Li Yan turned and walked back into the valley, thinking as he walked. He seemed to have missed a perfect opportunity to escape. How could he have been so careless? He already knew his current situation, yet he had still been so negligent. Now, his life was in danger at any moment. Who knew when that Strategist Ji's fire poison would become uncontrollable, and he would come to slaughter this "pig" of his.
"No, since I have this opportunity, I can't hesitate. I have to leave in a little while. I can't wait any longer, otherwise I will definitely regret it," he thought. At this thought, he quickly walked back into his room. There was nothing to pack. A few sets of clothes and his salary for the past two months were in the brown vine chest at the head of the table. He could just pack a simple bundle. But carrying a bundle would be too conspicuous. He could just put the dozens of taels of silver in his robes. That way, it wouldn't be too eye-catching.
Although he hadn't left the valley in two months, the dozens of taels of silver for his post as Deputy Defender were delivered by Chen An and the others every month, which also put his mind at ease. Now, this would be useful as travel expenses after he left. Otherwise, it would be difficult to travel.
With his mind made up, he sat cross-legged in his room, regulating his breathing to gather his energy, waiting to get up and leave the valley to escape in a little while. He still didn't know that even with Strategist Ji not in the valley, it would still take some effort for him to get out. Chen An and Li Yin would not easily let him go without an order.
His recent cultivation of the True Scripture of Gui Water had been as if blessed by the heavens. It was indeed an ancient immortal art from the Spirit Immortal Realm, and it was a cultivation technique specific to his constitution. In just over ten days, he had already felt his water spiritual power grow rapidly. He could not yet look inside his body, but he had a faint feeling that his water spiritual power vat had been filled by about one-fifth in just over ten days. His body had become more agile, and his strength had increased a lot.
This cultivation speed could be described as terrifying. Li Yan thought that if he cultivated at this rate, wouldn't he be able to cultivate to the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation stage in less than a year? He was partly right in thinking this, but not entirely. There are no shortcuts in the path of cultivation. The reason he was cultivating so fast now was, first, the cultivation technique was originally created for his constitution, so it was like a fish in water, especially in the beginning when he was starting from scratch. So, of course, the growth was fast. Second, the spiritual power vat in his body was actually pitifully small now, so it felt like his spiritual power was growing quickly. Third, he still didn't know that in the path of cultivation, the later the stage, the slower the progress for both cultivation techniques and spells.
As he was regulating his breathing, he suddenly heard footsteps outside his room. He thought to himself, 'Lunch is here. After this meal, who knows when I'll have the next one. I'd better eat my fill, so I have the strength to run.' He then stood up and walked towards the door.
"Li Yan, I heard you were looking for me just now?" Just as Li Yan reached the door and his hand had just touched the doorknob, a familiar voice came. This voice made him feel as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze in place, his mind buzzing. Who else could this voice be but Strategist Ji? In an instant, his mood fell into an abyss.
Fortunately, he had some self-control. After composing himself, he pulled open the door with a dazed expression. He knew that his teacher's divine sense could be released outside, but he hadn't felt the pressure of his divine sense just now. Maybe he hadn't released it.
"Huh, Teacher? You're back!" After opening the door and seeing that it was Strategist Ji's face, Li Yan's expression froze for a moment, and then he showed a look of pleasant surprise.
"Oh, I went out for a trip recently on some urgent business. I just came back and heard from Chen An that you were looking for me, so I came to see you."
"I was looking for you because I have some questions about my cultivation that I need to ask you!"
At this time, Strategist Ji's complexion was not very good. His clothes were torn in several places, with faint traces of blood. His already pale gray face had an even stronger blackish tint.
It turned out that after Li Yan had left that day, Strategist Ji had made a decision. He decided to go to the place marked on the map to see for himself. He felt that the fire poison was becoming more and more difficult to suppress. This time, as long as he was more careful and didn't fight with anyone, he could still bear the consumption of spiritual power on the road. After making his decision, he resolutely left the valley and headed west.
But the weather is unpredictable, and man's plans are not as good as heaven's. It was also Li Yan's extremely bad luck. Originally, this trip of Strategist Ji's, a round trip of nearly thirty thousand li, plus the time he would take to look for the treasure, would take at least one or two months. But just as Strategist Ji had gone several thousand li deep into the Great Green Mountains, he had the bad luck to run into a first-tier, mid-stage demonic beast. Logically, the route he was taking was one he had explored before. A demonic beast of this level should only be encountered when he was another ten thousand li deeper. By then, he would have been moving stealthily and trying his best to avoid these existences that he could not currently defeat.
Speaking of these concealment techniques, there were quite a few in their 'Immortal-Seeking Lineage's' long inheritance. They could use the scent of herbs to hide, or use the terrain of mountains and rivers to hide. If he used these techniques, as long as he didn't go too deep into the Great Green Mountains, tens of thousands of li, he could still avoid the vast majority of demonic beasts. Otherwise, if they didn't have some tricks up their sleeves, what kind of immortals would this 'Immortal-Seeking Lineage' be seeking in these rarely visited places? They would have long since become extinct in the river of history.
But this time, for some reason, this demonic beast had a limp in one of its legs, as if it had been injured in a fight with a human or some other creature. Now it had actually run to this place and had the bad luck to run into Strategist Ji. And at this time, Strategist Ji had no defenses at all and could not hide his tracks.
A first-tier, mid-stage demonic beast was an existence comparable to a cultivator at the fourth or fifth layer of the Qi Condensation stage. This injured demonic beast saw that it was a human cultivator and also judged from the aura on Strategist Ji's body that he was far from being its match. Its ferocity immediately flared up, and it charged towards Strategist Ji.
Strategist Ji was only at the third layer of the Qi Condensation stage. How could he be its match? But fortunately, the demonic beast's leg injury had not yet healed, and its movements were very inconvenient. Seeing the bad situation, Strategist Ji immediately turned and fled. But this demonic beast's anger had not yet subsided after being injured. Now that it had found an object to vent its anger on, how could it let him go? It pursued him relentlessly. And so, they chased and fled towards the edge of the Great Green Mountains. A few times, the demonic beast relied on its higher realm to close the distance. Strategist Ji had to use all his strength, using both immortal arts and secular martial arts, to barely escape to the edge of the Great Green Mountains.
The demonic beasts and ghosts in the Great Green Mountains basically do not leave the Great Green Mountains. According to records, hundreds of thousands of years ago, there were several times when a large number of demonic beasts and ghosts left the Great Green Mountains, wreaking havoc on the human world and causing ordinary mortals to suffer greatly. Later, powerful human cultivators got involved. After a bitter fight, both sides suffered countless casualties, including many high and mighty Golden Core stage cultivators and third-tier demonic beasts and ghost kings. The situation only turned around after several Nascent Soul ancestors of the human world came out. They set some conditions with the other side's fourth-tier, peak-stage demonic beasts and ghost emperors. As for the specific content of these conditions, it was not something that ordinary mortals and low-level cultivators could know. But from then on, these demonic beasts and ghosts retreated to the depths of the Great Green Mountains and rarely appeared in the secular world again.
So, when Strategist Ji escaped to the edge of the Great Green Mountains, that demonic beast did not dare to cross the line, as if there was some kind of restraint outside the mountain. It could only roar at him repeatedly and then turn back into the Great Green Mountains.
Only then did Strategist Ji let out a long sigh of relief. But he was already extremely angry. Not only had he not found the secret of the immortal art this time, but he had almost lost his life. In the end, although he had saved his life, he had used a lot of spiritual power to fight, which made it almost impossible for him to suppress the fire poison in his body. His spiritual power was on the verge of going berserk. After this time, it would be almost impossible for him to return to his previous state. It would take several months for him to even recover to a stable state of spiritual power.
So, he had no choice but to return to the Strategist's Manor resentfully. He needed to rest and recuperate for several months to suppress the fire poison, and then see how to proceed with the next step. If he recovered well, and Li Yan had not yet cultivated to the peak of the first layer of Qi Condensation, he would then enter the Great Green Mountains again for a look. Of course, he didn't believe he could be so unlucky again. And when he entered next time, he would be careful immediately and would not be so careless as this time.
He returned to the Strategist's Manor. Just as he arrived in front of the valley, Chen An and Li Yin saw him and immediately came forward to salute. They saw that Lord Ji's complexion was extremely bad, and his clothes were torn and stained with blood. But they did not dare to ask. 'The Lord must have gone to the heartland of the State of Meng again. But why is it like this this time? Could it be that the State of Meng also has experts like the Lord?' They only thought these words in their hearts but did not dare to ask. Then they reported that Li Yan was looking for him. Strategist Ji heard this and nodded to show that he knew. Then he asked about Li Yan's recent condition.
Chen An replied cautiously, "Recently, the Young Master's temper seems to be a bit volatile."
Strategist Ji heard this and still nodded. He naturally knew about these things.
"Also, the Young Master recently suddenly asked for a brush, ink, paper, and an inkstone, and often copies things like poetry and songs. His actions are a bit strange. I have already saved those copied papers, and I don't know how to deal with them," Chen An said in a low voice.
"Oh, then bring those papers for me to see," Strategist Ji said. Hearing this, he had already guessed most of it.
Chen An and Li Yin quickly brought two large boxes over. After the boxes were opened, Strategist Ji casually took a few sheets to look at. It was nothing more than the sentences and ancient texts from the books he had previously placed on the bookshelves in several rooms. The handwriting on the paper was messy, and it was obvious that the sentences were randomly copied. It was just that the handwriting was really not something to be admired.
After looking at a dozen or so sheets, Strategist Ji put the papers back in the box and said to Chen An and Li Yin, "These are useless. They are just written by Li Yan to relieve his boredom. In the future, just take this kind of thing to the kitchen and burn it as firewood after cleaning up." He naturally knew that this was just Li Yan's inner fire rising with nowhere to vent, so he had found this way to soothe the restlessness in his chest. He had also used similar methods before, such as playing the guqin or the xiao flute.
After saying this, he walked into the valley. He did not go directly back to his room but went straight to Li Yan's room. He planned to ask Li Yan about his matter and then begin to rest and recuperate in seclusion for a period of time. If there was nothing necessary, he would not see any guests.
He came to the front of Li Yan's room. He did not use his divine sense to see if Li Yan was cultivating. The main reason was that he was seriously injured this time, and his spiritual power was greatly depleted. Using his divine sense also required the support of spiritual power. He had to save it as much as possible. So, he just opened his mouth and asked directly.
Li Yan looked at the pale-faced Strategist Ji in front of him, his clothes somewhat tattered. He knew that the opportunity was gone and couldn't help but feel regretful. With Strategist Ji in his current state, he probably wouldn't be leaving the Strategist's Manor for a short period of time. But even in this condition, it would be impossible for him to escape easily.
"Teacher, what happened to you?" Li Yan asked with concern. On the one hand, this question was a false display of concern. On the other hand, he really wanted to know where Strategist Ji had been for the past ten-odd days.
A forced smile appeared on Strategist Ji's blackish-gray face. "I went on a long trip for some matters and ran into a strong enemy on the way. But that scoundrel has already been killed by me. I was also injured a little. I'll be fine after recuperating for a period of time," Strategist Ji said, half-truthfully.
Li Yan thought to himself, 'What a pity. The one who could injure him should also be a cultivator. If only he could have been killed, that would have been great. What a pity. I really missed a perfect opportunity to escape.'
"Oh, I was looking for my teacher just to ask some questions about my cultivation. It's not a big deal. Then disciple will not delay my teacher's recuperation," Li Yan said with a bow.
"So that's it. This is not a small matter for you. Come, come, tell me what it is," Strategist Ji said. When he heard that it was about Li Yan's cultivation, he naturally could not delay it.
Li Yan heard this and could only step aside to let him pass. After Strategist Ji entered the room and found a chair to sit down, Li Yan stood by with his hands clasied, and then began to rack his brains to think of the so-called first-layer incantation of the "Woodyin Art." He then raised five or six questions. The questions he raised naturally could not be too simple, otherwise, after practicing hard every day for more than ten days, it would be like practicing for nothing.
Strategist Ji nodded after hearing this. These few questions were indeed easy to encounter in cultivation. He then began to answer them one by one. Li Yan listened with an attentive expression, occasionally interjecting with a question to get to the bottom of it. This made Strategist Ji even more satisfied, and he even felt as if his injuries had healed a little.
After a cup of tea's time, Li Yan's face showed a look of sudden enlightenment. He bowed again. Strategist Ji nodded with satisfaction. "You should cultivate diligently. I hope to see you cultivate to the second layer soon. This way, even if I die, you will have some ability to protect yourself in this world." As he said the last words, a hint of sadness appeared in his voice.
Li Yan's expression changed, and he quickly said, "Teacher, with your cultivation, you will naturally be fine after recuperating for a while. Disciple will also definitely work harder in cultivation to repay the sect's kindness."