Returning to his lodgings, both his "Lü senior brother" and the Fire Dragon Child were already in the hall on the first floor. Mu Peilin sat beside them, waiting attentively. Upon seeing Han Li enter, she immediately rose, expressing concern: "Master, Lü Senior and Lan Senior have been waiting for you for a while. Has anything happened?" "Nothing at all. You go upstairs and rest first. I'll have a quiet chat with the two seniors." Han Li smiled warmly at Mu Peilin, a rare moment of genuine warmth. "Yes, Master." Mu Peilin bowed gracefully and quietly ascended the stairs without further words. Watching her retreating figure, Han Li was deeply satisfied with her intelligence. Yet, recalling the matter of Nan Gong Wan, he sighed slightly. "Ah, Han junior has grown a bit sentimental, hasn't he?" Lü Luo, seeing Han Li's cheerful return, remarked with a touch of teasing. "Haha, Senior Lü is mistaken. Lü Senior and Lan Brother have come here specifically for today's council meeting, haven't they?" Han Li smiled slightly, settled himself beside the two, and spoke calmly. "My junior brother is right—the matter indeed concerns the people of Mulan. We have already sent messages to the Alliance headquarters regarding this, and also informed our fellow Daoist friends in the city. Most of them understand the principle that 'when the nest is destroyed, no eggs remain unharmed,' and thus are willing to help the Nine-Country Alliance withstand the vanguard of the Mulan forces until reinforcements arrive. Of course, when these Yuan-Ying cultivators step forward, some compensation in spirit stones will surely be expected. I believe the Nine-Country Alliance will not be stingy about this, for though the Mulan people are the foremost adversaries of all cultivators, the Nine-Country Alliance has indeed borne the brunt of the pressure." Lu Luo said slowly. "Then, what further negotiations are there to be made? Though I have only recently advanced, I will certainly contribute my efforts to resist the enemy." Han Li nodded, slightly puzzled. "You may not know—suddenly, representatives from both the Zheng and Mo sects have come together, visited us, and delivered a message." Lan thought there was some merit to it, and couldn't afford to ignore the threat. "What exactly are you saying? Isn't it possible that the Nine-Country Alliance is aiming to weaken our three major powers at this opportunity?" Han Li's eyes flashed several times, and then he smiled lightly, with a hint of amusement. "Ah! Brother Han is indeed sharp—your intuition was spot on. However, it's unlikely that the Nine-Country Alliance will simultaneously target all three of our powers. More likely, they'll secretly ally with one or two of them to strike at a single power. That wouldn't be something we, the Heaven's Way Alliance, would want to see. If we fail to repel the Muling Sect, peace in the immortal realm won't truly be secured. The Alliance will absolutely not allow this to happen—we must prevent any imbalance among the major powers in the southern region." Lu Luo was momentarily stunned, then chuckled softly. "Oh, so your brothers mean…" Han Li raised a corner of his mouth, remaining composed and inquiring gently. "It's quite simple. Although our three major sects can temporarily follow the Nine Kingdoms Alliance's directives, we must never allow them to use any pretext to weaken our strength. We've already discussed the specifics with the six Dao Sects and the Zhengdao representatives, and we plan to finalize the feasible regulations together during tomorrow's grand council meeting. This way, we ensure that such a situation won't arise. At the very least, the Nine Kingdoms Alliance cannot hide the number of senior cultivators we dispatch—our three major sects must send their senior disciples to meet the alliance's forces. This will require the active support of Fraternal Brother Han and the other cultivators." The Fire Dragon Child spoke calmly. "Understood. I don't wish to oppose the legalists while being secretly maneuvered from behind." Han immediately agreed without hesitation. "That will suffice. Besides Brother Han, we will also reach out to several other allies. By then, it will no longer be possible for the Beiye Sect and the Hua Yi Gate to oppose this matter. We hope this great conflict can be concluded as soon as possible—otherwise, we will surely lose countless allies in the southern heavens!" Lü Luoxian sighed deeply, as though momentarily overwhelmed by emotion. "Heh! With our current修为, as long as we remain vigilant and carefully manage our lives, we can certainly survive the great battle. During the last invasion by the Mulan people, I personally slew quite a number of fashis. This time, it seems we'll have to carry out another major campaign of slaughter," he said. Yet the Fire Dragon Child sneered, his face flashing with a cold, sharp aura of determination. Upon hearing this, Han Li glanced at the young cultivator with a touch of surprise. Though this young cultivator had only reached the early Yuanjing stage, his aura of martial intensity far surpassed that of his peers—clearly, many lives had already been lost at his hands. After further discussing the specific details of the upcoming Hall Council deliberations and sharing their speculations about the sudden appearance of the colossal beasts and the unfamiliar fashis, Lü Luoxian and his companion rose to depart. As Han Li was escorting them to the doorway of the pavilion, Lü Luoxian hesitated briefly before turning back and asking one more question: "Master Han, how did your meeting with those old acquaintances go today?" As Lu Luo spoke these words, his gaze settled firmly on Han Li's face, as though trying to discern something from it. "Nothing at all, just catching up on old times, sharing some gentle memories," Han Li replied, his eyes steady and his expression unchanged. "That's good! Then I'm reassured." Hearing this, Lu Luo's concerns eased considerably, and with a cheerful smile, he exchanged a few more words with Han Li before finally departing with the Fire Dragon Child. Han Li stood at the entrance of his pavilion, watching them enter another nearby pavilion—clearly making contact with other cultivators. It seemed these two must hold some official position within the Celestial Dao Alliance; otherwise, how could they be consistently summoned, whether for palace deliberations or to represent the Celestial and Earthly Dao factions? Han Li stroked his chin, pondering silently. Then he turned and entered his own pavilion. ...On the following day, during the palace deliberations, the number of Yuan婴 cultivators attending increased by nearly half. Among them, besides the senior monks from the Zhengmo and Tian Dao Alliance, there were also several seasoned masters from the independent cultivators' circles. This left the convening hosts, Kunpeng of the Beiyè Sect and Qi Fu of the Hua Yi Gate, rather at a loss. Regardless of whether the Nine Kingdoms Alliance originally had other intentions, they ultimately had to accede to various demands made by the assembled cultivators. Most notably, whenever high-level cultivators were assigned to undertake specific tasks, the four major powers agreed to dispatch personnel evenly across all of them, to prevent any of the other factions from harboring hidden schemes or deliberately undermining their own cultivators. To Liang's surprise afterward, the Tian Dao Alliance's Council of Yuan-Ying Masters—composed entirely of Yuan-Ying cultivators—after receiving messages from Lü Luo and the Fire Dragon Child, deliberated and ultimately decided that each of the alliance's monasteries would send either one Yuan-Ying elder or several Jiadian cultivators to provide support at Qian Tian City. Naturally, given the considerable distance, these individuals would still take some time to reach Qian Tian City. Meanwhile, the already-present monastic cultivators such as Lü Luo were first assigned by the Nine Kingdoms Alliance to receive orders and delay the advancing forces of the Mulan people. Of course, for fairness' sake, once the reinforcements arrived, these cultivators who had already made significant contributions could be considered accomplished and return to their respective sects, no longer required to participate in the subsequent battles—instead, the supporting cultivators would take over to face the later engagements. Now, whether it was the Fire Dragon Child or the others, after deliberation in the Hall of Council, each had been assigned specific tasks and began moving to various frontline outposts for support. Han Li, together with two other Yuan-Stage cultivators and seven or eight Jin-Dan cultivators, was dispatched to assist a strategically important stronghold near the boundary of the Yu Kingdom, which was protected by a powerful defensive array. This location was essential for the invading forces to capture. There were still over a dozen such sites along the route that needed to be cleared completely; if these were not secured, the Mullan people would remain restless and unable to truly consolidate their control over the territories. Meanwhile, the Nine Kingdoms Alliance currently lacks the strength to launch a decisive battle against the Muranese martial forces. It can only rely on its geographical advantages and the meticulously arranged defensive array—spending countless efforts to gradually slow down the advance of the Muranese army. Otherwise, given the high-level Muranese martial cultivators' swift flight capabilities, it would take no more than a month for them to reach the city of Tiantian from the battlefield. Although the main army of martial cultivators has not yet arrived at the strategic stronghold that Han Li intends to support, the high-level cultivators stationed there are limited to just one Yuan-Ying cultivator from the Nine Kingdoms Alliance. Historically, with one Yuan-Ying cultivator in command and supported by the defensive array, the forces could withstand a certain number of martial cultivators for a period of time. However, under the current sharp and relentless offensive, even this modest force is now finding it difficult to hold. Among the cultivators traveling with Han Li, one is an elder from the Hao-Ran Pavilion of the Zhengdao Alliance, named Ma. He is slender and vigorous, with a refined and noble appearance, embodying the grace of a Daoist sage. The other was the green-robed, crane-faced elder whom they had seen in the great hall earlier, named Gu Shuangpu. Although Han Li had only noticed a spirit-beast satchel at the elder's waist, the subtle aura emanating from within it made Han Li feel somewhat uneasy—yet the spirit beasts contained within were no ordinary ones. Both of these elders were at the early Yuan-Ying stage of cultivation, so there was no clear superiority among the three. Concerned that the army of cultivators might reach their support destination ahead of schedule, the three quickly decided to leave behind the seven or eight Jin-Dan cultivators, taking swift, swift flight ahead, while sending the younger Jin-Dan disciples to follow behind and continue on the journey. Along the way, the elder from the Ma family proved particularly talkative, chatting lightly with Han Li and the other, as if they were merely enjoying a leisurely mountain excursion rather than preparing to face off against the opposing cultivator forces. As for Gu Shuangpu of Yu Ling Sect, his face remained gloomy, silent for a long time, as though deep in thought. Han Li, on the other hand, maintained a warm smile, frequently picking up and continuing the older man's remarks, giving the two a refined and courteous impression. Since both of them knew that Han Li was only recently advanced to the Yuan婴 stage, they did not place undue emphasis on his actual strength.