A slightly wistful look appeared on Han Li's face as he spoke. It wasn't a strange thing that secret techniques had been placed on the memories of these two. All major families would take the same precautionary measures with their core members in case of this exact situation.
However, the matters surrounding that woman clearly weren't supposed to be confidential information, so Han Li was able to glean it with ease. Not long ago, a woman that matched the description provided by Hai Yuetian had taken three other people to this place, and after having a conversation with the Long Family Leader, they were taken away to rest.
One of those three other people was none other than Qi Lingzi. However, these two were unaware of where the four of them currently were.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he looked at the two unconscious people before him, and he suddenly stomped his foot onto the ground.
A burst of yellow light surged forth, and a pit that was around 10 feet in depth silently appeared. He then swept a sleeve through the air, sending forth a burst of azure light that picked up the two before gently laying them into the pit.
After that, Han Li made a hand seal before pointing a finger at the pit, and a burst of yellow light suddenly erupted from it. Following just a single flash, the pit vanished, and the ground returned to normal with no visible signs at all of what had just transpired.
Only then did Han Li cast his gaze out of the forest, and he discovered that this level was indeed different from the one he was living in.
Outside the forest was a vast expanse of murky white mist, within which the outlines of a city wall could just barely be made out.
Blue light flashed through Han Li's eyes, and his body swayed as a layer of grey light appeared around him.
This mist was clearly some type of profound restriction, and part of it fused with the grey light around Han Li, making him appear quite blurry and indistinct as well.
After only advancing for just over 1,000 feet, Han Li reached the edge of the mist, and he discovered that a golden fortress surrounded by walls that were over 100 feet tall lay up ahead, not too far in the distance.
There was a series of white-robed cultivators that either had swords or sabers strapped to their backs standing atop the city walls, and beyond the walls were many buildings and pavilions.
At the very center of the fortress was a giant golden tower that was several thousand feet tall.
Han Li wasn't concerned that these white-robed cultivators would be able to see him, and he cast his gaze directly toward the golden tower.
According to the information he had just gleaned from those two members of the Long Family, the tower was inhabited by the late-Body Integration Stage Long Family patriarch, as well as the family's Spatial Tempering Stage elders. However, right after the Long Family patriarch secured that Giant Atlas Ark blueprint from the auction, he immediately went into seclusion in the tower with several of the formation and tool refinement masters of the family to study the blueprint.
As for the other Body Integration Stage grand elder, he seemed to have some matters to attend to, and recently left the Immortal Welcome Palace. As such, there really was next to no risk of Han Li being discovered.
As long as that Long Family patriarch didn't suddenly sweep his spiritual sense through the entire fortress for no reason, there was no one else here who could detect him.
With that in mind, Han Li didn't hesitate any longer. Black light surged around his body, and he flew directly toward a certain section of the city wall.
One of the white-robed cultivators on the city wall suddenly felt a faint breeze blow past him, and he immediately released his spiritual sense while inspecting his surroundings but didn't discover anything.
A hint of confusion flashed through his eyes, but he then shook his head and seemed to have convinced himself that the breeze had merely been a figment of his imagination.
Unbeknownst to him, an outsider had just passed him by and landed on a pristine white street on the other side of the city wall.
However, strangely enough, he had his eyes closed and stood on the street in a completely still manner as if he were trying to sense something.
After a while, he opened his eyes, and a dark expression appeared on his face. "I can't sense him anymore! Looks like someone must've stepped in to conceal my spiritual sense mark. In that case, I'll have to search through these rooms one by one. It's a good thing that this place isn't all that big, and there aren't that many Spatial Tempering cultivators here, so I should be able to track them down quite quickly."
After that, Han Li drifted forward as an invisible breeze before vanishing into a certain pavilion.
Meanwhile, the elderly woman and the others were seated in a pavilion that was extremely far away from Han Li. They had been joined by a purple-robed elderly man who had just placed a crescent-shaped jade pendant around Qi Lingzi's neck, and he said, "This piece of Moonheart Jade is extremely effective for keeping out one's spiritual sense, so that person won't be able to sense him unless he's extremely close. You can rest easy now."
"Thank you for your kindness, Brother!" The elderly woman extended a grateful curtsey toward the purple-robed man.
Her Dao Companion also wore a grateful smile, while their son remained quite calm and collected.
"You two sure are bold to be crossing a Body Integration cultivator. If it's not for the fact that Ming'er has activated the True Dragon bloodline, I wouldn't have accepted you no matter what. Even if you're my sister, no exceptions can be made for you. On top of that, you're prohibited from doing anything to that Daoist priest before our father comes out of seclusion. I don't think there's any issue with this, but it does concern a Body Integration cultivator, after all, so I have to consult Father first. If you go against this, then don't blame me for abandoning you," the purple-robed man warned in a stern manner.
"Of course. I haven't seen Father in many years as well, and I want to see him one final time. My Dao Companion and I most likely won't be able to transcend our next major heavenly tribulations, so I'll have to entrust Ming'er to you, Brother. Thankfully, Ming'er's aptitude should be comparable to that of the other young talents of the Long Family after his chronic condition is cured, so he'll definitely be a bright prospect," the elderly woman said with a slightly forced smile and a forlorn look in her eyes.
"You can rest assured and leave Ming'er to me. As for meeting Father, I'm not sure that can be arranged. As you know, the women of our family who insist on marrying someone outside of the family are essentially disowned. On top of that, our father is using the vastly renowned Heartless Dao cultivation art, so there's no way that he'll want to see you again. After everything is taken care of here, you two can leave," the purple-robed man said with a shake of his head, and the woman was quite disappointed to hear this.
Her expression soured even further, and she still wanted to implore her brother to arrange an opportunity for her to meet their father, but the purple-robed man waved a dismissive hand and departed before she could say anything.
Thus, the only ones left in her room were her family of three and Qi Lingzi.
The woman was silent for a long while before speaking in a resentful voice, "Looks like we'll have to do as he says. Take this Daoist priest to the secret chamber."
"There's no need to be sad, Mistress; we predicted that all of this would happen, didn't we? It's already very fortunate for us that your brother didn't reject us even though this matter concerns a Body Integration cultivator," the elderly man consoled with a wry smile on his face.
"I don't need you to tell me that! Hurry up and take the Daoist priest away!" The woman clearly wasn't in any mood to listen to reason.
The man heaved a faint sigh and could only fall silent as he made his way over to Qi Lingzi. "We'll let you keep your inherited treasure for a few more days, kid. It won't be long until your inherited treasure belongs to our Ming'er. No one will be able to stop us."
He flipped a hand over to produce the same azure copper bell as he spoke, and Qi Lingzi continued to stand on the spot like a wooden puppet.
Just as the elderly man was about to shake the bell in his hand, a cold male voice suddenly rang out in the room.
"No one can stop you? What about me?"
"He's here!" the elderly man exclaimed as he immediately hurled his bell through the air, and it instantly expanded to an enormous size before trapping Qi Lingzi inside.
His Dao Companion also reacted very quickly as her expression changed drastically, and she swept a sleeve through the air to send two streaks of black light hurtling through the air at once.
One streak of light transformed into a vast expanse of black light that swept up her son before bringing him to her side, while the other streak of light transformed into a horned black python, which expelled black lotus flowers out of its mouth to form a protective barrier around the woman and her son.
Meanwhile, the woman herself took a deep breath before letting loose a shrill shriek, but her efforts were only met by a cold chuckle of disdain.
Spatial fluctuations suddenly erupted in the air above the giant bell, and a furry golden fist suddenly emerged out of thin air before gently striking the bell.
A resounding boom rang out, and azure runes only managed to appear for a split second on the surface of the bell before it was shattered with ease and vanished as a ball of azure light.
The golden hand then hurtled toward the elderly man with a palm, and though it didn't seem to be imbued with any significant power, the elderly man was sent flying like a rucksack while letting loose an agonized cry.
Almost at the exact same moment, another huge golden hand appeared out of thin air in front of the elderly woman before grabbing toward her like lightning. The protective spiritual light and black lotus flowers around her were instantly torn apart, and the golden hand closed itself around her neck before lifting her off the ground.
Her shrill shriek was immediately cut off, and her eyes began to roll into the back of her head.