What Li Yan didn't know was that, at the same time he was descending the mountain, in a grotto at the very peak, far behind the stone stele, a tall elder opened his eyes. This person was dressed in gray sackcloth and sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion. His hair was silver, but his face was like that of an infant, extremely rosy. He muttered to himself, "What an interesting little doll. When did Little Bamboo Peak accept such a disciple? A Miscellaneous Spirit Root, yet his spiritual power is so pure, and he even has the Fragmented Poison Body. I've been in seclusion for too long; I don't even know what's happening outside anymore. If it weren't for the Heaven Stele's anger, I would have lost track of the years. This Heaven Stele truly has a childish temperament. The boy's cultivation is just a bit low, yet it feels offended by a single glance."
After saying this, the tall elder awkwardly lowered his head and thought for a moment, as if he hadn't moved in a very, very long time. Even this simple action seemed extremely stiff.
"For this little doll to have the Fragmented Poison Body is a great fortuitous encounter. Only three in hundreds of millions of years. It's just that his magical power is very strange. Logically, the spiritual power in a Miscellaneous Spirit Root's body should be extremely impure, but how are his several types of spiritual power so pure? What's going on? Could it be that he's cultivated some strange technique? But I've never heard of such a technique. Or perhaps he has ingested some kind of heavenly treasure..."
The elder lowered his head and fell into deep thought.
Li Yan had no idea that his Fragmented Poison Body, his internal cultivation state, and even his Miscellaneous Spirit Root constitution had been seen through from thousands of li away with a single glance. It was fortunate that he only came here after advancing in his realm and cultivating for another half a year. By this time, not only was his water spiritual power vat full of spiritual power, but his wood, fire, and earth spiritual power vats were also full. Only the metal spiritual power vat was half-full. Otherwise, if he had come here right after entering the second layer of Qi Condensation, the elder's suspicion would not have been so simple. The True Scripture of the Nether Water, just after advancing, was a unity of the five elements. At that time, only his water spiritual power vat had spiritual energy; the other four vats were empty because there wasn't enough spiritual energy just after advancing. Only during cultivation would the five elements disperse, using the art of mutual generation to accelerate the replenishment of the current highest spiritual power vat until all five vats were full. The appearance of this situation was what allowed Li Yan to avoid trouble.
Li Yan recalled the events of the past half-year, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. He now felt that in a few more months, he might be able to break through to the third layer of Qi Condensation.
He walked up the small path through the bamboo forest. On the way, he would still occasionally encounter some disciples from the other few peaks. They would just glance at each other and then walk away, minding their own business.
After walking for another stretch, the path gradually became deserted. Li Yan made a few turns, and the platform appeared before him.
After standing on the platform, he looked at a few spots on the ground that were of a different color, then turned his head to look at some of the scorched slender bamboos at the edge of the bamboo forest on the platform. He couldn't help but give a wry smile. These were all the results of his practice of immortal arts.
At first, he was worried that trying out immortal arts like this would make a mess here, and he didn't know if the sect would make him pay for the damages. But after this period of time, he also slowly discovered a phenomenon. The places on the platform that had been destroyed by his spells would slowly recover after a few days, as long as they were not completely destroyed. This phenomenon was also the same for the ground in his courtyard, including the surrounding dark bamboo. Although spells could break or burn them, the power of the bamboo shoots at their roots was very tenacious. After a dozen or so days, a large section would grow out crazily, replacing the previously damaged dark bamboo.
Seeing these phenomena, Li Yan estimated that this Little Bamboo Peak might have a secret he didn't know. Otherwise, why would those rocks slowly recover, and why would the vitality of the dark bamboo be so tenacious? He estimated that only by destroying the roots could it be completely eradicated.
Even knowing this, he would not choose to practice immortal arts in his courtyard anymore. Firstly, he had already replaced several sets of the stone table and benches. Secondly, some of the fragmented toxins had an effect on the bamboo courtyard's formation, consuming spirit stones. Apart from the eight low-grade spirit stones a month, he had nothing else and couldn't afford such a toss.
Li Yan stood on the platform, a slender bamboo stalk taller than a person and a large rock placed by his feet. After calming his mind, he formed a hand seal, silently recited an incantation, and with a soft shout of "Go!", a red fireball the size of a fist appeared in the air and smashed directly towards the ground in front of him. With a "boom," the fireball hit the platform ground squarely. However, strangely enough, with such momentum, not a single spark was splashed. The ground in that area was instead like it was being tightly sucked on by a crimson leech. The ground continuously bulged as if bubbles were rising, but the next moment, after writhing a few times, it subsided. But another bubble would rise in another spot, and the next moment, after writhing a few more times, it also subsided. And the crimson flame that looked like a leech grew dimmer and dimmer. The rising and falling bubbles also became smaller and denser, until they gradually disappeared.
Before the crimson flame had disappeared, Li Yan picked up the large rock by his feet and cautiously walked forward. After crouching down at the crimson flame, he used the rock in his hand to scrape at the flame, as if trying to scrape off a layer of a sticky plaster. The next moment, a strange thing happened. As soon as the rock in his hand touched the flame, it was also sucked onto it by a wisp of dark red flame. Then, a string of bubbles also bulged and subsided on the surface of the rock, cycling back and forth, until it disappeared without a trace after a few breaths.
Li Yan watched all this with a blank expression. The crimson flame at his feet also disappeared after a few breaths. Looking at the intact rock in his hand and the unchanged ground at his feet, Li Yan raised his other hand and gently wiped the spot on the rock where the wisp of crimson flame had disappeared just now. Immediately, a lot of powder fell from the rock, revealing a deep, bright red groove, as if it could pierce through the large rock if it went another inch deeper.
He then gently wiped the ground with his foot. On the completely undamaged ground, a larger and deeper groove appeared, like a bright and dazzling red scar.
This was one of the twelve pieces of Li Yan's Fragmented Poison Body. Li Yan didn't know what kind of toxin this was. He had checked the classics. The immortal arts cultivated by the Malevolent Spirit Sect were different from those of other sects. For example, Never-Parting Peak might cultivate the "Fireball Art" to have gu-poison in the fire. Spirit Insect Peak would cultivate the "Fireball Art" to have snake venom in the fire. Four Symbols Peak might cultivate the "Fireball Art" so that every particle of flame had miasma. All sorts of things like this gave other cultivation sects a headache.
And Li Yan didn't know the names of these toxins in his body, because it was possible that one fragmented toxin was composed of many potent poison components that he didn't know. Although he had been continuously studying various classics on poisonous herbs and insects recently, this knowledge was still far from enough to support his current understanding.
But this did not prevent him from testing the effects. Through these few months of slow exploration, he could now simply control the twelve fragmented toxins. He could call upon one of them to be released with his spiritual power every time he cast a spell. But at present, he was still relatively unfamiliar and clumsy in using it. It took him five or six breaths to cast an immortal art each time. In a real battle against an enemy, that would be enough time for the opponent to kill him dozens of times.
Li Yan was not very anxious about this. It was a process of familiarization. As for freely combining the twelve fragmented toxins, he didn't even think about this problem now. He couldn't even walk in a straight line, so how could he think of learning to run?
Looking at the rock in his hand and the bright red scar on the ground, Li Yan nodded in satisfaction. What he needed to do now was to constantly familiarize himself with the effects of the fragmented toxins in his body. The one just now clearly had a strong adhesion and corrosion ability. If a person was hit by it, it would directly and strongly adhere to their body surface. If someone tried to pat it away with their hand, that person would also be adhered to it.
At the same time, this potent poison would continuously corrode and burn inwards on the main body, corroding everything it encountered into ash, until the power of the potent poison was used up.
The terrifying thing about it was that it was unknown what the components of these potent poisons were, and whether they could be neutralized was another matter. Of course, with Li Yan's current ability, if he encountered a Golden Core master like Wei Zhongran, even if he hit the opponent, it would probably just be like scratching an itch through a boot. The difference in strength was too great. Whether in terms of magical power or knowledge of poison, he had only just entered the door.
As for people like his Eldest Senior Brother, he estimated that the hope was also not great. Everyone in this Malevolent Spirit Sect was a master at playing with poison. His own knowledge of poison was basically a blank slate. His next step, he had already considered, was to spend some time learning this aspect of knowledge from his senior brothers or that chubby master.
After confirming the fragmented toxin just now, Li Yan thought about it carefully for a while, carefully savoring and memorizing it.
After a short while, he focused his mind and cast a spell again. The sound of the incantation rang out again. After five breaths, the "Quicksand Art" was formed. A patch of ground about a zhang in size on the platform in front of Li Yan trembled slightly, then there was no movement, just like before. Li Yan reached out and picked up the slender bamboo taller than a person by his feet and threw it diagonally. With a muffled "thud," the slender bamboo was actually embedded into the stone surface. The hard platform stone surface was like a patch of sand, and the slender bamboo had been inserted more than a foot deep.
Li Yan immediately withdrew his hand seal and came to that spot. He wiped the ground again with the tip of his foot. At this time, the ground was a large piece of extremely hard rock. The soft color from before was gone.
Li Yan took a step back, and his divine sense instantly shot out towards the ground. The next scene was a bit strange. After just a short breath, the slender bamboo that was diagonally inserted into the ground began to flow with a thick black liquid from the bottom up. The branches and leaves on it quickly curled and softened, and in a moment, it had turned into a pool of black water.
Li Yan squatted down, dipped his finger in the black water on the ground, then walked to the edge of the stone platform and wiped it on another slender bamboo. He saw the slender bamboo shake a few times, and a foul-smelling black water also flowed out from its stalk. After a few breaths, it collapsed to the ground and became another pile of black water.
Just now, he had used another kind of fragmented toxin in his body to cooperate with the "Quicksand Art." The normal "Quicksand Art" was just a trap art. When used in a battle with an enemy, it would trap the enemy's lower limbs, and then he would wait for an opportunity to kill them. For a Qi Condensation disciple, a "Quicksand Art" cast by someone at the eighth layer or above could generally trap an enemy up to the depth of an adult's thigh. For those below the eighth layer, it would be good to trap them up to the calf. These would basically not affect the enemy's hand attacks. Only when one reached the Foundation Establishment stage could one bury a whole person at once, which could then play a role in killing the enemy.
However, the "Quicksand Art" in the hands of the Qi Condensation disciples of the Malevolent Spirit Sect was also a great killing weapon. The quicksand inside could form various potent poisons. Take the potent poison that Li Yan had just used, for example. It could seep into the inside of plants and animals along the stems and leaves and pores of the human body, liquefying the trunks of plants and animals from the inside out. So even if the quicksand only trapped the enemy's feet, the opponent was basically declared dead.
When the other few peaks used the "Quicksand Art," they would infuse the poison they had cultivated. For example, the poison of the Five-Crested Horned Serpent from Spirit Insect Peak, when mixed in the quicksand, could not only corrode objects but also quickly spread to the heart along the wound, killing a person in an instant.
However, Li Yan was different from the disciples of the other few peaks. If they were poisoned by the potent poison they used, it could also kill them. So when they used it, they were either very careful or took an antidote in advance. And the fragmented toxins in Li Yan's body could not cause any harm to him. That's why he dared to touch the black water with his hand. This was also what he had seen in the three classics. But before, he had also been afraid. After thinking for a long time, he had chosen to try it on a fragmented toxin in his body that could cause paralysis and fainting. After finding that it was fine, he had plucked up his courage and slowly started to try it on other toxins.
There were still some toxins in his body that he had not completely figured out. For example, there was one toxin that he had to experiment with nearly dozens of times to understand a little. That toxin would only take effect under the noon sun. Apart from being exposed to the sun at noon, it would not have any effect at any other time. For all sorts of things like this, Li Yan had to constantly test, and also spend a lot of time practicing to cooperate with immortal arts.
However, he had still figured out the usage of several of the fragmented toxins during this period. For example, for the toxin used in conjunction with the "Quicksand Art" just now, after the opponent was poisoned, Li Yan could control the onset time of the poison with his divine sense.
After trying out the combination of these two toxins and immortal arts, Li Yan began to concentrate on practicing immortal arts. He was still unfamiliar with casting immortal arts, and the casting time was too long to be used in actual combat.
Several hours later, Li Yan finally stopped cultivating. For most of the day, when the spiritual power in his body was used up, he would sit in meditation to regulate his breath. After his spiritual power was full, he would continue to practice immortal arts until he was exhausted.
Looking at the scarred bamboo forest and platform, Li Yan did not go back immediately. This was different from before. In the past, when he had finished practicing, he would go down the mountain after a short rest. Today, he did not go back immediately.
Because today was the Year's End, the Year's End of the Desolate Moon Continent.