"How is that, then?" the elder was startled. "Indeed! My inner qi has been reversed—my spiritual power is being undermined, and I urgently need the pure blood of a cultivator to stabilize it. Among the nearby cultivators, besides you, there's only Master Wu. I can't possibly ask you to come, could I? The situation was truly perilous—the reversal occurred two days earlier than expected, and I nearly lost control." The younger one smiled wistfully, clearly still shaken. "Ah, so that explains it. You still need to explain this matter thoroughly to the higher-ups. However, I believe the reason lies in your recent eagerness to master the Black Devouring Kṣitigarbha Technique—your haste has caused the reversal to manifest earlier. For now, please refrain from practicing at the Blood Prison. Instead, focus on consolidating your foundation steadily." After a thoughtful pause, the elder said gently. "Don't worry!" After drawing upon that elder's essence, my counter-effects have completely subsided. As long as I remain attentive moving forward, such unforeseen incidents won't occur again. Recently, I've also felt my cultivation progress is accelerating rapidly—indeed, I've been thinking about simply stepping away from there!" The young man said calmly. "Well, that's good to know. However, although the elder has been eliminated, the person who planted spiritual markers within him remains a significant issue. We can't simply ignore this individual—we must find a way to eliminate any lingering concerns." "Agreed, that makes sense. But I originally assumed that the elder's acquaintances were likely low-level independent practitioners. Therefore, after setting up the trap, I only summoned the Meng family's five companions to ambush and act. Yet, who would have thought that a major player had emerged? Do you believe it was a group of lower-tier cultivators, or perhaps a Foundation Stage cultivator who orchestrated this?" The young man asked the elder with growing curiosity. "Heh! Based on my judgment, it's most likely a Foundation Stage cultivator." After all, no matter how many cultivators at the Qi Condensation stage there are, if these four are determined to flee, it won't be easy to capture them all at once." The elder masked figure spoke without hesitation. "Then, shall we retreat and wait? We can resume our plans once the Master emerges from seclusion. After all, cultivators at the Foundation Stage aren't to be taken lightly!" The younger one, hearing the other's confident assertion about the identity of the captors of the five friends of Mengshan, expressed some hesitation. "Retreat? Why retreat? Didn't you hear? Just now, the Master received a message—due to the need for cultivation, several Foundation Stage cultivators are being offered as blood sacrifices. Since this person has come upon us unexpectedly, we certainly can't let him go easily. While Qi Condensation cultivators are plentiful and easy to capture, isolated Foundation Stage cultivators are rare indeed!" The elder chuckled coldly, his eyes gleaming with determination. The younger masked figure paused slightly, then said with some hesitation: "But currently, within the capital, with the Master stationed here, aside from the four Blood Servants close to the Master, our sect has no other cultivators at the Foundation Stage present. They are all stationed across various regions managing branch affairs. It would be quite impractical to summon them all back specifically to the capital!" "No need for such a complicated arrangement! The Master currently urgently needs Foundation Stage cultivators to practice their techniques. All I need to do is report this to the Master, and surely the Master will assign one or two of the Blood Servants to us for command. With our support, we can easily handle a single Foundation Stage cultivator. In this way, we would surely achieve great merit—perhaps even gain the opportunity to advance to the Foundation Stage, just like the four Blood Servants!" A gleam of greed appeared in the elder masked figure's eyes... Upon hearing this, the younger figure was energized, clearly deeply moved by the elder's words. "Very well, I'll return and prepare. I'll certainly capture this person alive." "He said coldly. Then, the two of them whispered quietly to each other at the spot for a long while before finally drifting off silently, without a word, leaving the hillside and disappearing into the unknown. Yet strangely, neither of them mentioned how they had managed to locate Han Li accurately within such a vast capital—as though it had never been a question at all. Meanwhile, at a desolate plain some hundred miles away from the hill, Han Li landed his Shenfeng Boat, allowing the four individuals to step down from the artifact. Though aware that things would not turn out well, these four showed no resistance and merely obediently followed the boat's instructions. Han Li stood before them, arms crossed behind his back, silently observing them. After a pause, he finally spoke: "Remove your face cloths now! It's no longer useful to conceal your faces." Han Li's voice carried no emotion, and upon hearing it, the four of them were startled, then exchanged glances with one another. "Cough! Take them off," the elder sighed, speaking with a sense of resignation. Seeing this, the other three bowed their heads and reluctantly removed their black face cloths, revealing their true faces. Han Li examined each of them in turn, his expression remaining unchanged, though inside he sighed—indeed, they were the Five Friends of Mengshan. When he had eavesdropped on their conversation from above, he had already sensed a familiar tone in their voices. Combined with their levels of cultivation and techniques, he naturally recalled the Five Friends of Mengshan, whom he had just met two months prior. Except for the woman in her forties, who had not arrived, all the others were present. Nevertheless, although their identities matched his expectations, Han Li found himself utterly at a loss. Now he didn't even need to think—he already knew that the young prince of Xinwang Palace and the palace steward were likely the very agents responsible for the gradual disappearance of so many cultivators. Now that they had discovered his secret, they would surely be determined to eliminate him without compromise! His original intention had been to avoid creating this kind of trouble altogether, yet here it was, the trouble simply finding him. Had he known this would happen, he would never have sent that old monk to monitor these two—after all, it had nothing to do with the magicians of the demonic sect; it was purely his own overcautiousness. Yet, to his surprise, he hadn't expected the old monk to be so ineffective. After merely watching them for one night, the old monk had been discovered and now faced a very real threat to his life. This only deepened Han Li's frustration and bewilderment! If the old monk were to have a spirit beneath the earth, hearing Han Li's constant complaints, he would surely feel even more humiliated! He hadn't even begun to monitor the Young Prince and the others when suddenly they barged into his room and drained his vital essence without any warning—how utterly unjust! Although Han Li had slightly misjudged the cause of Wu Lao Dao's death, he was unaware that the Young Prince and the Grand Steward completely didn't know Wu Lao Dao was about to keep a close watch on them, nor did they realize their own identities had already been revealed to Han Li. Yet this did not prevent both sides from sounding the alarm simultaneously and finding themselves fully entrenched in open hostility. Han Li felt deeply weighed down. After all, several cultivators, including several Foundation-level practitioners, had recently gone missing. His current adversaries were truly formidable, and he feared he might inadvertently follow the same fate as those others. According to Han Li's usual plan, since the situation here was so perilous, he should naturally retreat far away—after all, a gentleman should not be at risk in the shadow of a wall. It was simply unnecessary to fight to the death with these people; rather, he should make his escape as far as possible. But he was troubled—the task of protecting the Qin family still lay upon him. If, during his absence, the Qin family indeed suffered misfortune, how could he face Li Huayuan? He simply couldn’t claim that he had sensed an imminent threat to Yuejing and thus decided to leave abruptly. Thinking thus, Han Li’s expression grew increasingly uncertain, causing the four captives before him to grow increasingly uneasy. They had expected that, once they reached this remote location, the young Foundation-stage cultivator would press them heavily for confessions. Yet, after merely glancing at their faces, he had paused thoughtfully, his demeanor growing increasingly strange—was he now devising some particularly harsh interrogation tactics? With such ungrounded suspicions, the captives felt a cold dread rising from their spines, growing more anxious with each passing moment. “What exactly do you intend to do with us?” The young woman, in her twenties, who had been waiting patiently, suddenly broke in, speaking loudly and urgently. Hearing this, Han Li returned from his deep contemplation, glanced at the woman, and coldly replied, "Do you really need me to handle your situation? Simply hand them over to the families of the missing cultivators and claim that you are one of the forces behind their relatives' disappearances. I'm certain they will treat you well." When Han Li said this, his expression remained utterly composed, which made the four of them absolutely convinced that he would carry out exactly what he had said—so much so that their faces turned pale with fear and alarm. "We have never kidnapped any of these cultivators—never once! We only made a few...?" "Hold your tongue, fifth sister!" the stern elder suddenly shouted sharply, cutting off the woman's words mid-sentence. This startled the fifth sister, who now glared fiercely at Han Li. "Are you really trying to extract information from us? Do you think we're that insignificant?" Han Li smiled faintly, a touch of scorn playing at the corner of his lips.