This result was, of course, exactly what Li Yan had wanted to see.
Therefore, he usually struck in the wilderness. It was a good place for him to set up ambushes, preventing his opponents from having a chance to escape and thereby exposing the possibility of a cultivator using illusions to kill.
The three times he was nearly killed in a counterattack, one opponent was a Late-stage Golden Core, and the other two were at the Pseudo-Nascent Soul Realm.
When dealing with cultivators above the Mid-stage Golden Core, Li Yan mostly relied on ambushes to kill his opponents; that was his forte.
Among these three, the one who surprised Li Yan the most was the Late-stage Golden Core cultivator. He was from the "Three-eyed Divine Ape" clan, and his third eye had the innate ability to see through illusions.
After encountering Li Yan's illusion, this cultivator had actually seen through it in only one and a half breaths. This was information Li Yan only obtained after soul-searching him when he was weakened and poisoned on the ground.
After seeing through the illusion, the "Three-eyed Divine Ape" had not immediately revealed it, but had instead pretended to still be immersed in it, unable to extricate himself, putting on various acts.
As Li Yan slowly approached to observe, the "Three-eyed Divine Ape" finally found an opportunity and instantly unleashed a fatal blow with his magical treasure.
Even though Li Yan was prepared, he had still misjudged. If not for his powerful physical body, that one blow would have been enough to make his body explode.
A direct hit from a Golden Core cultivator's magical treasure, even with Li Yan's current tough physique, had caused his internal organs to be severely shaken. He was injured on the spot and had to recuperate for more than ten days to recover.
Fortunately, Li Yan had set up other backup plans in addition to the Illusion Poison, so no greater accident occurred.
The next two times he faced Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivators, the first one not only had terrifyingly powerful cultivation but also cultivated a demonic art.
After breaking through the illusion, the opponent was revealed to be an extremely rare Soul Cultivator. Li Yan was almost sucked out of his soul by the opponent.
In his haste, Li Yan had plunged into the nearby "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" and had thus escaped disaster. The opponent had also collapsed from poison not long after.
The other Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator's true form was a "Dark Blood Demon Scorpion," a naturally poisonous demonic beast itself. Even when afflicted with Li Yan's Fragmented Poison, it was still incomparably brave.
The potent poison from its tail hook had also thrown Li Yan into a brief state of unconsciousness. Li Yan had managed to wake up at the last moment.
For the first time, he had truly unleashed the "Wave-Hiding Soul-Slaying Art," driving the long-hidden Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike to pierce through the opponent's Divine Soul before the opponent could detect the abnormal spatial fluctuations.
Having nearly lost his life several times, Li Yan, although still shaken, knew that the path of immortality was like this. There was no true invincibility at the same level in the world; he couldn't achieve it, and neither could others.
Only by continuously strengthening himself and attending to the smallest details in everything could he live longer.
After four months of testing the Illusion Poison, Li Yan had already figured out its effects and power. The only regret was that he could not get a Nascent Soul to enter the Illusion Poison to test the results.
However, he still felt that Dongli Qing should be affected to some extent, but the time would be very short, and he couldn't be too sure how long.
As long as the other party was affected and saw his "true form," Li Yan's purpose would be achieved, and it would also give Li Yan time to escape from "Sacred Demon City."
After that, Li Yan went into seclusion for another two months to completely recover his body.
And at this time, it had been almost three years since his last meeting with Zhao Min.
He finally arrived at a mountain range four hundred li away from the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" sect. This was a place he had passed when he had previously infiltrated the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan."
He had felt at that time that this place was a good spot for murder and robbery.
So when he was designing the plan against Dongli Qing, his first reaction was that it would be best to set up an ambush here. The "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" was too close to this place.
Li Yan searched in the mountains for a day and finally found a more suitable cave. He was very satisfied with the height of this cave, but it was not deep enough, only about five li long.
After entering the cave, Li Yan began a polishing process that lasted for more than a month.
He not only extended the cave to more than forty li but also opened up crisscrossing forked paths inside to interfere with Dongli Qing's tracking speed.
Then, he began to set up traps and chain traps everywhere in the cave.
The traps he set completely abandoned restrictions and formations, but were arranged using the pure methods of the hunters from the Great Green Mountains.
Although the small mountain village in the Great Green Mountains was small, their inherited sets of vicious or clever traps were their means of survival, and they would not produce any Spirit Power fluctuations at all.
At the same time, Li Yan continuously adjusted his Fragmented Poison, trying to combine a variety of incomparably malevolent and unique toxins.
And these potent poisons had to meet Li Yan's two requirements:
One was to be colorless and odorless, so that the other party would be poisoned without knowing;
The second was that Li Yan only placed a tiny bit at each ambush point. These toxins had to ensure that they would not take effect immediately.
He found various small demonic beasts and repeatedly tested them hundreds of times. Even with their natural keen senses, they were only poisoned within the time Li Yan had estimated.
Finally, Li Yan used the "Heaven-Stealing Kerchief" to once again infiltrate the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan," quietly killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and brought his body with him.
Li Yan finally completed his ambush plan after nearly three years of preparation. After changing his appearance, he set out on the road back to "Sacred Demon City."
Outside "Sacred Demon City," Li Yan sent a voice transmission to Zhao Min in a secret code, explaining his plan.
As expected, he was immediately met with strong opposition from Zhao Min. Having prepared for so long, how could Li Yan be willing to give up?
He patiently gave various reasons. Finally, seeing that she could not change his mind, and knowing that if she did not cooperate with Li Yan, she did not know what he would do, Zhao Min hesitated again and again, but still chose to believe him, constantly comforting herself in her heart that Li Yan was a calm person and never did reckless things...
So she had no choice but to act according to the plan!
Dongli Qing's cultivation was far superior to both of them. Li Yan and Zhao Min were unable to sense whether the other party was following them.
But when Dongli Qing stepped into the range of the Illusion Poison, Li Yan still felt a slight tremor. He could feel a reaction from the Illusion Poison in his Sea of Consciousness.
But he could not detect anyone or any stray cats or dogs entering with his Divine Sense. So he decisively used the power of his Divine Soul to control the Soul Poison and activate it.
The result showed that his reaction was extremely correct. It was just that during the actual implementation of the plan, the strength of a Nascent Soul cultivator greatly exceeded his expectations.
Li Yan had suffered a terrifying backlash that could have shattered his Sea of Consciousness and separated his soul from his body.
But fortunately, he had been prepared. To deal with a Nascent Soul cultivator, he had long since prepared the True Essence Pill and the "Earthen Patch" space. These were his final trump cards and his confidence.
All his efforts were not in vain. The Illusion Poison had finally affected Dongli Qing's consciousness to some extent.
After surviving the backlash of the first wave of attacks, Li Yan finally used the speed of the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to successfully enter the ambush site.
The subsequent progress was just as he had predicted. Dongli Qing, with his contemptuous attitude, had repeatedly come into contact with various traps with different parts of his body. The vines, flying arrows, etc., that he had flicked away, he had touched them one by one.
He had even unknowingly touched a certain place in the cave, such as when he was walking around a corner of the cave and subconsciously touched the corner of the cave wall.
This time, Li Yan had used almost all the poisons he could use, and he had repeatedly arranged them in the forty-li-long cave.
There were almost no dead corners, ensuring to the greatest extent possible that Dongli Qing would come into contact with that tiny bit of poison.
When Dongli Qing discovered that his body was unwell, dozens of potent poisons had already revealed their ferocious fangs one by one in his body, and his consciousness had finally descended into madness.
With so many potent poisons erupting in his body one by one, even with Dongli Qing's cultivation, he was ultimately unable to withstand the fatal trap that Li Yan had meticulously planned for several years.
The famous "Three Great Poison Bodies" of the Desolate Moon Continent had once again appeared on the Forsaken Continent, revealing their vicious faces...
When Shanggong Changge once again arrived at the mountain range where Dongli Qing had fallen, the Spirit Transformation elder had already found a tattered corpse deep at the bottom of the mountain.
And from its clothes, it was a cultivator from the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" not far from here.
'Did the 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan' cultivators really plot against Dongli Qing in secret, but were killed by him here in the end?'
Shanggong Changge was also lost in thought for a moment...
Not long after, a shocking piece of news came from the "Sacred Demon Palace." A long-hidden sect—the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan"—was a secret agent of the Black Demon Clan.
They had joined forces with the Black Demon Clan to assassinate a Nascent Soul of the White Demon Clan. Thus, the entire "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" was annihilated.
Even the "Elder Dragon Flood Dragon" and another Golden Core cultivator, Xi Ye, who were hidden deep in the clan's forbidden land, were captured, had their souls searched, and then killed.
This matter caused an uproar in the city for a time. The Black Demon Clan had actually extended its hand into the "Sacred Demon Palace." They were truly becoming more and more reckless.
According to rumors in the market, the "Sacred Demon Palace" had not caught the Black Demon Clan expert who had killed Dongli Qing, but had only caught a group of small fry.
In this way, many sects had to raise their guard.
'Did that Black Demon Clan expert really exist, or was it just Dongli Qing's speculation before his death?'
Shanggong Changge, in her palace dress, looked at the fish in the pond full of lotus leaves and murmured.
She knew that all those "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" cultivators had had their souls searched one by one, but they had not obtained any information about the Black Demon Clan, and even the information related to Dongli Qing was pitifully scarce.
But with the Dongli branch unable to find the murderer, they insisted that the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" must have had their relevant memories erased, and that Dongli Qing had died because he was plotted against by them.
And the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" also had potent poisons that could kill Nascent Soul cultivators. Although there were not many types, they existed.
'Elder Dragon Flood Dragon, a cultivator who was about to reach the Nascent Soul stage, his death was truly miserable!'
Thinking of the "Elder Dragon Flood Dragon" whose seven orifices were bleeding and whose face was filled with fierce resentment when his soul was searched, Shanggong Changge could not judge for a moment whether this sect was really a secret agent for the Black Demon Clan.
The Spirit Transformation old ancestor of the Dongli branch was also unable to determine whether the "Elder Dragon Flood Dragon" had also had his memory modified or erased, but he would not be soft-hearted and let him go.
Better to kill by mistake than to let one go!
The cultivation world was like this!
But fortunately, there was no trace of Zhao Min in the memories of all the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan" cultivators. This made Shanggong Changge greatly relieved and even more certain of her judgment.
...
On another continent, forty billion li northwest of the Forsaken Continent, tens of thousands of snow-capped mountains that reached the heavens shot straight into the clouds.
The mountain ranges rose and fell, a vast expanse of white, illuminating the entire world.
The earth was covered with ten-thousand-zhang-deep ice ravines. Blue light flickered in the abyss-like chasms, like the giant mouths of ferocious beasts facing the sky. Fist-sized snowflakes fell endlessly.
In a vast and boundless world, thick, bright red arcs of lightning danced among the snowflakes.
With a "crackling" sound, they landed on the snow of unknown depth, and the ground flickered with tiny, jumping red arcs of electricity.
Between two ice peaks that shot up into the sky, a howling cold wind was squeezing through.
They continuously blew out a blizzard containing red arcs of electricity. Apart from the howling of the cold wind and the sound of thunder and lightning, there were no other sounds in the world.
Day after day, year after year, as time went by, this place had not changed in the slightest, as if the wind, snow, and red lightning here would never cease.
Outside the two ice peaks were two completely different worlds. From the foot of the mountain outwards, the ice and snow gradually decreased, and the sound of the cold wind and lightning also gradually faded away.
As the sparse ice and snow receded into the distance, the temperature also rose bit by bit. Extending further for dozens of li, as the ice and snow melted, sparse grass roots were revealed on the ground.
The water from the ice and snow slowly converged towards the further side, clear and transparent. There were more and more streams on the ground, and the green and yellow grass also became denser and denser.
The flowing water of the streams washed the tender yellow-green grass, and the fine leaves became more and more crystal clear.
In the distant world, unknown wild flowers bloomed everywhere, some high, some low, some large, some small, gently swaying in the slightly cold wind...
On this day, a figure rushed out from between the two ice peaks, carrying a bone-chilling cold wind. Following that, a burst of wild laughter shot up into the sky.