Li Yan had just arrived at this palace under the lake. It was his first time entering, and he had not yet figured out the situation here. Rushing did him no good, so he needed to observe while occasionally adjusting his direction based on his memory of the jade slip he had seen.
He had already made his attitude clear, yet the two followed him. To be precise, the person in front was deliberately flying in his direction, while the person behind was chasing with a look of confusion. It was just like when Mei Hongyu was being chased before. But Mei Hongyu knew how to assess a situation. This person, however, clearly wanted to drag Li Yan into this.
Just as Li Yan slowed down, a slightly excited voice came towards him. "Brother Wang, save me! This person wants to kill me! As long as Brother Wang helps, for the treasure we fought for together two days ago, you won't need to give me my share of the spirit stones. Just consider it a favor for Brother Wang's help."
At the same time, two figures appeared in Li Yan's line of sight as he looked back. The one who spoke was the person fleeing in front. Li Yan's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water. It was obvious that person wanted to drag him into this mess, to divert the disaster eastward.
The other party even implicitly suggested he had other treasures on him. This person was truly vicious in his thoughts. Both his joyful expression and the sincerity in his words left no room for doubt, as if he had really happened upon a fellow Daoist with whom he had once teamed up to explore for treasure.
Sure enough, the moment the person in front shouted, the pursuer behind him slowed down, his face showing vigilance. The distance between the two instantly widened.
How could Li Yan be someone willing to be used as a pawn? After sensing their cultivation levels, he simply stopped, his face grim as he looked up at the approaching figures.
The one being chased was a man in his thirties with a loyal and honest face, wearing an earthy yellow robe. He had a square face and large ears, a straight nose, and his cultivation was at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment, giving off a feeling of uncompromising integrity. At this moment, he was looking at Li Yan with a pleasantly surprised expression, his eyes full of gratitude.
Behind him was a large, fat monk, holding a crescent-moon spade. He wore a wide, yellow monk's robe, and as he flew, he resembled a mountain of flesh, giving off an intense sense of pressure. His cultivation was also at the Great Perfection of Foundation Establishment. His flying speed had already decreased, and he was staring at Li Yan with his small eyes.
"Scram!"
Li Yan let out a low shout and, facing the square-faced, large-eared cultivator, flung his sleeve. A powerful force surged forward. The square-faced cultivator's expression changed, and a murderous glint flashed in his eyes. As he moved forward, his body twisted, and he dodged Li Yan's attack. As for the aftershock of this blow, it posed no obstacle to him at all. Instead, with a surge of spirit power, he flew towards Li Yan even faster.
At the same time, the square-faced cultivator shouted, "Brother Wang, it's not that I want to bring trouble upon you, but this person is ferocious! Since you have seen him chasing and trying to kill me, he will not let you go either. How about we join forces again?"
The square-faced cultivator said another piece. The large, fat monk, although still in pursuit, looked at Li Yan with an increasingly fierce gaze. Li Yan was only at the mid-stage of Foundation Establishment. The fat monk didn't think that adding a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator would pose much of a threat to him.
"Hehehe, if you know what's good for you, scram! Otherwise, this humble monk doesn't mind helping one more person achieve salvation!" The fat monk's speed suddenly increased.
Seeing that the square-faced cultivator was so calculating, determined to trap him in this, Li Yan sneered inwardly. As for the fat monk's attitude, he didn't pay it much mind for the time being. He didn't know if these two were fighting out of hatred or for treasure. He saw that the square-faced cultivator was getting closer and closer.
Li Yan suddenly shouted in a deep voice, "Hey, monk, why are your words so rude?" As he spoke, he gestured, and the Li Fire Profound Yellow Fan appeared in his hand. With an expressionless face, Li Yan waved the fan, and a flame shot diagonally towards the fat monk. The fat monk couldn't help but snort coldly.
The square-faced, large-eared cultivator was stunned at first. He hadn't expected the cultivator to be so easily provoked. The monk had just told him to "scram," and he had attacked in a rage. Then, of course, he was overjoyed. He had managed to drag this person into the water after all. In the next moment, he would take advantage of their fight to quickly get away.
But then he saw Li Yan also sneer at him. "Sir, since you are so intent on dragging me into this, then you might as well stay!" Then he waved his fan again, and another flame shot towards the square-faced cultivator.
Although the distance between them was already very close, in such an open space, the square-faced cultivator snorted coldly in his heart. 'You think you can stop me with just a single flame?'
He felt the heart-pounding temperature from the flame and also felt it was not something he could face head-on. But since he was fleeing, his main focus was on evasion. So he moved to the side, about to dodge. But how could Li Yan let him dodge so easily? With a pinch of a hand seal, another wave of wind blades whistled straight at him.
In an instant, Li Yan had sealed off the two directions from which the square-faced cultivator was rushing towards him. The square-faced cultivator's eyes were thick with killing intent. The wind blades Li Yan had sent out were not a great threat to him, but if he engaged with them, he would be met with a subsequent, overwhelming attack.
If it were any other time, he could easily crush a mere mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator with a single finger. But now he couldn't afford to be delayed. The big monk's main target was the treasure he had managed to snatch through a sneak attack. He hated Li Yan immensely, vowing that if Li Yan didn't die at the hands of the fat monk, he would definitely come back and kill this blind brat.
Thus, just as he was about to fly diagonally in another direction, the flame that had been flying towards the fat monk suddenly changed direction and shot towards him. In an instant, the left, right, and front directions were suddenly blocked by Li Yan.
At the same time, a strong gust of wind howled from behind. The fat monk also let out a loud shout, "Brat, you know what's good for you! This humble monk won't make things difficult for you!" It turned out that the fat monk had not counterattacked Li Yan's attack. Instead, he had used the opportunity to get much closer to the square-faced cultivator.
All this happened in less than a breath. This sudden turn of events made the square-faced cultivator's heart turn cold. Then, anger surged, and his eyes looked like they were about to split. A moment ago, he had been certain that Li Yan was attacking the fat monk. But the two seemed to have reached a tacit understanding. The fat monk had ignored the flame flying at him and instead accelerated, directly blocking his escape route, not giving him a moment's respite.
The square-faced cultivator let out a great roar, "Brat, I'll take you down with me!"
From a distance, Li Yan sneered repeatedly. He said coldly to the square-faced cultivator who was roaring at him, "Wait until you're still alive to say that!"
After speaking, Li Yan urged the Cloud-Piercing Willow under his feet, and with a flicker of his figure, he had already flown quickly into the distance.
"It really is a good magical treasure. Just as I judged, that brat was deliberately not leaving earlier. Otherwise, I would have been left far behind!"
The fat monk, who had been closely watching Li Yan's side even during the attack, couldn't help but mutter, a trace of greed flashing in his eyes. But he quickly retracted his gaze and sneered, "Your Brother Wang can't be bothered with you anymore, Lian Hu! Hand over that silver paper obediently, and I can give you a whole corpse. Otherwise... hehehe!!"
The fat monk let out a series of strange laughs, his crescent-moon spade thrusting straight ahead. Lian Hu felt the irresistible force behind him. At this moment, the weakest wind blades in front had become the biggest threat. If he turned back to resist, his back would be exposed to the wind blades. Moreover, he had no confidence he could take a single blow from the opponent. That was a Chan Monk who had already cultivated the "Lesser Vajra Body." A single blow from him could pierce gold and shatter mountains. If that happened, the flames on his left and back would arrive simultaneously.
And at this time, the yellow flame from his right, which had originally been aimed at the fat monk, finally arrived belatedly, still about ten feet away from him. He made a judgment in an instant. The spirit power around his body shone brightly, and he shot out diagonally to the side. He wanted to pass through the ten-foot gap.
But the fat monk behind him was so experienced. When he had been secretly communicating with Li Yan, he had already made a backup plan. He had secretly released a hand seal, and a prayer bead had appeared below the flame.
A ray of Buddha's light flew out from it, wrapping around the square-faced cultivator's ankle.
Just as the square-faced cultivator's figure flew a few feet, he felt his right foot tighten. His figure involuntarily paused. In that pause, his flying body slammed squarely into the yellow flame. The square-faced cultivator roared, about to cast a spell to break through. The fat monk also pinched another hand seal, and another ray of Buddha's light flew from the spinning prayer bead, this time aiming straight for the back of the square-faced cultivator's head.
But before all this was done, the square-faced cultivator who had crashed into the Profound Yellow Flame had his roar turn into a shrill scream. His originally solid and thick spirit power shield became fragile and unbearable the moment it hit the flame. His body was quickly engulfed in raging flames. This made the fat monk, who was attacking him from behind, widen his eyes. He immediately stopped his attack, dumbfounded.
This unprovoked disaster had greatly annoyed Li Yan. That square-faced cultivator was truly sinister. Every sentence he spoke put Li Yan in a passive position. Originally, Li Yan had several ways to thwart the square-faced cultivator's plan. For example, by fully activating the "Cloud-Piercing Willow," he could reach the flying speed of a Golden Core cultivator. He was sure the two of them wouldn't be able to catch up. If they had had better flying magical treasures, they would have already used them during their chase.
Another way was for Li Yan to use his arts. Whether it was poison or spells, it would not have been a problem to block or even kill him from the front.
But Li Yan hated the feeling of being used, so he decided to trick the other party as well. So when the fat monk also told him to scram, he didn't argue with him. It was obvious the monk really suspected he was the "Brother Wang" that man had mentioned.
So he raised his hand and attacked both of them at the same time. But at the same time, he had secretly transmitted a message to the monk: "Whether you believe it or not, I do not know this person. The flame I'm attacking with will seal this person's right side." A divine sense transmission was just a thought, so his words did not arrive later than his attack.
Of course, whether the fat monk believed Li Yan's words or not, Li Yan didn't care. He just had to trick the square-faced cultivator once. He would attack and then leave immediately.
As Li Yan had expected, the fat monk was naturally half-believing and half-doubting Li Yan's words, afraid that the other party had set a trap and that they would attack him together. So he had also quietly offered up a prayer bead on his right side. If Li Yan's flame really did attack him, he wouldn't mind giving the other party a painful blow to the face.