Li Yan was indeed in a bad situation at this moment. Fighting against cultivators from Spirit Insect Peak and Never-Parting Peak was a disadvantage. He was currently equivalent to resisting two cultivators, one with a realm almost equal to his own, and the other three realms higher. If not for the heaven-defying True Scripture of the Nether Water, Li Yan would probably have been defeated halfway through the battle due to spiritual power exhaustion. Furthermore, being one realm higher was not just an increase in the total amount of spiritual power; the quality was also several times that of the previous one. The purity of his spiritual power was several grades lower than Zhou Guan'er's, which also led to the power of his immortal arts being several times weaker. He was now relying on the five spiritual power reservoirs in his body to continuously generate spiritual power. Even so, his expenditure was greater than his income. Fortunately, the "Maggot on the Bone" among his twelve Fragmented Poisons did not disappoint him. With his full effort, Zhou Guan'er and the Ghost-Faced Horse were actually unable to break through his defense for a time.
At this moment, his spiritual power was almost at its bottom. Seeing Zhou Guan'er increase his attack, although the poison in his rain screen could slow down the attack of the Ghost-Faced Horse's nether flame skulls, there were still three or four nether flame skulls that had broken through to within four or five inches of his protective spiritual light. And that flying dagger spirit artifact was even sharper. Although it was launched later, it broke through the rain screen at an extremely fast speed and was now only one or two inches away from his protective spiritual light. Some thin vines were also slowly attacking. But at this moment, the appearance of the nether flame skulls and the flying dagger had also greatly changed. The nether flame skulls were "swollen" by several times, and the closer they got to Li Yan, the more "swollen" they became. Within the layers of gray water stains, only a faint green light could be seen flashing. The flying dagger had also become a gray "flying club," and the thin vines had become thick vines.
Zhou Guan'er was also frustrated. He never would have thought that a person four realms lower than himself would have such a sturdy turtle shell. That poison was truly elusive. He felt that his flying dagger spirit artifact would probably be useless after this use. Fortunately, the nether flame skulls and thin vines were all formed by spiritual energy and were only temporarily affected. Since the flying dagger spirit artifact would be useless in the future, he hardened his heart and planned to make the flying dagger self-destruct as soon as it broke through to Li Yan's protective spiritual shield. The power of a spirit artifact's self-destruction was something that even he, with his tenth-layer Qi Condensation cultivation, would have to dodge as far as possible. As for whether Li Yan would die, it was none of his business. Anyway, the sect always let both sides go all out in every competition. There would be a supervisor to protect them. But he knew that there had been quite a few accidents in such major competitions, resulting in some deaths, but the sect would just let it go afterward, unless that person was a core disciple. Although this person in front of him had a Golden Core master, he was still far from being a core disciple.
Another thing that puzzled him was that Li Yan had been hit by the poison of the thin vine thorns before. Those poisons were carefully refined by him. After piercing into the human body, the poison would flow up with the blood, causing abnormalities in the five internal organs, first nausea and vomiting, then paralysis of the nerves, leading to fainting, and even causing the heart to stop beating, leading to death. Where did this Li Yan get the antidote? And Li Yan had only shown a clear problem with his legs and feet when he was dodging earlier, but now, after such a long time, he still hadn't shown any signs of the poison taking effect. This was also the reason why the supervisor had not appeared yet. If there was anything wrong with Li Yan's body, the supervisor would have appeared immediately to treat him and stop the match.
Thinking of this, Zhou Guan'er's heart grew ruthless. He planned to use all his strength to drive the flying dagger to break through the rain screen and immediately self-destruct. What he didn't notice was that a dozen or so meters behind him, in the patch of grass he had carefully avoided, because Li Yan's spiritual power no longer supported it, and the small grass should have disappeared, there were still four or five clusters left. But they were also semi-transparent, looking as if they were about to collapse and be annihilated.
Zhou Guan'er had also probed with his Divine Sense earlier and found that these grass were just ordinary immortal arts cast with wood-element spiritual power. He had not found anything unusual inside. And after Li Yan withdrew his spiritual power, that patch of grass had also disappeared piece by piece. This was a normal phenomenon when an immortal art was cast without spiritual power to maintain it. But he still carefully bypassed that patch of grass.
And at this moment, the four or five clusters of semi-transparent small grass that were about to disappear suddenly turned into specks of tiny light and disappeared into the world the next moment. Zhou Guan'er was concentrating all his attention on attacking the front. All his energy and Divine Sense were focused on Li Yan. To drive that flying dagger with all his strength, he had not even activated his protective spiritual light, because Li Yan was trapped in the rain screen, and he had scanned this area inch by inch with his Divine Sense before, so he was confidently attacking forward.
Suddenly, a warning sign rose in his heart. He felt a coolness on his neck. He was greatly alarmed and quickly withdrew his Divine Sense to look inside his body. After a scan, he did not find anything unusual. He couldn't help but hesitate. However, just as he was planning his next step, whether to continue attacking or to confirm if there was anything unusual around him, the Ghost-Faced Horse suddenly let out a mournful cry that was a few pitches higher. This should have been the rhythm of an intensified attack, but to Zhou Guan'er, whose mind was connected to it, his face changed. Because he heard that it was the Ghost-Faced Horse's true cry of pain. He quickly turned his head to look. At this time, the Ghost-Faced Horse was suddenly shaking its head violently, as if trying to get rid of something. Then, with a cry, its pair of small eyes suddenly turned from their original black-green to pure white. Then, with a snort from its large nose, a dozen or so nether flame skulls shot toward him. Zhou Guan'er was greatly alarmed. It was clear that this Ghost-Faced Horse had been hit by the opponent's immortal art or a deadly poison. He quickly withdrew a hand to block, while his other hand still maintained the attack on Li Yan.
With a wave of Zhou Guan'er's hand, a large patch of scorched yellow leaves appeared in front of him. A dozen or so nether flame skulls were wrapped up and blocked a few dozen meters away. And at this moment, Zhou Guan'er suddenly felt a spasm in his heart, as if it had been fiercely squeezed by someone. He couldn't help but let out a muffled groan of pain. Before he could regulate his breathing and check, the force squeezing his heart tightened again. This time, the pain made him cry out loudly. Sweat poured down his body like a spring. An inexplicable force stabbed from the back of his neck straight into his Sea of Consciousness. Zhou Guan'er's mind went blank. His originally clear black-and-white eyes quickly turned white, and in the blink of an eye, they had become pure white.
Zhou Guan'er looked around fiercely. At a glance, he saw the Ghost-Faced Horse. Spiritual power flashed in his hand, and countless black arrows appeared in the sky behind him. With just a wave of his hand, that Ghost-Faced Horse could be shot into a porcupine. And in the distance, Li Yan was still hiding behind the rain screen, not facing this man and beast.
At this moment, the blue light of the battle stage flashed, and a person appeared behind Zhou Guan'er like a ghost. With a light pat, Zhou Guan'er had already collapsed to the ground. Without the support of spiritual power, that patch of scorched yellow leaves could no longer stop the nether flame skulls. A dozen or so nether flame skulls shot over. That person just waved his hand, and the dozen or so nether flame skulls had also disappeared without a trace. At the same time, he had flashed in front of the Ghost-Faced Horse. The Ghost-Faced Horse's cries came to an abrupt end, and it also collapsed to the ground. At this time, the dense black arrows in the sky gradually disappeared. He quickly checked Zhou Guan'er and the Ghost-Faced Horse once, frowned, and sent two streaks of spiritual light into the bodies of the man and the beast respectively. Just as he was about to look at Li Yan, his ears suddenly moved, as if listening to something. A breath later, he quickly grabbed the man and the beast with one hand and flashed out of the light shield. Before leaving, he gave a grave look at Li Yan, who had already withdrawn his rain screen and protective spiritual light. A voice drifted in the air, "Thirty-three wins."
Li Changting was dumbfounded. Some things she couldn't understand. "He can win like this? How did the poison on that grass know to suddenly launch an attack when Junior Brother Zhou was unprepared?"
She was a Foundation Establishment master, so she had naturally seen the scene of those few clusters of small grass collapsing in the end. It was clear that those semi-transparent small grass were deliberately controlled by Li Yan, maintained by his spiritual power. This also made her admire Li Yan's meticulousness. Even though she had previously suspected that the grass might be a poison trap set by Li Yan, when she saw the grass slowly disappear piece by piece, and then saw Zhou Guan'er also carefully probing in front of and behind him, she paid no more attention. Later, when the battle between the two sides was deadlocked for just a short seven or eight breaths, she paid even less attention to those few clusters of almost transparent small grass that looked like they were disappearing. It was not until those few clusters of small grass collapsed and turned into specks of tiny light that she noticed something. This series of layouts by Li Yan made her look at him in a new light. But what she couldn't understand the most was how Li Yan could control the poison on the small grass to not dissipate, and to expand and attack at a specific time. You know, everyone here could control the small grass to not dissipate, but to control the poison on the grass without being discovered and to be able to attack at a certain time was truly incredible.
At this time, in the various areas, the cultivators who had noticed this match were in an uproar, and discussions broke out. Many people didn't know what had happened. Some cultivators who had seen clearly were also discussing how Li Yan controlled the timing of the poison.
Amidst the discussions, a smile appeared on Zhao Min's lips. Li Yan had indeed not disappointed her. With layers of layouts, he had finally won against the joint attack of this man and beast. But she was also wondering how the young man's poison control method worked.
Wang Tian and Zuo Shengyan's faces were ugly, and a cold aura emanated from their bodies, making the Spirit Insect Peak cultivators within a few zhang of them all move away, not daring to speak.
"Little Bamboo Peak! To be unable to take down even a low-level Qi Condensation disciple, Zhou Guan'er is truly useless." Zuo Shengyan's face was frosty, and the scorpions on her exposed abdomen trembled even more. Her pair of snow-white long legs were even a few shades whiter with anger. Wang Tian's aura had also become much more sinister.
Li Yan returned to his area. Lin Daqiao looked him up and down nonstop. "Little Junior Brother, impressive, impressive," he said, clicking his tongue.
Wei Chituo grinned broadly. "You've improved. I didn't expect you to have another trick up your sleeve. Your sinister methods are a match for Eldest Senior Brother." After saying that, he felt something was wrong and quickly looked around.
Yun Chunqu rarely gave Li Yan a nod.
Gong Chenying gave Li Yan a strange look, as if she had something to say, but in the end, she did not speak.
In the floating pavilion, the cultivator who had just supervised the ninth stage looked at the various masters here who were divided into several groups and discussing loudly, and the helpless-looking Sect Master, and quickly took his leave. But as he walked, he thought about what the Sect Master had said to the other masters after checking Zhou Guan'er's body. "It's actually a poison that can be remotely activated through Divine Sense." This sent a storm raging in his heart. This kind of poison was the stuff of legends. To be precise, it was a direction that the Malevolent Spirit Sect had been researching for nearly ten thousand years. Remote activation of poison through Divine Sense, although they could all do it, how to keep the poison in a dormant state was something they had never been able to achieve. If this point could not be achieved, then the poison would constantly volatilize after being laid out, and might even volatilize completely on its own before being activated by Divine Sense. On the other hand, if the poison was constantly volatilizing, the enemy could know with just a sweep of their Divine Sense, so it would be useless against masters.
The Malevolent Spirit Sect had thought of many ways to make the poison dormant and inconspicuous, but whether it was wrapping it in spiritual power or suppressing it with Divine Sense, it would let the opponent sense the presence of spiritual power and Divine Sense. The most ideal way was to use another medicine to suppress the volatilization of the poison, but that other medicine had to be colorless, odorless, and even formless. Having these conditions was not enough; it also had to not conflict with the poison itself, and also be controllable by Divine Sense without affecting the activation of the poison inside, and so on. These were all things that had never been solved. He never thought he would see it today. He really didn't know how this Li Yan had refined it.
This kind of poison and Divine Sense poison were two different things. Divine Sense poison could paralyze, corrode, and even attack the main body along with the Divine Sense. A poison controlled by Divine Sense was formless and traceless, and could be remotely activated by Divine Sense.
The reason Yan Longzi did not hide this from the supervising cultivator was because he felt it was unnecessary. As long as Li Yan used this poison in the future, it might not be guessed the first or second time, but as long as there were people with intentions, someone would eventually guess it. But so what if they guessed it? Could you be sure you could defend against it? In addition, he was not worried that someone in the sect would try to get the formula from Li Yan. First, Li Yan did not have this formula at all. Second, many people would probably soon start to know about Li Yan's constitution. Actually, the most important reason was that Li Yan's aptitude was too poor. In Yan Longzi's mind, at most, he would have one more powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator in the future. Even if Li Yan had an Earth Spirit Root aptitude, he would still strictly seal this news until Li Yan was strong enough to protect himself and not be coveted by the other three sects.
This supervising Foundation Establishment cultivator actually had another matter on his mind. It was that he could not neutralize the poison just now. When he had checked Zhou Guan'er and the Ghost-Faced Horse, he could only use his spiritual power to protect their minds and heart meridians. He had thought it was a new poison developed by Li Yan himself, so he was just about to ask Li Yan to take out the antidote when he was told by the elder via voice transmission to bring Zhou Guan'er to the floating pavilion.