After listening, Li Yan immediately felt that Zhao Min's analysis was very likely correct.
Many current historical records of the Forsaken Continent only mention this one super teleportation array to the Verdant Continent, with no other discoveries.
The most likely reason for this was the fear of the Black Demon Clan's bloodthirsty and aggressive nature bringing disaster to the Forsaken Continent. After all, they were no longer the original Demon Clan of the past, so some records were deliberately erased.
Although the Xiahou family had also participated in that war between the two realms, the ones who led the war were still the original Demon Clan, the orthodox ancestors of the White Demon Clan.
This was just like the great war between the Desolate Moon Continent and the Demon Clan; only the highest echelons knew some of the top secrets. At that time, Xiahou Shangxie had not yet reached the Spirit Transformation stage.
He was just acting on orders. In the process of participating in the war, although the Xiahou family would have more or less learned some secrets, it was only limited to a portion of the content.
Nowadays, the Black Demon Clan's mysterious "God's Road" held many secrets. It was not impossible that Xiahou Shangxie had obtained them at that time.
The original Demon Clan back then was no benevolent force either. They also thought of invading other realms to obtain rich cultivation resources and were constantly exploring continents adjacent to the Forsaken Continent.
"Perhaps, at that time, the original Demon Clan had already detected more than one weak point in the barriers between realms. It was just limited by their own combat strength. Just dealing with the Verdant Continent already had them evenly matched, so they didn't dare to open passages to other continents. And in the end, a portion of those passages fell into the hands of Xiahou Shangxie."
Li Yan had not thought this through before, but Zhao Min's words enlightened him, and at the same time, further confirmed his speculation about that fragmented jade slip.
Apart from the Black Demon Clan's "God's Road," it was possible that some undamaged two-realm passages still remained, but they would likely be extremely difficult to find.
Otherwise, they would have either been obtained by the Black Demon Clan long ago or destroyed by the White Demon Clan. But this was indeed a way for Li Yan and Zhao Min to quickly leave the Forsaken Continent.
"Alright, let's do that. I'll send you a voice transmission once I find any news!"
After placing the fragmented jade slip on the table, Zhao Min walked towards the door of the room.
"Wait, Senior Sister, there's one more thing to say..."
Zhao Min turned her head helplessly.
"Little Junior Brother, I never realized you were such a nag before. Can't you say everything you need to say at once?"
After Zhao Min finished speaking, her pair of bright eyes shot Li Yan a reproachful glare. This rare girlish expression suddenly added a trace of uncommon gentleness to her usual heroic aura.
Li Yan was momentarily stunned by that look.
He was not good at expressing his emotions, and Zhao Min was the same. So although their interactions felt sweet in their hearts, they always only talked about serious matters and rarely engaged in romantic affections, acting more like an ordinary senior sister and junior brother.
Seeing Li Yan staring blankly at herself, Zhao Min knew she had lost her composure. A blush rose on her snow-white, swan-like neck, and she turned her head away, no longer looking at Li Yan.
Seeing Zhao Min turn her head away, Li Yan finally came to his senses. He chuckled a few times, "hehehe," and then his expression turned serious as he sent a voice transmission.
"Senior Sister, I've had some insights recently and may need to enter seclusion for about a year. We were a bit too hasty about the matter of returning before. You should also put the matter of investigating the two-realm passage on hold for a while, to avoid appearing in public too frequently and attracting others' attention. After all, this is different from your usual character."
Li Yan spoke softly as he pondered. Zhao Min, due to the change in topic, also quickly returned to her usual cold and proud demeanor.
"For a Junior Brother to have an insight in cultivation is something every cultivator dreams of; it must not be taken lightly. Also, your suggestion is right. I will also focus on cultivation for a period of time."
Cultivators strongly believe in so-called premonitions. So, for Li Yan to feel that he might be on the verge of some kind of opportunity, Zhao Min was naturally happy for him.
Even though her heart still wanted to find out as soon as possible if there were other two-realm passages, she ultimately decided to follow Li Yan's suggestion.
After Zhao Min left, Li Yan waved his hand to close the door and activated the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation."
Immediately, his eyes narrowed, and two dangerous glints of light shot out. His face had turned wooden and cold.
"An obstacle in the way? ..."
Then he slowly fell into deep thought. Li Yan maintained this posture for a full hour before his body suddenly moved.
Then, with a flick of his robe sleeve, a small blood river silently surged and floated in front of him. Li Yan stared intently. Within the blood river, a silver droplet, almost too faint to be seen, bobbed up and down, appearing and disappearing.
Li Yan's face was expressionless as he placed an index finger into the blood river. The silver droplet suddenly attached itself to his fingertip. Then, Li Yan assumed an extremely strange posture...
Two years later, Li Yan was still sitting cross-legged in the room. His long hair hung down from his forehead, and a layer of dust had accumulated in the room. But around his body, there seemed to be an invisible membrane, isolating him from the outside world, keeping his black hair glossy and his green robe spotless.
Suddenly, Li Yan's eyes snapped open. The moment they did, his long hair flew and danced, and his green robe rustled loudly. The doors and windows of the room flew open, and several pillars of wind swept through the entire room.
The wind pillars quickly circled the room and flew out through the open door and windows, leaving behind a sparkling clean space.
Just as the wind pillars left the room, the doors and windows closed again with a few light "paps."
Only then did Li Yan slowly stand up. As he rose, the joints in his body popped and cracked like exploding beans.
He gently raised his right palm, shaping it like a blade, and slowly swiped through the empty air in front of him. Following that, a visible "blade mark" was imprinted in the air.
This "blade mark" was a long "indentation" formed by the rapid isolation of the surrounding Spirit Qi. Then, the Qi of the indentation went from slow to extremely fast, shooting straight towards the distant wall.
Li Yan's figure, however, swayed slightly. The next moment, he appeared in front of the "blade mark" formed by the Qi. With only a "hiss," the high-grade spirit artifact-level green robe on Li Yan's body was torn with a long gash. Only then did his figure slowly solidify. Through the torn green robe, a faint silver light flashed on Li Yan's chest and then disappeared.
As the silver light vanished, his exposed skin was left without a trace.
"After completely refining one drop of the 'Undead Nether Phoenix' essence blood, my cultivation has indeed reached the peak of the Initial-stage Golden Core! Now, if I were to fight the 'Elder Dragon Flood Dragon' head-on, my physical body alone could withstand his attacks without injury."
That seemingly casual palm-blade just now had used more than eighty percent of Li Yan's Spirit Power, yet he had blocked it with his own physical defense alone.
Otherwise, if that blade mark's Qi had been released, even with the defense of the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation," it would probably have been broken in an instant.
The current "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation" could no longer keep up with Li Yan's realm; it was no longer his strongest defense in battle.
Refining the last ten percent of that drop of "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood would raise his cultivation and physical body again. The final result was about what Li Yan had expected.
Similarly, his Qiongqi Purgatory Art had also reached the peak of the third layer's initial stage. It was a dual advancement.
During this cultivation session, Li Yan, contrary to his usual practice, directly used the methods of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art to circulate the "Undead Nether Phoenix" essence blood throughout his body.
To his surprise, the cultivation speed of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art increased greatly, but the consumption of Spirit Power in his body was four times that of his daily cultivation. The True Scripture of Gui Water had to be in a state of frantic operation at all times.
In the end, the effect achieved exceeded Li Yan's expectations. In the past, he had always followed the conventional steps of meditation and breathing to refine pills and essence blood.
The advantage of that was that it allowed him to better concentrate on circulating his energy for refinement.
However, after talking with Great Master Wanxiang and Cultivator Chu, Li Yan discovered that the body refining cultivation methods on the Forsaken Continent were very different.
They often forcefully compressed the power of medicinal pills or essence blood into the bone marrow and internal organs for continuous tempering.
This method brought five to six times more pain than before, making it impossible for a cultivator to peacefully circulate their cultivation method.
Especially with the massive consumption of Spirit Power that needed to be replenished, Li Yan had to operate both the Qiongqi Purgatory Art and the True Scripture of Gui Water simultaneously.
In the beginning, it indeed caused Li Yan a lot of suffering, as he was unable to smoothly operate the two cultivation methods he was already so familiar with.
After a long period of time, he slowly began to be able to mobilize the Qi in his body as he wished.
Looking at his chest, Li Yan took out a new set of green robes and changed into them.
Afterward, his gaze fell upon the "Great Dragon-Elephant Formation." There, four voice transmission talismans were bumping around like headless flies.
He reached out and beckoned, drawing the four voice transmission talismans into his hand. He could tell at a glance that one of them was different; it was from Zhao Min.
Sinking his Divine Sense into it, Zhao Min's cold and clear voice came through, but the content was all about requesting him to provide some raw material names and the names of medicinal pills.
Li Yan immediately pieced together these materials and pill names in his mind according to a certain pattern, and a string of words immediately appeared in his head.
"The matter mentioned in the fragmented jade slip is still under investigation, some clues already found!"
Then, Li Yan picked up the remaining three voice transmission talismans. They were all messages from Xing Ming. Apart from asking if Li Yan had found his Master, most of them were about the "Ghost Flood Dragon Clan."
The "Elder Dragon Flood Dragon" had come out of seclusion, but then disappeared again. Xing Ming was searching everywhere for him. He suspected that the other party had once again entered a hidden place in the sect, to assist Xi Ye with her healing.
Because the "Elder Dragon Flood Dragon" had only appeared once, and the news he had received was that the other party had only disappeared again after collecting a lot of medicinal pills.
Li Yan frowned. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, he found that only Xie Tongyi and a group of assistants were in the shop. Without thinking, he immediately sent a voice transmission to him, asking him to come over.
A quarter of an hour later, Xie Tongyi went downstairs with a respectful expression, while Li Yan sat motionless in the chair by the window, his fingers continuously tapping gently on the tabletop.
"This seclusion took more than two years. It's probably been a while since Senior Sister sent the voice transmission. As for the 'Ghost Flood Dragon Clan'... there's no need for much more news, hmph..."
After thinking for a moment, Li Yan did not reply to Zhao Min and Xing Ming's voice transmissions. Instead, his Divine Sense directly entered the "Earthen Patch."
A dozen or so breaths later, his Divine Sense returned to his body. Li Yan shook his head. The Little Purple Divine Dragon-Elephant still hadn't hatched.
And the Snow Mosquito King hadn't reached the third rank, but after being reprimanded by Li Yan last time, it had already entered secluded cultivation.
"I can't count on them this time. Then, it's time to act according to the plan!"
Li Yan's figure then quietly faded from the room. No one in the shop knew. Zhao Min likewise did not know that Li Yan had already interrupted this brief seclusion.
Because Li Yan did not intend for her to know his plan right now.
...
Eight months later, Su Yuan came to the backyard of the shop.
His mood had been very good for the past year or so. Ever since establishing a relationship with the "Sacred Demon Palace," the shop's business had been getting smoother and smoother.
Although this matter could not be widely publicized to avoid attracting unwanted attention, it was still slowly becoming known to many sects.
In this way, with the "Sacred Demon Palace" as a benchmark, the medicinal pills of "Falling Star Valley" gained a guarantee of credibility, and more and more people came to their door.