"That's most likely the case. The companions of those two are most likely far more powerful than our disciples could contend with. It looks like they've had their eyes set on our Zhao Family from the very beginning, and they intentionally lured us out of our family's fortress yesterday. The devilish lizards must've been their primary targets. Otherwise, they wouldn't have entered the Illusion Howl Desert so soon," the first elderly man sighed in a resigned manner.
"Where did those bastards come from? How dare they plot against our Zhao Family! If we don't make them pay for what they did, our Zhao Family's reputation will be swept to the ground!" the second elderly man spat through gritted teeth.
"It won't be easy to exact vengeance on them. The two people who lured us away only displayed Spatial Tempering Stage cultivation bases, but that's most likely not their true power," the first elderly man said with a shake of his head.
The other elderly man immediately drew a sharp breath upon hearing this. "You're saying those two are also devilish lords? Could it be that the people who infiltrated our Zhao Family were devilish lords as well? In that case, it's no wonder they dared to plot against our Zhao Family! When did this group of devilish lords arrive in our Illusion Night City? We haven't heard anything about this at all!"
"That's hard to say; perhaps the others were only subordinates to those two. Even so, those two definitely possess powers that aren't inferior to ours, and they've already entered the Illusion Howl Desert, so there's nothing we can do. As for why we haven't heard anything about them, perhaps they disguised their cultivation bases and appearances or just stayed outside the city this entire time," the first elderly man mused.
"Are we really just going to let this matter slide?" the other elderly man said in an indignant manner.
The first elderly man seemed to have already considered this, and he replied, "According to the news we received, those people only killed several inconsequential disciples and left everyone else in our Zhao Family fortress alive. As for the devilish lizards that we lost, that's quite a heavy blow to our family, but not a fatal one. As for our reputation, we'll just have to find some people we don't like and declare them to be the accomplices of those people, then kill them in a public display."
The other elderly man was silent for a moment before stomping a foot in frustration and rage. "We're just fooling ourselves then! I can't just swallow something like this!"
"You have to! You and I are our Zhao Family's only remaining backers; if something happens to either one of us, then there's a good chance that our Zhao Family will fall into a sharp decline, so you have to curb your own temper for the sake of our family. Having said that, if you insist on having them killed, we could perhaps borrow the hands of others to kill that group of people," the first elderly man said with a dark expression.
The other elderly man's expression changed slightly, and he asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"Contact the people at the Beast Lord Palace and ask them to strike in our stead; there's a stash of devil stones in our Zhao Family that can be used to compensate them. However, regardless of whether the Beast Lord Palace succeeds or not, this will be the only attempt that we make. If those people manage to survive, I forbid you from plotting against them any further. On top of that, don't reveal our identities when contacting the Beast Lord Palace," the first elderly man said with a serious expression.
"Rest assured, Brother, I know what to do. Hehe, even if those monsters from the Beast Lord Palace don't manage to kill them, they'll at least leave them with a nasty memento. If we spend that stash of devil stones, our Zhao Family will have to operate on a tight budget for quite some time," the other elderly man sighed in a slightly forlorn manner.
"Hmph, those old monsters are all just as if not more powerful than you and me, and they also possess far more battle experience than normal devilish lords, so of course it'll be expensive to hire them. However, it's not reasonable to ask them to enter the Illusion How Desert to pursue those people, so we'll have to ask them to strike once they emerge on the other side," the first elderly man harrumphed coldly.
"As long as the Beast Lord Palace sends people out to all of the cities near the Illusion Howl Desert, they'll definitely be able to find those people. Having said that, we don't know how much time those people will spend in the desert," the other elderly man said in a concerned manner.
"We've already suffered such heavy losses, so we might as well see this through till the end; just hire them for a century-long term. If those people stay in the desert for 100 years, then we'll just have to accept our bad luck. Let's not delay here any longer; we should return to the city," the first elderly man said.
The other elderly man naturally had no objections to this, and thus, the two of them rose up into the air as streaks of black light before flying back toward Illusion Night City.
Only after four months had passed since Han Li and the others had entered the Illusion Howl Desert did the majors families of Illusion Howl Desert dare to send their disciples into the desert again.
At this point, the stir caused by the Zhao Family's stolen devilish lizards had already subsided, and the Zhao Family had drawn a connection between this event and Han Li's disappearance, but they didn't have any evidence, so they naturally wouldn't declare this to the outside world.
Thus, time quickly passed by, and a year later, there was no longer anyone mentioning the Zhao Family incident.
40 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
On this day, a massive sandstorm was brewing on a certain part of the border of the Illusion Howl Desert. The entire area had transformed into a sea of wind and sand, and nothing could be seen within it.
All of a sudden, several giant devilish beasts sprang out of the sand before landing firmly on the ground.
These devilish beasts were a series of giant eight-legged lizards, and they were carrying nine disheveled riders.
These were none other than Han Li and the others.
However, following their lengthy journey, only five of their original 10 devilish lizards remained.
In terms of outward appearance, Han Li and the others didn't appear to have changed at all compared to 40 years ago, but all of them were currently wearing expressions of excitement and elation.
"We've finally gotten out of this accursed desert! Seeing the same scenery for several decades on end really is an unbearable experience; even seclusion for 100 years isn't as grueling as this journey," the woman from the Ye Family said with an elated smile.
Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns was riding on the same Eight-footed Devilish Lizards as the woman from the Ye Family, and she said, "Traveling through a desert for several decades is indeed no easy feat. On top of that, we encountered the three devilish scourges of the desert on multiple occasions and lost half of our Eight-footed Devilish Lizards."
She then suddenly turned toward Han Li before continuing, "Having said that, the most perilous thing we encountered was that late-Body Integration Stage Sand Shadow Beast, and it trapped us in the desert for several years. If it hadn't been for Fellow Daoist Han putting an end to the beast with that powerful ability, perhaps we wouldn’t even have been able to emerge from the desert at all."
"You're far too kind, Fairy Thousand Autumns; I wouldn't have had the opportunity to land the final blow if Fellow Daoist Zhi Shui hadn't trapped it first," Han Li said as he cast a glance toward the Spirit being by the name of Zhi Shui.
"Hehe, both of you have done exceptionally well to get rid of that fearsome Sand Shadow Beast. Now that we've emerged from the Illusion Howl Desert, let's follow our original plan and split up here," the Long Family patriarch suggested as he stored the devilish lizards away.
"I see no issue with that," Han Li said with a faint smile.
They had already devised a specific plan for how they were going to proceed once they emerged from the desert.
Even though this Illusion Howl Desert was known as a restricted area to normal devilish beings, it was only s
lightly dangerous to Body Integration Stage beings like them. The only thing that was rather frustrating to Han Li was during the last half of the journey, he had unleashed some of his true power to kill a devilish beast that was very adept at concealing itself, and the others had spotted him as he was unleashing those abilities.
Following that event, everyone became a lot politer toward him, but also far warier as well.
Han Li could only pretend that he hadn't noticed this minute shift in everyone's attitudes.
The Spirit beings also agreed to the Long Family patriarch's suggestion, and thus, they split up into several groups before flying toward different directions.
In order to prevent themselves from being followed, they had decided to split up and make the journey from the Illusion Howl Desert to the Devilish Origin Sea in several different groups.
Of course, even though they were taking different routes, their destination was still the same.
Even though they were taking a risk by splitting up, this would minimize the possibility of attracting attention from other devilish beings.
Chapter 2077: Azure Luan True Blood
The Long Family patriarch would be traveling with Elder Hui, Han Li had been paired up with the woman from the Ye Family, and the Spirit beings had also split up into two groups that were led by Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns and Bai Qi.
After flying for close to 10,000 kilometers, the woman from the Ye Family suddenly stopped, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon a black flying boat.
This was a black and completely nondescript devilish treasure that was over 100 feet in length, and the woman from the Ye Family flew onto the canoe before making an inviting hand gesture toward Han Li.
Han Li naturally accepted the invitation and flew onto the boat as well.
The woman from the Ye Family smiled, and said, "This Blackjade Boat is a flying devilish treasure that I purchased in Blood Crow City. It's quite fast, and traveling in it would make us more inconspicuous."
"This is indeed quite a fine devilish treasure; that's very thoughtful of you, Fairy Ye," Han Li said with a smile.
"You're far too kind, Brother Han; I'm sure a treasure of this caliber is nothing in your eyes. Let's continue our conversation in here." The woman raised a hand as she spoke to summon a ball of white light, which transformed a yellow cloth puppet that stood on guard while she made her way toward the cabin at the center of the boat.
Han Li nodded in response and followed her into the cabin.
The cabin was around several tens of feet in size, and it was complete with all types of basic furniture; there were even several black futons sitting in the corner.
The cabin appeared to be able to house four or five people at once, which was quite spacious considering the size of the boat.
Han Li and the woman from the Ye Family each took a seat on a chair, following which the latter said, "Brother Han, now that there's no one else with us, I'd like to discuss something with you in private. What I'm about to talk about next concerns the route that we're going to take, so I didn't want anyone to overhear us."
"Oh? Please go ahead."
Han Li immediately recalled that the woman seemed to have chosen this route in advance and had taken the initiative to invite him to form a partnership with her. She was the only one among this group of companions that he was on relatively friendly terms with, and it didn't really make much of a difference to him what route they took, so he was naturally willing to follow her lead.
However, it now seemed that this woman had some type of ulterior motive.
"You possess heavenly phoenix blood within your body, right, Fellow Daoist? There's no need to try and deny it; I've heard about the transformations that you displayed during the battle of Deep Heaven City. On top of that, there is a secret technique passed down in our Ye Family that allows me to sense heavenly phoenix aura when it's present. However, what I find to be very peculiar is that I can also sense several other auras from you, and each of them is no less powerful than the heavenly phoenix aura. I can't decipher exactly what they are, but thinking back to your transformations, I assume you have several types of true spirit blood within your body, is that right, Brother Han?"
Han Li's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, but his expression remained calm as he replied, "Seeing as you've already figured it out, I'll admit that I did indeed manage to obtain some true spirit bloods during my travels in the primordial world. Why have you decided to ask me about something like this now?"
"There's no need to be concerned, Brother Han; I have no interest in the origins of your true spirit bloods. However, seeing as you're able to fuse different true spirit bloods into your body, I was wondering if you'd be willing to refine another type of true spirit blood," the woman from the Ye Family replied in a nonchalant manner.
"What do you mean by that? Do you possess another type of true spirit blood?" Han Li asked as a hint of surprise flashed through his eyes.
"I don't have any true spirit blood on my hands right now, but we can find some in a place that we're going to be passing through," the woman replied with a mysterious smile.
"What place are you referring to?" Han Li asked as a slightly cautious look appeared in his eyes.
"Iron Sand Ridge," the woman from the Ye Family replied without any hesitation.
"Iron Sand Ridge? Isn't that the territory of the Azure Wing Race? What true spirit blood can be found there?" Han Li asked in a surprised manner.
"The Azure Wing Race isn't a very powerful race in the Elder Devil Realm, but there are some special beings among them who have inherited true spirit blood; it's just that very few people know about this," the woman from the Ye Family said with a cold smile.
"Who are these special beings that you're referring to Fellow Daoist Ye?" Han Li asked.
"I'm naturally referring to the core members of the Azure Wing Race. Just like the true spirit families of our human race, not everyone in the Azure Wing Race inherits the true spirit bloodline; only an extremely small proportion of them are blessed with such a bloodline. Regardless of how pure the bloodline is, any Azure Wing being verified to possess a true spirit bloodline will immediately enjoy a meteoric rise in status in the race," the woman from the Ye Family explained.
"In that case, there must be many people plotting against them, so they're most likely very heavily guarded by their brethren; how are you so confident that we can obtain their true spirit blood? On top of that, your Ye Family already possesses the heavenly phoenix bloodline, so why are you willing to take such a risk? Could it be that your Ye Famly also mastered a secret technique to fuse other types of true blood?" Han Li asked.
"Of course not, but do you know what type of true spirit bloodline the Azure Wing Race has inherited?" the woman from the Ye Family chuckled.
"Please enlighten me, Fairy Ye," Han Li prompted.
"Are you aware of the most renowned types of ancient true spirit birds, Fellow Daoist Han?" Instead of giving a direct answer, the woman from the Ye Family replied with a question.
"I do. Aside from the heavenly phoenix, there's the Kun Peng, Ghost Dove, and Azure Luan," Han Li replied.
"The bloodline inherited by the Azure Wing Race belongs to the Azure Luan, and they possess some of the Azure Luan's innate abilities; do you understand why I'm' willing to take such a risk now? Truth be told, I had discovered this even before entering the Elder Devil Realm, and if it weren't for this, I may not have been willing to take this risk. In a sense, this Azure Luan True Blood is even more important to our Ye Family than the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus, so I truly hope that you can lend me your assistance. Speaking of which, the Long Family and the Spirit beings clearly all have ulterior motives as well. Otherwise, why would they agree to split up so easily?" the woman from the Ye Family urged.
Han Li was ecstatic to hear this, but he still maintained a calm facade as he said, "I see. I heard that the Azure Luan and heavenly phoenix originally share the same bloodlin
e, but they evolved into two different types of beings due to the different abilities that they cultivated. You're trying to take advantage of this opportunity to obtain another type of true spirit blood that the members of your Ye Family can inherit, is that correct?"
Azure Luan True Blood was one of the types of true blood in the 12 Awakening Transformations that he could refine, so if he could obtain it, he would be able to take another major stride in the cultivation of his 12 Awakening Transformations.
At the stage where his 12 Awakening Transformations was currently at, one more type of true spirit blood could immediately enhance the powers of his other transformations significantly.
"Indeed, Brother Han. Our Ye Family was able to inherit the heavenly phoenix bloodline, so I'm sure their bodies wouldn't reject the bloodline of the Azure Luan. If we can inherit this bloodline as well, then it'll be a simple matter for us to overtake the Long Family as the number one true spirit family in the future. On top of that, if I can refine the Azure Luan bloodline and combine it with my heavenly phoenix bloodline, my powers will also be enhanced significantly, and there's even a chance I'll be able to progress to the Grand Ascension Stage someday." The woman's eyes began to light up as she spoke.
Han Li contemplated the proposal for a long while before finally asking in an indifferent voice, "What will I be getting out of this aside from the true spirit blood?"
The woman from the Ye Family was ecstatic to hear this, and she immediately replied, "You'll get a huge sum of spirit stones that's not inferior to what a normal sect would be able to accumulate over a span of 10,000 years, and our Ye Family will owe you a massive favor. If you ever need our assistance for anything, our family will be willing to give you our unreserved aid on one occasion."
"Alright, let's shake on it," Han Li said as he extended a hand out of his sleeve.
The woman immediately extended a hand as well, and they shook hands as an elated look appeared on her face.
"The Azure Luan True Blood must be very difficult to obtain considering the heavy price you're willing to pay, right, Fairy Ye? I've already agreed to help you, so tell me where the difficulties lie," Han Li prompted in a calm voice.
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