Chapter 989: The Power of the Spirit Fan (Part 2)

Not long after, when the cultivators who had investigated the other several arrays returned, their reports were all identical to the first: the arrays had been destroyed, and the disciples who controlled them had vanished without a trace.

At this, everyone realized the gravity of the situation. All of the Ye family cultivators fell silent.

“Within a hundred li of this place, there are no other cultivators besides those of the Ye family. If someone had secretly infiltrated to sabotage, their timing could not have been more convenient. The moment we lifted the seal, they immediately tampered with the array. Clearly, the problem lies within our own ranks,” the Confucian suddenly sneered.

“One of our own!”

“Impossible! These are all Ye family members—how could any of them do such a thing?”

“All Ye family members? Not necessarily. Isn’t there still one person who doesn’t bear the Ye surname?”

After a burst of murmurs, someone immediately spoke up.

Hearing this, most of the cultivators turned their gazes toward one person.

The man had an ordinary face and a calm expression—it was the human cultivator who was the demonic ancient’s avatar.

“I personally invited Elder Han, and he has been with Uncle Seven the entire time. Don’t make baseless accusations,” the Ye family’s Grand Elder barked.

“Indeed, Elder Han has been with me the whole time—we’ve been conversing amicably!” the giant-headed strange man added coolly.

Upon hearing this, the other cultivators, having great faith in this senior of the Ye family, immediately dismissed their suspicions.

At this moment, the Confucian ordered the square-faced cultivator:

“Second brother, go to the bottom of the lake and confirm: besides the missing disciples, is anyone else unaccounted for?”

“Understood!” The square-faced cultivator replied at once, then transformed into a streak of light and vanished beneath the lake’s surface.

“Elders, let us prepare ourselves. Though the anomalies here are too spectacular to conceal any longer, no major power can threaten us in the short term. The Southern Wastes have no large sects; even if cultivators from other regions rush here, it will take far longer than ten or fifteen days. Though we do not know the situation inside Mount Kunwu, we must excavate its hidden treasures as soon as possible—especially those two Heaven-Piercing Magic Treasures. We must obtain them within a short time. Only then, if our scheme is discovered, will we have the strength to defend ourselves. Otherwise, all our centuries of planning will become another’s gain, and the Ye family will face annihilation. This cannot be allowed,” the white-robed Confucian said coldly to the others.

“Yes, Grand Elder!” The other Ye family elders, struck by his words, responded in unison.

After a short wait, the square-faced cultivator and the white-robed elder flew out together from beneath the lake.

As soon as the square-faced cultivator reached the white-robed Confucian, he said grimly:

“Third brother, the array specialists below are indeed two short—members of the fifth and twelfth branches. Could these two have betrayed the family?”

“Hmph! Betrayal isn’t certain, but they may have been soul-searched and killed. When did they disappear?”

“About two days ago. They were assigned to the farthest arrays, and no one suspected anything until today, when all disciples were supposed to gather here, and we realized they were missing,” replied the white-haired elder, sweat beading on his brow.

“It seems the problem truly lies with these two. But regardless of the truth, it no longer matters. Once we enter Mount Kunwu, immediately evacuate all array specialists and family disciples. By the way—have we confirmed the location of the seal’s crack?”

“We’ve located it with an array—twenty li north of here, underground. A crack dozens of zhang long should open a thousand zhang beneath the surface. The elders can dive straight in,” the white-haired elder replied hastily.

“Lead the way. We depart now,” the Confucian said without hesitation.

“Yes, Grand Elder!” The white-haired elder bowed in response.

Instantly, nine cultivators flew northward. Moments later, their light streaks arrived above a dense forest twenty li away, where the trees below grew thick and lush.

The white-haired elder halted his flight, scanned the surroundings, then flipped his palm—revealing a pale silver array disc.

Muttering incantations, he struck the disc with a spell. Instantly, spiritual light flickered across its surface, faintly revealing various talismanic characters.

“Perfect—it’s here!” The white-haired elder glanced at the disc briefly, then declared with certainty.

“Good! Ninth sister, release your spirit beast. Let’s descend,” the Confucian turned to an old Daoist nun behind him.

The nun nodded, slapped her spirit beast pouch, and a yellow light shot out, rapidly expanding in the wind into a hundred-foot-long, thousand-legged centipede, spewing green mist, terrifying and ferocious.

Without another word, all Ye family cultivators except the white-haired elder flew onto the centipede’s back.

The old nun uttered a low command. The giant centipede’s body shimmered with a pale yellow aura, enveloping all the cultivators. Then it twisted its body and plunged straight downward.

As the centipede’s massive body touched the ground, it silently sank into the earth, vanishing in an instant.

It was a spirit beast skilled in earth-submerging technique.

The white-haired elder lingered in the air for a moment. Seeing no sign of the Ye family cultivators emerging, he exhaled deeply, then turned and flew back the way they came.

Almost simultaneously, hundreds of li away, high in the sky, several cultivators in blue robes with red headwraps stared at seven blinding milky-white pillars of light rising in the distance, exchanging stunned glances.

“What is this? Such an astonishing celestial phenomenon,” said a young man in his twenties, dumbfounded.

“Whatever it is, it’s no ordinary event. Yu, return to our sect and report this immediately. I’ll lead the others to investigate!” ordered the lead cultivator, a dark-skinned middle-aged man, gravely.

One of the cultivators immediately responded, mounted his artifact, and flew off.

The rest followed the middle-aged man, speeding toward the small lake.

Farther still, atop a mountain peak, over a hundred cultivators in varied attire had gathered—none of high cultivation, mostly Qi Refining, with barely a few Foundation Establishment cultivators among them. They were holding a small gathering.

Though low in cultivation, the seven luminous pillars were impossible to miss. Everyone stood on giant rocks or hovered in the air, staring in shock at the direction of the light.

Beneath an unnamed wasteland mountain, a slightly plump old man stood outside a half-open stone gate, gazing at the distant light pillars, his expression thoughtful.

Similarly, centered on the small lake where the Ye family cultivators stood, cultivators across thousands of li were all stirred by the astonishing light. Nearby sects, hermit cultivators—all rushed toward the source of the light.

Soon after, news that a divine treasure had emerged spread with astonishing speed throughout the Southern Wastes.

Within days, even neighboring prefectures had heard the rumors.

Suddenly, the entire Southern Wastes was in turmoil!

At the very moment the Ye family cultivators descended underground, Han Li stood in the center of a massive teleportation array in an unknown location, surrounded by towering, rough stone walls—as if inside a vast stalactite cave.

He now stared gloomily at several objects beneath his feet: several shattered circular rings, entirely crimson and translucent, faintly glowing with spiritual light.

They were unmistakably the restraining artifacts that had once imprisoned the Silver-Winged Night Demon’s body.

Now shattered, the Silver-Winged Night Demon was nowhere to be seen—the outcome was obvious.

Thinking of this, Han Li’s gaze shifted to his waist.

There, Tiezhe a green jade talisman, faintly glowing.

The pattern on this talisman was familiar to Han Li—it was an extremely rare teleportation talisman.

He had once seen similar talismans during his teleportation in the Chaos Star Seas, though back then, they had been paper talismans.

Han Li frowned, flipped his palm, and a brilliant blue token appeared in his hand—the Great Teleportation Token he had acquired years ago.

When he was teleported out, he had no idea where he’d emerge, fearing he might be flung too far and torn apart by spatial pressure. So he had instantly retrieved this token and gripped it tightly.

But he never imagined that the moment the teleportation light appeared, this talisman had spontaneously materialized on his waist—with no chance to avoid it.

He didn’t know whether this was an inherent feature of the ancient teleportation array, or a clever arrangement left by the original array’s designer.

Still, this ancient teleportation talisman was certainly vastly different from modern ones—and held great research value.

As he pondered, Han Li reached out to grasp the jade talisman—but before his fingers touched it, the talisman suddenly “puff” dissolved into specks of spiritual light.

He froze, then let out a bitter laugh.

The craftsmanship of this teleportation talisman was truly meticulous—the spiritual energy embedded within it was sufficient for only one teleportation. Clearly, the other talismans were the same and could not be preserved.

The “others” Han Li referred to were Ti Hun, who stood nearby, and the two gray cocoons still suspended in the air—each bearing identical jade talismans.

As he looked up, the talismans vanished exactly as he had anticipated.

As for the corpse wolf, it had already become a true corpse. Its form had transformed into a ten-foot-tall Ti Hun beast, leaping and pounding its chest atop the wolf’s remains, ecstatic.

The wolf was simply unlucky: upon exiting the teleportation array, it had landed right beside Han Li. Han Li’s spiritual sense was far stronger, so he recovered from the teleportation dizziness first—and without hesitation, he struck the wolf with a devastating Demonic Thunder, severely wounding it.

Added to this, Ti Hun immediately spat out yellow mist, instantly draining all the corpse energy from the wolf’s body, easily killing the giant beast.

The Silver-Winged Night Demon, however, showed no interest in the wolf and had no intention of continuing to fight Han Li.

Finally free, the fiend seized the opportunity to immediately activate Wind Teleportation, vanishing with the wind.

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