Judging by the fact that both men were holding blue rhomboid crystals, they must have been the two Foundation Establishment cultivators. This place had somehow managed to merge the people of two sects, and both had made it here. How had they bypassed the rules of the Wheel of Life and Death without fighting? The thought of it was terrifying. Two Foundation Establishment cultivators... if they had faced them head-on, there would have been no need to fight. One could have tied down Gong Chenying, while the other could have annihilated everyone on their side in a short time, without even needing the Qi Condensation disciples to lift a finger. And what's more, the other side had fifty Qi Condensation disciples.
What in the world was going on? For a moment, everyone's face was filled with shock and confusion. The fear in their hearts was greater than their questions, so everyone subconsciously turned their gazes to Gong Chenying.
Gong Chenying's lips were also pressed tightly together. On closer inspection, her body was trembling slightly. When she had first entered to scout, she had been beyond shocked. Faced with this sudden turn of events, her mind had gone blank. Two Foundation Establishment cultivators? Forget her Qi Condensation disciples; even she had no confidence she could escape, and where could one even flee to within this Wheel of Life and Death?
Since two Foundation Establishment cultivators could appear, could three, four, or even more appear next time? This was almost a certain-death scenario. The more she thought about it, the more fear gripped her heart.
"All of you, stay inside the formation." Gong Chenying looked up. The giant black shadow had not yet arrived. Gritting her teeth, she spoke in a low voice. She then patted her storage pouch, took out a medicinal pill, and put it in her mouth. At the same time, her protective spirit light flared, and she took a diagonal step, about to exit the formation.
"Senior Sister Gong, I'll go with you," a voice said slowly.
Everyone looked up. It was the Martial Uncle Li from Little Bamboo Peak, standing in a corner. They looked at Li Yan strangely. Many were still disdainful, thinking, 'He's just relying on his familiarity with Martial Aunt Gong. His cultivation isn't even as high as many people here. He just wants to go out and grab some benefits first.' Looking at the storage pouches on the corpses strewn about outside, some thought indignantly. But it was just a thought. They also wanted to go out and see, not just to get a closer look at the situation, but also to grab some benefits.
"Hmm... alright. Be careful. Some may be dead but not yet stiff and might take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack." Gong Chenying agreed after a moment's thought. This was not the time for overthinking. Besides, she couldn't quite figure out Li Yan's several strange performances in this space. After a brief consideration, she agreed. Her intention was just to go out and see if she could find any clues, but she was afraid that too many people would destroy them. Since Li Yan had suggested it, she thought one more person probably wouldn't ruin the scene. Moreover, this little martial uncle had likely set up many traps when he was strolling around earlier. Perhaps she could discover something through his arrangements.
Li Yan smiled faintly, ignoring the strange looks from his surroundings. A spirit light also flashed around his body, and he walked out with Gong Chenying. Gong Chenying glanced at Li Yan from the side. Seeing that he had only put up a protective spirit light before following her out, she first furrowed her brow. But then, as if she had thought of something, she didn't say anything more and flew out first.
They both held their breath. Even Li Yan dared not be careless. Although he had some trump cards, he remained vigilant.
He had once asked Lin Daqiao for some of the peak's poisonous pills and antidotes. He first ground the less potent poisonous pills into dust and carefully applied it to the back of his hand, nervously holding the antidote. The moment he felt something was wrong, he would immediately take it. After several trials, he found that there were no abnormalities, at most just some redness and swelling on his skin, which would disappear with a slight circulation of his spirit power. Moreover, after applying some of the pills, the Fragmented Twelve within his body would become active. A few types of the Fragmented Twelve would travel directly to his arm along his meridians, and in the next moment, the applied medicinal powder and paste would disappear, while a more active flow of the Fragmented Twelve could be felt in his meridians.
This made Li Yan gradually think that the Fragmented Twelve might have the function of devouring other poisons. Perhaps this was another way to promote its future division. Slowly, Li Yan began to ingest various poisonous pills. The result was as he expected. Whenever he swallowed a deadly poison, before any symptoms like severe pain or itching could appear, it would be instantly devoured by the Fragmented Twelve in his body. Then, like an infant, it would even have a slight craving for more. This left Li Yan speechless. He didn't know how others cultivated the Malevolent Spirit Sect's three great poison bodies.
The space here was filled with various foul odors. The smell of burnt flesh and blood permeated the entire area, making one nauseous if they breathed normally. Li Yan looked closely and saw that there were some red, purple, and black gases floating in the air. If one looked against the light, one could even see thread-like worms, almost invisible, wriggling in the air. These were all poisonous gases and Desiccated Corpse Worms that had originally been contained by formations or pills. The Desiccated Corpse Worms, having been refined into pills, had long lost their life characteristics. They needed to be used in conjunction with another type of pill, which contained the powdered blood of the worms. Once the pill burst and the Desiccated Corpse Worm came into contact with the dust containing its blood, its primal instincts would be awakened. Its body, less than one-hundredth the width of a hair, would travel up into the human brain through the nasal cavity upon inhalation. In the brain, it only devoured the red blood filaments in the brain matter, having no interest in the white matter. The poisoned person would feel a pain that pierced their very bones, then go mad, losing their sanity. Besides attacking everything around them, they would end up gouging out their own eyes and then digging out everything in their brain to feel relief. And all the while, their consciousness would remain. It was a truly vicious thing.
The two of them hovered in the air, the ground below a bloody mess of organs, a patchwork of red and white, in piles and pools, like a scene from Asura hell. Although Li Yan couldn't fly, he could barely manage this kind of simple, short-distance levitation since reaching the tenth level of Qi Condensation.
"Senior Sister Gong, there are four places you shouldn't go. Your junior brother doesn't have the antidote for them either. The place where those seven or eight people are piled up in a heap of rotten flesh, the area of self-mutilation on the left with a dozen people, seven fathoms to the front-right..." Li Yan quickly transmitted his voice from behind, and Gong Chenying's figure paused.
"Heh, our little martial uncle is quite brave. There's still a lot of residual poison out there. Even Martial Aunt Gong had to take an antidote to go out, yet he went out with just a protective spirit light. It would be a big deal if he didn't come back," a mocking voice sounded as soon as the two had disappeared from the formation. The speaker was Mi Yuanzhi from Never-Parting Peak. He stood with his arms crossed, a sneer on his lips.
His words made quite a few people pause. They then remembered that Li Yan had indeed just walked out with only his protective spirit light active. At this, even a few of the people from Four Symbols Peak and Lord Lao Peak who had come in to set the ambush looked displeased. This martial uncle from Little Bamboo Peak clearly held the poisons they set in contempt. A look at the dozens of corpses on the ground was enough to know how potent their methods were. Even Martial Aunt Gong had taken an antidote pill before going out. Although that pill couldn't cure all poisons, it should have been a high-grade antidote. Supplemented by the powerful cultivation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, she would be fine for a while. In contrast, that little martial uncle, with a cultivation of only around the eighth level of Qi Condensation, had walked out directly. This was a clear slap in their faces.
"Our little martial uncle naturally has superior methods that you and I cannot compare to. His poisoning techniques are not something that can be matched by pills and formations, so his resistance to poison is also first-rate," Qi Busheng, seeing many people staring at Li Yan's back with unfriendly expressions, added with a roll of his eyes.
Mei Bucai stared at Li Yan's back without a word, his small eyes darting back and forth. Like him, Ding Yiwei and Cheng Jingnian from Lord Lao Peak were also looking down in contemplation, as if lost in thought.
After Qi Busheng's words, sure enough, many began to whisper among themselves. "I didn't realize our little martial uncle's cultivation was so profound, acting so indifferent to the poisons we set."
"Is he truly profound, or just pretending? Hmph, the poison mist in my formation was taken from the depths of the Yin Peach Pool. To get it, I waited seven years for the time when the pool's cold qi was at its peak, which diluted the terrifying miasma that shrouded the area. Only when the poison was at its weakest did I risk taking just two wisps. I then spent three years refining those two wisps to basically fuse them. Even a Foundation Establishment master would have a slim chance of survival if they touched a single wisp. I didn't expect this Martial Uncle Li to have such means."
"My Myriad Hidden Shadow Poison was refined from twenty-four types of poisonous herbs and the saliva of seven types of poisonous spirit beasts. Even the Golden Core Martial Ancestor in my peak nodded and said 'not bad'. Heh, I didn't expect this martial uncle from Little Bamboo Peak to just ignore it. I'm impressed, truly impressed."
Various voices emerged, dripping with sarcasm and dissatisfaction. But among them, apart from Mei Bucai and his group, Wu Shixi and Yu Yiyong from Spirit Insect Peak remained smiling and silent. They were among the few who knew about Li Yan's Fragmented Poison Body. Even the pretty young woman from Four Symbols Peak, Hu Ziyi, had heard some things from Yu Yiyong and did not join the discussion.
"Senior Brother Wu, is this Martial Uncle Li's Fragmented Poison Body really that terrifying? I only saw his strange moves before, but I don't know how he set up the situation to kill that Pure Land Sect monk. I can't believe he can just ignore the poisons set by others," Yu Yiyong was currently transmitting to Wu Shixi.
"Does he look like a fool?" Wu Shixi was as laconic as ever.
After hearing this, Yu Yiyong thought for a moment, and the smile on his face grew wider. This martial uncle, whom he had personally brought to the peak, was extremely meticulous. Back when he was just a village boy, he had set an ambush and killed a successor of the Immortal-Seeking Lineage who was two realms higher than him. How could he do something so suicidal?
While the others were whispering, Li Yan had already followed Gong Chenying and quickly flown to the central part of the sphere. Both of them, without prior agreement, headed for the two people holding the blue rhomboid crystals. By the time Li Yan arrived, Gong Chenying was already crouching in front of the one closer to them, the one whose body had been corroded to little more than a skeleton. Hearing footsteps behind her, Gong Chenying turned her beautiful head to look at Li Yan.
"This person is a cultivator from the Supreme Mystery Teachings, and indeed a powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator." Hearing her words, Li Yan also crouched down to look.
"He was poisoned by Wutong's Question, Bone-Penetrating Grass, and Lord Lao Peak's own Myriad Hidden Shadow Poison, as well as three other types of deadly poison. However, the symptoms of the latter few poisons are not very obvious on his body, so he was likely already dead after being hit by the first few. The later poisons probably fell on him from the air or he was contaminated during a struggle," Gong Chenying continued. She then made a grasping motion in the air, and the corpse floated up. After it spun a few times in the air, she looked at it a few more times, then waved her hand. The corpse fell back to the ground, splattering a few pieces of black internal organs to the side. But the skeletal hand still held the blue rhomboid crystal firmly.
"I'll go check that one over there." After looking for a while, Gong Chenying's brow furrowed even tighter. She tossed the corpse aside and whispered to Li Yan. After a glance at him, she didn't take the blue rhomboid crystal from the body and flew straight over to the other one.
From beginning to end, Li Yan's gaze was mostly fixed on the blue rhomboid crystal in the skeleton's hand. But the moment he saw it clearly, the doubt in his eyes grew stronger.
Li Yan had also seen at a glance that this person had been hit by two or three types of poison, but he couldn't identify them as readily as Gong Chenying, who listed them like counting her family treasures. Li Yan carefully took the blue rhomboid crystal from the blood-streaked skeletal hand. The moment the crystal was in his hand, he felt his spirit power stir restlessly. Li Yan quickly suppressed the agitation of the spirit power in his body. He then carefully examined the Foundation Establishment cultivator again. By the time he looked up, Gong Chenying was already floating beside the other corpse holding a crystal.
Li Yan carefully examined the area around the Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator's body for a while longer, a contemplative look in his eyes. He did not touch any of the cultivator's other belongings.