Grand Immortal Xu coldly laughed and released a silver streak with a wave of his hand, shattering one of the statues. “I didn’t expect that Fellow Daoist Han would dare to follow us. I am truly impressed.”
Soon after the statue’s destruction, the altar flashed with white light, restoring it to its original form. Then it continued to wave its golden blade, releasing cuts of light into the air.
Han Li calmly replied, “Why wouldn’t I dare? A Divine Spirit Treasure has appeared in front of us, and you still intend on starting trouble?”
When Lin Yinping heard this, hostility flared on her face, but just as she was about to speak, she was interrupted by the Silver-winged Nightfiend, “Don’t forget that we have things to settle as well. Although there is a treasure in front of us, I wouldn’t mind settling our debts first.” The Lion Hawk next to him snarled in a clearly threatening gesture.
“Oh, is that so?” Han Li replied with a smile.
Gui Ling sighed, stepping forward to stand at his side.
The Nightfiend’s expression shifted upon seeing her.
“Fellow Daoist Gui, what are you doing? Why are you together with that human?”
An ominous glint flashed from her eye, and she yelled, “Do you truly not know, or are you playing the fool? After you made use of me, you only cared for your own life-soul tiles and tossed me aside, leaving mine in his hands! If I want to preserve my life, I can only obey him.”
The cultivators were amazed to hear this.
The Nightfiend wore slight embarrassment, and the roaring Lion Hawk immediately closed its mouth.
The three had a friendship that spanned back many years. If it were possible, the two would’ve liked to help retrieve her life-soul tile. However, the circumstances at the time were peculiar. They only managed to grab their own tiles due to luck. They truly had no method to grab Gui Ling’s. Furthermore, Han Li had been particularly cunning and immediately departed as soon as he grabbed the tile along with a few other treasures, making a clean escape while the rest had been trapped by the might of the Four Skies Ruler.
The Nightfiend’s expression returned to normal and he sullenly stared at Han Li, “Fellow Daoist Gui, don’t worry. I’ll help you take it back.”
Gui Ling glared, “Now that we reached this far, there is no point. I have no choice but to obey. If you get in our way, don’t blame me for being ruthless.”
The demon wryly chuckled and said nothing else, but he continued to leer at Han Li.
Han Li indifferently ignored him as he began to form a plan of action. If the Nightfiend truly intended on finding trouble, he would have Gui Ling contest him.
Lady Mu then sweetly smiled, “Fellow Daoist Han, how did you battle against Old Devil Qian fare? Since he’s yet to appear, could it be that he’s met his end at your hands?”
The words came as a shock to everyone present.
Han Li raised his brow at her provocation, and turned to look at her and the beautiful young woman at her side. “So you were the one who spied on our battle. I’ve yet to have the pleasure of knowing your name.”
“Since you don’t know who we are, you must be Fellow Daoist Han. We are from the Nanjiang’s Immortal Form Sect — we can be considered half of the masters of this place. Brother Han’s face is quite unfamiliar. Could it be you aren’t from the Great Jin?” Lady Mu had a well-bestowed body and a face of ordinary beauty. As she spoke flirtatiously, an icy coldness seeped out from deep in her eyes.
“My origins have nothing to do with our current affairs. As for my battle with Old Devil Qian, we merely sparred for a bit before eventually parting ways. Has that old devil still not appeared? It seems I have arrived first.” Han Li spoke without a change in expression. At his side, Gui Ling rolled her eyes but remained silent.
Lady Mu was doubtful of his words, but she also couldn't believe that he was capable of killing such a famed figure. As such, she silently smiled when she heard his unfriendly reply.
The Ye Clan cultivators now looked at Han Li with newfound importance considering this new information and exchanged a glance with one another. They then withdrew and stopped attacking the stone puppets in the spell formation for the time being.
The white-robed late-Nascent Soul stage scholar blinked and sent Han Li a voice transmission, “Fellow Daoist, it seems there are grudges between you and them. I am the Ye Clan Grand Elder, the commanding power of the Great Jin’s Imperial Family. Would you be interested in joining hands? We only need the Eight Spirit Ruler. All the other treasures in the hall will be yours. What do you say?”
Han Li was stunned to hear this, but maintained a face of indifference and didn't reply.
Seeing that Han Li possessed great power and controlled the high-grade spirit beast Gui Ling, he continued, “Fellow Daoist, don’t think that we’re being greedy. If you manage to somehow acquire that treasure, you won’t be able to last long by yourself.”
Han Li frowned and eventually replied through voice transmission, “Your Ye Clan is the greatest noble house in the Great Jin. Why do you need the help of an outsider like me? Didn’t you have two great cultivators when entering this place? Where is the other one?” His expression stirred and began to look around at the faces of these unfamiliar cultivators. He felt a bit of relief now seeing that the Elder Devil wasn’t counted among their numbers, but trepidation still lingered in his heart.
The scholar’s heart trembled and chuckled a bit, “I didn’t expect that Brother Han would know of that person. To tell you the truth, he should be within this pagoda. Although I have no contact with him, I’m sure he’ll come to aid us during our time of need. Perhaps, he’s already entered the palace!”
Han Li paused for a moment and replied, “Is that so? But if there is nothing else in the palace, I would only be fanning resentment with these people for nothing.
Seeing that Han Li was somewhat tempted, the Ye Clan Grand Elder hurriedly pushed, “That’s a simple matter to resolve. We’ve already searched through other areas of the mountain and acquired many powerful treasures in passing. If you gain nothing from the palace, I am willing to hand them all over to you. If you fear that they would take revenge in the future, we can have you become a guest elder of the clan, or even pay you a sum of one million spirit stones.”
Because the large-headed eccentric and some others had disappeared, the scholar felt great apprehension moving forward now that their current situation had fallen out of control. As such, he spared no effort to rope in Han Li swiftly.
After a moment’s thought, Han Li chuckled and agreed.“I will take the offer of a million spirit stones. If worst to worst, I will just depart from the Great Jin.”
“Most excellent. Then the matter is settled. Fellow Daoist can act according to his discretion,” the scholar said with an exceedingly happy tone.
As the artifact spirit linked to his soul-joined magic treasure, Silvermoon was able to clearly listen in on the deal. She couldn't help but ask, “What? You truly wish to hand over the Eight Spirit Ruler to them?”
“Of course not,” Han Li leisurely replied, “The Ye Clan is conscious of their own weakness, and I also need their help. With only an oral agreement, neither side is obliged to hold to their terms.”
Silvermoon sighed, “I also think this is the case. When the great formation is broken through, you will have to prepare to acquire the ruler and make use of all your abilities to escape.” Han Li smiled and said little else.
At that moment, the scholar channeled magic power into his voice and loudly yelled, “Everyone, since Fellow Daoist Han has arrived, we have a greater chance at destroying this ancient formation. How about we include the Fellow Daoist in our previous arrangement?”
Grand Immortal Xu coldly snorted, “We’re already enough to destroy the formation. We don’t need another. We will be capturing him.”
The scholar’s expression sank and he sullenly said, “Brother Xu must be joking. I have no objection should you choose to do so, but do you think you’ll have the time to play around?”
“That is true,” Lady Mu swept her hair to the side and said, “The High Zenith Sect’s Master Sable and the Heavenly Devil Sect’s Daoist Sevenwonders are soon to arrive from the outside. We maybe have a day at most to acquire the treasure. When the greatest sects of the Devil and Righteous Dao come here, do you believe that the treasure will belong to any of us?”
Apart from the three demons present, all of the cultivators felt great shock upon hearing the names of these two sects. The Ye Clan Grand Elder in particular instantly paled.
Grand Immortal Xu and Lin Yinping glanced at each other and their previous emotions were nowhere to be seen.
Although the Endless Skies Temple and the Heavenly Devil Sect had friendly relations, they definitely wouldn’t remotely give them an even share of Kunwu Mountain’s treasures.
“Fine,” Grand Immortal Xu begrudgingly spoke, “Let’s have him join in breaking the restriction. Once it’s destroyed, the Divine Spirit Treasure will belong to whoever can take it!”
The others raised no objections, harboring their own intentions.
Han Li’s lip curled up when he saw this. He then released a dozen golden swords with a shake of his sleeve and began to attack the statues below. The others were also unwilling to delay any further.
As for the statues down below, they immediately began to move again and wave their sabers towards the air, filling the sky with slices of light and thunderous booms.
