"Calm down, Fellow Daoist Luo; our targets may have arrived, but it wouldn't be a good idea to attack them in this town. Let's wait for their departure before we strike. During this time, I'll get my Shadow Chasing Insect to keep an eye on them." The daoist priest flicked a finger as he spoke, and a speck of green light shot forth before vanishing into thin air.
"Alright, we'll do as you say, Brother Leng. I wonder if our targets really are devilish lords. If so, I'll be able to test out a powerful ability that I recently mastered," the burly man chuckled before taking a seat again.
"Don't underestimate our targets, Fellow Daoist Luo; the fact that we were offered such tremendous compensation indicates that our targets are no ordinary beings. As such, it would be unwise to grow complacent," the daoist priest cautioned with a smile.
The burly man nodded in response, but his nonchalant expression clearly indicated that he hadn't heeded these words of caution at all.
The daoist priest could only shake his head with a wry smile, then cast his gaze toward the black flying boat again.
All of a sudden, a ball of piercing black light erupted out of the boat, then suddenly vanished.
In its place, a man and a woman appeared, and both of them seemed to be extremely young.
Faint purple light flashed through the daoist priest's eyes as he carefully appraised the duo, following which his brows furrowed slightly with befuddlement.
The nonchalant expression on the burly man's face had also disappeared as he caught sight of the duo. "Interesting! One of them has intentionally concealed their cultivation base, while the other's cultivation base is completely unfathomable; these two really are worthy opponents!"
"These two are no ordinary beings; we'll have to use our second plan," the daoist priest decided after a brief moment of contemplation.
"That woman is nothing special; even though she used a secret technique to conceal her cultivation base, both of us can easily tell that she's just a normal devilish lord. In contrast, that man truly is rather unfathomable; let me test out his true powers before we make a decision." The burly man was still raring to go.
"That's a good idea. I'll take on the woman, but make sure not to escalate this into a full-on battle," the daoist priest agreed after a brief pause.
The burly man nodded as a hint of ferocity appeared in his eyes.
The duo on the plaza were naturally none other than Han Li and the woman from the Ye Family.
All of a sudden, Han Li cast his gaze toward the restaurant as if he had sensed something.
He could clearly see the devilish beings dining on the other few levels, but the level that the daoist priest and burly man were situated on was concealed behind an extremely profound restriction that managed to keep out both Han Li's spirit eyes and spiritual sense.
Han Li's expression darkened slightly upon seeing this.
"Did you discover something, Brother Han?" the woman from the Ye Family asked.
"It seems that we're being scrutinized by a powerful being," Han Li replied as he slowly withdrew his gaze.
The woman from the Ye Family faltered slightly upon hearing this. "Oh? Could it be that there are devilish lords in this town?"
Her surprise was quite warranted as the probability of devilish lords appearing in such a small town really wasn't very high.
"Perhaps so. We should be able to find out soon enough if they're here to target us or not," Han Li replied calmly.
"Now that you mention it, I'm also getting a slightly uneasy feeling like I'm being watched by someone," the woman from the Ye Family said as she also cast her gaze toward the restaurant.
"Who knows? Perhaps they're not here for us. Let's replenish some Azure Devil Crystals in this town first. That flying boat of yours is indeed quite fast, but it certainly goes through a lot of these crystals," Han Li said.
"Let's leave this place as soon as we purchase the crystals. Truth be told, this is also my first time using this devilish treasure, and I didn't expect it to consume so much energy. No wonder the devilish being who sold it to me offered such a low price; this is not a very practical devilish treasure," the woman from the Ye Family replied with furrowed brows.
Han Li merely nodded and remained silent.
He didn't have any better flying devilish treasures than her. Otherwise, perhaps they wouldn’t have had to stop at this town.
After that, Han Li's duo made their way toward the shops lining the nearby streets.
Not long after that, they purchased a sufficient number of Azure Devil Crystals in one of the larger shops, then immediately summoned the flying boat before departing from the town.
Meanwhile, the daoist priest and the burly man had also disappeared without a trace, leaving only the two cups and wine flagon still sitting on the table.
Several hours later, the black flying boat stopped in mid-air hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the town.
It had been stopped in its tracks by a burly man and a daoist priest who were standing several thousand feet in front of the boat, one of whom wore an excited expression, while the other was a lot more calm and tranquil.
Han Li and the woman from the Ye Family had also emerged from the boat and were appraising the pair of devilish beings in an expressionless manner.
"May I ask why you've stopped us, fellow daoists?" Han Li asked.
The daoist priest gave a completely farcical alibi in response. "We just so happen to be looking for some powerful sparring partners; would you care to entertain us, Fellow Daoist?"
"Are you serious? You stopped us because you wanted some sparring partners?" The eyes of the woman from the Ye Family widened slightly with rage upon hearing this.
"That's right. I can sense that you're not just a Spatial Tempering Stage being, right? I've been a devilish lord for quite some time as well; perhaps we'll both benefit from a sparring match. As for the fellow daoist accompanying you, my companion here is rather interested in him as well," the daoist priest said in a nonchalant manner.
It was clear that the daoist priest wasn't telling the truth, and the woman from the Ye Family reflexively cast her gaze toward Han Li.
"You two were the ones spying on us in that town, right?" Han Li asked in a calm manner as one of his hands suddenly shot forth like lightning, grabbing onto space before pulling a pea-sized semi-transparent green spirit insect out of thin air.
The daoist priest's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing this, but he continued in a nonchalant manner, "Looks like you really do possess remarkable powers, fellow daoist; I had only sent out that spirit insect as I was afraid that we would lose you."
"Hmph, you want us to fight you over such a disingenuous alibi? Do you think this is child's play?" A cold look flashed through Han Li's eyes as a burst of crimson flames erupted out of his hand, instantly incinerating the spirit insect into ashes.
"You have no choice in the matter!" the burly man chortled in response.
The woman from the Ye Family stepped forward with an enraged expression and was just about to say something, but Han Li raised a hand to stop her before continuing in a cold voice, "I'm fine with a sparring match, but if you lose, you have to tell us the real reason why you're targeting us. Otherwise, this will become a battle to the death, and you'll regret ever having crossed me."
Both the burly man and the daoist priest's expressions changed slightly upon hearing this.
They could tell that Han Li was being serious from the baleful aura that was emanating from his body.
The middle-aged daoist priest was quite decisive, and he only contemplated the matter for a brief moment before agreeing, "Sure, if you two can defeat us, then we'll come clean."
"Alright, then please enlighten me, fellow daoists. Fairy Ye, please keep a lookout so no one can interrupt our battle," Han Li instructed.
"Brother Han, you…" The woman was quite surprised to hear this, and she was just about to say something in response when Han Li transmitted his voice to her.
"Fairy Ye, you haven't cultivated any devilish arts, and these are some formidable opponents; if you engage in a sparring match with them, it's very likely that your cover will be blown, so just leave this to me."
"Alright, I'll have to trouble you then, Brother Han." The woman hesitated briefly upon hearing this before nodding in a hesitant manner.
After all, Han Li had once slain a Sacred Ancestor clone and had displayed extremely formidable powers in the Illusion Howl Desert, so she was very confident in him.
Han Li took a deep breath as he unleashed his Provenance True Devil Arts, and a cloud of pure black devilish Qi emerged beneath his feet, carrying him high up into the air.
The burly man chortled with glee upon seeing this, and he also rose up into the air as a ball of yellow light.
The two of them had reached an altitude of tens of thousands of feet in the blink of an eye, and Han Li laid a hand onto the back of his own head, upon which a shimmering golden projection with three heads and six arms appeared behind him. The projection was over 100 feet tall with black devilish patterns all over its body, creating a very menacing sight to behold.
"You're no match for me on your own; get your companions to face me as well," Han Li said as all of the devilish Qi within a radius of several kilometers abruptly tremored.
The golden projection waved its arms through the air, and golden light flashed in its hands as six different golden weapons appeared in its grasp. At the same time, a third inky-black devilish eye appeared on each of its glabellas, and it was shimmering with an unsettling black light.
