Li Yan grabbed the other blue rhomboid crystal in the air, and his divine sense unhesitatingly probed it again. To an outsider, his previous action was simply to calmly grab the white-cored crystal, and after two breaths, place it on his lap. Then he reached out and grabbed the other floating crystal, the one with a deep green core, and closed his eyes again. That was all.
Another two breaths later, Li Yan placed the crystal in his hand on his lap again. His eyes remained closed, as if in thought. His posture made the distant crowd's hearts leap to their throats. Nearly half an hour had passed since the time Gong Chenying had given. Apart from his eyes lighting up when he discovered the green gourds, Li Yan had either been frowning or had his eyes shut tight, looking like he wasn't making much progress.
Gong Chenying's lips were pressed tightly together. By now, a thick layer of snow had covered her. She didn't even put up a protective shield, maintaining her peak physical condition at all times, allowing her spirit power to flow freely. The moment the time was up, she would immediately lead the charge out into the vast snow. She kept a close watch on Li Yan's every move, but so far, it seemed he had encountered an unsolvable problem.
Amidst the tense breathing of the crowd, this world of ice and snow was silent except for the howling, biting wind. Snow gradually piled up on Li Yan's head and body, until only the outline of his head was visible, with two streams of warm air slowly exhaling from his nose only once every long while.
Time passed slowly. Many of the cultivating disciples had already awoken and joined the queue of onlookers watching Li Yan. The silence was oppressive and suffocating.
Suddenly, Li Yan moved. The snow on his arms cascaded to his sides, and the eyes in his silhouetted face snapped open, shaking off a good amount of snow. He picked up one of the blue rhomboid crystals from his lap, which had long since turned into two icicles, and then made a strange gesture. He brought the two crystals together. But strangely, when the two crystals were about an inch apart, Li Yan's hands seemed to meet a powerful resistance, unable to move forward. There seemed to be a strong repulsive force between the two crystals, pushing each other away. A sharp glint flared in Li Yan's eyes. A spiritual glow erupted from his body, radiating through the snow on him, creating a hallucinatory effect. The snow on his arms had been shaken to the ground, but the crystals in his hands just wouldn't come together. Li Yan increased the spirit power in his hands, and with a few soft "kaka" sounds, fine cracks appeared on the two crystals.
The spiritual light on Li Yan's body immediately dimmed, then vanished. He held the two crystals before his eyes and examined them carefully again. He then released two wisps of divine sense to probe them. A moment later, he felt relieved. Although there were a few fine lines on the surface of the crystals, his actions had been extremely fast, and he had only released and retracted his final burst of spirit power. As long as they weren't subjected to great force next time, the two crystals would be fine.
Before the others could react, the two crystals flew from Li Yan's hands and floated in front of him. He reached down and picked up a green gourd from the ground. With a wave of his hand, the lid flew open, and three rays of light shot towards the white-cored crystal in the air. A few breaths later, he slapped the bottom of the gourd, and the three rays of light from its mouth vanished. Li Yan reached out and grabbed the white-cored crystal, his divine sense probing it again. After a moment, he seemed to nod in satisfaction and placed the crystal back on his lap.
He then slapped the bottom of the gourd again. This time, four rays of light shot out from the gourd's mouth, hitting the remaining deep green-cored crystal in the air. After another moment, Li Yan retracted the four rays of light and reached for the deep green-cored crystal. His divine sense probed it again. Half a breath later, he capped the gourd in his other hand and placed it on the ground. He then picked up the white-cored crystal from his lap and once again brought his hands together.
This time, there was no resistance between the two crystals. With a "pa," they stacked directly on top of each other. Li Yan let out a long breath, placed the two crystals on his lap, and turned to look behind him. As he turned, a flurry of snow fell from his head and shoulders, burying his cross-legged form halfway.
"Senior Sister Gong, may I borrow your blue rhomboid crystal? Don't worry, just for a look."
Gong Chenying, like the others, had been staring at Li Yan. Seeing him perform a series of very strange actions and now asking to borrow her crystal, she knew he must have seen her worry about him nearly destroying the previous two, hence the added sentence.
Although Gong Chenying didn't know the meaning behind Li Yan's actions, it was clear that this little martial uncle had made a discovery. She didn't waste words. With a flash of light from her hand, a blue rhomboid crystal flew whistling towards Li Yan.
Li Yan smiled slightly and caught it. A purple-cored crystal was now in his hand. Without any hesitation, he grabbed one of the crystals from his lap and repeated the same action, bringing it towards the purple-cored one. A moment later, when the two crystals were an inch apart, they once again couldn't be merged. Li Yan infused a tiny bit of spirit power, found that it still didn't work, and gave up the attempt. He then tried to merge the other crystal with Gong Chenying's, but that also failed.
Next, he floated Gong Chenying's crystal in front of him, picked up the green gourd from the ground again, and slapped its bottom in the same manner. This time, four rays of light shot out, but their color was much dimmer than before.
A few breaths later, Li Yan capped the gourd and placed it on the ground. He then picked up Gong Chenying's crystal again. This time, the purple-cored crystal merged with the other two crystals without any pause. A smile appeared on Li Yan's face. He played with Gong Chenying's crystal in his hand, seemingly lost in thought. A moment later, a determined look appeared in his eyes.
Then, Li Yan turned and tossed the blue rhomboid crystal back to Gong Chenying. Behind him, some of the cultivators seemed to have understood something. Many of them were staring at the two crystals in Li Yan's hands. After seeing him perform these actions several times, they now understood that the blue rhomboid crystal was the key.
Li Yan stood up, and the thick layer of snow on his body fell to the ground, instantly burying him up to his calves. He turned to face the crowd.
"Little Martial Uncle, could it be..." Hu Ziyi's pretty voice was the first to sound, her tone extremely tense. She hoped Li Yan had figured out the problem so that Martial Aunt Gong could come up with a countermeasure.
The others, though silent, were also looking at Li Yan.
"Heh, you all take a look first. But it's best not to inject any spirit power," Li Yan didn't answer, but instead tossed the two crystals in his hands towards Hu Ziyi and the others.
In fact, the moment Li Yan had taken out the crystals, many people had their eyes on them. But at that time, Li Yan was eager to use these two items to prove some things, so he naturally wouldn't give them to them. Now that he had basically figured out the whole story, he knew that if he kept them to himself while explaining things, it would arouse distrust. They might even think he was using his status to get the crystals first, believing they could have figured it out too. So he might as well let them see for themselves.
As the two crystals flew toward the crowd, Gong Chenying just stared at Li Yan without making a move. The crystals landed in the hands of Hu Ziyi and another Qi Condensation cultivator next to her. They showed expressions of astonishment, but their eyes quickly filled with even greater curiosity.
"I'll say it again, it's best to only probe with your divine sense, not with your spirit power," Li Yan's voice sounded again.
Under the even more curious gazes of the crowd, Hu Ziyi and the Spirit Insect Peak cultivator next to her carefully released their divine senses. But a moment later, they withdrew their divine senses with blank expressions. Hu Ziyi, with a look of utter confusion, passed the crystal in her hand to the person next to her. But at that moment, the Spirit Insect Peak cultivator holding the other crystal suddenly swayed. Several people around them looked over in alarm, only to see the cultivator's face had changed dramatically. His breathing was rapid, his mouth open but no sound coming out, and the crystal in his hand was shining with a brilliant blue light. These Qi Condensation cultivators were startled. A few of them quickly stepped forward, wanting to check on him. Just then, a cold snort sounded, like a clap of muffled thunder in this space. Following the snort, everyone felt their legs go weak, nearly collapsing to the ground. The Spirit Insect Peak cultivator had already fallen to the snowy ground with a "plop." The blue light from his hand instantly vanished, and the crystal had quietly slipped from his grasp, floating in the air.
"You'd best not try to infuse spirit power again. Even a Foundation Establishment cultivator can only last for a hundred breaths. How much spirit power do you think you have to be drained?" A frosty voice echoed in the space. Gong Chenying's face was like ice.
Everyone's heart trembled. Only Li Yan had a smile on his face. He knew this would happen. Hu Ziyi had listened to him and only probed with her divine sense, but that Spirit Insect Peak cultivator clearly didn't believe him. After probing with his divine sense, he had quietly released his spirit power, and instantly, just like Li Yan before, he couldn't even call for help, only able to watch as his spirit power was drained. Li Yan could now basically deduce that besides his own True Scripture of Gui Water, no one here could reverse-absorb the spirit power from the blue rhomboid crystal.
The few Qi Condensation cultivators who had rushed forward and almost acted were now covered in a cold sweat. Just looking at the Spirit Insect Peak cultivator who had fallen to the ground, his face now ashen as he desperately absorbed spiritual energy from two spirit stones, and thinking about what Gong Chenying had said about a Foundation Establishment cultivator only being able to last a hundred breaths, they realized that if they had gone up, they would have suffered a huge loss in an instant, with unknown side effects.
The rest of the inspection time was quick. The two crystals passed through the hands of over twenty people, a quick scan with their divine sense was enough to know the situation, and no one dared to infuse spirit power again. But some seemed to be lost in thought. They were not fools; on the contrary, each of them was extremely intelligent. They quickly thought of a question: how did this Martial Uncle Li know not to infuse spirit power? There was only one answer: he must have tried it himself. But thinking of the scene just now, with that Spirit Insect Peak cultivator's mouth open but unable to cry for help, they couldn't help but feel an sense of inscrutability towards Li Yan.