Though Wuye was uncontrollably falling toward the ground, he still held the bamboo staff tightly in his hand. With his last shred of consciousness, he mustered his remaining strength and slammed it down on a vortex that was rapidly growing larger in his vision.
After the mountain of staff shadows in front of him disappeared, Li Yan's figure was revealed. Seeing Wuye's actions, Li Yan couldn't help but be stunned. After two of his attacks, Wuye still had the strength to fight back.
Moreover, he could rely on sheer willpower to attack the Quicksand Art in his line of sight, allowing him to land on solid ground. This was a subconscious habit developed through long-term combat.
Of course, Li Yan knew what his previous attack meant. Although he had reduced the force of the attack to conceal it, his opponent had still withstood the first wave, forcing Li Yan to launch a second attack.
'Wuye has a resolute will. His combat experience and mentality are far beyond what Wang Ning and the others can compare to.'
This was the immediate judgment Li Yan made in his heart. Thus, he launched a third attack.
Wuye, who was struggling to maintain his posture as he brought his staff down, could no longer hold on. Another sharp pain pierced his mind, causing him to let out a muffled grunt.
He could no longer swing the bamboo staff. His body trembled, yet he still gripped the staff tightly, the knuckles of his hand turning snow-white and making cracking sounds.
Then, he stepped right into the Quicksand Art trap on the ground. Soon, more than half of his dark figure had sunk below the surface.
Just then, Li Yan once again waved his large sleeve, and all the Quicksand Arts vanished without a trace.
On the ground in the center of the courtyard, Wuye's figure became clear again. He was leaning on his staff, his head bowed. He slowly raised his head, his face somewhat pale, his body still shaking.
Wuye's consciousness was still a bit hazy. He forced his eyes open and, swaying, said to Li Yan in a low voice.
"I… I lost! How did you poison me?"
His appearance was also witnessed by the surrounding cultivators. Wang Ning, who had already recovered, had an even more bewildered look in her eyes as she muttered to herself.
"It's the same type of hallucinogenic poison mist. But Wuye clearly knew he had this move. Why did he still fall for it so easily? How can this be explained…"
Seeing Wuye, who was just as dazed as Wang Ning had been, admit defeat, the surroundings once again erupted in an uproar. The confusion in their hearts grew even stronger. Wuye, however, was trying his best to stay clear-headed, staring fixedly at Li Yan.
Li Yan simply shook his head gently at him without answering, a faint smile on his face.
"Fellow Daoist Wuye, just take some pills and meditate for a moment, and you will recover!"
Seeing that Li Yan wouldn't answer his question, Wuye showed no disappointment on his face. He had seen too much. His question was merely a subconscious utterance in his state of confusion.
It was only right that Li Yan was unwilling to say. If it were him, he wouldn't tell others his trump cards either.
Wuye said no more. He lifted the bamboo staff that was propped on the ground. With a "chi" sound, he pulled out more than a foot of the staff from beneath the ground.
This showed just how much force he had used to keep his body from falling while his mind was wracked with pain. After a few heavy breaths, Wuye shakily walked to the side.
Listening to the surrounding uproar, Li Yan then turned his gaze to Qiao Baiye and Bu Luo. Just now, he had used a "Divine Sense Spike," once again using the cover of the Quicksand Art to defeat Wuye.
He had been inspired to use this move by the demonic cultivator Teng Wuji. Although Li Yan's Divine Sense had been strong before, he had rarely used it for attacks. He had practiced condensing his Divine Sense into a needle in the past, but he had never truly prioritized it.
The "Divine Sense Spike" was, in truth, very simple. It was the most direct type of conscious-level damage that high-level cultivators used against low-level cultivators.
A cultivator would condense their Divine Sense into a needle and stab it into the opponent's Sea of Consciousness.
But in practice, the requirements were extremely strict. One's Divine Sense had to be at least three to four levels higher than the opponent's for it to have a chance of success. And as everyone knew, Divine Sense was the most difficult to cultivate.
Therefore, among cultivators of the same rank, even a late-stage cultivator could not suppress an initial-stage cultivator's mind. If one were to force it, the result would basically be mutual destruction.
Previously, among his peers, Li Yan's two methods of poison and body cultivation were enough to leave him with few opponents, so he hadn't paid much attention to Divine Sense attacks. But Teng Wuji's Divine Sense attack last time had made him re-evaluate their importance.
He had since picked up the practice of condensing his Divine Sense into a needle again. Whenever he had free time, he would constantly practice it. Now, his proficiency had reached a minor level of success.
Divine Sense attacks were usually only seen when there was a large disparity in cultivation levels between two parties. One had to be at least a major realm higher than the opponent to dare use it, such as a Foundation Establishment cultivator against a Qi Condensation cultivator.
This was common knowledge and a consensus among most cultivators. Therefore, after Li Yan used a Divine Sense attack on Wuye, none of the cultivators here would have thought in that direction for a moment.
And when Li Yan executed it, he not only used the "Quicksand Art" as cover, but he also controlled the strength of his Divine Sense to the point where it only made the opponent's consciousness blurry, retracting it immediately after.
Coupled with Wang Ning's previous display of being hit by a hallucinogenic poison, everyone here, including Wuye himself, now believed that he had been poisoned again. Li Yan's methods of administering poison had now made them extremely wary.
However, precisely because Li Yan had to control the strength of his Divine Sense and the spatial fluctuations, his use of the "Divine Sense Spike" was not very proficient. Wuye only fell after taking three of his "Divine Sense Spikes," which also made him look at Wuye in a new light.
Everything Li Yan did was, of course, also to prevent detection by those Golden Core cultivators. He and Wuye were in a close-quarters duel, and their Divine Senses were constantly roaming around each other.
This was to guard against the opponent's attacks at all times. So even if someone noticed his Divine Sense probing Wuye, they would only think it was normal scouting.
Moreover, after Wuye was attacked, his state of hazy consciousness was quite similar to Wang Ning's before. Li Yan felt that he should be able to deceive those Golden Core cultivators.
In the cave on the distant mountain peak, as expected, those Golden Core cultivators were only praising the ingenuity of Li Yan's poisoning techniques. At the same time, many of them became even more respectful toward Wei Zhongran.
Although they knew these techniques would be ineffective against them, they could guess from this how formidable Wei Zhongran himself must be. At the very least, they hadn't been able to see through his disciple's poisoning methods.
Wei Zhongran, on the other hand, had a faint smile on his face, but deep down, he also felt something was wrong. He was, after all, much more advanced than those around him and keenly sensed that Wuye seemed to have a problem with his Sea of Consciousness.
'It shouldn't be a Divine Sense attack. Li Yan only has the Undead Nether Phoenix to help strengthen his physical body, which doesn't help much with Divine Sense. Cultivating Divine Sense is the most difficult path for a cultivator.'
The thought flashed, and Wei Zhongran felt it was impossible again, but the doubt still lingered in his mind. He just didn't let any of it show on his face.
When Bu Luo saw Li Yan's gaze turn toward them, he immediately jumped backward and shouted at the same time.
"Brother Li, Brother Li, you deserve to be the captain, you deserve it! I have no objections whatsoever!"
It was no joke. If it were anyone else, Bu Luo would still feel unconvinced. But for Li Yan, firstly, he had saved his life before. Although he had given him the Silver Page, Bu Luo still felt his own life was more valuable.
Moreover, he had been in closed-door cultivation ever since he returned and had not heard any more secrets about the Silver Page, so he hadn't inquired further about the other pages.
Another point was that although he had some thoughts earlier, feeling that he might not necessarily lose to Li Yan, after the two duels just now, he understood from the bottom of his heart that Li Yan was still the same cultivator who had made him feel unfathomably profound back then.
He also knew that Li Yan could take on a body cultivator from the Jingtu Sect head-on, but Li Yan had not shown that side of himself at all. This showed that Li Yan had many hidden techniques.
He certainly didn't want to ask for trouble.
Li Yan nodded slightly at Bu Luo and then fixed his gaze on Qiao Baiye. Qiao Baiye, in turn, shot a contemptuous glance at Bu Luo. Wasn't this kid so arrogant at the beginning? How did he suddenly turn into a coward?
But then, after a moment's hesitation, he also cupped his fist at Li Yan. "I don't need to compete in this match either. I believe I am no match for Fellow Daoist Li!"
He had fought alongside Wuye before and was slightly inferior to him. He admitted this point. Moreover, that Wang Ning was probably a bit stronger than him in cultivation. Since both of them had lost, his chances of winning were too slim.
He had come up, originally thinking it would be a multi-person battle where he could test his skills against one person. Now it seemed that was unnecessary.
Seeing that the last two had conceded without a fight, a commotion immediately arose among the newly conscripted cultivators. They all looked at the Pseudo-Core cultivators who had automatically retreated.
Some of those Pseudo-Core cultivators were bowing their heads in thought, some had flickering gazes. Finally, after looking at the still somewhat weak Wang Ning and Wuye, they weighed the situation in their hearts and, in the end, no one else came forward.
They weren't fools. Several undisguised Divine Senses had been hovering in the sky today. And after all this time fighting, none of those seniors had appeared, which meant the Golden Core seniors were very confident in the Li Yan before them.
Li Yan smiled and finally turned his gaze to Gong Yuantai and his group, whose faces were a mixture of emotions. These people were supposed to help him secure his position as captain, but to put it bluntly, they were fighting for the honor of the Malevolent Spirit Sect.
They were all survivors fresh from the battlefield. Li Yan held some respect for them and didn't want to expose Gong Yuantai's actions from earlier. It was best to let the matter rest here, which would also count as giving his master an explanation.
But to Li Yan's surprise, after several changes in expression, Gong Yuantai's hands remained clasped behind his back, and his face slowly returned to calm.
Seeing Li Yan's gaze sweep over, Gong Yuantai appeared completely unruffled.
"Junior Brother Li, you and I are now fellow disciples. During the sect competition back then, you were still in the Qi Condensation stage, yet I heard you were already famous."
"I was preparing for the battle to gather resources in the secret realm at the time, so I was unable to witness your prowess in person, which is a great pity. I wonder if you could let this senior brother witness some of your other techniques today."
As he spoke these words, Gong Yuantai had already begun to walk step by step toward the center of the field.
In fact, he had his own thoughts. He had gone from thinking that Li Yan must have received a large amount of cultivation resources from Little Bamboo Peak and was thus lucky enough to successfully establish his foundation and cultivate to his current level.
To a series of subsequent surprises, Gong Yuantai now felt that he might have been wrong. It seemed that Martial Uncle Wei's appointment was not an act of nepotism. With Li Yan's current abilities, he should be able to serve as the captain of the Sixteenth Squad.
However, for them, the survivors of a "hundred battles" in the Sixteenth Squad, the importance of the captain's role was understood with much clearer and deeper insight. Compared to cultivation level, they were more willing to have a cultivator who had been on the battlefield before as their captain.
This way, their chances of survival the next time the Sixteenth Squad went into battle would be much greater. So, after communicating with the others via voice transmission, Gong Yuantai still decided to make a move. It would be best if the position of captain fell into his hands; only then would they feel more at ease.