Li Yan was also a Soul Cultivator. He knew this was a symptom of the soul being weakened—the stripping away of vitality.
During cultivation, even having one's soul touched was usually enough to make one wish for death. Let alone having one's vitality directly extracted.
More crucially, none of them were cultivators any longer. They simply could not mobilize their cultivation to resist such inhuman pain.
Other than their bodies being stronger than those of ordinary mortals, they could only endure this kind of pain raw and unflinching.
Li Yan said nothing. He could not sympathize with these people. Better a fellow Daoist die than oneself—was he supposed to do these things instead under such circumstances?
If he had been weak, there would have been no need to consider the current situation. They would certainly have forced him to do it. And they surely would not have shown Li Yan even the slightest sympathy or courtesy.
The three simply stood there in silence, continually guarding against everything around them.
Cultivator Ji was already doing his utmost to forcibly suppress his pain, trying not to make too much noise.
Yet quite a few sounds still escaped, leaving Fa Ke and the other man exceedingly tense, every muscle in their bodies taut at all times...
Time continued to pass. None of the three took the "Flower of the Other Shore" from Cultivator Ji's hand, while the violent trembling of his body gradually subsided.
His heavy breathing, however, grew harsher and harsher. Yet after another quarter of an hour, his breath finally steadied as well.
But his face remained terrifyingly pale, like a corpse that had just been fished from the water.
After some more time passed, Cultivator Ji made a difficult turn and finally managed to sit up, supporting himself with both