Three days later, Han Li departed from Deep Heaven City with Silvermoon, Daoist Xie, Zhu Guo'er, and Li Rong, and the five of them traveled to the Xu Family.
Following the retreat of the devilish army, the Xu Family had returned to its former site of residence, so through the use of several teleportation formations, Han Li was able to arrive after just half a month of travel.
As soon as his arrival was announced, the entire Xu Family erupted into a frenzy.
Not only did Family Leader Xu Jiao and Xu Qianyu hurriedly come out to greet him, they were also accompanied by the elders of the family, including Xu Yan and Xu Huo, whom Han Li had met once in the past.
It seemed that the Xu Family had managed to preserve most of its powerful beings despite the devilish tribulation.
"We pay our respects to Senior Han; your visit is truly a great honor for our entire family," Xu Jiao said as he extended a respectful bow, and all of the elders also followed suit.
As one of the major families of the human race, the Xu Family had been able to maintain a hint of pride in the face of Han Li back when he was only a Body Integration cultivator, but they certainly didn't dare to treat him with the same attitude now that he was at the Grand Ascension Stage.
Han Li's group was invited into the main guest hall, and after sitting down on the main seat, he turned to Xu Jiao, and said, "I'm sure you know why I'm here. Fairy Xu has already informed me of the blood soul's current situation, but I want you to give me a more detailed account to see if there's any additional useful information."
"Yes, Senior. Senior Blood Soul suddenly returned to our family around seven months ago…" Thus, Xu Jiao began a detailed recount.
Han Li listened carefully to his story, and after the recount was completed, a serious look appeared on his face as he said, "So prior to falling unconscious, Fellow Daoist Blood Soul told you that I'm the only one who would be able to awaken her."
"That's right, Senior Han. As a clone of our matriarch the blood soul is only at the Spatial Tempering Stage, but due to the semi-insubstantial nature of her body, it's very difficult for her to sustain injuries. However, she's been afflicted by some type of condition where there is no visible damage to her body, but she's remained unconscious this entire time. I've already tried everything to awaken her, but all to no avail. I hope you can do our matriarch a favor by saving her, Senior Han," Xu Jiao said in a careful manner.
"That's quite interesting. Let me see Fellow Daoist Blood Soul for myself first. If I can save her, I'll be sure to do so," Han Li said with a faint smile.
Xu Jiao was ecstatic to hear this. "Thank you, Senior Han; I'll take you to see her right away."
"Come with me, Brother Xie. Silvermoon, Guo'er, Fellow Daoist Li, you can all stay here for now," Han Li instructed.
"Alright, I'll wait here with Guo'er and Fellow Daoist Li," Silvermoon replied in an obedient manner.
As for Li Rong and Zhu Guo'er, neither of them dared to raise any objections, either.
The Xu Family cultivators had already noticed Silvermoon and the others, but the disparity between their cultivation bases was far too great for the Xu Family cultivators to be able to glean their true powers. As such, the Xu Family cultivators were treating them with a lot of respect as well.
After leaving several servants with Silvermoon and the others, Xu Jiao and the Xu Family elders led Han Li and Daoist Xie to the Xu Family's restricted area.
Thus, the group soon arrived in the deepest part of an underground stone hall, where a semi-transparent coffin was situated.
Within the coffin laid a white-robed woman with her eyes tightly shut, and a layer of black Qi enshrouding her entire body.
This was none other than Fairy Ice Soul's blood soul clone.
Han Li approached the coffin, and as soon as he reached within 10 feet of it, he was immediately struck by a glacial sensation.
"Is this Myriad Year Profound Ice?" Han Li asked in an expressionless manner.
"This is indeed a coffin constructed from Myriad Year Profound Ice, Senior; only this material can slow down the rate at which Senior Blood Soul's aura is fading," Xu Jiao hurriedly explained.
"Glacial power is quite effective for controlling most injuries, so it's not a bad idea to place Fellow Daoist Ice Soul in a Myriad Year Profound Ice coffin while you're still unsure of exactly what condition she's been afflicted by," Han Li said with a slight nod.
He then turned his attention toward the blood soul to find that not only was there black Qi emanating from her entire body, there was also a peculiar crimson symbol on her glabella that was flashing faintly.
Han Li's brows immediately furrowed slightly at the sight of the crimson symbol, as if a thought had suddenly occurred to him.
"Senior Han, have you identified the root cause for Senior Blood Soul's condition?" Xu Jiao hurriedly asked.
"I think so, but I can't be sure; I'll need to verify her condition," Han Li replied as he released his spiritual sense toward the coffin.
Moments later, Han Li's expression changed slightly, and he suddenly pointed a finger at his own glabella, upon which a third demonic eye appeared.
As soon as the demonic eye was opened, a translucent thread shot forth from within, then vanished into the body of the blood soul within the coffin.
In the next instant, the translucent thread returned with a thumb-sized crimson insect impaled on its front tip.
At the same time, the crimson symbol on the blood soul's glabella instantly vanished.
The insect resembled a snail with eight feelers of different lengths on its head, and as soon as it emerged from the blood soul's body, it immediately began to thrash and struggle frantically.
"What is that thing? How did we fail to discover it in Senior Blood Soul's body?" Xu Jiao exclaimed as he stared at the snail-like insect with a flabbergasted expression.
"It's no surprise that you failed to discover it; this is a Blood Curse Insect that has no detectable form and fuses with the host's blood. If I hadn't forced it out with my spiritual sense thread, you would've most likely never discovered it," Han Li said in a calm manner.
"A Blood Curse Insect? How have we never heard of such an insidious insect before?" Xu Jiao asked in a hesitant manner.
"Hehe, that's because this insect can't be found on our continent. Instead, it can only be found on the Blood Sky Continent, the most mysterious of the three continents in the Spirit Realm," Han Li replied.
"The Blood Sky Continent? How could that be?" Xu Jiao and the Xu Family elders were stunned to hear this.
"I've never been to the Blood Sky Continent, but I did travel through the Thunder Continent for a while, and I saw a description of this insect in a tome on the Thunder Continent, so there's no mistaking it," Han Li explained, and the spiritual sense thread he had released suddenly unleashed countless thread projections that abruptly wound themselves around the crimson insect.
The translucent thread vanished in a flash, and the crimson insect was also torn into countless shreds before raining down onto the ground as droplets of blood.
"The Blood Curse Insect is extremely sinister and difficult to expel even for Body Integration Stage beings, but once it's outside of its host's body, it becomes completely vulnerable," Han Li said with a cold smile.
"Thank you for the lesson, Senior Han. What will happen to Senior Blood Soul now?" Xu Jiao asked in a concerned manner as he glanced at the blood soul, who was still unconscious.
"Rest assured, now that the Blood Curse Insect has been expelled, she'll wake up on her own eventually. However, I don't have that much time to wait for her, so I'll help her awaken a little earlier," Han Li replied after a brief moment of contemplation.
"Thank you, Senior!" Xu Jiao and the Xu Family elders were all ecstatic and extremely grateful to hear this.
Han Li withdrew his demonic eye, then approached the ice coffin before suddenly pointing a finger at the blood soul's forehead.
A burst of immense spiritual power immediately erupted forth as a pillar of azure light, vanishing into the blood soul's body in a flash. The spiritual power then surged through all of her meridians at Han Li's behest, clearing away all blockages in the process.
The blood soul gave a pained moan, and her brows furrowed slightly as she slowly opened her eyes.
Han Li then flicked a finger to release a streak of green light that flew into the blood soul's mouth with unerring accuracy.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he departed from the hall.
"Bring Fellow Daoist Blood Soul to come and see me once she completely absorbs the power of the pill."
"Yes, Senior Han." Xu Jiao and the others were completely overjoyed.
Daoist Xie remained as expressionless as ever as he followed Han Li out of the stone hall.
Around 15 minutes later, the awakened blood soul arrived before Han Li in the main guest hall.
"How do you feel, Fellow Daoist Blood Soul?" Han Li asked with a smile.
The blood soul was looking rather pale, but she still forced a smile onto her own face, and replied, "I'm fine now thanks to the Essence Replenishment Pill you just fed me, Senior Han."
