“There was no one on top of the tower, only a mannequin created from an illusion technique. It seems like he was occupied with something.”
These words caused them to stare at each other, not knowing what to do for quite some time.
Chapter 306: Crisis
“Could it be that they fled in advance because Fifth Sister fed them our information? Or could this be some sort of trap?” the middle-aged woman asked with a face full of worry.
“Impossible. If the enemy truly set up a trap, it would have triggered as soon as we entered. At that moment, we wouldn’t have been able to guard against it.” Han Li shook his head and rejected this.
When the others heard Han Li’s words, they couldn’t help but let out a breath of relief, but they still looked around in every direction. As expected, they didn’t find anything unusual.
“Senior, what should we do next? Should we first retreat and act on a different day?” the second brother asked, hesitant.
“Let’s first go and find that Steward Wang! If he is not here, then we will end today’s operation and retreat immediately,” Han Li coldly replied.
After hearing Han Li’s words, the Four Friends of Meng Mountain looked at each other and then silently nodded their heads.
Han Li released some Daoist magics to retrieve his boundary cores and took the lead, stealthily heading to the side of the Prince’s estate. The others then closely followed behind him.
Although Steward Wang’s residence wasn’t multistoried like the young prince’s, it was still a small three-room courtyard.
When Han Li and the others arrived nearby, one of the rooms was unexpectedly faintly lit, as if someone had yet to go to sleep.
Han Li raised his brow. It seemed this trip wouldn’t be fruitless.
With this thought, Han Li made a few precautionary incantation gestures to conceal himself and immediately used the nameless Qi restraining technique he had just learned. The spiritual Qi of his entire body immediately dissipated without a trace, as if he had become a common mortal.
Han Li’s figure flashed, and he suddenly appeared crouched by the wall outside of the room, pressing his ear against it.
Because this Steward Wang gave Han Li a great feeling of danger, Han Li didn’t have the confidence to release his spiritual sense and have it probe the room for information.
However, after Han Li listened for only a short moment, he flew back with a drastically changed countenance. He immediately concealed himself behind a huge flowering tree.
This scene greatly surprised the Four Friends of Meng Mountain, who all witnessed from nearby. However, they then heard Han Li’s voice, “Be careful. The young prince is in the room. Act with your own discretion!”
These words immediately caused their hearts to tremble. They all coincidentally held their breaths and carefully looked at the room, not daring to make the slightest noise.
Creak. The door opened. A youth wearing a light green embroidered gown walked out. This was none other than the young prince of Prince Xin’s residence.
After he turned his head and softly said a few words toward the room, he walked a few steps into the courtyard. The door shut itself behind him.
Soon after, the light behind the room’s paper shutter flashed several times before being completely extinguished. It seemed whoever was inside had retired for the night.
Han Li expressionlessly stared at the prince’s every movement. What caused him to feel puzzled was that he didn’t feel the slightest magic power from him. However, a faint feeling of danger was enough for Han Li to determine he should be a disciple of the Black Fiend School.
Perhaps because he was still in his own home, this young prince didn’t return in any hurry. Instead, he walked around like a common mortal, stretching himself and looking at the bright moon in the sky. He suddenly sighed.
Soon after, he actually paced around the small courtyard with a worried expression as if he was occupied with some difficult problem.
It seemed he wouldn’t leave for a short while, causing the Four Friends of Meng Mountain to feel greatly helpless!
Acting now naturally wouldn’t do. Because Steward Wang was in the side room, a fight would naturally rouse him and cause no small problem.
The best method would be to wait for the young prince to return to his dwelling and strike the targets separately.
Fortunately, these people were all cultivators and had much patience. Because they were all well-concealed, they hadn’t exposed themselves in the slightest during this entire time.
After the time it takes to eat a meal, this young prince eventually stopped strolling around and walked out of the courtyard.
This caused the ambushers to feel joy!
However, the following scene greatly surprised these people, immediately causing their rage to soar.
Just when the young prince was about to walk out of the courtyard, he suddenly used an illusion technique. At an unknown time, he had taken out a set of clothes and quickly changed into them. He was masked and wearing blood red in the blink of an eye, dressed just like the person who told them to rob and kill Han Li.
Although the four friends were filled with rage, they knew what was important and resisted their impulses with great difficulty. Now, they had great trust in Han Li’s words. They knew they were pursuing the correct target.
Having changed his clothes, the young prince faintly released a demonic Qi from his body and strong magic power fluctuations of the eleventh layer of Qi Condensation. He did not return to his dwelling. Instead, he threw a long, blood-red magic tool into the sky, and with a flash, he flew out on it.
Seeing this, Han Li’s eyes flashed with yellow light, and he immediately transmitted a message to the other four, “Follow him. Regardless of where he goes, make sure to capture him as he is on his way.”
Heeding Han Li’s orders, the Four friends of Meng Mountain impatiently followed after him on their flying magic tools.
Han Li, who was left alone to monitor Steward Wang, had deliberately waited in place a while longer.
Seeing that nothing strange occurred in the room, he hesitated for a moment. Still not at ease, he threw out his Divine Wind Boat and followed after them.
The speed of Han Li’s Divine Wind Boat couldn’t be compared to the Four Friends of Meng Mountain’s magic tools. After a short moment of following their spiritual Qi marks, he arrived at a desolate temple outside of Yuejing.
The Four Friends of Meng Mountain were floating in midair. They were bustling around with an ashen complexion and an appearance of continuous indecision. After seeing Han Li, they immediately welcomed him with pleasant surprise.
“What’s the matter?” Seeing this, Han Li wrinkled his brow and slowly asked.
“We followed him here, but just as we thought to act, he suddenly made his way into the abandoned temple. We don’t know whether that young ghost discovered us. Also, there are restrictions laid down at this temple, what appear to be formation spells. We rushed in for a moment but luckily, we immediately withdrew. We didn’t dare to try again, fearing that there may be others lying in ambush within.” Seeing Han Li displeased, the dark-faced old man hastily stepped forward to explain.
“Formation spell?” When Han Li heard this, he felt as if he had a great headache.
Han Li wasn’t proficient in the Dao of Formation Spells. However, as he was facing these people, he indifferently said, “Let me take a look at it!” Then, he took a careful look with the Heaven’s Eye Technique.
As expected, the area surrounding the ruined temple had abnormal spiritual Qi fluctuations. But after Han Li took a clear look, he let out a large sigh.
This was only an exceptionally simple Falling Stone Formation, one of the simplest earth attribute formation spells. Although rogue and Qi Condensation cultivators may find this formidable, a small formation spell of this grade was something Han Li could easily break through with brute force even if he didn’t know the specific method to break this
formation.
With this thought, Han Li wordlessly touched his storage pouch and then scattered something from his hands. Immediately after, four tall beast puppets appeared in front of him. Having previously suffered from Han Li’s puppet technique, the four friends subconsciously took a few steps back.
Han Li didn’t pay attention to their alarm and controlled the puppet beasts. They all opened their mouths at the same time and shot huge beams of light with the thickness of a bowl toward the ruined temple.
Just as the beams of light were about to strike at the ruined temple, a huge semi-circle barrier of faint light suddenly appeared, completely covering the small temple. It was faintly emitting yellow light.
The beams of light struck the light barrier.
The yellow light barrier immediately rippled and started to tremble, rigidly withstanding the assault of light beams.
But at this moment, Han Li acted without the slightest hesitation. He took out his pair of Black Dragon’s Grasps and immediately enlarged them to the size of about three meters. Then he fiercely threw them out toward the light barrier.
The sound of a sharp rupture rang out. The light barrier was no longer able to endure the succession of strong attacks and had thoroughly collapsed. The Falling Stone Formation disappeared into thin air.
Having seen this, the Four Friends of Meng Mountain let out a cold breath.
They did not fully understand what it meant to break a formation spell with brute force.
This proved that Han Li’s offensive strength was at the very least several times more powerful than the formation spell barrier’s power. Otherwise, the formation would easily dissipate an attack with equivalent power since it drew assistance from the ingenuity of formation principles. The others had just recently suffered a bit from this formation spell and judged this Falling Stone Formation to be quite formidable.
“Descend! We absolutely can’t let him get away!” Han Li said with an icy expression.
As of now, the Four Friends of Meng Mountain had completely accepted Han Li and immediately agreed, charging downward.
But at this moment, Han Li and the others heard a sneer from behind them.
“Are you looking for me? This temple was only a temporary stronghold for my school. Right now, there is no one inside!”
This voice immediately caused the Four Friends of Meng Mountain, who were halfway through their charge, to nearly fall off their magic tools from fright. They hastily turned their heads to look, but their faces immediately became pale from lack of blood.
About a hundred meters above Han Li and the four friends was the young prince who they had just pursued and a similarly dressed thin, shriveled man next to him. Beside them were over ten black-clothed masked men. From the looks of it, they were just like the Four Friends of Meng Mountain, nearby cultivators whom the Black Fiend School had placed restrictions on.
However, what was most eye-catching was the large, bald, eyebrowless man with a strong spirit.
He also wore blood-red clothing, but he didn’t bother to conceal his face.
This person was a Foundation Establishment cultivator just like Han Li!
Seeing this, the Four Friends of Meng Mountain all felt an urge to escape death.
Chapter 307: Blood Servant
When Han Li heard the young prince’s voice, his complexion slightly changed, turning a bit pale.
But when he slowly turned around, his expression returned to normal; the slightest panic couldn’t be seen. Instead, a trace of a cold smile could be seen from the corner of his mouth. He coldly looked at those from the Black Fiend School and that bald Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Han Li’s calm expression influenced the Four Friends of Meng Mountain, whose hearts grew slightly calmer. After giving each other a mutual glance, they all acted in concert and flew behind Han Li, standing in opposition against those from the Black Fiend School.
“It’s you! Aren’t you that person from the Qin Residence? You are a Foundation Establishment cultivator?”
When the young prince saw Han Li’s appearance, he had an extremely astonished expression. Although that thin, shriveled man who stood beside him had remained silent, great surprise could be seen from his eyes.
Only the large bald man who was rigidly staring at Han Li looked upon him with a solemn appearance. He suddenly said, “Be a bit careful. That person is a Foundation Establishment cultivator and is also a layer higher than me. It is likely I’ll need to lay out a Black Wind Formation and draw assistance from the formation to capture him.”
Hearing the large bald man say this, the young prince didn’t show any worry on his face. Instead, he asked with pleasant surprise, “Sir Blood Servant, if that’s the case, the rewards for offering this person as a blood sacrifice for the School Master’s cultivation should be quite good, no?”
When the large man heard this, he answered with a chuckle, “Of course. All of the Foundation Establishment cultivators we captured so far were only at initial Foundation Establishment. This person’s blood essence is certain to be far greater than the previous few!”
With confirmation from the large bald man, the young prince greedily turned his head to look at Han Li and suddenly laughed heartily.
“Good, very good!” Regardless of the reason why your esteemed self has come here, don’t think that you will leave this place alive.”
“Lay down the Black Wind Formation! Go!”
After the young prince stopped smiling, he shouted this with a cold expression and a stern voice.
Those black-clothed individuals immediately took out large, jet-black flags and quickly flew around Han Li, surrounding him. Furthermore, they started to wave the flags in their hands.
“You all just defend. Let me handle them.” After Han Li indifferently said this to the Four Friends of Meng Mountain, his image became indistinct and disappeared from his original location without a trace.
“Be careful!”
When the bald large man saw Han Li disappear, he loudly shouted from bewilderment, but it was already too late.
Han Li appeared behind a black-clothed person in an instant. The cultivator who was just waving the flag had immediately stopped and blankly stood in place. Then without any warning, his head soon rolled onto the floor and blood fountained out of the headless body before falling to the floor.
It was at the moment that the large bald man had just finished the last word of his shout.
This scene caused the hearts of the other flag-holding cultivators to tremble. They were left stunned, not knowing what they should do! Han Li soon appeared behind another cultivator from thin air, and he promptly died with his head also rolling on the floor.
Having seen this, the other black-clothed cultivators didn’t dare to hesitate. They all stopped waving their black flags, and they slapped on their colorful defensive talismans and took out all sorts of defensive magic tools.
But in the blink of an eye, two more black-clothed disciples in the process of preparing their defenses suffered Han Li’s cruel attacks and unexpectedly turned to corpses.
“Brat, you’re courting death!”
When the large bald man saw this, he gave a deep roar and released strange black-red lights from his eyes. His entire body released a bloody radiance as he charged toward Han Li at an astonishing speed.
Han Li took a cold look at the large man’s stance along with the bloody sphere of light covering his body before taking a look at the black-clothed men looking at him with alarm from within their defensive light barriers. At that moment, their figures decisively shot over a hundred meters away from the Four Friends of Meng Mountain.
The large man charging through the air released a bestial roar. Without the slightest hesitation, he immediately changed direction and continued to pounce toward Han Li and the others, but for some unknown reason, he didn’t take out any magic tools.
Seeing this, the second brother’s mind moved. He saw an opportunity and immediately raised h
is hand, silently shooting out a green triangular thorn toward the large man’s front.
When the large bald man saw this magic tool fly toward him, his face turned into an evil grin. Not only did he not stop, but he also rushed toward to welcome it.
The tall and thin second brother grew very happy and excitedly said, “This guy is out of luck. My magic tool is a fine high-quality magic tool. It will certainly make him... Ah! How is this possible? My green pointed thorn!”
Just as he started rambling, he was stunned by the scene before his eyes and involuntarily cried out.
When this triangular thorn touched the blood-red light covering the large bald man, the blood-red light radiance seemed alive. It suddenly swept in the magic tool force, and no matter how much the magic tool struggled, it was unable to break free in the slightest.
“Hehe, you dare to make a show of such a minuscule thorn!” The large man wildly laughed and extended a large blood red hand, forcibly grabbing the triangular thorn. The green light of the magic tool in his grasp immediately scattered; it had thoroughly turned to scrap, completely devoid of Spiritual Qi.
At this moment, not only did the Four Friends of Meng Mountain appear greatly fearful, but Han Li’s heart also heavily thumped. This large bald man definitely didn’t cultivate any common cultivation arts. It was most likely a top-grade devilish art like the Ghost Spirit Sect’s young master.
The large bald man didn’t allow Han Li and the others to think further and arrived in front of them in an instant. A huge blood-red first was raised and fiercely smashed against the light barrier that the Four Friends of Meng Mountain had jointly erected.
Peng! The light barrier that four Qi Condensation cultivators had jointly released was left with a deep depression after just one strike and immediately grew very dark.
The complexions of the four friends suddenly changed. Such a ferocious punch would likely turn common defensive magic tools into scrap metal.
“Senior, could you...”
The dark-faced old man turned his head in a hurry and wanted to see whether Han Li had some method to block the opponent.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 166