Gan Shi saw that Li Yan was silent, just frowning, and the atmosphere in the space became oppressive.
After a while, Li Yan looked up. His gaze swept over Gan Shi for a moment, and then his eyes suddenly narrowed. 'Could it be the Spirit-Storing Pouch? No, that's not right.' As his eyes sized up Gan Shi, they finally landed on the two Spirit-Storing Pouches at his waist, but he immediately felt that wasn't it.
'I have a Spirit Beast Pouch at my waist, which also contains living beings. How come I'm not affected? Could it be that there's a distinction between human and beast life forms?' Thinking of this, Li Yan suddenly said to Gan Shi.
"Senior Brother Gan, give me your crystal, and also one of the Spirit-Storing Pouches from your waist." Gan Shi was stunned for a moment, but then he seemed to realize something. His face turned a little awkward, but he still did as he was told, untying the Spirit-Storing Pouch containing Rui Feikai's group of four from his waist and tossing it to Li Yan along with the purple crystal.
After catching them, Li Yan first slapped a Ghost-Chariot Talisman on himself, then activated his protective spirit shield. Holding the purple crystal in one hand and the Spirit-Storing Pouch in the other, he quickly charged toward the spot Gan Shi had just tried.
Then came another "BOOM". Li Yan's figure stumbled back a few steps before he stabilized himself. He was prepared, so the force of the impact wasn't that great, and he steadied himself after just a few steps.
"It seems you can't get out with a Spirit-Storing Pouch." Gan Shi's somewhat helpless voice came from behind Li Yan, tinged with a hint of sorrow. From Li Yan's request, he had already thought of a possibility, and now it seemed it was true. If they couldn't get out, and looking at the environment of this battlefield, it was a fool's dream for their small group to think of passing this trial.
Li Yan didn't turn around. He remained in the same position, as if reliving the feeling of the impact. Time passed slowly, and neither of them moved.
Li Yan had a feeling that at the moment he hit the light band's membrane, he had felt two repulsive forces. But he couldn't figure out how these forces had appeared. At that moment, he only felt two forces from the light band's membrane rebound directly onto him.
"Sigh, Junior Brother Li, you should go out first. See if you can find Baili. If he doesn't know the situation yet, tell him about ours so he can be mentally prepared," Gan Shi said after a long while, looking at the sky. About an hour had passed. In another hour, they would have to attempt the trial. But that was a path of certain death. With Li Yan, there might be a glimmer of hope, but looking at the environment of this final trial, his heart trembled. He felt that even at his peak physical strength, he would only have about a thirty percent chance of success.
Li Yan seemed to have been startled by his words. He suddenly placed the purple crystal in his hand on the ground, then took out another blue rhomboid crystal from his Storage Pouch. It was the one he used himself, the one with the green core. He didn't take out Miao Zhengyi's blue rhomboid crystal because there was still a residual Divine Sense on Miao Zhengyi's Storage Pouch, and he didn't have Gan Shi's ability to break a peer's residual Divine Sense with a wave of his hand.
Gan Shi was about to continue persuading Li Yan to leave when he saw Li Yan suddenly take out another purple crystal. Then, a great green light flared from his hand, and in an instant, Li Yan had once again turned into a streak of green light and charged toward that spot on the edge of the battlefield. Right before Gan Shi's eyes, as Li Yan hit that spot, the green light suddenly vanished, and Li Yan along with it, without a trace.
"He succeeded?" Gan Shi looked at that spot in disbelief. Apart from the purple-glowing crystal still on the ground ten meters away, there was no sign of Li Yan. He blinked, and in the time it took him to blink, Li Yan had suddenly reappeared there, as if he had never moved. For a moment, Gan Shi wondered if he had been hallucinating, if Li Yan had moved at all.
However, the green-glowing crystal in Li Yan's hand told him that it was not a hallucination.
With a flip of his hand, the green crystal disappeared. He quickly picked up the purple crystal from the ground and sent his Divine Sense into it. A moment later, he sent another wisp of Divine Sense into the Spirit-Storing Pouch in his hand. After a while, a smile appeared on Li Yan's face. The points of light in the purple crystal's core and the people in the Spirit-Storing Pouch were all still the same.
When he had asked for the Spirit-Storing Pouch just now, Gan Shi had already guessed his intention, knowing he was using it for an experiment. That was why he had given him the pouch with Rui Feikai's group of four. He hadn't released three and left one, as that would have been psychologically damaging for anyone. It was better to let them not know. If Li Yan failed the test and the Spirit-Storing Pouch collapsed, it would just be bad luck for the four of them. But it was something that had to be done, which was why he had kept the pouch with the eight people.
Li Yan let out a long breath. He had been trying to understand the two repulsive forces. Finally, he determined that at the moment of contact with the light band, the two forces had simultaneously come from his own two hands. This phenomenon had not occurred when he had entered and exited alone with the purple crystal before. He also had a Spirit Beast Pouch on him, which also contained living beings, and those spirit beasts did not correspond to any light points in any crystal. Did this mean that when a main crystal and a Spirit-Storing Pouch with corresponding life forms appeared together, leaving the passage violated the rules here? So, could they be taken out one by one? Li Yan naturally thought of his own green crystal. He tried it, and sure enough, he could enter and exit. He couldn't help but let out a long breath. With this, the next part of the plan could be implemented.
"Senior Brother Gan, you saw it too. Give me the two Spirit-Storing Pouches, then you can take the purple crystal and go out first," Li Yan said with a smile, looking at Gan Shi.
Gan Shi's yellow hair flew in the breeze, and a smile also appeared on his face. Without hesitation, he untied the other Spirit-Storing Pouch from his waist and handed it to Li Yan, then shook his head.
"You take them out first. I'll go out after. If I can't get out, you can come back in and take me out with a Spirit-Storing Pouch."
Li Yan was stunned for a moment but immediately understood. Gan Shi wanted to personally watch him safely take the two Spirit-Storing Pouches out. Because after Gan Shi went out, the Five Elements combined spiritual power in his crystal would be mostly depleted. Without Li Yan's spiritual energy to replenish the consumed purple spiritual energy, he wouldn't be able to return. He wanted to be the last to leave, to ensure his team members had left. This wasn't a lack of trust in Li Yan, but his responsibility and pride.
After hearing this, Li Yan said no more. He picked up the purple crystal from the ground. At this moment, a lot of its light had been consumed, and the Five Elements space within was slowly recovering. He once again circulated the True Scripture of Gui Water, and slowly, the crystal in his hand shone with a great purple light. He handed it back to Gan Shi. A moment later, Li Yan, holding the green crystal, flashed and disappeared.
Gan Shi stood at the edge of the battlefield, looking around. Besides the gentle breeze, the fluttering tattered banners, and a ground littered with dark brown broken weapons, it was truly a scene of a battlefield at sunset. The yellow-haired man did not linger. Several rings rose again from beneath his feet, slowly enveloping him in the center. In a great flash of yellow light, he charged forward. The next moment, the place was empty. And the moment Gan Shi left, the space here began to crack like glass, emitting crisp, light sounds. Slowly, these sounds became louder and denser. The cracks in the sky and on the ground grew more and more numerous, wider and wider, and it began to collapse...
Looking at the multicolored sky, Gan Shi was in a daze. He and Li Yan were standing on a long purple band of light. It was a tranquil sky, as vast as the heavens. He couldn't help but scan with his Divine Sense. In his Divine Sense, about seven li from his current position, two bands of light were fluttering and dancing. A red band of light was moving toward him.
At that moment, he and Li Yan both looked down at the same time, because he felt the light of the purple band beneath his feet rapidly fading.
Li Yan's eyes also showed a strange light. It was the first time he had seen a band of light disappear before his eyes.
'Is it because there are no more living beings in the light band that it just dissipates?' Watching the points of light from the purple band under his feet continuously disintegrate and fly up like purple meteors, they slowly transformed into a part of the multicolored space with a dreamlike quality, finally disappearing completely. The two of them were as if bathed in purple starlight, their bodies constantly changing in fantastical colors.
Li Yan recalled the position where the purple light band under his feet had been fluttering, then determined a location and swept his Divine Sense out.
There was no sense of direction here, but Li Yan was more familiar with it than Gan Shi. He was now relying on his memory of the direction the previous light band had been fluttering to determine the direction he had come from. He sent his Divine Sense forward. Within fifty li, apart from the two nearby light bands, there were no others. Only beyond fifty li did he vaguely sense what seemed to be other light bands.
"Hmm, that one's red, not it." Gan Shi had now slowly calmed the turmoil in his heart. They had escaped death, and now he even felt a kind of excitement, as if they had cheated. He closed his eyes and released his powerful Divine Sense. Instantly, a Divine Sense so powerful that it even startled Li Yan swept out in all directions like a great flood.
'So this is a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Truly so strong that one can only look up in awe. It should be at least three to four hundred li. But for a prodigy like Senior Brother Gan, he's probably even stronger than an ordinary late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator of the same rank, maybe reaching about five hundred li.'
Suddenly, Gan Shi's eyes snapped open, shining with a brilliant light. He pointed to one side. "Over there, there's a purple light band."
Li Yan looked in the direction he pointed, then thought about the direction the purple light band under his feet had been fluttering just now. The place Gan Shi was pointing to was not the direction he had come from.
'It seems it's highly likely to be Senior Brother Baili. At least, it seems he's still alive for now. I came from that direction.'
After determining the direction, Li Yan said this to Gan Shi, also pointing in the direction he had come from to explain his reasoning.
"Oh, if you put it that way, that's really good news. Then let's go see if Baili is as miserable as I was. Baili, here I come!!" As Gan Shi spoke, he had already flown out, seemingly not caring in the slightest about his previous pitiful state. His words had recovered their heroic spirit, but at the same time, Li Yan could also hear a towering killing intent.
Li Yan couldn't help but look behind him. In a place he couldn't see, was there still a purple light band fluttering and dancing? 'Sixth Senior Sister, you have to hold on. I won't be able to bring the two Senior Brothers over to meet up with you for a while.'
The words Quan Jiuxing had said to Wang Lang were echoing in Li Yan's heart: 'I'm telling you this, Brother Wang, because I trust you. But you must never again have the idea of three high-level cultivators appearing in the sphere at the same time. Otherwise, you and I will face certain death.'