As the sun slanted westward and then set... the sky filled with scattered stars... the east once again paled like a fish's belly, and the sun rose anew...
After four days of such repetition, Li Yan sat cross-legged in a cave, his eyes closed as he quietly breathed in and out the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Not far from him, a burly man with a leopard's head and human body sat with both hands in the five-hearts-facing-heaven meditation posture, yet his body had already toppled sideways.
He lay there quietly, as if sound asleep. Li Yan had not killed the cave's original owner.
He had set up a one-way restriction, allowing the nearby Demon Beasts to continue sensing the aura of this territory's former overlord.
When midnight arrived, Li Yan, who had remained motionless all along, slowly opened his eyes. With a mere thought, the restriction that had been shrouding the cave entrance silently shut down.
Not long afterward, a breeze drifted in, stirring Li Yan's robes. Li Yan merely gazed quietly ahead.
Under the moonlight, a figure suddenly condensed rapidly within the cave. Soon, a young man in purple robes appeared about thirty feet in front of Li Yan.
"Young Master, I've found out!"
"Good. We can talk as we travel. First, tell me which direction!"
As Li Yan spoke, he had already risen. Zi Kun was slightly stunned. He had merely said that he had found out, yet his young master had already determined the outcome.
But when he saw Li Yan's smiling face, he immediately understood where his problem lay.
Though he had tried his utmost to remain calm, a trace of abnormality had still entered his voice—the excitement he could not suppress.
The Cloud-Piercing Blade silently streaked across the sky and vanished into the