That Fleeting Opportunity

Li Yan turned and walked into the valley, thinking as he went. He seemed to have missed an excellent opportunity to escape. How could he be so careless? He already knew his current situation, yet he was still so negligent. Now, his life was in constant danger. Who knew when Military Advisor Ji wouldn't be able to suppress the Fire Poison and would butcher him, this "pig"?

"No, since there's this opportunity, I can't hesitate. I need to leave soon. I can't wait any longer, or I'll definitely regret it." Thinking this, he hurried back to the house. There wasn't much to pack. A few clothes and his salary for the past two months were in a brown wicker box on the table. A simple bundle would do, but carrying a bag would be too conspicuous. It was better to just stuff those dozens of taels of silver into his pocket to avoid attracting attention.

Although he hadn't left the valley for two months, Chen An and the others delivered the dozens of taels of silver for his position as Deputy Commandant of Defense every month, which reassured him a lot. Now, it would be useful as travel expenses after he left, or it would be difficult to travel.

Having made up his mind, he sat cross-legged in the house, adjusting his breathing to replenish his energy, waiting to get up and escape from the valley later. He didn't yet know that even if Military Advisor Ji wasn't in the valley, he would still have to put in some effort to get out. Chen An and Li Yin wouldn't let him out easily without orders.

His recent cultivation of the Gui Water True Scripture was truly heaven-sent. As expected of an ancient Immortal Technique from the Immortal Spirit Realm, and one specifically tailored to his physique, he had felt his Water Spiritual Power increase rapidly in these short ten days. He couldn't yet see inside his body, but he vaguely felt that his Water Spiritual Power tank had been filled with about one-fifth of its capacity in these short ten days, making his body more agile and his strength much greater.

This cultivation speed could be described as extremely terrifying. Li Yan thought that if he cultivated at this pace, wouldn't he be able to reach the peak of the Qi Condensation Stage in less than a year? He was partly right in thinking this, but not entirely. There were no shortcuts in cultivation. The reason he was cultivating so quickly now was that the technique was originally created for his physique, so it was like a fish in water, especially in the initial stage of going from nothing to something, so of course the increase was rapid. Secondly, the spiritual power tank in his body was actually pitifully small, so it felt like his spiritual power was increasing quickly. Thirdly, he didn't yet know that in cultivation, the progress became slower and slower the further one went, regardless of the technique or method.

While he was adjusting his breathing, he suddenly heard footsteps outside the house. He thought, "Lunch is here. After this meal, who knows when I'll get the next one? I'll eat my fill now so I have the strength to run." He immediately stood up and walked towards the door.

"Li Yan, I heard you were looking for me?" Just as Li Yan reached the door and his hand touched the handle, a familiar voice rang out. The sound struck him like a thunderbolt, and he froze in place, his mind buzzing. Who else could this voice be but Military Advisor Ji? His mood plummeted to the depths.

Fortunately, he had some self-control. After calming himself, he opened the door with a confused expression. He knew that his teacher's Divine Sense could be released, but he hadn't felt any Divine Sense pressing down on him just now, so perhaps he hadn't released it.

"Eh, Teacher? You're back!" After opening the door and seeing Military Advisor Ji's face clearly, Li Yan's expression froze, and then he said with a look of surprise.

"Oh, your teacher had urgent business and went out recently. I just came back and heard Chen An say you were looking for me, so I came to see what it was."

"I was looking for you because I have some questions I need to ask!"

Military Advisor Ji's complexion wasn't very good at this time. There were several tears in his clothes, and they were faintly stained with some blood. His originally grayish-white face showed even more traces of black Qi.

After Li Yan left that day, Military Advisor Ji made a decision to take a trip to the place marked on the map and see what was there. He felt that the Fire Poison was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress. As long as he was careful this time and didn't fight anyone, he could still withstand the consumption of spiritual power on the road. After making his decision, he resolutely left the valley and headed west.

But the heavens had unpredictable storms, and ultimately, human calculations were no match for fate. It was also extremely unlucky for Li Yan. Originally, this trip of Military Advisor Ji's would have taken at least one or two months, considering the distance of nearly 30,000 li back and forth, plus the time he would spend searching for treasure. However, just as Military Advisor Ji had ventured thousands of li into the Great Green Mountains, he happened to encounter a Level 1 Intermediate Demonic Beast. Logically speaking, the route he was taking was one he had explored before. He would only encounter Demonic Beasts of this level if he went tens of thousands of li deeper, and by then, he would be sneaking carefully, trying to avoid these beings that he couldn't currently defeat.

Speaking of these concealment methods, there were quite a few in their Seeker Lineage's long history, such as using the scent of herbs to hide or using the terrain of mountains and rivers to hide. If he used these methods, he could avoid most Demonic Beasts as long as he didn't go too deep into the Great Green Mountains, tens of thousands of li. Otherwise, if they didn't have some methods, what kind of Immortals would the Seeker Lineage be seeking in uninhabited places? They would have been wiped out in the long river of history long ago.

But this time, for some reason, this Demonic Beast had a limp in one leg, as if it had been injured in a fight with someone or some other creature. Now, it had actually run to this place and collided head-on with Military Advisor Ji, who was completely unprepared and unable to hide his tracks.

A Level 1 Intermediate Demonic Beast was comparable to a Cultivator at the Qi Condensation fourth or fifth level. This injured Demonic Beast saw a human Cultivator and judged from the aura on Military Advisor Ji that he was far from its opponent. Immediately, its ferocious flames soared, and it attacked Military Advisor Ji.

Military Advisor Ji was only at the Qi Condensation third level, so how could he be its opponent? But fortunately, this Demonic Beast's leg injury hadn't healed, and its movements were very inconvenient. Seeing that the situation was bad, Military Advisor Ji immediately turned around and fled. However, this Demonic Beast had been unable to vent its anger since it was injured, and now that it had found an object to vent on, how could it let it go? It chased after him relentlessly, and in this way, they chased and fled towards the edge of the Great Green Mountains. Several times, the Demonic Beast used its higher realm to narrow the distance, and Military Advisor Ji had to use all his strength, Immortal Techniques, and worldly Martial Arts to barely manage to escape to the edge of the Great Green Mountains.

Demonic Beasts and ghosts in the Great Green Mountains basically wouldn't leave the Great Green Mountains. According to records, several million years ago, there were several times when large numbers of Demonic Beasts and ghosts left the Great Green Mountains, wreaking havoc on the human world and causing ordinary mortals to suffer unspeakably. Later, powerful human Cultivators participated, and after a bitter struggle, countless people died on both sides, even including many high-ranking Golden Core cultivators and Level 3 Demonic Beasts and Ghost Kings. Finally, after several Nascent Soul Ancestors appeared in the human realm, the situation took a turn for the better. They set some conditions with the other side's Level 4 top-level Demonic Beasts and Ghost Emperors. The specific content of these conditions was not something that ordinary mortals and low-level Cultivators could know, but from then on, these Demonic Beasts and ghosts retreated to the depths of the Great Green Mountains and rarely appeared in the mortal world again.

So when Military Advisor Ji escaped to the edge of the Great Green Mountains, the Demonic Beast didn't dare to cross the line, as if there was some kind of restraint outside the mountains. It could only roar at him repeatedly, and then turned around and darted back into the Great Green Mountains.

Military Advisor Ji finally breathed a sigh of relief, but he was extremely annoyed. This time, he not only failed to find the Immortal Technique secret, but he almost lost his life. In the end, although he had saved his life, he had used a lot of spiritual power to fight, which made him almost unable to suppress the Fire Poison in his body, and he was on the verge of spiritual power going berserk. After this, it was almost impossible for him to return to his previous state, and it would take several months to even restore his spiritual power to a stable state.

So he had to return to the Military Advisor's Residence dejectedly. He needed to quietly recuperate for several months to suppress the Fire Poison, and then see how to proceed with the next matter. If he recovered well, and Li Yan hadn't cultivated to the peak of the Qi Condensation first level, he would enter the Great Green Mountains again to explore. Of course, he didn't believe that he could be so unlucky again, and he would be immediately careful when he entered next time, and wouldn't be as careless as this time.

He returned to the Military Advisor's Residence. When he arrived at the front of the valley, Chen An and Li Yin saw him and immediately stepped forward to salute. They saw that Lord Ji's face was very bad, and his clothes were torn and stained with blood, but they didn't dare to ask. They thought, "The Lord must have gone to the hinterland of Meng Kingdom again, but why is it like this this time? Could it be that Meng Kingdom has also sent experts like the Lord?" These words were just thoughts in their minds, and they didn't dare to ask. Then they reported to Li Yan that he was looking for him. Military Advisor Ji nodded to show that he knew, and then asked about Li Yan's recent situation.

Chen An carefully replied, "Recently, Young Master's temper seems to be a little volatile."

Military Advisor Ji nodded again after hearing this. He naturally knew these things.

"Also, Young Master recently suddenly asked for pen, ink, paper, and inkstone, and often copied things like poetry and lyrics. His behavior is a bit strange. This humble one has saved those copied papers, but I don't know how to deal with them?" Chen An said in a low voice.

"Oh, then bring those papers for me to see." Military Advisor Ji had guessed seven or eight parts of the truth in his heart after hearing this.

Chen An and Li Yin quickly carried two large boxes over. After opening the boxes, Military Advisor Ji casually took a few sheets to look at. They were nothing more than words and sentences from the books and ancient texts he had previously placed on the bookshelves in several rooms. The handwriting on the paper was messy and disorganized. It was obvious that they were randomly excerpted sentences, but the handwriting was really not flattering.

After looking at a dozen sheets, Military Advisor Ji put the papers back in the box and said to Chen An and Li Yin, "These are useless. Li Yan just wrote them to relax. In the future, take things like this to the kitchen to be burned as firewood after cleaning up." He naturally knew

these were just Li Yan's heart fire rising and nowhere to vent, so he found this way to calm the restless Qi in his chest. He had also used similar methods before, such as playing the zither or playing the Xiao.

After saying these things, he walked into the valley. He didn't go straight back to his house, but went straight to Li Yan's house. He planned to ask about Li Yan's matter and then start to close the door and quietly recuperate for a period of time. If there was nothing necessary, he would not see guests.

He came to the front of Li Yan's house and didn't use his Divine Sense to spy on whether Li Yan was cultivating. The main reason was that he was seriously injured this time, and his spiritual power was too depleted. Using Divine Sense also required spiritual power to support it, so he would save as much as he could. So he directly opened his mouth and asked.

Li Yan looked at Military Advisor Ji, whose face was black and gray and whose clothes were a little tattered, and knew that the opportunity was gone. He couldn't help but feel regret in his heart. In Military Advisor Ji's current state, he shouldn't leave the Military Advisor's Residence in the short term, but even in this physical condition, it was impossible for him to escape easily.

"Teacher, what happened to you?" Li Yan asked with concern. On the one hand, his question was a hypocritical concern, and on the other hand, he really wanted to know where Military Advisor Ji had gone in these ten days.

Military Advisor Ji smiled reluctantly on his black and gray face and said, "Your teacher went on a long trip because of some things. I didn't want to encounter a strong enemy on the way, but that fellow has been killed by me. Your teacher also suffered some injuries, but I'll be fine after recuperating for a while." Military Advisor Ji said half-truthfully.

Li Yan thought to himself after hearing this, "What a pity. It seems that the person who could injure him should also be a Cultivator. If he could have killed him, that would have been great. It's really a pity. I really missed an excellent opportunity to escape."

"Oh, I was looking for you because I had some questions in cultivation that I needed to ask. It's not a big deal, so I won't delay your recuperation." Li Yan bowed and saluted.

"Is that so? This is not a small matter. Come, come, tell me what it is." Military Advisor Ji couldn't delay Li Yan's cultivation matters.

Li Yan could only flash aside to make way. After Military Advisor Ji entered the house, he found a chair and sat down. Li Yan stood aside with his hands down, and then began to rack his brains to think of the so-called Wood Yin Skill first level formula, and then raised five or six questions. The questions he raised naturally couldn't be too simple, otherwise, his hard training every day for the past ten days would have been a waste.

Military Advisor Ji nodded after hearing this. These few questions were indeed easy to appear in cultivation, and then he began to answer them one by one. Li Yan showed a listening expression, and from time to time inserted a sentence to ask to the root, which made Military Advisor Ji even more satisfied, and even his injuries felt as if they had improved a little.

After a cup of tea, Li Yan's face was full of enlightenment, and he bowed and saluted again. Military Advisor Ji nodded with satisfaction, "You should cultivate diligently. Your teacher hopes to see you cultivate to the second level as soon as possible. In that case, even if your teacher passes away, you will have some self-preservation power in this world." Speaking to the end, he seemed to have a sad meaning.

Li Yan's face changed and he quickly said, "Teacher, with your cultivation, you will be fine after recuperating for a few days. This disciple will definitely work harder to cultivate to repay the grace of the master."