Having made up his mind, Han Li silently rode his flying artifact away from the mountain peak.
Later, the Qi Refining stage cultivators who had spoken with Han Li were surprised to find that this "senior" expert was nowhere to be seen when the Baichi gathering began.
Han Li first made a trip to the Tianxing Sect market town, purchasing all the materials needed to repair the ancient teleportation array according to the list, before heading toward the Kingdom of Yue.
This time, Han Li did not enter the Kingdom of Yue via his original route. Instead, he made a wide detour and sneaked in through a very remote border area between the Kingdom of Yuanwu and the Kingdom of Yue.
The current Kingdom of Yue was under the Demonic Path's control, and he had no desire to be chased endlessly the moment he set foot in dangerous territory.
Han Li did not know that this precaution of his had once again allowed him to inadvertently avoid a crisis.
Because right now, at most of the Kingdom of Yue's borders, the Demonic Path had dispatched numerous personnel to patrol day and night. Had Han Li rashly returned via his original route, he would certainly not have escaped their notice. A desperate chase and battle would have been almost inevitable!
Now, having safely entered the Kingdom of Yue, Han Li chose to travel through sparsely populated areas all the way, and managed to reach the vicinity of the spirit stone mine where the ancient teleportation array was located without encountering any danger.
The spirit mine had naturally fallen into the hands of the Demonic Path.
From a distance, Han Li secretly took a look and saw disciples of the Demonic Path wearing green and white robes.
Judging from the emerald ghost head and pink peach blossom insignia on their sleeve hems, they should be cultivators from the Ghost Spirit Sect and the Joyous Union Sect.
Having identified the Demonic Path forces occupying the spirit mine, Han Li quietly concealed himself and departed, finding a hidden underground entrance nearby and slipping inside.
He easily located the cave that had been sealed off previously. After shattering the pile of rubble with his magical tools, he once again laid eyes upon the damaged ancient teleportation array.
Seeing that the array was still intact, Han Li felt a measure of relief.
In the days that followed, Han Li first used a set of newly obtained Illusory Formation Flags to completely conceal the hidden entrance through illusion. Then, he used the improved formation flags and formation plate of the "Inverted Five Elements Formation" to set up a grand protective array, safeguarding the cave where the ancient teleportation array lay.
This way, even if Demonic Path cultivators discovered him, he would have time to make a calm escape.
Thus, free from any worries behind him, Han Li began the repair of the teleportation array.
The jade slip had made it perfectly clear: repairing the ancient teleportation array was an extremely delicate undertaking. Even a single rune line offset by the slightest margin could cause the entire array to malfunction, so Han Li's repair process was excruciatingly slow.
A full seven days had passed, and the array was only a little over halfway repaired. And then a major problem arose—the materials he had purchased beforehand had been completely exhausted.
Seeing this situation, Han Li was somewhat dumbfounded!
It turned out that although he had bought more repair materials than listed on the inventory, he had not accounted for the possibility of errors during repair, which would result in wasted materials.
And he was no professional artifact refiner or formation master.
As a result, his inadequate skills had caused more than half of the materials to be spoiled through mistakes during repair, wasted for nothing. Naturally, they were no longer enough.
Han Li sighed softly. It seemed he would have to make a trip outside.
But he recalled that several days' journey to the east of the spirit mine, there was a small market town run by a certain cultivation family.
Though it was not large, materials like iron mother and crystal jade could be purchased there. After all, the core of the teleportation array was undamaged, and what he needed were only ordinary materials.
His only worry was that with the cultivation world in such chaos, whether this market town still existed was anybody's guess! He would be risking a journey only to find the market long since gone.
After some deliberation, Han Li still slipped out of the underground cave under the cover of night, flying straight toward the market town on his Divine Wind Vessel.
He had already decided. If the market town was truly gone, he could always make another trip back to the Kingdom of Yuanwu's market town. This ancient teleportation array could not simply be left half-repaired.
But to be safe, Han Li planned to travel at night and find a place to rest and hide during the day.
This way, he could minimize the danger to the lowest possible level.
Thus, under the pitch-black night sky, Han Li flew eastward for the entire night. Only when dawn began to faintly break did he start searching for a place to land.
But just as he was scanning the ground below, his expression suddenly shifted. He abruptly turned his head and gazed intently in a certain direction.
He vaguely sensed that someone—more than one person, it seemed—was hurtling toward this location at great speed.
Without a moment's hesitation, Han Li stomped on the Divine Wind Vessel and angled sharply downward, vanishing into the curtain of night in the blink of an eye.
He had just concealed his form and suppressed the spiritual energy around his body when a blinding streak of white light came flying in silently like a bolt of lightning.
And behind the white light, a mass of blood mist several zhang in size, filled with unceasing ghostly wails and howls, pursued relentlessly in close pursuit. Following closely behind the blood mist was a swath of rosy radiance that emitted a faint clear cry, equally refusing to let up.
Hiding in the mountain forest below, Han Li paid no attention to the white light ahead or the rosy clouds behind. Instead, he found that blood mist strikingly familiar! Was this not the Ghost Spirit Sect Young Master's demonic protective technique? Could it really be him?
The thought of the Ghost Spirit Sect Young Master's formidable power and the hardships he had once endured at his hands turned Han Li's expression grim.
Just as Han Li assumed these people would fly past overhead at breakneck speed, the white light streaking ahead suddenly paused. Then its glow receded and it came to a stop, revealing a woman in white robes standing atop a flying sword.
The woman was tall and slender, wearing a bamboo hat over her head. The moment she revealed herself, she spoke coldly toward those behind her:
"Juniors! You chase me relentlessly—do you truly wish to court death?"
The woman's voice was extraordinarily cold and clear, but the moment it reached Han Li's ears, it nearly sent him jumping several feet into the air.
"This... this sounds like Nangong Wan's voice. Could it really be her?" Han Li was utterly shocked!
This woman, with whom he had once shared an intimate encounter, had said very few words to him. But as the first woman in Han Li's life, he had long since etched her voice and appearance deep into his memory.
And this voice was indeed very much like Nangong Wan's, though it seemed somewhat hoarse! Han Li was still somewhat shaken with uncertainty.
While Han Li was in shock, the blood mist and rosy radiance pursuing from behind seemed also to have been startled by the veiled woman's words, halting simultaneously at a distance of over a dozen zhang.
Then the blood mist and rosy radiance thinned out, revealing the people within.
The figure in the blood mist was indeed the Ghost Spirit Sect Young Master, Wang Chan. And the man and woman revealed on the other side after the rosy radiance dissipated left Han Li utterly dumbfounded.
The man was the eerily beautiful, feminine-looking youth he had seen at Yanling Fortress. The woman was none other than Dong Xuan'er, who had been missing for many days and was presumed to have long since fallen into the hands of the Demonic Path.
Dong Xuan'er's expression was cool and composed. The bewitching fox-like charm she once possessed had at some point vanished entirely, replaced by an air of utmost dignity.
What surprised Han Li even more was that her cultivation had advanced from early Foundation Establishment to mid Foundation Establishment.
Seeing Dong Xuan'er standing shoulder to shoulder with the effeminate man, Han Li could not help but furrow his brows tightly.
At this moment, the Ghost Spirit Sect Young Master and the beautiful man exchanged a cold look with the veiled woman, and both revealed a hesitant expression.
Although the opponent had already suffered mutual devastating injuries with a Ghost Spirit Sect Core Formation expert and should have been powerless to resist, she was still a Core Formation cultivator who had slain countless Demonic Path cultivators during the Concealed Moon Sect's battle of attack and defense. If she were to launch a deathblow and drag the two of them down with her in mutual destruction, that would be far too unjust!
With this thought, the two could not help but exchange a glance, neither willing to make the first move.
Seeing this, the eerie and beautiful man's eyes darted, and he addressed the veilled woman with a smile:
"In the past, if Senior Nangong had said such a thing, Brother Wang and I would naturally have fled at the mere wind of it. But as for now! Even if this junior were inclined to let Senior go out of consideration for the ties between the Concealed Moon Sect and the Joyous Union Sect, this Brother Wang of the Ghost Spirit Sect certainly would not let the matter rest!"
The beautiful man spoke in an entirely familiar tone, as though they were all one family and everything could be discussed amicably. But he unceremoniously pushed the Ghost Spirit Sect Young Master to the forefront, using him as a shield.
Wang Chan flew into a rage upon hearing these words.
But he, too, was a man who never let his emotions show on his face. He merely cast a cold glance at the other before saying unhurriedly:
"I have heard that among the Joyous Union Sect's secret arts, there is one called the 'Mysterious Moon Yin-Absorbing Technique.' A man who cultivates it can forcibly absorb a portion of a woman's Yin essence through dual cultivation. Though the amount is not great, with Senior's Core Formation cultivation, it should be more than enough to help this Young Master Tian break through from mid Foundation Establishment into late Foundation Establishment, wouldn't it?"
The moment these words left Wang Chan's mouth, the beautiful man's expression changed subtly.
He had never imagined that his true purpose in chasing this woman relentlessly had been seen through at a single glance by Wang Chan, and he could not help but feel a flush of shame and anger.
At the same time, the veiled woman's eyes shot forth a look of humiliated fury. She gritted her silver teeth and spat out:
"Birds of a feather—seek your own death!"
With that, she raised her hand, and a vast expanse of brilliant white sword light surged forth, blanketing the sky as it shot toward them.
Wang Chan and the beautiful man across from her were both horrified at the sight. Blood mist and rosy radiance instantly erupted from their bodies as they prepared to flee backward without delay.