The moment the two whip-like hat-wings struck the giant shears, Yan San, who was forming hand seals and casting the spell from a distance, felt a heavy blow to his chest. He was sent flying backward by two successive massive forces. The magical power he was using to control the purple pearl also faltered for a moment, and the purple light surrounding him dimmed.
"Swish, swish, swish..."
Several long gashes instantly appeared on Yan San's spirit power shield. His black robes were torn, revealing several long, bleeding wounds that seeped crimson blood. Fortunately, in the next moment, his magical power began to circulate again. The purple pearl above his head flared with intense light once more, blocking the extreme cold wind from the surroundings!
On the other side, the Great Elder had also flicked his fingers behind him, sending a jet of finger-qi colliding with the invisible sound wave.
"Dong!"
The Great Elder's descending body shook violently, and the light from his Oiled Umbrella also dimmed for an instant. Alarmed, he unleashed a burst of yellow light from the palm holding the umbrella, instantly stabilizing the light screen.
"None of you will escape today. You will all be buried here," the twin-headed man in the blood-dripping Number One Scholar's Red Robe boomed. The sound was produced by both heads speaking in unison.
"He has a great advantage here!" the Great Elder immediately sent a voice transmission to Yan San.
Just one blow from the opponent had forced one of them back injured and the other to retreat. One reason was that both Yan San and the Great Elder had to divert a small portion of their magical power to maintain their defenses. Otherwise, the extremely frigid yin wind would have instantly invaded their internal organs or even torn them to shreds.
"He's near his main body. He must be borrowing its power. Otherwise, with his Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivation, why would he not need to defend against the yin wind here? And the power of his attacks is astonishingly great. Old ghost, even you couldn't block it easily." Yan San's face was grim as he transmitted his thoughts to both the Great Elder and Li Yan.
They both felt that something was very wrong with the twin-headed man. The Great Elder had cultivated his body refining art to such a high level, yet he was still shaken to the point where his strength almost dissipated. A few years ago, the opponent was still at the Mid-stage Nascent Soul. How could he compare to two veteran Late-stage Great Cultivators? Yet, he had gained the upper hand in a single blow.
"I can't stop him alone. The three of us must join forces to kill him first, then proceed with the plan!" Yan San quickly transmitted. Facing a peer of the same realm who didn't need to divert power to defend against the cold and could borrow strength from his main body, he was no longer able to hold him off alone. He felt no shame in admitting this. In the past, if he was outmatched, he would have simply fled, and the opponent would have had a hard time stopping him. But the current situation demanded that he not let this being interfere with their plan.
"Fellow Daoist Li, the three of us have to attack together!" the Great Elder swiftly transmitted to Li Yan. He meant the same thing. Otherwise, with this twin-headed man around, they wouldn't be able to get away and would be trapped here in a duel.
"You two hold him off. I'll go down myself." Li Yan's voice transmission reached them at the same time, but he proposed a different idea.
"You'll go down alone? This is just the edge of the wind's eye!" Yan San's astonished voice came through. The whole point of protecting Li Yan from the frigid yin wind was to conserve his strength. But now Li Yan wanted to go down alone, which would prematurely consume the power of his magical treasures and his own magical power.
"I'm going down!" Li Yan gave them no time to argue. Their voice transmissions were swift, lasting less than a breath in total.
Meanwhile, the twin-headed man saw that he had forced the Great Elder to stop his descent. His two heads tilted back and let out a sharp screech. The aura around his body surged once more, becoming even more tumultuous.
As he sent the voice transmission, the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" had already appeared beneath Li Yan's feet. Simultaneously, his hands moved rapidly through seals, and a layer of green light appeared around the "Cloud-Piercing Willow"—it was the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation."
Three breaths later, as soon as the formation was complete, Li Yan left the protective screen of the Great Elder's Oiled Umbrella and plummeted downwards alone.
Seeing this, a sharp glint flashed in the eyes of both Yan San and the Great Elder. 'He's still unwilling to reveal his trump card!'
Just as they expected, Li Yan was using the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" for defense. This brought them back to the situation they had initially worried about. Later, Li Yan would need to place this formation outside the seal, which meant he would have to first dismantle his current setup, leaving himself unprotected. And how would he get back up afterward? But it was clear that Li Yan did not want others to know his true trump card, so he brought out this grand formation for defense first.
At the same time, the twin-headed man in the bloody scholar's robe also saw Li Yan break away. An intense sense of unease welled up within him. With a piercing screech, his long flute transformed into a mottled centipede and lunged directly at Li Yan. As the mottled centipede flew, it opened its large mouth and shot a blood-red ice arrow toward him.
"Hmph! Just borrowing external power, and you really think of yourself as a Late-stage Great Cultivator!" A sharp light flashed in the Great Elder's eyes. He was a decisive man. Since Li Yan had already gone down on his own, they could only stabilize the current situation and ensure he had no worries from behind. He didn't know how much power the twin-headed man could borrow from his main body or how long it would take to kill him. Unexpected things could happen at any moment. So, he decided to join forces with Yan San and kill him to eliminate the threat.
Since Li Yan was descending from under the Oiled Umbrella, the blood-red ice arrow had to pass by the Great Elder's side. The Great Elder narrowed his ancient eyes. He released the umbrella's handle, letting it hover above his head. Balancing on one leg, he spun his body violently and swung his other leg out.
"Ding!" With a crisp sound, the blood-red ice arrow struck the Great Elder's calf, as if an arrow had been embedded in his leg. But in the next moment, the blood-red ice arrow shattered into seven or eight blood-red ice crystals. Under the powerful rebound force, they shot back toward the twin-headed man faster than they had come...
Simultaneously, Yan San's figure blurred and vanished from his spot. In the next moment, with a slight ripple in space, a ball of purple light appeared, and he materialized above the twin-headed man. At some point, he was already holding the giant shears. He swooped down and slammed his hands together.
"Kacha!"
A streak of dark light shot out from the clashing blades, scissoring down between the twin-headed man's two heads, as if to slice him vertically in half from top to bottom.
"It's all up to you now!" This was Yan San's still somewhat cold voice transmission reaching Li Yan's mind as he descended rapidly. At this point, they could only trust each other.
"I will do my best!" Li Yan's brief reply echoed in their minds, and then there was silence. They could only sense the green ball of light below, descending at an extreme speed. In a flash, it was beyond the range of their Divine Sense. Here, Divine Sense was severely compressed, especially with the wind's eye below. They could only scan a range of a few dozen zhang.
...
The surroundings were pitch black, with only the chaotic, tearing cold wind creating all sorts of strange whistling sounds, like countless resentful ghosts shrieking at the top of their lungs. It was grating, and after a while, it would induce various illusions.
'The Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation can indeed block the Heaven's Eye Wind, which is even more powerful than astral wind. But the wind direction here is too chaotic, tearing in all directions without any pattern!' Scanning everything outside the hazy green light with his Divine Sense, Li Yan felt not the slightest chill. He wasn't using his own magical power to activate the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation," but had inserted High-grade Spirit Stones. Here, he had to maintain his peak condition as much as possible, and so he had no choice but to use them.
In fact, he could have used the "Heaven's End Stone" he got from First Sir to power the formation, but Li Yan decided to save that item. It might have other uses in the future. High-grade Spirit Stones were sufficient to seal the Fifth-rank Wind Beast. If any replenishment was needed later, the Tianli Clan and the three Wind Beast clans would have to provide it.
Li Yan had long guessed that the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" should be able to block the Heaven's Eye Wind in the wind's eye, but after actually descending, he discovered a major problem. He couldn't descend smoothly. To be precise, the wind direction was chaotic and tearing everywhere. As he descended, Li Yan found himself constantly moving sideways and spinning around.
Seeing this, Li Yan no longer hesitated. The magical power in his body began to circulate rapidly, and the "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water" technique rumbled within him. At the same time, he stomped heavily on the "Cloud-Piercing Willow." His body suddenly seemed to become as immovable as the legendary sea-calming needle. In an instant, the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" was no longer being blown about. Like a heavy falling meteorite, it trailed a line of green light as it plummeted straight down.
Li Yan had now cultivated "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water" to the fourth layer. Combining all the magical power in his Dantian, he could condense fourteen drops of Gui Water, each as heavy as a boundless mountain.
"One hundred zhang, one hundred and fifty zhang... three hundred zhang, three hundred and fifty zhang... four hundred zhang..."
Li Yan was still descending continuously. But when he reached a depth of about four hundred zhang, the wind direction here became chaotic beyond measure. His descending body became unstable again, and he began to drift and sway with the fierce wind. Li Yan's expression was grim. He had pushed the "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water" to its absolute limit. At this moment, the weight of his body was such that if he were in the outside world, a single light step could shatter a mountain peak, its rocks exploding like sharp arrows and turning into fine powder. And his body would be like a red-hot iron rod plunging into millennia-old snow, falling endlessly...
After descending another twenty-odd zhang, Li Yan's figure was sent spinning in the chaotic wind. No matter how he circulated "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water," the most he could do was keep himself from being blown upward. He could not descend another inch. In fact, if his circulation of "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water" slackened even slightly, his body would start spinning in place and be blown upwards again.
'It's no use. This is the limit of the "Nine Cauldrons Gui Water." If I could cultivate it to the fifth layer, I might just be able to reach five hundred zhang.'
Li Yan assessed the situation. The defense of the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" was still holding, but he could no longer descend to the wind's eye. The upward force of the wind was too great.
'Then I can only use that thing!'
Li Yan knew that he could no longer rely on his own strength. Hong Yin was right; only a Spirit Transformation cultivator's strength could reach the wind's eye. Even though Li Yan had refined another drop of "Undead Nether Phoenix" Essence Blood and his strength had reached the level of a Late-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, Spirit Transformation was Spirit Transformation. It was the watershed between a man and a "god." Although it was the lowest level of "divine immortal," it was a fundamental difference. If not for the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation," his body would have been torn to pieces after descending about a hundred zhang.
Li Yan took a deep breath and communicated with a place inside the "Earthen Patch." With the pull of his Divine Sense, an object instantly appeared above his head: a constantly spinning, golden "Gu" Character Talisman. (TN: 固/gù means firm/solid.)
The moment the talisman appeared, it began to spin rapidly, showering down streams of golden light that scattered over Li Yan's body. This was Li Yan's final trump card and his reliance. This talisman was a gift from his Martial Uncle, True Lord Qianchong. It had helped Li Yan, Zhao Min, and the others teleport directly across realms from the Forsaken Continent to the Verdant Continent. Although more than half of its power had been consumed, Li Yan had treasured it and put it away. This was a defensive talisman inscribed by at least a Body Integration stage cultivator. Using it for a cross-realm teleportation was a gross underutilization of its power.
Li Yan had felt then that this talisman would definitely have a great use in the future. After reaching the Nascent Soul realm, he had taken it out and tried it again while traversing a chaotic flow space. He discovered that the astral winds were like mayflies trying to shake a tree against it. It remained completely motionless, no matter which way the wind blew.
At that time, Li Yan, judging with his own Nascent Soul realm strength, knew that the power of the "Gu" Character Talisman was definitely at the Spirit Transformation level or higher. It seemed True Lord Qianchong, to ensure Li Yan's successful teleportation, had intentionally inscribed the "Gu" Character Talisman to a very high grade to guarantee his martial nephew's absolute safety during the process. His actions were to ensure, as much as possible, that Dong Fuyi's efforts were not in vain and that the Gui Water Immortal Sect's legacy would continue.
The moment the golden "Gu" Character Talisman appeared, Li Yan felt the surroundings become perfectly still. He immediately withdrew the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" and the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation." The fierce winds that swept in from all directions dissipated on their own when they were still five zhang away from the "Gu" Character Talisman. Li Yan felt a wave of relief wash over his whole body. He only had to circulate a little magical power, and his entire person, like a heavy stone, plummeted straight down again, with no further resistance.
Soon, he had descended five hundred zhang. But apart from the even more raging wind, this was still an empty void. There was nothing unusual.
"Hmm? Yan San estimated a maximum of five hundred zhang. Why is this still an empty space!"
Li Yan released his Divine Sense, but it dissipated after scanning only a dozen zhang. He looked at the "Gu" Character Talisman above his head. The yellow light was still falling slowly and steadily. Perhaps because it was only protecting him, the consumption over a hundred zhang or so did not seem too great.
Li Yan didn't dare to delay. He immediately flew quickly towards the surroundings. In just five breaths, he was back where he started. He had already determined that the power of the surrounding winds was diminishing; none were as fierce as at his position of descent.
'The spot where I'm descending is the very center of the wind's eye. The location of that Wind Beast can only be deeper!'