In the face of the combined attacks from these four types of demon beasts, An Yuan City was completely razed to the ground.
A small proportion of mortals managed to escape under the protection of some body refinement warriors, but most of them ended up in the bellies of the demon beasts.
However, the hordes of beasts only wreaked havoc within An Yuan City for about three to four days before departing.
The Beast Torrent had officially come to a conclusion.
It wasn't exactly an uncommon occurrence for small cities of this scale to be destroyed by Beast Torrents, but the high-grade cultivators of Heavenly Origin Cities were still alerted in the end, and a large group of people was deployed to assess the incident.
Of course, all of that was only going to happen further down the track.
Two days after the departing of the beast hordes, spiritual light flashed in the distance, and several cultivators descended upon the section of the city where the city wall had been destroyed.
The spiritual light receded to reveal three cultivators; they were none other than the cultivators from the Golden Jade Sect, and the trio was led by the brocade-robed man with the Qin surname.
The three of them were currently scouring the landscape down below as if they were searching for something.
"That man is most likely already dead. You saw how powerful the combined attack from the Leocon Beasts was, Senior Martial Brother, why do you still insist that this man could be alive?" the young man from the Golden Jade Sect couldn't help but ask.
"You may be unaware of this, but the Vajra Arts is vastly different compared to normal body refinement techniques. After mastering the third layer of the Vajra Arts, even a mortal would be able to cleanse their essence and bolster their bodies to such a degree that they would be able to withstand a full-force attack from a low-grade treasure. The attack from the swarm of Leocon Beasts was indeed powerful, but it wasn't solely directed toward him, so if he had activated his Vajra Arts in advance, there's a good chance that he would've survived. What we're trying to do now requires the assistance of a powerful mortal like him. If it weren't for the fact that I was too far away from him at the time, I would've definitely stepped in to save him." The brocade-robed man shook his head with a grim expression in response.
The young male cultivator was still rather skeptical, but he didn't state any further objections.
However, the female cultivator among them suddenly broke her silence. "Even if that man did survive, this place as been ravaged by those beasts for such a long time; he's most likely been eaten already. How could he possibly still be alive?"
The brocade-robed man's lips twitched as a wry smile appeared on his face, and he replied, "That's also a possibility. It's just that it's really difficult to find a suitable candidate for the task we're about to undertake, so I don't want to give up any opportunity, no matter how slim the chances are."
"Oh? May I ask what you need me to do for you, Immortal Qin?"
An indifferent voice suddenly rang out from beneath a pile of rubble down below, followed by a resounding boom as the rubble was forcibly scattered in all directions. After the dust and debris settled, two humanoid figures, one tall and one short, was revealed.
The three cultivators in the sky faltered initially upon seeing this before the brocade-robed man exclaimed with elation, "Han Li!"
The two humanoid figures down below were none other than Han Li and a little girl who appeared to be around four or five years old. Even though her clothes were rather dirty and ragged, it was still quite apparent that they had been made from luxurious and expensive materials.
The little girl was very adorable with porcelain-like skin and a pair of large black eyes. However, those eyes were filled with a hint of horror as she grasped tightly onto Han Li's robes with her little hand and pressed her own body against Han Li's leg.
"I'm glad to see you're alive and well, Brother Han. May I ask who that little girl is?" the brocade-robed man asked with a smile before the three cultivators descended together.
"I don't know who she is, either. On the day that the city was destroyed, she and a few body refinement warriors fled to this place, but were surrounded by a pack of wolf beasts. Everyone else perished to those wolf beasts, but I could bear to see this little girl die, so I saved her on a whim." Han Li looked back at the little girl with a resigned expression
Even though he had taken a direct attack from that massive Leocon Beast, he had shattered the city wall below him in advance, thereby allowing him to fall and buffer the impact. As expected, with the defensive properties of the fourth layer of the Vajra Arts, he only sustained some minor injuries.
However, due to the immense impact of the attack, he unintentionally managed to break through the bottleneck in his Vajra Arts.
Back when he was in the human world, he was unable to advance any further in the Vajra Arts, and this was exactly because of that bottleneck.
However, he could sense that he would only have to cultivate for around half a year now before mastering the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts.
As such, he decided to hide beneath the rubble and only emerge after the crisis had been averted. As such, he encountered this little girl, and was drawn into saving her. However, the events thereafter weren't as simple as he made them out to be.
At the time, in order to avoid having the location of his hiding spot revealed, he killed over 100 beasts in the surrounding area, making sure that there were no beasts left in the general vicinity before returning to his hiding spot beneath the rubble with the little girl. The entire process had been a rather arduous one.
Furthermore, if it weren't for this little girl weighing him down, he could've already departed from the city a few days ago. He was confident that he would be able to sneak past the hordes of beasts if he were on his own, but the little girl was like a beacon that was sure to draw widespread attention from the hordes of beasts in the city, so he decided to continue waiting beneath the rubble.
The aura of mortals was very strong in this city, so it was enough to obscure the aura of the little girl.
The commotion in the city had died down a couple of days ago, but Han Li decided to wait for a while longer as a safety precaution. He was just about to emerge from his hiding spot when the three cultivators from the Golden Jade Sect arrived on the scene, and he had overheard the entirety f their conversation.
As such, he decided to reveal himself, and the three cultivators were given a massive fright during the process.
After all, it appeared that Han Li was completely unscathed when all of them had thought that he would at least have been severely wounded, if not dead. The brocade-robed man was naturally ecstatic to see this, yet he was also quite alarmed by Han Li's power. Without even realizing it himself, he had unconsciously adopted a polite tone of voice, clearly regarding Han Li as an equal.
"You're a very kind man, Brother Han. Seeing as this little girl had a personal squad of body refinement warriors to protect her, she's most likely not just some ordinary little girl. Have you tried asking about her origins, Brother Han?" The brocade-robed man inspected the little girl with a rather intrigued expression.
"She won't tell me anything aside from the fact that her name is Dai'er." Han Li heaved a resigned sigh.
"Haha, she must've been warned by the adults in her family against revealing too much about herself. That's not a problem, though; we just have to find all of the prominent figures that managed to escape from An Yuan City, and someone should be able to identify her. Getting back to you now, Brother Han; you sure are full of surprises. I didn't think that you would be able to survive that Beast Torrent completley unscathed," the brocade-robed man praised.
"I was merely lucky. You appear to be looking for me, Immortal Qin? How may I be of assistance?" Han Li could tell that the brocade-robed man had been trying to dodge this question earlier, and a hint of a smile appeared on his face.
"I'll have to tell you about this sooner or later, but this isn't the place to talk, Brother Han. How about I take you to where the rest of the survivors from An Yuan City are situated?" the brocade-robed man asked with solemn expression following a brief pause.
"Sure. Perhaps some of this little girl's loved ones would be among them," Han Li replied.
"That would be best. I'll take Brother Han on my treasures; you take this little girl, Junior Martial Sister." the brocade-robed man instructed.
The young female cultivator nodded before making her way over Han Li. She put on a benevolent expression and extended a hand toward Dai'er.
The little girl was very adorable and the female cultivator had fallen in love with her at first sight.
However, the feelings of affection clearly weren't mutual as a fearful look appeared on Dai'er's face at the sight of the approaching female cultivator. She abruptly hid herself behind Han Li's back, avoiding the female cultivator like the plague.
The female cultivator's expression stiffened, and a slightly awkward look appeared on her face.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
The brocade-robed man also faltered initially upon seeing this, but a smile quickly appeared on his face as he said, "It's alright, I'll carry both of them on my treasure. Ths little girl must've been through a lot, and it appears that she only trusts Brother Han."
Han Li nodded in agreement and grabbed the little girl before setting her on his shoulder.
The brocade-robed man brought out a small sword, which swelled drastically to several tens of feet in size before hovering in the air.
His body then swayed as he hovered drifted onto the sword. Just as he was about to turn around and extend an invitation toward Han Li, a voice suddenly sounded from behind him.
"Does your treasure have a protective feature, Fellow Daoist Qin? If so, could I trouble you to activate it? Dai'er is quite young and I'm afraid that she won't be able to cope with the strong winds during our flight." The voice had come from directly behind the brocade-robed man, and he hurriedly turned around with a surprised expression, only to find that Han Li was standing on his sword with him!
He had somehow managed to board his sword while completely escaping his notice.
The brocade-robed man forced a smile onto his face as he said, "So you're proficient in aura concealment secret techniques as well, Brother Han."
"It's just a little trick I learned," Han Li replied indifferently.
The brocade-robed man took a final meaningful glance at Han Li before turning around and making a hand seal. Yellow light abruptly shimmered from the flying sword underfoot, manifesting a faint light barrier that shielded all three of them within before the sword flew into the distance as a streak of yellow light.
The other two young cultivators also followed closely behind them.
It didn't take long before the three streaks of light had disappeared into the distant sky.
Half a day later, three streaks of light descended toward a set of undulating hills.
On the ground below, there was a vast expanse of tents and wooden huts, as well as other types of makeshift structures set up, extending for a stretch of several kilometers.
"You're back, Senior Martial Brother Qin. Oh, and you found Brother Han as well!" As soon as the three streaks of light descended in front of a certain wooden cabin, a blue-robed young man rushed over to them with an elated expression.
"Thankfully, our trip wasn't made in vain. Is the mistress in the cabin?" the brocade-robed man asked with a smile.
