Seven days later, Li Yan, who was sitting cross-legged, suddenly opened his eyes. He opened his mouth and inhaled, and the constantly spinning purple flag in the air was sucked into his abdomen. In these seven days, he had performed the most basic refinement on the "Great Dragon-Elephant." While it was still difficult to control it with perfect ease, simple manipulation was no longer a problem. With matters settled, Li Yan had no intention of lingering in the Melting Cave any longer.
"The Great Dragon-Elephant Formation actually needs to be nurtured in the Dantian, just like a Natal Magical Treasure. This is different from any formation I've known before." He raised his head and surveyed the cave one last time, his gaze falling on Cheng Wenming's desiccated corpse in the far corner.
With a blank expression, Li Yan performed a hand seal. With a series of whooshing sounds, several formation flags shot out from the ground and the cave walls. Li Yan swept them into his sleeve and collected them in his pouch. These were the instruments for the other two formation sets in the cave. Then, without another glance, his figure flickered and shot towards the cave entrance. As he moved at high speed, his silhouette became illusory and indistinct, until the Melting Cave returned to a state of silence.
For the rest of the journey, Li Yan had no plans to hunt any more demonic beasts. His purpose here was not to kill beasts for materials. So, as he continued forward in the Melting Cave, he preferred to move more slowly, using more Spirit Power to constantly maintain the "Stealthy Night Art" and travel silently.
He traveled like this for five days, covering over four thousand li. Along the way, he encountered more than a dozen groups of demonic beasts, but they were completely unaware of Li Yan passing by them.
On this day, as Li Yan advanced, he fully circulated the True Scripture of Gui Water to maintain the stable circulation of the five elements and minimize his Spirit Power consumption. Even so, after about three hundred li, he had to stop and find a hidden spot to consume pills and meditate to recover.
Fortunately, he had prepared medicinal pills, and he also had many Qi-replenishing pills from the storage pouches of Cheng Wenming and the other two, so he wasn't worried about the consumption. But more often than not, Li Yan preferred to recover using Spirit Stones. He had even more of them. Although it wasn't as fast as using pills, the recovery effect was better and purer.
As Li Yan advanced, his Divine Sense spread out fully. A faint smile suddenly appeared on his perpetually impassive face. At the edge of his Divine Sense, it was no longer an endless, dark blue cavern, but a bright white light. Li Yan knew, of course, what a white light at the end of the Melting Cave signified.
'This means I'll be out of the Melting Cave in another thousand li. Based on its length, this Melting Cave should have six Snow Sprite Lords. I did sense two powerful auras while traveling before. The other Snow Sprite Lords must be hidden or I failed to sense them for other reasons.'
He hadn't caused any trouble on the path so far, and he naturally continued to travel silently for the remaining thousand li. A day later, Li Yan was standing outside the great wall of ice and snow. The sunlight spilled down, broadening one's spirits and lifting the feeling of oppression. Looking back, the wall of ice and snow appeared even more majestic.
Li Yan let out a long breath and released his Divine Sense. He found four cultivators standing three hundred li away, also outside the wall of ice and snow, looking around as if they had just come out of a Melting Cave. Among the four, three were Foundation Establishment cultivators, and one was a Qi Condensation disciple. When their Divine Senses swept over Li Yan, their expressions changed several times. They glanced in his direction, whispered a few words, and then hurried away with the Qi Condensation disciple.
These three Foundation Establishment cultivators were not foolish. They didn't see that Li Yan was alone and entertain thoughts of killing him for his treasures. On the contrary, they needed to get away quickly. A cultivator emerging from a Melting Cave, whether they had companions before or not, who appeared here alone, represented great strength.
Li Yan was unmoved by the reaction of the nearby cultivators. He continued to sweep his Divine Sense in the three directions—left, right, and forward. He discovered several more groups of cultivators. Some were heading towards the wall of ice and snow, but most were heading south. They came and went, each with their own purpose.
Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense and shot straight ahead.
...
Before his eyes was a boundless great river. Chunks of ice, large and small, flowed slowly along it. In the distance, several icebergs came into the view of his Divine Sense. Li Yan had been traveling in this world for nearly a day now.
More than half a day ago, he had passed through the "Burning Wind" path. It was a strange, narrow mountain gorge flanked by endless, towering snow-capped peaks. Cultivators walking in the gorge were met with pillars of silver-white wind that rose from the ground and churned ceaselessly, jumping about like clusters of silver-white will-o'-the-wisps.
If this wind blew on a person, even if their clothes were low-grade spirit artifacts, they would turn to ash in an instant, let alone exposed skin. Only by activating a Spirit Power shield could one hope to be spared. But overall, the "Burning Wind" was not as difficult to pass as the "Snowy Plains" or the "Melting Cave." As long as one's cultivation reached the eighth level of Qi Condensation or higher, they could form a shield to resist it. The only issue was that Qi Condensation cultivators often found their Spirit Power unsustainable after a certain distance and needed to constantly consume pills or slowly recover with Spirit Stones. This period was extremely dangerous for them.
The "Burning Wind" was an excellent training ground for Qi Condensation cultivators within the pagoda. It was a trial of their Spirit Power condensation and their resilience. Thus, Li Yan saw many Qi Condensation cultivators inside, traveling in groups or protected by Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even the rare Golden Core cultivator.
Although the gorge was described as narrow, it was still wide for the cultivators within it. But with his Divine Sense, Li Yan could detect where Golden Core cultivators might appear ahead of time. He would avoid them early to prevent any accidental trouble.
The "Burning Wind" path was also three thousand li long. For a Foundation Establishment cultivator like Li Yan, he could fly through it quickly. During this time, Li Yan even considered releasing his Spirit Power shield and letting his physical body withstand the wind. When he had exposed his bare hands to the "Burning Wind" without the protection of Spirit Power, his skin had felt a sharp, stabbing pain. Though that was all, Liayan felt that this was actually a way to temper his physical body, a different kind of training for his Qiongqi Purgatory Art.
But this thought was helplessly dismissed after a moment. Although the place seemed wide, as he moved, he would still be discovered from time to time by the intersecting Divine Senses of other cultivators. Li Yan couldn't very well walk around naked. And if he used Spirit Power to cover his body, it would defeat the purpose of tempering his physical body.
Li Yan could only sigh inwardly and focus on moving forward.
After leaving the "Burning Wind," a boundless river appeared before him. After carefully examining several icebergs in the distance with his Divine Sense, Li Yan quickly locked onto one peak, as many cultivators were coming and going from there.
"The entrance to the second level on the southern glacier peak is so easy to find. If I had been teleported into the 'concave' area in the first place, it would have saved a lot of trouble." In Li Yan's Divine Sense, the cultivators flying out from that glacier peak included monks and laypeople, men and women. The aura of each one showed profound magic power. In just a short time, Li Yan had sensed nine powerful auras, almost more than the total number of Foundation Establishment cultivators he had encountered on his entire journey so far.
Having a guess about the entrance to the second level, Li Yan no longer hesitated. His figure flickered as he headed straight for his target. This time, he did not hide his aura. The journey of several hundred li took only half a tea's time, and he soon arrived before a wide ice mountain. It was described as wide because it was a thousand zhang across. Its entire body was covered in a thick layer of ice, making it look somewhat large and "bloated."
As he approached the ice mountain, he had already gotten a general look at it, so he landed on a spot on its waist. Before him, the mountain body reflected a dazzling, multi-colored light under the sun. Icicles, some slanted, some straight, crisscrossed the mountain, filling Li Yan's vision with a crystalline landscape.
Not far from where Li Yan landed, two massive icicles stood crossed on the mountain's surface, as if thrown down from the heavens by a giant. Below the intersection of the two icicles was a pitch-black cave that seemed to lead into the vast mountain's interior, its depths unknown. This was completely different from the ice houses on the first level from which one could leave. Those places were blocked by what looked like a blurry, mirror-like door, clearly a place of teleportation.
Li Yan calmly gazed at the dark cave. He had noticed earlier that the cave entrance would occasionally distort, and cultivators would walk out. Most of them looked extremely weary. Upon exiting, they would have a vigilant expression, which would relax slightly upon seeing the glacier scene before them, and then they would quickly fly away.
Other cultivators would fly in from a distance, land before the dark cave, and plunge in without the slightest hesitation.
All of this matched the description in the jade slip. Li Yan had deliberately chosen a time when no one was around to land. He walked a few steps to the dark cave, and with a great flare of spiritual light, he stepped inside.
With a blur of his vision, Li Yan appeared in a small space. It was pitch-black all around, but this did not affect his assessment of the place. This was an isolated space, only about twenty feet in size. It should be similar to when he first entered the pagoda's first level, randomly teleported to a temporarily safe place. This should also be the place he would need to enter when he wanted to leave the second level and return to the first.
He smelled a faint, musty odor. As his eyes gradually adjusted, he saw a spot in the dark space flickering with a faint gray light. Li Yan thought to himself, 'After several months, I've finally reached the second level of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda . Now, it's all up to my luck.'
In a dense jungle, Li Yan moved through the trees at a moderate pace. The air here was humid and stuffy, the trees lush and verdant. Even when he spread out his Divine Sense, he couldn't find its end. He could only judge his direction by the sunlight filtering through the gaps in the leaves and the growth direction of the branches. All of this was extremely familiar to Li Yan. He had grown up at the foot of the Great Green Mountains and had many years of experience hunting in the mountains. For Li Yan, the jungle was several times better than the first level of the pagoda.
After first flying high into the air to get a general observation, Li Yan had quickly descended back into the jungle. Flying above the jungle, if one flew high enough, demonic beasts naturally couldn't attack. But it was usually very easy to be detected by the Divine Senses of nearby cultivators, and the danger would be much greater. So, Li Yan preferred to travel through the forest.