Chapter 747: Reputation Rising
Silvermoon worriedly muttered, “Then how about Master use Bloodshadow Evasion? In a single use, he’ll be able to traverse over fifty kilometers. Surely you’ll be able to break free of his spiritual sense tracking.” Although Silvermoon hadn’t mentioned anything about Han Li saving her life, she was touched by it nonetheless, causing her tone to feel particularly concerned.
Having already considered the matter, he wryly smiled and said, “A single time won’t be enough. I’ll have to use the Bloodshadow Evasion at least two times in succession — perhaps even three — and exhaust all my remaining Divine Devilbane Lightning for a good chance at escaping. Although my magic power is slightly greater than ordinary early Nascent Soul-stage cultivators, it is still quite dangerous. Even if I come out unscathed, I will be weakened for quite a long while. Now that no other methods will work, this is the only option left.”
“Master, you—”
Han Li’s expression suddenly changed and he turned his head behind him. He gloomily snorted. “That person is grower closer to the second. I can no longer continue like this. I can only take the risk!”
When Silvermoon heard this, she chose to keep silent.
Soon after, Han Li deeply sighed and his hands quickly blurred as they formed a series of strange hand incantations. At that same moment, his body began to pulse with azure light and an astonishing spiritual pressure suddenly released from his body. He then spat a mist of scarlet blood essence from his mouth. It scattered in the air and seeped into the azure light surrounding his body, transforming it into a demonic fusion of crimson and azure light.
Soon, Han Li’s hands and face became dark-red, and countless threads of crimson blood began to spurt from all over his skin, making for a frightful sight. Han Li didn’t seem to mind this in the least and continued forming hand incantations at great speed. Spitting out another two mouthfuls of blood essence, Han Li became completely enveloped in a mist of blood and could hardly be seen.
At that moment, radiance began to shine from the distant sky. Three silver balls of light were slowly moving towards them. Silhouettes could be seen moving from within them. They were Divine Sage Zhong and his two incarnations. Their scholar robes fluttered as they calmly flew in Han Li’s direction, however, they moved at an incredible speed in spite of their appearances. In an instant, they had already traversed a distance of over four hundred meters and could see Han Li from the naked eye.
“Yi!” One of the men wore a surprised expression, but he soon frowned.
The azure-crimson blood mist suddenly bursted with dazzling crimson light. As Han Li stood in place, he coldly glanced at the incoming Moulan Divine Sage before unfolding the Thunderstorm Wings behind his back. In the following moment, space itself warped around him, and Han Li’s figure blurred from sight.
A sharp ear-piercing shriek faded into the distance as suddenly as it had appeared.
The three scholarly men simultaneously wore a face of astonishment and the three glanced at one another before joining together with the man at the center. With a flash of silver light, the three men then returned into one. He immediately shut his eyes and released his spiritual sense in the direction that shriek had traveled in.
The scholarly man glanced where Han Li had disappeared and revealed a trace of surprise. “What kind of movement technique can travel fifty kilometers in an instant? It seems similar to the Devil Dao’s blood movement, but the distance is astonishing.”
Having chased Han Li for several days, the Divine Sage had experienced quite a bit of surprise at having continuously pursued him for several days without rest.
Even if an early Nascent Soul cultivator was capable of lightning movement, their magic power should’ve long been exhausted, leaving them helpless to their fates — unless one possessed a heavenly treasure capable of instantly restoring one’s magic power, or a secret technique that drained from one’s vitality. Now that Han Li employed a strange movement technique, it appeared he hadn’t shown his full strength before this.
But this was no matter, although he had already traveled fifty kilometers, Divine Sage Zhong was still tracking him with his spiritual sense. It would only be some more time before he caught up.
Just as the scholarly man through this, he narrowed his eyes, and his spiritual sense targeted Han Li once more. With a cold smirk, his body glowed with white light before setting off once more to give chase. But at that moment, the scholarly man suddenly felt Han Li’s aura mysteriously disappear once more. He ceased his movements in shock.
He suddenly thought of something and hastily expanded the perimeter of his spiritual sense by twofold before spotting Han Li once more. Yet before he could set off once more, Han Li’s aura disappeared yet again. This time, the scholarly man simply stood in place with a face of amazement.
Although his spiritual sense was vastly powerful, it could only reach a distance of a little over a hundred kilometers. He could forcibly stretch his spiritual sense to acquire an approximate understanding of the environment, but it was beyond him to track someone at that distance. Of course, unless something impossible occurred — like Han Li waiting in place for him to sweep his spiritual sense past him.
Han Li was a truly cunning opponent. The moment he felt the Divine Sage’s spiritual sense speed past him, he employed that strange movement technique several times in succession and slipped away. This was perhaps the first time in many years since the scholarly man had ever been played around with in this manner.
He was a magnificent Moulan Divine Sage. Once it became known that an early Nascent Soul cultivator was able to escape him, his reputation would be greatly tarnished. However, he didn’t have any intention to immediately continue the chase. Without any spiritual sense tracking along with Han Li’s strange techniques, it would be difficult to track Han Li down again — even with the use of secret techniques. Not to mention that he had already wasted several days chasing Han Li down. He couldn’t continue the pursuit, especially given the uncertainty of success.
After all, since he — a Divine Sage — had made an appearance, the other late Nascent Soul-stage cultivators in the Heavenly South could no longer remain idle. He needed to return and join with the other Moulan Divine Sages in preparation. If they were jointly attacked by enemy late Nascent Soul-stage cultivators, it would be extremely dangerous.
After pondering for a long while with a restless state of mind, his face grew sullen and he flew back in the direction from where he came. In the blink of silver light, he disappeared from sight.
In an area a hundred-fifty kilometers away, Han Li was flying through the sky in a streak of azure light in a different direction from before. He was continuously taking out medicine bottles from all over his body and pouring whatever vitality healing medicine he had down his throat. His complexion was deathly pale and his eyes were listless.
Silvermoon’s voice echoed through Han Li’s mind, “Master, are you alright?” Using the Bloodshadow Evasion three times in succession was truly dangerous. Were it not for the many medicine pills master had taken along the way, the third use of the technique would’ve...”
“It’s nothing. Although I’ve lost much blood essence, fortunately, I refined a few medicine pills in the past. So long as I consume them and properly rest for a few months, my cultivation should be fully restored.” Han Li slowly replied with an exhausted voice.
Having heard this, Silvermoon sighed and hesitantly asked,“Will you be returning to Soaring Skies City?”
With a tone of helplessness, Han Li said, “Of course not. With a situation this dire, I must at least restore my cultivation before heading back to the Nine Nations Union. Otherwise, the Ghost Spirit Sect and whatever other enemies I have will be able to easily plot against me. I cannot brave such risks. Fortunately, I don’t need to seek out an area with spirit veins, given the efficacy of the medicine pills alone. I simply need to find an uninhabited area and rest for a while. Furthermore, the Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords are still tainted by the azure lantern flames. Although I’ve used the Purple Apex Flames to forcibly restrain them, I must think of a method to remove the azure flames entirely or there will be later consequences.”
Silvermoon smiled and said, “That bronze lantern was a lineage treasure belonging to the Moulan Tribes, so it should have some closeness to the Ghost Dao. This servant is confident that so long as Master spends some time, he will be able to refine those flames entirely. Regardless of what is said, the Purple Apex Flames possess truly remarkable abilities.”
Han Li bitterly smiled and calmly replied, “With how things played out, these problems can only be solved slowly in the end.” Afterwards, Han Li spoke no more and used the remaining spiritual power in his body to urge the light around him to fly faster.
After flying for a day, Han Li ceased his flight and dropped down to an unremarkable valley. The Moulan Divine Sage should be unwilling to search this far away.
He glanced around several times and found two suitable barren hills. Not only were they completely lacking any spiritual power, but they were also completely bare and inseparable from the other hills in the area.
Han Li cautiously swept his spiritual sense past a fifty kilometer radius. Finding that there were no cultivators or spell warriors nearby, he felt safe and released Silvermoon.
The small silver fox then obeyed Han Li’s orders without any objections and twirled around, sweeping a yellow light around her and enveloping Han Li within it. In a flash of light, she brought Han Li directly with her into the side of the hill.
The valley became desolate once more.
With Han Li brought to the center of the mountain through Silvermoon’s earth movement technique, azure sword Qi was shot out in a dense barrage, quickly carving out a crude, ten-meter-wide room. In a blur, Han Li entered it and promptly sat down cross-legged.
Not long after, Han Li opened his eyes and azure light began to revolve around him. Over ten medicine bottles of various sizes laid before him. He needed to first refine the medicine pills he had taken before he dared to take any more medicine. As such, he calmly secluded himself as he restored his vitality.
However, Han Li didn’t anticipate that the damage to his vitality would be far greater than he had predicted. The amount of time he would need to recover would be much longer. As time dryly passed by, he meditated and focused on recovering with the aid of medicine pills.
After around half a year slowly passing by, Han Li still remained within the center of the mountain. However, countless changes began to surge around the world. A battle to the death between cultivators and spell warriors was just off the horizon.
And beyond Han Li’s knowledge, his fame as the Drifting Cloud Sect’s Elder Han had spread widely not only throughout the cultivators of the Heavenly South, but also through the ranks of the spell warriors. Whenever they heard of his name, none dared to hold him in contempt. His repute of matching a mid Nascent Soul-stage cultivator was already well known.