The light and shadow projected by the scholar suddenly appeared and then vanished once again before everyone's eyes, leaving Wang Tiangu and the others momentarily stunned. Wei Wuya paused, then asked, "Master Wang, is this person indeed the former Master of Pengkun? Yet now he seems to have only his spirit essence left—though if he truly was the formidable figure of old, he no longer commands much fear. Was it precisely through him that you learned of the events at Lingmiao Garden?" "In a certain sense, this person may be considered the Master of Pengkun, yet he is also no longer quite the same. Nevertheless, the matter concerning Lingmiao Garden did indeed originate from his own words." Upon hearing that the spatial rift was merely newly formed, the Master of Gui Ling Sect relaxed his expression and now responded calmly to Wei Wuya's inquiries. "What exactly do you mean? Master, there's no need to withhold your meaning." Wei Wuya's face grew slightly serious, and a touch of displeasure showed in his demeanor. "Brother Wei, I believe you've misunderstood. The spirit essence you just witnessed on the scroll was merely the residual spirit of a former incarnation of the Master of Pengkun." This embodiment once, during its exploration of the Valley of Fallen Demons, sustained injuries from a spell, resulting in the destruction of its physical form—thus being placed by Master Seangkun into this scroll-like artifact crafted from fragments of soulwood for rest and recovery. Yet the true Master Seangkun has long since passed away, many years ago. This remnant soul, aside from some memories, now possesses a fully independent body. To say that it is now a separate being is quite reasonable." The Ghost Spirit Gate Master spoke calmly and composedly. Wei Wuyi looked somewhat surprised by this revelation. Wang Tiangu pressed his lips together, feeling a wave of quiet sorrow—perhaps due to having failed to uncover the secret of the scroll, or perhaps because he had once again guessed wrong. "So it is. It seems you have reached some agreement with this remnant soul, which is why it has shared the matter of Lingmiao Garden. However, that matters little to me. As long as I am granted access to Lingmiao Garden, the nature of your agreement with this soul—whether it be formal or informal—I shall remain entirely indifferent. Wei was now at an age where he only wished to reach the Huashen stage and ascend to the immortal realm. "Wei, you truly are a sensible man," nodded Wei Wuyá, speaking coldly. "That would be ideal. Then, since this spatial rift has occurred by chance, let us set out!" The master of Gui Ling Sect smiled slightly, then gestured to a disciple to advance once more and clear the way. The Gui Ling disciple, though pale, remained silent and steadily moved past the spatial rift ahead, continuing forward. Wei Wuyá walked calmly, without showing any expression. The others from Gui Ling followed suit. The group proceeded steadily toward the clearly visible grand altar. ... "What's going on? Your flying mouse has gone haywire!" Standing on a vast ice plain covered in thick ice, Han Li looked up at the blood-colored dawn light reappearing in the sky, his expression dark, and turned to his companion, Zi Ling. Not far behind him, a massive ice fissure, stretching over twenty zhang in width, stood clearly visible. Han Li had just passed through this ice fissure and had once again entered the inner valley. Surrounding him, the landscape was blanketed in snow, and the piercing, howling winds swept relentlessly. Yet Han Li stood still in his thin, dark blue robe, completely unbothered by the cold breeze. "I don't know whether my flying mouse is still fine outside, or whether it suddenly went berserk the moment it stepped out of the ice fissure. Fortunately, I had retrieved it early; otherwise, I'm not sure what might have happened. Now, it's contained within the spirit-animal bag, and still behaving wildly." Zi Ling frowned, equally puzzled. Han Li paused thoughtfully, then suddenly slapped his storage pouch with one hand. A small group of gold-devouring insects burst forth, immediately forming a shimmering cloud of insects that hovered motionless above his head. With a subtle mental command, Han Li guided the insect cloud back into the spirit-animal bag, and it returned perfectly controlled, without any signs of disorder. Han Li ran a hand over his chin, his gaze flickering uncertainly, but then he gave a firm tap on the other spirit-beast satchel, and a streak of black light shot forth, spiraling before settling a few feet in front of him. As the light faded, a small black monkey, only a few inches in size, appeared. It was the Ti Hun Spirit Beast. The Xingjin insect and the Tihun beast showed no unusual signs within the Inner Valley, which eased his mind. After all, one was a rare celestial insect, the other a mutated, formidable beast—both quite different from ordinary spiritual animals. Yet naturally, Han Li was unaware that the Qi Li prepared by Nanlong Hou also remained undisturbed within the valley, while the spiritual birds borrowed from Mu Lan's disciples, much like the purple spirit's flying mice, were now out of control. The reasons behind this lay deeply rooted in the valley's hidden secrets. "Then all we can do is rely on Brother Han's divine abilities," said Zili, gently pressing her lips together, with no other choice. Han Li nodded, settled into a quiet meditative posture, and closed his eyes calmly. A moment later, a brilliant aura surged around him, enveloping his entire form in a shimmering jade-like glow, lending him an air of ethereal grace. Zili remained still by his side, her clear, spring-water eyes fixed steadily upon his ordinary face, never blinking. To be honest, Purple Ling finds it hard to pinpoint exactly what feelings she holds for the man before her. They might be called pure friends, but that doesn't quite fit. At least, she often feels a quiet sense of delight and excitement whenever she sees a spark of admiration in Han Li's eyes toward her appearance. To call them soulmates, however, is even less accurate. Though they've shared life-and-death trials, Han Li has never truly opened up to her about his innermost thoughts. On the contrary, he seems to subtly maintain a distance, showing no clear intention of moving closer. In fact, given Han Li's current standing and cultivation level, if he were to formally propose to her, she couldn't be certain whether she would accept or decline. When she unexpectedly learned from Song, a woman from Luoyun Sect, that Han Li already has a dual-cultivation partner named Nan Gong Wan, she felt a deep sense of disappointment—almost as though something she had long cherished had already been taken by someone else. Staring at the shimmering figure of Han Li in the azure light, Zi Ling appeared slightly dazed, her mind swirling with thoughts. Han Li, who was meditating, was completely unaware of what Zi Ling was thinking. Yet he had already cast out his powerful consciousness, swiftly scanning the entire area within a hundred li to detect any presence of Gui Ling Sect cultivators. However, after a while, he found no trace of any such cultivators. Frowning slightly, Han Li remained determined and expanded his awareness further, extending it to nearly two hundred li. Despite his efforts, no additional cultivator's aura emerged. After a moment's reflection, Han Li suddenly removed the spirit-animal satchel from his waist, which was filled with gold-eating insects, and casually summoned it. With a series of hand gestures, thousands of insects surged forth from the satchel, forming a vast golden cloud. "Go!" Han Li opened his eyes wide, raised his hand, and struck the insect cloud with a green spell. The cloud emitted a resonant hum, then dispersed into countless golden blossoms that shot out in all directions. When Han Li closed his eyes once more, a brilliant glow emanated from his body. Zi Ling gazed in mild astonishment, unsure of the great power he was about to unleash. At that moment, however, Han Li had already pushed the Da-Yan Technique to its absolute limit—forcefully dividing his consciousness into over a thousand separate fragments. While a few of these fragments remained on his body to serve as protective shields against unforeseen threats, the rest swiftly pursued each Jin-Feeding Insect, temporarily attaching themselves to the insects' bodies and spreading out in all directions. By leveraging the insects' own eyes, Han Li no longer needed to sense the presence of any cultivator, but instead began to search methodically, one patch at a time, toward what might be the next marked location. Naturally, some of the insects encountered spatial rifts and were swallowed whole, or became trapped within magical barriers and could not return. Yet Han Li's consciousness fragments were formless and merely temporary hosts—whenever conditions grew unfavorable, they promptly abandoned their insect hosts and returned to Han Li himself. Nevertheless, even with all this, over a dozen spirit fragments failed to detach in time and were either trapped or destroyed. Upon encountering such a situation, Han Li decisively severed the connections to these fragments, thus avoiding any chain reaction affecting the others. However, every time he severed a fragment, his face grew paler. Fortunately, his consciousness was exceptionally strong, so the loss of these fragments did not amount to anything serious—within moments, he regained his composure. Through the persistent search of the thousands of golden-feeding insects, it took some time before Han Li finally uncovered the trail and identified the route taken by the Gui Ling Sect's cultivators. At once, he sent a surge of spiritual awareness to all the spirit fragments, and the thousands of insects instantly turned and flew back. When the last golden-feeding insect entered the bag, Han Li opened his eyes, a subtle smile of cold satisfaction playing at the corners of his lips. "Now, we've found their trail!" As soon as he finished speaking, Han Li rose and transformed into a streak of azure light, soaring skyward. Zi Ling, seeing this, also brightened and transformed into a vibrant streak of light, closely following behind. Not long after, Han Li and Zi Ling appeared above a scattered pile of rocks. Han Li stared at the newly formed, empty depression below, his face expressing a look of puzzlement. "It seems this is the next mark's location. If my memory serves me well, there are still two more marks to locate—the place where the Ling Zhu Fruit grows. The next destination is quite accessible, and it will be the perfect opportunity for us to catch up with the members of the Gui Ling Sect." Han Li spoke calmly, then with a sweeping motion of his sleeve, a bright white glow shot out and landed several zhang ahead of him—exactly where the Wind-riding Cart stood. "Get onto the cart. Accelerate and pursue them below! Your current speed of movement is too slow. Only if you increase it several times over will you have any chance of catching up with them." Han Li issued the instructions to Zi Ling with absolute authority. "Several times over? The spatial fissures within the Inner Valley are numerous. Won't that be quite dangerous?" Zi Ling was startled, her expression turning visibly concerned.