The light in Li Yan's eyes grew brighter and brighter. In the next moment, with a thought, the spirit power in his body poured into the blue rhomboid crystal in his hand. Then, a powerful suction force suddenly erupted from the crystal, as if it wanted to madly suck all the spirit power from Li Yan's body inward. At the same time, the True Scripture of Gui Water in Li Yan's body was already circulating. This time, a reverse vortex pillar formed in the wood-attribute spirit power vessel, and it also began to absorb the spiritual energy from the blue rhomboid crystal in reverse. Li Yan split the spirit power in his body into two streams. One continuously poured into his hand, while the other continuously absorbed the other four types of spiritual energy, aside from the wood attribute, from the blue rhomboid crystal. This way, a temporary balance was maintained. He absorbed the gold, water, fire, and earth from the outer five-elemental world of the crystal into his body for conversion, and then re-injected it into the crystal in the form of wood spirit power.
In this way, the wood spirit power in the blue rhomboid crystal increased, while the other four types of spirit power decreased. As the amount of wood spirit power increased, this five-elemental space was no longer multicolored, but gradually turned a pure green. This conversion process was extremely fast. The moment the other four types of spirit power in the crystal were completely converted, the crystal in Li Yan's hand had lost its blue luster and turned completely green. The instant the last drop of spirit power inside the crystal turned into wood spirit power, the original five-elemental space was filled with pure wood-attribute spiritual energy. These spirits then surged like a great tide returning to the sea, rushing towards the azure green core in the center. At the same time, the blue rhomboid crystal in Li Yan's hand was now blindingly green.
Li Yan knew this was the moment. He immediately cut off the spiritual connection with the crystal. As the vortex pillar in his body stopped spinning, the True Scripture of Gui Water activated again. The spirit power from the gold, water, fire, and earth vessels poured into the wood spirit power vessel like a river. An incomparably pure wood spirit power erupted from Li Yan's body. A layer of dazzling green protective spirit light quickly covered his entire body under the Ghost-Chariot Talisman, and then his figure crashed into the snowy mountain cliff at an extremely fast speed.
This time, Li Yan was afraid that the rules of the Wheel of Life and Death had too many restrictions. After converting all the spiritual energy in the crystal into wood spirit power, he simply converted all his own five-elemental spirit power into the same wood spirit power as well. Fearing failure, he also covered himself with a layer of pure wood spirit power protective light, keeping it consistent with the wood spirit power in the crystal before charging forward.
Li Yan felt a great force pressing down on him. The Ghost-Chariot Talisman and his protective spirit light emitted "kaka" sounds. However, after a very short time, he felt his body lighten, and his vision opened up. He had actually arrived in a strange world. At this moment, the green light in his hand was almost invisible, and the spiritual energy within had dissipated, showing a tendency to revert to the five elements of snow. Only, its spiritual energy was much less, and even the green core had dimmed slightly. Li Yan's divine sense flew into the core and swept around. Finding nothing amiss, he withdrew.
Li Yan floated in the five-colored space outside the passage. 'If I wasn't sure before whether this secret realm was related to the Five Immortal Sects, now I'm at least sixty percent sure it is. This ability to unify the five elements and for one to become five... besides a heaven-defying cultivation art like the True Scripture of Gui Water, from what I know, only the other four immortal sects of the Five Immortal Sects should have such arts.' Ever since joining the Malevolent Spirit Sect, Li Yan had spent any free time he had reading various ancient texts. This made the gray-robed old man who guarded the library pavilion roll his eyes at him, always borrowing the free green-lit items, forcing him to spend time and effort inputting the information into Li Yan's divine sense again and again, without getting any benefit himself.
In his extensive reading, Li Yan had also found some descriptions of miscellaneous spirit roots, but there was never anything special about them. They basically all conveyed one concept: "waste spirit roots, impure constitution, suitable for basic cultivation with mediocre arts."
'I can't think of anyone else here besides me who can temporarily transform the five-elemental spirit qi in the crystal into the same spiritual qi as the core. No wonder the other three sects couldn't escape the constraints of the passage. Even if they discovered this secret, they would probably need to refine some kind of heaven-defying magical treasure to do it, but I imagine they haven't discovered this secret either. At the same time, entering and exiting like this also consumes the spiritual energy in the crystal. I don't know how many times it can withstand this.' Li Yan floated in the air, thinking for a moment. A spiritual light began to flicker in his hand. After a while, Li Yan's divine sense once again sank into the blue rhomboid crystal. A moment later, he looked up, a smile on his lips. His face, illuminated by the five-colored splendor, had a somewhat demonic charm.
'After I inject my own five-elemental spirit power, the spirit qi in its five-elemental space can be replenished by my own body.'
Li Yan released his divine sense and began to probe his surroundings. With his current cultivation at the tenth level of Qi Condensation, his divine sense was almost comparable to an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. A typical tenth-level Qi Condensation cultivator's divine sense could probe a radius of six or seven li, while an early-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator's could reach at least fifty li, and a mid- to late-stage cultivator's could spread to two or three hundred li. Li Yan's divine sense could already reach about fifty li. This was the power of the True Scripture of Gui Water. At this moment, Dong Fuyi's proud expression appeared in his mind again, and Li Yan couldn't help but miss this old man whom he had only met once. After a moment, Li Yan gently shook his head and focused on probing his surroundings. Right now, he could only see a white and a yellow ribbon of light to his left and right.
A moment later, Li Yan withdrew his divine sense with some indifference. In his divine sense, besides the two ribbons of light to his left and right, there were two more ribbons of light at a distance of forty li, but neither was purple. These ribbons of light were all moving toward each other at a certain speed. Li Yan judged that two of them would eventually have to intersect.
'There's no life here at all, besides the dense five-elemental spirit qi and the dancing ribbons of light in the sky. If I had time to cultivate in this space, it would be of great benefit. Cultivating here is more suitable for me than anywhere else in the secret realm. But doing so would mean truly disregarding Senior Brother Baili and Senior Brother Gan. The Malevolent Spirit Sect has treated me well, so doing so would be somewhat improper. Although I could find an excuse to deceive Senior Sister Gong, I would lose my Dao heart. This would not be beneficial for future cultivation and might even create a heart demon.' After thinking about it, Li Yan rejected the idea. But to say he did it solely for the benefit of the Malevolent Spirit Sect wouldn't be entirely true. If not for the fear of creating a heart demon, it's not certain that he wouldn't have abandoned the others. Perhaps in the Wheel of Life and Death, he only felt some camaraderie for Gong Chenying, or perhaps it was because he had promised her. Li Yan still gave up his selfish thoughts. He didn't even know when his heart had become so selfish, no longer the simple village boy, slowly starting to think about outcomes centered on himself.
'I don't see any purple ribbons of light. Have Senior Brother Baili and Senior Brother Gan already met with misfortune? Or did they move far away from this place because their passage color is the same as ours?' He looked around, then at the blue rhomboid crystal in his hand. After relocking onto a position in the crystal's core with his divine sense, his figure flickered and charged over. But after taking two steps, he was stunned, and then burst out laughing. He had only just realized after his subconscious action that in this five-colored space, he could fly rapidly without relying on his own strength at all, and his speed was like a thunderclap. This discovery made him feel like a bird free to fly in the sky. It seemed that everything in this Wheel of Life and Death was a great fortune for him.
Amidst his laughter, Li Yan had already disappeared into the distance like a bolt of lightning.
Gong Chenying had already rushed out several li. Her divine sense once again swept over the place where Li Yan had disappeared, but found no trace of him. After continuing forward for some distance, her divine sense could no longer find any sign of him. She then cast the thought aside. At this point, whether Li Yan was catching up or had truly met with misfortune outside the passage, she could no longer help. She couldn't sacrifice the lives of the others for one person.
Strangely, as they advanced, everyone seemed to slowly forget about Li Yan. No one asked about him. Only occasionally would many of them glance back, then fix their eyes on Gong Chenying's back. They all had their own thoughts, but no one spoke.
Fighting all the way, they advanced another few li. Suddenly, Gong Chenying, who was at the very front, trembled slightly, but she immediately returned to normal, her hand movements slowing only slightly. Because in her divine sense, more than a li ahead, Li Yan's figure had inexplicably appeared. Then, his voice came to her ear, "Senior Sister Gong, the other party has not appeared at the ten-li mark yet. I think it will be about half an hour before they do. It should be the Ten-Pace Courtyard or a demonic beast party. Be careful. Wait for me to return." Then, without waiting for her reply, Li Yan's figure disappeared again.
Gong Chenying was also stunned. But in the next moment, a soul-stirring smile bloomed on her lips. Such a smile was extremely rare on her, truly peerlessly beautiful.
'It seems there really is another world outside the passage. Little Martial Uncle can really come and go. But why is it that besides being able to simply control this blue rhomboid crystal, it has no other effect for me?' Gong Chenying thought of this and gently shook her head. Her hands did not stop moving, her eyes looked forward, and she muttered, "Little Martial Uncle, I hope you can see them in time. Heh, Ten-Pace Courtyard or demonic beasts... half an hour... then I will finish the rest of the journey in a quarter of an hour. Even if a few more die, I must preserve more people." Amidst a brilliant yellow light, a small golden axe had quietly begun to circle in front of her.
Li Yan was currently flying through the five-colored space, his divine sense constantly scanning his surroundings. Just now, after finally confirming whether he could re-enter the passage, he had glanced at the dark semicircular archway ten li away and the two dancing ribbons of light on either side. He had then chosen to enter through the gate at the five-li mark, which was more than a li ahead of Gong Chenying and the others. And through this entry, he confirmed another issue: when entering and exiting, one only needed the five-elemental world in the crystal to disappear and transform into the core's unified attribute spiritual energy. The spiritual energy on one's body did not need to be forcibly converted into a single element. In other words, if he wanted Gong Chenying to come out, he only needed to use the True Scripture of Gui Water to transform her purple-cored crystal into a single fire attribute. Purple was also a type of fire attribute. Then Gong Chenying could enter and exit the trial passage.
He entered and exited quickly this time. After entering, he rapidly replenished the spiritual energy the crystal had just consumed and quickly merged the five-elemental world that was just beginning to reform back into the wood attribute. Because the moment he entered the passage, he clearly felt a murderous intent lurking around him. His arrival had caused the restrictions here to sense an intruder. This was a prelude to an attack. After confirming Gong Chenying's position, he made a rough judgment based on the white and yellow ribbons of light he had seen outside and the speed of movement between the different ribbons. He then transmitted the message to Gong Chenying at an extremely fast speed. Without waiting for a reply, he left the passage again at an extremely fast speed. He felt that if he had delayed for even a moment longer, he would have been trapped there.