Han Li was overjoyed at the sight, while the green-robed woman’s face instantly turned deathly pale. A look of extreme fury flashed across her face as she raised both hands, unleashing a vast expanse of white radiance. Simultaneously, the white lotus beneath her spun wildly, sending a mountain-like surge of lotus shadows upward.
However, the purple clouds above flickered with light, evading the white radiance before revealing a vast, hazy purple net that descended swiftly. Instantly, the purple light, white radiance, and the ensuing lotus shadows collided violently in midair. From above, the tinkling laughter of Silvermoon echoed once more.
Behind the purple net, the light dimmed, revealing Silvermoon’s tall figure. She smiled as she held the ancient treasure—a flower basket—in her hands. Within it, white light flickered, trapping the ancient bronze lamp in place, rendering it immobile. Once they returned and erased the green-robed woman’s spiritual imprint from the lamp, anyone could wield this ancient treasure.
Han Li was naturally ecstatic as well, but before he could even show his excitement, the disheveled figure who had just stumbled into the area caught sight of Han Li and the green-robed woman in combat. The man—none other than the elderly Ma—turned his head frantically toward Han Li and shouted in panic, “Fellow Daoist Han, run! The Mulan Divine Master is here! Fellow Daoist Lu has already been killed! If we don’t leave now, it’ll be too late!” The old man was missing an arm, his hair disheveled, and his face filled with terror.
“The Mulan Divine Master?” Han Li was startled by the words and was about to ask for details when the old man’s body suddenly glowed with white light, signaling his intent to flee without daring to linger for even a moment. But just then, a calm male voice followed closely behind.
“Too late! This Divine Master has already found you. You escaped last time by sacrificing an arm, but now, let’s see what other secret techniques you have left. Surely you haven’t refined your other arm into a substitute puppet as well? If so, I might actually be somewhat impressed… Hmm? Isn’t that our Mulan’s Yuanming Lamp? Little fox, you’ve got quite the nerve, daring to lay hands on our Mulan’s ancestral treasure. Such an item is not for the likes of a demon like you.” The man’s voice was deceptively slow at first, as if still distant, but in the blink of an eye, it seemed to come from right beside them. His final words carried a hint of surprise as he instantly recognized Silvermoon’s true form as a white fox.
A streak of silver light shot out from the sea of mist, appearing slow at first but reaching Silvermoon in an instant.
Silvermoon’s face paled as she hastily waved a hand, summoning a purple net before her while simultaneously darting backward without hesitation.
Yet the silver streak merely paused briefly before transforming into a massive silver hand, which seized the purple net with brute force. Then, from a distance of over ten zhang, the silver hand clenched into a fist and struck lightly toward Silvermoon’s fleeing figure.
The yellow streak of light that was Silvermoon was struck mid-flight by a silver sphere that appeared out of nowhere. With a sharp cry, her light dispersed, and she plummeted downward. However, she was quick-witted—gritting her teeth against the pain, she hurled the ancient treasure in her hand toward Han Li in the distance as a streak of white light.
“Seeking death!” The voice from the silver hand now carried a hint of anger. With a flash of light, the silver hand split into two—one lunging for the flower basket treasure, seizing it instantly, while the other reached menacingly for Silvermoon, poised to crush her into dust. Both movements were executed with lightning speed.
Silvermoon, horrified, tried to summon her spiritual power to escape, but a flash of silver light rendered her completely powerless. The void strike had not only wounded her but also placed a simple restraint on her. Though it could be easily broken, she had no time to do so now.
As the massive silver hand loomed over her like a mountain, Silvermoon’s heart turned cold. She closed her eyes, resigned to her fate. Just then, a thunderous crack sounded behind her, and an arm wrapped around her waist.
“Go!” Han Li’s cold voice rang out abruptly. Another thunderclap followed, and both Han Li and Silvermoon vanished, the silver hand grasping at empty air.
The next moment, Han Li reappeared dozens of zhang away at the edge of the dense mist, one arm around Silvermoon’s slender waist, the other gripping the massive sword glowing in cyan and purple. His expression was grim and solemn.
“Oh? Lightning Evasion!” The silver hand’s voice carried surprise. The other silver hand, clutching the flower basket, flew back in an instant. The two hands collided, erupting in a blinding silver radiance. When the light faded, a middle-aged Confucian-robed spellcaster stood in its place, one hand holding the purple net, the other gripping the flower basket treasure. His gaze calmly assessed Han Li in the distance.
At the sight of this man, the elderly Ma’s face turned ashen. Though his spiritual light flickered incessantly, he dared not attempt to flee.
Han Li, meanwhile, studied the first late-Nascent Soul cultivator he had ever encountered. At this level of cultivation, unless one counted the rarely seen Deity Transformation cultivators, such individuals were virtually the pinnacle of the cultivation world.
The middle-aged spellcaster surveyed the surroundings, his gaze lingering briefly on the green-robed woman before he tossed the flower basket treasure—along with the bronze lamp inside—back to her.
“Many thanks, Divine Master Zhong, for your timely aid. Otherwise… How did Brother Zhong come to be here?” The green-robed woman, overjoyed at the return of her bronze lamp, expressed her gratitude profusely. Despite her usual cold arrogance, she dared not show the slightest disrespect to one of her clan’s three Divine Masters.
“It’s nothing. I merely heard that the Tiannan cultivators had dispatched reinforcements to various formations, and that the one called Tianku on your side had met a bizarre end. I came to ensure everything was in order. We must provide a reasonable explanation to those Great Jin cultivators—we still need them, after all. But with a Lightning Evasion user among them, no wonder even the Venerable Le found them troublesome.” The Confucian scholar spoke calmly, his expression unchanging.
He then turned to Han Li in the distance and asked indifferently, “Is this little fox yours? Quite bold, to dare lay hands on our Mulan’s ancestral treasure. Since you’re her master, you may as well accompany her on the journey ahead.”
“Hmph! Big words. Even if I hadn’t taken that lamp, would you have let me leave? If you want my life, let’s see if you have the skill to take it.” Han Li’s eyes narrowed as he took a deep breath, his voice icy.
The Confucian scholar’s gaze swept over Han Li’s massive sword, pausing at the eerie sight of the cyan and purple flames coexisting. A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes, but he quickly resumed his nonchalant demeanor. “Heh. It’s been years since I’ve met a cultivator daring enough to speak to me like this. Venerable Le, handle the one-armed cultivator over there. This Lightning Evasion practitioner is mine. Let’s see how long he lasts.”
A cruel glint flashed across the scholar’s face. Without summoning any treasure, his figure blurred, and silver light flashed to his sides, revealing two identical copies of himself—same robes, same expression. All three gazed at Han Li as if he were already dead.
Han Li inhaled sharply. His spiritual sense swept over them but found no distinction between the clones and the original—their cultivation and aura were identical. Though shocked, he placed a hand on Silvermoon’s shoulder and whispered something quickly.
Silvermoon nodded obediently. Having already dispelled the restraint within her, she transformed back into her small fox form in a flash of white light and darted into Han Li’s sleeve.
Meanwhile, the three Confucian scholars floated toward Han Li with deliberate slowness. Yet in just two or three steps, they closed the distance to a mere ten zhang.
Han Li’s expression changed drastically. Without hesitation, silver wings unfurled on his back, and he vanished instantly.
“Trying to flee? Where do you think you can go?” The central scholar chuckled before he and his two counterparts shimmered with silver light and strode leisurely in pursuit. Two steps through the void, and they too disappeared.
Seeing this, the ashen-faced old man suddenly sprang into action, transforming into a white streak of light and shooting off in the opposite direction without a word.
The green-robed woman sneered, forming a hand seal and transforming into a gust of wind to give chase. With the Divine Master pursuing Han Li, she had no worries. This Tiannan cultivator didn’t know Lightning Evasion—there was no way he could escape her. As for the formation, without a Nascent Soul cultivator to maintain it, breaking it would be child’s play.
—
The sky was overcast in a desolate, uninhabited stretch of wilderness. A thunderclap echoed as a silver arc flashed, revealing Han Li’s pale face. Once steady, he glanced back anxiously, his expression dark with frustration.
“Silvermoon, how many days have we been fleeing?”
“About four days and nights. That man truly lives up to being a late-Nascent Soul cultivator. The moment you stop to rest for even half a ke, he catches up. Is there really no way to shake his spiritual sense lock? This is too dangerous. Even with the Ten-Thousand-Year Spirit Milk replenishing your energy, your Evil-Warding Divine Thunder is nearly depleted. Without Lightning Evasion, you can’t outrun his Earth-Spanning Technique. That profound art is no weaker than teleportation—in some ways, it’s even superior. If not for your quick thinking in avoiding direct confrontation and focusing solely on escape, once he closed in, even Lightning Evasion might not have saved us.” Silvermoon’s worried voice echoed in his mind.
“A late-Nascent Soul cultivator’s spiritual sense can lock onto a target hundreds of miles away. Though I take pride in surpassing mid-Nascent Soul cultivators in spiritual power, I’m still no match for a true late-stage expert. After all, I haven’t fully mastered the Great Development Art—several layers remain beyond my grasp. Once this is over, I’m heading straight to the Far West to obtain the remaining incantations. I never realized how heavily I relied on superior spiritual sense until now. Without it, so many techniques become unusable.” Han Li let out a bitter laugh, his voice tinged with resentment.
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