The sea beast corpse before them was over a dozen meters long. It had azure scales on its body and small, sharp teeth. It also had ma.s.sively swollen eyes. It appeared quite fiendish, but what was most noticeable about its appearance were the crooked tusks that grew from the bottom of its cheeks.
Han Li grew closer to the corpse and carefully examined it several times before a flicker of understanding appeared in his eyes. He then cleaved the demon corpse into two with a streak of swordlight.
With a wave of his hand, a pitch-black item flew into his grasp. He took a whiff of it without any hesitation and found that it had an odd pungent smell that faintly contained a trace of flowery fragrance.
Han Li tossed the item away and revealed a strange expression as he muttered, “So its a Fragrant Tusk Beast.”
“Fragrant Tusk Beast?” Violet Spirit was stunned and glanced at Mei Ning. The two women revealed a trace of confusion as it was their first time of hearing such a name.
“It is natural that you two wouldn’t know of this sea beast. These beasts are absent in the Scattered Star Seas. They are unique to these strange depths.”
Fairy Violet Spirit gravely said, “From your tone, it seems Brother Han already knows that we are no longer in the Scattered Star Seas.”
Han Li swept his gaze past the dull ocean and nodded his head with a wry smile, “That is correct. We are no longer in the Scattered Star Seas. Although I’ve never been here before, I’ve heard many people speak of it. If I haven’t guessed incorrectly, this place should be the Endless Seas.” He then turned his head to the sky and silently became lost in thought.
“The Endless Seas?” They clearly hadn’t heard of this name before.
Violet Spirit muttered to herself before wearing a smile and gently asking, “Brother Han seems to hold some knowledge of these seas. Could you give us sisters an explanation?”
Han Li awoke from his indescribable wave of emotion calmly nodded his head, “Of course. That won’t be a problem. As the term implies, the Endless Seas is known to the Heavenly South Region to be without end. It...” Han Li leisurely began to speak of the legends and hearsays of the Endless Seas in full detail. At the same time he spoke, a question buried deeply in his heart began to surface after remaining there for such a long time.
With a tone of astonishment, Violet Spirit said, “From Brother Han’s words, this Endless Seas should be north of the Heavenly South Region. And not only is there little life in these seas, but there also exists no islands.”
Han Li rubbed his nose and calmly replied, “That’s is right, much to our great distress. Without islands, we fundamentally have no method of determining our location. We have no way of knowing how far we are from the Heavenly South Continent.”
The two women couldn’t help but look at each other dismay.
After some thought, Han Li firmly said, “Regardless, we must head south without delay and reach the mainland before we run out of spirit stones. Hopefully it won’t be too far away.”
Violet Spirit agreed with a trace of helplessness, “Since that is the case, we can only hope that the Heavens favor us!” Mei Ning naturally followed along without complaint.
As a result, the three recognized their bearings before immediately heading south.
Several days later, Mei Ning and Violet Spirit became entirely convinced of Han Li’s judgements. During their entire journey, there were no islands to speak of and the sea was completely void of Qi. Additionally, there wasn’t a single demon beast in the oceans, only fierce looking sea beasts.
When these women discovered these circ.u.mstances for the first time, they were completely baffled.
Perhaps due to their previous experiences of having undergone tribulations together, the three behaved quite harmoniously and bantered along the journey. As for Han Li, he couldn’t help but feel his heart stir in the presence of these two beautiful women.
However, now that he had arrived at the Endless Seas, the face of an icy woman came to mind – Nangong Wan. It was unknown where this Masked Moon Sect Core Formation cultivator had gone, but when he thought of her, a strange emotion began to well in his heart. He couldn’t tell whether it was foolish attachment, tender affection, or annoyance, as if a thousand different feelings had muddled his mind. He couldn’t make heads of what he currently felt.
Regardless, the party of three continued their flight for four months before eventually spotting an expanse of green on the horizon. The three were immensely rejoiced at the sight, and their most pressing worry was relieved. They then flew towards the mainland in excitement.
The State of Xi was the Heavenly South Region’s northmost country. It was about a third smaller than Han Li’s home country, the State of Yue, and it was divided into seven provinces. The Min Province was the largest province among them and was also the one that neighbored the Endless Seas.
As of current, Han Li had brought Mei Ning and Violet Spirit to a restaurant’s private room in a small city of the Min Province.
Violet Spirit coquettishly glanced at Han Li in feigned anger and said, “Brother Han, so it turned out that you came from the Heavenly South Region. You’ve sure put us through a bit of trouble for having hid this so well.”
Not long before, Han Li had divulged a few small details about his ident.i.ty, astonis.h.i.+ng the two women. Of course, the two had already guessed as much considering Han Li’s familiarity with the Endless Seas, so it hadn’t come with too much surprise.
Han Li hoa.r.s.ely laughed, appearing to be in a good mood. “What is there to say? I unintentionally fled to the Scattered Star Seas. I truly didn’t expect to be brought back to the Heavenly South so soon.”
Violet Spirit pursed her lips in a smile and playfully said, “Since Brother Han is a lord of the land, he must properly entertain us sisters of course!” Because she feared that her stunning beauty would arouse trouble, she had already restored her original appearance to when she had first met Han Li. However, Han Li still felt shaken by her beauty as if he could see it through her disguise.
“Hehe! Of course. However, I’ve lost all relation to my sect after fleeing to the Scattered Star Seas. How could I possibly be a lord of this land? However, I’m going to give you each a jade slip that I made in particular to translate the script and language of the Heavenly South. Since you won’t be able to return to the Scattered Star Seas for a while, you may as well learn the language. It will make things far more convenient in the future.” Han Li then took out two white jade slips he had made the previous night and handed it over to them.
“Hehe! Many thanks, Brother Han!” Violet Spirit was initially stunned, she soon thanked him a chuckled and accepted the jade slip.
Mei Ning also took the jade slip and gratefully whispered thanks.
“However, I imagine you two will have your plans for the future. As for me, I will be preparing to inquire what has happened in the Heavenly South Region the past couple hundred years before immediately finding a cave residence for secluded cultivation. Because I’ve faintly felt that I’ve already reached the peak of Core Formation stage, I want to make preparations to form a Nascent Soul.” After Han Li said this, he sipped on the fragrant tea before him and lightly pursed his lips, calmly paying attention to the women’s reaction in front of them.
After a moment of consideration, Violet Spirit’s luminous eyes rippled as she said, “I’ve only formed a core just recently and I’ve yet to stabilize my cultivation. I also intend on finding a cave residence to cultivate for a time before further planning what to do. Little Sister Mei, what do you intend on doing?”
After a moment of hesitation, she muttered,“I... I don’t know. I’ve only reached mid Foundation Establishment stage. Based on my apt.i.tude, my hopes of reaching Core Formation are quite slim. Apart from finding a heaven-defying spirit medicine, my only hope is to find a high grade cultivator and marry him as a concubine. Perhaps I will be able to form a core through pair cultivation!”
Violet Spirit shook her head and dissuaded her, “Don’t you feel indignity from marrying as a concubine? How will that do?”
Han Li frowned in response, but he remained silent.
Violet Spirit continued, “Becoming a concubine isn’t much different from becoming a cultivation vessel. If you were to come across a malicious high grade cultivator, it wouldn’t be unimaginable for him to regard you as a cultivation vessel. This plan isn’t reliable.”
When Mei Ning heard this, she bit her lips in silence with a sad expression on her face.
After seeing Mei Ning’s sad face, Violet Spirit suddenly thought of something and covered her smile in her hand before saying, “Even if little sister wishes to become a concubine for pair cultivation techniques, then it would be best to find a reliable person you are familiar with. For example, I feel like Brother Han would be very reliable and wouldn’t wrong little sister in the slightest.”
Han Li was shocked, but soon he calmly rubbed his nose as if this had nothing to do with him. Mei Ning then let out a gasp of surprise and her face soon blushed, revealing a gorgeous allure. She then lowered her head in silence as if she didn’t oppose Violet Spirit’s scheme.
After all, Han Li held deep cultivation that had already reached late Core Formation stage. Although he was about to prepare to condense a Nascent Soul, from her experience in the Umbra Realm, she came to realize that Han Li wasn’t an insidious or unfeeling person.
As a result, even if she didn’t have the qualifications to become his Dao companion, she would be quite satisfied to become his concubine.
With her alluring beauty and cultivation, it was inevitable that she would attach herself to a powerful male cultivator. Else, she would encounter great difficult in the cultivation world, or worse, she would immensely suffer at the hands of others. And with her brother gone, she only had herself to rely on, causing a dreadful encounter to become all the more likely.
The atmosphere in their private room suddenly became exceptionally stale following Violet Spirit’s words.