Five Immortal Sects
Chapter 147: The Demise of a Heavenly Talent

Li Yan suddenly reappeared in front of Gan Shi and the others. Only Gan Shi’s eyelids twitched slightly, but he did not open his eyes. His arrival was silent.

Li Yan glanced at the massive black shadow in the sky behind him, calculated the time, and then walked directly towards the huge yellow sphere. A few breaths later, Li Yan emerged from the huge yellow sphere again, then directly transmitted a message to Gan Shi.

“Elder Brother Gan, could you come here for a moment?”

Gan Shi’s eyelids trembled. He immediately opened his eyes. At this moment, the vitality in his eyes had recovered considerably. He directly stood up and walked towards Li Yan.

By this time, his severely injured leg had remarkably recovered by seventy to eighty percent. He no longer dragged it on the ground but walked towards Li Yan with a slight limp. It was estimated that in a short while, it should be able to fully recover.

Gan Shi came before Li Yan, then looked back at the sky and the few people sitting cross-legged on the snow, quietly transmitting his voice.

“The other party hasn't arrived yet? We can stay here for at most another teacup's worth of time.”

“They haven't arrived yet, but they're close. Senior Brother, come inside with me.”

With that, a glint of cunning flashed in Li Yan’s eyes. Gan Shi said no more. With a single step, he followed Li Yan and entered the yellow sphere.

After more than half a teacup’s worth of time, Gan Shi and Li Yan, along with the other five, once again entered the yellow sphere. At this moment, the massive black shadow in the sky outside was only tens of zhang away from them.

When Zhu Gaotai, Senior Brother Rui, and the four disciples, fully on guard, entered the sphere, the scene before their eyes left them dumbfounded.

In front of them, there was only one sword cultivator, clad in the robes of Ten-Step Court, attacking madly in all directions, while shouting and yelling.

“Who is it? Who is so shameless, so despicable? It can't be the restrictions here, absolutely not the work of the restrictions here.”

He seemed to ignore the arriving crowd.

Upon seeing this person, Gan Shi's eyes suddenly flashed with a trace of fighting intent. Just as he was about to step forward, Li Yan pulled him back.

“Elder Brother Gan, this person is already close to death, and there is still one stage left. Don't waste your energy.”

Gan Shi was a little annoyed at being pulled back by Li Yan, but after hearing Li Yan's words, he couldn't help but sigh.

“Miao Zhengyi, truly a figure of his generation. I've fought him several times, only managing a draw by relying on formations. To think he would end up like this, what a pity, what a pity.”

Then he took a deep look at Li Yan, feeling that this person's methods were peculiar. Not only could he freely come and go within the Wheel of Life and Death, but his ambush tactics were also vicious.

Earlier, he had been called into the sphere by Li Yan. Then Li Yan had roughly drawn a boundary, asking him to set up a hidden formation. The entrance was where their side had entered the passage, ensuring that the other three directions could not see this area.

He also told him that he must not cross the boundary he had drawn, otherwise, Li Yan himself would not have an antidote for him to counteract the poison.

When Gan Shi first heard Li Yan’s words, he was somewhat dismissive. But later, as he set up the formation, he used his divine sense to scan the rest of the sphere, yet found nothing.

He believed that Li Yan wouldn't lie to him. Such a statement surely meant some method had been set, but no matter how carefully he scanned with his divine sense, he found nothing amiss.

“This is the legendary Fractured Poison Body, using the body as poison, and cultivating the body with poison.”

While he was pondering, Li Yan's voice came faintly.

“Senior Brother, the opposing team belongs to Ten-Step Court. They were still over two hundred zhang from the yellow sphere just now, but there's only one team. I suppose they failed to converge with the other two sects.

The team leader should be named Miao Zhengyi. They only have six Qi Condensation cultivators left, but whether all of them can enter alive later is uncertain.”

Li Yan explained.

Gan Shi was startled. So this Junior Brother Li had actually gone to the opponent's checkpoint earlier and found out that the opponent was Miao Zhengyi of Ten-Step Court, who was a powerful cultivator almost on par with Wang Lang.

And listening to Li Yan's words, it seemed he had even done something at the opponent's checkpoint. How did he evade Miao Zhengyi's senses? Even Gan Shi himself couldn't have pulled off such a trick under the opponent's very nose.

“Hehehe… Elder Brother Gan, that person is quite formidable. I was discovered the moment I showed myself, but fortunately, this junior brother left quickly so he didn't fully realize.”

Li Yan seemed to have seen through Gan Shi’s thoughts.

Gan Shi, however, shook his head and gave a bitter laugh.

“Junior Brother Li, if it truly is Miao Zhengyi, I genuinely cannot believe it. He is an extremely formidable figure in the Foundation Establishment realm of Ten-Step Court’s outer sword court, capable of controlling three hundred and sixty flying swords. You can imagine how powerful his divine sense is. To be able to tamper under his divine sense lock and still leave unharmed, I admit I couldn't do it.”

“Hehehe… it was merely luck. Senior Brother, if you've set up the means, then let's go out. We'll come back in when the time is right. But Senior Brother, you are truly amazing; you even added quite a few tricks to the edge of the formation.”

Li Yan chuckled lightly, then changed the subject.

“Junior Brother Li, I am impressed! You actually discovered what I did with the formation.”

“I’ve been observing, so of course I could see it. If I had entered later, I certainly wouldn't have known.”

Gan Shi looked back at Li Yan, then gently shook his head again, not knowing how much he believed Li Yan's words…

At this moment, inside the yellow sphere, Li Yan watched Miao Zhengyi, who was going mad outside the formation, and couldn't help but secretly admire Gan Shi. The few of them stood there, yet the opponent remained completely oblivious.

If Miao Zhengyi were a Qi Condensation cultivator, it would be understandable, but he was an existence even more powerful than Gan Shi. To render another cultivator who was a minor realm higher and already at the pseudo-Core stage unable to see through a formation, this was truly astonishing.

No wonder Eldest Senior Brother said that Gan Shi was formidable, having refined his formation techniques into his being. He could defend against enemies with formations throughout his entire body, formations appearing with the release of his techniques, instantly killing enemies.

Looking at the three corpses of Ten-Step Court still lying on the ground, a smile touched Li Yan’s lips. He had risked entering the white ribbon earlier with the purpose of delaying the opponent’s progress, to buy himself time to set up defenses within the yellow sphere and also to inflict as many casualties as possible on the enemy.

As he flashed past hundreds of zhang away from the other party, he had already left behind the poison of "Qi Linked Branches," which had blended with the floral scent in the air there. From the looks of it, at least three people had been afflicted by the "Qi Linked Branches" poison and had already died outside the yellow sphere.

Amidst everyone's dumbfounded expressions, Zhu Gaotai suddenly pointed at Miao Zhengyi, whose pupils had turned pure white and said with a trembling voice.

“Lingering Glance! This is Lingering Glance! To think it could even affect a Foundation Establishment cultivator and render him unable to dispel it.”

The others were stunned upon hearing this, but someone immediately recalled the poison Zhou Guan'er had contracted during the sect competition. It was precisely that privately circulated, notorious "Lingering Glance." What was astonishing was that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator couldn't resist it.

In their horrified gaze, the sword qi stirred by the powerful Foundation Establishment cultivator became even more ferocious, distorting and deforming the entire sphere wall.

Moreover, several sword qi had already swept towards their formation, causing the formation to rumble with a loud noise, showing signs of collapse. However, seeing the calm expression on the yellow-haired big man's face, the few of them slightly relaxed.

Just as several sword qi swept towards the formation, Miao Zhengyi, whose pupils were stark white, suddenly turned his head, staring at their location with a furious expression. Although he could no longer see anything, his divine sense clearly detected the difference in this area.

His face contorted with anger, enduring waves of convulsive pain from his heart, he hoarsely spoke.

“Indeed, it’s an ambush! It’s that expert from the Wraith Sect! Can you come out and show yourself?”

As he spoke, the muscles in his face twitched continuously. Clearly, the "Lingering Glance" poison had already taken full effect.

Gan Shi sighed deeply and had already stepped out of the formation, but only to the outer edge of the formation. He did not go too far, as he was also deeply wary of the poison Li Yan had laid.

“Brother Miao, how have you been?”

He calmly looked at the person in front of him. At this moment, the space within the sphere was also rapidly expanding.

“Heh heh, Gan Shi! It really is you. I knew it had to be someone with such a profound formation. Brother Gan, what excellent tactics, ambushing us without shedding a drop of blood!

It’s just… hiss… it’s… it’s just that I have one thing unclear. The poison I've contracted here, and the inexplicable poisoning and death of several disciples outside the sphere… I… I sensed the same familiar aura, but… but… I don't know if it was done by one person.”

As he spoke, he clutched his chest tightly with both hands, as if his heart was about to burst, asking with great difficulty.

“Yes!”

Gan Shi looked at his former opponent, stating indifferently.

“Indeed… indeed, but how could you enter my checkpoint? This is… impossible!”

Miao Zhengyi’s pupils turned even whiter, and he slowly hunched over.

“Then how were you able to combine different people from two separate paths?”

At this moment, a voice slowly emanated, and then a figure also appeared beside Gan Shi. It was Li Yan.

Although Li Yan’s words were calm, he was extremely shocked inwardly.

“A sword cultivator’s sensing ability is actually so strong that he could determine it was the work of one person, even through completely different types of potent poisons.”

From then on, Li Yan would be extremely cautious of sword cultivators. But at this moment, he wasn't worried, because after Miao Zhengyi unleashed his last few sword strikes, the poison had already permeated deep into his internal organs, leaving him without any power to fight, unless he could extract his Nascent Soul and abandon this physical body.

“Hehehe, yes… yes…”

Miao Zhengyi, upon hearing Li Yan’s words, scanned Li Yan with his divine sense, then fell silent for a moment before chuckling. He no longer pressed the question of who had tampered with things but slowly sat down on the ground.

Finally, after staring at Li Yan with his stark white pupils for a while, he slowly lowered his head without another word. A generation’s heavenly talent thus fell, silently.

Looking at the person before him, Gan Shi couldn't help but be lost in thought, seemingly reminiscing about the past, about Miao Zhengyi who with a wave of his hand conjured hundreds of gleaming chilling swords that sent shivers down one's spine…

Li Yan did not immediately step forward to take Miao Zhengyi’s belongings. He knew that Miao Zhengyi’s blue prism crystal and green gourd were in his storage bag and he hadn’t had time to destroy them.

Or perhaps, after hearing Li Yan's words, he already knew there was no need to destroy them. However, Li Yan would only approach after confirming that the person was truly dead.

At this moment, the four people inside the formation had also come out, but with Gan Shi's prior instructions, they dared not wander aimlessly, watching the two people in front silently.

They then swept their gaze over the four corpses on the ground, especially Miao Zhengyi's corpse. That was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, who had thus fallen at the hands of a Qi Condensation cultivator.

Regardless of what methods Li Yan used, any method that leads to death is a good method. This was the consistent belief of the Wraith Sect. For a poison that could kill a Foundation Establishment cultivator and Li Yan's ability to kill across realms, these few people felt an immense apprehension towards Li Yan.

After a long while, the dazed Gan Shi finally stirred, sighed, and turned to look at Li Yan.

“Junior Brother Li, what's next?”

(Chapter End)