"I trust your judgment, Grand Elder. As for that man, I saw an indistinct wyrm projection on his body, and I could also see that he possesses extremely pure devilish Qi. Could he be somehow related to the Elder Devil Race?" the woman speculated.
"Most likely not. There are countless Devil Dao cultivation arts littered throughout the Spirit Realm, and the fact that his true form is a wyrm indicates that he"s definitely not from the Elder Devil Race. The wyrms and the elder devils are sworn enemies, and if two such beings were to encounter one another, a battle to the death would immediately ensue," the elderly man concluded after a brief pause for thought.
Despite his vast wealth of knowledge and experience, it didn"t occur to this Wood Tribe grand elder that the black-armored man could be an evil dragon that had been extinct for countless years in the Spirit Realm. As a result, he naturally made a ma.s.sive lapse in judgment.
Meanwhile, high up in the air thousands of kilometers away, the burly man was speaking to the woman in white in a respectful manner.
"Sacred Ancestor, if these Black Spirit Flowers are useful to you, then why didn"t you take all of them? That Wood Tribe grand elder is only an early-Grand Ascension Stage being, so there"s no way he could"ve posed a threat to you. After all, even among all of the Sacred Ancestors of our holy realm, your powers rank among the top five."
"I"m confident in my ability to defeat that Wood Tribe grand elder, but I"m not actually confident in my ability to kill him. On top of that, Black Spirit Flowers only have a limited effect in helping me recover from my injuries, so they"ll cease to be effective for me once I consume more than 10. As such, there"s a mismatch between risk and reward, so why would I do something so unwise?" the woman explained.
"I see. However, we"ve scoured most of the Tian Yuan Continent already; if we can"t find anything soon, then isn"t it time we left this continent? If I recall correctly, the holy realm should be about to descend upon this realm, and it would be very bad for us if we were to encounter other Sacred Ancestors," the man said in a hesitant manner.
"Hmm, prior to escaping from the holy realm, I did indeed discuss some details about this with the other Sacred Ancestors, and this is indeed one of the regions where our two realms overlap the most. However, there"s no need to be concerned. Even though the holy realm is about to descend, those Sacred Ancestors won"t be able to arrive in the Spirit Realm right away. At the very most, we"ll only have to deal with their clones. On top of that, I couldn"t be certain prior to this, but I used a divination secret technique after reaching this place, and the technique tells me that there"s a very good chance that the thing I"m looking for is here. As such, I certainly can"t just leave under these circ.u.mstances," the woman chuckled.
"I see. In that case, I"ll do everything in my power to find that thing and help you recover your powers, even if it means giving up my life!" the burly man said with a confident slap of his own chest.
"Looks like Ming Luo disciplined you very well. If you can help me recover my powers, then I"ll naturally reward you handsomely as well," the woman said with a faint mysterious smile.
"Thank you, Sacred Ancestor! I am yours to do with as you see fit!" The burly man was ecstatic to hear this, and he immediately scrambled to express his loyalty again.
The woman merely glanced at the burly man with a hint of a smile and didn"t say anything further.
Thus, the two of them continued onward, and they were heading directly toward the territory of the human race.
...
Han Li was on the peak of a certain mountain, appraising the gigantic devilish mark in the sky with a dark expression.
Several tens of feet behind him, his three disciples were standing in a respectful manner with their hands by their sides.
Han Li heaved a faint sigh before instructing, "Let"s go back now. It looks like the devilish tribulation is definitely going to commence within half a year."
"Yes, Master!"
The three disciples naturally had no objections.
Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light that swept up all four of them, then flew directly toward the cave abode.
An hour later, Han Li was seated in the hall of his cave abode with a silver-robed beauty sitting beside him; this was none other than the Ice Phoenix who had been cultivating under his protection this entire time.
At this point, not only had she recovered all of her former magic power, she had already reached the late-Deity Transformation Stage, and a major contributing factor behind her fast progress was the pills that Han Li had been constantly providing her with.
Bai Guo"er, Hai Yuetian, and Qi Lingzi were also standing in the secret chamber.
"Brother Han, the devilish mark has appeared far too close to our cave abode for comfort; this clearly isn"t a suitable place to cultivate at anymore. What are your plans from here? Should we move our cave abode elsewhere right away?" the Ice Phoenix asked with a hint of concern in her eyes.
These past few centuries had been the most enjoyable period of time in her cultivation journey. Not only did she not have to worry about her own safety, she had a virtually limitless supply of exceptional pills, yet all of this could come to an end now with the impending devilish tribulation looming over their heads.
"We will indeed have to move the cave abode; let"s move to Deep Heaven City. After all, once the devilish tribulation commences, almost all spa.r.s.ely populated areas will be extremely dangerous. Even if we don"t go to Deep Heaven City, we"ll still have to go to one of the sovereign cities," Han Li replied.
"We"re moving to Deep Heaven City? Does that mean you plan to join their panel of elders, Brother Han?" the Ice Phoenix asked in a surprised manner.
"No, only the four of you will be residing in Deep Heaven City in the long term. I"ll help defend Deep Heaven City against the first few waves of attacks from the Elder Devil Realm, then go to cultivate in a secret place that the elder devils won"t be able to find," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
"Why is that? Could it be..." A thought immediately occurred to the Ice Phoenix.
Han Li nodded in confirmation. "That"s right, I"ll be able to attempt a breakthrough to the late-Body Integration Stage in about 10 more years, so I need to go into seclusion for some time."
"I see. That is indeed a wise decision, Brother Han. As for your breakthrough to the late-Body Integration Stage, I promised to a.s.sist you during the process, so when the time comes, I"ll do as you say, Brother Han," the Ice Phoenix said as a faint blush appeared on her face.
Han Li nodded before turning to his three disciples. "Clean up the cave abode and tell all of your disciples that we"re leaving this place in three days. Guo"er, seeing as you"re unwilling to go to Deep Heaven City, you can go to Xuan Wu City after taking care of all of the disciples. Xuan Wu City will be guarded by Xuan Wu Tyrant Sovereign and that old tortoise, so it"ll be a very safe place."
"Yes, Master!"
"Thank you, Master!"
The three disciples naturally didn"t have objections, and they all extended respectful bows toward Han Li.
Thus, three days later, several giant arks that were over 300 feet in length emerged from a mountain. Standing at the very front of one of the arks was an azure-robed young man with an extremely calm and collected look on his face, looking as if nothing in this world could impact his emotions.
On the other arks stood several hundreds of people of both genders and all age ranges, some of whom wore nervous looks on their faces, but most of them were very excited.
Moments later, bright spiritual light flashed from the surfaces of the giant arks, and they quickly vanished into the distance as ma.s.sive b.a.l.l.s of light.
...
Almost at the exact same time, there were tens of thousands of mortals and cultivators who were also boarding a series of giant flying arks on a small mountain range countless kilometers away.
The entire scene was extremely bustling and chaotic, and on one of the arks stood a woman in a palatial dress, surrounded by a dozen or so Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering cultivators.
The woman was an exquisite beauty who appeared to be in her twenties, and her brows were slightly furrowed as she appraised the chaotic scenes unfolding before her.
"Senior Blood Spirit, I think it would be a safer option to travel to Xuan Wu City. After all, aside from Xuan Wu Tyrant Sovereign, there"s also a giant beast in Xuan Wu City that"s close to a true spirit in power," a Spatial Tempering Stage elderly man said in a hesitant manner.
"Are you doubting my judgment?" the woman asked in a cold voice.
"No, I wouldn"t dare!" the elderly man hurriedly said.
"Hmph, you don"t know anything! With the Tyrant Sovereign and that old tortoise, Xuan Wu City will naturally be more powerful than Tian Yuan City, but I have some ties with the current Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign, so at the very least, our Xu Family won"t be used as cannon fodder when we reach Tian Yuan City. In contrast, I certainly can"t guarantee the same in Xuan Wu City," the woman said in a confident manner.
"I see. Forgive me for my ignorance," the elderly man said with a respectful salute.
"I"ll let you off the hook this one time seeing as you"re thinking for the sake of the Xu Family, but don"t blame me for turning on you if you do that again!" the woman said with a cold look in her eyes.
Everyone around her hurriedly bowed in unison upon hearing this and proclaimed that they wouldn"t dare to question her authority again.
The woman merely waved a hand before turning away.
Over half a day later, around 100 arks of different sizes rose up into the air before flying toward a certain direction, and the mountain range was completely deserted in the blink of an eye.
The enormous estate of the Xu Family had been abandoned in its entirety, just like that.
The same thing was happening all throughout the human race.
Some of the prominent families who hadn"t yet joined any major powers finally lost their cool after the devilish marks appeared, and they all abandoned their estates to seek out greener pastures.
...
Two months later, a golden-robed old monk was standing atop the giant city wall of Deep Heaven City, looking into the distance through a pair of narrowed eyes.
Behind the monk were a dozen or so high-grade cultivators in different attire, and they were also looking into the distance with curiosity in their eyes.
Not long after that, spiritual light flashed in the distant sky, and one flying ark after another emerged before heading directly toward the city wall.
A stir immediately ran through the cultivators standing behind the monk, and the situation became slightly chaotic. The monk didn"t turn around, but he could sense everyone"s reactions, and he immediately cleared his throat with furrowed brows.
He didn"t do so very loudly, but all of the chatter immediately died down, and at this moment, several more arks appeared in the distance amid flashes of spiritual light.