Chapter 298: Capturing Alive

“Where would you like to go? Would you like me to give you a ride?”

Just as the group was about to take out their flying artifacts to leave, a cold voice suddenly rang out from above.

The voice was icy and piercing, startling the four masked individuals. They immediately cast protective spells and scattered before daring to look up.

Several dozen feet above them, Han Li stood emotionless on his Divine Wind Boat, his robes fluttering in the wind. His gaze was cold and penetrating.

The hearts of the four sank simultaneously. They wondered in unison: When did this person return? How did we not notice at all?

“Scatter!” the leader shouted without hesitation.

He swiftly retreated backward, and a disc-like artifact flew out from within his robes. He stepped onto it and soared into the sky.

The other three also chose different directions and fled in a panic.

They all understood clearly that they stood no chance against a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Their best hope for survival was to flee immediately.

The young woman among them had the weakest cultivation. Even as she fled on her artifact, she couldn’t help but glance back at Han Li in the sky.

To her surprise, Han Li remained motionless on his boat, showing no intention of pursuing any of them. This both puzzled and delighted her, filling her with hope that she might escape unscathed.

But at that moment, an ear-piercing shriek suddenly came from in front of her.

Startled, the woman turned her head and saw a dazzling red arrow-like light shooting toward her with menacing force.

In her panic, she raised her hand and could only manage to throw out an Ice Spear Talisman she had been holding.

The crystalline ice spear met the red light, erupting into a cloud of white mist. However, it failed to stop the red arrow, which continued onward and struck her water-attribute protective barrier.

Instantly, red and blue lights exploded before her eyes.

The impact sent her stumbling backward several feet, but her barrier held. She breathed a sigh of relief.

Furious and alarmed, she looked ahead, wondering if the Foundation Establishment cultivator had companions lying in ambush.

When she saw the attackers clearly, her eyes widened in disbelief beneath her mask.

Floating in mid-air were two soldier-like puppets clad in iron armor. One held a large bow, drawing another identical red arrow, while the other wielded a thick-backed longsword glowing with yellow light, slowly advancing toward her.

Though shocked that inanimate objects could attack like living beings, she knew she had to destroy these puppets to escape.

Gritting her teeth, she pulled out a shimmering blue flying dagger from her storage pouch.

This was a top-tier artifact she had acquired by spending all her savings. She usually hesitated to use it, but now, escape was her priority.

“Go!” she whispered.

The blue flying dagger shot toward the puppet approaching her, arriving in an instant and slashing fiercely at its head.

But to her dismay, the puppet raised its longsword with astonishing speed, deflecting the dagger with a sharp clang. It continued its steady advance.

Panicked, the woman directed her dagger to circle back and strike from behind the puppet.

To her astonishment, the puppet, as if it had eyes on its back, deflected the dagger once again.

Now truly flustered, she tried to think of another plan when the shrieking sound returned—the archer puppet had fired another arrow.

With no other choice, she dodged to the side, hoping to evade it.

But the red arrow followed her movement as if guided, forcing her to block it head-on. The impact sent her stumbling back again.

By then, the sword-wielding puppet had closed in, ruthlessly hacking at her protective barrier.

The woman hastily retreated to avoid the blows.

Caught between the close-range and long-range attacks of the two puppets, she was forced into constant retreat despite her considerable skills, with no chance of escape.

As she struggled to fend off the puppets with her flying dagger, sweating profusely, the melee puppet suddenly leaped back, disengaging. The archer puppet also lowered its bow, ceasing its attacks.

Bewildered by this turn of events, she heard a sigh from behind. “Alas! Fifth Sister, you’ve been forced back too!”

Hearing this, she froze, then slowly turned around.

Behind her stood the other three masked men, dejected and surrounded by three to four puppets each. Besides the soldier-like puppets, there were also beast-like puppets resembling tigers and leopards.

Despair filled her eyes as she scanned the area. Unknowingly, she had been driven back to her original position.

Her three brothers seemed listless, as if under some restraint.

The masked woman glanced up at Han Li in the sky, then resignedly dropped her flying dagger to the ground, offering no further resistance.

Seeing this, Han Li coldly raised his hand, and several green lights shot into the woman’s body. She felt a foreign object enter her, and her spiritual energy stagnated, becoming impossible to circulate.

Without wasting time questioning the four, Han Li beckoned, pulling them all into his Divine Wind Boat.

This was no place to linger. If experts from the opposing side arrived, trouble would follow.

Choosing a direction far from Yuejing City, Han Li transformed into a beam of white light, carrying the four away with him.

Not long after Han Li left, two figures dressed similarly to the captured four appeared on the hill, though their robes were a deep, unsettling blood-red.

After scanning the area, they stood before the large crater Han Li had created.

After a moment of silence, one of them sighed and said, “It seems the Mengshan Five have failed.” His voice sounded aged, suggesting he was no young man.

“Hmph, useless trash! Not only did they fail, but they were likely captured alive. There’s no scent of blood here, so it seems they were subdued easily,” the other said disdainfully. He appeared young, around twenty years old.

“This is troublesome. The Mengshan Five weren’t pushovers, or we would’ve sacrificed them outright instead of sparing them. They probably either faced overwhelming numbers of Qi Refinement cultivators or a Foundation Establishment expert intervened,” the older one said, his tone tinged with worry.

“What, are you afraid they’ll leak secrets? They’re only peripheral followers newly recruited by our sect. They know none of our secrets. Besides, I placed a hidden curse on them before sending them out. They have at most half a day to live,” the younger one said lightly, unconcerned.

“Oh, that’s good. With only half a day, they shouldn’t be able to reveal anything. By the time they realize something’s wrong, they won’t be able to speak,” the older man said, relieved.

But then his tone turned cold. “Still, what happened? Wasn’t it agreed that the old Taoist Wu would act as your puppet master, allowing you to gradually make an appearance in the cultivation world? That way, our core disciples could establish legitimate identities. Why did you suddenly break into his room and drain his essence? You shouldn’t need his energy for nourishment.”

Hearing this, the younger masked man laughed bitterly and said helplessly, “Do you think I wanted to do that? I had no choice!”