Han Li stopped at the outskirts of the valley entrance, sensing a dozen threads of spiritual sense repeatedly brush past him.
Han Li calmly waited for a short while and refused invitations from those that recognized him as a high-grade body refiner.
This valley was only one of several entrances from the human side of the Setting Sun Tomb.
Other entrances were sealed by several strange formations by human cultivators. This was the sole entrance nearby and was naturally guarded by a few cultivators from Setting Sun City to make sure nothing happened.
Of the cultivators secretly guarding the entrance, the weakest of them possessed Core Formation cultivation while the strongest of them was at Deity Transformation stage.
As Han Li began to slowly make his way into the valley, he began to recall the information he gathered about the Setting Sun Tomb over the past few days.
At that moment, he was wearing unremarkable grey battle armor underneath his robes. He also carried a covered long spear on his back.
The spear pole was pitch-black, but it was embedded with several azure crystals that sparkled with light.
The head of the spear was a faint silver, but it was unclear what material it was refined from. As for the earth wyrm tendon, it was wrapped around his arm and remained hidden underneath his robes.
Of course, the trump card Han Li relied on the most were the two Immortal Vanquis.h.i.+ng Beads he possessed in his storage bracelet. With those two peak treasures in hand, he could protect himself against even Deity Transformation-stage threats.
The valley was incredibly wide. When Han Li walked for over fifty kilometers, the last of the road disappeared.
Han Li stood in place and looked around him with a sigh.
It was incredibly inconvenient for him to be unable to release his spiritual sense. He couldn"t determine his direction and could only venture off in a random direction.
In the first few days, he encountered nothing apart from a few small beasts and serpents.
In an area this large, it wasn’t particularly odd that he didn’t encounter any demon beasts or people.
But five days later, Han Li found himself in front of a dense jungle with no end in sight.
The threes were over a hundred meters tall with dense leaves and branches. It was incredibly dark with beast roars that would occasionally sound in the distance.
Han Li narrowed his eyes for a moment before treading forward. Then after he blurred several times, he appeared behind a large tree.
With the power of Han Li’s current body, the s.h.i.+fting Smoke Steps he cultivated during his time was a mortal allowed him to move as if he was a bodiless ghost, even in a place with such dense vegetation.
If any others were to see this, they absolutely wouldn’t dare to provoke Han Li in this place.
As Han Li traveled forward, a silver line shot out with a flash and flicked around a nearby giant tree before returning.
A miserable scream then sounded and the stench of blood filled the air. A six-meter-tall yellow horned bear then emerged from behind the tree and changed at Han Li with a roar.
Han Li’s body blurred several times and arrived ten meters away. He continued forward as if he hadn’t noticed the bear.
Then with a crack, the huge bear suddenly burst with blood. It had been split into two in the middle of its charge.
The huge tree the bear was hiding behind soon let out a m.u.f.fled groan before falling to the ground.
Han Li’s attack split both the huge tree and the bear. Even now, the silver whip refined from the earth wyrm tendon was still as sharp as ever.
As of current, Han Li had already treaded deeper into the jungle.
Thus began Han Li’s path of carnage into the Setting Sun Tomb.
...
Three months later, sharp cries and beastly roars sounded from deep within a mountain range. Following the echo of one giant roar, the entire area became silent.
At the source of the sounds stood Han Li with his arms behind his back. He stood on top of a tree that was over thirty meters tall and wore an exceptionally calm expression.
His surroundings were littered by the shredded bodies of azure apes. There were at least twenty corpses.
The apes all appeared burly and had exceptionally dense fur. They also had fangs that were several inches long, giving them a savage appearance.
However, these ape corpses were either dismembered or had b.l.o.o.d.y holes pierced in their throats and stomachs.
But what was most astonis.h.i.+ng was giant red three-headed demon ape at the top of the tree. A black spear pierced through its abdomen and nailed it to the tree.
Blood flowed from every one of its orifices and its body was riddled with scars. It had only recently died.
Han Li examined the huge ape corpse for a long white and muttered, “I haven’t been here before. The rumors of the Setting Sun Tomb are true. To think I would encounter a Core Formation-level demon beast.” He then held his hand out to the spear.
With azure light glinting from his ring, the black spear trembled and flew into his hand.
The huge ape then dropped down from the tree.
With the spear in hand, Han Li blurred as he headed deeper into the forest.
A moment later, silence returned to the area.
A long while later, azure light flashed from a nearby tree to reveal a ball of green light. Past the light was the form of an inch-large person.
This small person wore a long green robe, a curved body, and a picturesque face. This miniature person was clearly a beautiful woman.
She looked in the direction that Han Li left and frowned.
A yellow light slowly rose from one of the bushes to reveal an old man the same size as the green light. As he held a white crutch in his hand, he turned to the woman and grumbled, “Tian Ying, why did you attack. He was only a high-grade human body refiner. He should be easy for the two of us to take on.”
The green-robed woman glanced at the old man and indifferent answered, “Huang s.h.i.+, we didn’t come here to kill humans and demons. We came here to hunt the rebel and take back their divine blood. We’d best not occupy ourselves with other matters.
The old man shook his head and said, “That person has the power of a Nascent Soul-stage cultivator at most. If we attacked him together, it shouldn’t take much trouble to deal with him. Our spirit clans are great enemies with humans and demons. We should take all measures to weaken human forces when we can.”
After a moment of silence, the woman explained, “If I was certain we could kill that person, I wouldn’t have hesitated. But there was something odd about him, so I thought it’d be best to avoid provoking anything hidden.”
“Something odd? Tian Ying, what did you discover?” Huang s.h.i.+ hastily asked.
The woman’s gaze flickered and she asked, “Do you think that person is truly a body refiner?”
Slight confusion appeared on his face. “What do you mean? That person used spirit tools to kill a Core Formation-level demon beast, but I still wasn’t able to sense any spiritual power from him. What is he if not a body refiner?”
The woman slowly said, “As you should know, I am a tree spirit. I am able to see through things that others cannot. This person’s spiritual sense was immensely powerful, about the same level as ours. According to my knowledge, body refiners can’t possess spiritual sense of that level. It is possible he is a Deity Transformation cultivator.”
Huang s.h.i.+ wore an expression of astonishment, “An immensely strong spiritual sense? You mean to say that person isn’t a body refiner, but a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator?”
The woman solemnly said, “I didn’t say that. I can’t sense the existence of spiritual power in his body, but that doesn’t rule out the possibility. After all, human techniques are no less inferior than spirits like us. It isn’t rare for there to truly be such a secret technique. Our objective this journey is to hunt down the rebel and retrieve their divine blood. We don’t want to do anything dangerous and mistakenly arouse trouble.”
“That is reasonable. If he truly was a Deity Transformation cultivator, we definitely wouldn’t be able to kill him. And even if we were to run away, it would still be considered a loss. In that case, humans are actually quite sly. High-grade demons that come across that human will encounter great misfortune. Who would think that a Deity Transformation cultivator was disguising himself as a body refiner. Even similar-grade existences would suffer from being caught off guard.” The yellow-robed old man spoke with a trace of schadenfreude.
After a moment of thought, the woman thought of something and asked, “Ah yes, Tie Li and Chi Mie should’ve already entered this place. If something happened to them, our elemental spirit clans should’ve sent more people. Do you think they sent a spirit from the water clan?”
“That is unclear. The water spirit clan is the most mysterious of the five elements, and divine blood is the most important to them. It wouldn’t be odd for them to send someone.” Huang s.h.i.+ chuckled.
“That is so. However, I heard that the artifact spirit clan is sending men to meddle with this matter.” The woman said with a hesitant expression.
Anger suddenly welled on Huang s.h.i.+’s face. “The artifact spirit clan?” They have the face to send men? The rebel were originally from their clan.”
“If those words are true, then the tool spirit clan believes that have a greater responsibility to kill the rebel.” The woman gently replied.
Huang s.h.i.+ coldly snorted and angrily said, “That is nice to hear, but they’re really just after the divine blood.”
“Enough. Regardless of what is said, the artifact spirit clan understands humans and demons the most. They will be useful in killing the rebel. I reckon that dared to come here because of some relation they have with the humans. I reckon that the human clan have sent men to receive them. We must retrieve the divine blood before they meet.” The woman solemnly said.