Under such circumstances, Li Yan had no path of retreat left. This was precisely what Soul Cultivators feared most deeply during cultivation.
It was also a key reason why Soul Cultivator sects could not flourish everywhere. Once many soul cultivation techniques reached the later stages, it was not merely that advancing even an inch became as difficult as ascending to heaven—the number of people who died during cultivation was simply too great.
What they cultivated was the soul, something that already touched upon certain true mysteries of death. One could tread the immortal path by following the Heavenly Dao, but farther ahead, every step was a trap, let alone when it involved the great Dao of life and death...
Unlike the cultivation of ordinary Dharma cultivators, when normal Dharma cultivators encountered a problem in cultivation, they could usually achieve their goal by halting the circulation of spiritual power.
But the soul was the most mysterious thing within a living being. Even the slightest problem could turn someone into a madman or an idiot, much less deliberately cultivating it.
With every cycle Li Yan completed back then, his body's vital blood and essence steadily drained away. Yet no matter what he did, he could not escape that crisis of life and death.
If he had stopped cultivating at that time and forcibly tried to separate the souls that had fused together, the instant his cultivation dispersed, his soul would have scattered and vanished. It would have been true soul-scattering destruction, without anyone else needing to lift a hand.
Li Yan had been anxious beyond measure then. Never before in cultivation had he encountered something that could take his life while leaving him unable to stop.
He could only continue circulating the technique while rapidly thinking of a solution. Yet even after