Chapter 503: Another Clash
The burly man
amongst the Core Formation cultivators saw the old man’s face and asked
with surprise, “What is it? Was there something amiss? Was his identity
false?”
The old man twirled his beard with his finger before
revealing a green jade slip in his palm. “There is nothing wrong with
his identity. We’ve long acquired the portraits of the two elders from
our agents in the Exquisite Sound Sect. His appearance is an exact match
for what we were given. There is no doubt that he is Elder Han. Even if
he was a pretender using some sort of secret disguise technique, he
won’t be able to escape Elder Wang’s discerning eye when he leaves the
harbor.”
The burly man snorted with dissatisfaction, “Since there is no problem, why did you wear that expression?”
After
muttering to himself for a second, the old man said, “The Exquisite
Sound Sect’s Elder Han is no simple character. I fear that even if we
were to both take him on, we would not be victorious.”
The burly
man was stunned before shaking his head as if he were beating a drum
with it. He doubtfully said, “What does that mean? Isn’t he an early
Core Formation cultivator just like us? Moreover, he is a vagrant
cultivator. How could he compare to the two of us who have received the
frequent teachings of our Divine Ancestor?”
The old man wasn’t
annoyed by his words in the slightest and calmly gave him an
explanation, “Enforcer Liu should know that although our Seven Fiends
Arts can’t be considered a top grade cultivation technique, we are
extremely sensitive to the amount of baleful Qi one possesses. The
baleful Qi that he possesses is the heaviest I’ve ever seen from a Core
Formation cultivator. No small number of cultivators has died by his
hand.”
The burly man objected, “That’s nothing. So what if he killed a few low grade cultivators? I could do that too.”
“It’s
not the same. Although you can accumulate a bit of weak baleful Qi from
that, it would last for but a short moment, and would easily disappear.
As for this person, not only is his baleful Qi exceedingly dense, but
it is also extremely cold. This is something that can only be developed
by killing a great number of cultivators of similar rank or higher.
Unless he uses a few specific secret techniques to rid himself of the
baleful Qi, it will forever haunt his body.”
After a cold glint
flickered from his eyes, he imposingly continued, “Furthermore, he seems
to have comprehend a few miraculous sword Qi techniques, causing the
span of his baleful Qi to be exceptionally large. It is truly
astonishing. If an ordinary cultivator were to fight him, not only would
their bewitchment and illusionary techniques be weakened, but if his
baleful Qi were to be fully cultivated, his opponents could temporarily
lose their will to fight if they do not protect against it. If he were
to cultivate our Seven Fiend Arts, he would make rapid advancements.”
Of
course, the old man didn’t know that Han Li had sparsely killed Core
Formation cultivators, but instead killed several hundreds of their
equivalent, grade five demon beasts. The reason for his heavy baleful Qi
was completely different from what he had imagined.
The burly man
blankly stared for a moment before puzzlingly asking, “Enforcer Cang,
could it be that you wish to take him as a disciple? Regardless of his
baleful Qi, he won’t become your disciple. Don’t forget that he is a
Core Formation cultivator as well.”
The old man calmly said, “Take
him in as a disciple? Of course not. I was merely interested in the
method he used to accumulate such strong baleful Qi. He must have a
secret.”
Having heard that, the burly man lost interest. He
reckoned that in the entire Scattered Star Seas, any cultivation arts
that draw on support from the baleful Qi to progress all belonged to
renegade sects. As his own cultivation art was not one of them, he felt
disinterested.
But the burly man soon thought of something and
asked with a puzzled expression, “You said that the young master was
interested in the Exquisite Sound Sect’s Fairy Violet Spirit. Why
haven’t I heard of this before? Could he have told you in private?”
“Hehe!
The young master need not tell me anything. You should know the
cultivation art that the young master cultivates. With the widespread
fame of Fairy Violet Spirit’s beauty, if we are able to present the
woman to our young master, there will be many rewards. The young master
has just reached late Core Formation stage. With the Sacred Ancestor’s
pointers and protection, I reckon that he will become a Nascent Soul
cultivator in less than a hundred years!”
The burly man was rendered speechless for a moment before he excitedly nodded his head.
The
burly man then rubbed his hands with a sinister smile and said, “Then
when should we act? It appears that the young master is about to leave
seclusion.”
The old man calmly said, “There is no need to rush. It
would be best to do this after the next great battle. After all, it
would be better to act after we have displayed the might of our Starfall
Coalition. If they are unwilling to yield when the time comes, we’ll be
able to seize her under the pretext of that she possesses secret ties
to the Star Palace. As she established her sect in Heavenly Star City,
she will have to obediently comply.”
The burly man rejoiced and
laughed, “Good! Since they only have two early Core Formation elders,
they won’t dare to stop our scheme. Fellow Daoist Cang is truly clever!”
The
old man smiled upon hearing him. At the same time, he contentedly
thought, ‘Like this, I will be able to pressure the Exquisite Sound
Sect’s Elder Han into obediently handing over his secret for
accumulating baleful Qi. Two birds with one stone!’
With that thought, the old man narrowed his eyes and wore a strange expression.
…
Han
Li had now reached the end of the harbor. After taking a few glances at
the bustling Starfall Coalition cultivators on the island, he decided
to speed up.
But at that moment, a formidable spiritual sense
suddenly enveloped him without restraint. Han Li was startled, but he
soon stopped and remained floating in the sky.
This was something
that he had earlier anticipated. How could the Starfall Coalition allow
Core Formation cultivators to be released on something as simple as a
token?
Han Li reckoned that the owner of the spiritual sense was
their leader, a Nascent Soul eccentric, using his spiritual sense to
examine him. It seemed this was a measure to prevent Core Formation
cultivators from using secret techniques to alter their appearance and
escape the island with a false identity.
Han Li’s expression was
completely calm and didn’t reveal the slightest panic. He hadn’t even
bothered to consider using a false identity from the very beginning.
This was because these techniques could be seen through by those with
formidable spiritual sense, unless one used a legendary technique from
antiquity or an extremely precious magic treasure.
Had he
superficially changed his appearance and used a false identity, he would
appear quite suspicious were he to be caught, causing a huge backlash.
Instead,
he would rather take advantage of his status as an elder of the
Exquisite Sound Sect and take the risk of leaving a trail behind for
Zenith Yin and the others. By the time the eccentrics tracked him down,
he would already be in the Outer Star Seas, and be completely
untouchable.
With that in mind, Han Li calmly allowed the Nascent
Soul cultivator to examine him with his spiritual sense. As expected,
the spiritual sense soon disappeared without leaving a mark on his body.
Han Li let out a long sigh and calmly flew towards the sea.
Not long after Han Li left the island, he began to fly at his top speed.
As the blood-red cloak would attract too much attention near the conflict, he could only fly through normal means.
Half
a day later, Han Li was wondering how he should enter the city while he
flew when he came to a sudden stop. He frowned and examined his
surroundings with a puzzled gaze.
His expression suddenly
stiffened as he gazed into the distance. He enveloped his body in a
layer of faint azure light and motionlessly floated in place.
After
a short moment, a blue and a red streak of light flew towards him with
the speed of lightning. The lights arrived in front of Han Li in an
instant, fading away to reveal two middle-aged cultivators wearing
silver robes with gold lining.
Starfall Coalition cultivators!
Both
of the men were early Core Formation cultivators. One of them appeared
scholarly, possessing a pale face and no beard. The other was a rather
robust man with tan skin.
Since they had both appeared, they just
coldly stared at Han Li without a word. Their spiritual senses were
obviously locked onto Han Li as if they were about to take action.
Han
Li’s expression stirred for a moment. He then asked them with a deep
voice, “What business do you two have? I am in a hurry. If you have
nothing to say, then I will take my leave.”
“Wrong! You will be coming with us!” The robust man icily spoke with a commanding tone.
Han
Li scowled and his eyes coldly glinted. “Have I offended you two? Or
has the Starfall Coalition taken to tyrannically arresting people as
they please?”
“Fellow Daoist, please do not be angry. We are under
orders to pursue and eliminate any Star Palace remnants. We managed to
wound a Star Palace cultivator just recently, but he managed to escape
in this direction using a strange technique. It just so happened we
found you while in pursuit of him. According to our knowledge, the Star
Palace cultivators possesses face changing techniques. As we are unable
to tell if your appearance is genuine, we must ask you to accompany us
until we find the cultivator that escaped.” The scholarly middle-aged
man spoke quite politely, but he obviously had no intention of letting
Han Li go.