On the plain, clouds of spirit qi mist drifted about.
Within one of these clouds, which looked no different from the others, Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense.
'So incredibly cunning. This is the fifth time already. Doesn't it get tired of this?'
Li Yan had watched the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm come and go, testing the waters time and time again. Each time, he thought it would finally be the last.
But the creature, defying expectations, would repeatedly extend its body from the water without ever truly climbing ashore. This demonic beast was not only highly intelligent but also as cunning as a fox.
Li Yan even considered activating the Cloud Net Formation underwater to trap it directly, but that would mean he would have to enter the water to fight it.
That was the last resort that even Wusitu's group of five had saved for the end. After some thought, Li Yan abandoned the idea.
The river in this underground grotto was strange. Even with the protection of a spirit power shield, the cold qi still managed to seep through, and a cultivator's strength would be increasingly affected in the water.
Although the Cloud Net Formation was set up by An Die, activating it was very simple. An Die had long since told the others the activation incantation.
This was to prevent the demonic beast from suddenly retreating into the river during the heat of battle.
At that moment, whoever reacted first could activate the Cloud Net Formation to block the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's escape route.
Having searched Wusitu's soul, Li Yan had naturally obtained the activation method as well.
In order to capture it, Li Yan had spent the last few days pondering various other methods.
To ensure Qian Ji could make the most of the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's physical body, Li Yan couldn't use most of the poisons from his powerful arsenal of poison arts.
Only auxiliary poisons like Illusion Poison could be of some use, and even then, he had to adapt to the circumstances.
So, after much thought, an idea suddenly came to him—a method he had never used before.
That was because it posed a great danger to himself as well.
Time passed. After a good hour, a black, snake-like demonic beast about ten feet long finally crawled onto the riverbank.
But it stopped about a foot from the bank.
It was the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm that Li Yan had been waiting for so long. The demonic beast scanned the area with its Divine Sense one more time before finally settling down.
Then, it opened its mouth wide, and a suction force carrying a bone-piercing chill shot out into the distance. Instantly, the clouds of spirit qi mist on the plain began to roil and surge, rapidly converging towards the riverbank.
The moment some of the spirit qi clouds came into contact with the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's body, they swiftly turned into a layer of frost and fell to the ground.
It was as if the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's body contained a bottomless black hole. The fallen frost flew back towards its body and merged into it.
Its gaping mouth, meanwhile, continuously sucked in one cloud of spirit qi mist after another from all around.
Among these clouds, a small wisp of mist, mixed in with the others, was also rapidly flying towards the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm.
Four breaths later, the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm, which was busy absorbing the spirit qi clouds, suddenly froze.
As it was inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, it had sensed an anomaly. Right beside it, a small wisp of mist had failed to condense into frost. Instead, it remained in its gaseous state and rapidly approached its body.
In this world of ice and frost, it appeared utterly out of place. The wisp of mist approached with extreme speed.
By the time the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm noticed the anomaly, its vision blurred, and its consciousness grew hazy.
Then, the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm was stunned to find that it had arrived in a desert!
This place was no longer dark but filled with a blinding light that made it extremely uncomfortable. At the same time, the surrounding temperature made it feel as if it were about to melt...
Back in the underground grotto, where the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm had been, its figure had completely vanished. In its place stood a calm-faced Zhao Min and Zi Kun.
"Matriarch, Master really doesn't want me to go in and help? Should we confirm again?"
Zi Kun's Divine Sense swept the area. Li Yan's figure was also nowhere to be seen.
Zhao Min, however, clenched a jade-like hand. In that hand rested a small, pale-yellow stone.
Just moments before, while cultivating and recuperating by the river inside the Earthen Patch, a voice transmission from Li Yan had sounded in Zhao Min's mind.
"Senior Sister, in a moment, I will move that demonic beast into this space. Here, my strength can completely suppress it, and it will have no way to escape back into the river. However, if I only enter the space as a Divine Sense projection, I won't be able to use many of my techniques, so I will enter with my main body. At the same time, I will move you and Zi Kun out of the space. You will then be in charge of this small stone that the space has transformed into. You and Zi Kun just need to ensure the stone is safe, and I will be out soon. If you encounter any unexpected situations, have Zi Kun send me a voice transmission. I can sense his messages."
Not long after, Zhao Min and Zi Kun suddenly appeared in the outside world, and an extra object appeared in Zhao Min's hand.
Zi Kun first surveyed the surroundings. Seeing that everything was normal, he then posed the question to Zhao Min.
In truth, he was the only one who could contact Li Yan at this moment, but he still directed his question to Zhao Min. It could be considered a form of banter while they waited.
As a mid-rank demonic beast, he knew how to communicate with people better than Qian Ji did.
'If that mixed-blood were here, he'd probably just send a voice transmission directly to Master, wouldn't that be giving the Matriarch the cold shoulder!'
In the far west of the Earthen Patch, the land was still a vast desert. Li Yan hovered in the air, looking down coldly at the black demonic worm below.
Here, he was heaven, he was a god. Here, he could invoke the power of heaven and earth to weaken his enemies, while his own strength was multiplied several times over.
Bringing an enemy in was also easy. As long as the enemy came within a certain range of the Earthen Patch, and with his permission, he could easily pull them inside.
But this was the first time Li Yan had used this method to deal with an enemy.
Previously, he had no need to go to such lengths against cultivators weaker than him. As for those who were too strong, doing so would undoubtedly expose his ultimate trump card.
Furthermore, he had no confidence that after bringing in a cultivator at the Nascent Soul stage or above, the spatial laws here would be effective to any degree; he could not yet comprehend the means of high-level cultivators.
At that stage, his main body would also have to enter, leaving the Earthen Patch outside in a precarious position, just like when it was discovered by Dao Yu.
But today's situation was quite suitable.
He had to capture this Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm in one fell swoop and prevent it from escaping back into the river.
"A small pocket dimension. You've really gone to great lengths!"
A sharp voice suddenly came from below. The Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm had also spotted the figure that had appeared in the sky. As a third-rank demonic beast, its intelligence was no less than Li Yan's.
A single glance around was enough for it to understand its opponent's intention. To deal with it, its opponent had actually used a spatial-type magical treasure. What a grand move.
The Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm knew that if it wanted to get out, its only option was to kill its opponent. Only then might it be able to forcibly open the Divine Sense imprint.
"Since you know my intentions, are you still going to resist? Here, I call the shots."
As Li Yan spoke, a dazzling pillar of fire shot down from the sky. He had no intention of wasting words with it.
A thick icy mist instantly erupted from the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's body. In an instant, with it at the center, the grains of sand on the ground turned into tiny pellets of ice. The temperature in the desert plummeted to an extreme low in a heartbeat. It whipped its tail, lashing out at the dazzling pillar of fire.
"It truly is an extreme-cold demonic beast. To think it can cause an imbalance in the Power of the Five Elements here. But in the end, you are water without a source. Every bit of the icy power in your body you use is a bit less!"
Sensing the surrounding temperature suddenly drop to a level colder than the harshest winter, Li Yan's eyes narrowed.
'It seems the demonic core and that air sac Wusitu and his group wanted are absolutely exceptional treasures.'
But he had no intention of letting it consume its innate cold energy like this.
With a thought, the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm below, which was in the middle of lashing out with its tail, suddenly felt its connection to the water-attribute power of heaven and earth sever.
In the moment it was stunned, the pillar of fire struck it squarely. It couldn't help but let out a piercing shriek...
Thirty breaths later, Li Yan's figure suddenly appeared beside Zhao Min, and the pale-yellow stone in her hand vanished without a trace.
"Master, what about that demonic beast?" Zi Kun asked anxiously the moment he saw Li Yan appear.
"Killed it. I gave the entire corpse to Qian Ji. According to Qian Ji, that demonic core alone is no less valuable than a Howling Cold Stone. And that air sac is even better. It contains the most pristine cold essence, similar to the most refined demonic origin power in a demon clan's demonic core. As long as Qian Ji can refine that third-rank demonic core, it will likely face its Golden Core Tribulation. Then, with the help of the air sac containing the cold essence, it might be able to break through to the third rank. However, Qian Ji is only at the second rank, so refining a third-rank demonic core is extremely dangerous for it. Zi Kun, go in now. Qian Ji is waiting for you to guard it. It cannot rashly refine a mid-rank demonic core that is a full great realm above its own."
Li Yan spoke quickly. He hadn't expected that within the Earthen Patch, without using any of his own arts and relying solely on the power of the realm's rules, he could kill the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm in just two breaths.
This was completely unexpected. This Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm was a peak late-stage third-rank powerhouse.
If they were in the outside world, and Li Yan fought it alone, given the worm's special control over ice-attribute arts, it would likely have taken a great deal of effort to kill it.
A single moment of carelessness, and it could have escaped back into the river, requiring the aid of the Cloud Net Formation.
The smooth progress just now had far exceeded Li Yan's expectations. After cutting it off from the water-attribute power of heaven and earth, the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm had been thoroughly suppressed.
It couldn't even use one-tenth of its innate divine abilities.
The time Li Yan spent afterward was all in communication with Qian Ji, who was now overcome with excitement.
If it weren't for the sliver of rationality it still maintained, knowing that it couldn't rashly touch even a dead Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm, it probably would have wanted to start refining it immediately.
"Truly a fine place for murder and robbery!" Zhao Min remarked unhurriedly.
"Hehehe, one can only try when one is certain of success. Otherwise, if you really lure a supreme expert inside, you'd probably lose your last trump card. It's best to use this thing sparingly!"
Li Yan gave a wry smile.
Zi Kun, on the other hand, was quite dejected. It had been agreed that he would join the fight, but Li Yan's plan had changed on a whim. In the end, he had only stood outside for a while before it was all over.
"Then Senior Sister, you should also go back and continue your recovery. I still need to search for the Howling Cold Stone. If I find it, Qian Ji's chances of advancing will be even greater."
Li Yan looked around and immediately made a decision.
He had originally planned for Zi Kun to search for the Howling Cold Stone with him, as two people would be faster. But now, Qian Ji's refining of the Black Cloud Frost Condensation Worm's core was clearly more important.