Suddenly one of the four asked uncertainly, "Are you... Li Yan... Junior Brother Li?"
This man was of medium build, about twenty years old, with a square face, dark complexion and no beard, and he seemed to always have a smile on his face.
After he finished speaking, he looked Li Yan up and down carefully, with an uncertain look.
When this person opened his mouth, the other three were stunned, and then looked at the black-faced young man with confusion.
"Haha, Senior Brother Du, you are still as charming as ever, and your skills have greatly improved. This is truly cause for celebration. After not seeing you for so many years, you recognized me at once."
Li Yan also smiled, because this person was none other than Du Sanjiang, who had also entered the Four Symbols Peak as a disciple of the Golden Core Elder when he was in the Qi Condensation Stage.
Li Yan had a deep memory of him. When they were competing for the spot to enter the secret realm, Du Sanjiang, who had reached the tenth level of Qi Condensation, forced him to use all his wits and strategies. He almost lost, but in the end he defeated him by relying on a strategy.
Du Sanjiang gave him the impression that he was very strong, and now he has already successfully built his foundation. Li Yan's consciousness was very strong, and he could slightly detect the extremely pure spiritual energy lingering on Du Sanjiang's body, which would only appear if his foundation was very solid.
Seeing that Li Yan recognized him, Du Sanjiang smiled slightly and said to the other three people, "Junior Brother Li has made rapid progress in cultivation. I am inferior to him. Oh, this is Li Yan from Xiaozhu Peak. Junior Brother Li, we haven't met in the past few years. You came here today. It seems that you are here to look for Uncle Wei." Du Sanjiang first spoke to Li Yan, and then turned to introduce him to the other three people.
Li Yan was still surprised at Du Sanjiang's cultivation. Calculating the time, Du Sanjiang could reach this level. Li Yan guessed that he should be at the seventh level of foundation building, or even higher.
The realm that Du Sanjiang displayed had reached the middle stage of foundation building. Li Yan remembered that when he left the sect, he was trying to break through to the foundation building stage, which was much later than his breakthrough to the foundation building stage. He did not expect that his progress was so rapid.
Li Yan knows his own business. He achieved breakthroughs one after another because of repeated life-and-death situations, coupled with the unique skills of the Guishui Xianmen. Du Sanjiang should also have some unknown secrets.
Du Sanjiang revealed Li Yan's purpose in one sentence. He seemed simple, but in fact he was meticulous. As soon as he saw Li Yan, he immediately guessed Li Yan's purpose.
After hearing what Du Sanjiang said, the other three cultivators immediately bowed. They were all disciples of Four Symbols Peak and had more or less heard of Li Yan's name.
However, Li Yan has always been very mysterious and seldom interacts with others. Since he came back from the secret realm two years ago, few people have seen him and they all thought he was in seclusion.
Li Yan hurriedly greeted them one by one, and at the same time, he also took notice of Du Sanjiang. "From Senior Brother Du's appearance alone, it is hard to associate him with the words shrewd and clever. This person is wise but appears foolish, and his intelligence is definitely not inferior to those geniuses of Senior Brother."
As he was thinking this, Du Sanjiang had the same idea. He just looked at Li Yan carefully, and his spiritual sense carefully looked at Li Yan several times, but he was still hesitant in his heart.
“This kid was several levels lower than me in the Qi Condensation Stage at the beginning. Later I heard that he had successfully established his foundation when I was still in seclusion, and now he has been promoted to the middle stage of foundation building.
It’s just that… this doesn’t match the legend at all. How could the third-level ‘Battle Foundation Building’ be upgraded again in just a few years? It’s weird, really weird…”
For a moment, Du Sanjiang's heart was filled with waves. Given his status, he was of course aware that this Junior Brother Li had the worst aptitude for cultivating immortals and had mixed spiritual roots.
"Brother Du, you have a keen eye. I came here to find my master! But I wonder where my master is now?"
"Oh, Uncle Wei of Fengliang Mountain is the person in charge. Of course, he has always been here. I wonder why Junior Brother Li came from Uncle Hua
Hehe, this is just a routine matter. All cultivators who come here, unless they are originally stationed in Fengliang Mountain, will be asked about their past. If it is inconvenient for Junior Brother Li, then you can directly explain to Uncle Wei. "
Du Sanjiang was quite polite in his words, but as part of his duty, he still asked some questions as usual. How could he, who was so smart and quick-witted, offend Li Yan so easily
Uncle Wei has the final say here. He is the real master and disciple. All I need to do is explain the rules here clearly. There is no need to deliberately make myself uncomfortable.
"Oh, Junior Brother, I was sent out by my master two years ago. I returned recently and went to Uncle Hua's place. Following Uncle Hua's instructions, I learned that my master was here, so I came here to report."
When Li Yan tells lies now, he does so without blushing or getting nervous, and he lies as if it is the matter of fact.
After hearing this, Du Sanjiang turned around and looked at the other three people. Those three people were definitely not the kind of people who would stick to the rules. Did they really want Li Yan to produce his credentials, verify his identity, and go through all the formalities before letting him pass
The three of them all laughed, "Junior Brother Li is not comparable to those summoned cultivators. Of course, Uncle Master Wei's mission is more important." In addition to the four people including Du Sanjiang, there are still a dozen cultivators sitting cross-legged in meditation in the distance. They should have been ordered to guard the other teleportation arrays strictly, so they did not come here.
Li Yan had excellent eyesight. He only took a quick glance around and found that the cultivators here were all from the Wuliang Sect. Looking at the logos on their sleeves, he realized that they all came from the Four Symbols Peak. This surprised Li Yan.
Then, Du Sanjiang whispered a few words with the other three people, and then he personally took Li Yan out of the valley.
After walking out of the valley, Li Yan realized that the teleportation array of "Fengliang Mountain" was located at the back of the entire Fengliang Mountain. Fengliang Mountain covers an area of about a hundred miles. From the perspective of cultivators, a hundred miles is not that big at all.
The entire Fengliang Mountain is shrouded in a large formation. There is a no-fly ban above the Fengliang Mountain. No cultivator can fly over the Fengliang Mountains. However, the "any cultivator" here should not include those senior cultivators whose magic power is strong enough to resist this large formation.
There were no restrictions on flying within the Fengliang Mountain formation. After coming out of the valley at the back, the two first passed through a large tract of dense forest that was thirty miles long, and then the large and small mountains reappeared.
There seemed to be few people on the road, and Li Yan could feel divine senses sweeping towards them from all directions from time to time. Among them, Li Yan sensed the presence of three Jindan-level divine senses. Li Yan showed no emotion on the surface, and continued to chat with Du Sanjiang about random topics, but his heart was like a pot of boiling water.
"It's only a short journey of thirty miles, but this place is secretly guarded by three Jindan, not to mention those hidden sentries. It can be seen that the situation here is not as calm as it seems on the surface. Could it be that the demons are not far from here?" Li Yan had a lot of thoughts in his mind for a while.
Du Sanjiang was also a sensible person. He chatted with Li Yan about old things and some current news about the demon clan. He never mentioned topics such as why Li Yan came or where he had been in recent years.
When the two talked about the secret realm, it brought back many memories. Thinking of their former fellow disciples who were buried in the secret realm, and the close cooperation between the four major sects, the secret realm demon clan, and the Wangliang Sect, they felt that the world is impermanent, and the two sighed.
During this period, Li Yan once again witnessed Du Sanjiang's meticulousness that was completely inconsistent with his appearance. When talking about the demons, he always just gave a general idea, without revealing anything. Whenever he talked about some key points, he always passed them over easily.
Du Sanjiang was also very curious about Li Fang's level of cultivation. He asked Li Yan indirectly whether he had met any powerful cultivators outside in recent years, and how their skills were different from those of the Wuliang Sect.
On the surface, it seems that Du Jiang is full of curiosity and wants to broaden his horizons, but Li Yan certainly understands the meaning of this clearly.
If it were a young and energetic cultivator, facing the sincere look in the other party's eyes, he would definitely tell about some powerful cultivators he met during his training, and then describe in detail how the other party's skills were, what was so powerful about them, etc. At that time, Du Sanjiang could easily guess Li Yan's strength through these. Even if Li Yan exaggerated the other party's strength, Du Sanjiang would naturally have his judgment.
But Li Yan was not the kind of person who was easy to get along with. He just smiled and shook his head slightly, indicating that the place he was going to was not a dangerous place, and that he would be hiding most of the time and acting in secret.
Now, both of them saw through each other and knew that the other was no ordinary person, so they changed the topic.
After leaving the dense forest, what appeared in front of Li Yan were the eaves of some buildings half-exposed between the mountain peaks. From afar, it could be seen that there were quite a few houses and buildings built here. Looking at the old colors of the eaves and tiles that were only visible from the towering mountains, Li Yan guessed that these buildings were definitely not recent buildings.
"This place is the same as the 'Sword Washing Pavilion' that my junior brother came from. They are both branches of the Ten-Step Academy." As if he saw Li Yan's confusion, Du Sanjiang explained casually.
After hearing this, Li Yan found that it was just as he expected, but he just smiled and nodded to Du Sanjiang, and did not continue to ask for confirmation. After going through this journey, both of them knew that the other was a calm person, and if he wanted to say something, he would tell it without asking.
Sure enough, Du Sanjiang did not continue to explain. He felt that it would be best for Uncle Wei to decide whether to tell Li Yan about this matter. Otherwise, if this Junior Brother Li reported to Uncle Wei and was then assigned to another place, then some of the secrets here naturally could not be told to him, for fear that they would be accidentally leaked to others.
The two turned and turned among these scattered mountains. After flying for a while, Du Sanjiang brought Li Yan to stop in front of a cave in the middle of the mountainside.
Looking at the misty cave in front of him, Li Yan looked around and found that the environment was very elegant. He thought to himself, "It looks like this is the place." He couldn't help but feel a little excited.
Sure enough, after Du Sanjiang arrived here, he immediately took out a sound transmission note, whispered a few words to it, and then flicked his hand. The sound transmission note turned into a fire snake and plunged into the fog.
Then the two stopped talking and just stood there quietly. After just a moment, the fog in front of the cave surged violently, revealing a passage. At the end of the passage was a cave gate.
With a rumbling sound, the door opened inwards, and then a familiar voice came from inside: "It turns out that Li Yan is back. Sanjiang, please step back. Li Yan, come in!"
After hearing this, Du Sanjiang first responded respectfully with a "yes", then he smiled and bowed to Li Yan, "Junior Brother Li, we will talk about it when we have free time!" After that, he flew down the mountain.
After Li Yan watched Du Sanjiang leave, he straightened his clothes again and strode towards the cave gate.