The gray-robed elder was furious and shocked. This male cultivator had spun a long tale after poisoning him, only turning on him when his palm had touched that area of the saber blade. This person's schemes were sinister and venomous, and the poison he used was incredibly potent. His physical body had been destroyed by half in just a single breath, and all the medicinal pills he had taken were utterly useless. Thus, as he let out a resentful cry, he had quietly urged his Golden Core to escape from his lower back.
The gray-robed elder was extremely decisive. In one breath, he had unhesitatingly abandoned the physical body he had painstakingly cultivated for over four hundred years. At the same time, he used a concealment technique, attempting to use the formation to escape. Unfortunately, just as he was stealthily escaping, he was forced out by a single punch from the other party.
"What do you want? Even if I only have my Golden Core left, do you really think you can deal with me?" the gray-robed elder shouted, his voice fierce but his heart filled with fear.
He was different from the green-robed guest. When the green-robed guest's physical body was shattered by Li Yan, it was, like the beautiful young woman, a complete surprise. The green-robed guest's Golden Core had been rattled and dizzy from the explosion of his physical body, which was why Zhao Min had been able to control him in one move. The gray-robed elder, however, had escaped with his Golden Core on his own.
Even if a cultivator at or above the Golden Core realm was left with only their Golden Core or Nascent Soul, as long as their magical power remained, they could still retain at least sixty percent of their combat power. Only some techniques that required a physical body would be restricted. At the same time, he also had his most terrifying trump card: self-detonating his Golden Core.
Looking at such a small space, if he were to self-detonate his Golden Core, even if Li Yan and Zhao Min's physical bodies were strong, they would definitely be seriously injured, or even have a large part of their bodies shattered. That was the attack of a cultivator's entire life's magical power, cultivated for over four hundred years. The power at the center of the storm was terrifying. This was also why Li Yan and Zhao Min had not pursued him after the first strike, partly due to this consideration.
"Senior Brother, save me!"
At this time, the green-robed guest's voice sounded again. Seeing that the gray-robed elder's Golden Core had escaped and threatened the other party, and that those two really hadn't dared to make any further moves, a glimmer of hope immediately rose in his heart. But he only dared to cry for help. He didn't dare to threaten Zhao Min to let him go like the gray-robed elder had. If the other party was angered, they might still have some scruples when dealing with his senior brother, but as for him, with just a tightening of the magical power in their hand, he would immediately vanish into thin air.
Since coming out of the Giant Wood Clan's "Wood Essence Pool," Li Yan and Zhao Min's realms had advanced, and their strength had increased by thirty to forty percent. Now, either of them alone had a sixty percent certainty of killing a Pseudo-Nascent Soul cultivator. Yet, at this moment, they couldn't help but be cautious.
Li Yan rubbed his chin, for a moment seeming to truly have some scruples.
For a time, the two sides fell into a tense silence. Just as the gray-robed elder was getting impatient and a ruthless look flashed across his face, Li Yan suddenly spoke.
"Your Excellency is truly decisive, to directly abandon the physical body you worked so hard to cultivate!"
"Cut the crap. Let my junior brother and junior sister go. We'll admit defeat this time. After they come over, don't stop me from opening the formation. Then we'll go our separate ways. How about it?" the gray-robed elder's Golden Core warned sternly.
Li Yan's gaze flickered a few times, then he turned his head and nodded at Zhao Min.
"Throw that Spirit-Storing Pouch and the Golden Core in your hand over. They only have their Golden Cores left. I don't think they'd want to perish together!"
A trace of hesitation appeared on Zhao Min's face, but she quickly made a decision. She rolled up the Spirit-Storing Pouch that had fallen after the green-robed guest's physical body was shattered, and threw it over along with the Golden Core in her hand.
A virtual hand immediately materialized from the gray-robed elder's Golden Core, grabbing the flying Spirit-Storing Pouch and Golden Core in its grasp. After successfully grabbing them, the virtual hand retracted. The gray-robed elder immediately released his Divine Sense and scanned the contents of his palm. The next moment, the aura on the gray-robed elder's Golden Core suddenly shrank, and his voice, filled with shock and anger, came out.
"You dare to trick me!" The Spirit-Storing Pouch in the virtual hand had not changed, but that yellow thing was not a Golden Core at all, but an ordinary Second-rank medicinal pill.
Just as his shocked and angry voice came out, that medicinal pill suddenly exploded, and in an instant, a cloud of dust enveloped the gray-robed elder's Golden Core.
At the same time, a cold sneer came from Li Yan in front.
"Fall, fall, fall!"
The moment the gray-robed elder was enveloped in a cloud of dust, he had already sensed that something was wrong. But before he could think of escaping, the dust had already adhered to the surface of his Golden Core. The gray-robed elder felt his consciousness suddenly sink, and then the magical power in his Golden Core rapidly disappeared. Although he realized that something was wrong, after losing his physical body, he could no longer use external objects, such as biting his tongue, to wake himself up with a strong stimulus. It was already impossible.
So in the next moment, his Golden Core fell to the ground with a "thud." His consciousness also quickly blurred in extreme anger and unwillingness. And all of this, in the eyes of Zhao Min and the green-robed guest's Golden Core outside, was a different scene entirely. Especially the green-robed guest. If there was still blood in his Golden Core, he would surely have spat out a mouthful of old blood.
From the moment Li Yan had forced out the gray-robed elder with a punch, when Li Yan had turned around and circled back, an invisible mist had formed between him and the gray-robed elder's Golden Core. So when the gray-robed elder had sternly shouted for Li Yan to release his junior brother and junior sister, the green-robed guest's Golden Core had only managed to say one sentence before he was suddenly unable to speak again. At that time, Li Yan was stroking his chin as if pondering the gray-robed elder's words. Zhao Min's mind, however, had received his voice transmission.
"Don't let the Golden Core in your hand make a sound!"
Li Yan had instructed, and then the green-robed guest could no longer speak. Then, he saw that after his senior brother had requested his and his junior sister's release, this female cultivator who was imprisoning him had not moved at all, but just stood there quietly. The male cultivator in front, however, had quietly sent a yellow pill flying from his hand, which flew towards his senior brother along with the Spirit-Storing Pouch on the ground.
His own Golden Core was clearly still in the other party's hand, yet his senior brother had ignored this and had his virtual hand grab the two items in the air.
"Senior Brother, stop! Senior Brother, that's a trap!" The green-robed guest's Golden Core emitted streaks of light, wanting to desperately break free from his imprisonment, but he was firmly wrapped in a ball of blue light in Zhao Min's palm and couldn't make a sound. Although he couldn't understand what this male cultivator's method was, he knew it must be a trap.
Amidst the green-robed guest's anxiety and despair, the gray-robed elder was finally enveloped in the exploding medicinal pill, and then the floating Golden Core fell to the ground. Looking at the Golden Core that had fallen to the ground, the green-robed guest's heart instantly sank to the bottom.
Zhao Min also pursed her lips. She already knew Li Yan's method.
'Illusion Poison!'
The second wave of the battle between the two sides ended here. A total of two and a half breaths had passed so far. Three Golden Core cultivators had all been captured in about ten breaths, and all that was left of them was a single Golden Core each. The actual fighting time between the two sides was only about three breaths. If an outsider had seen this outcome, they would have been astonished beyond measure.
"Done!"
Then, Li Yan pointed at the dim Golden Core on the ground not far away. With a "puff," the Golden Core immediately turned into a pile of dust. The gray-robed elder was instantly dead beyond dead. Li Yan was not a demon or a devil cultivator. He would not use the other party's Golden Core to refine medicinal pills, nor did he want to perform a Soul-Search. The other party's previous actions had already explained everything. And he felt that among these three, the gray-robed elder was the most dangerous. Li Yan did not want to give the other party any chance to turn the tables.
The moment Li Yan spoke, a blue light also flashed in Zhao Min's hand. The green-robed guest, likewise, did not even have time to cry for help before he too turned into a wisp of green smoke and shot out from between Zhao Min's fingers. Although Zhao Min's heart was sometimes soft, that was only for her family. At any other time, killing someone would not even make her blink an eye. Otherwise, she definitely would not have been able to walk out of the "Sacred Demon Palace" secret realm alive back then.
Li Yan then immediately rolled up the Spirit-Storing Pouch that had fallen along with the gray-robed elder's Golden Core and took it into his hand. His Divine Sense easily shattered the Divine Sense imprint that the green-robed guest had left on the mouth of the pouch. A few specks of starlight immediately scattered and drifted from the outside of the pouch's mouth. Li Yan's Divine Sense probed in, and then a cracked Golden Core appeared. Li Yan just glanced at it, and with a blank expression, he pointed again. The poor beautiful young girl was still in a coma and likewise entered the underworld.
Next, Li Yan immediately rolled up the ten or so storage and spirit-storing pouches and two magical treasures on the ground. He said to Zhao Min, "Let's see how to break this formation first!"
In front of Zhao Min, Li Yan did not take out the "Heaven-Stealing Kerchief." He felt that they should be able to break this unmanned formation.
An incense stick's time later, with the last magical seal that Zhao Min cast, with three "swish" sounds, three formation flags flew out from under the three corners of the stone chamber. As soon as the formation flags flew up, the surrounding scenery immediately changed. Li Yan and the other person's vision blurred, and they appeared again in the small space of the ruined pagoda. One door, five windows. The dim yellow light from outside the pagoda shone in. Further away was a vast desert. Although the light was still dim and oppressive, it gave Li Yan and Zhao Min a long-lost feeling.
The moment Li Yan and Zhao Min's figures appeared, their Divine Sense immediately swept the surroundings. Then, both Li Yan and the other person breathed a sigh of relief.
"There are no other cultivators or demonic beasts nearby!"
The reason was also very simple. The withered beast bone that was originally in the pagoda had also disappeared long ago. It should have been taken away by the gray-robed elder and his group at the same time Li Yan and the other person were enveloped by the formation. They of course knew the principle of eating one bite at a time. Naturally, they would not leave any traces to attract other cultivators or demonic beasts.
"Let's see what we've got!"
With a wave of Li Yan's hand, one after another storage pouches and spirit-storing pouches appeared in front of him and Zhao Min, a total of thirteen. Zhao Min was also very familiar with this. Then, continuous "bang bang bang..." sounds were heard in the pagoda. That was the sound of the residual Divine Sense imprints on the storage pouches being broken. With the deaths of the gray-robed elder and the other two, it was not difficult to remove these Divine Sense imprints.
Then, Li Yan and Zhao Min were also shocked by the contents inside. The nine storage pouches themselves were of a high rank. Each space was at least a hundred zhang in size. This was only a little smaller than the storage pouch that the "Sacred Demon Palace" had given Zhao Min, but it was definitely a treasure that only the sect masters and elders of first-rate sects could possess. And here, nine of them appeared at once.
More than half of the space in these storage pouches was filled with neatly stacked clothes, demonic beast skins, or bones of the spirit artifact level in different areas. There were also more than three thousand blank or recorded jade slips, and nine magical treasures ranging from low to mid-grade. As well as more than seven hundred thousand low-grade Spirit Stones, more than three hundred mid-grade Spirit Stones, and fifty-one high-grade Spirit Stones of the wood, earth, and fire attributes.
Other things aside, but just the dozens of high-grade Spirit Stones were almost as much as Li Yan and Zhao Min's entire fortune. And in their Divine Sense scan, among those jade slips, there were seven cultivation methods for Golden Core cultivators, and more than forty for Foundation Establishment cultivation. This showed how many cultivators these three had killed to obtain these things. The ranks of these cultivation methods were high and low, and of course, they could not be compared with the cultivation methods that Li Yan and Zhao Min cultivated.
But a concealment aura cultivation method recorded in one of the jade slips still caught Li Yan's attention. If he remembered correctly, this jade slip should have come from the beautiful young girl's storage pouch. The cultivation method was called "Tide Fall!"