The image depicted Han Li sitting in the hall, and even though there was no sound, the image was extremely vivid and life-like, as if time had just been reversed.
The burly man urged the purple-haired woman to pay attention, then flicked a finger toward the image, sending a speck of black light vanishing into it.
In the next instant, layers of light suddenly appeared over Han Li's body. The outermost layer was inky-black in color, followed by a layer of purplish-golden light, while the innermost layer was of a murky grey color.
"What's that?" the purple-haired woman asked in an intrigued voice.
"Hehe, this is the first time you've seen this Vast Yin Secret Technique, right? This indicates that Fellow Daoist Han seems to be using some special cultivation arts. The outermost black layer represents the purest true devilish Qi of our holy realm. That's very normal; without this layer of black light, I'd have to wonder whether he's actually from our holy realm. As for the purplish-golden light, it indicates that's using cultivating some kind of powerful body refinement devilish art. On top of that, he's already close to reaching the legendary Golden Bone Purple Marrow stage. Aside from some Sacred Ancestors, I've never heard of anyone who's been able to reach that level," the burly man introduced in a serious manner.
The purple-haired woman's expression changed drastically upon hearing this. "Golden Bone Purple Marrow? Is his physical body really that powerful? Could it be that the Vast Yin Treasured Mirror made a mistake?"
"Most likely not. The effect of the Vast Yin Treasured Mirror on that man is greatly hampered, but it wouldn't make such a grave error. On top of that, he's only close to reaching that level. Otherwise, that outermost layer of true devilish Qi would've been completely absorbed into his body and meridians, so it wouldn't even show up in the mirror," the burly man sighed.
"Doesn't that mean that man would be able to crush most devilish lords with his physical prowess alone? Also, what's that layer of grey light? Is he also cultivating some other type of powerful ability?" the purple-haired woman asked.
"Grey light represents something that even the Vast Yin Treasured Mirror is unable to ascertain, but it's presumably something quite extraordinary as well. This is already the limit of my capabilities; if I had injected even more magic power into the mirror, then I would've run the risk of truly offending him, and that's certainly not worth it. However, seeing as he was able to notice me even while I was in the restriction, he must possess an immense spiritual sense as well," the burly man analyzed.
The purple-haired woman was silent for a while before a wry smile appeared on her face. "So he possesses an incredibly powerful physical body, abilities that even the mirror can't identify, and even his spiritual sense is that powerful; it seems like a freakish talent has come to our Illusion Night City. It's a good thing that he doesn't seem to intend to stay here for long and our Bai Family was the first one to befriend him. With his assistance, we should have no issues taking care of that devilish beast."
"From this perspective, this is indeed good news for us. This is a man that we definitely can't offend, but there's no need to try and recruit him to our family, either. With his unfathomable powers, there's no way a family like ours can contain him. Just make sure to exercise more caution when interacting with him in the future," the burly man said in a serious manner.
"I definitely will," the woman replied with a nod.
Meanwhile, Han Li was seated in the beast-drawn carriage, inspecting a white crystal ball with a hint of a smile on his face.
All of a sudden, a black light barrier erupted out of his body to encompass him entirely, following which he pointed a finger at his own glabella while tossing the crystal ball forward.
Black light flashed from his glabella, and his third demonic eye appeared before blasting forth a golden pillar of light that struck the white crystal ball with unerring accuracy.
In the next instant, the crystal ball began to shimmer with golden light before also releasing a golden light barrier.
The light barrier was initially quite blurry and indistinct, but soon displayed a burly figure holding an antiquated rhomboid mirror.
It was none other than the burly man from the Bai Family.
The man was in the process of casting an incantation seal toward the antiquated mirror, and Han Li appraised him briefly with a cold smile on his face before the third demonic eye on his glabella abruptly vanished.
Just as this devilish lord of the Bai Family had said, Han Li was able to almost instantly sense his presence through his enormous spiritual sense. He displayed no outward reaction, but he had also unleashed a secret technique to observe the man, and he was relieved to find that the man was only a mid-stage devilish lord.
With the devilish Qi from his Provenance True Devil Arts and Devilfeign Bead, no one in the Elder Devil Realm would be able to see through his disguise aside from Sacred Ancestors.
The crystal ball reverted back to its original translucent appearance, and the projection of the burly man also vanished.
Everything was dispelled in the blink of an eye, as if he hadn't done anything at all.
After that, Han Li closed his eyes and began to meditate again.
During the next few days, Han Li would visit the Bai Family every day to exchange cultivation insights and experience with the purple-haired woman. Aside from body refinement techniques and normal devilish arts, they even discussed some secret techniques and obscure cultivation arts, and both of them benefited immensely from the conversations.
During this period of time, Han Li had scoured the city and discovered that none of his companions had arrived; he was the first one to have made it to Illusion Night City.
This was rather concerning to him, and he couldn't help but wonder if the others had encountered some trouble along the way.
However, he wasn't overly concerned. After all, everyone in his group was very powerful even among Body Integration Stage beings. Even if their covers were blown and they were surrounded by several devilish lords, they'd still at least be able to escape and ensure self-preservation. However, the issue surrounding the Eight-footed Devilish Lizards was quite a problem. Even though he had been promised one by the Bai Family, everyone else would have to secure devilish lizards for themselves through different avenues.
However, all of them were old monsters who had lived for countless years, so Han Li was confident that they would be able to take care of this matter themselves.
After assisting the Bai Family, he would wait until everyone else arrived.
During his period of time, the other two major families of the city had also been made aware of the arrival of Han Li, and they all extended invitations toward him. Han Li turned down all of these invitations in a euphemistic manner, but he attended the ancestral worship ceremony of the Zhao Family.
During the ceremony, he met a devilish-lord-level grand elder of the Zhao Family, and they shared a brief conversation.
The grand elder of the Zhao Family was a short and thin elderly man, and he was clearly quite relieved to hear that Han Li was only passing through the city and wouldn't be staying for long.
Han Li was naturally aware of why the elderly man was displaying such a reaction, and after exchanging some more pleasantries, he departed from the Zhao Family.
After that, he didn't visit the Bai Family, either, but 10 days later, the purple-haired woman came to meet him.
She informed him that the final ally she had recruited had finally arrived, and that she had decided to venture into the Illusion Howl Desert to chase away that devilish beast in two days.
Han Li naturally had no objections to this, and the purple-robed woman immediately extended ecstatic words of gratitude before taking her leave.
During the next two days, Han Li spent all his time meditating on the top floor of the pavilion to get himself into prime condition.
He was confident that a devilish beast wouldn't be able to pose much threat to him, but he didn't want to make a fatal error due to a moment of complacency.
Two days later, Han Li issued some instructions to Zhu Guo'er before traveling toward a certain city gate in a beast-drawn carriage.
Several hours later, Han Li met up with the group from the Bai Family on a hill outside the city.
Aside from the purple-haired woman and burly man, there were two more devilish lords, as well as six Spatial Tempering Stage devilish beings, one of whom was Bai Yunxin.
The purple-haired woman greeted Han Li with a smile before introducing him to everyone else.
Only then was Han Li made aware that the burly man was named Bai Xijiao, and that he was the elder brother of the purple-haired woman.
As for the other two devilish lords, one of them was a rotund fatso who introduced himself as Heavenly Lord Luan Dragon. His entire body was covered in rolls of flabs, and his eyes were squashed down to a pair of narrow slits, making him resemble a fat pig far more so than a dragon.
The other devilish lord was named Han Qizi, and he was a middle-aged man wearing a green ghostly mask. There was white glacial Qi emanating from his entire body, and one was struck by a bone-chilling sensation even by just getting close to him.
Bai Xijiao was very polite toward Han Li, but the fatso merely exchanged some aloof pleasantries with Han Li, while Han Qizi didn't say anything at all, as if he really had been carved out of a chunk of glacial ice.
Han Li merely replied when spoken to, and didn't say anything further than that.
Thus, not long after that, the group flew toward the Illusion Howl Desert.
