Автор: sergey

Han Li looked at the two with narrow eyes.

The two clearly werent ordinary body refiners as demonstrated from the chilling pressure of their gaze. He did sense the two appeared to be stronger than Zhang Kui.

Elder Brothers, I am Brother Han, who recently joined the enterprise. The mistress mentioned she wished to see me.

The shorter of the two glanced at Han Li and said, Ah, you are the person who cultivated the Vajra Arts to the third stage. You do appear young, but is that from taking a medicine pill to maintain your appearance?

The words contained were actually rather rude.

If you two feel that way, then consider it to be true. Han Lis heart jumped, but he maintained a smile on his face.

The larger of the two then snorted and harshly said, I dont believe you truly cultivated the Vajra Arts to the third layer. Ill be testing you, dont take offense. With a cold glint shining from his eye, he grabbed Han Lis wrist.

Han Li raised his brow but didnt avoid the large mans hand. When the man touched his wrist, he sensed the mans fingers turn exceptionally cold and release a huge force squeezing his wrist.

Han Li wore neither a scowl or a smile, but his eyes turned sullen.

Under the mans force, Han Lis wrist glowed with a layer of faint golden light, but it soon disappeared. Soon, Han Li remained still and allowed the man to do as he wished.

A short moment later, the large man exerted a large portion of his strength but Han Li still remained nonchalant. Eventually, the mans face revealed surprise, and he hesitated for a moment. But rather than letting go, he took a deep breath and shined black light from his fingers, exerting even more strength on Han Lis wrist.

The smile Han Li wore on his face finally vanished and he snorted, giving a casual shake of his twist.

The large man suddenly felt a vibration run through his fingers as his body became numb. Then with a frightened cry, he felt a huge force travel through him as he flew into the air.

As Han Li wore an emotionless expression, the large man was flung into a stone wall nearby. Just as the man was about to have a messy impact, the other guard suddenly pounced ten meters to quickly catch him.

But just as the shorter guard caught his companion in midair, his expression vastly changed and he reached out to grab him with his other hand.

A large thump sounded, followed by two softer thuds.

Although the shorter guard was able to catch him, he staggered back eight steps and his complexion was pale.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and glanced at the shorter guard.

Even against the huge force Han Li released, the shorter guard was still able to catch his companion. The shorter guards body refinement technique must be the greater of the two.

The youth surnamed Luo was left stunned.

The two men at the gate were Mistress Fangs personal bodyguards. Although they normally didnt mingle with the cavalrymen, they possessed brilliant body refinement techniques to the point where Captain Zhang Kui held them in secret admiration. When the confident cavalrymen thought to test their skill against them, they all suffered a miserable defeat.

As for Han Li who recently joined them, he was able to turn them pale with a flick of his wrist. They werent able to resist in the slightest.

Was the third layer of the Vajra Arts alone able to produce this much strength?

Youth Luos expression wavered at the slightest.

He couldnt have known that most of Han Lis strength actually stemmed from the many Dragon Scale Fruits he consumed over hundreds of years and Bone Tempering Art. Otherwise, even as powerful as the third layer of the Vajra Arts may be, he would only be able to produce enough strength to rival the two men. Besides, in truth, Han Li cultivated the Vajra Arts to the fourth layer.

The shorter guard circulated his inner body techniques several times before eventually swallowing his frustration. With a calmed expression, he said, Brother Han possesses exceptional abilities. We concede defeat. Please head in. He couldnt help but look at Han Li with a trace of respect.

As for the taller guard that Han Li tossed, his expression turned unsightly.

Han Li smiled and gave them a short salute before casually strolling in.

Youth Luo naturally didnt have the qualifications to follow him and could only wait outside.

When Han Li saw that the main gate to the courtyard building was shut and thought to knock on it, he heard a womans sweet voice sound from within.

Young Sir Han, please come in. Ive been waiting on you for quite a while.

Han Li blinked twice and calmly walked in, not feeling particularly surprised.

When he went in, his expression stirred.

He was surprised to see several people in the room.

In the masters seat across from the door sat an azure-robed woman in her thirties. Her skin was fair and her beauty was still present. Behind her stood a blue-robed man that was in his mid-twenties. He bore a strong resemblance to the woman.

Sitting across from the woman was an embroidered-robed man with a young face and grey hair. He wore an indifferent expression.

Sitting at his side was a handsome young man and a beautiful young woman.

They seemed to know what happened outside the courtyard gate and looked in Han Lis direction when he entered.

The azure-robed woman had a trace of delight on her face and the blue-robed youth appeared curious. As for the embroidered-robed man, he was wearing a frown and the young pair simply looked surprised.

The azure-robed woman stood up and curtsied him, Young Sir Han, I hope you dont take offense. My bodyguards tested you on my orders. I simply wished to know if the third layer of the Vajra Arts was as fearsome as the rumors said. The technique is widely spread, but it is one of the most difficult body refining techniques to cultivate. Very few people break through to the second layer, let alone the third like you.

Han Li casually asked with a smile, I am already a member of your enterprise. I cant take offense over a trifling test. Are you pleased his by my performance?

Although he planned on concealing himself in the Heavenly East Enterprise as an insignificant character, he didnt mind revealing a portion of his true strength.

As of current, Mistress Fang was looking at him in a favorable light.

When she heard Han Lis reply she sweetly smiled and said, The third layer of the Vajra Arts far exceeded my expectations. Youve opened my eyes. Ah yes, I should give Young Sir Han an introduction. This is my son, Pan Qing. He is cultivating Immortal techniques under the Golden Jade Sect. These three are Immortal masters, fellow sect members of my son.

So they were Immortal masters! Han Li saluted them.

Although his spiritual sense couldnt leave his body, it was still quite sharp and sense their cultivation at this distance. They were all at Foundation Establishment-stage and above. However, the youth and the other young pair appeared to have achieved Foundation Establishment recently as their spiritual Qi was still quite weak. As for the embroidered-robed man, his magic power was quite dense so he should be at false core stage, the peak of Foundation Establishment.

With the abilities Han Li showed previously, they didnt dare to treat him light and returned the greeting.

The embroidered-robed man even smiled and said, Although I havent cultivated body refinement techniques before, my master fought against a high-grade body refiner in the past. It is rumored that person was able to slay several grade six and seven demon beasts by himself. I originally believed them to be fanciful tales, but from what Brother Han displayed, I am convinced they are true. But from the force Han Li displayed, it shouldnt only be a result of the Vajra Arts but his nature or divine power as well.

This person was quite experienced to see some oddities from Han Lis immense strength.

Of course, Han Li wasnt about to reveal the Dragon Scale Fruit and all else. He gave a simple explanation, Brother Qin is quite sharp. Some of my power comes from an innate nature.

The embroidered-man nodded, feeling that most of his suspicions had disappeared.

Following that, the embroidered man said nothing else. Rather, Mistress Fang had a friendly chat with Han Li, but when she asked about his origins, Han Li gave a vague answer.

Mistress Fang didnt pursue the matter when she saw this and instead informed him that Pan Qing and the others were to assist An Yuan City with the beast wave on orders from their master. The upper echelons of An Yuan City had ties to the Gold Jade Sect. The sect would send out low-grade cultivators to use the beast wave as an opportunity to make breakthroughs. The Foundation Establishment cultivators were likely sent for this reason as well.

Of course, the Gold Jade Sect wasnt the only sect that sent disciples over to the city. There were at least a dozen more.

When the men of the Heavenly East Enterprise entered An Yuan City, they were also conscripted to fight against the beast wave as per law. As such, Mistress Fang had Han Li act as Zhang Kuis second in directing the guards.

When Han Li heard her, he nodded in agreement after brief consideration.

When Mistress Fang saw this, she wore a satisfied expression and had Han Li depart. According to what she said, the beast wave could start at any time. Furthermore, it would be a grand beast wave consisting of several types. It would be best for Han Li to rest and hone his spirit.

Han Li smiled and promptly left the room.

When the door was shut, Mistress Fangs smile vanished and was replaced with hesitation.

The embroidered-robed man stroked his chin and asked, What? Does Mistress Fang feel this person is a rare find and has changed her mind?

Mistress Fang frowned and openly expressed her thoughts, That is so. This person is young, yet holds his current cultivation. If he were nurtured, I suspect that he will become an existence on the level of Old Fire. Otherwise, I wouldve gone with the original plan and have Zhang Kui or the Liu Brothers follow you on your journey after the beast wave.

Since he entered the spirit realm, Han Li didnt have much interest in the beast wave, but now that he knew it was related to restoring his magic power and breaking the Ice Phoenixs restriction on his body.

And the beast wave was just about to happen!

According to the Soaring Sky Beasts incarnation, Nascent Soul and Deity Transformation-stage cultivators suffer a minor tribulation once every three hundred years. Although he no longer had his magic power, the presence of his cultivation still existed. Who knew when tribulation would strike him.

If tribulation for a Deity Transformation-stage cultivator truly struck him, he would surely perish with his trifling cultivation at the fourth stage of the vajra arts and lack of magic treasures.

When Han Li thought of this, his expression turned sullen.

The best way to settle this matter was to quickly find the Ice Phoenix and mutually remove the restriction from one another.

When they encountered mishaps from inside the spatial node, the Ice Phoenix was able to act first in escaping from the spatial node as a result of her innate spatial abilities. She shouldve already made it somewhere in the spirit realm. Knowing the power of the restriction he placed on her, she shouldve found herself in a similar situation as himself.

In a place as large as the spirit realm, he wouldnt be able to find her in a short amount of time even if he had his magic power. Within three human realms and seven demon lands, there are actually many characters that possess abilities at the level of Deity Transformation.

Now that he didnt have any power to defend himself, it was only wishful thinking to journey off to find her, so he would have to come up with other ways to restore his magic power and save himself.

As a current, he couldnt absorb even a thread of his spiritual power and there wasnt a single secret technique he could use. Cultivating magic power once more would be an impossible task. Seeking out the aid of other high-grade cultivators would also be out of the question. As he possessed many secrets, it would only be courting death.

As Han Li sat in his chair, his expression wavered.

His gaze shifted and he muttered with a gloomy expression, It seems my only choice is to tread the original path.

In the coming month in An Yuan City, Han Li thought long and hard about how to restore his original abilities. He managed to think of a feasible method in half a month, but it wasnt good by any means and it would take some time. And with his unfamiliarity with the spirit realm, he hesitated to use this method.

But now that he was coming to terms about understanding the spirit realm, it appeared he had no choice but to use this method upon some further deliberation.

He would have to cultivate the only technique he could cultivate, the Vajra Arts, to grand completion,

According to what records said about the technique, when one cultivated the technique to the seventh layer, ones flesh body was overbearing enough to compare with a Nascent Soul cultivator. In that case, he would be able to use the sheer power of his body to dispel the Ice

Phoenixs restriction.

When that point comes, it should be a simple matter to cultivate magic power and condense a Nascent Soul.

Although it is said that condensing a Nascent Soul regularly takes a hundred years, with his magic power restored, he could return to the storage pouches he buried in the desert. With the aid of the many spirit medicines it contains, the process will be sped up several times.

In one word, the first step to returning his abilities would be to dispel the restriction placed on his body and then condense his Nascent Soul.

He reckoned that if a minor tribulation were to strike him, it should be in three hundred years. But that was only a guess. If he wished to preserve his life, he would have to cultivate the Vajra Arts as quickly as he could.

The Soaring Sky Beast had previously told him just how difficult it was to cultivate the Vajra Arts.

Even in the spirit realm where the spiritual Qi was incredibly dense, there were very few mortals that could cultivate the Vajra Arts to completion.

Even if a normal person possessed exceptional talents, they still wouldnt dare to be confident.

But Han Li was by no means a normal person. Not only did he cultivate from being a mortal to a Deity Transformation cultivator, causing his unwavering determination to far exceed those of a common cultivator in the spirit realm, but he also consumed the Heavenly Corpse Pearl, the Dragon Scale Fruit, and many other spiritual medicines. His body was already far stronger than normal. Particularly because of the Dragon Scale Fruit and the Bone Tempering Arts, his body was already on part with that of an ordinary demon beast.

When he arrived in the spirit realm, the massive amount of magic power from dissipating his two Nascent Soul not only saved his life, but they also increased his bodys capacity by another level.

With all of these things together, it was no wonder Han Li felt confident.

As of current, the only thing for him to consider was the inhuman pain he would suffer while cultivating this technique and the amount of time for him to take.

Because there were so many low and mid-grade demon beasts roaming around areas far from the city, it would be unwise to cultivate alone. Furthermore, cultivating the last several layers of the Vajra Arts would need battle experience for him to increase his odds of making a breakthrough.

In that case, there was no harm in remaining with the Heavenly East Enterprise for a time. If he truly felt they were an inconvenience, he would simply leave.

As for the blood curse contract that was placed on his body, the blood curse would be cleanly refined by his body from its sheer vital essence.

Having come to a decision, Han Li was done for the time being. He took his books and left the restaurant. Then, he found a secluded area and crushed his books with his arms.

Under the huge force, they turned into a cloud of paper shreds that floated to the ground.

Next, he went around the city to find a blacksmith store. He examined the shop and handed the tendon over to a blacksmith. Afterwards, he pointed to a few other materials in the shop, uttered a few soft instructions, and gave the blacksmith two low-grade spirit stones.

When the ironworker heard Han Li, he was stunned, but he soon took the two spirit stones and nodded with a smile.

Han Li left with a smile and flagged down a carriage being pulled by a horse-deer creature of sorts.

He didnt care about the animals origins or whatnot. He simply tossed the driver a silver piece and muttered the words The Cloud Ease Inn. Then, he entered the carriage and took a brief moment of rest.

Beast carriages were being driven by docile animals throughout the city. After all, in a city of this scope, it would be odd to not have any carriages to speak of, as if it would take hours to walk from one district of a city to another.

The carriage he was riding was rather beautiful. It was clear the carriage was used to transport those of wealthier families rather than commoners.

Han Lis action angered the carriage driver at first, but when he saw the silver piece, he hesitantly drove off to the eastern part of the city.

Han Li slept for a short while before he heard the carriage driver say, Sir, weve arrived at the inn!

Han Li slowly opened his eyes and wordlessly walked out of the carriage.

He saw a large expanse of pavilions and courtyards with a particularly large building right in front of him. It hung a huge sign that wrote the words Cloud Ease Inn in golden letters.

To the sides of the building, there was a row of huge stables constructed from wood, housing all sorts of strange beasts and their carriages. Strange animal cries would occasionally sound from them.

Han Li swept his sights past them and quickly arrived in front of the large building gate. He called out to a group of waiting young servants waved towards one of them.

The servant quickly reacted and immediately ran over.

Esteemed guest, did you call me out to board here?

The Heavenly East Enterprise shouldve checked in here. Do you know where they are? Han Li calmly asked, tossing him a piece of silver.

When the servant took the silver, he grinned and said, Hehe, so youre looking for those of the esteemed Heavenly East Enterprise. I will guide you.

Soon, he brought Han Li through the back of the building and passed through several courtyards.

The servant led the way and enthusiastically explained, There are many esteemed guests from the Heavenly East Enterprise, so theyve filled up all of the west courtyards where we have the inns finest rooms…

Han Li listened to the servants words with complete indifference.

But before they reached the courtyard, a youth walked past them and saw Han Li. He yelped and approached them with a wide smile, Brother Han, youve returned! Very good. Brother Zhang has told us to bring you over to the mistress as soon as we saw you. Please follow me. He then casually grabbed Han Lis arm.

Han Li raised his brow and casually shook his shoulder, strangely shaking off the mans grasp.

The youth was stunned when he saw this.

Han Li smiled and calmly asked, So it was Brother Luo. Is this mistress you were talking about, Mistress Fang?

The youth was a cavalryman of the Heavenly East Enterprise known as Young Seventh.

The odd look on the youths face disappeared and he answered with a smile, Of course I was talking about Mistress Fang. She heard about you and is quite curious about you. She wants to see you.

Han Li said with a casual tone, As a member of the organization, I will follow her orders. I will have to trouble you to show me the way.

Of course, of course. From how his grip was shaken off, he realized Han Li possessed abilities far beyond his. As he didnt dare to do something else that was disrespectful, he obliged with a smile.

Han Li eventually sent away the servant and followed the youth surnamed Luo to the east courtyard.

On the way, they saw many guards and cavalrymen and greeted them.

After making several turns and passing through a dozen large courtyards, they finally arrived at a small isolated courtyard.

It was rather elegant and peaceful nearby. There were two large unfamiliar guards standing guard at the gate without weapons.

When Han Li walked over to the two, the two large men swept an icy gaze past him.

When Han Li departed from the alley, he continued his stroll.

Not long after, Han Li eventually discovered his main objective for departing from the Heavenly East Enterprise, a store that specialized in selling records.

Han Li walked into it without batting an eye.

The bookstore was on the larger side and was abundant with books, covering topics ranging from astronomy to miscellaneous topics.

But since it was a bookstore for mortals, it didnt contain any jade slips or records of cultivation.

Han Li only had eyes on the records that were useful to him, particularly those covering the customs and circumstances in the spirit realm.

It is only with this that hell be able to take his first step into understanding the spirit realm.

He bluntly scooped up several books and picked out a map of the nearby surroundings.

As Han Li didnt have any gold or silver on him, he could only pay using a low-grade spirit stone. The store owner was overjoyed by this and hurried back to give him his change in silver.

With the books in hand, he sought out a restaurant and sat in an unremarkable corner. After ordering a few common dishes, he began to look through the books.

Although Han Lis spiritual sense wasnt able to leave his body, he still possessed his amazing memory. Despite how impressively thick a few of the books were, Han Li calmly flipped through them at astonishing speeds and imprinted each and every word in his mind.

During this time, his face remained unphased, but he continued to turn through the books with an understanding of everything he read.

Let alone anything else, merely the detailed descriptions relating to the spirit realms circumstances left him shocked.

The Heavenly Origin Region that the Heavenly East Enterprise mentioned was actually one of the human territories ruled by one of the three human sovereigns, the Heavenly Origin Sage.

The other territories that were occupied by humans are the North Sky Hegemons Black Tortoise Mirror, and Emperor Heavenwonders Heavenly Spirit Region. These two sovereigns were respectively known as the Hegemon and Spirit Emperor. The human body refiners originated from the Heavenly Origin Sage, and later founded the Confucian school as well, earning him the name of the Scholar Emperor. He ruled over the Heavenly Origin Region and had the social customs that were most similar to Han Lis mortal realm.

This was quite fortunate for him.

The three human clans occupied a vast region, containing anywhere from several hundred settlements to over a thousand.

According to the book, a city of a hundred million people was considered a small city in the spirit realm. Other large cities far exceeded the land and scope of An Yuan City. Heavenly Origin City in particular where the Heavenly Origin Sage resides was nearly the size of a small country.

However, Heavenly Origin City was also the most ordinary of the three human capital cities.

The Hegemons Black Tortoise City was constructed on the back of a tremendous huge tortoise known as Can Ling. It was a huge city that could slowly move through the sea. And the Spirit Emperors Heavenly Spirit City was even more miraculous. It was built on a tree over fifty kilometers wide. It was said to be able to reach the Immortal Realm.

When Han Li read this, he was shocked as one could imagine. But what amazed him even more was what he read next.

According to the records introduction, in addition to the region of the three sovereigns, there were also the neighboring lands of the seven demon kings. The demon clan and the human clans could be said to have a half friendly half hostile relationship.

The reason why this was the case was that the area the three human sovereigns and the seven demon kings ruled over was only a small drop the sea known as the spirit realm.

The land outside their domain was ruled by the clans of other creatures.

Most of these creatures were indigenous to the spirit realm. There were also countless types ranging from savage ancient beasts to giants and even pseudo humans. In addition, there were also other creatures that arrived at the spirit realm by ripping open spatial tears. Although there arent many of these clans, they were a powerful force that was hostile towards humans and demons alike. They also possessed their own unique abilities, allowing them to rival humans and demons in power.

In addition to this, there were also many powerful individuals in the spirit realm as one might expect. There were the mythical beasts of legends, fearsome existences like true dragons that could ignore the laws of the world.

Although many vastly powerful characters emerged from the demons and humans, they were only capable of having a standing the spirit realm. Although humans and demons viewed each other with hostility normally, when they faced an even larger threat, they had no choice but to cooperate.

This led to an official founding of the lands they controlled.

In the past, many extraordinary individuals emerged from the human and demon clans, joining together to erect an exceedingly large spell formation, covering the territories of the humans and the demons.

It is said the spell formation is profoundly powerful and was passed down from the Immortal realm. It was said to target extremely powerful members of the foreign creatures. The more powerful they were, the more they were restricted by the formation, rendering them unable to enter the areas affected by the spell formation. However, the formation also wouldnt have any effect on low and mid-grade demon beasts.

This immense spell formation had over ten formation cores spread throughout the regions of humans and demons.

The book hadnt mentioned where the formation cores in the demon territories were located, but it did mention how they were located at the three human capitals. Unless they were all destroyed, the spell formation protecting the humans would remain.

Considering how important the formation cores were, they must surely be placed in important areas of the demon territories as well.

If a powerful foreign creature wished to invade the territories of humans and demons, they would have to face the combined power of the ten powerful formation cores.

By relying on this powerful Immortal formation, the human and demon clans were able to prosper and hold a place in the spirit realm.

As for the other areas in the vast realm, humans had never delved too deeply into the world. There were only descriptions of how there were countless lands and distances.

At that point, a trace of doubt appeared in Han Lis mind. Since the region occupied by humans in the spirit realm was so small, then how were cultivators ascending from the lower realms able to accurately land in the region controlled by humans. It wouldve been incredibly dangerous if he appeared in an area outside the grand Immortal formation.

Han Li felt puzzled, but the book hadnt mentioned anything else so he could only set the thought aside for the time being.

After going through a few descriptions from the book, Han Li discovered that demons as a whole were more powerful than the human clans, but the humans seemed to possess more powerful cultivators.

As a result, the two clans formed an odd equilibrium and the three sovereigns and seven kings agreed to a defensive pact as well as several other treaties.

One of these agreements noted that high-grade cultivators couldnt arbitrarily suppress low-grade demon beasts of remote areas and couldnt participate in defending human cities from periodic beast waves. In addition, demons couldnt pillage humans at will and they needed to establish territories where humans could gather and be protected.

When the humans and demons divided their land, the territories of the humans and demons were mixed to a vast degree. Although they chose areas most populated by humans and demons, there were still large numbers of either race that lived in other areas.

The high-grade human and demon cultivators naturally had no problem with this and decided to move them.

However, demon beasts that have yet to gain sentience and ordinary human mortals werent able to easily move long distances. They could only continue to live on their original lands and accept the rule of another clan.

From the beginning, there would be wanton slaughter of either side, and war was waged several times. After much turmoil, another agreement was eventually passed.

Of course, the book in Han Lis possession only detailed the most important points and hadnt mentioned them in detail. As for matters relating to the beast wave, he picked out a book for that in particular.

The so-called beast waves would occur when ordinary beasts would reproduce in too great a number. Since high-grade individuals couldnt interfere as a result of previous agreements, every period of a few years, the demons and humans had no choice but to slay one another to protect their own lives.

However, if there were human settlements in the region, low-grade demon beasts could lead the beast wave into a human settlement in a half-suicidal charge.

As a result, apart from a few large cities in particular, most human cities would periodically encounter a beast wave.

Although there werent many true attacks on human settlements, each beast wave would leave a huge number of casualties in their wake.

Because of this, low-grade body refiners and cultivators had their fates tied together. While ordinary mortals would die, it was also a time for cultivators and refiners to break through their bottlenecks and be honed in powerful characters.

With both disaster and fortune simultaneously occurring, the high-grade human cultivators tacitly allowed the beast waves to continue and held no intention of altering the agreement with the demon clans.

Each beast wave on a city didnt follow a strict schedule, but there were two types of beast waves that were most commonly seen. They would be the wolf waves from grasslands and serpent waves from other regions.

The two types of beasts had powerful reproductive ability and were bound to launch a beast wave every hundred years or so.

If a city were to encounter two or more types of beasts in a beast wave, it would be considered a grand beast wave with far greater danger. In the past, all the breaches into human cities seemed to have occurred with grand beast waves.

Therefore, if the city knew a grand beast wave was about to occur, the higher echelon of the city would be struck with fear and do their utmost to gather together the nearby body refiners and low-grade cultivators in preparation for the upcoming battle of survival.

When Han Li saw this, he sighed and slowly closed the book.

There was without question that the city was going to experience another beast wave. Furthermore, with the grasslands being so close to the city, it will be a wave of wolves. However, the nervousness of the city revealed that this was a grand beast wave.

He silently picked up the cup of watered wine before him and he narrowed his eyes in thought.

I dont have much strength. How could I use such a heavy weapon? Han Li withdrew his gaze and shook his head.

Then how about this crescent sword? It is refined from pure copper. Not only is it light, but it is also quite durable. It is a rare high-quality flexible sword.

It is too short for me. Itd be inconvenient to use. Han Li rejected it at a glance.

Too short? The shop attendants smile froze as if he wasnt sure how to reply.

Han Li took several steps to the side and pointed to an item on the table. What is that over there? That looks interesting?

The item he pointed at was a soft pitch-black rope that was as thick as a thumb.

When the attendant saw this, he hurriedly explained, That is the Young Dragon Rope. It is refined from metal threads and is specialized for binding. It can trap low-grade demon beasts of extraordinary strength with ease.

Let me take a look at it.

Han Li took the item into his hand and shook it. Woosh. The black rope turned into a perfectly straight stick.

When the attendant saw this, his eyes widened.

He attended to countless customers for this weapon shop so he did possess some judgment. Those who can control rope to that degree cant be ordinary. As he determined Han Li was most likely a body refiner, he couldnt help but wear an expression of respect.

Han Li waved it a few more times and frowned. This is quite good, but it is still a bit too thick. Do you have anything thinner?

The attendant muttered to himself for a moment before answering with an embarrassed expression. Something thinner… Im afraid this store doesnt have anything like that.

Then, a rough voice suddenly spoke from behind him, Oh, you want something thinner? I have something like that. I can let you take a look, but the price wont be cheap.

Han Lis expression stirred and he slowly turned around. There were two large men in leather robes standing behind them. One of them had a lofty stature and hair that reached down from his shoulders, giving him a dangerous aura. The other had a sickly complexion and had shriveled skin.

The larger man carried a long spear on his back and a huge bag as well. The shriveled man carried a meter-long wooden box in his hand and wore a mysterious expression.

Han Lis face lit up when he saw that the two wore rings embedded with spirit stones, but these rings were much cruder than Zhan Kius and their spirit stones were somewhat smaller as well. There were body refiners with spirit tools.

Having recognized who these people were, Han Li faintly smiled and said, So long as the item is suitable, the price will be no matter.

The shriveled man gave Han Li a probing glance and smiled, Good, but lets not talk here. Please follow me to a quiet place and well continue there.

That will be no problem, Han Li said with a nod. He then followed the two out of the shop.

The two appeared quite familiar with the area and soon arrived at an unremarkable alleyway after a few turns.

There was no one there and it was completely silent.

When the three stopped, the This place will be fine. Little Brother Xin, take out the item for him to see.

Of course, Big Brother Bao! The large man readily agreed and grabbed the bag from his back, giving a big shake.

Clangs sounded out as a large pile of items formed on the ground. There was an assortment of items from bottles to beast hides and horns.

The shriveled man bent down and took a palm-sized wood box into his hand.

Take a look at this. This is an earth wyrm tendon that we acquired after killing it with a few other body refiners. Not only is it thin, but it is also incredibly durable and fully flexible. It is rather easy to withdraw and extend.

An earth wyrm?

Han Li didnt know what kind of demon beast this earth wyrm was, but it appeared to be a kind of low-grade demon beast. However, he didnt reveal his confusion on his face when he opened the box.

He saw a thin yellow object tightly wrapped into a ball by a red rope.

Han Li bluntly tugged at the red rope and tore it to pieces.

With a pop, the ball of beast tendons flung out and shot at Han Lis face.

Han Li raised his hand, but it appeared he was too slow. Nevertheless, he managed to grab an end of the tendons with his fingers and instantly turned it soft and limp with a twist of his fingers.

Then, Han Li brought it before his eyes and noticed it was six meters long.

When the shriveled man saw Han Lis swift actions, he couldnt help but exchange a glance with the large man.

At that moment, Han Li was giving the wyrm tendon a thorough examination.

Having killed a myriad of low-grade demon beasts in the past, he was able to tell the characteristics of the tendon at a glance as well as how it could be used.

He fiddled with it a moment longer before shaking it with a single hand.

The tendon blurred as it twisted and danced through the air. Then, it coiled around his arm to form a faint yellow bracelet.

With that, he rolled his sleeve over it where it was well concealed.

Han Li looked at the two and said, It isnt bad. It truly is a rare material from a low-grade demon beast. Although this item isnt very useful to cultivators and is most suitably used as a bowstring, it is quite useful towards me. So long as you arent too greedy, Ill agree to your price.

The shriveled mans harsh face broke out in a smile and he chuckled, It appears you really are a body refiner. In that case, well settle the bill with spirit stones. I want thirty spirit stones for that tendon!

Thirty spirit stones? Thats a bit high, but Ill pay it. Take it.

From his conversation with Liuer and the others, he learned that although gold and silver were still used as currency by mortals in the mortal realm, body refiners used spirit stones for notable transactions as they used large numbers of spirit stones in their spirit tools.

However, the low-grade spirit stones in the spirit realm werent nearly as large as those in the mortal realm.

Regardless of what the spirit stones were used for, mid and high grade spirit stones were treated with the most importance. After all, top-grade spirit stone veins were possible in this world due to the greater density of spiritual Qi, but most of them belonged to a few high-grade cultivators and superpowers.

Even so, thirty low-grade spirit stones was still a bit much for a minor material from a low-grade demon beast.

On the day Han Li hid all of his storage pouches and treasures in the desert, he hadnt forgotten the significance of spirit stones in the spirit realm. For the sake of carefulness, he left behind a dozen mid-grade spirit stones on his body just in case.

Now, he reached into his robes and tossed a yellow spirit stone over to him.

The long-haired man took a step forward and caught it. After he looked at it, he nodded with satisfaction.

When the shriveled man saw this, he smiled and took out a small leather pouch. He poured out seventy spirit stones from it and used a beast hide on the ground to wrap them up before tossing it to Han Li.

The shriveled man chuckled and said, Here is your change. Since you are so straightforward, how about we join together if there is a chance?

Perhaps there may be an opportunity in the future. But I am preoccupied for the time being, so I must take my leave. Han Li saluted the two with a smile and calmly walked away.

When Han Li departed from the alley, the large man looked at the mid-grade spirit stone in his hand and took another look at the alley entrance. An ominous glint flashed from his eye and he softly said, Big Brother Bao, his face is unfamiliar and he is quite wealthy. Should we…?

The shriveled mans face sank and he said, Dont think about it. Didnt you see he wasnt wearing any spirit tools? Body refiners who do this are either too poor, or they feel their cultivation is too high for normal spirit tools to be of assistance. Which one do you think he belongs to?

The large man hesitated and doubtfully said, This man cant be poor since he was able to take out a mid-grade spirit stone, but why did he buy that wyrm tendon from us?

The man surnamed Bao was silent for a moment before letting out a cold laugh, Brother Xin, are you certain he bought the tendon to be used as a weapon? He mightve bought it as material to create a particular spirit tool. Currently, An Yuan City is overflowing with body refiners from the outside. There is no lack of those possessing fearsome talent. Although we arent weak ourselves, its best that we dont risk it. After all, we only have one life.

The shriveled mans words seemed to calm down the large man surnamed Xin, but soon he wore an embarrassed expression and said, Big Brothers words are reasonable. I am being too greedy for spirit stones, but in the upcoming beast tide, if we dont have low and mid-grade spirit stones to replenish our spirit tools, well be put in danger.

Having already thought of the matter, the shriveled man said, What are you afraid of? The city lord will surely employ all the body refiners in the city to deal with the beast wave. Theyll give us a sum of spirit stones of course. So long as we save enough, well be able to preserve our lives.

When the large man heard this, his spirits were roused. Thats right. According to the agreement between the three sovereigns and the seven demon kings, cultivators at the Core Formation stage and above arent allowed to assist large cities in blocking beast waves. If they wish to protect the city, who else do they have to rely on aside from us?

The shriveled man sighed, So long as you know. In truth, the agreement also stated that the beast wave cant have any demon beasts higher than grade five as well. It is hard to say who has more to gain from the agreement.

The large man then remained silent in thought.

Not long after, the two put away the items on the ground and walked back to the main street where they disappeared into a sea of people.

A calm mans voice spoke from the city gate, By command of the city lord, we will assist Officer Zhao. We will naturally offer our services.

A white-robed Confucian scholar and a monk of azure Buddhist robes walked out from the city gate. The voice belonged to the scholar.

Officer Zhao didnt dare to neglect the cultivators and hurriedly thanked them with a smile.

The scholar took out a mirror while the monk took out an alms bowl. After a brief chant and incantation gesture, they tossed the magic tools into the air.

Suddenly, the magic tools began to circle in the air. The lens spouted out an azure mist, covering an entire tortoise. As for the alms bowl, it released a yellow light and began to sweep past the wolf cavalrymen.

In a short span of time, the light from both the magic tools quickly swept through the entire caravan, thoroughly scanning each person present.

In the blink of an eye, the thirty carriages and two hundred people were inspected without a problem found.

Good, you can all enter the city. Ah yes, I must tell you something. Mistress Fang has already made a contract with the largest inn in the eastern city, the Cloud Ease Inn. You may head there after you deliver your goods. Officer Zhaos expression relaxed and he didnt make matters more difficult. After having his say, he waved his hand and signaled them to enter.

Zhang Kiu saluted him before leading the caravan into the city.

After passing through the gates, Han Li discovered that the city was far larger than he expected.

At a glance, the city had an innumerable amount of buildings. He couldnt see the end of them. In addition, the city was well planned when it was constructed. Although the buildings were of different styles and materials used to build them were highly varied, they were evenly arranged with ten meter wide stone roads lined between them.

Such a large city was naturally bustling with excitement. The streets were filled with people where it was nearly overcrowded.

Han Li was stunned at the scene, but he soon discovered most of the people on the streets carried a weapon on them and wore heavy expressions.

When the blue-robed woman in the carriage saw this, she sighed and muttered, It seems the matter about the beast wave is true. Otherwise, the villagers outside wouldnt have all rushed into the city. There is a large pressure on An Yuan City.

When Han Li heard this, he came to a sudden realization.

With so many people, it would be difficult for the caravans tortoises to make it through. Fortunately, Officer Zhao had already considered the matter and sent several soldiers to clear a path for them. They forcibly dispersed the crowd to make way.

Even so, the tortoise carriages moved slowly. After travelling for almost two hours, they eventually made their way past ten streets and arrived at a street with rarely few people, stopping in front of a decorated archway that was several stories tall.

Behind the archway were several heavily guarded storehouses with many armed attendants standing nearby.

The following process went exceedingly smooth. The Heavenly East Enterprise handed over their goods to the storehouse officials for inspection. Afterwards, Zhang Kiu received a certificate from them and led the caravan to the west side of the city.

Now having restored his ability to move, Han Li made a sudden proposal to Zhang Kiu when they were halfway to the inn. He wanted to explore the city for a bit before meeting back with them.

When Zhang Kiu heard this, he frowned. Then after some thought, he agreed and said, Junior Martial Brother Han, youve yet to meet the mistress and have yet to officially enter the organization. I wont restrict you much, but you should take note that many shady characters are now present in An Yuan City. It isnt very safe, and there cant be much worth seeing in this small remote city. If you have matters to attend to, I hope youll return to the inn quickly when youre done.

Zhang Kiu may have a fierce appearance, but he spoke with tactful words.

Han Li smiled and agreed. Then, he nimbly left them, turning a street corner and disappearing from sight.

Zhang Kiu looked in the direction that Han Li disappeared and stroked his chin, wearing a pensive expression.

What? Does Benefactor Zhang think that Brother Han wont return? Standing at his side, Nan Qizi asked him with a smile.

Zhang Kiu wryly laughed and said, Im not worried about that, he already signed the blood curse contract. Its only that Junior Martial Brother Han seems to be a person with a deep history. Hes rather mysterious.

Nan Qizi smiled and added, He is so young, yet he was able to cultivate such an astonishing body refinement technique. It is impossible that he came from humble origins. And from his bearing, it is obvious he isnt from the Heavenly Origin Region like us.

Oh, I know that as well. But so long as he doesnt have a relationship with any of the other great powers in the Heavenly Origin Region, our Heavenly East Enterprise wont interfere even if he had a problematic history. If we properly nurture this person, it is possible for him to cultivate the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts. In that case, he will certainly turn into Mistress Fangs strongest soldier. Zhang Kius expression turned heavy

Nan Qizi glanced at the scarred man with a mysterious smile, The fifth layer of the Vajra Arts? If Benefactor Zhang truly thinks that, he will an existence on even grounds with Core Formation cultivators.

Zhang Kiu chuckled, I am holding my hopes rather high. From how young he is and his current cultivation, the possibility of cultivating to the fifth layer of the Vajra Arts still exists. With some luck, he will far exceed common body refiners like me. Otherwise, I wouldnt have been so eager to have him sign a blood curse contract in the Azure Sifting Desert.

Thats reasonable. Alright, enough of that person. The goods have been delivered. That means that Mistress Fangs contract with me and my martial brothers have been fulfilled. We will now take our leave. Nan Qizi bowed to them and uttered a few words of farewell.

Oh? You wont visit the mistress again? In that case, I hope your travels go well! Failing to keep them any longer, Zhang Kiu bid them a respectful farewell.

The Goulou Mountain cultivators promptly left.

A soldier to the side looked at the departing cultivators and sadly said, It is truly a pity. If our enterprise was able to have our own cultivators, it would be great.

The scarred man sighed, It is wishful thinking to have our own cultivators. Although our Heavenly East Enterprise is one of the three great merchant unions in the Heavenly Origin Region, we still struggle to acquire spirit stones every year. It isnt enough to hire cultivators all year round. And Qi Condensation cultivators possess about the same strength as body refiners like us. There isnt much use in employing them. Foundation Establishment cultivators use an astonishing number of spirit stones year-round as well. It is only when our enterprise has a large order that they are willing to spend spirit stones on them. As for Core Formation cultivators and above, that is something that we cant even consider. High-grade cultivators require rare materials or magic tools that are far beyond what we can afford. Even if our enterprise manages to somehow foster a mid-grade cultivator, they will eventually leave.

That is so. Even body refiners like us will immediately depart to dangerous areas when they finish their cultivation, in search of rare medicines that can create spirit roots. After all, when one becomes a cultivator, nor only can they cultivate immortal techniques, but their lifespan increases as well. Over the years, it is impossible to know how many funerals weve held for body refiners, yet they still journey outside. The soldier sadly sighed.

Zhang Kiu then waved his arm, Enough of that. This has nothing to do with ordinary people like us. Let us return to see the mistress.

The soldier immediately shut his mouth.

Thus, the party immediately set off, quickly immersing themselves in the busy streets.

…

At that moment, Han Li was standing on a street, looking at the seven blazing suns in the sky and letting out a gloomy sigh.

Ever since he left the Azure Sifting Sands and entered the grasslands, he immediately sensed the astonishing spiritual Qi in the air.

The spiritual Qi in this world was several times greater than what he found in the mortal world. If he was able to find a suitable place of cultivation, it was possible that the spiritual Qi could be over a dozen times greater.

It is a pity that he already dissipated his Nascent Soul. The Ice Phoenixs restriction is still present on his body, so he wasnt able to absorb any spiritual Qi, leaving him helpless in this regard.

He then set his sights on the road and looked around him as he walked forward.

The stores on the streets were about the same as he would find in the mortal world, with nothing out of the ordinary.

But suddenly, he stopped and looked at a store in front of him. After some hesitation, he entered and looked around.

There were tables made of sandalwood that shined with the cold light glinting off the weapons they displayed. This was a store that specialized in weapons.

It wasnt very large, only having two attendants, but there were many customers that visited this store to begin with. Naturally, the two were mortals.

When Han Li entered, he saw that despite the stores unremarkable exterior, business was treating them quite well and his heart stirred.

When one of the attendants was finished dealing with another guest, he took notice of Han Li and hastily rushed over to him with a smile, Customer, do you see something you like? Take a look at this gold plated nine ring saber. It was forged from black iron. Not only can it cut through metal, but it is rather heavy. It is an ideal weapon for dealing with wolves.

The attendant noticed Han Li was eyeing a large ringed saber. It was pitch-black and appeared remarkably heavy.

Han Li leaned against the side of the carriage, sitting across from the four women. He was able to clearly see their unease.

He already swept his gaze past the grasslands outside the carriage several times, but he found nothing out of the ordinary. It appeared similar to any ordinary grassland.

Han Li felt somewhat baffled, but he showed none of this on his face, nor did he say anything. After all, he didnt wish to reveal his lack of understanding of the spirit realm as it could arouse suspicion.

But during these days, the four women treated him with a much friendlier attitude. From his act of saving Quaner, the red-robed woman, they began to enthusiastically call him Big Brother Han.

Han Li didnt find the name suitable, but because the women were so young, he found it difficult to be too cold with them. During this time, he spoke much with the girl Quaner in particular.

Instead of making brazen inquiries about the Spirit Realm, he asked many questions about the Heavenly East Enterprise.

During these discussions, he came to know that the mistress she mentioned was a regional manager of several cities in the Heavenly East Enterprise and the daughter in law of the head of the organization. Normally, one would address her as Mistress Fang.

The Heavenly East Enterprises master had three sons. The mistress was officially wed to his second son. They were rather affectionate of one another, but due to an unfortunate accident, her husband died over twenty years ago, but he was survived by two young children: a boy and a girl. As such, what shouldve been governed by the couple was now left entirely by the widow.

As for the four in the carriage, they were the mistress personal servants that she adopted from a young age. As a result, the four held an extremely deep admiration of the mistress.

As for their journey to the remote An Yuan City, Lady Fang came here partially for the big business in the city, but it was mostly for her son. Since they found spirit roots in her son at a young age, he joined a cultivation sect located in An Yuan City. They had sent a message hinting that there was a matter that required Mistress Fangs assistance.

As Mistress Fang still kept her son close in her heart, she made the journey personally and even abandoned that caravan she was traveling with to hurry on her way to the city.

In her eyes, with the number of men in the caravan and the few cultivators escorting them, nothing significant could happen to them.

She couldnt have expected a hoard of low-grade demon worms and a demon serpent to attack the caravan in the Azure Sifting Desert.

When Han Li heard this, he began to make indirect inquiries about the master of the Heavenly East Enterprise.

After all, founding such a large organization wasnt something an ordinary person could do. Han Li was stunned by what he found out.

The master of the organization was a mortal who lacked physical strength, nor did he have any spirit roots. How was such a mortal able to create such a large business.

As doubts filled Han Lis mind, Han Li asked an indirect question about it, but as careless as the red-robed woman was, she didnt give a proper answer.

When he saw this, he didnt question her any further and promptly changed topics.

As this went on, Han Li managed to understand a few things, but he had even more questions as well, leaving him somewhat gloomy.

Although the grasslands appeared to be far more expansive desert, the caravan quickly passed through it in a little over a month but it still hadnt reached the end.

During this time, the guards and cavalry remained highly vigilant and fearful. Even the several cultivators that hadnt emerged during the desert would periodically take turns patrolling the air above the caravan. frewbovel.cm

These Goulou Mountain cultivators also appeared to be treating this duty with great care.

Although these people appeared ready to face a great enemy, the caravan managed to leave the grasslands after another half month of travel and emerged into a hilly area.

The soldiers and cultivators instantly felt relief after leaving the grasslands, and the caravans original banter immediately returned.

Even the young women in Han Lis carriage let out a sigh of relief after leaving the grasslands.

The young green-robed woman patted her chest in relief and sweetly smiled, So we didnt attract the wolves of the plains. Although that wasnt my first time through them, I still feared for my life.

Liuer sighed and fearfully said, Not only was Elder Sister Xianger scared, but the entire caravan was holding their breaths. If our luck was any worse, we couldve woken a beast tide and that would be the end of us. The plains are truly a deathtrap. Although it is rarely seen, there are a few merchant enterprises that encounter it.

Quaner tilted her head and added, Thats right. I heard that An Yuan City didnt hesitate to spend a fortune to our enterprise for over a hundred rare spirit tools and a huge number of weapons to deal with a beast tide.

The white-robed woman bafflingly said, Strangely enough, the city isnt large and it wasnt recently built. How could it place an order for so much equipment? That many spirit tools is something only a mid-sized city would be willing to spend.

The blue-robed woman shook her head and lightly said, It doesnt come as a surprise. Even if a group of powerful beasts didnt migrate near them recently, the city encounters a massive beast wave every thousand years. Against a massive joint attack of so many beasts, they wouldnt be able to easily block it.

Thats right. Liuers words are reasonable. Quaner pursed her lips in a smile.

Han Li sat in his seat and meditated. But when he heard their conversation about the beast tide, his face began to stir.

He recalled what the large scarred man Zhang Kiu mentioned in the Azure Sifting Desert, a scorpion wave. Could these two things be somehow related?

But after that, the women dropped the topic and quickly spoke about other things. Although Han Li felt curious, he continued to circulate the Varja Arts and slowly mend his meridians.

With that time to mend and the additional undying effects of the Wood Birth Bead, his meridians recovered at a pace far quicker than he anticipated. As of current, his body was in mostly good health. With another month, there shouldnt be a problem at all.

As such, with the fourth layer of the Vajra Arts cultivated, he suspected that he would be able to win over late Foundation Establishment cultivators, given his understanding of mid and low-grade magic techniques. As for Core Formation cultivators, he would only find out after hes given it a try.

Of course, this was assuming that the abilities of low-grade cultivators in the spirit realm were the same as those in the mortal realm.

After they left the plain, the caravan arrived at its destination after two days, a stone city with an unordinary presence.

Looking at it from a distance, one could tell that the stone walls were over a hundred meters tall with a thirty-meter-tall stone tower placed every three hundred meter interval on the wall. It appeared quite imposing.

There were also delicate designs carved onto the walls as if they were unfamiliar talisman characters, adding another layer of mystery to the city.

Han Li was speechless at the sight of it.

The city wasnt comparable to any small city. In the mortal realm, it could be said to be a massive city.

But then, Han Li took notice of a few large armored soldiers patrolling the walls. There were also ballistas placed on top of the towers with giant metal arrows ready to fire.

Each arrow was over ten meters long and shined with white light as if they were each low-grade magic tools.

Such astonishing weapons would likely be able to kill even Fellow Daoist cultivators.

Han Li narrowed his eyes at the sight and began to ponder as the caravan arrived at the city gates.

There was not the person outside the city gates. They were pitch black and sealed tight. There was a large troop of soldiers on top of the gates though, looking down at the caravan with cautious expressions.

The scarred man Zhang Kui rode his wolf up to the gate and wordlessly tossed an item in his hand up to the gate. It was a golden medallion.

The soldiers stirred up on the gate as a middle-aged man in silver armor closely examined it. Afterwards, he took a look at the caravan and commanded, Open the gates and inspect the caravan. They belong with the Heavenly East Enterprise.

Once that was said, the soldiers began to shout with a few of them running down to open the gate.

A short moment later, the metal gates slowly opened to reveal tens of fully armed soldiers running out in formation.

The silver-armored middle-aged man was the last to arrive. He walked up to Zhang Gui and vigilantly looked him, Are you their leader?

Zhang Kiu calmly answered, I am Zhang Kiu. You shouldve received the city lords token. We carry the goods that were ordered by the city.

Ive received the order, but it is a peculiar time. Well need to have a few of our esteemed cultivators to examine your caravan before we can let you in.

Zhang Kui readily agreed to their request, So you fear demon beasts sneak among us. Well comply with your search of course.

The middle-aged man nodded and turned out, calling out in the direction of the city, Good. Mister Li, Master Huang! Please inspect them.

Under the spell formations effects, the situation reversed. It appeared they could hold out for a while longer.

But just as Han Li was wordlessly watching the battle, something unexpected occurred.

Following a loud bang, an explosion occurred near the three women. A demon beast with a serpents body and a human head shot out from the sand.

The demon serpent had a head of sickly yellow hair and a hideous womans face. A pair of delicate infant-white arms emerged from its side, each holding a meter-long bone spear. Black Qi wrapped around the spears, revealing themselves to be low-grade magic tools.

As soon as the demon serpent appeared, the three women controlling the formation turned pale with fright. The demon serpent turned to look at the women in charge of the formation and flashed a malevolent smile and wordlessly waved her spears. Three black lights streaked from the spear and flew towards the women.

The three were quick to react. They immediately recovered from their shock and took out the flags from the formation, hastily waving it in front of them.

Several crackles sounded as a wave of mist suddenly appeared in front of them.

The black lights flew into the mist, resulting in three large explosions. The mist scattered from the strike but managed to block the attack for Xianger and the white-robed woman. However, the red-robed womans mist was far weaker. When the black light struck the mist, her body trembled and she flew out into the air, away from the mists protection.

The red-robed woman knew things were far from good and she turned deathly pale. For a time, she wasnt able to control her own body.

When the demon serpent saw this, it smashed down its tail and its body blurred, arriving below her with its spear held out.

The other two women yelled out but they werent able to protect her.

In the following moment, the woman was about to be stabbed by the glowing black bone spear.

But at that moment, a piercing sound whistled through the air. A white object struck the spear with strange accuracy.

Bang. The spear was pushed a half-foot away, brushing past the womans clothes. The woman was left deathly pale with her brush from death, but she used the opportunity to regain control of her body. With a flip, she nimbly landed on the ground.

The white object was an unremarkable stone.

The demon serpent was surprised, but malevolent glint flashed from its eye and with its other arm, it released a chain of stabs.

However, yet another whistling sound shrieked through the air. This time, a stone didnt strike the spear but pounded towards the demon serpents head.

The stone clearly carried an immense strength. If the attack truly struck the serpent, it might not shatter its skull, but it would be enough to leave it dazed at the very least.

The demon serpent was enraged and had no choice but to turn its head to the side and use its spear and block the oncoming stone.

But with a muffled thump, the serpent felt a huge force knock against its hand, forcing it back several steps. Enraged, it turned to look in the direction where the stone came from.

A young man was looking down at it from the top of a nearby tortoise carriage. He was fiddling with a similar stone in his hand.

It was Han Li.

The red-robed woman had now arrived next to her companions in a blur and let out a sigh of relief.

Having been foiled twice, the serpent felt immense rage and opened its mouth to release a black poisonous mist towards the three women.

But then, Nan Qizis voice sounded from one of the carriages, Evil creature! You dare?!

Soon after, the white light shot out from the carriage window. It circled once in the air before cleaving at the demon. It was a crystalline sword that was several inches large.

When the serpent saw this, its expression changed and it ceased spitting its poison. It rushed to toss the spear in its hand with all its strength at the carriage it came from. It then twisted its body to duck into the sand.

When it saw more cultivators appear, it didnt dare to fight and immediately flee.

As for the spear, it was aimed at Han Li.

Obviously, the demon thought to take revenge on the mortal that thought to ruin its fun and express its resentment.

When Han Li saw the black light coming towards him, he wryly smiled. Not only did he not use the stone in his hand, but he also stood still in place.

Boom. The spear struck Han Li accurately, and he was sent flying over thirty meters away, leaving a large hole in a carriages container he fell on. The crash resulted in twinkling blades falling out from a carriages storage.

Ah!

When the three women saw this, they let out a cry of alarm. As for Nan Qizi, he let out a yelp from a neighboring carriage.

Afterwards, Nan Qizis small sword circled in the air before turning to him.

At that moment, the red-robed woman shook her flag and scattered her protective mist, then running over to the container.

Brother Han, are… are you alright!? She worryingly cried out.

A trace of worry also appeared on the other two womens faces.

I am well. However, my body cant seem to move. Han Li spoke out with a wry chuckle.

The three women were relieved to hear this and exchanged a glance. They all jumped on top of the giant tortoise in question and looked at the damaged container.

They saw Han Li lying down on a pile of spears and sabers with town robes. He appeared helpless, but there were no obvious injuries.

The three were overjoyed and dragged him out in a joint effort.

Brother Han, thank you for saving my life! The red-robed woman gratefully said.

Han Li chuckled and casually answered, It wasnt much. It only took a slight effort. However, the attack has left me helpless. Ill have to lay down for a moment longer.

A trace of surprise appeared on his face and Nan Qizi smiled, saying, There is nothing wrong. The Vajra Arts is worthy of being of the five great body refining techniques. You are already so strong after cultivating the third layer. That evil creatures magic tool wasnt what harmed Benefactor Han, but the exertion of the rock throwing has caused some injury to your meridians. It should be healed with some rest.

I am glad! The red-robed woman said with joy.

Nan Qizi smiled and looked at the formation diagram that no longer glowed with light. He chuckled and said with a deeper tone, How could this humble Daoist lie? However, the situation will turn for the worse now that youve stopped driving the Minor Returning Spring Formation.

When that was said, the threes expression vastly changed and they hastily looked around them. They saw that the guards have become exhausted once more without the aid of the formation, and they have resumed taking casualties.

Damn. Weve only brought one copy of the formation diagram. Weve used all the power from our formation flags to block the demon serpent. We wont be able to activate it again. The white-robed woman cried out.

The other two looked at each other in dismay.

That is truly troublesome! The Daoist priest frowned. As they thought of a plan, they suddenly heard the sounds of battle around them stop. Suddenly, the guards let out a resounding cheer.

The women looked around in surprise. They saw that the huge worms were jumping off the carriages and fleeing in a panic. They seemed to have lost all their previous mettle.

It is done! Sister Liuer and the others mustve defeated the insect demons. The green-robed woman said with a grin. The other two also wore pleasant expressions.

As expected, several tens of cavalry were returning to the caravan, leaving dust clouds in their wake.

Out of the fifty-some cavalry that went out on the attack, only about thirty managed to return. Furthermore, many of them were injured and stained with blood. It was clear they had a desperate battle.

When the wolf-mounted cavalry returned, the large scarred man tossed something on the ground. It was the head of a huge worm, but its body was entirely golden.

The blue-robed woman leading the crimson tiger appeared entirely without injury.

When the two saw Nan Qizi and the three women surrounding Han Li, they revealed a trace of shock.

At that moment, one of the guards gave a detailed explanation of what happened.

The scarred man soon let out a bellow, it appears that Ive made the right decision to take you into our organization. As soon as you joined, you already saved Quaner. If something truly happened, I wouldnt have the face to see the mistress.

When the blue-robed woman heard this, she looked at Han Li with a friendly face.

Han Li simply smiled back and said nothing else.

Since they repelled the Sandbug Beasts, the troops needed to rest. After half a day, they resumed their journey.

The rest of the way was remarkably peaceful. After three days, the caravan left the Azure Sifting Desert and was met with an endless grassland. It was incredibly flat.

With this, the speed of the caravan increased several times as the tortoises could walk with bigger steps.

As for Han Li, he remained still on his back, unable to move. He later noticed that the banter from the caravan instantly went silent after they entered the grassland.

In addition, the four women sitting the carriage looked at the grassland with an uneasy expression, faintly betraying a sense of dread.

Hehe, in that case, this old man wont dissuade you any further, Brother Han. The elderly coach driver chuckled and kept quiet.

Han Li smiled and looked around him once before. Then he stood up from the tortoise without another word.

Because the giant tortoise was at the center of the caravan, it had stopped in place. The other tortoise carriages also quickly gathered around it.

Not long after, over thirty tortoise carriages circled around one another.

The soldiers mounting large wolves gathered together in a group numbering over fifty, creating a defensive perimeter around them. A large man with a scarred face was leading them, and strangely enough, the young blue-robed woman was mixed among them with a crimson tiger crouched at her side.

Bird cries sounded from a distance and seemed to be growing closer and more fervent as time passed by. Several small crimson birds soon appeared and continuously circled in the air. The scarred man harshly shouted, Prepare to fight! Have the tortoises lay down in full defensive positions!

With that said, the tortoise drivers cracked a whip above the tortoises heads, and the tortoises each slowly crouched down, then withdrawing their head and legs into their huge shells. They appeared the same as large azure boulders.

The sound of quaking earth sounded from far away with large clouds of dust spitting out from the ground and surging towards them.

The scarred mans face turned icy and he wordlessly waved his hand. The cavalrymen raised their wolf tooth clubs in a trained manner.

When Han Li saw this, a trace of surprise appeared from his face, but before he could think more of the matter, he saw something that left him surprised.

The scarred man suddenly tossed a green medicine pill into his mouth, soon letting out a large yell after. Yellow light circulated through his body and thin yellow fur spouted forth from his skin, turning his irises into a deep green.

Afterwards, he knocked his feet against the wolf he mounted, and the wolf immediately shot forward with a roar.

The other cavalrymen hadnt undergone such a strange transformation, but by circulating their own techniques, light shined from their bodies and they followed after their leader in a fearless charge.

Several tens of cavalrymen swept up a dust cloud as they charged forward.

Whats going on? Could it be this person is a metamorphosed demon beast? Impossible, he would have to be a demon beast at a metamorphosed stage. He cant be such a high-grade demon cultivator.

And from the soldiers lack of reaction, this sight is common in the spirit realm. It appears that Ill need to spend more time in the spirit realm to understand it. Regardless, the scarred mans transformation and those so-called spirit bodies are something Ive never heard of in the mortal realm.

In his surprise, his thoughts quickly churned, quickly discovering there were quite a few differences in this world compared to the mortal realm.

At that moment, the scarred man let the troops over a kilometer away from the caravan to meet the roiling dust clouds. Soon after, sounds of battle and shouts followed, but only the central part of the dust clouds was stopped. The sides split off and continued to charge in the direction of the caravan.

In the blink of an eye, dust drifted over the soldiers and concealed them.

Attack!

It was unknown who let out the first shout, but following that, the guards that remained at the caravan raised their bows and began to release their arrows.

A rain of arrows launched from the caravan.

Muffled thuds sounded as the arrows landed and the dust clouds momentum was greatly slowed. But soon after, the clouds rolled away as several black silhouettes pounced from the dust to reveal yellow worms that were three meters long.

They each appeared quite flat and had massive mouths on their heads. They also had a pair of antennae waving around from the top of their heads,

These were the so-called Sandbug Beasts.

When Han Li saw them, this face faintly changed. He exterminated countless such demon beasts during his time in the Scattered Star Seas, but they were far more deadly and powerful than the current worms before him.

As soon as the worms appeared, the sound of tearing winds sounded, followed by the glint of a dozen arrows piercing into the worms. But apart from one arrow striking at one of their mouths, the rest of the injuries didnt seem to be lethal. Rather, they only further incited the worms. Regardless of the blood leaking from their bodies, they pounced onto the nearest tortoise.

The four guards on the tortoise remained calm and brandished their blades to meet the attack.

It was clear they cultivated a peculiar technique. Although they werent able to defeat the worms in one fell sweep, each of their strikes left long gashes on the worms bodies, forcing them to the ground.

For a time, the huge worms twitched on the ground, suffering from their heavy injuries.

But then, more giant worms emerged from the dust clouds, slowly trickling out in an unending streak. In the blink of an eye, the caravan found themselves surrounded.

Naturally, a huge battle erupted.

Shouts and dancing blades were abruptly mixed together, scattering blood in the air.

At the center of the tortoise carriage, Han Li was in the most defended position, but apart from him and the carriage driver, there was no one else present. The three young women with him had disappeared at an unknown time.

Having no need to worry about his safety for the time being, Han Li looked at the surrounding battle at his leisure.

But a while later, he unconsciously frowned.

It was as the old carriage driver said. Because of the worms giant size, there was a limit to how high they could jump. Most of them could only jump at the side of the tortoise shells, not over them, granting the guards a prime opportunity to strike.

As a result, the guards have had a massive advantage since the beginning.

But due to the overwhelming number of worms, the yellow clouds have yet to disappear. It was impossible to see through their true numbers, but in such a short amount of time, over three hundred worms have attacked the caravan.

Although the worms movements were clumsy, they each had rough hides and thick flesh. Even with a dozen slashes, the worms could continue to attack so long as none of their vitals were struck.

The increasing numbers of worms meant that it was impossible to maintain a tight defense. Eventually, a few of them managed to jump over the tortoises and injure the guards.

If one wasnt able to dodge out of the way, a guard would lose an arm to a huge worms mouth. If a worm came from behind, it was possible to lose ones head. And when they managed to jump on top of the tortoises, they were also able to use their thick antennae as ferocious weapons.

As time went on, the situation for the caravan worsened.

The only peaceful areas were the several tortoise carriages at the center of the caravan, where Han Li happened to be.

Han Lis gaze wandered for a moment and he turned his head, looking at another nearby carriage.

It was the carriage that Nan Qizi and a few other cultivators entered a moment ago.

As Foundation Establishment cultivators, it should be easy to kill off these trifling insect beasts, but theyve yet to perform the slightest action. These cultivators had no intention of taking action.

Han Li frowned and turned back, continuing to watch the battle with a calm expression.

At that point, over twenty of the guards were either dead or gravely injured by the worms, and the guards that remained began to appear exhausted.

There would only be more casualties as time went on.

If the scarred man didnt return with the cavalrymen soon, the caravan may not last much longer.

However, Han Li wasnt worried about himself.

Although Han Li wasnt able to use any magic techniques and his meridians werent healed, he did cultivate the fourth layer of the Brightjade Arts. His body was incredibly durable. The teeth of the worms wouldnt be able to harm him.

Moreover, he possessed two Immortal Vanquishing Beads, something that could gravely injure Deity Transformation-stage demon cultivators if he caught them off guard.

As such, Han Li was able to observe the battle without worry.

Not good. Elder Sister Xianger, the situation looks bad. We should quickly act. A young womans clear voice sounded from behind him.

Han Lis expression stirred as he slowly turned around.

One of the back of the huge tortoise, Xianer and the other young women had suddenly appeared. The three were holding onto a set of small flags. The red-clothed woman with an anxious expression, the youngest amongst them, was the one who spoke.

The young green-robed woman said, It is no matter. There is still time. Let us quickly place down the Minor Returning Spring Formation. Although we are missing Elder Sister Liuer, well be able to hold it up for some time. The three then quickly stood in formation and took out a cloth the size of a basin. They placed it on the ground to reveal a meter-large spell formation diagram.

Han Li watched this with an odd expression on his face.

At that moment, the three women raised the small flags in their hand and revealed the bracelets around their wrists that were embedded with spirit stones.

As the three chanted, the small flags and bracelets lit up and their wrists trembled. The three flags suddenly pierced into the formation diagram and emit faint spiritual Qi fluctuations as it scattered white light around it.

The white light swept past the surrounding guards and disappeared into their bodies.

As a result, the guards were immediately reinvigorated. Not only did their exhausted appearances vanish, but an immense strength burst forth from their bodies. Their originally heavy weapons became nimble in their hands, flashing with cold light as they cut down the worms once more, gaining the advantage.

When Han Li saw this, his mouth switched and he coldly smiled.

The Returning Spring Formation was a simplified version of the mortal realms Origin Essence Formation. Those affected by the formation may feel as if their energy was restored and may feel overwhelming power, but in truth, they are burning away their inner essence and shaving away at their lifespan. From how quickly the guards recovered, they spent around twenty or thirty years of their lifespan.

You appear to be no more than 30 years of age, yet youve already reached such a high level of mastery in the Vajra Arts. Its no wonder that Leader Zhang holds you in such high regard, Brother Han, Liuer praised with a hint of a smile on her face.

Youre far too kind, Sister Liuer. By the way, Ive already signed a blood curse contract, but I dont actually know much at all about the Heavenly East Enterprise. Would you be able to tell me about it? Han Li asked with a smile.

Looks like youre not from our Heavenly Origin Region, Brother Han. Otherwise, you wouldnt be asking such a question, Liuer chuckled with a hint of amusement in her eyes.

Why do you say that? Is the Heavenly East Enterprise quite renowned in these parts? Han Li was rather intrigued to hear this.

Renowned? That we certainly are, Brother Han. Ours is one of the three largest enterprises in the entire Heavenly Origin Region, and we have branches in several hundred cities. Our main branch has even been set up in the Heavenly Origin Sacred City, Liuer replied with a slightly smug expression.

Unfortunately, none of that meant anything to Han Li, who had just ascended to the Spirit Realm.

In his mind, several hundred cities wasnt a lot, any small country in the human world could easily consist of several hundred cities. However, it appeared from Liuers boastful tone that this was already quite an achievement. Han Li didnt know whether that was because she simply hadnt seen any truly powerful organizations or if cities here were a lot larger than they were in the human world.

In any case, he pretended to put on a mildly impressed expression as he nodded, and said, I see, our enterprise is indeed quite large in that case. I heard from your discussion earlier that we were traveling to An Yuan City, may I ask where that is and how long itll take for us to get there?

You sly man, you were eavesdropping on our conversation! a young woman in a red dress chuckled.

Han Li cleared his throat in a rather speechless manner. They had been conversing in such a loud voice that it wouldve been quite difficult not to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Dont be rude, Shenger. Please dont take her words to heart, Brother Han. Shenger is quite young and she bears no ill will. Liuer scolded the girl in red before turning to Han Li with an apologetic look.

In her eyes, even though Han Li was only a new member of their Heavenly East Enterprise, he was a man with immeasurable potential and would surely become an integral member of their enterprise in the future. As such, she naturally wanted to avoid irking Han Li.

Han Li smiled upon hearing this, and he was just about to respond when the carriage tremored slightly as the giant tortoise came to an abrupt halt.

Liuers expression faltered before she immediately yelled, What happened, Uncle Wang?

Our Crimson Spirit Sparrow up ahead discovered a group of Sandbug Beasts, and they seem to be onto us, the elderly coach driver outside replied.

Its just a group of Sandbug Beast, just deploy some people to chase them away. Were already going to be late, so we have to make haste. Liuer seemed to be rather displeased.

The problem is, one of those Sandbug Beasts has evolved into a low-grade insect beast and attained intelligence, so it could spell trouble for us if we dont kill them, the elderly man replied with a wry smile.

A low-grade insect beast? That is indeed a little troublesome, but Leader Zhang has already mastered the fifth layer of the Tyrant Tiger Arts, hasnt he? In that case, it shouldnt be an issue for him to slay that insect beast with the Golden Luster Sword that the mistress bestowed upon him, Liuer analyzed.

Youre indeed correct, Liuer, but this insect beast has a few mutated insects beast guarding it, so it would be quite risky even for Leader Zhang to face them, the elderly coach driver replied in a hesitant voice.

Mutated insect bests! That really is a little dangerous, but dont we have Daoist Priest Nan Qizi and the other cultivators? Just get them to take care of this matter, Liuer instructed after a brief pause.

Leader Zhang has already requested for their assistance, but was turned down. The cultivators are all from the Goulou Mountains, and theyre unwilling to attack unless the insect beasts attack them first, the elderly man sighed.

We really are in some trouble, then. I said from the various beginning not to hire those cultivators from Goulou Mountains. Theyre always restricted by this rule or that regulation, Shenger scoffed as she wrinkled her nose with disdain.

Daoist Priest Nan Qizi and the others are not to blame. Most of the cultivators on the Goulou Mountains practice insect-manipulation arts, so its simply bad luck that we encountered insect beasts rather than other types of beasts. Ill release the thing that the mistress left with me before she departed so we can give Leader Zhang a hand. You go an inform him of this, and Ill go to see him soon. A grim look appeared on Liuers face.

With that thing, well definitely have no problems dealing with the insect beasts. The elderly coach driver seemed to have been greatly relieved upon hearing this arrangement.

Big Sister Liuer, are you really going to release that thing? The mistress will punish you if something goes wrong. Xianger was rather concerned in contrast.

Dont worry, that thing has already been tamed by the mistress, and possesses a certain degree of intelligence. Its power is comparable even to that of low-grade demon beasts, let alone a few mutated insect beasts. Liuer gave her a confident smile before striding out of the carriage.

I have a bad feeling about this. Im going to have a look. Shenger bit down on her lower lip before also departing from the carriage.

Xianger and the last girl glanced at one another before wry smiles appeared on their faces. Neither of them said anything, but they seemed to have a tacit understanding with one another as they also exited the carriage.

As such, Han Li was the only one left in the carriage.

He sat in his chair and narrowed his eyes with a contemplative look on his face.

A few moments later, the thunderous roar of a tiger that was filled with a sense of violence and bloodlust erupted from nearby.

Han Li stirred slightly upon seeing this before slowly rising to his feet and making his way toward the carriage door.

After pushing open the door, Han Li strode out of the carriage in an unhurried manner, standing on the edge of the giant tortoises shell as he looked into the distance.

The light of all seven moons in the sky was illuminating their surroundings, so Han Li was able to see everything around him with great clarity.

He could see that their band of carriages stretched for around 500 meters, and there were over 30 of these giant tortoise beasts situated at regular intervals down the line.

Most of them were carrying massive cargo crates that were no smaller than the tortoises themselves, and all of them also had four or five armored guards standing on their backs. At the same time, there were also knights riding atop giant wolf steeds traveling on either side of them, making sure that they were very well guarded.

However, none of those giant tortoises caught Han Lis interest.

Instead, he was more intrigued by a cuboid object that was around 20 feet tall enshrouded under a glistening black cloth. At this moment, the middle-aged man, the four young women, and Nan Qizi were all standing around this object.

Low beastly snarls could be heard coming from beneath the back cloth.

Furthermore, there were runes shimmering over the surface of the cloth, indicating that it was a low-grade treasure.

At this moment, Liuer was holding a badge in her hand, from within which swaths of blue light were radiating forth.

Even though they were situated quite far away, Han Li could see everything they were doing with perfect clarity through the use of his Brighsight Spirit Eyes. As such, he was able to catch a glimpse of a green bracelet on Liuers hand, which had tiny shimmering spirit stones embedded onto its surface.

A contemplative look appeared on Han Lis face upon seeing this.

It appeared that these so-called spirit tools could only be used by mortals if they had an external power source. Seeing as they had spirit stones embedded into them, it was clearly the case that they would lose their efficacy once the spiritual Qi within those spirit stones was exhausted.

Just as Han Li was pondering this notion, the black cloth seemed to have absorbed sufficient blue light, and it suddenly disappeared as a vast expanse of black smoke, revealing an intricately crafted silvery beast cage within.

Inside this cage was a crimson tiger beast.

From its outward appearance, this beast appeared to be no different from an ordinary tiger, aside from the fact that its fur was as crimson as blood. However, all of the bystanders were struck by an involuntary sense of fear as they cast their eyes toward this beast.

At the sight of so many people standing around its cage, a vicious light abruptly flashed through the beasts eyes. All of a sudden, it pounced violently without any premonition, crashing heavily into the cage, causing the entire structure to tremor violently.

Everyones expressions changed as they retreated involuntarily.

Liuer took a deep breath before raising her badge again, upon which crimson light began to surface over the badge.

Strangely enough, as soon as the tiger beast caught sight of this red light, the ferocious gleam in its eyes immediately disappeared, and it lay down at the center of the cage like a tame kitten.

Zhang Kui and the others were all greatly relieved to see this.

Right at this moment, the clear cry of a bird suddenly rang out from afar, and it was as if it were trying to transmit some kind of message.

A grim expression appeared on Zhang Kuis face as he yelled, Those insect beasts have sped up and have already surrounded us. Everyone, prepare for battle, but dont stray far away from the carriages, let them come to us. Ill lead a group to slay that low-grade insect demon. None of these other insects have any intelligence, so once that thing dies, all of the insects will disperse on their own.

His words sent a stir throughout the entire squad.

All of them began to converge toward the giant tortoises that were carrying cargo, and all of the knights had drawn their blades as they sat atop their massive wolf steeds with wary expressions.

Meanwhile, Liuer issued a command, and someone opened the cage to release the tiger beast.

The elderly coach driver turned to Han Li with a smile, and said, Brother Han, youre yet to recover from your injuries, so its best if you return to the carriage for your own safety. These Sandbug Beasts cant jump and the carriage is constructed from Heavy Iron Wood, so youll be safe in there.

Thank you for your words of caution. I havent ever seen Sandbug Beasts before, so I want to see them for myself. If it gets dangerous here, Ill be sure to return to the carriage, Han Li replied with a nonchalant smile.

The elderly man coughed before replying, I had no choice in the matter. Zhang Kui insisted on getting me to come here as our newest member is apparently a cultivation prodigy whos already mastered the third layer of the Vajra Arts despite his young age.

The third layer of the Vajra Arts?! Him? Xiangers eyes widened with shock.

Dont be rude, Sister Xianger, invite Daoist Priest Nan Qizi and Old Man Fu into the carriage, Liuer instructed.

Xianger immediately stepped aside to allow the two men into the carriage as she apologized, Ah, please forgive me for my rudeness.

The Daoist priest merely smiled in response before entering the carriage. In contrast, Old Man Fu heaved a faint sigh before slowly making his way into the carriage as well.

At this point, the light in the sky was already beginning to fade, yet the squad was still traveling full speed ahead with no intention of stopping at all.

This is the man that Benefactor Zhang was referring to, right? The Daoist priest turned his gaze toward Han Li as soon as he entered the carriage.

Indeed, I am the new recruit that Brother Zhang was referring to. I appreciate your visit, but Im afraid that youll most likely be powerless to remedy my condition as well. Ill be able to recover after a few months of rest and recuperation, Han Li replied in a calm voice.

Nan Qizi wasnt irked by Han Lis rejection. Instead, he merely put on a faint smile, and said, Hehe, youve already mastered the third layer of the Vajra Arts, so your powers are not inferior to mine. However, there are many differences between cultivators and body refinement warriors like you. Perhaps Ill be able to find a way to reduce the time required for you to make a full recovery.

A hint of surprise flashed through Han Lis eyes upon hearing this.

Even though his spiritual sense was unable to leave his body, thereby rendering him unable to ascertain the Daoist priests cultivation base, in such close quarters, Han Li was still able to determine that this man was a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In the human world, all cultivators looked down on mortals as if they were mere ants, and even Qi Condensation cultivators despised mortals as if they were an inferior species. However, this Foundation Establishment Daoist priest was the first cultivator he had encountered in this world, and he was conversing in such a polite manner with a mortal like him. This type of interaction struck Han Li with a rather peculiar feeling.

It appeared that the Endless Sky Beast hadnt been exaggerating about the power of the mortals in the Spirit Realm.

With that in mind, Han Li nodded with a polite smile, and said, In that case, Ill have to trouble you to conduct a thorough examination.

Nan Qizi nodded with a smile before raising a hand to reveal an azure bracelet around his wrist. He laid his other hand on the bracelet, upon which a copper mirror appeared in his hand.

Han Li stirred slightly upon seeing this.

That bracelet appeared to be a storage treasure, one that was clearly of a far higher caliber than his storage pouches. If even a Foundation Establishment cultivator possessed such a treasure, then they were most likely very prevalent here in the Spirit Realm. As such, it was most likely the case that storage pouches werent used at all in the Spirit Realm.

Aside from his two Immortal Vanquishing Beads, Han Li had stored all of his treasures into his storage pouches prior to dissipating his Nascent Soul. After that, he had buried those storage pouches along with his spirit beast pouches over 100 feet deep into the ground.

As a safety precaution, he had also opened a few of the spirit beast pouches to release his Gold Devouring Beetles, Six-Winged Frost Centipedes, and Weeping Soul Beast to dwell underground, and he had commanded them to guard his storage pouches.

As for that Armored Earth Dragon, Han Li didnt even take it with him to the Spirit Realm. Instead, he had left it with Nangong Wan.

As such, aside from his Immortal Vanquishing Beads, the invisible Spiritform Talisman, and his Law Destruction Eye that could be hidden within his body, all of his treasures had been left in the desert, including his Heavenvoid Cauldron and Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords. He was unable to use any magic power at the moment, so those treasures would be useless to him. Carrying those treasures with him would only get him killed, so he would simply have to recover them after he regained his ability to use his magic power. The desert was an extremely barren place, so his storage pouches should be safe there, particularly with his spirit beasts looking after them.

As for that mysterious little green vial, Han Li had thought about it for a long while before deciding to keep it with him. The vial had no features to suggest that it was anything out of the ordinary, so it would simply be regarded as an ordinary vial even if someone were to discover it.

Nan Qizi was naturally unaware of what Han Li was thinking, and he was certainly oblivious to the fact that Han Li was a Deity Transformation cultivator. As such, he merely asked a few questions to assist in making his diagnosis before waving his copper mirror toward Han Li.

A swath of azure light flew forth from the mirror, enshrouding most of Han Lis body. Nan Qizi then closed eyes, appearing as if he were trying to sense something through the use of the treasure in his hand. After a while, a hint of surprise appeared on the Foundation Establishment cultivators face. A short while later, he opened his eyes again and appraised Han Li with a rather peculiar expression.

What is it? Han Li asked.

Benefactor Han, I suggest you take better care of yourself. I can see that many of your meridians are damaged, which suggests to me that either insufficient spiritual Qi was injected into your body during your cultivation of the Vajra Arts, or you didnt have enough pills to assist you during that process. Us humans dont have powerful bodies from birth like demon beasts do, so we have to be extremely careful when refining our bodies. Thankfully, the damage is not irreversible and your meridians appear to be healing. However, such injuries are indeed quite difficult to recover from, and I dont have any effective treatment method I can suggest, nor any suitable pills I can offer. The only thing I can do is to craft a few pain-killing talismans for you to make the recovery process easier to bear, Nan Qizi replied with a wry smile.

Then Ill have to thank you in advance for your efforts, Han Li said with a smile.

Hehe, seeing as Daoist Priest Nan Qizi has already examined you, it doesnt really matter whether I have a look or not. However, that Zhang brat asked me to come, so I can hardly leave without doing anything, the white-robed elderly man mused.

Youre far too modest, Benefactor Fu. The Profound Golden Needle Techniques passed down in the Fu Family have saved countless lives, and even many cultivators have benefitted from it. Im sure youd be far more capable than I am when it comes to remedying Benefactor Hans condition, the monk replied modestly.

Im just an in-name disciple of the Fu Family, so I know nothing about the Profound Golden Needle Techniques. You have far too high an opinion of me, Daoist Priest Nan Qizi. The elderly man shook his head in response.

Nan Qizi merely chuckled and stepped aside.

The white-robed elderly man stepped forward and took his place by Han Lis side.

He raised a hand and grabbed one of Han Lis wrists, then raised his other hand into the air as several streaks of golden light shot forth.

The golden light revealed themselves to be thin golden needles that embedded themselves into Han Lis body.

Han Li was completely unable to move a moment ago, but as soon as those needles entered his body, he sprang up into a sitting position like a jack-in-the-box.

Liuer get something for him to lean on. The elderly man issued a calm instruction to the girl in blue.

Yes, Old Man Fu. Xianger, grab some blankets and tuck them behind his back, Liuer instructed.

Xianger faltered slightly upon hearing this, seemingly quite reluctant to use her blankets as a backrest for Han Li, but she still did as she was told in the end.

Meanwhile, the elderly took a seat beside Han Li, closing his eyes as he laid a hand over Han Lis wrist to examine his pulse.

Han Li looked at the elderly man in silence, and he could sense a feeble flow of energy rapidly traveling through various parts of his body.

If it werent for the fact that spiritual sense was extremely powerful, it really wouldve been quite difficult to detect that flow of energy.

The elderly man seemed to have sensed Han Lis scrutiny, and he opened his eyes to find Han Li looking at him with a hint of a smile on his face.

At this moment, Xianger had already carried a stack of blankets over to them. Before the elderly man had to say anything, she had already tucked the blankets behind Han Lis back.

Han Li rested his back against the blankets, and was greeted by a faint fragrant scent as he extended words of gratitude toward Xianger.

In response, Xianger merely gave a clipped reply that was neither cold nor pleasant.

Han Li paid no heed to her attitude as he continued to scrutinize the elderly man.

At this moment, Old Man Fu waved a hand through the air, and another golden needle appeared in his palm. This was one slightly longer than the ones already embedded in Han Lis body.

The elderly man expertly tightened two fingers around the needle before his arm transformed into a blur as he rapidly pierced the needle into various parts of Han Lis body in quick succession.

Han Li felt as if countless acupoints in his body had been pierced in unison.

A throbbing sensation then began to flow through his limbs, and Han Li discovered that he was able to slowly raise his arms.

Everyone drew a sharp breath in unison upon seeing this. Not only were the four young womens eyes filled with admiration, Nan Qizi was also quite impressed.

As expected, the Profound Golden Needle Techniques of the Fu Family really are quite extraordinary! the Daoist priest chuckled.

Its nothing much. All I did was temporarily restore a certain degree of mobility to his limbs. However, you still cant use any strength or your meridians could be ruptured on a large scale, the elderly man warned with a stern expression.

Thank you, Old Man Fu! Han Li was ecstatic as he flexed his fingers.

He had learned similar needle techniques in the human world, and he had thought himself to be somewhat of an expert in this art, but he couldnt even hold a candle to this Old Man Fu. It was amazing to think that someone really could create such miracles with needle techniques alone.

However, his heart jolted upon hearing the cautionary words that the elderly man extended toward him.

Upon verifying that Han Li was indeed able to move his limbs again, Old Man Fu waved a hand toward Han Li, upon which golden light flashed and all of the needles extricated themselves from within Han Lis body before disappearing up the elderly mans sleeve.

Han Li slowly lowered himself down from the bench and took a few tentative steps.

Thats all I can do for you, youll have to recover your meridians on your own. I still have some matters to attend to, so I wont stay here any longer. The elderly man rose to his feet and prepared to depart.

Nan Qizi nodded upon hearing this, and he pulled out several talismans before waving a hand through the air. All of those talismans then transformed into streaks of azure light that disappeared into Han Lis body.

Immediately thereafter, the Daoist priest also stood up to leave.

Thus, the four young women accompanied them out of the carriage before closing the door again.

At this moment, Han Li had sat down in a chair with his eyes closed, seemingly experiencing the effect of the talismans within his body.

The four young women glanced at one another after returning to the carriage before Liuer suddenly smiled, and asked, Brother Han, have you really mastered the third layer of the Vajra Arts?

I was merely lucky, Han Li replied in an ambiguous manner.