Zhao Min had no objections.
"Junior Brother, be careful. The moment you notice anything amiss, transfer me and Zi Kun out immediately!"
After the recent unexpected events, Zhao Min felt it was better to be more cautious and prudent.
Eighteen days later, Li Yan stood on the edge of a broken cliff.
Below his feet, a river like a bolt of white silk cascaded down. This was the end of the river; the water plunged from here into a deep pool at the bottom of the cliff.
Over the past days, Li Yan had traveled downstream alone. Although he encountered some cultivators and demonic beasts along the way, he paid extra attention to concealing his tracks.
He had been using the Stealthy Night Art almost constantly, searching for the Howling Cold Stone while in stealth.
Although this consumed magical power at a much faster rate, it prevented a lot of unnecessary trouble.
Coupled with his powerful Divine Sense, he was always able to detect others in advance and avoid them with relative ease.
Li Yan gazed at the river below his feet and, after a long while, let out a soft sigh. Treasures were not so easily found.
A clue was, after all, just a clue. Even though he had entered several sections of the river where the Howling Cold Stone was likely to appear, he had come up empty-handed in the end.
'If not for the unexpected acquisition of the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's body, I would have been quite disappointed with this trip. But one shouldn't be too greedy. The utility of that demonic beast is no less than that of the Howling Cold Stone; it's already a tremendous immortal fortune. Nearly twenty days have passed. With the nourishment of the medicinal pills, Senior Sister's injuries should be mostly recovered in another three or four days. That will be the time to head back.'
Thinking this, Li Yan's gaze shifted to the area below the cliff.
Beside that pool of water stood a broken statue. From his angle, he could only see part of its body.
That was the only remaining item left by the Hellsoul Clan, as mentioned by Su Hong.
This broken statue happened to be at the downstream end of the river. This was something Li Yan and Zhao Min had planned long ago; they would search their way downstream and end up right here.
This itinerary would not waste any time on the return journey.
Li Yan planned to investigate here carefully for a day or two. If he found no clues, he would set off on his return.
By then, Zhao Min would likely be able to come out and travel with him before they even left the secret grotto.
By now, with Shuang Qingqing's promise, Li Yan was no longer so anxious about news regarding the Desolate Moon Continent.
But having spent so many Spirit Stones to come here, he couldn't just go back empty-handed.
The underground grotto was only lit by a dim, grey light. If a person stayed here for too long, all sorts of negative emotions would fester and grow.
The pool of water below looked to be only about a hundred feet across.
Water from the cliff flowed down and poured in day after day, yet the surface of the pool never overflowed the edges of the black stone, which had been polished smooth as a mirror.
Li Yan guessed that the bottom of the pool was likely extremely deep, with another outlet leading elsewhere.
The overall space at the bottom of the cliff was not very large; the pool took up almost the entire area. Enveloped in the damp, cold water vapor, the place seemed even more dark and gloomy.
The statue stood flush against a mountain wall, with a protruding boulder jutting out over its head.
If one were to look down from above, they could at most see the parts of the statue below the thighs.
Down by the cliff, even the faint, hazy light had vanished, plunging the surroundings into pitch-black darkness. In the darkness, only the continuous, melodic sound of the falling water, like a string of pearls, could be heard.
Being in such a place, a sense of helpless claustrophobia and oppression would constantly rise in one's heart. A timid person would feel an inexplicable fear well up in their heart in an instant.
With a blank expression, Li Yan flew down and stood before the statue a moment later.
He focused his eyes and observed it carefully. A good deal of green moss had grown on the statue's surface. Its entire body was a dark cyan color, its original color long lost. Judging from its attire, the statue was likely wearing a suit of armor, but it wore no helmet. It depicted a burly man who appeared to be in his forties or fifties.
Over the long years, the statue had basically merged with its surroundings, looking more like a large rock jutting out from the cliff face.
Although the statue was broken, because its feet were right at the edge of the pool, the splashing water and surrounding moisture kept it from looking too old.
It just gave one a sense of the vast changes of time, of having stood there for an unknown eternity.
The statue was only about a head taller than Li Yan. Its posture was very peculiar. Its eyes were fixed on a point diagonally upwards.
Its body was slightly arched back, one hand forming an empty fist, half-bent and half-extended in front of its head. It gave the impression that it was trying to "aim" at the top of the cliff through the hollow space formed by its fist.
There were many pits and dents on the statue's body, as if left by heavy blows.
Only one of the statue's eyes remained, the one aimed through the empty fist towards the top of the cliff. The other eye was just a deep hole, as if it had been gouged out.
The statue was also missing an arm and a leg. Li Yan could only see a single large foot under the armored skirt, its knee slightly bent as it stood on the smooth black stone.
'This is the attire of a mortal military general. If the statue wasn't intentionally exaggerated when it was built, this person must have been a fierce general in the army. But the style of this armor is far too common. Many mortal imperial dynasties on the Desolate Moon Continent have this style of armor.'
Li Yan observed carefully. The statue exuded an imposing aura of commanding presence, an aura Li Yan was familiar with—Marshal Hong had given him the same feeling.
But what made Li Yan uncertain was that he couldn't determine the statue's origin from the style of its armor, whether it came from the Desolate Moon Continent or not.
He even remembered some of the Black Demon Clan wearing similar armor. It could only mean that this style of armor was too common.
A mysterious dark light flickered on Li Yan's hand, and he gently placed his palm on the statue. The material of the statue was slightly cool, but still considerably warmer than the surrounding temperature.
This caused a faint mist to rise from the statue's surface, but the mist quickly merged with the falling water spray, making it unnoticeable unless one looked closely.
Li Yan gently released a pulse of spirit power from his palm. The entire statue was completely unresponsive, not even trembling in the slightest.
Li Yan couldn't help but let out a soft "eh." Although he hadn't used much spirit power, it was enough to kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator in an instant.
Su Hong had once said this statue was very strange and its material was extremely hard. Trying it himself, he found it to be true.
Li Yan increased the output of his spirit power. It wasn't until his magical power reached sixty percent of its full strength that the broken statue finally emitted a faint humming sound.
Li Yan immediately withdrew his magical power. Now, when he looked at the pits and dents on the statue, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Especially the missing arm and leg—they had been forcibly torn off.
Li Yan estimated that he could probably leave dents on the statue, but as for breaking off an arm or a leg, he might not be able to do it even with the addition of his physical strength.
'This material is truly peculiar. Unfortunately, even if it were integrated into a magical treasure, it wouldn't raise the treasure's rank, nor can it conduct spirit power. At most, it could be given to a Foundation Establishment cultivator to use for smashing people.'
Recalling Su Hong's description of the statue, Li Yan felt a pang of regret, but he quickly let it go.
If this material were truly that useful, he would never have had the chance to see it now.
Afterward, Li Yan began to scan the broken statue inch by inch with his Divine Sense. After a long while, he slowly withdrew it.
'Besides its strange material, there's no way this thing could be related to the Desolate Moon Continent. Its interior is solid material, identical from the inside out. There's nothing particularly unusual about it.'
Li Yan inspected it carefully for a long time but couldn't find anything else strange about the statue.
Li Yan was very confident in his Divine Sense and didn't think he could have missed anything with such a thorough examination.
Just now, he had even inspected the cavity of the missing eye and the dents on its body, one by one.
However, Li Yan wasn't disappointed by this.
This statue had stood here for a long, long time. It would be strange if anything could still be easily discovered at this point.
Li Yan began to look around, feeling he shouldn't focus all his attention on the statue, as most people before him had likely done.
The water below lapped gently at the edge of the pool. Looking up from here, it was like being at the bottom of a well. Li Yan felt as if he were viewing the sky from the bottom of a well.
The surrounding cliff walls were dark and damp. Li Yan began to circle the pool at an extremely slow pace.
It took Li Yan a full two hours to walk one circle around the thirty-odd-zhang space, and still, he found nothing.
The next moment, with a flicker of black light, he stepped into the pool. Instantly, his entire body was submerged beneath the water.
In his Divine Sense, the surrounding water was very clear, but because there was no light in the water, his field of vision was a stretch of endless darkness.
Even with his spirit power shield, the cold qi in the water still seeped in at an extremely slow pace.
This had happened time and time again when he entered the river to search for the Howling Cold Stone, so Li Yan wasn't too worried.
He continued to sink. After descending about four hundred zhang, his feet hit solid ground with a jolt.
The pool wasn't as deep as he had expected, which surprised him. From top to bottom, the pool's width remained at about thirty-odd zhang, with no sign of widening at the bottom.
It was like a straight cylinder. At the bottom of the pool, Li Yan did indeed see water flowing out through some cracks in the cliff wall on one side.
Li Yan extended his Divine Sense along the several cracks.
After a long while, Li Yan could only see that the cracks spread out in all directions through the mountain, then continued to disperse and flow towards different directions, eventually heading deeper underground.
'As expected, nothing.'
Li Yan didn't linger any longer. He quickly ascended and soon stood by the side of the pool again, once more in front of the statue.
This time, he examined the statue from top to bottom with his naked eye, not using his Divine Sense. He wanted to perceive it with a different sense.
The only truly peculiar thing here was the statue itself. The pool, the river, and the surrounding cliff walls had revealed nothing worthy of his attention.
Just like that, Li Yan stood before the statue for the time it takes for half an incense stick to burn. At a certain moment, a thought stirred in his heart. He immediately moved to the side of the statue.
He then stuck his head out in front of the statue's head, blocking its line of sight. At the same time, he adopted the same posture as the statue, looking forward.
The most peculiar thing about this statue was its posture. Its remaining hand was clenched in an empty fist, like a mortal soldier's "Thousand-Li Scope."
And when Li Yan placed his head in front of the statue's, he squinted his other eye. The line of sight from his open eye passed through the center of that empty fist.
His gaze finally landed on a spot beneath the cliff above, where a section of the constantly falling water flowed.
Li Yan's eyes narrowed, and his Divine Sense immediately swept towards the area behind that stream of water.
However, just a moment later, Li Yan helplessly withdrew his Divine Sense.
Because behind that stream of water, there was no "Water Curtain Cave" as he had guessed, nor was there anything else peculiar. Behind the water was just a normal cliff face.
Li Yan's Divine Sense had even penetrated deep into the mountain, yet he still found nothing unusual.