Li Yan had constantly been studying all manner of body-refinement techniques. Throughout this process, he had continually absorbed the essence of other techniques, then repeatedly tried to integrate it into his own.
This had caused Li Yan's later body-refinement art to undergo constant changes. Yet that was not the fundamental reason why the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" had changed so drastically.
If it had merely been that kind of integration, Li Yan would only have been striving for perfection. Those with sharp eyes who had seen the Tianli Clan's techniques would still have had a great chance of recognizing it.
When Li Yan had been weak in his early years, he had already exhausted every means to make himself stronger. At that time, he had refined the essence blood of the "Undying Nether Phoenix," making his physical body increasingly resilient.
This was aligned with the goal of the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" he cultivated. The two would sooner or later arrive at the same destination by different routes. From that period onward, Li Yan had already been thinking of merging them together.
Without even realizing it, he had made the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art" increasingly distinctive. That was why, even when Li Yan had only been a minor Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, Wei Zhongran, while saving him from the brink of death, had repeatedly scanned his body with Divine Sense and only suspected that Li Yan cultivated the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art."
Not to mention Teng Zhang, who had only observed the surface. Though he was well-traveled and knowledgeable, he was truly not very familiar with the "Qiongqi Purgatory Art," so naturally he had been even less likely to recognize it...
Li Yan's first strike had shared Teng Zhang's purpose: it had primarily been to test each other's strength. After flicking away Teng Zhang's