Han Li's expression eased slightly at the sight of Fan Paozi's departure, but a hint of concern then appeared in his eyes as he considered what Fan Paozi had just said.
After a short while, Han Li's Nascent Soul descended from above as a streak of azure light.
Not long after that, spatial fluctuations erupted within the secret chamber of his cave abode, and the Nascent Soul re-emerged.
Han Li's physical body and the spirit body both stood up upon seeing this, and at the same time, Han Li's physical body closed its eyes, and his Nascent Soul quickly vanished into the head of the body as a streak of azure light.
All of a sudden, purplish-golden light flashed erratically from Han Li's body, and a series of silver spirit patterns appeared on his skin.
Han Li then reopened his eyes, upon which the spirit body immediately approached him before vanishing into his body as a streak of azure light.
Han Li stood still on the spot, and only after a long while did he gently flex his neck from side to side as he murmured to himself, "As expected, my Nascent Soul really has become more resolute than before. It seems that not only can spiritual travel be used in battle against enemies, it can also be directly used for cultivation."
After that, Han Li sat back down onto the ground, then flipped a hand over to produce the silver scale again.
Han Li gently stroked the scale with his finger for a moment, and a contemplative look appeared on his face.
In the past, he had read about the True Dragon Island that Fan Paozi had just spoken of, and apparently, the island was very strange in that it existed in a unique space that was situated in several realms at once.
There were all types of living beings on the island, most of which were wyrms, but there were also over 10 true spirits on the island, most of which were true dragons, which was why it was known as True Dragon Island.
However, this was the first time he had heard about this Dao Fruit Convention.
He would have to inquire Mo Jianli and some others about this to see if they knew any details about the event before deciding whether he was going to attend.
Having made up his mind, Han Li exhaled, and the silver spirit patterns on his body instantly formed dozens of miniature formations on his skin.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of white mist surged out of the formations in a frenzy, inundating Han Li's entire body.
Moments later, the entire secret chamber was filled with this white mist, and a string of cracks and pops rang out incessantly from within it.
Thus, Han Li continued to cultivate in his secret chamber.
Two months later, the door of the secret chamber was opened once again amid a dull thump, and Han Li emerged from within with a calm expression.
Half a day later, spiritual light suddenly flashed on the peak of the mountain in which Han Li's cave abode was situated, and two dazzling streaks of light departed into the distance.
Shortly thereafter, a group of around a dozen streaks of light also emerged from the mountain before flying away in another direction.
Meanwhile, Daoist Xie, Silvermoon, and Zhu Guo'er had already gathered before Han Li in the cave abode.
"Let's go to Deep Heaven City. There are some disciples who I haven't seen in a long time, and I want to check on how they're doing," Han Li said.
No one had any objections to this, and Han Li swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a burst of golden light that swept up everyone in the room, following which all of them instantly vanished on the spot.
In the next instant, spatial fluctuations erupted atop the mountain peak, and Han Li's group re-emerged.
Han Li then immediately raised a hand to release a ball of azure light, which transformed into an azure jade ark that was over 100 feet in length.
Han Li and the others flew onto the ark, which immediately sped away as a ball of azure light.
……
Deep Heaven City was still standing at the entrance to the primordial world, and its massive city walls had already been repaired from the damage inflicted upon it by the devilish army.
Groups of armored patrolling warriors were roaming over the city walls, and even though the devilish tribulation had already passed, the guards of Deep Heaven City were still on high alert.
Within a giant stone pagoda at the center of Deep Heaven City, eight human and demon Body Integration Stage elders were gathered and discussing something.
"Among the outermost 108 giant restrictions of the city, 97 of them were completely repaired as of two days ago. As for the remaining restrictions, the materials required to repair them are quite rare, and we haven't been able to gather all of them, so they can't be repaired for now. Up to this point, only around 20% of the puppets under the city have been repaired, and all of the ones that have been adjudged to be beyond repair have been refined into materials. The 100,000 new puppets that we commissioned the Hidden Fortune Pavilion to craft have already arrived a month ago, and the 3,080 cloud pavilions of the city have already been fully repaired…" A silver-haired elderly man was currently in the process of delivering a report to everyone else.
Even though Deep Heaven City had managed to withstand the invasion of the devilish army, the damage and losses sustained by the city had been enormous. Even after so many years, the city still hadn't recovered to its former state prior to the devilish tribulation, and this was very concerning to the panel of elders.
Following the devilish tribulation, the relationship between the human and demon races and the neighboring races had become rather tense.
In particular, the Wood Tribe had already been split up and become subsidiaries to the other races, and every race was eagerly eyeing the former territory of the Wood Tribe.
However, no one dared to immediately take over this territory in fear of being targeted by the other races.
Thus, the nearby races had begun sending people to the border they shared with the Wood Tribe territory in order to slowly encroach upon this area.
Under these circumstances, it wouldn't be a surprise at all to see another war break out between the human and demon races against the other neighboring races.
If that were to happen, Deep Heaven City would most likely be the site where the conflict would take place, so it was naturally imperative to repair all of the city's defenses.
After a long while, the silver-haired elderly man finally completed his report, and during this process, all of the other elders had listened carefully, occasionally raising a question or two, all of which were patiently answered by the elderly man.
"Our city's defenses are still rather weak at the moment, but everything will recover within 20 years at most. When that time comes, we'll have nothing to fear even if we have to battle the other neighboring races again. Brother Gu, let's discuss the other matters next," a golden-robed elderly monk suddenly said with a smile.
The monk was none other than Buddhist Monk Jin Yue, while the silver-haired elderly man was naturally Elder Gu of Deep Heaven City.
"Aside from the progression in the city's repairs, I gathered all of you here today to discuss several other important matters as well, one of which will involve the holy island envoys, who will be arriving at our city soon," Elder Gu sighed.
"What? So the holy island really has sent people to our city; looks like they're determined to get their hands on that person."
A stir immediately ran through the group of Body Integration Stage elders upon hearing this. "What do we do? The person the holy island wants is a disciple of that man."
"So be it, seeing as the holy island has sent envoys to our city, we'll just have to hand over that man's disciple. After all, even our Deep Heaven City won't be able to directly oppose the holy island," a golden-faced burly man said with furrowed brows.
"Hmph, you sure make it sound simple. Have you forgotten that man's powers and the contributions he made to our city? If we hand over his disciple, who is going to deal with him once he returns? Are you going to volunteer?" a purple-haired woman countered in a cold voice.
"We've already turned down the holy island on several occasions with different excuses; if we continue to refuse to cooperate, the holy island envoys will most likely cause trouble directly for our panel of elders. That person is indeed more powerful than all of us, but it's not like he'd dare to oppose the holy island, so I still think we should hand over his disciple," the golden-faced man insisted with a solemn expression.
"The holy island is not an entity that we can mess with, but have you forgotten that that man is currently attempting a Grand Ascension Stage breakthrough? If he succeeds and returns, only to find that we've handed over his disciple, have you considered what would befall our city?" a silver-masked woman asked in a cold voice.
"Haha, I know that you share some ties with that man, Fairy Silver Light, but this is a matter that concerns our entire city, so it's best not to let individual ties cloud your judgment. Besides, countless fellow daoists from our human and demon races have attempted Grand Ascension Stage breakthroughs in the past, but how many of them have succeeded?" the golden-faced man replied with a shake of his head.
Everyone else exchanged hesitant glances upon hearing this, but the silver-masked woman continued in a cold voice, "Even if the chances of making a Grand Ascension Stage breakthrough are very slim, have you forgotten about those rumors?"
The golden-faced man's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, but he didn't immediately offer a response.
"Are you referring to the rumor that Fellow Daoist Han is being held in high regard by both Senior Ao Xiao and Senior Mo Jianli?" Buddhist Monk Jin Yue asked.
