Five Immortal Sects

Chapter 29: The Fleeting Opportunity

Li Yan turned around and walked towards the valley, thinking to himself as he walked. It seemed like he had missed a perfect opportunity to escape.

“How could I be so careless? I already knew the current situation, but I was still so careless. Luckily, I asked about it today!”

At this moment, his life was in danger, and he didn’t know when Military Advisor Ji would lose control and kill him, the “pig” that he was.

“No, I can’t hesitate anymore. I have to take action now, or I’ll regret it later.”

Li Yan quickly walked back to his room, packing a few simple things, including some clothes and the silver coins he had accumulated over the past two months, which he placed in a brown leather box on the table.

However, carrying a large package would be too conspicuous, so he decided to hide the few dozen silver coins in his pocket instead, to avoid drawing attention.

Although he hadn’t left the valley in two months, the few dozen silver coins he received as a salary from Chen An and others had been delivered to him every month, which had given him some peace of mind. Now that he was about to leave, he would need these silver coins, or it would be difficult to get by.

He still didn’t know that even if Military Advisor Ji wasn’t in the valley, it would be difficult for him to leave, as Chen An and Li Ying wouldn’t let him go easily without receiving orders.

Recently, his cultivation of the “Water True Scripture” had been progressing rapidly, and he could feel his spiritual power growing rapidly. He couldn’t see inside his body yet, but he could sense that his Dantian had been filled with about a fifth of his spiritual power in just a short period of time, making his body more agile and his energy increasing significantly.

This cultivation speed was terrifying, and Li Yan thought that if he continued at this pace, he wouldn’t need a year to reach the peak of the Qi Condensation stage.

However, this was only partially true. The reason for his rapid progress was that the cultivation method was tailored to his body type, making it easy for him to cultivate. Additionally, his Dantian was initially empty, so the growth seemed rapid.

Just as Li Yan was packing, he heard footsteps outside his room, and his heart skipped a beat.

“Lunch is here. After this meal, I don’t know when the next meal will be. Let’s eat it first, so that I can have enough energy to run.”

After tidying up, he stood up and walked towards the door.

“Li Yan, I heard you were looking for me?”

Just as Li Yan reached the door and touched the door handle, a familiar voice came from outside, making him feel like he had been struck by lightning. He stood still and his head was buzzing.

This voice wasn’t Military Advisor Ji’s, but whose was it? For a moment, Li Yan felt like he was falling into an abyss.

Luckily, he still had some self-control, and after composing himself, he opened the door with a puzzled expression.

“Ah, teacher? You’re back!”

As the door opened, Li Yan saw Military Advisor Ji’s face, and his expression changed suddenly. He then revealed a surprised and delighted expression.

“Oh, Master, you’re back! I was looking for you because I had some questions and needed your guidance.”

Military Advisor Ji’s face didn’t look good, with multiple tears on his clothes and hints of bloodstains. His originally pale face now had a dark, gloomy aura.

It turned out that Military Advisor Ji had made a decision after Li Yan left. He decided to head to the location marked on the map. With the fire poison becoming increasingly difficult to control, he had made up his mind and left the valley, heading towards the west.

However, there were unexpected twists and turns, and Military Advisor Ji’s journey was not smooth sailing. Originally, the round trip would have taken him around three months, considering his speed and the time spent searching for treasures.

But unexpectedly, Military Advisor Ji encountered a mid-level demonic beast in the Great Green Mountain, which was not supposed to happen according to his previous explorations.

This level of demonic beast would normally only appear after he had traveled tens of thousands of miles, and he would have been more cautious and avoided them by then.

The “Seeking Immortality Lineage” had a long history of hiding and concealing themselves, using various methods such as herbal fragrances or terrain advantages.

If Military Advisor Ji and his lineage didn’t have these methods, they would have been extinct long ago.

But this time, the demonic beast, which was injured and had several deep wounds, had somehow wandered to the outskirts of the Great Green Mountain. It was a coincidence that Military Advisor Ji encountered it, and he was completely unprepared and unable to hide his tracks.

The mid-level demonic beast was comparable to a fourth or fifth stage Qi Condensation cultivator! The injured beast, which had previously fought with other living creatures, sensed Military Advisor Ji’s aura and realized he was no match for it. It immediately became enraged and charged towards Military Advisor Ji.

Military Advisor Ji, who was only at the third Qi Condensation stage, was no match for the beast. Luckily, the demonic beast was severely injured and had difficulty moving, so Military Advisor Ji saw an opportunity to escape.

However, the demonic beast was still fueled by anger and didn’t want to let Military Advisor Ji go. It chased after him relentlessly, and Military Advisor Ji had to use all his skills, including his immortal techniques and martial arts, to barely escape to the edge of the Great Green Mountain.

During the chase, the demonic beast had several opportunities to catch up to Military Advisor Ji, but he managed to fend it off with all his might.

In the Great Green Mountain, demonic beasts and ghosts rarely ventured out. According to records, hundreds of thousands of years ago, a large number of demonic beasts and ghosts emerged from the Great Green Mountain, causing chaos in the human world and bringing suffering to ordinary people. Later, human cultivators intervened, and after a fierce battle, many Golden Core period cultivators and high-ranking demonic beasts and ghost kings fell.

Finally, with the emergence of several Nascent Soul elders, the situation took a turn for the better. They negotiated with the fourth-level demonic beast and ghost emperor, setting certain conditions, the details of which were unknown to ordinary people and low-level cultivators.

Since then, the demonic beasts and ghosts have retreated deep into the Great Green Mountain, rarely appearing in the mortal world again.

So, when Military Advisor Ji escaped to the edge of the Great Green Mountain, the demonic beast didn’t dare to take another step, as if there was some kind of restraint outside the mountain. It could only roar angrily and then retreat back into the Great Green Mountain.

Military Advisor Ji finally let out a sigh of relief, but he was extremely angry. This time, not only did he fail to obtain the immortal technique, but he also almost lost his life to the demonic beast.

Although he managed to escape with his life, he had to use a lot of spiritual power to fight the demonic beast, which made it difficult for him to control the fire poison in his body. His internal spiritual power was on the verge of going out of control.

After this incident, it would be almost impossible for him to recover to his previous state, and even if he wanted to stabilize his internal spiritual power, he would need several months of recuperation.

Under these circumstances, he no longer had the strength to venture into the Great Green Mountain again. He could only return to the military advisor’s residence, focus on recuperating, and then decide on his next move.

If he recovered well and Li Yan hadn’t reached the peak of the Qi Condensation stage, he would re-enter the Great Green Mountain to explore again. He didn’t believe he would be so unlucky again, and next time, he would be more cautious and not as reckless as before.

As he returned to the valley, Chen An and Li Ying saw him and immediately came to greet him.

They saw that Military Advisor Ji’s face was extremely pale, and his clothes were torn and stained with blood, but they didn’t dare ask questions, only guessing in their minds.

‘Sir must have gone to the Meng Kingdom’s territory again. But how did he end up in such a state? Did the Meng Kingdom also have a powerful expert like him?’

They only thought this to themselves and didn’t dare ask out loud. Then, they reported to Military Advisor Ji that Li Yan was looking for him.

Military Advisor Ji listened and nodded, then asked about Li Yan’s recent situation.

Chen An answered cautiously.

“Recently, Young Master’s temper has been fluctuating.”

Military advisor Ji nodded after hearing this, as he was already aware of this.

“There’s more,” Chen An continued in a low voice, “Young Master has been suddenly writing poetry and songs with brush and paper, and his actions are quite strange. I’ve kept those papers, but I don’t know how to handle them.”

“Oh, bring those papers to me to take a look!”

Military advisor Ji said, although he had already guessed what was going on.

Chen An and Li Ying quickly brought over two large boxes, and after opening them, Military advisor Ji randomly picked up a few papers to examine.

They were just random sentences and phrases copied from books on the shelves, with messy handwriting. It was clear that they were written carelessly.

After looking at over a dozen papers, Military advisor Ji put them back in the box and said to Chen An and Li Ying, “These are useless, just Li Yan’s scribbles to vent his emotions. From now on, just throw away such things and use them as firewood in the kitchen.”

He knew that these were just Li Yan’s way of releasing his pent-up emotions, a method he himself had used before.

After that, Military advisor Ji headed straight to Li Yan’s residence, planning to ask Li Yan about his situation and then begin his recuperation. Unless necessary, he wouldn’t even see Li Yan during this time.

When he arrived at Li Yan’s residence, he didn’t use his divine sense to spy on Li Yan, mainly because of his current injuries.

Li Yan looked at Military advisor Ji, whose face was pale and clothes were tattered, and although he didn’t know what had happened, he knew that the timing was off and couldn’t help but feel regret.

With Military advisor Ji in his current state, he wouldn’t be leaving the military advisor’s residence anytime soon.

“Teacher, what happened to you?” Li Yan asked with concern, pretending to be worried but also genuinely curious about what had happened to Military advisor Ji over the past few days.

Military advisor Ji forced a smile on his pale face.

“I went on a trip for some business and encountered a strong enemy on the way. Although I killed them, I got injured in the process. I just need to rest for a while, and I’ll be fine. What did you want to see me about?”

Military advisor Ji said, half-truthfully.

Li Yan thought to himself after hearing this.

‘What a pity, the one who could injure him must be a cultivator. If only they could have killed him, that would be great. It’s really a pity, I truly missed a great opportunity to escape!’

“Oh, I just want to ask the teacher some questions about cultivation. Then the disciple will not delay the teacher’s recuperation.”

Li Yan bowed and said.

“Ah, this isn’t a small matter. Tell me, what’s going on?” Military advisor Ji said, knowing that Li Yan’s cultivation issues couldn’t be delayed.

Li Yan stepped aside, and Military advisor Ji sat down on a chair after entering the room.

Li Yan stood beside him, then began to ask questions about his cultivation, using the “Wood Shadow Technique” to pose five or six questions.

Military advisor Ji nodded after listening, as these were common issues that arose during cultivation. He then began to answer each question one by one.

Li Yan’s face showed a concentrated look and occasionally interjecting with a question to clarify, which made Military advisor Ji even more satisfied. His injuries even seemed to have improved slightly.

After a cup of tea, Li Yan’s face lit up with a relieved expression, and he bowed again. Military advisor Ji nodded in satisfaction.

“You should focus on your cultivation. I hope to see you reach the second stage soon. That way, even if I were to pass away, you’ll have some self-preservation abilities in this world.”

As he spoke, a hint of sadness appeared on his face.

Li Yan’s expression changed, and he hurriedly said, “Teacher, with your abilities, you just need to rest for a while, and it won’t be a problem. I will definitely work harder on my cultivation to repay your kindness.”