"Even so, that place isn't all that far away; he should've been back by now. Could he have encountered some trouble along the way?" Lord Lan murmured as he stroked the devilish patterns on his own face in a contemplative manner
"What troubles could he possibly encounter? With his powers, no human cultivator below the Body Integration Stage would dare to mess with him," the other devilish being replied with a shake of his head.
"Not necessarily. The humans have some secret treasures that can allow one to punch above their weight. Alternatively, a few late-Spatial Tempering cultivators who are adept in combination techniques can also be very troublesome," Lord Lan said.
"All of the human settlements in this area have been surrounded; how could there possibly be such an inconvenient coincidence?" the bald devilish being chuckled in a nonchalant manner.
Right as his voice trailed off, a low ringing sound suddenly rang out from his body, and both devilish beings were rather taken aback by this.
The bald devilish being immediately waved a hand through the air, and a white formation plate appeared in his hand amid a flash of black light. He pointed a finger toward the formation plate, and a burst of transparent fluctuations immediately rippled through the air, following which white light flashed from the surface of the plate, and the furious face of an elderly man appeared.
It was none other than the Fellow Daoist Li they had been referring to!
"Brother Li, why are you contacting us through this formation plate? And why are you still not back yet?" the bald devilish being asked in a slightly displeased manner.
Lord Lan's expression eased slightly upon seeing that the elderly man was alive and well, but a hint of displeasure then appeared in his eyes as well. "We didn't bring along many Illusion Devil Stones for this formation plate to use up, so you'd better have a good reason for contacting us."
"Hmph, my grandson was killed by human cultivators not long ago, and I'm pursuing the perpetrator now. However, it's very likely that there's a Body Integration cultivator among their ranks, so I may not be able to exact revenge on my own; I'll need you two to help me. In return, I'm willing to give you half of everything I obtain during this sacred sacrifice," the elderly man said with killing intent flashing through his eyes.
"How do you know that a Body Integration Stage human cultivator was involved, Brother Li?" the bald devilish being asked in a surprised manner.
"I've already been to the place where my grandson and his subordinates were killed, but there was no lingering aura suggesting that a battle had taken place; there's no way a Spatial Tempering cultivator could've accomplished this, so there's a very good chance that the perpetrator is a Body Integration cultivator," the elderly man explained.
"I see, that does seem quite plausible. Do you know the exact number of this group of human cultivators, Brother Li?" Lord Lan asked in a solemn voice.
"I do; I could sense the residual aura of only two humans there," the elderly man replied.
"Oh, in that case, the three of us should definitely be able to take care of them, but the problem is that we have an important duty on our shoulders. If something goes wrong as we're hunting these people down, then the Sacred Ancestor won't be happy," the bald devilish being said in a hesitant manner.
"Those Body Integration Stage human cultivators are definitely here to oppose our sacred race; if we can kill them and foil their plans, then the Sacred Ancestor will only reward us for our efforts. Besides, there may only be a single Body Integration cultivator involved, and the three of us can even take on someone at the pinnacle of the Body Integration Stage, so there's virtually no risk involved. How about this? Aside from half of everything I obtain during this sacred sacrifice, I'll also give you that Rotten Tendril Zoysia of mine," the elderly man said through gritted teeth.
The bald devilish being was very tempted upon hearing this. "Oh? you really must be eager to take revenge if you're even offering such a precious treasure. In that case, I'm certainly willing to lend you a hand. What do you say, Brother Lan?"
Lord Lan was also rather tempted by this proposition, but he asked again in a cautious manner, "Fellow Daoist Li, are you sure that there are only two perpetrators?"
A hint of fury resurfaced in the elderly man's eyes, but he forcibly repressed it, and harrumphed coldly, "Hmph, are you doubting my abilities, Fellow Daoist Lan? If there are more then two of them, then I won't force you two to fight alongside me."
"Alright, that's all I needed to hear; we'll go to join you right away. Make sure you don't let those two human cultivators shake you off, Brother Li," Lord Lan said with a faint smile.
"Those two killed my only direct lineal descendant; unless they suddenly end up on the other side of the realm, there's no way they'll be able to escape my tracking secret technique," the elderly man said in a confident manner.
Immediately thereafter, white light flashed from the formation plate, and the image of Lord Li abruptly vanished; he had cut off the communication from his end.
"Hehe, I was wondering what was taking him so long. I guess this understandable; if my only direct lineal descendent were killed by someone, I would also be sure to capture them and torture them for a few years before killing them," the bald devilish being chuckled coldly.
"At our cultivation bases, it's virtually impossible to have any more offspring, so we naturally have to pay more attention to our existing descendants. Thankfully, most of us have quite a few descendants, and Fellow Daoist Li's situation is rather uncommon. It's no wonder that he's so furious and willing to offer such a large reward for our help," Lord Lan also said with a smile.
"If it's just two human cultivators, then there shouldn't be any issues; let's set off right away. Perhaps we'll be able to strip some powerful treasures from those two humans as well," the bald devilish being said as a hint of greed flashed through his eyes.
"Of course, we already agreed to assist Brother Li, so we should naturally do everything in our power. Let's go!"
Blue arcs of lightning crackled around Lord Lan as he spoke, and his arms suddenly transformed into a pair of fleshy blue wings. Not only were the wings riddled with blue bone spikes, there were countless arcs of lightning revolving around them, creating a very menacing sight to behold.
He flapped his wings, and a string of thunderclaps rang out in rapid succession as he vanished into thin air as a blue arc of lightning. When he reappeared, he was already several thousand feet away.
The bald devilish being swept a sleeve through the air upon seeing this, releasing a red ball of light that transformed into a crimson cloud, which quickly enveloped his entire body.
The crimson cloud then shot forth in pursuit of the arc of lightning amid a flash of red light.
The two of them vanished into the distance in the blink of an eye, and meanwhile, on the other end, Lord Li had no intention of stopping to wait for them. Instead, he unleashed a secret technique that increased his speed even further.
Through his bloodline secret technique, he would be able to temporarily track the perpetrators, but there was a time limit. On top of that, if the people he was pursuing detected that something was off or used a teleportation formation to teleport straight out of his sensory range, then he would lose his targets. As such, before he caught up to them, he wasn't going to allow any complacency to set in.
In any case, he had reinforcements on the way, so even if he found himself unable to kill his targets, he would just have to stall them until his companions arrived.
With that in mind, he continued to fly through the air with burning fury in his heart.
At this point, Han Li was still traveling toward Heavenlean City with Fairy Silver Light, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being pursued.
Due to the fact that he wasn't in a battle or fleeing for his life, his speed of flight was naturally far slower than that of the three devilish lords pursuing him.
As time passed, the distance between the two was naturally gradually whittled down.
A day and a night later, just as Han Li and Fairy Silver Light were discussing matters regarding the four major sects in Heavenlean City, Han Li's expression suddenly changed as he swept a sleeve through the air. A short silver ruler immediately emerged before transforming into a giant ruler projection that was over 100 feet in length, then slashing through the air behind him.
An enormous black staff instantly appeared out of thin air, and the two treasures clashed amid an earth-shattering boom.
A ball of piercing light emerged, and a burst of astonishing fluctuations erupted forth, threatening to cause the entire surrounding space to collapse.
Fairy Silver Light emerged from her white cloud in a startled manner before turning toward the place where the fluctuations had erupted from with a hint of bewilderment in her eyes.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as he calmly waved a hand through the air, and the short silver ruler pierced through space before reappearing in his grasp.
At this moment, all of the fluctuations finally faded, and the horned elderly man appeared in the distance.
However, he had swelled to around 50 to 60 feet tall, and he was holding a giant black staff as he appraised Han Li with a vicious look in his eyes.
"That's a devilish lord!" The alarm in Fairy Silver Light's eyes grew even more pronounced after she swept her spiritual sense toward the elderly man.
She then immediately made a hand seal, and a pair of silver hooks emerged from her body. One of the hooks was engraved with the image of a white crescent moon, while the other was engraved with a crimson sun.
As soon as the weapons appeared, countless stars emerged in the nearby area in a flash, clearly indicating that this was a pair of extraordinary treasures.
Han Li appraised the elderly man and abruptly slammed a palm into his own chest without uttering a single word.
A dull thump rang out as golden light erupted from his body, and he opened his mouth to expel a ball of azure Qi that was interspersed with black threads.
