In those three breaths just now, Li Yan felt the spiritual energy in his body being consumed crazily. The spiritual power that had just been restored to seventy or eighty percent was gone by about ten percent in such a short time. Before, he was still immersed in the excitement of being able to use his divine sense and hadn't felt the extent of his spiritual power consumption at all. Now, seeing this rate of spiritual power loss, he couldn't help but get a headache. How could he afford to consume it like this?
After thinking for a while longer, Li Yan already had an answer in his heart. This should be because he had just entered the second layer of Qi Condensation. He could tell by the level of spiritual power in his body. Of the five spiritual power vats, only the water spiritual power vat had that little bit of spiritual power. In addition, this release of divine sense was originally only possible at the third layer of Qi Condensation. It was likely that the depth of spiritual power of the third layer of Qi Condensation was needed to support it. Now he was just barely managing it by relying on the power of the True Scripture of the Nether Water, so his spiritual power was naturally not enough to consume. This problem should be slowly resolved as his cultivation progresses in the future.
But then he thought of his turtle-like cultivation speed and couldn't help but worry. This kind of cultivation speed was not at all the effect that the cultivation methods of the five great immortal sects should have. If this was the case, then what was the point of a five-element spirit root constitution? It was useless at all. After thinking about it carefully for a while, he suddenly thought of a possibility, and his face couldn't help but change color. If that was really the case, it would truly be a loss that outweighed the gain.
He had to find the cause of the problem as soon as possible. But how could he explain this phenomenon with his little knowledge of cultivation? And it was impossible for him to ask others about his situation. In that case, the secret of the True Scripture of the Nether Water would be exposed. What should he do? He couldn't help but stand up and pace around the room. After a while, he stopped abruptly. Just now, a flash of inspiration had made him think of the True Scripture of the Nether Water in his sea of consciousness. He might be able to learn something from it, or perhaps it could inspire him.
Thinking of the True Scripture of the Nether Water, Li Yan couldn't help but feel a wave of emotion. Since the last time he entered his sea of consciousness to obtain the cultivation method, he had never entered it again. It wasn't that he didn't want to comprehend it further, but that Strategist Ji was pressing him too hard. If he relaxed for even a moment, he might face certain death. During that time, he was either cultivating or thinking about how to deal with Strategist Ji, and slowly neglected the things in his sea of consciousness.
At that moment, he sat down cross-legged, began to calm his mind, and slowly withdrew his divine sense. The next moment, he arrived in his sea of consciousness. Looking at the calm black lake beneath his feet, he had a feeling of being in a different world, and his expression was dazed for a moment.
After a while, Li Yan finally gathered his thoughts and focused his spiritual power to probe the surface of the lake. Immediately, a dense array of golden characters emerged from the surface of the lake. Li Yan only looked for a moment before letting out a long sigh of relief.
It turned out that he was still a little absent-minded in the Strategist's Manor last time and had overlooked some details, only focusing on memorizing the incantation for the first layer. The preface of the True Scripture of the Nether Water had said that he could only see the incantation corresponding to his own realm. What he saw at that time was the preface, the introduction to the True Scripture of the Nether Water, and a short dozen or so lines of the incantation for the first layer of Qi Condensation. Later, he had been busy running for his life, so how could he remember the hint in the preface? Now when he probed again with his spiritual power, the original incantation for the first layer of Qi Condensation had long been replaced by a new one. He could see at a glance that these dozen or so lines were not the incantation he had learned. Only then did he remember what was described in the preface.
No wonder his cultivation was so slow now. Using the incantation for the first layer to cultivate the second layer realm, it was impossible to keep up no matter what. After getting this answer, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. Of course, he hadn't suspected that there was a problem with the True Scripture of the Nether Water just now. Otherwise, why would Dong Fuyi have gone to such lengths to save him? He was afraid that the "Fragmented Poison Body" had caused a change in his body, making him no longer suitable for cultivating the True Scripture of the Nether Water. Just now, he had been extremely apprehensive. Apart from the True Scripture of the Nether Water, he really didn't know what other cultivation method in this world could be suitable for his inferior spirit root.
So he carefully memorized the incantation for the second layer over and over again. After confirming that there were no mistakes, he couldn't wait to withdraw from his sea of consciousness. Of course, he had to be sure before he could feel at ease.
An hour later, Li Yan opened his eyes, a smile on his face. It was indeed so. After he cultivated with the new incantation, he recovered that small half-vat of water spiritual power in about an hour. As for if he wanted to increase his spiritual power, he would have to rely on his own hard work.
After thinking for a moment, he stood up and walked to the courtyard. This courtyard of several dozen zhang was quite spacious. He was still in a state of excitement today. In addition, he had just recovered his spiritual power in the past hour. Now he wanted to try something—flying.
Apart from flying in his sea of consciousness at the beginning, he had only had the experience of being carried by Li Wuyi during the day. Of course, he wanted to be able to ride the clouds and mists in reality himself.
He patted the storage pouch at his waist, and a brilliant light flashed. A very small shuttle-shaped object appeared on the ground. Li Yan knew that this object could be imbued with spiritual power or have spirit stones placed on it, but he would not use those few spirit stones. So he channeled his spiritual power with his hand and gestured into the air. The flying spirit tool lifted off the ground by about a foot. Under Li Yan's infusion of spiritual power, in just a few breaths, it had grown to about five or six feet. Looking at the size of the courtyard, he made it a little smaller again and then stepped on...
In the middle of the night, Li Yan lay in bed with a smile on his lips, still flying clumsily in the courtyard in his dreams.
In the early morning, Li Yan woke up, looked at the azure sky between the bamboo leaves outside the window, and stretched. He had been busy all day yesterday. He had been dealing with that cultivator surnamed Yu since the morning, and had been practicing the use of his divine sense and flying until late at night.
He woke up feeling refreshed. After washing up, he opened the restriction and went to the courtyard gate. Sure enough, a bamboo box had been placed on the ground, emitting a fragrant aroma. It seemed that the status of a disciple was quite useful. After he had set the daily meal delivery time with the handyman department yesterday, it was delivered on time today.
Li Yan was extremely satisfied with the meal. Although it wasn't a delicacy, it was light and delicious. After the meal, Li Yan went to the practice room to meditate. He knew his shortcomings. He had started too late and had to work twice as hard. So once he was well-rested, he didn't want to waste any time.
After about the time it takes to eat a meal, Li Yan's divine sense stirred, and he opened his eyes. He looked down and saw that the token at his waist was flashing with a faint green light without a sound. So he infused his divine sense into it. After a while, he looked up.
"So it's Eldest Senior Brother. It seems he's going to take me to choose a cultivation technique and immortal arts."
He had already figured out the functions of this sect token yesterday. The flashing green light just now was the token's communication function. It could replace the effect of a voice transmission talisman within a range of a thousand li. When the sect had an urgent matter to announce or when fellow disciples needed to contact each other, they could transmit messages to each other through the imprints in the token. Yesterday, his token had already been passed through the hands of Li Wuyi and Lin Daqiao. They should have left their own imprints inside. Last night, when Li Yan checked the waist token, he found that there were nine green dots flashing inside. He figured that either his Eldest Senior Brother or his Seventh Senior Brother had, by some means, also left the imprints of the other people from Little Bamboo Peak inside. So Li Yan stopped his cultivation, got up, opened the door, and walked out.
Li Wuyi stood at the gate of the bamboo courtyard with a smile, watching Li Yan walk out calmly from inside and smiling at him. Yesterday evening, Lin Daqiao had gone to tell him which courtyard Li Yan was living in and had also briefly reported on the things he had told Li Yan today. He knew that his Eldest Senior Brother was meticulous. If he hadn't mentioned something, he would probably add it later. When Li Wuyi heard that Li Yan could release his divine sense from his body just after entering the second layer of Qi Condensation, he was also stunned. This was something he had not expected. But then he was also happy for this newly admitted junior brother. He was indeed a descendant of the "Fragmented Poison Body." He had such an amazing performance at such a low realm.
After exchanging a few simple pleasantries at the courtyard gate, Li Wuyi still released his flying magical artifact and took Li Yan up the mountain. Li Yan's clumsy flying skills and his spirit tool, which was two grades lower, were naturally and automatically ignored.
After flying back for a moment, the two of them left this cluster of houses. After flying back for another dozen or so breaths, they came to a place on the mountain peak. It was still a dark bamboo forest, and inside it was a small bamboo house, only about three or four zhang in size. Li Yan couldn't help but feel a little strange. This small bamboo house was the treasured collection? This was too inconsistent with his mental association with the name.
When they were still several dozen zhang away from the small bamboo house, Li Wuyi landed, put away the magical artifact, and led Li Yan towards the small bamboo house. Li Yan also followed behind step by step. When they were still a dozen or so zhang away from the small bamboo house, Li Yan felt a divine sense fall on him, and the next moment it disappeared without a trace. He knew that someone was scanning the newcomers. After looking up at Li Wuyi, Li Wuyi's pace did not pause in the slightest, and he still walked towards the bamboo house as if he hadn't noticed anything.
Li Yan thought to himself, "It seems that the person guarding this treasured collection doesn't necessarily have a high cultivation realm. Otherwise, why would they only detect and send out their divine sense when they were only a dozen or so zhang away from the small bamboo house?"
The door of the small bamboo house was open. Li Yan saw from a distance that there was a table inside the door, and on the table was a person lying prone, seemingly still asleep.
When they reached the door, Li Yan could even see the inside of the house clearly, which made him even more surprised. This small bamboo house was just as small as it looked from the outside. Inside, apart from a table, a chair, and the person sleeping on the table, there was nothing else. Besides, even if he wanted to put other things in, there wouldn't be enough space for a few chests for books.
"This is the treasured collection? It's too shabby." He remembered the scene when Li Wuyi had taken him to see the other four peaks from afar yesterday. Although he couldn't see Four Symbols Peak clearly because of the peak's great formation and didn't dare to get too close to Never-Parting Peak, at least Li Wuyi had pointed out the treasured collections of Spirit Insect Peak and Lord Lao Peak to him from the air. How magnificent they were, each a seven or eight-story pavilion, tall, magnificent, and even majestic. And the small bamboo house here was not even as good as the handyman department in front.
"Greetings, Martial Uncle Gu. This martial nephew has brought a new junior brother to choose a cultivation technique and immortal arts," Li Wuyi said, standing in front of the door and bowing deeply. This made Li Yan greatly shocked. He now knew the etiquette of seniority in the cultivation world. This was clearly the etiquette of a junior paying respects to an elder. Could it be that this person was also a great Golden Core cultivator? Yesterday, he had heard from Lin Daqiao about the power of an early-stage Foundation Establishment master. That was already a terrifying existence that could destroy a small mortal town with a single blow. And a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator crushing a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator was like crushing a bedbug. Only then did he know that the Golden Core stage was a terrifying existence he couldn't imagine now. He didn't expect the person in front of him to be a Golden Core stage master as well. It was laughable that he was just making wild guesses about other people's cultivation.
"Oh, so this is the boy with the 'Fragmented Poison Body' that those few peaks have been buzzing about these past few days," a lazy voice entered Li Yan's ears.
Li Yan looked up and saw the person slowly sitting up straight. It was a withered, short old man, about seventy or eighty years old, with a full head of white hair, neatly combed. His face was covered with many wrinkles. He was wearing a gray robe, and his expression was lazy. His sleepy eyes seemed to be half-awake. It was only when he finished speaking that he raised his eyes and glanced at Li Yan. In an instant, Li Yan felt a trembling in his soul, which made his face turn pale. That one glance seemed to have seen him through and through, leaving him with no secrets at all.
"Oh? This boy seems a little interesting. Hehe, the depth of the magical power in his body seems to be around the third layer, which is completely inconsistent with his realm. Could this be the effect of the 'Fragmented Poison Body'?" The first half of the old man's sentence seemed to be directed at the two of them, but the second half seemed to be to himself.
Li Yan felt a lightness in his body, and the feeling of his soul leaving his body immediately disappeared without a trace. But in just that short moment, his back was already soaked with sweat.
Li Wuyi answered respectfully, "Reporting to Martial Uncle Gu, Eighth Junior Brother is indeed the one with the 'Fragmented Poison Body'."
"Oh, I've only heard that this kind of poison body appeared in our sect a few tens of millions of years ago. I'm just a little curious. Hmm, you boy, come forward and let me have a look," the gray-robed old man said, withdrawing his divine sense, seeming somewhat interested, and beckoned to Li Yan.
"Yes, Martial Uncle Gu," Li Yan didn't dare to be slow. As soon as he recovered, he immediately forced himself to be alert, and also bowed respectfully like Li Wuyi and walked forward.
After Li Yan walked up to the table, the gray-robed old man leaned forward a little, stretched out a withered, slender hand, and grabbed Li Yan's wrist. Li Yan was helpless in his heart. He had been like this many times since he arrived at the Malevolent Spirit Sect. He was already a little numb.
After a moment, the gray-robed old man released Li Yan, his wrinkled face showing a hint of pity. "Oh, alright, alright. It's indeed a Miscellaneous Spirit Root. What a pity for this good constitution."
He looked at Li Yan with a pitying expression, then returned to his previous lazy appearance and said listlessly.
"Hmm, what's your name?"
"Disciple, Li Yan," Li Yan answered respectfully.