"Hehe, it's nothing much. I was just wondering how you were able to attain such a powerful body. Even though my Blood River Infernal Spike isn't renowned for its sharpness, for you to be able to repel it with your physical body alone is still incredible," Xue Du said after a brief pause. At the same time, he was looking into Han Li's eyes with an unblinking gaze.
"So that's what you wanted to ask me. My body is indeed slightly more powerful than that of the average person, but that's only because I stumbled upon a few spirit medicines by chance in the past and consumed them to bolster my constitution. My body can't compare to the body of a wyrm like yours, Senior," Han Li replied in a calm manner.
"I see. I suspected that to be the case. However, the final three-headed and six-armed projection you summoned to withstand my final attack doesn't seem to be the true spirit projection of your race, right, Brother Han? It felt rather familiar to me, but I can't recall where I've seen it before. Would you be able to provide me with a reminder?" Xue Du asked with a faint smile.
"Oh, that's just a foreign cultivation art that I happened to obtain, and I decided to cultivate it, seeing as it was a rather useful ability, but I'm not too familiar with its origins, either," Han Li replied in an extremely vague manner. In reality, his answer provided no answers whatsoever.
Xue Du was slightly surprised that Han Li was able to muster up such a wily response after downing so much wine, but he merely chuckled and spoke no further about this matter.
Thus, Xue Du only bade farewell to Han Li after seemingly becoming extremely inebriated. Han Li stood at the window of the pavilion, and his fake smile faded as he looked out at the departing Xue Du.
The middle-aged scholar stumbled unsteadily toward another pavilion that was only several thousand feet away from the one that Han Li was situated in. Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this. At such close quarters, Xue Du would be able to constantly monitor his actions.
It appeared that he had been tasked with keeping an eye on Han Li.
With that in mind, Han Li strode away from the window.
At this point, the green-robed servant had already carried the dishes and wine urn away, and the room had been cleaned up to a pristine condition. She then stood respectfully off to the side, awaiting any instructions from Han Li.
Han Li waved a dismissive hand toward her, and said, "You can go now; I want to take a rest." "I'll be on the first floor; feel free to summon me at any time, Master Han," Bi'er replied obediently before departing from the room. After the servant had left, Han Li swept a hand over his storage bracelet to produce a stack of azure formation flags.
He then raised his hand, and a dozen or so streaks of azure flew in all directions around the room before disappearing into space. Han Li made a hand seal and cast an azure incantation seal, following which a dull thump erupted all around him. An azure barrier of light appeared on the walls of the room, creating a restriction. This restriction had no defensive properties, but it was quite effective in cutting off the spiritual sense of others.
Han Li knew that he had been imprisoned, but he still didn't want Xue Do to be able to see everything that he was doing. In the other pavilion, Xue Du had just sat down atop a futon with his eyes closed when his expression changed slightly, and he abruptly reopened his eyes. However, a cold smile then quickly appeared on his face as he closed his eyes again. At this point, Han Li had already laid down on his bed. Even though he was in a perilous place, there was nothing he could do about his current situation. Furthermore, he was rather exhausted from the ordeals he'd been beset with during this earth abyss trial, so this was a good opportunity for him to relax and recuperate. He could consider strategies to try and escape after recovering to his peak condition. With that in mind, Han Li quickly fell asleep. He slept for an entire day and an entire night before finally waking up.
After getting up from his bed, Han Li did a series of stretches in an unhurried manner before sitting down in the wooden chair beside his bed, stroking his chin in deep thought. Mu Qing and Xue Du had tried to convince him that they wanted to entrust him with an important task from the very beginning, but Han Li didn't believe a word of that.
Setting aside everything else, with his countless years of battle experience, he could tell that the two of them had truly been intent on killing him initially.
As for why this Mu Qing suddenly changed her mind, that was definitely because she's unintentionally discovered something about him that could be used to her benefit.
However, it had only taken mere moments for her to change her mind, and the only clue that Han Li could think of was that she seemed to have been alarmed by his ability to use Divine Devilbane Lightning. Han Li's eyes flashed as this thought occurred to him. He felt like he was onto something.
However, despite the fact that the Divine Devilbane Lightning was extremely effective for anguishing all powers of darkness and evil, its efficacy was limited when the devilish Qi was of a high enough caliber. How could the power of his Divine Devilbane Lightning possibly have garnered the interest of a Body Integration Stage Demon Monarch like Mu Qing? If a devilish creature or evil spirit was too powerful even for her to deal with, then how was Han Li's Divine Devilbane Lightning supposed to do anything? Han Li was feeling rather perplexed. However, he didn't try to force himself to arrive at a conclusion. Instead, he merely exhaled and relinquished this train of thought for now. Seeing as they had found a worthwhile reason to keep him alive, then he would most likely be safe for now. As long as he remained alert, he was quite confident in his ability to escape from this place. Next, he only had to wait for Mu Qing to disclose everything to him before formulating a plan based on that information. Thus, Han Li decided to play the waiting game. As for escaping right away, the thought did cross his mind, but he didn't consider it for very long, seeing as Xue Du was residing so close to him.
His thoughts then strayed to Lei Lan and the others. Seeing as Mu Qing and Xue Du had both come after him, those three had most likely returned to the surface and passed the trial.
As such, he had fulfilled his promise to the Tian Peng Race and regained his freedom. As a result, the Tian Peng Vow of the Tian Peng Race would cease to have any further restrictive effect on him.
But then again, the Tian Peng Race was only concerned about whether Lei Lan and Bai Bi would be able to pass the trial; they didn't care whether Han Li died or not.
Han Li chuckled to himself before returning to his bed and taking a seat in a cross-legged manner. His expression smoothed out as he began to meditate.
…
Half a month flew by in the blink of an eye. During this time, Xue Du would occasionally come over to drink and chat with Han Li, but Han Li stayed in his room all day and made Xue Du's job quite an easy one.
On this day, Xue Du visited Han Li again, and he wore a serious expression as he said, "Brother Han, my mistress would like you to meet her in the Wood Spirit Hall. She would like to introduce you to a few other seniors."
"Sure. Thank you for informing me of that, Senior Xue," Han Li replied in a completely calm manner. Xue Du was starting to admire Han Li's mental fortitude. If he were in Han Li's shoes, he knew that he definitely wouldn't be able to remain so calm and collected.
Thus, Xue Du led Han Li out of the pavilion. After a while, Han Li appeared in front of the wooden hall again before entering through the doors behind Xue Du.
The setup within the hall was slightly different from when Han Li had last been here. There were three long tables set up on either side of the hall, with a group of people seated at each table. Han Li cast his gaze over to a table where only two people were seated. Both of their bodies had been hidden under long crimson robes, and Han Li was completely unable to glean their appearance nor their auras. As far as Han Li knew, these people could even be avatars of the same person.
On another table, there was a burly man wearing a black cloak, and a burst of glacial Qi was emanating from his body, making it feel as if the air around him had been frozen solid. At the final table sat three women.
One of them was a middle-aged beauty with a head of snowy white hair and an extremely pale complexion. She wore a green palatial dress and sat at the head of the table. Two young women sat at the table with her. One of them was quite petite with a sweet and adorable oval face and a pair of shimmering eyes. The other woman had a lithe and graceful figure with skin as fair as snow, and an expression as cold as ice. All three women were quite pale in complexion. None of the people on the first two ables caught Han LIi's attention. Even though all of their cultivation bases were unfathomable to him, he had expected this to be the case prior to coming here, so he wasn't very surprised.
However, his calm facade finally cracked a little at the sight of the two young women on the final table.
He quickly composed himself again and his expression reverted back to normal, but the hint of shock in his eyes betrayed his true emotions.
How could it be them? Back when he'd been separated from these two in the Scattered Star Seas of the human world, he hadn't heard anything about them again, and never would he have thought that he'd encounter them here in the Spirit Realm. Seeing as the two of them were still alive, it appeared that they had successfully mastered the Soulrise Technique. Even though Han Li quickly turned his attention away from them, his heart was still reeling with shock.
The lithe and graceful beauty was none other than Yuan Yao from the Scattered Star Seas, and the petite woman beside her was naturally her Senior Martial Sister, Yan Li, who had almost perished all those years ago.
Back when he was starting to make a name for himself in the human world, he'd encountered Yuan Yao on several occasions. He was touched by her determination to save Yan Li and gave in to her pleas in the end, deciding to provide her with his assistance. However, who would've thought that they'd encounter the legendary ghost mist along the way? He was sucked into the Umbra Realm as a result, and only managed to escape after an extensive struggle.
However, after emerging from there, Yuan Yao had disappeared. Now that he was encountering her again, she was seemingly ranked alongside the Demon Monarchs of the earth abyss; how was Han Li supposed to remain calm after making such a discovery? In the instant that Han Li made his way into the hall, everyone else also turned their attention toward him. However, Yuan Yao and Yan Li's reactions were quite different. A hint of astonishment had flashed through Yuan Yao's eyes upon catching sight of Han Li, but she immediately adopted an expressionless facade again, not giving away anything.
In contrast, Yan Li merely blinked with confusion, and it was quite clear that she'd basically forgotten about Han Li, yet was struck by the feeling that he was rather familiar somehow."He's just a Spirit General; are you sure he'll be useful to us?" the middle-aged woman sitting at Yuan Yao's table asked in a cold voice.
