Under the cover of the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation," Li Yan moved the "Yin Mountain Beast" at an extremely fast speed. In just a few breaths, he was several thousand zhang away.
Here, Li Yan had to stop, because he had reached the edge of the previously set "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation." Next, he could only dismantle the "Primal Qi Grand Clarity Formation" again, and then use this as a starting point to extend the formation once more. Although in theory, this formation could be extended indefinitely, after exceeding five thousand zhang, every foot of extension would consume a huge amount of spirit stones exponentially, which was also terrifying. Especially at the eye of the wind, Li Yan would rather move a few thousand zhang at a time. And once he reached his destination, he would only shrink the formation to the size of the Wind Beast's body.
...
More than an hour later, when Li Yan flew back to the vicinity of the edge of the "Heaven's Eye Wind," he saw the Great Elder sitting cross-legged under an Oiled Umbrella, seemingly in cultivation. Yan San and the twin-headed man in the scholar's robe were nowhere to be seen. Li Yan stopped when he was still more than two hundred zhang from the edge of the wind's eye. Here, his magic-infused eyes were more useful than his Divine Sense.
Firstly, he didn't know what had happened here to make the Great Elder sit motionless while everyone else was gone. Secondly, after being used in the center of the wind's eye, the remaining power of the "Gu" Character Talisman was negligible. Li Yan was now protecting himself with a spirit power shield, and he had no desire to get close to the edge of the wind's eye.
So, he sent a direct voice transmission. "Great Elder, where is Fellow Daoist Yan?"
The Great Elder, who had been meditating with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them. When he looked around, he quickly spotted Li Yan. A sharp glint immediately erupted from his eyes, and he shot to his feet. "You... you're back?"
Here, his Divine Sense couldn't extend very far, so while meditating, he had only set up restrictions nearby and hadn't noticed Li Yan at the first moment.
Li Yan listened carefully to the Great Elder's words. Apart from surprise, there were no other emotional factors in his voice, which made Li Yan feel a little relieved.
"Yes!"
Then, as the Great Elder asked the question, he had already flown towards him. Although Li Yan didn't move, his guard was even stronger.
"Where is Fellow Daoist Yan?" he asked the approaching Great Elder again, a slight fluctuation of magical power appearing around him.
The rapidly approaching Great Elder also noticed Li Yan's expression. He was stunned for a moment, then stopped in place and patted his head. "Seeing you, Fellow Daoist Li, I was so overjoyed that I forgot to say. Yan San went down to look for you. You hadn't sent any news for so long, so he and I could only try to approach the eye of the wind. But we could only descend to about three hundred zhang before we couldn't go any further. If we went down any more, we might not have been able to come back up. So we discussed it. Although we couldn't descend further, we could take turns waiting for you at the three-hundred-zhang mark. That would increase our chances of assisting you. He's down there now, and I was just recovering my magical power."
The Great Elder quickly explained. His eyes, which had been filled with joy, now showed a hint of confusion. Looking at Li Yan's position, it seemed as if he had come from another direction. Yan San, being below, certainly hadn't run into him.
Hearing this, Li Yan finally understood the situation. "What about the 'Yin Mountain Beast's' clone?"
The Great Elder had an urgent question to ask, but before he could speak, Li Yan pressed again. The Great Elder had to patiently continue his answer. "We killed it together."
"The clone is dead too?" Li Yan looked around, as if searching for some trace. The Great Elder nodded in response. "Before, we were no match for it together. Although it was also at the Late-stage Nascent Soul, it was ridiculously strong. But more than an hour ago, that clone suddenly went berserk, wanting to charge into the wind's eye below. Fellow Daoist Yan and I guessed that you might have started the sealing, so we blocked it with all our might. Just a few breaths later, the aura on that clone rapidly weakened, quickly dropping to the Mid-stage Nascent Soul. We guessed your seal had taken effect, and the clone could no longer borrow power from its main body. After that, it was naturally no match for us. In the end, under a single blow from the two of us, it turned into countless red yin-cold qi and quickly dissipated. By the way, so much time has passed, and you haven't sent any news back. We don't know the result over there. How did it go..."
The Great Elder stopped here and looked at Li Yan.
Li Yan finally understood what had happened here. But it made sense. In just a few years, the twin-headed man in the scholar's robe had suddenly become ridiculously strong. Apart from borrowing the power of his main body, there was no way he could have rapidly advanced from the Mid-stage Nascent Soul to a point where he could suppress two veteran Great Cultivators.
Seeing the Great Elder staring at him, Li Yan smiled slightly and was about to answer. But just then, a purple light shot up from behind the Great Elder, and a voice came out at the same time. "Gong, you old ghost, it's your turn. That place below is no place for a person to be! We don't have many defensive talismans left. If we have to rely on our magical treasures for defense later, we won't be able to stay at the three-hundred-zhang mark. Fellow Daoist Li, just what..."
As Yan San's voice came out, a "Wind Goose Beast" surrounded by a purple pearl shot up. Then, he spotted the two people not far away, and the rest of his words got stuck in his throat. The next moment, his figure flickered, and he transformed into a black-robed elder, instantly appearing in front of Li Yan. "Fellow Daoist Li? Where did you come from?"
"From below, of course. That Fifth-rank 'Yin Mountain Beast' has been sealed..." Li Yan smiled at the two and began to recount what had happened... a few dozen breaths later, the Great Elder's face was flushed. "Fellow Daoist Li is saying, you also moved it far away from the wind's eye?"
Yan San also had a look of disbelief on his face. Not only had Li Yan really sealed the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast," but he had also explained why he hadn't come up from the wind's eye.
"The wind's eye helps it recover and is not conducive for our future investigations. Let's go take a look now!" As Li Yan spoke, he had already drifted off in one direction...
A short while later, looking at the empty black space before them, both the Great Elder and Yan San were silent. Li Yan waved his large sleeve, and suddenly, a hazy layer of green light appeared in front of them, like a giant's slightly opened eye in the dark night. Then, under this layer of green light, a lizard-like Wind Beast, a hundred zhang in size and blood-red all over, stood in a strange, head-raised posture, completely motionless.
"This is that Fifth-rank 'Yin Mountain Beast'?" the Great Elder asked as he observed.
"That's right! We can enter the formation, but its body is still under Fellow Daoist Hong Yin's seal. After getting close, we won't be able to get any closer!" As Li Yan spoke, he pointed a single finger, and a ray of light struck the green light below. The green light immediately disappeared, and he stepped out, descending first.
At this moment, the golden light on the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast's" body had already vanished. This had happened while Li Yan was using the Dharma Manifestations to move it. At that time, the golden light had been continuously disappearing. This strange phenomenon had given Li Yan a big scare at first. He thought the beast was breaking the seal, but the speed of this breaking was too astonishing. He even thought it might be because of a problem with the subsequent technique he was using, that while pushing the beast's body, he was also eliminating the sealing power. In an instant, he broke out in a cold sweat. But Li Yan had always been calm and didn't panic immediately. After instantly setting up his own defenses, he began to observe carefully.
Later, he discovered that the golden light was not disappearing but was slowly and layer by layer merging into the opponent's body, and the sealing power had not diminished. Only then did he feel relieved. Afterwards, while moving its body, he remained cautious, but the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast" just maintained that posture, like a puppet.
However, Li Yan was not at ease. He wanted to apply some "Fragmented Poison" on it, to slowly poison it and further weaken its power. Unfortunately, this was impossible through Hong Yin's seal. The four and a half Vajra-Hand Bodhisattva Dharma Manifestations were also very repulsive to Li Yan's poison. It was impossible to apply poison indirectly through them. As soon as a little poison touched the Vajra-Hand Bodhisattva Dharma Manifestations, the Dharma Manifestations would emit rays of Buddhist light, trying their best to eliminate the poison.
"Righteousness and evil truly cannot coexist!" After several attempts, Li Yan could only give up on this idea. The Buddhist and Confucian sects would suppress and kill all yin, evil, and poisonous things. If he forcibly deployed it, it was possible the poison might even consume the sealing power, which would be a huge loss. But this was also good; he no longer had to deliberately conceal the golden light on the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast's" body.
Seeing Li Yan enter the formation, the Great Elder followed right behind. Yan San's eyes flickered a few times, then he too took a step in. Soon, when they were still some distance from the massive lizard-like Wind Beast, they were blocked by an invisible force. Yan San tried to use his power to advance, but no matter how he circulated his magical power, he couldn't move forward an inch from this position. He was a Great Cultivator-level powerhouse. This showed how powerful this sealing restriction was. However, the more it was like this, the more Yan San felt that the seal was credible and stable.
And even with the seal present, they could still sense the terrifying aura faintly contained within the lizard-like Wind Beast below, especially its pair of eyes. Just one glance at them made Yan San feel a chill all over his body. Yan San also sensed the aura on this beast. The last time he had fled, he had suddenly been injured by a force, and that force had exuded the exact same aura as this. That yin-cold was fundamentally different from the surrounding yin-cold. It had remained in his body for a long time before he had finally managed to remove it. It was through that domineering power that he had deduced the opponent's terrifying strength. That yin-cold had caused him much suffering and was deeply engraved in his memory. At the same time, this aura was also very similar to some of the power that the clone he had fought earlier had occasionally revealed. Now, the aura emanating from the lizard-like Wind Beast below allowed him to confirm that it was the same as the aura that had injured him back then.
'That's him, alright!' Although there was still a seal between them, Yan San could almost feel the chill seeping from his bones. Back then, a single blow from the opponent had injured him and forced him to flee.
"This location is very good. It's not easy for others to find, and it's far from the wind's eye!" the Great Elder said, glancing at Yan San.
The only reason Li Yan had brought them here was to let the Tianli Clan and the Wind Beasts confirm with their own eyes that the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast" was sealed. Otherwise, Li Yan's word alone would not be convincing. With this, there was a basis for future cooperation between the two sides. And the place Li Yan had chosen was very good. Just as the Great Elder had said, the "Heaven's Eye Wind" was still very strong here, and it was extremely far from the surface. Even for them, it was not easy to get here. This would prevent some people from stumbling upon the sealing ground after accidentally entering the swamp and inadvertently destroying the seal. Although the vast majority of cultivators had no hope of breaking it, every little thing had to be handled with care. This was Li Yan's usual way of operating.
"Can we take this opportunity to kill this Wind Beast?" Yan San looked at the motionless "Yin Mountain Beast" below, a sharp light flashing in his eyes. With such an opportunity, he of course wanted to solve the problem once and for all.
Li Yan shook his head and denied his idea without even thinking. "Fellow Daoist Hong Yin's seal was her final blow. She had no strength left at that time and knew she might perish. She was afraid someone might release the seal from the outside, so the seal she placed on its main body is a two-way seal. Otherwise, after so many years, do you think this Fifth-rank 'Yin Mountain Beast' couldn't have broken out? You can't forget that there are a large number of 'Yin Mountain Beasts' here, as well as several of its clones. If we want to kill this beast, we must first release Fellow Daoist Hong Yin's seal. At that time, do you still have the confidence to kill it?"
For a moment, Yan San fell silent. Releasing Hong Yin's Sarira seal? Wasn't that courting death?
In fact, there was another reason he didn't know. Even if Li Yan had a way to kill this Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast," he wouldn't do it, unless the seal was truly unsuccessful. This was because the seal on this Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast" was the sharp blade hanging over the heads of Yan San and their three clans, making continued cooperation possible. Once their worries were gone, the Tianli Clan would more than seventy percent likely be plunged into a permanent great war again. The excellent situation they had now would be completely lost. The Tianli Clan did not need war. With Li Yan's cunning, having done so much, he certainly wouldn't be doing it for others' benefit. That would be too foolish. Not to mention, this also involved the matter of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" cultivation method.
After a few breaths, Yan San nodded. Then he said to Li Yan, "From now on, we will need to send someone to investigate at regular intervals. So how do we confirm if it has made any unusual movements?"
"It's simple. Remember this location, or have only the two of you place a marker here. The person who comes must be someone trustworthy. Otherwise, you will need to come and investigate personally each time. If there is any unusual movement, there will be strange phenomena here, like flashes of golden light, the appearance of this beast's phantom, the 'Heaven's Eye Wind' blowing differently from the surroundings, and so on. It will definitely not be as calm as this."
Li Yan also gave Yan San a faint glance. He actually already understood Yan San's true meaning, but since the other party didn't say it explicitly, he of course wouldn't answer directly.
The Great Elder had been observing the Fifth-rank "Yin Mountain Beast" below the whole time, seemingly not having heard their conversation.
Yan San, after hearing Li Yan's reply, pondered for a moment, then spoke again. "The technique to open the formation enveloping this area, can you inform my clan of it?"