“Thank you for the trouble Marquis. And apologies for the wait!” After a few polite words, Han Li followed Marquis Nanlong inside.
The building’s interior was completely bare, to Han Li’s shock. But after he swept his spiritual sense through the building, he discovered restriction fluctuations throughout.
The Marquis smiled upon sensing Han Li’s actions and said, “This small trick of mine can’t be concealed from Fellow Daoist Han of course. Please follow me.” He then formed an incantation gesture with his hand and flung a golden mist from his sleeve.
With the appearance of the golden mist, the unremarkable interior flickered with white light, revealing a set of dark stone steps.
Marquis Nanlong wordlessly descended down the stairs. Han Li frowned, but he followed him all the same.
The stairs were rather short. After only a moment, they arrived before a small underground hall.
There were a few moonlight stones that were softly illuminating the room.
The hall had eight cultivators. Six of them were sitting and the other two were a man and woman pair standing together.
When Marquis Nanlong and Han Li walked in, all of them simultaneously glanced at them.
“It’s you!” The man that was standing couldn’t help but shout in shock at the sight of Han Li’s appearance.
A bright glint appeared from Han Li’s eyes. His sights fell onto the face of a late Core Formation cultivator. He caught sight of a deeply familiar silver mask. After a moment of shock, Han Li sneered.
That man was the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect, w.a.n.g Chan, who had pursued him in the past [1]. He had the same silver mask, but the youthful rage contained in his eyes was replaced with an varied arrangement of emotions.
“I didn’t expect that I’d see an old friend here. What a surprise!”
“How is this possible? You... You condensed a Nascent Soul?” The Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master voice was hoa.r.s.er than from his youth, but the terror in his voice was unmistakable.
The black-robed, middle-aged scholar sitting in front of him coldly asked, “What the matter? You recognize this Fellow Daoist?”
“Second Uncle, this person is the Yellow Maple Cultivator surnamed Han. During that year, he...”
The middle-aged scholar revealed a trace of shock, but he frowned and decisively said, “There is no need to speak of it. Fellow Daoist Han is already a Nascent Sou cultivator. He won’t bring himself down to a junior’s level.”
He then gently smiled at Han Li and amiably said, “I am the Ghost Spirit Sect Master w.a.n.g Tiangu. My nephew had an overexaggerated opinion of his own abilities in the past and had committed many offenses, but I hope Fellow Daoist Han will overlook these matters for my sake.”
“Those matters with Fellow Daoist w.a.n.g is merely a matter of the past. With so many years gone by, how could I still bear a grudge? Your esteemed self need not worry!”
Han Li glanced at the black-robed man and smiled as if he truly planned to let bygones be bygones. However, Han Li inwardly sneered. The Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master had nearly taken his life two times, forcing him to take the risk of leaving the Heavenly South. How could such hatred be easily resolved?
Were it not for the many Nascent Soul cultivators present, and the Ghost Spirit Sect Master in particular, he would’ve immediately taken w.a.n.g Chan’s life. For now, all he could do was examine the others and see whether or not they were Devil Dao cultivators. If he didn’t keep his grudge in check, it was possible that he would be surrounded.
At that moment, Marquis Nanlong took the opportunity to cut in, “Hehe, so it turned out that Fellow Daoist was from Yellow Maple Valley. I originally believed you came from the Drifting Cloud Sect. However, it is great that Fellow Daoist was able to let go of this old enmity. After all, I’m sure that everyone I’ve invited doesn’t wish to see such an unhappy affair occur.”
w.a.n.g Tiangu smiled, but as one of shrewd mind, he wasn’t about to easily believe Han Li’s words. He then nodded and said, “Fellow Daoist’s open heart has truly earned my admiration. Be completely at ease Fellow Daoist Han. When I return I will most certainly punish my nephew. But for Fellow Daoist Han to have climbed from Foundation Establishment stage to Nascent Soul stage in a mere two hundred years, that is quite unbelievable. Perhaps in a few more
hundred years, it may be possible for Fellow Daoist to reach late Nascent Soul stage. As the rest of our apt.i.tudes are poor, it is a rather unattainable goal.”
Once that was said, all of the other cultivators present has vastly changed expressions.
Han Li inwardly cursed and felt bone aching hatred towards the Ghost Spirit Sect Master. This clear word of praise intended to mark a target on him.
After a long moment of silence, a tan man asked with an odd tone, “Fellow Daoist hasn’t yet
reached three hundred years of age?”
“Sect Master w.a.n.g must be joking. I’ve only recently entered Nascent Soul stage. How could I dare to have high hopes of achieving late Nascent Soul stage? It would take countless years.” Han Li casually touched on the matter before sweeping his gaze past everyone in the room.
At that moment, he discovered that there was an amazingly beautiful late Core Formation woman standing at w.a.n.g Chan’s side. She was also standing behind w.a.n.g Tiangu.
The woman’s calm appearance suggested that she was an exceptional character. He had heard the the top clan in the State of Yue, the Yan Clan, had secretly left the country to immediately join the Ghost Spirit Sect. Additionally, this woman Yan Ruyan had married w.a.n.g Chan and possessed Heavenly Spirit Roots. Han Li couldn’t help but suspect this woman was her.
As for the six that were seated, they were all Nascent Soul cultivators. The only one that was a mid Nascent Soul stage cultivator apart from the Marquis was a white-clothed beardless old man.
After taking several more glances at those present, Han Li’s gaze met the old man’s and he
immediately s.h.i.+vered. His gaze contained a penetrating and chilling cold. However, Han Li had casually turned his head and avoided his gaze.
When the old man saw this, he faintly smiled.
At that moment, Marquis Nanlong called out for Han Li to sit down. Without any hesitation, Han Li found an empty seat and sat down with undue deliberation. Afterwards, he glanced at w.a.n.g Chan with a mysterious gaze.
Although the young master of the Ghost Spirit Sect was full of terror, he managed to keep a calm exterior in the presence of w.a.n.g Tiangu. Regardless, he still felt immense trepidation at what Han Li’s eyes seemed to suggest.
In the past, their cultivation were a match, but his current jump to Nascent Soul stage was much cause of resentment and alarm. As of Yan Ruyan, she glanced at Han Li with bright eyes. It was unknown what she was thinking.
Once Han Li saw this, he sneered before paying them no further heed.
As the group’s leader, Marquis Nanlong stood at their center and spoke with a deep tone, “There are Fellow Daoists that are from the Righteous Dao, Devilish Dao, and there are even a few vagrant cultivators among you. However, you are all similar in which your spiritual senses are exceptionally vast. It is for that reason that I’ve asked all you Fellow Daoists to come here today.
A portion of you should already have a general idea of the matter, but a majority should be ignorant of the matter. I will be giving a thorough briefing on the matter before everyone can decide to partic.i.p.ate in the matter. If you are unwilling, I will not force you.”
When Han Li heard this, his spirits were roused. The heart of the matter has finally arrived.
A stern-faced cultivator sitting across from the black-robed man suddenly said, “Hehe! I don’t care about the others, but why are those two Ghost Spirit Sect Juniors here? Don’t tell me that their spiritual senses are a match with ours.” At that same moment, he gave a hostile glance at w.a.n.g Tiangu as if they were enemies.
The Marquis predicted this would happen and spoke as if he already had an answer, “Fellow Daoist Long, you will have to overlook it. Although their cultivation isn’t very high, they are proficient in secret techniques. When they later join their spiritual senses with ours, they will provide a significant boost. You should know that it is difficult to find cultivators with spiritual senses as powerful as ours, regardless of how their spiritual sense became so strong.”
The stern-faced cultivator expressionlessly replied, “Since that’s the case, pretend I never said anything!”
The other cultivators had no complaints and glanced at Marquis Nanlong, waiting for him to start.
Marquis slowly swept his eyes past everyone present and slowly said, “The reason I’ve gathered everyone here is for the purpose of traveling to the Moulan Plains.”
“The Moulan Plains?” Marquis Nanlong’s words came as a large surprise to most of those present, Han Li included.
[1] w.a.n.g Chan was last seen in chapter 363, and had tormented Han Li several times in the past.