Chapter 1208: Battle of the Star Palace (VIII)

Han Li heard Ling Yuling's words, and with his spiritual sense he swept over the beast cart twice more, nodding his head without saying anything else.

The four people below all got onto this cart, and the one driving the beast cart was a bald giant ten feet tall; although he only looked like he was at the Foundation Establishment stage, his upper body was bare, and the muscles on his arms seemed to be forged from refined steel, exuding a fierce killing intent.

The big man's white whip in his hand waved in the air, and immediately a piercing sharp cry split the sky.

The few green flood dragons that had been lazily lying in front of the stone hall immediately sprang up nimbly, shaking their heads and swaying their tails, and the beast cart let out a long cry, turning into a ball of white light soaring into the sky, with an escape speed not inferior to that of an early Nascent Soul cultivator.

After a quarter of an hour, Han Li and the others appeared at a certain city gate of Feng Xing City.

At this time, the wind and fire power above the giant island bombarded the light blue light curtain from all directions without cease.

Even though they were under the protection of the light curtain, the continuous booming thunder still made the ordinary people and low-level loose cultivators residing in the city extremely frightened.

After all, everyone knows that although the light curtain still looks unusually thick, if it continues like this, being broken by the wind and fire power of the outside grand formation is only a matter of time.

At this time, Han Li, standing in a secluded corner of the city gate, looked out toward the outside of the island.

The situation outside the light curtain was nothing to see; everything was much the same as when he first entered, and everywhere he looked was blue and red. Even with his supernatural powers, he could not see too far inside.

He glanced again at the city below, only to see that in the concealed place near the city gate, as many as two thousand low-level cultivators had gathered, everyone sitting cross-legged on the ground, either closing their eyes to regulate their breath, polishing magic tools, or organizing talismans, all making final preparations.

Meanwhile, the old man surnamed Zhao and the big man in purple robes also walked out of the cart one after another, and were discussing something with the remaining few elders whose faces were solemn.

"Han brother, I have a matter I wish to ask of you; I don't know if fellow Daoist can agree!" Footsteps sounded behind him, but before Han Li could turn around, a pleasant voice had already come over.

"What is the matter?" Han Li turned around, his face showing no surprise at all.

Behind him was indeed Ling Yuling, dressed in a light green palace gown; at this moment her beautiful face was wavering between joy and anger, her dark eyebrows tightly furrowed, as if she had made a great decision before speaking those words just now.

"The upcoming battle is one that will determine the life and death of my Star Palace, but to speak frankly, the Nixing Alliance has in recent years indeed recruited some reclusive ascetics who had not appeared before. Even with Han brother's help, the hope of victory is only fifty-fifty at best. If we can win this battle, naturally everything can be discussed, and there is no need to trouble fellow Daoist. But if we suffer a crushing defeat, I hope that fellow Daoist, once he escapes, will take the few people recorded in the jade slip out of the Star Sea and give them some care." Ling Yuling lightly bit her silver teeth, turned her jade hand over, and produced a light blue jade slip in her palm, speaking expectantly to Han Li.

"What does this mean?" Han Li furrowed his brows as well.

"It's nothing; these few people are all closely related to me by blood or deep connection. Although I am confident that almost no one knows their relationship with me. But if we really suffer a crushing defeat, and the Nixing Alliance wants to exterminate them to the root, then this becomes problematic. It would be better to let fellow Daoist send them away. Fellow Daoist is not a local cultivator of the Star Sea, so he certainly has a way to accomplish this." Ling Yuling actually spoke entirely in the tone of one entrusting her orphans.

Han Li stared at this woman, somewhat speechless.

However, his silent appearance like this actually caused this woman to misunderstand him slightly. After a light laugh, she said again:

"Of course, I naturally will not let fellow Daoist do this kind of thing for nothing. I remember that my father and fellow Daoist once agreed on three conditions for taking action. Now fellow Daoist has helped me deal with Wan Tianming, which already counts as fulfilling one condition. As long as fellow Daoist is willing to agree to this matter, regardless of whether this battle is won or lost, and whether fellow Daoist really needs to do this, I will count it as fellow Daoist having fulfilled another condition. How about that?"

"Fellow Daoist Ling, you have thought this through clearly. I promised your father that I would rescue you three times when your life is in danger, and you have so easily wasted one opportunity; this probably does not align with the original intention of the Two Saints." Han Li remained silent for a while, then said with a strange flash in his eyes.

"I naturally know this! But since I have already become the master of the Star Palace, if this battle really ends in a crushing defeat, the ten-thousand-year inheritance of the Star Palace will thus be cut off, and the remaining two life-saving opportunities would be of no use. It is better to first save these close relatives of mine. As for myself, I have mid-Nascent Soul cultivation, and under normal circumstances I am sufficient to protect myself." This woman let out a faint sigh.

Han Li looked at this woman's expression, which had become pitiful and helpless, and after a while, he spoke expressionlessly:

"Alright, since Fellow Daoist Ling has said all this. I can accept this transaction. If you are defeated this time, I will personally take them out of the Star Sea."

"With Han brother's words like this, Yuling has no more worries behind her. I believe that with fellow Daoist's cultivation as a great cultivator, even if this battle is unfavorable, retreating unharmed will be easy." Ling Yuling's face blossomed with a charming smile, and she immediately displayed all her charm.

Han Li, however, smiled faintly, then turned his head and looked again toward the outside of the city.

Ling Yuling, having obtained the promise, also knew not to disturb Han Li further, and quietly withdrew on her own.

After several hours, upon receiving confirmation via sound-transmitting talismans that everyone had finished preparations, the gates of Feng Xing City opened all at once, and tens of thousands of cultivators surged out from several city gates, fleeing quickly through the light blue light curtain, and disappearing one after another into the blue-red light haze formed by the wind and fire power.

Such a great commotion from the Star Palace was naturally detected instantly by the cultivators of the Nixing Alliance guarding the Wind and Fire Heavenly Absolute Formation.

On the side of the Nixing Alliance, they immediately dispatched a large number of cultivators to go out and meet the enemy, while those left behind immediately activated the entire grand formation, thoroughly triggering the power of the formation.

Although this formation has little effect on cultivators above the Core Formation stage, for Foundation Establishment cultivators it can still cause massive casualties.

Therefore, as soon as the formation was activated by the wind and fire pillars at various places, the originally gently drifting blue-red light haze suddenly began to roll violently, and clusters of blue-red light balls began to condense and form, then burst open on their own.

In the formation, for a moment spiritual light flickered, and everywhere there were continuous booming explosion sounds.

If an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator entered this formation without any preparation, he would probably be swallowed up by the wind and fire power immediately.

However, in this great battle, the Star Palace side had also prepared carefully for a long time. Almost every cultivator, when the formation's power was fully manifested, had a light shield of various colors appear on their body, which actually resisted this attack of the wind and fire power to a low degree, and did not really injure many of the Star Palace's low-level cultivators.

At this very moment, the Nixing Alliance cultivators who sallied forth from near the various pillars collided head-on with the Star Palace cultivators, and immediately began to slaughter each other in the formation, with cries of killing rising loudly.

Almost at the same moment, at a certain place on the edge of the formation, a wind and fire pillar three hundred feet tall and as thick as a small mountain had several cultivators standing on its top, their eyes slightly narrowed as they gazed into the distance.

Leading them was a man in a purple robe with a jade belt, with a square face and thick eyebrows, a middle-aged man with his hands clasped behind his back, exactly the Wan Tianming that Han Li had seen several times in the Xuantian Hall back then, only now his demeanor was far more steady than before.

Not far behind him stood an old man with a bluish complexion, and an old woman dressed in large red and large green garments.

These two also gazed into the formation, and the expressions on their faces were both somewhat solemn.

"It seems that this time the Star Palace has really mobilized everyone. It's thanks to them being willing to expend so many intermediate talismans at once; just this one item alone would probably be enough to bankrupt an ordinary sect." The old man with a bluish complexion muttered. This person was the Lo surname cultivator who had fled in panic when Han Li broke through the formation.

"The other side is doing this, which is nothing but a desperate gamble. Probably it has something to do with that person who broke into Star City that day!" Wan Tianming said, his expression unchanged, speaking slowly.

"I say it's nothing but a cornered dog jumping over the wall! However, Fellow Daoist Long! That cultivator who killed Fellow Daoist Hua—is he really that formidable? Even the two of you joining forces were still killed instantly by him." The old woman's eyes flickered with hidden green light as she suddenly opened her mouth to ask that old man. She was actually a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

Upon hearing the old woman mention Han Li, the Lo surname old man's complexion turned somewhat bluish, and he rubbed his newly attached arm, which had been moved and connected by secret technique, and after a while gave a bitter smile in reply:

"How can it be described merely as formidable? Fellow Daoist Hua's supernatural powers are also not weak, yet he could not withstand even a moment in that person's hands. If I had not acted quickly and used secret technique to escape a step earlier, I probably would not be able to stand here either. This person is absolutely not just a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator; there is a nine out of ten chance that he is a late-stage great cultivator."

"Late-stage great cultivator? I think Fellow Daoist Long is overreacting and has become muddle-headed. Nowadays, in the Inner Sea besides Fellow Daoist Wan, where else are there any late-stage cultivators? Otherwise the Star Palace would have long since come knocking on our door, and there would be no need for this long period of time, being pressed by our alliance and slowly nibbled away." The old woman's face showed a hint of mockery as she spoke bluntly.

Upon hearing these words, the Lo surname old man's complexion naturally became extremely ugly.

"That may not be certain. In fact, after looking at the portrait of that person that Fellow Daoist Long copied for us, I felt somewhat familiar, and after thinking it over these past few days, I believe I already know who this person is. In fact, this person, Fellow Daoist Qiu, should also know." Wan Tianming smiled slightly, and actually said this.

"Oh, can Fellow Daoist Wan please explain in detail?" The old woman, upon hearing this, was surprised.

"Back then, did Fellow Daoist Qiu still remember the news of the Xuantian Cauldron's appearance hundreds of years ago? And that our alliance once issued a killing order to track down a cultivator named Han Li?" Wan Tianming said leisurely.

"Xuantian Cauldron? Han Li? Could the cultivator who broke through the formation be this person? Hmm, indeed the two look somewhat alike. But this is impossible. That person back then was only a Foundation Establishment cultivator!" The old woman also reacted quickly, merely thinking a little, and then somewhat understood, but she kept shaking her head, her face full of disbelief.

"There is no need to find it strange. More than a hundred years ago, when the Twin Saints of Feng Xing had not yet fallen, I received a secret report. This Han Li appeared near the Huangsha Gate as a Nascent Soul cultivator, and later he passed through the Star Palace's transmission array and went to the Outer Sea for a trip. And it was during this period that the two old fogeys of the Star Palace seemed to have tried to win him over, but to no avail. Moreover, I also suspect that the strange disappearances of our alliance's Miaohé and other Nascent Soul elders are probably closely related to him." Wan Tianming did not turn his head, gazing at the grand formation, and said unhurriedly.

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