Chen Yan's mood grew increasingly heavy.
The spiritual artifact held by that cultivator in gray-green martial attire, who had just died beneath his clear-colored rainbow light, was problematic.
If it were just ordinary poison, it would be very difficult to harm a cultivator like Chen Yan, who was at the Spirit Connection Realm.
But being able to suppress the flow of true qi within the meridians was a different matter entirely.
The circulation of true qi in his meridians grew increasingly sluggish and clogged, like a river blocked by mud and sand.
Although Chen Yan's Martial Spring was extremely abundant, with vast amounts of true qi surging, for him now, it was completely a case of having strength but being unable to use it.
As the flow of true qi in his meridians slowed more and more, Chen Yan's Protective True Qi also grew increasingly thin.
"Chen Yan..."
Si Youyou's voice from behind Chen Yan called his name, sounding somewhat helpless.
The bushes several dozen zhang away rustled, and another cultivator in gray-green martial attire slowly walked toward the direction of Chen Yan and Si Youyou.
"Tsk, you really have some skill."
The person cursed softly like that, his gaze turning toward the direction where the other ambusher had been blasted to death by Chen Yan.
This other cultivator in gray-green martial attire, who had been secretly ambushing all along, chose to reveal himself now entirely because victory was assured.
One at the early stage of the Spirit Connection Realm, one at the mid-stage of the Qi Sea Realm.
According to the original intelligence and plan, with the ambush of their two Spirit Connection Realm cultivators, killing these two greenhorns who had come to the island should have been a very easy, trivial matter.
Yet they had capsized in a gutter.
No, perhaps it couldn't be called capsizing in a gutter. The spells that Spirit Connection Realm cultivator could unleash were simply too ferocious, even comparable to those of elders from top-tier sects.
It should be said the other party had capsized in a gutter.
If not for that high-grade spiritual artifact Old Fourth had scavenged from a corpse last month, he himself would probably have fallen into the other party's hands as well.
"Fortune within misfortune..."
This other cultivator in gray-green martial attire revealed a mocking smile.
Chen Yan, his posture slightly swaying, barely managed to glance at the ambusher walking toward him and Si Youyou.
Given his current condition, relying on his conventional means to kill the enemy was almost already an impossible task.
And even if he could kill the other party, with the current speed of this poison's spread, he himself probably wouldn't survive either.
It should end now.
"Yes, fortune within misfortune."
Chen Yan raised his head, toward that other cultivator in gray-green martial attire, and similarly revealed a mocking smile.
Immediately after, he forcibly activated the clear rainbow that had just condensed in his Martial Spring, then used the Great Derivation Art to derive it into immortal energy, gathering it at the tip of his own finger.
All the true qi in his meridians instantly evaporated.
As long as there was no true qi in the meridians, there was no need to worry about the problem of sluggish true qi circulation.
For some reason, Chen Yan suddenly told himself this cold joke in his heart.
Probably because he had already made his resolution.
Immortal energy clear light burst from Chen Yan's fingertip. The valley, forest, and that cultivator in gray-green martial attire before him were completely evaporated.
In an instant, heaven and earth became clear and bright.
Chen Yan, with his meridians completely shattered, vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs, then collapsed to the ground.
"Chen Yan, no, Chen Yan!"
Vaguely, he seemed to hear Si Youyou's crying and shouting coming from behind him.
But he no longer had the strength to make any response, nor did he know what response he should make.
Chen Yan just looked ahead. After the valley and forest before him had been leveled into flat ground by the immortal energy, he could vaguely see, dozens of li away from his current location, a city.
It seemed to look quite a bit smaller than Taiyun City in the Qingque Kingdom.
He had thought Fusheng City would be a majestic and magnificent city...
This was the last thought that surfaced in Chen Yan's consciousness, and then he completely lost awareness.
[Reincarnation Ended.]
[This Reincarnation Rating: S- (Destroyed Heavenly Summit Mountain, took on great cause and effect, revived the Path to Immortality, ascended to Fusheng Island... If not for dying in such a roadside manner, maybe we could have given you an S)]
[Accumulated Cultivation: Early stage of the Spirit Connection Realm]
[Reincarnation Reward: Cultivation raised by one major realm, Hidden Immortal Art (Perfection)]
[Reincarnation settlement complete. Host will return to the previous reincarnation save point, inherit the accumulated cultivation from this reincarnation, and restart life]
...
Thump.
It was the sound of a heartbeat.
Thump.
Chen Yan heard his own heartbeat.
He slowly opened his eyes, wanting to confirm from where this reincarnation of his would begin.
What met his gaze, what entered his field of vision, was only a vast, boundless, and nearly colorless ocean of true qi.
"This is..."
Chen Yan murmured. He raised his head to look in the direction of the sky.
Dozens of strands of clear-colored rainbow light appeared above this vast, endless colorless true qi. Chen Yan suddenly understood where he was now.
This was his own Martial Spring.
Suddenly, the vast, boundless, calmly flowing Martial Spring beneath him began to fluctuate violently.
Almost all of the colorless true qi began to converge completely uncontrollably toward the deepest, most central point of the Martial Spring.
That was the Martial Spring source.
A massive amount of true qi was frantically compressed, refined, and collapsed toward the direction of the Martial Spring source.
The vortex in the Martial Spring grew larger and larger, its rotation speed faster and faster. In the end, this massive amount of colorless true qi was condensed into a single wisp of pale white... innate true energy.
Innate true energy.
Condensing innate true energy was the hallmark of the final realm of the Middle Three Realms, the Myriad Transformations Realm.
Was his innate true energy pale white?
Just as Chen Yan was thinking this, that sole strand of innate true energy began to mutate.
The mist-like pale white color of the innate true energy slowly faded away, and the underlying color it revealed began to change to... clear.
Just like the dozens of strands of clear light suspended above the Martial Spring.
This was a strand of clear-colored innate true energy.
Immediately after, this strand of clear-colored innate true energy began to dissolve back into the Martial Spring. Centered on this strand of clear-colored innate true energy, the vast, boundless colorless Martial Spring was all dyed clear by this strand of clear-colored innate true energy. And the terrifying aura contained within this clear-colored true qi far surpassed the previous colorless true qi.
Chen Yan knew what this clear-colored true qi represented.
The Hidden Immortal Art.
This clear-colored true qi was completely born from the Hidden Immortal Art.
At this moment, the Hidden Immortal Art, which Chen Yan had long since mastered to perfection, had actually undergone transformation once again, or rather, transcendence.
He had completely broken through the upper limit that the Hidden Immortal Art technique could reach, arriving at an even higher level—
Namely, Perfection!
"Esteemed guest?"
A familiar-sounding voice awakened Chen Yan.
Regaining consciousness, he found himself in the courtyard of the inn, and standing before him was that Qi Sea Realm waiter.
"You two, here for a meal or staying the night?"