Chapter 218: A Coincidence

The dark-skinned man muttered as he scrambled backward on all fours.

The three of them were merely late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators. Although they could not discern Han Li's cultivation level, his imposing manner of descending from the sky made it clear that he was a senior who could crush them with a flick of his finger. How could they dare to stay?

"Stop. Who are you?" Han Li frowned slightly and asked coldly.

"We... we are three rogue cultivators from Huayang City. We did not know you were here, Senior, or we would never have dared to come," the brown-robed youth replied, gathering his courage.

"Do you know what happened to Chensha City? Why has it become like this?" Han Li asked again.

"Senior, you don't know... Could it be that you are not from a local sect, but from overseas?" The brown-robed youth was taken aback, then slowly raised his head to look at Han Li, asking with some confusion.

"Overseas cultivator..." Han Li was momentarily stunned, then understood.

For these low-level cultivators living on an isolated island, who might spend their entire lives in the small area of Yunhu Island, they naturally thought their location was the entire continent. Cultivators from outside the island were indeed overseas cultivators.

"Enough nonsense. Tell me, what happened here? Why was the city massacred?" Han Li snorted and demanded sternly.

"Reporting to Senior, we heard that the long serpent demon beast living in Yunzhe Lake came out to hunt again and devoured everyone in the city," the brown-robed youth quickly said.

"Oh, what does this beast look like? Have you seen it with your own eyes?" Han Li raised an eyebrow and asked.

"Senior, this... this junior would never dare to see it... If I had, I would surely be in its belly by now. But it is said that this beast has been cultivating here for countless millennia, and its body is enormous, almost as large as the earthen ridges outside the city. Its forked tongue alone is several hundred zhang long, and the venom in its belly..." The brown-robed youth poured out all the rumors he had heard.

"Yes, yes... That demon beast emerges every so often, and each time it devours an entire city before it is satisfied..." The dark-skinned man, having recovered his composure, added.

"Does it emerge only once every ten years, and each time it is active for only seven days before disappearing, not reappearing for another ten years?" Han Li's heart stirred, and he asked.

"So Senior has already heard those rumors?" The dark-skinned man glanced cautiously at Han Li, somewhat surprised.

Hearing this, Han Li's heart sank slightly.

The long serpent demon immortal they spoke of was most likely the mid-stage True Immortal realm Shenyuan Beast. He had rushed all the way, but still arrived too late.

In fact, he had found it strange all along the way.

According to common sense, on an island, the closer to the central freshwater lake, the larger the towns should be, and the more people should gather. But the situation on Yunhu Island was exactly the opposite.

On the coastal edge near the sea, majestic cities lined up, almost encircling the entire island. But the closer to the island's center, the sparser the towns became, and their locations were more concealed.

Although Chensha City was still hundreds of thousands of li from Yunzhe Lake, it was already the westernmost city closest to the lake on Yunhu Island.

Now that he thought about it, it was most likely because of the Shenyuan Beast that people had moved their cities farther and farther from the island's center, creating this current pattern.

"This beast causes such harm to the people. Has no one eliminated it for the public good?" Han Li asked again.

"Reporting to Senior, it is said that a long, long time ago, an immortal was entrusted by several nearby sects to deal with this demon beast. The immortal fought it for three days and three nights but was severely wounded and retreated. The sects involved were all annihilated by the beast within a few days, and since then, no one has dared to intervene..." The brown-robed youth said respectfully.

"By the way, what are you doing here?" Han Li glanced at the three and asked casually.

The three, who had been kneeling on the ground the whole time, exchanged glances and hesitated, unwilling to explain.

"What, is there something you cannot say?" Han Li's expression darkened.

"Reporting to Senior, we... we are currently at the main headquarters of the Luosha Sect, the largest sect within ten thousand li... We three wanted to take advantage before others arrived..." The brown-robed youth trembled and explained, sweating profusely.

"To profit from the dead?" Seeing him stammer, Han Li finished the sentence.

"Senior, we have just arrived and haven't found anything. You can check my storage pouch if you don't believe me." With that, the brown-robed youth immediately took out his storage pouch and held it up high.

The dark-skinned man and the middle-aged beauty quickly did the same.

With a slight sweep of his divine sense, Han Li knew they were not lying. The total value of all items in their storage pouches was less than five mid-grade spirit stones.

He did not feel disgusted by their actions. Low-level cultivators, especially rogue cultivators without sect backing, had a particularly hard path of cultivation—he knew this better than anyone.

His divine sense moved again, carefully examining the ruins of the Luosha Sect, and his brow furrowed.

This sect was not small in scale, but perhaps because it had been too thoroughly destroyed, the magical artifacts left behind were pitifully few and of even lower quality.

"There are some things under the ruins to the east. Dig them up yourselves and leave immediately after." After saying this, Han Li leaped up and flew toward the eastern part of Chensha City.

He had no interest in the remaining magical artifacts here; it was better to leave them to these people as payment for the information, which might become a significant help on their cultivation path.

The three were stunned, looking at each other with disbelief, and forgot to get up. When they came to their senses, Han Li was already out of sight.

They kowtowed sincerely in the direction Han Li had gone, then quickly stood up, ran to the ruins, and began digging frantically.

As for Han Li, after flying to the eastern part of Chensha City, he did not leave directly but chose a relatively intact courtyard and landed.

This courtyard originally had at least three sections, suggesting it belonged to a fairly prosperous secular family, but now it was ruined.

After entering the courtyard, Han Li casually set up some simple restrictions and then walked into the main hall.

He lit an oil lamp in the room and sat down at a table.

With a flick of his wrist, a green ox-head mask appeared in his palm, and he put it on.

As a chanting sound arose, a huge green light array disk appeared before him.

Before coming, he had not gathered much information about the Shenyuan Beast, intending to find a larger sect in Chensha City to inquire. But he had not expected to find this scene.

Although he had missed the Shenyuan Beast's latest emergence, he did not plan to return to the sect immediately. Instead, he considered whether there were other ways to complete the mission.

However, the mission intelligence from the sect was too brief, and his own knowledge of the Shenyuan Beast was limited. The information from the brown-robed youth was mostly hearsay and unreliable.

After thinking it over, he decided to try to gather information about the beast through the Wuchang Alliance.

His previous task to investigate the giant egg and feather was still posted, with no one having identified them.

He shook his head, searched, and his eyes brightened slightly.

There was indeed a related task in the alliance, which seemed to have been posted for over a thousand years:

"Kill a True Immortal realm Shenyuan Beast dwelling in a certain location. Reward: thirty immortal origin stones."

Han Li was slightly startled. What a coincidence!

Although Shenyuan Beasts were not rare, those at the True Immortal realm were probably uncommon. Could the target be the same as his?

With a contemplative expression, he pointed in the air and connected with the task publisher through the mask.

After about a quarter of an hour, ripples suddenly appeared on the green light array, and a beam of green light burst forth, condensing into a green figure wearing a deer-head mask before Han Li.

"Are you interested in my task, Fellow Daoist?" the figure asked upon appearing.

"Indeed, I am somewhat interested in your task regarding the Shenyuan Beast. May I ask where this beast resides and if you have detailed information about it?" Han Li nodded and asked.

"Since you are interested, I will not hide it. This beast is located on an island called Yunhu Island in the eastern sea of the Ancient Cloud Continent. It possesses the bloodline of the ancient true spirit Shenlong, so it is adept at transformation, especially into human form..." The green figure's eyes seemed to flash with joy as he quickly replied.

"This beast must be difficult to deal with, otherwise your task would not have remained uncompleted for so long," Han Li said, his eyes flickering.

"Well... this beast has been at the mid-stage True Immortal realm for tens of thousands of years and is cunning by nature. It is indeed not easy to deal with..." The green figure paused briefly before saying.

"Mid-stage True Immortal realm... thirty immortal origin stones seems a bit low..." Han Li said flatly.

"Fellow Daoist... to be honest, I can only offer this many immortal origin stones for now. However, the spiritual shell shed by this beast is an excellent material for refining armor. If you can slay it..." The green figure said somewhat anxiously.

"Alright," Han Li said after a moment's deliberation.

"Do you mean... you accept the task?" The green figure seemed somewhat incredulous.

"I cannot guarantee I will complete it, but I will give it a try," Han Li said noncommittally.

"This... this is wonderful! Then I shall await your good news here!" The green figure was overjoyed.