"Little Martial Brother, have you reported to Second Senior Brother?" Wen Xinliang suddenly asked.
"Reported?" Li Yan and Lin Daqiao stood side by side. Hearing this, he couldn't help but be stunned.
"Heh heh, Little Martial Brother, it seems this is really your first time leaving the sect. When a sect disciple goes out, they need to register with their own peak. Unless you reach the Nascent Soul level, then you don't have to," Lin Daqiao said, seeing Li Yan's dazed look, like a silly bird. He couldn't help but chuckle.
"Is that necessary? I didn't know. Then I'll go back to the main hall now and tell Second Senior Brother," Li Yan said with a smile, rubbing his nose.
"Let it go this time. I'll just send a message to Second Senior Brother," Wen Xinliang said, standing up straight from his leaning posture.
A moment later, the three of them flew east, facing the morning sun. Wen Xinliang's flying artifact was a magical artifact that resembled a butterfly, like jade but not jade, purple all over. It was unknown what kind of material it was refined from.
This magical artifact transformed to a size of thirty feet. The three of them stood on the butterfly's back and didn't feel crowded. Often, with a gentle flap of this butterfly's purple wings, it would instantly shoot forward sixty or seventy yards. Its speed was truly astonishingly fast. Li Yan was filled with envy. Even with Miao Zhengyi's flying sword, he could only leap about twenty yards at a time. He didn't know if his speed could also increase as his cultivation improved in the future.
After the three of them had flown for a little less than half an incense stick's time, Lin Daqiao pointed ahead. "Little Martial Brother, that is our sect's main gate."
Li Yan was stunned. They had come from Little Bamboo Peak and had flown at such a high speed for a little less than half an incense stick's time. He thought they had already left the Malevolent Spirit Sect long ago. He hadn't expected to have only just reached the vicinity of the main gate. He hadn't expected the sect to be so large. This made him think of the sect-protecting formation. He had heard that it started from the main gate and covered all the peaks. In that case, how huge was that sect-protecting formation? Li Yan couldn't imagine the power of such a huge formation.
Looking at the approaching main gate, it was shrouded in a large expanse of clouds and mist, making it impossible to see outside. With the speed of the purple butterfly under their feet, they passed through in an instant. The moment they passed through the main gate, Li Yan clearly felt the token at his waist tremble. It was as if there was something he couldn't see in the clouds and mist from all directions in the sky. He vaguely felt countless auras surging toward the token at his waist, but the next moment, everything returned to calm. This all seemed to take a long time, but in Li Yan's perception, it all happened in an extremely short instant. And just in this one instant, a feeling that made his hair stand on end rose from the bottom of his heart, as if if he hadn't been carrying the waist token just now, those formless auras could have turned him into dust with a single thought.
After flying out of the main gate, Li Yan looked back. This one look shook his mind to the core.
This was the first time he had truly seen the Malevolent Spirit Sect from the direction of the front main gate. It was a spiritual shock that came from the depths of his soul. A gate frame a thousand yards high shot up into the sky, piercing the clouds, as if it was endless. Above the thousand-yard gate frame, three sinister, dark green characters—Malevolent Spirit Sect—seemed to be firmly pressed there by the thick white clouds, exuding an endless pressure. With just one look, one felt as if they were being directly suppressed by these three characters, their chests oppressed, their breathing not smooth, like three great tripods pressing down from the heavens, suppressing this piece of heaven and earth. As they were occasionally hidden by the clouds and mist, they were still clearly visible, but with an added touch of gloom and mystery.
Behind the thousand-yard gate frame, five sky-supporting giant peaks could be faintly seen rising from the ground. There seemed to be some kind of invisible link between the five peaks. So when Li Yan looked at the five peaks, he immediately felt dizzy. The five peaks seemed to come alive in his eyes, sometimes far, sometimes near, flickering erratically. When he looked at Little Bamboo Peak again, Little Bamboo Peak was sometimes on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes it seemed to have sunk into the endless thick clouds and mist below, flickering erratically in his eyes. This was completely different from what he had seen inside the sect.
Even after flying out of the sect for dozens of li, Li Yan was still immersed in his own insignificance.
"Little Martial Brother, your cultivation is truly advancing by leaps and bounds. The day you just came out, you had already reached the tenth layer of Qi Condensation. It's a world of difference compared to more than three years ago."
Wen Xinliang and Lin Daqiao, seeing that Li Yan had been in this state of shock ever since passing through the main gate, couldn't help but look at each other with smiles in their eyes. They hadn't spoken the whole time. They both understood this feeling. When they first came to the main gate, they were not much better off than Li Yan was now. But what made the two of them find it a bit funny was that Li Yan had been in the sect for nearly four years, yet this was the first time he had seen the full view of the sect.
After flying for dozens of li, Wen Xinliang, seeing that Li Yan still hadn't recovered from his shock, looked at the mid-stage Qi Condensation eighth layer aura fluctuations emanating from Li Yan's body and couldn't help but ask.
It was no secret to the few people on Little Bamboo Peak that Li Yan's aura was dormant and hidden. Ever since he had been fed moves before entering the secret realm and Li Yan had acted in the competition, they all knew that Li Yan's Fragmented Poison Body had the function of hiding his own cultivation. This made them all extremely envious. In the cultivation world, who didn't want to have a few more trump cards in hand, and who didn't want others to directly see through their own realm?
But this method of Li Yan's was something they couldn't learn even if they wanted to. When Li Yan had first entered the sect, although Wei Zhongran had specifically asked Li Yan to explain how the Fragmented Poison Body had been produced, and Li Wuyi and the others had also tried to experiment after they went back, they couldn't find any hope at all. Instead, it had made their own cultivation methods chaotic and their auras unstable, so they all gave up the idea.
Today, seeing Li Yan's stable aura, and his realm having returned to the eighth layer of Qi Condensation, it was clear that he had already resolved the negative effects brought on by his promotion in the secret realm. Thinking of Li Yan three years ago, who was just a low-level cultivator who had just entered the second layer of the Qi Condensation stage, now, in just three short years, he was almost the same as Lin Daqiao back then. This truly made Wen Xinliang sigh in amazement in his heart.
"That's right! When you came a few years ago, you were only at the second layer of Qi Condensation and didn't know anything. Now you're almost catching up to me," Lin Daqiao said with a grin.
Amidst his shock, Li Yan heard the voices beside him. Only then did he slowly recover, but the look of amazement in his eyes still remained. After composing himself, he rubbed the tip of his nose in embarrassment.
"Heh heh, Fifth Senior Brother, Seventh Senior Brother, you jest. This is the first time your junior brother has seen the full view of the sect. I was truly shocked." Wen Xinliang and Lin Daqiao both smiled at these words, and Lin Daqiao patted Li Yan's shoulder lightly again.
Seeing that their gazes were still on him, apparently sizing up his aura, Li Yan knew that if this were outside, it would be extremely impolite, and could even cause a fight. But these were two senior brothers looking at a junior brother. It was understandable for them to directly probe Li Yan's cultivation.
"You praise me too much. I only got the Fragmented Poison Body by a stroke of luck. Over the past few years, it's all thanks to the care of my fellow senior brothers and sisters. Otherwise, just the introductory matters of the cultivation world would have been enough for me to learn for these few years, let alone my current cultivation. As for catching up to Seventh Senior Brother, Seventh Senior Brother, please don't joke with your junior brother. The difference between Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment is like heaven and earth. One is in the sky, the other on the ground. It looks like only one realm separates us, but you could take your junior brother's life with a wave of your hand. Heh heh," Li Yan said with a wry smile after hearing their words, then said sincerely.
Just as he finished speaking, he saw Wen Xinliang shake his head, and Lin Daqiao was about to speak again with a curl of his lip. Li Yan quickly interjected, "By the way, why did you think of going to the trading city today? I didn't get a chance to ask Seventh Senior Brother in the message just now."
Seeing Li Yan ask a question, Wen Xinliang seemed to know what was on Li Yan's mind. With a hook of his lips and a ghost of a smile, he looked at Li Yan and did not continue to speak, but turned his gaze to Lin Daqiao.
Hearing Li Yan's question, Lin Daqiao couldn't help but smile. "Little Martial Brother, you don't know. This time, I was dragged out by Third Senior Brother to train for a few months, and I got a lot of good things. This time, I'm taking them to the trading city to exchange for spirit stones. It's just that Third Senior Brother has shown signs of a breakthrough since he came out of the secret realm last time. This time, after the training, he is even more confident. That's why he was in a hurry to get back to the sect. He went into seclusion yesterday as soon as he got back. He gave all the things he got this time to Fifth Senior Brother to sell on his behalf."
As Lin Daqiao spoke of these things, his eyebrows danced, and he looked very excited. Looking at Lin Daqiao's high spirits, a thought came to Li Yan's mind.
"Your junior brother's cultivation is too shallow. I've never had any training. I wonder what it's like?" Li Yan had always been very curious about training outside. Due to his cultivation problem, the sect strictly forbade Qi Condensation stage disciples from going out to train. Seeing Lin Daqiao's appearance, Li Yan's curiosity was piqued.
"Hahaha, Little Martial Brother, you don't know. Although it was only a little over four months this time, the harvest was quite substantial. We killed a total of seven first-tier demonic beasts, including a second-tier Earth-Armor Tiger. Just the beast core and flesh and blood of this Earth-Armor Tiger can be exchanged for one or two thousand low-grade spirit stones. What's more, its bones are the favorite raw material of those artifact-refining masters. It can easily be exchanged for five or six hundred low-grade spirit stones. Among the other six demonic beasts, there were two Green Wind Wolves. This is a good thing that wind-attribute cultivators most hope to exchange for, and it is also extremely sought after in the trading city...
"...This time, we also collected forty or fifty low- and mid-grade medicinal herbs. A few of these herbs are over a hundred years old. Two of them are the main ingredients for refining the 'Rosy Infant Pill'. This is also one of the raw materials that some pill-making guilds like to buy the most. This pill has an irresistible temptation for those female cultivators. It has a very strong youth-preserving effect. A hundred-year-old raw material herb should be able to be exchanged for about seventy low-grade spirit stones..."
Li Yan listened with his mouth agape as Lin Daqiao spoke animatedly, even gesturing with his hands and feet when he got excited.
Li Yan knew that training was extremely risky, but he had no idea that the rewards were so rich. It was dozens or hundreds of spirit stones at every turn, and the good ones were even thousands of spirit stones. Thinking of himself working so hard in the sect to do missions, only to earn a few dozen spirit stones a month. This time, he had gone through a life-and-death struggle to get a few thousand spirit stones from the sect, which had made him so happy he couldn't close his mouth, thinking he was finally wealthy. But in their eyes, this was just a small part of what they got from going out to train. How could this not shock Li Yan? At the same time, a trace of envy actually arose in his heart. Of course, he was not jealous of what Lin Daqiao and the others got, but jealous of this way of getting rich overnight through training.
At this moment, a voice was constantly shouting in Li Yan's heart. "I want to establish my foundation! I must establish my foundation! Training! Isn't it just training..."
As Li Yan thought this, a fluctuation also faintly appeared in his eyes. All of this was seen by Wen Xinliang. He suddenly spoke up, "Daqiao, you're so happy with just this little gain. Aren't there better things? Tell Little Martial Brother about them to broaden his horizons." After speaking, a strange glint appeared in his eyes.
"Oh, right! Little Martial Brother, heh heh heh, there are even better things here." As he spoke, he looked around. At this moment, there were no other flying cultivators around them. But even so, Lin Daqiao was extremely secretive as he lifted the corner of his robe at his waist. Li Yan looked over with confusion and saw several storage pouches tied inside his robe. And it seemed there were even more storage pouches inside Lin Daqiao's long robe. Then he saw Lin Daqiao quickly lower the corner of his robe and then point at Wen Xinliang's waist.
Li Yan was a bit confused at first, but he quickly understood. He couldn't help but suck in a cold breath. He had already thought in his heart, 'These storage pouches obviously don't belong to the two of them. They must also be going to deal with these storage pouches.'
There were quite a few of these storage pouches. Li Yan knew at a glance that the storage pouches were definitely not their own. Since they weren't, then the answer was obvious. It was that they had obtained them by killing people and stealing their goods. Killing was not unfamiliar to the current Li Yan, but that was in a fair fight in the secret realm. Lin Daqiao and the others were outside the secret realm. Although the Malevolent Spirit Sect was a behemoth that ruled the region, this kind of thing was obviously not the first time they had done it. It must be a common occurrence. Weren't they afraid that too many people would hold a grudge against the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators? The principle of many ants biting an elephant to death was just that. This way, the Malevolent Spirit Sect cultivators would also inevitably be attacked when they went out. At this thought, Li Yan subconsciously looked around.