"A Sacred Ancestor? Are you being serious? In that case, I'd rather abandon the true spirit blood!" Han Li said with a dark expression.
"Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions, Brother Han. If there really were a Sacred Ancestor situated in the Iron Sand Ridge, we wouldn't have chosen the Illusion Howl Desert route. According to my knowledge, there is a clone of a certain Sacred Ancestor Ling Yuan situated in the Iron Sand Ridge. It seems that this Sacred Ancestor owes the Azure Wing Race a great debt and sent one of his clones to the Iron Sand Ridge permanently. You once slew a Sacred Ancestor clone during the battle of Deep Heaven City, so I'm sure you'll have no trouble against this one. Besides, as long as we exercise caution, we may not even alert this Sacred Ancestor clone," the woman from the Ye Family said.
"Just a clone, eh? It still won't be that easy to handle. According to my knowledge, Sacred Ancestors have very close connections with their clones. If the true body of this Sacred Ancestor Ling Yuan resides not far away from the Iron Sand Ridge, then he could rush over to the valley as soon as we alert his clone; it's still too risky," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
"Rest assured, Brother Han; according to the information that I've gathered, not only does this Sacred Ancestor Ling Yuan reside very far away from the Iron Sand Ridge he's been in seclusion for over 10,000 years. On top of that, other clones of his have been killed in the past, but he's still never emerged from seclusion. There are even rumors going around that his true body has already perished, and only these clones are still left. Of course, no one would dare to disrupt a Sacred Ancestor that's in seclusion, so there's no way to verify whether this is true. In any case, all you have to worry about is the clone that's situated in the Iron Sand Ridge," the woman from the Ye Family said with a smile.
Han Li's expression eased slightly as he said, "I see, that does make things a lot more feasible. However, I was only able to kill that Sacred Ancestor clone in the Spirit Realm when there were other fellow daoists restricting the clone's movements. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to stop him on my own."
"I'm naturally aware of that, which is why I borrowed a Heavensphere Bead from one of my closest friends prior to departing from the Spirit Realm. This is a one-time disposable treasure that can create an entire small world. As long as you can briefly stall the Sacred Ancestor clone, I'll be able to use the treasure to trap him for close to half a day, which will be more than enough time for us to escape. As long as we don't reveal our identities as humans, I'm sure this Sacred Ancestor clone wouldn't come after us over some true spirit blood," the woman from the Ye Family said in a confident manner.
"Looks like you really have been plotting this for a very long time. If I only need to stall the Sacred Ancestor clone for a short while, then that should be within my capabilities," Han Li replied with a nod.
The woman from the Ye Family was ecstatic to hear this, and her smile became even more pronounced.
Even though she had been plotting this since before she had departed from the Spirit Realm, there was no way that she would be able to obtain the Azure Luan True Blood without Han Li's assistance, which was why she was willing to offer such a heavy price to recruit him.
After that, the two of them began to discuss a specific plan.
Shortly thereafter, a yellow line suddenly appeared on the ground in the distance, following which a vast plateau slowly emerged in the distance.
The plateau was extremely flat and stretched for as far as the eyes could see.
Han Li was conversing with the woman from the Ye Family as the boat was flying over a certain hill when his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he cast his gaze out the window.
"Did you discover something, Brother Han?" the woman from the Ye Family asked as she also released her spiritual sense through the surrounding area in a cautious manner.
"There is an interesting low-grade devilish beast hidden within the soil down below. It was able to completely integrate itself with the aura around it, and even I almost failed to detect it," Han Li replied in a calm voice.
"Oh? That is indeed quite intriguing. Having said that, the conditions in the Elder Devil Realm are far worse than that of the Spirit Realm, so most low-grade devilish beasts have some life-saving innate abilities up their sleeves. Otherwise, they would've been hunted into extinction by the high-grade devilish beasts already," the woman replied with a smile.
Han Li merely nodded and offered no response.
At this point, the boat had already flown over the small hill down below.
Around 15 minutes later, the soil on the hill suddenly parted to reveal a hedgehog-like devilish beast that was around a foot in size. The creature had sharp grey spikes all over its body, as well as several extremely long feelers on the top of its head. Its bulging eyes stared intently at the direction that the flying boat had disappeared in, and it seemed to possess some intelligence.
A month flew by in the blink of an eye. In a mountain range that neighbored the vast plateau, there was a small town that was close to 10 kilometers in size constructed in a small patch of low-lying land.
There were no walls around the two; only a symbolic yellow wooden fence.
There were streaks of light occasionally flying over the town, either departing from the town or landing on a small plaza in the town.
However, there were several tall platforms that had been erected in the corners of the town, each of which was over 100 feet tall. There was a giant glossy black flag standing on each platform, releasing faint black Qi that enshrouded the entirety of the platforms.
There were also four or five devilish guards standing expressionless on each platform, and there were some winding streets around the plaza, on either side of which were some shops and restaurants run by the devilish residents of the town.
Tens of thousands of devilish beings were entering and exiting these buildings, and it seemed to be quite a lively and bustling down.
In a nondescript restaurant on the edge of the plaza, there were two devilish beings seated at a table near one of the windows, and they were resting with their eyes closed.
There was only a green wine flagon and two pristine white cups placed on the table.
A rich aroma was emanating from the wine, and it resembled red nectar, clearly indicating that it was some type of rare premium wine.
The entire level of the restaurant seemed to have been booked by these two devilish beings, as evidenced by the fact that there was no one else around.
"They should be here soon, right?" a burly man with a pair of thick-brows and several small braids in his hair suddenly asked his companion with a hint of impatience in his eyes.
His companion was a refined middle-aged daoist priest, and he opened his eyes before replying, "According to Yan Mo, our suspected targets emerged from the Illusion Howl Desert around a month ago, but they split up and went their separate ways immediately thereafter, so we only have to take care of two of them. Judging by the length of the journey they have to make to get here, they should be here soon. This Earth Dragon Town is the only place in the nearby area where one can stay and rest. If they're coming in this direction, then they'll definitely stop at this town for a while."
"Hmph, what if they don't need to rest or replenish their supplies and simply fly over this town? Wouldn't we have waited all this time for nothing then?" the burly man harrumphed coldly.
"Hehe, rest assured, Brother Luo. This is the closest town to the Illusion Howl Desert in this area. If they really are our targets, then they would've spent several decades in the Illusion Howl Desert prior to this; how could they not stop at the nearest place where they could replenish their supplies? Even if they don't need to replenish their supplies, they still have to learn about what's been happening the past few decades, so they'll definitely make a stop here," the middle-aged scholar reassured in a confident manner.
"That makes sense, but I still don't believe you," the burly man said with a roll of his eyes.
"Oh? Then how about we make a bet?" the daoist priest asked with a smile.
"What do you want to bet?" the burly man asked as a cautious look appeared on his face.
"How about we bet the compensation we've been promised for this job? If it weren't for the hefty compensation we've been offered, we wouldn't have waited here for so long," the daoist priest chuckled.
"I'm not going to make such a foolish bet with you, Brother Leng. If you change the terms of the bet, perhaps I'd be interested," the burly man said as he shook his head vigorously.
"Then what do you want to bet?" the daoist priest asked.
"How about we bet on who will defeat their target first?" the burly man proposed.
"Hehe, my powers are far inferior to yours, so there's no need for such a bet," the daoist priest chuckled in response.
"Don't be so quick to refuse, Brother Leng; perhaps my opponent will just so happen to be far more powerful than yours," the burly man urged with a smile.
"I only ever believe in myself, never in luck," the daoist priest replied in an indifferent voice.
"You're still just as boring as ever! You never take any risks; where's the fun in that?" The burly man shook his head with a disappointed expression.
The daoist priest smiled and was just about to reply when his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately cast his gaze toward a black flying boat that was slowly descending onto the plaza.
"That's it! That flying devilish treasure is identical to the image that we've been provided!" The burly man immediately sprang to his feet before cracking his knuckles violently.
