Yet, in that brief interval of less than two breaths, the beautiful woman in the cyan gauze had found a moment to recover. The black-clad figure's second attack had struck like a continuous bolt of lightning, giving her no time to summon a Magical Treasure. She had been forced into close-quarters combat. Though not a body cultivator, she was confident in the formidable resilience of a Golden Core cultivator's physical body. She believed that if she could just hold on for a single breath, she could instantly retrieve a Magical Treasure.
To her utter astonishment, however, her opponent was a body cultivator—a Golden Core body cultivator at that. When facing a body cultivator, allowing them to get close was a fatal mistake. Their attacks would come like a torrential storm, a relentless barrage that wouldn't cease until their target's physical body was pulverized.
Thus, due to this single misjudgment, the beautiful woman in cyan gauze was first struck by a punch that threw her aura into disarray, followed by an elbow strike that sent excruciating pain tearing through her, breaking bones and rending tendons. In that moment, her seductive charm that could mesmerize all living beings was gone, replaced by a contorted mask of agony. Fortunately, she harnessed the downward force of that elbow strike, and in her panicked state, managed to rapidly increase the distance between them. Her Divine Sense finally had the time to connect with her Storage Pouch. With two flashes of light, a cloud of pink mist spread out above her, and simultaneously, a small, exquisite shield materialized to block the space over her head.
Just as she completed these actions, the dark figure above seemed to ignore the pink mist, passing straight through it. He then stomped down heavily on the shield. A muffled thud, like striking worn-out leather, echoed. An immense force traveled from the shield, and the beautiful woman felt a sweetness in her throat. With a "pfft," a spray of blood shot from her lips, followed by a rapid series of "thump, thump, thump" sounds.
To the beautiful woman's absolute horror, the person above seemed completely unaffected by the pervasive pink mist. He continued to stomp relentlessly on the shield. Each heavy impact sent a shudder through her delicate frame, causing another mouthful of blood to spill from her lips. After several consecutive blows, her bones ached and her muscles went numb, yet the force from the figure above showed no sign of diminishing.
'This is bad. The 'Tender Passion Powder' poison has no effect on this person.' A sense of dread rose in the beautiful woman's heart. Though injured in the initial assault, she had planned to counterattack the moment she hindered her opponent. After releasing her hidden poison, 'Tender Passion Powder,' she had imagined the situation would unfold as it always had. The ambusher was so close and incredibly fast, so he would surely be poisoned. Her poison was extremely potent and would take effect instantly. She only needed to block one more attack, and in the next moment, her foe's bones would turn soft and his muscles slack from the poison. That would be her chance to strike back. She would torture this attacker to death to quell her rage.
But to her surprise, the opponent's attacks continued with undiminished force, and she was once again thrown onto the defensive. The tremendous power coming from the shield repeatedly aggravated the injuries to her internal organs.
"Damn you! Just you wait!" the beautiful woman shrieked unwillingly. As she used the shield to block one more time, a streak of light flew from her Storage Pouch, instantly appearing beneath her feet. Her descent abruptly accelerated, pulling her further away from the black figure above. She then executed a sharp turn, her body arcing through the air as she fled into the distance.
Both of the beautiful woman's hands were injured, making it temporarily impossible for her to form hand seals to control some of her Magical Treasures. After the failure of her 'Tender Passion Powder,' she grew even more panicked. What unsettled her most was that her Divine Sense had repeatedly scanned the area before and found no hidden cultivators. This filled her with a certain dread regarding her attacker's cultivation level. However, she could still roughly judge that he was, at most, a Golden Core cultivator, and very likely one who had just broken through to the mid-stage. Otherwise, she would have been dead long ago.
Thus, the thought of escape quickly took root in her mind. Although she hadn't obtained the item she sought, compared to her life, the choice was obvious. At first, she worried that her flying Magical Treasure wouldn't be able to shake him off. If he pursued her relentlessly, her survival would be uncertain. But after desperately pushing her Magical Treasure to its limit, she found that the attacker was being left far behind. Only then did she relax slightly and flee for her life.
Watching the beautiful woman disappear into the distance, Li Yan let out a long sigh of relief. He had used his full strength in the preceding battle, exhausting all his abilities and bringing out every trick he had just to frighten her away. If she had decided to fight him again after creating some distance, he would have been the one fleeing with his tail between his legs.
To secure a favorable outcome in close combat, Li Yan had, for the first time since reaching the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, fully unleashed "Stealthy Night Art" and "Qiongqi Purgatory Art." He had simultaneously summoned the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to boost his speed, giving his opponent no room to breathe. Even so, he was still unable to defeat her; she had escaped with ease when she decided to flee. Of course, at the end, Li Yan had deliberately feigned being unable to catch up. If he had truly pushed the "Cloud-Piercing Willow" to pursue her, the cornered woman would have certainly turned back to fight him to the death. In that scenario, a single exchange would have revealed his true cultivation was merely at the Foundation Establishment stage. Who would live and who would die then would be anyone's guess.
'The poison this woman used is remarkably similar to my 'Heaven and Earth Isolation,' both preventing the victim from using their Spirit Power. However, this pink mist contains some sort of filth.' Thinking this, Li Yan looked up. Su Hong was now slumped on a rock, propping herself up with one hand, staring blankly in his direction.
Li Yan had used Spirit Power to alter his appearance the moment he emerged. He now looked like a lean cultivator. Seeing Su Hong staring at him, he said nothing more, his body flashing as he returned to the mountainside. With a wave of his large sleeve, a shimmer of light passed by, and several Formation Flags shot out from the ground, disappearing into his sleeve. At the same time, Li Yan's other hand glowed with Spirit Power, which wrapped around the seated Su Hong. He then stepped into the air, and in the next moment, vanished into the snowy wind, leaving behind only an empty cave for the wind and snow to periodically invade.
Less than an hour after Li Yan and Su Hong departed, the beautiful woman in cyan gauze reappeared at the site of their battle. Staring at the empty cave, her face twisted with vexation. Overcome by fear that the attacker would catch up, she had fled for nearly a thousand li in one breath, swallowing numerous medicinal pills to alleviate her injuries along the way. After fleeing for another thousand li and confirming with her Divine Sense that no one was following, she finally found a place to land and recuperate.
Her injuries were not fatal, especially the broken bones. Under the dual effect of medicinal pills and Spirit Power, they were mostly healed in less than half an hour. What remained were the concussive injuries to her internal organs, but after about half an incense stick's worth of time, she had recovered seventy to eighty percent. Only then did the beautiful woman in cyan gauze carefully recall the details of the fight. The more she thought, the more something felt wrong. If her opponent was a mid-stage Golden Core cultivator, even a newly advanced one, it should have been much easier for him to pursue her after a successful ambush. Yet, he hadn't seemed to chase her very far.
'Could it be that that vile attacker was also after that item? But it's already exceedingly strange that Su Hong won the bid for it. How could so many people know about it? Perhaps that man isn't a mid-stage Golden Core, but an initial-stage Golden Core body cultivator. The reason he didn't pursue me and resorted to a sneak attack must be because he wasn't confident he could defeat me.' As this thought occurred to the beautiful woman, she couldn't help but feel a surge of anger. After a moment's more thought, she realized time was of the essence; there was no way she could go back for reinforcements. She decided to return and see for herself.
When she saw the empty cave, the beautiful woman in cyan gauze guessed that the attacker's strength was not that great, at least not stronger than her own. Her delicate body trembled with grief and indignation.
"How am I going to explain this to the Sect Master now? That item is clearly sealed. Without the Crystal Bone Water, I don't know how much time it will take just to break the outer protective layer. This is a major setback..." The beautiful woman stood frozen in mid-air, her Divine Sense spread out to its full extent. After a moment, her jade-like face turned as cold as the ninth-month frost. Her gaze fixed on a particular direction, her figure flickered and vanished into the vast, snowy expanse.
Li Yan pushed the Cloud-Piercing Willow to its maximum speed, streaking through the dark night like a sharp blade piercing the wind and snow. Su Hong, enveloped by his wide sleeve, remained silent. After so much time had passed, a woman of her intelligence had long since realized she had also fallen for this man's scheme. Yet, even after all this time, she didn't feel like she was dying, which told her the poison she had been afflicted with wasn't a lethal one.
After that, her beautiful eyes remained fixed on Li Yan, unblinking. She uttered no sound, but her stare made Li Yan feel quite uneasy, wondering why she was looking at him like that.
'Does this woman also possess the so-called 'Scent-Discerning Art'? But when I went to 'Gui Qu Lai Xi,' I didn't have much contact with her. Besides, I was only a Qi Condensation cultivator; her attention was clearly on Senior Brother Wen.' Li Yan's face remained as calm as an ancient well, but his mind was racing.
He knew that there were people in this world with a special talent, who, after close contact, could remember another's aura—their body scent, be it fragrant, foul, or neutral—through their sense of smell. In the future, no matter how you changed your appearance, they could identify you in an instant. But how could Li Yan believe that someone he had rescued at random would possess such a legendary, innate gift? That would be too absurd. Yet, Su Hong's gaze grew increasingly steady, as if she was certain of something. For a moment, Li Yan was at a loss as to where he had made a mistake.
Although his cultivation was lower than hers, his Divine Sense was definitely several levels above Su Hong's. Even if Su Hong had a cultivation method to conceal her cultivation, he should have been able to see through it at a glance. Furthermore, Su Hong had just been at death's door; no one would hide their strength at such a time. Therefore, he could rule out the possibility that Su Hong's cultivation was too high and that she had seen through his disguise.
Li Yan then considered that Su Hong might have some kind of Magical Treasure that could dispel illusions. But he immediately dismissed that thought as well. His Divine Sense had been locked onto Su Hong the entire time, and he hadn't seen her secretly take out any Magical Treasure to observe him.
And so, the two of them flew in silence, speeding through the dark night. The atmosphere was rather strange.
A day later, Li Yan appeared ten thousand li from the cave where the battle had taken place. By now, his position was far to the northwest, as he had changed direction several times along the way.
In a mountain hollow, Li Yan stood by a small stream, with Su Hong standing not far from him. The vegetation in the hollow was sparse. A small stream flowed slowly through the valley, its clear water reflecting the coarse gravel on its banks. The sun shone obliquely on the two of them; it was now close to noon.
"Alright, I doubt that woman can track us here. I've saved you, so now let's talk about your earlier promise." The moment they landed, Li Yan released his sleeve, setting Su Hong down on the ground.
After more than a day of rest, Su Hong's Spirit Power had begun to circulate again, but her injuries hadn't shown much improvement. Escaping from a Golden Core cultivator had nearly exhausted all her Magical Treasures and abilities. The injuries she sustained would require a period of seclusion to fully heal. However, Su Hong's condition was much better than when Li Yan had first found her.
After the poison from Li Yan's 'Heaven and Earth Isolation' slowly receded from her body and Su Hong felt her Spirit Power returning, she found that Li Yan was completely unwilling to speak with her, simply flying forward desperately. Su Hong simply took out some medicinal pills, swallowed them, and began to meditate and heal. At first, she was a little worried, afraid that Li Yan would stop her from recovering. But seeing that Li Yan seemed to turn a blind eye to her taking the pills and eventually even ignored her meditating, she slowly relaxed.