After some thought, Nie Yan smiled and said, “Brother Qian must be exaggerating. Although Fellow Daoist Han managed to reach Nascent Soul stage in such a short amount of time, reaching Deity Transformation is still a matter far out of reach. It isn’t so easily done. In fact, so long as he reaches late Nascent Soul stage, he is able to proclaim his own sect a hegemon of their side. That seems much more likely.”
With a spirited glint appearing from his eyes, the cultivator surnamed Qian slowly said, “Hehe! I merely think too much. If Senior Han doesn’t come across any mishap, he’ll surely become a greatly influential character in the Heavenly South. Given the deep ties he has to Yellow Maple Valley, if he joins, I reckon it won’t be long before we can reclaim the State of Yue.”
After a moment of silence, Lei Wanhe sighed and said, “Relationship? Fellow Daoist just saw that although Senior Han originally came from our Yellow Maple Valley, he is now the elder of the Heavenly Dao Alliance’s Drifting Cloud Sect. Moreover, he doesn’t have any intention of returning. Regardless of what sect power he belongs to, Yellow Maple Valley will not be able to rope him in.”
Once that was said, the others were at a loss for words.
The Giant Sword Sect cultivator doubtfully said, “Why does Senior Han treat your sect as such? After all, that was where he came from. Does he have intention of paying back what the sect has done for him?”
Lei Wanhe shook his head and said, “I cannot divulge the specifics, but the odds aren’t good. However, from how I see it, his relationship with the Masked Moon Sect Senior Nangong seems deep. Perhaps Senior Nangong can try talking with him. Even if he will not rejoin our six sects, a good relationship can still be formed.”
Tang Minghua doubtfully said, “This... is possible. I’ll have to go back to the sect and inquire about the relationship between Senior Han and Martial Aunt Nangong.”
“Leave it be. Roping in a Nascent Soul stage cultivator isn’t something that we can handle. Have the elders deal with it. This Senior Han should appear at the ceremony in three months,” Lei Wanhe then glanced around him and frowned, “Regardless, let’s hurry back to the Nine Nations Union. It isn’t safe here.”
When the others heard this, the five ceased their chat and took to the skies.
Although Lei Wanhe spoke with an effortless tone, he became inwardly worried.
How could he inform Ancestor Ling Hu of this matter? Could he just say that a disciple he had abandoned in the past had become an existence as powerful as the ancestor himself? Moreover, that matter had caused Han Li to resent Yellow Maple Valley. Wouldn’t telling his Martial Senior this be the same as directly rebuking him?
He could only helplessly sigh several times along the journey before gloomily continuing on his way.
Because the Wind Riding Chariot was far too eye-catching, once Han Li was out of sight from Lei Wanhe and the others, he put away the chariot and began to fly using ordinary light.
Now that he suddenly acquired news on Nangong Wan, and bad at that, he needed to calm his himself and have a long thought about the subject.
Back in the past, they only had intercourse once and he only saw her two times. Because there was such a vast difference in their cultivation, they simply acted as indifferent strangers. But at some unknown time, Han Li had unconsciously through of Nangong Wan as his own woman.
With the succesful formation of his golden core and Nascent Soul, Han Li recognized himself as being worthy of Nangong Wang and this idea was even further cemented in his mind. As a result, he had nearly lost his sensibilities once he heard that Nangong Wan was about to become Dao companions with someone else.
Pretending not to know that Nangong Wan was marrying someone else was something that Han Li couldn’t possibly do. The only man who could marry her in this lifetime was Han Li.
Moreover, he was convinced that as the man who took Nangong Wan’s vital yin, she should have some semblance of feeling for him as well. He definitely couldn’t allow the celebration to smoothly carry out.
He was currently pondering about whether he should directly head to the Masked Moon Sect and stealthily steal Nangong Wan away or crash the celebration three months laters.
These two methods clearly had their own advantages.
Although the first method was easier to carry out, he truly doubted whether or not Nangong Wan would leave with him without objection. After all, she had stayed at the Masked Moon Sect for many years and had become an elder of her sect. There was no way she wouldn’t have any apprehensions about leaving.
The second option was to directly appear on the day of the celebration. It could be said to be far more challenging as he would face the Masked Moon Sects, the Six Sects of Yue, and even the Nine Nations Alliance. So long as he was able to settle the problems that arose, he could be together with Nangong Wan in a just and honorable fashion without any future worries.
Of course, there was a more simple method. He could have this Wei Lichen mysteriously disappear from this world.
However, this method was also the most dangerous. The Flowing Mind Sect wasn’t any small sect. It was the largest sect in the Nine Nations Union, possessing five Nascent Soul stage elders. It was far stronger than the Drifting Cloud Sect.
If this Wei Lichen stayed inside the sect the entire time, even if he had amazing abilities, Han Li wouldn’t even have an opportunity to make an attempt. And even if he managed to kill him, if Han Li’s identity was exposed, he would suffer the full brunt of the consequences.
As Han Li pondered, he repeatedly came up with different plans.
In the end, he decided on a compromise of these methods for the sake of reliability. He decided to first hurry on his way to the Masked Moon Sect to see Nangong Wan and ask about her intentions. If she had heavy misgivings or some other difficulties in leaving, he would pay a visit to the Flowing Mind Sect and see whether or not there would be an opportunity to stealthily exterminate Wei Lichen, risking it all for a smooth solution. If there was no opportunity to attack, he would simply appear on the day of the celebration and openly make his own proposal to marry Nangong Wan.
Regardless of what happened or her willingness to agree, he must forcefully take her away. There are few things in his lifetime that had ever made him feel this way. He normally acted with regards to reason, not emotion, but this time, Han Li could not allow Nangong Wan to marry someone else.
With his current abilities, anything short of a late Nascent Soul cultivator wouldn’t be able to strop him.
With this all decided, his spirits were roused. After regaining his bearings, he increased the speed of his flight and quickly traveled.
When the Six Sects of Yue were defeated, they could only take refuge with the Nine Nations Alliance. They planted down their sects in the country with the least other sects, the State of Beiliang. The State of Beiliang had sparsely few cultivators due to the lack of cultivation resources.
As for selecting who would join the six sects, they couldn’t possibly be choosy. Additionally, the Six Sect cultivators were secretly and openly feuding with the local sects for over a hundred years before managing to barely establish themselves. Of course, spirit veins and other resources the Six Sects of Yue had access to were far inferior to what they had in their original country.
But after so many years of desperate fighting, the six sects eventually recovered a bit of their strength and their standing in the Nine Nations Alliance grew. With the Masked Moon Sect being the strongest amongst the Six Sects of Yue, they managed to occupy a mountain range with decent spirit veins.
The west side of the State of Beiliang’s Gemcut Mountains was the base of the Masked Moon Sect. They had constructed countless buildings of all sorts and laid down various grand restrictions here.
The Gemcut Mountains was divided into three levels. The lowest level being at the base of the mountain and was where the low grade cultivators lived. Naturally, only Core Formation cultivators had the qualifications to live in the middle level.
Although Foundation Establishment cultivators weren’t worthy of notice in the eyes of those at Core Formation stage and above, in the eyes of stagnant Qi Condensation cultivators, they viewed them as important pillars of the sect.
The Masked Moon Sect’s various stewards were naturally exceedingly capable people, and all possessed Foundation Establishment cultivation, the exception being the mortal affairs steward, Yuan Kun. He was the sole Qi Condensation steward in the sect.
The reason this was possible was because the Yuan Clan, a mid-sized clan native to the State of Beiliang, had welcomed the six sects when they had just entered the country. They had expended much effort on behalf of the Masked Moon Sect in particular. As a reward for the Yuan Clan’s actions, the Masked Moon Sect would only assign Yuan Clan disciples to this minor position for generations to come.
But as luck would have it, Yuan Kun was the nephew of the Yuan Clan Lord and had no future prospects in cultivation. As a result of the personal request of the Yuan Clan Lord, the upper echelon of the Masked Moon Sect appointed him as a sect steward.
While Yuan Kun may not have much prospects in cultivation, he was well adjusted to the mortal world and was able to smoothly handle his tasks without any mishap, consolidating his position as a steward.
But due to the rules of seniority in the cultivation world, the low grade cultivators in the Masked Moon Sect didn’t treat him with much more respect as he was still only a Qi Condensation cultivator. He was also held in contempt by the other Foundation Establishment stage stewards. However, Steward Yuan didn’t care about this in the least and leisurely spent his days in the Masked Moon Sect, drawing from his connections and lowering his head when needed.
One day, Yuan Kun appeared at a mortal village closest to the Gemcut mountains, bringing along two Masked Moon Sect disciples along with him that possessed lower cultivation. As normal, they went around several stores and purchased a few everyday goods.
But unbeknownst to him, after he walked through three of these stores, an indiscernible trace of spiritual sense stealthily wrapped around the clothes of the steward, attentively watching this trifling Qi Condensation cultivator.