Having cultivated to his current state, Li Yan could at most condense no more than two drops of Essence Blood, and it would be the Essence Blood of a low-level cultivator, containing many impurities.
That this Undead Nether Phoenix could refine ten drops, and under the circumstances of its impending death, was a testament to its own power.
Now that Li Yan had obtained three drops at once, and all of them were the Essence Blood of an adult Undead Nether Phoenix, asking him to return them to the creature's clan was, frankly, more difficult than killing him. Besides, whether the Undead Nether Phoenix clan still existed in the Mortal Realm was now an unknown.
As Li Yan thought of this, his heart, usually as calm as still water, began to burn with heat. 'The Undead Nether Phoenix is already one of the most physically formidable supreme demonic clans. If I can refine three drops of Undead Nether Phoenix Essence Blood, the strength of my physical body will definitely ascend several levels.
'The most exciting part is, I might be able to comprehend some of the Undead Nether Phoenix's innate divine arts through its bloodline power.'
At this thought, Li Yan's blood began to boil.
The Essence Blood of demonic beasts was different from that of human cultivators; in most cases, it was better and more powerful, especially for mid- to high-grade demonic beasts with noble bloodlines.
Of course, the best Essence Blood in the cultivation world came from the four peerless ferocious beasts: Qiongqi, Hundun, Taowu, and Taotie. However, let alone obtaining the Essence Blood of these four, the very idea was as impossible as achieving immortality.
Even if one were lucky enough to obtain it, no one in this world could withstand the power of even a single trace of their Essence Blood. That was an absolute, terrifying power capable of easily destroying an entire continent.
The legacy of demonic beasts was mostly passed down through bloodline inheritance. Many of their innate divine arts were something they were born with, inherited from their bloodline.
The Undead Nether Phoenix Essence Blood Li Yan had obtained came from a top-tier existence, second only to the four peerless ferocious beasts. Therefore, what its Essence Blood might contain would be enough to drive any cultivator mad, willing to risk everything to seize it.
But just a moment later, Li Yan slowly calmed down, because there was now a crucial problem: where were these three drops of Undead Nether Phoenix Essence Blood?
As for how this once-powerful Undead Nether Phoenix had died and the consequences of not handing over the three drops of Essence Blood, Li Yan had long since cast them to the back of his mind.
The space inside the Silver Page was only so large. Li Yan had already searched it carefully before and had found nothing at all.
"Could it be that the Undead Nether Phoenix sealed it somewhere inside the Silver Page before it died?"
At this thought, Li Yan's eyes lit up. His cultivation was worlds apart from the other party's, so it was normal that he couldn't see through its restrictions and seals. However, he had something that should be able to locate the Essence Blood's hiding place: the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief.
Li Yan hadn't used the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief for a long time. He had only used it once when trying to break the restriction on the surface of the Silver Page.
But when he found that the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief couldn't break it, he studied it carefully again and finally determined that the surface of the Silver Page was sealed by a Divine Sense imprint, not a magical art type of restriction. The Heaven-Stealing Kerchief should be incapable of breaking Divine Sense-type seals.
Divine Sense-type seals were related to a cultivator's cultivation base, so they were unlike magical art-type restrictions, where even a low-level cultivator could set up powerful restrictive seals by relying on the art itself. A Divine Sense-type seal was a testament to a cultivator's confidence in their own power.
Li Yan believed that if this Undead Nether Phoenix hadn't been on the verge of death and hadn't left most of its Divine Sense to be preserved within the Silver Page, he wouldn't have known when he would ever be able to open the layer of Divine Sense seal on the surface of the page.
As for why this Undead Nether Phoenix, knowing its Divine Sense was already too weak, didn't use a magical art-type restriction on the surface of the Silver Page, the reason was either that this phoenix was always very arrogant and simply disliked using such restrictions, or that there was no time. Any magical art required some time to cast, unlike Divine Sense, which was one of a cultivator's greatest weapons—what was willed was obtained, completed in the span of a single thought.
Of course, there might be other unknown reasons, but these were not things Li Yan wanted to know.
Now that he had opened the restriction on the surface of the Silver Page, Li Yan could bring the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief into its interior. Even if the Essence Blood inside was still sealed by a Divine Sense imprint, it wouldn't affect his judgment.
The Heaven-Stealing Kerchief could sense the location of any seal or restriction. Once he had the exact location, Li Yan would naturally find a way to break it.
Of course, if the inside of the Silver Page was sealed with a magical art-type restriction, that would be even better. Li Yan believed that with the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief's ability, he could basically break it quickly.
No sooner said than done. Li Yan swiped his left wrist, and a brocade kerchief appeared in his hand.
Two hours later, Li Yan withdrew his Divine Sense from the Silver Page with a look of resignation, along with the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief. To his frustration, no matter how he searched inch by inch, using the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief to measure every spot—up, down, left, and right—within the Silver Page, the kerchief showed no reaction at all.
"Did I overestimate the usefulness of the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, or did the other party not use a restriction-based method at all?"
The method the Undead Nether Phoenix used to seal the Essence Blood was beyond the capabilities of even this mysterious Heaven-Stealing Kerchief, which was Li Yan's strongest tool against formations and restrictions.
Li Yan, of course, was not one to give up. He still held onto a sliver of hope and then took the Heaven-Stealing Kerchief into the other two Silver Pages.
Half a day later, Li Yan sat cross-legged in the cave with a grim expression. He had spent the better part of the day but had gained nothing. To be faced with a world-class treasure, yet no matter how you reach for it, to be just that one hair's breadth away, forever unable to grasp it...
Such a feeling was unacceptable to anyone, let alone for a cultivator, for whom this was an ultimate treasure worth fighting for with their life.
For a time, Li Yan was lost in deep thought. "Can it only be sensed by the Undead Nether Phoenix clan? No, if that were the case, the phoenix wouldn't have needed to leave a Divine Sense explanation in the Silver Page, with words like 'those not of its clan cannot keep it.' That would be superfluous.
"Whoever obtains it would not have known these details originally. By saying this, even if other races couldn't break the seal, they would surely covet it. A ten-thousand-year-old monster like that would never do something so foolish.
"So, if the seal was set using the cultivation of this Undead Nether Phoenix and is extremely formidable, how could it be sure that a descendant of its clan with the same power would be born in the future?
"If things went wrong, even if the Undead Nether Phoenix clan obtained the ten drops of Essence Blood, without a powerful enough being, wouldn't they also be unable to undo his seal? They could only wait for the strongest expert in the clan to continuously break through, only then would there be hope.
"This approach is also unwise. This isn't leaving a blessing for future generations, but a huge problem..."
Li Yan continuously overturned one idea after another, only to establish new hypotheses.
Finally, his eyes were filled with crimson blood vessels, yet he remained oblivious, his gaze still firmly fixed on the three Silver Pages floating in the air.
"Silver... colored... page. Silver... page. Its... feathers silver-grey, its... blood silver-white, body like a star... its blood silver-white?"
Li Yan stared at the Silver Page, muttering to himself the few sentences he had seen describing the Undead Nether Phoenix. Suddenly, his eyes lit up.
The next moment, Li Yan pointed, and a Silver Page immediately flew to a position right before his eyes.
Li Yan squinted, carefully examining every part of the Silver Page, still muttering under his breath.
"Its blood silver-white, its blood silver-white... hehehe, it seems I've walked into a misconception. Just like before, I, along with everyone else, thought of the Silver Page as a medium for recording some kind of cultivation method, immortal art, or artifact/pill refining technique.
"So why couldn't this Silver Page itself be a transformed drop of Essence Blood?
"Its blood is silver-white, its blood is silver-white, ah, hahaha..."
A burst of loud laughter from Li Yan suddenly erupted in the cave.
After a long while, the laughter finally subsided, and Li Yan snatched the Silver Page before him into his hand.
"Truly a ten-thousand-year-old monster. Even at the moment of death, he still left behind such an ingenious method. And this race has always been mysterious. The old monster must have guessed that the world knew little about the Undead Nether Phoenix clan, which is why he used such a method.
"Even a behemoth of a sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect only has a few scant sentences of introduction in its records.
"If I hadn't happened to have read the phrase 'its blood silver-white,' it would have been truly impossible to connect the two. This shows that to be able to use such a method of concealment, even during the era when this Undead Nether Phoenix was alive, their race was very rarely known to outsiders."
With that, the Spirit Power in Li Yan's hand changed. With a "whoosh," a dazzling ball of fire rose from his palm, quickly enveloping the Silver Page.
Just as Li Yan thought he had discovered the secret of the Silver Page, within the territory governed by the Jingtu Sect, in the secret chamber of a cultivation family, an old man and a young man were sitting cross-legged.
At this moment, a ball of golden flame was burning fiercely in the empty space before the purple-robed elder. As time passed, the relaxed expression on the elder's face slowly turned grave. A day later, his face was already filled with dismay.
Sitting beside him was a white-robed middle-aged man. He watched the elder's expression closely, his own face, which had been full of hope, slowly turning apprehensive.
Just like that, the secret chamber remained silent, except for the occasional soft whistle from the golden flames. The white-robed middle-aged man dared not speak.
After another day, the purple-robed elder's aura became somewhat chaotic. Finally, he let out a long, helpless sigh. With a look of unwillingness, he extended a withered finger and pointed at the empty space.
Instantly, the fiercely burning golden flame transformed into a streak of golden light, which he then sucked into his mouth and abdomen. Afterward, a Silver Page was revealed in the empty space, identical in color and shape to the one in Li Yan's hand.
"Qiu Shi, you said you obtained this from the second level of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda?" the purple-robed elder asked, his face showing fatigue as he turned to look at the white-robed middle-aged man beside him.
The white-robed man, addressed as Qiu Shi, was still staring blankly at the Silver Page in the air. His heart was a mixture of relief and disappointment, but he dared not let any of it show on his face. He quickly and respectfully replied.
"Reporting to the Ancestor, that is correct. This disciple obtained this item after a life-and-death struggle against many other cultivators."
"From the Divine Sense left in this Silver Page, it is clear that this item is exceptionally precious. Even if it were placed on the fourth level of the Northern Abyss Demon-Suppressing Pagoda, or even higher, those Nascent Soul old monsters would fight for it if they knew. Why would it appear on the second level, to be obtained by low-level cultivators like you? This is truly strange."
After saying this, the purple-robed elder fell into deep thought.