Chapter 359: A Surprising Encounter with an Acquaintance
Having come to a decision, Han Li silently flew off the mountain.
Later on, when the White Pond Mountain’s meeting convened, those Qi Condensation cultivators that had spoken with Han Li would be left baffled by his absence.
Han Li first went to the Heavenly Star Sect’s market city to purchase the list of items that he would need to restore the ancient transportation formation. Then, he hurried off to the State of Yue.
This time, Han Li didn’t take the direct route to enter the State of Yue. Instead, he circled around to a remote part of the border between the State of Yuanwu and Yue and stealthily entered through there. Now that the State of Yue belonged to the Devil Dao, he took steps to avoid entering dangerous territories to prevent having enemies pursuing him the entire way.
But Han Li didn’t know that because of this precaution, he had unexpectedly avoided a crisis.
Currently, the majority of the State of Yue’s borders were heavily patrolled. If Han Li had recklessly returned using his original path, he would have been unable to escape their attention, most likely leading to an unavoidable pursuit and battle!
Having safely entered the State of Yue, Han Li hastily journeyed on routes through the most desolate areas he could find, allowing him to arrive at the spirit stone mine near the transportation formation unnoticed.
Han Li stealthily observed the spirit stone mine from far away, as it had now fallen into the hands of the Devil Dao. He saw Devil Dao disciples wearing green and white clothing with either a dark green ghost skull or a pink peach blossom tucked within the corners of their sleeves. It seemed they were cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Harmonious Bond Sect.
Now knowing that the spirit stone mine was being guarded, Han Li stealthily slipped away and entered a nearby secret underground entrance.
He was able to easily find the concealed cave he had previously collapsed. After using his magic tools to tear the stone away, Han Li was able to take another look at the damaged ancient transportation formation. He let out a sigh of relief upon seeing the ancient transportation formation safe and sound.
During the following day, Han Li first used his newly acquired illusion formation flags to thoroughly conceal the secret location. Afterwards, he laid down the formation flags and formation plates of the Five Elements Reversal Formation, laying out a thorough defense for the cave containing the ancient transportation formation.
This way, he would have enough time to easily escape, even if he was discovered by the Devil Dao cultivators.
Freed from worry, Han Li started the transportation formation’s restoration.
The jade talisman clearly stated that restoring the ancient transportation formation required the utmost precision. Even the slightest slant of an unremarkable talisman line could result in an error in the transportation formation.
After spending an entire seven days, Han Li had only managed to complete less than half of the restoration. But that night, Han Li encountered a huge problem: he had already ran out of the supplies he had bought earlier.
Han Li was flabbergasted! He had originally bought a bit more than what was mentioned on the item list, but he hadn’t accounted for the wasted materials from the mistakes he would make while repairing the formation.
He was neither a tool refinement nor a formation spell master. As he was lacking in skill, he had wasted over half of his materials from errors and didn’t have enough left to finish.
Han Li sighed. It seemed he’d have to go on another trip.
However, he remembered that a small market town of some cultivator clan lay several days east of the spirit stone mine. Although it wasn’t large, items such as source iron and crystal jade could be found there. Since the core of the transportation formation wasn’t ruined, he would only require a few common materials to repair it.
His only worry was that given the current chaos of the cultivation world, this clan’s market city might no longer exist! If this were the case, he’d have to travel to a more dangerous area.
Under the cover of night, Han Li flew out of the cave and headed directly toward the market city.
He had already decided that if the market city no longer existed, it would be best to return to the State of Yuanwu. He couldn’t afford to just ignore the fact that the ancient formation was only half repaired.
To be safe, Han Li planned to only travel during the night. During the day he would find areas to rest and recover, keeping the danger to a minimum.
In this way, Han Li continued to fly east under the cover of night. Whenever rays of sunlight began to appear off the horizon, he would search for a place to rest.
But while he was gazing down from above, his expression suddenly changed, and he quickly turned his head in another direction. Han Li faintly felt as if someone was quickly flying toward him and that they weren’t alone.
Han Li reacted instantly by stomping on his Divine Wind Boat and flew downward. In the blink of an eye, he had disappeared into the darkness of night.
Just as he concealed himself and restrained his Spiritual Qi, a blinding light silently flashed by him like a bolt of lightning.
Then a b.l.o.o.d.y cloud about ten meters wide relentlessly chased after it, releasing unending ghostly wails and howls as it flew past. A bit behind the cloud was a pink ray of light that released soft, clear cries which seemed to also be in relentless pursuit.
Han Li, who was hidden in the mountain forest below, didn’t pay attention to the white light, focusing on the b.l.o.o.d.y cloud instead. He felt that the b.l.o.o.d.y cloud seemed extremely familiar! Wasn’t that the demonic art which had protected the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect?
Having remembered the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Young Master’s ferociousness and the hards.h.i.+ps he had been put through, Han Li’s expression became gloomy.
While Han Li was still in thought, those in the sky had hastily descended, and the white light in front suddenly stopped. The brilliant light then quickly faded away, revealing a white-clothed woman standing on a flying sword.
This woman had a slender body and was wearing a cloak. As soon as she appeared, she coldly spoke to her pursuers, “Juniors, it appears you are unwilling to let me go. Could it be that you have a death wish?” The woman’s voice was cold and beautiful. When Han Li heard it, he nearly jumped in surprise.
Greatly shocked, Han Li thought to himself, ‘Is... Is this Fairy Nangong’s voice? Is it really her?’
Although he had barely spoken with this woman, after he had slept with her, she had become the most important woman in Han Li’s life. The memory of her had always remained clear in his heart. Also, while the voice sounded very much like Nangong Wan, it"s hoa.r.s.eness left him slightly doubtful.
While Han Li was lost in astonishment, the b.l.o.o.d.y mist and that pink light had both stopped about forty meters away in response to her threats. The b.l.o.o.d.y and pink lights then faded away, revealing the people inside.
The b.l.o.o.d.y cloud revealed the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Young Master w.a.n.g Chan as expected, and the pink light revealed a man and woman that left Han Li dumbstruck.
He had last seen both at Yan Ling Castle, one was a demonic man as beautiful as a woman. As for the woman, she had been missing for a long time and was a.s.sumed to have fallen into the grasp of the Devil Dao, Dong Xuan’er[1.Martial Aunt Hong Fu is her Great Aunt. She appears in chapter 244 and is with Han Li throughout the Yan Clan Castle’s arc.].
Dong Xuan’er wore a cold expression and appeared rather dignified. Her originally seductive appearance had completely disappeared at some point in the past. But what surprised Han Li more was that she had already cultivated to mid Foundation Establishment from early Foundation Establishment.
When Han Li saw Dong Xuan’er standing by the demonic man’s side, he couldn’t help but tightly crease his brow.
At the moment, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Young Master and the gorgeous man were coldly staring at the masked woman and revealed a trace of hesitation.
Although Fairy Nangong had already fought with a Ghost Spirit Sect Core Formation expert and should be lacking in power, she had killed countless Devil Dao Core Formation cultivators while fighting for the Masked Moon Sect before. It wouldn’t be worth it if she were to go all out and end them all in mutual destruction.
With that in mind, the two couldn’t help but look at each other, neither willing to act first.
That strange, gorgeous man gazed at the masked woman with a slight smile, “If this were the past, both Senior Brother w.a.n.g and I would naturally flee at the mere sight of Fairy Nangong. But now… even if I wanted to let you go in consideration of the previous relations.h.i.+p between the Masked Moon Sect and the Harmonious Bond Sect, my Senior Brother w.a.n.g from the Ghost Spirit Sect would still be unwilling to let the matter go!”
The gorgeous man spoke as if they were all on extremely familiar terms with one another and as if this were a matter they had already discussed, but he unapologetically pushed the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Young Master in front of him to act as a s.h.i.+eld.
When w.a.n.g Chan heard this, he grew furious.
But he wasn’t someone who showed emotion. He only coldly glanced at her before speaking calmly, “I heard that the Harmonious Bond Sect has a secret technique, the Art of Darkmoon Yin Absorption. A male cultivator can use it to forcefully absorb a portion of a woman’s Origin Yin through pair cultivation techniques. Although it doesn’t absorb much, with Senior’s Core Formation cultivation, it will be enough for this Young Master Tian to breakthrough his current bottleneck and reach late Foundation Establishment.”
The gorgeous man’s expression paled slightly. He hadn’t expected that his reason for bitterly pursuing this woman without end had been seen through by w.a.n.g Chan. He couldn’t help but feel angered from the humiliation.
At that moment, the masked woman shot them a resentful glare. She gritted her perfect teeth and spat out, “You’re all as bad as each other. Die!” She raised her hand and an earth-shattering white mist of swordlight shot toward them.
When w.a.n.g Chen and the gorgeous man saw this, they both turned pale from fright. The next instant, they had turned into a b.l.o.o.d.y cloud and a ray of light, respectively, in an attempt to hastily evade the attack.