Chapter 340: A Trap
“Even so, many cultivators were killed in that attack, including two Core Formation cultivators. To take such losses just to conceal Spirit Beast Mountain is inconceivable!” Han Li wrinkled his brow, unwilling to be easily convinced.
“If no Core Formation cultivators died, then how would the other six sects have been convinced? Furthermore, are you really sure that those two Core Formation cultivators were genuine?” Crooked Soul sneered.
“You mean...” Han Li stared at Crooked Soul with surprise.
“To the best of my knowledge, our Devil Dao sects possesses two or three forbidden techniques that forcefully raises the cultivation of a Foundation Establishment cultivator to nearly the point of Core Formation. Naturally, there are great defects to these techniques, and they can basically only be used once on a cultivator; once used, death by ruptured meridians was inevitable and the duration of their flared cultivation was pitifully short. However, this would have been enough to trick the Seven Sects for one battle.”
Han Li grew silent and was mostly convinced.
With that in consideration, Spirit Beast Mountain could strike at an opportune moment during the confrontation between the Six Devilish Dao Sects and the Seven Sects along with their allies, and easily collapse the Seven Sects’ arranged formations. With broken formations, the Seven Sects and their allies would be defenseless, falling prey to the Devil Dao.
“Even if what you said was true, the time for the decisive battle has not yet arrived. If I were to make a report, wouldn’t I be able to turn the tide of the battle? Why would I want to run away?” After muttering to himself for a moment, Han Li asked with doubt.
“Do you really believe our Devil Dao will strike in accordance to the time that was agreed? According to our original plans, this announcement was to confuse our opponents and leave them vulnerable as they prepared. Although I don’t know the specifics, I reckon that within a few days, our Devil Dao would launch a surprise attack on the main camp. That should be the moment when the Seven Sects will be most relaxed and reinforcements still distant. Does Fellow Daoist truly believe that your information would arrive in time and that the upper echelons would even believe you?” Crooked Soul smirked, clearly relis.h.i.+ng the disaster that was about to befall the Seven Sects.
Han Li’s calm expression finally broke, feeling worried in his heart.
If the Seven Sects were truly defeated, his coming days would not be easy. He would have to roam across foreign countries to avoid pursuit from the Devil Dao. His only other choice would be to repair the ancient transportation formation and start a new life of cultivation in a foreign land.
“Your esteemed self appears to fully understand the Devil Dao’s plans. It seems your status was truly high. There is no need to worry. I’m not interested in finding out your true ident.i.ty. However, I must ask if you have any evidence for this. You can’t possibly expect me to be completely convinced with just words, yes?” Han Li solemnly asked after a moment of thought.
Han Li’s question stunned the Controlling Spirit cultivator for a moment.
“In a moment of desperation, I had already lost my body. Does Fellow Daoist truly believe there is any evidence that was left behind? If Fellow Daoist has some patience, he will only have to wait a few days to hear the results of the battle.” Crooked Soul bitterly smiled before answering as if it had nothing to do with him.
Han Li coldly smiled in response.
“Without a body, your soul somehow managed to escape. However, you’re still alive and were even able to recover your magic tools and other valuables; I’m sure you were able to recover such evidence as well.” Han Li coollyy said, striking at the heart of the matter and causing Crooked Soul’s bitter smile to freeze.
“Hehe! It seems I truly cannot conceal this from Fellow Daoist. Yes, I do possess a few secret letters between Spirit Beast Mountain and my own sect. In fact, I was in charge of relaying information in the State of Yue several years ago. But I wouldn’t have thought...” When Han Li exposed him, Crooked Soul revealed slight embarra.s.sment.”
Han Li inwardly sighed in response to his admission. This person was surprisingly crafty. It seems he’d have to be a bit more careful; he didn’t even know his age.
“Where did you put it?”
As Han Li bluntly asked this question, he started to sweep his gaze across Crooked Soul’s body.
“The jade slip letters are in my storage pouch. I placed it at a nearby cave. How about I bring Fellow Daoist there?” Crooked Soul appeared to be rather cooperative.
“You don’t have it on hand?” Han Li’s gaze flashed with doubt.
“As you know, this body is a reanimated corpse. Although it far exceeds ordinary men, it had lost a majority of its senses. Therefore, I fear that during an unknown moment of carelessness, I would lose my storage pouch. For that reason, I left it behind at my dwelling.” Crooked Soul explained this with difficulty, causing Han Li to feel something was amiss.
Han Li didn’t say anything and carefully searched his body, ending up empty handed. He then asked with an icy tone, “Where is the cave? I will go and find it!”
Seeing that Han Li was so very cautious, Crooked Soul could only gloomily tell Han Li its location.
Han Li nodded and turned to depart. But something suddenly came to mind, and he turned around to ask, “How did you enter that corpse? Although the body would be easier to possess as it doesn’t contain a soul, it still isn’t a cultivator’s body!”
Han Li was genuinely curious.
“I don’t know!”
His answer caused Han Li’s face to darken. But without waiting for Han Li to speak, Crooked Soul hastily explained, “I truly don’t know why. During that time, I dragged my heavily injured body to Jia Yuan City and was on the verge of death. I could only desperately eject my soul and search in every direction for a cultivator to possess. However, I was unable to find a cultivator anywhere nearby. Just when I was about to give up hope, I found this soulless corpse. In a moment of desperation, I attempted to enter its body. Against all my expectations, I was truly amazed that I had succeeded.”
The Controlling Spirit Sect cultivator appeared to be incredulous from this as well.
Han Li remained silent and stared at him for a moment. He suddenly walked toward Crooked Soul and slapped two additional Soul Lock talismans on his body before vanis.h.i.+ng into the darkness.
Crooked Soul was left behind with a bitter expression. But a short while later, Han Li returned with a strange glare in his eyes.
…
Han Li was able to easily find the cave using the directions given. It didn’t appear to be very large.
With a wave of his hand, a moonlight stone flew out of his storage pouch. Hovering above his head, the moonlight stone illuminated his surroundings.
Then, he looked into the dark cave and pondered for a moment before taking out his white scale s.h.i.+eld and tortoise sh.e.l.l. With the two magic tools protecting his front, he carefully walked inside.
Like Han Li expected, the cave was not large. After walking for about twenty-five meters, he saw a cave wall blocking his path, the presumable end of the cave.
Han Li turned his sharp gaze and found nothing strange. He then lowered his head and looked at the ground.
According to what Crooked Soul said, the storage pouch should be buried underneath a bluestone and should be easy to find.
As expected, about six meters away, he found a meter tall pitch-black chunk of what appeared to be stone.
Without thinking much further, he took several steps forward and closely examined it under the moonlight stone’s gentle light.
“Xi!” Han Li exhaled in surprise.
Stone it was not. It was clearly a large pile of remains, bones with traces of rotting flesh that released the faint smell of blood.
After recovering from his astonishment, he discovered that the bones were from fierce predators such as tigers and leopards and had traces of teeth marks as if something had been biting them.
Having seen this, Han Li sunk into thought before inwardly shouting, ‘Not good!’ He hastily turned to leave the cave.
However, it was already too late. A black shadow scuttled out of some unknown place and fiercely knocked against Han Li’s white scale s.h.i.+eld.
Suddenly, he was thrown off with intense force and fiercely slammed into the cave wall. Although he was s.h.i.+elded, the pain nearly caused him to pa.s.s out.
“What is this monster?” Han Li thought this with furious alarm through the severe pain.
But without waiting for Han Li to fall from the cave wall, the shadow pounced toward him once more.
Han Li reacted in fear, hurriedly placing both his defensive magic tools in front of him.
Dāng. A clear ring surprised Han Li.
This time, the impact didn’t carry a great force. Bang. However, the white scale s.h.i.+eld was evenly split into two pieces and had fallen onto the floor.
Han Li nearly bit his tongue from terror.
Inconceivable! That monster was actually able to split his white scale s.h.i.+eld in two!