Today, Li Yan didn't immediately throw himself into cultivation. Instead, he came into the courtyard and released the puppet to tidy up. At this time every year, he would clean the courtyard, just like in Great Green Mountains Village before the Year's End, when every household would sweep away the dust. Although there would be no steaming hot dumplings to follow, Li Yan would still clean the courtyard every year at this time to welcome the new year.
Looking at the puppet before him and the courtyard now clean and new, Li Yan turned and walked toward the stone table. The moment he sat on the stone bench, the ancient ape puppet, under the control of a wisp of his Divine Sense, had already brought him a cup of fragrant tea.
Li Yan blew away the layer of tender green tea leaves floating on top—some vertical, some slanted, some horizontal—and took a light sip. Then, looking at the steaming teacup in his hand, he fell into a daze.
Last month, Gong Chenying had finally come out of seclusion. The first thing she did was look for Li Yan, but she missed him twice. It wasn't until she left a message, which Li Yan saw upon returning from the Secret Room, that she finally saw the haggard-looking Li Yan.
After not seeing each other for several months, Gong Chenying, who had been in secluded cultivation, had also lost some weight. But the sect's loose robes still fit her snugly, especially below her slender waist, where her astonishing curves stretched the long robe tight. The originally smooth fabric was creased with fine folds, which made Li Yan constantly rub the tip of his nose. When Gong Chenying saw where his gaze was lingering, her face, which was usually as cold as ice outside, once again showed the embarrassed anger Li Yan had seen several months ago.
After a few dry coughs, Li Yan hurriedly averted his gaze and started chatting with Gong Chenying in the courtyard. Only then did the look of embarrassed anger on her face slowly fade.
Li Yan learned that after more than half a year of seclusion, Gong Chenying's cultivation had reached the incredible Pseudo-Core Realm. Even Gong Chenying herself hadn't expected this. The residual medicinal power of that pill, despite her repeated refinements, showed no signs of being depleted. It wasn't until five months later that it was completely refined, allowing her cultivation to reach the Pseudo-Core Realm in one go. She then went into seclusion for several more months to stabilize her cultivation.
When Gong Chenying came out of seclusion, the first piece of news she received from Li Yan was that he had mastered the first three sentences of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art's incantation. This made Gong Chenying unable to believe her eyes for a moment. At the time, Li Yan had only lasted three breaths under the incantation before quitting. She had already given up all hope of him being able to cultivate the Qiongqi Purgatory Art. She never thought that in the end, Li Yan would tell her he had mastered the entry-level. So she wanted to see for herself and confirm its authenticity. She was even a little worried that Li Yan, unable to do it, had cultivated recklessly and gone astray.
The first two times she came looking for Li Yan, his courtyard gate was tightly shut. No matter how she sent messages, there was no response. This made her even more worried, and she even began to consider breaking down the door. It wasn't until today, when she saw Li Yan in person and the characteristic luster of Qiongqi Purgatory Art cultivation on his skin, that Gong Chenying felt slightly relieved. But seeing Li Yan's haggard face, she couldn't help but worry, thinking he had been too eager for success and had damaged his vital qi.
How could she know that Li Yan had just returned after cultivating continuously for more than ten days and nights in the Secret Room?
Gong Chenying's worried Divine Sense carefully swept over Li Yan. Seeing that there was nothing abnormal with his body, she finally relaxed. Li Yan felt her Divine Sense and understood her worry, just smiling at her.
Next, the two chatted about what had happened over the past half-year. After learning about each other's recent situations, they were both very happy.
But when Li Yan learned that Gong Chenying had actually reached the Pseudo-Core Realm, his jaw dropped. He had never imagined that the True Essence Pill was so heaven-defying, its medicinal power so lasting. Then Li Yan gave a wry smile. He thought his own cultivation speed was already very fast, but he never thought the gap was still so huge.
And when Gong Chenying learned that Li Yan had reached the peak of the early stage of the first layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art in just a few months, her shock was no less than Li Yan's. She had taken a full two years to cultivate the first layer from the early stage to the peak. Zhao Min had taken nearly three years. For Li Yan to reach this step in just over half a year made Gong Chenying begin to suspect that Li Yan had been faking it during those three seconds he looked at the first three sentences of the incantation.
Immediately, half-believing and half-doubting, Gong Chenying proposed they spar. Li Yan readily agreed. He also wanted to know what level he had reached in the eyes of a body tempering expert like Gong Chenying.
The two stood facing each other in the courtyard. Gong Chenying suppressed her cultivation to the level of the peak of the early stage of the first layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art and threw a punch directly at Li Yan. Li Yan also threw a plain punch. Their fists instantly kicked up a howling gale in the courtyard. The aftershock sent the stone table and benches in the courtyard trembling, and the air between their fists, while still a zhang apart, began to let out a series of "bang, bang" explosions. Finally, with a muffled boom, Li Yan's figure swayed, while Gong Chenying took a step back. It was clear that Li Yan had the upper hand.
This result not only surprised Li Yan greatly, but he also stood there with his arm outstretched, a strange look on his face. On the other side, Gong Chenying's face was full of disbelief. Although she had suppressed her cultivation in her punch just now, she had kept it solidly at the peak of the first layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art without any reservation. She had even been thinking that if she sensed something was wrong, with her current third-layer, mid-stage cultivation of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art, she could easily retract and control the force. But what Gong Chenying hadn't expected was that although Li Yan's Qiongqi Purgatory Art realm had indeed reached the peak of the first layer, his strength had already surpassed that realm. How could she believe this?
In the end, Gong Chenying attacked again. Only when she raised her cultivation to the mid-stage of the first layer of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art did she fight Li Yan to a draw. This left Gong Chenying confused. She had never heard of such a situation occurring in her clan, and her heart was in a bit of a mess, worried that something had gone wrong with Li Yan's cultivation. She then asked in detail about the entire process and symptoms of his cultivation.
Looking at Gong Chenying's worried expression, which had none of its usual iciness, Li Yan's heart warmed. He recounted his cultivation process, everything except for the Secret Room, and took the opportunity to ask a few questions. After listening to Li Yan's description and thinking for a while, Gong Chenying didn't find anything wrong and slowly relaxed. She could only attribute this strange occurrence to the Fragmented Poison Body. After that, it completely became Li Yan's question time. Li Yan's occasional "A Ying" would make Gong Chenying's heart tremble, and she didn't feel that his questions were too many. Before she knew it, half the day had passed.
In the days that followed, Gong Chenying came two more times. She would always notify Li Yan in advance and then arrive at his place at the agreed time. Each time she came, she would only sit in the courtyard and never enter the house, not even his living room. And she never let Li Yan go to her courtyard either. This made Li Yan a bit frustrated, but each time Gong Chenying came, her increasingly girlish demeanor brought Li Yan the joy of youthful affection.
Similarly, during these few months when Li Yan went to the back mountain platform to practice his Immortal Arts and Fragmented Poison Body, he also encountered Zhao Min twice. Once was in the evening. Zhao Min was still sitting on the edge of the platform in her snow-white robes, her long, slender legs dangling over the cliff, her eyes gazing dreamily at the huge moon in the sky. That night, the two of them chatted idly until the round moon sank in the west and the platform was covered in dew, and Zhao Min left gracefully.
The other time was in the afternoon after sparring with Gong Chenying to discuss the Qiongqi Purgatory Art. Li Yan left his courtyard to go to the back mountain platform to practice what he had learned that afternoon, and there he saw Zhao Min in her white robes again. This time, Zhao Min was standing on the edge of the platform, facing the wind, looking at the last ray of light in the twilight sky. When Li Yan saw her and slowly walked to a spot not far from her, Zhao Min's nose seemed to twitch. Then, her jade-like face, as if carved by a goddess, turned to look Li Yan up and down. Without a word, she flew away into the sky, leaving Li Yan to watch her fluttering robes grow smaller and smaller in the distance. After standing on the platform for a while, Li Yan lifted his sleeve. It seemed to still carry the faint fragrance from his spar with Gong Chenying that afternoon...
Li Yan looked at the green tea in the teacup in his hand, and the True Scripture of Gui Water began to circulate involuntarily. Li Yan's True Scripture of Gui Water had long reached the point where his heart could move it at will, especially since water was his main cultivation attribute. Normally, whenever he was near a water source, the True Scripture of Gui Water would involuntarily accelerate its circulation. Li Yan was already used to all this.
Li Yan withdrew his gaze from the tea, slowly raised his head, and saw the huge ancient ape standing blankly beside the stone table. Just as Li Yan was about to compose himself and start cultivating, he didn't know if it was a trick of the light, but in the instant he looked up, he thought he saw the ancient ape puppet's eyeball move. For a moment, it seemed to have a spirit. When Li Yan looked closely again, the ancient ape puppet hadn't moved at all and was still standing there dumbly. This startled Li Yan, and his powerful Divine Sense began to scan the ancient ape puppet. After a moment, Li Yan's eyes were still full of doubt.
'Could it be that my mind is too cluttered today, and I'm actually hallucinating?' His Divine Sense had scanned it repeatedly several times just now, not even sparing the inside of the puppet, but he hadn't found anything abnormal. Li Yan was always extremely cautious. Even with this thought, he still scanned it several more times with his Divine Sense just to be sure. Only after confirming that he had been mistaken did he finally relax.
He now valued this ancient ape puppet extremely highly. And about a while ago, he had also sent a message to ask Bai Rou about the level of Spirit Stones to be embedded in this puppet. Bai Rou's reply was that the eighty Spirit Stone slots of this puppet were designed for low-grade Spirit Stones. If mid-grade Spirit Stones were used, only a third of them needed to be inserted, but it could only be used for daily tasks. If all eighty slots were filled with mid-grade Spirit Stones and the puppet was made to deliver a full-power attack, it would only have the strength for one blow, and it should be able to reach the level of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment attack. But after that one blow, the ancient ape puppet would be scrapped. The formation inside would collapse directly, and it would be impossible to repair. So she hoped Li Yan would think carefully before using it.
Bai Rou's words were pleading. Her meaning couldn't be clearer: she didn't want Li Yan to make the ancient ape puppet unleash that mid-stage Foundation Establishment attack. As for high-grade Spirit Stones, Bai Rou had never even seen one. But she guessed that just one high-grade Spirit Stone would instantly destroy all the formations inside the puppet, making it impossible to launch any attack.
After hearing Bai Rou's message, Li Yan didn't reply. Under normal circumstances, he would naturally use low-grade Spirit Stones for this puppet. But in the future, if Li Yan really had mid-grade Spirit Stones and was in a life-or-death situation, he wouldn't consider anything else and would directly use this method. Even if the ancient ape puppet collapsed on the spot, it was better than him losing his life. Li Yan certainly knew which was more important. After Li Yan didn't reply, Bai Rou never sent any more messages to disturb him, as if this item truly belonged to Li Yan and she was just giving a reminder.
Li Yan looked at the puppet before him. With a flick of his sleeve, the puppet shrank at an extremely fast speed. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a miniature ancient ape wood carving and disappeared into Li Yan's left wrist.
Li Yan composed himself and was about to take out the round rhomboid crystal to teleport to the Secret Room. At that moment, a sudden change occurred in the sky above his bamboo courtyard.