Chapter 108: Strange Occurrences

After a moment's deliberation, Han Li flickered and appeared beside Jiao Sixteen, who was slumped against a withered tree. He helped him up and took out a pill for him to take.

"Many thanks."

The latter was severely injured this time. He nodded at Han Li, then sat down cross-legged without a word, silently absorbing the medicinal power to heal himself.

On the other side, Jiao Jiu, upon noticing the purple-robed elder had vanished, suddenly flickered and appeared before the still-breathing Integration Stage cultivator in the nearby alley.

Before the other could speak, Jiao Jiu's hand shot out like lightning, his five fingers hooking like claws as he grabbed the man's head. Blue light flickered in his palm, and the Integration cultivator's eyes rolled back as he lost consciousness.

With some unknown secret technique, a pale red nascent soul, its face filled with terror, was forcibly pulled out from the body under the blue light. Its eyes were half-closed, appearing listless and dispirited.

Jiao Jiu returned to the small courtyard holding the nascent soul. He first glanced at Jiao Sixteen, who was meditating with closed eyes, then turned his gaze to Han Li standing nearby.

"I didn't expect that you, friend, are quite accomplished in formations and restrictions. I previously mistakenly thought you fled out of fear; that was my narrow-mindedness. I hope you won't take offense." Jiao Jiu nodded slightly at Han Li and said.

"You flatter me. It's hardly any accomplishment in formations; I merely happened to find the weak point in that space. It's thanks to your great divine powers in holding back that loose immortal that I had the chance to break the formation." Han Li said with a smile.

Jiao Jiu said nothing more in response. His gaze shifted to the nascent soul in his hand, then turned cold. He raised his other hand.

With a "puff," a cluster of fine black threads flew from his palm and directly plunged into the nascent soul's head.

The nascent soul's body trembled, and it let out a piercing scream.

Unmoved, Jiao Jiu sent more black threads streaming from his palm into the nascent soul's head.

The nascent soul's screams grew weaker, and the expression on its small face gradually became dull, its eyes unfocused.

Jiao Jiu frowned slightly, a trace of displeasure flashing across his face. The black threads in his palm intensified.

At that moment, a layer of crystalline light suddenly appeared on the nascent soul's surface, making its body semi-transparent.

"Not good..." Han Li, seeing this, suddenly thought of something and quickly spoke.

But before he finished speaking, the nascent soul burst with a "bang," shattering into a scattering of glowing light.

Jiao Jiu's lips twitched, his expression turning rather grim.

"It seems this person's nascent soul and spirit were placed under some kind of restriction; once soul-searching touches certain memories, the restriction is triggered. May I ask what you, friend Jiao Jiu, managed to find?" Han Li sighed lightly and asked.

"I didn't find any useful information. Given this person's status, he probably wouldn't have known much anyway. But the Wuchang Alliance personnel here have indeed been killed by them." Jiao Jiu shook his head.

Han Li frowned slightly upon hearing this.

"Then what do we do next?" Jiao Sixteen, having recovered somewhat from his injuries, stood up and asked.

"Let's thoroughly search this Tianshui City first. Since we've already been exposed, there's no need to hold back anymore." Jiao Jiu's eyes flickered as he said solemnly.

...

Meanwhile.

Among the clouds tens of thousands of li away from Tianshui City, a dark red multi-story boat was speeding forward as if riding the wind and waves.

The boat had two decks, each with several independent rooms. Several pairs of wing patterns were engraved around the hull, manifesting eight pairs of huge dark red wings that flapped rapidly.

In a room on the top deck, the purple-robed elder who had fought with Han Li and the others was sitting cross-legged, his expression gloomy.

After a moment's thought, he flipped his hand and took out a palm-sized jade plate. He tapped it a few times, and a large area of red light emerged on it, followed by a somewhat hoarse voice coming from within:

"Qiu Wu, how is the situation?"

"I have already fought with the people sent by the Wuchang Alliance." The purple-robed elder said expressionlessly.

"Hehe, just as I expected. It seems my guess was correct." The person in the jade plate laughed smugly.

"Hmph! The strength of the people who came was far from what you estimated. Two loose immortals and one earthly immortal—three true immortals in total! If I didn't have some tricks up my sleeve, I might have fallen into their hands. Unfortunately, one of my subordinates fell into their hands." The purple-robed elder said angrily.

"Oh, does that person know anything?" The voice in the jade plate paused.

"An Integration Stage cultivator—how much could he know?" The purple-robed elder said disdainfully.

"That's good. With three true immortals just on your side, it seems the Wuchang Alliance means trouble this time. If they back off, fine. If they keep pestering us, the Sacred Lord will make them pay... Alright, you've worked hard this time. Come back first." The voice in the jade plate first sneered, then changed the subject.

The purple-robed elder raised an eyebrow, clearly dissatisfied with the commanding tone of the other party, but he didn't say anything more and directly ended the transmission.

He waved his hand and formed a hand seal. The boat's red light flared up, its speed increased again, and it sped forward into the distance.

……

Inside a certain stone hall in Tianshui City.

The space was quite large but seemed somewhat empty. Stone pillars stood on both sides, with braziers placed atop them, though they were not lit.

Han Li and the other two were now standing at the entrance of the hall, having resumed wearing their masks.

With their cultivation and divine sense, they had thoroughly probed the entire Tianshui City without restraint, finding no high-level cultivators above the Deity Transformation stage, nor any anomalies, except for this stone hall discovered in a remote area south of the city.

In the center of the hall, three corpses were neatly arranged. All of them had shriveled skin and twisted faces, as if they had suffered something extremely terrifying before death. Beside them lay several cyan masks, which looked different from those worn by Han Li and his companions.

Judging by the withered appearance of the corpses, it seemed as if all the blood in their bodies had been drained in an instant.

The enemy had blatantly placed these corpses here in an orderly manner, clearly carrying a hint of provocation.

"These should be the infiltrators from the alliance," Jiao Jiu said slowly after examining the bodies and masks.

"One Mahayana, two Combined Movement. It seems they were killed almost as soon as they engaged, without even their Nascent Souls escaping... It should have been done by that rogue immortal earlier, but it appears he can also use some law power," Han Li said thoughtfully, his gaze sweeping over the three corpses.

"That old fox Gongshu Hong seems to have been well prepared. The previous restrictions were more like a carefully designed trap to lure us in step by step," Jiao Sixteen said bitterly.

"Let's not worry about that for now. It seems we can't find any clues in Tianshui City. Before leaving, we must inform Lord Jiao San of the situation here and discuss our next move," Jiao Jiu said.

With that, he formed a hand seal, and a layer of blue ripples appeared on the blue ram mask he wore, flickering unsteadily before suddenly brightening.

Jiao Jiu closed his eyes and began to move his lips slightly.

Han Li and Jiao Sixteen stood by without disturbing him.

After a moment, the light on Jiao Jiu's mask faded away, and he opened his eyes.

"What did Lord Jiao San say?" Jiao Sixteen asked hastily.

"He instructed us to go to Longhu City immediately and gather there," Jiao Jiu said slowly.

"Were they also attacked?" Han Li suddenly asked.

"Lord Jiao San and the other team are still far from their target city and haven't arrived yet. But judging from our situation here, their target contacts are likely in grave danger as well. Now that we are prepared in advance, it won't be so easy for the enemy to ambush them," Jiao Jiu said solemnly.

Han Li nodded and did not ask further.

"There are no more clues here. Let's go," Jiao Jiu said, waving his hand to emit a blue light that collected the corpses on the ground before heading out.

The three soon left the stone hall and quietly departed Tianshui City, arriving at a wilderness.

Just as Jiao Sixteen was about to use a concealment technique to hide their forms, Jiao Jiu's voice reached his ears:

"No need. Lord Jiao San said that since the enemy already knows of our existence, there's no need to bother with stealth. We'll head directly to Longhu City."

As he spoke, he waved his sleeve, and rolling waves of water surged around. A blue crystal flying boat over ten zhang long appeared on the open ground, streamlined, crystal clear, and radiant with spiritual light.

Jiao Sixteen paused his movements and looked at the flying boat with a hint of envy in his eyes.

"This boat is made entirely of Yunlan Sky Crystal. Though it's not a celestial artifact, it shouldn't be far off," Han Li said, letting out a light breath of admiration.

"You flatter me. It's just a small spiritual treasure-level flying boat, not that exaggerated," Jiao Jiu said with a chuckle.

The strength Han Li had displayed in the earlier battle had earned him newfound respect, and Jiao Jiu's tone became noticeably more courteous.

"This flying boat has decent speed, so we'll use it for travel. Jiao Sixteen, recover from your injuries quickly; there will likely be fierce battles ahead," Jiao Jiu said, flickering to the front of the boat.

Jiao Sixteen nodded, and together with Han Li, they flew onto the boat one after another.

Jiao Jiu waved his hand, sending out a spell. The boat glowed with blue light and shot forward as a streak of blue radiance.

……

Longhu City was much larger in scale than Tianshui City. Within the city was a lake covering over a thousand mu, connected to several major rivers that extended beyond the city walls.

It was early morning, and the city was bustling with people, appearing quite prosperous.

By the time Han Li and his two companions arrived at the city without rest and reached a secluded estate in the west, Jiao San and the other team led by Monkey-Faced Jiao Ba had already arrived.

However, it seemed that Jiao Ba's group had only just arrived as well.

At Jiao San's instruction, Jiao Jiu gave a detailed account of the ambush in Tianshui City, then waved his hand to produce the corpses of the Wuchang Alliance infiltrators who had entered the city earlier.

Jiao San looked at the withered corpses on the ground, his gaze turning cold. The others also changed expression at the sight.