Li Yan seemed to sense something and quickly looked up at Gong Chenying, his face still showing some confusion. Ever since he saw those corpses in the sphere, he had been pondering many questions, but there were some connections he couldn't figure out. So he had been practically deaf to his surroundings until Gong Chenying's gaze fell on him, at which point he seemed to notice and looked up.
"Senior Sister Gong, I have some findings. I wonder if I could have a moment of your time? Perhaps it could be of help," Li Yan said, taking a deep breath, his eyes burning as he stared at Gong Chenying.
The moment he spoke, even the other cultivators who had already been planning to charge into the snowstorm and fight their way through all turned to look at Li Yan.
"Oh? What did you discover?" Gong Chenying turned to face Li Yan directly.
"It's not certain, just some speculation. There are still some things I haven't figured out. Maybe what I say will be nonsense," Li Yan said with a bitter smile.
This time, even Mi Yuanzhi and Qi Busheng didn't mock him. Right now, any piece of news could ignite a glimmer of hope for them. Although Li Yan said so, his previous actions had all been shrouded in a mystery that no one could see through, so they couldn't help but feel a sense of expectation.
"Alright, make it quick. A quarter of an hour. Just a quarter of an hour. We must make a decision, either to advance or to make a new decision based on your findings." Gong Chenying didn't go easy on Li Yan just because he was from Little Bamboo Peak. After a moment's thought, she decided to give him a quarter of an hour. They couldn't delay any longer, or they might not even make it through this trial.
"Do you remember in the first trial, the Chan monk from the Pure Land Sect said 'It's a pity we met a little early' before he died? I didn't quite understand it before, but now I think I might know what he meant," Li Yan said, nodding slightly before getting straight to the point.
Li Yan opened by getting straight to the point. At first, many were stunned. Then, after a moment of recollection, they remembered the last words of Chan Monk Zhiwei from the first trial. Quite a few people had heard it. After recalling this sentence and hearing Li Yan's follow-up, some had already started to frown and think deeply. But before they could think too hard, Li Yan had already continued.
"What that Chan monk meant was that in the first trial, he had hoped to encounter any other sect or demonic beasts besides us. That way, the situation we saw in the third trial—the merging of two or more paths—could have occurred. If we had encountered that, it would have been a dead end for us. I think the demonic beast faction can be discounted from merging with the three sects. First, the demonic beast faction we met in the second trial showed no abnormalities. Second, according to the information we received in the sect, only the three sects of Ten-Pace Courtyard are allied. There's a third point, which I'll get to later, that might involve the secret of their alliance.
After the two sides join forces, our most terrifying enemy is the combination of their multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators. In that scenario, we would almost certainly die."
Everyone listening naturally agreed. Their greatest fear right now was that the other side could somehow have multiple Foundation Establishment cultivators appear at the same time, which gave them a sense of powerlessness. From Li Yan's tone, it seemed as if he had found a way to crack this. Everyone's spirits were lifted. Gong Chenying's beautiful eyes also shone, staring at Li Yan without blinking, her proud figure in the snow looking as if it were clad in silver battle armor.
"Those two Foundation Establishment cultivators were seven paces apart. The one from Supreme Mystery Teachings, who was further in, was killed mainly by Wutong's Question, Bone-Penetrating Grass, and Myriad Hidden Shadow Poison. Senior Sister Gong confirmed this earlier." At this, he looked at Gong Chenying, who was like a goddess of war. Everyone's gaze also turned to her. Being looked at like this by Li Yan, Gong Chenying felt a blush creep onto her face for some reason, and she couldn't help but nod.
"Oh, so I actually killed a Foundation Establishment cultivator. That was my Myriad Hidden Shadow Poison!" The disciple from Lord Lao Peak couldn't help but look pleased, whispering to the people around him with a hint of pride. That was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, someone who could have slapped him to death with one palm. He never thought he would manage to scheme against a Foundation Establishment cultivator. If he could get out of here, this would be something to brag about for years.
"Heh, you think your poison alone could kill him? Weren't there also Wutong's Question and Bone-Penetrating Grass? Those were the poisons hidden in my Four Symbols Peak's formation."
"Tch, you think just Wutong's Question and Bone-Penetrating Grass could kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator?"
...
Li Yan heard the quiet discussion below but didn't interrupt, continuing on his own. The voices below also gradually died down.
"They were seven paces apart. The other one, the sword cultivator from Ten-Pace Courtyard, was closer to the exit, which was the earthen platform that rose after they arrived. Based on just these two points, I have a judgment: these two must have entered the sphere one after the other. Or rather, one entered only after the other was dead. Why would this happen? I speculate that two living Foundation Establishment cultivators cannot exist in the sphere at the same time. Otherwise, the rules here would judge them as hostile parties. This means the sphere might only allow one Foundation Establishment cultivator from the opposing side to exist at a time." The moment Li Yan said this, the crowd erupted like a pot of boiling water. Li Yan's words undoubtedly painted them a picture of hope for survival. But soon, the discussion died down, and everyone looked at Li Yan again. He had just given the conclusion without providing a specific reason, and they didn't know how he had deduced it.
Li Yan glanced at the sky behind him, a vast expanse of white ice and snow, and his speaking speed couldn't help but quicken. "I just mentioned the cause of death for the Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator. As for the other, the Foundation Establishment cultivator from Ten-Pace Courtyard, the fatal cause was the poison I set. One of the poisons I arranged can also spread through the air, and it spreads extremely fast. The victim's throat will be blocked by the poison gas, eventually leading to death by suffocation. But this poison has a characteristic: it will form a circle of red spots around the throat. Even if you dig out the flesh there, the red spots will only appear deeper inside."
Li Yan didn't explain the full use of his poison, just briefly mentioned the symptoms. Even so, some cultivators below noticed. Some thought about it but couldn't recall ever hearing of this poison in their memories. Their expressions changed slightly. It was acceptable not to know the antidote, but to have never even heard of a poison was a great taboo for a poison cultivator.
Li Yan paid them no mind and continued, "Although the entire body of the other Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator was corroded by Bone-Penetrating Grass, red spots still appeared on his cervical spine. But the degree of these red spots indicates they were not from when he was alive, but a vibrant red that formed after death. When a living person is poisoned by this, due to the blockage of spirit power and blood, the red spots would be blackish-red.
They were only seven paces apart, yet the Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator died from being poisoned while alive. With my control over this poison, spreading it over a distance of seven paces is a matter of less than half a breath. Spreading it throughout the forty-fathom sphere would only take a few breaths. But here we have one person poisoned while alive, and one poisoned after death. From this, we can preliminarily determine that they did not appear there at the same time. Although we can't rule out the possibility that one person, after being poisoned, unintentionally approached the other who was already dead, the posture of the Ten-Pace Courtyard sword cultivator can serve as supporting evidence. When he fell, one hand was holding the blue rhomboid crystal, and the other was curled as if casting a spell. His body was less than ten feet from the sphere wall, with the earthen platform behind him. His body was in a retreating posture, and there was a sliding footprint from a forward rush left in the bloody mess of organs on the ground. The soles of his shoes were covered in bloodstains, while the soles of the Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator's shoes were almost clean, with only large stains on his back, likely from when he fell from the air.
I can speculate: to ambush us, a Foundation Establishment cultivator from Supreme Mystery Teachings led a group of Qi Condensation cultivators into the sphere. The other Foundation Establishment cultivator from Ten-Pace Courtyard, possibly due to rule restrictions—that when two Foundation Establishment cultivators appear in the sphere, they are judged as hostile parties and must fight until one side is defeated—or for some other reason, had to stay outside. He could only enter after a Foundation Establishment cultivator from our side died.
When the Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator led his people into the sphere and was preparing to find a place to ambush us, they successively triggered the traps we had set. This resulted in a massacre inside the sphere. Because we were afraid the giant black shadow would approach too quickly, the poisons we set were all fast-acting and fatal. They didn't even have a chance to escape. The Ten-Pace Courtyard sword cultivator outside might have learned of the events inside through some method, or perhaps the black shadow on their side was already approaching and he had no choice but to enter the sphere.
In either case, not knowing the specific situation inside, he must have been on full guard. And with the speed of a sword cultivator, he must have entered with a sudden, offensive charge. But when he rushed into the sphere, he found that things were not as they seemed, so he stopped his charge. This left a sliding footprint in the blood and gore on the ground. However, by this time, the space was already filled with various deadly poisons. As luck would have it, he inhaled the poison I had set. So he quickly pushed off the ground to retreat and try to rush out of the sphere. This action might have been an instinctive reaction, or perhaps the black shadow outside their sphere hadn't arrived yet, and he could have temporarily escaped with his life if he had gotten out.
These points can be seen from the long, sliding footprint left in the bloody mess on the ground, indicating he made a forward-rushing motion. I also found a large amount of bloodstains on the soles of his shoes. This also shows that he probably didn't know the sphere was covered in blood and gore, which is why he didn't fly. This is inconsistent with the actions of an experienced cultivator; flying would have been the fastest way. At the same time, the Supreme Mystery Teachings cultivator was in the midst of it all, saw everything, and immediately flew up, attempting to flee. But he was entangled by several poisons, causing him to fall directly from the air and land on his back, getting covered in bloodstains. So the two of them did not enter at the same time.
Another point is that the Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator fell in the direction of the earthen platform, his body half-turned, as if he died while turning. If I remember correctly from these few trials, the earthen platform only rises after personnel from both sides have entered. So, does this mean that because this Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator entered, the sphere's rules judged that cultivators from both sides had entered and raised the platform? This would have blocked his way back. In that situation, the Ten-Pace Courtyard cultivator would naturally, instinctively, want to destroy or prevent the platform from rising so he could get out again. While retreating, he curled his fingers to shoot a sword gleam at the platform. I also found a dozen sword marks on the platform and the nearby ground. The platform was hacked to pieces. But before he could continue, he had already succumbed to the poison and died, retaining the posture of flicking out a sword gleam even in death. His purpose in attacking the platform, does it not show that the platform had not risen before he entered, but was caused by his sudden intrusion triggering some law of heaven and earth? Then does his sudden intrusion also show that he was not in the same batch that entered?"
Li Yan said all this in one breath. The crowd listened, dumbfounded. Gong Chenying's beautiful eyes also flashed repeatedly. She hadn't expected Li Yan to be able to analyze so much from the poison he set and a few traces in the sphere, making it seem as if they were there. But this result, they felt, was fifty to sixty percent possible.
"Since the earthen platform rises and seals the passage entrance, what if we enter first, and then their first batch of people also enters? The platform would rise then, and the entrance would close. Wouldn't that completely trap the cultivators left outside under the giant black shadow in the sky?" A cool voice rang out in this world of ice and snow. Gong Chenying's beautiful eyes stared at Li Yan.
Hearing this, Li Yan smiled slightly.