"This is Fellow Daoist Han?" The woman carefully appraised Han Li for a moment, upon which a hint of bewilderment flashed through her eyes.
She had naturally seen Han Li dispelling the spiritual pressure that she had just released, and her heart stirred slightly upon hearing that he was also the one who proclaimed that he could cure Bai Guo'er.
She could clearly sense that he was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but there was some kind of indescribable power radiating from his body, striking her with the feeling that he would destroy her in an instant if she were to attack him.
The woman was quite bewildered by this, and she swept her spiritual sense toward Han Li for a closer inspection, only for this indescribable power to abruptly vanish as if it had never even appeared in the first place.
The woman's bewilderment was exacerbated even further by this, but for the sake of her granddaughter, she put on a smile, and said, "My name is Yue Hua, thank you for stepping in to save my son-in-law and granddaughter. If you don't mind, please come to our temporary cave abode; I must thank you for what you've done."
"Er…"
Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi both had lackadaisical and casual personalities, but they still couldn't help but feel anxious in the face of a Core Formation cultivator, and they reflexively turned to Han Li.
Han Li's gaze swept over Bai Guo'er, and he nodded as he replied, "In that case, please pardon our intrusion, Fellow Daoist Yue."
The woman faltered slightly upon hearing Han Li refer to her on equal terms, but instead of being enraged by this, a hint of elation flashed through her eyes. She had clearly guessed something. "It's far from an intrusion, Fellow Daoist; it would be my honor for you to grace my humble abode with your presence."
The middle-aged man's mouth gaped open slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with a surprised look in his eyes.
He was well aware of how proud his mother-in-law was, and it was incredible to him that she was being so polite to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
This was the first time that Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi had met a Core Formation cultivator, so they didn't think anything of this, and they were merely very happy to hear that this Fairy Yue Hua was inviting them to her cave abode.
Thus, Han Li raised a hand to release his flying carriage, yet just as they were about to depart, a faint melody suddenly rang out from a certain direction up above. The music was extremely pleasing to the ears, striking the listener with a sense of entrancement.
Everyone faltered slightly upon hearing this sound before turning toward that direction in unison.
There, they discovered five-colored light swirling in the distance, and two rows of black-armored warriors straddling strange steeds with cow heads and tiger bodies emerged.
These armored warriors were all completely expressionless and wielded different types of weapons as their steeds slowly flew onward.
Fairy Yue Hua directed her spiritual sense toward these armored warriors, upon which she immediately drew a sharp breath.
All of these warriors were at the Nascent Soul Stage, and there were over 100 of them.
After these warriors emerged from the five-colored light, a process of black carriages appeared after them, all of which were extremely intricately crafted, and were being drawn by ferocious-looking flying beasts.
There were a total of 36 identical carriages, and following them was a series of cultivators in different attire, all of which possessed powerful auras.
There were only 18 such cultivators, but all of them were at the late-Spatial Tempering Stage.
A rumbling boom erupted from within the five-colored light, and following these cultivators, a two-story pavilion emerged. To put it more accurately, this was a giant beast-drawn carriage that resembled a pavilion.
The carriage was several hundred feet tall, and was extremely grandiose to behold. It was being drawn by eight snowy white peacocks that were over 100 feet in size each, and there was a group of women in colorful palatial dresses on the first floor of the carriage.
Each and every one of them was extremely gorgeous, and they were all holding different musical instruments. The heavenly music was originating from none other than the instruments in the hands of these women.
However, Han Li's gaze wasn't focused on these women. Instead, he was looking at the second floor of the carriage, where three people were sitting around a green jade table.
There were some spirit fruits and wines on the table, and the three of them were conversing with one another while exchanging toasts.
Han Li's eyes then fell upon a massive shimmering silver flag above the giant carriage. This flag had complex and lavish designs on its surface, and bursts of restriction fluctuations were radiating incessantly from it. At the very center of the flag was a huge "Holy" character inscribed in ancient text.
"That's the flag of the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign! This is a holy sovereign's procession!" Fairy Yue Hua exclaimed as she stared at the huge flag with astonishment in her eyes.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he focused his gaze once again on the three people on the second floor to find that they all had rather peculiar appearances.
The one at the center wore a set of white scholar robes. His features were quite graceful and refined, and he wore a faint smile on his face, but his ears were remarkably long.
There was a grey-robed elderly man sitting beside him who had a face that resembled a piece of withered and shriveled-up wood, but his eyes were glowing with a faint green light.
The final person to complete the trio was a portly monk in a purple kasaya. He appeared to be in his forties or fifties, and he had quite a benevolent appearance.
All three of them were Body Integration cultivators!
The elderly man was only an early-Body Integration cultivator, while the monk was a mid-Body Integration cultivator.
As for the white-robed man at the center, he was enshrouded in a layer of white light that was very difficult to see through even for Han Li's spirit eyes, and he was a late-Body Integration cultivator.
It appeared that this white-robed man was indeed the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign.
Everyone aside from Han Li was looking on in a completely flabbergasted manner. This was the procession of the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign, and all of them were feeling quite nervous in its presence, but also very excited.
There were only several tens of Body Integration cultivators in the entire human race, and the three sovereigns were the most powerful ones even among those Body Integration Stage beings. There definitely weren't many cultivators in the human race who could truthfully say that they had seen one of the three sovereigns in person.
As such, they were extremely fortunate to be witnessing this procession.
Just as Han Li was carefully appraising the white-robed scholar on the beast-drawn carriage, the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign suddenly stirred slightly before rising to his feet and making his way over to the edge of the second floor. Golden light then flashed through his eyes as he cast his gaze toward Han Li's direction.
"I can sense that a fellow Daoist is nearby. If you don't mind, how about coming up here to have some wine with us?"
His voice wasn't particularly loud, but it was somehow able to make itself audibly heard by everyone down below.
Everyone aside from Han Li stared at one another in a bewildered manner.
After a long while, Young Master Hai gulped in an unconfident manner, and asked, "Was he speaking to us?"
"No way! He's clearly referring to whomever he's speaking to as an equal; there's no way it can be one of us," Bai Huaji said as he shook his head vehemently in response.
"But there doesn't appear to be anyone else here aside from us," Qi Lingzi murmured as he blinked in a confused manner.
That was indeed true. In order to provide themselves with a better setting to kill Bai Huaji and Bai Guo'er, the Three Scourges of the Southern Mountain intentionally drew their two intended victims to this secluded place, where there were no other cultivators around in a radius of over 50 kilometers.
Everyone else was completely befuddled, but Han Li was naturally aware that the Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign was speaking to him. His brows furrowed slightly as he turned to Young Master Hai and the others.
"Fellow Daoist Hai, you can go with Fellow Daoist Yue Hua to her cave abode and wait for me there. I'll go meet this Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign, and I'll catch up to you later."
Everyone else was naturally astonished to hear this.
"Brother Han, wh- what did you…" Young Master Hai was stumbling over his own words.
However, Han Li merely shook his head to cut him off, and he flew directly toward the flying carriage in the distance as a streak of azure light, covering a distance of over 10,000 feet after just a few flashes.
Everyone else looked on with their jaws on the ground, and only Bai Guo'er was looking at everyone around her with an adorably innocent and confused look on her face.
"So Fellow Daoist Han is a Body Integration Stage senior! I should've guessed this already. Aside from a Body Integration cultivator, no one else would be able to cure Guo'er's frost poison!" Yue Hua murmured to herself in an ecstatic manner.
"Fellow Daoist Hai, could, could it be that you two are also…" Bai Huaji stuttered in a stunned manner.
"Nonono, we're definitely just a pair of normal cultivators; I'm only at the Foundation Establishment Stage. We only encountered Brother Han, no, Senior Han, during our journey; we had no idea that he's a Body Integration cultivator!" Qi Lingzi shuddered as he returned to his senses before vehemently shaking his head in response.
"We… We traveled with a Body Integration Stage Senior for several months, referred to one another as equals, and had fruits and tea together… Qi Lingzi, am… am I dreaming right now?" Young Master Hai was at a complete loss for what to think.
Meanwhile, Han Li was already close to the flying carriage, and after hearing Heavenly Yuan Holy Sovereign's words from earlier, all of the armored warriors naturally granted him free passage.
The azure light receded, and Han Li appeared on the second floor of the carriage before smiling as he cupped his fist in a salute. "Han Li pays his respects to his fellow Daoists."
"Han Li? Could you be the Fellow Daoist Han who recently made his breakthrough in the Tian Yuan Region?" The elderly man's expression stirred slightly as he returned the salute.
"Hehe, we are indeed one and the same!" Han Li replied with a smile.
