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

35. 1144

Read A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality - Chapter 1144: Waiting for an Opportunity online free - Novel Full

Han Li immediately composed his expression again before walking toward the pavilions as if nothing had happened.

Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man also only took cursory glances at Han Li. They were surprised to see that his cultivation base was quite advanced, but they didn't pay him any heed as they led the four Core Formation cultivators toward the center of the city.

Han Li also walked on ahead without even turning his head, giving off the impression that he was merely passing by.

However, right at this moment, Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man's lips began to move, but they uttered no sounds, thereby indicating that they were conversing using voice transmissions.

Han Li had his back to the two of them and his footsteps faltered slightly again. However, he quickly continued onward, getting further and further away from Daoist Master Swift Crane and the others.

After rounding a final corner, Han Li walked into a rather stylish pavilion.

Two hours later, he finally exited the shop, accompanied by a cultivator who appeared to be the manager.

However, he didn't immediately depart. Instead, he walked into a nearby shop...

When Han Li finally made his way out of the fifth shop, he had exchanged all of the superfluous treasures and materials that he was carrying for over 100 high-grade spirit stones, a result that he was very satisfied with.

However, just as he began to walk away, he suddenly discovered that several unfamiliar Core Formation cultivators had appeared nearby. All of them appeared to be simply casually shopping around, but the peculiar expressions flashing through their eyes suggested a more sinister purpose.

Han Li chuckled coldly and immediately decided to stray from his original plan. As such, he began to walk along the street out of the market, then exited the stone city on foot altogether.

The cultivators were all using concealment techniques as they pursued Han Li. However, after making it out of the city gates, all of them turned to look at one another.

Han Li had been enshrouded under their spiritual sense this entire time, but he had somehow disappeared! Their surroundings were entirely devoid of Han Li's presence.

This turn of events naturally had the cultivators scrambling around in a panic.

Some of them had been deployed by the shops that Han Li had visited while others had noticed that Han Li had visited many shops, and had been seen off by the managers in a respectful manner on each occasion, thereby alerting them to the fact that major transactions had taken place.

Han Li was posing as a late-Core Formation cultivator, but in the face of a sufficiently tempting reward, these people were not going to back down. Many of them had already decided in advance to join forces.

However, following Han Li's mysterious disappearance, these cultivators could search through the surrounding area in a dumbstruck manner. None of them were able to find Han Li in the end, so they could only return to the stone city with frustration and disappointment in their hearts.

Not long after all of them had left, azure light suddenly flashed in the air above the spot that Han Li had just disappeared from. Immediately thereafter, an indistinct humanoid figure began to appear. Spiritual light then flashed from the humanoid figure's body and it transformed into Han Li with his original set of features.

Han Li took a glance at the stone city and a deriding sneer appeared on his face.

If it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to alert the Nascent Soul cultivators in the city to his presence, he definitely wouldn't have let those cultivators return to the city alive.

As such, they were extremely fortunate to have been unable to see through Han Li's concealment technique. Otherwise, Han Li would have destroyed those Core Formation cultivators with ease.

After looking around from his vantage point up in the air, Han Li decided on a certain direction and flew away as a streak of azure light.

A short while later, the streak of azure light descended on a col.

This was an extremely tranquil place with beautiful flora and fauna, as well as heavy mountain mist that refused to disperse.

Han Li only took a cursory glance around him before nodding to himself.

He raised a hand and a stack of formation flags of different colors appeared. A dozen or so streaks of light shot forth, all of disappearing into the surrounding mist.

A layer of white mist then rapidly rose up from the ground, merging with the mist in the col to form what seemed to be a single inseparable entity.

Han Li's body was concealed within this mist.

After setting up that concealment formation, he patted a certain spirit beast pouch that was hanging from his waist.

A loud buzzing sound erupted as tens of thousands of Gold Devouring Beetles flew out from the pouch, creating a golden cloud that hovered in front of him.

Han Li sat down with his legs folded in front of him and began to chant something. Azure spiritual light began to flash over his body and a loud boom erupted, following which the beetles transformed into golden flowers that shot forth in all directions.

Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li abruptly opened his eyes, which were initially shimmering with a remarkably bright light before then falling extremely dim.

This was the secret technique that Han Li had once unleashed in the Devilfall Valley to split his spiritual sense into over 1,000 strands. It was a technique he had mastered on his own using the Great Development Technique. The technique allowed him to divide his spiritual sense into countless thin strands, which he could then temporarily imbue onto a Gold Devouring Beetle. Thus, it was the equivalent of suddenly attaining over 1,000 new pairs of ears and eyes.

This secret technique appeared to be similar to the technique Han Li had used to imbue the Gold Devouring Beetle with a wisp of his spiritual sense, but it was actually completely different.

One of them involved splitting up his spiritual sense into countless tiny strands at once, then borrowing the senses of the Gold Devouring Beetles to detect and search for what he was unable to with his spiritual sense. This could only be accomplished by using his soul to directly instruct the beetles, and they couldn't be allowed to stray out of a certain range as his spiritual sense would be automatically withdrawn in that case.

The other technique involved individually imbuing a creature with a fragment of his soul, then allowing the soul fragment to manipulate the living creature in a flexible manner based on a set of instructions received from Han Li in advance. He didn't have to use his soul to control the living creature in the process and if he wanted to, he could even instruct the spirit insect to attack an enemy. To a certain degree, it was similar to an avatar technique. Furthermore, as long as the time limit wasn't reached, there was no distance restriction on how far the manipulated creature could stray.

Unless there was a situation in which he wasn't able to use his spiritual sense for some reason, the former of the two techniques was essentially useless. However, the latter was an extremely useful technique that not even many late-Nascent Soul cultivators could master. As such, the two were simply incomparable.

After all of the Gold Devouring Beetles flew out of the white mist, some of them burrowed into the ground while others rose into the air. In the blink of an eye, all of the spirit insects had disappeared.

Han Li sat at the center of the formation with his eyes closed and a cold expression on his face.

Time passed by slowly. The sun in the sky gradually descended toward the horizon and when night finally fell, the entire Green Spirit Island was plunged into darkness.

However, the stone city remained brightly-lit as a series of moonlight stones that were charged full of spiritual power glowed in the night, making the stone city as bright as if it were still daytime. In contrast, everywhere outside of the stone city appeared to be extremely dark and sea winds howled constantly, as if there were countless demons and devils lurking within the darkness.

Cultivators didn't really care whether it was day or night as they could use their magic power to grant themselves night vision, but the range of their vision would be significantly inferior compared to how far ahead they could during the day. However, that was not the case in the Scattered Star Seas. There were many sea demon beasts in the outer seas so if one were traveling over the sea or even staying on an island at night, they could still be approached and attacked by demon beasts who were proficient in concealment techniques.

After all, cultivators weren't normally on high enough alert to constantly be releasing their spiritual sense. As such, many more cultivators perished as a result of these sneak attacks per year than compared to those who perished during official culls of demon beasts.

As such, unless if there were urgent matters to be attended to or if one felt that they were powerful enough to look after themselves, all of the cultivators on the island would become more alert at night. The locations where cultivators were gathered would have all of their restrictions activated, and all of the cultivators who hadn't traveled out to sea would retreat back into those establishments.

Within the stone city that was surrounded by mountains, the eight stone towers lit up in unison. A blue barrier of light shielded the entire city within in case there were demon beasts who attempted to sneak into the city.

However, in the darkness of the night, there were a few people wearing conical bamboo hats who crept silently over to a certain city gate.

The guards at the gate consisted of a Core Formation cultivator along with several Foundation Establishment cultivators. The person at the forefront of the group lifted their conical hat slightly to reveal their true features, upon which the guards hurriedly opened up a slit in the city's restrictions to allow them to leave the stone city.

As soon as these people left the city, they flew into the darkness as streaks of light. disappearing in the blink of an eye.

All of them were traveling quite quickly and none of them were saying anything.

However, when they had reached over 50 kilometers away from the city, one of them suddenly uttered a confused sound as they faltered in the air. A thin white thread shot forth, immediately disappearing into the air behind them.

The other cultivators also flattered upon seeing this and they all turned to look behind them.

A sizzling sound erupted, following which a burst of piercing golden light suddenly appeared in the night sky extremely far away. The white thread seemed to have struck something and following a peculiar screeching noise, the fist-sized ball of golden light began to plummet toward the ground.

"What's that?" one of the other cultivators exclaimed.

Meanwhile, the cultivator who had unleashed the attack gestured with his hand, upon which the white thread shot back toward him at his behest. The threat spun through the air before transforming into a thin snowy white needle that fell into his hand.

Only then did he reply, "I'm not sure. It seems to be some sort of spirit insect, but I don't know if it's wild or has been tamed. In any case, the spirit insect must have a very hard exoskeleton as it wasn't punctured by my White Sorrow Needle. Go and recover the body of that insect; I want to see what kind of spirit insect it is."

The two cultivators with him immediately responded respectfully before flying toward the pitch-black ground as two streaks of light, in search of the golden spirit insect that had just been slain.

However, the two of them returned with gloomy expressions after 10 minutes.

"Sect Master, the spirit insect doesn't appear to have died. We were unable to find its body over there!" one of them reported in an uneasy voice.

"It didn't die? Do you think my White Sorrow Needles are sewing needles? You're telling me that it was unable to kill a mere spirit insect?" The cultivator who had unleashed the attack seemed to have been irked by that response.

"Brother Bai, that thing really did seem to have survived. I was unable to find it, either." the other cultivator suddenly chimed in in a grave voice.

"Really? Let me have a look!"

The cultivator who had unleashed the needle was shocked to hear this. He hurriedly released his spiritual sense to carefully search through the surrounding area.

A short while later, a strained expression appeared on his face. There really wasn't any sign of that golden spirit insect in the surrounding area.

In his astonishment, his lips tremored as he transmitted his voice. The other two cultivators immediately each raised a hand in unison. One of them summoned a small green hammer, while the other unleashed countless thin white threads that shielded all three of them within.

"Who's following us? Don't sneak around like a coward; come out to meet us!" the cultivator who had released the white threads yelled. At the same time, his gaze scanned through the surrounding area as an astonishing aura erupted from his body.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

The surrounding area remained silent and no one revealed themselves in the darkness. It was as if there really wasn't anyone there.

The cultivator who had just spoken was furious upon seeing this. He harrumphed coldly as he made a hand seal, preparing to unleash an attack that would force their pursuers to show themselves.

Right at this moment, an indistinct buzzing suddenly rang out around them in all directions. Furthermore, the sound was only becoming louder and louder, as if it were rapidly approaching them.

The cultivators' hearts jolted upon hearing this as they surveyed their surroundings with wide eyes.

Moments later, spots of golden light began to appear in the darkness. Each and every spot of golden light contained a golden beetle within, and more and more of those spots were beginning to appear. The group of cultivators had been surrounded.

A stir immediately ran through the group upon seeing this.

Even the two cultivators at the forefront of the group were astonished.

In particular, the one who had just attacked the spirit insect knew just how pesky these spirit insects were. With so many of them appearing at once, it was definitely not going to be easy to take care of all of them.

Thus, the cultivator's expression immediately darkened as his spiritual sense swept incessantly through the surrounding area, trying to find that cultivator that was manipulating these spirit insects.

However, his search proved to be completely futile. Their opponents had concealed themselves extremely well, leaving him unable to discover their presence.

This turn of events immediately made his heart sink.

This indicated that their opponents either had special treasures or secret techniques to conceal themselves, or their cultivation base was significantly superior to theirs. In any case, neither of those possibilities were good things!

"If you're going to use your insects to trap us, then at least give us a reason for your actions. You still haven't revealed yourself to us yet; are you really just a coward who's going to hide in the shadows?" the cultivator who had summoned the jade hammer yelled. At the same time, dazzling green light began to flash from the treasure in his hand.

"Hehe, you'll meet me soon enough. Fellow Daoist Swift Crane, I'm here especially for you, so there's no way I wouldn't come out to meet you. Do you remember me? I'm a nondescript cultivator with the Han surname." A cold male voice suddenly rang out from within the darkness.

From the sound of the voice, it appeared that the man was still extremely far away.

"Han? Who are you and when have I ever offended you?" One of the masked cultivators stirred upon hearing this. He tore off the conical bamboo hat off his head, revealing a set of youthful features that were filled with shock and bewilderment.

This man was none other than Daoist Master Swift Crane!

The cultivator who had summoned the white threads also took off his conical hat. He was the yellow-robed cultivator who had accompanied Daoist Master Swift Crane earlier in the day. His expression was quite grim as his gaze flashed through the darkness.

As for the cultivators behind them, they were naturally the disciples of these two Nascent Soul cultivators.

It was rather strange that these people were leaving Green Spirit Island in such a sneaky manner during the dead of night.

Upon hearing Daoist Master Swift Crane's questions, a burst of raucous laughter erupted from all directions before coming to an abrupt halt. The man clearly had no intention of answering him.

This made everyone even more perplexed.

"Fellow Daoist Swift Crane, is this man one of your enemies?" the yellow-robed man asked with furrowed brows.

From what their mysterious assailant had said, it appeared that he was directly targeting Daoist Master Swift Crane.

"I'm not sure. I don't have any recollection of an enemy with the Han surname," Daoist Master Swift Crane replied expressionlessly as he angled the horsetail whisk in his hand before him. Despite his calm expression, he was very confused. He simply couldn't recall having such a powerful enemy.

The yellow-robed man seemed to be quite wary of this mysterious cultivator and he hesitated momentarily before cautioning, "Regardless of who this man is, he's clearly coming after you with bad intentions. You should take care, fellow Daoist."

"I'm naturally aware of that. However, this man is clearly also a Nascent Soul cultivator. How could I not be able to recall such a powerful enemy? Han..." Daoist Master Swift Crane murmured as he fell into deep thought.

During this brief delay, the sound of something tearing through the air suddenly erupted in the night sky. A dazzling streak of azure light then shot forth from the distance, appearing amid the horde of beetles following just a few flashes.

The light receded to reveal a young man in azure robes.

He looked at Daoist Master Swift Crane and chuckled coldly as he said, "I was right to have waited for you for so long. So you really were planning to head to Green Spirit Island. Are you going to hand over your spirit stones or will I have to take them from you?"

The young man wore a nonchalant expression, completely fearless in the face of Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man, both of whom were early-Nascent Soul cultivators.

The two of them swept their spiritual sense toward Han Li, upon which hints of fear appeared on both of their faces.

The two of them were unable to detect Han Li's cultivation base. However, from the spiritual pressure that was indistinctly emanating from his body, they could tell that his cultivation base definitely outstripped theirs. This was most likely a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. Furthermore, the fact that he had immediately exposed the secret behind their journey came as a huge shock to them.

"Fellow Daoist, I am Huang Kun of Fire Dragon Island! I'm afraid I'm not sure what you mean by high-grade spirit stones. Perhaps you were misled by some rumors and harbor some sort of misunderstanding toward us." The yellow-robed man was extremely wily and crafty. He could tell that this enemy was more powerful than them, so he immediately put on a polite smile.

"Misunderstanding? Hehe, I heard your voice transmission conversation from earlier; is that a false rumor? You can only blame your luck for seeking out Swift Crane and running into me. Swift Crane, do you still remember me?" A deriding sneer appeared on the young man's face. He then turned his attention to Daoist Master Swift Crane as a frosty look appeared on his face.

He was naturally none other than Han Li, who had split his spiritual sense into over 1,000 strands, then employed the assistance of his Gold Devouring Beetles to track down Daoist Master Swift Crane.

The yellow-robed man's smile immediately stiffened upon hearing Han Li's cold words.

"You... you're Han Li? You progressed to the Nascent Soul Stage?" At the same time as Han Li was replying to the yellow-robed man, Daoist Master Swift Crane was struck by a sense of familiarity. All of a sudden, he recalled back to the events that had transpired all those years ago, and he finally recognized Han Li. Upon making that realization, an incredulous look appeared on his face, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Brother Swift Crane, do you know this man? Who is he?" Shock and rage were surging through the yellow-robed man and he turned to Daoist Master Swift Crane with a dark expression.

Han Li clearly had no intention of settling this in a peaceful manner, so a battle was inevitable. The yellow-robed man knew that he wouldn't be able to detach himself from the upcoming battle, so it was naturally best to get a gauge of what he was dealing with here. Even though they were facing a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, both of them were early-Nascent Soul cultivators and if they were to join forces, they wouldn't have to fear this opponent.

Han Li hovered in the air with his arms crossed, looking at the two of them with a cold sneer on his face.

"Fellow Daoist Huang, this man is the one who obtained the Heavenvoid Cauldron all those years ago. I didn't think that he would have progressed to the Nascent Soul Stage already," Daoist Master Swift Crane replied with a dark expression.

"What? He's the man that was being hunted down by the Starfall Alliance? I knew he looked familiar somehow, but wasn't he just a Core Formation Stage brat? How has he reached the mid-Nascent Soul Stage already?"

"I'm not sure of that myself. The Heavenvoid Cauldron is known as the number one secret treasure of the Scattered Star Seas, so perhaps it contains some kind of unimaginable pill that can drastically improve one's cultivation base. No one has ever opened the cauldron before, so it's not impossible for that to be the case." Daoist Master Swift Crane speculated with a greedy look in his eyes.

"If that really is the case, then we're in deep trouble. His cultivation base is already this fearsome and he has the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Even if we combine our powers, we may not be able to defeat him," the yellow-robed man transmitted his voice to Daoist Master Swift Crane as he looked at Han Li with a wary expression.

"I'm naturally aware of that, but even if that turns out to be the case, how will he be able to stop us if we run away?" Daoist Master Swift Crane's lips twitched slightly, but a confident look appeared on his face.

As for those Core Formation Stage disciples, in such a perilous situation, they would simply have to be left behind.

"You're right!" The yellow-robed cultivator faltered upon hearing this before bursting into laughter.

"Hmph, are you done talking? If you're done, then it's time I sent you two on your way. Don't even think about trying to escape!" Han Li stirred as he chuckled coldly.

"Crap! We forgot that he can eavesdrop on our voice transmissions!" The yellow-robed man's expression changed upon realizing this.

Daoist Master Swift Crane's expression also faltered upon hearing this. Right at this moment, a thunderclap erupted from behind Han Li as his Thunderstorm Wings appeared on his back. His body then swayed, and he disappeared amid another loud thunderclap.

"Look out! He possesses a strange treasure that allows him to unleash lightning movement techniques!" Daoist Master Swift Crane had seen Han Li use his Thunderstorm Wings in the past, and he immediately offered words of caution to the yellow-robed man. Spiritual light flashed on the green jade hammer and it transformed into a barrier of azure light that shielded him within. At the same time, he feigned a grabbing motion with his other hand to summon a fiery red shield. The shield also transformed into a red barrier of light that surrounded his body.

Meanwhile, the yellow-robed man made a hand seal. The white threads nearby instantly flashed through the air, interweaving with one another to form a dense net that encompassed his own body.

After the two of them had unleashed their defensive techniques, silver light flashed over 100 feet in front of them as Han Li reappeared.

Upon seeing the defensive measures they had taken, Han Li merely sneered and didn't even bother to summon any treasures. He raised both arms and a layer of purple flames surfaced over his body. His body then swayed as he transformed into a massive fireball, hurtling directly toward the yellow-robed man.

The elderly man's heart shuddered at the sight of Han Li's ferocious attack, but he didn't have any time to think as he let loose a low roar. The white threads in front of him immediately changed directions, flying toward the fireball in unison as if he were trying to puncture countless holes into Han Li's body.

A vicious light also appeared in Daoist Master Swift Crane's eyes as he pointed to the jade hammer in front of him, upon which light shot forth from the treasure in all directions. The green light that erupted from the hammer emitted loud rumbling booms before crashing toward Han Li.

In the face of their attacks, Han Li took no evasive measures whatsoever. He plunged straight into the dense expanse of threads and the deriding sneer on his face was obscured by his purple flames.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

A peculiar turn of events unfolded!

As soon as the white threads came into contact with the purple flame, they came to an abrupt halt as if they had been dealt a heavy blow, revealing them to be a series of needles that were as thin as hair.

Han Li swept an arm through the air and the purple flames over his body expanded by over a foot, instantly engulfing the thin needles within.

Purple light flashed over the needles, instantly sealing them in layers of purple ice, upon which the needles all began to plummet as they had lost their spiritual nature. As for the oncoming green jade hammer, Han Li nonchalantly waved a sleeve through the air and a purple light flashed past, sending the hammer flying as if it had been struck by an immense force.

Daoist Master Swift Crane hurriedly made a hand seal to try and arrest its momentum, but all to no avail. Light began to shimmer along the surface of the hammer as well before it was also sealed in a block of purple ice in the blink of an eye.

The Daoist priest's expression had become extremely strained!

The yellow-robed man was also struggling to believe his own eyes.

Never would he have thought that the treasures he relied so heavily upon would be nullified so easily. This was simply incredible to him!

At the sight of the oncoming Han Li, he hurriedly sent a silver wheel flying out from within his sleeve.

However, Han Li was moving as fast as the wind and he reached the yellow-robed man in a flash as his purple flames tumbled through the air.

The silver wheel had only flashed twice before a golden light appeared, upon which the wheel was soundlessly sliced in half and plummeted toward the ground.

The yellow-robed man's pupils contracted drastically upon seeing this. There was yellow light flashing in his mouth and he was just about to summon his magic treasure. However, during this split-second delay, an eerie smile appeared on Han Li's face as one of his arms suddenly turned blurry before disappearing in a flash. Almost at the exact same moment, the yellow-robed man felt something tighten around his neck as a frosty hand rested itself around his throat. A purple light then flashed in front of his eyes and his spiritual sense lost connection with the magic treasure that he was about to release.

"Argh!"

The yellow-robed man was absolutely petrified. He only had time to let loose a howl of anguish before purple ice began to spread from his neck, encompassing his entire body and rendering him completely immobilized. His face was immortalized in an expression of the utmost horror in the block of ice.

Han Li chuckled coldly as he carried the humanoid ice sculpture in one hand. He turned and swept his expressionless gaze across all of the other cultivators.

The four Core Formation cultivators knew that they wouldn't be able to intervene in a battle between Nascent Soul cultivators and even though they had all summoned their treasures, they could only look on from afar with fear surging through their hearts. At the sight of the yellow-robed man being subdued by Han Li, they all glanced at one another before yelling in unison as they dispersed, transforming into streaks of light as they fled for their lives.

As for Han Li's main target, Daoist Master Swift Crane, he had fled the scene even before the four Core Formation cultivators.

In the instant that the yellow-robed man was captured by Han Li, Daoist Master Swift Crane was extremely shocked to discover that Han Li was far more powerful than he had imagined. He knew that he had zero chance of securing victory, so he immediately made a snap decision and hurtled toward the stone city as a green streak of light.

He was initially quite concerned that the golden beetles in the air would converge to try and stop him. However, to his surprise, the spirit insects were all rooted to the spot, as if they were puppets, allowing him to escape without any impediment.

Daoist Master Swift Crane was overjoyed to see this and after flashing through the air a few times, he had already covered a distance of over 1,000 feet.

Han Li didn't waste any time upon seeing this. He swept his long sleeve toward the Core Formation cultivators first, upon which four streaks of golden light shot forth, traveling so quickly that they were able to catch up to the four cultivators almost instantaneously.

A series of agonized cries rang out in quick succession!

The cultivators' protective treasures were all punctured by the golden light, sending blood raining down from above along with their mutilated bodies and ruined treasures.

Only then did Han Li turn his attention to Daoist Master Swift Crane, who had almost disappeared from view. He chuckled coldly upon seeing this and didn't give chase. Instead, a loud thunderclap erupted from the hand that was carrying the ice sculpture, summoning several bolts of thick golden lightning, instantly transforming into a golden net that ensnared the ice sculpture within.

Lightning flashed violently and the ice sculpture was pulverized by the golden light. At the same time, a yellow Nascent Soul that was about an inch in height appeared. The features on the Nascent Soul were completely identical to that of the yellow-robed man.

The Nascent Soul wore an expression of sheer panic as it quickly made a hand seal. Spiritual light flashed over its body and it disappeared on the spot.

However, in the next instant, a loud boom erupted from a certain spot on the golden net and the Nascent Soul was forced to reveal itself. Teleportation techniques were completely useless in the face of restrictions created by the Divine Devilbane Lightning.

Han Li didn't say anything as he feigned a grabbing motion. The golden night abruptly contracted, forming a golden ball of light that ensnared the Nascent Soul within. He then raised a hand and several talismans flew through the air, plastering themselves to the Nascent Soul's body.

The Nascent Soul's spiritual power congealed as a result, and it was immediately completely immobilized.

Han Li clasped his hands behind his back and turned his attention away from the Nascent Soul. Instead, he narrowed his eyes and directed his gaze toward the direction that Daoist Master Swift Crane had disappeared in.

At this point, Daoist Master Swift Crane was already several thousand feet away. Magic power was flowing within his body without any reservation and he was traveling almost as fast as lightning. Even so, he still turned to look behind him from time to time, seemingly in constant fear that Han Li would be able to chase him down.

After seeing only a vast expanse of inky darkness behind him, Daoist Master Swift Crane finally heaved an internal sigh of relief. However, he didn't slow down in the slightest. Instead, he flipped a hand over to summon an azure talisman before making a hand seal, appearing as if he were preparing to activate the talisman.

Unbeknownst to Daoist Master Swift Crane, in the instant that he had turned to face forward once again, a faint silver light appeared behind him, following which an azure humanoid figure emerged in a wraith-like manner.

The humanoid figure appeared to be flying at a leisurely pace, but it wasn't being outsped n the slightest. This was naturally the humanoid puppet that Han Li had already released in advance.

However, the Daoist priest was completely oblivious to this as his attention was focused on the talisman in his hand.

The puppet raised a hand and a silver fist flew soundlessly through the air.

The protective barrier around the Daoist priest's body formed by that red shield was instantly punctured by the silver fist as if it were a mere papier mache construction. The fist then struck him on the back and the protective layer of spiritual light over his body was also instantly pulverized.

Daoist Master Swift Crane's heart sank at the realization that he was being attacked from behind, but it was already too late for him to react.

The fist suddenly protruded out from the front of the Daoist priest's chest, leaving a gruesome crimson trail in its wake. The fist was then violently withdrawn, creating a puncture wound with a diameter comparable to that of a bowl on Daoist Master Swift Crane's chest. A bloodcurdling howl erupted as Daoist Master Swift Crane's body plummeted powerlessly toward the ground.

The humanoid puppet rubbed its hands together before waving them downward, upon which a silver net of light descended from above. 10 minutes later, Han Li had already settled onto the nearby mountain peak when he saw a silver streak of light appear in the distance. The streak of light was flying directly toward him and a faint smile appeared on his face.

A loud thump erupted as Daoist Master Swift Crane was hurled down from above, landing heavily at Han Li's feet. He had already been encapsulated in a layer of silver light and there were talismans of all different colors plastered onto his body.

A humanoid figure flashed and the puppet appeared behind Han Li.

Only then did Han Li turn his attention to Daoist Master Swift Crane. The latter's body was splattered with blood and he was already half-dead. A hint of a smile appeared on Han Li's face...

Four hours later, a streak of azure light silently flew out from Lightning Sky Island, disappearing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

The azure streak of light was none other than Han Li and he was holding two green storage pouches in his hands with a contemplative look on his face.

The pouches were storage pouch that he had obtained from Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man. There were over 100 high-grade spirit stones in each pouch and they were going to sneak them back to Green Spirit Island.

It turned out that Daoist Master Swift Crane appeared to have allied himself with the other powers on the island, but he had actually pledged his allegiance to the Starfall Coalition in secret. He was planning to control the islands near Green Spirit Island with the Starfall Coalition's support, and this Lightning Sky Island was one of his targets.

The high-grade spirit stones being sold on Lightning Sky Island by the sect that Daoist Master Swift Crane belonged to were given to him in secret by Starfall Coalition cultivators. The cultivators from the Starfall Coalition had excavated those spirit stones from Green Spirit Island and was doing this to support Daoist Master Swift Crane, so he could increase his influence on Lightning Sky Island. The yellow-robed man was a Nascent Soul itinerant cultivator who had been bribed by the Starfall Coalition. He was responsible for taking over another island and his position was similar to that of Daoist Master Swift Crane.

This man had appeared at Lightning Sky Island as he had received an incredible order, just as Daoist Master Swift Crane had. They were ordered to gather all of the high-grade spirit stones they had, then transport them over to Green Spirit Island as quickly as possible. It appeared that there was an extremely important matter that required these high-grade spirit stones as well as the power of these Nascent Soul cultivators. They had also been told to do their best to keep all of the cultivators from the other powers in the dark about this.

Due to the facts that this order was very strange, and the island that the yellow-robed man was staying on was very close to Lightning Sky Island, the two of them decided to meet up before traveling to Green Spirit Island together, thinking that they would have more strength in numbers.

However, unbeknownst to them, their conversation at the market about buying back spirit stones was overheard by Han Li. He didn't manage to hear the entire conversation, but from what he did hear, he deduced that the two of them had pledged their allegiance to the Starfall Coalition, they were both carrying a large number of spirit stones, and they were going to depart from the stone city soon.

Han Li had a score to settle with Daoist Master Swift Crane anyway, so he naturally wasn't going to hold back, especially after learning the fact that these two were both carrying large amounts of high-grade spirit stones, and taking into the account the fact that he had once been hunted down for a long time by the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Starfall Coalition. Thus, he immediately left the stone city and split his spiritual sense into countless threads, then releasing over 10,000 Gold Devouring Beetles all over the stone city to maintain surveillance over Daoist Master Swift Crane.

As a result, he was able to stop their group just as they were about to leave the island. With his current power as a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, he was naturally able to take down two early-Nascent Soul cultivators with ease.

Up to this point, he had achieved his objective for this journey and could immediately return to the Inner Star Seas.

However, when he was using his soul search technique on the two cultivators, he gleaned an important piece of information. It turned out that Zenith Yin, the man who had once almost taken his life, had also arrived in the nearby area. Furthermore, he was one of the mine-guarding elders deployed to Green Spirit Island by the Starfall Coalition.

Zenith Yin was definitely one of the enemies that Han Li detested the most in the Scattered Star Seas. Back when he was in the Heavenvoid Hall, if it weren't for his own resourcefulness and a copious amount of luck, he would've most likely been tortured to death by this old devil already.

As such, Zenith Yin was one of the main targets on Han Lis hit list.

After learning the fact that this devil was currently on the nearby Green Spirit Island, Han Li naturally wasn't going to pass up this opportunity to exact his revenge. Through his soul search technique, he had discovered that there were four Starfall Coalition Nascent Soul cultivators on Green Spirit Island, one of which was at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage while the other three were all early-Nascent Soul cultivators.

This was a formidable force that was perhaps enough to intimidate the other two powers on the island, but it was nothing in the eyes of the current Han Li.

He had absolute confidence in his ability to sneak onto the island, then kill Zenith Yin and depart without alerting anyone else.

With that in mind, Han Li naturally wasn't going to delay any longer. He immediately set forth for Green Spirit Island.

Three days later, Han Li finally arrived in the region of the sea close to Green Spirit Island

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Lightning Sky Island was already quite a large island, but it was simply incomparable to the massive scale of Green Spirit Island. Han Li hovered in the air several tens of kilometers away from Green Spirit Island, surveying the island from afar. He felt as if this island wasn't much smaller than Heavenly Star City.

Of course, the island didn't have as many buildings, nor huge mountains like the sacred mountain. However, there were several mountains that were close to 100,000 feet in height and they were extremely rare in their own right.

What was most astonishing was that the mountains were all extremely steep and barren. From afar, not even a single blade of grass could be seen growing on the mountains, making them appear as if they were stone pillars extending all the way up into the heavens. The peaks of the mountains down to around their halfway points were all obscured from view by the clouds.

However, none of those details caught Han Li's attention. What he was more concerned about was the fact that there wasn't even a single tinge of green to be seen on the entire island. The whole island had a drab greyish-white undertone and he couldn't sense any spiritual Qi fluctuations coming from the island, either.

This island was like a desolate land without any spirit veins!

Han Li was rather perplexed upon making this observation.

Wasn't it said that this island had massive spirit stone mines? How could it not even have a single spirit vein? Generally speaking, spirit mines were products of spirit veins. Where spirit veins existed, spirit stone mines of different grades would inevitably slowly emerge. Conversely speaking, places where spirit stone mines were found generally had spirit veins as well.

In Han Li's imagination, an island on which high-grade spirit stone mines could be formed had to be sitting on top quality spirit veins that were extremely rare in the human world.

However, the scenes currently laid out before his eyes had him at a loss for words.

After contemplating the situation, Han Li realized that he had been too naive. If there were top quality spirit veins that were easy to discover on a massive island like this, how could the so-called high-grade spirit stone mines only have been unearthed recently? They would've been mined by ancient cultivators until there was nothing left. It appeared that there was something on this island that could conceal the fluctuations of spirit veins.

With that in mind, Han Li was immediately enlightened.

He raised his head to look up at the scorching sun. It was noon at this point and even though Han Li was confident in his abilities, it was naturally still more convenient to act at night. Thus, he circled over the surrounding area for a while before discovering a rock that was exposed above the surface of the ocean, upon which he landed upon it.

He then sat down on the rock with his legs folded in front of him and began to meditate.

Several hours later, night fell once again and Han Li abruptly opened his eyes.

He flew toward the island as a streak of azure light, unleashing a secret technique as he did so to make light more blurry and indistinct. In the darkness of the night, normal cultivators would definitely be unable to detect his presence.

After a while, Han Li reached the massive island.

Due to the fact that he had used the soul search technique on Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man, Han Li was able to easily identify the area that had been occupied by the Starfall Coalition cultivators. Thus, he immediately snuck onto the island and flew toward a massive mountain.

Along the way, Han Li encountered many concealment restrictions. After unleashing his spiritual sense, he discovered that there were many guards concealed nearby and the closer he got to the mountain, the more guards he discovered.

However, at his current power level, these restrictions and low-grade cultivators were naturally nothing to him. He snuck past them without any impediment, and none of the guards were alerted to his approach.

An indistinct streak of light flew directly toward the center of the Starfall Coalition area, finally reaching the foot of the massive mountain.

The azure light receded and Han Li's figure emerged.

He wasn't in a hurry to continue onward. Instead, he looked up toward the mountain peak and contemplated momentarily before a blue light suddenly flashed through his eyes.

A faint blue barrier of light was suddenly revealed to Han Li as a result.

The light barrier encompassed the entire mountain peak and its surface was as smooth as flowing water. This was a powerful restriction created by some sort of rare formation spell.

Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this.

Such a massive formation restriction couldn't be broken just by using some sort of secret technique. Of course, this didn't mean that the restriction was actually going to be able to stop Han Li. The blue light in his eyes faded and he flipped his hand over, upon which a ball of three-colored flames emerged.

It was none other than his Triflame Fan.

Doing this could alert the nearby guards, but Han Li had no choice. In the worst-case scenario, he would just have to kill the guards.

As long as he didn't waste any time, it wouldn't be difficult for him to find Zenith Yin, and after killing him, no one on the island would be able to stop him from escaping.

With that in mind, Han Li raised his feather fan and prepared to blast his way into the restriction. However, right at this moment, his expression suddenly changed and the spiritual light on his Triflame Fan was snuffed out as a surprised look appeared on his face.

He then immediately stowed the fan away into his sleeve and disappeared on the spot.

Almost at the exact same moment, light flashed in the distance as several streaks of light came rushing toward the mountain with reckless abandon, making no attempt to conceal themselves.

A short while later, the streaks of light reached the foot of the mountain and as the light receded, three people were revealed.

The one at the forefront of the group was a cultivator with disheveled white hair. He had a set of remarkably youthful features, yet his cultivation base was at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage. The two people behind him were rather similar in appearance to the white-haired man, but their faces were completely pale and devoid of blood.

Neither of them had any expressions on their faces and their white robes presented a slightly eerie sight in the darkness of the night.

The white-haired cultivator seemed to be very familiar with the restriction around the mountain peak. He stopped directly in front of the blue barrier of light before raising a hand, upon which a fiery red voice transmission talismans shot forth into the light barrier.

A short while later, light suddenly flashed from the blue barrier and a loud rumbling erupted as an opening slowly appeared.

The three cultivators flew in through the opening one after the other, following which the light barrier rapidly sealed over again.

No one noticed that there was a faint azure figure that had flown in with them behind the last white-robed man in their group. Even the white-haired cultivator didn't notice that anything was amiss.

Within the blue barrier of light, several cultivators stood in front of the white-haired cultivator with respectful expressions on their faces.

"Greetings, Senior Fei. Elder Tang currently has some important matters to attend to, so please rest for a night in the guest pavilion first, and tomorrow, Elder Tang will meet you at the Cloudsmoke Hall." The man who had spoken was a burly Core Formation cultivator who appeared to be around just over 30 years of age, and was wearing an extremely respectful expression on his face.

"What do you mean by that? He told me that there was urgent business to be taken care of and asked me to get to the island as soon as possible, but he's now telling me to meet him tomorrow? Is Elder Tang intentionally trying to play games with me?" The white-haired cultivator's expression immediately darkened with displeasure. The burly man's face immediately paled as he hurriedly explained, "That's definitely not the case! Elder Tang really is busy attending to important matters; there's no way he would show any disrespect toward you, Senior Fei."

The white-haired cultivator harrumphed coldly before abruptly changing the topic. "Forget it. I'll ask him about this in person tomorrow. How many fellow Daoists have arrived on the island so far? Tomorrow is the final deadline for arrival, right?"

The burly man was clearly very relieved by this change of subject, and he truthfully replied, "Aside from Senior Swift Crane of Lightning Sky Island and Senior Huang Mo of Heavenly Light Island, all of the other seniors are here."

"Ever since that Swift Crane had his body destroyed, he's become as cowardly as a rat. He'll surely come with Huang Kun, so it's no surprise that he's late." A disdainful look appeared on the white-haired cultivator's face.

The burly man could only pretend that he hadn't heard that. He didn't dare to voice his opinions on Nascent Soul cultivators.

The white-haired man chuckled coldly upon seeing this before issuing an instruction to one of the white-robed men behind him. Crimson light flashed through the man's eyes as his body twisted at an incredible angle. His upper body elongated like a python to several times its original length and he immediately pounced on a defenseless Foundation Establishment cultivator. He plunged his fangs into the Foundation Establishment cultivator's neck and began to gulp down large mouthfuls of blood essence.

"Argh!" The Foundation Establishment cultivators standing nearby hurriedly stumbled back in horror. A few of them had even brought out their protective treasures to defend themselves.

"Quit kicking up a fuss! It's just feeding time for my devilish corpses." The white-haired man glared at the low-grade cultivators, the guards could only put away their treasures.

Only then did the white-haired man's expression eased slightly as he patted a storage pouch hanging from his waist. A thumb-sized pill that was filled with blood energy shot forth from the storage pouch, upon which the man pointed a finger at the pill, sending it flying toward the other white-robed man.

The man opened his mouth expressionlessly and swallowed the pill before continuing to stand still on the spot. Meanwhile, the other white-robed man was still sucking the guard's blood essence with reckless abandon. The guard was originally seven feet tall, but following a series of crackles and pops that rang out from his joints, his body began to shrink rapidly. At the same time, his skin became extremely shriveled and dry, taking on the appearance of old tree bark.

The white-haired cultivator looked on with a cold expression and had no intention of rescuing the guard. After the victim had been reduced to a height of around half a foot, he finally made a hand seal and cast a crimson incantation seal onto the white-robed man's back.

The white-robed man's body immediately shuddered and he reluctantly released his victim before its body reverted back to his original state.

Crimson light shot forth from the white-haired man's hand, striking the guard that had been reduced to an unrecognizable miniature version of himself.

A spluttering sound erupted as a ball of crimson flames engulfed the Foundation Establishment cultivator's body, reducing him to nothingness in the blink of an eye, completely eradicating even his soul in the process.

"Take me to the guest pavilion," the white-haired man instructed as if nothing had happened.

"Yes! Please follow me, Senior!" The Core Formation cultivator hurriedly forced a smile onto his face and did as he was told.

He rose into the air as a streak of light and led the trio up toward the mountain peak, disappearing into the cloud and mist up above in the blink of an eye.

The other Foundation Establishment cultivators all heaved a collective sigh of relief with fear lingering on their faces.

Unbeknownst to all of them, a concealed humanoid figure had witnessed everything that had just unfolded from a vantage point in the air over 1,000 feet above them.

"Sinister Yin Blood Corpse! I didn't think there would be someone in the human world that would dare to refine such devilish corpses! Isn't he afraid that the sinister Yin Qi will enter his body and kill him?" The man who was muttering to himself was naturally none other than Han Li, who had snuck surreptitiously into the restriction.

He had his arms crossed as he hovered in mid-air, murmuring to himself in an inaudible voice, seemingly having identified the nature of the white-haired cultivator's devilish corpses.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Sinister Yin Blood Corpses were a type of devilish corpse recorded in the corpse refinement tome that Han Li had obtained from Old Devil Qian. There was no actual refinement method recorded, but it did mention that this blood corpse was extremely powerful, yet the refinement process was very vicious. It was said that in order to refine this devilish corpse, one had to use a body with the same bloodline as their own. Only then would they be able to use the power of their bloodline to repress the backlash from the blood corpse.

During the refinement process, the soul of the body being used would be trapped in the body for eternity without being able to pass on to the afterlife.

Cultivators didn't hold blood ties in as high a regard as mortals, but there were still very few cultivators who could do something so heinous and obscene. It was rather peculiar now that Han Li thought about it; even if there were some extremely cruel cultivators who managed to refine such blood corpses, all of them suffered extremely gruesome fates, with none of them living out the entirety of their natural lifespan...

As such, there were many evil cultivators who yearned for these powerful blood corpses, but there weren't that many who dared to actually refine them.

At this point, there were almost no cultivators who knew the method to refine these blood corpses. Even a great cultivator like Old Devil Qian, who had refined the Unbroken Cinque Devils, was unaware of that specific refinement method.

As such, Han Li was naturally very surprised upon identifying the two Sinister Yin Blood Corpses accompanying the white-haired cultivator.

However, regardless of who this white-haired cultivator was or what heinous things he had done in the past, as long as he didn't get in Han Li's way, Han Li couldn't be bothered to pay him any heed. After hovering in the air for a while, Han Li's body swayed as he flew directly toward the mountain peak.

He had used the soul search technique on Daoist Master Swift Crane and the yellow-robed man, but they didn't know the specific location of Zenith Yin's residence, either. All they knew was that he lived on this mountain peak, so Han Li would have to do a bit of searching himself.

He easily subdued a Foundation Establishment guard on the mountain and secured the information he was looking for after using his soul search technique again.

From that guard's memories, he learned that Zenith Yin hadn't gone anywhere and was currently situated in his residence. Han Li was ecstatic upon making this discovery. He reduced the guard to a cloud of dust before heading directly toward the mountain peak.

The pinnacle of the mountain was quite vast and spacious, but there weren't many buildings there. Aside from a few sporadic halls and pavilions, there were only large stretches of empty land.

That was only to be expected. There were many high-grade cultivators on the island, but almost no low-grade cultivators below the Foundation Establishment Stage. As such, there was only a total of around 500 to 600 Starfall Coalition cultivators on the island. Such a large number of cultivators at or above the Foundation Establishment Stage was already quite a force to be reckoned with, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that there were also several Nascent Soul cultivators on the island.

Han Li concealed himself and continued soundlessly toward a certain massive pavilion.

This pavilion was quite a spectacular building with five levels, which tapered upward to form a pyramid, and the first level took up an area of several thousand feet. However, the entire building was constructed from a strange type of pitch-black rocks which exuded dark Yin Qi, striking one with a very dark and gloomy feeling.

Han Li took a glance at the building before him, which had almost been entirely enshrouded in dark Yin Qi, and a cold smile appeared on his face as he swept a hand through the air. A massive blade of purple flames hurtled through the air, slicing open a path in the tumbling Yin Qi.

Han Li transformed into a streak of azure light and shot forth into that makeshift passageway without any hesitation.

"Who's there?" As soon as Han Li entered through the doors of the pavilion, an alarmed voice sounded, and a streak of black light came flying toward him. The light seemed to contain a middle-aged cultivator.

This man wasn't Zenith Yin, so Han Li completely ignored him and swept a sleeve toward him, summoning a sword that was over 10 feet in length which suddenly disappeared as it flashed through the air.

The middle-aged cultivator's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this and he opened his mouth to try and expel some sort of magic treasure. However, it was already too late. Golden light flashed through the air and the sword reappeared above his head before shooting downward like a bolt of lightning.

A howl of anguish rang out as the cultivator body was instantly sliced into several pieces. Even his soul had been pulverized by the golden light and not even a single shred of it was able to escape.

Han Li glanced expressionlessly at the mutilated body.

This was clearly a Core Formation cultivator and judging from the cultivation art that he had unleashed, he appeared to be one of Zenith Yin's disciples.

He flicked a finger and a crimson fireball shot forth. Scorching heatwaves radiated through the air as the sections of the body were burned into nothingness.

Han Li turned toward the staircase and a hint of surprise flashed through his eyes.

It was rather strange that Zenith Yin still hadn't been alerted to the fact that something was amiss at this point.

He immediately unleashed his spiritual sense and sent it sweeping up into the higher levels of the pavilions.

A short while later, a peculiar look appeared on his face.

He discovered that the higher levels of the pavilion were completely empty with not a single person to be found. It was as if that Core Formation cultivator had been the only one guarding this entire pavilion.

Could it be that Zenith Yin had already left the pavilion and wasn't staying in his residence?

Han Li was feeling slightly disappointed.

He stroked his chin and a contemplative look appeared on his face. All of a sudden, a thought seemed to have occurred to him as he sent his spiritual sense sweeping into the ground below.

Immediately thereafter, a smile appeared on his face.

He immediately patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist to summon two red and yellow jade scepters. He gently waved the scepters through the air, upon which a yellow barrier of light appeared, encompassing his body within. He then twisted his body and somehow burrowed into the ground. The first level of the pavilion was immediately empty again.

After traveling over 100 feet underground, a grey barrier of light and a pitch-black stone wall appeared before Han Li.

Han Li immediately summoned a layer of purple flames over his hand before swiping it toward the light barrier.

A small gash was immediately torn into the grey barrier of light.

Han Li twisted his body and transformed into an azure thread, thus allowing him to insert himself through the gash that was only around half a foot wide.

When he set foot on a pristine stone step, he discovered that he was situated on a stone staircase that was leading downward with smooth black rocks in all directions around him.

Han Li looked downward with a cold expression before narrowing his eyes as he released his spiritual sense. He was going to assess the situation down below first before deciding on a course of action. However, he then immediately raised an eyebrow as he uttered a sound of surprise.

After traveling downward for several hundred feet, his spiritual sense was rebounded by an invisible force. Someone had set up a spiritual-sense-repelling restriction at the bottom of the passageway.

Han Li was a little surprised and also quite curious upon making this discovery.

Not only were spiritual sense formations extremely complex, they were also very expensive to set up. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn't erect one for no good reason. This place should only have been a temporary abode for Zenith Yin, so why would he set up a restriction of this caliber? That was very strange!

With a hint of surprise in his heart, Han Li immediately went drifting downward.

The length of this stone staircase far exceeded Han Li's expectations. After making his way all the way downward for several thousand feet, he still hadn't reached the bottom, and it was as if he were descended into a bottomless pit.

Han Li's brows furrowed as a sense of confusion welled up in his heart.

After drifting down for a while longer, a powerful burst of spiritual Qi suddenly came rushing toward him.

His heart jolted with shock in response and his footsteps reflexively came to an abrupt halt.

This was indeed spiritual Qi of the utmost purity, far superior to the caliber of spiritual Qi found in normal top-grade spirit veins.

Han Li took a deep breath and his expression changed slightly as he backtracked for over 100 feet.

Once he scaled back up a few steps, the spiritual Qi suddenly ceased to exist.

"There really is something interesting going on here!" Han Li mused to himself as he reverted back to his normal expression.

He then surveyed his surroundings and suddenly raised a hand without any premonition, grabbing viciously toward the stone wall beside him.

Glacial light shimmered on his fingertips and the black stone gave away like tofu, allowing his fingers to sink into the stone before gouging out a large chunk.

Behind the black stone wall was a type of faint azure stone.

Han Li withdrew his hand and looked down at the large chunk of azure stone in his hand.

The stone didn't appear to be any different compared to normal azure stone.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as his five fingers converged.

The chunk of stone was immediately crushed into a fine powder before spilling down onto the stone steps.

Almost at the exact same moment, blue light flashed in Han Li's eyes as he unleashed his Brightsight Spirit Eyes.

"What's this?" He had finally noticed something peculiar.

Within the powdered azure stone, there was a faint silver granule that was flashing incessantly. Of course, this type of flashing was only perceivable to Han Li after he had injected his spiritual power into his eyes.

He was unable to identify what kind of strange material this silver granule was, but Han Li knew that this substance was most likely what had sealed the spiritual Qi deep within this mountain.

That also explained why the spirit stone mines on this island had never been discovered by ancient cultivators or the demon beasts in the sea.

After ascertaining the reason for this, Han Li didn't delay any longer as he drifted down the stone steps again.

Seeing as spiritual Qi of such a high level of purity had already appeared, Han Li estimated that he couldn't be far away from Zenith Yin.

As expected, after traveling downward for about 500 to 600 more feet, a ray of white light appeared around a corner up ahead. Furthermore, the sound of a conversation could be indistinctly heard.

Could it be that Zenith Yin wasn't alone?

Han Li's eyes narrowed as a peculiar feeling welled up in his heart.

However, at his current power level, even if the people that Zenith Yin was conversing with were the legendary Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu, he would still have nothing to fear.

Thus, he immediately rushed forward and rounded the corner in a flash.

After doing so, he appeared at the entrance to a stone chamber. The stone door of the chamber was left ajar and faint white light was emanating from within.

Han Li chuckled coldly as he flicked a finger toward the stone door. Two thick bolts of golden lightning shot forth, soundlessly dividing the stone door into four portions.

Han Li's body then swayed as he appeared directly within the stone chamber. At the same time, he turned his gaze toward a certain corner of the stone chamber.

There was a black-robed cultivator with long and narrow eyes standing in that corner. He had his hands clasped behind his back and he was staring at Han Li with his mouth gaped wide open and an astonished look on his face.

This man was none other than Zenith Yin.

A ball of black Yin flames was hovering over the stone table in front of Zenith Yin, within which was a faint golden Nascent Soul.

Zenith Yin was using his Yin flames to torture the Nascent Soul and there was no one else in the stone chamber.

"Han Li!" After a brief moment of stunned inactivity, Zenith Yin immediately identified Han Li, upon which an ecstatic expression appeared on his face.

He had been yearning for the Heavenvoid Cauldron fo a long time.

Thus, Zenith Yin immediately swept a sleeve through the air, sending a burst of black devilish Qi surging forth violently. The devilish Qi transformed into a pitch-black giant python before pouncing toward Han Li.

Han Li chuckled coldly upon seeing this as he raised a single hand.

A thunderclap erupted from his arm as a thick arc of dazzling golden lightning appeared!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

He spread open his fingers and a golden lightning wyrm shot forth from his arm, clashing directly with the oncoming black python.

"Divine Devilbane Lightning!"

Zenith Yin's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this. He immediately tried to make another hand seal, but it was already too late.

The golden wyrm threw itself at the black python, creating a resounding boom.

Golden light flashed and the black python's body was enshrouded by countless arcs of golden lightning before being reduced to nothingness in the blink of an eye.

The Divine Devilbane Lightning's efficacy against devilish Qi was no joke.

A hint of rage appeared on Zenith Yin's face as he patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist.

A loud cry erupted as a streak of crimson light around a foot in length shot forth from the storage pouch. It flashed through the air before arriving directly above Han Li's head, where it transformed into a long crimson saber and came crashing downward.

Before the saber had even begun its descent, the pungent odor of blood and gore came rushing toward Han Li first.

Han Li's expression darkened as he tilted his head back and abruptly opened his mouth, sending a small golden sword flying upward.

A loud clang rang out as golden and crimson light became interwoven with one another. The crimson saber then let loose a cry of anguish before being sliced in half by the golden flying sword, following which its two halves came plummeting straight down toward the ground. "Impossible!"

Zenith Yin's expression changed drastically upon seeing this and the ecstasy that was clouding his judgment was immediately dispelled.

Within the stone chamber, the restriction on one's spiritual sense didn't have any effect, so he immediately sent his spiritual sense sweeping toward Han Li.

In Han Li's eyes, Zenith Yin was already a dead man, so there was no need for him to hide his cultivation base. As such, he circulated his magic power with reckless abandon throughout his body.

After detecting Han Li's cultivation base, a series of spectacular expressions flashed through Zenith Yin's face.

He initially faltered before a confused look appeared on his face, followed by incredulity and a hint of horror. When he used his spiritual sense to verify Han Li's cultivation base again, his face immediately turned deathly pale.

"You've already reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage?"

Zenith Yin spat through gritted teeth as his entire body instantly became drenched in cold sweat!

Han Li began to recall events of the past and intense killing intent welled up in his heart as he said in a cold voice, "Hmph, what good will that knowledge do you? It's actually better to die as a fool. Seeing as you pursued me relentlessly to try and take my Heavenvoid Cauldron, it's only fitting that I kill you with this cauldron."

He then opened his mouth and a ball of azure light shot forth, spinning on the spot before revealing itself to be a small antiquated cauldron.

It was none other than the Heavenvoid Cauldron!

Zenith Yin was astonished by the fact that Han Li had progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage and even now, he still felt as if he were in a dream. However, he knew that he was in an extremely perilous situation after witnessing Han Li summon the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and he certainly wasn't going to surrender.

Thus, he gritted his teeth and abruptly spun on the spot. Bursts of inky-black Yin Qi exuded from his body, encompassing most of the stone chamber in the blink of an eye. At the same time, intimidating ghostly figures began to emerge in the black mist amid bursts of ghastly screeching.

Zenith Yin unleashed his Profound Yin Devilish Arts with all his might, while also releasing the 18 Heavenwide Corpses that he had been refining for several centuries. However, he didn't dare to attack Han Li with devilish Qi, which made him rather hesitant with regard to how to proceed.

In response, Han Li merely chuckled coldly.

Even though almost the entire stone chamber had been enshrouded in Profound Yin Devilish Qi, he could still see everything with great clarity using his spirit eyes.

Thus, he didn't waste any time with words as a pointed a finger toward the Heavenvoid Cauldron in front of him.

Azure light flashed over the surface of the cauldron as clumps of azure threads shot forth. There seemed to be no end to the azure threads and they formed a massive azure net in the blink of an eye before hovering in the air.

Zenith Yin's heart sank upon seeing this and he immediately began to chant an incantation.

The devilish projections nearby flashed and 18 Heavenwide Corpses rushed out of the cloud of Yin Qi, heading directly upward while flailing their arms in an attempt to tear through the azure net.

Han Li looked on expressionlessly as he flicked a finger toward the small cauldron before him.

A faint clang rang out and dazzling light suddenly erupted from the azure net. A layer of blue glacial flames abruptly appeared beneath the net before transforming into a dozen or so shiny blue fire-birds, all of which flew toward the oncoming corpses.

The Heavenwide Corpses didn't even get the chance to utter a single sound before they were reduced to 18 sinister ice sculptures by the blue flames. The ice sculptures then fell from above and were shattered into countless pieces.

At this moment, the threads on the azure net suddenly shuddered as countless fist-sized blue fireballs hurtled toward the devilish QI down below. The black mist tumbled and surged violently before transforming into countless black pythons that rose up to meet the descending fireballs.

As soon as the two came into contact with one another, the blue fireballs exploded on impact, sending a vast expanse of blue glacial mist spreading through the entire stone chamber.

The temperatures in the stone chamber immediately plummeted as thick layers of ice materialized on the walls, floor, and ceiling.

In the blink of an eye, the stone chamber had been completely transformed into a glacial realm.

The black pythons were powerless in the face of the blue glacial mist and were reduced to countless ice sculptures, which then crumbled into countless fragments. The might of the blue glacial mist then vanquished all of the remaining devilish Qi, revealing the indistinct figure of Zenith Yin underneath. Under such circumstances, Zenith Yin definitely wouldn't be able to last long at all.

He was also aware of this himself and he immediately let loose a shrill cry and he blasted an inky-black bead out of his mouth.

As soon as the bead emerged, Zenith Yin bit through the tip of his tongue and threw up a mouthful of blood essence onto the bead.

The bead immediately shuddered before transforming into a ball of devilish flames. The fireball revolved in a circle around Zenith Yin before transforming into a layer of pitch-black flames that enshrouded him within.

This was none other than Zenith Yin's trump card, his Heavenwide Corpsefire.

After unleashing these flames, Zenith Yin's confidence was restored slightly. He swept up his remaining devilish Qi before transforming into a ball of black flames and rushing toward the entrance of the stone chamber, appearing as if he were fleeing for his life.

The Heavenwide Corpsefire really was a force to be reckoned with; after coming into contact with these flames, the blue glacial mist emitted a dull thump and was unable to freeze Zenith Yin. After a few flashes, he managed to fly out of the blue glacial mist and instantly appeared near the entrance.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged upon seeing this, but he internally activated his Artifact Imprint Technique.

Azure light suddenly erupted from the stone gate as countless azure threads shot forth from the nearby walls, interweaving with one another to create an impenetrable net.

"Argh!" Zenith Yin's heart sank upon seeing this.

Right at this moment, a frosty sensation suddenly surged toward him from above and he looked up in shock and horror.

A massive ice lotus was materializing overhead above the azure net. The lotus was entirely blue in color and extremely vibrant and beautiful. More importantly, it was encompassing Zenith Yin's entire body beneath it.

"Crap!" A wave of shock surged through Zenith Yin's heart as he attempted to rush out of the lotus flower's range.

However, right at this moment, two clumps of azure threads suddenly erupted from the ground upon which he was standing, binding themselves tightly around his feet.

As a result, Zenith Yin was completely unable to escape. The azure threads continued up his calves, ensnaring his entire body in the blink of an eye.

The black flames were still raging over his body, yet the threads were seemingly completely immune to this fire.

Almost at the exact same moment, the blue ice lotus up above began to slowly descend.

Zenith Yin was absolutely petrified upon seeing this.

His Heavenwide Corpsefire was indeed quite powerful, but there was no way it would be able to withstand the might of the Celestial Blue Flames.

IN this dire situation, he opened his mouth and expelled a black jade pendant.

However, before he could unleash the power of this treasure, more clumps of azure threads shot forth toward him from nearby.

The small ade pendant was ensnared in a flash.

Zenith Yin's heart jolted with shock and he hurriedly attempted to activate the jade pendant with his spiritual sense.

However, the azure threads around the pendant merely flashed and his connection with the treasure was severed.

The azure threads then dragged the jade pendant toward the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

The threads and the jade pendant flashed and both were absorbed into the cauldron.

An expression of despair appeared on Zenith Yin's face upon seeing this.

He was unleashing his Heavenwide Corpsefire with all his might and summoned two other treasures to keep the ice lotus overhead at bay, but his struggles were ultimately proving to be futile.

As soon as the blue ice lotus began to descend, a layer of blue flames erupted with the lotus at the very center.

As soon as Zenith Yin's Heavenwide Corpsefire came into contact with the Celestial Ice Flames, the former was immediately warped and crushed. Following a string of loud bangs, the Heavenwide Corpsefire was reduced to a pitiful state and appeared to be on the verge of being snuffed out.

During this period of time, Zenith Yin unleashed several secret techniques in quick succession to try and struggle free from the azure threads binding his body, all to no avail.

When the final wisp of Heavenwide Corpsefire was snuffed out, the blue lotus flower finally descended.

Despite Zenith Yin's desperate struggles, he was completely enshrouded in glacial power and completely frozen solid. His entire body was encapsulated in a block of blue ice that was several tens of feet tall, and an expression of shock and horror still lingered on his face.

From the commencement of the battle all the way until Zenith Yin was captured, Han Li didn't use any treasure other than the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and he didn't even move a single step from where he was standing. After Zenith Yin was sealed in ice, Han Li chuckled coldly as he flicked a finger toward the cauldron again.

All of the azure threads in the stone chamber tremored in unison before returning to the cauldron as streaks of light, while spiritual light flashed incessantly over the surface of the cauldron.

Han Li immediately opened is mouth upon seeing this to swallow the cauldron back into his stomach. He then turned his attention to Zenith Yin, who was trapped in the block of blue ice, and he chuckled as a hint of a smile appeared on his face. However, his eyes were extremely cold and completely devoid of emotion.

Han Li drifted over to the blue ice sculpture and a ringing sound erupted from his sleeve as a dozen or so golden flying swords shot forth. The flying swords circled through the air before elongating to several feet in length. They then aimed their sharp tips at the blue ice sculpture from all directions, appearing as if they were going to completely dismember Zenith Yin's body.

"Please wait, Fellow Daoist Han! My entire family was slaughtered by this man. May I have the honor of putting an end to this man's life?" A voice that was familiar to Han Li suddenly sounded from a corner of the stone chamber.

Han Li stirred as he arrested the momentum of his flying sword and turned toward the source of the voice.

Golden light suddenly shimmered beneath a thick layer of ice as a small fist smashed its way through the ice, causing the ice to shatter.

A golden Nascent Soul emerged from within the ice before rising into the air and looking directly at Han Li.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"Man Huzi!"

Only then did Han Li notice the physical appearance of the Nascent Soul, a discovery that he was quite shocked to make.

If his memory served correct, Man Huzi had almost reached the end of his lifespan when Han Li last saw him. Now, close to 200 years had passed by, so he should've passed away already. So how was it that his Nascent Soul continued to exist, and how had it been captured by Zenith Yin?

In his confusion, Han Li set aside his intention to kill Zenith Yin right away. Instead, he began to carefully assess Man Huzis Nascent Soul.

All of a sudden, he raised a hand and feigned a grabbing motion.

A large azure hand appeared above the Nascent Soul before swooping down like lightning, immediately ensnaring the Nascent Soul between his five fingers.

Spiritual light was shimmering over his hand, and the Nascent Soul was completely unable to move.

"There's no need to be so cautious, Fellow Daoist Han. In my current state, I won't even be able to use any teleportation techniques; how will I be able to escape?" Man Huzi wasn't making any effort to try and struggle free from Han Li's grasp.

"Hmph, that may not actually be the case. I didn't think that you would survive for this long. I recall that back in the Heavenvoid Hall all those years ago, you seemed to have harbored ill intentions against me as well. Are you appearing before me now so I can send you on your way as well?" Han Li asked with a dark expression.

"You've already reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage, so if you'd like to exact your revenge for what happened in the Heavenvoid Hall, then you have every right to do so. However, you were only a mere Core Formation cultivator back then; I think anyone in my situation back then would've tried to hunt you down. Even if you don't kill me, I've already expended the last of remaining energy to break through that restriction just then, so my time in this world is very much limited." The Nascent Soul didn't appear to fear death at all.

Han Li was silent for a moment before saying something that came as a huge surprise to Man Huzi. "That's certainly true! In your current feeble state, it won't be long before your Nascent Soul dissipates. I'm not an ungrateful person; even though you did harbor animosity toward me in the Heavenvoid Hall, the Royal Scale Plate you gave me saved my life once. As such, I won't put an end to your life here. Neither of us owes the other anything now!"

Man Huzi faltered initially upon hearing this before a wry smile appeared on his face as he replied, "I didn't give you that treasure out of generosity or kindness; I was merely trying to use you! You don't need to pay that any heed."

"I don't care what your intentions were; the fact of the matter is that the Royal Scale Plate really did save my life once. However, don't expect me to save you, either. Whether you survive or die here will be entirely up to you." Han Li waved a hand, and the large azure hand in the air disappeared, freezing Man Huzi's Nascent Soul once again.

He then turned his attention to the massive block of ice off to the side.

Man Huzi's Nascent Soul took a deep breath before glaring at the frozen Zenith Yin as he asked again, "Fellow Daoist Han, I have a blood feud with this Zenith Yin. Could you leave him to me and grant me my final wish to kill him before I die?"

"I also have a vendetta against Zenith Yin, so I'll be the one to put an end to him. There's no need for you to intervene," Han Li immediately turned him down.

"I'm willing to offer some rare materials and my own secret technique tome in exchange for this opportunity." Man Huzi suddenly became extremely flustered upon hearing this and he hurriedly offered a reward to try and change Han Li's mind.

Han Li turned to look back at the Nascent Soul, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Tell me what your true intentions are. I'm not naive enough to believe that you'd be willing to pay such a heavy price just for revenge. If you tell me your true intentions and your plan isn't detrimental to me in any way, then I might agree to let you do the honors. Also, I'm very interested to hear how you were able to survive until this point and how you ended up in Zenith Yin's hands. I hope you can impart this knowledge upon me," Han Li said in a slow voice.

Upon hearing this, the urgent expression on the Nascent Soul's face slowly disappeared and was replaced by a hesitant look.

Man Huzi heaved a long sigh and finally made up his mind. "So be it; there's no need for me to keep this a secret from you. Let me tell you everything."

"I'd be honored to hear it!" Han Li replied calmly.

He then waved a sleeve toward the block of ice, upon which all of the golden flying swords were withdrawn by a burst of azure light before disappearing into his sleeve in the blink of an eye.

Man Huzi began to tell his story through gritted teeth. "You're actually aware of this already, Fellow Daoist Han; back over 100 years ago, I was already about to reach the end of my lifespan. I managed to obtain some pills and medicines that could extend my lifespan in the Heavenvoid Hall, but that was only delaying the inevitable. The only reason why my Nascent Soul still exists is because Zenith Yin used a cruel secret technique to completely overexert my Nascent Soul's latent potential, thereby forcing me to survive through his torture. As a price for extending my lifespan, when my spiritual power runs out and my Nascent Soul dissipates in the end, my soul won't be able to exist in this world, so there's no chance of reincarnation for me."

Han Li didn't say anything in response. He knew that Man Huzi was only building up context for the rest of his story.

As expected, Man Huzi required no encouragement as he continued, "Back then, I obtained the Heavenmend Pill from the Heavenvoid Hall and lived the good life for a while. No one was actually going to challenge me just over a pill. However, good times never last. Just as I was about to reach the conclusion of my lifespan, the Archsaint of the Six Paths came to my residence and asked me to give my body to him after I died so he could cultivate his devilish arts with it. I naturally refused and in the end, I was severely wounded by his Six Apex Devils Art. Thankfully, I was able to unleash a secret technique and escape, but along the way, I bumped into that accursed Zenith Yin. This bastard saw through the fact that I was severely wounded and immediately attacked me. We battled for three days and three nights, but I succumbed to my injuries in the end, and my body was destroyed. That was how my Nascent Soul ended up in his hands. He had always yearned for my collection and that Heavenmend Pill, so he imprisoned me for interrogation, all the way until now."

"Interrogation? Why didn't he use a soul search technique on you?" Han Li was slightly surprised to hear this.

Man Huzi chuckled coldly before replying in a proud manner, "Hehe, if this were any other cultivator, even a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator wouldn't be able to avoid the fate of having their soul forcibly searched. However, the Heavenbearing Devil Arts that I cultivated makes me immune to soul search techniques. With it, I can guard my spiritual sense resolutely within my soul, making it very difficult to forcibly extract. If he increases the power of his soul search technique, then my soul will be destroyed. He was never going to be able to find out my secrets!"

"Such a secret technique exists?" Han Li raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. He was rather interested in such a technique.

"Of course! Do you think the Heavenbearing Devil Arts has a false reputation? It's just that I never made this known to the world. Zenith Yin couldn't do anything to me, so he could only use his corpsefire to torture my Nascent Soul from time to time. Hehe, my I won't fold that easily. In any case, even if I did tell him everything, I would only be destroyed anyway. However, it's been over 100 years since my Nascent Soul was forcibly enhanced by his secret technique, and I really am at the end of the road. Unless I unleash a secret technique to devour another Nascent Soul, reincarnation will definitely be beyond me. Even if I do manage to engulf a Nascent Soul, it's still yet to be seen whether I'll have a chance for reincarnation." At the conclusion of his story, Man Huzi turned to glare at the frozen Zenith Yin, looking as if he wanted nothing better than to sink his teeth into Zenith Yin's flesh.

"I see. So you're planning to engulf Zenith Yin's Nascent Soul for a chance at a second life. I've heard of a secret technique like this, but it really is impossible to verify whether it's actually effective" Han Li murmured as he stroked his chin.

"Regardless of whether it works or not, it's my only opportunity, so I must at least try it. In any case, someone else may take my collection after I die anyway, so why not use it to exchange for a ray of hope for myself?" Man Huzi heaved a resigned sigh.

"That is indeed true. Do you still have that Heavenmend Pill?" Han Li asked.

"Not anymore. I took it as soon as I got out of the Heavenvoid Hall, but unfortunately, it didn't have much of an effect on me at all. Zenith Yin could see that my cultivation base hadn't improved, so he thought that I never took the pill in the first place, and had constantly been interrogating me about its whereabouts. Otherwise, he may not have had the patience to interrogate me for so long," Man Huzi replied in an honest manner.

"Oh? Is that really the case?" A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes.

Back when he had taken his Heavenmend Pill, it had had an extremely pronounced effect. However, Man Huzi had already been reduced to such a pitiful state, so he most likely wasn't lying. As such, it appeared that the Heavenmend Pill's effect on Nascent Soul cultivators was negligible. Of course, that could also be because the aptitude of Man Huzi's spiritual roots was quite good to begin with, so there wasn't much room for improvement.

Han Li contemplated the situation for a while before giving his response. "I can allow you to do as you please, but you have to give me a copy of the Heavenbearing Devil Arts first. After that, I'll leave Zenith Yin to you. I'm rather interested in the soul-locking secret technique you were referring to earlier. After you devour Zenith Yin's Nascent Soul, you can tell me about where the rest of your collection is."

"No problem!" The Nascent Soul was overjoyed to hear this.

Han Li nodded in response, but he could see that the Nascent Soul was very feeble. As such, he made a few hand seals and cast a few incantation seals onto the Nascent Soul's body in quick succession.

Spiritual light of different colors shimmered over the Nascent Soul's body, upon which it was significantly reinvigorated.

"Thank you, Fellow Daoist Han!" Man Huzi was very grateful for Han Li's gesture.

Han Li waved a hand before tossing a blank white jade slip through the air.

The Nascent Soul hurriedly opened its little mouth to expel a burst of faint golden light. The jade slip was swept up in the golden light before rapidly shrinking to a size that could fit in the Nascent Soul's hand.

After that, it lowered its head and began to replicate the devil arts.

This was something that he had completely committed to memory, so replicating it was a piece of cake.

10 minutes later, the Nascent Soul opened its eye before raising a hand into the air. A streak of white light was sent flying toward Han Li.

Han Li caught the white light and spiritual light flashed as the jade slip reverted back to its original size.

"You haven't tampered with this, have you, Brother Man?" Han Li glanced at the jade slip before a half-smile appeared on his face.

The Nascent Soul didn't know whether it should laugh or cry upon hearing this. "Surely you jest, Brother Han. With your current late-Nascent Soul cultivation base, you'd be able to easily ascertain the authenticity of a cultivation art. Besides, I'm already in such a pitiful state, why would I do something that harms you and doesn't benefit me in any way?"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Han Li chuckled and didn't say anything else. The jade slip in his hand shuddered as he inserted his spiritual sense within.

After reading through just a few sentences, Han Li's expression suddenly changed drastically. There was an initial flash of surprise, followed by incredulity, then elation.

Man Huzi's Nascent Soul was rather perplexed by his reaction.

However, it was indeed true that he hadn't tampered with the cultivation art, so he had no need to worry about anything.

After 15 minutes, Han Li had already finished reading through the jade slip, taking much less time than Man Huzi had anticipated he would. Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip and his expression became rather confused.

"Brother Man, where did you learn this Heavenbearing Devil Art? Do you know its origins?" Han Li asked.

"Origins? This is a renowned cultivation art in the Scattered Star Seas that has been passed down for a long time. It's no less renowned than the Archsaint of the Six Paths' Six Apex Devils Art. It's just that this cultivation art has always been passed down to only one person per generation, and I only managed to learn it after I encountered my master. Why do you ask? Is there something amiss about this cultivation art?" the Nascent Soul asked.

"No, no!" Han Li shook his head in response before flipping his hand over, upon which the jade slip disappeared.

After witnessing the wide array of emotions Han Li had just displayed, Man Huzi certainly wasn't going to believe that. However, he didn't pry any further into the matter. "Brother Han, if you don't have the time to cultivate this art, then just pass it on to any disciple of yours. The inheritance of the Heavenbearing Devil Arts must go on."

His top priority was naturally to engulf Zenith Yin's Nascent Soul, so he immediately continued, "Seeing as you've already seen the cultivation art, would I be able to begin now?"

Red light flashed in the Nascent Soul's eyes and a solemn look appeared on its face as it spoke.

Han Li glanced at the frozen Zenith Yin before a smile appeared on his face as he asked, "Of course. You're a little feeble at the moment, though; would you like me to assist you?"

"Thank you for your kind offer, but that won't be necessary. My current magic power isn't comparable to even a tenth of what it once was, but it's still more than enough to handle an immobilized cultivator." Man Huzi shook his head with a confident look.

"Alright, then I'll be waiting outside." Han Li smiled and didn't say anything further. His body swayed and he appeared at the entrance before slowly making his way out of the stone chamber.

Thus, only Man Huzi and the frozen Zenith Yin were left in the chamber.

Man Huzi turned to Zenith Yin and a sinister look appeared on his face. Zenith Yin was completely immobilized, but there was a horrified look in his eyes. Meanwhile, Han Li was standing in the passageway outside the stone chamber, silently surveying the jade slip in his hand.

The stone chamber was completely silent. After around 15 minutes, a weary voice sounded from within.

"Fellow Daoist Han, you can come in now." The voice belonged to none other than Man Huzi, but it was slightly hoarse.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he put his hands together, upon which the jade slip in his hand disappeared without a trace again.

He then made his way into the stone chamber.

The massive block of blue ice was still completely untouched, but Zenith Yin's eyes had already completely rolled over and he was clearly very much dead.

Meanwhile, the Nascent Soul was hovering over the block of ice. It had grown a little in size and was filled with vitality, creating a strong contrast with its previous feeble state. However, it wore an exhausted expression on its little face as it said, "You have my thanks, Brother Han. I've only temporarily recovered most of my energy and I must take this opportunity to pass on to the afterlife. Otherwise, my efforts would all be wasted. My secret cave abode is located at..."As the Nascent Soul began to disclose the location of its collection, it fell silent and began to transmit its voice to Han Li instead.

Han Li listened carefully before nodding expressionlessly.

The Nascent Soul exhaled, and calmly said, "Alright, I've exacted my revenge, so it's time for me to pass on now. Farewell, Fellow Daoist Han."Its body then swayed as it flew toward a corner of the stone chamber, where it sat down with its legs folded in front of itself.

Dazzling golden light erupted from the Nascent Soul's body and its aura became extremely unsteady, oscillating between strong peaks and feeble troughs.

A smile appeared on Han Li's face as he turned his attention away from Man Huzi's Nascent Soul. Instead, he rubbed his hands together before raising them.

A loud thunderclap erupted as several thick arcs of golden lightning struck the massive block of ice. The ice exploded amid a flurry of golden light, and Zenith Yin's frozen body was shattered into countless pieces.

Han Li inspected the remains carefully to ensure that there wasn't a soul fragment or a second primal soul or something of that nature. After verifying that, he nodded with a content expression before turning away.

Right at this moment, a series of cracks had already surfaced on the Nascent Soul's shimmering body. Golden light flashed from within the cracks and it was as if golden liquid were about to spill out.

Han Li's eyes narrowed as he stared intently at Man Huzi's Nascent Soul, but he didn't say anything.

Following a faint thump, the entire Nascent Soul exploded into specks of golden light before disappearing.

After witnessing Man Huzi's Nascent Soul passing on to the afterlife, Han Li heaved a faint sigh. He flicked a finger at Zenith Yin's remains on the ground, and a fireball shot forth, enshrouding everything in scorching flames.

Han Li didn't stay behind to watch everything burn. He transformed into a streak of golden light before disappearing from the stone chamber in the blink of an eye.

Han Li didn't need to fear anything when escaping from this place, so he traveled at full speed and quickly reached the end of the passageway.

A stone wall that was shimmering with spiritual light stood in his way.

Han Li immediately raised a hand without any hesitation. Golden light began to flash from his fingertip as he prepared to summon sword Qi to slice through the wall.

However, right at this moment, an earthshattering boom suddenly erupted. The entire passageway began to tremor and quake while emitting a rumbling echo.

Han Li was slightly surprised by this turn of event, but his hands didn't slow down in the slightest. Several streaks of golden light layered on top of one another before flying through the air and slicing through the stone wall.

Han Li's body swayed and he emerged on the other side.

He had emerged on the first level of the pavilion, and the stone wall that he had just broken through was a secret door located in a corner of the pavilion.

As soon as he emerged from the passageway, the rumbling and quaking were exacerbated by severalfold. There was raucous laughter, cries of rage, and loud explosions erupting outside. It was as if the entire stone peak had become a battlefield and there were people engaged in battle outside.

Han Li's brows furrowed, yet a streak of red light suddenly came flying into the pavilion from outside. Before the incoming cultivator had even identified the man inside the pavilion, he immediately began to yell, "Bad news! The demon beasts of the Ironstone Peak have suddenly... Eh? Who are you? Where's Elder Wu?"

The cultivator was stunned upon making the discovery that the man standing in the hall wasn't actually Zenith Yin.

Han Li chuckled coldly before opening his mouth, upon which golden light flashed from within, and a cry of anguish rang out.

The cultivator within the red light had been sliced in half before he even figured out what was going on.

This Starfall Coalition Core Formation cultivator was very unlucky. He didn't even manage to get a good look at Han Li before his life was forfeit.

However, Han Li roughly understood the situation from what the Core Formation cultivator had said prior to being killed. It appeared that the demon beasts in the sea had suddenly attacked the Starfall Coalition.

He was rather confused about the situation, but he didn't want to get involved in these affairs. As such, he made a hand seal and withdrew his aura, completely concealing his presence. He then strutted straight out of the pavilion.

However, before he had even reached the main gate, he heard a thunderous roar erupting from up above.

"Fellow Daoist Tang, our sea race has deployed a large number of metamorphosis stage brethren this time; there's no way your Starfall Coalition will be able to contend with us. If you're smart, you'd hand over that top-grade spirit stone right now. Perhaps we can consider letting you live, then."

The owner of the voice sounded rather wheezy and out of breath, yet he possessed an astonishing cultivation base. All of the low-grade Starfall Coalition cultivators outside the pavilion were struck by a sense of physical debilitation just by hearing this voice, and the spiritual power within their powers also congealed as a result.

Han Li's heart jolted upon hearing the words "top-grade spirit stone". He immediately shot through the gates of the pavilion and looked up into the sky.

A mass brawl was taking place there and spiritual light was shimmering incessantly amid strings of resounding booms. There were several tens of cultivators engaged in intense battles with some strange-looking demon beasts. In the air above, blue cloud and mist had almost obscured the entire sky.

Beneath the cloud and mist, there were also several battles taking place. There was a thin blue-robed elderly man holding an azure mirror in his hand, from which countless streaks of piercing azure light were hurtling through the air. In his other hand, he was wielding a blue flying sword that was as powerful as a raging flood dragon.

Before him stood an incredibly tall and portly mendicant. There was a golden ring around each of his two arms and he was holding a round bowl in his hand. At the same time, he was expelling blue mist from his mouth, and was able to keep all of the blue-robed man's attacks at bay. The thunderous roars were coming from none other than that massive mendicant's mouth.

Blue light flashed through his eyes as he appraised the mendicant, and he noticed several shimmering silver scales on his neck.

Elsewhere, a man and a woman were battling a scholar with a pair of short horns on his head. There was also a grey-robed elderly man releasing gusts of Yin winds from a gourd, and he was locked in an intense battle with a humanoid figure who was completely enshrouded in crimson flames. Slightly further away, there was a large cloud of crimson mist tumbling and surging incessantly, from within which indistinct roars and explosions could be heard. There seemed to be a fierce battle taking place in there as well.

It was difficult to determine which side would be able to come out on top in this battle. However, it appeared that the Starfall Coalition had been correct to summon all of their Nascent Soul cultivators back to this island.

Otherwise, the guards on the stone mountain would've been no match for this demon beast army.

The blue-robed man's expression remained unchanged, yet he was injecting even more power into his treasure as he calmly said, "What top-grade spirit stone? Where did you hear this false rumor from? I don't have any top-grade spirit stones."

"You're still trying to hide it from me now, Brother Tang? Don't you find that to be farcical?" Clouds of blue mist continued to pour out from the huge mendicant's mouth as a disdainful look appeared on his face.

The blue-robed man's expression cooled even further as he replied, "So you really did come here based on a rumor alone. How can top-grade spirit stones exist in the human world? You arrived unannounced and unprovoked, killing so many of our Starfall Coalition cultivators; I won't allow you to get away with this."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"Hehe, even if you're willing to let us get away with this, we still won't rest until we get our hands on the spirit stone, Brother Tang. I discovered the news about the spirit stone by using a soul search technique on the person who discovered the spirit stone, so don't try to fool me," the fatso chuckled coldly as his flabby folds tremored incessantly.

"So you were the ones who killed Protector Li!" The blue-robed fan faltered initially upon hearing this before flying into a thunderous rage. He waved his azure mirror through the air and several thick pillars of light were launched toward his opponent.

"So you're not going to deny your possession of the spirit stone anymore?" A deriding sneer appeared on the fatso's face as the round bowl in front of him blasted out a burst of yellow light, which absorbed all of the oncoming pillars of light.

"So what if I do? Everyone knows that top-grade spirit stones are extraordinarily useful for breaking through bottlenecks; there's no way I'd hand it over to you demon beasts! Are you not afraid that the Star Palace will be the one to benefit from our battle in the end?" The blue-robed man's enraged expression faded as he quickly calmed down.

"Star Palace? You think it's just our sea race that's attacking your Starfall Coalition? Let me tell you the truth; our sea race has developed all of our most powerful beings this time, and not only are we going to take the top-grade spirit stone, we're going to take back all of the spirit mines on this island as well! The outer seas rightfully belong to our sea race; for you human cultivators to even think about taking a share of the spirit stones on this island is nothing more than a joke! We only allowed you to thrive for as long as you did because we hadn't yet gathered all of the forces we required." The fatso raised his flabby neck and a peculiar expression appeared on his face.

Elder Tang's expression changed drastically upon hearing this.

All of a sudden, a burst of howling erupted in the distance, as if to support the fatso's claims. Another burst of blue demonic mist then came sweeping forth from that direction, seemingly containing countless demon beasts within.

"Haha, looks like the Star Palace cultivators have already been taken care of. As expected, mobilizing our troops before taking down one side first was the right course of action. None of you will be able to escape now!" The fatso burst into raucous laughter upon seeing this. Large swathes of yellow light surged from his round bowl in a frenzy, hurtling directly toward the blue-robed man down below. At the same time, the golden rings around his arms also shot forth before transforming into layers of projections and descending at a frenetic pace.

Seeing as reinforcements had arrived, the demon beast immediately increased the intensity of his attacks, not allowing his opponent to get away. The blue-robed man's expression was twisted with shock and rage, yet he found himself unable to escape from his opponent.

Similar scenes were unfolding in the other battles nearby as well. All of the metamorphosis stage demon beasts began to unleash torrential barrages of attacks without any consideration for their demonic power reserves. Spiritual light of all different colors intertwined as loud rumbling booms erupted.

None of the Starfall Coalition Nascent Soul cultivators were able to shake off their opponents to get away from this place.

On the other side, the cloud of blue demonic mist as approaching as fast as lightning and in the blink of an eye, it had already drawn so close that the sinister features of the demon beasts within were clearly visible.

Even the Starfall Coalition cultivators with the slowest reactions had realized that they were in deep trouble at this point. In the end, someone suddenly yelled, "Retreat!"

All of the low-grade cultivators down below immediately fled in all directions, while the Nascent Soul cultivators in the air above all began to search for opportunities to extricate themselves from their respective battles. Some adopted a more defensive approach as they slowly retreated toward the stone peak, while others unleashed powerful attacks with all their might, hoping to temporarily force back their demon beast opponents before taking the opportunity to flee. There were also some who had secret techniques that could help them escape, so they were combating their opponents in a calm manner while scanning their eyes across their surroundings, seemingly in search of something. Meanwhile, Han Li was initially planning to get away, but those plans were immediately aborted upon hearing the words "top-grade spirit stone".

Even though he had never seen any legendary top-grade spirit stones, he had seen records of their miraculous effects in countless tomes.

Setting aside the fact that this spirit stone was a compulsory item for setting up several types of legendary primordial formation spells in the human world, just its effect in assisting cultivators in breaking through bottlenecks alone was an extremely tempting prospect.

Furthermore, this assistance effect was applicable to all cultivators from the Core Formation to the Deity Transformation Stages. Of course, the more advanced one's cultivation base, the less pronounced the spirit stone's effect would become. Even so, top-grade spirit stones were still extremely sought-after among cultivators of the human world.

Now that a top-grade spirit stone had been extracted from one of the mines here, it was no wonder that the Starfall Coalition was immediately gathering their Nascent Soul cultivators, while the demon beast didn't hesitate in the slightest to launch an attack against this island. Seeing as one top-grade spirit stone had been excavated from the mine, there would perhaps be a second or even a third one in the mine.

Han Li took a deep breath and quickly made sense of the situation.

Seeing as such a rare treasure had appeared before him, he certainly wasn't going to give up on it without a fight.

However, it was a rather difficult predicament to identify just who was carrying the top-grade spirit stone.

Theoretically, a treasure of this caliber naturally had to be assigned to the person with the highest cultivation base for safekeeping. In that case, the blue-robed man would fit the bill. However, it could also be the case that the blue-robed man had intentionally given the spirit stone to a certain nondescript low-grade cultivator, who would then sneak the spirit stone out of the island.

If the latter strategy were employed, then no matter how powerful he was, he wouldn't be able to capture all of the Starfall Coalition cultivators, especially not with so many powerful demon beasts around as well.

Han Li's brows furrowed as he carefully contemplated the situation, but his expression then immediately relaxed.

The intelligence of those metamorphosis stage demon beasts definitely wasn't inferior to that of human cultivators, so they had most definitely already considered this problem as well. As such, even if he didn't do anything, the invading demon beasts definitely wouldn't allow any Starfall Coalition cultivators to escape, either. All he had to do was to swoop in and take the spirit stone as soon as it appeared. At his current power level, none of the demon beasts and cultivators here would be able to stop him.

With that in mind, Han Li stood in front of the pavilion and continued to conceal his presence as he surveyed the battle with a cold expression.

As expected, around 200 to 300 demon beasts suddenly rushed out from the demonic mist approaching from the distance, al of whom began to pursue the low-grade cultivators on the island.

Most of these demon beasts were only at the third or fourth grades, but there were also about a dozen or so fifth grade demon beasts. All of the human cultivators were being pursued by a demon beast of a concurrent power level.

In the face of such a formidable army, it really was rather implausible that any of the cultivators would be able to escape from the island.

The blue demonic mist instantly arrived in the air directly above the battlefield before merging with the original cloud of mist. A burst of extremely powerful demonic Qi rose into the sky, following which a ball of golden flames shot forth from within.

A brilliant light flashed before a demonic cultivator in a suit of golden plate armor appeared.

The demonic cultivator had the head of a wyrm and the body of a human. It was wielding a golden spear, along which silver arcs of light were flashing, forming a long and thin lightning snake that flowed along the surface of the spear. It was quite apparent that this was no ordinary treasure. As for that suit of golden plate armor, it was constructed from countless golden scales, each and every one of which were carrying tiny runes that were emanating demonic Qi.

As soon as this demonic cultivator appeared, a burst of sharp light shot forth from its wyrm eyes as an extremely powerful spiritual sense instantly enshrouded the entire stone peak.

All of the Nascent Soul cultivators were still engaged in heated battles with their respective demon beast opponents, and their hearts sank in unison.

The blue-robed man's face turned deathly pale upon seeing this demonic cultivator, and he yelled with incredulity, "Golden Wyrm King! Impossible! How could you go against our agreement and come here in person?"

This Wyrm was a tenth grade demon beast!

"Why can't I come here? If you want me to uphold the agreement, then you humans have to show me that you have what it takes. It's been 3,000 years since a Deity Transformation cultivator has appeared among your ranks, and a top-grade spirit stone is at stake here, so why should I uphold the agreement?" The wyrm spoke with a cold expression.

Right at this moment, two more demonic cultivators emerged from the demonic mist. One of them was a black-robed being with red hair, a green face, and a mouthful of sharp fangs. It was quite tall and broad, and was somewhat familiar to Han Li.

"Huh? Isn't that the demon tortoise that was with the Savage Flood Dragon?" Han Li's heart jolted at the sight of the golden wyrm before surprised look appeared on his face upon seeing the black-robed demonic cultivator. His expression immediately darkened as he hurriedly cast his gaze toward the demonic mist, but no other demonic cultivators emerged from within.

Han Li's brows furrowed upon seeing this, but he didn't recklessly unleash his spiritual sense or spirit eyes to assess the situation.

After all, a tenth grade demon beast's spiritual sense was extremely powerful. He could avoid being discovered by the Golden Wyrm King using his concealment technique, but he would be immediately exposed if he were to release his spiritual sense.

Seeing as this Golden Wyrm King had appeared, the Starfall Coalition cultivators were most likely all going to be killed. However, it was rather surprising to Han Li to see the demon tortoise here with this Golden Wyrm King. Could it be that the latter was somehow related to the Savage Flood Dragon?

Upon hearing the Golden Wyrm King's declaration, panicked expressions appeared on the faces of all of the human cultivators on the stone peak, and the blur-robed man's heart sank even further.

However, he was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, and he certainly wasn't going to give up so easily. All of a sudden, he let loose a shrill cry and the blue flying sword that was wreaking havoc within the demonic mist suddenly exploded amid a loud boom.

This flying sword was quite a powerful ancient treasure, and after being forcibly detonated by Elder Tang, the power it could unleash was simply unimaginable to normal cultivators. A massive ball of silvery-white light appeared in the air above the stone peak, repelling all of the blue mist that was emanating from the fatso's mouth. The projections formed by his two golden rings were also destroyed with ease.

The fatso's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, and he hurriedly injected all of his power into the round bowl before him. The vast expanse of yellow light instantly transformed into a protective barrier of light in front of him. At the same time, he hurtled back in a rapid retreat.

The blue-robed man took advantage of this opportunity to summon a purple handkerchief, which he immediately activated without any hesitation.

The handkerchief transformed into a ball of purple light that enshrouded the blue-robed man before flying through the air as a purple streak of light, traveling so rapidly that it had covered a distance of over 200 feet in the blink of an eye.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

The blue-robed man's actions seemed to have acted as a signal, prompting all of the other Nascent Soul cultivators to unleash incredible secret techniques. Some of them disappeared on the spot amid bursts of white light, some of them threw up mouthfuls of blood essence and fled into the distance as streaks of crimson light; in any case, all of them fleeing with all their might, even if doing so necessitated the infliction of severe self-harm.

"Hmph!" A cold harrumph rang out in the air as a frosty look appeared on the Golden Wyrm King's face. It waved a hand and a loud thunderclap erupted, following which a streak of golden and silver light shot forth through the air.

The demonic cultivator had hurled its golden spear directly toward the blue-robed man.

As soon as the spear left its hand, it disappeared in the flash.

"Crap!"

The blue-robed man was paying close attention to the Golden Wyrm King, and his heart shuddered upon seeing this as he immediately tossed his azure mirror behind him.

Azure light erupted, creating the projection of a full moon that was several tens of feet in diameter. The moon projection was azure in color and encapsulated the blue-robed man's body within.

Almost at the exact same moment as the moon projection's emergence, a golden spear that was over 100 feet in length appeared nearby. Silver lightning flashed along the spear before striking the very center of the azure moon.

The surface of the azure moon cracked like a mirror and as the huge spear continued onward, the moon projection was completely destroyed.

"Argh!" The blue-robed man was extremely alarmed to see this, and the purple light on his body swayed as he attempted to unleash a secret technique to get away.

However, right at this instant, the huge spear shrank to about half its size and shot forth from within the remnants of the moon projection before striking the purple light in the flash.

A resounding boom erupted.

The handkerchief was quite a powerful treasure in its own right, as evidenced by the fact that the purple light it was manifesting was able to keep the spear at bay. Even so, the blue-robed man felt as if he had been dealt a heavy blow, and was completely unable to control his own body as he was sent flying for several tens of feet.

The Golden Wyrm King raised a leg and somehow managed to cover a distance of over 100 feet with a single step. Its body only had to flash through the air a few times before it caught up to the blue-robed man before reaching out with its hand.

Golden light shimmered over its five fingers, making it appear as if they were constructed from pure gold.

The blue-robed man had only just recovered slightly from the last attack when he caught sight of the Golden Wyrm King reaching for him from nearby. In his panic, he hurriedly opened his mouth to blast out a ball of green light. It was a green fist-sized bead.

The golden claws clashed with the green bead amid a loud clang, as well as the loud earsplitting screech of metal scraping against metal. The green bead instantly expanded drastically, attempting to free itself from the Golden Wyrm King's hand.

A cold light flashed through the Golden Wyrm King's eyes as nails of several feet in length abruptly sprouted from its five fingers. At the same time, a golden scale of roughly the same size as a copper coin appeared on the back of his hand.

Following a dull thump, it was able to crush the bead with its bare hand.

A burst of piercing green light flashed past, yet the golden claws remained completely unscathed.

"The Dragonification Arts!" The blue-robed man exclaimed in the same instant that the bead was destroyed. At the same time, he threw up a mouthful of blood essence due to the backlash he had incurred from having his magic treasure destroyed. However, the exchange did buy him some him, allowing him to rush through the air again and opening up a distance of over 100 feet in the blink of an eye.

On this occasion, the Golden Wyrm King didn't set off in pursuit again. Instead, its expression darkened slightly as it slowly threw a fist at the streak of purple light in the distance.

A huge golden fist around 10 feet in size suddenly appeared in the air directly above the purple light, before crashing down at the speed of lightning.

Following a thunderous boom, the blue-robed man was struck down by the massive fist, plummeting like a meteorite toward the stone peak. His body crashed straight through a pavilion, leaving a huge gaping hole several tens of feet in diameter in his wake, before being inundated by countless fragments of rubble.

A cold smile appeared on the Golden Wyrm King's face. Its body swayed and in the next instant, it appeared directly in front of the huge hold in the pavilion's wall.

It raised an arm and shiny golden light erupted from its palm as it prepared to put an end to the blue-robed man's life.

However, right at this instant, his expression changed and he abruptly feigned a grabbing motion toward the gates of the pavilion. As he did so, he yelled, "Who's there? Show yourself?"

Five golden claw projections streaked through the air before disappearing into the ground.

Five trenches, each several tens of feet in length, were gouged into the ground in front of the pavilion. The trenches were incredible deep, yet they didn't strike any target aside from the ground.

A hint of bewilderment flashed through the Golden Wyrm King's eyes up seeing this. A moment ago, he had suddenly been struck by a hint of fear without any premonition. This bone-chilling sensation sent a shiver running down his spine, and he lashed out without any hesitation.

He hadn't actually discovered anything; it was his instinct as a heavenly spirit beast that had prompted him to attack in a reflexive manner.

During his tens of thousands of years of cultivation, this sense of foreboding had saved his life on several occasions.

However, now that the attack had failed to strike any target, the Golden Wyrm King was left feeling a little hesitant, wondering if that sensation had merely been a figment of his imagination.

After all, that sense of foreboding had proven to be incorrect on several occasions in the past.

It was just that the chilling sensation that he had just experienced was a little too strong, as if there were some sort of extremely dangerous being spying on him from the shadows and even now, there was still fear lingering in his heart.

Just as he was considering widening the scope of his search. a pile of rubble at the foot of the massive hole in the pavilion suddenly stirred before reverting back to normal.

However, that split second of abnormality was enough to draw the Golden Wyrm King's attention. He scanned his gaze across the pile of rubble beneath him, upon which a flash of killing intent surfaced on his face.

He immediately reached out and feigned a grabbing motion.

Following a resounding boom, that golden spear appeared once again with lightning snakes arcing over its surface.

He grabbed the spear before viciously swinging it downward.

Arcs of silver light flashed as the spear transforming into a streak of blinding golden light, hurtling downward before disappearing mid-away again. When it was revealed once again, the spear had already plunged into the ground in a certain spot over 200 feet away from the pavilion.

The golden spear disappeared into the ground with a loud boom.

A muffled groan then rang out as the ground nearby completely crumbled. Countless rock fragments shot forth in all directions, from within which a streak of purple light emerged. The purple light contained none other than the blue-robed man.

However, at this moment, the blue-robed man's face was extremely pale and there was blood trickling down the corner of his lips. The brightness of the purple light over his body was also oscillating sporadically, looking as if it were about to crumble at any moment. The purple light was indeed quite powerful, but after taking several heavy attacks from the Golden Wyrm King, it was finally about to give out.

As soon as the blue-robed man was forced to reveal himself, he fled in a panicked frenzy away from the stone peak.

The sinister smile on the Golden Wyrm King's face widened and he reached out again, upon which the golden spear materialized out of thin air.

He then waved his arm through the air again to launch the golden spear. The speed of the fleeing blue-robed man had already decreased drastically, and even though he summoned a shield and metal ruler to defend himself, those two treasures were completely ineffective in the face of the golden spear.

Two loud booms erupted in quick succession as the two treasures were destroyed, while the golden spear continued onward.

The blue-robed man tried to evade with all his might, but the spear was simply far too fast for him to avoid.

In the end, the golden spear punctured the feeble layer of purple light and pierced through his chest.

The blue-robed man let loose a howl of anguish before plummeting down from above. He crashed straight to the ground, where he lay, completely stationary. A charred black hole with a diameter comparable to the size of a bowl had appeared on his chest. Several thin arcs of lightning were flashing incessantly around the wound, and the smell of charred flesh wafted through the air.

The Golden Wyrm King raised a hand to summon the golden spear back to him as he harrumphed coldly. "Hmph, you think a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator like you can escape from me? What a joke!"

He then swept his arm through the air again, and several fingernails shot forth, expanding drastically during their decent. In the blink of an eye, they had swelled to become huge golden nails around a foot in length before pinning the blue-robed man's limbs and neck firmly to the ground.

Runes began to flash over the nails as several golden chains emerged, forcibly sealing the blue-robed man in place in order to prevent his Nascent Soul from escaping.

The Golden Wyrm King feigned a grabbing motion toward the blue-robed man, drawing the storage pouch hanging from his waist toward him. He then swept his spiritual sense through the contents of his storage pouch, upon which his expression immediately darkened.

He raised his head with a dark expression as he swept his gaze around him.

A short while later, two of the other fleeing Nascent Soul cultivators had been caught up in battles against demon beast opponents again, while a grey-robed gourd-wielding cultivator and a cloud of blood mist fled into the distance. In the blink of an eye, they had already become two black spots on the horizon.

There were demon beasts flying toward the grey-robed man in hot pursuit, yet the cloud of blood mist was getting further and further away from his demon beast opponents, traveling at a far faster speed than his pursuers.

The Golden Wyrm King's lips twitched as he looked at the cloud of blood mist in the distance. He contemplated momentarily before his body flashed through the air, transforming into a streak of golden light as he hurtled toward the blood mist.

As the golden light flashed into the distance, Han Li heaved a faint sigh of relief as he stood behind the pavilion gates.

When the blue-robed man had been sent flying into the pavilion, he had been tempted to quickly subdue him before searching to see if he were carrying the top-grade spirit stone. However, he deemed that to be too risky in the end, and refrained from doing so.

To his surprise, the Golden Wyrm King's spiritual sense was able to detect something during Han Li's split second of indecision, the attack he had unleashed almost managed to strike Han Li.

Thankfully, he had mastered his teleportation technique to an extremely high degree, thereby allowing him to soundless travel to the other side of the pavilion gates, causing the Golden Wyrm King to miss his attack.

From the Golden Wyrm King's expression, it appeared that the top-grade spirit stone wasn't in the blue-robed man's storage pouch, and nor could he possibly be carrying the spirit stones on his body somewhere.

After all, if an item with such pure spiritual Qi weren't placed in a storage pouch, anyone would be able to identify its whereabouts.

Han Li paid no heed to the blue-robed man on the ground and turned his attention to the air above.

Beneath the blue demonic mist, there was only an unidentifiable eighth grade demonic cultivator. He was hovering in the air, completely still, seemingly having been left behind by the Golden Wyrm King to oversee the situation on the stone peak.

This demonic cultivator's face was of a faint blue hue and his facial features were quite sinister. There were also large patches of blue scales on his arms and legs, giving him an extremely ghastly appearance.

All of a sudden, he turned his gaze toward a certain direction.

Han Li stirred upon seeing this and also turned his attention toward the same direction.

A ball of light yellow light was flying over from the distance, within which there seemed to be a demon beast that was carrying something.

A blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes as he unleashed his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to survey the demon beast within the yellow light.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

This was a strange demon beast with the appearance of a seahorse, but it also had four arms. All four of its hands were cradling an azure storage pouch, and there was elation on its hideous features.

Han Li's pupils contracted minutely upon seeing this.

Right at this moment, the blue demon beast that was hovering in the sky began to converse with the four-armed demon beast through voice transmission, following which an excited look also appeared on its face. Its body flashed through the air and it flew toward the four-armed demon beast as a streak of blue light.

After witnessing the joy on the eighth grade demon beast's face, the final hint of hesitation disappeared from Han Li's heart.

He immediately relinquished his concealment technique and a thunderclap erupted behind him as his Thunderstorm Wings appeared on his back, following which he abruptly disappeared.

After flashing through the air several times, Han Li appeared over 10,000 feet away as an arc of silver lightning.

A booming thunderclap rang out and he abruptly appeared above the four-armed demon beast.

"Argh!"

The four-armed demon beast was also quite alert. Upon arriving at the realization that it was being attacked, it immediately opened its mouth, from within which a dense expanse of yellow light came surging forth. At the same time, it transformed into a streak of yellow light and changed directions, skirting around Han Li in the air and flying directly toward the eighth grade demon beast.

It appeared that this demon beast knew that Han Li was far too powerful for it to handle, so it showed no intention of engaging in battle with him.

However, this was but a mere sixth grade demon beast, so there was no way it was getting away from Han Li. Thus, he immediately ignored the thunderous roar of rage from the eighth grade demon beast as he swept a sleeve through the air, summoning a vast expanse of azure light.

The spots of yellow light, of which there were over 100, were easily brushed aside by the azure light, and they fell from the sky as thin yellow needles.

At the same time, Han Li raised his other arm and feigned a grabbing motion toward the four-armed demon beast.

A scene akin to how the Golden Wyrm King had handled the blue-robed man ensued.

Azure light flashed above the demon beast's head as a huge azure hand was manifested. The hand came crashing down like lightning and ensnared the demon beast in the blink of an eye, making it feel as if its soul were about to escape its body from sheer horror!

Golden light flashed violently and erratically over its body as its four arms abruptly transformed into four sharp blades, which he used to hack viciously against the large azure hand.

However, a technique unleashed by the late-Nascent Soul Stage Han Li certainly wasn't going to be broken by a mere sixth grade demon beast.

The blades were attacking the azure hand relentlessly, yet the latter remained completely unscathed.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as a cold expression appeared on his face. He brought together the five fingers on his outstretched hand and the huge azure hand also clamped its fingers together, upon which a howl of anguish abruptly rang out.

The four-armed demon beast had quite a sturdy body for a being of its level, but there was no way that it would be able to defend itself from a late-Nascent Soul cultivator's attack, and its body was forcibly clamped into several segments.

Almost at the exact same moment, Han Li disappeared on the spot as an arc of silver lightning again. In the next instant, he appeared beside the demon beast's mutilated corpse before grabbing its azure storage pouch. He then quickly swept his spiritual sense through the contents of the pouch and a delighted look appeared on his face.

"Leave that spirit stone!"

A rumbling roar erupted from nearby. Han Li had appeared out of nowhere, killed the four-armed demon beast, and taken the treasure that the entire demon beast army had been searching for. In the aftermath of all this, it wasn't difficult to imagine the rage coursing through the eighth grade demon beast's heart. As such, it immediately let loose a roar of thunderous fury.

Furthermore, it had injected its magic power into the roar, making it audible to all of the demon beasts in a radius of several tens of kilometers.

Han Li's brows furrowed as he turned toward the demon with an expression that was cold to the extreme, as if he were appraising a dead man.

Blue light flashed and the demon beast was drawing close to Han Li. However, the glare that Han Li directed at it made it feel as if it had been plunged into a glacial pit.

The demon beast was extremely alarmed and immediately stopped cold in its tracks. Only then did it remember to assess Han Li's cultivation base with its spiritual sense, upon which it abruptly drew a sharp breath.

"You're a late-Nascent Soul cultivator? Who are you?" The eighth grade demon beast took an involuntary step backward as it hurriedly flipped a hand over, summoning tow shell-like treasures. It held the treasures up in front of itself as an expression of shock and horror flashed through its eyes.

"Who am I? Why should I answer to a dead person?" Han Li turned his gaze from the demon as he surveyed his surroundings.

It appeared that the roar it had unleashed had taken effect. In the distance, two metamorphosis stage demon beasts were locked in heated battles with a male and a female cultivator, yet they immediately ditched their opponents, transforming into two clouds of azure demonic wind as they rushed toward Han Li.

Even further in the distance, golden light was flashing amid indistinct thunderclaps. That Golden Wyrm King was also on its way back. With that demon beast's fearsome speed, it would only take it an instant to return to this place.

Han Li contemplated the situation as a cold smile appeared on his face. He put away the storage pouch before flipping his hand over to summon a green wooden ruler.

Upon seeing this, the eighth grade demon beast immediately activated its shell-like treasures without any hesitation. White light flashed over the surfaces of the two shells, forming a resolute barrier of light that shielded the demon beast within. The demon was feeling quite relieved after adopting those defensive measures.

However, a deriding sneer appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. He gently waved the wooden ruler through the air and green spiritual light flashed as the sound of Buddhist chants erupted from above the demon beast. A silver lotus that was several tens of feet in diameter appeared, from which seven-colored Buddhist light came raining down in a frenzy.

The eighth grade demon beast's body swayed as it reflexively attempted to evade the Buddhist light.

However, a horrifying scene then ensued. The air around it suddenly tightened as an immense invisible force descended upon its body, making it unable to move so much as a single finger. After being enshrouded under the Buddist light, its spiritual power also congealed, rendering it completely unable to use its power.

"Argh!"

The demon beast only had the chance to cry out in shock and horror before a streak of golden light around 10 feet in length came hurtling toward it. The golden light only flew in a few circles around the barrier of light, upon which the light barrier emitted a cracking sound as it completely fell apart.

The golden light flashed past right before the demon beast's horrified eyes.

In the next instant, its body had been sliced in half and the two halves plummeted directly toward the ground.

However, a ball of green flames suddenly shot forth from the mutilated body. A loud thunderclap erupted as Han Li abruptly appeared near the two halves of the body before pointing a finger at the green flames.

The green light shuddered slightly and was forcibly locked in mid-air by Han Li's immense spiritual power.

With his other hand, Han Li summoned an azure jade vial, from within a burst of white light emerged.

The white light surged through the air before sweeping up the green flames and drawing it into the vial.

Right at this moment, the other two demon beasts had also drawn quite close to Han Li, but their hearts shuddered in unison upon witnessing him making short work of that eighth grade demon beast before taking its soul.

The two demon beasts hurriedly stopped in their tracks before turning to look at one another, seeing their own horror mirrored in each other's eyes.

At this moment, the figure approaching from the distance was becoming clearer and as expected, it was indeed the Golden Wyrm King. There were also clouds of demonic mist of all different colors approaching from other directions; it seemed the other powerful demon beasts were also rushing back.

Han Li contemplated the situation momentarily before murmuring to himself, "Seeing as I've already obtained the spirit stone, it's best not to take any unnecessary risks."

With that in mind, a smile appeared on Han Li's face and he flew into the distance was a streak of azure light.

"Stop him!"

The Golden Wyrm King was still several thousand feet away, yet it had already issued an absolute command.

The other two demon beasts couldn't just stand by idly any longer. If the top-grade spirit stone were to be taken right before their very eyes, they would be punished severely.

As such, they could only follow the order, making hand seals to summon two azure wind wyrms that threw themselves at Han Li in a vicious manner.

However, Han Li chortled boisterously as he disappeared on the spot, appearing over 200 feet away in the next instant as an arc of silver lightning. Only then did he continue to fly through the air as a streak of silver light, and the two wind wyrms were completely unable to match his speed!

"Leave the spirit stone behind!" A vicious light suddenly flashed through the Golden Wyrm King's eyes as he hurled his golden spear from afar.

Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this. A thunderous boom erupted and the golden spear flashed several times in quick succession, taking it to less than 400 feet away from Han Li.

When the spear disappeared once again, Han Li had already reverted back to his normal expression. His fleeing figure stall momentarily as he flipped his hand over to summon a small silver shield, which then rapidly expanded to around 10 feet in diameter.

Almost at the exact same moment, the golden spear appeared around 10 feet away from Han Li. Lightning flashed and the spear struck the silver shield at an incredible speed.

A loud clang rang out as golden and silver light intertwined, and neither side was able to overwhelm the other.

The Golden Wyrm King also stopped in mid-air as he hurriedly cast an incantation seal. A silver lightning snake shot forth from the spear amid a rumbling thunderclap, circling around the shield and heading directly toward Han Li.

"Hmph, what a pathetic little trick!" Han Li harrumphed as he reached out with his bare hand.

He didn't appear to be moving all that quickly, but his hand managed to grab onto the silver lightning snake's neck with unerring accuracy. At the same time, an explosive boom erupted from his entire arm, following which golden arcs of lightning began to appear.

The golden arcs surged down his arm in a frenzy, destroying the silver snake in one fell swoop.

In the distance, the Golden Wyrm King's expression changed slightly upon seeing this. However, Han Li didn't stop there. After destroying the lightning snake, he slammed a palm into the silver shield before him.

A layer of piercing silver light immediately surfaced over the shield, making it as smooth as a mirror.

The golden spear tremored and was repelled by the silver light as it was sent flying over 80 feet away.

Han Li took advantage of this opportunity to fly toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light. However, he wasn't conserving his spiritual power in the slightest this time. After unleashing his maximal speed, the streak of azure light covered a distance of over 1,000 feet in the span of a few breaths.

Coincidentally, there was a black streak of light containing a demon beast flying directly toward him, and it was none other than that demon tortoise that had accompanied the Golden Wyrm King.

Han Li was traveling far too quickly for the demon tortoise to get a clear look at his appearance. However, it had witnessed Han Li slaying an eighth grade demon beast before blocking an attack from the Golden Wyrm King with ease.

As such, the demon tortoise's expression changed drastically upon seeing Han Li flying in its direction.

It immediately changed directions in an attempt to avoid Han Li.

A cold light appeared in Han Li's eyes upon seeing this, and the azure light around him suddenly flashed violently before vanishing.

The vast expanse of space before him suddenly became completely empty.

The demon tortoise couldn't help but falter upon seeing this, and it slowed down slightly in the process.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

However, that split second of hesitation proved to bear lethal connotations.

A burst of spatial fluctuations suddenly appeared several tens of feet away from it. Han Li emerged from thin air with purple flames all over his body before sweeping a sleeve toward the demon tortoise.

36 small swords shot forth from his sleeve at once, transforming into over 100 streaks of golden light in the blink of an eye. The golden light formed a dense net of swords that came crashing down toward the demon tortoise.

"It's you?"

The demon tortoise finally caught sight of Han Li's true features, and it immediately identified him, upon which it let loose a horrified cry as if it had seen a ghost. As the sight of the streaks of golden light hurtling toward it, the demon tortoise immediately turned deathly pale.

It had seen how Han Li had used just a single streak of this golden to slay an eighth grade demon beast, and even his victim's most prized treasure wasn't able to pose any resistance.

The demon tortoise was only an eighth grade demon beast itself and in its intense horror, it let loose several roars in quick succession. At the same time, it took off its long robes, which transformed into a dark cloud that came flying toward the net of swords. At the same time, inky-black demonic Qi materialized over its body as it attempted to unleash a secret technique to get away. However, right at this moment, a bone-chilling harrumph sounded from between Han Li's lips.

The demon tortoise was immediately struck by excruciating pain, as if its spiritual sense were being torn apart. It clasped its hands over its head and let loose a bloodcurdling cry as jets of black blood shot out from his ears and nose.

The demon tortoise then plummeted from the sky.

Meanwhile, the dark cloud was instantly sliced into countless segments by the net of swords, and those segments transformed into fingernail-sized tortoise shell fragments that came raining down from above.

Brilliant golden light flashed and the net of swords descended toward the demon tortoise without any pause.

The demon tortoise had only just recovered slightly from the agony of having its spiritual sense torn apart, and it was completely unable to avoid this net of swords.

In its despair, the demon beast gritted its teeth, and roared, "Brother Gold, this man is the Li-surnamed man from... "

However, before it had a chance to finish its sentence, Han Li's expression darkened as he abruptly activated his sword arts.

The net of swords immediately contracted as countless streaks of golden light flashed past the demon tortoise's body, slicing it into countless pieces. Even the green flames manifested by its soul only flashed once before it was inundated by golden light.

It had only taken Han Li several seconds to slay the demon tortoise. His body swayed and he transformed into a streak of azure light again, covering a distance of several thousand feet in the blink of an eye.

The azure light flashed several times in the distance between completely disappearing from view.

The Golden Wyrm King was naturally unwilling to let him escape, but he was unable to catch up to Han Li, and nor was he confident that he would be able to defeat Han Li in a one-on-one battle. As such, he could only give up in his pursuit and returned to the stone peak with a thunderous expression.

"A man with the surname of Li," the Golden Wyrm King's expression suddenly changed as he murmured to himself.

At this moment, all of the other metamorphosis stage demon beasts gathered around, and their expressions were also quite strained.

A demon whose true features were obscured by the flames all over its body asked, "Brother Gold, who was that late-Nascent Soul cultivator? From his voice and appearance, he doesn't appear to the Archsaint of the Six Paths, and there's no way that the Heavenly Star Sages would leave the Heavenly Star City. Could it be that he's a new great cultivator among the human race?"

"I'm not sure. However, his cultivation arts and treasures are all very unfamiliar, so I know I've never fought him before. It seems that there's no one among the Nascent Soul cultivators of the Scattered Star Seas that fit his description," the Golden Wyrm King replied in a dark voice.

A green-robed demon beast said with a fearful expression, "This man is extremely powerful. Even Fellow Daoist Lan and Fellow Daoist Wu couldn't last more than a few seconds each against him. He's most likely even more powerful than the Archsaint of the Six Paths and the Heavenly Star Sages."

The other demon beasts also wore the same fearful expressions. After all, most of them were eighth grade demon beasts and were no more powerful than the two eight grade demon beasts that Han Li had just slain with ease. If Han Li had set their sights on them, they would've also undoubtedly been killed on the spot. Many of the demon beasts had already made up their minds; if they were to ever encounter Han Li again, they would drop everything and run for their lives!

"I fought the Archsaint of the Six Paths once in the past and this man does indeed appear to be an even more troublesome opponent. At the very least, without employing the use of sneak attacks, the Archsaint of the Six Paths wouldn't be able to kill our metamorphosis stage brethren so easily. However, there's no need to be too fearful of him. This is our first time clashing with him, so his skillset is very unfamiliar to us. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to succeed in his plan so easily," the Golden Wyrm King analyzed calmly.

Upon hearing this, some of the other demon beasts were enlightened, while the others remained silent with contemplatives looks on their faces.

Right at this moment, a ninth grade demon beast-the portly mendicant who had been battling the blue-robed man-suddenly asked, "Brother Gold, what was that about a Li-surnamed man that Fellow Daoist Wu yelled before his death? Have you managed to figure it out? If I recall correctly, back when we attacked the human cultivators on their island near the Unfathomable Depths, we were searching for a cultivator with the surname of Li. Does that man have anything to do with this?"

The mendicant's speculation sent a stir running through the rest of the demon beasts present.

However, the Golden Wyrm King's brows furrowed as he replied, "I don't think so. Back then, I was wounded by a sneak attack from a Core Formation human cultivator, and that was why I deployed forces to hunt him down. However, that man was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator; how could it be the same person? Unless this man is a once-in-100,000-years freak prodigy, how could he have become this powerful in less than 200 years?"

"That's not necessarily the case. I slew a Nascent Soul human cultivator once, and after using a soul search technique on him, I discovered that the so-called number one treasure in the human world, the Heavenvoid Cauldron, had appeared, and was obtained by a Core Formation cultivator with the surname of Han. However, after an extensive investigation by many Nascent Soul cultivators, they discovered that this man was at our outer seas for a long time, posing as a man with the surname of Li. The Heavenmend Pill in the Heavenvoid Cauldron is vastly renowned. With the assistance of this pill and the other unknown ancient pills in the cauldron, it's not impossible for this man to have progressed to the late-Nascent Soul Stage so quickly," the mendicant chuckled.

All of the demons beasts were flabbergasted upon hearing this, and some of them immediately began to chat among themselves again.

The Golden Wyrm King also fell into deep thought upon hearing this. After a long while, a cold light flashed through his eyes, and he said, "If you're correct, then that man may well be the same cultivator who had attacked my son all those years ago. If that's the case, then I definitely won't let him get away with this. He killed my son close to 200 years ago and now, he's responsible for the death of Fellow Daoist Wu and Lan. Furthermore, he's also taken our top-grade spirit stone and possesses a supreme treasure like the Heavenvoid Cauldron. That only gives us even more reason to capture him and offer him as a blood sacrifice."

The mendicant shook his head as he said in a cautious voice, "But this man is a late-Nascent Soul cultivator and he's extremely powerful. Unless we force him into a dire situation and have more than three brethren with cultivation bases comparable to Brother Gold's, we won't be able to do anything to him."

"This man is indeed not someone to be scoffed at. We'll have to devise a plan and invite Brother Jie and Fellow Daoist Bi to assist me. But there's no need to hurry. As long as that man remains in the Scattered Star Seas, we'll always have chances. Overall, this was still a triumphant trip for all of us. Even though two of our fellow Daoists have fallen by the hands of that man, we slew six Nascent Soul human cultivators and all of the spirit stone mines on the Green Spirit Island belong to our sea race now. Even though that top-grade spirit stone had been taken, there may be other top-grade spirit stones that have yet to be excavated in the mines, so there's no need to overly frustrated. Our top priority is to set up the restrictions again and gather more troops in case the human cultivators launch a counterattack. The Starfall Coalition and Star Palace won't be willing to accept defeat so easily, so we have to be prepared for them."

The Golden Wyrm King didn't seem to be very interested in the subject of revenge, and he immediately changed the topic to focus on the spirit stone mines.

These mines were going to benefit all of the demon beasts present and as expected, their attention was entirely drawn to this new topic of discussion. Only that mendicant wore a concerned expression with his brows furrowed, seemingly still a little unsettled.

At this moment, around 5,000 kilometers away, Han Li unleashed his spiritual sense to verify that there were no pursuers within a radius of several hundred kilometers before slowing down significantly.

Of course, Han Li wasn't going to return to that so-called Lightning Sky Island. Instead, he was heading straight back to Silver Shark Island.

As he flew through the air, he couldn't help but pull out that azure storage pouch before tipping out its contents with an excited look on his face.

A burst of white light erupted from the storage pouch as a green thumbs-sized spirit stone appeared in his hand.

Han Li cradled the spirit stone in one hand and began to carefully assess it.

There was spiritual light revolving erratically over the surface of the spirit stone, and the brightness of the green light emanating from it was oscillating sporadically, as if it were a living being. There also seemed to be tiny white substances flowing out from the surface of the spirit stone. However, the white substance was extremely minuscule and Han Li was struggling to identify it.

Han Li's pupils contracted upon seeing this and blue light abruptly flashed through his eyes, finally allowing him to clearly see the substance within the green light.

They were spots of white light that somewhat resembled snowflakes, but also appeared to be runes.

These spots of light were relentlessly pouring out of the spirit stone before self-detonating, transforming into traces of pure wood-attribute spiritual Qi in the process. There was simply an excessive amount of spiritual Qi contained within this spirit stone, thereby forcing it to expel some out from its surface.

Han Li was both shocked and elated to see this.

This was definitely a legendary top-grade spirit stone, and it just so happened to be a wood-attribute one, so it was perfect for him.

When he thought about it, it made sense that this was a wood-attribute spirit stone. The spirit stone mines on Green Spirit Island had always yielded an abundance of wood-attribute spirit stones, so it was only to be expected that this top-grade spirit stone followed that trend.

Han Li closed his eyes and briefly sensed the wood-attribute spiritual Qi emanating from the spirit stone.

After a while, he hesitated momentarily before azure light flashed from his five fingers as he attempted to absorb the immense spiritual Qi within the stone.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Five thin wisps of spiritual Qi poured out from the spirit stone. The spiritual Qi was cool to the touch and remarkably substantial, crawling up Han Li's fingers like five tiny snakes.

Han Li was caught off guard and given a fright as he reflexively withdrew his fingers from the spirit stone.

Even so, the five tiny snakes still squirmed into the meridians in his arms before dissipating on their own.

All of a sudden, a burst of spiritual power that was filled with exuberant vitality spread through his entire body.

Han Li was immediately enshrouded by a warm yet cool sensation, making him feel extremely comfortable, as if he were floating on a cloud.

So this was a top-grade spirit stone? As expected, the spiritual Qi that it provided was far superior to that from high-grade spirit stones.

Han Li hurriedly absorbed this influx of spiritual power with elation in his heart.

Absorbing just that small amount of spiritual power had the same cultivation effect as half a month of meditation. If he were to absorb all of the spiritual power in the entire spirit stone, it would save him at least 10 years of arduous cultivation!

Of course, he wasn't going to succumb to that temptation and waste such an exceptional treasure. A spirit stone that contained such an immense amount of spiritual Qi naturally had to be reserved for critical junctures during breakthroughs.

Han Li flipped his palm over and a small azure box appeared.

He carefully placed the top-grade spirit stone into the wooden, then plastered several talismans of different colors onto the box before stowing it away into his storage pouch.

Han Li let loose an internal cry of elation as he shot forth into the distance as an azure streak of light.

Several months later, Han Li was close to returning to Silver Shark Island.

However, he immediately realized that something was amiss. As he approached the island, he didn't encounter so much as a single cultivator. That was very bizarre.

When Han Li finally caught sight of Silver Shark Island from afar, the scene presented before his eyes made him falter involuntarily.

A blue barrier of light had appeared over Silver Shark Island and at the same time, restrictions on the island all seemed to have been fully activated. After sweeping his spiritual sense through the surrounding air, Han Li discovered that there was no one around. It was as if all of the cultivators were seeking refuge within the restrictions on the island.

Han Li was rather taken aback upon making this discovery, and he also scanned through the nearby seabed with his spiritual sense. After verifying that there weren't any abnormalities present, he began to fly toward the entrance to the island with a hint of bewilderment in his heart.

The fluctuations of the restriction were more steady there, so it was most likely the designated entrance of the formation.

After flashing through the air a few times, Han Li reached the barrier of light and the azure light around his body receded.

He looked at the light barrier before raising a hand to send a voice transmission talisman flying into the barrier.

He then hovered in the air expressionlessly, awaiting a response from the other side.

"Which fellow Daoist is returning to the island at a time like this? May I know your name?" a wary male voice sounded from the other side of the light barrier. At the same time, a burst of spiritual sense scanned toward Han Li.

Han Li's expression darkened as azure light erupted from his body. The spiritual sense was immediately repelled, and Han Li also lashed out at it in an offhand manner.

A muffled groan rang out behind the light barrier, clearly belonging to the owner of the spiritual sense.

"Hmph! Is my name something for juniors like you to interrogate? Hurry up and ease the restriction! I have some matters to attend to on this island," Han Li harrumphed coldly.

The cultivator repressed the sharp pain in his spiritual sense as he hurriedly explained, "My apologies, I was not aware that you were a Nascent Soul Stage senior. Under normal circumstances, I would naturally grant you passage without asking any questions, but a large horde of demon beasts from the nearby ocean suddenly attacked the island just a few days ago. I was sent here to guard this restriction, and I must verify the identity of all cultivators returning to the island before granting passage."

Han Li recalled back to the scenes where the demon beasts had attacked Green Spirit Island, and his expression eased slightly as he said, "Is that so? How do you plan to verify my identity?"

"Would you be able to provide me with your name and a brief introduction, Senior? Alternatively, do you have any items that can prove your identity?" the cultivator behind the light barrier asked in a timid manner.

"Will this suffice?" Han Li's brows furrowed as he raised a hand, sending a streak of golden light disappearing into the light barrier.

It was none other than the guest elder badge given to him by the Heavenly Star Sages.

"Please forgive me, Senior Han! I'll let you in right away," the man's surprised voice sounded from behind the light barrier.

Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this and a peculiar light flashed through his eyes, but he quickly recomposed his expression as he awaited entry into the island.

A short while later, the blue light barrier before him tremored, and a small opening appeared.

Han Li's body swayed and he flew in through the opening, which slowly sealed over amid a burst of buzzing.

Han Li's eyes immediately lit up as he flew into the light barrier. There were over 10 white-robed Star Palace cultivators standing in front of him, all of whom were divided into two rows.

The azure light receded and Han Li was revealed to these cultivators.

"We pay our respects to Senior Han." A middle-aged cultivator hurriedly stepped forward before extending a respectful bow to Han Li.

Judging from his voice, he was the one who had been conversing with Han Li earlier. This man was a Core Formation cultivator and his face was slightly pale, clearly still recovering from the spiritual sense backlash that had just been inflicted upon him.

"You're the only ones guarding this place?" Han Li raised an eyebrow with a hint of surprise on his face. Aside from the one Core Formation cultivator, all of the other Star Palace cultivators were only at the Foundation Establishment Stage. This was not a formidable force by any stretch of the imagination.

"The demon beasts launched an extremely fierce assault against the island a few days ago, and all of our other fellow Daoists have retired to the town within the island to rest, leaving only disciples like us to guard this place in shifts. However, please rest assured, Senior Han; the closest town to this place is only just over 50 kilometers away, and there are over 100 Star Palace disciples there who can come to reinforce us at any time," the man explained.

"Why are you calling me Senior Han? How do you know of me?" Han Li's expression darkened as a burst of astonishing spiritual pressure erupted from his body, forcing the man to stumble back in retreat as his expression changed drastically.

The man steadies himself, and hurriedly replied, "Senior Han, we've received portraits of your appearance several months ago from the Star Palace, and we were told to constantly be prepared to do your bidding."

"I see. I didn't think the two palace masters would pay so much attention to me." An ambiguous light flashed through Han Li's eyes and a smile suddenly appeared on his face as the astonishing spiritual pressure abruptly disappeared.

The man heaved an internal sigh of relief as a fawning smile appeared on his face.

Right at this moment, Han Li turned his attention deeper into the island as he asked, "Have you notified everyone else of my arrival?"

The man gave an honest reply. "I have. We were told to immediately notify the elder on the island of your arrival should you come here."

"I see." Han Li remained expressionless and it was impossible to identify what he was thinking. However, a shiver suddenly ran down the man's spine as a hint of unease welled up in his heart.

Right at this moment, a streak of white light appeared in the distance, rapidly approaching them.

Han Li turned to look up into the sky with narrowed eyes.

"It's Elder Zhao coming to welcome Senior Han in person," the man hurriedly said in a fawning manner.

Han Li merely nodded expressionlessly as he stood still with his arms crossed.

The man was slightly surprised at the sight of Han Li's careless display.

He wasn't aware of the fact that Han Li was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator. After his spiritual sense had been repelled, he didn't dare to try and ascertain Han Li's cultivation base again, so he simply assumed that he was an early-Nascent Soul cultivator that the Star Palace had only recently recruited.

The streak of white light descended before revealing an elderly man with a head of white hair. This man wore a brocade robe with a jade belt around his waist, and his brows were thin and long. He was an early-Nascent Soul cultivator.

The elderly man immediately identified Han Li from within the crowd, and his eyes lit up as he strode toward him. He cupped his fist in a salute, and said, "Please forgive me for failing to provide a timely welcome, Fellow Daoist Han."

The elderly man wore a warm smile on his face, as if he and Han Li were old friends.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he replied in an indifferent manner, "You're far too kind, fellow Daoist. I heard the situation on Silver Shark Island has been a little hectic of late; are you the one calling the shots on the island, Brother Zhao?"

"Hehe, there was a horde of demon beasts that attacked the island, but there wasn't even a single metamorphosis stage demon beast among them, so they were taken care of with relative ease. I'm not the one overseeing things here on the island; that would be Ning Changcai. However, he's currently away at the moment, investigating the reason behind the demon beasts' unprovoked attack against the island. I was actually sent here with the sole purpose of welcoming you, Fellow Daoist Han," Elder Zhao said with a smile.

"You were sent here to welcome me?" A hint of surprise finally appeared on Han Li's face upon hearing this.

"Indeed. The palace masters have asked me to pass on a message to you: they insist on meeting you again when you return to the inner seas. Truth be told, I've been waiting on this island for you for several months already, Fellow Daoist Han," the elderly man explained with a smile.

"Oh? What business do they have with me?" Han Li's brows furrowed slightly. He had a feeling that there was some serious trouble brewing.

"Hehe, this is not the place to discuss such matters. Please come with me to a quieter location, Brother Han," the elderly man suggested with a mysterious smile.

"Sure, then let's head over to that small mountain over there." Han Li looked around with a contemplative expression before suddenly pointing to a small mountain around 10 kilometers away.

Elder Zhao turned his gaze toward the small mountain, and immediately agreed, "As you wish, Brother Han."

Han Li nodded in response, and after the elderly man delivered some instructions to the Star Palace disciples, the two of them flew toward the mountain together.

The mountain wasn't very far away, so the two of them naturally arrived in a very short time.

Han Li landed on the mountain and said in a calm voice, "What message would you like to pass on from the palace masters, Fellow Daoist Zhao? You can tell me now."

"Haha, there's no need to be so cautious, Brother Han; I have fantastic news to deliver to you." The elderly man stroke his beard with a smile.

"Fantastic news? What are you referring to?" Han Li was taken aback upon hearing this.

"Fellow Daoist Han, you're not yet at 500 years of age, right?" the elderly man asked with a smile.

"So what if that's the case?" Han Li was struck by a peculiar feeling, but he didn't deny this.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"Haha, that's all I needed to hear. What do you think of Elder Ling from our Star Palace?" the elderly man asked with a smile.

"Are you referring to Fellow Daoist Ling Yuling?" Han Li asked with a peculiar look on his face.

"Indeed; she is also the daughter of our two palace masters!" The elderly man nodded in response.

"Fellow Daoist Ling naturally has exceptional cultivation aptitude to be able to reach the Nascent Soul Stage at such a young age. I'm not quite sure I understand what you're asking, fellow Daoist." A hint of confusion flashed through Han Li's eyes.

"Elder Ling's aptitude is indeed quite exceptional, but it's far inferior compared to yours, Brother Han. However, there's no doubting the fact that both of you are supremely-talented prodigies. If you two join forces, perhaps there will be a chance for you to succeed in your pursuit of the Great Dao and Immortality. Brother Han, would you be willing to become Elder Ling's Dao Companion?"

"Dao Companion?" Han Li was given a massive fright upon hearing this, and his jaw dropped straight to the ground.

"Indeed. Both Brother Han and Elder Ling are so young with such exceptional aptitude; you two are a match made in heaven! Would you allow me to act as a matchmaker for the two of you?" The elderly man wore a wide smile on his face.

The astonishment on Han Li's face immediately receded as his brows furrowed.

The elderly man was slightly surprised to see this.

Could it be that Han Li was unwilling to accept such a brilliant arrangement?

One had to realize that in the cultivation world, female Nascent Soul cultivators were almost nonexistent, and it was even more difficult to find a female Nascent Soul cultivator of a similar age as Han Li. As such, even though everyone knew about the benefits of dual cultivation, most male Nascent Soul cultivators could only take Core Formation or even Foundation Establishment female cultivators as their servants or concubines. There were very few of those couples who actually became Dao Companions. A female Nascent Soul cultivator would occasionally appear, but she would immediately be pursued by many male cultivators with similar cultivation bases.

Ling Yuling was a Nascent Soul cultivator-an extremely beautiful one, at that-and she was also the daughter of the vastly renowned Star Palace masters. Wasn't this almost the best possible thing that could happen to Han Li? So why was it that he appeared to so reluctant to accept this arrangement?

That was simply astonishing to the elderly man.

However, this man was a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, so the elderly man naturally didn't dare to express the displeasure in his heart. His expression remained unchanged as he continued in an enthusiastic manner, "The two palace masters have said that as long as you're willing to become Elder Ling's Dao Companion and live in our Heavenly Star City, you'll be the next master of the Star Palace for sure. In that case, you'll become the ruler of the Scattered Star Seas Brother Han, and on top of that..."

The elderly man began to rattle off a long list of benefits that the dual cultivation arrangement could bring to Han Li, and his voice was tinged with more than a hint of envy.

Han Li continued to remain silent, but the elderly man didn't who any intention of stopping anytime soon, so he could only heave an internal sigh in the end, and cut him off.

"I'm very grateful to the palace masters for thinking so highly of me, but I must refuse this proposal."

"What? Please consider this carefully, Brother Han! This is an important matter and it would be unwise to make a rash decision." The elderly man could sense from Han Li's aloof reaction that he was quite averse to the proposal. However, his heart still sank after hearing Han Li's refusal, yet he was still unwilling to give up. It would place him in a very awkward situation if he failed to complete this mission that the Heavenly Star Sages had assigned to him.

"It's not that I think Fellow Daoist Yuling isn't good enough for me or that I harbor any unfavorable bias toward the Star Palace; it's just that I already have a Dao Companion, and she's also a Nascent Soul cultivator," Han Li explained.

"I see. There's no helping it then. Looks like you and Elder Ling simply weren't meant to be. I still think it's quite a pity, though." The elderly man heaved a resigned sigh upon hearing this.

However, he was also quite relieved that he would have an excuse to pass on to the Heavenly Star Sages.

At the same time, he was feeling rather perplexed. It seemed that in the past 100 years, there were no new female Nascent Soul cultivators that had appeared in the Scattered Star Seas aside from Ling Yuling.

Could it be that this man's Dao Companion was also a powerful yet obscure cultivator like him?

The Heavenly Star Sages hadn't mentioned to him that Han Li may have been a foreign cultivator. As such, he automatically assumed that Han Li was one of those cultivators who spent the majority of time cultivating in seclusion, thereby making him an obscure figure in the cultivation world.

The elderly man heaved a forlorn sigh before suddenly changing the subject as he said, "I won't press the issue with Elder Ling any further, but the palace masters have instructed me to pass on another message to you if you turn down the dual cultivation proposal; would you be interested in hearing it, Brother Han?"

"Of course; please go ahead," Han Li replied.

Seeing as the Star Palace had failed to recruit him, they were naturally going to try some other tricks; this did not come as a surprise to Han Li.

The elderly man suddenly adopted a more solemn expression as he said, "The palace masters would simply like to meet with you again. Of course, you're free to choose the location as long as its within or somewhere close to Heavenly Star City. The palace masters have said that they would like to discuss an important matter with you regarding a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage. I hope you can accept this proposal, Brother Han."

"Something related to a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage, eh?" Han Li stroked his chin with a contemplative look.

If it weren't for that final part of the message, he would turn down the proposal without any hesitation. However, this proposal was quite tempting and he had to think carefully about it.

After all, he didn't have a single clue with regard to how he was going to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage. Even if the process was likely going to be quite risky, he still didn't want to miss out on an opportunity like this.

After contemplating for a long while, Han Li finally said, "If the Heavenly Star Sages wouldn't mind, I can meet them on that small island 1,500 kilometers north of Heavenly Star City. I'll be there on the island in the three days." At his current power level, as long as he wasn't trapped in an inescapable place and ganged up on by too many Nascent Soul cultivators at once, he didn't need to fear any ambushes or sneak attacks. As such, meeting them shouldn't incur too much risk.

"Alright, I'll be sure to pass on your response to the palace masters." An elated expression appeared on the elderly man's face.

Han Li chatted with this man for a while longer before taking his leave.

The elderly man could see that Han Li wasn't interested in conversing with him any further, so he didn't try to keep Han Li.

After that, Han Li headed straight toward the teleportation formation on the island.

At his speed, it didn't take him long at all to reach the mountain upon which the teleportation formation was situated. Once there, he just so happened to catch sight of the burly cultivator who was guarding the teleportation formation on the previous occasion that he was here as well. The man wore a stern expression and was speaking to several cultivators. As he did so, he shook his head incessantly as if he were refusing something.

Dazzling azure light flashed and Han Li appeared in front of the group of people, seemingly out of thin air.

"I pay my respects to Senior Han!" The bury cultivator immediately recognized Han Li, and he hurried over before extending a respectful salute.

"I want to go back to the inner seas. The teleportation formation is ready to go, right?" Han Li asked coldly.

"Of course! Right this way, Senior Han!" the Star Palace cultivator quickly replied. Before Han Li even had to ask, he immediately handed over a teleportation talisman.

Even though he had the Greater Teleportation Medallion, Han Li still took the talisman before entering the teleportation formation.

Moments later, white light erupted within the stone chamber and Han Li disappeared.

The other cultivators had all put on reverent expressions in response to Han Li's arrival, and following his departure, their expressions eased in unison.

One of the Core Formation cultivators who was familiar with the burly cultivator asked, "Brother Yu, was that senior an elder of your Star Palace? He looks quite unfamiliar to me."

"He actually isn't. I've only met this Senior on one previous occasion, and he's carrying a guest elder badge from our Star Palace. Even though no official announcement has been made, I assume he must be a new elder who's about to join our Star Palace," the burly man replied with a smug smile.

"I see. Doesn't that mean your Star Palace is going to grow even more powerful now? It appears this elder is quite powerful; I wonder if he's an early-Nascent Soul or mid-Nascent Soul cultivator," the Core Formation cultivator clicked his tongue with wonder.

"I'm not too sure of that, either. This senior seems to be carrying some sort of treasure that prevents people from ascertaining his cultivation base. However, I assume that he's still an early-Nascent Soul cultivator. After all, if he were at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage already, surely he would be more renowned," the burly cultivator speculated hesitantly.

"I agree with you one that one. In any case, he's not someone that the likes of us can compare with. Tsk tsk, a thousand-year lifespan... I wonder if we still have a chance to progress to the Nascent Soul Stage." A cultivator with a sword strapped to his back heaved a forlorn sigh.

Three days later, on a nondescript coral island 1,500 kilometers north of Heavenly Star City that was only several kilometers in size, there was a young man meditating with his legs crossed and his eyes tightly closed.

That young man was, of course, none other than Han Li.

Several days ago, after returning to the inner seas using the teleportation formation, he had immediately left the massive island without delaying so much as a single moment.

He had been wary that the Heavenly Star Sages would take advantage of that opportunity to attack him, but it appeared that he had been overly paranoid.

He managed to leave the Star Palace's territory without any impediment.

Han Li was quite relieved as a result, and stayed for a few days in the nearby region before arriving on the island that he had agreed to meet the Heavenly Star Sages on.

At this moment, he had already released his powerful spiritual sense to its maximal extent as a safety precaution. Everything within a radius of several hundred feet had been enshrouded within his spiritual sense, regardless of whether it was the seabed that lay at depths of tens of thousands of feet or the sky hundreds of thousands of feet above; all of it was within the scope of his surveillance.

Han Li naturally wasn't going to get complacent when faced with vastly renowned cultivators like the Heavenly Star Sages.

They were a couple and both were using the same cultivation arts so when they combined their powers, they would most likely be far more troublesome to deal with than two normal late-Nascent Soul cultivators.

Furthermore, the Divine Essencefused Light was certainly no joke. It was said that it could crush all powers of the five elements in this world; that was clearly an exaggeration, but it wasn't too far off the mark.

Han Li didn't want to lose his life over a moment of carelessness.

Thus, he had made sure to establish surveillance over everything in the surrounding region prior to the arrival of the sages, in order to protect himself from any sinister intentions they could harbor.

When it was close to noon and the sun had almost reached its highest point in the sky, Han Li suddenly stirred as he opened his eyes.

In the far distance, there were two spots of white light flying through the air side by side, heading directly toward the small island that he was situated on.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Han Li didn't immediately rise to his feet. Instead, he turned toward that direction expressionlessly.

The two approaching cultivators had clearly seen Han Li from afar, and they immediately accelerated toward the small island that he was situated on. The streaks of white light soon appeared above the island, before receding to reveal a man and a woman.

The woman appeared to be around 25 or 26 years of age with skin as fair as snow and luscious black hair. She wore a vibrant green palatial dress and her entire body was emanating a regal and esteemed aura. In contrast, the man was a white-robed scholar who appeared to be around 40 years old. His looks were very ordinary, yet his brows were as dense and dark as swords. There was a sinister aura radiating from his body and his expression was as cold as ice.

The two of them hovered in the air at altitudes of around 300 feet, appraising Han Li from above.

Han Li slowly rose to his feet and his body drifted into the air.

Moments later, he was standing at the same altitude as the two of them.

"I've heard a lot about the Heavenly Star Sages, and I am immensely fortunate to be able to see both of you today, Fellow Daoists." Han Li put on a smile that was neither cold nor enthusiastic.

At the sight of Han Li's indifferent display, a vibrant smile appeared on the face of the woman in the palatial robes, who had seen Han Li once before, and he exuberant smile on her face presented a glorious scene akin to that of myriad flowers blossoming at once.

"There are only so many late-Nascent Soul cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas; seeing as you agreed to meet us, we were, of course, not going to leave you hanging. This is my Dao Companion, Ling Xiaofeng. The two of us do indeed have a bit of renown, but not many people actually know our real names," the woman said.

Han Li smiled and didn't say anything, yet he turned his gaze toward the man beside her. His eyes just so happened to meet Ling Xiaofeng's cold gaze, and shudders ran through both their hearts in unison. They couldn't quite put their finger on the reason for this, but both of them were suddenly struck by the feeling that the other was not to be messed with.

"I heard from Elder Zhao that you already have a Dao Companion, and she's also a Nascent Soul cultivator. That's rather unfortunate news for us, Brother Han. However, it's impossible that our Star Palace would've completely failed to have heard of a new female Nascent Soul cultivator in the Scattered Star Seas, even if she's been in seclusion for an extended period of time. You must be from the Great Jin and not from our Scattered Star Seas, right, Brother Han?" Ling Xiaofeng asked. Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he exclaimed, "So the two of you have also been to the Great Jin before!"

Han Li exhaled as countless thoughts flashed his mind, and he neither confirmed nor denied this notion. However, the tone of his voice led the Heavenly Star Sages to automatically believe that their speculation rang true.

The man nodded with an expression that suggested he suspected this to be the case all along. "The Great Jin is known as the holy land of cultivation in the human world; Of course my Dao Companion and I have visited it before. However, even though there's an ancient teleportation formation that can take one from the Scattered Star Seas to the Great Jin, the teleportation formation on the other side is situated in an extremely mysterious location, and even with the power levels of my Dao Companion and me, that place still poses some risk to us. As such, aside from the past masters of the Star Palace, there have been very few Nascent Soul cultivators from the Scattered Star Seas who have visited the Great Jin. Of course, there aren't many people who know about this ancient teleportation formation to begin with. However, our Star Palace is located quite close to the teleportation formation, and a palace elder is permanently settled there to guard the formation. If you teleported to the Scattered Star Seas using that formation, there's no way that the two of us would've been oblivious to your arrival. Aside from that, it's possible for someone to fly here from the Great Jin, but the journey will take upward of 10 years, and will be quite a perilous one. There's almost no one who would do something so stupid. How did you get to our Scattered Star Seas, Brother Han?" Wen Qing asked with undisguised curiosity in her eyes.

"I merely arrived here by chance and not intentionally. As for the method through which I got here, it's very difficult to replicate, so you don't need to be concerned about anyone else emulating it." Han Li gave half of a reply and didn't elaborate any further.

Ling Xiaofeng and Wen Qing looked at one another, and they could see the confusion in each other's eyes, but they did press the issue any further. The man asked, "Has Elder Zhao informed you of our objective for meeting you here?"

Han Li was silent for a moment before chuckling as he said, "He did mention it. Apparently, the two of you wish to discuss with me matters regarding a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage. I naturally couldn't refuse such a tempting invitation."

"Indeed. The two of us have been stagnant at the late-Nascent Soul Stage for several centuries, but I'm sure we can still provide some insight that can prevent you from going down the wrong path, as well as several methods and secret techniques that will assist you greatly in making a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage. Of course, whether you'll be able to succeed or not in the end will be up to you," Wen Qing continued with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Oh? That does sound great, but surely you wouldn't disclose those secret techniques to me free of charge, right?" A hint of caution flashed through Han Li's eyes.

"If you had agreed to become Yuling's Dao Partner, then we would naturally have unconditionally presented you with this information. However, seeing as you turned down our offer, we can only strike a deal with you, Brother Han," Wen Qing said in a slightly forlorn manner.

"What deal would you like to propose?" Han Li's eyes narrowed as he looked at Wen Qing with a calm expression.

A serious look appeared on Wen Qing's face as she replied, "It's quite simple; I hope to provide these secret techniques and insights in exchange for your assistance to help our daughter take care of the Star Palace, all the way until she can look after the Star Palace on her own."

"You want me to assist Fellow Daoist Yuling?" Han Li's brows furrowed with a contemplative expression on his face.

The Heavenly Star Sages weren't in a hurry, either. They waited patiently while Han Li digested their proposition.

"Fellow Daoist Ling is currently only at the early-Nascent Soul Stage, right?" Han Li asked.

"Indeed, she is." A smile reappeared on Wen Qing's face, as if she could already guess what Han Li was going to ask next.

"How long do you think it will take for the two of you to help Fellow Daoist Yuling reach the late-Nascent Soul? 100 years? 200 years? Or even longer than that..." Han Li asked.

"The two of us have a way to help our daughter reach the mid-Nascent Soul within 100 years. As for progressing to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, that's no simple matter and it'll be up to her to get there on her own," Ling Xiaofeng replied coldly.

"Then do you think she'll be able to take care of the Star Palace on her own without a late-Nascent Soul Stage cultivation base? You wouldn't be expecting me to spend several hundred years of my life helping her out, would you?" Han Li stroked his chin as he chuckled coldly.

Wen Qing's smile stiffened slightly upon hearing this, but she quickly recomposed herself.

"If you think that condition is going too far, then we can change to another one. As I'm sure you're aware, the clowns at the Starfall Coalition have constantly been provoking our palace. If you can assist us in killing the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu, then we would also be willing to offer the aforementioned methods and secret techniques. As far as I know, you have turned many of the Starfall Coalition's Nascent Soul cultivators against you after obtaining the Heavenvoid Cauldron, so this will be a win-win situation for both of us," Wen Qing offered with a smile.

"Even though the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu are vastly renowned great cultivators, I'm sure the two of you will fancy your chances against them. Besides, I have no intention of getting swept up in any feuds in the Scattered Star Seas. After this, I plan to go into seclusion to cultivate, so I'm afraid I can't help you with this, either. "

Wen Qing's smile faded after Han Li turned down her second condition. Even though she didn't say anything, she was clearly becoming quite displeased. At this moment, Ling Xiaofeng said, "Brother Han, you may not aware of this, but the secret techniques that we are offering to provide to you have only been invented after countless years of effort and research from several past masters of the Star Palace. They are priceless treasures to late-Nascent Soul cultivators like us. You're not hoping to obtain them from us free of charge, are you?"

Ling Xiaofeng's expression had cooled even further.

Han Li completely disregarded the two sages' discontent, and clasped his hands behind his back as he said, "I wouldn't dare to dream of it. According to my knowledge, all of the past masters of the Star Palace were late-Nascent Soul great cultivators, yet very few of them actually managed to reach the Deity Transformation Stage. I'm sure the methods and secret techniques you're offering are very valuable, but I really am rather skeptical of their efficacy. Of course, referencing these things will surely be of great benefit to me, even if they can't directly assist me in making a breakthrough. However, it's too much to ask of me to expend several hundred years to help your daughter or to take such a massive risk in assisting you two in battle. Please state some simpler conditions. I definitely won't consider anything that's too complex or too ambitious."

The expressions of the couple's faces immediately darkened upon hearing this. However, they didn't say anything in response. Instead, they exchanged a glance and began to communicate using voice transmission right before Han Li's eyes.

Han Li's lips twitched slightly upon seeing this before looking up into the sky expressionlessly.

A short while later, the couple seemed to have finished their discussion. Ling Xiaofeng turned to Han Li expressionlessly, and said, "For everything we're offering, we're only asking you to assist our daughter on three separate occasions. As long as you can do that, we have a deal."

Han Li contemplated this condition momentarily before replying, "I can agree to that. However, I will only step in when Fellow Daoist Yuling's life is under threat, and I'll only do what I can."

"Alright. There's no need for you to swear a vow or do anything of that nature. As a fellow great cultivator, I'm sure you'll keep your promises, Fellow Daoist Han. I have three Myriad Distance Talismans here that were refined by ancient cultivators using special methods. Even if you're millions of kilometers away from our daughter, you'll be able to see anything that she writes on her talismans replicated on your talismans. Please keep the safe, Fellow Daoist Han." Ling Xiaofeng swept a sleeve through the air, and three shimmering white talismans appeared. He then swiped a finger across the three talismans and a thin golden line flashed past, upon which the three talismans split up into six.

Three of those talismans disappeared into his sleeve, while the other three shot forth toward Han Li as three streaks of white light.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he caught the three jade talismans before taking a cursory glance at them.

The runes on these talismans were quite complex and even though they had been split in half, there was still spiritual light shimmering over their surfaces, thereby indicating that these were no ordinary artifacts.

Han Li flipped his palm over and stowed them away into his storage pouch.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"This jade slip contains the secret techniques that will assist in a breakthrough to the Deity Transformation Stage. With your vast knowledge and experience, I'm sure you'll be able to verify its authenticity with ease." A smile reappeared on Wen Qing's face as she raised a hand to hurl forth a streak of green light.

Han Li caught the object to find that it was a palm-sized green jade slip.

He nodded and immediately injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip.

Sure enough, there appeared to be around seven or eight secret techniques and methods in there.

Han Li picked one and random and began to carefully scan through it.

Unbeknownst to Han Li, just as he was verifying the authenticity of the contents in the jade slip, Wen Qing took a glance at Ling Xiaofeng and a hint of smug look appeared on her eyes. 10 minutes later, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from within the jade slip, and said, "Indeed, the content authentic and will be very useful to me."

"Alright, if that's the case, then we have a deal. The two of us still have important matters to attend to, so we won't stay here any longer," Ling Xiaofeng said with an indifferent expression.

"Haha, this place is still part of the Star Palace's territory, so I should be the one bidding farewell to the two of you." Han Li chuckled as he cupped his fist in a salute. He then transformed into a streak of azure light and covered a distance of over 200 feet in a flash.

The speed of his movement evoked a hint of surprise even in the hearts of the Heavenly Star Sages.

As the azure streak of light disappeared into the distance, Wen Qing turned to her Dao Companion, and asked, "No wonder he's so arrogant; he does indeed appear to have the skills to back himself up. What do you think? Will he fall for our trap?"

"As long as he still wants to progress to the Deity Transformation Stage, there's no way he won't fall for the trap. Even though all of the secret techniques we provided to him are genuine, he'll know when he puts them into practice that they'll either provide only an infinitesimal effect, or be impossible to achieve at all. Only the method we provided to use the power of the five elements to break through the bottleneck is plausible, and at his age, if he were to begin cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light now, he should be able to completely master it within his lifetime. Do you think he'll be willing to pass up this shortcut?" A cold smile appeared on Ling Xiaofeng's face.

"That's true. In that secret technique, we briefly mentioned some of the Divine Essencefused Light's special attributes and powers. Even if he isn't interested in progressing to the Deity Transformation Stage, there's still a good chance that he'll be tempted into using this cultivation art. If he plans to cultivate the Divine Essencefused Light, then he must draw upon the power of the Divine Essencefused Mountain and go through the same process we went through. In that case, he'll be forced to stay in Heavenly Star City. He'll probably only realize how difficult it is to completely master the Divine Essencefused Light close to the end of his lifespan, and that'll be countless years into the future. After such a long time, as long as Yuling can progress to the late-Nascent Sou Stage, she won't have to worry about him exacting revenge on the Star Palace," Wen Qing mused with a smile.

Ling Xiaofeng was silent for a moment before he suddenly said, "What if Yuling can't progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage? She'll be in massive trouble then."

Wen Qing faltered slightly upon hearing this before heaving a forlorn sigh. "We've already bought so much time for her; if she still can't progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage, then there's nothing more we can do for her. In that case, she should give up on the Star Palace and leave Heavenly Star City to become an itinerant cultivator."

"Without a late-Nascent Soul Stage cultivation base, it'll be very difficult for her to establish dominance over the elders of the Star Palace. Even with the trump cards we left behind for her, they won't be able to help her forever. Our top priority now is to teach Yuling the method to refine the Divine Essencefused Mountain. Only after taking control over the mountain will that Han brat be wary of her. Otherwise, if he really does refrain from cultivating the Divine Essencefused Light until after we pass away, then come to Heavenly Star City to take the Divine Essencefused Mountain by force, the situation will be very bad for Yuling. On the bright side, Yuling's aptitude isn't bad. If she can find a suitable Dao Companion for dual cultivation, there's a good chance that she'll be able to progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage with the help of some pills," Ling Xiaofeng analyzed.

"In any case, we've done everything we can to take care of this Han brat. Now, we have to get rid of the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu in the next century or so. This is a really inconvenient juncture for the demon beasts in the outer seas to be wreaking havoc. Looks like we'll have to call a temporary truce with the Starfall Coalition and take care of these demon beasts first." Wen Qing's brows furrowed as resigned look appeared on her face, and she said, "Hmph, these demon beasts must planning on revoking our agreement as no Deity Transformation cultivators have appeared in the inner seas for many year, and we currently have less great cultivators than in other periods as well. These demon beasts really are idiots; we dared to forge this agreement in the first place, so naturally wouldn't fear revocation from them. After the past tens of thousands of years of careful preparation, the inner seas have already been transformed into an unimpregnable fortress by us cultivators. Even if those tenth grade demon beasts join forces and attack us all at once, they still won't be able to force their way into the inner seas. Besides, as far as I'm aware, the current sea race isn't a completely unified entity, either," Ling Xiaofeng harrumphed coldly.

"You're referring to the conflict between the flood dragons and the Suan Ni[1. Suan Ni is a Chinese mythological creature said to be one of the dragon's nine sons.] race?" Wen Qing asked.

"Indeed. The Suan Ni race in the outer seas isn't much more powerful than the flood dragons to begin with, and they're only able to exert dominance with the two tenth grade demon beasts among their ranks. However, the tenth grade grand elder of the Suan Ni race passed away 300 years ago, so the flood dragons are unwilling to concede anymore. We just have to devise a plan to start a war between these two major demon beast races, and we'll have nothing to worry about." Ling Xiaofeng was very confident.

"Your confidence is greatly reassuring. It's a shame that the spirit stone mines on Green Spirit Island have been taken, though. We just received news that a top-grade spirit stone had been unearthed, yet these demon beasts have taken over the island before we could deploy anyone to the scene. I even sent out an urgent message asking them to transport that top-grade spirit stone and all of the recently-unearthed high-grade spirit stone back to the inner seas as soon as possible, but I was still too late. Even Elder Gui fell by the hands of the Golden Wyrm King." A wistful look appeared on Wen Ming's face.

Ling Xiaofeng shook his head, and said, "It can't be helped; the out seas belong to the demon beasts, after all. Prior to this, there weren't any conflicts of interest, and those high-grade demon beasts didn't even regard those unintelligent low-grade demon beasts as their brethren, so they simply let us set up establishments on those islands in the outer seas. Now that high-grade spirit stones and even a top-grade spirit stone have been unearthed, it's only natural that they would attack."

"It's a good decision to give up on the outer seas for now. We should take this opportunity to gather all of our forces in inner seas, and try to stabilize the Star Palace as much as possible before Yuling takes over. However, those itinerant cultivators and the Starfall Coalition most likely won't be willing to give on the outer seas," Wen Qing mused with a thoughtful expression.

"That's perfect for us! We'll open up all of the teleportation formations in the city and as long as they're willing to pay spirit stones, we'll let them go to the outer seas as they please. Ever since the rise of the Starfall Coalition, these itinerant cultivators have been less reverent and respectful toward our Star Palace; this will be an ideal opportunity to teach them a good lesson! Once the matters surrounding the demon beasts in the outer seas are settled, we'll completely uproot the Starfall Coalition. It appears that the Archsaint of the Six Paths and Wan Sangu are really under the impression that we can't stray far away from Heavenly Star City. They'll realize just how absurd their preconceived notions have been on the day that they die. Every once in 100 years, there will be an entire month where the power of the Divine Essencefused Mountain would completely disappear. We won't be restricted by the mountain at all during that month, and when that time comes... Hmph!" A vicious look appeared in Ling Xiaofeng's eye as he harrumphed coldly.

"Indeed, it's time for me to settle my differences with the Archsaint of the Six Paths once and for all." Wen Qing's voice had also cooled significantly.

Ling Xiaofeng faltered upon hearing this before his brows furrowed as he asked, "Are you still hung up on what happened all those years ago?"

"How could I not be? If it weren't for the fact that I met you, I would most likely have died long ago. If it weren't for the restriction of the Divine Essencefused Light, I definitely wouldn't have let him get away from me during our last battle." Wen Qing's expression cooled even further as she spoke.

Ling Xiaofeng was silent for a moment upon seeing this and in the end, he could only heave a faint sigh.

"Alright, seeing as that's the case, I'll let you put an end to the Archsaint of the Six Paths." At the conclusion of that sentence, Ling Xiaofeng transformed into a streak of white light again and flew away in the direction they had come from.

Wen Qing remained on the spot for a while longer with a furious look on her face before also following suit.

At this point, Han Li was already far away.

He was naturally unaware of the fact that on just the second day after his return to the inner seas, the entire Silver Shark Island had already heard about the slaughter that had taken place on Green Spirit Island.

At the same time, news of a top-grade spirit stone being unearthed from a mine on the island created a massive stir throughout the entire Scatter Star Seas.

Just two days following Han Li's meeting with the Heavenly Star Sages, the high-grade demon beasts in the outer seas delivered an ultimatum to all of the islands on which human cultivators were residing. All humans were to leave the outer seas within three months, and anyone found after that would be killed on the spot.

As a result, all of the itinerant cultivators and powers within the inner seas were in a state of uproar.

To the cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas, the demon cores of the demon beasts in the outer seas had become as indispensable and irreplaceable as spirit stones, and almost every power within the Scattered Star Seas was dependent on them. There were massive profits to be gained for all of them in the outer seas, so how could they be willing to retreat so easily?

Thus, countless itinerant cultivators as well as cultivators from the major powers flocked to the Star Palace and Starfall Coalition, accessing their teleportation formations to travel to the outer seas.

Due to the fact that high-grade spirit stone mines and a top-grade spirit stone had been discovered on Green Spirit Island, a large proportion of cultivators chose to teleport to the region near this island.

At the same time, countless demon beasts of all different grades had also gathered on Green Spirit Island.

It appeared that the battle between the human cultivators and the demon beasts was imminent.

Amid the chaos and turmoil, a rumor began to spread throughout the entire Scattered Star Seas. It was said that the Heavenvoid Cauldron had reappeared and that there were mysterious pills within cauldron that could allow a Core Formation cultivator to progress to the late-Nascent Soul Stage in less than 200 years.

No one knew where this rumor had originated from, but it was quickly gaining traction among all of the human cultivators.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Chapter 1160: Devil Lake Island

Devil Lake Island was a nondescript island situated on the outskirts of the inner seas. The only ones who were aware of its location were the itinerant cultivators who resided on the other nearby islands.

The reason why this island remained in the memories of these cultivators and was given such a peculiar name was because there was a material that could be found on the island, a material known as green copper that was produced in several lakes on the island. The material wasn't very rare nor valuable, but it was essential for refining several types of unique treasures. As such, some low-grade cultivators would occasionally travel to this island to secure this material.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that these lakes contained large quantities of green copper, but in any case, all of the lakes were as green as jade, far greener than the water in a normal lake. Furthermore, if a mortal were to fall into the river, they would be able to float without doing anything.

As such, the coined term of devil lake gradually became popular in the region around the island.

However, this island only had scarce forestry and no spirit veins, so it received very few visitors.

However, on this day, there were around 50 to 60 low-grade cultivators gathered beside one of the lakes. All of the cultivators were busy setting up several complex makeshift formation spells. Most of these cultivators were at the Qi Condensation Stage, and there were only around six or seven Foundation Establishment cultivators among them.

In the air above the center of the lake, there were three Core Formation cultivators gathered, and they were discussing something quietly among themselves.

A wrinkly grey-robed elderly man turned to the other two with a dejected frown, and said, "Junior Martial Brother Lei, we're not going to fail again this time, are we? For the sake of breaking this restriction, I've almost had to expend all of my savings. Throughout this process, I've spent over 200,000 spirit stones! If we fail again, I won't have any more spirit stones to offer."

A handsome blue-robed man harrumphed in reply, "Hmph, you're exaggerating things far too much, Senior Martial Brother Wu. You're the wealthiest among all three of us. The Gold Inscription Pavilion you own is extremely renowned in this surrounding region, so how could you possibly be unable to spare these spirit stones?"

"You may be unaware of this, Junior Martial Brother Lei; even though business appears to be booming for my Gold Inscription Pavilion, it's actually only barely holding on in the face of competition from larger shops like the Fire Cloud Pavilion." The grey-robed man heaved a long sigh with a forlorn expression on his face.

"There's no need to tell us a sob story, Senior Martial Brother Wu! Your Gold Inscription building has been running for a long time, and if there were no profits to be gained from it, why haven't you closed it down already?" The final cultivator of the three was a gorgeous red-robed woman. She had a supple backside coupled with a voluptuous chest, and her large watery eyes seemed to be capable of captivating one's soul.

"The Gold Inscription Pavilion was quite profitable in its earlier years, but that was only when Master was still around. Ever since Master Man disappeared over 100 years ago, the other larger shops have been exerting a lot of pressure on me, seeing as I no longer have a Nascent Soul cultivator as my backer. The first few years were alright as they were still wary of a potential return from Master Man. However, 20 years ago, ever since news had spread of Master Man succumbing to his injuries following his battle with the Archsaint of the Six Paths, business has been deteriorating day after day. If it weren't for the fact that I'm a late-Core Formation cultivator myself, my shop would've most likely been forcibly taken from me already. I'm much more envious of your carefree and leisurely lifestyles." A wry smile appeared on the elderly man's face.

"I have no interest in hearing about these of these things. All I know is that I haven't contributed any fewer spirit stones to this cause than you have, Senior Martial Brother. Furthermore, you're no the only one who has been struggling in the aftermath of Master Man's disappearance. With Master's fiery personality, he offended countless cultivators during his lifetime. Now that he's disappeared, I've been targeted by his enemies as someone to exact their revenge against. I was hunted for several decades before I finally managed to shake them off. In contrast, you've gathered your own forces and can rely on your ties with the Blood Light Sect to keep you safe; you're the only who's truly living a carefree and leisurely life, Senior Martial Brother Wu." A bitter look appeared on the blue-robed man's face as the pungent odor of blood wafted from his body.

"What are you saying, Junior Martial Brother? If it weren't for the fact that I have many disciples under me, I would've emulated you two and gone into hiding long ago. Why would I continue to toil like this? Setting aside the massive costs I'm incurring every single year, I have to offer a large number of spirit stones each year to the Blood Light Sect just so I can continue to benefit from their protection. My life is nowhere near as easy as you make it out to be. In comparison, I've heard some things about what you've been up to in the past few years, Junior Martial Brother. Your title as the Bloodhand Devil is vastly renowned among us Core Formation cultivators. The cultivation art you're using allows you to progress rapidly through slaughter, and now, you've already progressed to from the early-Core Formation Stage to the mid-Core Formation Stage." The elderly man seemed to be intent on showing everyone else how miserable he was.

The blue-robed man raised his eyebrows with displeasure and he wanted to continue the argument, but the beautiful woman chuckled and interjected, "Senior Martial Brother Wu, Junior Martial Brother Lei, there's no need for you two to continue quarreling. Ever since Master Man disappeared, all of us have been struggling. However, if we can obtain the treasures hidden within this secret cave abode, I trust that Master's collection as a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator will be enough for us to split among ourselves. When that time comes, we can either go into hiding or seek protection from other powers, and at the very least, self-preservation shouldn't be an issue."

Upon hearing her words, the elderly mand and blue-robed young man looked at one another and they really did stop arguing, thereby hinting at the fact that they were both somewhat wary of this woman.

The three of them looked on in silence as the low-grade cultivators down below continued to set up formation spells. After a short while, the blue-robed man suddenly said, "Senior Martial Sister Cai, you're sure that Master's secret cave abode is actually under this restriction, right? I can tell that Master definitely cast this restriction, but at the same time, Master also has many temporary cave abodes set up on many small islands. This couldn't be one of those, could it? If so, then all of our efforts would be completely in vain."

"Are you doubting me, Junior Martial Brother Lei?" The beautiful woman was rather displeased to hear this.

The blue-robed man licked his lips, and replied expressionlessly, "You were the one who told us that you knew the location of Master's hidden treasures and led us to this island several months ago, but you never told us how you attained this information. Master does have a certain inclination of bias toward you, but I know Master's personality and there's no way that he'd reveal this information to you. Now that this restriction is about to open, why don't you clarify the situation to put me and Senior Martial Brother Wu at ease?"

"Junior Martial Brother Lei is right. We received no news from you for years on end, yet you suddenly came to us out of the blue and led us to this island. You can't blame us for being suspicious," the grey-robed man chimed in calmly.

"So what's it going to be? If I don't disclose this information to you two, are you going to join forces to gang up on me, a frail early-Core Formation Stage woman?" The woman's expression darkened as she raised a hand to tuck a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. As she did so, a purple bracelet that was flashing with mysterious runes was revealed on her wrist.

Both of her martial brothers' expressions changed drastically upon seeing this bracelet.

"I didn't think Master had even bestowed his Purple Ice Bracelet upon you, Senior Martial Sister! Just with that ancient treasure alone, you'll be more than powerful enough to take on Senior Martial Brother and me." A hint of rage and jealousy appeared in the eyes of the blue-robed man, and it was unclear whether this rage was directed toward this woman or Master Man.

The grey-robed man quickly composed himself as a smile reappeared on his face. "Surely you jest, Junior Martial Sister; there's no way we would harbor such ill intentions. It's just in order to break through the restriction under the lake, Junior Martial Brother Lei and I really have given everything. As such, I hope you can forgive us for erring on the side of caution. After all, you didn't contribute so much as a single spirit stone to this endeavor, Junior Martial Sister."

The woman hesitated momentarily before her expression finally eased, and she said, "I led you two to this secret cave abode, and I'm only taking a third of the treasures inside, so why do I need to contribute additional spirit stones? However, seeing as both Senior Martial Brother Wu and Junior Martial Brother Lei are harboring some suspicions, I can disclose the information want to hear."

"We'd be glad to hear it." The elderly man was elated. The young man stood off to the side in silence with a dark expression on his face.

"On the surface, I'm Master Man's female disciple, but I'm actually one of his concubines. I trust that two of you are already aware of this. One night, I learned the location of this secret cave abode as he talking in his sleep. At the time, he knew that his lifespan was about to run out soon, and he was planning on coming to this cave abode and passing away surrounded by all of his treasures," the woman elaborated.

"That's it?"

The elderly man and the young man looked at one another with incredulity in their eyes.

"Why does it have to be a complex story? In any case, it's up to your two whether you believe me or not. Besides, do you think Master Man would set up such a complex restriction formation if he were only trying to guard one of his temporary cave abodes? Even after combining our powers, we were still unable to break through it after several months. Is there any plausible explanation for this other than the fact that is the secret cave abode where he keeps all his treasures?" the woman retorted.

A contemplative look flashed through the grey-robed man's eyes before he cupped his fist in a salute, and cleared his throat as he said, "You pose a convincing argument, Junior Martial Sister. It appears that Junior Martial Brother Lei and I were overly paranoid. Thankfully, there's only one final layer of restriction left. After we break through this one, our efforts during the past few months will come into fruition. Let me check on how they're going with setting up the formations."

He then transformed into a streak of yellow light and flew toward the riverbank.

The blue-robed man raised an eyebrow as he took a glance at the woman. "I'll also go check on how they're progressing down there."

Crimson light appeared over his body, transforming into a crimson barrier. His body then sank straight into the lake down below the disappeared.

The woman pursed her lips upon witnessing the departure of her two martial brothers. At the same time, a barely detectable cold light flashed through her eyes.

A short while later, the elderly man delivered some instructions to the low-grade cultivators beside the river before flying into the air to rejoin the woman. Almost at the exact same moment, the water in the lake tumbled and surged down below, following which the blue-robed man also rose into the air.

The three of them were back together in the blink of an eye.

"Junior Martial Brother Lei, Junior Martial Sister Cai, the formation spells are almost... What's that?" The elderly man turned to the two of them with a smile and was just about to say something when his expression abruptly changed as he turned toward the distance.

Both the woman and the blue-robed man were alarmed by this sudden development, and they hurriedly turned toward that direction. There in the distance, an azure streak of light was hurtling toward them, seemingly heading directly for this lake.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"Another high-grade cultivator is coming our way!" the elderly man exclaimed.

"How could there be other high-grade cultivators coming to such an obscure island? Did your underlings reveal this news to anyone?" The woman immediately turned to the elderly man with an expression of shock and fury.

"I didn't tell any of them about our objective for this trip, so how could they have revealed anything to anyone?" The elderly man hurriedly shook his head with a grave expression.

"Don't panic, this cultivator could just be passing through. We'll just have to keep an eye out and act according to the situation," the blue-robed man urged in a calm voice.

The woman and the elderly man could only recompose themselves upon hearing this.

Right at this moment, the streak of azure light that had appeared to be extremely far away mere moments ago had reached them in the blink of an eye. It was so close that all of them were already able to make out an indistinct male figure within the light.

"So fast!"

All three of them were stunned to see this as a hint of foreboding welled up in their hearts.

After a few more flashes, the azure light appeared directly above their heads. The light receded to reveal an azure-robed cultivator who only appeared to be only in his twenties, an observation that was quite startling to the three cultivators down below.

The young man looked down expressionlessly and asked in an implacable voice, "Is this Devil Lake Island?"

The three cultivators' hearts sank in unison. They scanned their spiritual senses toward Han Li, and were even more astonished by what they discovered.

The spiritual power emanating from this young man's body was clearly far more powerful than theirs, so he was most definitely a Nascent Soul cultivator. This was almost the worst thing that could happen.

"This is indeed Devil Lake Island. Do you require any assistance, Senior? We would more than willing to lend you a hand." The elderly man hurriedly put on a smile and bowed respectfully.

"That's all I need to hear. Why are all of you here?" Han Li faltered slightly at the sight of the low-grade cultivators down below before a hint of a smile appeared on his face.

A stir ran through the elderly man's heart, yet he could only pull out the excuse that he had prepared in advance. "I require a large quantity of green copper to refine a few special treasures, so I brought along some disciples with me to assist me in the excavation process."

This young man clearly wasn't an ordinary Nascent Soul, as evidenced by the fact that his spiritual sense was completely unable to ascertain his cultivation base. Something like this had never happened before. Theoretically speaking, as a late-Core Formation cultivator, even a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator shouldn't have been able to hide their cultivation base from his spiritual sense.

"Green copper? So you're setting up those restriction-breaking formations just to excavate some green copper?" The young man chuckled as he crossed his arms and glanced at the formation spells that the low-grade cultivators were setting up, then at the green surface of the lake below him.

The skepticism in his chuckled was very apparent. Cold sweat was beginning to pour down the elderly man's face upon hearing this. Never would he have thought that this young man would proficient in the art of formation spells as well. One had to realize that most formation spell masters didn't have high cultivation bases, and those with advanced cultivation bases normally wouldn't waste their time researching formation spells.

Furthermore, the formation spells being set up were rather rare and obscure ones, so for this young man to be able to immediately identify them clearly indicated a high level of knowledge in this field.

The woman and the blue-robed man immediately became extremely docile, lowering their heads and casting their eyes downward, making it appear as if the elderly man were the leader of their group.

As such, the elderly man had no choice but to deal with this young man on his own, and he was fuming internally by this betrayal.

After all, there were very few Nascent Soul cultivators with amicable personalities, so his situation was an extremely perilous one.

"Please don't misunderstand, Senior. I'm quite interested in formation spells as well, and I wanted to set these up to test their effects." The elderly man floundered for a split second before inventing a rather plausible excuse.

The young man's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this. He looked down at the three of them, and suddenly said something that gave them a massive fright. "In what way are the three of you related to Man Huzi?"

"I don't know what you mean, Senior." The woman raised her head in response.

"The cultivation arts you're using are different, but all of them clearly contain traces of Man Huzi's Heavenbearing Devil Arts. Other people may not be able to discover this, but if you're trying to fool me, hehe..." the young man chuckled.

Seeing as they were unable to lie their way out of this, the blue-robed man took a deep breath, and finally admitted, "Do you recognize our master, Senior?"

Expressions of unease appeared on the faces of the elderly man and the woman upon hearing this.

"I've only met him on a few occasions. You three are trying to obtain the treasures under this lake, right? Man Huzi proclaimed that he was the only one who knew the location of his treasure cave, but the three of you have suddenly popped up here. Either he intentionally tried to deceive me, or the three of you must've learned his secret through an alternative avenue," the young man mused to himself.

His words were like claps of thunder exploding in the ears of the three cultivators down below, immediately rooting them to the spot.

Even though they all had a very bad feeling about this, none of them could do anything.

If this young man were a Core Formation cultivator, the three of them would immediately join forces to kill him. However, he was a Nascent Soul cultivator; someone far too powerful for them to kill.

Furthermore, it appeared that Man Huzi had told him about this location in person. That came as a massive surprise to them. Could it be that their master was still alive?

With that in mind, expressions of bewilderment surfaced on their faces.

The woman was the first to recover from her shock. She forced a smile onto her face, and asked, "The three of us are indeed disciples of Master Man. May I have the honor of knowing your name, Senior?"

"My surname is Han. The three of you... Eh? I didn't think a small island like this would be such a lively place. Who's hiding over there? Show yourself!" Han Li was only halfway through his sentence when his expression suddenly darkened, and he casually flicked his five fingers toward a hill beside the lake.

Several azure threads immediately shot forth in a flash, transforming into streaks of light that were several tens of feet in length before slashing viciously into the kill.

The woman's expression immediately turned deathly pale upon seeing this.

A few resounding booms erupted and the pillars of azure light managed to slice away almost half of the entire hill.

However, what came as more of a surprise to the elderly man and the blue-robed man was that within the destroyed hill, a bald brawny man appeared.

This was a very large man with golden light shimmering all over his body, and it was as if his robes and attire had all been crafted from pure gold.

At this moment, the man wore a shocked expression on his face and was holding a golden shield in one hand, which was releasing a semi-circular barrier of light that kept the streaks of azure light at bay.

"Patriarch Golden Flower!" the elderly man immediately exclaimed upon seeing this man.

All of a sudden, a streak of red light suddenly flashed toward the man, upon which a lithe and graceful figure quickly appeared beside him. It was none other than Man Huzi's female disciple.

"Junior Martial Sister Cai, how could you ally yourself with Patriarch Golden Flower?!" The elderly man immediately figured out what was going on, and an expression of shock and fury appeared on his face.

The blue-robed man's expression also darkened upon hearing this.

It was quite clear that the woman had planned to use them to gain access to the cave abode, then join forces with this Patriarch Golden Flower to kill them and split the treasures between themselves.

"Hmph, you're sure one to talk! Senior Martial Brother Wu, did you not notify the people from the Blood Light Sect to intercept and kill me after we left this island? And Junior Martial Brother Lei, you joined the Wood Sword Pavilion of Grass Haven Island, and are preparing to marry the pavilion lord's daughter, yet you promised them all of the treasures in this cave as your dowry! If I didn't find allies of my own, today would be the day I die! However, don't pin your hopes on receiving any reinforcements; Patriarch Golden Flower's underlings have already cut them off. I was with Man Huzi and satisfied his desires for so many years; everything that he left behind should be left to me! Patriarch Golden Flower has also agreed to officially make me his Dao Companion after this." A smug smile appeared on her face as she stood beside Patriarch Golden Flower in an extremely intimate manner.

"If that's the case, then why did you come to Senior Martial Brother Wu and me? You could've just obtained the treasures on your own." A panicked expression appeared on the blue-robed man's face, but she quickly recomposed himself.

"If it weren't for the fact that the restrictions under the lake are extremely troublesome to deal with, and you two were the only ones who were instructed by Man Huzi in the way of formation spells, why would I inform you two of this?" The woman casting aside all pretenses and laying the cards directly onto the table.

The elderly man and the blue-robed man's expressions became extremely dark upon hearing this.

"That's enough, you can settle your differences with those two another time. I want to speak with this fellow Daoist." Patriarch Golden Flower's brows furrowed as he cut off what the woman was about to say next.

The woman fell silent obediently upon hearing this.

"Fellow Daoist, are you also here for the Man Huzi's secret cave abode?" Patriarch Golden Flower asked.

As an early-Nascent Soul cultivator, he was also unable to ascertain Han Li's cultivation base, and that made him extremely wary.

"Indeed. I'm taking everything under this lake. If you don't have anything else you want to say, you can go now," Han Li hovered in the air and replied coldly.

Patriarch Golden Flower was instantly enraged upon hearing this. At the same time, his heart jolted with a hint of shock. The fact that Han Li was speaking in such a bold manner clearly indicated that he was extremely confident in his abilities.

With that in mind, he suppressed the rage that had ignited in his heart and adopted a stern expression as he said, "You sure can talk big, Fellow Daoist; are you planning to send me on my way so you can take all of the treasures here for yourself?"

Patriarch Golden Flower's voice had suddenly become rather unpleasant!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"Oh? Are you interested in a share as well?" Han Li turned to him with a slight smile on his face.

"I can't say I personally know all of the renowned cultivators in the Scattered Star Seas, but I certainly know all of their voices or appearances off by heart, yet I've never heard of anyone like you! Eh? Wait, you seem to be a little familiar!" Patriarch Golden Flower responded coldly at first before carefully surveying Han Li again, upon which his brows furrowed and a hint of bewilderment appeared in his eyes.

Han Li's pupils contracted abruptly upon hearing this and a cold light as sharp as daggers appeared in his eyes.

"Seeing as you've claimed the treasures here, I'll leave Man Huzi's cave abode to you. Let's go!" After a moment of contemplation, a thought suddenly occurred to Patriarch Golden Flower, upon which expression changed minutely and he suddenly decided to back down.

The three Core Formation cultivators present were all slightly flabbergasted by this turn of events.

Golden light shimmered from around his body, sweeping up the woman beside him without any explanation, as he prepared to fly into the distance.

However, right at this moment, Han Li suddenly raised his hand without any premonition. A burst of azure light shot forth from his hand, crashing violently toward Patriarch Golden Flower's head in a flash.

As such, this Patriarch Golden Flower's attempt to escape was naturally thwarted. In his shock and fury, he let loose a loud roar as he summoned his golden shield again, which transformed into a barrier of golden light before him.

Following a resounding boom, a ball of golden light exploded in the air, emitting such piercing light that everyone was forced to reflexively close their eyes and hurtle back in retreat, not daring to stare directly into the light in fear of being blinded.

However, after the light receded, Patriarch Golden Flower's stumbling figure was revealed. The golden shield before him had been damaged, yet the woman behind him was completely unscathed.

He had managed to block Han Li's attack.

"What are you doing, Fellow Daoist? I've already left all of the treasures here to you, so why are you still attacking me?" Patriarch Golden Flower roared with an enraged expression.

"Why? You think I'll let you go after you've identified me?" Han Li chuckled coldly.

Killing intent welled up in his heart and he didn't waste any more time with words as he slapped the storage pouch hanging from his waist. A monk staff shot forth, disappearing in a flash before instantly reappearing above Patriarch Golden Flower's head. Han Li made a hand seal and began to chant something. Brilliant yellow light erupted from the monk staff as it swelled to over 100 feet in length before crashing down with devastating might.

It was like a small mountain falling from above. Even prior to its initial descent, the surrounding space had begun to twist and warp, and there was even a sharp ringing sound being emitted.

Following the major advancement in his cultivation base, Han Li was able to unleash far greater power when using the treasures of the three masters of Kunwu now than compared to before.

Below the monk staff, Patriarch Golden Flower's face was twisted with shock and fury!

Only then did he realize that Han Li was an extremely vicious and decisive person. He was intent on killing Patriarch Golden Flower based on some assumptions alone, and he didn't allow Patriarch Golden Flower any chance to explain himself. Furthermore, the treasures that he had summoned was far more powerful than what Patriarch Golden Flower had imagined, and there was no way that the damaged golden shield overhead would be able to keep such a fearsome attack at bay.

In this dire situation, Patriarch Golden Flower didn't summon any more treasures. Instead, he flipped his hand over and a golden talisman appeared between his fingers.

He waved a hand through the air and uttered a peculiar chant before spinning on the spot, upon which large swathes of dazzling golden light immediately erupted from his body.

The monk staff came crashing down and the golden light transformed into countless fist-sized flowers, creating a dense canopy that completely submerged Patriarch Golden Flower and the woman.

Yellow and Golden light clashed, resulting in an earthshattering boom. Immediately thereafter, all of the light faded, leaving only a massive crater in the ground.

Patriarch Golden Flower and the woman were nowhere to be seen.

Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this before giving a cold harrumph as he released his spiritual sense in all directions around him.

He then abruptly slashed a hand behind him, and a massive streak of azure light was sent hurtling into a certain spot in the air.

A dull thump rang out as golden flowers appeared from thin air. Patriarch Golden Flower emerged from space while hugging the woman to his side with one arm. The golden flowers before him were shuddering sporadically, yet he had managed to ward off Han Li's sword Qi attack.

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he carefully assessed these golden flowers with a hint of surprise in his eyes.

Due to the fact that he had cultivated the Azure Essence Sword Art, his cultivation base was far superior compared to that of normal late-Nascent Soul cultivators. As such, even a burst of azure essence sword Qi that was unleashed as an offhand attack was devastatingly powerful.

However, this Patriarch Golden Flower was able to block it with ease through the use of a talisman. That was rather perplexing to Han Li.

"Impossible! How did you detect my location? Even a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator shouldn't be able to do that!" In contrast, Patriarch Golden Flower was far more surprised than Han Li.

"Hmph! Your talisman is rather interesting, but you're dreaming if you think you can sneak away right under my nose," Han Li said in a cold voice. He then raised his hand toward the monk staff in the distance, the treasure immediately hurtled toward Patriarch Golden Flower again at his behest.

A vicious light appeared on Patriarch Golden Flower's face upon seeing this. He waved his golden talisman through the air and transformed into golden flowers again to evade the attack, reappearing nearby in the next instant.

He then abruptly cast the woman aside he let loose a thunderous roar. "Han bastard, I've been making concessions this entire time, yet you still insist on killing me. Do you really think you can defeat me just because you have that Heavenvoid Cauldron? I'm going to show you my true power!"

He then patted the storage pouch hanging from his waist, and a burst of black Qi containing a certain spirit beast emerged from within. Soon, the spirit beast was revealed to be a strange bird over 10 feet in size.

The bird had black Qi coiling around its entire body and a pair of green eyes. It had a fleshy crest that was bright red in color growing on its head and its appearance was extremely hideous. As soon as it appeared, it began to utter an extremely unpleasant noise as it stared viciously at Han Li, seemingly possessing enough intelligence to identify the fact that Han Li was the enemy.

"A Ghost Dove? You keep things like this around?" Han Li clicked his tongue in wonder, but he wasn't panicked nor flustered in the slightest.

He also patted a pouch hanging from his waist and cries of an ape rang out from within. A black streak of light short forth before spinning in the air, revealing a small monkey with gleaming black fur.

It was none other than the Weeping Soul Beast.

The beast rose to its feet in an unsteady manner, seemingly still a little dizzy and disoriented. However, its eyes immediately lit up with elation at the sight of the Ghost Dove nearby.

Black light flashed and the beast's body swelled drastically, transforming into a massive black ape over 100 feet tall in the blink of an eye. Its mouth was filled with sinister fangs and its eyes emitted a cold light as it thumped its massive fists into its chest. A thunderous roar then erupted from its mouth and it was as if it were a fiendcelestial descending upon this world.

Patriarch Golden Flower immediately drew a sharp breath upon seeing this.

In the face of the giant ape, the aggressive Ghost Dove's wings tremored erratically as an extremely fearful expression appeared on its face. It was circling in the air above Patriarch Golden Flower's head, and it didn't dare to attack.

At this moment, Han Li nonchalantly swept his sleeve through the air, from within which two small golden swords short forth. The swords transformed into two streaks of light around 10 feet in length each, before flying through the air toward Patriarch Golden Flower.

At the same time, the monk staff began to crash toward Patriarch Golden Flower again at Han Li's behest.

Patriarch Golden Flower's heart sank upon seeing this. He gritted his teeth and blasted a small golden clock out from his mouth. He then patted his storage pouch again and two bursts of green light emerged, transforming into a pair of green jade hooks after revolving in the air.

Green light flashed and one of the jade hooks flashed past Patriarch Golden's hand, soundlessly slicing off two fingers, yet no blood was drawn.

Patriarch Golden Flower cast an incantation seal in his heart, and the two fingers flew toward the Ghost Dove as two bursts of crimson light.

The Ghost Dove let loose a ghastly cry before accepting the crimson light into its mouth.

Upon doing so, the black Qi all over its body surged and its body swelled to twice its original size, taking it to 20 feet. At the same time, its green eyes lost their former clarity and instantly turned into a crimson color.

Following its transformation, the bird no longer feared the Weeping Soul Beast, and it spread its wings as black Qi poured forth from its mouth, taking the initiative to instigate a battle with the giant ape.

As for those two green jade hooks, they had transformed into two streaks of green light that were keeping the two golden flying swords at bay. At the same time, the small golden clock tolled to send a golden soundwave surging through the air, thereby warding off the massive monk staff as well.

Patriarch Golden Flower heaved an internal sigh of relief upon seeing this. However, right at this moment, a hint of a deriding sneer appeared on Han Li's face.

As the Ghost Dove reached the air above the massive ape, it blasted forth two bursts of black Qi from above. The massive ape harrumphed and a burst of yellow light suddenly swept through the air from its nostrils.

The light flashed once before wrapping the Ghost Dove within it.

The light then tumbled violently and the Ghost Dove was only able to utter a howl of anguish before it was reduced to a ball of black Qi, which the massive ape gladly swallowed.

Patriarch Golden Flower was petrified upon seeing this.

He had anticipated that the Ghost Dove wouldn't be able to match the giant ape in battle, but never would he have thought that it would be eaten after just a single exchange.

He had bred the Ghost Dove according to a ghostly cultivation secret technique that he had obtained by chance, and only managed to refine it after expending a vast amount of time and effort.

It was said that this bird was born with a pair of ghostly eyes that could repel Yin spirits and evil ghosts, and that it was proficient in a captivation secret technique that could launch invisible attacks against the enemy.

In the case of normal cultivators, as long as the Ghost Dove was able to fly above their heads and blast out a burst of Yin Qi, the victim's soul would suffer severe backlash.

The loss of the Ghost Dove dealt Patriarch Golden Flower an extremely heavy blow.

Before he had even managed to recover from his astonishment, bursts of brilliant golden lights suddenly erupted from the two golden flying sword, following which the two jade hooks were shattered and reduced to nothingness in an instant.

Without any obstacles standing in their way, the two streaks of golden light immediately came hurtling toward Patriarch Golden Flower.

Patriarch Golden Flower's heart jolted with shock and he was just about to summon another treasure to defend himself, when he suddenly heard Buddhist Chants ring out from above.

A chill ran down his spine as he hurriedly looked upward.

Immediately thereafter, all of the color was drained from his face.

Buddhist chants had suddenly erupted from the monk staff and at the same time, seven-colored Buddhist light was released, making the monk staff impossibly heavy.

The golden soundwaves that were initially able to keep the monk staff at bay were immediately vanquished, thus allowing the staff to descend and at this point, it was only around 30 to 40 feet away from Patriarch Golden Flower.

"No!" Patriarch Golden Flower let loose a cry of shock and horror as he waved hi golden talisman again.

He immediately transformed into a vast expanse of golden flowers and disappeared on the spot.

However, on this occasion, Han Li had summoned his Thunderstorm Wings in advance. A loud thunderclap erupted and he disappeared almost at the exact same moment as Patriarch Golden Flower did.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Patriarch Golden Flower had only just disappeared into space using the power of his talisman, when he felt a burst of devastating force approaching him soundlessly from behind. He desperately attempted to gather the golden flowers behind him as a makeshift barrier, but he was still struck by this immense force.

Right at this moment, a rumbling thunderclap erupted from behind him.

Patriarch Golden Flower turned around with an expression of shock and horror on his face.

Over 100 feet away, Han Li emerged from a flash of golden light while slowly withdrawing his fist with a cold smile on his face.

Patriarch Golden Flower felt as if his heart had been plunged into a glacial pit. This man was definitely not an early-Nascent Soul cultivator. At the very least, he was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator, and all of his treasures and abilities were all far superior to his own.

With that in mind, Patriarch Golden Flower naturally didn't dare to engage in battle with Han Li any longer. All of his battle intent was instantly snuffed out as he violently hurtled his golden talisman into the air. At the same time, golden light erupted from his body and he fled into the distance and in his panic, he was even leaving the woman behind.

Han Li was just about to give chase when the golden talisman that Patriarch Golden Flower had just hurled into the air suddenly crumbled. A vast expanse of golden light appeared before exploding, then converging to form over 1,000 thumb-sized golden wasps, all of which came flying toward Han Li.

A loud buzzing sound instantly erupted. Han Li was a little surprised by this turn of events, yet he still responded calmly, opening his mouth to blast forth a small cauldron that was enshrouded in azure light.

The cauldron spun in the air in front of him before instantly reaching several tens of feet in size, following which Han Li patted the cauldron with his hand.

A resounding boom rang out as blue flames surfaced over the giant cauldron, enshrouding the entire cauldron within.

The lid of the cauldron was then slowly lifted amid a loud rumbling, opening up a gap around a foot wide.

A burst of azure light shot forth from the gap, swelling drastically in size to form an azure net over 100 feet in length.

Brilliant azure light flashed and the net swept through the air, sweeping up all of the golden wasps within in the blink of an eye. It then circled through the air before returning to the cauldron like lightning.

The Heavenvoid Cauldron had only been summoned for a fleeting moment, yet all of the countless golden wasps in the air had already been captured.

Despite that, Patriarch Golden Flower had already fled to a distance of around 600 feet away during this brief delay. The speed at which he was traveling was quite astonishing for an early-Nascent Soul cultivator.

However, a deriding sneer appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this. He didn't immediately set off in pursuit of Patriarch Golden Flower. Instead, he cast his gaze around him first, upon which his brows furrowed as he harrumphed coldly.

During his clash with Patriarch Golden Flower, the grey-robed elderly man and the blue-robed young man had retreated to a distance of over 1,000 feet away, preparing themselves to flee the scene at a moment's notice.

Ever since Han Li and Patriarch Golden Flower had appeared in quick succession, they had relinquished all ambitions of securing the treasures beneath the lake. All they were thinking about was how to escape alive from this perilous place.

Patriarch Golden Flower had clearly been drawn here by the woman to kill everyone else and take the treasures for themselves.

However, this man dared to attack Patriarch Golden Flower, a Nascent Soul cultivator, after just a brief conversation, and the two of them immediately realized that something was very much amiss.

When Patriarch Golden Flower mentioned the Heavenvoid Cauldron, the two of them finally realized who this man was.

Even though they were only Core Formation cultivators, they were disciples of Man Huzi, so there was no way that they wouldn't have heard about the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Even to this very day, the Starfall Coalition's orders to hunt down the owner of this cauldron was still in effect.

They knew that staying here would most likely result in their deaths, so they had already begun to sneak away as soon as the battle between Han Li and Patriarch Golden Flower had commenced.

At the sight of Han Li turning toward them with a cold gaze, their heart rates accelerated through the roof as they fled in different directions as quickly as they could.

As for that woman, she had realized the danger that she was in after Patriarch Golden Flower left her behind, and she also fled as a streak of red light with panic surging through her heart.

Meanwhile, the Foundation Establishment and Qi Condensation cultivators by the lake were too far away to see what was going on at the center of the lake. However, even from afar, they could see their masters fleeing into the distance. All of them looked at one another before naturally also dispersing in sheer horror.

Upon seeing this, a dark expression appeared on Han Li's face. He abruptly patted grabbed a spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist before raising it up into the sky.

A screeching sound rang out from within the pouch, following which a burst of white glacial mist appeared, within which was contained a dozen or so snowy white centipedes. Each and every one of the centipedes was around half a foot long with pairs of transparent wings on their backs. Their appearance as very sinister and they began to fly in the air above Han Li's head.

Han Li didn't say anything; all he did was point toward the three Core Formation cultivators in the distance.

The 18 six-winged frost centipedes split up into three groups, transforming into three gusts of white glacial wind as they rushed toward the three Core Formation cultivators with glacial Qi emanating from their mouths. They were clearly traveling faster than the prey they were pursuing.

The three Core Formation cultivators hurriedly unleashed their full speed upon seeing this, causing them to accelerate even further.

Thus, the three cultivators and 18 centipedes flew into the distance.

As for the low-grade cultivators down below, Han Li couldn't be bothered to take care of them.

With their absurdly slow speed, even if they wanted to report this matter to someone, it would take them at least several days, by which time Han Li would be far away from this island.

However, a hint of killing intent flashed through his eyes as he turned his gaze toward Patriarch Golden Flower. The Thunderstorm Wings on his back flapped gently and his entire body disappeared as an arc of silver lightning.

Even though Patriarch Golden Flower was already more than 1,000 feet away at this point, Han Li was able to cover a distance of over 200 feet with each and every flash. After around only six or seven flashes, he had already appeared in the air above Patriarch Golden Flower.

He immediately raised a hand and a vast expanse of purple flames shot forth, transforming into a massive hand that came crashing down from above.

"Argh!"

Never would Patriarch Golden Flower have thought that Han Li would be able to catch up to him so easily. A cry of shock escaped his mouth and a horrified expression resurfaced on his face at the sight of the massive purple hand.

In his desperation, he could only open his mouth and blast forth a golden flying saber that swept toward the huge hand, while hurriedly making a series of hand seals in an attempt to evade this attack.

However, a massive hand manifested by Purple Apex Flames was not something that an early-Nascent Soul cultivator could deal with. Ever since Han Li had attained these glacial flames, all he had to be wary of were late-Nascent Soul cultivators and tenth grade demon beasts.

The golden flying saber struck the massive hand, but the former was immediately coated in a thick layer of purple glacial ice following a flash of purple light, upon which it plummeted straight down from above.

The massive purple spread open right before Patriarch Golden Flower's petrified eyes, before ensnaring his body within its palm.

A howl of anguish erupted as the purple flames on the hand rose up a further several feet. Patriarch Golden Flower was transformed into a purple ice sculpture in the blink of an eye.

Upon seeing this, Han Li immediately cast an incantation seal and the massive purple hand brought its five fingers together in a violent manner.

Following a crisp cracking sound, the entire ice sculpture was shattered. A flash of golden light emerged from the shards of ice as Patriarch Golden Flower's Nascent Soul attempted to escape.

However, Han Li was already prepared for this. The huge hand disintegrated into raging purple flames at his behest, immediately trapping the Nascent Soul within.

The Nascent Soul was only able to last a few seconds within the flames before it was reduced to nothingness.

Han Li swept a sleeve through the air and the purple flames transforming into a fiery python, disappearing into his sleeve in a flash.

Only then did a faint smile appear on his face. He scanned his gaze downward before feigning a grabbing motion with his hand, following which Patriarch Golden Flower's storage pouch was obtained.

He stuffed the storage pouch up his sleeve before turning his attention to other directions.

The three Core Formation cultivators and the 18 snowy white centipedes were already nowhere to be seen. However, Han Li wasn't overly concerned about that. He stowed away the Weeping Soul Beast, which had already reverted back to its miniature form, and closed his eyes as he sat down with his legs crossed. His spiritual sense slowly fanned out around him as he sat in mid-air, completely stationary.

Everything around him became very peaceful and there was no other sound to be heard aside from the rustling sea breeze.

After about 10 minutes, a faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as he reopened his eyes.

Almost at the exact same moment, spiritual light flashed from afar in a certain direction as a cloud of white glacial winds flew toward him. A few moments later, it had reached the air above Han Li's head, upon which the glacial winds dissipated to reveal six sinister-looking snowy white centipeds.

Each and every one of the centipedes had swelled to over 10 feet in size, and there were a few faint sword incisions on the snowy white exoskeletons of two of the centipedes, indicating that they had just endured an intense battle.

Han Li let loose a low cry before casting a few incantation seals into the air. White light flashed from the bodies of the six centipedes, and they quickly shrank to their original size.

Han Li then brought out his spirit beast pouch and the six centipedes flew into the pouch as streaks of white light.

A short while later, the other two groups of centipedes already returned. One of the groups was completely unscathed, but there was one centipede in the other group that had had a few of its legs severed, seemingly having sustained some wounds.

However, all of these spirit insects naturally had extremely powerful life forces and possessed the inherent ability to regrow severed limbs. As such, it wouldn't take long before such a minor injury was completely healed.

After stowing away these centipedes as well, Han Li turned toward the center of the lake on Devil Lake Island before he flew toward the island as a streak of azure light.

The streak of azure light soon disappeared into the lake.

This so-called devil lake wasn't actually very deep; at depths of just over 2,000 feet, Han Li was already able to indistinctly make out the lakebed.

However, the water in this lake really was remarkably green. Even after unleashing his spirit eyes, there was only visibility of over 100 feet. Anything that was further away than that was very blurry and unclear. As for his spiritual sense, it was seemingly unable to leave his body as soon as descended into this lake.

This devil lake seemed to be able to naturally cut off one's spiritual sense.

However, Man Huzi had already provided Han Li with the specific location of his cave abode, so he was able to find it with ease.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Han Li swept his gaze around him before flicking a finger, upon which a burst of azure sword Qi flew toward a rock on the lakebed.

A loud thump rang out and before the sword Qi had even struck the rock, a layer of faint blue light appeared down below, keeping the sword Qi at bay.

However, this layer of blue light was extremely feeble and only lasted a few seconds before it was sliced open by the sword Qi. The entire barrier of light the disintegrated into spots of light before disappearing.

Down below, the rock disappeared in a flash as if it had merely been an illusion. However, a five-colored barrier of light took its place, encompassing an area with a radius of over 1,000 feet on the lakebed. Spiritual light of all types of colors surged erratically over the surface of the light barrier, making it impossible for anyone to identify what lay beneath the barrier.

Han Li could detect immense spiritual power emanating from the light barrier and his eyes narrowed as he stroked his chin.

That blue light barrier was just a simple illusionary restriction. That one had most likely been set up by the three Core Formation cultivators recently, while this five-colored light barrier down below was a restriction that had actually been put in place by Man Huzi himself.

At the time, Man Huzi only had a Nascent Soul left and was rushing to pass on to the afterlife, so he naturally didn't have time to tell Han Li the method to get past this restriction.

It appeared that he would just have to break through it with brute force.

However, it was quite apparent that this restriction had been materialized using the power of the five elements, so even with his powers, it would still be a slightly troublesome prospect.

With that in mind, Han Li didn't hesitate any longer. He made a hand seal and the silver light flashed within the storage pouch hanging from his waist, following which a humanoid figure emerged behind him.

It was none other than that humanoid puppet!

36 golden flying swords then shot forth from Han Li's sleeve before converging amid a ringing sound, forming a massive golden sword that was over 100 feet in length.

An incantation seal was cast onto the surface of the giant sword.

A loud rumbling erupted as an arc of golden lightning as thick as an arm surfaced from the giant sword. The lightning circled around before transforming into an extremely life-like lightning python.

The python revolved around the giant sword several times before raising its neck and emitting a hissing sound, creating quite a formidable sight to behold.

On the other side, the humanoid puppet raised a hand to summon a red bow, while its other drew the bow with a small green arrow already nocked on the bowstring.

A loud thunderclap erupted as a golden arc of lightning also surfaced over the small arrow, flashing and writhing in an erratic manner.

A serious look appeared on Han Li's face as he pointed his finger toward a certain direction. The giant sword then began its descent at his behest, crashing straight downward amid a burst of thunderous rumbling, as if it were a mountain-splitting divine weapon.

Almost at the exact same moment, the humanoid puppet released the bowstring and a green arrow intermingled with wisps of golden light shot forth.

An earthshattering boom rang out as the surface of the light barrier tremored violently. It was then engulfed by countless arcs of lightning, and the nearby water in the lake tumbled and surged violently, creating a vortex that rose straight to its surface.

Han Li stood at the center of the vortex in a completely stationary state, appearing as if he were an immovable structure amid the chaos.

The light finally began to recede as the golden arcs of lightning disappeared.

Han Li looked down below him and a smile appeared on his face.

The five-colored light barrier down below had already vanished, revealing a small and faintly shimmering formation spell that was over 100 feet in diameter.

The green water in the lake surged toward it in a frenzy, only to be kept at bay by the white light emanating from the formation.

This formation had been refined using some kind of special material, thereby making it waterproof.

A hint of surprise flashed through Han Li's eyes as he raised a hand to stow his puppet away. His body then swayed as he appeared directly above the formation.

He wasn't in a hurry to descend and approach the teleportation formation. Instead, he decided to carefully inspect it from up above.

A short while later, he nodded as he patted the spirit beast pouch hanging from his waist. Most of the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes that he had just stowed away were release once again, and he delivered instruction to them through the use of his spiritual sense.

The snowy white centipedes immediately burrowed into the lakebed surrounding the formation at his behest.

Only then did Han Li decide that it was appropriate to cast an incantation seal toward the border of the formation, which immediately activated the formation.

White light abruptly began to flash and Han Li disappeared into the formation.

In the next instant, when he recovered from the discomfort of teleportation, he looked around to find himself situated within a stone chamber.

The stone chamber wasn't very large and it was completely empty. However, there was a bluestone door up ahead, and it was slightly ajar.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and released his spiritual sense.

His spiritual sense slowly crept beyond the stone door before fanning outward to assess the room on the other side.

After a short while, Han Li's expression eased upon verifying that he was the only cultivator in the cave abode and that there weren't any other cultivators lurking in the shadows.

Having been reassured by this discovery, Han Li rose to his feet and made his way over to the stone door. His body swayed and he disappeared into the passageway on the other side.

Half a day later, a burst of piercing azure light erupted from the lakebed. Following a few flashes, the azure light disappeared into the distance.

Han Li was situated within the azure light with a smile on his face, fiddling absentmindedly with a faint golden ore fragment in his hands.

His trip to Man Huzi's secret cave abode had proven to be quite a fruitful one.

Man Huzi's collection was far more plentiful than he had anticipated. Regardless of whether it was those materials and treasures that were worth several million spirit stones each, or those priceless tomes and secret techniques, many of them were prized treasures that Han Li had only ever heard, yet never had the chance to witness in person. As such, he was overjoyed by his bountiful trip. However, the treasure that excited him the most among Man Huzi's collection was a fist-sized fragment of Auric Essence.

In the Great Jin, Han Li had already collected most of the Auric Essence required to refine the remaining half of his flying swords. With the addition of this fragment of Auric Essence from Man Huzi's collection, e had gathered all of the materials he required and could add Auric Essence into all of his flying swords.

As such, he would finally be able to set up the complete Aureate Sword Formation with all 72 flying swords.

In the past, Han Li had set up half of the sword formation with 36 flying swords, and that had already been powerful enough to pose a serious threat to a late-Nascent Soul cultivator.

If he were to complete the entire sword formation, it would definitely be unimaginably powerful.

It was no wonder that the creator of the Azure Essence Sword Art had proclaimed that anyone who mastered the Aureate Sword Formation would be invincible in the human world.

Han Li was very much looking forward to witnessing the power of the completed sword formation.

He exhaled gently and flipped over his palm, upon which the Auric Essence disappeared, having been stowed away into the storage pouch.

After that, he continued onward at a leisurely pace. Han Li wore a contemplative look for a while before suddenly opening his mouth to produce a small cauldron that was roughly an inch in size.

It was none other than the Heavenvoid Cauldron!

Han Li raised a hand and the cauldron hovered over the center of his palm. He made a hand seal with his other hand and cast an incantation seal onto the cauldron's lid.

All of a sudden, azure light began to shimmer over the surface of the cauldron as the lid was slowly lifted, opening up a small sliver of space.

Golden light flashed and a talisman shot forth from within.

Han Li was already prepared for it in advance and a burst of azure light was blasted out of his mouth, striking the talisman with unerring accuracy.

The golden talisman immediately shuddered before its light dimmed. It was then immobilized by the azure light, having been forced to a standstill by Han Li's immense spiritual power.

Han Li quickly reached out and grabbed the talisman before carefully inspecting it.

This was none other than the strange talisman that Patriarch Golden Flower had used on multiple occasions during their battle earlier. Not only could it grant one instantaneous teleportation abilities, it could also transform into golden flowers and wasps, thereby proving itself to be a very powerful and versatile artifact.

It appeared that this was a unique talisman crafted by Patriarch Golden Flower.

Han Li found it to be very intriguing, and he couldn't help but summon it for inspection and research.

At first glance, the talisman appeared to be very ordinary and mundane. Han Li recognized most of the runes on the talisman, and all of them were very common runes. The only things that set it apart were those silver ancient runes inscribed on the four corners and at the center of the talisman.

This type of ancient text was very mysterious, and Han Li could sense a strong primordial aura just by looking at it.

Han Li inspected the text several times before finally determining that they were definitely different from any of the ancient texts he had witnessed in the past. Furthermore, they seemed to be completely independent with zero ties to other ancient texts.

On top of that, there were many tiny spots of golden light shimmering over the surface of the runes, and they all appeared to be living creatures, whizzing around sporadically over the runes, giving off an air of mystery and intrigue.

Han Li stared intently at the golden talisman as his brows furrowed unconsciously."Hmph! You think cultivators like you from the human world can decipher this type of beveled silver text? You should just conserve your energy and give up now!" All of a sudden, the tender voice of a child rang out from within the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and the owner of the voice seemed to be very disdainful toward Han Li.

As opposed to flaring up with rage from hearing this belittling voice, Han Li smiled and said, "Oh? Sounds like you recognize this type of text."

"Hmph, even in the higher realm, there won't be many people capable of comprehending this text. If it weren't for the fact that I once engulfed the soul of a human cultivator who just so happened to understand this text, I wouldn't be able to identify it, either," the tender voice replied.

A slightly grave look appeared on Han Li's face as he looked at the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and said in a cold voice, "Why are you suddenly talking to me today? I thought you were just going to stay in the Heavenvoid Cauldron forever, and never come out."

"In the past, you were just a measly cultivator from the human world who hadn't even reached the Deity Transformation Stage; why would I possibly want to talk to you? But it's different now; you've obtained the feather of a Heavenroaming Kun Peng[1. A Kun Peng is a legendary bird of Chinese Mythology that is said to have a bird form as well as a fish form.] now, so of course there's a reason for me to talk to you now. I can also offer you a deal," the small child in the cauldron replied.

"Heavenroaming Kun Peng? You mean that massive demon bird that attacked from another world?" Han Li's expression immediately changed as he recalled back to the incredible battle he had witnessed in the Outer Star Seas.

"Hehe! Demon bird? That's something that you can only say in the human world. If you were in the Spirit Realm and the worshippers of the Kun Peng, the Tian Peng race, were to overhear you, you'd be in a lot of trouble," the small child chuckled.

"Tian Peng race?" Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing that.

"There's no point in telling you about things in the Spirit Realm now. If you can ascend to that realm, then you'll naturally figure out all of these things for yourself. If you fail to do so, then providing an introduction would just be a waste of my energy," the small child said in a disdainful manner.

"You sure can talk big! Even if you were once an exceptional demon cultivator in the Spirit Realm, here in the human world, your power level is only comparable to that of an eighth grade demon beast. Who knows how long it'll take before you recover to the Deity Transformation Stage again!" Han Li jeered.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

The voice of the small child within the cauldron was coming from none other than that avatar of the Endless Sky Beast, which Han Li had drawn into his cauldron during his battle with Saintess Tianlan.

This beast was once just a primitive demon beast with only basic survival instincts, yet after spending over a century in the Heavenvoid Cauldron, it had developed intelligence and even recovered most of its memories from its time in the Spirit Realm. However, it was trapped in the Heavenvoid Cauldron so it naturally couldn't escape. As such, it had no choice but to reside there.

After Han Li reached the late-Nascent Soul Stage in the Heavenvoid Hall, he immediately refined his two Divine Spirit Treasures again.

After mastering the second layer of the Artifact Imprint Technique, he was finally able to open the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

The avatar of the Endless Sky Beast immediately unleashed some sort of movement technique from the Spirit Realm, allowing it to escape right before Han Li's eyes and travel a distance of over 1,000 feet in the blink of an eye. At such an incredible speed, if it were to flash a few more times, even Han Li wouldn't have been able to chase it down.

However, an incredible sequence of events ensued thereafter.

For some reason, after the beast had traveled about 2,000 to 3,000 feet away from the Heavenvoid Cauldron, azure light suddenly erupted from its body and the cauldron in unison, upon which the Endless Sky Beast abruptly disappeared, only to reappear back inside the Heavenvoid Cauldron in the next instant. It appeared that it was unable to leave the cauldron.

Han Li was naturally ecstatic upon seeing this.

Only then did he discover that due to the fact that the beast had resided in the Heavenvoid Cauldron for too long, its aura had already been assimilated by the cauldron, thereby placing it in a situation akin to the one that Silvermoon was in.

However, it wasn't an insubstantial entity and nor was it the artifact spirit of the Heavenvoid Cauldron. As such, aside from its inability to get far away from the cauldron, it maintained complete autonomy and didn't have to answer to Han Li's commands.

Thus, Han Li sealed the beast and tossed it into the cauldron again. He was planning to think carefully about the matter before deciding what to do with this Endless Sky Beast avatar.

However, the Endless Sky Beast had suddenly spoken as he was investigating the golden talisman, and was proclaiming this beveled silver text to be runes found only in the Spirit Realm.

Han Li was naturally very surprised to hear this.

"Haha! Deity Transformation Stage? Why would I want to get there? Here in your human world, it'll be impossible for me to reach that stage even after tens of thousands of years." The small child suddenly began to chortle boisterously within the cauldron.

"You're telling me you don't want to advance your cultivation base? Do you think I'm a gullible three-year-old child?" Han Li was very skeptical.

"Looks like you won't believe me until I disclose some things to you, little boy. Let me divulge some information, then; I was indeed rather renowned in the demon race of the Spirit Realm, and my cultivation base had reached a stage that's completely unfathomable to you. However, I went through extensive effort to send my avatar to the human world; do you think I did all this just so I can become the pitiful guardian beast of the human race? Back in the Spirit Realm, I have tens of thousands of demon underlings, and the Spell Warriors are nothing to me." The Endless Sky Beast made no effort to hide his disdain toward the Spell Warriors.

Han Li's brows furrowed, but he didn't say anything.

The small child continued, "I sent an avatar to this world in order to prepare for a tribulation that I'll face in 10,000 years. If my true body is unable to transcend this tribulation and my soul is destroyed, I'll at least be able to live on through my avatar in this world, so I won't completely cease to exist. Prior to that, there's no need for me to cultivate too quickly. Otherwise, if I reach the Deity Transformation Stage in this world as well, the tribulation will also impact this avatar of mine."

"I see. That is indeed a self-preservation method. Do all of the powerful beings in the Spirit Realm do the same thing?" Han Li asked in a slightly skeptical voice.

"Hmph, do you think sending an avatar down into this world is an easy task? Not only is there a cultivation base prerequisite that must be satisfied, you also have to be proficient in techniques that will allow your avatar to leave the realm you're situated in without being harmed, and there are very few of those techniques. On top of that, the expenditure of a Realm Transcending Stone is required to defy the boundary between realms in order to transport your avatar to this world, and that's a treasure that's extremely rare even in the Spirit Realm. Furthermore, this process is an extremely perilous one and I don't even know if the success rate is as high as one in 10. With each and every failure, the avatar will disappear in the chaos between realms, thereby expending a portion of your soul. Each time I've failed, I've had to go into seclusion for over 1,000 years at a time to recover the soul fragment that I lost. Prior to this, I'd already made seven or eight attempts over the span of 10,000 years and luckily, I was able to succeed with this attempt. In comparison, it's easier to directly teleport magic powers and attacks to this world through the barrier between realms," the Endless Sky Beast harrumphed coldly.

"Why are you telling me all this?" Han Li asked.

"Hehe, the answer to that is very simple. I'm just trying to tell you that we have no conflict of interests whatsoever. Back when I was drawn into this spirit treasure of yours, I hadn't developed any intelligence yet, and had been temporarily used by those Spell Warriors. Furthermore, my cultivation base won't be progressing to the Deity Transformation Stage anytime soon, so you won't have to worry about me taking revenge on you or anything like that," the beast chuckled.

"In that case, why don't I just destroy you right now? Won't that be a better course of action for me?" A cold expression suddenly appeared on Han Li's face.

The voice within the cauldron immediately fell silent. However, moments later, the small child began again, "My cultivation base is far inferior to yours at this point, so that's certainly a plausible course of action for you. However, don't forget that I'm the avatar of a powerful demon from the Spirit Realm. I've mastered some secret techniques that are far beyond the realm of your imagination. If you try to kill me, I'll be sure to leave you with some severe wounds to remember me by. Even if you don't die, I have many ways to imprint a mark onto your soul. If you don't plan on ever ascending to the Spirit Realm and decide to pass away in the human world, then you'll be fine, but if you ever go to the Spirit Realm, even if you resurrect yourself through possession, my true body will still be able to find you. When that time comes..."

The Endless Sky Beast didn't complete its sentence, but the threat it was delivering was already very apparent.

Han Li was at a loss for words.

With his current cultivation base and foundation of knowledge, he naturally knew that some of the beast's words were deceitful, yet most of them rang true.

As such, it really was rather difficult to deal with. He didn't want to make such a powerful enemy in the Spirit Realm prior to his ascension. Furthermore, judging from what this beast was saying, it's true body would most likely be able to destroy him about as easily as it could crush an ant.

As for the threat that the beast had delivered about leaving him with severe wounds, that was something that he didn't pay much heed to. The beast was unable to get away from the Heavenvoid Cauldron, so as long as he was well prepared, he wasn't afraid of suffering any backlash.

Han Li continued to fly through the air at a leisurely pace, but his brows were tightly furrowed and he had been silent for a long while.

The Endless Sky Beast in the Heavenvoid Cauldron had also fallen silent, seemingly as if it were trying to give Han Li an opportunity to think carefully about his options.

"What's the deal with that Kun Peng feather you were referring to? Does it have any special uses?" Han Li suddenly changed the subject.

"The Luo Mian Beast is a type of heavenly demon spirit, all of which were born with the creation of the world, which means that they're all primordial living beings that were born from chaos. In a sense, it wouldn't be incorrect to call them deities. I'm sure you can imagine how valuable something from its body is. Even my true body in the Spirit Realm wouldn't dare to go near such a powerful demon spirit. However, these Luo Mian Beasts are all sworn enemies of one another. On this occasion, it must've discovered the Luo Mian in your human world, which prompted it to attack through the barrier between realms to destroy this beast. Theoretically, the two demon spirits should be comparable in power, but the Luo Mian Beast of this world isn't handicapped by the barrier between realms, which led to the Kun Peng falling to a disadvantage. You're extremely fortunate to have stumbled upon their battlefield. The Heavenroaming Kun Peng is a wind-attribute demon spirit and it can master all of the wind-related heavenly laws of this world from birth. The feather it shed is a little damaged, but it's perfect for refining a wind-attribute spirit treasure. If you can successfully refine it, the treasure will definitely be far superior to a normal spirit treasure. I recall that someone in the Spirit Realm once refined a Fire Dragon Cover spirit treasure using a Fire Kirin scale, and its power ranked among the top 100 of all spirit treasures."

"Top 100?" Han Li was rather taken aback upon hearing this.

"Don't underestimate what it means to make it into the top 100. I know that you have another spirit treasure known as the Eight Spirit Ruler, as well as several other spirit treasure replicas. What I have to tell you is that even though both your Eight Spirit Ruler and that Sevenflame Fan are considered to be rare treasures, they're very much of a low-grade tier in the context of spirit treasures. Only the spirit treasures that can rank on the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll can be truly counted as a Divine Spirit Treasures. All others can only be referred to as spirit treasures, yet those that can make it onto the Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll have to at least rank among the top 100 spirit treasures" the Endless Sky Beast explained.

"The Chaotic Myriad Spirit Roll? Forget it, I have no interest in learning about such things at this point. From what you're saying, it sounds like the Divine Spirit Treasures that are considered to be very rare in the human world are available in abundance in the Spirit Realm. I don't recall the ancient cultivators of the past crafting all that many Divine Spirit Treasures. Does the deal you're about to propose have something to do with this Kun Peng feather?" Han Li stroked his chin as a serious look appeared on his face.

"You can unleash a lightning movement technique with your Thunderstorm Wings, but they don't appear to have been completely refined, right? And there seems to be a hint of wind-attribute spiritual power contained within them, am I right?" The Endless Sky Beast suddenly changed the subject to Han Li's Thunderstorm Wings.

Han Li was naturally slightly taken aback by the abrupt turn that this conversation had taken.

"What do you mean by that? It is indeed true that when the Thunderstorm Wings were first refined, the intention was for them to be able to use both the powers of wind and lightning. However, only my Divine Devilbane Lightning can be used, so I can only unleash a lightning movement technique. As for whether it's been completely refined or not, I'm not particularly sure," Han Li replied truthfully."I can tell you a way to use the Kun Peng feather to refine your Thunderstorm Wings into a spirit treasure. The feather itself contains wind-related heavenly laws of the world, so you'll be able to use the power of wind even without any wind-attribute spiritual power. Due to the limitations on your cultivation base and available materials, you won't be able to refine a Divine Spirit Treasure straight away, but it should be easy to refine a normal low-grade spirit treasure with the use of this spirit feather," the Endless Sky Beast announced in a haughty manner.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

In the face of the tempting proposition, Han Li didn't appear overly ecstatic. Instead, he asked in a cold voice, "What do you want in exchange? You're not just going to teach me the refinement method free of charge, are you?"

"I want you to try and remove the assimilation effect the Heavenvoid Cauldron has had on me, and I also want you to protect me for a while before you pass away or ascend to a higher realm. I already have an eighth grade cultivation base, but I've been in the Heavenvoid Cauldron this entire time, so I haven't been able to experience my metamorphosis lightning tribulation. It's going to be a little dangerous to face the tribulation on my own, so I'm most likely going to need your help to transcend it." The Endless Sky Beast rattled off a string of conditions at once.

"That's all?" Han Li's expression remained unchanged.

"If I ask for more than that, you're most likely going to consider killing me, right?" the Endless Sky Beast chuckled.

"Alright, if those are all of the conditions that you have, then I can certainly agree to them. However, with regard to helping you escape the Heavenvoid Cauldron, that has to wait until right before I pass away or prepare to ascend. You have no problems with that, do you?" Han Li considered the pros and cons for a short while before deciding to agree.

"None whatsoever! You've made a very wise decision, Fellow Daoist. There's no need for us to turn on each other, so it's much better for us to be mutually beneficial to one another. As a gesture of my sincerity, I can bestow upon you this beveled silver text first." The Endless Sky Beast was clearly greatly relieved and it began to laugh heartily.

"That would be good." Han Li turned to the golden talisman in his hand and gladly accepted the Endless Sky Beast's offer.

However, he suddenly patted his waist following a brief moment of contemplation, and an azure bag appeared in his hand.

It was none other than Patriarch Golden Flower's storage pouch.

Han Li swept this spiritual sense through the pouch and all of its contents were revealed to him.

Moments later, he rustled the bag and a burst of azure light erupted from within as several jade slips shot forth, all of which were of different colors.

Han Li immediately checked carefully through the cultivation arts and secret techniques recorded within the jade slips, appearing as if he had completely forgotten about the Endless Sky Beast in the Heavenvoid Cauldron.

The beast was very considerate and didn't say anything to disrupt Han Li during this time.

A short while later, Han Li raised his eyebrows and withdrew his spiritual sense from the final jade slip, upon which a puzzled looked appeared on his face.

He hadn't found anything related to this golden talisman from within these jade slips.

Could it be that Patriarch Golden Flower hadn't refined this talisman, and had instead obtained it elsewhere? With that notion in mind, Han Li fell into deep thought.

All of a sudden, his expression stirred and a thought seemed to have occurred to him. He abruptly lowered his head and his spiritual sense sank into his storage pouch again before quickly locking onto an item.

Azure light flashed once again from the storage pouch as another item emerged.

This was a yellow wooden box around half a foot in size with a restriction talisman plastered over its surface.

Han Li raised a hand and immediately tore off the talisman before patting the lid of the box. The wooden box slowly opened itself to reveal an item.

This was a fist-sized white jade badge, upon which silver runes were flashing indistinctly; all of those silver runes were beveled silver text.

These runes were extremely minuscule, yet they were presented to him in an extremely clear manner after he scanned over them with his spiritual sense.

However, it was quite apparent that this was only half a badge and was clearly an incomplete item.

Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, yet before he had a chance to inspect the badge more carefully, the silver runes on the badge suddenly flashed wildly before the badge itself flew into the distance as a streak of silver light.

Han Li's heart jolted with surprise, but he had been somewhat prepared after seeing the restriction talisman plastered over the wooden box. As such, the silver light had only traveled around 10 feet before his hand shot forth like lightning.

Azure light erupted from his five fingers in unison. The space around him began to emit a buzzing sound, following which the silver light began to shudder unsteadily. The light faltered as a result, and the jade badge was revealed again.

Han Li wore a dark expression as he brought his five fingers together. An immense suction force immediately acted upon the jade badge, causing it to shoot back into Han Li's hand where it lay, completely immobilized.

The Endless Sky Beast within the Heavenvoid Cauldron detected what had just taken place, and it suddenly exclaimed in a slightly trembling voice, "The Golden Jade Tome! Impossible! How could something like this have been left behind in the human world?"

"Do you recognize this item?" Han Li's heart stirred upon hearing this.

This jade badge clearly had to be an extraordinary item to draw such a vehement response from this powerful Spirit Realm demon cultivator.

The Endless Sky Beast continued to murmur to itself, as if it hadn't heard Han Li's question. "Impossible! There's no way that this item can exist in the human world. With its spiritual nature, how could it be willing to stay in this lowly realm with such scarce spiritual Qi? Wait, I understand now; this page of the tome is incomplete and almost all of its spiritual nature has disappeared, so it no longer possesses the ability to return to the Spirit Realm. But who could have been powerful enough to tear this page apart?"

It appeared that the emergence of this jade badge was so much of a shock to the beast that it was unable to prevent its emotions from getting the better of itself.

Han Li's brows furrowed tightly as he cleared his throat to draw attention to himself.

The Endless Sky Beast finally recovered slightly from its astonishment, and it explained, "Ah, please forgive me for my lack of composure. It's just that seeing this item in this world is genuinely a massive surprise to me."

Han Li waved the jade badge slowly in front of the Heavenvoid Cauldron, and asked, "Judging from your reaction, it seems that this is quite the extraordinary item. From the sounds of it, this is something from the Spirit Realm?"

"Quite the extraordinary item, you say? If I tell you its origins, you'll be given a massive fright as well. This item didn't originate from the Spirit Realm. Instead, it was passed down from an even higher realm, and is well and truly an immortal item." Azure light suddenly flashed along the surface of the Heavenvoid Cauldron, following which a ball of azure light surfaced from within.

The azure light tumbled and materialized into a fair and chubby male child around a foot in height, appearing to be around only three or four years of age.

However, the small child wore a rather unbefitting dark expression on his face, and was staring intently at the jade badge in Han Li's eyes with complex emotions flashing through his eyes. There seemed to be a hint of envy, but also a trace of wistfulness.

Han Li's expression immediately changed drastically upon learning the fact that this jade badge was an immortal item. His heart then jolted with surprise upon seeing the emergence of the small child, but he soon relaxed.

This small child was merely a human form manifestation of the Endless Sky Beast, which it had materialized using the spiritual Qi on the cauldron. Prior to the seal on its true body being undone, there was no way that it would be able to leave the Heavenvoid Cauldron. Han Li's attention was then completely drawn to this Golden Jade Tome.

"An immortal item? Did I hear that right?" Han Li stared at the jade badge in his hand with a skeptical expression.

"Compared to the True Immortal Realm, the boundary between realms is much weaker between the human world and the Spirit Realm. However, it's not all that uncommon for immortal items to fall into our Spirit Realm. It's just that this Golden Jade Tome is simply far too renowned, which is why I couldn't help my reaction," the Endless Sky Beast sighed.

"Oh? If it's not too much trouble, could you tell me about this item?" Han Li asked.

"Of course I can. This item is so renowned among the human race of the Spirit Realm that virtually everyone knows about it, so this is not a secret. To begin with, I'll have to tell you a little bit about the immortals of the True Immortal Realm. It's common to find immortal items in the Spirit Realm as they often drop down into our world due to a variety of reasons. However, there are very few of those immortal items that are actually useful. For some reason, ever since the inception of historical records in our Spirit Realm, there have almost been no immortals who have descended into our Spirit Realm. I say 'almost' because in the extremely distant past, the remains of an immortal had appeared in our Spirit Realm, and this Golden Jade Tome was an item that was found with those remains. It's said that this tome contains a total of 108 pages, upon each of which is recorded a different immortal secret technique. 36 of those pages are known as the inner pages, and they contain things like cultivation arts, as well as some mysterious and remarkable abilities. The remaining 72 pages are known as the outer pages, and they contain a vast array of information regarding areas such as talismans, formation spells, and pill refinement..."

The small child paused here for a moment before continuing, "The inner pages that I mentioned are the most important in this tome. The information recorded on the outer pages is very diverse, yet not a lot of the information is truly useful in direct application as no one has even heard of most of the materials required for pill refinement, talisman crafting, and formation setting. At most, you can only really look at those sections for research purposes. Hence, aside from the inner pages, the rest of the information in the tome isn't very practical or useful. There was a war that erupted throughout the entire Spirit Realm once, and everyone was mainly fighting over those inner pages. However, those pages have switched hands countless times in the past tens of thousands of years, and only the whereabouts of seven or eight of those pages are actually publicly known. However, almost every cultivator who has managed to obtain and successfully cultivate one of more of those pages have become extremely prominent figures in the human race. Even if they can't compare with the three emperors, they're still powerful enough to rule over a large settlement. However, what's most tempting to everyone is that in the past 100,000 years, it's said that all cultivators in the Spirit Realm who have attained the Great Dao have used cultivation arts from this jade tome. Regardless of whether this is true or not, it's enough to make all of the human cultivators erupt into a frenzy."

"Human cultivators? Have all of the pages of the jade tome fallen into the hands of our human race?" Han Li was initially flabbergasted by the Endless Sky Beast's story, but in the end, he detected something that was slightly amiss.

"Hehe! In the beginning, our demon race also participated in the war to secure the inner pages of the Golden Jade Tome. However, not long after that, all of our seniors discovered that the tome only contains cultivation arts that are suitable for human cultivators. If a demon cultivator like us were to use any of those cultivation arts, not only would it not benefit us in any way, it would even severely damage our cultivation base, to the extent that some have even self-detonated on the spot. After some experimentation, our demon race completely gave up on this jade tome. The pages are indeed extremely precious, yet they're completely useless to our demon race. The remains of that immortal was also a set of human remains, so it's no surprise that the cultivation arts on the Golden Jade Tome were created for you humans."

Han Li stroked his chin and mused in a thoughtful manner, "I see! But if no immortal has ever descended into the Spirit Realm, how do you know that set of human remains were the remains of an immortal? Perhaps they were merely the remains of an extremely powerful cultivator from the Spirit Realm."

The small child faltered slightly upon hearing this before replying with furrowed brows, "I'm not sure about the specific details there. These events took place a very long time ago and I hadn't developed any intelligence back then, so how would I know? However, what I'm sure of is that at the time, many of the most powerful beings among the human and demon races gathered together to verify that those were indeed the remains of an immortal, so I can only assume that to be the case."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Han Li stroked the jade badge in his hand with a finger and as he looked at the silver runes flashing on its surface, he couldn't help but ask, "So is this page one of the inner pages?"

"The inner pages are written in golden seal text, while the outer pages are written in beveled silver text. Golden seal text is an even more obscure text that even fewer people recognize," the small child replied with a hint of a smile on his face.

"This is beveled silver text, so it must be one of the outer pages, and it's only half a page as well." Han Li didn't express any dismay or dejection upon hearing this. Instead, it didn't really seem to matter to him.

Even if this Golden Jade Tome really was such an extraordinary item, he was merely a human world cultivator who may not even be able to reach the Deity Transformation Stage, so all of this was far too distant from him. To him, it didn't matter if this was one of the inner pages or one of the outer pages. He wasn't going to get ahead of himself and start thinking about cultivating in the Spirit Realm at this point in time.

The small child turned his gaze toward Han Li, and he seemed to have gleaned Han Li's thoughts as he smiled, and said, "At your current cultivation base, it's actually a good thing that you obtained one of the outer pages. Even if you had obtained one of the inner pages, you wouldn't have been able to cultivate it prior to reaching the Spatial Tempering Stage anyway. After all, all immortal secret techniques are truly techniques of the Great Dao that require one to draw upon the world's origin Qi. Only after reaching the middle realm in cultivation base can you truly manipulate the world's origin Qi. Even a Deity Transformation cultivator is only just beginning to learn the ropes in that respect, and cultivating one of the inner pages would only incur harm to them. However, this does not apply to the outer pages as their contents do not contain any cultivation arts. If you can master some of this page's elements and make them our own, you'll still benefit greatly from it."Han Li looked at the golden talisman in his other hand, and speculated, "It's just a matter of seeing what content this half-page contains and whether it'll be useful to me now. It's most likely a talisman-crafting method."

The small child shook his head, and said, "That might not necessarily be the case. There's no way that any human world cultivator would be able to recognize beveled silver text, and that Patriarch Golden Flower most likely obtained this half-page by chance. He probably then discovered the wonders of this beveled silver text and incorporated it into that golden talisman. This is an immortal item, after all, so even if merely imitated the text, it could still result in extraordinary effect."

"If that's the case, then I really do have to carefully read through this half-page when I get the time. How about you bestow upon me the beveled silver text right now?" Han Li blinked and suddenly asked.

"I can do that, but I have a condition; after you glean the contents of the half-page, you have to lend it to me as well. After all, this is one of the outer pages, so even demon cultivators like me can benefit from it," the small child countered.

"No problem! However, you're a Spirit Realm cultivator with vastly superior knowledge and experience to mine, so you have to give me a copy or your observations in case I miss something from this half-page," Han Li replied.

"That's not an issue. However, the beveled silver text and Golden Seal text are both known as true spirit texts, and it's said that they're immortal texts passed down from the True Immortal Realm. Each and every character contains extraordinary power and if they were to be carved onto normal jade slips, those slips would immediately explode. There's no way for me to bestow them upon you through spiritual communication, either, so I can only use the most basic and crude method, and teach you character by character. That's going to be a very time-consuming task," the small child explained.

"We have plenty of time on our hands. It'll take me at least two months to get to the next island, so you can take your time and teach me during our trip there." Han Li flipped his hand over and placed the jade badge back into the wooden box. He then reapplied the talisman onto the box before stowing it away into his storage pouch.

After doing all that, he turned to the small child in front of the cauldron with a smile, yet didn't say anything.

A wry smile appeared on the small child's face upon seeing this.

"Alright, then let's begin now. The beveled silver text first appeared when they were discovered to have been inscribed on some immortal items that fell from the True Immortal Realm into our Spirit Realm. The mighty figures of our Spirit Realm then expended countless time and efforts to slowly compile and decipher this text. The definitions derived may be slightly different from what they were originally intended to be, but they definitely won't be very far off. I'll start off with the 100 or so most commonly used runes for talisman-crafting." The small child began to teach Han Li about the beveled silver text as they flew through the air.

Han Li naturally wasn't going to squander such a valuable opportunity, and he listened with rapt focus, asking questions immediately when there areas that he failed to understand.

The small child was also a very patient teacher, answering his inquiries one by one.

Thus, two months passed by in a flash. When the two of them were finally close to the next island on their journey, Han Li had almost mastered the basics of the beveled silver text.

On this day, Han Li had just finished listening to the small child's lesson and was slowly digesting the information as he flew through the air, when a tiny black spot suddenly appeared on the surface of the ocean up ahead.

Han Li's heart stirred upon seeing this and he immediately accelerated, reaching that black spot in the blink of an eye.

After drawing closer, Han Li discovered that this was a small island with an area of only around 30 to 35 square kilometers. It was downright tiny compared to the islands that Han Li had seen earlier on his journey.

However, this tiny little island was emanating faint spiritual Qi, indicating that there was a small spiritual Qi on the island. Of course, this quality of this spirit vein was naturally of an extremely low caliber.

Han Li hovered in the air several thousand feet above the island and looked down at the mountain ranges down below. His face remained completely expressionless, yet there was an undisguisable trace of nostalgia in his eyes.

This small island was none other than the "minor expanse island[1. The minor expanse island is first mentioned in Chapter 372]" that he had once lived on.

Back when he had left the island, he hadn't even reached the Core Formation Stage yet. However, passing by the island now, he was already a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator. Thinking back, this was quite a staggering transformation.

Even though his heart had been very firm in his pursuit of the Geat Dao when he had left the island, never could he have imagined that he would really become a Nascent Soul cultivator someday.

Han Li hovered above the island in silence for a long while before the nostalgic look gradually disappeared from his eyes, upon which he shot forth into the distance again as a streak of azure light.

Seeing as he had already reached the minor expanse island, he had to be quite close to his destination.

Sure enough, less than half a day later, Han Li caught sight of the massive island he was traveling toward far in the distance.

However, on this occasion, Han Li didn't enter through the dock. Instead, he found a completely secluded place and a layer of spiritual light appeared over his body as he shot directly toward the white restriction enshrouding the island. A loud boom erupted as a result and the surrounding light barrier tremored violently.

Han Li was able to force his way through the light barrier through brute force, then fly away from the scene at a leisurely pace.

A short while after Han Li had left, streaks of light began to converge toward the spot where Han Li had broken into the light barrier. Those streaks of light quickly revealed themselves to be several Foundation Establishment cultivators, and all of them wore panicked and urgent expressions on their faces.

However, the light barrier had already completely sealed over again, and they were unable to discover anything even after splitting up and searching through the surrounding area.

In the end, they could only engage in a bewildered discussion before flying away again.

At this point, Han Li was had already descended upon a mountain several hundreds of kilometers away. All of a sudden, a formation plate that was emanating faint white light appeared in his hand.

Han Li opened his mouth and a ball of azure spiritual Qi was blasted onto the formation plate as he began to chant something.

White and azure light immediately began to intermingle with one another along the formation plate, and the plate itself became extremely bright and dazzling.

Han Li tapped a finger gently on the formation plate and the light immediately receded, revealing the formation plate again, which had become a mirror-like surface that was as clear as water. On the surface of the mirror, there were a series of red lights that were flashing rhythmically.

Han Li gave a content nod upon seeing this, and he carried the formation plate in one hand as he rose into the air.

After ascertaining a certain direction in the air, he began to fly into the distance again.

A short while later, Han Li appeared in the air above a certain spot on the island. He looked down at the farmstead down below and an incredulous look appeared in his eyes.

"Isn't this where the Gu Clan Manor was once situated? Why are Wen Siyue and the others staying here?" Han Li murmured to himself with a surprised and perplexed look on his face.

Han Li was hovering in the air above the manor without making any attempt to conceal himself, so his actions naturally created a stir among the mortals in the manor.

Moments later, two streaks of light suddenly flew out from one of the rooms down below before reaching Han Li in the blink of an eye. The lights then receded to reveal an elderly man and a middle-aged man, both of which were at the Foundation Establishment Stage.

"You are?" Han Li looked at the two of them with slightly furrowed brows.

Upon catching sight of Han Li's facial features, the two of them immediately delivered respectful salutes with stunned expressions on their faces.

"We pay our respects to Senior! We didn't know that you would be visiting this place, so please forgive us for not preparing a more thorough welcome!"

These two were both Wen Siyue and her Dao Companion's Foundation Establishment disciples. They were aware of the fact that Han Li was a great cultivator, so they were naturally filled with awe and veneration.

"Why are you living here? Where are you masters?" Han Li asked expressionlessly.

"This is the residence of one of my in-name disciples, so I decided to bring everyone here. Master and his Dao Companion find this place too rowdy for their liking, so they're living in a makeshift cave abode nearby with their daughter," the elderly man replied in a respectful manner.

"An in-name disciple of yours? Is he a member of the Gu Clan?" A peculiar look appeared on Han Li's face.

"That's right! You know of the Gu Clan as well, Senior?" The elderly man was suddenly struck by a sense of unease.

"The master of the Gu Clan had some ties with me in the past, but that was over 200 years ago," Han Li replied.

"What? Is that so?" The elderly man was stunned to hear this.

"And now, I'm back at this place; looks like I really do have some sort of affinity with the Gu Clan. I'm going to meet your masters first. Get you in-name disciple from the Gu Clan to see me later," Han Li instructed in an implacable tone.

"Yes, I'll be sure to do so!" The elderly man was both stunned and elated to hear this. He didn't know what kind of ties Han Li had had with the Gu Clan in the past, but at the very least, it didn't sound as if they were enemies.

Han Li nodded and sent his spiritual sense sweeping through the air, allowing him to quickly track down the location of Wen Siyue and her Dao Companion.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Han Li transformed into a streak of azure light and soon descended on a plateau halfway up a small mountain. He looked at the seemingly mundane and nondescript rock face in front of him before sweeping his sleeve through the air, sending a burst of azure light sweeping toward it.

A loud thump erupted as the azure light struck the rock face, following which a burst of light appeared over the mountain's rocky surface.

The rock face began to blur as if it were an illusion, following which a massive stone door several tens of feet tall appeared before Han Li. White spiritual light was flashing incessantly over the stone door, and it seemed that a restriction had been cast onto it.

Han Li surveyed the stone door for a while before releasing a burst of flames from his hand, which immediately disappeared into the door.

Moments later, an elated female voice was transmitted to him from the other side.

"Senior Han! We're so glad you're here! Please wait for a moment, my Dao Companion will come out to welcome you right away."

A few seconds later, the white light on the stone door flashed violently a few times before dimming completely. A loud rumbling sound then rang out as the stone door was slowly opened, while two women and one man emerged from the cave abode within.

They were none other than Wen Siyue's couple and their young daughter.

Han Li turned his attention to the young girl, and was slightly taken aback by what he saw.

The young girl had been stickly thin with a sickly yellow pallor on their previous encounter but since then, she had grown into a gorgeous young woman who bore more than a hint of resemblance to her beautiful mother.

It appeared that she had recovered quite well after the poison had been expelled from her body. This was what her appearance should have been like had she not been afflicted by her conditions.

Wen Siyue was the most familiar with Han Li among the three, so she came forward with a captivating smile on her face and extended a respectful curtsey as she said, "We pay our respects to Senior Han! We didn't think that you would arrive so quickly, so we made no preparations in advance; please forgive us for our oversight, Senior!"

"My trip went relatively smoothly, so I arrived here a little earlier than I planned." Han Li waved a hand, indicating for them to skip the formalities.

"We've been eagerly awaiting your arrival, Senior. Please come in and have a seat in our humble cave abode." Wen Siyue stepped aside with a dainty smile to allow Han Li passage into the cave abode.

"Sure. I also want to see the level of mastery your daughter has achieved in the formation spell book I left her. If she's reached a satisfactory level of mastery, then I'll take her under my wing." Han Li nodded in response before taking a glance at the young woman again.

A blush appeared on Tian Qin'er's face from Han Li's gaze, and she immediately ducked her head.

In contrast, Wen Siyue and her Dao Companion were ecstatic to hear this, and they hurriedly led Han Li into their cave abode.

Han Li spent a day and a night inside the cave abode. During this time, Wen Siyue and her Dao Companion, as well as their Foundation Establishment disciples, had all come to pay their respects to Han Li at different points. The elderly man from earlier had brought along a young body who appeared to be around seven or eight years old to see Han Li, and they also entered the cave abode, but they didn't immediately come out.

Another day later, a streak of silver light shot forth into the air from the small mountain, within which the figures of a man and a woman could be indistinctly identified. A few flashes later, the azure streak of light had disappeared from view.

A month later, within the Heavenly South Region, which was countless kilometers away from the Scattered Star Seas. Within a massive barren valley, several black-robed cultivators were flying through their air on their respective treasures. They all appeared to be quite graceful in flight, but they were absurdly slow and it was quite apparent that none of them were high-grade cultivators.

After flying for a while, the black-robed cultivators suddenly flew toward the rock face beside them and disappeared into an extremely well-concealed cave.

They traveled over 100 feet into the cave, upon which they arrived at a stone door that was shimmering with spiritual light, indicating the presence of a restriction.

The group was led by an intimidating and brawny black-robed man and he strode over to the stone door before making a hand seal and chanting something at the same time. After a long while, he raised a hand and cast an incantation seal, which disappeared into the stone door in a flash, sending ripples running through the flashing spiritual light as a result.

The stone door wobbled slightly before slowly rising into the air.

"Which Junior Martial Brother is it?" Before the group had passed through the entrance, a lazy voice sounded from within. A ball of black Qi then flew out from the cave and reached the brawny man in a flash, following which the Yin Qi dissipated to reveal an elderly man with pale features.

"Oh? If it isn't Junior Martial Brother Meng. Are you here to take over from me?" The elderly man initially wore a dark expression on his face, but he faltered slightly upon seeing the brawny man before immediately putting on a smile.

The brawny man was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator while the elderly man was only an early-Foundation Establishment cultivator, so he naturally didn't dare to treat this junior martial brother of his with disdain.

"That's right, Senior Martial Brother Fan! I've been deployed here to guard this spirit mine in your place. Is this cave the entrance of the mine?" the brawny man asked expressionlessly.

"Haha, you sure do have a straightforward personality, Junior Martial Brother Meng. Indeed, the entrance to the spirit mine is in here. However, is this all the people that you have with you? It doesn't appear to be enough." The elderly man was rather perplexed by the lack of numbers in this small group.

"Our Ghost Spirit Sect isn't as powerful as it once was. Most of our disciples have to contribute to the effort to ward off the Controlling Spirit Sect and Devil Flame Sect; I had to work very hard just to gather this group of people. Thankfully, this is the core region of our sect and we're only overseeing some mortals, so this should be enough," the brawny man harrumphed in response, seemingly also very displeased with the current situation.

"That makes sense. You'll just have to work slightly harder, Junior Martial Brother Meng." The elderly man could only nod with a resigned expression upon hearing this.

"That's enough of this depressing conversation. Senior Martial Brother, please take me to the mines and show me around first," the brawny man said as he cast his gaze into the cave.

"Of course. Please come with me, Junior Martial Brother." The elderly man nodded and made a hand seal to close the stone door again before leading the group of black-robed cultivators deeper into the cave.

After a few twists and turns, the group appeared in front of a massive fissure in the ground that several tens of feet wide. There was faint light flashing within the rift and it appeared to be leading to the underground.

There were two black-robed Qi Condensation cultivators sitting with their legs crossed on either side of the entrance to the rift. The two of them hurriedly rose to their feet and extended respectful salutes at the sight of their approaching Foundation Establishment martial brothers.

The elderly man waved a hand in a calm manner before leading the brawny man and his group directly into the rift.

15 minutes later, the elderly man had led the brawny man on a tour of almost the entire mine. There were many passageways within the mine that were rather complex and convoluted, within which there were many young and fit mortal men that had been hired to mine for spirit stones. The elderly man led the way while providing an introduction like a tour guide, seemingly very familiar with every single inch of this place.

It was no wonder that this was the case; if anyone were to stay in this place for over 10 consecutive years, they would most likely be able to navigate the passageways even with their eyes closed.

The brawny man and his group listened carefully, but didn't say much.

After the group made another turn, another passageway appeared before them, this one leading downward, seemingly reaching even deeper underground.

The elderly man's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this passageway and he shook his head to himself. Instead of leading the group down that passageway, he turned and prepared to lead them back in the way that they had come.

"Senior Martial Brother Fan, where does this lead to? Why aren't you taking us down there to have a look?" The brawny turned to his senior martial brother with a perplexed look.

"Many years ago, this was once a restricted area and the sect had deployed a few disciples solely to guard this place, but it's been abandoned long ago and all of the guards have been withdrawn," the elderly man replied in a casual manner.

"A restricted area? What's in there? And why was it abandoned in the end?" The brawny man was intrigued to hear this.

The elderly man hesitated momentarily before deciding that this was an inconsequential matter, and explained, "Nothing much; there's only an ancient teleportation formation in there, but it's been in disuse for a long time and isn't functional anymore. As for why this place was once a restricted area and why it was abandoned later on, I'm afraid I do not know. However, it seemed to have something to do with Martial Uncle Wang Chan."

"Martial Uncle Wang? So it's..." The brawny man was startled to hear this, and his voice abruptly cut off mid-sentence, as if he were extremely wary of something.

"Keep it to yourself, Junior Martial Brother. Martial Uncle Wang is not someone that the likes of us can express our opinion on," the elderly man said with a meaningful look.

The brawny man was silent for a moment before suddenly asking, "In that case, would you be able to take me down there, Senior Martial Brother? Truth be told, I've been studying the way of formation spells in the past few years, and I'm very curious about this ancient teleportation formation."

"You're learning about formation spells? Hmm, that place is rather far away and it'll be quite time-consuming to get there." The elderly man faltered slightly upon hearing this before a peculiar look appeared on his face.

"There's no need to be concerned, Senior Martial Brother Fan. I know the dangers of becoming a jack of all trades, yet a master none. However, I've encountered a bottleneck in my cultivation and can only try some different methods to stimulate myself for improvement. Perhaps I'll be able to glean something useful by studying formation spells," the brawny man sighed.

Seeing as the brawny man was being quite insistent, the elderly man could only agree. "If that's the case, then I'll be happy to lead the way. However, if you actually want to carefully examine the teleportation formation, it's best to do it at another time."

A smile appeared on the brawny man's face upon hearing this.

Thus, the group continued down this passageway.

In the blink of an eye, they had reached an even deeper underground level.

After passing through many twists and turns, they arrived in a limestone cave with passageways leading in all directions.

This place was like a small maze, but there were pronounced symbols along the way to guide them, so they were able to find their way to a small limestone cave eventually.

Within this cave, there was an ancient hexagonal teleportation formation.

"This is it, Junior Martial Brother," the elderly man said as he pointed to the teleportation formation.

"Tsk tsk, so this is an ancient teleportation formation. I've seen some basic descriptions of these formations in some tomes in the past, but I've never actually seen one in person." The brawny man's eyes were shimmering as he looked at the teleportation formation. He made his way over to the formation before walking in a few circles around it, staring at it with rapt focus the entire time.

The elderly man stroked his beard and looked on with a smile in silence.

As for the Qi Condensation disciples with them, they were also quite curious about the teleportation formation, but they didn't dare to stand next to their Foundation Establishment seniors, and could only stand guard by the entrance of the cave.

"I heard that this teleportation formation is actually in perfect condition. It's most likely only dysfunctional because there's something wrong with the teleportation formation on the other side. Otherwise, I'd also really like to teleport to the other side just to see where it leads to. In any case, you'll be guarding this place for many years from now, so you'll have plenty of time to study this formation. Let's go back for now." After a while, the elderly man felt as if they had spent enough time here, so he urged the brawny man to go back with him.

The brawny man still had his back to the elderly man, yet he said something that was very strange and unsettling. "Go back? There's no need for that. This is such a peaceful place; you should just stay here forever, Senior Martial Brother."

A chill immediately ran down the elderly man's spine upon hearing this, yet before he had a chance to react, he felt a cool sensation flash past his neck.

A sword had flashed through, decapitating him in one lightning-fast motion.

The headless body of the elderly man fell straight to the ground!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

Only then did the brawny man turn around. He looked at the body of the elderly man with a complex expression before heaving a faint sigh.

"Fellow Daoist Meng, are you still feeling attached to the Ghost Spirit Sect."

Among the Qi Condensation cultivators, a mundane looking middle-aged cultivator suddenly spoke. He then raised a hand and waved it toward the silvery-white flying sword in the air. The sword flashed before transforming into a silver streak of light and returning to his hand.

The elderly man had been slain by none other than that flying sword, which had attacked him from behind. The Qi Condensation cultivator had actually been concealing his cultivation base this entire time, and only now did he reveal his late-Foundation Establishment cultivation base.

"I've already decided to switch my allegiance to your Devil Flame Sect, so I naturally won't hold any attachments to this sect. However, this man may not be a friend of mine, yet we've met on numerous occasions in the past, so it's only normal for me to feel bad in a situation like this," the brawny man replied.

"I'm glad you think that way, Fellow Daoist Meng. Ever since the Ghost Spirit Sect lost two Nascent Soul cultivators and a large number of Core Formation cultivators over 100 years ago, they've been weakened significantly, and no longer deserve to rule over an entire empire. This time, our Controlling Spirit Sect, Devil Flame Sect, and the newly-arisen Blood Slaughter Sect have joined forces to bring down the Ghost Spirit Sect, and there's absolutely no way that it can survive. In the future, the Blood Slaughter Sect will take the place of the Ghost Spirit Sect in our Devil Dao. You've made a really wise decision to jump ship at this juncture," the middle-aged cultivator chuckled.

The auras of the other black-robed cultivators also abruptly changed as they revealed their Foundation Establishment cultivation bases. All of them were also Devil Flame Sect cultivators.

"As long as your sect upholds their promise, I'll naturally do everything in my power to assist you," the brawny man replied with a fake smile.

"Haha, don't worry about that. You have decent aptitude, Brother Meng. After we secure victory here, my master will welcome you into our sect in person. You'll have a much better future there than in this Ghost Spirit Sect, where you have to cultivate on your own with no one to turn to for guidance. Speaking of which, this place really is very secluded. This is the perfect place to hide our troops without drawing attention from the Ghost Spirit Sect. Thankfully, Master provided me with these aura concealment talismans. Otherwise, it would've been difficult to fool this man's spiritual sense." The middle-aged cultivator looked at the body on the ground with a smug look on his face.

"It's also a good thing that this ancient teleportation formation was here as well. It's given me an excuse to lure him into this secluded place. Otherwise, even if we succeed in killing him, there are over 100,000 Qi Condensation disciples here, and if any one of them were to raise the alarm, we'd be in a lot of trouble. Now that this man's dead, we can forcibly gather all of the other disciples and kill them at once." A cold expression appeared on the brawny man's face as a hint of killing intent flashed through his eyes.

"That's a good idea, Brother Meng, we'll do as you say." A hint of approval appeared in the middle-aged cultivator's eyes upon hearing that.

At this moment, one of the other cultivators had already taken the elderly man's storage pouch before blasting forth a fireball to incinerate his body in the blink of an eye.

Everyone then prepared to leave this limestone cave.

However, right at this moment, a buzzing sound suddenly rang out from the ancient teleportation formation that no one was paying any attention to. It had somehow been activated, and it appeared as if someone were teleporting over from the other side.

This sudden turn of events had everyone completely dumbstruck.

Hadn't the elderly man just told them that the formation was dysfunctional? Why had it suddenly resumed function? And why now of all times?

The middle-aged cultivator reacted very quickly as he yelled, "Destroy the formation! No matter who's teleporting over from the other side, we can't allow them to foil our plans!"

All of a sudden, the flying sword that he had just stowed away flew toward the formation again as a cold streak of light.

The other cultivators also came to their senses and summoned their treasures in quick succession, attempting to destroy the teleportation formation before them.

Several loud rumbling booms erupted and the piercing white light erupting from the teleportation formation repelled all of the treasures being hurled at it.

A jolt of shock ran through everyone's hearts upon seeing this.

Unbeknownst to them, an ancient teleportation formation could be easily destroyed by any low-grade cultivator as long as it hadn't been activated. However, once a teleportation trip had been set into motion, a vast amount of spiritual power would be injected into the teleportation formation, and no one would be able to destroy it unless they were at least at the Core Formation Stage.

Otherwise, ancient cultivators would've been in deep trouble had other people attempted to sabotage their teleportation from the other side.

Thus, a man and a woman appeared within the teleportation formation right before everyone's astonished eyes. Their bodies were swaying slightly, indicating that they were still recovering from the dizziness of teleportation.

The middle-aged man could see that the man appeared to be over 20 years of age, while the woman seemed to be only in her teens. He swept his spiritual sense toward the woman first and was immediately greatly relieved to find that she was only at the Qi Condensation Stage.

In the cultivation world, the life lesson of not judging a book by its cover was particularly important. It was not uncommon for a young girl who appeared to be in her teens to be a high-grade cultivator who had lived for centuries. As for the man, he only appeared to be in his twenties, so his cultivation base most likely wasn't very advanced. After all, very few male cultivators would go to the trouble of altering their appearance to make themselves seem younger.

He was just about to sweep his spiritual sense toward the young man, but he suddenly shook his head from side to side and appeared to be close to recovering from his bout of dizziness. In his urgency, he could only relinquish his attempt to ascertain the man's cultivation base as he yelled, "Kill them!"

In his mind, this woman's cultivation base was very pitiful and this man seemed to be very young, so he was a Foundation Establishment cultivator at most. As such, the best course of action was to take them by surprise and kill them during their bouts of dizziness.

However, an expression of horror suddenly appeared on the brawny man's face at the sight of the young man, and he hurriedly urged, "Wait! Don't do it!"

However, the other Devil Flame Sect cultivators answered only to the middle-aged cultivator. Even though they could hear the abnormally high level of fear and panic in the brawny man's voice, they still attacked the duo in the teleportation formation without any hesitation.

As for the middle-aged cultivator, he was simply under the impression that this duo may have been the brawny man's acquaintances, so he intentionally ignored him.

Just as their treasures were about to strike the duo within the teleportation formation, a frosty voice suddenly sounded, "Looks like all of you want to die!"

Right as his voice fell, an earthshattering boom erupted as a ball of piercing azure light exploded within the teleportation formation. It was so bright that it appeared as if an azure sun had emerged in the cave. All of the treasures were immediately shattered as soon as they came into contact with this azure light.

Several streaks of golden sword Qi then shot forth from within the azure light, and all of the Devil Flame Sect cultivators, including the middle-aged cultivator, were instantly killed before they could even utter a single sound.

The brawny man with the Meng surname remained completely unscathed, but he was too petrified to even move, and his face was deathly pale with horror.

"You recognize me?" The young man slowly walked out of the formation and turned to the brawny man with a frosty expression. The young girl who was in her teens followed behind him respectfully, putting on a very obedient display. It was quite clear that she was this man's junior.

The young man was naturally none other than Han Li, who had repaired the teleportation formation on the other side in the Scattered Star Seas, and finally returned to the Heavenly South Region after over a month.

As for the young girl behind him, she was naturally Tian Qin'er, whose formation spell aptitude was very much satisfactory to him.

The brawny man immediately fell to his knees in front of Han Li and hurriedly replied, "When I was younger, I was with a senior from my family and witnessed you in action during the invasion of the Moulan people. I've committed your appearance to memory ever since then, Senior!"

"The Moulan invasion? Hehe, that was an event of the distant past; I'm surprised you still remember what I look like. You're a Ghost Spirit Sect disciple, right? Were these people fellow martial brothers of yours?" Han Li asked nonchalantly.

The brawny man hesitated momentarily, but the cold look in Han Li's eyes sent a shiver running down his spine, and he was intimidated into telling the truth. "I am indeed a disciple of the Ghost Spirit Sect, yet these cultivators were from the Devil Flame Sect."

"The Devil Flame Sect? It's a good thing that you're honest; if you'd told me that they were your fellow martial brothers, I would've killed you on the spot! The cultivation art fluctuations from their bodies clearly indicate that they're not from the Ghost Spirit Sect." Han Li's cold words made the brawny man feel as if he had been plunged into a glacial pit, and any inclination he had of lying his way out of this situation immediately disappeared.

Tian Qin'er stood behind Han Li and surveyed her surroundings with a curious light in her eyes.

"I have no interest in knowing why a Ghost Spirit Sect disciple like you would appear here with cultivators from the Devil Flame Sect, but I do have some questions for you, and you'd better answer them truthfully," Han Li continued.

"I'll be sure to tell you everything I know, Senior," the brawny man hurriedly replied.

"It's been some years since I was last in the Heavenly South Region. Give me a recount of what happened in the cultivation world of the Heavenly South Region in the past century," Han Li commanded.

"Yes. In terms of significant events, there's none more significant than an incident from 80 years ago, where the Mystical Sect of the Tian Lu Nation destroyed the entire Fire Spirit Sect in one night. What happened there was..." The brawny man immediately launched into a tale at Han Li's behest. The vast disparity in their cultivation bases had the brawny man in constant horror, and he didn't dare to fabricate any false tales.

Han Li's expression remained completely unchanged as he listened to the brawny man's story, and he would only interject with a question from time to time when something caught his interest. The brawny man naturally provided the best answers he could, trying his best to satisfy Han Li.

After around two hours, the brawny man had delivered a recount of all of the significant events that had taken place in the Heavenly South Region for the past century, and his mouth fell closed as he wore a nervous look on his face.

"How's Drifting Cloud Sect going at the moment? Has anything significant happened to it? Is Elder Cheng still the one in charge at the moment?" Han Li suddenly asked after a brief silence.

The brawny man hesitated momentarily before giving a shaky response, "The Drifting Cloud Sect? That sect is quite far away, so I don't know much about it. However, I do recall that the one in charge of the sect is now a senior with the Lü surname."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter

"So Elder Cheng must've passed away already," Han Li murmured to himself. He stared up at the roof of the cave and seemed to have fallen into the deep thought.

The roof of the cave up above seemed to have been punctured by Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators in the past but after 100 years, there were no noticeable signs at all indicating it had been repaired.

The brawny man could see that Han Li was rather absentminded, but he still didn't dare to do anything and maintained a respectful expression on his face.

All of a sudden, Han Li raised a sleeve without any premonition and burst of azure light swept toward the brawny man's head.

The latter's heart jolted with shock upon seeing this, but before he could do anything, he had already fallen onto the ground, having been completely knocked out.

Han Li took a glance at the unconscious man on the ground before suddenly flicking his fingers in quick succession, sending several streaks of golden sword Qi flying into the formation behind them.

A loud boom erupted and the formation was completely destroyed. Aside from the large crater that had been left in the ground, nothing remained to suggest that the teleportation formation had ever existed.

Seeing as the formation over in the Scattered Star Seas had been repaired by him, there was no need for the teleportation formation on this side to continue to exist. Otherwise, if someone else possessed a Greater Teleportation Medallion like the did, they would also be able to teleport to the Scattered Star Seas.

Han Li wanted this to be a shortcut that was exclusively available to him and had no intention of sharing it with anyone else. He was already extremely familiar with the structure and construction process of teleportation formations so if required, he could erect the same teleportation formation again in this place at any time.

In any case, with his current staggering wealth, the costs of materials for setting up teleportation formations, which had once seemed astronomical to him, were no longer a problem.

After doing all of that, Han Li reached out and feigned a grabbing motion toward the brawny man on the ground.

An immense suction force dragged the latter's head firmly into Han Li's hand. A flash of light then appeared in his eyes as he began to unleash his secret technique.

After a while, Han Li released his five fingers and the brawny man tumbled to the ground once again. Han Li murmured to himself expressionlessly, "You're lucky that you told the truth. I'm not a man who likes to eat his words, so I won't kill you, but I naturally have to wipe away your memories of seeing me appear from this teleportation formation."

Han Li had unleashed a secret technique to alter this man's memories. As such, he could only recall that an unidentifiable high-grade cultivator had seemingly descended from the heavens before killing all of the Devil Flame Sect cultivators, and the ancient teleportation formation had been unintentionally destroyed by the shockwaves radiating from their battle.

At Han Li's current cultivation base, unless if a Deity Transformation cultivator were to step in, no one would be able to break the restriction that he had set, so he could naturally rest assured.

After that, Han Li released a few fireballs to incinerate the bodies of the Devil Flame Sect cultivators into ashes. Brilliant azure light then erupted from his body, sweeping up the young girl behind him as they shot forth, directly upward.

An earthshattering boom rang out and the roof of the cave that had been repaired by the Ghost Spirit Sect was punctured again. The streak of azure light flashed once, and Han Li had already reached the surface of the ground up above. The streak of azure light then hurtled into the distance, completely disappearing after just a few flashes.

After a while, all of the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators were drawn to the scene by the massive commotion that had just ensued, only to find the unconscious brawny man, and the limestone cave where he was located, which was in a state of complete turmoil. Unbeknownst to them, a sneak attack that the Devil Flame Sect had planned against the Ghost Spirit Sect had been foiled, just like that. Meanwhile, Han Li was already on his way to the State of Xi.

At Han Li's current cultivation, he was capable of traveling at extraordinary speeds. Even though he hadn't unleashed his full speed, the rate at which he flew was still quite astonishing.

Along the way, Han Li would encounter the occasional cultivator, and all of them felt as if they had only just seen a spot of azure light flash several times in the distance before it had passed them by in the blink of an eye, an observation that left many of them completely dumbstruck.

These cultivators were all naturally given a fright upon seeing this. Some of the cultivators with superior cultivation bases were aware that they had just encountered an unfathomably powerful senior, while the low-grade cultivators began to speculate about supernatural activity, thinking that they had just encountered some kind of monster in broad daylight.

It only took Han Li several days to fly out of the State of Yue and reach the State of Yuan Wu.

After flying for a further two days in the State of Yuan Wu, a thought suddenly occurred to Han Li, upon which he hesitated momentarily before flying in another direction with Tian Qin'er in two, temporarily altering his itinerary.

Near a secluded mountain on the border of the State of Yuan Wu, a spot of azure light flashed in the distance. A dazzling streak of azure light over 100 feet in length then shot forth and reached the air above the mountain in the blink of an eye, upon which the azure light receded. Han Li and Tian Qin'er were revealed as a result.

Han Li looked down at the mountain peak and a hint of emotion appeared in his eyes. He swept his spiritual sense downward, and a look of surprise suddenly appeared on his face.

This was the mountain where Xin Ruyin had once resided in hiding. The mountain itself looked no different compared to how it did back then, but Han Li could sense the auras of many cultivators down below, most of which were at the Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Stages, but there also appeared to be two Core Formation cultivators among them.

Some of the formation spell restrictions that Xin Ruyin had set up were still in place, creating a dense layer of white mist down below that made it impossible for anyone to see what was going on down below.

Han Li's eyes narrowed as he fell into deep thought.

"Master, is something wrong?" Tian Qin'er blinked and asked carefully.

"Not really. It's just that I haven't been here in a few years, and it seems that some welcome guests have settled in this place," Han Li replied indifferently. However, the young girl could see hints of displeasure on Han Li's face, and she immediately knew that it was best not to pry further into the matter.

However, Han Li suddenly turned to her, and asked her something that caught her completely off guard.

"What do you think of this mountain?"

Tian Qin'er was very confused by this question, and she carefully examined the small mountain down below before replying hesitantly, "This mountain? The spiritual Qi here isn't very abundant, but the scenery isn't bad."

"This was the residence of one of my past acquaintances." A hint of disappointment appeared on Han Li's face, but he soon recomposed himself before raising a hand.

A spluttering sound rang out as a crimson fireball abruptly emerged.

Right before Han Li's expressionless eyes, the fireball began to revolve incessantly above his palm, and it began to expand drastically at a phenomenal rate. Within the span of a breath, it had become as large as a washbasin. This was quite a startling transformation.

Han Li looked down with a cold expression before waving his hand through the air, upon which the fireball came hurtling down from above like a shooting star, disappearing into the mist in a flash.

The mist began to tumble violently as a loud boom erupted. A fiery cloud exploded within the white mist as waves of fire surged aggressively, puncturing a hole into the restriction that was over 100 feet in diameter, and this hole was still rapidly expanding, while the mist was reduced to water vapor.

The entire restriction had been destroyed by Han Li with ease using a mere fireball.

The white mist dissipated and the scenes down below were gradually revealed. A series of buildings and pavilions had been constructed on the mountain, yet the bamboo buildings that Xin Ruyin had constructed were nowhere to be seen.

Han Li's expression darkened upon seeing this.

All of the cultivators down below had naturally been alerted by such a loud commotion, and all of them instantly discovered Han Li and Tian Qin'er hovering in the air up above.

A dozen or so cultivators immediately rose into the air atop their treasures as they headed straight for Han Li.

However, right at this moment, a clear voice suddenly rang out from down below.

"Which esteemed senior has come to visit our Wing Transformation Sect? My name is Guan Qing, and I apologize for failing to offer a proper welcome." Just as this voice faded, a streak of red light shot forth from the mountain. The red light outsped the Foundation Establishment cultivators down below and instantly reached Han Li. The light receded to reveal a middle-aged man in a set of scholar robes.

This was one of the Core Formation cultivators that Han Li had detected earlier.

From within the tallest pavilion down below, a ball of yellow light also emerged. The yellow light was traveling just as quickly as the streak of red light and quickly reached Han Li as well before revealing a dark-skinned elderly man with an extremely well-built physique.

This was naturally the other Core Formation cultivator.

Only then did the Foundation Establishment cultivators reach converge at the scene, and all of them stayed behind the two Core Formation cultivators with grim expressions on their faces.

"Wing Transformation Sect? I've never heard of it. Is this a newly-founded sect?" Han Li raised an eyebrow as astonishing spiritual pressure erupted from his body, crashing directly toward the two Core Formation cultivators.

The scholar and the elderly man's expressions changed drastically, and they stumbled back several steps before finally arresting their momentum.

"A Nascent Soul cultivator?" the scholar exclaimed.

"Senior, you're a late-Nascent Soul great cultivator?" The dark-skinned elderly man swept his spiritual sense toward Han Li, upon which an incredulous look appeared on his face.

Han Li made no attempt to hide his cultivation base and this elderly man had quite a powerful spiritual sense for a cultivator of his caliber, so he was naturally able to detect Han Li's power.

"A late-Nascent Soul cultivator?" The scholar was given another fright as he also swept his spiritual sense toward Han Li.

Meanwhile, Han Li stood with his hands clasped behind his back, surveying the two of them expressionlessly.

After the scholar had ascertained Han Li's cultivation base with his spiritual sense, his expression had also become very strained. The two Core Formation cultivators glanced at one another before extending respectful bows in unison, and the elderly man said, "We pay our respects to the esteemed senior! Our sect is indeed a newly-founded one; may I ask for the purpose of your visit, Senior? If there's anything I can help you with, I'll be sure to do my best."

The scholar also wore a respectful look on his face.

This was a great cultivator that could destroy their entire sect with ease, and the two of them were feeling extremely uneasy.

After all, Han Li had just destroyed the restriction down below in an extremely violent manner, and that certainly didn't bode well for them.

Upon seeing their masters concede in such a tame manner and hearing the words "late-Nascent Soul cultivator", the Foundation Establishment cultivators behind them were also completely petrified.

After all, to low-grade cultivators like them, late-Nascent Soul cultivators were at the upper limit of power in the human world. It was everyone's dream to be able to reach such a lofty cultivation base.

"Seeing as this is a newly-founded sect, then you should have a Nascent Soul cultivator among your ranks. Where is your master?" Han Li asked coldly.

The elderly man mustered up his courage, and replied, "Our master is Huang Yao the Enlightened, and he left to visit a friend a month ago. The two of us are currently looking after the sect in his stead."

"He's not here? So be it, it doesn't matter anyway. When did all of you move into this place and where's the person that used to live here?" Han Li asked.

The elderly man was slightly taken aback by this question, and he turned to the scholar beside him as he replied, "Our sect moved here 70 years ago. As for the person who once lived here..."

The scholar was also surprised by this question, but without even turning his head, he immediately yelled, "Feng Zhi! Come here; this senior has something to ask you."

Right as his voice fell, all of the Foundation Establishment cultivators turned to one of their members in unison.

This was an elderly man with refined features who appeared to be over 60 years of age.

This cultivator by the name of Feng Zhi also wore a stunned look on his face.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know report chapter so we can fix it as soon as possible.

Report chapter