Chapter 695: Gathering Together

Although he hadn’t dealt with the opponent’s Nascent Soul, the old man’s body was destroyed. It should take decades before he could recover his vitality, let alone possess another body. Finding a suitable body should take quite some time. Even if he begrudgingly possessed an unsuitable corpse, his cultivation would greatly decrease.

As for the two ancient treasures and the storage pouch that were left behind, they were a great profit. Even if he didn’t find Master Cang Kun’s cave residence, this dangerous journey into the Moulan Plains would still turn a profit.

With that thought, he glanced at the faintly silver storage pouch that was left behind from the body.

Han Li calmly reached for the storage pouch and summoned it into his hand. He then immersed his spiritual sense into it and casually probed it, only to be filled with disappointment. Apart from a dozen mid grade spirit stones, there were only a few common tool refinement materials and a few bottles of medicine pills.

When Han Li opened the medicine pills, he found them to be of common quality. It seemed the Moulan Plains were truly lacking cultivation materials. Even a grand Nascent Soul spell warrior lacked decent items.

As for any jade slips, the storage pouch completely lacked them. Han Li was baffled by this and sighed in great disappointment. He originally wished to acquire a few spirit techniques and see if there were any techniques that would greatly increase his strength in a short amount of time. Unfortunately, there was no such luck.

After putting away the storage pouch, Han Li raised his head and glanced at the huge mountain with a fervant gaze. Although the treasure’s master had already fled as a manifested Nascent Soul, the black mountain still remained in its enlarged form, sparkling with black light.

Han Li narrowed his eyes and gently beckoned to the mountain. The masterless ancient treasure flickered with brilliance and quickly shrunk before shooting towards Han Li. By the time it arrived within his grasp, it had already turned back into a miniature mountain.

Han Li curiously weighted the small mountain in his hand. It wasn’t particularly heavy, and he examined it several times through only to find three faint gold character on the bottom of the mountain.

“Thousand Layer Mountain!” Han Li couldn’t help but utter its name. Satisfaction appeared from his eyes.

After putting away the mountain, Han Li glanced at the Wind Riding Chariot and put it away as well.

After glancing in the direction that the old man’s Nascent Soul had fled, Han Li lowered his head in thought before deciding to fly off in a different direction. Not long after, no trace of Han Li could be seen nearby.

...

Among a group of hills, there was no one to be found, only fields filled with straws as tall as men. But not long after, azure light flashed from the horizon.

A short moment later, the azure streak arrived above the hill. It flew around around and faded away to reveal Han Li.

After taking another glance beneath him, he frowned and suddenly flung his sleeve. Several streaks of azure light directly struck the hill like shooting stars.

As a result, the azure light bursted about a hundred meters in the air. A layer of extremely faint white light suddenly appeared in the air. There were four people underneath it that were looking at him, all wearing a faint smile. They were Marquis Nanlong, the white-haired old man, the old man, and the tan-skinned man.

Marquis Nanlong twirled his beard and chuckled, “It is truly fortunate for Han Li to have arrived safely!”  He then waved his hand, causing the light barrier to disappear.

“Oh! The others still haven’t arrived?” Han Li replied with a smile and floated down before them.

The tan man shook his head and calmly said, “We fear the other Fellow Daoist may have had trouble fleeing. When we separately fled, Fellow Daoist Long and Fellow Daoist Wang were pursued by spell warriors. It is quite a difficult matter to break away from them.” 

Marquis Nanlong excitedly said, “However, I feared for you most. If I saw correctly, that Wind Riding Chariot should’ve chased after you. Tch tch! Fellow Daoist managed to easily shake it off despite its amazing speed. It seems I’ve misjudged you.”

Han Li pursed his lips when he heard the Marquis. He could faintly make out a trace of bewilderment from his words.

Han Li wore a calm expression and casually replied, “It was nothing. I merely hold a bit of confidence in my movement techniques.” 

Seeing that Han Li wasn’t eager to explain how he escaped, the Marquis tactfully changed the topic and began to talk about the Nine Nation Union’s upcoming war with the Moulan. It would shake the entire continent as a whole.

Excluding the white-clothed old man, the old woman and the tan man both interestedly included themselves in the conversation.

Marquis Nanlong mysteriously smiled and said, “I recall that the last war with the spell warriors lasted over ten years. Who knows how many years this war will last. However, the Heavenly South’s Devil Dao, Righteous Dao, and even Brother Han’s Heavenly Dao Alliance will have to send soldiers. And given the Drifting Cloud Sect’s position in the Heavenly Dao Alliance, a Nascent Soul elder will be required to participate in the battle. Perhaps Fellow Daoist Han will have another chance to visit the Moulan Plains!” 

The old woman nodded her head and softly said, “In addition to the three superpowers sending assistance to the Nine Nations Union, there are also a few vagrant cultivators that volunteer to block the spell warriors with many an expert among them. The Moulan are incredibly difficult to hold off.”

The tan man frowned and mused, “However, I am quite baffled as to why Moulan would launch an attack despite knowing that the powers of our Heavenly South have united against them. From their current forces, they don’t have a chance of winning, considering what had happened in the last war. It isn’t wise for them to take the initiative to attack with just this. In the last war, they redoubled their attack because of an abrupt wave of reinforcements. Could it be that most of their tribes will be participating in this war?”

“That certainly is possible, but...”

As the conversation continued, much time had unknowingly passed by.

Suddenly, Marquis Nanlong suddenly paused in the middle of comment and he turned his head to the sky. The others unconsciously followed his gaze and their faces grew serious. It was possible that a spell warrior would arrive instead of one of their scattered cultivators. They were in the Moulan Plains after all.

They saw a flash of light from the horizon, revealing one black streak and two crimson spheres of light flying towards them. Marquis Nanlong attentively glanced at them for a moment before calming down.

Marquis Nanlong smiled and said, “It’s nothing. Just Fellow Daoist Wang and his two juniors.” When the others heard this, they also appeared happy.

A short moment later, the streaks of light grew closer. This time, Marquis Nanlong directly removed the restrictions, allowing Wang Tiangu and company to land next to the rest of the party.

When Wang Tiangu saw Han Li amongst the party, he revealed a trace of surprise and said, “Yi! Fellow Daoist Han arrived earlier than we did. That is truly surprising!” It seemed he also saw the Wind Riding Chariot pursue Han Li. It was likely he basked in schadenfreude at the time.

Han Li swept his gaze to Wang Chan and Yan Ruyan at his side and calmly replied, “It was merely a fluke! However, Fellow Daoist Wang was able to escape without injuries while looking after two juniors. You truly have my admiration.” His tone seemed to carry a deeper meaning.

Wang Tiangu indifferently replied, “Hehe, the spell warrior pursuing me wasn’t fast in the slightest. My two juniors and I joined hands to employ one of our sect’s movement techniques. We were able to easily shake them off. It isn’t comparable to escaping pursuit from the Wind Riding Chariot.”

Han Li inwardly sneered. Just as he thought to say something further, his expression suddenly changed and he swallowed his words.

Marquis Nanlong raised his head to the sky and yelped with a joyful expression, “Yi! Fellow Daoist Long is coming. It seems our luck is quite good. We can all hurry to our destination unharmed. I was actually pondering whether or not we’d be able to succeed in breaking the formation if we were missing a few members!”

When the party heard this, they all revealed joy. If they were were incapable of acquiring the treasure because of a missing member, it would be a rather depressing matter.

The white-clothed old man suddenly broke his silence and gravely said, “Not good! It seems Fellow Daoist Long is injured and is still being pursued!” 

Once the others heard this, Han Li and the others hastily turned their eyes to the sky with shock. They saw that there was actually a green and red streak of light closely pursuing the stern-faced cultivator. In the blink of an eye, they had already arrived at the hill where the party was located.

Marquis Nanlong’s expression quickly turned sullen.