Han Li’s spiritual sense discovered that there was a yellow gale surging across the horizon. It was over three hundred meters tall and carried both stone and sand. It was truly malevolent as if an evil dragon had sprung from the earth.
But since his spiritual sense was nearly on par with late Nascent Soul cultivators, he was able extend his spiritual sense part the fifty kilometer range of the other cultivators. With the Great Development Technique circulating through his body, his spiritual sense condensed and entered the sandstorm.
However, his spiritual sense grew dim after entering the sandstorm. He was only able to immerse his spiritual sense three hundred meters into the storm, but he was unable to see anything.
Marquis Nanlong grimaced and said, “Impressive. This should be the Moulan’s Wind Spirit Technique! When I had fought against a spell warrior in the past, they had used this world enveloping spirit technique. Once it is deployed, it is capable of block any probing and its violent sandstorm is capable of self protection and trapping enemies. It is truly troublesome. However, I’ve never seen it at such an astonis.h.i.+ng scale. It seems thousands of times greater in scope. Strange.”
“A Moulan spirit technique?” The others’ expressions changed upon hearing him.
w.a.n.g Chan and Yan Ruyan both paled upuon hearing this. But since they had the weakest cultivation in the party, they didn’t dare to speak out of place.
The white-clothed old man solemnly said, “Brother Nanlong speaks true. Only spirit techniques are able to create such astonis.h.i.+ng sandstorms. Moreover, from the might of the spirit technique, there are certain to be many spell warriors contained within it. We will not be able to breakthrough them with the strength of our current party.”
The old woman bewilderedly asked, “How is that possible? Why has the Moulan suddenly dispatched so many spell warriors?”
“Lady Tai, when was the last time we had ceasefire with the Moulan?” w.a.n.g Tiangu asked with an odd expression.
“It should’ve been about a hundred years ago. Does Brother w.a.n.g mean...” The old woman seemed to suddenly realize something.
w.a.n.g Tiangu wryly smiled and insipidly said, “About a hundred years ago... That should’ve been enough time for the Moulan to gather their strength.”
Marquis Nanlong wore an expression of helplessness and softly said,“Brother w.a.n.g speaks true. It should be time for the start of another war. Who knows how many cultivators will fall this time. But as chance would have it, we’ve run into the Moulan vanguard.”
The white-clothed old man sullenly said, “There are truly too many coincidences in this world, so this matter isn’t too shocking. However, we only have two options. We can return and avoid our encounter with the Moulan vanguard, biding our time for a more opportune moment to look for the treasure. After all, the treasure won’t be going anywhere, but the Moulan a.s.sault will certainly last for many years. We will not be able to return to the treasure in a short amount of time. Additionally, the world is constantly changing. It will be difficult to gather everyone once more after so much time had pa.s.sed.”
The old woman shook her head and said, “There is no need to even consider it. We should definitely take the second option and break through the winds. However, the risk is truly too great. If there are only fearsome old ghosts lying within the sandstorm. It would be difficult for us to succeed. Could it be that there is no way of avoiding them?
The old man muttered to himself for a moment before solemnly saying, “I fear it is too late. If the Moulan fully commit to their attack, it won’t just be a vanguard. Even if we go around, we will still encounter them. But if it is just a matter of retaining our concealment as we enter, it shouldn’t be a problem if we sneak past their sides. So long as we get past the Moulan vanguard, we will be able to evade the main force of spell warriors with enough time. Then we will be able to do as we please in the defenseless Moulan Plains and allow us to make off with the treasure without any worries.”
The others discussed the old man’s proposal and felt that it was the only option. After all, it would take many more years before this opportunity arose once more if it were given up now. Of course, retreat couldn’t even be considered if they weren’t Nascent Soul cultivators. Their lifespans wouldn’t have been able to endure the wait.
Of course, before heading into the Moulan Plains, they each sent letter talismans to the closest Nine Nations Union stronghold to prevent them from being caught unprepared for the upcoming Moulan attack. This was considered something of an obligation given that they were cultivators of the Heavenly South.
Afterwards, the party of nine restrained their aura and concealed themselves as they stealthily flew off to the side, wis.h.i.+ng to avoid the center of the sandstorm where the winds blew the most fierce.
Because w.a.n.g Chang and Yan Ruyan possessed weaker cultivation, w.a.n.g Tiangu had paid them particular consideration and covered them in a huge light barrier. A moment later, they disappeared from Han Li’s sight.
But when Han Li saw this, he sneered. With is spiritual sense, w.a.n.g Tiangu and his juniors couldn’t possibly escape his notice.
The dense sandstorm closed the fifty kilometer gap in an instant. It carried a faint pressure similar to that of demons. Before the sandstorm had arrived, tornados began to cut through the earth as they led the way. Fortunately, they had kept their distance from the center and were able to avoid the tornados as they swept past them.
The larger tornadoes were over a thirty meters wide and while the smaller ones were only about ten meters wide. They each seemed to contain several spell warriors.
Han Li remained hidden in close proximity to them and was able to clearly sense them with his spiritual sense. The blurred, vague silhouettes within the tornadoes hadn’t discovered Han Li and company. They simply continued on their way.
Under the cold gaze of Han Li and company, they watched the spell warriors quietly go on their way.
Closely following after the tornadoes was the tremendous sandstorm. Standing at the very front, Marquis Nanlong’s expression changed as he warned the party with a voice transmission, “Not good! Be careful at the side!”
When Han Li heard this, his face revealed alarm.
A huge tornado that was about three hundred meters wide and unfathomably tall was tearing towards them from a distance. Such a huge tornado was certain to be controlled by many spell warriors. Could it be that someone had discovered them?
Han Li took a deep breath and couldn’t help but awaken his Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. Although he had long heard of the grand reputation of spell warriors, he had never personally witnessed their might. However, he couldn’t bring himself to look forwards to this under the current circ.u.mstances.
The others were glancing at the huge tornado with vigilant expression. There were those that had hands glowing with faint light and those that had already prepared their magic treasures.
However, the huge tornado had swept close by them as if they hadn’t detected them, much to the relief of Marquis Nanlong and the rest of the party.
After a short delay, the vast sandstorm immersed all of them and their surroundings became dense with dark yellow. It was a rather stifling atmosphere.
Marquis Nanlong calmly shouted, “Be on guard. This sandstorm is strange. Do not release your spiritual sense and don’t stray too far either.”
Although the party members were able to easily disperse of the sand, it would reveal their movements. Fortunately, the yellow sand quickly blew past them quickly, providing them the cover they needed to carefully move forward close together.
However, after the time it took to finish a meal, Han Li felt that their was something amiss as he monotonously swept his gaze around.
Suddenly, Han Li blurred and he reappeared floating in the air.
Han Li’s sudden actions came as a shock to the rest of the party.
The old woman frowned and annoyedly asked, “Fellow Daoist Han, why did you stop?”
Han Li expressionlessly said, “Don’t you feel that something is amiss?”
“What do you mean?” The tan man blurred and he reappeared at Han Li’s side.
When w.a.n.g Tiangu and the white-clothed old man heard this, they glanced at each other for a moment before revealing an expression of bewilderment.
With an unsightly expression, Han Li said, “You Fellow Daoists should’ve been able to sense it without having me to say it. How is it that we’ve been in this sandstorm for so long and we’ve yet to encounter even a single spell warrior? Don’t tell me that the spell warriors have all gathered at the center of the sandstorm. Our surroundings have yet to change as well! You should all know what this means!”
The tan man wore an unsightly expression and muttered, “There is someone that secretly used a restriction against us.” His eyes brightly glinted as he swept past his surroundings.
After a moment of silence, Marquis Nanlong nodded his head and sullenly said, “Fellow Daoist Han should be telling the truth. I also feel that something is strange. It seems we’ve been truly detected and they’ve used a technique to deal with it. A fight is unavoidable!”