About two weeks later, a clear and long shriek sounded from the outside. Although it wasn't loud, it roused Han Li and the others that were resting.
Han Li’s brow moved and he opened his eyes.
He blinked and tilted his head in thought. Then he stood up and walked out of the ice building.
There was a spacious area in front of the ice building, but at an unknown time, it turned into an icy hall that was three hundred meters long. It was supported by many huge pillars of ice. Although they were exceptionally crude, it sparkled under the sunlight and gave it an imposing presence.
Inside the hall, there was a ten-meter-tall platform where a man and a woman stood.
The man had a head of silver hair and a handsome young face. As for the woman, she wore her hair in a coil and had a well-rounded body, adding to her exceptional beauty. Despite her bare, frail and flawless limbs, she didn’t seem to mind the cold.
The two were at the Spatial Tempering stage. The man in particular was at mid-stage.
The long whistle came from the silver-haired man.
Five people were standing below the platform. Fairy Ying and Old Man Liu stood among them. When the whistle sounded, Han Li and the others came out from their buildings.
In the blink of an eye, over twenty cultivators appeared on the mountain.
The cultivators were all at the Deity Transformation stage at the very least. They walked to the hall with various expressions.
Han Li wore a calm expression as he followed them inside.
When the group entered, many people immediately said, “We pay our respects to Senior Zhu and Senior Qing!”
“These two Seniors have also come! It is good to see you again!”
Han Li soon found an empty spot and stood there unmoving.
The two that originally visited and invited him were the pair of famous golden guards, the woman and man on stage.
Although he only spoke to them once, he had heard much about them. If they weren’t also ascended cultivators, Han Li didn’t know if he would've agreed to this meeting, no matter what rewards were promised.
Senior Zhu’s long whistle had come to a stop and he smiled in response to everyone’s greeting. Then he loudly said, “It appears everyone has come. Please have a seat. Let’s have a proper discussion on how we’ll clean up the nest of Blue-eyed True Toads.”
When he finished speaking, the woman at his side immediately released a spell seal on the floor.
Suddenly, the ice hall lit up with white light and rows of exquisite jade chairs appeared as a result of simple spell formations.
When the cultivators saw this, they took a seat. The two Spatial Tempering cultivators on stage also sat down.
The silver-haired man swept his gaze to both sides and smiled, “It appears that the number of cultivators that arrived was what we expected. When we invited you, we assumed forty percent would be able to make it. As for the others, they couldn't make it for a myriad of reasons.
But even so, we will have to concentrate our efforts in exterminating the Blue-eyed True Toad next. When the time comes, we will all take what we need. You will divide the True Toad Spirit Blood among yourselves while we will take the Thousand Heart Flowers that the beasts are guarding.
It is as we had mentioned before. Are there any objections? Of course, the division of True Toad Spirit Blood will be in accordance to what you contribute. It won’t be evenly split. I hope that you will stifle your thoughts about having a free ride.”
With that said, a huge pressure faintly emitted from his body and his face turned stern.
The other cultivators in the room remained standing and added nothing else.
“Good, since you understand, let’s discuss the operation’s concrete steps. The group of True Toads were discovered by Fairy Ying. Let’s have her explain,” the youth smiled and turned to the veiled woman.
“Senior Zhu, your wish is my command.”
Fairy Ying smiled and she gracefully stood up. She swept her gaze past the other cultivators and said, “I won’t speak of how I discovered the True Toad nest, but I can tell you that there are nearly ten toads. The two fully mature toads are around the level of mid Spatial Tempering. The other toads will be at Nascent Soul strength. The toads have always hidden in the depths of their nest and rarely head out. If we wish to attack their nest, it will become very difficult. After all, it will be difficult for us to fight them in that environment.
With that said, the woman briefly paused and continued, “If it was just that, there would be no need to invite you all here. The crucial point is that there are two types of ferocious beasts living nearby. One of them is the Black Blood Ants with the other being a Shadow Insect Beast.
The two insects might not be anything alone, but they live together in a group over a hundred. If we want to deal with the toads, we’ll need to deal with these insects first.”
“Black Blood Ants?”
“Shadow Insect Beasts.”
…
When they heard the masked woman, most of the cultivators began to whisper. There were even a few that didn’t dare to discuss the topic with their neighbors.
The two insects were actually quite infamous. If the insects were three, they would pose a large threat even against Spatial Tempering cultivators.
After she finished speaking, the veiled woman nodded to the silver-haired youth and sat back down.
Senior Zhu calmly said, “There is no need to be nervous. Since we’ve invited you here, we already have a method to deal with them. We only need you to assist us with vigor!”
An old man with a bamboo hat stood up and bowed, saying, “Senior Zhu! It’s not that we don’t trust you, but the matter appears quite dangerous. Could Senior explain his plan?”
The old man was one of the few late Deity Transformation cultivators.
“So it was Fellow Daoist You. Please sit back down. Even if you didn’t mention it, I still would’ve explained.” Senior Zhu smiled nonchalantly.
The old man didn’t speak any further and sat down with a salute.
“It’s quite simple, the two insects may be troublesome, but we’ve purchased Sandalwood Crane Incense. It has an immensely powerful attractive allure to the Black Blood Ants. So long as we light it from a distance, we can easily attract them to the surface and exterminate them. On the contrary, the Shadow Insects are troublesome to deal with. However, we’ve borrowed a set of Profound Heavenly Lightning Flags. With eight of you using this treasure, we can form a ring of lightning and restrain the insects. Apart from that, we also invited Fellow Daoist Han and Fairy Xiao, who both have techniques that will be effective against the insects. With you two assisting the lightning formation, it should be safe. As for the remaining few, they will join with me and my wife in exterminating the True Toads. How do you feel about this?” Senior Zhu’s voice wasn’t loud, but it was easily heard.
When Han Li heard Senior Zhu mention his own name, his expression stirred and he swept his gaze past the hall, finding that many were looking in his direction.
There was also a woman wearing silver-white robes that appeared in her twenties. She possessed a dainty appearance and looked at Han Li with a warm smile.
Han Li unconsciously returned the smile and curiously thought, ‘Could it be she is Fairy Xiao? She also cultivates an ability that can restrain the Shadow Insects?”
Follow that, other cultivators would occasionally ask a question.
Fairy Zhu answered all of the questions with a friendly tone, satisfying all the cultivators present.
However, Han Li took notice that the beautiful woman at his side rarely said a word from the very start. She merely stood there with a smile.
Han Li found this odd.
He recalled that when they invited him to this meeting, only the handsome youth seemed to speak. She hadn’t spoken at all.
Could it be that the woman is a high-ranking Buddhist and practices that strange technique that requires a vow of silence? Otherwise, if she were deaf or mute, how would she be able to cultivate to this stage?
Han Li inwardly pondered.
After two hours passed, there were no other questions and Senior Zhu began to divide them.
It stood to mention that apart from Han Li and Fairy Xiao, there were actually many cultivators among them that practiced a rare lightning technique, allowing them to use the Profound Heavenly Lightning Flags and form a ring lightning formation.
All of those present were ascended cultivators or the descendants of ascended cultivators. None of them had been born naturalized with this world.
Therefore, although their numbers were many, they didn’t care much about how they were divided.
When they were all given an assignment, Senior Zhu didn’t have an intention of delay and promptly gave a command, ordering the twenty-some people to depart. They all flew west.
After three entire days of flight, the party eventually arrived in front of a huge lake.
With a single glance, they saw a dense and salty mist from the lake, giving it a mysterious presence.
Many of the cultivators couldn't help but frown at the sight.
Normally, most cultivators were unwilling to enter strange areas in the wilderness like this one as it was unknown what lurked in the mist and the lake. If they were ambushed, it would be a brush with death.
Without need for a warning, everyone slowed their speed and stopped in front of the mist.
