"This indeed is a matter of great significance. This Purple Shadow knows quite a bit—Master Jin Yue can probe him thoroughly." The middle-aged scholar nodded, then, with a simple movement of his hand, tossed the jade bowl across the space. "Thank you, Holy Emperor! It's a pity, however, that the delegates sent to each clan may have met with little success—many of them might have perished." The elder monk caught the bowl, his face expressing regret. "To avoid alerting the parties involved, we couldn't directly intervene at the outset. We could only reassign and reposition some of our personnel. It's likely that the Shadow Clan will strike them on the way. We can only hope they have sufficient fortune to escape unscathed. But Master, is your earlier statement truly accurate—do these nearly century-old cultivators who have achieved transcendence actually possess the Xuan Tian Zhuan Ling Sword?" The Tian Yuan Holy Emperor sighed first, then asked again. "How could that be possible? My statement is only three parts true and seven parts false. Once a celestial treasure of a realm is established, before it becomes spiritually awakened, it truly can be transported to another realm." Yet there is one point: once this treasure departs its interface, it loses its opportunity to communicate with the spiritual realm. Without such communication, the heavenly treasures prove largely useless and fail to appear on the Chaotic Immortal Beings Ranking List. I merely mentioned this earlier to delay time a bit, that's all." The old monk smiled calmly. "Ah, so it is. Indeed, the master is truly the one who has studied the heavenly treasures most thoroughly." The middle-aged scholar smiled gently, showing no clear sign of whether he truly believed the old monk's words. ……Han Li naturally had no idea that his current mission had so many unforeseen variables. At present, he was standing with the other four, surrounding the White Cloud, launching attacks upon a series of strange birds and ancient beasts. Each of these creatures was about one zhang in size, but bore four pairs of wings on its back, resembling a bat enlarged several times over. Yet, its massive head was shaped like a goat, with two curved horns extending backward, and sharp, formidable tusks protruding from its mouth, giving it a fearsome, divine appearance. These strange birds, numbering around several hundred, each generated a series of gray, hazy gusts as their four wings flapped, and with every open mouth, a continuous stream of lightning as thick as a large bowl surged forth—equal in power to that of ordinary Jiandan cultivators. Moreover, each bird bore a pair of black iron claws on its underbody, which proved exceptionally formidable even when approached closely. Should an ordinary Huashen cultivator face such a flock of these bizarre birds and ancient beasts, he would likely find himself troubled, possibly even temporarily retreating to avoid the chaos. Yet among the five of them—Han Li and his companions—there were true descendants of elite spiritual families, several who had attained Huaxing cultivation among the Seven Demon Clans, and Han Li himself, an unusual anomaly. In the face of the birds' relentless assaults, they effortlessly defended the Spirit Cloud Great Vessel while simultaneously mounting a decisive, overwhelming slaughter. The young man with a blood spot in his skin pressed his palms together, summoning two white arches of light each over ten dozen feet long, which completely enveloped the area before him, spanning over a hundred zhang. The very essence of these white arches proved to be an astonishingly powerful instrument—wherever its luminous glow passed, whether it was fierce winds or thunderbolts, they were all severed in one stroke. With every flicker, one or several strange birds were instantly cut down. The young man with white eyebrows exhibited a completely different style—without relying on any precious artifacts, he charged straight into the midst of the strange birds. As he moved, a pair of dark, lustrous feathered wings sprouted from his back, and his arms grew remarkably thick, transforming him into a half-divine form. With each swift movement, a shadowy black form surged through the flock of birds, crashing through them with eerie force. Wherever it passed, the strange birds shattered into four or five pieces, spilling countless streams of blood, creating a most bloody scene. This woman held a jade lute in her arms, and as her ten slender fingers—like young green stalks—gently traced the strings, golden-yellow rings radiated outward in concentric waves. When these rings swept over the nearby strange birds, the creatures were instantly enveloped in a layer of gray-white, eerie substance that spread over their entire bodies, rendering them motionless before they plummeted to the ground, shattering into fragments upon impact. This lute possessed an exceedingly rare stone-encrusting power. Though none of the five had summoned their most potent abilities, within the span of a single cup of tea, hundreds of the strange birds were completely eradicated. After gathering their powers, the five instantly dissolved into streaks of brilliant light, vanishing into the great cloud-shaped light formed by the central spiritual vessel. They alighted at the prow of the jade boat. "These strange birds—how they came to be here is a mystery. Yet they seem to have recognized the subtle changes in my spiritual cloud vessel. That is truly unexpected," said the man from Longdong, glancing at the others, and then sighed. "This strange bird I have never heard of before. Yet how vast the wild realm is—how many ancient beasts have gone unobserved? What wonder, then, that we have never seen so many? The Spirit Cloud Boat has only now finally been discovered, and I find that already somewhat surprising." Xiao Hong spoke calmly. "This indeed shows that we have truly entered deep within the wild realm. On our journey ahead, such encounters will surely become more frequent. Though these strange birds are numerous, they are still manageable. Should we encounter particularly powerful ancient beasts, however, we may have to abandon this Spirit Cloud Boat at times." The young man with white eyebrows raised his brows slightly. "That's entirely understandable. Should we face beings like the Hundred-Eyed Giant, as described in legend, we would certainly be unable to hold our own—our primary concern would naturally be survival. Brother Han, the next turn of duty just happens to fall to you. I expect you'll have to put in a bit more effort." Longdong suddenly turned to glance at Han Li, offering a gentle smile. Han Li nodded calmly, saying nothing. The white-robed young lady smiled gently, then suddenly asked the black-dress woman: "Sister Xiao, you previously demonstrated the Black Phoenix Clan's innate divine technique—the renowned Black Flame Blaze, isn't it? This flame truly commands astonishing power, no wonder!" Upon hearing the young lady's question, Sister Xiao was momentarily startled, her dark brows slightly furrowed before her eyes suddenly brightened with a touch of surprise, and she replied: "Indeed, this flame is the Black Flame Blaze I have cultivated myself—nothing remarkable about it. Yet the pipa in Master Ye's hands reminds me of a legendary artifact. It's said that many thousands of years ago, a senior cultivator at the Tianling stage forged a 'Chali Ling Pipa,' a celestial spiritual treasure ranked among the Chaotic Ten Thousand Immortals, capable of simultaneously commanding three divine techniques—stone solidification, gold melting, and ice sealing. I wonder if Master Ye's artifact is connected to this divine treasure?" "Ah, I didn't expect Sister Xiao to be so well-informed about our human clan's treasures." "The piece I'm holding here, though not the original Chanling Pipa from back then, is still an authentic replica, capable only of the stone-enshrining technique—its power is far behind that of the genuine artifact." The young woman replied with a cheerful smile. "Indeed! Even so, this artifact is quite comparable to ordinary spiritual treasures. After all, the ability to turn things to stone is truly rare and hard to defend against." The housewife said calmly. It was quite a sensation at the time, though the elder's swordlight remained consistently green, differing somewhat from Han brother's flying sword. I wonder if Han friend's flying sword also possesses some kind of sword-array technique. Longdong seems particularly interested in the Qingzhu Fengyun sword Han just demonstrated. "Ah, indeed there's something like that. Might I ask this elder's given name and surname, and what kind of sword-array technique he employs? I've cultivated so many flying swords, merely relying on quantity to overcome my opponents—I've never truly understood the concept of sword arrays..." Han, upon hearing this, felt a spark of interest, yet remained composed in his response. "Ah, regarding this elder Longdong mentioned, I've heard of him before. He's known as Qingyuanzi, a truly remarkable figure in his time. Though I'm not certain about the specific sword-array he's mastered, it's said that the cultivation technique he employs was actually created by him himself. Unfortunately, however, it appears that he entered the wild frontier many years ago and has since remained untraceable. Otherwise, given this senior's extraordinary talent, it was quite possible he would reach the Consolidated Form stage. The white-robed maiden, however, smiled and stepped in to speak first. Longdong remained calm, only offering a gentle smile. Hearing this, Han Li was silent for a while. Whether from the way he was addressed, the nature of his法宝, or his original cultivation technique—this Qingyuan disciple clearly was the senior from the lower realm who had once founded the Qingyuan Sword Technique. It was truly surprising that he could learn of this remarkable figure's current whereabouts through the very eyes of these two individuals. Unfortunately, Han Li had already chosen the path of dual cultivation—body and spirit—so, had he not made that choice, he would have naturally sought to obtain the Qingyuan disciple's transmission technique, which would have been the proper course. With these thoughts running through his mind, Han Li maintained his composed expression, offered a brief bow to the others, and then transformed into a streak of light, swiftly reaching the highest point of the jade boat, where he settled himself to meditate. Seeing Han Li's evident unwillingness to continue talking, Xiao Hong and the young man with the blood spot, along with the others, exchanged glances and immediately began to chat and scatter off in different directions—some returning to their own quiet rooms to continue meditating and refining their cultivation, while others went to other areas of the jade boat to attend to their own matters. —Back to normal updates. Monthly support tickets requested at the beginning of the month!