Chapter 1406: Gathering

Throwing the crystal-clear wings in his hand into the air, Han Li sprayed a green radiance and swallowed them into his belly in one gulp.

In the following time, Han Li took out the damaged Bamboo-Green Bee Cloud Swords and began to re-refine them one by one, slowly restoring their spirituality...

A year later, in the low sky of a nameless mountain range in the Wilderness Realm, a faint green light flickered and flew away.

Within the escape light, a young man with a calm expression stood with his hands behind his back. It was precisely Han Li, who had left his hiding place in the small hill several months ago.

He had repaired all the flying swords and hadn't stayed at the hill for a moment, but had immediately driven his escape light straight to this place.

Because he was alone, Han Li had been cautious throughout the journey. Although he had flown for a full half a year, he had been safe and sound.

And this nameless mountain range looked somewhat different from the ordinary.

Whether on the mountains or below, all the trees seemed quite short, looking like somewhat taller bushes, and as long as one flew a little lower, one could feel thick moisture rushing toward one's face.

In the low-lying areas of this mountain range, there were actually lakes of all sizes everywhere, some as large as thousands of miles in diameter, while others were only a mile or so, looking like puddles.

However, when Han Li flew over these lakes, he didn't dare to be too careless.

Who knows if these lakes hide any formidable ancient beasts or members of some strange race.

Since entering this mountain range, he had already killed over a dozen alien beasts that had actively pounced toward his escape light. Among them was a giant lake beast that looked like an eel, which was equivalent to a Spirit Severing stage existence, and its water-attribute divine abilities were extremely sharp, giving him quite a bit of trouble.

After flying forward for another half a day, the mountain terrain changed, revealing two straight mountain peaks about a thousand zhang tall.

Seeing these two mountain peaks, Han Li's eyes lit up, and a look of joy appeared on his face.

In terms of size, these two small mountains were not rare at all, but strangely, one mountain was incomparably silver-white, with most of the peak covered in a layer of crystal-clear ice and snow, and the vicinity was incomparably cold.

The other peak was a brilliant purple, covered in a kind of tree that looked like a maple, with leaves all flashing with eerie purple light.

The two mountain peaks were only about ten miles apart, but apart from the purple strange trees and ice and snow on the mountains, both their shape and terrain were very similar. They couldn't be said to be exactly the same, but they were at least eighty or ninety percent alike.

"Since there truly are these two mountain peaks here, it seems they weren't speaking empty words after all." Han Li muttered twice, then his escape light flashed, and he shot straight toward the ice mountain.

The moment he approached the mountain, a gale whistled over, actually bone-chillingly cold, as if it were cutting with a knife.

Han Li's expression moved, but a layer of green light flared on his body, and he ignored it, continuing to shoot toward it.

Before he could even dive into the mountain, two streaks of light shot out from the thickest part of the ice and snow on the mountain. After a few flashes, they appeared thirty zhang from Han Li.

Han Li was startled, and his escape light scattered, revealing his figure amidst the flashing spiritual light.

"Haha, so it's Fellow Daoist Han who has arrived. I knew that with your divine abilities, Fellow Daoist, this task would absolutely be fine." The person in front also converged their light, revealing two men. One of them actually recognized Han Li at a glance, saying with a full face of smiles.

This person had a green face and white hair, looking like a fifty or sixty-year-old man. It was precisely the old man surnamed Liu whom Han Li had met in the Flying Spirit Hall when he first entered Tianyuan City.

And beside him was a sickly-looking Confucian scholar, also looking abnormally kind.

"So it's Brother Liu and Brother Master Ouyang. Didn't the two of you arrive even earlier than me? It seems your task was much smoother than mine." Han Li laughed, not mentioning at all that he had nearly lost his life in the Wood Clan.

"How could my task compare to Brother Han's? I just followed a few Golden Guards to sweep through a few small strongholds of the alien race. As long as I was careful, there naturally wouldn't be much risk," the old man surnamed Liu shook his head repeatedly.

"Apart from the two of you, have any other Fellow Daoists arrived?" Han Li smiled slightly, but suddenly changed the subject. 【140

"Of course there are. We need quite a few hands for this trip. Although we had long predicted that nearly half of our fellow Daoists might not be able to make it, the number of people who have arrived now is just about enough. I will take Brother Han to meet them," the elderly man surnamed Liu said with a smile.

"Then I will have to trouble you, fellow Daoist," Han Li cupped his fists, having no intention of objecting.

Immediately, under the guidance of the two, Han Li transformed into a streak of green light and flew toward the iceberg.

But after flying only a short distance, the elderly man leading the way took out a jade tablet from his bosom and waved it toward the empty space in front of him.

Suddenly, a sheet of white light shot out from the tablet, and wherever it passed, patches of white lotus flowers emerged, their spiritual light flickering incessantly.

The elderly man surnamed Liu urged his escape light, entering the white lotus flowers first, and vanished in a flash.

Han Li's gaze flickered, and he followed closely behind with the Confucian scholar.

To think that someone had actually set up an illusion array here; he hadn't noticed it at a glance earlier. It seems it must be quite miraculous!

If that is the case, ordinary ancient beasts passing by nearby would truly be unable to detect the activity on the mountain.

After their escape lights flickered a few times, the three of them circled over a snow-white patch at the summit and landed in front of a crystalline ice pavilion.

Nearby, there was a small cluster of ice houses of various styles, and inside the pavilion sat one man and two women, chatting about something. As soon as the three appeared, their gazes fell upon Han Li all at once.

The man was a burly, gray-robed man with a thick beard and a heroic appearance.

One of the women was over forty, with an ordinary face and wearing a green dress, while the other seemed extremely young, dressed in a jade-green shirt and wearing a veil over her head.

Han Li was slightly startled when he saw the veiled woman, and he let out a soft sound of surprise.

"Fairy Ying, I didn't expect you to be invited as well; what a coincidence," Han Li greeted the woman with surprise.

"I, however, knew you would arrive here, fellow Daoist. I am also one of the initiators of this matter," the veiled woman replied with a charming smile toward Han Li.

This woman was none other than the 'Fairy Ying' who had invited Han Li to perform a mission during the gathering of ascended cultivators.

"An initiator? That truly exceeds my expectations," Han Li chuckled.

Although she wasn't among those who invited him at the time, he figured there was no need for her to lie about this, so it should be true.

As for the people leading the gathering to organize this, he didn't really care much.

Han Li shifted his gaze to scan the other two.

These two faces were also somewhat familiar; they seemed to be people who had appeared at the gathering of ascended cultivators, but he hadn't had any dealings with them.

These three also possessed cultivation bases at the mid-stage of Spirit Transformation or higher, especially the matron, who seemed to be at the late-stage of Spirit Transformation.

Thus, Han Li also cupped his fists slightly toward the two.

The burly man and the matron did not dare to be negligent toward Han Li and returned the gesture.

The veiled woman then invited Han Li to sit in the pavilion, but after a moment of thought, Han Li shook his head with a smile:

"I suffered some minor injuries while performing a mission this time, and traveling day and night has consumed some of my magic power, so I should recover first. If I remember correctly, there is still half a month left before the agreed departure time."

"Haha, that is our oversight. Since Brother Han has traveled all this way, you naturally should rest for a while. As for these houses, the ones on the far left are still unoccupied; feel free to choose one. Of course, if you are not satisfied, you may cast spells to build another one yourself," the elderly man surnamed Liu stroked his beard and said with a pleasant expression.

"Then I will not stand on ceremony," Han Li chuckled softly. Without saying much more, he bid them farewell and walked calmly toward one of the ice houses. After a few flickers, he vanished into the house without a trace.

The people near the pavilion looked at Han Li's back and fell silent for a moment.

"For Brother Han to be so anxious to meditate and recuperate, he wouldn't be suffering from heavy injuries, would he?" The matron frowned slightly and spoke slowly first.

"That shouldn't be! Fellow Daoist Han's complexion is very good; it's possible he really just consumed some magic power," the gray-robed man beside her shook his head.

"That's not necessarily true. If Fellow Daoist Han is proficient in some secret technique to conceal his complexion, it would be normal for us not to notice. But having said that, since he could arrive here on time, it already shows that this person is extraordinary. Even if he has some minor ailments, I believe it won't affect our plans for this trip. Didn't Fellow Daoist Yuan and Master Jingyuan, who arrived earlier, also go into their houses to rest as soon as they arrived?" Fairy Ying had quite a bit of confidence in Han Li and said indifferently.

"Fairy Ying's words are reasonable! Although Fellow Daoist Han is only a mid-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator, according to my estimation, his divine abilities are enough to rank in the top three among the fellow Daoists who have already arrived," the sickly Confucian scholar said with a smile.

"Fellow Daoist Master Ouyang, isn't that statement a bit exaggerated? Fellow Daoist Han is only a mid-stage Spirit Transformation cultivator; I wouldn't be mistaken about that," the matron said, looking somewhat skeptical.

"Sister Zhao, you have been busy with bitter cultivation in Sky Abyss City all these years and rarely attend our gatherings, so it's not strange that you don't know about this Brother Han. Fellow Daoist Han has killed and captured cultivators of the same rank from strange races many times; he has quite a reputation among us newly ascended cultivators. In particular, a divine ability he cultivates has a great restraining effect against the Shadow Race. This is also the main reason why we insisted on inviting him," the veiled woman said leisurely.

"Fairy Ying means to use this person specifically to deal with those shadow insects," the matron suddenly realized.

"Correct, that is what we mean. Otherwise, those shadow insects are quite troublesome. If we were to consume too much magic power because of them, and accidentally scare away the true prey of our trip, that would be a disaster," the elderly man surnamed Liu also explained with a smile.

The matron surnamed Zhao nodded upon hearing this and said nothing more.

Thus, these people sat in the pavilion, chatting aimlessly. Meanwhile, Han Li had already sat cross-legged in an ice house, his eyes slightly closed, his entire person motionless.

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