders saw clearly that Li Yan's injuries were not light."
Elder Chigong glared at Wei Zhongran and said with dissatisfaction.
"Hehehe, thank you for your concern, Senior Brother. Li Yan is fine now. I used the two medicinal pills Master gave me on him, and his injuries have stabilized."
Wei Zhongran suddenly chuckled and cupped his fists at Elder Chigong.
"What? You gave the medicinal pills refined by Ancestor Dacen to that kid? No wonder!" Elder Chigong's eyes widened again, and he secretly cursed in his heart.
'They say everyone from Little Bamboo Peak, from Ancestor Dacen, Wei Zhongran, to Li Wuyi, are all protective of their own. It's really true. Medicinal pills refined by a Nascent Soul ancestor, and Junior Brother Wei gives out two at once. This... this is too...'
He wanted to say "generous" or "extravagant," but then he thought that wasn't right either. Li Yan was Wei Zhongran's direct disciple. If he didn't save him, who would he save? Elder Chigong couldn't help but shake his head in admiration.
Wei Zhongran didn't want to say more on this topic. He immediately changed the subject.
"The news Li Yan and the others brought back is extremely important. Have you transmitted it to the several Nascent Soul seniors?"
Of course, Wei Zhongran didn't want to expose Li Yan's secrets, so he naturally found an excuse to gloss it over.
He had been treating Li Yan as soon as he returned, and had left everything else to Elder Chigong and the others to handle. Now, of course, he had to ask for the result.
"The situation described by Bai Rou and the others corresponds to some intelligence we received yesterday. The few of us elders have already analyzed it and confirmed that this is a sign that the demonic army is about to launch a large-scale attack."
"This news has already been transmitted to the several Nascent Soul seniors stationed here. I just received a reply."
"It indicates that the matter is known and that we should strengthen our guard. Now several elders have already gone to gather the cultivators of each peak and assign tasks."
Elder Chigong briefly explained the matter.
"From your tone, it seems that the several Nascent Soul seniors should have also detected it in advance." Wei Zhongran frowned and said.
He was thinking in his heart, since they had already discovered something was wrong in advance, why hadn't they arranged for them to make deployments in time?
As if seeing Wei Zhongran's question, Elder Chigong chuckled.
"Hehehe, from the report from Bai Rou and the others, we can know that the other side only made a move a few hours ago."
"And both of us are deliberately preventing the other's divine sense from probing, especially for middle and high-level cultivators. I think that in their divine sense probes, the several seniors were blocked by the other side. They just felt that something was wrong, but they failed to get real intelligence, so they didn't make arrangements for our three defenses."
After hearing this, Wei Zhongran thought for a moment and then nodded.
"Senior Brother's analysis is correct. We also didn't find anything unusual last evening. It was only in the middle of the night that we successively received reports from scouts that the other side had expanded their alert range in several directions, which was when we became vigilant."
Speaking of this, he couldn't help but shake his head and give a bitter smile. "Now, in terms of intelligence gathering, the middle and high-level cultivators are not playing much of a role. We have to rely on the low-level cultivators."
"There's no other way. The strength and number of middle and high-level cultivators invested in these three defensive directions on both sides are about the same, and they are all constraining each other."
"On the contrary, there's no time to worry about those low-level cultivators. In addition, the number of low-level cultivators is too large. Thousands of them are scattered on the battlefield to scout the situation. Who can not be overwhelmed?"
"Oh, by the way, Senior Brother, what about that 'Luoshu Lake' disciple?" Of course, Wei Zhongran knew what Elder Chigong meant. He was just speaking his mind. Then he turned to ask.