"Could it be that the Fifth Sister warned them ahead of time, so they fled early, or perhaps there's a trap?" The middle-aged woman said with a worried look on her face.
"No. If they had truly set a trap, they would have sprung it the moment we entered. We would have had no defenses at that time." Han Li shook his head and denied it.
When the others heard Han Li's words, they couldn't help but feel relieved, but they still couldn't help glancing around for a while. Sure enough, nothing unusual happened.
"Senior, what should we do next? Should we retreat first and come back another day to make our move?" The second brother asked hesitantly.
"Let's go after Steward Wang first! If he's not there either, we'll cancel today's operation and withdraw immediately." Han Li said coldly.
After hearing Han Li's words, the Four Friends of Mengshan exchanged glances and silently nodded.
Han Li released several hand seals to retract the barrier, then took the lead in sneaking toward the other side of the Prince Xin Manor. The others followed closely behind him without delay.
Although Steward Wang's residence was not a pavilion like the Little Prince's, he still occupied a small three-sided courtyard by himself.
When Han Li and the others arrived nearby, a faint light was actually coming from one of the rooms, as if he had not yet gone to sleep.
Han Li raised an eyebrow. It seemed that this time they wouldn't come up empty.
Thinking this, Han Li made a gesture of concealment and vigilance to the others, then immediately began using the newly learned qi-concealing technique. The spiritual energy on his body instantly dissipated without a trace, making him seem like an ordinary mortal.
Then Han Li's figure flickered a few times, and he suddenly appeared at the base of the wall of the lit room, pressing his ear tightly against it.
Because Steward Wang had given Han Li a very strange feeling that time, Han Li didn't carelessly release his spiritual sense to probe the situation inside, fearing that the other party might detect it.
But after listening for only a short while, Han Li's expression changed and he flew back, immediately concealing himself behind a large flowering tree.
This scene greatly surprised the Four Friends of Mengshan who were watching from nearby, but then they heard Han Li's voice in their ears:
"Be careful, that Little Prince is also inside the room. Everyone, act according to the situation!"
This immediately sent a chill through their hearts, and they all held their breath involuntarily, carefully watching the door without making a sound.
With a creak, the door opened. A young man in a light green brocade robe walked out, and it was indeed the Little Prince of the Prince Xin Manor.
He turned back and whispered a few words to the person inside the room, then took a few steps into the courtyard while the door closed on its own.
Subsequently, the light on the paper window of the room flickered a few times, then completely went out. The person inside seemed to be settling in for the night.
Han Li watched the other party's every move with an expressionless face. What puzzled him was that there still didn't seem to be any spiritual energy on the other party. Yet the faint sense of danger he felt after the other's appearance was definitely real. He should be a disciple of the Black Fiend.
Perhaps because he was still in his own residence, the Little Prince didn't rush to return. Instead, he stretched like an ordinary person and looked up at the bright moon in the sky. Suddenly, he sighed.
Then he actually began pacing back and forth in the small courtyard. His face was full of worry, as if he had some difficult problem on his mind.
It seemed he wouldn't be leaving for a while. This made the Four Friends of Mengshan feel extremely helpless!
Attacking now was obviously not an option, since Steward Wang was in the adjacent room. A single sound of fighting would naturally wake him, and then things would become very troublesome.
The best method, of course, was still to wait for the Little Prince to return to his residence and deal with them one by one.
Fortunately, they were all cultivators, so they certainly had this bit of patience. Each of them concealed themselves very well, never revealing any flaws.
After about the time it takes to eat a meal, the Little Prince finally stopped pacing and walked out of the courtyard.
This delighted the hearts of the people lying in ambush!
But the scene that followed greatly surprised them, and they immediately became furious with rage.
They saw that the moment the Little Prince stepped out of the courtyard gate, he suddenly performed an illusion technique, produced a set of clothing from who knew where, and changed into it quickly. In the blink of an eye, he had become a blood-red masked figure, identical to the person who had ordered them to ambush and kill Han Li.
Although the old man and the others were filled with rage, they also knew this was a matter of great importance and held back their anger without losing their composure. Now these people truly believed Han Li's words and knew they had found the right target.
After changing his attire, the Little Prince's entire body emitted a faint evil aura and strong spiritual energy fluctuations, comparable to the eleventh level of the Qi Condensation stage. Instead of returning to his residence, he threw a blood-red elongated magical treasure into the air, then his figure flickered and he flew off on the treasure.
Seeing this scene, Han Li's eyes flashed with a cold light. He immediately sent a voice transmission to the other four:
"Follow him. No matter where he goes, capture him on the way."
When the Four Friends of Mengshan heard Han Li's instructions, they eagerly flew off on their own magical treasures to follow.
Han Li, who stayed behind alone to keep watch on Steward Wang, deliberately waited in place for a while longer.
Seeing that there was still no unusual activity from the room, after a moment's hesitation, he still threw out the Divine Wind Boat and followed after them.
How could the speed of Han Li's Divine Wind Boat compare to the magical treasures of the Four Friends of Mengshan? In just a short while, Han Li caught up by following the spiritual energy trail they had left behind, arriving above a desolate temple outside the capital of Yue.
The Four Friends of Mengshan were hovering in mid-air, looking somewhat dejected and anxious, flying around in circles in a state of indecision. When they saw Han Li, they immediately approached with joyful expressions.
"What's going on?" Seeing this scene, Han Li frowned and asked slowly.
"We chased them here, and just as we were about to make our move, this little brat—we don't know if he discovered us or not—suddenly darted into this dilapidated temple. But this temple had a restriction placed on it, appearing to be protected by a formation. We tried to force our way in and suffered a bit, so we immediately withdrew and didn't dare go back in, fearing there might be other ambushes inside." The black-faced old man saw Han Li's displeasure and hurriedly stepped forward to explain.
"A formation?" Han Li heard this and also felt quite a headache.
In the art of formations, Han Li was also not proficient. However, in front of these people, he still said calmly:
"Let me take a look first!" After saying this, he opened the Celestial Eye technique and carefully looked down.
Sure enough, there was an abnormal fluctuation of spiritual energy pervading around the dilapidated temple. But after Han Li saw it clearly, he was greatly relieved.
This was just a very simple Falling Stone Formation—one of the simplest earth-type formations. Although it was somewhat troublesome for rogue cultivators and cultivators at the Qi Condensation stage, for Han Li, even though he didn't know the specific way to dispel it, this level of minor formation could be easily broken with brute force alone.
Thinking this, Han Li silently reached into his storage pouch, then scattered both hands simultaneously. Immediately, four tall beast-shaped puppets appeared before him. This made the black-faced old man and the others, who had suffered from Han Li's puppet techniques before, unconsciously take a few steps back.
Han Li paid no attention to their shocked expressions. He controlled these beast puppets to open their mouths simultaneously, and several enormous light beams, as thick as bowls, shot straight toward the dilapidated temple.
Just as the light beams were about to strike the temple, a thin, enormous light barrier suddenly materialized above it, forming a hemisphere and emitting a faint yellow glow, completely enveloping the small temple.
The light beams struck squarely against the light barrier.
Immediately, the yellow light barrier rippled like gentle waves, trembling as it desperately withstood the attack of the light beams.
But at this moment, Han Li unhesitatingly raised his hand, and a pair of Black Dragon Claws shot out from his grasp. They quickly grew to over ten feet in size and struck fiercely downward at the light barrier as well.
A crisp shattering sound rang out. The light barrier finally could not withstand this successive wave of powerful attacks and collapsed completely. The Falling Stone Formation was thus utterly dispersed.
Seeing this scene, the Four Friends of Mengshan gasped.
Being able to break this formation with brute force alone—what that implied, they were not completely ignorant of.
It meant that Han Li's offensive power had to be at least several times greater than the protective power of the formation. Otherwise, an ordinary attack would have been easily neutralized by the formation using its clever restriction principles. And they themselves had just suffered a bit at the hands of this formation, so they couldn't help but view the Falling Stone Formation with greater respect.
"Go down! We absolutely cannot let this fellow escape!" Han Li said with a face as cold as frost.
But now the Four Friends of Mengshan were completely convinced by Han Li. They immediately responded and dove down.
But at that moment, a mocking laughter came from behind Han Li and the others.
"Looking for me? This temple is merely our sect's temporary outpost. There's no one inside now!"
This voice immediately startled the Four Friends of Mengshan, who had already rushed halfway down, nearly causing them to fall from their magical treasures. They hurriedly turned to look, and in an instant, their faces drained of all color.
They saw that several dozen zhang behind Han Li and the others, the Little Prince they had been tracking was standing there with another equally dressed, thin and scrawny figure. Beside them were more than a dozen other masked individuals in black clothing. At first glance, they were clearly peripheral disciples of the Black Fiend Cult who, like the Four Friends of Mengshan before, had been controlled.
But the most eye-catching figure was a powerfully built, bald man without eyebrows standing behind the Little Prince.
He wore the same blood-red clothing, but did not conceal his face. He stared at them with murderous intent, revealing a bloodthirsty, fierce demeanor.
This person was actually a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage, just like Han Li!
Seeing this, the Four Friends of Mengshan simultaneously felt as if they were facing a nine-out-of-ten chance of death.