Seeing Gong Chenying in a daze, Li Yan slowly approached, coughed dryly, and spoke in a low voice.
"Senior Sister, I'm too late!"
The slender and plump figure was startled when she heard that, and she withdrew her gaze from the sky. She lowered her head, first glanced around with her beautiful eyes, and then looked at Li Yan.
"Oh, I just got here too."
"After all the chores this morning, the estimated time has been wrong."
Li Yan said apologetically. It was obvious that Gong Chenying had been here for a while, but had not sent any message to urge him.
"Um!"
Gong Chenying had now stood up straight, and was walking towards Li Yan gracefully.
Li Yan smiled slightly, turned around, quickly took out the token, and waved it at the gate of the courtyard. A passage flashed out in the shaking white mist, and the gate of the bamboo courtyard appeared before his eyes.
Gong Chenying walked slowly, looking in front of him at a figure with his back to him. The figure had black hair draped over his shoulders and was already a head taller than him. He couldn't help but feel dazed.
It seemed as if I saw again the boy a few years ago who was much shorter than me, and now he had become as tall as a mountain.
"Let's go inside and talk."
Li Yan's voice rang in her ears, waking Gong Chenying from her trance. She hurriedly lowered her head to avoid Li Yan's dark gaze, brushed past Li Yan, and walked into the bamboo courtyard.
When Li Yan saw Gong Chenying's evasive gaze after seeing him, he could not help but touch his nose. Then, he followed her into the bamboo courtyard. The white mist passage instantly merged and covered the courtyard gate.
The two of them still sat down at the stone table in the courtyard. The giant ape puppet had already brought two cups of fragrant tea. Gong Chenying already knew the origin of this puppet, and he had fought with it before, and he was full of praise for it.
"You still haven't found any problem with this puppet?"
Gong Chenying spoke lightly.
"I have been in seclusion for the past year and a half, so how can I find the time to study it?"
Li Yan smiled bitterly.
"Oh, your cultivation is now stable?"
Gong Chenying had been staring at the sky in a daze since he was outside the yard. Until now, he seemed to be a little more awake, and then he remembered what Li Yan said in the message about cultivation.
She raised her beautiful eyes and looked at Li Yan. She felt that there was very little aura leaking out of him, only a small amount of mana fluctuations. However, she could already feel the foundation-building aura emanating from him. This was only revealed when Li Yan did not deliberately suppress it.
"It has stabilized, and the Qiongqi Purgatory Technique has also broken through to the middle stage of the first level."
Li Yan said with a smile.
After hearing this, Gong Chenying's beautiful eyes suddenly widened. She looked Li Yan up and down several times, making Li Yan laugh. Then she said nothing and slowly stood up.
Then, Gong Chenying walked straight to the middle of the yard and stood still. He turned around and stared at Li Yan without blinking. Li Yan smiled bitterly in his heart, knowing what Gong Chenying was going to do.
He had no choice but to stand up helplessly and walk to the middle of the yard, standing face to face with Gong Chenying several feet away.
As soon as Li Yan stood still, Gong Chenying stomped on the ground suddenly. A loud rumbling sound was heard throughout the courtyard, and the ground trembled. She had already flown into the air, turning into a residual shadow with a sharp wind sound.
In mid-air, Gong Chenying bent one leg and raised it up, thrusting it directly into Li Yan's face.
At the moment when Gong Chenying flew into the air, Li Yan stepped on the ground with his right foot, and there was another loud noise in the courtyard. Fortunately, the formation restriction here was very strong, which greatly isolated the sound leakage, so no loud noise could be heard outside, otherwise, it would definitely attract the attention of others.
Li Yan stepped on the ground with his right foot and flew into the air. He twisted his body forcefully in the air and kicked hard with his left leg at the figure that flashed by.
At the moment when the knee and the leg touched each other, the two figures seemed to be frozen in the air, and a ball of dazzling white light burst out from the intersection of the knee and the leg.
When this dazzling white light flashed, a huge air wave exploded outward to the side of the two people, and then it froze in an instant. After a surge, the dazzling white light flashed a few times, and finally slowly disappeared beside the two people.
After the white light disappeared, Li Yan and Gong Chenying both staggered and fell from the air. With a bang, they stood on the ground at the same time.
However, there were cracks on the bluestone ground under Li Yan's feet, while there was nothing unusual about the bluestone under Gong Chenying's feet.
Gong Chenying gently kicked her numb legs, and when she looked at Li Yan, her eyes were full of disbelief, with a strange look in her beautiful eyes. Li Yan felt a little embarrassed by Gong Chenying's fiery gaze, so he had to raise his right hand and scratch the back of his head.
"What's wrong?"
Li Yan used his other hand to rub his sore left calf. Gong Chenying's physical strength was too terrifying. Even though he had suppressed the Qiongqi Purgatory Technique to the first level, his left leg still suffered from blood circulation problems after the collision.
Gong Chenying did not respond to Li Yan's words, but turned and walked to the stone bench, sat down again, and then spoke slowly.
"Did you experience any discomfort during your practice?"
Li Yan was stunned after hearing this. Gong Chenying's tone was obviously a little inappropriate. Could it be that something went wrong in his practice? But he had definitely practiced according to the formula in the jade slip. He couldn't help but shook his head in confusion.
Seeing Li Yan shaking his head, Gong Chenying was even more surprised.
A year ago, when she fought with Li Yan, she had already discovered that the Qiongqi Purgatory Technique practiced by Li Yan seemed to be different from that of others. Its power was incredibly great at the time. After hearing today that Li Yan had made another breakthrough in his practice, she decided to give it a try.
But at the moment she took off, she suddenly changed her mind and raised her cultivation level, which had been suppressed to the middle stage of the first level, to a higher level.
With her current third-level late-stage skills, her control over physical strength has reached an incredible level. If she finds that something is wrong, she can definitely control her strength in the first moment.
What happened afterwards shocked Gong Chenying extremely. She thought she had overestimated Li Yan a lot, but when Li Yan really took her domineering knee, he was able to control his strength even under the extreme outburst.
The air waves generated by the collision were suppressed at the side, and did not cause damage to the stone table, stone benches, and houses in the courtyard. It was only when it fell that some of the energy was leaked, causing the bluestone ground under his feet to crack, which made Gong Chenying feel incredible.
She thought that after her attack just now, Li Yan must have used all his strength to resist and had no energy left to control the force.
The violent force generated by the collision would instantly turn the bluestone ground into a large pit. She had made plans to control the aftermath, but the result was far beyond her expectations.
"The power you gained from practicing Qiongqi Purgatory Technique is not in line with the normal realm. I just controlled the power to the late stage of the first level, but you took it on with ease. Could this also be related to the Fragmented Poison Body?"
Gong Chenying thought about it and asked hesitantly. Now she had a feeling that this poisonous body was "all-powerful".
After hearing this, Li Yan felt a little confused. He didn't expect that this woman had quietly improved her level in the trial without worrying about failing.
"There is something different about Qiongqi's alchemy this time. It is really related to the disintegrating poisonous body!"
Li Yan thought about it and then told the story of what happened to his poisonous body when he was trying to establish his foundation. However, he did not mention what stage of foundation he was at. Gong Chenying frowned as she listened.
The result of what Li Yan said was not that simple. The dismembered poisonous body was too strange and there was no way of knowing what would happen next. But fortunately, nothing happened.
"It seems that it may have something to do with the Fragmented Poison Body. However, it is too strange. You must always pay attention to it when you practice in the future."
Gong Chenying gave another warning with concern, then she seemed to remember something, hesitated for a moment, and asked.
"Well... well, what stage of foundation building have you reached? I only reached the sixth stage of foundation building at the beginning, and Min'er is also at the sixth stage."
Li Yan was stunned after hearing this. He was not surprised by the question asked by Gong Chenying, but he was quite surprised that Gong Chenying mentioned Zhao Min again.
Asking others about their cultivation level, even if it is their closest relatives, would be cautious, so Gong Chenying was afraid that Li Yan would be angry, so she first said that she was at the sixth level of foundation building. But for some reason, after she said that, she also mentioned Zhao Min's foundation building level.
But after he said that, looking at Li Yan's somewhat dazed expression, he suddenly felt something was wrong.
"Oh, oh, I... I'm luckier than you, I'm a little taller!"
Li Yan felt that Gong Chenying's eyes were a little evasive after he finished speaking. After a dry cough, he touched his nose and said with some embarrassment.
"That... that, that's already great."
Gong Chenying felt a little regretful about what he had just asked. He couldn't help but speak, but he was thinking in his heart.
"No wonder you are so powerful just after building your foundation. This is not entirely due to the Qiongqi Purgatory Technique. You have built your foundation at the seventh level. This is the same aptitude as Senior Brother."
Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming a little weird, Li Yan's face straightened.
"Senior Sister, I came to you this time because I have something to tell you. I have successfully established my foundation. You knew this before. I need to go back to see my parents.
Then, I will go find some refining materials. I plan to refine a life-saving magic weapon for myself. This trip will take at least a year, or at most several years, so I have to tell you about this."
After saying that, Li Yan looked at Gong Chenying with burning eyes.
In fact, Gong Chenying already had some guesses in her mind before she came, so when she was waiting outside Li Yan's courtyard, she thought of her hometown, her father, and her future, and she couldn't help but be absent-minded.
Now that Li Yan really mentioned this matter, she already knew what he meant.
"Oh, I know. Then... then... then I will go with you... go with you... go with you to meet the two elders."
When she said this, her voice became lower and lower, and finally it was almost inaudible. She had already lowered her head to her high chest, and her neck was pink.
"Well, how about we pack up, notify the master tonight, and set off tomorrow morning?"
After hearing this, Li Yan smiled.
After hearing Li Yan's words "Let's clean up", Gong Chenying said nothing, her face flushed.
After a pause, Li Yan's expression became serious again.
"Aying, after such a long time, there is one thing I just can't figure out.
In fact, you also know that Third Brother is infatuated with you, and the matter between you and me has never been made clear. This time we go together, I think both Master and Third Brother will have some guesses..."
Gong Chenying slowly raised her head. The blush was still there, but her expression had slowly returned to calm.
“I already knew what Third Senior Brother was thinking. To be honest with you, if it wasn’t for the accident that happened… happened… happened in the secret realm, I would never have married in this life.
Moreover, I had already expressed this to my Third Senior Brother a few years ago. After returning from the secret realm, I was afraid of hurting the friendship between my fellow disciples, so I did not speak out directly. This matter will eventually be known to others, but what does it matter?"
Li Yan looked at Gong Chenying without blinking, and gradually, a smile filled his face. What Gong Chenying said was also what he thought.
He came out of the secret realm because of these concerns. In addition, he was concentrating on breaking through the foundation-building stage, so he did not express the relationship between him and Gong Chenying too obviously. It was just that only the three of them knew about it.
In this matter, Li Yan was not concerned about Yun Chun himself, but was only concerned about the friendship between his fellow apprentices.
After all, he has developed feelings for Xiaozhu Peak and this sect, and this group of fellow disciples get along very well with each other, except for the second and eldest brothers.
What's more, he is not the kind of person who would force his hand. If Third Senior Brother and Gong Chenying had been in love with each other at the beginning, it would have been difficult for him to defend himself if something happened in the secret realm. He would have to deal with this heavy burden in the end.
But for a moment, he and Gong Chenying didn't know how to face Yun Chun.
"In that case, we will set off tomorrow!"