Chance to Escape

Military Advisor Ji didn't know that this was a little trick Dong Fuyi played before its Divine Sense completely dissipated, just to give Li Yan a greater chance to escape. It deliberately created a treasure map. The terrain and landforms in the map were instilled into it by that wisp of Divine Sense that wandered outside when it was sleeping in the Jade Book. At that time, Military Advisor Ji almost traveled all the paths he had taken in search of immortality in order to find a way to remove the Fire Poison. Therefore, the Divine Sense in the Jade Book naturally knew which places he had been to, and it was extremely easy for Dong Fuyi to find such a place in these memories.

However, there were some small tricks in drawing this map. The journey couldn't be too short, lest he find the place quickly. When he discovered it was fake, he would naturally return quickly. At the same time, the journey couldn't be too far either. The depths of the Great Green Mountains contained extremely powerful demons and ghosts, which were not something a small cultivator like Military Advisor Ji could deal with. With Military Advisor Ji's cunning, he definitely wouldn't go too deep. If he did, he would only die faster, and that would be a loss. Therefore, it had to find a range that he could accept, and then piece together the terrain and landforms of some other places to create such a map that was both true and false.

In this way, he could prolong the time he took to search and confirm, and during this period, Li Yan would have a longer time to escape from this place. It was just that when it was communicating with Li Yan, it was already on the verge of Divine Sense dissipation, only about twenty or so breaths. In a hurry, it finished communicating the necessary things, and finally could only barely use the last bit of its Mana to carve this map. Before it could even tell Li Yan, it had already vanished into thin air, but Li Yan was unaware of this.

Throughout this noon, Military Advisor Ji was thinking about whether this matter was true or false, and whether it was feasible. If it was really the place he judged, there were still many dangers. Whether he could retreat unscathed was another matter. Even if he could safely reach the place and find the location of the "Grand Poisonous Life-Creating Art" marked on the map, how would he enter the treasure land? What dangers would there be after entering? These were all unpredictable. But if he didn't go, then the Jade Book, which he had painstakingly waited for so many years to open again, still contained a glimmer of hope. If he lost this chance to survive, how could he be willing? In the end, he couldn't think of a perfect plan until Li Yan arrived at this time.

After Li Yan entered the room and sat down cross-legged, Military Advisor Ji calmed his mind and smiled, "How do you feel now?"

Li Yan quickly replied respectfully, "Reporting to teacher, this disciple feels that my body seems to be much lighter than before, and my six senses are also much sharper than before."

After hearing this, Military Advisor Ji was overjoyed, with a look of great relief on his face. "That's good, that's good. It shows that through your efforts during this period, you have successfully entered the first level of the 'Wood Yin Skill'. Your hard work is seen by this teacher, very good, very good. However, you must guard against arrogance and impatience, and continue to cultivate in this way. In the remaining days of this teacher's life, I hope to be able to see you achieve some small success, so that this teacher's efforts will not be in vain, and I will not be ashamed of the sect's founder." At the end of his speech, the joy on his face had turned into loneliness.

Li Yan's expression also became a little worried. "Teacher, your body will definitely be fine."

"This disciple will definitely live up to the sect's expectations and will cultivate with redoubled efforts, but, but..." Li Yan replied firmly, but then hesitated in his words.

Military Advisor Ji was still calm at first, but upon hearing the latter part, he couldn't help but frown and asked, "What is it?"

Li Yan looked at Military Advisor Ji, his face somewhat uncertain, and said, "It's just that, it's just that this disciple feels that after advancing to the first level, it's okay when not circulating one's Qi, but once one does, the restless Qi in the Dantian seems to be even more agitated. It seems that this disciple has encountered some problems in cultivation."

After listening to Li Yan's description, Military Advisor Ji's face was calm, and he smiled and said, "I thought it was something, but it's for this. You have just entered the first level, and this teacher has not yet had time to explain it to you. This matter is not a problem. First, you have just entered the first level, and your state is not yet stable. Second, I told you before that the reason why this sect's Martial Arts are so domineering is that this sect's internal cultivation method is different from other sects. Now that you have entered the first level, you must no longer practice the 'Qi Guidance Art' mental cultivation method. You need to cultivate the corresponding first-level formula. Third, after entering the first level, the main function of this level is to cultivate the medicinal liquid in the meridians to begin to fully integrate and stabilize and strengthen the foundation. Only when the foundation is stable can the internal force in the Dantian be condensed and the meridians be strengthened. Before you reach the second level, you will always be affected by the power of the residual medicinal liquid in your body, so don't worry. After you cultivate to the second level of the 'Wood Yin Skill', everything will return to normal."

After hearing this, the hesitation on Li Yan's face gradually turned into firmness. Seeing this, Military Advisor Ji nodded in satisfaction. "This teacher will now pass on the first-level cultivation formula to you. You must remember it well." Then, with a flip of his right hand, a page of paper appeared on the table, with about a hundred words on it.

Li Yan bowed slightly to express his gratitude, then picked up the formula on the table and sat down to study it carefully. After a moment, he had finished reading it once, and looked up at his teacher. Seeing this, Military Advisor Ji began to explain it word by word.

Watching Li Yan's figure disappear at the door, Military Advisor Ji waved his right hand over the paper on the table, and the page floated up without wind, then spontaneously combusted and turned to ashes in the air. Just like that, he stared blankly at the door. After half a cup of tea, he seemed to have made some kind of decision, and then stood up and walked slowly towards the door.

Li Yan didn't know that he originally had a great chance to escape from this place, but unfortunately, fate didn't go as he wished. Dong Fuyi didn't have time to tell him about the means it had left behind, so he missed a great opportunity to escape for nothing.

Time is always too fleeting, flowing through the fingers like fine sand and flowing water. Li Yan cultivated diligently in the valley every day, and often only came out once every two or three days. He couldn't yet abstain from grains at this time, but his physique was already very different from ordinary people. It was possible for him to not eat or drink for one or two days. Sometimes he cultivated so intently that he only realized that several days had passed when he woke up from cultivation due to hunger.

Several times when he came out of cultivation, he gave people the feeling that his personality had begun to become easily irritable. If anything was slightly unsatisfactory, he would scold them head-on, making the women who delivered food feel uneasy every time. In the end, Chen An and Li Yin had to come to deliver some food, but gradually they realized that Li Yan didn't give them a good face either, which made them very depressed.

The two of them were Military Advisor Ji's confidants. Before each departure, Military Advisor Ji would instruct them to take good care of Li Yan, and to satisfy any requests he had as much as possible, but they must not let Li Yan easily leave the Military Advisor's Residence. Cultivation was urgent and must not be slackened, otherwise they must inform him of the reason.

As Li Yan's temper became worse and worse, Chen An and Li Yin began to complain privately. However, Military Advisor Ji had been gone for more than ten days since he went out, and had not returned. They didn't know what he had gone to do. In the past, the Lord would return to the valley at most after half a day or a night, but this time they didn't know what was going on.

But the following days made Chen An and Li Yin feel a little more at ease. They didn't know what kind of tricks this Lord in the back mountain valley had come up with again, asking them to find writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. He often picked up books and poems from the bookshelves in the house and copied the words on them, writing for half a day or a whole day. The ground was covered with ink and paper, and they had to carefully clean it up, and then put on a smiling face and ask Li Yan how to deal with these papers, whether to frame them and hang them on the wall, or to organize them and put them in a large box for storage.

Li Yan impatiently told them to take these scribbled papers and get out. They had no choice but to take them out, but they didn't dare to throw them away, fearing that this Lord would have a nervous breakdown one day and remember these ghost-like doodles, and want to take them back. If they couldn't produce them at that time, they would inevitably be scolded again, so they had to find a few large boxes to store them.

To be honest, the words he wrote were really unflattering. Some of them even looked like ghost drawings. They didn't know what poems or lyrics he was copying. Who knew that after a few days, they were surprised to find that Li Yan's temper seemed to have slowly calmed down a lot, and his words to them even regained some of his previous politeness, which left everyone in the valley a little confused.

Li Yan was also a little depressed. He had been cultivating very hard recently, and he had to put on a show every now and then, but what surprised him the most was that he had not seen his teacher in the valley these two or three times he had come out, let alone show these performances to him. In the past, Military Advisor Ji would occasionally go out, and it was normal that he couldn't see him sometimes when he came out of cultivation, so he didn't take it to heart at first. But he had come out several times in the past ten days, but he hadn't seen him even once, which made him suddenly realize that he might have missed something. After thinking for a moment, he came to the door of the first stone house. There was no sound of Military Advisor Ji's perception and inquiry as before. He already felt a little bad in his heart. He walked forward, raised his hand and knocked on the door. After a short pause, there was no response from inside the house. He quickly walked to the Valley Entrance and shouted loudly to Chen An.

Chen An ran out of the stone house outside the valley with a nervous look on his face. The soldiers behind him looked at Chen An's back with sympathy, thinking, "What's wrong with this Lord today? He actually came out of the valley and shouted loudly." These soldiers were not responsible for the affairs of the inner valley. The affairs of the inner valley were basically handled by a few women and Chen An and Li Yin. Recently, they had seen these people suffer a lot.

"Chen An, why haven't I seen my teacher these few times I've come out of cultivation? Has he been away from the valley recently?" Li Yan stood at the Valley Entrance and looked at Chen An in front of him, asking casually.

"Reporting to Young Master, Lord Ji has been out for more than ten days. I don't know if he has something to do in the city, or if he has other matters. This one is not very clear." Chen An heard that it was this matter, and immediately let go of his nervousness, saying with a smile on his face.

"What? Teacher has been out for more than ten days?" Li Yan couldn't help but raise his voice when he heard this, and became annoyed in his heart. This time he wasn't pretending, he was really anxious.

Chen An saw Li Yan suddenly change color, looking anxious and exasperated, and couldn't help but feel timid in his heart. "Isn't it normal for Lord Ji to go out? Besides, you haven't asked, have you?" But he didn't dare to be negligent at all, and asked cautiously, "Young Master, do you have something to ask Lord Ji? If this one can handle it, just tell us."

Li Yan was shocked in his heart, knowing that he had been tricked. He quickly straightened his face and scolded, "I'm looking for my teacher to solve some problems in cultivation. Can you help?" After saying that, he glanced at Chen An out of the corner of his eye.

Chen An said with a bitter face, "Young Master, this one can't do it."

"Then why are you asking? I'm asking you, do you know when the teacher will return to the residence?" Li Yan asked.

"This, this one really doesn't know, maybe today, maybe tomorrow, perhaps..."

"Alright, alright, if you don't know, you don't know. Why are you talking about today and tomorrow?" After Li Yan finished speaking, he didn't look at Chen An again, turned around and walked towards the valley.

Chen An stood at the Valley Entrance and couldn't help but sigh. This job was really unlucky. Then he turned around and walked towards the open space outside the valley, greeted by a burst of laughter. He looked and saw that apart from Li Yin standing on the open space and a few women standing at the kitchen door with helpless expressions, the rest of the soldiers were all looking at him with ridicule. He couldn't help but get angry and said, "You bunch of idlers, why aren't you standing guard and resting properly, but standing here doing what?"

These soldiers had long been displeased with the two of them. Why could only the two of them and those women enter the inner valley? Who didn't want to get closer to the Lord? Those women were fine, after all, they were servants who cleaned or cooked, but Chen An and Li Yin could often go to the valley to work with the Lord and the Young Master, which had invisibly widened the gap between them and the rest of them. Recently, seeing the two of them often getting into trouble, they were happy to see it happen.

The soldiers didn't say anything, just "hehe"ed, whistled softly, and then left, leaving only Chen An and Li Yin on the open space.