Chapter 118: Questions

The hourglass of time flowed without a trace. After one hour, nearly half of the Qi Condensation cultivators gradually opened their eyes, those who had preserved more of their spiritual power earlier.

They didn’t disturb the others, merely casting a glance at the young figure standing by the roadside, scanning the surroundings. Several smiled faintly and silently stepped to the road’s edge to guard the perimeter.

As more people awoke, hushed voice transmissions began to ripple through the crowd.

“Little Martial Uncle, what do you think the triggering condition for this stage’s restriction might be?”

Li Yan was still standing on the roadside, gazing into the distance, lost in thought when his divine sense picked up two figures approaching. One of them had already sent him a voice transmission.

He withdrew his gaze and turned back, offering a polite smile as they approached. Then he glanced toward Gong Chenying.

She sat upright in meditation, her striking curves accentuated even more by her posture. A faint yellow glow enveloped her body, adding an almost sacred aura.

Foundation Establishment cultivators possessed much deeper reserves of spiritual power, and naturally took longer to recover.

The two approaching figures stopped by Li Yan. One was Yu Yiyong; the other, a petite and charming young woman named Hu Ziyi from the Four Symbols Peak.

They seemed close, and her cultivation had reached the mid-stage tenth level of Qi Condensation. It was she who had just transmitted the question to Li Yan.

That she addressed him so casually and naturally, without affectation, took Li Yan slightly by surprise. After all, unlike Du Sanjiang, his title of “Little Martial Uncle” wasn’t earned through merit, but came by seniority loophole. Most people barely concealed their disdain.

“Haha… as for this question, I can’t say for certain either,” Li Yan replied, still smiling, and continued transmitting his thoughts.

“But I’ve been observing the area. Do you two remember how the first stage’s restriction was triggered?”

The three of them kept their conversation within divine sense, careful not to disturb those still cultivating. Instead of answering directly, Li Yan posed a question in return.

“It was when Martial Aunt Gong entered the shop that the restriction activated,” Yu Yiyong replied, frowning as he failed to see the connection. There were no shops around here, after all.

Hu Ziyi blinked her large eyes, also confused.

“And if our team leader hadn’t entered the shop?” Li Yan asked calmly.

Both were startled.

Then Yu Yiyong’s eyes lit up.

“Little Martial Uncle means… even if we hadn’t gone into the shop, some trigger would’ve still activated eventually? Otherwise, everyone could’ve just walked past without issue!”

“Ah, you’re saying that in this place, moving forward at all might trigger the restriction or it might trigger automatically after a set time,” Hu Ziyi added, now looking at Li Yan with newfound admiration.

She had been reluctant when Yu Yiyong suggested they approach Li Yan earlier. After all, calling someone over ten years her junior “Little Martial Uncle” was rather distasteful.

But Yu Yiyong had explained that Li Yan was Gong Chenying’s only direct junior disciple here. A word or two from him could very well influence her decisions, a matter of life and death in a place like this.

Moreover, Yu Yiyong noted how mysterious Li Yan seemed. In the previous stage, it was always he who issued timely warnings, almost as though he could sense the dangers ahead.

After recalling how Li Yan had twice used poison without anyone noticing, Hu Ziyi, a poison cultivator herself, couldn’t help but be intrigued.

Li Yan, however, found it all a bit annoying.

“Little Martial Uncle, Little Martial Uncle… Martial uncle is martial uncle, what part of me is ‘little,’ exactly?”

At that moment, light footsteps approached again. Several more cultivators headed their way. Li Yan recognized a few from Boundless Peak and Old Lord Peak.

Among them, two from Boundless Peak one tall and burly, the other short and thin looked at him with less-than-friendly eyes. Though Li Yan didn’t know them, he remembered the shorter one. Back when they first entered the secret realm, he had mockingly asked if Li Yan dared to enter the Wheel of Life and Death, earning himself a stern rebuke in return.

The other three were from Old Lord Peak: two men and a woman.

One looked like a young Daoist priest, handsome and always smiling.

The other man, chubby like a round ball, looked every bit the pampered son of a wealthy family. Even before speaking, his plump cheeks bunched up in a warm grin, squinting his eyes to mere slits.

The girl among them was curvaceous and radiant, about sixteen, with alluring peach-blossom eyes and a charming air.

Seeing the five approach, Li Yan and the others fell silent, shifting their attention toward them. Among the five, the chubby young man from Old Lord Peak had the highest cultivation, great perfection of Qi Condensation.

The other two disciples from Old Lord Peak were at late and mid stage tenth level Qi Condensation respectively, while the young woman’s cultivation was slightly higher than theirs.

As for the two from Boundless Peak, both were mid-stage Qi Condensation tenth level. Like the disciples from Spirit Insect Peak, much of their combat power lay in their spirit beasts and gu worms.

“This Little Martial Uncle here, your strike back in that dome was quite vicious. Might I ask what poison you used? Could you teach us a thing or two?”

The short disciple from Boundless Peak transmitted his message immediately upon arriving. Though he spoke with a smile, there was clear disdain in his eyes. He hadn’t spoken aloud, but his voice transmission was broad enough for many to hear, clearly trying to stir up something.

Li Yan frowned slightly.

Why does this guy keep looking for trouble? Was he sent by Wang Tian?

Before Li Yan could respond, the chubby young man from Old Lord Peak swept a glance at the two Boundless Peak disciples, his face darkening.

“Heheheh… Qi Busheng, Mi Yuanzhi, why’d you two tag along with us, anyway? If you’re just looking for trouble, then take it elsewhere.”

His voice was transmitted with clear displeasure.

“Oh? Mei Caichu, since when did our affairs require your interference? You all are allowed here, but we are not? We’re merely curious about this little Martial Uncle’s methods and wanted to witness them firsthand!

I, Qi Busheng, dare say my gu arts aren’t weak. Back in the last round, what right did he have to order us to fall back and then tell us to attack together? Is he the team leader?”

The short man, identifying himself as Qi Busheng, stared back at the plump young master with not the slightest sign of backing down.

“Hmph! If not for his senseless commands, our insect swarm would’ve broken through their defensive array in just a few breaths. Thanks to him, the enemy nearly self-detonated in the end!”

The taller companion from Boundless Peak added coldly, his gaze sweeping up and down across Li Yan.

“Mi Yuanzhi, they only had four or five breaths before they self-destructed. Do you really think your gu insects could have killed all those monks in that short time?”

The young daoist chimed in with a mild smile via voice transmission.

“If not for him telling everyone to attack at once, how could those monks have chosen to self-detonate so quickly? Just a few more breaths and the situation would’ve been different.”

Mi Yuanzhi replied with disdain.

“You two don’t even bother calling me ‘Martial Uncle’? ‘You’, ‘Him’, and ‘He’how strange. I might as well visit the Boundless Peak Law Enforcement Hall when this is over and ask if such behavior is acceptable under sect rules.”

Li Yan, surrounded and unjustly accused, was already quite irritated. A portion of his mind remained focused on the area’s dangers, wary of missing anything and now these two had come to provoke him yet again. His eyes narrowed and he transmitted coldly to the group.

Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi inwardly fumed at the rebuke, thinking:

“Damn this annoying seniority… making trouble for him is harder than expected. Looks like we’ll have to stir up something behind the scenes instead!”

Still, their words remained stubborn and biting.

“So what if you go to the Law Enforcement Hall? Just because you gave an order doesn’t mean it was right. Are we not even allowed to voice our doubts?”

They cast another furtive glance toward Gong Chenying in the distance, feeling even more frustrated.

“Looks like causing a scene in this team will only hurt us in the end. We never should’ve agreed to those Martial Uncles’ request in the first place.”

“If the two of you have nothing else, kindly step aside.”

Li Yan was now truly angry. He had no idea who had sent these two to cause trouble, but even now, they were still stirring the pot.

“Senior Brothers, the little Martial Uncle has told you to scram! Heehee…”

The voluptuous girl from Old Lord Peak added with a teasing smile, her voice chiming sweetly in everyone’s minds, clearly enjoying the drama.

Qi Busheng and Mi Yuanzhi realized they had picked the wrong time to pick a fight.

Since entering the Life-and-Death Wheel, they had barely gotten any rest between battles. Now, with some downtime, if they didn’t at least make some noise and those martial uncles outside found out afterward, the two of them would definitely be in for a hard time.

They glared around at the others, snorted, and finally left in frustration.

“Hehehe… I’m Mei Caichu. These two are my junior brother and sister, Ding Yiwei and Cheng Jingnian. Greetings, Little Martial Uncle.”

The plump, good-natured young master gave a respectful salute.

Li Yan was unsure of their intent. But hearing them also refer to him as “little Martial Uncle” made him frown internally.

“Are all the Martial Uncles on each peak really older than me? Who started this ridiculous title, anyway?”

He silently grumbled.

The young daoist and curvaceous girl also offered a respectful bow.

“What brings all of you here?” Li Yan asked.

“Hehe, Martial Uncle, we were just discussing the last round. Your timing with those warnings and that final intervention, truly something. We came over to offer our thanks. If not for your actions, the outcome might have been far worse.”

Mei Caichu smiled with genuine sincerity as he spoke.

“Indeed, Senior Brother Mei is right. I feel the same. Along the way, Martial Aunt Gong had to use up much of her power to minimize casualties.

Even at her peak, stopping a Foundation Establishment cultivator from self-detonating is nearly impossible.”

Yu Yiyong chimed in as well.

Li Yan, ever perceptive, immediately understood their real intentions. Their thanks felt more like a smokescreen, they were clearly hoping to pry into the details of how he used his poison.

But in the cultivation world, such questions were taboo. If pressed too far, the person being asked might retaliate fatally. So they kept things vague, only mentioning gratitude and their own roles, never directly asking about the poison.

If he happened to take the bait and say more, they might pick up some clues.

But Li Yan understood this clearly. As a poison cultivator, his greatest goal was to hone his toxins to perfection. The less others knew, the more desperate they became to unravel the mystery.

Given his modest cultivation level, these people didn’t seem to regard him as a threat, hence their boldness.

Li Yan simply smiled in silence. The others took note and understood immediately, they weren’t offended. It was perfectly reasonable for him not to answer.

After all, they had come hoping for a chance and at the very least, they could build some rapport.

Mei Caichu, quick to adapt, chuckled and smoothly changed the subject, steering the conversation toward their current challenge.

Soon, Li Yan found himself chatting pleasantly with the three men and two women. After a while, he suddenly said:

“Oh! That reminds me, I have a question I haven’t been able to figure out. Would you all be willing to help me think it through?”

(Chapter End)