The yellow sand below was affected by the power of the yellow light attached to the black qi wall. In an instant, the area of the explosion was filled with sand and dust, as if a pair of giant hands had stirred up the heavens and the earth. When the sand and dust quickly dissipated, a bottomless giant pit had appeared underground. As soon as the giant pit appeared, the surrounding fine sand, like sea sharks that had smelled blood, quickly poured into the hourglass-like black hole from all directions. This caused the sand dunes within a radius of more than ten li to roll like flowing water, emitting a dull "rumble," the earth constantly trembling with great momentum.
In mid-air, Li Yan looked at Zhao Min, whose body was glowing with a great blue light, and was about to help her suppress that Gu-insect king. Although he didn't know how to use Gu-insect techniques, suppressing that Gu-insect's resistance would definitely help Zhao Min. He first released his Divine Sense and scanned the surroundings. Within a thousand li, three cultivators and several demonic beasts of varying ranks appeared. The three cultivators and two Third-rank demonic beasts also sensed the strong fluctuation just now, and their Divine Sense probed over.
"Scram!"
Li Yan's voice was like a rolling giant thunder. The Late-stage Golden Core aura around his body was now released without reservation, pouring out.
Among the three cultivators, two formed a small team, and there was also one person walking alone between heaven and earth. When they heard Li Yan's shout, one of the two-person team immediately transmitted his voice back.
"Your Excellency is quite impressive!".
But their Divine Sense had also clearly seen the situation here. Seeing that the other party was three Golden Core masters fighting fiercely with a group of Crossbow Worms, they had already decided to retreat. They didn't want to get involved with these Crossbow Worms. This was not a fight for some treasure. Subsequently, with a cold snort from that person, the two Golden Core cultivators first withdrew their Divine Sense and disappeared over the horizon. The other Golden Core cultivator retreated even faster. He was alone. Seeing that the other party had three Golden Core cultivators, and the pressure they emitted was at least at the Mid-stage Golden Core, how could he dare to speak? He directly fled far away.
Then, after a few roars from the two Third-rank demonic beasts, they also did not come over and slowly retreated into their lairs.
Only then did Li Yan withdraw the pressure from his body. Just at this moment, Zhao Min suddenly flashed from Li Yan's side, dodged the attack from below, and in the next moment, appeared more than ten li away. There were still beads of sweat on her face, and she was standing above the Crossbow Worm King.
At this time, yellow liquid flowed from the Crossbow Worm King's mouth and eyes, its aura was constantly weakening, and the fierce glint in its eyes was also rapidly receding.
Zhao Min patted her waist, and an earth-yellow talisman appeared in her jade-like palm. The jade-like palm holding the talisman struck out fiercely in the next moment. Her arm seemed to extend infinitely, leaving a phantom image, and the talisman instantly imprinted itself on the Crossbow Worm King's eyes.
"Puff!"
The moment the talisman came into contact with the Crossbow Worm King's body, it immediately turned into a red smoke and directly seeped in through its eyes. Then, the Crossbow Worm King's body suddenly shot up, and after a struggle, it immediately fell softly to the ground again.
Zhao Min's Divine Sense then swept over and unceremoniously drilled into the other party's Sea of Consciousness. The moment this Divine Sense entered the Crossbow Worm King's Sea of Consciousness, it saw a talisman floating above it. This talisman was already entangled with blood-red thin lines. After seeing this, Zhao Min's Divine Sense did not pause at all. It turned into an imprint and imprinted itself on the talisman.
With a slight tremble, the talisman immediately disintegrated. The blood-red thin lines on the surface of the talisman were quickly pulled apart by the scattered light spots. Zhao Min's Divine Sense imprint was also stretched as if it had been pulled, and it flew with these blood-red thin lines to all corners of the Crossbow Worm King's Sea of Consciousness.
Six breaths later, those blood-red thin lines had completely disappeared.
Zhao Min, outside, only let out a long sigh of relief at this time. In just these ten-odd breaths, she felt as if she had gone through a great battle, and a look of fatigue appeared in her eyes. This Crossbow Worm King was not considered truly refined yet. In the future, she would still need to spend an hour every day to slowly communicate with those blood-red lines with her Divine Sense to nourish it. This process had to continue for eight days to be considered complete.
The next moment, Zhao Min's mind moved. The Crossbow Worm King, which had already become somewhat sluggish, suddenly had its eyes become clear. A breath later, it leaped from the ground and immediately pounced towards Zhao Min.
Zhao Min did not dodge, letting the Crossbow Worm King pounce. The moment the Crossbow Worm King got close to Zhao Min, it turned in mid-air and landed on Zhao Min's shoulder. With the urging of Zhao Min's mind, a hint of hesitation appeared on its expression. Then, the Crossbow Worm King's Divine Sense was finally released. This was the consequence of not being fully refined. Zhao Min could only forcibly control it at present. In the Crossbow Worm King's subconscious, there would still be a struggle.
As the Crossbow Worm King's Divine Sense spread out, the Crossbow Worms in the distance immediately stopped their frantic attacks. And what surprised Li Yan and Zi Kun in the distance even more was that the Crossbow Worms that had stopped attacking actually opened their great mouths again in the next moment.
Just when Li Yan and the other person thought that something had gone wrong with Zhao Min's refinement and these Crossbow Worms were not under the Crossbow Worm King's command, they saw the large patch of yellow light attached to the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation's" invisible barrier fly up, one after another, like long strands of silk being peeled off. Then, they were all absorbed back by those Crossbow Worms.
"It can even do that?"
Li Yan was really a little surprised. This situation was not recorded in the jade slip Su Hong had given him. Li Yan had seen many different races, but he had never seen magical power that had been shot out being able to be retracted back into the body. Similarly, he also got the answer from Zi Kun's astonished gaze. Apparently, even as an ancient ferocious beast, Zi Kun had never seen a demonic beast like the Crossbow Worm in his memory.
'If I could cultivate such a technique, wouldn't the consumption of magical power be greatly reduced?'
Li Yan thought to himself. But he also knew that this must be very difficult, and very, very difficult. Otherwise, with the understanding that the cultivators of the Verdant Continent had of Crossbow Worms, they would have naturally studied it long ago. At least, he had not heard of such a cultivation method appearing.
As these Crossbow Worms stopped their attacks, the golden-yellow world in front of them became clear again. Without needing Li Yan's instructions, Zi Kun waved his hand, and the rotating purple small flag above his head was already taken back by him.
"Alright, you still need to hide for the time being. This place is very dangerous. You and Qian Ji still need to be a trump card."
Zi Kun glanced at Li Yan. He knew that Li Yan had always been like this. Although he didn't know where this place was, he still nodded. The reason he had glanced at Li Yan was because he was surprised by the aura Li Yan had just erupted with.
'How did he advance again? This is the Golden Core stage, not Qi Condensation or Foundation Establishment cultivation. This… this is too absurd! He entered the Mid-stage Golden Core when I had just woken up. It's only been a few months, how did he improve again? Is advancing realms really as simple as eating and drinking for him? It seems I need to cultivate even harder to catch up.'
Of course, Zi Kun had also noticed that Zhao Min's cultivation had also improved. But that matriarch had felt like she had reached the peak of the Mid-stage Golden Core when he had met her before. So, he wouldn't be too surprised even if she broke through the bottleneck the next day.
As soon as Zi Kun left, Zhao Min's figure also returned to Li Yan's side.
Zhao Min flipped her jade-like hand, and the Spirit-Storing Pouch that Meng Zhiyuan had given her appeared. Then, she collected all the thousands of Crossbow Worms in front of her into it. Then, the Crossbow Worm King also disappeared from her shoulder.
Zhao Min then gently patted the Spirit-Storing Pouch, and a satisfied expression appeared in her eyes. If it weren't for this Spirit-Storing Pouch, she could only have taken some Second-rank Crossbow Worms. The space in the other few Spirit-Storing Pouches she had on her did not add up to the space in this one. What's more, those few Spirit-Storing Pouches were almost full of different types of Gu-insects.
"Is this demonic beast also a Gu-insect?"
Only at this time did Li Yan have a chance to ask.
"I wasn't sure just now. After repeatedly probing with my Divine Sense, I felt that their life-souls were very similar to Gu-insects, so I gave it a try. Fortunately, the Crossbow Worm King we encountered was only a Second-rank demonic beast. Otherwise, we could only have forcibly taken away a few weaker Crossbow Worms and then tried again later. The harvest would have been greatly reduced!"
A smile appeared on Zhao Min's face. She was very interested in the special attack ability of the Crossbow Worms, especially the talent of retracting magical power at the end. This was an unexpected joy. This thing, if used well, could even pose a great threat to Golden Core cultivators.
"That's good. We should also leave this place quickly. Although it was a short time just now, we have already been noticed."
Li Yan glanced at the dilapidated houses below. This place seemed to have been the residence of a military general. Because he saw a broken plaque above the dilapidated main gate in front, with the words "...General's Manor" on it. It should have originally been carved with the words "So-and-so General's Manor." Secondly, behind these dilapidated houses, there was a very wide open space, with some weapon racks scattered around, and a faint Spiritual Energy still emanating from them. That open space looked more like a training ground, not at all like the Cave Residence a celestial cultivator should have.
Zhao Min naturally had no objection to Li Yan's words. She had also sensed the Divine Sense of a cultivator sweeping over just now, but it was immediately deterred by Li Yan.
An hour later, the flying Li Yan said to Zhao Min.
"I'm starting to think that what Su Hong said makes some sense. The places we've passed are either building clusters like a general's manor, or some mountain stronghold-like places with a 'Hall of Righteous Assembly,' and even temples… it's a mess. It really looks like a place where the Immortal-Seeking Lineage lived. It's full of a rustic and greenwood flavor. The martial artists among them back then might have been greenwood heroes, and also powerful and fierce generals from the army. This is completely different from orthodox cultivation sects and families. But unfortunately, all the classics and jade slips here are gone. Otherwise, we could have used them to deduce a lot of things."
Li Yan said with some regret. If this place could still be well-preserved, he would really hope to find more useful information, including clues about the Desolate Moon Continent. Unfortunately, times had changed, and everything useful and useless had already been looted.
However, even so, it still ignited a glimmer of hope in Li Yan and Zhao Min's hearts. In such a strange place, it was really possible to find the "Howling Cold Stone" again. The cultivators here were clearly from a mixed bag of backgrounds, and their life experiences were richer and more exciting. Although the "Immortal-Seeking Lineage" could not fly before becoming immortals, the places they had been to were definitely no less than a cultivator who had been out training.
At this time, Li Yan and Zhao Min's auras were once again restrained, concealing themselves again. The first layer of the underground secret grotto was an endless dusk. As far as the eye could see were constantly appearing dilapidated ruins and yellow sand everywhere. After staying here for a long time, the endless aura of twilight and old age gave rise to a sense of decadence in one's heart.
Just as Li Yan and Zhao Min were communicating via voice transmission, he suddenly let out a soft "eh," then turned his head to look in a certain direction. A dilapidated ancient pagoda appeared in his Divine Sense.
It was unknown how many floors the ancient pagoda originally had. The upper half had already disappeared. The dilapidated roof of the pagoda was covered with wild grass growing towards the sky. Only three floors were exposed above the yellow sand.
"There's a fluctuation of Spiritual Energy there!"
Zhao Min also noticed a trace of Spiritual Energy fluctuation in the pagoda. This was originally nothing. Although this place was a desert, there were many things that contained Spiritual Energy, such as the scattered weapon racks before. But that trace of Spiritual Energy in the pagoda was somewhat contrary to the direction of the Spiritual Energy flowing in the surrounding void. It was extremely subtle, and one might overlook it with a little carelessness. This made it seem a little different!