Han Li was seated in the corner, and his expression abruptly changed as he swept his spiritual sense toward this newcomer.
This man"s spiritual power was quite unfathomable, indicating that he was a Body Integration Stage being.
The man withdrew his gaze, then waved a hand toward the armored warriors before turning his attention to Han Li. "Are you the one who activated this Vast Glacial Badge?"
"I want to deny that, but it doesn"t really seem possible at this point," Han Li sighed with a wry smile on his face.
"Why would you deny this? You"ve encountered a ma.s.sive stroke of luck!" the man said with a hint of a smile on his face as he appraised Han Li through narrowed eyes.
"A ma.s.sive stroke of luck? What do you..." Han Li"s expression changed slightly, yet just as he was about to ask a question, the man"s brows furrowed as he abruptly turned toward one of the walls of the room.
"Brother Cang Ying, seeing as you"re already here, why don"t you show yourself? Are you planning to hand over this Vast Glacial Badge to our Water Wraith Race? "
"Not many Vast Glacial Badges have appeared on this occasion, so every single badge is extremely valuable; would your Water Wraith Race dare to take one for yourselves? Without the Myriad Ancient Race to set up and activate the required formation, the badge will be useless to you even if you do take it," a cold voice replied.
A black shadow then flashed on the wall that the white-haired young man was staring at, following which a shadowy figure that was enshrouded under grey light appeared in a soundless manner. The figure was standing close to the wall, completely motionless, as if it were an insubstantial object.
The cold voice just then had sounded directly from within the grey light.
As opposed to becoming enraged, the white-haired man merely chuckled, "Hehe, I"m naturally aware of this. However, if this fellow Daoist wishes to join our Water Wraith Race, then it won"t be an issue for us to use this Vast Glacial Badge to take some of our brethren into the Vast Glacial Realm, right?"
"That would be fine, of course, but this fellow Daoist doesn"t seem to have expressed any intention of joining your race. Perhaps he"d rather become a guest member of our Yin Demon Race," the shadowy figure referred to as Cang Ying replied in a completely emotionless voice.
"Is that so? That"s rather hard to say. If I recall correctly, there is an unspoken rule among our 13 races; if two races set their eyes on an outsider at the same time, the other race can only extend an invitation after said outsider has rejected the invitation from the first race. Fellow Daoist, I am Bai Yue of the Water Wraith Race, and I"m officially extending an invitation to you to become a guest member of our race. If you"re willing to join our race, I can promise you that we"ll help you advance a tier in your cultivation base within 100 years, and we"ll also offer you a variety of other immense benefits." The white-haired man turned his gaze away from Cang Ying and extended a formal offer to Han Li.
However, he stared intently into Han Li"s eyes as he spoke, and a strange iridescent light rapidly swirled within his own eyes, seemingly emitting an invisible power that threatened to suck away the beholder"s sense of reason.
Han Li"s eyelids twitched, and as soon as he looked into Bai Yue"s iridescent eyes, his spiritual sense blurred, and almost reflexively opened his mouth to accept the offer being extended toward him.
However, in the next instant, he activated his Great Development Technique, and his pupils contracted as piercing blue light appeared in his eyes, thereby allowing him to resist the strange captivating force of the white-haired man"s eyes.
At the same time, Han Li regained clarity in his spiritual sense, following which a burst of fury welled up in his heart.
This white-haired young man appeared to be quite honest and benevolent, yet he had used a captivation technique to try and sway Han Li"s decision. If it weren"t for the fact that he possessed his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, he would"ve most likely been drawn into accepting his offer just then.
The white-haired young man faltered upon seeing this before a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
Cang Ying was also rather taken aback by this development, but he then burst into laughter as he said in a derisive tone, "Haha, I didn"t think that your Iridescent Illusionary Eyes would fail to take effect on a being below the holy race. Stop trying to play your little tricks, Fellow Daoist Bai. As you said yourself, the rule stipulating that invitations had to be made in sequential order to outsiders is only an unspoken one. In the face of the Vast Glacial Badge, none of our 13 races would be willing to follow an unofficial rule like that."
The white-haired man"s expression quickly returned to normal, and he cast a meaningful glance toward Han Li before turning to Cnag Ying. "Seeing as this fellow Daoist has no intention of joining our Water Wraith Race, I naturally won"t force him to do so against his will. Brother Cang Ying, aren"t you going to try and invite this fellow Daoist to join your Yin Demon Race?"
"This matter concerns a Vast Glacial Badge, which is an item of the utmost importance, so neither of us can decide which race he will join. In that case, I"m not going to waste my efforts doing something that won"t lead to anything," Cang Ying harrumphed in response.
Bai Yue merely smiled and remained silent upon hearing this.
Cang Ying also chuckled as he fell silent as well.
As for Han Li, he also refrained from saying anything as the blue light in his eyes faded.
Thus, the room became extremely silent, and the nearby armored warriors were left staring blankly at one another, wondering what they should do in this situation.
However, this silence was broken just moments later.
The sound of knocking suddenly rang out from the other side of the door, following which an elderly voice sounded. "I am Qian Jizi of the Myriad Ancient Race. Would I be able to see the owner of this place?"
Bai Yue"s face paled slightly upon hearing this elderly voice, and the grey light around Cang Ying"s body rippled unsteadily as well.
Han Li immediately replied, "Please come in, Senior. It is a great honor for me to welcome you to my humble abode."
Upon hearing Han Li"s polite response, the elderly man didn"t delay any longer. Spiritual light flashed, and he pa.s.sed directly through the door, appearing in the room in the next instant.
This was a chubby yellow-robed elderly man with a strange woven basket on his back. He wasn"t very tall, and he had a set of benevolent facial features.
"Fellow Daoist Bai, Fellow Daoist Cang Ying, I didn"t expect to see you two here," the elderly man greeted in a warm voice, as if he really were only just finding out that these two beings were in the room.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist, the two of us have only just arrived as well."
"Indeed. I just so happened to be doing something nearby, and I noticed the phenomenon resulting from the activation of the Vast Glacial Badge, so I decided to come and have a look."
Bai Yue and Cang Ying were regarding each other with enmity just a moment ago, but in the face of this elderly man, both of them were behaving in an extremely careful manner.
Han Li was naturally rather intrigued by their sudden changes in demeanor, and he swept his spiritual sense toward the elderly man, upon which a wave of shock surged through his heart.
This Qian Jizi"s magic power was as boundless as the ocean, and it was completely unfathomable to Han Li. At the very least, he was unable to glean the elderly man"s cultivation base as he currently was, which meant that the elderly man was most likely a being at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage.
It was no wonder than Bai Yue and Cang Ying were so wary of him. Even if the two of them were to combine their powers, they"d most likely still be no match for the elderly man.
"So there really is a Vast Glacial Badge here! Does this badge belong to you, Fellow Daoist?" Qian Jizi gave the two a benevolent smile, then glanced at the golden and silver badge hovering in mid-air before turning to Han Li.
"Indeed, Senior," Han Li hurriedly replied with a respectful bow.
"Your surname is Han, right?" Qian Jizi suddenly asked with a smile.
"How did you know that, Senior?" Han Li"s expression changed slightly, and even though he was asking that question, he most likely knew the answer already.
As expected, Qian Jizi smiled, and replied, "I"ve heard about you from Fellow Daoist Jia, and I also have your portrait. I was going to send someone to invite you for a chat a few days from now, but it looks like I have no choice but to meet you a little earlier than expected."
"Do you recognize him, Fellow Daoist Qian Jizi?" Bai Yue asked.
"Hehe, one of our Myriad Ancient Race"s four top puppet masters, Master Jia, was almost captured by the Jiao Chi Race a few days ago, and it was all thanks to Fellow Daoist Han that he was able to escape unscathed, so of course I"ve heard of him," Qian Jizi replied as he stroked his beard.
"What? Does that Master Jia was sent to the border?" Cang Ying asked with a surprised look on his face.
"Indeed. Our race had an important matter to take care of, so we had no choice but to send Master Jia. We deployed a few guards to accompany him, but due to the invasion of the Jiao Chi Race, all of them perished on the border. Are you two interested in the internal affairs of our Myriad Ancient Race?" the elderly man asked with an amused smile.
Bai Yue"s expression changed upon hearing this, and he forced a smile onto his own face as he replied, "I wouldn"t dare to pry into your race"s internal affairs, Fellow Daoist. It"s just that Master Jia"s proficiency in puppetry is quite extraordinary, making him an indispensable member of our 13 races, so I am merely concerned for his safety."
"Indeed. We"re both very happy to hear that Master Jia is now safe." It was quite apparent that Cang Ying was also feeling very uneasy.
"Looks like I was overthinking things, then. Seeing as this Vast Glacial Badge has been activated by Fellow Daoist Han, you wouldn"t mind if I invited Fellow Daoist Han back our race for a chat, would you? As for this place, we"ll set up restrictions and deploy troops to put it into complete lockdown. Our Myriad Ancient Race will deploy people soon after this to set up the relevant formation." Qian Jizi was speaking in a polite tone, but he gave the other two beings no opportunity to state any objections.
Bai Yue and Cang Ying naturally weren"t very pleased by this arrangement, but they had no choice but to bow to Qian Jizi"s overwhelming might.
The elderly man nodded with a content look before turning to Han Li with a smile as he asked, "Fellow Daoist Han, would you like to follow me to our race?"
A wry smile appeared on Han Li"s face upon hearing this. This was an invitation that was being extended by a being at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, so he certainly wouldn"t dare to refuse it. As such, he could only respectfully reply, "If you don"t mind my intrusion, I"d love to accompany you, Senior."
Qian Jizi could see the hesitation in Han Li"s eyes, and he chuckled, "Haha, not to worry, Fellow Daoist Han. Setting aside everything else, you are the one who saved Master Jia"s life, and our Myriad Ancient Race isn"t one to repay kindness with animosity."