Bu Luo glared fiercely at the white-robed cultivator and suddenly said, "Trying to ambush me? And you a Pseudo-Core cultivator, falsely claiming to be from a reputable and orthodox sect. Now you're sneak-attacking someone with lower cultivation than you. Don't think I don't recognize you. You are 'Thousand-Li Flying Flower' Xu Yehua! But I won't be accompanying you any longer. We will meet again someday." Then, his anger still unabated, Bu Luo sped forward.
Bu Luo's words stunned even Li Yan in the distance. He hadn't known if the two knew each other before, but for the book-boy to say this now, there was going to be trouble.
Sure enough, Xu Yehua's face, which had already been as dark as water, paused his impending attack after hearing Bu Luo's words. A smile slowly spread across his face, but it was a smile that anyone could see was filled with bone-chilling coldness.
"Oh? So it seems my reputation is not small. But I have never seen you before, fellow Daoist. Then I suppose you must be very familiar with my sect as well. This is truly unexpected. But I wonder where you hail from, fellow Daoist? Hehe..."
Li Yan sighed in his heart. Logically, this Bu Luo's experience in the martial world shouldn't be so shallow. Even if he recognized his attacker, he should have assessed the situation first.
But the reality was that Bu Luo, who was clearly only able to flee, had directly pierced through that layer of window paper. Wasn't this forcing the other party to kill him to silence him?
This cultivator named Xu Yehua must be a prominent figure in some reputable and orthodox sect. Although there were many cultivators like him who were glamorous on the surface but did many unspeakable things in secret, these things were either tacitly understood or those who knew were all eliminated. Obviously, Xu Yehua preferred the latter.
After speaking, Bu Luo ignored Xu Yehua's question and glanced again at Li Yan in the distance. Seeing that he had no intention of intervening, he felt much more at ease. He steered his oilcloth and flew into the distance. At the same time, Xu Yehua's cold laughter reached his ears.
Ruthless people were often not people of many words. This Xu Yehua was the same. From the time he sneak-attacked Bu Luo until now, he had only spoken two sentences in total, one of which was just a low murmur to himself. He was by no means like Bu Luo, who would chatter endlessly whenever he had the chance.
Xu Yehua was actually having a headache over the oilcloth under Bu Luo's feet. He believed that if it weren't for a sneak attack, if the other party had discovered him, he would have had a fifty percent chance of catching up within five breaths. After ten breaths, he would definitely be pulled away by at least five or six zhang, but that was still within his attack range. If it exceeded thirty breaths, probably only the aftershock of his attacks could reach the other party.
Although he was known as "Thousand-Li Flying Flower," it was really just a compliment from others. He could by no means achieve that. Let alone a thousand li, at a straight-line distance of ten li, the power of his flying saber would only be a threat to Qi Condensation stage cultivators. What's more, this book-boy had too many life-saving items.
At this time, Bu Luo had already flown to within a dozen or so li of the Flame Palace mountain. Even the desolate hill where Li Yan was sitting had been left behind. As he passed not far from Li Yan, Bu Luo was on full alert. If Li Yan made the slightest move, he would directly throw all the magical treasures he was holding at him. But Li Yan just watched all this silently.
Xu Yehua's figure flickered and, as fast as a thunderbolt, disappeared from his original spot once again. Before he disappeared, he turned his head and glanced at the white-robed young man behind him. The white-robed young man seemed to understand his meaning. The moment Xu Yehua disappeared, the young man's body rapidly rose into the air, flying higher and higher. A faint white light flickered on both his left and right hands.
Li Yan couldn't help but admire the coordination between these two senior and junior brothers. If he wasn't mistaken, Xu Yehua below would chase Bu Luo in a straight line at the fastest speed. At this time, Bu Luo was already very close to the Flame Palace mountain. If he didn't want to crash into a cave, then he could only go around the sides or continuously ascend to fly over the mountain peak.
But obviously, Xu Yehua already knew how troublesome the oilcloth under Bu Luo's feet was. But he also knew that under the sneak attack just now, Bu Luo had already suffered a serious internal injury, which had affected his speed. So he had hope of catching up in a short distance.
At such a close distance, the white-robed young man only needed to ascend to a certain height. At that time, he just needed to cast the immortal art he had already prepared. A Foundation Establishment cultivator attacking from a high altitude had a very large coverage area. It was just that the power of this kind of attack was not as strong as a direct attack on a single point.
But as long as it could cause trouble for Bu Luo's speed, then the goal would be achieved.
In a battle between masters, victory and defeat could be decided in an instant. Even a half-breath delay, with Xu Yehua's full power, would create an opportunity to kill Bu Luo.
Bu Luo's divine sense was, of course, fully released, and he was aware of everything behind him. Seeing this situation, his heart couldn't help but sink. He knew he had to act to stop the other party; otherwise, he would really fall into their trap.
Bu Luo's speed did not decrease. His shoulder swayed again. Although the bamboo branch was still there, the mouth of the bamboo basket flashed with a golden light again. Beside the branch, a ray of moonlight shot out from the mouth of the basket. With a flash, it was about to strike the closely following Xu Yehua.
At this moment, Bu Luo felt a sudden gust of wind attack him, so forceful that his breathing stopped. This gust of wind came suddenly and fiercely, without any warning. In the moment Bu Luo was stunned, the gust of wind had already crashed into his chest.
And behind him, Xu Yehua was now only two or three li away from Bu Luo. Diagonally, it was the moment he was passing Li Yan's desolate hill. Just as the sudden change happened to Bu Luo in front, a sinister smile also appeared on Xu Yehua's lips. His flight, which had been like a straight line, came to a sudden halt, and a white crane appeared above Li Yan's head.
The white crane's eyes shone with a brilliant red light, and its long, sharp beak pecked viciously at the top of Li Yan's head. Because the downward pecking speed was too fast, silver electric arcs had already been generated at the edge of the beak, but there was no sound of it tearing through the air.
All of this happened in an instant. The situation on the field changed in the blink of an eye. Both Bu Luo and Li Yan were sneak-attacked suddenly and without warning.
With a loud boom, a silver light first lit up on Bu Luo's chest. Then his body was directly blasted a hundred zhang away before he crashed heavily onto the ground, smashing a deep crater into the hard ground formed by lava.
After a blur, a middle-aged monk appeared where Bu Luo had been before. He stood in the air in front of the Flame Palace mountain, holding a posture of leaning forward with his elbow bent. It was only after Bu Luo fell that he slowly stood up straight with a friendly expression, smiling as he watched the struggling Bu Luo try to sit up.
"It really is a good treasure!" the monk muttered to himself.
And Bu Luo's chest had already caved in deeply. Several stark white ribs had pierced through his skin and flesh, sticking out with traces of blood on both sides. He coughed up large mouthfuls of blood continuously and kept trying to shake his head, trying to clear his mind. Only the painful, twisted expression on his face and the violent trembling of his body could show how much pain he was in.
Just as the smiling monk Yiming was about to take a step forward and finish off Bu Luo, he heard two cries of alarm. He couldn't help but turn his head in astonishment. From the time he broke the restriction in the cave, rushed out to sneak-attack, and then intended to pursue, it had been at most two breaths.
So he had no reason to look at Xu Yehua's side. They had already divided the work and planned everything. But the cries of alarm that now fell on his ears were extremely familiar. It was the voice of Xu Yehua and his junior brother.
Yiming saw an incredible scene. The companion spirit beast that Xu Yehua regarded as a treasure, its pair of red eyes had now turned a hazy white. It was desperately launching a fatal attack on Xu Yehua, forcing him to block left and right.
In one hand, he held a token and kept waving it at the white crane. His other hand flew about, casting out rays of spirit light. But it was all in vain. The white crane seemed to have gone mad, attacking Xu Yehua desperately and without mercy.
The white-robed young man in the air, after letting out a cry of alarm, just stared blankly at what was happening below. He couldn't believe the scene he was seeing. A voice echoed in his mind, "Fake, fake, this is an illusion, it must be an illusion!"
It should be known that the white crane was Xu Yehua's life-and-death spirit pet. Even if all of Xu Yehua's friends and relatives betrayed him, the white crane would not. They had a life-and-death contract. If Xu Yehua died, the white crane would die immediately. Similarly, if the white crane died, it would also be the time of Xu Yehua's death. This way, when the two joined forces to attack, they had reached a state of almost one mind. In normal battles, it was equivalent to the attack of two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and with perfect coordination.
But having signed a life-and-death contract had now caused Xu Yehua to be in an extremely sorry state. He dared not make a killing move on the white crane.
Yiming was also momentarily stunned. His friendship with Xu Yehua was quite deep. Of course, he knew that the white crane was not as simple as just a blood-ownership claim. The white crane was a very high-grade "Skycloud Crane." Its intelligence had long been awakened, no different from a cultivator. It had long known the principle that if Xu Yehua died, it could not live either. But now it was attacking Xu Yehua desperately.
"Is this a bewildering poison? No, this is some kind of mind-confusing spell!" Yiming's first thought was that the "Skycloud Crane" had been poisoned, because the information they had gotten from Sun Jiuhe was that Li Yan was good at using poison. But in the next moment, he directly rejected it.
He and Xu Yehua had long believed that Li Yan was a body cultivator. That was what they had seen with their own eyes. As for Li Yan using poison, any cultivator could use poison, it was just a matter of how much. What's more, Sun Jiuhe couldn't even say how the other party had administered the poison. He hadn't even seen the means Li Yan had used at the time, which made the two of them even more disbelieving.
So when Yiming and Xu Yehua were talking with Sun Jiuhe, although the other party had sworn that Li Yan was a poison cultivator, the two had just been dismissive in their hearts.
For a body cultivator to succeed in cultivation was much more difficult than for a pure cultivator. Daily body refining alone took up most of the time. Where would the time come from to study poison? And poison cultivation was a time-consuming and energy-consuming discipline. They had never heard of a body-refining poison cultivator. Even if Li Yan was over a hundred years old now, with techniques to preserve his youth, even if he had cultivated from the womb, wanting to be proficient in both was impossible to succeed in Foundation Establishment.
So the two of them insisted that Li Yan was carrying some kind of virulent poison, the kind that could be easily triggered. As long as they took the antidote in advance, when Sun Jiuhe made his move, he could just trigger it directly.