In his plan, if the woman in the green gauze had not been greedy and had only taken her own storage pouch in her haste, Li Yan's plan would have likewise failed.
Li Yan could only mix the "Annihilation Exquisite" among Zheng Xingfan's spirit stones; he could not attempt to open the woman's storage pouch.
The woman's cultivation had reached the Mid-stage Golden Core, and the Divine Sense imprint left on her pouch was extremely strong. Moreover, she had not perished.
It would have been exceedingly difficult for Li Yan to open it, and a single mistake could have exposed his own strength. Therefore, Li Yan handled these steps with exceptional meticulousness, doing his utmost to guide the woman's thinking.
Finally, to give himself a reasonable excuse to leave, just as he was eyeing the woman's storage pouch, he had the Snow Mosquito King appear with one of its subordinates.
Posing as his pursuer, he counter-attacked after the snow mosquito's failed strike, using the opportunity to leave the cave.
In truth, there were still many flaws in what Li Yan did. At the very least, his final departure seemed somewhat hasty.
But the woman in the green gauze, after being poisoned and witnessing the entire hellish process of Zheng Xingfan's death, had already lost control of her senses to the point of incontinence. Her composure was completely shattered.
At that time, besides wanting to save her own life, how could she have cared about anything else? It was likely that after her cultivation recovered, if she were to think back on it carefully in the future, she would definitely find many suspicious points.
This was precisely why Li Yan had to use such incomparably cruel methods to torture Zheng Xingfan: to seize her will and shatter her spirit.
Once outside the cave, Li Yan immediately concealed himself. The potent poison he had used was part of his backup plan; it was the "Tiger-Devouring Wolf" from his Fragmented Poison Body, one of the three for which he had already configured an antidote.
After getting outside, Li Yan began to disperse wisps of the antidote into the cave. This was what allowed the woman to slowly recover a small amount of her Spirit Power.
Once her Spirit Power had recovered enough for her to fly on a magical treasure, Li Yan immediately stopped injecting the antidote into the cave.
Under these circumstances, no matter how much the woman meditated and refined qi, she would be unable to recover further.
She immediately concluded that the poison had penetrated her internal organs and that she could only seek external help. Li Yan, hiding in the dark, took in the entire scene.
Sure enough, the direction the woman ultimately chose to seek help was the nameless valley.
And before leaving, the greedy face of a cultivator who values wealth over life was on full display. Not only did she take everything on the ground, but she didn't even spare the formation flags Zheng Xingfan had used to guard the cave.
Only at this point did Li Yan finally breathe a small sigh of relief. For the subsequent events, he could only wait and see. He certainly didn't dare to track the woman with his Divine Sense.
Thus, he never found out that the one guarding the nameless valley was a female Demonic General, and that the woman's seductions would have no effect on her.
Li Yan believed that everything he did would fall into the eyes of the Nascent Soul old monsters from Windy Cool Mountain who were constantly watching him.
When the Divine Senses of the three Windy Cool Mountain Nascent Soul cultivators appeared at the nameless valley, with one of them protecting him, Li Yan was finally certain that they were planning to detonate the "Annihilation Exquisite."
...
As Li Yan flew south, his heart suddenly clenched. He felt as if an extra eye had suddenly appeared in the dark night, coldly scanning the group of people he was with.
Li Yan's heart shuddered. This was all just a feeling; his Divine Sense had detected nothing.
'A Nascent Soul cultivator!'
Li Yan was alarmed, immediately realizing that the other party must have figured it out and was starting to search for the enemy who had set the trap.
Li Yan's expression remained unchanged. He just frequently looked back, and like the other fleeing cultivators around him, he constantly sent out his Divine Sense to probe his surroundings, putting on the appearance of a desperate escapee.
Sure enough, after a moment, the palpitation in his heart disappeared.
'He must have gone to probe in other directions.'
Only then did Li Yan's heart relax slightly. By now, he had already flown over three hundred li from the collapsed mountain range. It should be time to find an opportunity to leave.
Especially since the cultivators around him were beginning to gather. If Li Yan delayed any longer, he wouldn't be far from exposing himself.
Just as Li Yan was about to find an opportunity when no one was paying attention to him to use his "Stealthy Night Art," that bone-chilling palpitation unexpectedly returned.
A shiver ran down Li Yan's entire body, and he almost lost his composure. Forcibly suppressing the tremor in his heart, he immediately dismissed the thought of using the "Stealthy Night Art."
'This is a deep and calculating old hunter.'
In that instant, Li Yan thought of the several uncles and cousins in his village who went hunting in the Great Green Mountains year-round. They would often use the characteristics of wild beasts to set corresponding traps.
The other party's departure just now was only to lull him into a false sense of security. He had long since determined that the prey he was looking for was among the cultivators fleeing south.
The opponent was incredibly experienced. After only a brief confirmation of the cultivators fleeing in the other directions from the nameless valley, he had focused his attention on those escaping to the south.
If he had acted just a little faster a moment ago, he would have already been exposed by now.
But as the surrounding fleeing cultivators began to communicate with each other via voice transmission and gradually started to converge, the time Li Yan had to hide was running out.
Li Yan felt his heart pounding like a war drum, and his chest began to heave uncontrollably, no matter how hard he tried to suppress the formless tension.
But in the unseen world, that pair of eyes was looking down on this land. The shouts among the surrounding cultivators grew more frequent. He only felt himself becoming more and more isolated, more and more conspicuous.
But he couldn't just keep waiting like this; that would make him even more eye-catching.
Li Yan's mind raced, but beads of sweat were already forming on his forehead. In the face of absolute power, even with his hundred stratagems, there was nothing he could do. If he were facing a Golden Core cultivator, Li Yan would have dared to transform into Zheng Xingfan's likeness and take the risk. In any case, the news of Zheng Xingfan's death probably hadn't spread yet.
Even with the woman in the green gauze alive, the cultivators here shouldn't have received the news so quickly.
But at this moment, Li Yan did not dare to transform. Before a Nascent Soul cultivator, his disguise would only be a death warrant, accelerating his demise.
Large beads of sweat began to gather on his forehead. Li Yan was both terrified and furious.
'Those Nascent Soul cultivators from Windy Cool Mountain have abandoned me.' Even that Divine Sense that had been protecting him earlier was nowhere to be found.
At this point, how could Li Yan dare to wait any longer? A despair he had never felt before rose in his heart. Even when facing a Mid-stage Demon Lord back then, he had still felt that he probably wouldn't die.
His breathing became heavy. The sweat was on the verge of pouring down his forehead uncontrollably. At that point, even if he didn't try to escape, his appearance would give him away completely.
Li Yan's body also began to slowly move closer to the other cultivators. Gritting his teeth, he sensed that the pair of eyes was still watching everything below like the god of death.
Li Yan's Divine Sense quietly connected with the "Flowing Light Talisman" in the "Earthen Patch." But what made Li Yan feel even more powerless and desperate was what happened next.
The "Flowing Light Talisman" on his body was now more than a thousand li away from Windy Cool Mountain. When he tried to activate it, it didn't react at all.
As for the other magical treasure Wei Zhongran had given him, the "Sentient Sky Vine," it was of no use in the current situation. It was just a magical treasure that could trap a Golden Core enemy.
Sweat had already soaked Li Yan's clothes, yet his body had no choice but to slow its flight speed as others gathered around him.
A gust of night wind blew past, and Li Yan felt a sinister chill pierce his bones, as if he had fallen into the endless Nine Hells.
At this time, people had begun to notice Li Yan. He could even feel several Divine Senses in the dark night sweeping towards him. In the next moment, he would be completely exposed.
Li Yan's whole body went cold. For the Nascent Soul cultivator who had forced him to complete this mission, his heart held only a towering hatred. After he had completed the mission, the other party no longer cared about his life or death.
'I can't wait any longer. I'll risk it all!'
Just as several Divine Senses were about to fall upon him, the black qi around Li Yan's body suddenly expanded. Like an arrow loosed from a bow, his figure shot out towards a spot to the north where no cultivators were present.
"It's you! Die for me!"
But Li Yan's figure had just moved when an angry voice sounded in his ear. Immediately, his forward-lunging form felt as if it had been seized by the neck.
The next moment, like a pitiful chick, Li Yan was firmly caught in the air by a pair of invisible, large hands.
An excruciating pain tore through Li Yan's mind. A force of irresistible Divine Sense, like a heavy hammer, slammed viciously into his spirit.
Li Yan spat out a large mouthful of blood with a "wah," his head spinning. In a short time, his consciousness had already begun to blur.
Instinctively, Li Yan forced himself not to fall unconscious. The black qi around him surged even more violently.
At the same time, he recklessly sent all of his Divine Sense out of his body, throwing it against the hammer-like attack that felt like world-ending destruction, attempting to block the invasion of his mind.
But upon contact, Li Yan's Divine Sense was like a thin sheet of paper, pierced with a single poke. Li Yan felt as if he had been struck by a heavy blow. With a "pfft," he sprayed out even more blood, drawing a long arc in the night sky.
Although the Spirit Power outside his body surged like a tide, his body, pinned in the air, could not move another inch.
What he had just done was his all-out effort. Though it seemed like a brief counter-attack, it had condensed all his Divine Sense, Spirit Power, and the "Phoenix Soars to the Heavens" movement skill.
Upon the first clash, Li Yan's head was already splitting with pain, and the Spirit Power in his abdomen was rampaging uncontrollably.
"Hmm, you do have some skills. Clearly a Foundation Establishment cultivator, yet not only is your Spirit Power not weak, but your Divine Sense has been cultivated to a level approaching Mid-stage Golden Core..."
As another sentence fell into Li Yan's ear, that world-destroying hammer of a force actually paused slightly, not killing Li Yan immediately. And it was this momentary pause that saved Li Yan's life.
Suddenly, a Divine Sense familiar to Li Yan appeared behind the hammer-like Divine Sense and, without any fancy moves, slammed into it.
At the same time, a hurried voice sounded in Li Yan's ear.
"Kid, run! I can't hold him off for too long!"
Li Yan, who had already sunk into despair, was just about to use "The Five Elements Return to Primordial Genesis" art, exposing his strongest trump card and relying on his physical body for one last counter-attack.
He felt the unbreakable cage around him loosen for a moment. Li Yan had no time to think about the origin of this familiar Divine Sense.
The desire to survive had already occupied all his consciousness. His body's reaction was even faster. The moment the cage loosened, Li Yan's already surging Spirit Power and restless movement skill made him like a rhinoceros tied in place but running relentlessly. The moment the restraint slackened, Li Yan himself had already broken out of the cage like a bolt of lightning, drawing a black line in the sky. With a flash, he had disappeared into the night.
...
Tie Dong felt his Divine Sense being heavily struck from the side. His powerful Divine Sense immediately erupted, and the rebounding force directly knocked away the incoming Divine Sense.
However, the restraining force on his Divine Sense had also loosened. That kid in the air, like an untamed wild horse, had instantly disappeared into the distance. Tie Dong couldn't help but let out an angry roar, the force of which made the nearby space tighten, as if it had been fiercely squeezed by a pair of invisible hands.