After looking around at everyone, the woman's gaze settled on Han Li in the end. Han Li felt a burst of spiritual sense sweep over his body, and even though it wasn't very powerful, it struck him with a peculiar feeling, as if his entire body had been laid bare before her.
His heart jolted slightly, and he immediately activated his Great Development Technique without any hesitation to keep this burst of spiritual sense at bay.
The woman seemed to be rather surprised by this, and she withdrew her gaze before suddenly flipping over one of her hands.
A layer of runes instantly appeared over the crystalline coffin, and it shrank down drastically to only several inches in size before appearing in her hand. It then vanished amid a flash of spiritual light.
As such, she managed to free herself from the treasure and was able to directly face everyone down below.
As soon as she emerged, she said something that came as a slight surprise to everyone. "All of you seem to be members of our Xu Family aside from him."
Xu Yuan and the others all exchanged glances upon hearing this, at a slight loss for how to respond.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly, and he asked, "Are you Fellow Daoist Ice Soul?"
This woman's body was clearly formed by blood essence, but he was unable to ascertain her cultivation base, and that was rather surprising to him.
Of course, this was only a clone formed by a soul fragment, so he naturally wasn't going to be afraid of it no matter how peculiar it was.
The woman replied, "It wouldn't be incorrect to say I'm Fairy Ice Soul. Are you a Body Integration cultivator, Fellow Daoist?"
After ascertaining that this woman had indeed been formed by Fairy Ice Soul's blood soul, Han Li cupped his fist in a polite salute, and said, "My name is Han Li, and I am indeed a Body Integration cultivator. I was invited here by Fellow Daoist Xu to assist in awakening your blood soul."
The cold look in the woman's eyes faded upon hearing this, and she returned Han Li's salute as she said, "I see. My descendants must've gone to great lengths to recruit the assistance of a Body Integration cultivator like you, Fellow Daoist Han."
Xu Jiao and the others were all quite embarrassed to hear this. They hadn't invited Han Li here; he was the one who had sought them out instead. Otherwise, they wouldn't even have been able to awaken the blood soul of their matriarch.
"Hehe, this matter has something to do with me, so it's only to be expected that I lend everyone my assistance. Besides, the two of us share a certain connection as well," Han Li chuckled.
"Oh? Is that so?" The woman faltered slightly before turning to the Xu Family cultivators down below for an explanation.
"Senior Han speaks the truth, Matriarch. Not only was your blood soul delivered to our family by Senior Han, he also came from the same human world as you did, and he also obtained some of the Celestial Blue flames that you left behind there," Xu Jiao explained in a careful manner as he took a step forward.
A hint of surprise flashed through the woman's eyes upon hearing this, but she saw no reason to doubt this. "I see, then I really must express my gratitude to you, Fellow Daoist Han. I'll be sure to repay you for your efforts once my true body frees herself from her current predicament."
"I'm not looking for any reparations; I only have a few questions that I've always wanted to ask you. However, this is clearly not the time to be discussing such matters, so we'll carry on this conversation after you stabilize your new body," Han Li said with a faint smile.
The woman was rather surprised that Han Li had been able to ascertain her condition, but she made no effort to deny it. "Apologies for the inconvenience, Fellow Daoist; this body has only just been manifested so I will indeed require a few days to stabilize it before I can truly fuse my blood soul and this body as one."
"Hehe, you've only just awakened, so I'm sure you'll have a lot to talk about with your descendants. I'll leave you to their company now. Fellow Daoist Qianyu, please accompany me back to the pavilion," Han Li suddenly said to Xu Qianyu.
"Ah… yes!"
Xu Qianyu faltered slightly before turning to Xu Jiao, but he was quite elated to hear this, and he immediately extended a respectful bow toward Han Li. "I won't keep you any longer, then, Senior. After our matriarch stabilizes her new body, we'll be sure to pay you a visit and thank you for your efforts in person."
The woman didn't say anything, either, and merely extended a slight curtsey toward Han Li.
Thus, Han Li and Xu Qianyu departed from the massive hall, and only after his departure did Xu Jiao and all of the other Xu Family cultivators rise up into the air to pay their respects to the woman.
"No need for formalities. You've done very well to awaken my blood soul. Are you the current leader of the Xu Family?" the woman asked as her gaze settled on Xu Jiao.
"Indeed. I am Xu Jiao, a member of the 173rd generation of the Xu Family, and I pay my respects to Matriarch Ice Soul," Xu Jiao replied in a respectful manner.
"The 173rd generation? It looks like many years have passed. Your cultivation base isn't all that powerful, but it's not bad. This blood soul of mine has inherited some of my memories, but it's not my true body. Also, all of my memories are rather incomplete, perhaps because I've been sealed for too long, so I can't remember many things. There's no need for you to refer to me as matriarch, either; just call me Blood Spirit," the woman said as she waved a hand with a wry smile.
All of the Xu Family cultivators faltered slightly upon hearing this.
"Senior Blood Spirit, do you recall where our matriarch is and whether she's still safe and well?" Xu Yuan asked the question that was on everyone's mind.
A grim look appeared on the woman's face, and only after a short while did she shake her head in response.
Xu Jiao and the others; hearts immediately sank upon seeing this.
However, the woman then said something that reignited the hope in everyone's hearts. "Rest assured, I'm unable to recall the whereabouts of my true body at the moment, but through the connection that this blood soul shares with her, I can tell that she's still alive and present in the Spirit Realm. Also, I still have some indistinct memories containing leads that pertain to her current location."
"Any information pertaining to our matriarch's whereabouts would be greatly welcome. As long as there are some leads for us to follow, we'll be sure to find her," Xu Jiao said in a solemn manner after taking a deep breath.
"That won't be an easy task. I can't remember the specifics, but I do recall that my true body is trapped somewhere on another continent. I'll give you all of the details once I reorganize the memory fragments in my mind. For now, let's talk about the current situation in the human race and that Body Integration cultivator. I sensed a very familiar feeling from that man. He seems to have obtained something else that I'm very familiar with aside from just the Celestial Blue flames, but I can't recall exactly what it is." A hint of befuddlement appeared on Blood Spirit's face.
Xu Jiao and the others all exchanged surprised glances upon hearing this.
After a brief hesitation, Xu Jiao said in a respectful manner, "In that case, I'll start off at the beginning. Not long after Matriarch Ice Soul disappeared, the last devilish tribulation befell our human race. Many of the former three human sovereigns and seven demon monarchs perished during the ordeal, which plunged our human and demon races into a state of turmoil during the next 10,000 years or so…"
Thus, Xu Jiao gave Blood Spirit a recount of the major events that had taken place during the past several tens of thousands of years, and he also interspersed his recounts with some major events that had happened in the Xu Family, including the several occasions where the family had almost been wiped out.
Following this recount of events, he then relayed to Blood Spirit all of the information that Xu Qianyu had given him about Han Li.
Blood Spirit hovered in the air above the blood pond and remained completely expressionless, with only the occasional brief flash of crimson light in her eyes revealing to everyone that she wasn't completely detached and disinterested.
Meanwhile, Han Li had already returned to his pavilion, and Xu Qianyu had departed.
He arrived on the top floor before making his way over to the window, then cast his gaze toward the Xu Family's ancestral shrine with a contemplative look in his narrowed eyes.
However, not long after that, Han Li strode away from the window before making his way to the center of the room. He then raised a hand to summon a yellow futon before taking a seat on it with his legs crossed.
After that, he made a hand seal and calmly closed his eyes, quickly entering a meditative state.
Three days later, Blood Spirit and Xu Jiao appeared outside the entrance of his pavilion. Han Li had already sensed their arrival in advance, and he invited them into the hall on the first floor in an unhurried manner.
"Congratulations on consolidating your blood body, Fellow Daoist," Han Li said with a smile as soon as Blood Spirit took a seat.
"It was all thanks to your immense magic power that I was able to fuse this body and my blood soul as one so quickly, Fellow Daoist Han. Otherwise, there's no way I'd be able to consolidate my body to this extent in just three days," Blood Spirit also replied with a smile.
At this point, her bright red pupils had already turned black, and she looked no different from a normal human.
"Hehe, I didn't really contribute much. Speaking of which, your blood soul secret technique truly is quite extraordinary to allow you to forge a new body so easily. It really is an exceptional life-saving ability," Han Li chuckled in response.
"This blood soul secret technique is something that I came across by chance, and there are indeed a few abilities enclosed that are very useful. If you don't mind, I can pass this secret technique onto you as thanks for your efforts." Blood Spirit flipped a hand over to summon a white jade slip, then offered it to Han Li with a hint of a smile on her face.
Han Li's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this, and after hesitating momentarily, he raised his hand to draw the white jade slip into his grasp. He then injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip in a calm manner.
Blood Spirit displayed no outward reaction to this, but a hint of barely detectable surprise flashed through her eyes.
