The Moulan Sacred Bird’s disappearance was soon known to both sides of the battlefield, causing a ma.s.sive turnaround in morale. The spell warriors found themselves vastly in shock, and the cultivators with their spirits roused.
When the shriveled old man and Tian Zhong saw this while they were in battle, they wore an expression of disbelief. The Sacred Bird can’t have disappeared because it ran out of lantern oil. The only possibility was that a cultivator has extinguished the Bright Origin Lantern.
The two Divine Sages couldn’t have known that the Moulan Lineage treasure had fallen into Han Li’s grasp once again. From how they saw it, with their late Nascent Soul stage cultivators occupied and their other cultivators suppressed by the Sacred Bird, there was no possibility of a breach of Spell Warrior Le’s defenses. This terrible reality has come as a vast surprise.
Han Li had stealthily arrived by the side of the Weeping Soul Beast before making a reappearance. By that point, the Weeping Soul Beast had already exterminated a majority of the refined corpses. The remaining fraction of them had been hastily withdrawn by the Yin Sifting Sect’s cultivators as it was only a matter of time before all of the Copper-armored corpses were eliminated.
Having absorbed so much undead Qi, the Weeping Soul beast grew even larger and its fur s.h.i.+ned with even stronger black light. It appeared completely strengthened.
Of course, there were many black-robed cultivators and spell warriors who wished to exterminate the huge ape. However, Long Han fully understood that this strange huge ape was the key to dealing with the Copper-armored Corpses and immediately dispatched men to protect it.
There would occasionally be those that made it past, but Silvermoon would lead them astray with her illusion techniques, sending them off to their doom.
By the time Han Li made it back, the Weeping Soul Beast was finis.h.i.+ng off the final Copper-armored Corpses that have yet to be withdrawn. He waved his arm at the beast, and in a flicker of black light, the beast shrunk and flew into a spirit pouch at his waist in a streak of black light. When Silvermoon saw this, she approached him from behind.
Having withdrawn the Weeping Soul Beast, Han Li thought to say something further to Silvermoon when a kilometer of the sky was suddenly covered in dark clouds, countless bolts of green lightning flas.h.i.+ng from within. Han Li glanced at the sky in awe.
“Who is it? Who is it that killed my wife!? I will take your soul and wipe it away!” The thunderous roar of the Yin Sifting Sect Master echoed through the skies. When Han Li heard this, he felt his heart thump and he gloomily watched him.
“Why are you so quick to leave before victory has been decided. I wish to experience your demonic techniques!” Quickly following after the black-robed man’s shout was Devil Concord’s faint voice. Soon after a grey mist shot out from the sky and blocked the black clouds from moving.
“I have no intention of sparring with you. Leave me be or I won’t hold back.” The piercing voice of the Yin Sifting Sect Master echoed through the sky.
Devil Concord chuckled. “You won’t hold back? Surely you haven’t been holding back during our last fight? Go ahead and show me what you have.”
The black-robed man was silent for a spell before gloomily responding, “Fine. Since you have no sense of propriety, I won’t be wasting any more time on you. I’ll have you witness the might of my sect’s treasure, the Ghost Sifting Banner.” By the end of the sentence, it seemed almost as if the Sifting Yin Sect Master was smiling.
“The Ghost Sifting Banner?” Devil Concord voice appeared to carry curiosity.
This short exchange of words was cause for astonishment for the cultivators fighting down below. It also came as a great surprise to many that the Yin Sifting Sect’s Dao Companion had already fallen into the hands of the Heavenly South cultivators.
Han Li’s expression remained calm, but once he saw that Devil Concord blocked off the Yin Sifting Sect Master, he felt greatly relieved. He didn’t want to be chased down again by a late Nascent Soul cultivator.
At that moment, everyone believed that Devil Concord and the Yin Sifting Sect Master were about to descend from the skies and carry out their battle down below when something else occurred. A fierce whistle traveled from the direction of the Moulan, followed by the arrival of tensome streaks of various colored lights.
Before the streaks of light approached the spell warriors, someone had already shouted towards them, “Divine Sages, quickly stop the fight! Something had occurred at the Moulan Plains!” The voice spread throughout the battlefield, amplified by some sort of secret technique. Soon after, the streaks of light quickened and entered the battlefield.
When those words were uttered, a majority of the battle had paused as both cultivators and spell warriors glanced over in astonishment. The shriveled old man felt his heart sink at these words and his enemies had ceased attacking from the surprise as well.
The shriveled old spell warrior took advantage of this moment to disengage from the battle and fly towards the tensome spell warriors that had just arrived.
Long Han hesitated for a moment, but he didn’t pursue them. The shriveled old man had the advantage in the previous battle. There wasn’t anything to be gained by pursuing him.
It was rather strange that these spell warriors had the cultivators hear the message to, but that was a matter to be left alone for another time. Since they’ve mentioned the Moulan Plains, the matter might have something to do with the Soaring Tribes.
Han Li also watched the shriveled old spell warrior with an odd expression and stared at the tensome streaks of light. The lights all disappeared to reveal variously dressed spell warriors. They were being led by a yellow-robed spell warrior possessing mid Nascent Soul cultivation, much to Han Li’s surprise.
It was odd for such a powerful spell warrior to not be a.s.signed to the battlefield. Could it be that he was guarding something important? Regardless, it only added credibility to his words.
As for Devil Concord and the Yin Sifting Sect Master, they had silently disappeared into the clouds.
When the shriveled old spell warrior saw the yellow-robed spell warrior, he wore an incredulous expression. Before he could even speak, the yellow-robed spell warrior flew to his side and spoke to him through voice transmission, causing the old man’s expression to grow sullen. Afterwards, the yellow-robed spell warrior handed over a jade slip to him.
The old man received the jade slip and read through it. A short moment, his complexion grew pale. After a quick word with the yellow-robed spell warrior, the old man turned around and gloomily flew towards Long Han.
When he arrived in front of Long Han, he calmly said, “We will not be continuing the war. The battle is over. Otherwise, a third party will reign over us both.”
Long Han’s expression flickered and he neutrally said, “What do you mean by that? If you want to stop this battle, you must give me a reason.”
Because of Han Li’s unexpected displays of might, both the Copper-armored Corpses and their Sacred Bird have been dealt with, evening out the battle. Long Han unconsciously felt that the spell warriors were retreating out of fear.
The spell warrior sullenly asked, “Did you send a group of cultivators to infiltrate Soaring Heavens City’s storehouse?”
Long Han hid his alarm and maintained a calm exterior. With a flicker of his eyes, he calmly replied, “It seems you’ve discovered this matter.”
“Discovered?” The old man snorted with a furious expression and calmly said, “Were it not for the interference from the third party, it was likely you would’ve succeeded.”
“The third party?” Long Han frowned upon hearing this.
Saying nothing further, the shriveled old man continued the conversation through voice transmission.
When Long Han heard what he said, he cried out in alarm, unable to maintain his calm. “What, so it was like that?”
“With matters having reached this far, what do I have to gain by lying to you?” The old man bluntly said.
Long Han frowned and grew silent for a moment before suddenly raising his hand and releasing a talisman towards the air. It suddenly transformed into several golden spheres of light and erupted with blinding magnificence. Suddenly, the cultivators ceased attacking and hastily withdrew back to the defensive spell formation. The withdrawing cultivators appeared like swarming bees returning to the nest.
Without the need for any commands, the spell warriors also withdrew. The Bloodvile Ghost and the stone giant were forced to cease fighting in particular. In an instant, the battlefield became entirely empty.
With both sides separated, it was clear to see that there were many casualties. However, there weren’t many losses amongst high-grade cultivators on both sides.
The spell warrior camp was somewhat better off. Although they were somewhat bewildered, they ultimately kept calm. But on the cultivator’s side, there was a huge uproar. A few high-grade cultivators were speaking with Long Han to understand the situation. However, Long Han would only bitterly smile in response, to the dissatisfaction of the cultivators around him.
At that moment, the dark clouds and grew mist separated in the sky to reveal the silhouettes of Devil Concord and Yin Sifting Sect Master, coldly staring at each other. At that moment, the sounds of battle in the sky had instantly ceased, and soon after, Wei Wuya and Master Sunreach both flew down from the sky. Their appearances came as a great relief to the cultivator camp.
A short moment later, the scholarly man surnamed Zhu and the dwarf flew down from the sky as well, arousing a series of cheers from the Moulan.
Once the three great cultivators have returned, Long Han began to speak to them. But out of fear of panic, they could only limit the information to a select few. Only cultivators at mid-Nascent Soul stage and a few others were allowed to listen. With a few simple restrictions protecting them, they began to speak of the terrible news that the Moulan had told them.
Due to Han Li’s amazing display of might during this battle, it was only natural for him to partic.i.p.ate as well.