The alley was not deep, about two hundred meters long. It went straight to the end, flanked by high walls with no residential doorways. Only at the very end was there a courtyard gate facing the alley.
Li Yan and Lin Daqiao followed behind Wen Xinliang. The moment they entered the alley, Li Yan felt a difference. Upon entering, the sky-high clamor from the outside vanished without a trace, giving him a sense of mental dislocation and weightlessness, as if one foot was in heaven and the next had stepped into hell. For the ever-cautious Li Yan, caught off guard, he released his Divine Sense at the first instant.
After a period of solidifying his cultivation, once his realm stabilized at the tenth layer of Qi Condensation , Li Yan's Divine Sense had surprisingly improved a great deal. With his current knowledge, he knew the True Scripture of Gui Water was vastly different from other cultivation arts, and he felt increasingly amazed by it.
With the cultivation of the True Scripture of Gui Water, Li Yan's current spiritual power was about four times that of a cultivator at the same level. Moreover, he could switch it to different single attributes or multi-attribute combinations at will during battle, allowing immortal arts of different attributes to exert even greater power. His combat strength was extremely formidable among his peers.
The Divine Sense cultivation effect that came with the True Scripture of Gui Water was also something Li Yan had never seen recorded in any text. The books he had read stated that Divine Sense could only grow gradually with the increase of one's cultivation level, but this process was extremely slow.
Divine Sense is the tool that cultivators rely on the most. Whether for ordinary scouting or in combat, a cultivator with strong Divine Sense can often predict the opponent's attack actions and paths in advance, and can even control many immortal arts, puppets, mechanisms, and so on with their powerful Divine Sense. This gives Divine Sense an extremely important position. It can be said to be the most fundamental and commonly used tool for a cultivator.
For this reason, every cultivator tries every possible way to enhance their Divine Sense. The most common way is to improve their own cultivation level, enhancing their Divine Sense through realm breakthroughs, allowing for a wider range of scouting and finer control.
Besides the normal growth with one's realm, Divine Sense can also grow in two other situations:
One is to cultivate Divine Sense alone. This requires a special art for cultivating Divine Sense, which can only make the growth slightly faster. Cultivation arts for Divine Sense are extremely rare. Li Yan knew that even a large sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect might not have a single complete Divine Sense cultivation art. Perhaps they did, but it was likely just a remnant passed down from ancient times. At the same time, the cultivation of Divine Sense is extremely painful. It is not like cultivating spiritual power, where one can simply absorb the spiritual qi of heaven and earth.
Divine Sense cultivation is a tempering of the divine soul, just like a mortal martial artist constantly doing splits and backbends to increase their body's flexibility, having to endure the intense tearing sensation of muscles and ligaments in the process. Cultivating Divine Sense is also a repeated tearing of the divine soul. This tearing pain goes deep into the soul; it cannot be grasped or touched, and there is no way to soothe or alleviate the pain. One can only endure constant torment and refinement. If anything goes wrong, the cultivator can lose their mind and become an idiot. Therefore, since ancient times, those who could cultivate Divine Sense arts were all people of great perseverance. This also led to the gradual disappearance and loss of Divine Sense arts over time.
The other is being born with a naturally strong Divine Sense. People of this type often find that their Divine Sense increases with every minor realm improvement in their cultivation art. They can often be ten to twenty percent higher than their peers. Li Yan knew that Li Wuyi and Baili Yuan were likely this type of person. For a single sect to produce two such people was extremely rare. This was also the reason why Li Wuyi and Baili Yuan were wary of each other. In battles with others, they could often rely on their powerful Divine Sense to predict the opponent's attack methods in advance and seize the initiative. But when they fought each other at the same realm, their chances of winning were fifty-fifty, and their advantage vanished.
Li Yan's Divine Sense growth, however, was a special kind that did not exist in this world. The cultivation of the True Scripture of Gui Water would simultaneously drive the growth of his Divine Sense. This process did not have the inhuman pain of tempering Divine Sense. Moreover, with every slight increase in his cultivation, his Divine Sense would grow slowly, unlike those like Li Wuyi who were born with strong Divine Sense and had to rely on major and minor realm breakthroughs to enhance it.
It was as if with every breath Li Yan took during cultivation, his Divine Sense would grow by a tiny bit. Although this growth might be minuscule, almost negligible, it accumulated over time.
Generally speaking, a tenth-layer Qi Condensation cultivator's Divine Sense scan could only cover about six or seven li. As the realm increased, the growth was almost exponential. At the initial stage of Foundation Establishment , Divine Sense could cover about fifty li. At the mid-stage, it could scan a range of two hundred li. At the late stage, the range reached four hundred li. A very small number of prodigies could reach a terrifying range of nearly five hundred li.
Imagine a person standing still, with everything within a five-hundred-li radius in full view. What a terrifying ability this was. Moreover, apart from restrictions, Divine Sense ignored everything else. It could pass through walls and courtyards, over mountains and across seas, far beyond what the naked eye could see. For cultivators, there were almost no secrets.
Li Yan's Divine Sense had now reached seventy li, even exceeding the limit of the initial-stage Foundation Establishment. No one in the sect knew about this. In front of outsiders, he usually only showed a scanning range of six or seven li. This was also why, when flying in the air earlier, he had consistently acted as if he only had the Divine Sense of a Qi Condensation cultivator, covering six or seven li. Although Lin Daqiao had previously known that his Divine Sense might be stronger than others due to his Fragmented Poison Body , as time went by and Li Yan did not show any extraordinary Divine Sense control over the years, people gradually forgot about it.
After entering the alley, due to the sudden change in environment, Li Yan was startled and instinctively released his Divine Sense. By the time he reacted, his Divine Sense had already reached the end of the alley. However, he immediately relaxed. The alley was only two hundred meters long. Even if he probed into the other party's courtyard, given his cultivation level, being discovered at this distance was excusable and would not expose his true capabilities.
Li Yan's Divine Sense probe was extremely fast and hidden, a result of his deliberate daily practice. His understanding of Divine Sense was that the more hidden, the better. He always probed quietly during his daily practice.
He was now confident that he could even use his Divine Sense to set up an ambush with his Fragmented Poison Body in front of an initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator without being detected. Wen Xinliang ahead and Lin Daqiao beside him had not noticed Li Yan's action just now.
The two of them also knew about this place, but as disciples of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they had no need to worry about coming here. Every time they left the sect, they would report to the main hall. If anything happened, it could be investigated based on this.
Although Golden Core masters existed here, the two of them saw that Li Yan didn't ask any questions along the way and assumed he had already figured it out, so they neglected to remind him.
Although Li Yan had his suspicions, this sudden feeling of being shielded made him extremely uncomfortable. So, before his brain could even consider it, he had instinctively released his Divine Sense in the first instant.
All of this took longer to describe than it did to happen. In the span of a single thought, Li Yan stepped into the alley, noticed something strange, and immediately released his Divine Sense. Li Yan's Divine Sense was extremely fast and went directly to the end of the alley. In his Divine Sense, he clearly saw the young man in the light-yellow robe had reached a courtyard gate. The gate was not large, with exquisite double doors, wide enough for only two people to pass through.
At this moment, the young man in the light-yellow robe had just stepped before the courtyard gate and was about to report, but Li Yan's Divine Sense had already reached the gate before him and was about to pass through it. At the same time, the exquisite doors of the courtyard opened with a "creak," and a mellow, middle-aged voice appeared in the alley.
"Little doll, you're quite careful. With the reputation of your Malevolent Spirit Sect, are you still afraid of being ambushed here in Peiyang Trading City?"
The sound of this voice startled Wen Xinliang and Lin Daqiao. The moment Li Yan's Divine Sense touched the courtyard gate, it was repelled by a powerful force, causing him to involuntarily take a step back, his body already at the edge of the alley entrance.
As Li Yan retreated, Wen Xinliang's eyebrows shot up. Lin Daqiao quickly moved back to Li Yan's side and asked in a low voice, "Little Junior Brother, how are you? Are you alright?" When Li Yan's Divine Sense was repelled, a slight fluctuation in the space here, including the young man in the light-yellow robe, made the three of them aware of the existence of Li Yan's Divine Sense.
Li Yan had now steadied himself. Seeing his seventh senior brother had come to his side, he couldn't help but shake his head with a wry smile. "I'm fine. I was just repelled by the restriction on the door. The senior didn't make a move."
Ahead, Wen Xinliang's expression relaxed after hearing their conversation. He then said in a loud voice, "We three juniors pay our respects to the seniors. My junior brother is new to the outside world, so we've made a fool of ourselves in front of you."
"Junior brother? Hmm, that Divine Sense is quite... The three of you, come in. Chen Tian, you may return to your post at the city gate." The mellow, middle-aged voice came again. The first half was directed at Wen Xinliang, but the latter half was for the young man in the light-yellow robe, who was standing at the courtyard gate with a surprised look on his face.
The young man in the light-yellow robe, startled by the sudden turn of events, relaxed his expression after hearing the voice again. He first bowed deeply towards the courtyard gate, "As you command." Then he turned and gave Wen Xinliang's group a deep look and a slight smile before quickly leaving towards the alley entrance.
Seeing that Li Yan was fine, Wen Xinliang's lazy expression returned somewhat. He said to the other two, "Let's go in." With that, he started walking towards the deeper part of the alley. Li Yan and Lin Daqiao stopped talking and followed.
The alley was not long. In just a few breaths, the three of them reached the end. Looking at the exquisite courtyard gate, Wen Xinliang did not hesitate and stepped directly onto the stairs, his figure disappearing through the door in a flash.
When Li Yan stepped onto the stairs in front of the door, a faint fluctuation occurred in the space. To Li Yan, it felt as if he had stepped onto the surface of water, with ripples spreading out from under his feet.
"A formation!" This thought immediately came to Li Yan's mind. Before he had time to think further, he felt a shimmering light before his eyes, as if he were walking through a water curtain. Lin Daqiao also disappeared in an instant, leaving him alone in a watery screen. The sound of "hua hua" rushing water came to his ears. Li Yan focused his gaze. Before he could see his surroundings clearly, the light in his eyes brightened, and he was already standing inside a house. In front of him stood two figures, who were none other than Wen Xinliang and Lin Daqiao, who had entered first.
This was a spacious and bright hall. In front of Wen Xinliang and the other were three people sitting. One was fat and two were thin. In the middle sat a short, stout man with a curly beard, about forty years old. To his right sat a young man in a white robe, and to his left was a skinny old man. The auras of all three were clearly those of Golden Core cultivators. At this moment, the three of them were looking at Li Yan's group standing in the middle of the hall.
"Are you three disciples of fellow Daoist Wei Zhongran of Little Bamboo Peak?" After the three of them appeared, the mellow, middle-aged voice sounded again. Hearing this voice, Li Yan recognized it as the person who had spoken when they were in the alley. Looking up, the voice came from the short, stout man with the curly beard in the middle. It was just that the voice didn't quite match his appearance.
As the curly-bearded man spoke, the middle-aged man in the white robe and the skinny old man on either side also looked at the three of them. However, their gazes lingered on Li Yan for a moment, with a look of interest in their eyes.
"Wen Xinliang of Little Bamboo Peak and my two junior brothers greet the three seniors." As soon as Wen Xinliang entered, he saw the three of them. He only glanced at them briefly. Although the Malevolent Spirit Sect governed all the cultivation sects within this million-li radius, he was still very polite when facing three Golden Core masters. He did not show the arrogant and bossy attitude of a large sect. Instead, he was humble. After speaking, he bowed respectfully. Li Yan and the other two behind him also followed suit.
Their behavior made the three people in the high seats very satisfied. After all, if the other party had been very arrogant, the most they could have done was to make Wen Xinliang's group suffer a little. In any case, they wouldn't dare to kill them. Seeing the attitude of the three of them, they felt a little more at ease. Otherwise, the following matters would not be easy to handle.
Wen Xinliang did not recognize any of the three. Although he had been here twice before, it had not been these three Golden Core cultivators at the time. He glanced sideways at Lin Daqiao, who was slightly behind him. Lin Daqiao also shook his head slightly, clearly not recognizing them either.
"The three martial nephews, you may dispense with the formalities. Please sit down first," the stout, curly-bearded man in the center said, his expression softening. He smiled faintly and pointed to a few chairs in the hall below.