As the sword cultivator retreated, his longsword suddenly shot out from his back, transforming into a long rainbow of white silk that slashed diagonally down towards the "Silver-Vein Flower" two hundred zhang away, intending to sever the flower and sweep it away. His movement was covert and swift. Even Li Yan, watching from a distance, was momentarily stunned before he reacted.
This was clearly a true old hand of the martial world, a master actor who had also etched caution into his very bones. Even without detecting anything amiss, he still employed the tactic of advancing by retreating.
He protected himself while also achieving his goal. If successful, he would pick the herb. If unsuccessful, he would have tested whether it was a trap. Either way, he achieved his objective. This method was extremely shrewd, making it incredibly difficult for an ambusher to succeed with a single strike.
Sure enough, the sword cultivator's action made it impossible for the two hidden men to continue their ambush. They unhesitatingly revealed themselves and lunged at their opponent. As one of them launched forward, the dagger in his hand had already transformed into a streak of green light. In a flash, it appeared beneath the rainbow of white silk. Just as the rainbow was about to touch the stem of the "Silver-Vein Flower," the green light, though starting later, arrived first, blocking its path. With a crisp "ding," the rainbow of white silk was deflected.
At the same time, the other burly man holding a sharp saber had already leaped through the air towards the sword cultivator hundreds of zhang away. The saber left his hand like a sword, shooting straight out. In mid-air, the saber transformed into a gray giant lizard with bared fangs and brandished claws. Its long tongue flicked out swiftly towards the sword cultivator.
Across the distance of several hundred zhang, the gray giant lizard's tongue seemed to traverse space and time. In a flash, it was before the sword cultivator, aiming straight for his right eye, as if to pierce through his skull in one fell swoop.
All of this happened in a flash. The sword cultivator's previous actions, though seemingly abnormal, were just a manifestation of his caution. When he saw the "Silver-Vein Flower," he had been pleasantly surprised, but his usual caution had made him decide to halt.
He then became even more careful, releasing his Divine Sense to investigate. Although he still didn't find anything unusual, his years of experience made him feel a faint unease. Thus, he made the move to retreat. But no matter what, he truly couldn't abandon the "Silver-Vein Flower."
The sudden appearance of the two cultivators was both within and outside his expectations. It was just a situation he least wanted to see.
Since he was prepared, the attack from the two burly men was no longer a sneak attack in the sword cultivator's eyes. The moment he saw them strike, his somewhat indifferent expression turned grave. His retreating figure blurred, and the next moment, he appeared twenty zhang to the left of the gray giant lizard's attack path. Just as his figure solidified from its blurred state, the distant rainbow of light had also vanished.
Next, the sword cultivator stood holding his longsword, hovering several feet off the ground. As his figure bobbed up and down, his sharp eyes stared grimly at the two men who had formed a pincer formation and had temporarily halted their attack, now standing upright.
"So it is Fellow Daoists Hu Hai and Ning Xiong of 'Beast-Refining Mountain.' Are you trying to ambush me, Ren?"
"Oh, I was wondering who it was. Turns out it's Fellow Daoist Ren of the 'Jade-Blood Sect.' Fellow Daoist Ren, why must you put it so unpleasantly? We saw the 'Silver-Vein Flower' first. Just as we were about to pick it, you unexpectedly struck from afar, forcing us to intervene. There's a matter of first come, first served in all things, is there not?" The man who had been exposed formed a hand seal, temporarily stopping the gray giant lizard that was about to continue its attack, and offered a different version of events.
Li Yan, hidden in the shadows, frowned upon hearing their exchange. He knew of these two sects.
More accurately, Li Yan had heard of these two sects before coming to the Jingtu Sect . When going to a strange place, one naturally had to make some preparations.
"Beast-Refining Mountain" was a sect that specialized in refining the souls of various demonic beasts into their magical treasures. This was somewhat similar to the Malevolent Spirit Sect's Spirit Insect Peak, but also different. The Spirit Insect Peak captured spirit beasts and tamed them as their own spirit pets to supplement and enhance their own attack power. "Beast-Refining Mountain," after capturing a spirit beast, would only keep its soul, forcibly refining it into a magical treasure to enhance its power.
Li Yan knew that normally, the artifact spirits in magical treasures were driven by the souls of powerful demonic beasts. But the artifact spirits of some magical treasures were other types of unique species of heaven and earth, such as a ten-thousand-year-old stubborn rock that had gained sentience.
But no matter which type, a magical treasure could normally only have one powerful artifact spirit or a group of souls of the same type, to ensure the treasure's attacks were unified and easily controlled.
But "Beast-Refining Mountain" pursued a refining method that could integrate the souls of multiple types of demonic beasts into a single magical treasure. This practice was shunned by other sects, as it would only make one's magical treasure impure. But the cultivators of "Beast-Refining Mountain" had achieved this, and it did indeed enhance the power of their treasures considerably. Yet, they were still looked down upon by traditional cultivators, who considered it nothing more than a heretical path.
"Beast-Refining Mountain," however, went its own way. Through nearly ten thousand years of effort, it eventually became a high-grade sect within the jurisdiction of the Jingtu Sect , even producing a Nascent Soul old monster to oversee it.
According to the information Li Yan had obtained, although "Beast-Refining Mountain" had finally produced a Nascent Soul, and this Nascent Soul was said to have a golden staff-type magical treasure that had fused the souls of seven top-tier demonic beasts from the Mortal Realm, making him exceptionally powerful.
It was also because of this magical treasure that he had withstood the heavenly tribulation four hundred years ago and advanced to the Nascent Soul realm. But four hundred years later, he was still in the initial-stage of Nascent Soul, unable to advance a single step. The reason was that this Nascent Soul old monster had never since obtained a more powerful demonic beast soul, rendering him unable to enhance his natal magical treasure in the slightest, and thus he was firmly locked in the initial-stage of Nascent Soul.
This was the advantage and disadvantage of what was commonly called taking a slanted path. Although progress was rapid in the early stages, later cultivation was either fraught with peril or extremely difficult to advance.
Cultivation methods like those of "Beast-Refining Mountain" focused on cultivating the natal magical treasure. A strong natal magical treasure meant a strong cultivation method. If the natal magical treasure was damaged, it could even cause the cultivator to perish on the spot. This was unlike traditional cultivators who relied on internal arts and immortal methods to advance, with their natal magical treasure being merely an aid.
Li Yan was like this. He didn't have a natal magical treasure and could pretty much dominate the Foundation Establishment stage. If he were to refine the Gui-Yi Water-Parting Spike, it would only make his combat power more ferocious, but it wouldn't help him much in advancing his realm. At most, it might provide some assistance when facing a heavenly tribulation.
From this, Li Yan deduced that since the two cultivators were disciples of "Beast-Refining Mountain," the saber and dagger they used likely contained more than one type of demonic beast essence soul, and their attacks would have multiple variations. This kind of variation was something many cultivators were unwilling to face.
One moment you might be dealing with the heavy attack of an earth-attribute demonic beast, and the next, the sharp attack of a metal-attribute demonic beast could suddenly be mixed in. It would completely throw you off balance.
Of course, against a truly powerful opponent, no matter how many variations you had, it was just a minor trick. But the chances of encountering a powerful cultivator were extremely small. This type of cultivator was extremely difficult to deal with.
As for the "Jade-Blood Sect," where the sword cultivator belonged, it was also within the jurisdiction of the Jingtu Sect , a first-rate sect, second only in power to "Beast-Refining Mountain." This sect was an orthodox sword cultivation sect.
Logically, such a sect should be affiliated with the Ten-Pace Courtyard. But this sect happened to look down on the Ten-Pace Courtyard. They believed that controlling the sword with Qi, transforming the sword into silk, nurturing the precious sword in the Dantian's Purple Mansion, and ultimately achieving dual cultivation of life and spirit, man and sword as one, was the orthodox heavenly way of sword cultivation.
But the Ten-Pace Courtyard had added an Inner Sword Courtyard and made the Inner Sword, which only cultivated sword pellets, the strongest reliance of the sect. This was clearly discrimination against the outer sword. This made the "Jade-Blood Sect" feel disgusted with the Ten-Pace Courtyard, so they would rather stay within the Jingtu Sect's jurisdiction than go to the Ten-Pace Courtyard's.
As for the territory of the Malevolent Spirit Sect, they scoffed at it even more, considering it just a bunch of heretical sects using low-class methods, never fighting honorably. The Daoists of the Supreme Mystery Teachings also had sword cultivators, but their methods were all mixed, even incorporating talisman-driving and ghost-slaying arts, which were not worthy of their notice.
Although the "Jade-Blood Sect" gave off an air of arrogance, its disciples were indeed formidable in combat. With their single-minded focus on sword cultivation, few cultivators of the same rank could contend with them.
However, orthodox sword cultivation was extremely arduous and slow to advance. So, although the "Jade-Blood Sect" was not weak overall, it had too few disciples. The entire sect only had five or six hundred people. Compared to a large sect like "Beast-Refining Mountain" with tens of thousands of disciples, it was still inferior.
Li Yan hadn't expected to encounter experts from two major sects of the Jingtu Sect's side so soon after arriving on the second level. And he had indeed learned something from their brief exchange. Both sides were mentally agile and experienced, clearly ruthless individuals who had long walked the line between life and death. Their sensitivity to unknown dangers was abnormally keen, and their attacks were decisive.
These were qualities the current Li Yan could not compare to. Li Yan knew that he had survived to this point entirely due to his own caution, as if walking on thin ice.
"Heh, Fellow Daoist Hu, do you really just want the 'Silver-Vein Flower'? Then take it." The Ren-surnamed sword cultivator from the Jade-Blood Sect merely sneered at the words of the saber-wielding man.
Though he spoke thus, he attacked without warning. His hands separated, and his single longsword instantly split into two swimming fish. He showed no fear of the two's late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivation and, with his own mid-stage Foundation Establishment power, brazenly attacked them both. He was truly formidable.
On the other side, the two burly men, seeing their painstakingly set trap end up snaring a troublesome sword cultivator—and sword cultivators were known for being vengeful—couldn't help but feel annoyed. This ambush was a complete failure. But why should they be afraid? Even if only one of them were here, he would dare to fight this person, let alone with two against one.
The saber-wielding man called Hu Hai also snorted coldly. With one hand behind his back, he formed a sword finger with the other. With a few taps in the air, the gray giant lizard's body swirled and transformed into a dark light, coiling around the approaching rainbow. As the gray giant lizard's body began to move, three streaks of five-colored light suddenly shot out from its body, heading straight for the Ren-surnamed Daoist's face. A closer look revealed that these three five-colored lights were three small, five-colored birds. Their beaks were like thorns, their claws like hooks, and they moved with extreme speed. In the blink of an eye, they were above the Ren-surnamed Daoist's head.
On the other side, the burly man called Ning Xiong's green dagger suddenly spun, and a small, azure snake appeared in the air. Its eyes glinted with a fierce light. It opened its mouth full of barbed fangs, and with a flick of its tail, it bit towards the Ren-surnamed Daoist's waist from the side, its angle extremely cunning and swift.
At the same time, Ning Xiong raised his left arm. From the bracer on his bare forearm, another yellow light flashed, and a giant bear with bristling fur appeared before him. With a heaven-shaking roar, it opened its large hands and grabbed at the rainbow of light rushing towards its face.
As for the Ren-surnamed sword cultivator, a sharp glint gathered in his eyes. His Spirit Power surged like a tide. Facing the two, he showed no sign of backing down.