In their first clash, Li Yan was also mostly trying to gauge Monk Yiming's strength. It was just that the cultivation method of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art was extremely rare. In the exchange, it was very difficult for Monk Yiming to tell if Li Yan had used his full strength.
The two paused for a moment upon contact, then suddenly separated. A look of doubt flashed in Yiming's eyes. In his senses, the other party seemed to have used his full strength, but this was completely different from what he had seen before.
'Is he still trying to hide his strength?' Yiming thought. But his hands did not stop for a moment.
He immediately took a diagonal step, and with another sideways body slam, just like when he had dealt with Bu Luo before, his shoulder went straight for Li Yan's chest.
A brilliant golden light erupted from his shoulder. In these two attacks, Yiming had first protected his body with a thick layer of spirit power, absolutely not making any physical contact with Li Yan. Although he didn't believe Li Yan was a poison cultivator, the other party definitely had some kind of poison-administering object.
With Monk Yiming's rich experience, he would naturally not make such low-level mistakes. It was just that this way, his attacks would also be weakened somewhat, but this was completely within Yiming's acceptable range.
Seeing the other party ram directly into his chest, Li Yan raised his knee to his chest. With another "peng," this time, both their figures swayed before separating again.
And the moment Li Yan stabilized his figure, his raised right knee, with the force of a thousand jun, kicked towards the other's waist. Yiming turned his body again, showing his back to Li Yan, and quickly crossed his hands behind him to block Li Yan's kick.
Just like that, amidst muffled sounds and "peng peng" noises, the two's figures, like lightning, clashed and retreated, repeatedly exchanging blows in a small area of less than ten feet.
At this time, Monk Yiming already had his own judgment of Li Yan's actual strength.
'This brat's strength is really not as formidable as that day. Could it be that he used some kind of secret technique when facing the Rhino-Horned Green Python that day?'
As Monk Yiming was filled with doubt, he felt that his guess was more and more correct. Because that day, when Li Yan had first fought the Rhino-Horned Green Python, he had only used magical treasures and had been at a disadvantage. It was only at the end that he had suddenly burst out with the cultivation of a body cultivator.
And that day, Li Yan had even glanced in their direction at the end. Thinking back now, the other party had a kind of outwardly strong but inwardly weak appearance, afraid that the five of them would take the opportunity to kill him.
'After using a secret technique, even with the best spirit pills and medicines for recovery, it is absolutely impossible to use it again in a short period of time. I really missed a good opportunity to kill this person that day.'
After several exchanges, Monk Yiming finally came to his own conclusion.
What's more, the situation here was very favorable to him now. As long as Li Yan was not a fool, he would not hide his strength any longer. The book-boy over there was on the verge of being killed by the white-robed young man. At that time, the white-robed young man just needed to assist him with long-range attacks. How could this person in front of him possibly survive?
Yiming's combat experience was extremely rich. Logically, he should not have been deceived by Li Yan in any way. But firstly, Li Yan's cultivation method was special.
Secondly, in all the major and minor battles in Monk Yiming's life, he had never really encountered a body tempering cultivation method more domineering than the Jingtu Sect's "Vajra Arhat Body." Yiming had also participated in the secret realm competition of the Four Great Sects three times back then, but at that time, Gong Chenying had not yet been born. And by the time Gong Chenying could enter the secret realm competition, Yiming had long passed the age. He was neither a young generation Foundation Establishment master nor could he be a leading Golden Core Martial Uncle.
And after his first failure in Core Formation over a hundred years ago, he had begun a long period of closed-door cultivation. After several more failures, he had long lost interest in matters outside of Core Formation. All his time was either spent on cultivation or on finding perilous places for opportunities and training.
Of course, he would occasionally hear his fellow disciples talk about the skill of a certain woman from the Malevolent Spirit Sect in body tempering arts. But he simply didn't believe it. Firstly, the cultivation method that woman cultivated was said to be passed down from her family, not owned by the Malevolent Spirit Sect. In addition, Gong Chenying's identity was so special that only a very few people in the Malevolent Spirit Sect knew about it. So, no matter how others looked at Gong Chenying, she was selected by the Malevolent Spirit Sect from its subordinate areas. If that sect's body tempering art was very powerful, although it might have declined for various reasons, with the strength of the Jingtu Sect, they should have known about it.
All these reasons made Yiming always believe that the Jingtu Sect was the holy land of body tempering arts in the world, and he looked down on the body tempering cultivation methods of other sects.
And Li Yan was clear that Monk Yiming knew he understood body tempering arts. He changed his usual style and kept his strength deeply hidden, knowing that Yiming was experienced, or perhaps his judgment was flawed.
...
At this time, the battle on the other side had reached a life-and-death juncture. Although the white-robed young man's cultivation realm was inferior to Bu Luo's, at this moment, Bu Luo was at the end of his rope. He was just holding on by a thread of breath to not faint, barely commanding a Moonlight Silver Plate magical treasure to deal with the white-robed young man.
Monk Yiming's attack had been truly vicious. He had been stuck at the Foundation Establishment Pseudo-Core Realm for many years. Apart from his commonly used immortal arts, which he had cultivated to perfection, he had spent most of his time on the "Lesser Vajra Body." Last year, he had cultivated the "Lesser Vajra Body" to the Great Ascension stage.
After so many years of immersion, Yiming's close-quarters combat had long reached the point of simplifying the complex. His simple shoulder charge against Bu Luo, whether in terms of angle, timing, or speed, was exquisite. And most importantly, he had infused almost all of his own power into Bu Luo's body. The damage caused to Bu Luo was imaginable.
If it weren't for the automatic master-protecting treasure on Bu Luo's body, he would have been a corpse by now.
The Moonlight Silver Plate flew around Bu Luo at a distance of three feet. This was the largest defensive range Bu Luo could manage. At this moment, Bu Luo's hair was disheveled, and his face and body were covered in blood. He was leaning against the basket, half-sitting. The bloody, broken bone fragments under his ribs were a horrifying sight.
Although he had managed to take a pill to stop the internal bleeding and had also sprinkled powder to help the wound heal, the spirit power in his body was getting weaker and weaker. He had to pinch a hand seal with one hand to command the Moonlight Silver Plate and swallow pills with the other. His appearance made the white-robed young man, who was attacking continuously from a distance, swallow hard. Because the pills Bu Luo took out, whether for healing or replenishing spirit power, were all at the third rank or above.
If it weren't for these pills, the white-robed young man believed that without his attacks, even if the book-boy hadn't died immediately from Monk Yiming's blow, he wouldn't have lived for more than twenty breaths afterward. But even such a person, on the verge of death, under the influence of a large number of precious pills, not only had his vitality gradually recovered, but he could also drive his spirit power to fight with him.
The white-robed young man had also woken up from his previous daze, his heart replaced by greed. This book-boy had too many treasures. In just this short while, three magical treasures had appeared: the smoke-like arm, the bamboo branch, and the Moonlight Silver Plate. There were also bottles and bottles of third-rank and above pills. Especially that bamboo basket, it seemed to be an inexhaustible source. The magical treasures were all taken out from that basket by the book-boy.
"This bamboo basket itself is a high-grade magical treasure, a good treasure!" The white-robed young man's eyes slowly grew hot. As he journeyed through the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, Xu Yehua had taught him to kill and rob time and time again. He himself had not yet realized that he had slowly turned this act of quickly obtaining benefits into a habit.
Bu Luo felt his head getting dizzier, and his vision began to blur. He knew that although the pills his young master had given him were extremely powerful, what he needed more now was to sit cross-legged and meditate, slowly digesting the medicinal power to recover.
But now, to save his life, he could only repeatedly consume some of the spirit power brought by the pills. He was unable to fuse and digest more of the spirit power. Eventually, these pills that could not be timely digested and fused would turn into pill poison in his meridians, becoming a sharp blade that would accelerate his death.
But if he didn't continue to take the pills, then the little spirit power he had would soon be used up. His actions now were undoubtedly drinking poison to quench his thirst, but he had no choice. He now didn't even have the extra strength to drive the bamboo branch behind him.
'Young Master, I've really messed up this time. I'm going to see my ancestors. I wonder if he'll say my legs are too fast, that he just left and I'm already chasing after him, hehe...'
Bu Luo's vision blurred. He had already begun to unconsciously drive the Moonlight Silver Plate. Fortunately, the Moonlight Silver Plate was indeed a good magical treasure. The artifact spirit within it was not weak. It could feel its master's weakness, so it had already taken over most of the command. But if there was no more spirit power to drive it in the next moment, the artifact spirit would have no choice but to fly out on its own for a final struggle.
...
On the other side, Li Yan's expression also moved. He glanced at the distance from the corner of his eye. Several figures had already appeared on the horizon there. Because most of the hills here were low, they could still see the battle in the air from a distance of one or two hundred li.
He looked again at Xu Yehua and the white crane on the other side. Xu Yehua had gradually gained the upper hand, but it would take a longer time to capture the white crane. Xu Yehua needed to not kill the white crane. So Xu Yehua was also sweating profusely.
Firstly, if he relaxed for a moment, the white crane would attack him with all its might. Secondly, he didn't know if the white crane had been hit by Li Yan's spell or a virulent poison. If it was the former, everything was still manageable. But if it was the latter, layers of sweat kept breaking out on his back.
At that time, what if he managed to control the white crane? Without the antidote, the time of the white crane's death would be the time of his own demise. He had to capture the white crane as soon as possible and then carefully examine it. The thought of how things had ended up like this made Xu Yehua's fear of death at this moment far exceed his hatred for Li Yan.
"Those people chasing the book-boy Bu Luo are here. I need to end the battle as soon as possible."
Li Yan knew that the figures appearing in the distance were the people who had been chasing Bu Luo before. The battle here had not lasted for more than a quarter of an hour in total. Of course, those people had already rushed over.
Li Yan didn't know if any of those people knew this monk and the white-robed cultivator. If so, it would be a big problem.
He wanted to resolve the situation with Yiming as soon as possible, but the other party was also very cunning. If Li Yan used poison, Monk Yiming would always avoid physical contact with him. Then he would have to use some kind of smoke-like virulent poison. But that also required an opportunity. The moment he showed a trace of abnormality, the other party would hold his breath.