As Gan Shi said this, he himself was taken aback. He had just asked a Qi Condensation cultivator for guidance. Although Li Yan was nominally of the same generation, their strengths were worlds apart. But after witnessing Li Yan's methods, Gan Shi couldn't say for sure that if Li Yan were to act in secret, he would even be able to detect it, unless he attacked directly with overwhelming force to annihilate him.
"Next, I'll see if we can also merge onto one path and find Senior Brother Baili as soon as possible. But first, let's take their belongings." Li Yan frowned slightly, as if pondering something.
"We merge too? With Baili Yuan's group? Oh, but taking things now..." Gan Shi was first stunned, then seemed to understand something. But his thoughts were interrupted by Li Yan's next words. He looked at the sphere, which had now expanded to several hundred zhang, his eyes revealing a hint of hesitation. He did not step forward rashly. The four behind him also remained silent, all looking at Li Yan.
"Oh, heh heh, then wait for me to collect them, and then follow my footsteps out. We'll talk about everything else once we're out." Li Yan smiled, and his figure flashed forward. This was all within his expectations. He had long coveted the Storage Pouch of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. With only four bodies, including Miao Zhengyi's, in the space, Li Yan was quick to collect their Storage Pouches.
When Li Yan returned to the front of the formation, he held four Storage Pouches and one Spirit-Storing Pouch. However, there was still a residual Divine Sense on them, so Li Yan couldn't open them immediately. But he unceremoniously collected their scattered spirit artifacts, as well as Miao Zhengyi's famous three hundred and sixty Spirit Swords and his Sword Case, into his own Storage Pouch.
In fact, the spirit artifacts of the other Qi Condensation cultivators were also three swords that gleamed with cold light, but they were only mid-grade spirit artifacts. This was unlike Miao Zhengyi's three hundred and sixty Spirit Swords, which were already at the level of Magical Artifacts. Due to the sheer number, Miao Zhengyi would have needed even more resources to refine them to the level of Magical Treasures, a feat that even a cultivator at the Pseudo-Core Realm like him was unable to achieve. But even these Magical Artifact-level swords could fetch a sky-high price outside, making this a considerable windfall for Li Yan.
Li Yan muttered to himself, 'A pity that a Sword Cultivator is just a Sword Cultivator. Too one-dimensional. All their spirit artifacts and magical artifacts are swords. This makes selling them a bit specific.' He himself was not very proficient with a sword, so although he had a low-grade, low-tier spirit artifact sword in his Storage Pouch, he had almost never used it. In recent years, he had been focused on practicing basic immortal arts and his Fragmented Poison Body. He had thought before that after leaving the secret realm this time, he would need to prepare a suitable spirit artifact for himself, otherwise he would be at a disadvantage in fights. But after he advanced to the tenth level of Qi Condensation, when he read the cultivation manual for that level, it mentioned a special type of implement exclusive to the Gui Water Immortal Sect. Once he reached Foundation Establishment, he could start looking for the materials to refine his own Natal Magical Treasure. But before that, Li Yan planned to keep a few of Miao Zhengyi's swords. They were at the Magical Artifact level. Although he wasn't proficient, their attack power was far beyond what his own low-grade spirit artifact could compare to.
After returning to Gan Shi and the others, Li Yan didn't toss the four Storage Pouches to Gan Shi. Instead, he naturally tied them to his own waist and directly threw the Spirit-Storing Pouch over.
Gan Shi and the others had been watching Li Yan the whole time. When they saw him come back with the Storage Pouches and tie all four to his waist—especially Miao Zhengyi's, which was the Storage Pouch of a Foundation Establishment cultivator and surely filled with good things, and the pouch itself was worth a fortune, unobtainable outside without several thousand Spirit Stones—none of them said a word. If not for Li Yan, it was debatable whether they would have even made it into this sphere.
Seeing Li Yan toss the Spirit-Storing Pouch over, Gan Shi was stunned, but then a smile spread across his face. Among the four behind him, two were still heavily injured and could only just walk. But at that moment, Li Yan spoke faintly.
"Senior Brother Gan, there's no sign of a passage appearing on the sphere wall. It seems there are still people from the Ten-Pace Courtyard alive. I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to act quickly." Li Yan glanced at the surrounding sphere walls, then looked up at the thick, dark shadow that had quietly covered the top of the sphere.
After catching the Spirit-Storing Pouch, Gan Shi's face revealed a murderous intent upon hearing Li Yan's words. He sent a hand seal into it. A wave of Divine Sense erupted from the pouch, showing a faint tendency to repel his seal. This was a residual wisp of Miao Zhengyi's Divine Sense. Gan Shi snorted coldly, and the spiritual light in his hand surged. With a crisp sound, like a mirror shattering, the residual Divine Sense dissipated completely.
The next moment, Gan Shi's Divine Sense had already entered the Spirit-Storing Pouch, but his face grew even darker. With a flash of spiritual light from his hand, six beams of light appeared on the ground before them.
The light slowly faded, revealing six figures on the ground. Four were unconscious, two were awake. All of them were lying on the ground, dressed in the attire of the Ten-Pace Courtyard. The two who were awake looked around blankly at first. Then, when their eyes fell on Li Yan's group of six, their expressions changed. When they saw the figure sitting on the ground with his head bowed to his chest and the three corpses in the same attire not far away, their faces changed drastically. They struggled to get up, their hands already slapping at the Storage Pouches at their waists.
But before they could act, several giant yellow wind blades had already flown toward the six of them. In an instant, the wind blades were upon them. Blood splattered, and a mist of blood sprayed everywhere. The six bodies were diced into dozens of pieces. The ground was instantly stained a vibrant red.
Gan Shi slowly withdrew a hand, his face as calm as an ancient well as he looked at the bloody mess. Although those people would have soon been killed by the poison Li Yan had laid after he released them from the Spirit-Storing Pouch, he didn't want to delay any longer and had directly killed the six heavily injured Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivators.
Zhu Gaotai and the others watched everything unfold from behind. Only the petite Junior Sister Dai showed a hint of intolerance on her face. The other three's eyes were filled with a cold indifference. If Gan Shi had been the one killed, the heavily injured fellow disciples in his Spirit-Storing Pouch would have had to meet the same fate. Otherwise, the passage to the next trial would not open. All enemies had to be dead.
The moment the six Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivators died, the wall on one side of the sphere rippled, and circles of waves appeared before everyone's eyes.
Li Yan, for his part, withdrew his gaze from the scene and unhurriedly began to walk forward. Gan Shi and the others followed closely behind, step by step, even holding their breath. But as Li Yan passed the field of blood and dismembered limbs, he casually picked up six Storage Pouches and tied them directly to his waist, as if he had forgotten the others even existed. Gan Shi and his group also completely ignored it.
After Li Yan stepped into the ripples on the sphere wall and vanished, the others also disappeared from the sphere, one after another. And inside the sphere, only one person remained, his head bowed, motionless, with a field of dismembered limbs and blood off to the side...
After coming out, Li Yan looked ahead. This was a dilapidated battlefield. Under a dark sky, a small path snaked its way toward the center of the battlefield, disappearing at the edge of the dark horizon. On both sides of the path were broken armor, shattered swords and spears, and some tattered banners stuck crookedly in the scorched earth, fluttering gently in the breeze, as if recounting the cruelty and bloodshed of the past.
'I wonder how Sixth Senior Sister's group is doing. This should be the last trial for them too. I need to hurry back.' Looking at the scene before him, an image of Gong Chenying and the others fighting a bloody battle on a battlefield appeared in Li Yan's mind, and a trace of unease rose in his heart.
Behind him, the sphere rippled continuously, and Gan Shi and the others slowly materialized outside. When they saw the scene before them, they were shocked. Just looking at the environment of this final trial, it was clear it was extremely dangerous. And thinking that, including Li Yan, they only had four people who could fight, they couldn't help but feel a bitter taste in their mouths.
After looking ahead, Gan Shi turned back to the others and said, "In a moment, Zhu Gaotai and Kong Si will also enter the Spirit-Storing Pouch. Rui Feikai and Dai Jing, you will recover here for now." After staring blankly at the battlefield for a moment, Gan Shi looked at the people beside him with a stoic expression and gave his quiet command. He had already opened his Spirit-Storing Pouch, its mouth agape.
Zhu Gaotai and the other heavily injured disciple gave a bitter smile. They could finally enter the Spirit-Storing Pouch to rest for a bit. But when they thought of the six people from the Ten-Pace Courtyard in the pouch inside the sphere just now, and then looked at the four people here who were able to fight, their hearts were filled with extreme apprehension. Still, they respectfully bowed to the backs of Gan Shi and Li Yan.
Gan Shi nodded slightly. With a surge of spiritual power, a suction force came from the mouth of the pouch. Zhu Gaotai and the one named Kong Si turned into two streaks of light and flew toward the pouch, from which wisps of spiritual energy were emanating.
"Have them enter the Spirit-Storing Pouch too." At that moment, Li Yan turned his head, a sharp glint in his eyes, and looked at the remaining stocky man and petite girl.
Hearing this, their faces changed. The stocky man, Rui Feikai, looked extremely displeased and said, "Martial Uncle Li, Junior Sister Dai and I have only suffered light injuries. Each trial here gives us about two hours to recuperate. We only need an hour to be mostly recovered. By then, Junior Sister Dai and I will be able to contribute and won't drag down you and Martial Uncle Gan." His tone was already somewhat impolite.
The petite girl bit her lip and also looked up at Li Yan. "Martial Uncle Li, we are not cowards who fear death, nor will we drag down our two elders." All who came to this secret realm were the elites of their respective peaks, all extremely proud. Hearing Li Yan say this so suddenly, they were naturally very uncomfortable. They just stopped short of saying, 'You're only at the eighth level of Qi Condensation, even lower than us.'
"Junior Brother Li, is this the method of merging with Baili that you spoke of?" The yellow-haired man was not moved by their words. A sharp glint flashed in his eyes. He may have looked rough, but his mind was extremely sharp. Otherwise, how could he have gained such a fearsome reputation among the Foundation Establishment cultivators of Four Symbols Peak?
Although Gan Shi had heard Li Yan talk about merging with Baili inside the sphere, he had assumed it meant fighting their way through, and that Li Yan would then use those green gourds. But Li Yan's words now clearly did not sound like he intended to force his way through this trial.
Li Yan nodded and looked seriously at the three of them. "I plan to exit this trial passage from here, without advancing any further. Then, I'll look for Senior Brother Baili or Senior Sister Gong from outside the passage. The specific situation will depend on which purple light band is closest to us after we get out. But I'm not yet sure if we can get out. After all, one blue rhomboid crystal can only be used by one person. Even with the one we just got from the Ten-Pace Courtyard, that's only three. I can only guarantee that three people can get out. That's why I need the two of you to enter the Spirit-Storing Pouch as well, so that only Senior Brother Gan and I go out. Or even have Senior Brother Gan enter the pouch, and I'll take you all out myself."
Li Yan explained briefly, but Rui Feikai and Dai Jing didn't quite understand. The secret of the blue rhomboid crystal had been communicated between Li Yan and Gan Shi via Divine Sense, so the two of them looked at Gan Shi with confusion.
"Heh heh, I understand. But unless it's absolutely necessary, I don't want to get into a Spirit-Storing Pouch. You two, get in first," Gan Shi said. The first half was directed at Li Yan, the second half at Rui Feikai and the girl. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator like him to enter a Spirit-Storing Pouch was akin to handing half his life over to Li Yan. Although he trusted Li Yan, out of the instinct of a powerful cultivator, he still wanted to be in control of his own fate at all times. Also, he wanted to see for himself if this blue rhomboid crystal was as magical as Li Yan claimed.