After hearing the skeletal man's description of the formation, a scowl momentarily appeared on the old man's face. "Humph! That woman stole all of the young master's technique records during that day, so it isn't strange for her to be able to do this. After I break through the spell formations, I will have to trouble you Fellow Daoists to assist me."
"Relax, even if the woman possesses exceptional powers, it is still impossible for her to escape." The skeletal man smiled and spoke with a careless expression.
The old man agreed and clutched his hands in an incantation gesture as a blinding yellow radiance suddenly erupted from his hands. "Break!" As the old man shouted, the yellow radiance left his hands and struck the mountains down below.
The blast produced a rumble that echoed throughout the air. The scene of the mountain began to ripple in a manner similar to a large rock suddenly dropping into a serene pond. With a ripple of white light, the scene underwent a massive change, revealing beautiful, verdant mountain along with massive fluctuations of spiritual Qi.
"This is?" The skeletal and fiendish man gazed at the scene in astonishment and couldn't help becoming dazed with their mouths gaping open.
Old man Ding swept his gaze past the two and proudly said, "Hehe, this is my sect's secret Spirit Constraining Formation. It is one of the only spell formations in the world capable of concealing spiritual Qi. That witch's cultivation is insufficient and she was only capable of concealing a portion of the spiritual Qi. If our own Martial Ancestor were to personally place down this formation, it would be easy for him to prevent it from leaking even a trace of spiritual Qi."
Han Li was astonished by this as well, and his heart stirred after hearing the old man's explanation. If he could acquire the method for creating the Spirit Constraining Formation, his cave residences in the future would be far safer.
Following the disappearance of the illusion formation, a stone gate was revealed by a pulse of green light at the center of the mountain. It seemed to indicate the location of Yuan Yao's cave residence.
"Let's begin our attack." A malicious glint appeared in the old man's eyes.
The skeletal man nodded and shot out a strange black edge from his mouth. The weapon was rather odd, appearing to be half saber and half sword. As for the fierce man, he let out a roar and hurled a halberd with an ominous, cold aura towards the mountain. Han Li was shocked to see such a massive weapon being used as a magic treasure. Such a weapon was a rare sight indeed amongst cultivators.
The old man had personally spat a white flying sword out of his mouth with a shout. But when he saw that Han Li had yet to take action, he couldn't help but be puzzled and ask, "Fellow Daoist, why haven't you..."
Han Li faintly smiled and was about to casually make up an excuse when the mountain door suddenly opened, and a green light burst out from within.
When the old man saw this, he wasn't able to say anything further. All the other cultivators' attention had been captured by the sudden change.
The green light revolved in front of the gate once before fading away to reveal a black-robed woman who possessed striking beauty and skin as fair as snow. The woman smiled with luminous, moist eyes, and her every movement seemed to contain a trace of charm. This was obviously Yuan Yao, who had parted ways with Han Li after leaving Heavenvoid Hall.
He hadn't seen the woman for many years, but not only did her appearance remain the same, her charms seemed to possess an even deeper degree of allure.
When the woman swept her gaze across the people there, her expression immediately changed upon seeing the Azure Yang Sect's elder. A layer of frost suddenly seemed to cover her face.
Knowing that her charm techniques would be of no use to the cultivators before her, Yuan Yao's expression quickly grew unsightly. She turned her gaze away from the old man as if in contempt and icily said, "Why have you Fellow Daoists arrived at this little woman's residence?"
When old man Ding saw this, he grew furious in his heart, but as he was a gloomy and shrewd sort, none of it was revealed on his face. Instead, he sinisterly smiled and said, "Witch, there is no point in feigning ignorance. You killed my sect's young master and took his treasures. Do you still believe you can escape?"
Yuan Yao didn't bother to respond to the old man, choosing to examine the other cultivators instead. As a result, she felt her heart sink.
The old man and the fiendish man were only early Core Formation cultivators such as herself. However, the skeletal black-robed man and the azure robed man with the unremarkable appearance would be quite difficult to deal with. Their cultivations were at mid and late Core Formation, respectively.
Despite the astonishing power of the several magic treasures in her possession and the few secret techniques that she had cultivated over the years, if those four were to join hands, the results would be far from good.
The skeletal man and the fiendish man were clearly shocked when they saw Yuan Yao's beauty, and gave each other a mutual glance of regret. If the woman hadn't offended the Azure Yang Sect's Venerable Devil Three Yang, she would've definitely been an ideal Dao companion. It was truly a pity.
As she confronted the dire circumstances before her, her expression remained steady as she bitterly laughed and waved her empty hand. A white light started to revolve around her hand and when she stroked it, it started to brightly shine and release a large expanse of green and yellow mist. In a mere second, the mist covered the entire mountain.
When the old man saw this, he shouted and the flying sword in front of him hastily chopped towards Yuan Yao.
However, Yuan Yao merely laughed and silently disappeared into the mist with a blur.
The old man frowned when he saw this. Then with an expression of disdain, he clutched his hands in an incantation gesture and pointed at his flying sword. "Humph! You dare to display a trifling illusion formation in front of me?!"
The flying sword released a clear ring before wildly twirling through the skies. In an instant, it turned into a ten-meter-long disc of whirling light that ruthlessly swept past the mountain and cleanly scattered the fog. A second later, the stone gate could be seen once more.
When the fiendish man saw this, he pointed to his own magic treasure without the slightest hesitation and caused the halberd to swell in size several times before fiercely chopping at the stone gate. Flashes of yellow and green light erupted each time the halberd struck the gate.
To Han Li's side, the skeletal man was about to send his own strange blade to attack when he suddenly shouted in shock, "Not good! The witch ran from the back of the mountain. Quickly, chase after her!" He then turned into a streak of black light and quickly flew around the mountain.
When Han Li heard this, a strange expression flickered within his eyes, but he stood in place without moving.
It appeared the fiendish man was extremely confident in the skeletal man's words. He immediately stopped attacking the gate after hearing his words and set off after him.
When the old man saw this, he wore a doubtful expression and hesitantly asked Han Li, "Fellow Daoist, did he speak truly? This old man didn't sense anything."
When Han Li heard him, his face remained unchanged but an odd expression flickered within his eyes as he calmly said, "That Fellow Daoist spoke truthfully, she did flee from an exit on the other side of the mountain. Those two Fellow Daoists have already barred her way and are in the middle of a battle with her." Han Li's arms were held behind his back as he gazed into the distance.
The old man joyfully said, "That is great! If we arrive to assist them, we will certainly be able to capture that witch."
Han Li turned towards the old man and gazed at him with a peculiar expression as he leisurely said, "Yes, if we were to head out, that woman would be easily captured. But before that, there is something I'd like to borrow from you."
Old man Ding appeared perplexed and paused for a moment before asking, "Borrow? What does Fellow Daoist wish to borrow from me?"
"Nothing important. Just your head!" Han Li rubbed his nose with a smirk. Then before the old man could respond, he spat a streak of bright azure light from his mouth. It circled once around the old man before his head tumbled off of his body.
Soon after, Han Li shot out a streak of azure light from his hand, wrapping up the head and dragging it into his hand. He then narrowed his eyes and enveloped the azure light around the head.
Because he had acted so quickly, the head still wore an expression of a strange bewilderment and had yet to even smell of blood.
Han Li sighed and muttered, "Don't blame me. Blame the terrible luck you had for seeing me arrive through the transportation formation."
When Ke Yu and the Azure Yang Sect sentry saw this, they were immediately terrified and tried to hastily flee on their magic tools. Unfortunately for them, a casual wave of Han Li's arm released two streaks of sword light that immediately penetrated their chests.
He then raised his head and turned to the direction of the mountain while wearing a strange expression.
Han Li clicked his tongue and said with an impressed tone, "I didn't expect for Yuan Yao's cultivation to have reached such a higher level!" He then flew off in a streak of azure light.
In the sky behind the green mountain, the skeletal man and the fiendish man were in a contest using their magic treasures against a strange red hammer as they continuously cast magic techniques in Yuan Yao's direction. At that moment, Yuan Yao was completely enveloped in a cloud of black smoke and shot over a hundred streaks of green devilfire, intercepting their magic techniques with rings of explosions.
But as she fought, she continuously retreated and attempted to think of a plan to flee. As her opponents were rich with battle experience, their perfectly coordinated strikes forced Yuan Yao to focus the entirety of her attention on defending against their attacks.
When the fiendish man and the skeletal man saw Han Li flying over, they were overjoyed.
When Han Li arrived near the battle and his light faded away, the fiendish man appeared discontent and hastily called out to Han Li, "Fellow Daoist, quickly help! If we attack together, the woman will be captured without fail. Wait, where is Fellow Daoist Ding? This was a matter of his own sect, how could he possibly delay?"
"You don't need to wait for him. Fellow Daoist Ding is right here!" Han Li then expressionlessly reached behind him and tossed the old man's head to the fiendish man.