Patriarch Hua Shi gave an affirmative response, then immediately flew back onto the ark.
Meanwhile, Han Li stepped forward and immediately vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, he reappeared beside Shi Xianyun amid a burst of spatial fluctuations. Shi Xianyun was rather surprised by this, but she immediately made an inviting hand gesture as she said, "Please follow me, Senior Han."
Thus, the three of them vanished into the mountain again.
At the same time, several human cultivators were gathered in a hall in the belly of a neighboring mountain, appraising everything that was happening outside through a mirror treasure.
"It really is Guo'er! She just came down from that black ark, so that man must be the Grand Ascension Stage being we've been hearing about," a middle-aged scholarly man said as he withdrew his gaze from the mirror.
"Sister Guo'er has been missing for a long time; who would've thought that she would somehow become related to that Grand Ascension Stage being? What do we do now? Should we inform our seniors of this?" a young man asked in a hesitant manner.
"Hmph, given how eye-catching that ark is, do you think our seniors wouldn't have already heard about his arrival? It's a massive opportunity for us that Guo'er has established ties with a Grand Ascension Stage senior, so let's just observe for now," the scholarly man said.
Everyone else nodded in agreement to this proposed course of action.
Similar scenes were being repeated in all of the other nearby mountains as well.
At this point, Shi Xianyun had already led Han Li through a bluestone corridor and arrived in a stone hall with elegant decor.
A stone cauldron was situated in each corner of the hall, and within each cauldron was a stick of burning fragrant incense that was blackish-yellow in color.
Once Han Li took a seat on a stone chair beside a wooden table, Shi Xianyun clapped her hands together, and a white light flashed from a side entrance of the hall, upon which a snowy-white squirrel that was around a foot tall appeared, carrying a huge fruit platter with its front limbs.
The squirrel had a pair of intelligent black eyes, and even though it was walking in a rather wobbly manner, it was making no sound at all and was very agile.
It quickly made its way over to the stone table, then set down the fruit platter in a well-rehearsed manner.
After that, it turned toward Han Li and made a string of pleasant squeaking sounds while wagging its bushy tail from side to side.
"Don't be rude, Xue'er. Go away for now; I'll give you a Spiritual Attainment Pill later," Shi Xianyun scolded.
"Hehe, this is a Snow Squirrel Beast, right? How interesting, these beasts are quite rare even in the Spirit Realm. Looks like it's only a step away from attaining full intelligence. In that case, I'll give it a hand," Han Li said with a faint smile, then flicked a thumb-sized pill out of his sleeve.
The Snow Squirrel Beast's eyes immediately lit up upon catching a whiff of the pill's aroma, and it instantly sprang up to swallow the pill before landing beside the stone table.
It then let loose a low snarl, and all of its snowy-white fur turned a bright red color while standing up on end. A string of cracks and pops rang out within its body, and it rolled onto the ground, much to Shi Xianyun's alarm.
"Senior Han, what is…"
"Rest assured, Mother; Senior Han wouldn't hurt Xue'er. On the contrary, Xue'er is currently in a very fortunate situation," Zhu Guo'er said with a wide smile.
All of a sudden, the Snow Squirrel Beast's aura was noticeably elevated, and after letting loose another low snarl, it stood up again in a shaky manner, then cast its gaze toward Han Li as it said, "Thank you for granting me that medicine, Senior. Otherwise, it would've taken me at least over 1,000 more years to reach this point."
"Hehe, you were almost there anyway. Otherwise, even with that pill, you wouldn't have been able to reach this stage," Han Li replied with a nonchalant wave of his hand.
At this point, Shi Xianyun had returned to her senses, and she also offered her gratitude toward Han Li in the Snow Squirrel Beast's stead before dismissing the beast.
The Snow Squirrel Beast bent its front limbs and kowtowed toward Han Li, then left the hall in a rather reluctant manner.
"Guo'er has given me a brief recount of her time with you; she was truly fortunate to have encountered you even after falling into the Elder Devil Realm. If you haven't saved her, this reunion would've never happened. Also, you mentioned that you had some questions to ask me; I'll be sure to answer them to the best of my abilities," Shi Xianyun said in a respectful manner.
"Even though it was a coincidence that I encountered Guo'er in the Elder Devil Realm, there was something about her that attracted my attention. By the way, I heard from Guo'er that you were only at the Nascent Soul Stage, yet you've already reached the Spatial Tempering Stage; you must've encountered some type of miraculous opportunity to facilitate such rapid progression, right?" Han Li said in an unhurried manner.
"Prior to Guo'er's disappearance, I was only at the late-Nascent Soul Stage, and I did indeed encounter a massive opportunity that allowed me to reach the Spatial Tempering Stage in such a short time. Senior Han, would you be able to elaborate on what it is about Guo'er that caught your notice?" Shi Xianyun asked.
"It looks like Guo'er hasn't had a chance to tell you about this yet. In that case, I'd be happy to explain," Han Li said with a smile.
"Please go ahead, Senior," Shi Xianyun prompted.
"Do you know how Guo'er came into contact with the Greater Incarnation Arts?" Han Li asked.
Shi Xianyun faltered slightly upon hearing this, and she took a glance at Guo'er before replying, "Of course I do; I was the one who taught her the cultivation art."
"I see, but according to Guo'er, the main cultivation art you're using isn't the Greater Incarnation Arts. Instead, it's the very common Clear Qi Arts. What I want to know is from whom did you obtain the Greater Incarnation Arts from," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"So this is the question you have. I'm afraid this places me in a slight predicament. I obtained the Greater Incarnation Arts from another senior, but I swore a vow not to reveal their identity to anyone without their agreement and before Guo'er attains a certain level of mastery over this cultivation art," Shi Xianyun said with a hesitant look in her eyes.
"I see. Let me ask you another question: is this senior a man or a woman? Surely you can tell me at least that much. Rest assured, if that person really is the one I'm looking for, then we share an extremely close relationship, and I would love to meet them," Han Li said with a calm smile.
After hesitating for a long while, Shi Xianyun finally gritted her teeth, and replied, "The person who bestowed the Greater Incarnation Arts upon me is a woman. If she really is an acquaintance of yours, then I can make an exception and inform her of your arrival to see if she would be willing to meet you. You're a Grand Ascension Stage senior, and you saved Guo'er's life, so I'm sure that senior wouldn't blame me for this. However, if she refuses to see you, then there's nothing I can do."
"Of course. Just inform her of my name, and regardless of the outcome, I'll be indebted to you for this," Han Li said with a smile.
"I wouldn't dare, Senior; what I'm doing for you completely pales in comparison to the fact that you saved Guo'er's life. I'll send a message to that senior right away; please give me a moment, Senior Han," Shi Xianyun said in a respectful manner, then pulled a jade pendant treasure out of her sleeve. She quickly inscribed some text upon the jade pendant with her finger, then crushed it into powder, which immediately dissipated as specks of white light.
At the same time, the white-robed woman seated on the silver disk in that mysterious secret chamber suddenly opened her eyes, and she raised a hand, upon which several lines of glowing white text appeared before her amid a burst of spatial fluctuations.
After only a brief examination of the message, the woman began to tremble slightly, and she swept a sleeve through the air to erase the text, then conjured up a string of glowing white text herself before that message also vanished into thin air.
At the same time, several streaks of light were hurriedly flying toward the valley outside the secret chamber.
……
Meanwhile, a faint buzzing sound rang out within Shi Xianyun's sleeve, and she immediately pulled another jade slip out of that sleeve.
There was a message inscribed upon the jade slip, and after reading the message, she turned to Han Li with an ecstatic expression.
"Senior Han, that senior has agreed to come and meet you tomorrow morning."
A hint of barely detectable excitement flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this, and he offered Shi Xianyun her gratitude before asking her some questions about the Small Spirit Sky.
He had already learned some things about the Small Spirit Sky through Zhu Guo'er, but Shi Xianyun was naturally more knowledgeable about this realm.
Close to an hour later, their conversation concluded, and Han Li euphemistically refused Shi Xianyun's offer to stay before departing from the hall and flying back onto the Inkspirit Holy Ark.
The ark was hovering in mid-air between several mountains, and at this point, a series of high-grade human cultivators had already gathered on the nearby mountains.
However, none of them dared to approach Han Li, and were lingering extremely far away in a cautious manner, appraising the giant ark from afar.
Some of the more opportunistic individuals among them had sent out disciples to visit Shi Xianyun or visited her themselves right after Han Li left her cave abode, hoping to find out some information about Han Li from her.
