A Record Of A Mortal's Journey To Immortality

by S.H.A aifu

A poor and ordinary boy from a village joins a minor sect in Jiang Hu and becomes an Unofficial Disciple by chance. How will Han Li, a commoner by birth, establish a foothold for himself in his sect? With his mediocre aptitude, how will he successfully traverse the path of cultivation and become an immortal? This is a story of an ordinary mortal who, against all odds, clashes with

37. 1196

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Han Li faltered upon hearing this. A hint of befuddlement flashed through his eyes, and he couldn't comprehend why the Endless Sky Beast was saying this.

"This cultivation art originates from Buddhist origins, but its something that everyone uses in the Spirit Realm. It's even more popular than the basic cultivation arts of the five elements used by Qi Condensation cultivators," the small child explained.

"Everyone uses this cultivation art? Could it be that you're also referring to..." Han Li was starting to read between the lines, and a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

"This Buddhist cultivation art can even be used by mortals in the Spirit Realm who possess no spiritual roots. If a mortal reaches the third layer or above in this cultivation art, then obtains some special weapons, they'll even be able to combat low-grade cultivators and demon beasts. If they can reach the fifth layer or above, hehe, even mid-grade cultivators and demon beasts wouldn't dare to mess with them for no good reason, then," the small child chuckled coldly.

Han Li was flabbergasted to hear this, and only after a long while did he respond in an incredulous manner, "Surely you jest, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky! You're telling me that mortals can combat us cultivators?"

"Hehe, you haven't ascended to the Spirit Realm yet, so there's no point for me tell you too much about it, but this is something that I wouldn't mind disclosing to you; in the Spirit Realm, the mortals are an extremely important force in the human race. Furthermore, there were some exceptionally intellectually-endowed figures among the mortals who studied some basic cultivation arts used by cultivators and demon beasts, and managed to discover ways to refine their own bodies using the spiritual Qi from their environment without having to rely on spiritual roots. In the end, they managed to devise a unique set of cultivation principles. There are even some particularly outstanding warriors among the mortals who have slain high-grade cultivators and demon beasts; this is not something that's uncommon in the Spirit Realm. The cultivation art I'm referring to is known as the Vajra Arts, and it's one of the cultivation arts used most regularly among the mortals."

"Even so, surely mortals still can't compare with cultivators. After all, the vast majority of cultivation arts and treasures are still unusable to them," Han Li countered with furrowed brows.

"Of course. Mortals are still mortals in the end, and no matter how powerful they become, without spiritual roots, they're still unable to pursue the Great Dao. Their lifespans reach a mere 100 years, and even if they can obtain some treasures or medicines that can extend their lifespans, it'll only give them 100 more years to live at most; that's their maximal limit. However, in the Spirit Realm, the postnatal acquirement of spiritual roots is possible. Among the three human sovereigns, the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign was once an extremely prominent and renowned mortal. Only after encountering a miraculous opportunity was he able to attain a spiritual root and become a cultivator, but in terms of power and abilities, he's not inferior to his other two counterparts at all." The small child's expression became rather solemn as he spoke.

Han Li stroked his chin and was at a loss for words.

"Don't think too much about this matter. The mortals in the Spirit Realm are only able to achieve all of this dude to the fact that the spiritual Qi density in the Spirit Realm is far superior to that of lower realms. Your human world has endured a devilish tribulation long ago, and the spiritual Qi density here is far inferior compared to the other lower realms. Even if mortals were to obtain the cultivation arts from the Spirit Realm that I mentioned, they wouldn't be able to absorb the world's origin Qi into their bodies anyway, so there's no way that they'd be able to cultivate," the small child explained.

"Other lower realms? Does that mean there are more lower realms than just the human world?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this.

A peculiar look appeared on the small child's face as he said, "Of course! There are hundreds, if not over 1,000 lower realms beneath our Spirit Realm. All of the most exceptional cultivators from these lower realms would ascend to the Spirit Realm, and barely any have ascended from the human world in the past years. However, there have been many cultivators ascending from other lower realms that haven't been invaded by elder devils. I decided to send my avatar to the human world, firstly, because the spiritual Qi is very sparse here. That makes it more difficult for my avatar to descend into this realm, but it makes it easier for me to avoid my great tribulation. Secondly, this is a realm dominated by the human race, so no one would suspect that I would send my avatar to this realm. Otherwise, if my enemies were to learn my backup plan and destroy this avatar of mine, all of my efforts would've been in vain."

Han Li was speechless once again.

He had always thought that the human world was a unique existence, which was why the Spirit Realm had gone to the effort of deploying cultivators into the human world to combat the invasion of the elder devils. However, after hearing the Endless Sky Beast's words, it was clear that there were other factors behind that decision.

"Alright, that's enough about the Spirit Realm. It won't benefit you to learn too much about it for now. Let's talk about the Vajra Arts first. This cultivation art can be used even by mortals without spiritual roots, but it's also renowned in the Spirit Realm for being extremely difficult to cultivate. There are very few people who can reach the third layer, let alone the fifth layer; most of the mortals in the Spirit Realm have only reached the first layer, which will somewhat enhance their bodies, but the effects won't be very useful. Reaching the second layer of the cultivation art requires the cleansing of the marrow, which is an excruciating process that not many people can withstand. However, there are many mortals within the Spirit Realm and reaching the second layer would allow one to become as powerful a low-grade demon beast, so there are always some who are willing and able to endure the painful process. I've never heard of your Brightjade Arts, but I'm sure it's very much related to this cultivation art. After all, there are only a handful of Buddhist body refinement cultivation arts, and this is most likely the only one among those cultivation arts that can be used in the human world." The small child was very confident in his judgment.

Han Li also felt like that was a very plausible notion, and he nodded as he said, "Perhaps that's true. It's indeed been rather difficult for me to cultivate the Brightjade Arts."

"Give me a jade slip; I'll give you a copy of the Vajra Arts for you to examine. If it's the same cultivation art as your Brightjade Arts, then it won't do you much good, but if they're not the same thing, you can choose one between them to cultivate." The small child was suddenly being very generous.

"Hehe, I'll have to thank you in advance then, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky." Han Li certainly wasn't going to decline such a tempting offer. A faint smile appeared on his face, and he flipped his hand over to produce a jade slip before tossing it to the small child.

The Endless Sky Beast caught the jade slip before slowly closing his eyes to replicate the cultivation art.

The smile on Han Li's face faded, and his brows furrowed as memories of a copper plate and another cultivation art surfaced in his mind.

They were none other than the Sacred Provenance Plate, as well as the Heavenbearing Devil Arts that he had obtained from Man Huzi.

There was nothing to be said about the Sacred Provenance Plate; he was already certain that this demonic cultivation art and the Brightjade Arts had both originated from the Elder Devil Realm. Furthermore, they were, respectively, the cultivation art required to unleash the technique, and the mandatory basic body refinement cultivation art. Unfortunately, there was a missing link in the middle, and that was the cultivation art for the transformation ability.

When he had obtained the Heavenbearing Devil Arts from Man Huzi, he had only inspected it briefly before ascertaining that this cultivation art was that missing link. He didn't know how it had become a top-grade devilish art, but that didn't really matter.

What was important was that he had somehow gathered the complete set of cultivation arts. Furthermore, the fact that the Nine Gale Transformations that Han Li wanted to cultivate required progression in the Brightjade Arts made him feel as if there were some kind of profound greater power at work, trying to make him cultivate the Sacred Provenance Plate.

A series of thoughts flashed through Han Li's mind and after about 10 minutes, the small child sitting atop the cauldron suddenly opened his eyes before raising a hand, sending a burst of yellow light flying toward Han Li.

Han Li immediately swept a sleeve through the air, catching the yellow light to reveal the jade slip within.

"The cultivation art has been recorded in there; you can have a look at it first," the small child said in a calm voice.

Han Li nodded and immediately seeped his spiritual sense into the jade slip to examine the cultivation art within.

After just a short while, Han Li heaved a faint sigh and withdrew his spiritual sense.

The small child's expression remained unchanged as he asked in an indifferent manner, "Is the same as your Brightjade Arts?"

Han Li was silent for a moment before replying, "It is. There are some additional spiritual Qi absorption methods detailed in the Vajra Arts, but everything else is completely identical."

The small child seemed to have expected this result, and he waved the aged hide book in his hand as he said, "That's settled, then; if you want to cultivate the Nine Gale Transformations, you'll have to progress to the third layer of the Brightjade Arts first. During that time, I'll alter the Nine Gale Transformations so it becomes suitable for you to use. The Thunderstorm Wings are only a pair of treasures, and not real wings, after all, so some adjustments to the cultivation art will be required. Don't forget that you promised to lend me the Golden Jade Tome after this."

Han Li smiled and pointed to the three container treasures before him as he said, "Rest assure, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky, I won't go back on my word. Before we begin, are you not going to consume any more of this Imperial Elixir?"

The small child glanced at the treasures before shaking his head as he replied, "The Imperial Elixir is indeed a fantastic medicine; it can help demon beasts develop intelligence, and is of the utmost importance for demon beasts going through metamorphosis to attain a human form. For human cultivators, consumption of the Imperial Elixir can also expand the meridians and greatly enhance the body. However, it's not advisable to consume too much of it at once, and it can't be stored for more than a month, so it's currently useless to me. Seeing as you're planning to cultivate the Brightjade Arts, this will be quite useful for you."

"If that's the case, then I'll be taking these for myself." Han Li smiled as he swept a sleeve through the air, uopn which the bowl and the jade vial disappeared in unison, leaving only the gourd remaining on the ground.

He then made a hand seal and a faint light shimmered in his eyes. All of a sudden, silver light flashed from beside one of the walls of the secret chamber, and another "Han Li" appeared out of thin air.

As soon a this "Han Li" appeared in the secret chamber, it immediately feigned a grabbing motion toward the gourd lying on the ground. The treasure was instantly sucked into his grasp, and silver light flashed again as "Han Li" disappeared into the wall.

A hint of surprise appeared on the small child's face upon seeing this, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he merely cupped his fist toward Han Li as a salute before also vanishing into the cauldron.

Han Li took a glance at the jade slip in his hand before joining his palms, upon which the jade slip disappeared.

He then slowly closed his eyes and began to meditate in a seated position.

Almost at the exact same moment, a streak of silver light shot forth from the main peak that Han Li's cave abode was situated on. Following a few flashes, the silver streak of light had already disappeared into a certain restricted area within the Drifting Cloud Sect. Not long after that, the streak of silver light flew out from within the restricted area again and returned to the interconnected peaks.

Han Li continued to remain in the secret chamber, yet during this time, a streak of silver light would occasionally fly out from his cave abode before disappearing into the distance. However, the streak of silver light would always return to the interconnected peaks following intervals of several days to around a month, and no one knew what it was up to.

Time passed in a flash, and two years flew by in the blink of an eye.

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The cultivation world of the Heavenly South Region was in an uproar once again.

Aside from those who were already aware of Han Li's relationship with Nangong Wan, all of the Nascent Soul cultivators who received the invitation were extremely surprised. However, with Han Li's current resounding reputation, no one dared to turn down his invitation. The three other great cultivators of the Heavenly South Region were unable to attend in person to the fact that they were all in seclusion, but they sent their disciples to offer precious congratulatory presents.

It was said in the few days leading up to the commencement of the ceremony, the entire sky above the Dreamcloud Mountains had been enshrouded under extremely exuberant five-colored light. Intricate buildings of light also appeared out of thin air on the mountains, and under the effect of the restriction, all of the plants on the entire mountain ranges were in full bloom, making the Dreamcloud Mountains appear as it were an ethereal immortal realm.

The three sects on the Dreamcloud Mountains as well as some nearby smaller sects that were trying to suck up to Han Li had worked tirelessly to prepare for this ceremony, making it an even grander and more illustrious occasion than the celebration ceremony held when Han Li became a great cultivator.

Aside from the cultivators of the major sects who had received invitations from the Drifting Cloud Sect, some cultivators from other smaller sects as well as many renowned vagrant cultivators attended the ceremony, offering presents of their own.

During the few days when the ceremony was held, around 5,000 to 6,000 cultivators outside of the Dreamcloud Mountains flocked to the scene, most of whom were high-grade cultivators. It was the most spectacular ceremony held in the Heavenly South Region for the past 1,000 years.

However, that was no surprise.

Back when Han Li had become a great cultivator, many people had attended the celebratory ceremony to congratulate him, but most of them harbored doubts in their hearts about the authenticity of his claim. Furthermore, there were still three other great cultivators in the Heavenly South Region as well. However, following the sparring match held during that celebratory ceremony, Han Li had well and truly cemented himself as the number one cultivator of the Heavenly South Region.

It was said that Han Li could face two great cultivators at once and still easily gain the upper hand, and this was quite a harrowing notion to all of the sects in the Heavenly South Region.

This indicated that if Han Li didn't have to worry about his own sect, he was powerful enough on his own to steamroll any cultivation sect in the entire region.

No sect in the Heavenly South Region could possess more than two great cultivators among their ranks, so there was no power in the entire region that could contend with Han Li.

As such, regardless of whether these sects had ties with the Drifting Cloud Sect or not in the past, all of them had sent people to the ceremony in an attempt to establish better relations with Han Li's sect. As for the high-grade vagrant cultivators, they wanted to make the acquaintance of this number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, hoping that Han Li would be kind enough to offer them some guidance in their cultivation.

As such, countless cultivators had arrived to attend the ceremony from the three sects, as well as outside of the Dreamcloud Mountains, making it truly a ceremony for the ages.

Han Li and Nangong Wan didn't appear at the ceremony for a very long time. The two of them merely delivered a grateful address to all of the cultivators gathered at the ceremony, then engaged in a formal exchange of cups of wine between bride and groom before departing from the scene.

Everything else thereafter was obviously left to Lü Luo, and he rose to the occasion; even though the two stars of the show weren't present, he was still able to make the rest of the ceremony an extremely lively and bustling occasion.

The ceremony lasted a total of three to four days before finally drawing to the conclusion.

Most of the cultivators who had arrived to offer their congratulations began to depart, but there were a few among them who refrained from leaving.

Han Li and a white-robed Nangong Wan stood side by side on the summit of the main peak of the interconnected peaks. Neither of them said anything, but their silence was more meaningful than a 1,000 words.

After a long while, Nangong Wan tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear before turning to Han Li with a gorgeous smile.

"Looks like every cloud really does have a silver lining; through cultivating the Youthful Celestial Moon, I was finally able to progress to the mid-Nascent Soul Stage. Of course, I have to thank you for your assistance as well. The Imperial Elixir that you fed me saved me at least a dozen years of arduous cultivation. Without it, I could still be trapped in that seal. Speaking of progression, I'm very surprised that you were able to reach the late-Nascent Soul Stage so quickly. With your current powers, you'll be invincible in the human world as long as you don't encounter those few Deity Transformation Stage old monsters, right?"

"Invincible? I wouldn't dare to say that. Perhaps there exists another Nascent Soul cultivator in the human world who stands above me." Han Li gave a modest smile in response.

"Heehee, I don't believe that! What came as a quite a surprise to me was just how insidious this Soul Seal Curse was; I thought that the power within the inner core of the Ancient Flame Toad would be able to lift this curse, but who would've thought that there were a few additional restrictions lying dormant within my body this entire time? Thank heavens the true method to lift the curse was used in advance. Otherwise, I would've been in deep trouble." Nangong Wan's eyes were shimmering with a seductive light.

Han Li turned to Nangong Wan with a smile, and replied, "That was also a massive load taken off my shoulders. It appears that my trip to the Great Jin was worth it. After this, you should take the Nascent Cultivating Pill I gave you last time. With the assistance of that pill, it might be possible for you to progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage as well."

"Is that Nascent Cultivating Pill really that miraculous? It can even assist in a breakthrough to the late-Nascent Soul Stage?" Nangong Wan seemed to be a little skeptical.

"Hehe, quite a few mid-Nascent Soul cultivators in the Great Jin perished for this pill; do you think they would give their lives for a hoax?" Han Li replied with a chuckle.

"Alright, then after I fortify my mid-Nascent Soul Stage cultivation base, I'll take the pill and attempt another breakthrough." Nangong Wan pursed her lips in a faint smile as a seductive yet exuberant light danced in her eyes.

Han Li looked at his Dao Companion's exquisite features, then thought back to the intimacy they had shared during the past few days, and a scorching impulse suddenly welled up in the pit of his stomach. Just as he was about to say something, his expression suddenly changed as he turned and cast his gaze toward the distant sky. Nangong Wan faltered slightly before also turning her attention toward the same direction.

A few moments later, a streak of white light broke through the restriction in the distance before flying directly toward Han Li's duo.

Han Li's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise, seemingly having already identified who their visitor was.

The streak of white light circled around in the sky before descending onto the ground. The light then receded to reveal a gorgeous woman; it was none other than Mu Peiling.

"Mu Peiling pays her respects to her lord and Big Sister Nangong!" Mu Peiling extended a respectful salute toward the two of them.

"Little Sister Peiling, why have you come here from the sect in such a hurry even though the ceremony is already over? Could it be that there's something Senior Martial Brother Lü couldn't take care of, so he's requesting our assistance?" Nangong Wan asked.

"Big Sister Nangong, there are some guests who still haven't left following the conclusion of the ceremony. All of them proclaim that they're acquaintances of my lord, and wish to see him. Senior Martial Brother Lü was unsure of whether my lord would like to entertain these guests, so he sent me here as a messenger. If my lord doesn't wish to see them, then he'll ask them to leave," Mu Peiling explained.

"Acquaintances of yours? Could they perhaps be a group of beautiful female cultivators?" Nangong Wan took a glance at Han Li with an amused smile on her face.

Mu Peiling cast a surreptitious glance toward Han Li before biting down on her lower lip as she nodded. "Indeed, Big Sister Nangong, the guests in question are all female."

"Oh? Looks like your former lovers have come to find you." Nangong Wan rolled her eyes at Han Li.

"Former lovers? Ahem, please don't make such jokes, Wan'er. Peiling, have you asked those guests for their names?" Han Li cleared his throat with a rather awkward look before turning to Mu Peiling with an inquisitive glance.

"I have. One of them is a woman Ghost Spirit Sect with the surname of Yan, and she's being accompanied by two Ghost Spirit Sect elders. The other two are a female cultivator from the Controlling Spirit Sect by the name of Han Yunzhi, and Dong Xuan'er from the Harmonious Bond Sect," Mu Peiling replied.

"It's them?" Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.

Nangong Wan raised an eyebrow as she chuckled, "Looks like they really are acquaintances of yours. You should go and meet them; it'd be rude to keep them waiting for too long."

Han Li paused for a moment before nodding as he instructed, "These are all acquaintances from well before I reached the Nascent Soul Stage, and I wouldn't mind meeting them. Peiling, go and inform Senior Martial Brother Lü that I'll be there soon. In the meantime, get them to wait for me in two different guest pavilions and I'll meet them separately."

"Yes. I'll be taking my leave then." Mu Peiling extended a respectful bow before flying away as a streak of white light.

Meanwhile, Han Li looked on at her departing figure, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Nangong Wan noticed the minute changes in Han Li's expression, and she smiled as she asked, "Why the long face? Are you displeased with Little Sister Peiling?"

Han Li clasped his hands behind his back as he shook his head, and said, "No, it's just that I don't really understand why you decided to accept her as your sister. I originally intended for her to become your disciple."

"What's wrong with having Peiling as a sister? I only want to pursue the Great Dao with you, so I'm not interested in taking any disciples. Also, her past is kind of similar to mine, and I quite like her. Instead of placing her in the awkward position of being my disciple, I thought it was a much better idea to make her my sister instead. That way, regardless of whether you want to make her your concubine or your disciple in the future, no one will be able to say anything about it," Nangong Wan explained in a warm manner.

"We'll do as you say, then. I'm going to go and see my visitors now," Han Li replied nonchalantly.

"Come back soon; I'll be waiting for you in my cave abode," Nangong Wan said with a faint smile.

A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.

"Wan'er, the Youthful Celestial Moon you're cultivating sure is quite interesting in that the power of the Yin moon is required to cultivate it. In that case, a special formation will need to be set up in order to gather this power. However, the power of the Yin moon is very detrimental to other cultivators, so no one can cultivate around you. It's a real pity that I'm unable to cultivate in the same cave abode as you because of this. "

"At the time I was drawn to the power of this cultivation art, and I didn't anticipate that it would be so troublesome," Nangong Wan replied with an apologetic expression.

"I'm just a little disappointed, but thankfully, we only have to be apart when we're cultivating. Besides, our two cave abodes are really close anyway, so we can share a cave abode whenever we're not cultivating; it really doesn't make much of a difference. Alright, I'll have to go and entertain my guests now; I'll be back soon." Han Li offered some words of consolation before flying away from the main peak as a streak of azure light.

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Mu Peiling was standing outside one of the dozen or so guest pavilions within the Drifting Cloud Sect, and she would occasionally glance up into the distant sky.

All of a sudden, azure light flashed from afar before flying through the air, descending before this pavilion in the blink of an eye.

As soon Han Li arrived in front of the pavilion, Mu Peiling made her way over to him, and whispered, "Mu Peiling pays her respects to her Lord! The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators are current resting within the pavilion, and the other two women are in that building over there. "

Han Li glanced at the pavilion behind Mu Peiling, then at another nearby building, and he nodded with a calm expression as he said, "Alright, you can go now."

Mu Peiling extended a respectful curtsey before flying away as a streak of white light.

Han Li's body swayed, and he appeared at the entrance to the pavilion. He swept his spiritual sense through the interior of the building before walking in in an unhurried manner.

Within the hall on the first floor of the pavilion, there were two men and a woman sitting together while discussing something. One of the men was a stickly thin yellow-robed man, while the other was an elderly man with abnormally pale features. Their female counterpart was a beautiful young woman who appeared to be around 20 years of age; she was none other than Yan Yan'er.

The three of them were currently locked in a heated discussion, and the urgency in their eyes was quite apparent.

As Han Li stepped into the hall, all three of them immediately turned to him in unison. They then rose to their feet with expressions of surprise and elation to welcome Han Li.

Before the three of them had a chance to say anything, Han Li abruptly appeared on a wooden chair across from them. He waved a nonchalant hand, and said, "There's no need for formalities, Fellow Daoists. Let's all take a seat."

None of the three were able to identify how he had approached them so quickly.

The elderly man's heart jolted upon seeing this, but he quickly put on a smile as he nodded in response.

Thus, the three of them sat down again.

Han Li examined the young woman, who had become even more beautiful since their laster encounter, and a smile appeared on his face as he said, "Long time no see, Fairy Yan; you've finally reached the Nascent Soul Stage. We'll be able to refer to one another as equals now."

This woman was none other than the number one female cultivator among the younger generation in the State of Yue. She had also successfully reached the Nascent Soul Stage.

"Thank you for your kind words, Fellow Daoist Han. I've only recently reached the Nascent Soul Stage, yet you're already the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region; how can I possibly compare to you? I've come here with a request for your help, Brother Han." Yan Yan'er examined Han Li carefully as a complex expression appeared on her beautiful features.

Han Li smiled, yet gave no reply. He cast his gaze toward the other two Ghost Spirit Sect elders, and his eyes rested on the face of the elderly man in the end.

"This fellow Daoist is Elder Zhong, right? I recall seeing you once from afar in the Devilfall Valley."

"I didn't think that Brother Han would still remember someone like me. I'm very flattered." The elderly man gave a slightly awkward chuckle upon hearing this.

"The Ghost Spirit Sect seems to be in a very perilous situation at the moment. All three of you are important figures in the sect, so why have you come all this way to meet me rather than remain in the State of Yue to protect the sect?" Han Li cut straight to the time.

Upon seeing Han Li's no-nonsense approach, Yan Yan'er and the others looked at one another with hesitant expressions, as if they were unsure of how to proceed.

Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as a hint of displeasure appeared on his face.

Han Li's attention naturally didn't escape the notice of the trio, and the hearts of the two men jolted as they turned toward Yan Yan'er in unison.

Yan Yan'er hesitated momentarily before breaking the tense silence.

"Fellow Daoist Han, we've come here to request assistance from your sect, no, from yourself. We hope that you can assist our Ghost Spirit Sect during this time of crisis. Otherwise, our sect will most likely cease to exist in the near future."

"You want me to lend you my assistance?" Han Li raised his eyebrows as a hint of a deriding sneer appeared on his face.

"I know that our sect has wronged you in the past, Brother Han, but Sect Leader Wang was the one who was solely responsible for that incident, and he passed away in the Devilfall Valley long ago. The Ghost Spirit Sect is not being ruled over by the Wang Family anymore," the yellow-robed man hurriedly explained.

"Is that so? I seem to have heard that Wang Chan is still thriving at your sect, is that correct?" Han Li asked expressionlessly.

The expressions of both the elderly man and Yan Yan'er changed slightly upon seeing this. The yellow-robed man was also quite surprised that Han Li was aware of this detail, but he still maintained his smile as he replied, "Rest assured, Brother Han; Martial Nephew Wang Chan made a huge mistake a while ago, so he's been stripped of his role as an enforcement elder, and he's currently been held in our sect's repentance cave to repent over his mistakes. He won't be released from there for at least another 100 years."

"Repenting over his mistakes? I don't think I've seen you before, but you seem to bear a resemblance to Fairy Yan; may I ask for your name, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li was slightly surprised to hear this, but he cast his gaze toward Yan Yan'er, then back at the yellow-robed man, and a thought seemed to have occurred to him as a faint smile appeared on his face.

The yellow-robed man hesitated momentarily before replying truthfully, "You really do have a good eye, Brother Han. I'm also from the Yan Family; I'm one of Yan'er's uncles."

Yan Yan'er also nodded to confirm this notion.

Han Li stroked his chin, and asked in a meaningful voice, "Oh, so the Yan Family has two Nascent Soul cultivators now. In that case, the Yan Family must be ruling over the Ghost Spirit Sect at present, right?"

The yellow-robed man glanced at Elder Zhong before replying hesitantly, "Hehe, it's not incorrect to say that, but that duty has only fallen to our Yan Family upon Senior Martial Brother Zhong's insistence."

"Senior Martial Brother Wang and the others were clearly unfit to rule over the sect, so it's only natural that the Yan Familly should rise to the occasion," the elderly man said with a wry smile.

"Oh, is that so?" Han Li said in an absentminded manner before he fell silent, and his eyes narrowed in contemplation.

The three cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect didn't dare to rush Han Li, so they could only sit in silence. Yan Yan'er seemed to be contemplating something as well, while the two men were feeling extremely uneasy.

Han Li was currently the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, and he had once had a vendetta against their Ghost Spirit Sect. The circumstances had changed since then, so it was very unlikely that Han Li would seek revenge against them, but they would definitely be lying if they said they weren't concerned in the slightest about being in Han Li's presence. If it weren't for the fact that the Ghost Spirit Sect had truly reached the end of the road, they wouldn't have mustered up the courage to visit the Drifting Cloud Sect.

The only person in the entire Heavenly South Region capable of saving them was Han Li. Their enemies were wary of the other great cultivators as well, but there was certainly no one more powerful and intimidating than Han Li in the Heavenly South Region.

"Even if those past events had never taken place, what makes you think that I'll help your Ghost Spirit Sect?" Han Li asked in a slightly cold voice.

Yan Yan'er immediately turned to Han Li upon hearing this, while the two men with her were ecstatic.

The three of them could all hear a hint of possibility in Han Li's voice.

The yellow-robed man took a deep breath before replying, "Brother Han, if you're willing to help our sect, our Ghost Spirit Sect will vacate the State of Yue and leave it to the other sects. All we want now is to ensure the survival of our sect. In return for your assistance, we've brought along a few presents. We hope that they would be of interest to you, Brother Han."

He then patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist, and a burst of white light radiated from within. Spiritual light swept toward the table before him, and three items appeared on the tabletop.

Han Li examined the three items with an indifferent expression to find that they were a crimson bracelet, a porcelain vial, and a green wooden box.

Han Li raised his hand and feigned a grabbing motion, upon which the three items flew through the air and landed in his grasp.

At this moment, Yan Yan'er's pleasant voice suddenly sounded.

"The porcelain vial contains the sacred medicine of our sect, the Blood Limb Pill. The pill has no other effect aside from its incredible ability to replace lost limbs. Even if a limb is completely dismembered, an identical one can be regrown after taking these pills. Due to the fact that the medicinal ingredients for these pills are very difficult to find, our sect only has around a dozen of these pills, and three of them are in that vial. The red bracelet is a lesser-known devilish treasure and was something that was carried by all the past sect leaders. However, the treasure was withdrawn by Elder Zhong after Sect Leader Wang perished in the Devilfall Valley. This devilish treasure is quite unique in that it's unable to directly attack the enemy, but you can nurture things like Yin spirits and blood ghosts within the bracelet. Those beings can become more powerful at a rapid rate through the help of the blood Qi absorbed by this bracelet, then be released to assist you in battle. As for the item in this wooden box, it's the most precious among the three treasures here." At this point, Yan Yan'er paused and looked at Han Li with a peculiar gleam in her eyes.

However, Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged, seemingly entirely disinterested in the two treasures placed before him.

Yan Yan'er heaved a faint internal sigh, but she maintained a calm expression as she continued, "I heard that you're using a wood-attribute cultivation art, Brother Han; the item in this box is a legendary Wood Spirit Bead, one of the five-elemental Spirit Gathering Beads!"

Han Li's expressionless facade immediately crumbled as he exclaimed, "Spirit Gathering Bead? You're referring to the treasures that absorb a certain type of five-elemental spiritual Qi while also repelling other types of spiritual Qi?"

"That's right. The Spirit Gathering Bead has a very similar name to the basic spirit gathering formation, and both of them serve a similar purpose. However, I trust that Brother Han is aware of the differences in their efficacy, so I won't elaborate on that subject. As for how this item compares with spirit well objects, as long as the cultivation art you're using is of the same attribute as this Spirit Gathering Bead, normal spirit well objects won't even be able to hold a candle to this bead," Yan Yan'er said in a slow voice.

Han Li's lingered on the green wooden box for a while longer, but there was a yellow restriction talisman plastered over it, so he wasn't able to glean its contents.

All of a sudden, he opened his mouth and gently exhaled toward the wooden box.

A burst of azure light immediately swept over the surface of the box, and the restriction talisman was detached. At the same time, his hand shot forth like lightning, pointing a finger directly at the lid of the box.

The wooden lid flew off of its own accord.

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The faint fragrance of grass and wood immediately wafted toward Han Li. The interior of the wooden box was filled with shimmering green light, and there was a thumb-sized green bead that was sitting in the box amid the light.

Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward it to find that the bead wasn't made of stone nor wood, and he couldn't identify what kind of material this was.

As soon as the bead was revealed, rich wood-attribute spiritual Qi immediately filled the surrounding area. After taking a deep breath, Han Li felt as if he had been completely reinvigorated.

Han Li picked up the bead between his fingers and stared at it for a while before turning to Yan Yan'er with a calm expression. "This is indeed a Spirit Gathering Bead! Some of these beads appeared during ancient times and it's unknown whether they were naturally-forming treasures or artificially-refined. It's been a long time since one of these has appeared in the cultivation world; I didn't think your sect would have one. Fair Yan, is your Ghost Spirit Sect really willing to give me such a valuable treasure? If a cultivator using a wood-attribute cultivation art were to carry this bead during their cultivation, they would be able to cultivate more than twice as fast as a normal cultivator."

"This bead is indeed an extremely rare treasure in the human world, but our sect is still more important to us in comparison. Furthermore, as I'm sure you're aware already, Brother Han, our Ghost Spirit Sect barely has any wood-attribute cultivation arts, so this treasure is not very useful to our sect. As such, it's much wiser for us to offer it up in exchange for a chance at survival," Yan Yan'er replied with a serious expression.

"This Spirit Gathering Bead is indeed very useful to me. However, if you want me to step in and protect your sect, the Ghost Spirit Sect has to do something else for me as well. Otherwise..." Han Li shook his head as his voice trailed off.

The yellow-robed man's eyes lit up as he asked urgently, "What is it? As long as it's within the capabilities of our sect, we'll be sure to do our best."

Han Li turned to the yellow-robed man, and elaborated, "I don't care about anyone else from the Wang Family, but I don't want to see Wang Chan ever again. I have no interest in stepping in to save an enemy of mine. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

Elder Zhong's expression changed upon hearing this, and Yan Yan'er's features paled in response. The yellow-robed man had also fallen silent, but he didn't appear to be very surprised by this demand.

"I understand what you mean, Brother Han. This is not an issue; what do you think, Senior Martial Brother Zhong?" The yellow-robed man turned to the elderly man.

A conflicted look appeared on the elderly man's face, and he only heaved a faint sigh after a period of contemplation as he replied, "If Brother Han insists, then I'm sure Martial Nephew Wang Chan will be willing to give his all for the sake of the sect."

"Seeing as Senior Martial Brother Zhong doesn't have any objections, then I'll agree to this request on behalf of the sect." The yellow-robed man nodded without any hesitation.

Throughout this entire process, he didn't ask for Yan Yan'er opinion, nor even take so much as a single glance at her.

Yan Yan'er face was quite pale, but she didn't state any objections.

"Alright, I'll accept your presents, and I'll write a few letters in person to the Controlling Spirit Sect and the other sects." Han Li nodded in response.

The yellow-robed man was ecstatic upon hearing this. The trio from the Ghost Spirit Sect had achieved the objective for their trip, so they didn't wish to remain in the Drifting Cloud Sect any longer, and they rose to their feet before bidding farewell to Han Li.

Han Li made no effort to keep them, and merely looked on as the three of them departed. Yan Yan'er was the last one to exit the hall, and her footsteps suddenly faltered as she reached the entrance of the hall. She turned to look at Han Li with a complex expression and opened her mouth, but didn't say anything in the end. A resigned sigh escaped her lips and she turned away again before exiting the hall.

Han Li's expression changed slightly upon seeing this, and he also fell silent as he turned his gaze toward the three treasures on the table.

After the three Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators left the Drifting Cloud Sect, they immediately rose into the air as streaks of light.

Not only after they had departed from the Dreamcloud Mountains, Elder Zhong heaved a faint sigh and turned to the yellow-robed man beside him as he asked, "Junior Martial Brother Yan, do we really have to kill Martial Nephew Wang?"

"Senior Martial Brother Zhong, I don't want to have to do this, either, but Han Li is specifically requesting for his death, and we can't afford to hesitate here. Besides, he's not asking for us to eradicate the entire Wang Family, and Senior Martial Brother Wang has more than one son, so the Wang Family won't fall here. This is already a very lenient condition. After all, the Wang Family has wrong him greatly in the past, and I heard that Wang Chan had almost killed him back when he was yet to reach the Nascent Soul Stage. In that case, it really is no surprise that he's asking for Wang Chan to be killed. In my opinion, we should also banish all of our sect disciples from the Wang Family as a gesture to demonstrate our sincerity. Even though Han Li has promised to help us, it would be disastrous if he were to change his mind," the yellow-robed man replied.

A hesitant expression appeared on the elderly man's face upon hearing this.

The yellow-robed man then turned to Yan Yan'er, who had remained silent this whole time, and said in an apologetic manner, "Yan'er, I'm sorry that this has to happen, but I'm sure you had already anticipated this back when you were engaged to Wang Chan. Thankfully, you've reached the Nascent Soul Stage now while Wang Chan has failed to do so, so he doesn't deserve you anyway. Furthermore, the Wang Family suddenly attacked our Yan Family back then, and all of the high-grade cultivators from our family, including you, had restrictions placed upon them. I was fortunate to have been exempt from this as I was cultivating in a secret area, but that doesn't change the fact that the Wang Family has betrayed our trust. Seeing as that's the case, there's no need for you to pay any heed to whether Wang Chan lives or dies."

"I understand all that, Uncle, but he's still my Dao Companion; how could I bring myself to express approval toward this arrangement? I'm going into seclusion for a century after we return to the sect; there's no need for you to inform me of what becomes of Wang Chan and the Wang Family during that time," Yan Yan'er said in an indifferent voice before she accelerated through the air, leaving the yellow-robed man and the elderly man behind.

The yellow-robed man could only heave a resigned sigh upon seeing this, while the elderly man continued to remain silent. After a while, Elder Zhong finally conceded, "If this arrangement is beneficial to our sect, then I'll let you do as you please with the Wang Family, Junior Martial Brother Yan."

"Rest assured, Senior Martial Brother Zhong, I'll be sure to handle the situation appropriately." The yellow-robed man was ecstatic.

The elderly man merely shook his head without giving a reply, and he seemed to be in a rather dejected mood.

The yellow-robed man didn't pay any heed to this. He knew that Elder Zhong had known Wang Chan and his father for far longer than he had, so it was only natural for him to display such a reaction.

Following his initial rush of excitement, a wistful look appeared on the yellow-robed man's face as he murmured, "I still think it's quite a pity that we gave him the Spirit Gathering Bead, though."

In response, Elder Zhong chuckled coldly and said something that came as quite a surprise to the yellow-robed man. "Do you really that Spirit Gathering Bead is something that belonged to our sect?"

A bewildered look appeared on the yellow-robed man's face as he asked, "What do you mean, Senior Martial Brother Zhong? Didn't you personally bring out this treasure from our sect's treasure vault?"

"Hehe, I'm not sure if this treasure initially belonged to our sect, but what I can tell you is that Old Devil Concord was the one who had who gave it to me," Elder Zhong chuckled.

"Old Devil Concord?" The yellow-robed man was even more bewildered upon hearing this.

"That's right. Not long ago, Old Devil Concord suddenly came to me and presented me with this bead, telling me that it was something that our sect had once lent to the Harmonious Bond Sect. He also implied to me that Grand Elder Han of the Drifting Cloud Sect was the only one who could save our sect, and that this would be the best present we could offer to him. Are you finding this difficult to believe, Junior Martial Brother Yan?" the elderly man asked with a meaningful look. The yellow-robed man's expression immediately changed as he speculated, "Even if this bead really did belong to our sect, there's no way Old Devil Concord would be generous enough to return it to us. Could it be that there's something wrong with that Spirit Gathering Bead?"

"There's nothing wrong with the bead. I've examined it many times, and it's completely identical to the legendary Wood Spirit Bead in any way. There's nothing amiss about the bead itself, either. Otherwise, I wouldn't have heeded his advice and offered it to Han Li." The elderly man shook his head with a serious expression.

"But there's no way that Old Devil Concord would do something like this without harboring any ulterior motives. Senior Martial Brother Zhong, you should've discussed this matter with me first. If something goes wrong here, our entire sect would be doomed!" The yellow-robed man was getting very flustered.

"Hmph, how else were we going to recruit the assistance of the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region? As for discussing the matter with you in advance, would that have done us any good? What other course of action could we take to save our sect? If there was another way, we wouldn't have had to visit the Drifting Cloud Sect and put on such a pathetic display," Elder Zhong harrumphed coldly.

The elderly man's remained furrowed upon hearing this, but he was at a loss for a response.

After an extended period of silence, the yellow-robed man could only offer words of consolation to himself. "In any case, we've already given him the bead, so it's too late to do anything now. As long as there's nothing wrong with the bead itself, we'll be fine even if something were to happen."

"You're certainly correct about that, Junior Martial Brother Yan. The Spirit Gathering Bead was a vast renowned treasure even back in ancient times. After so many years, even if something were to happen, we could easily pin the blame on someone else. Besides, even the number one cultivator of the Heavenly South Region identified the bead to be authentic, so any future mishaps won't have anything to do with us," Elder Zhong chuckled coldly.

The yellow-robed man contemplated the situation for a while before heaving a resigned sigh as he said, "We can only hope that that's the case. However, in order to be safe, I suggest that we close our sect for 100 years right after our relocation."

"That's a good idea, Junior Martial Brother Yan; we'll do as you say." Elder Zhong nodded in agreement.

After that, the two Ghost Spirit Sect elders weren't interested in discussing anything else, and they immediately accelerated in pursuit of Yan Yan'er.

Meanwhile, within a restricted area in the Harmonious Bond Sect, there was a humanoid figure sitting on a massive rock deep within the Heavenly Yang Pond. The entire area was enshrouded in thick grey mist, and the humanoid figure murmured to himself, "It's about time that the treasure was delivered to that Han brat. With this Wood Spirit Bead, your rate of cultivation will be drastically enhanced, but when you reach the Deity Transformation Stage bottleneck, hehe..."

A burst of eerie chuckling suddenly escaped from the humanoid figure's mouth.

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Han Li sat within the guest pavilion and fiddled around with the Wood Spirit Bead for a while. Just as he was about to stow it away along with the other two treasures, the voice of a small child suddenly rang out. "Fellow Daoist Han, are you really planning to keep this bead?"

Han Li faltered slightly before his brows furrowed, and he asked, "Why do you ask? Is there something wrong with this Spirit Gathering Bead?"

"Hehe, there's nothing wrong with the bead itself, but don't you know that Spirit Gathering Beads are inherently flawed treasures? If you use this bead to cultivate, your cultivation base and magic power will indeed progress at a phenomenal rate, but once you reach a bottleneck, you'll know what the inherent flaw in this treasure is. High-grade cultivators who use this bead to cultivate will find it many times harder to break through bottlenecks than other cultivators. This is because while the bead does increase your rate of spiritual Qi absorption, it also blunts your sensitivity toward the other types of spiritual Qi. For cultivators below the Nascent Soul Stage, the negative effects stemming from that won't be very apparent. However, for a cultivator like you, who will need to sense all types of the world's origin Qi in order to make a breakthrough, this bead is more trouble than its worth. As such, the Spirit Gathering Bead is indeed a treasure that's very tempting to use, but in the Spirit Realm, it's only given to low-grade cultivators with mediocre aptitudes. No high-grade cultivator would ever use something like this," the small child explained in detail.

"Is that so? So what you're saying is that this treasure is completely useless to me."

"That's not necessarily the case. If you can find a few rare wood-attribute materials, you'll be able to convert this bead into another type of treasure known as the Wood Birth Bead. That bead won't be able to accelerate your cultivation, but after you completely refine it, you'll able to attain the immortal body ability. Even though you'll only be able to use that ability once, it'll save your life in a perilous situation," the small child replied.

"Immortal body?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this.

He had been yearning for such an ability for a long time. However, he had only seen this ability present in extremely powerful demon beasts, elder devils, and devilish corpses that had undergone devilfication. He had never heard of any human cultivator who had managed to attain this ability.

"That's right. Each Wood Birth Bead will allow you to unleash immortal body ability once. Following the ability's activation, even if you get decapitated or your entire body gets cut in half, you'll be able to make a full recovery," the small child replied with a chuckle.

"Really, now? But if I can only use it once, doesn't that make it a disposable treasure?" Han Li was quite tempted, but also a little skeptical.

"Being able to unleash the immortal body ability once will be enough to save your life under some circumstances; why do you still look so dissatisfied? In any case, the other wood-attribute ingredients required to craft the Wood Birth Bead will be very difficult to find in the human world, and it's yet to be seen whether you'll even be able to refine the treasure," the small child harrumphed with a hint of displeasure on his face.

"What other materials do I need? I have a pretty big collection of wood-attribute materials," Han Li replied with an unfazed smile.

"I'll give you a copy of the list of required materials, but if you want me to tell you the refinement method, you'll have to give me some things in return," the small child said in a straight forward manner.

"Sure. Feel free to tell me what you need, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky." The fact that the small child was making demands came as quite a relief to Han Li. If the Endless Sky Beast were willing to tell him the refinement method free of charge, he would've been feeling quite uneasy instead.

After all, even though the two of them had built up a certain level of camaraderie following the lightning tribulation, it was still quite a stretch for them to refer to one another as friends. Thus, Han Li remained rather cautious of the Endless Sky Beast.

He wasn't naive enough to think that they were best friends after just a few mutually-beneficial deals and exchanges. The Endless Sky Beast was mostly helping him because he was the owner of the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and the demon beast was unable to escape from the cauldron, so he had no choice but to appease Han Li to a certain extent.

"Even though I've successfully reached the metamorphosis stage, I still require some medicines to fortify my cultivation base. I'm sure you'll be able to easily secure those medicines for me, Brother Han," the small child proposed.

"No problem. Give me a list of what you need along with the refinement method," Han Li replied without any hesitation.

"Alright, when you get back to the cave abode, I'll give you the list of required materials, the refinement method, and a list of the medicines I'm looking for." The small child was very pleased with Han Li's straightforward reply.

Han Li smiled upon hearing this before placing the Wood Spirit Bead back into its wooden box, then flipping his hand over to stow all three treasures away into his storage pouch.

All of a sudden, a cold light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Endless Sky, do you think the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators were aware of the Wood Spirit Bead's inherent flaw?"

"That's hard to say. From the sounds of it, this bead was abandoned long ago by ancient cultivators, and information about its inherent flaw doesn't appear to have been passed down. If a Nascent Soul cultivator from the Ghost Spirit Sect specializing in wood-attribute cultivation arts had used bead before, then they would definitely have been able to identify its flaws. Otherwise, there's no way to tell detect anything wrong just from the bead itself. Are you suspecting that those three are trying to prevent you from reaching the Deity Transformation Stage?" the small child asked.

Han Li stroked his chin, and deduced, "That was my initial thought process, but then, I realized that there's no motive for the Ghost Spirit Sect to do such a thing. After all, even if I can't reach the Deity Transformation Stage, I'm already a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, and I'll still be the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region. Aren't they afraid that I'll identify the flaw in the bead and destroy the entire Ghost Spirit Sect in a fit of rage? There must be more to this story than meets the eye. Let me think about this; the mastermind behind all this who's trying to use the Ghost Spirit Sect against me is most likely a cultivator from the Heavenly South Region, but why would it benefit them to prevent me from reaching the Deity Transformation Stage? Even if I don't reach that level, there's still no one in the Heavenly South Region who's a match for me. The only downside to this is that I won't be able to lengthen my lifespan, and I'll pass away after reaching around 1,000 years of age. As such, the period of time during which our Drifting Cloud Sect will be able to exert dominance over the other sects of the Heavenly South Region will be significantly curtailed. However, to normal sects, it doesn't really matter which sect reigns supreme in the Heavenly South Region. There are only a handful of sects who can contend for this position, and it's most likely one of the Flowing Mind Sect, the Harmonious Bond Sect, or the High Zenith Sect. Alternatively, it could be all three of those sects joining forces to plot against me."

The small child was quite stunned by Han Li's analytical prowess, and only after a long while did a wry smile appeared on his face as he said, "Now that you put it that way, things have been made a lot clearer. So you think that the other three late-Nascent Soul great cultivators are behind all this?"

Han Li rose to his feet, and paced a few steps within the hall. He then looked up at the ceiling, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he said, "Perhaps. In any case, this is all just speculation; who knows what could really be going on behind the scenes? I'm not sure if I'm right, either."

"It's easy if you want to find out the truth; just capture one of those three, then use a soul search technique on them," the small child suggested with a low chuckle.

A sharp light flashed through his eyes, but he shook his head after a moment of contemplation as he said, "It would be indeed simple to capture one of them, but that's beside the point. Even if I've hit the nail on the head here, it would be inappropriate for me to attack any of those three sects without any concrete evidence. Otherwise, I'll be viewed as a public enemy. All other cultivators fear and revere me as the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, but if I were to abuse that title, then more people would become resentful and fearful toward me. Maybe someone will take advantage of this opportunity to turn the entire Heavenly South Region against me. No matter how powerful I am, I won't be able to stand against the entire cultivation world of the Heavenly South Region, and there have been previous instances of something like this happening before."

"You're way too much of a coward, Han brat. If someone tried to plot against me like this in the Spirit Realm, hehe..., whatever, it's up to you in the end. As long as you can keep yourself from getting killed, I won't try to influence your decisions," the small child said in a lazy voice.

"Don't worry, now that I know there are people plotting against me, I'll be sure to be careful. As for this incident, I'll pretend to be oblivious to it for now. If whoever's behind this doesn't try any more little trick, then I'll let them be, but if they try something else, I'm sure I'll be able to catch them next time. As soon as I find some concrete evidence, hmph! They'll learn what it means to wish they were dead." Han Li's expression remained quite calm, but the menacing threat in his voice was quite apparent.

The small child merely chuckled without saying anything this time.

Han Li remained within the hall for a while longer before finally exiting the guest pavilion. He then turned his gaze toward another nearby pavilion, and his brows furrowed slightly.

He could understand Han Yunzhi coming to find him, but what business did Dong Xuan'er have with him? He was not on good terms with the latter of these two women. Dong Xuan'er was extremely beautiful, but she had left him with quite a negative impression.

However, there was also something else that Han Li was confused about. He had once heard from a Harmonious Bond Sect disciple that after Dong Xuan'er had reached the Core Formation Stage, she had deployed people to search for him for a period of time. Why was that?

Han Li looked at the pavilion with a hesitant look, but still decided to make his way toward it in the end.

After entering the pavilion, he was greeted by the sight of two beautiful female cultivators, one of whom was standing while the other was seated in a chair, and both of them were completely silent.

The one in the chair was a yellow-robed woman with a set of gentle features, making her appear very warm and approachable. The one who was standing was an extremely seductive white-robed woman who gave off an air of frailty. However, that sense of fragile vulnerability evoked within the onlooker the urge to protect her, thereby further contributing to her allure.

Han Li's arrival immediately drew the attention of the two female cultivators.

"I'm quite surprised that you two came to visit me, Fellow Daoists. We're all old acquaintances and seeing you two evokes many past memories in me."

Han Li approached the two women with a faint smile on his face.

A hint of elation appeared in the yellow-robed woman's eyes at the sight of Han Li. She hurriedly rose to her feet, but was seemingly at a loss for what to do as she said, "Brother Han! No... Senior Han, I hope my visit isn't causing any trouble for you."

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As for the white-robed Dong Xuan'er, her vibrant red lips moved a few times, but she didn't say anything in the end. However, the expression on her face was slightly complex, seemingly a mixture of excitement and joy, as well as hints of distance and resentment.

"I'm overjoyed to see you here, Fellow Daoist Han, it's certainly not too much trouble for me at all. You don't need to refer to me as senior this or senior that, either; just call me Big Brother Han. You seem to have reached the mid-Core Formation Stage already; looks like it won't be long before you progress to the late-Core Formation Stage," Han Li greeted with a smile.

The yellow-robed woman blushed slightly before nodding her head with elation upon hearing this.

"We've come here to thank Big Brother Han for sparing my life on two separate occasions. If another cultivator had been in your shoes, I would've most likely died twice already," Han Yunzhi said in a grateful voice.

Han Li faltered initially upon hearing before bursting into laughter. "Looks like you've recovered all of your memories surrounding the Trial by Blood and Fire, and you're aware that I was responsible for what happened next."

Han Li was unconsciously regarding this woman as something like his little sister, and Han Yunzhi also harbored similar feelings toward Han Li. As such, they were only a few sentences into their conversation, but she had already forgotten Han Li's current lofty status and was speaking to him in an intimate manner as if he really were her elder brother.

As their conversation progressed, the two of them began to talk about the Great South Meeting and the Trial by Blood and Fire, and both of them were filled with nostalgia. Back when they had attended this meeting, neither of them could've imagined that they would be standing where they stood today, 200 to 300 years down the track.

At the time, they had to look up to even Foundation Establishment cultivators.

All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to Han Yunzhi, and she abruptly turned to Dong Xuan'er with a smile as she said, "By the way, I met this Big Sister Dong during the ceremony. I heard that she was once a member of the same sect as Big Brother Han, and she has something she wants to speak to you about."

"Fairy Dong and I did indeed once both cultivate in Yellow Maple Valley. However, it appears that your cultivation base hasn't progressed in the slightest since I last saw you, Fellow Daoist Dong." Only after hearing Han Yunzhi's words did Han Li turn to Dong Xuan'er with an indifferent expression.

Dong Xuan'er's face suddenly became quite flush, and she gritted her teeth with fury as she retorted, "It's all because of you that I became like this!"

Han Li was completely bemused.

Han Yunzhi also blinked with befuddlement in her eyes.

Han Li soon came to his senses, and was naturally unhappy to hear this. As such, his expression darkened as he asked, "What do you mean by that, Fairy Dong? How could your stalling cultivation base have anything to do with me?"

"If it weren't for the fact that you became an inner demon of mine, how could I have tried and failed to make breakthroughs on so many occasions? It's all because of you that I'm still stuck at the mid-Core Formation Stage even after all these years!" Dong Xuan'er's rage seemed to have also made her forget Han Li's current identity, and she began to vent all of her fury and frustration.

"Inner demon?" Han Li murmured to himself with a hint of bewilderment on his face.

"Back when I was at the Yan Clan fortress, I was abducted by Tian Buque, and forcibly taken to back to the Harmonious Bond Sect. Only then did I discover my true lineage. It turns out that I'm a directly lineal descendant of the Harmonious Bond Sect's Old Devil Cloudpart. It was only through an accident that I ended up becoming a disciple of the Yellow Maple Sect. Before I was even born, Old Devil Cloudpart used a secret technique known as the Graceful Dream Art on me, which is a cultivation art related to cultivation and bewitching charming techniques. The cultivation art would significantly enhance my rate of cultivation, yet the easiest, but also the most difficult obstacle for cultivators using this cultivation art would be the trial of the inner demons. If it turned out to be easy, then the obstacle would be virtually non-existent and I'd progress as easily as eating food or drinking water. However, if it proved to be difficult, then I could be impeded by my inner demons for the rest of my life, in which case my cultivation base would never progress. In fact, there have even been precedents in other cultivators using this cultivation art, where their inner demons have been too strong and their cultivation base had even been forced to regress as a result," Dong Xuan'er spat through gritted teeth.

After a prolonged flabbergasted silence, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face as he asked, "Even so, how did I become an inner demon of yours? I've barely even met you before."

"How would I know?! As soon as I reached the Core Formation Stage, you began to appear in my cultivation as my inner demon. Even though I was able to barely make a breakthrough to the mid-Core Formation Stage by recruiting some external assistance, I haven't been able to progress ever since. I have to overcome the obstacles posed by my inner demons before I can continue to make progress. I also asked Old Devil Cloudpart about this, and he told me that the reason you became my inner demon was most likely because you used some kind of special cultivation arts in the past, and was immune to my bewitching charming techniques as a result. After that, when I was abducted and suffered backlash from my own bewitching charming technique, you left too strong of an impression in my heart, thereby becoming my inner demon."

Han Li was completely speechless.

Han Yunzhi was also completely bewildered.

After a long while, Han Li finally managed to compose himself. A cold light flashed through his eyes as he asked, "I heard that you once deployed some people to search for me right after you progressed to the Core Formation Stage. If you had found me, how were you going to take care of your inner demons?"

"How else does anyone overcome their inner demons? They either have to do so by sheer force of will or destroy the subject responsible for the manifestation of their inner demons. Alternatively... At the time, I wanted to employ the latter of those two methods." Dong Xuan'er was stuttering slightly as she spoke, and a blush suddenly appeared on her face, further enhancing her seductive charm.

Han Li's eyes narrowed initially upon hearing Dong Xuan'er's words, but after listening to everything she had to say, a surprised look appeared in his eyes. A thought then seemed to have occurred to him, and a slightly awkward expression surfaced on his face.

He was silent for a moment before asking, "I know why you're here now. You want me to use my spiritual sense to pass my secret technique onto so you can overcome your inner demons, right?"

Dong Xuan'er had also recomposed herself as she willingly admitted, "That's right. I wanted to request for your help during the Moulan invasion, but at the time, you'd already progressed to the Nascent Soul Stage, and I hesitated to approach you, thus missing out on that opportunity."

"What makes you so sure that I would help you, Fellow Daoist Dong?" Han Li asked with a faint smile on his face.

"You're already the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, so I don't know if you'd be willing to help a lowly Core Formation cultivator like me, either. However, if I want to have any chance of reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, then this is my only hope," Dong Xuan'er replied with an indignant look in her eyes.

"I know that we aren't exactly on good terms with one another, but we were once both disciples of the same sect, and your inner demon did stem from me. Helping you out here won't be a difficult task for me, so I can lend you my assistance on this occasion," Han Li said in a slow voice.

"Really?" Dong Xuan'er was elated to hear this.

"It would be easy for my current self to help you overcome your inner demon; why would I lie to you? However, after this, the two of us will no longer have anything to do with one another. Don't expect me to lend you any further assistance in your cultivation," Han Li warned.

Dong Xuan'er's face paled upon hearing this, and she was silent for a moment before replying expressionlessly, "I'm already extremely grateful that you're willing to help me just this once; I wouldn't dare to dream of troubling you any further."

"Alright, take a rest here for three days, Fellow Daoist Dong. Three days later, I'll come back here and help you overcome your inner demon," Han Li replied calmly.

Dong Xuan'er nodded in an aloof manner and refrained from speaking any further.

After that, Han Li and Han Yunzhi chatted for a while longer before he departed from the pavilion.

Five days later, Dong Xuan'er and Han Yunzhi departed from the Drifting Cloud Sect one after the other, returning to their respective Controlling Spirit Sect and Harmonious Bond Sect.

After receiving Han Li's help in overcoming her inner demons, Dong Xuan'er would encounter no further impediment during her attempt to progress to the late-Core Formation Stage. Meanwhile, Han Yunzhi received many treasures and pills from Han Li, and he also entrusted her with a letter addressed to the grand elder of the Controlling Spirit Sect.

When Han Li descended in front of his cave abode as an azure streak of light, there was a young woman in a white palatial dress waiting for him with a smile on her face. As soon as Han Li arrived, she asked in a gentle voice, "Why did Little Sister Yunzhi leave so soon? You could've asked her to stay for a few more days."

"There's no need for that. Spending a few days here with me is enough for her." Han Li shook his head with a smile.

"By the way, I just received some news about your other soulmate, that Violet Spirit woman; she reached the Nascent Soul Stage several years ago, and has since embarked on a journey to the Great Jin. You probably won't be able to see her for a while," Nangong Wan said with a hint of a smile on her face.

Han Li smiled, and replied, "With Violet Spirit's aptitude, it's no surprise that she was able to progress to the Nascent Soul Stage. As for whether she's here in the Heavenly South Region or not, that's completely inconsequential. We'll naturally meet again if we're fated to do so. Also, I'm getting some tool refinement materials sent here in a few days, and I plan to go into seclusion after that. I want to get to the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage as quickly as possible, then completely master the Great Development Technique. After that, I'll fuse the five types of glacial flames with the Unbroken Cinque Devils."

"Sure. I was just thinking about making a breakthrough to the late-Nascent Soul Stage as well. Hopefully, we'll both have achieved our objectives when we come out of seclusion." Nangong Wan nodded with a gentle smile.

"Haha, I certainly hope that would prove to be the case. However, in the days before I go into seclusion, you'll have to keep me company in my lonely nights." A sinister look suddenly appeared in Han Li's eyes as his eyes roamed over Nangong Wan's sensitive regions.

"When did you become such a smooth talker?" Nangong Wan scoffed with a deep blush on her face, but the amusement in her eyes was quite apparent.

"This is the first time anyone has called me a smooth talker in my life. You're probably the only one who'll get to see my smooth-talking side." Han Li threw his head back and chortled heartily as his laughter echoed throughout the interconnected peaks.

Within the cave abode on another peak, a young girl was reading a jade slip in her hand, and her concentration was broken by Han Li's raucous laughter.

A sweet smile also appeared on her face before she turned her attention back to her jade slip.

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Within the secret chamber on the main peak of the Dreamcloud Mountains, everything was enshrouded in a vast expanse of white mist. It seemed that a restriction had been set up within the entire secret chamber.

At the center of a chamber sat a man with his legs crossed and azure light shimmering all over his body. Around him were five pristine white jade-liked humanoid skeletons that were also seated with their legs crossed.

These skeletons were enveloped in a layer of greyish-white devilish Qi, yet all of their mouths were slightly agape, and there were respectively black, white, blue, yellow, and green flames shimmering within.

The azure humanoid figure sitting at the very center of the chamber had his palm almost joined together in front of his chest, and there was a ball of indistinct purple flames burning between his hands.

This humanoid figure was none other than Han Li, who had been seclusion for an indeterminate number of years.

All of a sudden, silver light flashed on the wall, and another azure humanoid figure appeared within the restriction, standing next to the wall in a completely stationary manner.

After a long while, Han Li suddenly opened his mouth, and the ball of purple fire was sucked into his mouth as a purple line of flames.

In contrast, the five skeletons nearby all closed their mouths, and the different-colored flames within disappeared in a flash. Immediately thereafter, the greyish-white devilish Qi over their bodies quickly receded to reveal the skeletons, which had turned into different colors that matched their respective flames.

At this moment, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, but they were still completely glazed over. Only after a long while did his pupils regain their clarity. He turned his gaze toward the azure humanoid figure off to the side, and his brows furrowed slightly.

That azure humanoid figure was naturally none other than the humanoid puppet, which Han Li had left outside the cave abode. During these past few years, Han Li would summon the humanoid puppet to him at regular intervals to assimilate it with the second Nascent Soul again, but aside from that, the puppet was left to look after the cave abode. Now that it had suddenly appeared here, something important that had to be brought to his attention must've happened.

Han Li felt this to be rather strange. After all, the second Nascent Soul paired with the humanoid puppet was not inferior in power to a normal great cultivator, so what could've happened that even it wasn't able to take care of? With that in mind, he immediately swept his spiritual sense toward the humanoid puppet and began to assimilate with the second Nascent Soul's spiritual sense.

After around 15 minutes had passed, a peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face. The stationary humanoid puppet suddenly raised a hand before pulling an item out of the storage pouch hanging from its waist, then calmly handing it over to Han Li. Han Li immediately accepted the item to find that it was a broken jade talisman around half the size of a palm.

After injecting his spiritual power into object, many tiny crimson characters began to appear on its surface.

Han Li only glanced at these characters for a short while before a contemplative look appeared on his face. "Fellow Daoist Endless Sky, you're also awake now, right? It looks like we've been in seclusion for a long time." Han Li's voice was slightly raspy and stiff from not speaking for so long.

"It's only been about 120 to 130 years; not really all that long. Why do you say that? Do you want to come out of seclusion now? You've reached a critical juncture in combining your glacial flames and Unbroken Cinque Devils; it'll only take another decade or so before the five devils will be able to successfully refine the five type of glacial flames. Wouldn't it be a pity if you left now?"

Spiritual light flashed, and a small cauldron flew out from within Han Li's sleeve. The cauldron hovered before him, and the figure of a small child appeared above it. In its current state, the demon beast appeared to be two or three years older than it was when it had first gone into seclusion with Han Li.

Han Li shook his head, and said, "It's not really a big deal; I can just continue the refinement process when I come back. It's just that this Myriad Distance Talisman is revealing to me some news from the Scattered Star Seas. I once made a deal with the Heavenly Star Sages, and it looks like Ling Yuling is in trouble now, so I can't just ignore the situation."

"The Heavenly Star Sages? You mean that late-Nascent Soul Stage couple from the Scattered Star Seas? Back then, I used a secret technique to examine their bodily conditions. The did have an abundance of magic power within their bodies, but they appeared to be approaching the ends of their lifespans at the time. Even if they haven't been killed, they've most likely passed away already. Otherwise, with that couple looking after the Star Palace, why would this Ling Yuling request assistance from you?" the small child speculated.

"The message that Ling Yuling sent me has indeed neglected to mention the Heavenly Star Sages, so it's most likely the case that they truly have passed away already. This is an opportunity for me as well; I've always been very interested in the Star Palace's Divine Essencefused Light. I've carefully studied the methods to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage that the Heavenly Star Sages provided me with, and the only viable one is to completely master the Divine Essencefused Light. During this trip, I can go and obtain that cultivation method," Han Li mused.

"I've never heard of a cultivation art known as the Divine Essencefused Light in the Spirit Realm before, so this is most likely something created by a cultivator of this world. Won't you be dabbling in too many different areas if you use this cultivation art? Take care that you don't let these things distract you from your pursuit of the Great Dao," the small child cautioned.

"I'm aware of this. Prior to cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light, I'll make sure to progress to the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage first, then try to use my glacial flames to try and break through the Deity Transformation Stage bottleneck. If I can succeed in doing that, then there would be no need to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light. Otherwise, I have no choice in this matter," Han Li said with a grave expression.

"If that's the case, then I don't really have anything else to say. I also know many methods that can help once progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, but it's a shame that they would be ineffective in this world due to the sparse spiritual Qi here. By the way, how have you been cultivating for the past century? The magic power within your body seems to have grown a lot more abundant," the small child asked after assessing Han Li's bodily condition."That may be true, but I'm still far away from reaching the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage. It's going to take me at least another 50 to 60 years of cultivation to get there, and that's only through constantly taking all types of pills as well. If I were to cultivate through meditation alone, I most likely wouldn't be able to reach that point even after an entire century," Han Li heaved a forlorn sigh.

At this moment, Han Li suddenly thought of the Fuschia Cloud Pill that he had refined in that mysterious medicine garden. If he had a sufficient number of such pills, he would be able to accelerate his rate of cultivation by severalfold.

It was a pity that certain types of spirit herbs required to refine the Fuschia Cloud Pill had already gone extinct, and it was impossible to take those spirit herbs out of the medicine garden and plant them in the outside world. At his current cultivation base, the pills that he was taking had a very limited enhancement effect for him, and he was rather dissatisfied with their efficacy.

Furthermore, he hadn't been wasting the green liquid in that mysterious vial during these past years, either. After setting aside a sufficient amount to satisfy his pill refinement requirements, the rest of that liquid had all been used to cleanse his spirit eyes and mature his spirit insects.

However, he stopped cleansing his spirit eyes after just over 20 years over. This was because after cleansing his spirit eyes countless times, the Brightsight Spirit Water no longer provided any benefits to him. As such, it would've been simply wasteful to continue cleansing his eyes with the spirit water.

Despite that, Han Li's spirit eyes had already undergone a drastic transformation.

After injecting spiritual power into his eyes, not only was Han Li able to see through clouds and mist, he could see objects that were 10,000 feet away as clearly as if they were right before his eyes. In that case, unless he found himself confined within a restriction that cut off one's spiritual sense, his spirit eyes would prove to be extremely pragmatic and useful to him.

After maturing for over 100 years, the Six-Winged Frost Centipede finally grew their second pairs of wings. As such, they had ascended straight from fifth grade demon beasts to become seventh grade demon beasts, and at the same time, they had attained the power to control wind and snow. If all 12 centipedes were to unleash their full power in unison, they could instantly transform an area with a radius of over five kilometers into a glacial land.

In contrast, the Gold Devouring Beetles showed no signs of imminent evolution yet. He had obtained a method from Saintess Tianlan to mature these beetles through the use of five-elemental spiritual Qi, but it was clearly not the right time to employ such a technique. It appeared that he was going to have to nurture these spirit insects for many more years before that course of action became applicable.

As for the Armored Earth Dragon that he had found in the Great Jin, which was only proficient in searching for heavenly materials and earthly treasures, it was also very content to cultivate by itself in the cave abode. However, judging from its cultivation base, it was still very far away from reaching the eight grade metamorphosis stage.

In terms of cultivation arts, Han Li was cultivating the Azure Essence Sword Art and the Great Development Technique at the same time.

Perhaps it was due to the changes in his spiritual root aptitude or perhaps it was because he really did have exceptional aptitude in spiritual sense cultivation; in any case, he was able to cultivate up to the final layer of the Great Development Technique in one fell swoop, and the process seemed to have gone even smoother than when he was cultivating the first few layers.

As such, his spiritual sense had become several times more powerful than it once was. If he could also cultivate the final layer of the Great Development Technique, then his spiritual sense wouldn't be inferior even to that of the average Deity Transformation cultivator.

Aside from the remarkable improvements in his spiritual sense, Han Li's current body was also powerful beyond belief.

In order to facilitate the cultivation of the Nine Gale Transformations, he cultivated the third layer of the Brightjade Arts. Even though it didn't take him much time to do so, the level of difficulty and the excruciating pain involved almost made Han Li give up midway. It was no wonder that very people reached the third layer or above, even in the Spirit Realm.

However, after cultivating the third layer of the Brightjade Arts, Han Li's had even surprised himself with how powerful his body had become.

At present, he was able to remain completely unscathed in the face of attacks from normal treasures without even having to unleash his protective spiritual layer.

As for the Nine Gale Transformations, that cultivation art had been extremely easy to progress in, and he had completely mastered it within the short span of a few years.

During his seclusion, Han Li had also refined a few treasures.

He naturally prioritized the refinement of the Wood Birth Bead, which would grant him the immortal body ability on one occasion. Coincidentally, the most important supplementary materials required to refine this bead were the Soul Nurturing Tree and the Spirit Well Tree, two of the three divine woods.

To others, these items were extremely difficult to find in the human world, but this was not an issue for Han Li.

As such, he was able to easily refine the Wood Birth Bead before absorbing it into his body.

Aside from this bead, he also refined the pair of poisonous hooks he had obtained from the Twin-Tailed Human Face Scorpion, as well as the fire dragon pillars he had sourced from the Kunwu Mountains into two sets of powerful treasures.

Han Li was tallying the rewards he had reaped during this period of seclusion when he suddenly waved a sleeve through the air, tossing out a black jade vial as he began to chant something.

The five skeletons nearby immediately shuddered as greyish-white devilish Qi abruptly surfaced over their bodies, transforming them into ghostly heads each around the size of a wagon-wheel. There were also devilish flames blasting out from the mouths of the ghostly heads, creating an extremely sinister sight to behold.

Han Li raised a hand and cast an incantation seal toward the ghostly heads, upon which they quickly shrank down to around the size of human fists. A burst of light then erupted from the black jade vials, sucking in all five ghostly heads.

Han Li stowed the jade vial away before rising to his feet.

He swept his sleeve toward a patch of white light on the wall of the secret chamber, and spiritual light flashed as the restriction within the chamber quickly receded, revealing the stone door at its entrance.

Han Li made his way over to the stone door expressionlessly, while the humanoid puppet disappeared on the spot amid a flash of silver light.

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In the State of Yue, located in the center of the Heavenly South Region, there had been wars raging almost constantly among in the cultivation world, and rarely were there any prolonged periods of peace.

The six sects in the State of Yue were first vanquished by the Devil Dao, and following that was a war among the sects of the Devil Dao for supremacy and control over the State of Yue, a war that was won by the Ghost Spirit Sect in the end. However, around a century ago, the Ghost Spirit Sect had lost many of its high-grade cultivators during the battle in the Devilfall Valley, and the Controlling Spirit Sect took advantage of this opportunity, allying with the other sects to force the Ghost Spirit Sect out of the State of Yue.

As such, the State of Yue had since been split among the Devil Dao sects with the Controlling Spirit Sect as their new leader. The current might and influence of the Controlling Spirit Sect allowed them to take over close to half of the spirit veins and spirit mines in the State of Yue, and one of those spirit mines was situated underground beneath a certain large valley.

The spirit stone reserves here were initially quite abundant, but following relentless excavation for the past several centuries by the six sects of the State of Yue, then by the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Controlling Spirit Sect, the supply of spirit stones had finally begun to run dry, and the mine itself was in a semi-abandoned state.

Aside from two Qi Condensation disciples from the Controlling Spirit Sect, there were no other cultivators present to guard the spirit mine.

On that day, the two Controlling Spirit Sect disciples were standing at the underground entrance of the mine, chatting about some recent events that had taken place within the sect. Meanwhile, on the surface of the ground above their heads, an azure humanoid figure burrowed soundlessly into the earth using an earth movement technique, then appeared within a certain nondescript cave in the deepest part of the mine.

Throughout this entire process, the two Controlling Spirit Sect disciples were completely oblivious to his arrival.

Yellow light flashed, and the humanoid figure revealed himself to be a young man with a set of mundane features. He took a glance at an empty corner of the cave, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

This man was naturally none other than Han Li, who had traveled all the way from the State of Xi.

A month ago, after coming out of seclusion in the State of Xi, he hadn't encountered Nangong Wan.

Nangong Wan cultivated in a manner that was different from Han Li. During the past century, she had come out of seclusion on several occasions and traveled to all parts of the Heavenly South Region for extended periods of time in order to train her mind.

When Han Li had finally emerged from seclusion, Nangong Wan had re-entered her secret chamber several years prior to that, and was in the midst of her next spell of seclusion and cultivation.

Han Li was rather disappointed, but nor was he going to disrupt Nangong Wan's cultivation just to see her again. Instead, he merely sent her a voice transmission talisman, informing her of the fact that he was going to be embarking on a long journey, then visited LÃ Luo and Liu Yu in the Drifting Cloud Sect.

The two of them were naturally ecstatic to see Han Li.

During the past century or so, the two had worked tirelessly to expand the Drifting Cloud Sect, and it had now become one of the handful of most renowned sects in the Heavenly South Region. During this time, Song Yu had already reached the Nascent Soul Stage, becoming the fourth Nascent Soul cultivator of the Drifting Cloud Sect.

Han Li was naturally quite pleased to hear this. What was surprising to him was that after many years of searching, Song Yu finally found a disciple who possessed an inherently powerful spiritual sense from birth over 10 years ago. However, due to the fact that Han Li was still in seclusion at the time, this disciple was left to cultivate in the sect on their own. Apparently, the disciple also possessed quite an exceptional spiritual root aptitude with a dual-attribute spiritual root.

Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this, and he immediately requested to meet this disciple. He discovered that this disciple was a slightly thin and frail-looking 16 to 17-year-old young man with a set of delicate features.

Han Li examined the young man in person to find that he did indeed possess an inherently powerful spiritual sense from birth, one that was several times more powerful than cultivators of the same cultivation base. Most importantly, the young man had a very honest and steady personality, which Han Li was very pleased with.

Thus, he cut straight to the point and asked the young man if he were willing to become his disciple.

The young man's name was Shi Jian, and he was already aware of who Han Li was. As such, he was naturally overjoyed that the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region was willing to take him as his disciple. As such, he immediately fell to his knees and kowtowed to Han Li, officially becoming his disciple.

Han Li chortled heartily before taking the young man back to the interconnected peaks. He erected a new cave abode for the young man on one of the peaks, and also gave him a copy of the Great Development Treasure Scriptures.

He reinforced to the young man the importance of cultivating the Great Development Technique, but allowed him to choose any other cultivation art in the treasured scriptures that he wished to cultivate alongside the Great Development Technique. The Monarch of Soul Divergence was an extremely talented cultivator, so there were many cultivation arts enclosed in his treasured scriptures.

Shi Jian was still only a Qi Condensation Stage disciple, and Han Li left him a sufficient number of pills to support his cultivation. He also summoned his other disciple, Tian Qin'er, to instruct Shi Jian in his cultivation while he was away.

Even though Tian Qin'er possessed the Dragon Cry Physique, she was also able to cultivate her way to the mid-Foundation Establishment Stage during the past century with the assistance of the large number of pills given to her by the humanoid puppet. Just as Han Li had expected, it appeared that it wouldn't be impossible for her to reach the Core Formation Stage.

After accepting the young man as his disciple, Han Li felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

Before the Monarch of Soul Divergence had passed away, he had asked Han Li to find a disciple in his stead to pass the Great Development Treasured Scriptures onto. As soon as the young man reached the Core Formation Stage or above, Han Li was planning to bestow upon him several powerful treasures, then send him to the Far West so he could take over as the Thousand Bamboo Sect Master and receive the inheritance left behind by the Monarch of Soul Divergence.

As for Mu Peiling, who was also residing in a cave abode on one of the interconnected peaks, Nangong Wan had bestowed upon her a secret technique from the Masked Moon Sect, and she had been able to cultivate it to make great strides in her cultivation, reaching the late-Core Formation Stage. She was in seclusion day and night, arduously cultivating her magic power so she could attempt to break through to the Nascent Soul Stage.

However, Han Li wasn't very optimistic about her future prospects. Mu Peiling's aptitude was far from mediocre, but almost every Nascent Soul cultivator had to encounter a miraculous opportunity that was unique to them before reaching the Nascent Soul Stage. Mu Peiling was working extremely hard in her cultivation, but if she didn't encounter such an opportunity, her chances of reaching the Nascent Soul Stage were quite abysmal.

After taking care of everything that required his attention in the sect as well as within his own cave abode, Han Li immediately departed from the Dreamcloud Mountains and headed straight for the State of Yue.

After all, from the message that Ling Yuling had sent him, the Star Palace was in a very perilous situation and was being completely dominated by the Starfall Coalition. Otherwise, she wouldn't have resorted to sending out a request for help using her Myriad Distance Talisman.

Han Li didn't want to delay for too long before getting to the Scattered Star Seas, only to find that Lin Yuling had already perished in battle.

Now, he was back in the underground cave that the ancient teleportation formation had been situated in.

Even though he had intentionally destroyed the teleportation formation on the previous occasion he had been here, he simply had to repair it before he could teleport to the Scattered Star Seas.

What came as quite a relief to Han Li was that there were only two Qi Condensation cultivators guarding this place. Even the most basic of concealment techniques could ensure that the two of them didn't notice that anything was amiss.

With that in mind, Han Li grabbed the storage pouch hanging from his waist before tossing it into the air.

The storage pouch spun in the air before the opening of the pouch turned upside-down, and a burst of white light erupted from within, heading directly toward the ground.

The white light receded, and a large pile of materials about half as tall as a grown man was revealed. The majority of the pile consisted of various types of strange rocks and stones.

Han Li waved a hand upward expressionlessly, and white light began to flash within the storage pouch again.

On this occasion, a dozen or so formation flags and several formation plates shot forth from within. All of the hovered in mid-air following their emergence, shimmering with spiritual light of all types of colors.

Han Li chanted something before gently sweeping his sleeve toward their formation tools.

All of a sudden, these treasures transformed into streaks of light of various different colors, flying in all directions before disappearing into the walls of the cave in a flash.

Large swathes of white mist then began to billow out from within the walls of the cave, concealing Han Li within in the blink of an eye.

If a cultivator were to walk past the cave at this moment, they would simply be greeted by the sight of an empty cave within which nothing was amiss.

The restriction created by the formation had completely concealed Han Li as well as that large pile of formation materials.

Meanwhile, Han Li was already busy at work.

With his current wealth of knowledge and experience, it was an extremely simple matter for Han Li to set up a small teleportation formation, provided that there were enough materials available.

As such, a brand new teleportation formation had been erected in the corner of the cave in just two days.

After examining the formation one last time, Han Li cast an incantation seal toward it.

White light flashed from the center of the formation, following which a burst of buzzing rang out. Immediately thereafter, spiritual light flashed over various spots on the teleportation formation before fading of their own accord.

It appeared that there were no issues with the teleportation formation, so Han Li could use it immediately.

Han Li was elated to see this, and his body swayed before appearing within the teleportation formation in the blink of an eye.

However, just as he was about to activate the formation, he cast his gaze around the cave, and a hesitant look appeared on his face. After a brief period of contemplation, he suddenly patted one of the spirit beast pouches hanging from his waist.

A hissing sound rang out, following which the pouch's opening widened, and a burst of white wind and snow erupted from within.

Immediately thereafter, 12 snowy white centipedes were revealed. Each of them had two pairs of wings on their backs, and they were all very menacing in appearance.

After releasing these Six-Winged Frost Centipede, Han Li chanted something before casting an incantation seal toward them.

All of these centipedes immediately shrank to around the size of a palm each at Han Li's behest. They then opened their mouths to blast out bursts of glacial Qi which enshrouded their bodies, sealing themselves in a block of ice.

Moments later, a series of remarkably translucent balls of ice appeared before Han Li.

Han Li flicked his 10 fingers toward the balls of ice in quick succession, and 12 azure threads shot forth, instantly disappearing into the balls of ice. The 12 ice balls then plummeted downward in unison, disappearing into the ground amid a flash of yellow light.

Only then did Han Li nod his head with a satisfied expression.

With 12 seventh grade demon beasts guarding this place, even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't be able to easily destroy the teleportation formation here. As such, he was feeling a lot more reassured.

Han Li then immediately activated the teleportation formation beneath his feet, and disappeared amid a flash of white light.

Following a rush of dizziness, Han Li appeared on an island tens of millions of kilometers away.

He swept his gaze around him to find that everything remained the same as they had been during his last visit. It appeared that this place was quite obscure and hadn't been discovered by any other cultivators.

Han Li strode out of the teleportation formation, and slashed his hand through the air behind him without even turning his head.

A streak of golden flashed past, and the teleportation formation behind him was sliced in half amid a resounding boom.

Han Li then emerged expressionlessly from within the stone chamber.

Moments later, a streak of azure light rose up into the air from the island, then shot forth toward a certain direction and disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

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Han Li traveled directly toward Heavenly Star City, passing by a few islands along the way, but he showed no intention of stopping at any of them.

However, he soon discovered that all of the cultivators that he encountered along his journey were also all in a rush.

If two groups of unfamiliar cultivators bumped into one another, both sides would immediately adopt wary expressions, and the atmosphere would become extremely tense.

This observation made Han Li's brows furrow, and he could sense the turmoil brewing within the Scattered Star Seas.

As he approached the massive island upon which the Heavenly Star City was situated, he saw more and more traveling cultivators. Aside from groups of cultivators locked in tense confrontations, there were even some who were engaged in fierce battles, and it was quite apparent that all of the participants in those battles were not holding back at all, clearly intent on killing their enemies.

In the beginning, Han Li paid them no heed. However, as the instances of such battles increased in regularity, Han Li knew that this most likely had something to do with the conflict between the Starfall Coalition and the Star Palace.

Even though it appeared that the Starfall Coalition was dominating the battle, the Star Palace had been ruling over the Scattered Star Seas for such a long time, so they had to have some trump cards up their sleeves. Furthermore, they also shared close ties with many of the large sects in the Scattered Star Seas. Those ties were not very apparent under normal circumstances, but those powers would definitely step in when the Star Palace was truly on the cusp of destruction.

The fact that there were cultivators who clearly belonged to neither the Star Palace nor the Starfall Coalition participating in the battles seemed to indicate that the Star Palace really was at the end of the road. After all, none of the other major powers would step in unless their intervention was absolutely mandatory.

Of course, Han Li wasn't just going to plunge headfirst into the conflict between the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition without doing some research first. However, it was difficult to acquire any useful information from low-grade cultivators as they simply didn't know much themselves. As such, even though he encountered many Foundation Establishment cultivators along the way, he didn't stop to interrogate any of them.

On that day, he was hurtling through the air as a streak of azure light when all of a sudden, his expression changed slightly, and he turned toward a certain direction in the distance.

He stalled briefly in his flight before flying toward that direction.

With Han Li's current cultivation base, it only took him several flashes while flying at full speed to cover a distance of over five kilometers.

There, he cast his gaze downward, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

In the air at a lower altitude down below, there was a black-robed elderly man and an intimidating burly man locked in a fierce battle with one another, while manipulating a shimmering yellow flying sword and an azure ring treasure respectively.

Coincidentally, these two were both at the mid-Core Formation Stage, and their treasures seemed to be roughly comparable in power as well. As such, they were completely evenly matched.

If neither of them had any other treasures or trump cards up their sleeves to vanquish their opponent in one fell swoop, Han Li estimated that it would take them at least most of a day to reach a decisive result in their battle. Furthermore, it didn't appear as if either man would be capable of killing the other, so the battle would most likely conclude with one side fleeing following a close defeat.

Han Li's sudden arrival naturally came as quite a surprise to both the elderly man and the burly middle-aged man. They reflexively stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to Han Li with wary expressions on their faces.

Both of them swept their spiritual sense toward Han Li, upon which their expressions changed drastically.

In order to draw less attention to himself, Han Li had concealed his cultivation base to only the early-Nascent Soul Stage. However, that was already enough to intimidate two Core Formation cultivators.

The two of them waved their hands through the air almost in unison to stow away their respective treasures, immediately following which the elderly man hurriedly extended a respectful bow toward Han Li, and said, "I am Bi Xun of Fallen Spirit Island. May I have the honor of knowing your esteemed name, Senior?"

The middle-aged man also extended a respectful bow to Han Li with a fawning expression on his face as he asked, "Do you require our assistance, Senior?"

Han Li crossed his arms with an indifferent expression, and said, "You don't need to know who I am. I haven't been here for many years, so I have some things to ask the two of you."

The two men were very relieved to hear that Han Li was merely coming to them for information, and the elderly immediately said, "We'll be sure to tell you everything we know, Senior!"

Han Li nodded upon hearing this, and immediately began to inquire about the events that had taken place in the Scattered Star Seas during the past century.

The two men naturally regarded Han Li as a Nascent Soul Stage senior who had been in an extended period of seclusion, and they hurriedly offered launched into a recount of the past events.

Over 100 years ago, the demon beast of the outer seas took over many islands inhabited by humans, and delivered an ultimatum for all human cultivators to vacate themselves from the outer seas. A battle between the humans and the demon beast naturally erupted as a result.

Strangely enough, neither the Star Palace nor the Starfall Coalition deployed many cultivators to participate in this battle. Instead, many itinerant cultivators and disciples from smaller sects who were benefitting directly from those islands gathered on a large island where teleportation formations had been set up, and engaged in a fierce battle with the demon beasts.

To call it a battle would actually be inaccurate as in reality, it was just a bunch of human cultivators on a few islands, desperately trying to keep the demon beasts at bay by making use of some of the restrictions on the islands.

Cultivators who dared to participate in this battle possessed Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation bases at a minimum. It was said that tens of thousands of cultivators were gathered, and even when split up, there were still around 5,000 to 6,000 human cultivators on each island.

However, as soon as the battle began, all of the islands were completely surrounded by countless low-grade demon beasts, thereby severely denting the morale of the human cultivators, who had initially been brimming with confidence. In the end, the human cultivators only lasted about half a month before all of the islands were conquered by the demon beasts.

Apparently, not even a single high-grade metamorphosis stage demon beast had participated in the battle. All of the restrictions on the island had been vanquished by low-grade demon beasts, of which there seemed to be an almost infinite number, and just their efforts alone were enough to conquer all of the islands.

In the outer seas, the human cultivators were no match for the demon beasts, so they had no choice but to retreat back to the Inner Seas, then destroyed all of the teleportation formations leading to the outer seas, and temporarily relinquishing everything they had established there. At that point, the Outer Star Seas had once again become the domain of the demon beasts.

Of course, the human cultivators hadn't actually completely given up on the Outer Star Seas. After a few centuries or perhaps even a few millennia of recuperation, the humans were most likely going to return to the outer seas. After all, the countless demon beast in the outer seas provided a virtually endless supply of demon cores to be harvested, and that was simply far too important of a resource for the cultivators of the Scattered Star Seas to abandon.

Another piece of information that Han Li took note of was that the Heavenly Star Sages had passed away several decades ago.

However, prior to their deaths, they had invaded the main base of the Starfall Coalition, using the might of their Divine Essencefused Light to kill several Starfall Coalition Nascent Soul cultivators. The Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were in a secret chamber, discussing some important matters at the time, and they were forced to emerge and face the Heavenly Star Sages in battle.

The two of them had thought that the Heavenly Star Sages were bound to Heavenly Star City as they couldn't distance themselves from the Divine Essencefused Mountains, which was why they had been caught completely off guard by this surprise attack.

After that, a series of events that stunned the entire Scattered Star Seas unfolded.

The Heavenly Star Sages had no intention of engaging the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu in a prolonged battle. Instead, they unleashed some type of secret technique from the get-go, detonating all of the Divine Essencefused Light that they had arduously cultivated for several centuries at once, creating a doomsday-like explosion that had razed the entire main base of the Starfall Coalition to the ground.

The Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were situated closest to the epicenter of the explosion, and even their Nascent Souls didn't get a chance to escape before they were instantly reduced to nothingness.

As such, the most powerful beings of the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition had been wiped off the face of the world in the blink of an eye. In comparison, the Starfall Coalition had been reduced to a far inferior state compared to the Star Palace.

After all, the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu weren't the only ones who had perished during the attack. At the time, there were several elders and a high number of Core Formation cultivators present at the main base as well, and they had also been killed.

As expected, in the following two to three decades, Ling Yuling took over the Star Palace and forced the Starfall Coalition into a steady decline, making the latter lose a lot of territory in the process.

All of the sects that were a part of the Starfall Coalition had been placed on the Star Palace's hit list, so they had no choice but to grit their teeth and try to weather the storm. Otherwise, it was quite possible that the Starfall Coalition would've been disbanded a long time ago.

Just as it appeared as if the Starfall Coalition were about to be vanquished, an astonishing event suddenly took place, heralding the resurgence of the Starfall Coalition.

The Sect Master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment, Wan Tianming, progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage amid the crisis, becoming the newest great cultivator on the Scattered Star Seas.

As such, the Starfall Coalition was immediately able to turn the tables. As a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, Wan Tianming was able to unite the entire coalition, becoming the undisputed coalition leader. After that, he slew several Star Palace elders in battle, and forged a resounding reputation for himself.

In the following few decades, the Star Palace was no match for Wan Tianming's aggressive assaults as they had no great cultivators to stand against him. Thus, the Starfall Coalition stormed back with a vengeance, recovering all of their lost territories, then claiming some more. Soon, the Star Palace had been plunged into an even more perilous situation than when the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu were still alive. Not long ago, the Starfall Coalition had opened up a pathway into the Heavenly Star City, and sent out a batch of their Ghost Crests again. All sects and powers that received the crests had to confirm to whom they pledged their allegiance. If they didn't join the Starfall Coalition in their assault against the Star Palace, then they would be regarded as enemies of the Starfall Coalition, and would be eradicated as a result. The Starfall Coalition was all set to attack the Star Palace, and were taking no prisoners.

Sure enough, Wan Tianming backed up his threat by actually destroying a few sects that were allied with the Star Palace, and the entire Scattered Star Seas was completely riled up as a result.

The sects that had pledged their allegiance to the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition, as well as the sect that simply wanted to take a neutral stance, were all forced to take action. Some of them completely shut off their sects and hid within their restrictions, some of them fled to the Heavenly Star City for refuge, and there were many that took this opportunity to expand by taking over abandon territories.

In any case, the Scattered Star Seas was in complete turmoil.

The Starfall Coalition's army of cultivators took this opportunity to gather on a few islands near the Heavenly Star City, and it appeared that they had deployed all of their most powerful cultivators in preparation for the final battle.

it appeared that Wan Tianming didn't want to prolong this battle any longer. He simply wanted to destroy the Star Palace and end this conflict once and for all.

However, when was the battle going to commence? And how many cultivators had been gathered on the islands near Heavenly Star City?

Neither the elderly man nor the middle-aged man could provide answers to those questions.

Most of the cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas wanted nothing better than to avoid this battle altogether, but many of them were simply unable to do so and were forced to take a side.

As for whether they had joined the Star Palace or the Starfall Coalition, that was only something that they themselves knew.

As such, there were spies all over the place trying to ascertain which side everyone was allied to, plunging the area around the Heavenly Star City into complete turmoil.

Furthermore, it only became more and more chaotic as one approached the Heavenly Star City.

Han Li had heard all of the information he wanted to hear, and he fell into deep thought, sparing the two Core Formation cultivators from further interrogation.

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After hearing the information provided by the two Core Formation cultivators, Han Li was feeling a lot more assured.

It was quite clear that Ling Yuling had requested for his help through the use of the Myriad Distance Talisman so he could oppose the Sect Master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment. Speaking of this Wan Tianming, Han Li had actually seen him in the Heavenvoid Hall before.

This man had left him with a rather negative impression, and he always appeared as if he were plotting something. However, Han Li was quite surprised to hear that this man was able to reach the late-Nascent Soul Stage.

The Heavenly Star Sages, who had perished along with the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu, would clearly have been unable to anticipate this. In their minds, the Star Palace would've surely already defeated the Starfall Coalition and reigned supreme over the Scattered Star Seas again, so there would be no need to request any external assistance.

However, Han Li really didn't see this Wan Tianming as much of a threat.

This Sect Master Wan had progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage even later than he had, so there was no way that he was a match for Han Li. Following his period of seclusion, Han Li had further bolstered his cultivation base, and his spiritual sense had also become vastly more powerful. Even if he were to come up against a Deity Transformation cultivator, he had the resources to ensure self-preservation, albeit just barely.

With that in mind, Han Li's thoughts quickly turned to the Divine Essencefused Light, as well as that legendary Divine Essencefused Mountain.

The Divine Essencefused Light cultivation art wouldn't be difficult to obtain. Apparently, this cultivation art wasn't exactly a well-guarded secret, so he would most likely be able to find a copy somewhere in the Scattered Star Seas. Even without recruiting the assistance of the Star Palace, he would also be able to find it as long as he was willing to expend some time.

However, the Divine Essencefused Mountain was an extraordinary object, and it was difficult to say whether there would even be another mountain of a similar nature in the human world.

He didn't know whether this mountain was a mandatory element for cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light, but many high-grade cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas were aware that the Heavenly Star Sages had only begun using this cultivation art after discovering the Divine Essencefused Mountain. As such, this mountain was at least very helpful to those cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light. Otherwise, as aforementioned, this cultivation art was not that difficult to obtain, and far more people would be using it, but that was clearly not the case.

With these thoughts racing through his mind, Han Li nodded absentmindedly toward the two Core Formation cultivators and left some parting words of gratitude before flying away as a streak of azure light.

Throughout this entire process, he hadn't asked anything about why the two were fighting, nor which of the two sides they had pledged their allegiance toward.

The two of them stood on the spot and looked on with respectful expressions at Han Li's departing figure. Only after the azure streak of light truly disappeared into the distance did they turn to each other in unison, upon which hints of animosity reappeared in their eyes.

However, after Han Li's interruption, neither of the two were in the mood to fight anymore, and after trading a few verbal insults, both of them departed in a rather sheepish manner.

At this point, Han Li was already over 50 kilometers away.

Over the surface of the ocean several tens of thousands of kilometers away from the Heavenly Star City, there were a dozen or so streaks of light hurtling toward the city.

This group consisted of cultivators who varied in age, but all of them wore identical attire, so it was quite apparent that they belonged to the same sect or power.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that they had gotten close to Heavenly Star City, but hints of complacency had crept onto their faces, and some of them had even begun conversing through voice transmissions.

Right at this moment, a sudden turn of events abruptly unfolded.

Brilliant white light erupted from the surface of the ocean beneath the group of cultivators, following which a dozen or so pillars of white light shot forth from down below. Following a string of rumbling explosions, all of the cultivators were struck aside from the three Core Formation cultivators with the highest cultivation bases, who had barely managed to evade the surprise attack just in the nick of time.

Howls of anguish immediately erupted as these people were reduced to nothingness amid the pillars of white light.

The three remaining Core Formation cultivators were naturally shocked and infuriated upon seeing this, and they immediately summoned their respective treasures as they hurriedly cast their eyes downward.

Right at this moment, seven or eight streaks of light emerged from within the ocean, rising up into the air before surrounding the three Core Formation cultivators.

One of the remaining elderly cultivators seemed to have recognized one of the people that they had been surrounded by, and a resentful expression appeared on his face as he cussed, "Starfall Coalition dogs!"

A middle-aged man with a set of sinister features chuckled coldly as he asked, "Hehe, If it isn't Brother Lu of the White Water Sword Sect? Going by your logic, doesn't that make the three of you Star Palace dogs? Also, hasn't your sect declared itself to be completely neutral? Why are you heading to the Heavenly Star Island?"

"Hmph, why do you insist on asking a question you already know the answer to? Our White Water Sword Sect has always been a branch of the Star Palace, so it's naturally our duty to provide the Star Palace with our assistance during its time of need. That's enough chit-chat; let's go!" The elderly man aimed a vicious glare at the opposing middle-aged man before barking an instruction to the two Core Formation cultivators beside him.

The three cultivators then swayed and transformed into three streaks of light as they flew toward a certain direction. Furthermore, as they rushed away into the distance, the three streaks of light suddenly combined into one massive pillar of intertwining red, yellow, and white light several tens of feet in length, sweeping toward the opposing Starfall Coalition cultivators in that direction with astonishing.

It appeared that the elderly man knew that his trio would be no match for such a large number of enemies, and he immediately decided to escape.

However, the two Starfall Coalition cultivators situated in that direction weren't flustered in the slightest at the sight of the oncoming three-colored pillar of light. Instead, they merely glanced at one another before raising their hands in unison.

A vast expanse of azure light suddenly erupted from their hands without any premonition, catching the three-colored pillar of light completely off guard before ensnaring them within the azure light.

The two of them then began to chant something, and azure light flashed as a massive azure net was revealed, trapping the three Core Formation cultivators. All three of them were attacking the net with all their might, but were still unable to break free.

"Haha, cease your futile struggles, Brother Lu. This All-Encompassing Net was given to us by an elder of our sect. With your Core Formation Stage cultivation bases, there's no way that you'd be able to break free from it. Besides, even if you did manage to escape, it wouldn't do you any good anyway. The entire Heavenly Star City has been surrounded by our Starfall Coalition, and it'll only be a matter of time before it's vanquished. Allow me to send you three on your way first!" The middle-aged man chortled as he abruptly opened his mouth. A small white sword shot forth from within, flying directly toward the three Core Formation cultivators trapped within the net.

"Oh? From the sounds of it, Heavenly Star City seems to have been surrounded for some time already. Can you tell me about the situation here?" An unfamiliar male voice suddenly rang out nearby, and was clearly audible to everyone present.

"Who's there?!" The middle-aged man's heart jolted with shock as he hurriedly surveyed his surroundings with a wary expression.

The other Starfall Coalition cultivators also hurriedly released their spiritual sense, and they also began to look around with bewilderment and caution on their faces.

However, their search proved to be completely futile, and all of them could only look at one another with confusion in their eyes.

"What are you all looking for? I'm right here, aren't I?" The unfamiliar chuckled coldly, following which azure light flashed in front of the three ensnared White Water Sword Sect cultivators, and a humanoid figure was revealed.

This was an azure-robed young man who appeared to be in his twenties, and he was appraising the Starfall Coalition cultivators around him with an indifferent expression.

The two Starfall Coalition cultivators closest to the young man swept their spiritual sense toward him, upon which their expressions changed drastically, and they exclaimed in unison, "A Nascent Soul cultivator?"

Even though they couldn't ascertain Han Li's exact cultivation base, there was definitely no mistaking the fact that he was a Nascent Soul cultivator.

The middle-aged man's expression also changed upon hearing this. He carefully sized up the young man before him, and a look of astonishment and horror suddenly appeared on his face. Immediately thereafter, he made a hand seal without any hesitation and fled into the distance as a streak of white light. Following just a few flashes, he was already several hundred feet away.

Not only was Han Li slightly surprised to see this, the other Starfall Coalition cultivators were also quite flabbergasted.

Even if this young man were a Nascent Soul cultivator, with so many Core Formation cultivators present, they should still have been able to at least put up a fight. Furthermore, that middle-aged man was the leader of the group, and his cultivation base was the pinnacle of the late-Core Formation Stage, so why was he fleeing the scene before they had even verified whether this young man was friend or foe?

"You recognize me?"

This young man was naturally none other than Han Li, who had finally gotten here after over a month of intensive traveling.

His expression darkened as he casually flicked a finger toward the distance, upon which a red line immediately shot through the air amid a piercing whistling sound.

The red line swayed and completely disappeared. Meanwhile, an anguished cry suddenly rang out from within the streak of white light several hundred feet away.

The white light dissipated, and a humanoid ball of fire plummeted into the ocean, where it sank like a lead weight.

Han Li merely waved a hand through the air in a nonchalant manner, and that same sharp whistling sound erupted again as that red line flashed through the air, disappearing into the Han Li's hand in the blink of an eye.

Han Li turned his gaze toward the other cultivators, and asked, "Are you willing to answer my questions now?"

Even though Han Li's voice wasn't very loud nor deliberately menacing, all of the Starfall Coalition cultivators felt chills run down their spines.

Only then did they realize why the middle-aged man fled without so much as a second thought.

The man standing before them was clearly unfathomably powerful, and they didn't appear to have any chance of victory even if they were to attack all at once. Most importantly, he seemed to be harboring a lot of enmity toward their Starfall Coalition!

With the precedent of the middle-aged man being insta-killed, all of the other Starfall Coalition cultivators were feeling quite weak in the knees, and none of them dared to act recklessly.

After a while, a man with a hook nose cleared his throat and forced a smile onto his face as he asked, "What questions do you have for us, Senior?"

"Didn't I already state my question? Do you want me to repeat myself?" Han Li turned toward the man with a cold expression.

The hook-nosed man's heart jolted, and his smile stiffened even further as he hurriedly replied, "My apologies, Senior, I'll answer your question right away. The Star Palace has indeed been surrounded by our coalition already. Otherwise, we wouldn't dare to appear in an are so close to the Star Palace."

"I see. Looks like your Starfall Coalition decided to attack before the announced date to catch the Starfall Palace off guard. You'll also be able to kill all of the cultivators loyal to the Star Palace in the process. What a great ploy you've devised." A hint of a smile appeared on Han Li's face as he spoke.

"I'm not aware of the specific details. Our cultivation bases are not very high, and we only did as we were told," the hook-nosed man replied with a sheepish smile.

"But even if the Starfall Coalition has gained the upper hand in this battle, Heavenly Star City is an extremely massive place; even with tens of thousands of cultivators gathered, there's no way that they'd be able to surround the entire city, right?" Han Li asked.

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"You're more likely not aware of this, Senior, but Coalition Leader Wan had set up 108 Windfire Copper Pillars, then gathered a few powerful formation spell masters to set up a Heavenly Windfire Formation around the island that Heavenly Star City is situated on, and he's using the boundless powers of fire and wind to attack the Star Palace. As long as the coalition's cultivators can guard the 108 Windfire Pillars, that'll be enough to trap the entirety of Heavenly Star City."

The hook-nosed man knew that he would be punished by the coalition for revealing this information, but the cold glare that Han Li had directed at him had tipped him over the edge, and in his horror, he blurted out this information without thinking.

As soon as those words escaped from his mouth, the hook-nosed man was sorely regretting his decision. However, even a Core Formation cultivator like him was aware of this information, so it clearly wasn't very confidential. With that in mind, he was feeling slightly more relieved.

"A Heavenly Windfire Formation?" Han Li stirred slightly upon hearing this.

He hadn't ever studied this formation in detail, but many of the formation spell tomes that he had read had mentioned this formation on quite a number of occasions. It was said that in ancient times, there was a restriction formation that could draw upon the powers of fire and wind within this world, and the staggering enormity of this formation was vastly renowned. If the Starfall Coalition had managed to set up such a formation, then there really was a possibility that they could've used it to surround Heavenly Star City.

After all, with Wan Tianming guarding the formation core in person, even if the Star Palace cultivators managed to destroy a few Windfire Pillars, those pillars could be easily repaired. As long as the formation core remained intact, there was no way to truly destroy the formation.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face. Meanwhile, tension was rolling off the bodies of the Starfall Coalition cultivators in almost palpable waves.

It didn't take a genius to be able to tell that Han Li was here to reinforce the Star Palace, so they were in a very perilous situation.

In contrast, the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators ensnared with the azure net were ecstatic. The elderly man hurriedly yelled, "Senior, we've come here to reinforce the Star Palace, and those people are all cultivators from the Starfall Coalition's enforcement division. They've killed countless cultivators who have pledged their allegiance to the Star Palace, and they deserve to die countless deaths for their crimes! Don't let these people live, Senior!"

All of the Starfall Coalition cultivators' faces paled upon hearing this.

The two cultivators who were standing the farthest away from Han Li glanced at one another before flipping over their hands in unison, producing a small yellow flag each. They then immediately tossed those flags into the air, upon which they transformed into two yellow clouds that enshrouded the bodies of the two cultivators.

Within the blink of an eye, the two yellow clouds had completely vanished.

In the next instant, the yellow clouds appeared over 200 feet away before quickly disappearing again.

"Teleportation?" Han Li's pupils contracted minutely as a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

However, a cold chuckle then escaped his mouth as he abruptly raised a hand, feigning a grabbing motion toward the azure net that had ensnared the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators.

The two Starfall Coalition cultivators controlling the net felt as if a resounding boom had rung out directly in their heads, and they were struck by an intense spell of dizziness.

They lost control of the All-Encompassing Net as a result, and it reverted back into a ball of azure light, allowing the three ensnared cultivators to escape while the net landed in Han Li's hand.

Han Li paid no heed to the words of gratitude extended toward him by the three rescued cultivators as white and azure light flashed behind him, materializing a pair of wings on his back. The wings flapped gently, and Han Li disappeared amid a gust of wind. It was quite clear that he had set off in pursuit of the two cultivators who had just teleported away.

The remaining Starfall Coalition cultivators were both shocked and elated to see this, and they all glanced at one another before fleeing in different directions.

Han Li was an extremely fearsome enemy, so they were certainly not going to take a gamble with their lives and hope that Han Li would spare them out of the kindness in his heart.

However, the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators were naturally unwilling to allow their enemies get away. As such, all three of them let loose enraged roars as they also set off in pursuit of the Starfall Coalition cultivators.

In the distance, two muffled thumps erupted in mid-air. Immediately thereafter, white light flashed, and two yellow clouds shot back as if they had been struck by some kind of immense force.

A gentle breeze blew past, and Han Li appeared out of thin air, appraising the two yellow clouds nearby with a cold deriding sneer on his lips.

A third inky-black eye had appeared over his glabella, and it disappeared again following a flash of black light.

The two Starfall Coalition cultivators within the yellow clouds were revealed again with bloodstained robes and extremely pale faces. They both appeared to have been severely wounded, and were in a state of shock and horror.

Ever since they had obtained these two Yellow Sand Buddhist Flags, they had managed to use them to escape from Nascent Soul cultivators on several occasions. As such, they were extremely confident in the ability of this pair of treasures. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to flee the scene even after witnessing Han Li's fearsome might.

However, Han Li had merely thrown two nonchalant punches through the air, and their confidence had been completely shattered. Only then did they realize that this young man was even more fearsome than they had anticipated.

Even so, the two of them certainly weren't going to give up and allow themselves to be killed.

Thus, they immediately gritted their teeth and let loose loud cries in unison as they blasted mouthfuls of blood essence into the yellow clouds.

The clouds immediately tumbled and surged before turning into a crimson color. The two cultivators then began to join their voices in a chant, clearly preparing to unleash their final trump card.

A cold light immediately appeared in Han Li's eyes as he abruptly opened his mouth. Two piercing streaks of yellow light shot forth from within, appearing in front of the crimson clouds in the blink of an eye before instantly puncturing them.

Two anguished cries rang out from within the crimson clouds before the two cultivators plummeted toward the sea down below.

Right at this moment, Han Li pointed a finger at them expressionlessly.

The two small golden swords emerged from thin air again before revolving around the two Starfall Coalition cultivators. Balls of golden light erupted, instantly enshrouding the two cultivators within, following a vast expanse of blood began to rain down from above.

Han Li didn't even afford the two a chance to unleash their secret technique before putting an end to their lives.

Only then did he wave his hand toward the two crimson clouds.

The crimson light on those clouds quickly receded, and they reverted back into yellow clouds before flying toward him.

Han Li cast two incantation seals, both of which disappeared into the clouds.

As the yellow clouds approached him, they transformed into two yellow flags again before being stowed away up his sleeve.

These two ancient treasures were quite useful for fleeing from perilous situations. Of course, they served no purpose for him, but they would be extremely valuable for his disciples.

After stowing away his two flying swords, Han Li turned his attention toward the rest of the fleeing Starfall Coalition cultivators in a calm and collected manner.

During this brief delay, all of them had fled to over 1,000 feet away, and the fast cultivator among them had already become a black dot in the distance.

Han Li heaved a faint sigh before grabbing onto a spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist and tossing it into the air.

A loud burst of buzzing rang out as a swarm of golden beetles emerged from within. The beetles split up into five smaller swarms at Han Li's behest before hurtling toward different directions as fast as lightning.

Meanwhile, Han Li flipped his palm over and the two yellow flags appeared again for his inspection.

The swarms of golden beetles and the fleeing cultivators disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Not long after that, golden light flashed in the distance again as the swarms of beetles flew back from different directions one after the other. The three White Water Sword Sect also flew toward Han Li behind the swarms of beetles, but they were looking at the swarms with horrified and traumatized expressions.

It appeared that the three of them had just witnessed the Gold Devouring Beetles devouring living people, and had been greatly shaken by that gruesome visual experience.

After Han Li stowed away the beetles into his spirit beast pouch again, the elderly man stepped forward in a respectful manner, and said, "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior. If it weren't for your intervention, the three of us would most likely be dead by now."

"There's no need to thank me; I only saved the three of you because I just so happened to be passing by anyway. Now that Heavenly Star City has been surrounded, the three of you won't even be able to access the island at your cultivations bases. You should hurry up and go back. I have no interest in carrying useless baggage while I try to break through that Heavenly Windfire Formation," Han Li replied in an aloof voice.

The three cultivators knew that Han Li was right, and wry smiles appeared on their faces. As such, after extending some further words of gratitude to Han Li, the three of them returned the way they had come.

Han Li looked on with narrowed eyes for a while as the three cultivators departed before flying toward Heavenly Star City.

A journey of several tens of thousands of feet was naturally not a very lengthy one for Han Li. Along the way, he noticed several groups of Starfall Coalition cultivators hidden beneath large rocks or under the surface of the ocean.

Even though none of them as powerful as the first group he had encountered, which had seven or eight Core Formation cultivators among their ranks, there were still two or three high-grade cultivators in each group. These people were clearly stationed here to take care of anyone who managed to escape from the Heavenly Star City.

Han Li couldn't be bothered to pay any heed to these cultivators. He simply transformed into a faint azure shadow and glided soundlessly through the air above them.

None of these Starfall Coalition cultivators were alerted to the fact that they had just brushed shoulders with death.

When Han Li was only just over 50 kilometers away from Heavenly Star City, he finally saw some flashes of red light in the distance. After drawing even closer, he discovered that the entire island had been completely enshrouded under a veil-like layer of azure and red light.

Furthermore, he could hear the sound of indistinct rumbling akin to thunderclaps coming from the direction of the island.

Han Li raised his eyebrows upon making these observations, and he quickly made a series of hand seals, following which the barely visible streak of azure light he had transformed into was completely concealed.

At the same time, Han Li decelerated significantly, approaching the island at a much more leisurely pace.

After flying for several tens of kilometers, the situation around Heavenly Star City was finally completely revealed to Han Li.

There were countless black spots visible on the surface of the ocean in the extremely far distance. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that these were spirit boats of all types of different styles and models.

Some of them were as tall as pavilions with intricate carvings running along their hulls, while some were only around 20 feet in length with very crude and simple designs. There was also great diversity in the materials that these boats were constructed from, including light green spiritual wood, pristine and flawless jade, and even some completely pitch-black iron boats that glistened under the sunlight.

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"You're more likely not aware of this, Senior, but Coalition Leader Wan had set up 108 Windfire Copper Pillars, then gathered a few powerful formation spell masters to set up a Heavenly Windfire Formation around the island that Heavenly Star City is situated on, and he's using the boundless powers of fire and wind to attack the Star Palace. As long as the coalition's cultivators can guard the 108 Windfire Pillars, that'll be enough to trap the entirety of Heavenly Star City."

The hook-nosed man knew that he would be punished by the coalition for revealing this information, but the cold glare that Han Li had directed at him had tipped him over the edge, and in his horror, he blurted out this information without thinking.

As soon as those words escaped from his mouth, the hook-nosed man was sorely regretting his decision. However, even a Core Formation cultivator like him was aware of this information, so it clearly wasn't very confidential. With that in mind, he was feeling slightly more relieved.

"A Heavenly Windfire Formation?" Han Li stirred slightly upon hearing this.

He hadn't ever studied this formation in detail, but many of the formation spell tomes that he had read had mentioned this formation on quite a number of occasions. It was said that in ancient times, there was a restriction formation that could draw upon the powers of fire and wind within this world, and the staggering enormity of this formation was vastly renowned. If the Starfall Coalition had managed to set up such a formation, then there really was a possibility that they could've used it to surround Heavenly Star City.

After all, with Wan Tianming guarding the formation core in person, even if the Star Palace cultivators managed to destroy a few Windfire Pillars, those pillars could be easily repaired. As long as the formation core remained intact, there was no way to truly destroy the formation.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face. Meanwhile, tension was rolling off the bodies of the Starfall Coalition cultivators in almost palpable waves.

It didn't take a genius to be able to tell that Han Li was here to reinforce the Star Palace, so they were in a very perilous situation.

In contrast, the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators ensnared with the azure net were ecstatic. The elderly man hurriedly yelled, "Senior, we've come here to reinforce the Star Palace, and those people are all cultivators from the Starfall Coalition's enforcement division. They've killed countless cultivators who have pledged their allegiance to the Star Palace, and they deserve to die countless deaths for their crimes! Don't let these people live, Senior!"

All of the Starfall Coalition cultivators' faces paled upon hearing this.

The two cultivators who were standing the farthest away from Han Li glanced at one another before flipping over their hands in unison, producing a small yellow flag each. They then immediately tossed those flags into the air, upon which they transformed into two yellow clouds that enshrouded the bodies of the two cultivators.

Within the blink of an eye, the two yellow clouds had completely vanished.

In the next instant, the yellow clouds appeared over 200 feet away before quickly disappearing again.

"Teleportation?" Han Li's pupils contracted minutely as a hint of surprise appeared on his face.

However, a cold chuckle then escaped his mouth as he abruptly raised a hand, feigning a grabbing motion toward the azure net that had ensnared the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators.

The two Starfall Coalition cultivators controlling the net felt as if a resounding boom had rung out directly in their heads, and they were struck by an intense spell of dizziness.

They lost control of the All-Encompassing Net as a result, and it reverted back into a ball of azure light, allowing the three ensnared cultivators to escape while the net landed in Han Li's hand.

Han Li paid no heed to the words of gratitude extended toward him by the three rescued cultivators as white and azure light flashed behind him, materializing a pair of wings on his back. The wings flapped gently, and Han Li disappeared amid a gust of wind. It was quite clear that he had set off in pursuit of the two cultivators who had just teleported away.

The remaining Starfall Coalition cultivators were both shocked and elated to see this, and they all glanced at one another before fleeing in different directions.

Han Li was an extremely fearsome enemy, so they were certainly not going to take a gamble with their lives and hope that Han Li would spare them out of the kindness in his heart.

However, the three White Water Sword Sect cultivators were naturally unwilling to allow their enemies get away. As such, all three of them let loose enraged roars as they also set off in pursuit of the Starfall Coalition cultivators.

In the distance, two muffled thumps erupted in mid-air. Immediately thereafter, white light flashed, and two yellow clouds shot back as if they had been struck by some kind of immense force.

A gentle breeze blew past, and Han Li appeared out of thin air, appraising the two yellow clouds nearby with a cold deriding sneer on his lips.

A third inky-black eye had appeared over his glabella, and it disappeared again following a flash of black light.

The two Starfall Coalition cultivators within the yellow clouds were revealed again with bloodstained robes and extremely pale faces. They both appeared to have been severely wounded, and were in a state of shock and horror.

Ever since they had obtained these two Yellow Sand Buddhist Flags, they had managed to use them to escape from Nascent Soul cultivators on several occasions. As such, they were extremely confident in the ability of this pair of treasures. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dared to flee the scene even after witnessing Han Li's fearsome might.

However, Han Li had merely thrown two nonchalant punches through the air, and their confidence had been completely shattered. Only then did they realize that this young man was even more fearsome than they had anticipated.

Even so, the two of them certainly weren't going to give up and allow themselves to be killed.

Thus, they immediately gritted their teeth and let loose loud cries in unison as they blasted mouthfuls of blood essence into the yellow clouds.

The clouds immediately tumbled and surged before turning into a crimson color. The two cultivators then began to join their voices in a chant, clearly preparing to unleash their final trump card.

A cold light immediately appeared in Han Li's eyes as he abruptly opened his mouth. Two piercing streaks of yellow light shot forth from within, appearing in front of the crimson clouds in the blink of an eye before instantly puncturing them.

Two anguished cries rang out from within the crimson clouds before the two cultivators plummeted toward the sea down below.

Right at this moment, Han Li pointed a finger at them expressionlessly.

The two small golden swords emerged from thin air again before revolving around the two Starfall Coalition cultivators. Balls of golden light erupted, instantly enshrouding the two cultivators within, following a vast expanse of blood began to rain down from above.

Han Li didn't even afford the two a chance to unleash their secret technique before putting an end to their lives.

Only then did he wave his hand toward the two crimson clouds.

The crimson light on those clouds quickly receded, and they reverted back into yellow clouds before flying toward him.

Han Li cast two incantation seals, both of which disappeared into the clouds.

As the yellow clouds approached him, they transformed into two yellow flags again before being stowed away up his sleeve.

These two ancient treasures were quite useful for fleeing from perilous situations. Of course, they served no purpose for him, but they would be extremely valuable for his disciples.

After stowing away his two flying swords, Han Li turned his attention toward the rest of the fleeing Starfall Coalition cultivators in a calm and collected manner.

During this brief delay, all of them had fled to over 1,000 feet away, and the fast cultivator among them had already become a black dot in the distance.

Han Li heaved a faint sigh before grabbing onto a spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist and tossing it into the air.

A loud burst of buzzing rang out as a swarm of golden beetles emerged from within. The beetles split up into five smaller swarms at Han Li's behest before hurtling toward different directions as fast as lightning.

Meanwhile, Han Li flipped his palm over and the two yellow flags appeared again for his inspection.

The swarms of golden beetles and the fleeing cultivators disappeared into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Not long after that, golden light flashed in the distance again as the swarms of beetles flew back from different directions one after the other. The three White Water Sword Sect also flew toward Han Li behind the swarms of beetles, but they were looking at the swarms with horrified and traumatized expressions.

It appeared that the three of them had just witnessed the Gold Devouring Beetles devouring living people, and had been greatly shaken by that gruesome visual experience.

After Han Li stowed away the beetles into his spirit beast pouch again, the elderly man stepped forward in a respectful manner, and said, "Thank you for saving our lives, Senior. If it weren't for your intervention, the three of us would most likely be dead by now."

"There's no need to thank me; I only saved the three of you because I just so happened to be passing by anyway. Now that Heavenly Star City has been surrounded, the three of you won't even be able to access the island at your cultivations bases. You should hurry up and go back. I have no interest in carrying useless baggage while I try to break through that Heavenly Windfire Formation," Han Li replied in an aloof voice.

The three cultivators knew that Han Li was right, and wry smiles appeared on their faces. As such, after extending some further words of gratitude to Han Li, the three of them returned the way they had come.

Han Li looked on with narrowed eyes for a while as the three cultivators departed before flying toward Heavenly Star City.

A journey of several tens of thousands of feet was naturally not a very lengthy one for Han Li. Along the way, he noticed several groups of Starfall Coalition cultivators hidden beneath large rocks or under the surface of the ocean.

Even though none of them as powerful as the first group he had encountered, which had seven or eight Core Formation cultivators among their ranks, there were still two or three high-grade cultivators in each group. These people were clearly stationed here to take care of anyone who managed to escape from the Heavenly Star City.

Han Li couldn't be bothered to pay any heed to these cultivators. He simply transformed into a faint azure shadow and glided soundlessly through the air above them.

None of these Starfall Coalition cultivators were alerted to the fact that they had just brushed shoulders with death.

When Han Li was only just over 50 kilometers away from Heavenly Star City, he finally saw some flashes of red light in the distance. After drawing even closer, he discovered that the entire island had been completely enshrouded under a veil-like layer of azure and red light.

Furthermore, he could hear the sound of indistinct rumbling akin to thunderclaps coming from the direction of the island.

Han Li raised his eyebrows upon making these observations, and he quickly made a series of hand seals, following which the barely visible streak of azure light he had transformed into was completely concealed.

At the same time, Han Li decelerated significantly, approaching the island at a much more leisurely pace.

After flying for several tens of kilometers, the situation around Heavenly Star City was finally completely revealed to Han Li.

There were countless black spots visible on the surface of the ocean in the extremely far distance. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that these were spirit boats of all types of different styles and models.

Some of them were as tall as pavilions with intricate carvings running along their hulls, while some were only around 20 feet in length with very crude and simple designs. There was also great diversity in the materials that these boats were constructed from, including light green spiritual wood, pristine and flawless jade, and even some completely pitch-black iron boats that glistened under the sunlight.

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These spirit boats were all positioned around three gargantuan pillars that extended over 1,000 feet up into the sky. Each pillar was entirely yellow in color with azure and red light rippling like water over their surfaces. These streams of azure and red light were pouring upward relentlessly, and they were clearly responsible for maintaining the veil of light enshrouding the entire island.

Han Li knew that these massive pillars were most definitely the legendary Windfire Pillars, and the Starfall Coalition cultivators in those spirit boats down below had clearly been deployed here to guard the pillars. From a rough visual estimation, Han Li determined that there were about 2,000 to 3,000 cultivators down below.

In order to avoid raising the alarm, he refrained from using his spiritual sense to ascertain their numbers. However, he was certain that there were definitely Nascent Soul cultivators among their ranks.

As for whether the Sect Master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment was also there, that was something that only the heavens knew.

However, there were a total of 108 Windfire Pillar, so surely he couldn't just happen to be situated near one of these three, right?

If this Sect Master Wan really were in the general vicinity and tried to stop him, Han Li didn't know whether that would count as bad luck for him or for Wan Tianming.

The Heavenly Windfire Formation was an extremely renowned and powerful formation, but according to Han Li's knowledge, this massive formation had been invented with the purpose of attacking large sects in mind. As such, it was extremely effective against large numbers of normal mid-grade and low-grade cultivators, but it wasn't particularly effective in the face of individual high-grade cultivators.

At his current power level, it would only be slightly troublesome at most for him to bypass this formation, and there was no way that it would actually be able to trap him.

Han Li stood in mid-air and hesitated for a long while. He then cast his gaze toward a certain direction in the distance, turning his attention away from the spirit boats and three pillars directly before him, and flying toward the veil of azure and red light instead.

At this moment, there was a three-story ship floating on the surface of the ocean at the foot of one of the pillars. The ship was extremely large and had been entirely crafted from beautiful green jade, thereby creating a spectacle of mesmerizing beauty to behold.

In the highest level of the ship, there were several cultivators seated around a square jade table, chatting about something with smiles on their faces. There were a few plates of rare spirit fruits placed on the jade table, and all of the cultivators seated around the table appeared to be quite carefree and relaxed.

A white-robed scholar at the table turned to the elderly man sitting across from him, and he smiled as he asked, "Senior Long, I heard that if we can conquer the Star Palace this time, Coalition Leader Wan would agree to hand over one of the three spirit islands of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment, the Heavenly Fortune Island, to your Golden Lotus Sect. Is that true?"

The elderly man glared at the scholar out of the corners of his eyes, and replied, "You sure are quite well-informed, Nephew Ning. Fellow Daoist Wan did indeed make that promise to me. The spirit vein on the Heavenly Fortune Island is superior to the one on the island I'm currently residing on, so relocating there will be very beneficial for our sect's future development."

A grey-robed middle-aged Daoist priest chuckled, "Indeed, the Heavenly Fortune Island is quite renowned throughout the entire Scattered Star Seas for the quality of its spirit vein. On top of that, the island produces many types of rare spirit herbs as well, so it'll only be a matter of time for your Golden Lotus Sect to rise to another level following the relocation."

"Speak for yourself, Fellow Daoist Hua; weren't you also given a dozen or so types of rare materials? Otherwise, why would an old reclusive monster like you decide to come out and offer Brother Wan your assistance?" the elderly man replied with a nonchalant smile.

Among the three people on the top level of the ship, two were early-Nascent Soul cultivators. The white-robed scholar was only a late-Core Formation cultivator, but he was speaking to the other two in a manner that was neither haughty nor humble, so it was quite clear that he was not just some ordinary late-Core Formation cultivator, either.

The middle-aged man smiled upon hearing this, and was just about to say something again, when a low ringing sound rang out from the Windfire Pillar closest to them. The red and azure light that it was releasing also began to tremor violently, as if it were being struck by an invisible force.

"Someone's trying to break through the formation?" the Daoist priest exclaimed as he immediately rose to his feet.

The elderly man and the scholar also stirred slightly as they also stood up and turned their attention toward the massive pillar.

The Daoist priest summoned a formation plate and made a hand seal before quickly pointing his finger several times in quick succession. "The attack is coming from the southwestern direction! Wait a minute, it's someone trying to come in rather than get out! Those guards are so useless!"

Azure light flashed around the elderly man's body, following which an azure carriage suddenly appeared. A sinister smile appeared on his face as he said, "Let's go, Fellow Daoist Hua! Seeing as the invader was able to bypass the guards and dares to try and break through the Heavenly Windfire Formation, they're definitely no ordinary person. This place isn't very far away from where the attack is taking place, and with the power of the Windfire Formation standing in his way, there's no way that he'll be able to immediately gain access to Heavenly Star City."

"I'll be in your care, then Brother Long!" The middle-aged Daoist priest immediately strode into the carriage without any hesitation.

The elderly man cast an incantation seal onto the carriage, and its entire structure was immediately enshrouded under a ball of azure light. The carriage shuddered before disappearing in the veil of red and azure light nearby, as if it had truly merged as one with the formation. The jade carriage was flashing through the red and azure light at an astonishing speed without any impediment, and the middle-aged Daoist priest standing in the carriage stroked his beard as he praised, "Amazing! I've heard many great things about your Heavenly Wind Carriage, but I didn't think it would attain such an incredible ability here in this Windfire Formation. Tsk tsk, it seems that Brother Wan must've been aware of your carriage's ability, which is why he organized for you to guard such an important location."

"Perhaps that's indeed the case. Although ever since Fellow Daoist Wan progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, his thoughts and intentions have become more and more unpredictable to the likes of you and me," the elderly man replied with a nonchalant smile.

The middle-aged Daoist priest smiled upon hearing this, but gave no reply.

The Heavenly Wind Carriage beneath their feet was traveling far faster than even a normal mid-Nascent Soul cultivator was capable of, and under the guidance of the tracking formation plate in the elderly man's hand, they had traveled several tens of kilometers in what seemed like just a few moments.

"Take care now, that person is just up ahead. They seem to have broken through most of the formation already and are about to completely escape from the powers of fire and wind, so they must be quite powerful." The elderly man stared at the formation plate in his hand, and a grave expression appeared on his face for the very first time. Before the Daoist priest had a chance to respond, he immediately made a hand seal and began to chant something.

Brilliant azure spiritual light erupted from the jade carriage, making the entire carriage and its passengers blurry and indistinct. In the blink of an eye, they had completely disappeared into the veil of red and azure light.

The elderly man had unleashed a secret technique to conceal himself and the Daoist priest. As such, they would be able to survey the situation from the shadows before deciding whether they should attack or retreat.

The middle-aged Daoist priest nodded in approval at this course of action. The two of them refrained from using their spiritual sense as the jade carriage rose into the air, decelerating significantly in the process.

After flying for a few more kilometers, the two of them finally caught sight of the person attempting to break through the formation in the distance, upon which expressions of surprise appeared on both of their faces.

The cultivator attacking the formation appeared to be absurdly young; he seemed to be a young man in his twenties! Furthermore, he hadn't summoned any treasures and had only manifested a layer of protective azure light around his body. Despite that, he was able to fly through the red and azure light at a consistent pace, and the process seemed as easy to him as if he were taking a stroll in the park.

"Who is that? Could it be that he's a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator?" the elderly man exclaimed.

If any other high-grade cultivators from the Starfall Coalition had been in the same position as these two, they would've immediately been able to identify Han Li. Due to the incident surrounding the Heavenvoid Cauldron, Han Li's portrait had been spread all over the Scattered Star Seas. Even though so many years had passed, all cultivators had astonishing memories, so there was no way that they would've failed to recognize him. However, unfortunately for these two, they were Nascent Soul cultivators whom Wan Tianming had recruited from outside the Starfall Coalition.

Even though the respective sects they belonged to were also quite powerful, they were almost constantly in seclusion, so they knew very little about what was happening in the Scattered Star Seas.

If it weren't for the fact that Wan Tianming had offered them extremely lucrative remunerations, they most likely would've declined to participate in this battle. As such, the two of them were completely unfamiliar with Han Li, and were quite bewildered as a result.

Even so, the elderly man and the Daoist priest weren't actually fearful toward Han Li. If they were to join forces, they would be able to put up a fight even against a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. Furthermore, their enemy may not even be a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

No matter how little they kept up with current affairs, they were still aware of all of the old monsters on the Scattered Star Seas who were at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage above.

As such, rather deciding to retreat, the elderly man continued to approach Han Li, confident in his jade carriage's ability to shield them from Han Li's detection.

When the two of them soundlessly reached a spot in the air around 300 feet above Han Li, the two cultivators carefully appraised him again.

They discovered that Han Li had a set of mundane facial features and was wearing a nondescript azure robe. Aside from the storage pouches and spirit beast pouches hanging from his waist, there was nothing about him that caught their eyes, and it was impossible to determine his origins.

The elderly man's brows furrowed as he turned toward the middle-aged Daoist priest with an inquisitive look.

The Daoist priest only hesitated momentarily before slowly nodding his head.

Thus, the two of them laid their hands on their respective storage pouches at the same time, taking a deep breath in unison as they prepared to unleash a devastating surprise attack.

However, right at this moment, Han Li suddenly raised his head and smiled up at them. A pair of white and azure wings appeared on his back, and he abruptly disappeared following a gentle flap of those wings.

The two cultivators were extremely alarmed by this sight. They were able to reach the Nascent Soul Stage, so they naturally weren't ordinary cultivators, and the elderly man immediately decided to abort the attempt to unleash a surprise attack as he hurriedly stomped down upon the jade carriage underfoot, pouring his magic power into the carriage in a panicked frenzy.

The carriage's concealment technique was immediately dispelled, while a ball of piercing azure light appeared, enshrouding both cultivators as well as the carriage.

Meanwhile, the middle-aged Daoist priest hurriedly pulled out a black and white Yin Yang mirror from his storage pouch before tossing it into the air.

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Almost at the exact same moment, an azure arc of lightning flashed in the air above the jade carriage, upon which Han Li appeared out of thin air before immediately sweeping a sleeve through the air. Several tens of small golden swords shot forth from within, transforming into streaks of golden light that rained down from above.

"Break!" the middle-aged Daoist priest yelled as his expression changed drastically. As he did so, he pointed a finger toward the Yin Yang mirror overhead.

A pillar of black and white immediately shot forth from the surface of the mirror before transforming into clumps of thin threads that attempted to ensnare the golden streaks of light.

A string of resounding booms erupted as threads and the golden light clashed, and the black and white threads were severed with ease as if they were delicate strands of silk.

The Daoist priest's heart jolted with shock, and before he had a chance to react, the flying sword had already struck the azure ball of light around the carriage.

The same thing happened again; the azure light was only able to withstand these streaks of golden light for a brief moment before being completely punctured, and the golden light continued onward, having barely been slowed down at all by the obstacles thrown at them.

The elderly man and the Daoits priest were truly petrified now.

The two of them rose into the air at the same time, abandoning the jade carriage beneath their feet as they fled through the air in different directions, one was an azure streak of light and the other as a white streak of light. In the blink of an eye, they were already over 100 feet away and had just barely managed to evade the small golden swords.

As the middle-aged Daoist priest hurtled into the distance, he patted one of the spirit beast pouches hanging from his waist, and a clear cry erupted from within as a snowy white bird around a foot in size emerged.

The bird had a pair of green eyes, a sharp crimson beak, and a pair of black talons.

The Daoist priest was feeling greatly reassured after summoning this bird, and he reached into his sleeve before producing a crimson badge. There was red light shimmering over the badge, and a dense bunch of runes could also be seen on its surface.

Before he had a chance to activate this badge, spatial fluctuations proliferated forth from the air above him, following which Han Li emerged from an arc of azure lightning.

He turned his gaze toward the Daoist priest down below and harrumphed coldly as brilliant blue eyes radiated from his eyes.

The Daoist priest was naturally greatly alarmed and immediately tried to activate the treasure in his hand. However, he suddenly felt as if his spiritual sense had been viciously pricked by a sharp object, and he was suddenly afflicted by a splitting headache. A cry of pain immediately escaped his mouth as blood began to trickle out from his ears and nostrils, and he almost dropped the badge in his hand in his agony.

Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to flick his five fingers in quick succession, sending five red threads flashing through the air. Meanwhile, green light flashed in his other hand and a green wooden ruler emerged, which he gently waved it toward the snowy white bird.

Crimson flames hurtled through the air, and threads punctured the middle-aged Daoist priest's body. The threads then wound themselves around him, transforming into five thick fiery ropes that rendered him completely immobile.

Only then did the Daoist priest return to his senses in the aftermath of his excruciating headache, and his face immediately turned deathly pale as he realized the desperate situation that he was in. He was completely unable to move, and he hurriedly summoned his spirit bird to come and rescue him using his spiritual sense, but it completely ignored his orders.

The Daoist priest was feeling extremely alarmed as he turned his attention toward the spirit bird, only to find that a silver lotus flower had appeared above its head.

Seven-colored Buddhist light was emanating from the lotus flower, enshrouding the spirit bird's entire body and completely immobilizing it as well.

A wave of shock and fury surged through the Daoist priest's heart, and before he had a chance to think out of this dire situation, a gentle breeze swept over his head, and a streak of golden light came crashing down like lightning from above.

The Daoist priest could only cry out in despair before he was decapitated by the golden light.

Han Li's body reappeared amid the gust of wind, and he immediately raised both hands into the air at the same time. Loud thunderclaps rang out as a vast expanse of golden lightning arcs shot forth, interweaving with one another to form a golden net. The entire net was shimmering with golden light and creating a raucous commotion as it ensnared the Daoist priest's headless body.

Han Li then began to chant something, and scorching flames suddenly erupted from the ropes binding the Daoist priest's body. Bursts of crimson flames shot forth immediately thereafter, instantly reducing the body to a pile of ashes.

However, almost at the exact same moment, the Daoist priest's Nascent Soul emerged from the flames within a ball of white light. It was holding a white scepter in its hands, and was desperately attempting to flee into the distance.

However, it crashed headfirst into the golden lightning net, upon which it was rebounded amid a string of rumbling thunderclaps. Brilliant golden light then radiated forth as the golden net exploded violently, and the Nascent Soul was instantly reduced to nothingness amid the devastating explosion.

Only then did Han Li exhale gently as he turned toward another direction with a cold light in his eyes.

At this moment, the elderly man had already fled to over 400 feet away, and he had pulled out a pair of azure bowls from a storage pouch hanging from his waist. He hadn't even made up his mind about whether he wanted to attack Han Li yet, and the Daoist priest was already dead.

The elderly man's heart immediately sank upon seeing this, and he felt as if his entire body had been plunged into a glacial pit.

As Han Li swept his gaze toward the elderly man, the latter suddenly raised an arm, and a burst of azure light flashed as he used the sharp edge of one of his bowls to dismember one of his own arms.

The amputated arm exploded amid a loud thump, and the resulting blood mist enshrouded the elderly man's entire body as a bloodcurdling shriek rang out!

The blood around the elderly man's body transformed him into a faint crimson shadow, which hurtled rapidly into the distance. Following just a few flashes, the crimson shadow had already covered a distance of over 1,000 feet, and the speed of its movement was rather astonishing, even to Han Li.

Han Li's eyes narrowed and a hint of hesitation appeared on his face. During that split-second delay, the crimson shadow completely disappeared into the distance.

Han Li stroked his chin and shook his head as a slightly forlorn look appeared on his face.

It appeared that this man had mastered a movement technique similar to the Bloodshadow Evasion Technique. In that case, Han Li was reluctant to expend the time and effort required to chase him down. His top priority was to get to Heavenly Star City as quickly as possible, after all.

With that in mind, he turned his attention to the spirit bird, which was still trapped under the silver lotus flower conjured up by the Eight Spirit Ruler. He flicked a finger through the air, and a golden sword shot forth, instantly slicing the bird in half and putting an end to its life.

This was a spirit beast that had been nurtured by the Daoist priest's blood from birth, so there was no way for it to be tamed by anyone else. As such, Han Li naturally wasn't going to let it live.

After that, he transformed into a streak of azure light again as he flew directly toward Heavenly Star City.

On this occasion, he was flying at full speed, and it only took him around 10 minutes to pass through the Heavenly Windfire Formation's restriction.

Han Li's body faltered slightly as he broke through the formation, and he paused in his flight as he looked on at Heavenly Star City from afar.

There in the distance, the city's gargantuan walls had been enshrouded under a dense barrier of faint blue light. In the air above the light barrier, there were large swaths of red and azure light striking down upon it relentlessly. As the lights of different colors intertwined with one another, earthshattering thunderclaps rang out incessantly. Upon seeing this, Han Li no longer hesitated any longer as he resumed his journey toward the Heavenly Star City.

After just a few flashes, the azure streak of light had reached one of the city gates, but his progress was stalled by that blue light barrier.

The Star Palace cultivator behind the light barrier had naturally also caught sight of Han Li, and a loud whistle rang out as a dozen or so Star Palace cultivators of different heights appeared above the city wall, all of whom were appraising Han Li with grave and bewildered expressions.

The Starfall Coalition had set up the Heavenly Windfire Formation to prevent people from being able to escape from Heavenly Star City, yet Han Li had gone to all this trouble to break through the restriction and enter from the outside; that was simply inexplicable to them.

Even though Han Li was still extremely far away from the city, he could clearly see the expressions on the faces of the Star Palace cultivators through the use of his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.

As such, he wasted no time with words, flipping over his palm, instead, to produce the Star Palace guest elder badge he had received from Wen Qing over a century ago. He raised his hand, and the badge slowly flew toward the light barrier, where it remained hovering in mid-air.

The sight of this badge created quite a stir among the cultivators above the city gates. Several of the more powerful cultivators were appraising the badge with their brows furrowed tightly in confusion when one of them suddenly seemed to have come to an abrupt realization. An enlightened expression abruptly appeared on his face as he turned to his companions and said something.

Expressions of surprise immediately appeared on the faces of the other cultivators, and one of them hurriedly pulled out a flag before waving it several times toward the blue light barrier.

The light barrier swayed, and the badge flew into the barrier as a streak of yellow light. Following a few flashes, it emerged on the other side of the barrier as if it had passed through nothing but empty air.

Han Li looked on with an aloof expression as he hovered before the light barrier.

At this point, all of the cultivators above the city gates had seen the guest elder badge, and expressions of surprise and elation had appeared on all of their faces. One of them pointed at Han Li and said something before pulling a voice transmission talisman out from his storage pouch. He swept a hand through the air, and the talisman transformed into a streak of light as it flew into the city.

He then produced a treasure that resembled a formation plate, and point his finger at it a few times before asking, "Is that you, Senior Han? Please forgive us for our insolence; as you can see, we're in a time of crisis here, and none of us have ever met you in person before, so we can't allow you into the city. However, I've already sent a voice transmission talisman to our palace master, and she'll arrive here shortly."

The man's words completely disregarded the blue light barrier and traveled directly into Han Li's ears.

Han Li raised his eyebrows upon hearing this, but he merely nodded in response and waited with his hands clasped behind his back.

Not long after that, three streaks of light flew out rapidly from within the city before stopping atop the city gates.

The trio was comprised of two men and a woman, and the woman was standing at the center, indicating that she was the leader of the group. The woman was extremely gorgeous, and her facial features struck Han Li with a sense of familiarity.

It was none other than Ling Yuling after reverting back to her female appearance.

Accompanying her were a yellow-robed man who appeared to be in his thirties, as well as an elderly man with a head of white hair and a white beard. The three of them all had their eyes trained firmly on Han Li. The cultivators guarding the city gates all stood off to the side with respectful expressions, not even daring to breathe too loudly.

An elated expression illuminated Ling Yuling's beautiful features as she commanded, "It really is Fellow Daoist Han! I thought that he wouldn't be able to get here! Hurry up and let Brother Han into the city!"

"Palace Master, is that a good idea? Is that man really reliable? We'd be in big trouble if he turned out to be a Starfall Coalition cultivator in disguise," the yellow-robed cultivator dissuaded with a hesitant look on his face.

Ling Yuling shook her head firmly, and replied, "Don't worry, this guest elder badge is completely unique in this world, so there's no mistaking it. Furthermore, with his extraordinary powers, there's no one in the Scattered Star Seas who would be able to take the badge from him."

Upon hearing this, the yellow-robed cultivator could only nod in silence.

Thus, the cultivators guarding the city gates immediately sprang into action. All of them summoned either a formation flag or a formation plate before tossing them into the air in unison. Lights of various different colors appeared before the formation tools disappearing into the light barrier in front of the city gates.

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The brightness of the blue light barrier immediately increased, following which a circular passageway around 10 feet in diameter appeared.

Han Li briefly examined the passageway that had opened up in front of him before flying into it as a streak of azure light, appeared on the other side in the blink of an eye.

The light barrier shuddered again, and the passageway disappeared.

Ling Yuling turned to Han Li with an elated smile on her face as she said, "Fellow Daoist Han, you're finally here."

"I made a promise to your parents, so I certainly couldn't ignore your request for help in your time of need," Han Li replied with a smile.

"I'm extremely grateful for your assistance, Brother Han. With you here, there's no need for us to fear those Starfall Coalition clowns. This is not the place to talk; come with me to the sacred mountain, Fellow Daoist Han. Elder Sun, inform all of the elders who aren't currently on duty to gather at the sacred palace; I have important matters to discuss with them." Ling Yuling extended an invitation to Han Li before issuing some instructions to the yellow-robed cultivator beside her.

"Yes, Palace Master!"

The yellow-robed cultivator was an early-Nascent Soul cultivator, and as soon as Han Li had passed through the light barrier, he had tried to ascertain Han Li's cultivation base using his spiritual sense. What he discovered was that Han Li's cultivation base was completely unfathomable to him, and a hint of awe and veneration intermingled with shock appeared on his face. After hearing Ling Yuling's orders, he immediate cupped his fist in a salute before pulling out a stack of voice transmission talisman to inform the Star Palace elders of the palace master's instructions.

At this moment, Han Li turned toward the white-haired elderly man, and said, "Long time no see, Fellow Daoist Zhao; you're looking quite well. Not only that, but your cultivation base has also improved drastically. I must congratulate you."

The elderly man was none other than the very same Elder Zhao who had approached Han Li with that dual cultivation proposal on Silver Shark Island. It had been more than a century since Han Li had last seen him, and he had reached the mid-Nascent Soul Stage as well, just as Ling Yuling had.

However, a wry smile appeared on Elder Zhao's face upon hearing this, indicating that there were some hidden circumstances involved behind his breakthrough. "Hehe, I wouldn't have been able to take this step by myself. It's all thanks to the two former palace masters that I was able to take another strike in my cultivation base."

"Oh, I see." A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face after hearing this.

"So you and Elder Zhao are old acquaintances as well; I'm glad to see that. Let's head to the sacred palace first, and we'll continue our conversation there," Ling Yuling suggested with a smile.

Han Li naturally had no objections to this, and he nodded in response.

Thus, the group rose into the air and flew toward the sacred mountain at the center of Heavenly Star City.

Under the guidance of Ling Yuling and the others, Han Li flew directly toward the highest level of the sacred mountain before descending in front of what appeared to be a very nondescript bluestone palace.

Han Li appraised the stone palace with a hint of surprise on his face.

"Do you find our sacred palace to be too mundane, Brother Han?" Ling Yuling turned to Han Li with a dainty smile.

"It's indeed not what I was expecting." Han Li made no effort to deny this.

"It does indeed look quite ordinary, but all of our past palace masters have cultivated here before, so it was preserved and is regarded as one of the most important places in our Star Palace. We normally wouldn't let outsiders set foot into this palace, but you came from afar to help us in our time of need, so you're naturally exempt from this rule, Brother Han," Ling Yuling explained with a smile.

"The palace itself does look quite mundane, but there's a remarkable abundance of spiritual Qi in the surrounding area, so it's an exceptional place to cultivate in. I doubt there would be many islands on the Inner Star Seas that could provide a cultivation environment comparable to this one." Han Li nodded in response.

Ling Yuling's smile widened upon hearing this, and she immediately led Han Li toward the gates of the stone palace.

The dozen or so Star Palace disciples guarding the gate hurriedly extended respectful bows toward their group, and all of them wore rather curious expressions at the sight of Han Li.

Ling Yuling naturally wasn't going to waste time providing an explanation to these guards as she led Han Li into the palace. Their group filed into a short corridor before arriving in an antiquated hall, where all of them took a seat.

"Brother Han, you must've learned about our Star Palace's situation on your way here, right?" Ling Yuling cut straight to the point.

"Of course. It appears that the Star Palace is in a rather perilous situation," Han Li replied calmly.

"Then I suppose you're also aware of the fact that our Star Palace had initially gained the upper hand, and we've only been plunged into this situation because that Wan Tianming suddenly reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage. Only after he became a great cultivator did the Starfall Coalition manage to turn the tables, so he is the key in this battle. Brother Han, as long as you can hold off that man, I'm confident that our Star Palace would be able to destroy the Starfall Coalition again!" A cold look appeared in Ling Yuling's eyes as she spoke.

"So you want me to fight that Sect Master Wan?" Han Li asked.

Ling Yuling faltered slightly, and a hesitant look appeared on her face as she asked, "Are you unhappy with that arrangement, Brother Han?"

Han Li raised an eyebrow, and replied, "It's not that; I just think there seems to be a misunderstanding here, Fairy Ling."

"A misunderstanding? Could it be that you're not here to help me, Brother Han?" Ling Yuling's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

"Of course I'm here to help you, it's just that..." Han Li was just about to explain when his words came to a halt, and he suddenly turned toward the entrance of the hall.

Ling Yuling naturally also cast her gaze toward the same direction.

Moments later, three cultivators strode into palace, one of which was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, while the other two were at the early-Nascent Soul Stage.

The mid-Nascent Soul cultivator was a purple-robed man with a pockmarked face. After entering the hall, he refrained from extending a salute toward Ling Yuling, and instead turned toward Han Li with an unfriendly expression, giving off a rather uncouth and antagonistic demeanor.

However, his pupils immediately contracted as he swept his spiritual sense toward Han Li, and his expression became quite strained.

At this moment, Ling Yuling smiled, and said, "Elder Ma, I didn't think you'd get here so quickly. Have a seat. When all of the other elders get here as well, I'll introduce to everyone an esteemed guest of our Star Palace!"

"Indeed, I can sense that this fellow Daoist possesses an unfathomable cultivation base, so a warm welcome is very much necessary." The purple-robed man quickly composed himself before giving Han Li a forced smile and taking a seat. After assessing Han Li's cultivation base, he was clearly a lot more subdued than he was just a second ago.

The other two Star Palace elders were naturally unable to identify Han Li's cultivation base, but the purple-robed man's reaction told them everything they needed to know. As such, they exchanged an astonished glance with one another before cupping their fists in a salute toward Ling Yuling and also taking a seat.

However, in response to this, Ling Yuling merely tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ear as a cold light flashed through her eyes.

Han Li was observing all of these minor details, and a hint of a smile appeared on her face.

It was quite clear that this Elder Ma wasn't content to serve this new master of the Star Palace, and Ling Yuling was using him to intimidate these elders and keep them in check. Han Li was feeling both rather amused and a little speechless.

However, Ling Yuling was an old acquaintance of his, so he didn't take this to heart. After all, what she was doing wasn't causing harm to him in any way.

Following the arrival of Elder Ma's trio, the rest of the Star Palace elders also began to arrive at the sacred palace one after the other. All of them were immediately given quite a surprise by the sight of the unfamiliar great cultivator present among their ranks.

Even though none of these Nascent Soul Stage elders could ascertain Han Li's true cultivation base, all of them turned to Elder Ma as a litmus test for Han Li's power, and all of them were quite stunned by what they saw.

Before long, over 20 Star Palace elders had gathered in the hall. Aside from three mid-Nascent Soul cultivators, Elder Zhao, Elder Ma, and Ling Yuling, all of the rest were at the early-Nascent Soul Stage.

Ling Yuling slowly rose to her feet and pointed at Han Li with a smile as she announced, "Seeing as everyone's here, let me introduce to you all an esteemed guest. This is the guest elder appointed by the former palace masters, Han Li!"

All of the elders present had naturally heard of Han Li before, and Ling Yuling's announcement created quite a stir among them, to the extent that one of them couldn't help but exclaim, "Han Li?!"Han Li turned toward the Star Palace elder who had spoken to find that it was a benevolent-looking white-robed elderly man.

Han Li's eyes narrowed as a contemplative look appeared in his eyes. All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to him as his expression darkened.

"It appears that we've met in the Heavenvoid Hall before. I recall that there were two fellow Daoists responsible for opening the Heavenvoid Hall back then; may I ask where he is?" Han Li's voice had become rather cold and unforgiving.

Meanwhile, the white-robed elder's face had turned deathly pale.

This man was none other than the Star Palace enforcement elder who had almost stabbed Han Li through the heart in the Heavenvoid Hall. Back when he had just entered the hall, he had found Han Li to be rather familiar, but he failed to immediately identify him. However, Ling Yuling's introduction made him recall the memories of the events that had taken place in the Heavenvoid Hall, and he naturally managed to identify Han Li.

Ling Yuling could naturally glean the cold look in Han Li's eyes, and her heart sank in response, but she could only muster up her courage, and ask, "Do you recognize Elder Ximen, Brother Han?"

A series of emotions quickly flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he seemed to have arrived at some sort of decision as he reverted back to his normal calm expression, and replied, "I'm not very familiar with him. It's just that Fellow Daoist Ximen had caused some trouble for me back when I hadn't reached the Nascent Soul Stage."

Ling Yuling was quite relieved that Han Li was making light of the matter, and she hurriedly changed the subject as she said, "I see. If Elder Ximen caused you any offense in the past, I hope you may forgive him, Brother Han. Let's get back to our discussion about Wan Tianming, shall we? After all, the top priority for our Star Palace is to eradicate the Starfall Coalition!"

The white-robed elder was also slightly relieved after hearing Han Li's words, but he was still unable to completely quell the fear in his heart.

"I don't know what the late sages told you, Fellow Daoist Ling, but the promise I made to them was that I would only step in if and when your life is under direct threat, and I'll do everything in my power to save you. I didn't promise them that I would fight for the Star Palace against a cultivator of the same cultivation base as mine to the death," Han Li said in a slow voice.

His words were met with complete silence.

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"If the Star Palace falls, do you think I can remain safe, Fellow Daoist Han? Besides, I'm not asking you to fight Wan Tianming to the death; I'm simply asking you to hold him off while I lead the Star Palace in a retaliation against the Starfall Coalition. Surely that's within your capabilities, Brother Han," Ling Yuling said in a slow voice as her brows furrowed.

"That is indeed something I'm capable of doing. However, Wan Tianming is a great cultivator as well, and I won't be able to predict whether he'll try to engage me in a battle to the death. If you agree that I can flee the battle should he unleash some type of powerful trump card, I can consider stepping in on this occasion. Then again, the welfare of the Star Palace and your safety are two completely different matters. Even if the Star Palace ceases to exist, I'm confident in my ability to keep you alive, and that'll be enough to fulfill the promise I made to the former palace leaders. Otherwise, it's really not worth it for me to take this risk just for the benefits that the sages offered me in return." Han Li's calm reply highlighted the crux of the matter.

Ling Yuling's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

Meanwhile, Elder Zhao had read between the lines, and his brows furrowed as he stroked his beard. "Fellow Daoist Han, from what you're saying, it sounds like you won't necessarily refuse to help us, but we have to pay a sufficient price in exchange for your assistance, right?"

"Of course; nothing in this world comes without a price. If your Star Palace offers me sufficiently tempting remuneration, I can consider taking a risk," Han Li admitted with a faint smile.

"What do you want from our Star Palace, Fellow Daoist Han?" It was Elder Ma who had spoken on this occasion.

"It's not a matter of what I want. Instead, it's a matter of what your Star Palace is planning to offer to me," Han Li replied expressionlessly.

Different expressions appeared on the faces of the Star Palace elders, and some of them were beginning to converse through voice transmission.

In reality, none of them were overly surprised by Han Li's rejection. If someone were to ask them to fight a cultivator of the same cultivation base to the death for no reward, they certainly wouldn't agree to do so, either. Furthermore, this was going to be a clash between two great cultivators, beings who stood at the pinnacle of the human world, so the risks involved would undoubtedly be more severe than in a battle between cultivators of a lesser caliber.

However, it wouldn't be an easy task to offer a reward that could tempt Han Li. After all, a great cultivator like him would most likely simply scoff at normal treasures, materials, and cultivation arts.

Ling Yuling sat in the main seat and looked on with a contemplative expression as the elders conversed among themselves.

After a while, she broke the silence, and said, "Your proposal is quite reasonable, Brother Han. However, ordinary items clearly won't be able to catch your eye, so I'm willing to offer the cultivation art of our Star Palace's Divine Essencefused Light and our Divine Essencefused Mountain as a reward; will that be satisfactory to you, Fellow Daoist Han? The Divine Essencefused Light is an extremely powerful cultivation art, and only a man of Brother Han's extraordinary talent deserves to cultivate it."

The reward that Ling Yuling was offering was none other than Han Li's objective for this trip, and this turn of events came as quite a surprise to Han Li. His expression faltered slightly before he appraised Ling Yuling through narrowed eyes and fell into deep thought.

All of the other Star Palace elders were startled to hear this, but after exchanging glances with one another, none of the stated any objections.

The Divine Essencefused Light was indeed an extremely powerful cultivation art that had been used by the late Heavenly Star Sages. However, it was also quite renowned to be very difficult to cultivate, and its disadvantages were also quite apparent. As such, for normal Nascent Soul cultivators, this was certainly a tempting prospect, but it wasn't actually one that held much practical value. As such, no one had any objections to Ling Yuling's proposal. Instead, they were all worried about whether Han Li would actually agree to this deal.

Much to their surprise, Han Li only contemplated the offer for a short while before nodding with a meaningful expression.

"It seems that Fairy Ling already knew what I wanted. I'm not a greedy person, so I won't ask for any more than that. I'm happy to accept this offer. When the time comes, I'll help your Star Palace hold off Wan Tianming. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to kill him, but I'll make sure that he won't be able to attack any of you."

"Alright, our Star Palace has full trust in you, Brother Han. I'll get someone to give you the cultivation art for the Divine Essencefused Light, and once this battle concludes, I'll present the Divine Essencefused Mountain to you." A smile had reappeared on Ling Yuling's beautiful features.

Seeing as he had achieved his objective, Han Li didn't wish to stay here any longer, and he rose to his feet as he said, "In that case, I'll be awaiting further instructions from you on how to proceed, Fellow Daoist Ling. It's been a rather tiring journey for me, so I'm going to take my leave and have some rest."

Ling Yuling immediately nodded as she turned to Elder Zhao with an amicable expression, and instructed, "Of course! Elder Zhao, organize a silent cultivation chamber for Fellow Daoist Han so he can rest and recuperate. Fellow Daoist Han is an esteemed guest of ours, so I'll have to trouble you to look after him, Elder Zhao."

Elder Zhao nodded and extended a bow toward Ling Yuling before leading Han Li out of the hall.

Han Li nodded toward Ling Yuling, but didn't immediately follow Elder Zhao out of the room. Instead, he suddenly turned his gaze to Elder Ximent, upon which a faint blue light shimmered through his eyes, and only then did he make his way out of the hall in an unhurried manner.

A chill ran down Elder Ximen's spine at the sight of Han Li's cold gaze and at the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his spiritual sense, which almost made him jump up from his seat.

However, after Han Li turned and left, the sharp pain in his spiritual sense completely disappeared, as if it had just been a figment of his imagination.

Elder Ximen was naturally very alarmed and he hurriedly conducted a thorough examination of his own body with his spiritual sense, only to find that nothing was amiss. Elder Ximen was greatly relieved after making that discovery. It appeared that he had been excessively paranoid.

After all, they were situated in the Star Palace right now, and even a great cultivator wouldn't dare to attack him. However, at the same time, he had made up his mind; as soon as this conference was over, he was going to find an obscure location to hide in and only emerge when the battle began. During this time, he was going to take extra care not to bump into Han Li in order to ensure his own safety.

After all, that attack he had unleashed in the Heavenvoid Hall all those years ago had almost taken Han Li's life, and now that Han Li was far more powerful than he was, it was very unlikely that he would simply be willing to let bygones be bygones.

If he had known that Han Li would become so powerful, he would've either refrained from attacking him or made absolute sure that he was dead.

Elder Ximen's heart was filled with remorse as he heaved an internal sigh.

As soon as Han Li and Elder Zhao had left, Elder Ma turned to Ling Yuling with a skeptical expression, and asked, "Palace Master, is that Han Li really going to be able to hold off Wan Tianming? And are we sure that he can be trusted? What if this man is actually allied with the Starfall Coalition, and he lends his assistance to them during the battle instead? If that happens, we'll be completely lost. Wouldn't it be safer to continue to guard Heavenly Star City through the use of our restriction?"

"Don't worry, Elder Ma; I've known Fellow Daoist Han even before he made the deal with my late parents. Even though we're not close friends, I know that he has a lot of bad blood with the Starfall Coalition due to the incidents surrounding the Heavenvoid Cauldron many years ago, so there's no way that he would pledge his allegiance to them. As for whether he can actually hold off Wan Tianming, I'm confident in his ability to do so. After all, Fellow Daoist Han reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage even earlier than Wan Tianming did, and he also has the Heavenvoid Cauldron to assist him, so he should be the more powerful of the two great cultivators no matter how we look at it. Besides, do any of you have any better ideas? The restriction around our Heavenly Star City is indeed quite powerful, but it definitely won't be able to last for too long under the constant bombardment from the Heavenly Windfire Formation. We can't just take a passive approach and hope for the best. A decisive result has to be reached, and either the Starfall Coalition has to fall or our Star Palace will cease to exist," Ling Yuling replied in a firm voice.

Elder Ma contemplated the situation for a while but was unable to provide any alternative tactics, so he could only reluctantly concede, "If that's the case, then it seems we can only rely on that man."

Elder Ma was the most disobedient and uncouth Star Palace elder by far, so Ling Yuling was quite pleased that even he had no objections to her proposed course of action. As such, she continued, "Let's discuss how we're going to attack the Starfall Coalition, and also how we're going to break their Heavenly Windfire Formation..."

Within a peaceful silent cultivation chamber, Han Li sat with his knees crossed and his eyes closed as he made a strange hand seal.

After a long while, he suddenly stirred as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Are you going to find that Elder Ximen now?" The Endless Sky Beast's tender voice sounded beside his ears.

"You know what I'm up to?" Han Li remained expressionless, but his voice had become more grim.

"I don't know exactly what secret technique you used, but you clearly used your spiritual sense to place a spiritual marker on that man before you left the hall. Even though that secret technique was nothing special, the power of your spiritual sense ensures that none of the cultivators in the palace would've been able to detect what you were doing. I'm assuming you didn't place the spiritual marker on that man so you could invite him out for a meal, right?" the demon beast chuckled.

"Seeing as you already know everything, then there's nothing for me to deny. That man almost took my life in the Heavenvoid Hall. I'm not a petty person, but I can't just forgive a man who tried to kill me. It would've been difficult for me to kill him in that stone palace, but he's left the palace now, so it's time for me to strike," Han Li admitted with a cold smile. He patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist and silver light flashed as the humanoid puppet soundlessly appeared. It then hovered toward a nearby wall before disappearing in a flash.

After that, Han Li rose to his feet and pushed open the door of the silent cultivation chamber before making his way outside.

After passing through a short corridor, Han Li arrived in a large hall. Elder Zhao was seated and sipping on some tea, and he was rather surprised to Han Li emerge from the chamber.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he said, "Elder Zhao, you're using a wood-attribute cultivation art as well, right? If you don't mind, would you be willing to discuss cultivation experiences and insights with me?"

Half a day later, a certain soul lamp in a restricted area of the Star Palace was suddenly snuffed out. The Star Palace disciple looking after the lamps was given a massive fright and he hurriedly reported this matter to the higher-ups of the sect.

The entire Star Palace plunged into turmoil, and not long after that, several Star Palace elders broke into a secret chamber in Elder Ximen's cave abode.

Several hours ago, there were disciples who had personally witnessed Elder Ximen entering that secret chamber.

However, the chamber was now completely empty.

Even if he had actually passed away, as the dimming of the soul lamp suggested, there was no body to be found.

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The higher-ups of the Star Palace were almost sure that this had something to do with Han Li. After all, they had all seen the interaction between Elder Ximen and Han Li in the stone palace.

Anyone could tell that this great cultivator had a vendetta against Elder Ximen.

However, despite their suspicions, all of the Star Palace elders simply pretended to not suspect anything and none of them went to interrogate Han Li.

He was a great cultivator whom no one wanted to mess with, and most importantly, they couldn't find any evidence that Han Li was the culprit behind all this. Instead, there was strong evidence suggesting that he hadn't actually been responsible for this incident.

During the time period in which Elder Ximen had perished, Han Li had been discussing cultivation insights and experiences with Elder Zhao the entire time. Of course, it wasn't difficult to tell that this was a smokescreen intentionally set up by Han Li to prevent anyone from being able to aim a convincing accusation against him.

Despite knowing the truth, it was still an extremely harrowing notion to all of the Star Palace elders that Han Li could wipe a Nascent Soul cultivator off the face of the world without even having to go after him in person.

If he were a normal cultivator, they could naturally disregard all evidence and capture him before using a soul search technique to confirm everything. However, who would dare to do that to a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator? Even the elders who had been quite close with Elder Ximent knew better than to kick up a fuss.

Furthermore, the Star Palace had to rely on Han Li's powers to carry them through this crisis, so they absolutely couldn't afford to get on his bad side. Thus, Ling Yuling and all of the Star Palace elders could only pretend that they had no idea who the culprit could be.

After discussing cultivation experiences and insights with Elder Zhao for about half a day, Han Li returned to his silent cultivation chamber. Almost immediately thereafter, Elder Zhao received news that Elder Ximen had passed away, and he was rooted to the spot for a long while. In the end, he could only give a wry smile with a resigned expression on his face.

After that, he departed from the cave abode and left two Core Formation disciples there in his place.

Han Li could kill a Nascent Soul cultivator even without leaving the cave abode, so it was just a waste of time for him to remain behind and keep an eye on Han Li anyway. It was much wiser to for him to get out of there as soon as possible in case Han Li decided to kill him as well.

As such, a peculiar sequence of events unfolded.

A Star Palace elder had clearly just perished, yet this incident was completely glossed over, and it seemed that none of the higher-ups of the Star Palace wanted to mention anything about it. Even the words "Elder Ximen" had become a taboo phrase that could only be mentioned in hushed whispers. Instead, everyone was focusing their attention on making preparations for the upcoming battle.

Five days later, Han Li emerged from the silent cultivation chamber and arrived at the sacred palace again. On this occasion, there were more than 30 Core Formation cultivators also gathered here on top of the Star Palace elders.

Most of these cultivators were at the late-Core Formation Stage, so their powers were only just below that of the Star Palace elders.

When Han Li slowly made his way into the hall, all of the cultivators turned their attention to him in unison. Most of them wore expressions of awe and veneration, while some were quite fearful of his arrival. However, one thing remained constant, and that was no matter which direction Han Li cast his gaze toward, all of the cultivators gathered there would immediately lower their heads and avoid his gaze.

Using his humanoid puppet to take care of an early-Nascent Soul cultivator was an extremely simple task for Han Li, but in doing so, he had intimidated the entire Star Palace.

In the past, all of these Star Palace cultivators only knew that Han Li was a great cultivator, but no one had seen him in action, so they couldn't help but be skeptical about whether he would actually be able to hold off Wan Tianming.

After all, Wan Tianming had slain many Star Palace elders in the past several decades, and his reputation was second to none in the Scattered Star Seas. Ironically, Han Li's assassination of a Nascent Soul elder instilled everyone with a lot more confidence in his abilities. That was something that neither Han Li nor Ling Yuling hand anticipated.

Of course, Ling Yuling was naturally very glad that their morale had been boosted, while Han Li simply didn't care.

"Please take a seat, Fellow Daoist Han. I'll start organizing the preparations for the upcoming battle right away," Ling Yuling said in a respectful voice.

Han Li nodded as he took a seat before producing a white jade slip to read, completely ignoring everyone else in the process.

Ling Yuling merely smiled upon seeing this, but her expression instantly became quite grave after turning to the rest of the cultivators and delivering a series of instructions.

Even though most of Han Li's attention was focused on the jade slip, he wouldn't actually completely ignore what Ling Yuling was saying.

The Star Palace's plan was very simple. Even though the Heavenly Windfire Formation was comprised of 108 Windfire Pillars, they were only planning to attack the 36 Windfire Pillars surrounding Heavenly Star City.

According to the analysis from several of the Star Palace's formation spell masters, these 36 pillars were the most important ones, and as long as they could destroy most of those pillars, the formation would be vanquished as a result. Of course, the formation core that Wan Tianming was guarding had to be conquered by the Star Palace before that.

Thus, one Nascent Soul Stage elder and Core Formation cultivator after another rose to their feet at Ling Yuling's behest, and all of them wore serious expressions as they listened to the duties being delegated to them. A sense of fierce killing intent had spread through the entire hall.

Before long, all of the cultivators present had been assigned to attack a certain Windfire Pillar. However, the distribution of high-grade cultivators was rather uneven; there were two or three Nascent Soul cultivators in some groups while in others, there wasn't even a single Nascent Soul cultivator.

Han Li was rather surprised by this arrangement. However, he quickly understood why such arrangements had been made.

There were most likely Star Palace spies in the Starfall Coalition as well, so they must've already ascertained the forces guarding each individual Windfire Pillar, and were delegating troops accordingly.

Even though Han Li continued to focus his attention on his jade slip, a faint smile had appeared on his face.

Ling Yuling delegated duties very quickly, and after just a short while, almost all of the cultivators in the hall had been assigned with specific roles.

Finally, her voice faltered as she turned to Han Li, and a smile appeared on her face as she said, "Fellow Daoist Han, you, Elder Zhao, Elder Ma, and I will be responsible for attacking the formation core that's being guarded by Wan Tianming, is that alright?"

Han Li raised his head and replied nonchalantly, "Sure. However, I'm only responsible for taking on Wan Tianming. I won't attack any other cultivators unless they attack me."

A hint of surprise appeared in her eyes at the sight of Han Li's carefree expression, but she was naturally quite glad that Han Li had accepted her arrangement.

Even though she had heard some things about Han Li from the Heavenly Star Sages, she didn't actually know if Han Li was all that powerful among late-Nascent Soul cultivators. She was really worried that Han Li would underestimate his enemy and fall on his own sword, so she elaborated on some of Wan Tianming's signature abilities and treasures in order to help Han Li prepare for the upcoming battle.

Han Li's expression remained quite nonchalant as he listened to her description.

Ling Yuling could only heave an internal sigh upon seeing this, and she repressed the urge to ask Han Li what chance he thought he had of victory. In any case, defeat was not an option for the Star Palace.

"Let's go!" After one final instruction, all of the cultivators in the palace instantly rushed out from within.

All of the low-grade Foundation Establishment disciples had already gathered at all four of Heavenly Star City's gates, and they were primed to attack as soon as the Core Formation cultivators arrived to lead them into battle.

Han Li glanced at the jade slip in his hand before closing his palms together, upon which the jade slip abruptly disappeared.

The jade slip contained the cultivation art for the Divine Essencefused Light, and it was indeed quite profound and complex; even after several days of arduous observation, he had only made a little progress. He was very curious about just what kind of extraordinary existence the Divine Essencefused Mountain was to be able to assist in the mastery of this cultivation art.

Han Li was considering these matters in a rather absentminded manner as he also exited the stone palace along with the other elders.

Much to Han Li's surprise, there was a massive carriage over 100 feet in length parked outside the palace.

The entire carriage had been constructed from some type of unidentifiable green wood, and all types of runes had been carved onto its surface. It was quite apparent that this was an extremely intricately and painstakingly crafted carriage. However, what was even more noteworthy was that the carriage was being drawn by four demon beasts several tens of feet in length, all of which were of the same green color as the carriage itself.

This was the first time that Han Li had been flabbergasted following his arrival in Heavenly Star City.

The four green demon beasts only appeared to be at the fifth or sixth grade, but they were most definitely flood dragons.

If he recalled correctly, flood dragons were extremely protective of their brethren. The Star Palace was indeed very powerful, but how could they use actual flood dragons to draw their carriages? Weren't they afraid of drawing the ire of the entire flood dragon race and bringing disaster to the Star Palace?

At the sight of rare expression of surprise that had appeared on Han Li's face, Ling Yuling smiled, and asked, "Is there really a need to be so surprised by a few low-grade demon beasts, Fellow Daoist Han?"

A blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and he suddenly said, "Wait, these demon beasts possess the bodies of true flood dragons, but their souls seem to be rather strange."

A hint of admiration appeared in Ling Yuling's eye as she explained, "You really do have a good eye, Brother Han! The souls in the bodies of these demon beasts are indeed not the souls of flood dragons. Many years ago, when my father was traveling through the outer seas, he won a few low-grade green flood dragon carcasses from the Golden Wyrm King in a bet, then used a secret technique to inject the souls of Marine Spirit Pythons into their bodies, thereby creating these demon beasts."

"I see, but why have you placed this carriage here? Will we be using it in our attack?" Han Li's brows were still furrowed with confusion.

"Hehe, you won't be aware of this, Brother Han, but this carriage was personally crafted by my father. Aside from these demon beasts, the carriage itself is also very special and will be quite effective against our enemies. If it weren't for the importance of this battle, I wouldn't even be using such a precious treasure." Ling Yuling raised her eyebrows as a mysterious look appeared on her face.

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When Han Li heard Ling Yuling, he swept his spiritual sense past the carriage beasts and nodded, saying little else.

Its driver was a bald two-meter-tall giant drove it. Although he only possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation, his upper body was bare and revealed steel-like muscles, giving him a menacing aura.

When everyone boarded the carriage, the large man raised a white whip and cracked it.

The green flood dragons that were lazily resting in front of the stone hall quickly raised themselves and began to slither in the air. The carriage then launched into the air in a white streak, traveling at a speed that rivaled an early-Nascent Soul cultivator.

A quarter-hour later, Han Li and company arrived above a gate at Heavenly Star City.

At that moment, the power of windfire was bombarding the blue light barrier relentlessly.

Even with the protection of the light barrier, the muffled explosions trembled throughout the city, startling mortals and low-grade vagrant cultivators alike.

Although the light barrier appeared quite durable, under the sustained attack of the grand formation outside, it was only a matter of time before the barrier broke.

As Han Li stood outside a desolate city gate, he examined the situation on the outside of the island.

The situation appeared far from good. It was about the same as when he entered. All he could see was azure and red. Even with his vast abilities, he couldn't see far past it.

He indifferently glanced down at the city and saw thousands of low-grade cultivators hiding behind the other city gates nearby. They were either meditating while sitting cross-legged or preparing magic tools and talismans, making their final preparations.

Old Man Zhao and the large purple-robed man then walked out of the carriage. They were talking with the other elders with a grave expression.

Footsteps sounded from behind him, and before he turned his head, he heard a sweet voice speak to him. "Brother Han, I have a request for you. I don't know if you would be willing to accept."

"What is it?" Han Li turned around, showing not the slightest surprise on his face.

Ling Yuling stood behind him wearing faint green palace robes. Her beautiful face wore an unclear expression and her brow was tensed as if she were discussing something of great importance.

Ling Yuling gritted her teeth and produced a faint blue jade slip, handing it towards Han Li with a hopeful gaze. "The next battle will decide the life and death of our Star Palace. To tell the truth, the Starfall Coalition attracted a few cultivators that previously remained hidden in bitter cultivation. Even with Brother Han's assistance, our chances of victory are only half. If we win this battle, we won't further trouble you, but if we were to suffer a grand defeat, I hope you will be able to take the people listed in the jade slip away from the Scattered Star Seas. I hope you'll consider it."

"What do you mean by that?" Han Li frowned.

"It's nothing much. The people I listed are closely related to me. Although I am confident no one knows the relationships between us, there is still a possibility the Starfall Coalition will exterminate them if we are defeated. It would be much better if you were to take them with you. You aren't a cultivator from the Scattered Star Seas. You should be capable of doing this." Ling Yuling spoke with a tone of complete trust.

Han Li looked at her in silence.

As his silence continued, she misunderstood. She smiled and said, "Of course, if you do this for me, it will fulfill your agreement with my father to act three times.

You've already fulfilled a part of the agreement by dealing with Wan Tianming. If you agree to this matter, the agreement will be fulfilled even if we win and you don't have to take action."

After another moment of silence, an odd gaze appeared in Han Li's eyes and he said, "Fellow Daoist Ling, please consider this carefully. My agreement with your father was to save you three times when your life was in danger. Don't you think that using one of these requests like this is against the intentions of the two sages?"

"I am well aware, but I am the Star Palace Lord now. If we are truly defeated in this battle, the Star Palace's ancient legacy will be extinguished as a result. What use are two extra chances at life? It would be better for my close relatives to be saved. As for my own protection, my mid-Nascent Soul cultivation should be enough.

Han Li looked at her lovely pitiful expression for a long while before replying with an emotionless tone, "Fine. In that case, I will accept your request. If you lose this battle, I will bring them away from the Scattered Star Seas."

With beauty blossoming from her face, Ling Yuling charmingly said, "Your words leave me without worry for the future. With your amazing abilities, you will be able to make it out safely no matter how badly this war turns out.

Han Li smiled and then turned his gaze to outside the city.

With Ling Yuling acquiring Han Li's agreement, she tactfully left him alone and withdrew.

Several hours later, voice transmission talismans were sent out notifying that preparations were complete and the gates to Heavenly Star City were opened. Tens of thousands of cultivators rushed out at the same time, quickly leaving the city's blue barrier and disappearing into the azure and red mist formed from windfire.

Heavenly Star Palace's massive deployment was instantly discovered by the Starfall Coalition cultivators that were assigned to protect the formation.

The Starfall Coalition immediately deployed large numbers of cultivators to fight and had their retainers immediately control the grand formation, fully activating the formation's might.

Although the spell formation didn't have any effect on cultivators above Foundation Establishment, it could produce grave injuries to anyone at Foundation Establishment and below.

After the various Windfire Pillars were activated, the azure red mist that was slowly floating in the air began to violently turn, condensing into azure-red balls of light and promptly exploding.

For a time, light flashed within the grand formation, followed by sounds of unceasing explosions.

If common Foundation Establishment cultivators were to enter the formation without any preparations, they would've been immediately torn apart by the power of windfire.

But for this battle, the Star Palace made meticulous preparations. Each and every cultivator had various-colored light barriers appearing on their bodies, warding off the attacks of windfire and preventing any significant injuries to the low-grade Star Palace cultivators.

At that moment, the Starfall Coalition cultivators guarding the pillars met the Star Palace cultivators head-on. The sounds of battle and death immediately sounded from the formation.

At nearly the same time at the edge of the grand formation, at the very top of a giant kilometer-tall pillar of windflame, several cultivators were staring into the distance.

Their leader, a middle-aged man with a tense squarish face, wore a purple robe and a jade band. He held his hands behind his back. He was Wan Tianming. His current calm demeanor was far different from when Han Li had seen him last.

Standing not far behind him was an old man with dark skin and an old woman with red and green clothing. The two wore similarly grave expressions.

"It seems the Star Palace is truly launching a full-force attack. They used so many mid-grade talismans in this very attack that it could bankrupt an ordinary clan." The dark old man muttered. This was the cultivator surnamed Long, who escaped in a panic when Han Li rushed the formation.

"They must be staking it all in one throw. This must be related to the person who rushed into the city!" Wan Tianming calmly said.

"I see it as a desperate move! However, Fellow Daoist Long, is the cultivator who killed Fellow Daoist Hua so fearsome? Even with you two united, this fellow was still able to kill one of you in an instant?" Green light flashed from the old woman's eyes as she looked at the old man. She possessed mid-Nascent Soul cultivation.

When Old Man Long heard the woman mention Han Li, his face turned pale and stroked the new arm he produced from a secret technique. A long while later, he replied with a wry smile, "More than just fearsome. Fellow Daoist Hua was by no means weak, but he wasn't able to put up much resistance. Had I been any slower in escaping, I feared I wouldn't be standing here today. He most likely isn't a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, but a late-Nascent Soul grand cultivator."

A sneer appeared on the old woman's face and she bluntly said, "A grand cultivator? I see that Fellow Daoist Long has been frightened to the extent where his mind became muddled. Apart from Fellow Daoist Mo, how can there be other late-Nascent Soul cultivators from the inner seas? The Star Palace would've already recruited them otherwise, and whittle away at our alliance after such a long period of time."

Old Man Long's face grimaced as a result.

Wan Tianming faintly smiled, "That isn't certain. The image of the cultivator that Fellow Daoist Long produced for me is somewhat familiar. After several days, I came to recognize the person. It is someone that Fellow Daoist Qiu should know as well."

"Oh? Could Brother Mo explain?" The old woman asked in astonishment.

"Do you remember when the Heavenvoid Cauldron emerged into the world several hundreds of years ago? When our alliance issued a kill order on a cultivator named Han Li?" Wan Tianming leisurely asked.

After a short moment of thought, she came to an instant realization, "The Heavenvoid Cauldron? That Han Li!? Was that the person who broke through the formation? Yi! They do bear a strong resemblance, but how can this be possible? That person was a Core Formation cultivator in the past!" She shook her head, wearing an expression of disbelief.

Wan Tianming looked in the direction of the grand formation and indifferently said, "You don't need to be so surprised. Over a hundred years ago, before the death of the Heavenly Star Sages, I acquired a secret report that Han Li appeared near the Yellow Sand Sect as a Nascent Soul cultivator. Then, he used a Star Palace teleportation formation to the outer seas. At that time, the Star Palace Sages attempted to recruit him, but to little success. I suspect that the disappearance of Swift Crane and other elders of our alliance are largely related to him."

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"Elder Swift Crane and Fire Dragon Island's Huang Kun? They didn't die from a demon beast ambush at Green Spirit Island?" The old woman said with a start.

Wan Tianming coldly chuckled and slowly explained, "That is what we say to outsiders. In truth, according to our cultivators on Green Spirit Island, the two elders never made an appearance on the island on the day of the demon beast invasion. Rather there were people from Lightning Sky Island that reported a sighting of Han Li on the same day that Swift Crane and Huang Kun mysteriously disappeared. Their lifesoul tokens in the alliance's possession were also extinguished. As for the demon beast invasion of Green Spirit Island, that was an unrelated affair that occurred after."

The old woman remained stunned for a while and slowly said, "Even if that is the case, those two were partners to the death. Would it have been a difficult task?"

"It is true, we have no evidence that he was the one who did it. But if the cultivator who broke through the formation was truly Han Li, and he possesses the ability of a grand cultivator, then that guess should mostly be correct." A cold light glinted from Wan Tianming's eyes and his voice turned gloomy.

"If this person truly reached late-Nascent Soul stage and has the Heavenvoid Cauldron in his possession, and Brother Wan also only became a late-Nascent Soul cultivator recently..." As Old Man Long muttered this, worry was betrayed on his face.

Wan Tianming chuckled and spoke unperturbed, "Since I know this person, how could I not have a plan to respond? Be at ease. If he arrives, leave him to me. I won't say that I have complete certainty to kill him, but I am confident I will defeat him."

The two elders exchanged a glance and betrayed astonishment from their faces, but relief soon appeared on their faces.

Since this was said by the sect leader of a grand sect, his words should hold true.

"If you're saying that, then we are assured. We'll deal with the others." The old woman wore a sinister smile.

Wan Tianming eventually turned around and wore an odd expression on his face. "I will feel at ease to hand over the ordinary problems and the formation core to you two Fellow Daoists. But do you plan on fighting with your backs against the wall? There will be many high-grade cultivators targeting the formation core. As such, I will request for assistance to help you two defend the formation core."

Startled, the old man yelped, "Assistance? You mean..."

Wan Tianming didn't directly reply, but rather raised his hand, releasing a giant fireball from his sleeve. It ruptured high in the air in a flourish of vermillion flame. This eye-catching scene was noticed by all the cultivators nearby the huge pillar, arousing some discussion amongst them.

As these people were bewildered, something happened above them. A charming voice spoke from a ten-meter-long that appeared. "Brother, Fellow Daoist Wan has summoned us! It seems the time has come to make use of us. It was truly boring hiding here for such a long amount of time."

"Time has little meaning to cultivators like ourselves. Since Brother Wan had us reveal ourselves, it seems the time for battle has come, and no small one by any means. We should be able to kill enough this time around." A deep man's voice spoke from the boat.

Soon after, two blinding white streaks shot off from the boat, circling once in the air and landing on top of the huge pillar.

The white light vanished in a flash, revealing a male and female cultivator in front of Wan Tianming and company. The man had round eyes, long hair drooped over his face, and a tall sturdy body. The woman had pale soft flesh and an exquisite body, the makings of a seductive appearance.

After a brief moment of alarm, Old Man Long recognized the two that appeared and couldn't help but cry out in terror, "The Twin Lan Devils?" Even the overbearing old woman's complexion turned pale.

The dainty woman glanced at Old Man Long and gorgeously smiled, "Oh? I didn't think that there were still people that recognized us in the Scattered Star Seas. We've lived in seclusion at Devil Sin Island for many years."

The old woman briefly hesitated and spoke with a fearful expression, "Weren't you two exterminated by the Heavenly Star Sages? How can you be here?"

"It is true that in the past we were nearly done in by those two old bastards, but through some luck, we're managed to make it out here today. What? You don't mean to say you have some sort of grudge against us?" The large man swept a cold gaze past the two elders. Strangely enough, his lips moved, but his voice came from his abdomen, revealing a set of glinting white teeth from there as if there were a man embedded inside.

The old woman's heart trembled at the sight of this and she unconsciously took a step back. Soon after, she realized she was showing weakness and couldn't help but step back forward, letting out a resentful snort.

The large man sinisterly grinned in response and released waves of baleful Qi from his body, covering his face in a layer of faint blood Qi."

Wan Tianming snorted and sullenly said, "Enough, our enemy has arrived. Fellow Daoists, I had you remain hidden until today for this very battle. Humph, did you think I didn't notice that the Star Palace had a spy infiltrate the higher ranks of our alliance? Now let's see who has fallen into our trap."

The others startled and quickly turned their heads in the direction of the spell formation.

They saw a violent storm of windfire in wide the azure-red mist. Inside it was a huge carriage being pulled by four green flood dragons. Countless cultivators followed after it and in a blink of an eye, several thousand cultivators could be seen.

The Star Defying Alliance cultivators nearby the pillar had long prepared for this moment. When they saw enemies approach, they flew into the air on their flying tools. Soon, the two sides found themselves in confrontation at the huge pillar of windflame.

The old woman and Old Man Long paid no further heed to the Lan Devils, focusing instead on the Star Palace cultivators in front of them, particularly on the four cultivators riding the carriage.

When the old man saw this, his heart trembled and mouth turned dry.

He saw a confidently posed Han Li inside the carriage.

At that moment, Han Li hadn't taken notice of the old man. Rather, his eyes immediately fell on Wan Tianming and examined him with a sharp gaze.

"The Twin Lan Devils!" The large purple-robed man let out a yelp similar to Old Man Long.

Han Li didn't react to the name, but Ling Yuling and Old Man Chao were strongly startled.

Ling Yuling asked with an urgent tone, "Elder Ma, are you not mistaken? Weren't the Lan Devils exterminated long ago by my esteemed mother and father?"

"How could I be mistaken? I followed the two palace lords when they personally pursued the two devils after such a long period of time. After that, the two palace lords jointly advanced to late-Nascent Soul stage.

Absolutely baffling! If the two devils truly managed to survive, they should've already reached the end of their lifespans. How could they have survived until now. However, their cultivation was about the same as in the past, in the realm of mid-Nascent Soul stage." Obvious confusion appeared on the large man's face.

"That isn't anything strange," Han Li explained, "I know of several medicines that can extend one's lifespan well over two hundred years. It is possible for them to have consumed one if they were lucky."

"That is the only possibility! In any case, the two devils were just as famous as the Star Palace lords in the past. The sheer mention of their name could turn people pale. The man is fond of killing and once slaughtered two small islands overnight, laying waste to a thousand cultivators and over a hundred thousand mortals. The woman cultivates the renown Womanly Yang Pilfering Art. She is particularly fond of extracting the life essence of young male cultivators and sadistically killing them. After the two reached mid-Nascent Soul stage, they became inseparable. United, they can survive against even late-Nascent Soul cultivators. Were it not for the Star Palace Lords taking the risk to fight them, I fear they would be running rampant today." With gloomy complexion, Elder Chao gave Han Li a rough explanation.

Han Li stroked his chin and said, "So it was like that! It seems they've prepared this for a while. Even if I battle with Wan Tianming, you don't have a high chance of victory with those two present."

Ling Yuling grimaced, "In truth, I originally thought to suppress them with overwhelming force with the elders that I've brought with me. But now that these two fearsome characters appeared, I fear it will take all our power to not be defeated. A stalemate would be a good result."

Han Li smiled, but before he could speak, a person from the giant pillar began to slowly fly towards them.

As soon as he saw him, he shut his mouth and coldly glared at him.

The person flying towards them was Wan Tianming!

Wan Tianming flew to the middle before he paused and smiled at Han Li, "Fellow Daoist Han, I didn't think that your cultivation would make such progress in becoming a grand cultivator since we last met in Heavenvoid Hall. And if I'm correct, you aren't a person from the Scattered Star Seas. Why are you taking part in the battle between our alliance and the Star Palace? How about this? Regardless of what that girl pledged you, I will double whatever price. And I won't even need you to do anything, so long as you agree not to fight in this war."

When those from the Star Palace heard this, their expressions massively changed. Han Li was shocked.

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"Double the price? Fellow Daoist Wan is truly generous!" Han Li laughed and wore a mysterious smile on his face.

"Do you feel it isn't enough?" Wan Tianming asked with a calm tone.

"Oh, it's enough, plenty enough. It is a pity that I am fighting this war due to a promise I made many years ago, and I'm not fond of breaking my promises. But if you were to peacefully withdraw, I'll consider your offer for the next time." Han Li lazily replied with a clear mocking tone.

These words left the cultivators on both sides flabbergasted.

Wan Tianming's smile disappeared to be replaced with a gloomy expression.

"Since Brother Han has made his decision, then we will have test our might. However, our battle will bring disaster to our juniors nearby. Wouldn't it be better to fight somewhere farther?" Wan Tianming said icily.

"Yes, I had that in mind as well." Han Li promptly agreed without the slightest consideration.

This had surprised Wan Tianming, but after he gloomily examined Han Li, he held his hands in an incantation gesture and turned into a purple streak, flying in the direction of Heavenly Star City.

Han Li turned around and took a glance at Ling Yuling and the others. He nodded with a smile and closely followed after him in an azure streak.

In the blink of an eye, the two late-Nascent Soul cultivators tore through the air and disappeared out of sight.

Ling Yuling and Old Man Chao exchanged a glance, both revealing a trace of worry from their faces.

Wan Tianming had already known about Han Li's existence and took the initiative to challenge him to a fight. Could it be he had another plan in mind? However, Han Li didn't hesitate in following him. This only added to their apprehension as dissuading him would only damage their morale.

The man from the Lan Devils extended a scarlet tongue and licked his lips before letting out a bewildering cackle. "Hehe, since Fellow Daoist Wan is gone, its time to take action. Let's see how your abilities stand up, junior. Tch tch, it's been several hundred years since I've killed a Nascent Soul-grade cultivator."

Afterward, he held his hands in an incantation gesture and spouted out a white bone band. At that same time, a blood mist was released from his body, filling the nearby hundred meters in an instant. Ghost shrieks loudly wailed from within it as it moved to engulf the Star Palace cultivators.

Following that, the dainty woman at the large man's side let out a giggle of ecstasy and waved her sleeve, producing a fragrant pink fog. Those who smelled it would lose their sense of self.

Old Man Long and the old woman exchanged a glance before spitting out a golden ball and thirteen green blades respectively before sending it off in an attack.

When the Star Palace cultivators saw this, they didn't dare to delay and made use of their own abilities, releasing their light in return.

Several of the Star Palace's early Nascent Soul cultivators met the attacks of the mid-Nascent Soul stage Lan Devils. Various lights met the devilish Qi, followed by violent explosions. The attacks found themselves in a deadlock.

When the lower-grade cultivators saw this, they all shouted and rallied themselves, releasing their own magic tools and treasures as they charged forward, officially starting the melee.

Of course, these cultivators all kept their distance from the battles of the Nascent Soul-grade cultivators taking place at the center.

For a time, sounds of explosions and murder filled the air. The chaos prevented anyone from seeing which side had the advantage, and it was clear the battle wouldn't end anytime soon.

Meanwhile, Han Li and Wan Tianming turned to streaks of light and traveled nearly five hundred kilometers in a single breath before eventually coming to a stop.

Han Li appeared from the azure light and observed him with his hands behind his back, not the slightest expression betrayed from his face.

With his vast spiritual sense as of current, he could tell if there were any cultivators hiding nearby. He wouldn't have allowed Wan Tianming to lead him otherwise.

After sweeping his spiritual sense in a radius of fifty kilometers, he found nobody nor did he find any spell formation or restrictions. When he glanced again at Wan Tianming, he saw a calm expression on his face.

As thoughts churned in his mind, he found the situation quite funny.

It appeared Wan Tianming was the same as himself, with complete trust in their combat abilities.

Wan Tianming looked around him before turning his gaze back to Han Li. With a demeanor similar to an iceberg, he coldly said, "This should be far enough. If we use this as your gravesite, it shouldn't disgrace your status as a grand cultivator."

"My gravesite?" Han Li remained unshaken and simply smiled.

Wan Tianming snorted and asked, "What? Do you feel that I am talking too highly of myself?"

Han Li chuckled unperturbed and leisurely said, "No, I only feel that there is something amiss with your recent cultivation. You might've progressed your magic power so quickly that you damaged your head."

"We'll see if my words hold true when I scatter your soul. But before that, there are two people I wish to introduce to you."

Han Li coldly smiled and replied with a blunt tone, "Do you think I am a child? There is no one here apart from you and me. I'll have your head and give it to you as a gift."

Wan Tianming narrowed his eyes, "Is that so? Then it is my mistake. These two aren't considered people after all."

With that said, he didn't wait for Han Li to respond. He took a black leather pouch at his waist and tossed it into his air. Then with his hands in an incantation gesture, he began to chant.

Suddenly, the bag opened itself, spitting out a black mist. A tall and a skinny silhouette appeared there, drifting erratically in the mist as if they were ghosts.

"Refined corpses?" Han Li frowned. As experienced as he was, he immediately recognized the mist before him to be an extremely potent corpse Qi.

Wan Tianming coldly smiled when he heard it and cast a spell seal.

The two silhouettes raised their arms, absorbing the nearby corpse Qi in great force, turning the mist into snakes that burrowed into their bodies.

In the blink of an eye, the black corpse Qi disappeared and the corpses' true faces were revealed.

Han Li glanced at the two corpses with indifference.

This was to be expected. He was rather unfamiliar with the appearance of these corpses.

Of the two corpses, one was tall and had a tense expression. It appeared over forty years of age, but its arms had an extra extension and reached down to its knees. Its palms were exceptionally large as well and they sparkled as if they were carved from fine white jade.

The smaller refined corpse was a woman of about thirty years. She had a slim face, deep eyes, and a rough brow. One of her shoulders had three differently styled swords nailed into it, creating a warped appearance.

When Wan Tianming saw Han Li disregard the two refined corpses, a harsh expression appeared on his face.

He took a deep breath and his hand gesture changed. Suddenly, frightful sounds of breaking bones snapped from his body and he promptly grew several inches. He then opened his mouth and violently spouted out mists of purple Qi, enveloping himself in a ten-meter-wide cloud in the blink of an eye.

Soon after, the cloud fiercely turned and began to shine of ever-changing colors.

When Han Li saw this, he stroked his chin and he broke into a smirk. He dropped his hands, summoning a three-colored fiery streak from one of them and a green light from the other.

Han Li remained indifferent. His plan was to use pure force and a full-powered assault to beat down the enemy, no matter what methods they used. First, he would use the Eight Spirit Ruler to trap him, and then approach closer to him, finishing him off with a full-powered attack of the Triflame Fan.

Having thought that, blue light flickered from his eyes and muffled thunder rang from his back, summoning a pair of azure-white wings.

Just as he thought to use his wings to approach him, he was stunned by what he witnessed!

His appearance completely changed within the cloud and the sounds of snapping bones came to a stop. Afterward, astonishing devilish Qi pressured the air and the cloud turned sinisterly grey and icy cold.

Han Li's pupils narrowed and his heart thumped.

Wasn't Wan Tianming the sect master of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment? How could he cultivate Devil Dao Arts? Rather, this devilish Qi was quite familiar and was somewhat similar to the Elder Devil's true devil Qi. Soon, something came to mind, but he couldn't fully recall as he wasn't in a position to take his time.

As Han Li was bewildered, a series of wild laughs echoed from the devilish Qi as a silhouette warped in front of him.

Behind this person was six distinct phantoms that appeared solid, each with a horn on their head or fangs. All of them were frightening to the eye and had scales on their body, appearing like the devils that once appeared in this world.

"The Six Apex Devils Art!" Han Li cried out.

"Oh? You recognize this lord's devil art? You aren't so stupid after all!" His laughter came to a stop and he coldly looked at Han Li with an attitude of complete arrogance, derision clear on his face.

He still wore Wan Tianming's clothes but his face was completely different.

When Han Li saw his face, he couldn't help but betray his shock.

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Han Li turned his gaze and he looked at the face of the tall refined corpse. Then he looked at the man wearing Wan Tianming's clothes before letting out a long sigh.

Apart from their stature, their faces looked entirely the same.

"Should I call you Wan Tianming or Archsaint Six Paths?" Han Li blinked and wore a grave expression.

"You figured out who I am?" 'Wan Tianming' coldly snorted. The movement of his body caused the six devil phantoms behind him to tremble.

"To the best of my knowledge, the Six Apex Devils Art is the greatest Devil Dao art in the Scattered Star Seas, and only you could have cultivated it to this degree. It seems you've somehow managed to survive during that time, but there are a few things that I don't understand. How did you seize Wan Tianming's body, and how did you transform into his likeness? Why does this refined corpse resemble you? Could it be an incarnation you cultivated or did you refine your own body into a corpse devil?" As Han Li slowly spoke, he regained his calm demeanor.

Archsaint Six Paths sinisterly laughed, "Why should I answer a dead man?" Soon after, his shoulders trembled and two of the six phantoms from behind him shot towards two of the refined corpses.

The two refined corpses suddenly trembled and they stiffly opened their eyes, revealing them completely stained dark green.

Archsaint Six Paths continued, chanting a cryptic and profound incantation, causing the somewhat shriveled corpses to be engulfed in grey devilish Qi.

The two corpses let out a piercing shriek and their bodies massively grew.

In the blink of an eye, their bodies expanded to fifteen meters in height as they groaned in agony.

One of the corpses had a body that was jet-black with large copper scales. It had a pair of sharp antelope horns and a long azure tail that slightly waved. The other corpse had its body covered in blood-red bone spokes. Silver light shined from its limbs as if cast from silver. Its triangular head bore a sinister appearance with four slender dark-green eyes.

After their transformation, the two refined corpses appeared completely similar to the two devil phantoms that entered their bodies. But shockingly, they now possessed a true physical form.

When Han Li saw this, his heart trembled.

Archsaint Six Paths wildly laughed, "When the Six Apex Devils Art is cultivated to its peak, it can summon the true devil sages' soul fragments to possess a body, rendering them abilities that could rival a Deity Transformation cultivator in battle. It was only there was never a human in the mortal world that ever cultivated to that stage. Even so, the two devils I've summoned each possess the ability of a late-Nascent Soul cultivator. Now that you are outnumbered, do you believe that you can keep your life?" With a command of his spiritual sense, the two devils floating in front of him suddenly vanished from sight.

The space three meters in front of Han Li warped, followed by the bizarre appearance of the two devils. The horned devil shot towards Han Li's abdomen in an azure streak at lightning speed. The spiked devil remained still as its body trembled, the sounds of explosions echoing nearby.

Dense foot-long crimson bone spikes filled the air as they shot towards Han Li in an enveloping barrage. At such a close distance, such a momentous attack could not be avoided.

It appeared Archsaint Six Paths had the same plan in mind as Han Li: to destroy their opponent in a single blow with overwhelming force.

A trace of pride and confidence was written on the Archsaint's face. He believed that even if Han Li managed to somehow survive this flawless joint attack, he wouldn't make it out unscathed.

But in that next moment, the old devil's expression froze.

Just as the horned devil's charge and the bone spike barrage was about to tear apart Han Li, the azure-white wings on Han Li's back flapped, summoning a huge gust.

Following that, his body faded from sight.

The azure streak and the bone spikes passed through empty space.

Startled, Archsaint Six Paths quickly looked around him.

But before he could release his spiritual sense around him, azure lightning flashed from above the horned devil's head, followed by Han Li's reappearance.

He wordlessly raised his hand and released an azure ruler below him where it soon blurred.

A foot-wide silver lotus suddenly appeared beneath the horned devil.

The lotus simply spun once before seven-colored Buddhist light rushed out from the lotus, holding the horned devil rigidly in place and freezing the devilish Qi in its body.

Han Li expressionlessly raised his other hand, now summoning a fan covered in three-colored flame. Before he commanded it to take any action, its fearsome spiritual power pervaded the air.

At that moment, the other devil finally noticed Han Li's new location. It had no other thought but to attack. With a long shriek, all the bone spikes surrounding it circled in the air before shooting towards Han Li's new location. They traveled with speed that could overtake a dragon.

In the blink of an eye, countless bone spikes arrived near Han Li.

Han Li glanced at the attack without revealing the slightest fear.

Silver light flashed in front of him. A small shield appeared where there was nothing and created a layer of dense silver light around him.

The blood spikes then arrived before the silver light.

Fist-sized explosions burst as each spike struck, creating the clatter of heavy rain. The barrier soon rippled and began to violently sway as if it were on the verge of collapse.

The might of the bone spikes was far beyond imagination. Each one possessed the power of a top-grade magic treasure.

The Tailstar Essence Shield wasn't able to deflect the attacks.

Han Li's expression changed from the sight of this and chanted an incantation.

A thumb-sized golden ball appeared on his forehead, glowing with light as it created a layer of golden mist around him.

This was the vajra barrier Han Li nurtured within his body.

Having refined the vajra relic inside his body for countless years, its defensive power had far overtaken that of the Tailstar Essence Shield.

When the silver barrier eventually collapsed, the rest of the bone spikes fiercely struck, sounding metal clangs as they struck the vajra barrier.

Golden light directly flashed from its surface, blocking the barrage with ease.

Meanwhile, a phoenix cry sounded from the three colored flames in his hand. A flame bird with talisman characters suddenly flew out from it and unfolded its wings as it flew down.

It was clear it was making its way to the immobilized horned devil.

Although the devil couldn't move, a fierce expression appeared from its face. It opened its mouth and spat out a white wave to meet the flame bird.

A rumbling, deafening explosion shook the air as the white wave and the bird collided.

Although the soundwave was one of the devil's strange innate abilities, its body was trapped and it was unable to circulate its devilish Qi, greatly weakening its power. The attack couldn't hope to compare with the Triflame Fan.

The confrontation only lasted for a brief moment and the firebird exploded.

A three colored halo suddenly appeared and spread out, engulfing the white wave underneath it.

Afterward, the halo quickly grew, sweeping past the horned devil in an instant and turning it into nothing.

While the scene may be described slowly, this took place in the mere span of several breaths. As for the Archsaint, his expression greatly changed when he saw this.

How could he have expected that Han Li wouldn't die from his two devils, but rather, he would kill one of the two he released?"

At that moment, he realized he was dealing with no ordinary grand cultivator.

A furious alarm taking over him, he didn't dare to delay and hastily commanded his spiritual sense.

He spat out a black streak from his mouth, creating a cloud of black Qi that soon vanished.

As for the spiked devil, it let out a roar and its four eyes glinted before disappearing.

The space behind Han Li stirred and the devil stretched out its silver hands from nothing.

Crack. The two arms grew several times in size and claws burst out from its hands. They fiercely swiped at Han Li's head and back.

Meanwhile, black light flickered at that moment, where a black octagonal skull-sized hammer appeared ten meters above Han Li's head. Carrying sinister black Qi, it fiercely smashed down.

From its dreadful devilish Qi, one could tell it was a rarely seen devil artifact.

The Archsaint didn't stop his attack there. With a tremble of his shoulders, the other four devil phantoms appeared again behind him. They all opened their eyes and blurred, charging at Han Li in black streaks.

After killing one of the devils, Han Li faced a united front against the Archsaint and the other devils.

Han Li let out a sigh.

Before he took any further action, azure light flickered from his body and silver light lit up closely behind him. A silhouette suddenly appeared, taking the attack of the silver devil.

Two world-shaking explosions shook the air. Within the silver flashing light, the azure silhouette remained completely still. Rather, the devil reaching out from behind was completely shaken from the impact and fell back.

Meanwhile, light flickered from above Han Li. A small azure cauldron wrapped into the air and slowly spun in place.

Then, azure thread shot out from it as its lid opened, catching the black hammer that was smashing towards him and suspending it in midair.

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The jet-black octagonal hammer simply emitted a thread of sparkling blue flame in response to being caught by the cauldron. The chilliness the flame emitted was downright eerie.

Although Han Li couldn't tell just how powerful the devil flames were, they were by no means ordinary.

Blue flame wrapped around the Heavenvoid Cauldron and rigidly trapped it in the air without the slightest show of effort. No matter how fiercely the cauldron flames burned, the blue thread was completely unaffected.

Han Li ignored what was happening above him and turned his sights on the four black streaks that were shooting towards him.

"The Devil Sages?" Han Li muttered silently. A trace of a smile appeared on his face and he shook his sleeve.

Suddenly, several rolls of thunder sounded out, followed by four dense bolts of lightning arcing out from his sleeve. In a flash, they accurately struck the four black streaks.

Several explosions sounded out as four blinding golden flashes ruptured, drowning out the black streaks in an instant. The devil phantoms seemed to have met their weakness and quickly evaporated like morning dew.

This had taken Han Li only a token effort.

In the mere blink of an eye, the azure silhouette behind Han Li raised its hand and produced a small crimson bow in its hand, drawing it back.

A deafening boom shook the air. Blinding red light and countless arrows of flame were released, filling the sky with its barrage.

At that moment, the spike-covered devil saw a skyful of arrows shooting towards it and looked on with fear. It let out a large shout and its body glowed with crimson light.

When the spiked devil finished taking its defensive actions, the barrage struck its barriers.

Countless arrows ruptured on impact and the devil was submerged in flames. Explosions shook the air for a long while, in a display of their terrifying power.

However, the devil within the flames remained unscathed inside its crimson barriers. It took a deep breath and it waved their silver arms, intending on cutting away the crimson flames that surrounded it.

Then, the sounds of thunder struck.

In the devil's fright, it discovered that a green arrow was shooting towards them in an arc of lightning.

Although the devil didn't know the arrow was precisely, it blurred from sight in an attempt to dodge it.

But what the devil failed to sense while they were distracted by the arrow was the black crystal knife that strangely appeared above them. As silently as it appeared, it dropped down and slid itself toward its head.

The spiked devil hadn't noticed a thing.

Suddenly, the azure silhouette halted their attack and the endless barrage of flame arrows came to a halt.

Baffled by this change and still evading the green arrows, a black streak silently circled one of the devil's necks like a bolt of lightning and its triangular head toppled of its neck.

The crimson light barrier may as well have been air.

This came as no surprise. The knife was refined from a Devil Essence Diamond, an extremely rare material condensed for countless years from pure devilish Qi. How could a barrier quickly formed from devil Qi hope to block it?

With Han Li's second Nascent Soul residing in the human-like puppet, it didn't require any instruction. In the instant, the dagger executed the devil, it rushed forward to the devil's corpse.

It opened its mouth and a cloud of black light rushed out from it, enveloping the corpse.

Then, it dragged out a phantom from the body that had a striking resemblance to the devil. The phantom was so dim that it looked like it could disperse at any moment.

It was then dragged back into the puppet's mouth in the cloud and absorbed by the second Nascent Soul residing inside of it.

The pure devilish Qi would prove to be significant to the cultivation of the Zenith Yin Arts.

With the phantom absorbed, the headless devil corpse dissolved into ash with a gentle wind.

Then in a blur, the puppet returned to Han Li's side with its arms behind its back.

From a distance, if it weren't for the difference of their clothes, it would appear as if there were two of Han Li standing side by side.

At the moment, Han Li was fiddling with his Triflame Fan as he calmly looked across from him.

Han Li indifferently said, "Fellow Daoist Six Paths, I've already seen your Six Apex Devils technique. If you don't have any else to impress me with, I will be sending you off."

When Archsaint Six Paths heard this, his face grew pale and disbelief was betrayed from his eyes.

Two of the late Nascent Soul-stage demons he regarded as his trump cards were exterminated with ease. It was beyond belief.

Furthermore, his opponent was able to make use of the flame fan, the small azure cauldron, and the green wooden ruler; each of these treasures possessed an immense power. Let alone the famous Heavenvoid Cauldron and Han Li's use of the incarnation techniques, he didn't have the slightest information on the other two grand treasures. But what was particularly bizarre was that his unfathomable incarnation alone was able to slay one of his devils.

His heart dropped.

How was this possible? Han Li should've only been at late-Nascent Soul stage for about a hundred years at most. For him to master these profound techniques and acquire these grand treasures in such a short amount of time.

Although he had never seen a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator, he had no doubt that Han Li's current abilities were close to one.

When the old devil heard Han Li's words, his back trembled and his eyes narrowed. Then he opened his mouth and a scarf of black mist roiled out.

The object quickly blurred and immediately covered him in black wind.

The winds let out a shrieking whistle before letting out a tremble and kiting backwards, carrying the old devil with them.

The black wind became vague and flew at immense speed. Several blurs later, it left a chain of afterimages.

In an instant, the wind strangely appeared an even greater distance away. There even was a remnant of black wind in its original position.

As a result, there were several balls of black wind present, all capable of teleporting away. In the blink of an eye, they could travel over three hundred meters away. A normal late-Nascent Soul cultivator would feel helpless against such bizarre movements.

Of course, Han Li wasn't an ordinary late-Nascent Soul cultivator by any means. When he saw this, he wore an odd expression, "So you're actually running away. Your bonded magic treasure seems quite good at it. If it were before, I fear I may have had some trouble. But now, ha..."

Han Li took a deep sigh and the Thunderstorm Wings trembled behind his back, letting out a roll of thunder. Arcs of white and azure lightning appeared on the wing's surface. Soon after, they formed balls of lightning in the surrounding air, spinning in place.

As he stretched out his wings, he floated in the air, drifting slightly to the side.

At the moment, he was looking in the distance at the black blur that was Archsaint Six Paths. He snorted and fanned his wings once.

Gales immediately erupted around him and the suspended balls of lightning raged, striking together.

Azure-white lightning erupted in deafening booms, only for the gales to gather all of it into the two wings.

Covered in a layer of lightning, the Thunderstorm Wings wildly flapped several times, followed by Han Li disappearing from his original location in a flash of azure-white lightning.

A breath later, lightning sparked a hundred meters away, and it happened again after a pause, each time, heading a hundred meters further out. Its speed was quite faster than the old devil's black winds.

In several blinks, the lightning pursued the black wind until it was only thirty meters away.

As Han Li rode the lightning, he could clearly see the old devil's face of terror within the black wind.

With another wave of his wings, another clap of thunder roared, and he arrived in front of the black wind in an azure-white flash.

The lightning faded to reveal Han Li blocking the old devil's path.

The black gales came to a brief stop, only to quickly change direction.

At that moment, Han Li sneered and held his hands in an incantation gesture and lightning clapped from within him. His stature burst several inches in size, grew thicker, with four arms jutting out from his flesh. Golden light lit up on his skin only for a moment before disappearing.

In the blink of an eye, he turned into a large man of immense strength and stature. This was the transformation after making use of the third layer of the Brightjade Arts.

With this transformation done, he raised his hands, summoning purple flames in his hands, and he held them together to form a large purple saber of flame.

Afterward, the wings on his back strangely trembled and he shot forward.

But his body strangely warped the moment he set off and his wings trembled with inconceivable frequency, causing the nearby air to warp with its movements. He disappeared in a white line along the way.

When the old devil saw this, he knew things were turning out for the worst. Seeing that he could no longer flee, he concentrated the magic power in his body and caused the black wind surrounding him to surge in size. At the same time, he flipped his hand, producing a crimson shield in front of him.

Just as he was about to activate it, a white line appeared above him and vanished as soon as it had appeared.

Following that was the old devil's loud yell.

The crimson shield now fell to the ground along with the part of his arm, the rest of his arm covered in purple ice.

The stump of an arm was smooth and sleek, leaving not a drop of blood behind.

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The old devil then realized that a slender gap had been cut through his black winds.

He looked in the direction of the attack and his severed arm. There was no warning.

Frightened, he hastily pointed to the crimson shield in front of him with his remaining arm.

The shield flew high and enveloped him in a screen of crimson flame. Simultaneously, he released his spiritual sense around him, flusteredly searching anywhere for any sight of Han Li.

At that moment, the white line reappeared thirty meters behind the old devil. After circling once in the air, it paused and revealed a silhouette, Han Li.

He saw Han Li examining his own body. The two wings on his back were gently fluttering, and a purple light blade was still being held in his hand.

"Although the [Nine Gale Transformations] possess great power, it places a burden too great on the body," Han Li muttered to himself, "Even with the third layer of the Bright Jade Arts, I find it difficult to use it even once."

"That is only natural," Han Li heard a boy's voice with a careless tone, "This technique was something that the bird-type demon cultivators founded. As a human, you won't be able to truly make use of this technique even with the aid of the thunderstorm wings. A far greater strain will be placed on your body than an ordinary demon bird cultivator after forcefully making use of this technique. As for the Bright Jade Arts, you're only able to use its third layer a few times at most. Forcing any more would cause your body to quickly fall into a state of collapse. If you plan on making full use of this technique, you'd best cultivate the next layer of the Bright Jade Arts."

"So it was like that!" Han Li sighed, "Although I made use of it several times when I was cultivating it, I hadn't felt the strain of distant use since I was in such limited space." He waved his hand and scattered the purple blade he held.

The child then chuckled and spoke no further.

Following Han Li's appearance, the old devil immediately discovered trace of him.

However, the Soaring Sky Beast's child form was undetectable to him, nor could he hear his voice transmissions. All he heard was Han Li softly muttering to himself.

Bewilderment flickering from his eyes, he quickly slapped a spirit beast pouch at his waist.

Black light suddenly flashed, summoning a jet-black two-headed python. Although it was only ten meters long, its trihorned head and the green Qi leaking out from its mouth displayed its incredibly venomous nature.

Then, Archsaint Six Paths opened his mouth and spat out an item wrapped in black light.

The item spun once in the air and the light faded away to reveal a small white flag. Following an incantation from the old devil, it massively expanded to three meters tall.

When Han Li saw the banner, he couldn't help but reveal his surprise.

The pole of the banner was forged from human bones with black mist across its surface. Grey talisman characters faintly glowed from it and there were three different skulls embedded in it, all of them wearing a sinister smile, showing their crooked wicked sharp fangs. Their laughs shook the blood of those of heard it.

With a soft shout, the old devil pressed his hand against the bone banner.

The three skulls trembled as black mist spouted out from their mouths. They fished up his severed hand, fighting each other as they devoured pieces of it.

The skulls flashed with crimson light, their stature immediately enlarged.

With this, most of the terror on Archsaint Six Paths' face vanished and he sullenly turned to look at Han Li.

It appeared the old devil had regained his senses.

With the bizarre speed that Han Li displayed, he knew escape was no longer an option. He would be rushing to his death if he continued to flee. It would be better to struggle to the very end, hoping to find any chance of victory.

As a result, he revealed the last treasure he held in reserve, something that had never been seen by others.

Han Li frowned as the sight of this. Although he had never seen the treasure before, the banner carried astonishing Yin Qi. He didn't dare to underestimate it.

Han Li then heard an odd sound.

"The [Three Divine Souls Banner]? I didn't expect someone in this world capable of refining such a wicked item. It is truly beyond belief!"

"It is quite famous in the spirit realm as one of the seven great wicked artifacts. Of course, this superficial copy possesses only a mere fraction of a true banner. The creation of it is exceptionally bloody, requiring each human or beast it is refined from to die a horrible death.

Although it isn't particularly powerful, it required the deaths of many cultivators." The child chuckled. Although he spoke highly of the banner, there was a hint of fear in his voice.

"So it was like that!" A brief moment of realization was followed with a sneer. "Tch tch, it is no wonder he is the greatest devil cultivator in the Scattered Star Seas. There is nothing he shies away from. Since he has a wicked artifact of such repute, I may as well test its power." Han Li then reached at his waist and raised his hand, summoning forth a jet-black bottle.

The bottle spun in the air and its lid opened of its own accord.

Suddenly, grey Yin Qi shot out from within, releasing five white silhouettes leisurely floating in the air. They were the Unbreakable Cinque Devils.

As soon as the five devils appeared, Han Li formed an incantation gesture.

Suddenly, five skeletons climbed out from the ocean and instantly turned into wheel-sized ghost heads. With twisted horns and vicious fangs, they pounced directly at the banner.

"Unbreakable Cinque Devils!" As expected of his reputation as the greatest devil cultivator of the seas, Archsaint Six Paths immediately recognized the five devils and couldn't help but utter their name.

As the old devil didn't know how Han Li acquired the cinque devils rather than personally creating them, he believed Han Li to be a vicious devil cultivator like himself.

He immediately felt his heart sink.

This person was already difficult to deal with. If Han Li was also skilled in Devil Dao techniques, he might've truly run into calamity.

With the cinque devils whistling towards him, he had no choice but to move the banner in front of him.

The bone banner trembled. Its three embedded skulls let out chilling cackles before opening their mouths and spouting out pitch-black Yin Qi.

As they continued their charge, the cinque devils opened their mouths, spouting out green Yin flames. For a time, black Qi and green devil flames roiled together and ruptured continuously.

In the following moment, the old devil's cheek switched.

In the confrontation, the cinque devil's Yin fire pushed back the black Qi with overwhelming force.

Archsaint Six Paths let out a string of curses in his mind.

To the best of his knowledge, the cinque devils should only have the abilities expected of the late-Core Formation stage, but the ghost heads before his eyes displayed a power far beyond that. They suppressed the three early Nascent Soul-stage devil skulls embedded in his banner. But it also stood to mention that a magic treasure's power heavily depended on the wielder's magic power and control.

The old devil gritted his teeth and formed an incantation gesture with a single hand, opening his mouth to spit out a mist of blood essence.

The bone banner loudly droned, absorbing all of it in an instant. Its talisman characters roiled with great intensity and countless fist-sized skulls began to appear around it.

These phantoms opened their mouths all at once, spitting out countless streams of black Qi, massing together to take the form of a black flood dragon. The dragon circled in the air once before pouncing towards the five ghost heads.

Two of the cinque devils faintly trembled, turning back from their ghost head forms to skeletons. They slapped their hands together and summoned a pair of meter-long bone sabers in their hands. Without any fear, they charged to meet the flood dragon in battle.

With two less ghost heads, the Yin fire released by the remaining three cinque devils greatly weakened, stabilizing the confrontation with the bone banner's black Qi.

Black Qi and Yin flames were in deadlock.

The old devil felt a moment of relief, but when he looked at Han Li again, his heart trembled.

Han Li was looking at the battle with his hands behind his back, wearing a mysterious smile on his face. It was at that moment, he suddenly sensed something amiss and he returned his gaze to the battle.

He betrayed bafflement on his face and his heart dropped. Suddenly, a feeling of extreme danger appeared above his head.

Suddenly, the strange two-headed python spiraling above his head let out a noisy bewildering cry, catching the old devil's attention.

He turned his head and to find an azure silhouette floating ten meters behind him. A black crystalline knife had cleaved through the black wind surrounding him and was slowly making its way to his crimson light barrier.

Had he not turned around, he feared his body would soon lack a head. Archsaint Six Paths' face was drained of all blood.

When the second Nascent Soul inside the puppet saw that his ambush was exposed, he suddenly cast an incantation gesture. With the sound of tearing space, the knife blinked forward.

As for the puppet, silver light brightly glowed from its body before disappearing without a trace.

Meanwhile, Han Li finally took action after standing from a distance with his hands behind his back. With a cold glint lighting up in his eye, he raised his hand and green light flashed as the Eight Spirit Ruler strangely warped in front of him.

He grabbed the ruler and waved it at Six Paths. Then with a flutter of his wings and a clap of thunder, he vanished.

Incapable of paying attention to what Han Li was doing, the old devil saw the jet-black knife stop for just a moment before easily piercing his defensive barrier. In that instant, he let out a deafening shout.

His figure blurred and suddenly, a black streak flew out from the bottom of his chest to meet the saber. Following that, his body turned into two copies of itself and shot off in different directions.

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As Archsaint Six Paths split into two, the two-headed serpent spat out a torrent of inky liquid beneath it, creating a toxic mist that enveloped everything thirty meters below it.

Explosions relentlessly exploded. Black light and the knife struck and erupted in a ball of blinding black light.

It was unknown what treasure Six Paths released, but it managed to block the Devil Essence Diamond knife.

Silver light flashed and the puppet strangely appeared at the old devil's original position. The roiling toxic mist enveloped it completely.

Following its appearance, the two-headed snake rocked its head and dived at the puppet.

But in the next moment, a silver lotus appeared above the serpent's head without warning. It was a foot-large and glowed brightly with seven-colored Buddhist light.

The black serpent's movements immediately slowed as the Buddhist light trapped it and stopped it immediately. Only its two pairs of green eyes were moving.

Immediately after, two silver threads swiftly cut through the green mist and wrapped around the serpent's two heads, only for them to topple off.

Then as the green mist roiled, the human puppet slowly flew out without displaying the slightest damage.

In truth, the serpent was actually an interesting animal. The toxic mist was on par with the Ten Absolute Poisons of the cultivation world. If common cultivators touched it, they would immediately perish.

But this wasn't the most vicious part of the poison. Rather, it is able to penetrate most elemental barriers without any warning or sensation. Any Nascent Soul cultivator that didn't guard against this would meet their end.

This was the reason the old devil labored over nurturing the spirit beast.

Contrary to expectations, the puppet didn't possess any flesh, thus making the poison ineffective no matter how powerful and allowing the serpent to be killed with ease.

One of Six Paths' phantoms had a mental connection with the black serpent; Having immediately felt when the serpent died, he betrayed a trace of fear on his face.

Without even turning around, he pointed to the bone banner and then fled with all his might.

The banner trembled before black light brightly glowed as if about to take to the sky.

It was at that moment, an arc of azure lightning flashed above the phantom as Han Li came into view.

With blue light flickering from his eyes, he looked down and waved his hand, creating a net of lightning underneath him. Then, he summoned a small azure cauldron with a flip of his other hand, releasing countless azure threads in a simultaneous barrage off.

Although the old devil had a miraculous doppelganger technique displaying hardly any difference in their spiritual sense, Han Li's Brightsight Spirit Eyes were able to see right through them and instantly recognized minute differences, as well as which was true Archsaint.

Both of the phantoms loudly yelled with trembling shoulders upon seeing Han Li launched an attack. The attack arrived right before one of the phantoms in an instant.

At this moment, the phantom appeared much dimmer and vague than just a moment before.

The true Archsaint shook his sleeve and summoned a blue jade umbrella over his head.

It quickly expanded several times its original size in an instant, protecting the old devil entirely from above.

Several thuds sounded as the cauldron's azure threads struck Six Path's phantom. The threads paused for only a second before piercing cleanly through.

Shortly after, arcs of golden lightning burst struck, immediately wiping away the phantom without any resistance.

Soon after, the lightning and threads fused together with dazzling flashes, and in a blur struck the top of the umbrella.

Following a bright storm of light, the umbrella remained unscathed. The umbrella hadn't moved the slightest inch from the atta

When Han Li saw this, his expression sank and he reached his hand out, summoning a golden meter-long sword in his grasp.

Soon after, the wings on his back stirred and dived down, disappearing in a white line.

The old devil was quick to react and attempted to dodge. But before he could act, golden light flashed from the surface of the umbrella. Zap, the center of the umbrella was cleaved through the center.

"Ah!" The old devil shouted. He immediately surrounded himself in black light as he fled.

But just as he took off, the space in front of him warped where a white thread appeared, coiling around the old devil like lightning.

His escape denied, the next thing he felt was a chill on his back. In a flash, a pale of purple flames broke through his barrier of devilish Qi and pierced through him from behind.

The treasure armor that wore close on his body wasn't able to block the attack in the slightest.

Apart from sharp pain, the old man could only hear a faint sigh from behind him. Then, he looked down to find a palm of purple flames jutting out from him, soon quickly spreading a layer of purple flames all around him. In the blink of an eye, it covered most of his body and sealed him in ice.

Despite having his face sealed in ice, he twisted it into a grimace and gritted his teeth.

A muffled boom sounded. The bottom half of his body that had yet to be frozen suddenly exploded.

As a cloud of blood and gore sprinkled the air, crimson light flashed. The blood ignited and charged towards Han Li.

At that same moment, a ball of green light shot out from the corpse and flickered over a hundred meters away.

The green light wrapped around a pitch-black Nascent Soul. Its hands were holding tightly onto a green jade bottle.

Han Li shook his sleeve, releasing a torrent of purple flames that promptly extinguished the devilish flames. However, he took no further actions to chase after the old devil.

Han Li's calm demeanor only caused the old devil's Nascent Soul to flee in a panic.

After flickering from view several times, the Nascent Soul appeared hundreds of meters away and turned around, stunned to see that Han Li remained completely still. He couldn't help but stop.

At that moment, the air above the Nascent Soul flashed, followed by the silent appearance of a pitch-black knife.

It was only when the knife arrived right above its head did the Nascent Soul discover it.

By that time, it was already too late. A black streak flashed and the Nascent Soul was cleaved into two.

Then with a bright flourish of silver, Han Li leisurely made his way over.

When the human-like puppet disposed of the two-headed snake, Han Li had it remain in position nearby. Then with his command, it intercepted the Nascent Soul's escape.

Following that, a strange scene followed.

The Nascent Soul hadn't disappeared after it was cleaved into two. Rather, it turned into clouds of roiling black Qi, separating into six lines that show off in different directions.

The puppet was alarmed and immediately flicked its fingers.

Suddenly, thunder clapped and a dozen fine arcs of lightning were quickly released, striking the black Qi in a flash.

Several muffled claps of thunder followed a chain of golden explosions.

The black Qi was evaporated.

The devil cultivator known to shake the Scattered Star Seas for hundred of years met his end.

The human puppet took a glance at the area of the explosions. After making certain there were no more remnants of the Nascent Soul, it promptly reached out summoned small bottle into its grasp.

It didn't immediately open the bottle, but instead slowly floated towards Han Li.

The old devil was truly out of luck.

The secret technique to turn a Nascent Soul into a ghost was incredibly rare. Against an ordinary cultivator, one of the ghosts formed from the Nascent Soul may have been able to escape, allowing him the opportunity to return again.

But as it so happened, Han Li experienced such a technique once before during his time in the Moulan Plains and was prepared for such a thing to happen. As such, the human-like puppet made use of the Divine Devilbane Lightning from the bamboo arrow to strike down all the ghost fragments.

If there was even a single moment of hesitation, it would've been greatly troublesome. After a ghost fragment hid itself, it will be incredibly difficult to find.

When the human-like puppet flew up to Han Li, it tossed the green bottle over to him.

Han Li caught it and examined it for a moment before revealing excitement on his face.

But before he opened the bottle, ghostly cries shrieked from the distance.

Han Li raised his head and looked over to the Unbreakable Cinque Devils.

Without the old devil controlling the bone banner, its power greatly decreased, allowing the cinque devils to regain the advantage. However, the three skulls embedded on the banner belonged to no ordinary cultivators. Although they were no match for the cinque devils, their desperate flaming rage appeared exceptionally brutal.

When Han Li saw this, he frowned and ordered the cinque devils with an incantation gesture.

Suddenly, three of Unbreakable Cinque Devils flew off, returning to their original skeletal form. The two devils that were fighting with the mist flood dragons also withdrew.

Before the flood dragons and the three skulls from the banner could resume their attack, the cinque devils all formed incantation gestures and opened their mouths.

Five differently-colored icy flames rushed out and fused together, creating a torrent of rainbow flames.

The flood dragon of black Qi was the first to meet the flame, and the result was as expected.

Under the rainbow flames, the black flood dragon's movements slowed. In the blink of an eye, its movements gradually grew increasingly sluggish until it became nearly still.

The cinque devils then let out a long whistle. Countless palm-sized blades of rainbow ice leaped out from the flames, shredding the black flood dragon until it was only black Qi, only for it to be burned away by the flames.

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The three skulls were faring even worse than the flood dragon.

When the black Qi they spat contacted the rainbow flame, it slowed and was soon wiped away by the flame.

When the skulls saw the flames slowly draw closer, a trace of fear appeared from their eyes and their whimpers grew louder.

The cinque devils sinisterly cackled at this display and soon the icy flames from their mouths halted, suddenly turning to five grey streaks into the sea of flame.

In that next moment, when the rainbow flames nearly arrived at the top of the bone banner where the three skulls resided, five clouds of grey Qi flew out from the flames and took the form of malevolent ghost heads.

They bared their fangs with excitement and sped forward without any abilities.

Crack! The five ghost heads fiercely bit down on the three skulls.

Of course, the three skulls weren't about to accept their fate. They bit back at the cinque devils.

Suddenly, strange howls and violent screams sounded as the ghost heads and skulls tore at each other with their teeth.

Due to the vast amount of black Qi they earlier released, the three skulls were lacking in vitality. Their position was even worse since they were outnumbered.

In the blink of an eye, the two of the three skulls were torn apart by four of the ghost heads and devoured in large mouthfuls. It took all the strength of the last ghost head to ward off the fifth ghost head for the time being.

When Han Li saw this, he smiled with satisfaction.

Meanwhile, the small cauldron he held in his hand let out a faint sigh.

"What? Does Fellow Daoist Endless Sky have any suggestions for my rainbow glacial flames?

"Nonsense! But your rainbow glacial flames remind me of many five elemental type techniques from the Spirit Realm. After these techniques are fully used, they are divided into five colors like your glacial flames. However, your glacial flames are incredibly cold. If an opponent mistook your flames for an elemental technique, they would suffer quite a bit."

(The Five Elements refer to Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water)

Azure light flashed and an azure-robed young boy appeared on top of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. He had red lips, white teeth, and a pair of plump white feet. He spoke leisurely as he glanced in the direction of the cinque devils.

"An elemental technique?" Han Li asked with a start.

"That's right," The boy smiled with a trace of mockery, "Since I've arrived in your mortal realm, I've discovered that there are few cultivators that learn multiple elements. Most only learn one. Hehe, If any of those people ascended to the Spirit Realm, I fear they will have no hope of ascending to the Void Refinement stage."

"What do you mean?" Han Li quickly asked with a shaken heart.

"It's nothing much. It's still too early to speak with you about the Void Refinement stage. However, I will mention that a crucial point of ascending to the Void Refinement stage is to fuse the five elements into one. If you manage to raise yourself to the Deity Transformation stage, it would be best for you to primarily cultivate as many of the five elements as you can. Peculiar elements such as wind and lightning are too difficult to fuse together. This way, you'll have a greater chance of breaking through to Void Refinement. Of course, cultivation methods with multiple techniques are far more difficult to cultivate than ordinary techniques. The rate at which magic power gathers will be inferior to single element techniques as well. If you don't have high hopes for reaching Void Refinement, it would be better to only cultivate a single element. With the increased rate at which you gain magic power, you'll be able to more easily survive the minor heavenly tribulations that occur every three hundred years!"

Han Li was left stunned by these words. After a long while, he eventually brought himself to say,

"Five elements into one? That is quite troublesome. My Azure Essence Sword Art is only a wood-attributed technique. As for the wind and lightning attributed techniques that is understandable. After all, they are variant elements that are formed by combining others. But shouldn't I cultivate techniques that conform to my body's spiritual roots? Could it be that heavenly spiritual roots are ordinary in the Spirit Realm? And what is this minor heavenly tribulation that you mentioned? Do humans in the Spirit Realm experience similar tribulation to metamorphosed demon beasts"

The boy flashed a mysterious smile and chuckled, "I didn't expect that a few of my words would attract so many questions. In that case, I'll give you a bit of an explanation."

"Heavenly spiritual roots are also remarkably rare in our Spirit Realm. Powers and sects of all sizes do their utmost to attract these disciples. After all, those with single elemental spiritual roots would have difficulty entering Void Refinement Stage. Heavenly Spirit Roots are far more difficult to cultivate, but the Void Refinement cultivators they produce are hegemons and sect leaders. When those with Heavenly Spirit Roots breakthrough to Void Refinement, a majority of them will be cultivating techniques with two or more attributes. As for the problem with spiritual roots, that is easily solved. The humans in the Spirit Realm devised a method to use particular demon beast cores to substitute their lack of spiritual roots. This 'Core Spiritual Root' method is somewhat inferior to genuine spiritual roots, there should be no problem in cultivating techniques of other elements. Of course, the core spiritual root method can only be used with preexisting spiritual roots. Mortals cannot use them. In fact, there was a method in the past that used magic tools and treasures as a substitution for spiritual roots. However, this method is incredibly dangerous and slow, so this method is hardly being used. There are cultivators with anywhere from three or four elemental spirit roots that do manage to breakthrough to Void Refinement Stage, but they all possess incredible perseverance. They can't be compared to ordinary cultivators, haha! The so-called minor heavenly tribulation is something that all cultivators above Core Formation stage much experience.

The boy briefly paused before continuing.

"In the lower realm, Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation cultivators experience a tribulation every three hundred years, thus earning the name 'minor heavenly tribulation. At the middle realm, Void Refinement, Integration, and Grand Ascension level cultivators experience a grand tribulation every three years. As for cultivators in the very last stage that ascended to the true Immortal realm, they experience Immortal tribulation. Normally, if your cultivation no longer progresses, the following tribulation will be far more powerful than the last. Also, the increased abundance of spiritual Qi in the spirit realm leads to greater speeds in cultivation, but once one condenses a Nascent Soul, it is a race against time. Many famous cultivators die each year from tribulation. Fellow Daoist Han should think that you will have no problems past Void Refinement Stage. Although these cultivator techniques technically have a limitless lifespan provided enough worldly essence, their lives aren't so peaceful or long. So long as you ascend to the spirit realm, death by heavenly tribulation is only a matter of time." With that said, the boy's face grew sullen and his eyes possessed deep fear.

Han Li wore a grave expression.

The boy didn't speak much, but his words clearly illustrated that the spirit realm was no paradise. But when Han Li heard that Void Refinement Stage cultivators didn't have a lifespan, Han Li was overjoyed.

Although he already read through a few records mentioning the limitless lifespan of a Void Refinement cultivator, he now possessed the full and certain truth.

From his tone, it appeared that a limitless lifespan can only be achieved after he ascended to the spirit realm. Even if he managed to achieve, Void Refinement in the mortal realm, the worldly essence is lacking, this limiting his lifespan. At the Deity Transformation stage, one is able to join with worldly essence. Their span won't be limited by two thousand years once they entered the Spirit Realm. It was no wonder why these Deity Transformation eccentrics were so desperate to find a method to ascend.

As for the tribulations that he mentioned, Han Li was somewhat cautious of them, but he didn't take them too much to heart.

The matter was a bit too far away from him for his consideration.

After Han Li asked a few more questions related to core spiritual roots and artifact spiritual roots, he eventually grew silent, his eyes twinkling in deep thought.

A short moment later, Han Li fiddled with the dark-green bottle in his hand and flicked off its cap.

Azure light flashed and the bottle rumbled before the cap shot off.

In the next moment, he found that there was absolutely nothing inside of it.

In his surprise, as he thought about what action to take next, a green light abruptly streaked out from the bottle and flew off.

Although Han Li was caught unprepared, he wasn't about to allow it to escape. With a cold snort, he reached his hand out.

A large azure hand appeared above the green light and slipped down to grab it.

The escaping green light seemed to have already been weakened. Although it was fleeing with the utmost speed, the large hand easily grabbed it from the air.

Within the flickering green light, one could see the vague appearance of a female Nascent Soul.

Han Li couldn't help but stroke his chin at the sight.

He stared at the Nascent Soul and slowly asked, "Who is your esteemed self? Why has Six Paths trapped you inside the bottle?"

"Who are you? Where is that devil Six Paths?" Although the Nascent Soul was trapped, it replied boldly.

Facing a mere Nascent Soul, Han Li simply smiled and lazily replied, "If you're thinking about seeing him, I fear you will be disappointed. I already sent him to the underworld."

"What? You killed that old devil? How is that possible? Yi! You're..." The Nascent Soul trembled and spoke with a tone of disbelief.

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"You know me?" Han Li said with a tone of bafflement.

Although he knew many female cultivators, he didn't know any at Nascent Soul-stage apart from Ling Yuling.

After a long pause, the Nascent Soul eventually spoke with an odd tone, "You're Han Li? When Heavenvoid Hall opened, I saw you once before. It was later said that you acquired the Heavenvoid Cauldron. I didn't expect that you could've escaped the pursuit from those old eccentrics and reach cultivation of this level."

When he heard her mention Heavenvoid Hall, he recalled where he heard her voice before. A flash of realization sparked in his mind and he doubtfully asked, "You're... Lady Wen?"

"I didn't expect that you'd remember me." She let out a long sigh.

When she confirmed her identity, Han Li wore an astonished expression.

This female Nascent Soul belonged to a woman named Lady Wen, who he originally saw at Heavenvoid Hall. Although her cultivation at the time was significant to begin with, she must've acquired quite a few medicines in Heavenvoid Hall and made much progress.

He also remembered what relationship she had with Six Paths.

"If I remember correctly, you should've been his Dao Companion!"

Lady Wen resentfully snorted and hesitantly asked, "His Dao Companion? Have you ever seen someone seal their Dao Companion's Nascent Soul in a magic treasure? But more importantly, you truly killed that wretch Six Paths?"

Han Li smiled and wordlessly extended his finger.

After a brief pause, Lady Wen's eyes followed where he pointed.

Not far away, there was a block of purple ice that sealed a ruined corpse. It originally belonged to Archsaint Six Paths.

Then, the azure hand holding down Lady Wen wildly flickered before disappearing without a trace.

Lady Wen's Nascent Soul was now freed.

With her freedom restored, Lady Wen quickly shot forward and flew several circles around the corpse before letting out a frigid laugh to the sky, "It really is that old wretch! As scheming as you are, I didn't expect that you would die first!"

Han Li frowned. Although he didn't know what happened for Six Paths and Lady Wen to fall out, he had no interest in hearing about it. Soon after, he began to consider what he should do next.

The Nascent Soul's laughter eventually came to a stop and she looked over to find Han Li wearing a pensive expression. "There is no need for Fellow Daoist Han to trouble himself. I've been kept inside that magic treasure for such a long period of time that I've weakened to the point where I can no longer possess a body.

My Nascent Soul will have to immediately dissipate for a chance of reincarnation. I am truly grateful that Fellow Daoist Han managed to eliminate my enemy, but with my current abilities, I have no way to compensate you. I can only hope to repay you in my next life."

With that said, she abruptly slapped the top of her head.

A blinding red light shined and covered the Nascent Soul entirely. Gradually, the Nascent Soul scattered inch by inch before hl until it was no more.

Han Li was shocked.

He didn't think that Lady Wen would be so decisive that she would end herself without speaking another word to him. Was what happened so disastrous that she would keep this secret to the grave? But even if she didn't want to tell him what happened, he could fancy a guess.

Although he was somewhat gloomy over what happened, it was better things ended this way. It would've been troublesome to figure out what to do with her.

Han Li shook his head and sighed. He raised his hand and summoned the green bottle back into his grasp before placing it into his storage pouch.

Then, he released an arc of golden lightning from his hand and pulverized the purple ice and the rest of Six Paths' corpse, turning it into nothing more than shining specks.

As for his storage pouch, Han Li simply took it into his possession.

He quickly swept over its contents and found that most of them didn't catch his attention at his current level, despite many treasures being amongst them. But there were a few slips detailing Devil Dao techniques that piqued his interest. It is a pity that he didn't have the time to look at them.

With all that done, Han Li beckoned to his puppet and directly head over to the bone banner. The puppet blurred and strangely disappeared.

When he arrived at the bone banner, the five ghost heads cleanly devoured the skulls and had nearly devoured the entirety of the banner itself.

When Han Li arrived in front of it, he shook his head.

Although the bone banner was somewhat famous, it possessed too much fiendish Qi and wasn't suitable for him. As such, he made no attempt to stop them.

A short moment later, the cinque devils finally finished destroying the banner and they let out odd screams as if in an expression of joy. The devil Qi they emitted seemed to be more concentrated than before.

When Han Li saw this, his expression remained unchanged. He waited until their laughs finished before commanding them with a single hand.

Although the cinque devils were somewhat unwilling, they didn't dare to disobey and obediently arrived at Han Li's side, having experienced the pain from Han Li's restrictions several times before.

Rather than withdrawing them, he calmly flew back in the direction of Heavenly Star City and had the cinque devils closely follow after him.

The battle between him and the old devil didn't last very long. Victory was achieved in only the time it took to finish a meal.

If the city fell in that amount of time, Han Li would simply turn around and leave without care for anything else.

It would simply illustrate that the city wasn't worthy of his help!

Fortunately, this matter didn't come to pass.

By the time Han Li let the Cinque Devils back to the Heavenly Windfire Formation's core, the vast battle between the Star Palace and the Star Defying Alliance was still being fought with great intensity.

Truthfully, it appeared the Star Defying Alliance had somewhat of an upper hand.

This was because the Twin Lan Devils were truly formidable. As the blue devilish Qi and the pink fragrant mist spread forward, it pushed back the Star Palace cultivators. The two original elders of the Star Defying Alliance were clearly superior to Old Man Zhao and the large purple-robed man. They could barely hold them back, let alone deal with the Lan Devils.

The lower-grade cultivators, on the other hand, would be immediately shredded to mist upon contact with the blue Qi, or fall as if drunk upon touching the pink mist.

As a result, the Lan Devils wreaked havoc unchecked.

In such turbulent fighting, Han Li's silent return hadn't caught anybody's attention.

Han Li first swept his gaze at the huge windfire pillar and then glanced at the eye-catching display of the Twin Lan Devils. He sneered and wore a fierce expression on his face.

He wordlessly pointed at the Lan Devils. The cinque devils at his side let out a series of low roars and soon charged towards them in five grey streaks.

Then, Han Li slapped a spirit beast pouch at his waist and produced a ball of golden insects above him.

Han Li raised his hand and let out a soft yell. The insect swarm loudly buzzed and with a bang, turned into a dozen smaller clouds before dispersing.

After Han Li was done with that, he waved the wings on his back and disappeared in a gust of wind.

Although the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Star Defying Alliance were fighting away from the formation core, there were still several Core Formation stage cultivators standing on guard above it.

This was to prevent the Star Palace from destroying the formation core in a surprise attack.

The guards whispered to each other on top of the pillar and they couldn't help but reveal their delight upon seeing that the Star Defying Alliance held the slight advantage in the battle.

One of them turned around to speak to another cultivator, but then they saw something that made his complexion bloodlessly pale.

When the other guards saw this, they turned around in fright and immediately let out frightened shouts.

Thirty meters in the air behind them, there was a youth silently floating there. He had his arms crossed and he wore a mysterious smile.

This youth was the same grand cultivator that left the battle with their alliance leader. How could he be here?

These Core Formation cultivators suddenly felt an icy chill down their backs. Before these cultivators could even think of running or calling out for help, Han Li's expression suddenly sank and he flicked his hand several times from within his sleeve.

Suddenly, golden sword streaks shot towards them.

The many Core Formation cultivators trembled in fright, each moving to flee away.

But several flashes later, the sword streaks flew past them and the guards fell down, all of their bodies riddled with holes.

There were a few that managed to summon their magic treasures, but they promptly exploded and their owners fell without resistance.

The sword Qi Han Li produced from the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were incredibly sharp, rivaling the power of even a top-grade magic treasure. Even Nascent Soul cultivators wouldn't dare to casually receive them, let alone trifling Core Formation cultivators.

In a single breath, the Core Formation cultivators were extinguished. He retained a calm expression and indifferently looked at the giant pillar before him. Then with a wave of his sleeve, a clear sound rang.

Several small golden swords flew out from his sleeve like a school of fish and swelled to the size of a meter before fusing together.

In flourishing golden radiance, a ten-meter-long golden sword appeared above the pillar.

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Magic power surged throughout Han Li's entire body in a frenzy as he let loose a low cry.

Brilliant spiritual light erupted from the surface of the huge sword, and it shuddered before instantly transforming into a wyrm-like streak of golden light, circling in the air above before crashing down with ferocious might.

A loud rumbling boom erupted as the golden light struck the massive bronze pillar.

In the face of the golden light, the mountainous pillar appeared as if it had been constructed from playdoh, and it was sliced in half with ease.

From a distance, it appeared as if a doomsday-like scenario was unfolding on the horizon.

All of the Starfall Coalition cultivators nearby hurriedly rose into the air atop their treasures.

Such a loud commotion had naturally drawn the attention of all of the cultivators on both sides.

Thus, Han Li was naturally thrust under the limelight.

At the sight of Han Li, completely contrasting expression appeared on everyone's faces; some were horrified, while others were ecstatic.

Of course, not everyone had the spare capacity to turn their attention toward Han Li.

For example, Han Li was currently looking at a man and a woman who were caught in an extremely fierce battle with five massive ghostly heads, and were unable to pay any heed to the earthshattering boom that had just erupted.

Coincidentally, the devilish Qi and pink fragrant mist emitted by the twin Lan devils were being completely dominated by the greyish-white devilish flames erupting from mouths of the five ghostly heads, so they had been forced firmly onto the back foot.

Elder Zhao and Elder Ma were ecstatic upon seeing this, and they immediately cast their treasures toward the twin Lan devils to plunge them into an even more perilous situation.

As for the dozen or so swarms of golden beetles released by Han Li, they were also dominating the battlefield.

At Han Li's behest, the beetles only targeted Starfall Coalition cultivators below the Nascent Soul Stage. They swept through the battlefield like golden clouds, and no matter what treasures were used to try and keep the beetles at bay, all of them were devoured into nothingness.

Within a span of a few moments, several tens of cultivators had been completely devoured by the Gold Devouring Beetles.

All of the Starfall Coalition cultivators nearby had been thrown into a complete panic, and all of them were desperately trying to get away from the swarms of beetles.

The fact that Han Li had just destroyed the core of the Heavenly Windfire Formation with a single sword strike further compounded their woes, and morale had dropped to an all-time low.

Many of the Starfall Coalition cultivators were already fleeing from the battle.

There were only a few at first, followed by a dozen or so, which quickly turned into hundreds of cultivators fleeing into the distance!

Han Li didn't even need to attack any further, and the Starfall Coalition's defeat had already been sealed. The old woman and the elderly man with the Long surname could see that the situation was in a drastic downward spiral, so they also immediately shook off their opponents and flew away as quickly as they could.

The twin Lan devils clearly also knew that it would be unwise to stay any longer, and they suddenly summoned several powerful treasures before detonating them all once. In doing so, the five ghostly heads were temporarily forced back, thereby creating an avenue of escape for the two of them.

Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this, and he immediately flapped his Thunderstorm Wings without any hesitation, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The twin Lan devils had only just escaped from the ghostly heads when a dull thunderclap erupted up ahead, following Han Li appeared out of thin air, directly cutting them off.

The two devils' hearts immediately sank upon seeing Han Li's cold and expressionless.

However, both of them were powerful Devil Dao cultivators in their own right, so they certainly weren't going to give up and allow themselves be killed. As such, they glanced at one another before raising their hands in unison, summoning several treasures of various different colors. At the same time, their bodies swayed, and both of them unleashed devilish techniques to attack Han Li.

A hint of killing intent surfaced in Han Li's eyes upon seeing this.

Several days later, the entire Scattered Star Seas was in a massive uproar. Not only did the final battle between the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition commence far earlier than everyone had expected, the end result also had most people's jaws dropping to the ground.

Not only had Wan Tianming of the Myriad Gates of Enlightenment perished during this battle, many high-grade Starfall Coalition cultivators had also been killed, as had the vast renowned twin Lan devils.

As such, Han Li's name became known to virtually everyone in the Scattered Star Seas. Some people had even dug up some information about Han Li's past, particularly about how he had obtained the Heavenvoid Cauldron from the Heavenvoid Hall even prior to reaching the Nascent Soul Stage, and how he had been hunted by the Starfall Coalition in the aftermath of that incident.

Countless cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas were amazed by those legendary tales, and there were no longer any Nascent Soul cultivators who dared to go after the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

In the next few months, the Star Palace deployed a large number of cultivators to recover their lost territory while also hunting down the high-grade Starfall Coalition cultivators who had managed to escape. In the end, they reached the main base of the Starfall Coalition in one fell swoop.

The Nascent Soul elders of the Starfall Coalition were unwilling to concede, and they gathered a group of powerful cultivators to engage the Star Palace in another battle at the Starfall Coalition's main base.

On this occasion, the Starfall Coalition naturally crashed to an even heavier defeat without a late-Nascent Soul cultivator among their ranks.

They had deployed three mid-Nascent Soul cultivators at once to take care of Han Li, only for two of them to be slain by Han Li with ease. The final cultivator was able to escape with his Nascent Soul intact using some kind of secret technique, but his body had been sliced in half and even if he could successfully possess a new vessel, he would most likely be unable to recover to his original cultivation base.

Thus, in the short span of just half a year, the Star Palace had become the ruler of the Scattered Star Seas again, and all of the other sects and powers pledged their allegiance to the Star Palace once again.

Ling Yuling took this opportunity to extend an olive branch the low-grade Starfall Coalition cultivators who had managed to escape, but she showed no mercy to the very few Nascent Soul Stage Starfall Coalition elders that remained.

As such, the Starfall Coalition began to crumble from the inside as all of the low-grade cultivators switched their allegiance to the Star Palace, while the remaining high-grade cultivators fled for their lives. In what seemed like the blink of an eye, the mighty Starfall Coalition had been wiped off the face of the Scattered Star Seas.

Half a year later, there was a man and a woman making their way through a long passageway within the belly of Heavenly Star City's sacred mountain.

This passageway had been completely paved with pristine white jade, creating spotless mirror-like surfaces.

The woman was an exquisite beauty while the man's appearance was much more mundane; they were none other than Han Li and the master of the Star Palace, Ling Yuling.

Han Li was walking behind Ling Yuling, and he inspected the jade walls around him as he asked, "I can't believe the Divine Essencefused Mountain was placed in such a location; is it really that fearsome?"

"Fearsome is an understatement, Brother Han. Any cultivators below the Nascent Soul Stage who accidentally approach this mountain would immediately suffer from spiritual power backlash, and they could easily perish as a result. Nascent Soul cultivators can stay around the Divine Essencefused Light a little longer, but prolonged exposure to the mountain could still result in a regression in cultivation base," Ling Yuling explained with a smile.

"I'm even more curious about this Divine Essencefused Mountain now. I wonder how this mountain was discovered in the first place," Han Li mused with a contemplative look in his eyes.

"Father did actually mention this to me in the past. During one of his journeys to the outer seas, he witnessed this mountain erupting out from an underwater volcano. In order to transfer the mountain to this place, Father had to expend extensive efforts, and there were even several Core Formation cultivators whose cultivation bases had severely regressed during the process. After that, my parents attained initial mastery of the Divine Essencefused Light before attempting to refine this mountain bit by bit as if it were a treasure. However, this is an extremely time-consuming task, and even when they passed away, they had only refined a small portion of the mountain," Ling Yuling explained.

"Hehe, if they had successfully refined this mountain, they most likely wouldn't have been bound to it as they were," Han Li chuckled.

Ling Yuling merely smiled in response, yet gave no reply to this. After rounding a corner, her footsteps came to a halt.

There was a massive green jade door up ahead further down the corridor, and there were countless shimmering restriction talismans of different colors plastered over the door.

"This is where my parents once cultivated. These are the restrictions that they painstakingly set up in order to isolate the Divine Essencefused Mountain's five-elemental power." As she spoke, Ling Yuling raised a hand, and a snowy white jade badge surfaced over her palm.

She then waved the badge gently toward the gate, upon which a clump of white threads short forth from the jade badge, sweeping away all of the restriction talismans on the jade door.

The jade door abruptly began to tremor violently, following which a low buzzing sound rang out, and the entire door began to move.

A serious expression appeared on Ling Yuling's face as she opened her mouth to blast forth a blue jade hook.

The hook seemed to possess some kind of mystical property, and it transformed into a veil of blue light that settled over Ling Yuling's body.

Only then did she turn to Han Li as she cautioned, "Treasures that don't contain any powers of the five elements are affected the least by the Divine Essencefused Moutain. You're obviously a lot more powerful than I am, but it's still best to exercise caution in there."

"Don't worry, Fellow Daoist Yuling, I know my limits," Han Li replied with a smile.

Golden light abruptly shimmered all over his body, following which a shiny golden light barrier suddenly appeared.

It was none other than the vajra barrier that Han Li had cultivated. Even though this wasn't an item constructed from jade, it was something that was outside of the realm of the five elements.

Ling Yuling faltered initially upon seeing this before a smile appeared on her face. She raised a hand to toss the jade badge into the air, then chanted something in a heavenly voice.

The jade badge shuddered as runes of all types of different colors flew out from it before disappearing into the jade door.

The ringing emanating from the jade door also came to an abrupt halt, following it opened outward, revealing a cavernous space and a vast expanse of white light.

As soon as the jade door was opened, Han Li was struck by a bone-chilling sensation as the hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end. His heart jolted with shock as pure wood-attribute spiritual power surged through his meridians like frantically galloping wild horses.

Thankfully, he was somewhat mentally prepared for this and activated his Azure Essence Sword Art. Only then was he able to shrug off this asphyxiating spiritual pressure, and spiritual power within his body began to circulate in a normal manner again.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he was slightly shaken internally.

He had been struck by such a fearsome sensation after activating his vajra barrier; if he had refrained from doing so, he would've been in a bit of trouble just then. Han Li was not surprised that mere exposure to this mountain could threaten a normal cultivator's life.

With that in mind, Han Li couldn't help but turn his gaze toward Ling Yuling.

Even though she had that blue light barrier shielding her body, her blood had also churned violently in her veins just then, and her delicate cheeks had become faintly flushed, making her appear extremely alluring and seductive.

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After her face returned to its normal pallor, Ling Yuling made her way into the space beyond the jade door.

Han Li naturally followed her inside.

Beyond the jade door was an astonishingly spacious cave close to 10,000 feet wide and over 1,000 feet tall. The walls of the cave were all paved with unidentifiable azure rocks, and there were some moonlight stones embedded into those walls, illuminating the cave in a faint white light.

However, none of this was able to attract Han Li's attention in the slightest; his eyes had been completely drawn to the small mountain at the center of the cave.

It would actually be inaccurate to call it a small mountain. In reality, it was only a gargantuan rock.

The rock was around 500 to 600 feet tall with a wide base that tapered as it up toward the peak. From a distance, it would indeed appear as if this were a miniature mountain.

The surface of the mountain was completely black and very mundane-looking. It was quite a jarring notion that this massive nondescript rock was the legendary Divine Essencefused Mountain.

"This is the Divine Essencefused Mountain?" Han Li's footsteps faltered as he looked at the mountain before him through narrowed eyes.

"That's right. It was once greyish-white in color, but after my parents refined a small portion of it, it turned into this pitch-black color." Ling Yuling had stopped a few steps in front of Han Li, seemingly unwilling to advance any further.

Han Li stood on the spot and carefully examined the mountain for a long while before striding past Ling Yuling as he slowly approached the mountain.

As he drew closer and closer, Han Li could sense that the five-elemental power emanating from the mountain was growing noticeably more powerful. The spiritual power within his body was once again being whipped up into a frenzy.

However, Han Li was already prepared this time, so the effects of the five-elemental power were quelled after activating his Azure Essence Sword Art again.

Before long, he had already reached the small black mountain.

Han Li had his hands clasped behind his back as he walked around the mountain. There was blue light shimmering incessantly within his eyes, as if he were trying to completely see through the entire mountain.

However, his ever-reliable Brightsight Spirit Eyes disappointed him on this occasion.

Even after injecting all of his magic power into his eyes, his vision was still unable to seep into the mountain in the slightest, let alone glean its internal structure.

As for attempting to assess the mountain with his spiritual sense, the proved to be even more futile. Before his spiritual sense had even managed to approach the mountain, it was forcibly warped and kept out by the five-elemental power.

Han Li stood with a contemplative look on his face before suddenly stepping forward a few steps and stroking the mountain with his hand.

He discovered that the mountain was as smooth and cool as jade, a texture that completely belied its appearance.

A hint of surprise appeared on Han Li's face.

"You seem a little bemused, Brother Han. You're not suspecting this mountain to be fake, are you?" Ling Yuling asked with a smile.

"Hehe, regardless of whether it's real or not, this thing can certainly disrupt the spiritual power of the Nascent Soul cultivator. Even if it's not the so-called Divine Essencefused Mountain, it's most likely a treasure of the same caliber, what's the point in forging something like this?" Han Li chuckled.

"I'm glad you think that, Brother Han. If you really do plan on cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light, then you'll have to think about what you want to do with this mountain. If you want to take this mountain with you, even with your extraordinary powers, you most likely won't be able to travel far with it. Back when my father had first discovered this mountain, he had to cultivate the first few layers of the Divine Essencefused Light first. Even then, he was only able to transfer it from the outer seas to the Star Palace with the assistance of many palace disciples, and the process took him over 10 years. I suggest you cultivate for a few years in our Star Palace first so you can at least master the first two layers of the Divine Essencefused Light, then consider moving this mountain," Ling Yuling suggested.

"It sounds like what you're saying is that I won't be able to take this mountain unless I cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light first. Is it really that troublesome to transport?" Han Li asked with a slightly skeptical expression.

"Hehe, I'm not saying anything of that nature. You are definitely no less powerful than my father was at his prime, so perhaps you have some other type of secret technique that will allow you to take the mountain with you. Otherwise, you really will have to devise a course of action before you act, Fellow Daoist Han," Ling Yuling replied with a smile.

Han Li considered the situation for a moment before murmuring to himself, "I'll give it a try first."

After making up his mind, he made a hand seal before casting an azure incantation seal toward the pitch-black miniature mountain before him.

Azure light flashed and the incantation seal shot forth through the air. However, when it was still around a foot away from the mountain, the incantation seal was suddenly warped, and exploded before dissipating into specks of azure light.

Han Li's brows furrowed as he quickly made seral more hand seals, casting incantation seals of different colors one after the other.

However, no matter what kind of incantation seal he tried, his efforts remained completely futile. All of them merely self-detonated before they could reach the Divine Essencefused Mountain.

A grim expression appeared on Han Li's face as he pressed his palm against the surface of the mountain.

On this occasion, he didn't immediately withdraw his hand. Instead, he began to chant something, and spiritual light shimmered on his hand as he attempted to forcibly cast an incantation seal directly into the mountain.

However, as soon as the incantation seal left his hand, Han Li sensed an immense invisible power surging toward his hand.

The spiritual power within his body that he had just managed to settle instantly escaped from his body, surging violently into the mountain.

Han Li's expression changed drastically as he let loose a low cry. Scintillating golden light immediately radiated from his vajra barrier, following which he abruptly rammed his spare hand into the mountain.

His body shuddered as he stumbled back, cutting off the mountain's enormous suction power.

Only then did Han Li heave a sigh of relief as his expression eased slightly.

If a normal early-Nascent Soul or mid-Nascent Soul cultivator had been in his shoes, their cultivation base would most likely have been damaged by that ordeal alone.

Ling Yuling's heart also jolted with shock upon seeing this, and she hurriedly asked, "Brother Han, are you alright?"

Han Li nodded as he replied, "I'm fine. This mountain is indeed rather peculiar; it appears that I won't be able to take it with me through normal means. I want to stay here for a while and see if I can think of another way to take this mountain with me. If it still can't be done, then I'll devise an alternative course of action when that time comes, is that alright?"

"Of course! However, even though you're quite powerful, I'd advise you not to stay here for too long at a time before you cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light. By my estimations, you should only stay here for a maximum of three to four consecutive days; any longer than that, and your cultivation base could be hampered. I'll come back to check on you in three days," Ling Yuling cautioned.

Han Li nodded in response, and Ling Yuling handed over her jade badge to him before departing after a respectful curtsey.

After Ling Yuling had left the cave, Han Li immediately waved the jade badge in his hand toward the jade cave. As he injected his power into the badge, countless talismans flew forth from within, plastering themselves onto the jade door again.

Following a burst of low ringing, the door closed itself once again.

After doing all that, Han Li didn't immediately begin to examine the Divine Essencefused Mountain. Instead, he released his spiritual sense to carefully assess the cave around him.

After verifying that there weren't any restrictions within the cave, he pulled out a stack of formation flags from his storage pouch in an unhurried manner before tossing them toward various corners of the cave. A dozen or so streaks of light immediately flew through the air before disappearing into the ground.

Bursts of yellow mist began to billow out from the ground, concealing the entire interior of the cave in the blink of an eye.

Han Li was feeling quite reassured after that, and he focused his attention on the small mountain again.

He had seen a mountainous treasure like this once in the past in the form of a powerful ancient treasure by the name of the Thousandfold Mountain. However, the Thousandfold Mountain merely resembled a mountain but in essence, it was still identical to a normal treasure. As such, it was nowhere near as troublesome as this mountain to tackle. In comparison, the Divine Essencefused Mountain was like a hedgehog, and no matter how he approached it, its figurative spikes seemed to be unavoidable.

A ball of azure light suddenly flew out from within his sleeve before taking on the form of a small child. "Hehe, that little girl seems to be very keen for you to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light."

It was none other than a projection of the Endless Sky Beast in its human form.

"I also get the feeling that this Palace Master Ling really wants me to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light. If I recall correctly, the Divine Essencefused Light seems to be very difficult to cultivate, and even though it's been circulating throughout the Scattered Star Seas for a long time, only the Heavenly Star Sages have managed to achieve much success with it. If I want to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light, I'll most likely have to borrow the power of this mountain. However, in that case, I'll most likely be bound to this mountain, just like the Heavenly Star Sages were," Han Li analyzed in a calm manner.

"Oh, so you're saying that little girl is trying to plot against you?" the small child asked.

"I wouldn't put it in such severe terms. However, according to her plan, I'll most likely be trapped in Heavenly Star City forever and be forced to join the Star Palace. Otherwise, do you really think the Heavenly Star Sages would be kindhearted enough to give me those secret techniques in exchange for my assisting their daughter on three separate occasions? On top of that, even though they gave me many secret techniques that could help me progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, it doesn't take much analysis to figure out that only the Divine Essencefused Light is a truly viable option. They're clearly setting up a trap for me here," Han Li chuckled coldly as he looked at the Divine Essencefused Mountain.

"Aren't these two afraid that you'd see through their ploy?" The small child pursed his lips.

"As long as I'm intent on progressing to the Deity Transformation Stage, I'll most likely have to take this route, even though I know it's a trap. Hence, the Heavenly Star Sages aren't afraid that I'll see through their tricks as I'll have no choice in the matter anyway. However, if I can somehow find a way to take this mountain away with me before I cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light, then I won't have any concerns. It appears that the Heavenly Star Sages are quite confident in this Divine Essencefused Mountain. But then again, it's no wonder that they're confident; they were trapped here by this mountain for several centuries, so they've most likely tried everything they could. I probably won't be able to do anything about this, either," Han Li sighed as he stroked his chin.

"Then why don't you emulate the Heavenly Star Sages and borrow the power of this mountain to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light? After you reach a certain level of mastery, you'll be able to take this mountain back to the Heavenly South Region, won't you?" the small child suggested with a smile.

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"Do I look like I have a lot of time on my hands? Even if I master the first two layers of the Divine Essencefused Light in a short time and gain the ability to move this mountain, I won't be able to put it in my storage pouch, and nor will I be able to teleport with it. Do you expect me to carry this mountain back to the Heavenly South Region?" Han Li sighed.

"That's true. In that case, I don't have any good suggestions, either. If we were in the Spirit Realm, I'd be able to store this mountain in my All-Encompassing Pouch, but in this world..." The small child shook his head in a forlorn manner.

Han Li didn't know what this All-Encompassing Pouch was, but it was clearly some kind of spatial treasures. While he was surprised to learn that such a treasure existed, he knew that he wouldn't be able to rely on the Endless Sky Beast to help him here.

It appeared that he would have to think of a way himself.

Even though he wanted to elicit the Divine Essencefused Mountain's assistance to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light and reach the Deity Transformation Stage, he didn't want to be essentially imprisoned in this place. Even if he had to be trapped somewhere for his cultivation, he definitely didn't want it to be Heavenly Star City. Similarly, he also didn't want to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light in the Drifting Cloud Sect.

With his current resounding reputation in the Heavenly South Region, news of the fact that he had obtained the Divine Essencefused Mountain would be leaked sooner or later, and that could quite possibly result in disaster for the Drifting Cloud Sect, just as it had for the Star Palace.

It was best to find an extremely safe and obscure location where he could master this cultivation art in one fell swoop, not giving anyone a chance to plot against him.

However, it was still yet to be seen whether he was actually going to use this cultivation art. He had to use the glacial flames of his Unbroken Cinque Devils to attempt a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage first. If he could succeed in doing that, then he won't have to worry about cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light. Otherwise, no matter how powerful this cultivation art was, it wasn't worth giving up his freedom just for a chance to use it.

In any case, what he had to do now was to see if he could come up with a method to take this mountain with him. If he could resolve this matter, then he naturally wouldn't have to be troubled by these concerns.

With that in mind, Han Li cast aside his train of thought and patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist. A dozen or so talismans immediately appeared in his hand, all of which were tossed toward the small mountain.

On this occasion, the talismans were all able to plaster themselves to the mountain's surface, and nothing seemed to have been amiss.

Han Li was ecstatic upon seeing this, and he hurriedly made a hand seal.

A loud explosion erupted as all of the talismans were reduced to ashes amid flashes of spiritual light.

Han Li's expression darkened, but he could only heave a faint sigh as he flipped his hand over to produce a stack of formation plates.

The formation plates were thrown into the air, and balls of lights of different colors began to slowly revolve around the small mountain. At the same time, the sound of chanting rang out within the cave.

The dozen or so balls of light revolved around the Divine Essencefused Mountain, gathering speed as they did so. All of a sudden, a burst of azure light erupted from the summit of the Divine Essencefused Mountain, flashing a few times before disappearing.

Not long after that, 11 crisp tolls of a bell rang out from within the sacred palace at the summit of the sacred mountain. The tolls of the bell were like the cries of a dragon, rising straight up into the heavens, and was audible in every corner of the Heavenly Star City. Immediately thereafter, the Star Palace announced that the great cultivator, Han Li, was officially joining the Star Palace as a guest elder, and was going into seclusion on the sacred mountain for a century.

All of the powers that heard this news expressed mixed emotions in response, but not many of them were all that surprised. After all, if it weren't for the fact that Han Li had personally slain that Wan Tianming, the Star Palace would've been the one that had ceased to exist, as opposed to the Starfall Coalition. The situation in the Scattered Star Seas hadn't truly settled, so any power would be trying to recruit such a powerful great cultivator to their side with all their might.

Seeing as Han Li was willing to go into battle against the Starfall Coalition for the sake of the Star Palace, he had to have a strong connection with the Star Palace, so it made sense that he was now becoming their guest elder.

As such, all of the powers who were still plotting against the Star Palace immediately relinquished those unrealistic plans. In the blink of an eye, many sects and powers in the Inner Star Seas had completely shut themselves off from the outside world. Aside from the Star Palace cultivators who were hunting down the remaining Starfall Coalition survivors, the Scattered Star Seas had become a picture of peace and serenity.

Ever since the rise of the Starfall Coalition, there had been several consecutive centuries of turmoil that had persisted in the Scattered Star Seas. Not only had a vast number of cultivators perished during the battle against these two colossal forces, many other sects had been affected as well. During this time, countless powers had been founded and eradicated. It was quite apparent that the Star Palace was going to rule over the Scattered Star Seas, and they had recruited an almighty great cultivator to their side, so all of these powers naturally became extremely docile and; none of them wanted to be eradicated as an example to the rest of the Scattered Star Seas!

Unbeknownst to all of these powers, the fearsome newly-instated Star Palace guest elder wasn't actually meditating and cultivating within a certain secret chamber in Heavenly Star City as was proclaimed. Instead, he was traveling over the ocean countless kilometers away from Heavenly Star City as a streak of azure light.

The amused voice of a small child sounded beside Han Li's ears. "I didn't think that you'd agree to become the Star Palace's guest elder. Even though they offered you so many spirit stones, I thought that you'd be the kind of person to reject them regardless. Aren't you always trying to avoid trouble?"

"I do indeed try to avoid trouble as much as I can, but they're offering me a lot of spirit stones just to accept a false title without having to do any work in return; why wouldn't I accept such an arrangement? Besides, the situation in the Scattered Star Seas has mostly been stabilized; the Star Palace is merely hoping to use my name to intimidate all of the other powers. If I were to agree to join the Star Palace and actually stay there, all of the Star Palace elders would be much more concerned," Han Li replied with a cold smile.

"It's no wonder that they would be concerned; at your current level, it wouldn't be impossible for you to forcibly settle into the Star Palace. As long as you take care of all of the Star Palace elders, then develop a bunch of loyal followers, the Star Palace would be yours in about 200 to 300 years," the small child replied with a faint smile.

"If I had no aspirations of ascending to the Spirit Realm and only wish to establish a sect in the human world, that would indeed be a good option. Otherwise, what would I be doing all those useless things for? It would only hamper my cultivation." Han Li's reply was completely emotionless, as if he were entirely disinterested in such a prospect.

The small child was silent for a moment before heaving a faint sigh. "I greatly admire the firmness of your heart in your pursuit of the Great Dao, Fellow Daoist Han. Even if I were in your shoes, I would be extremely tempted to take over such a powerful force. I wonder if all cultivators who ascended to the Spirit Realm from your human world had such immense willpower."

"I'm no saint; I would be lying if I told you I wasn't tempted in the slightest by the prospect of taking over the Star Palace. However, I can't afford to waste any time on such trivial matters at present. You're a heavenly spirit beast, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky, and your lifespan far outstrips mine, so you naturally wouldn't pay any heed to a few short centuries," Han Li replied calmly.

"That's true. However, it's a pity that you were unable to take the Divine Essencefused Mountain with you in the end."

"It's alright, I'll store it at the Star Palace for now. It's not like it's going anywhere, and I can come back for it when I truly need it for my cultivation. The only troubling thing is that I didn't think the mountain would be so troublesome to try and move. I've tried all types of methods, but was still unable to shrink it." Han Li's brows furrowed as he spoke.

"Indeed, you tried everything you could during those few days in that cave, but that mountain was like an indestructible object immune to all treasures and incantation seals. It doesn't appear as if anything exists in the human world that can shrink it." A thoughtful expression also appeared on the small child's face.

"Didn't you mention a powerful spatial treasure that could encompass this entire mountain?" Han Li suddenly asked.

"You're referring to the All-Encompassing Pouch that my true body in the Spirit Realm is carrying, right? Do you have a similar treasure to this? Let me make this clear to you now; a normal spatial treasure is definitely not going to be able to contain this Divine Essencefused Mountain," the small child cautioned.

Han Li was in a brief moment of silent contemplation before replying, "I don't have a complete treasure of this nature, but I do have half of one. I only recalled that I had it a short while ago, and I could perhaps be able to use it to move this mountain."

"Half a treasure?" The small child was a little dumbstruck.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he suddenly patted his storage pouch. Black light flashed, and a strange object immediately appeared before his eyes.

It was that incomplete Black Wind Flag.

This flag was an extremely powerful spatial spirit treasure, so it would naturally have no issues storing that mountain. The only concern was that there was only half of this flag left, so it was no wonder that Han Li was referring to it as half a treasure.

A faint cry of surprise escaped from the small child's lips upon seeing this item, and a ball of azure light immediately flew out from within Han Li's sleeve. The ball of light transformed into the projection of a small child in the blink of an eye, and he waved a hand toward the object that Han Li was holding.

The half of the Black Wind Flag swayed before flying directly toward the small child. The latter caught the flag and began to carefully appraise it.

"This item used to be a spirit treasure, right? Spatial spirit treasure is quite rare, even in the Spirit Realm. But how was this treasure reduced to this state? What a pity." The small child only tossed the flag back to Han Li with a grave expression on his face after examining it for a long while.

"Do you think this treasure can be repaired, Fellow Daoist Endless Sky?" Han Li asked.

"Seeing as this treasure used to be a spirit treasure, it would be very difficult to completely restore it to its former condition. However, if you were to refine it again, it wouldn't be impossible to change it into a spatial treasure of a slightly lower caliber. I recall that there's a spatial treasure known as the Crimson Soul Flag that was slightly similar to this treasure, but if you want to refine that treasure..." The small child's voice suddenly trailed off here.

"What is it?" Han Li asked.

"There are certain secondary materials required to refine this treasure, which won't be a problem for you to obtain with your current status. However, the flag requires the sacrifices of a large number of living souls in order to be refined. The power of the flag will also be directly and completely dependent on the number of living souls sacrificed during the refinement process. It's one of the Spirit Realm's seven sinister treasures, and barely ever is it refined, even in the Spirit Realm. If you want to be able to store the Divine Essencefused Mountain into the flag, you'd need to sacrifice at least several million living souls. As for changing this flag into other types of spatial treasures, that would theoretically be possible, but you wouldn't be able to source the materials required in this world. Only the Crimson Soul Flag is a viable option for you. Otherwise, you won't be able to refine such a treasure in your human world," the small child explained.

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"It requires that many living souls to be sacrificed?" Han Li's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

"Hehe, I was already giving you a conservative estimate. If you want to truly unleash the power of the Crimson Soul Flag, you'd require tens of millions of living souls. I was only giving you an estimate of several million as you're only looking to use the flag to store an object. A true Crimson Soul Flag isn't a Divine Spirit Treasure, but it won't be too far away from a normal spirit treasure, either. It's sought after by countless cultivators for its spatial abilities," the small child chuckled.

"Tens of millions of living souls? Unless I demolish an entire large city or island, there's no way I'd be able to gather so many living souls! Wait... maybe I can gather those souls without having to do something so heinous." Han Li firmly shook his head initially, but a thought then suddenly occurred to him.

"Have you found a feasible method, Fellow Daoist Han?" The small child was rather taken aback by Han Li's reaction.

Han Li didn't give an immediate reply to the small child's question. Instead, he patted his storage pouch again, and green light flashed, following which two small green flags appeared in his hands.

Each flag was only several inches in size, but they were shimmering with green light and covered in runes, indicating that they were clearly remarkable treasures.

These were the two Ghost Sifting Banners that he had obtained during his journey to the Great Jin, and one of them had even been taken from Old Devil Qian himself. As for the other one, it had undergone devilfication from injection of devilish Qi, and had been in the possession of the second Nascent Soul.

"What are these?" A faint light flashed through the small child's eyes, but he didn't recognize these flags. It was no wonder that this was the case. During Han Li's journey to the Kunwu Mountains in the Great Jin, the avatar of the Endless Sky Beast hadn't developed intelligence yet, so it naturally wouldn't have seen Han Li obtaining these two treasures. However, it could naturally detect the astonishing soul Qi emanating from the two Ghost Sifting Banners.

"Will I be able to refine the Yin souls on these banners again and use it to create the Crimson Soul Flag?" Han Li asked.

The small child carefully examined the Ghost Sifting Banners in Han Li's hands before replying, "That is indeed possible. However, even though these two treasures aren't of the same caliber as a Crimson Soul Flag, they're still extraordinary items in their own right. If you do that, they would be completely ruined. Furthermore, the souls contained within these banners are nowhere near enough to refine the Crimson Soul Flag."

"It's alright, these two treasures are indeed quite powerful, but I already possess more than spirit treasure, and they're no longer very useful to me at my current cultivation base. As for the lack of souls contained within these banners, if I had a dozen or so of these banners, that'd be enough, right?" Han Li asked in a meaningful voice as he stroked his chin.

"A dozen or so? I get it now; these are just two banners that are a part of a whole set, right? Does that mean you have even more of them with you?" The small child was rather surprised after arriving at this revelation.

"I don't have any other flags like this at the moment, but I know where the rest can be found. In reality, I know of another type of treasure containing far more souls than these Ghost Sifting Banners. It's a pity that the treasure is currently in the possession of a Deity Transformation Stage demon beast. That's not someone I can mess with at the moment." Another thought occurred to Han Li, and a rather forlorn expression appeared on his face.

He was naturally referring to the Myriad Demon Flag in the possession of that old devil from the Myriad Demon Valley. He had personally experienced the immense might of that flag, and he knew that the demonic souls contained within that flag were of a far greater quantity and quality than those stored within the Ghost Sifting Banners. That treasure would undoubtedly be more suitable for refining the Crimson Soul Flag.

The small child naturally wasn't aware of what treasure Han Li was referring to, and he had no intention of asking about it, either. He merely said in an indifferent voice, "If you can gather enough souls, then I'd be willing to bestow the Crimson Soul Flag's refinement method upon you free of charge. This Divine Essencefused Light is quite interesting, and I'm also curious to see how powerful it would be after you master it. Are you planning to set about gathering those banners as soon as you return to the Heavenly South Region, Fellow Daoist Han?"

"There's no hurry. Everything will have to wait until I reach the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage and completely refine my Glacial Flame Cinque Devils first. After all, the remaining Ghost Sifting Banners are in the possession of a Nascent Soul Stage devilish cultivator as well, so I'll work on improving my cultivation base first. Let's return to the Heavenly South Region for now," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.

"Alright, we'll do as you wish. After we get back, I'll give you the Crimson Soul Flag's refinement method so you can gather all of the secondary materials and won't have to waste time on that later." The small child shrugged nonchalantly before the projection of its body vanished.

Han Li was ecstatic to hear this, and he accelerated through the air, quickly disappearing into the distance.

Several months later, Han Li returned to the Heavenly South Region using that ancient teleportation formation.

He stowed away the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes guarding the teleportation formation before destroying the formation once again and departing from the cave.

Another two months later, Han Li returned to the Dreamcloud Mountains in the State of Xi. He merely informed Lü Luo of his return through the use of his voice transmission talisman before immediately flying back to the interconnected peaks. At this point in time, Nangong Wan was still in seclusion.

Han Li naturally didn't go to disrupt her cultivation. A few short years of separation was nothing to cultivators like them.

The entire cultivation world in the Heavenly South Region wasn't even aware that the number one cultivator of their region had departed from the Drifting Cloud Sect at all.

However, Lü Luo heaved a long sigh of relief upon receiving news of Han Li's return. The Drifting Cloud Sect was being held up entirely by Han Li's reputation. Unless three or four more Nascent Soul cultivators appeared in the sect, the Drifting Cloud Sect's status as a super sect would be in question if Han Li weren't around.

As soon as Han Li returned to his cave abode, he deployed a flying sword to send a jade slip to Liu Yu. The jade slip contained a list of secondary materials required to refine the Crimson Soul Flag, and he was requesting for her to try and gather those materials during his period of seclusion.

After that, he entered the secret chamber again and continued to cultivate the final layer of the Azure Essence Sword Art, as well as to refine the Glacial Flame Cinque Devils.

Time passed by like flowing water.

50 years flashed past in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Han Li sensed that Nangong Wan had emerged from seclusion once, and he immediately also temporarily concluded his cultivation to meet her. The two of them then traveled together for half a year.

During their travels, Han Li completely basked himself in his intimate relationship with Nangong Wan and after the two of them returned, they began their bland seclusion again.

Come to think of it, cultivators were rather pitiful beings. On one hand, they possessed powerful abilities and lengthy lifespans far beyond the reach of mortals, but on the other hand, they were like hamsters galloping on a wheel, constantly cultivating prior to the conclusions of their lifespans to try and grasp the extremely infinitesimal chance of attaining immortality.

This lifestyle would be bearable for those who were naturally born with immense willpower, but it was enough to drive some normal cultivators insane.

If they were to continue cultivating, their chances of attaining the Great Dao were impossibly slim anyway, and they really didn't want to spend the rest of their lives in seclusion like this. However, they had already embarked on the path of cultivation and were unwilling to give up on the opportunity to attain immortality, no matter how negligible their chances were.

Furthermore, it was also extremely tempting to progress in one's cultivation base as doing so would further extend their lifespan.

As such, there were two extremes that existed in the cultivation world.

There were some mid-grade cultivators with lowly aptitude and cultivation bases who weren't optimistic about their chances of making further breakthroughs, so they gave up on cultivation altogether. Some of them lived leisurely lives surrounded by concubines and enjoyed themselves until the ends of their lifespans, while others returned to their hometowns, founded an aristocratic family there, and ruled over the place from which they had hailed.

On the other end of the spectrum, there were high-grade cultivators who felt themselves to be much closer to the ultimate objective of attaining immortality, and were unwilling to waste any time. They were completely absorbed in their cultivation, and paid no heed to anything else.

Han Li and Nangong Wan were clearly part of the latter group. One of them was at the late-Nascent Soul Stage while the other was at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage, so they stood at the tip of the pyramid among cultivators of the human world. As long as they could ascend to the Spirit Realm, they really wouldn't be far away from immortality.

As such, even though the two of them loved each other very much, they were able to exercise a lot of self-restraint when it came to indulging in their relationship.

Dual cultivation was useful for advancing one's cultivation base, but the cultivation arts they were using didn't involve dual cultivation as a device of progression, and the improvements in magic power that dual cultivation brought about were quite negligible to them at their current power levels. The two of them were concerned that excessive indulgence in dual cultivation would negatively affect their mindsets and their determination in their pursuit of the Great Dao, so they had to hold back when it came to the physical aspect of their relationship.

Instead, due to their common pursuit of the Great Dao, the two of them had formed a very strong tacit understanding of one another, so even though they were exercising celibacy to a certain extent, the bond between them was still extremely resolute.

Thus, after going into seclusion again, neither of them were quick to come out again.

One day, a thunderclap suddenly erupted amid clear skies in the air above the interconnected peaks. All of the world's origin Qi within a radius of several hundred kilometers around the main peak was suddenly triggered.

Countless fist-sized balls of light of different colors emerged from the ground, the rocks, and the threes, then converged rapidly toward the main peak, creating a shimmering spiritual cloud several hectares in area, putting on a spectacular light show to behold. Han Li's cave abode stood at the very epicenter of this marvelous phenomenon.

Such a startling turn of events had naturally alerted all of Han Li's disciples, who were also living on the interconnected peaks, as well as Nangong Wan. All of them rushed out from their seclusion chambers and looked up into the sky with stunned expressions.

The interconnected peaks were very close to the Drifting Cloud Sect, so the higher-ups of the sect had naturally detected the events unfolding here. A dozen or so streaks of light immediately shot forth from within the Drifting Cloud Sect's restriction formation, heading directly toward the interconnected peaks.

The two people at the forefront of the group were none other than Lü Luo and Song Yu, the latter of whom had also reached the Nascent Soul Stage. Both of them were wearing rather solemn expressions.

A short distance behind them, there was a white-robed woman flying through the air with an elated look on her face. She was naturally none other than Liu Yu.

During these past years, her cultivation base hadn't progressed very much, but she was the most important figure in the sect below the Nascent Soul elders due to the fact that she was essentially Han Li's spokesperson.

Even Lü Luo and Song Yu treated her with a lot of respect.

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Liu Yu was feeling quite excited.

If Han Li's cultivation base were to take another massive stride, then she would undoubtedly attain an even higher status within the sect, and that would naturally benefit her greatly.

In reality, after tasting the pleasure that power and influence brought to her, it was impossible for her to calm her heart and return to cultivation. After all, even Nascent Soul cultivators had to be very respectful to her at present, and that was very pleasing to her.

Besides, she was well aware of the limitations of her own aptitude. After attempting and failing several breakthroughs to the Nascent Soul Stage, she had completely given up in that endeavor, and was entirely dedicating herself to assisting Lü Luo in running the Drifting Cloud Sect.

Even if she couldn't attain the Great Dao, she didn't want to reach the end of her lifespan without having done something with her life first. As such, she really had contributed quite significantly to the Drifting Cloud Sect's rapid expansion.

Lü Luo was very pleased with her dedication to bettering the sect, and had given her a lot more jurisdictive power when it came to matters in the sect.

The group from the Drifting Cloud Sect flew toward the interconnected peaks, but were kept out by a restriction.

They looked up as the tumbling spiritual cloud in the sky revolved and transformed into a giant funnel, looking as if it were about to slowly descend upon the interconnected peaks, and they hurriedly sent a voice transmission talisman into the restriction.

Moments later, the mist standing in their way surged before parting to open up a passageway, through which the group immediately entered without any hesitation.

After emerging from the mist, they were immediately greeted by the sight of Mu Peiling.

She was holding a yellow formation flag in her hand, and was silently awaiting their arrival.

"Mu Peiling pays her respects to the elders of the Drifting Cloud Sect. Big Sister Nangong has been waiting for a long time; please come with me." Mu Peiling stowed away the formation flag before pointing toward one of the interconnected peaks in a respectful manner.

Lü Luo and his group naturally had no objections to this, and they immediately flew toward that mountain peak.

There, they discovered Nangong Wan standing at the summit in a pristine white palatial dress, appearing as if she were a celestial maiden who had descended from the heavens. However, her intricate brows were slightly furrowed, and she merely nodded gently to acknowledge the arrival of Lü Luo and the others. Her attention was still entirely focused on the phenomenon taking place nearby, and there were hints of concern and anxiety shimmering within her eyes.

Beside her stood a man and a woman who were none other than Tian Qin'er and Shi Jian.

Both of them had also reached the Core Formation Stage several decades ago. Tian Qin'er had taken an Evergreen Pill to ensure that she held onto the appearance of a young woman around 16 or 17 years of age. Even though so many years had passed, she still looked almost no different compared to when Han Li had first taken her under his wing.

After paying their respects to Song Yu and Lü Luo, the two of them stood behind Nangong Wan again with respectful expressions on their faces.

"Elder Nangong, is Junior Martial Brother Han attempting a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage?" Lü Luo asked with a hint of excitement on his face.

"Aside from a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage, what other breakthrough attempt would create such a spectacle? It's just that the heavenly omen as already been around for a while, so the breakthrough doesn't seem to be progressing very smoothly," Nangong Wan replied with concern etched on her face.

"Why is that? Junior Martial Brother Han has already been able to trigger such an astonishing phenomenon, hasn't he?" Lü Luo was very surprised to hear this.

Nangong Wan seemed to have done quite a bit of research on Deity Transformation Stage breakthroughs, and she offered her own analysis. "The breakthrough will only succeed after the spiritual cloud in the sky is summoned onto the mountain peak, then merged with his body. However, the spiritual cloud is falling very reluctantly, which is a sign that he's still unable to sufficiently control the world's origin Qi. As such, this breakthrough may not succeed."

After hearing Nangong Wan's words, everyone turned their attention to the spiritual cloud in the sky again. Just as she had said, the shimmering spiritual cloud had attempted to descend toward the mountain peak several times, but was repelled by an invisible force on all of those occasions. As a result, they were unable to truly descend onto the mountain peak, and the process didn't indeed appear to be quite a reluctant and laborious one.

Lü Luo's heart sank upon seeing this, and he didn't ask any more questions. All he did was continue to stare intently up into the sky with an unblinking gaze. Song Yu didn't say anything, but the concern shimmering in her eyes betrayed her calm facade. The other cultivators all had mixed emotions, but with their two Nascent Soul Stage elders among them, none of them dared to make any comments.

Right at this moment, the spiritual clouds descending from the sky suddenly began to tremor violently. A peculiar ringing sound rang out, following which the massive cloud immediately began to tumble and surge unsteadily. An earthshattering boom then erupted, and a cloud exploded into spiritual light of different colors before completely vanishing.

All of the balls of spiritual light that were flying toward the mountain peak also disappeared amid an audible sigh.

All of a sudden, everything around the interconnected peaks returned to normal.

A slightly wistful look appeared on Nangong Wan's face upon seeing this.

At this moment, Song Yu suddenly broke her silence. "Senior Martial Brother Han clearly already has one foot in the door toward the Deity Transformation Stage, and he only failed on the final hurdle. With Senior Martial Brother Han's current lifespan and cultivation base, he'll be able to make many more attempts, and it's only a matter of time before he succeeds."

Lü Luo also wore a rather forlorn expression on his face, but he nodded in agreement with Song Yu's words, and said, "Indeed. Junior Martial Brother as already able to summon such an astonishing phenomenon during his first breakthrough attempt; I'm sure it won't be an issue for him to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage."

Nangong Wan was silent for a moment before a wry smile appeared on her face, and she said, "What you're saying is indeed correct, but Han Li has always been extremely careful and precise in his cultivation. If he's attempting a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage now, then he must've made all of the preparations he possibly could. He must be unable to progress any further in his cultivation base before deciding to try and take this final step. In that case, unless he encounters some kind of opportunity, even if he attempts a few more breakthroughs, his efforts most likely won't amount to anything."

Lü Luo and Song Yu were naturally aware of this as well, and they were only trying to offer words of consolation. After hearing Nangong Wan's frank admission, they didn't know what to say in response.

Liu Yu was naturally also feeling quite disappointed. Just as she was about to say something, Han Li's voice suddenly rang out from within the main peak. Even from so far away, his voice was clearly audible to everyone, as if he were speaking right before them.

"Wan'er, seeing as Senior Martial Brother Lü and Junior Martial Sister Song have already arrived, why don't you invite them into my cave abode? I'm going to have to leave the Heavenly South Region for some time after my failed breakthrough attempt, and I have some things to say to them before I go. Get Liu Yu to come with them as well."

Nangong Wan faltered slightly upon hearing this before she turned to Lü Luo and the others with a smile, and she said, "Senior Martial Brother Lü, Junior Martial Sister Song, let's go together."

Lü Luo and Song Yu glanced at one another before flying toward the main peak together with Liu Yu in accompaniment.

Tian Qin'er and Shi Jian were quite disappointed that they hadn't been summoned, but they could only wait on the spot with all of the other Core Formation cultivators. Without the orders of Nangong Wan or the other elders, the group of Core Formation cultivators didn't dare to leave, either. All of them began to discuss spiritedly among themselves after Song Yu and the others disappeared into the cave abode on the main peak.

The few cultivators who were acquainted with Tian Qin'er and Shi Jian approached the two of them and engaged them in conversation.

Tian Qin'er and Shi Jian had already reached the Core Formation Stage, but due to Han Li's strict orders, they were cultivating in their respective cave abodes most of the time, and they were quite glad to have the opportunity to talk to someone.

Several hours passed, yet Nangong Wan and the others still hadn't emerged from Han Li's cave abode.

All of the cultivators waiting outside could only speculate about what matters they were discussing.

Three months later, a streak of azure light shot forth from within the Dreamcloud Mountains, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

Only after several days did news spread from the Drifting Cloud Sect that Grand Elder Han had departed from the sect to embark on a journey.

The objective and timeframe of his journey had intentionally been made quite ambiguous, so no one could ascertain exactly why he had left.

This piece of news wasn't all that surprising to everyone. This was because news of his failed breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage had already spread throughout the cultivation of the Heavenly South Region, and virtually all of the sects had been made aware of this.

This came as quite a relief to all of the sects that were wary toward Han Li.

Even though Han Li was already the number one cultivator in the Heavenly South Region, if he were to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, his lifespan would be extended to over 2,000 years. That was simply far too long for all of the sects that harbored ambitions of stamping their mark on the Heavenly South Region in the future. None of them wanted to be oppressed by Han Li for so long.

Seeing as Han Li was unable to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, it only made sense that he was now embarking on a journey.

After all, cultivation alone clearly wouldn't be enough to help him make any further improvements, so he could only search for opportunities to act as a catalyst for a breakthrough. Of course, the chances of him actually succeeding were pitifully slim. Otherwise, the three great cultivators of the Heavenly South Region wouldn't have been stuck at the late-Nascent Soul Stage for so many centuries.

With Han Li gone, there were only two late-Nascent Soul cultivators left in the Heavenly South Region.

The grand elder of the Nine Nations Union, Wei Wuya, had passed away over 100 years ago. However, the Flowing Mind Sect had kept this a secret for many years, and news of this had only begun to spread several years ago. This was the most shocking event that had taken place in the Heavenly South Region in recent years.

The Nine Nations Union was plunged into turmoil as a result, and many sects and powers had erupted into conflict in the aftermath of this news being revealed.

Han Li was feeling rather forlorn after hearing about this when he had emerged from seclusion.

Even though Wei Wuya was only a step away from the Deity Transformation Stage, it was that single step that barred him from being able to continue his pursuit of the Great Dao.

That was a rather depressing end for such a legendary figure of the Heavenly South Region.

However, his passing only served to further cement Han Li's resolve in his pursuit of the Great Dao.

To him, everything was trivial if he couldn't attain immortality. No matter how powerful he became, everything would come to an end, and his legacy would cease to exist at some point.

He was unwilling to resign himself to such a fate.

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Han Li was currently on his way to the Moulan Plains as a streak of azure light.

His objective was naturally to return to the Great Jin so he could secure those Ghost Sifting Banner from the Yin Sifting Sect.

Even though he had failed to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage earlier, what was undeniable was that he had reached the pinnacle of the late-Nascent Soul Stage. As such, he was feeling a lot more confident about this trip.

If he recalled correctly, following the death of Old Devil Qian, the Yin Sifting Sect should've only had only late-Nascent Soul cultivator left, and that was their sect master. As long as he didn't barge in like an idiot and try to fight the entire sect through brute force, it shouldn't be a difficult task for him to obtain the Ghost Sifting Banners.

The master of the Yin Sifting Sect also seemed to have a vendetta against him as he had slain his Dao Companion on the past.

In that case, taking advantage of this opportunity to kill this man would be killing two birds with one stone for Han Li. Otherwise, he could come back to bite Han Li later.

Prior to progressing to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, it would've been difficult for Han Li to ensure self-preservation in the face of such a powerful foe, let alone attempt to kill him, so he naturally wasn't going to take the risk.

However, he was far more powerful than he once was and he had to obtain the Ghost Sifting Banners anyway, so he naturally wasn't going to allow this man to live any longer.

Han Li couldn't ensure that he would constantly be at the Drifting Cloud Sect. If this great cultivator were about to reach the conclusion of his lifespan and was driven to launch a kamikaze attack against the Drifting Cloud Sect to take revenge before he died, Nangong Wan and the others would be in severe peril.

With that in mind, an intense wave of killing intent swept through Han Li's heart.

He was naturally very disappointed that he had failed to make a breakthrough using the Glacial Flame Cinque Devils, but he wasn't truly distraught as he still had the Divine Essencefused Light as a backup plan.

During this trip to the Great Jin, aside from taking the Ghost Sifting Banners, he also had two other things that he had to take care of. Otherwise, if he were to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light, he would be confining himself to a certain place, and he wouldn't be able to take care of anything in person until he completely mastered the Divine Essencefused Light.

As such, he had to take advantage of this period of freedom to take care of everything in advance.

Among the things he had to do, finding the Puresun Flame Essence and using Glacial Essence to refine the Returning Sun Water was absolutely imperative.

As long as he could refine the Returning Sun Water, his lifespan would increase by a quarter. No cultivator would be willing to give up on something like this that absolutely defied the natural order. To Han Li, who already stood at the pinnacle of all cultivators in the human world, the temptation of this Returning Sun Water was even more immense.

After using a soul search technique on Master Arctic Dragon's Nascent Soul in the North Night Palace, Han Li had discovered some leads about the Puresun Flame Essence. As such, everything was already in place, and he simply needed to set things into motion.

As for the other thing he had to do, it was nowhere near as important in comparison, and he was only going to do it along the way. It would be good if he could succeed, but whether he succeeded or not didn't matter all that much. The second thing that he had to do was to travel to the Hidden Fortune Pavilion and ask them for the secret technique required to refine a spatial pocket.

Back when he had participated in the grand auction in the Jin Empire, the shopkeeper of the Hidden Fortune Pavilion had told him that one could use a spatial rift to refine a spatial pocket. At the time, he had been very intrigued and wanted to refine a personal space of his own.

After all, virtually all Nascent Soul cultivators had their own secret cave abodes aside from the cave they were living in that was out in the open. Some of them would even have several of those secret cave abodes, and they would often store their most valuable treasures in there in case some kind of mishap would befall them.

Han Li had always been busy with his cultivation, so he didn't have the time to consider such things.

The reason why Han Li had suddenly thought of this naturally wasn't because he wanted to create a secret cave abode to store his treasures in. Instead, he wanted to create a secure place for himself to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light in.

If he could refine his own spatial pocket and only leave an obscure teleportation formation in the outside world leading into the spatial pocket, as long as he could control the teleportation formation with the spatial pocket, even a Deity Transformation Stage assailant wouldn't be able to do anything to him.

Even if his enemies were to destroy the teleportation formation in the outside world in a fit of rage, with his current powers, it would be simple for him to tear through space so he could emerge from the spatial pocket, as opposed to being trapped in there. In contrast, cultivators capable of tearing through space in the outside world wouldn't be able to find his spatial pocket unless they were aware of the precise spatial incision point.

Han Li had learned about all this through arduous research.

Of course, if that plan failed to eventuate, it wouldn't be impossible for Han Li to find another obscure location to cultivate in. However, that clearly wasn't as safe and secure as a spatial pocket would be.

Having said that, the refinement method of the spatial pocket was known only to the Hidden Fortune Pavilion, so it would most likely be rather difficult for him to request it. But then again, if a great cultivator were to request anything from any power, regardless of how reluctant that power would be to provide it, they would most likely still do their best to satisfy that great cultivator's request.

After all, no power would be willing to make a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator their enemy if they could afford it.

As for why the Hidden Fortune Pavilion had been able to keep this refinement method confidential to this day, that was most likely because the secret technique was more trouble than it was worth, and simply couldn't attract the interest of all of the major sects. Otherwise, Han Li didn't believe that a mere Hidden Fortune Pavilion would be able to keep such an important secret technique confidential for so long.

Of course, he would have to employ some strategies if he wanted to obtain this refinement method.

With that in mind, a cold smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he disappeared into the distance following a few flashes.

Over half a year later, light rain was falling over a certain mountainside town in the State of Yu, which was tens of millions of kilometers away from the Heavenly South Region.

On a bluestone street that was glistening with the falling rain, there were almost no pedestrians. The few pedestrians that were on the street were all hurriedly walking along with umbrellas over their heads, and none of them were eager to linger on the streets.

A yellow-robed man holding a white oilcloth umbrella suddenly appeared on this street.

However, this man was walking in a calm and unhurried manner, as if he were taking a casual stroll in the countryside. His umbrella was tilted forward slightly, and it just so happened to obscure most of his facial features.

However, judging from the fair and supple hand that was holding the umbrella, the man appeared to be quite young, and was not a normal lowly citizen who had to engage in manual labor all day.

Some of the passersby couldn't help but take an extra glance at this man as they strode past him, but he remained unfazed and his footsteps were still unhurried.

Just as he was passing by a nondescript alleyway, he suddenly changed directions and made his way into the alley.

Even though this was a rather deep alleyway, it was quite apparent that the conclusion of this alley was a dead-end with no way out. There weren't even any houses or shops on either side of the valley, only walls that were several tens of feet tall, and it was a place that was rarely frequented by anyone. However, the yellow-robed man paid no heed to all of this and continued to make his way forward.

Just as he was about to reach the conclusion of the alleyway and appeared as if he were about to crash into the stone wall, white light suddenly flashed as he disappeared into the wall.

If a mortal had been present and witnessed such a bizarre scene, they would definitely be yelling at the top of their lungs about supernatural phenomena. However, cultivators would barely pay any heed to this. It was just an extremely simple illusion technique, so there was no need for alarm.

However, if that cultivator were to pass through the complex layers of restrictions beyond this illusionary wall, they would most likely be flabbergasted as well.

This was because there was a gargantuan jade gate over 1,000 feet tall behind those layers of restrictions. After passing through that colossal gate, a white jade staircase would be revealed, with every step hovering in mid-air, leading toward a huge green palace.

White spiritual mist swirled around the palace, and there was a pair of rare spirit beasts circling in the air above the palace in a leisurely manner. There were also many types of peculiar flowers and plants growing on the ground nearby, embellishing this place with their beauty and making it appear as if it were an immortal paradise.

However, if one were to sweep their spiritual sense through the surrounding area, they would discover that even though this place appeared to be quite cavernous, it was actually just a small restricted space. In fact, it was only just over five kilometers in size, but its height of several thousand feet was, admittedly, rather astonishing. However, that staggering height as necessary to construct such a peculiar floating palace in this place.

At the foot of this massive jade gate, there were two rows of warriors clad in golden armor. All of them were around 20 feet tall, and were standing completely stationary with wooden expressions on their faces.

However, among these warriors, there was an armor-clad man with a dark complexion, sitting on a rock beside a pillar. He was currently conversing with the yellow-robed man with the oilcloth umbrella in a lazy manner.

"No matter what you're here for, I can't disrupt the pavilion master when he's entertaining guests. Otherwise, I'll be punished by the pavilion master. Why don't you sit here for a while and have a chat with me? I've on duty here at the Hidden Fortune Pavilion, I've been staying here with these mutes for over half a year; I'm bored out of my wits," the dark-complexioned man chuckled.

This man was a Core Formation cultivator, yet he was only a gatekeeper here. That was quite extraordinary. The two rows of massive warriors beside the gate were merely puppets, so it was no wonder that he was unable to converse with any of them. However, each and every one of these puppets were extremely life-like, and it was very difficult to tell that they were puppets just by looking at them.

The yellow-robed cultivator had already put away his white umbrella, revealing a set of stern facial features. "Cao Fengwei! I'm not here to kid around with you; I really do have an extremely important matter to consult with the pavilion master about. Even if I can wait, that person may not be willing to. If we delay for too long and bring disaster to the pavilion, neither you nor I will be able to handle the repercussions!"

The yellow-robed man was becoming rather enraged.

"That person? Who are you referring to, Brother Zhang?" the armored man asked with a bewildered expression.

"He's referring to me." The voice of an unfamiliar man suddenly interjected from up above.

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