Chapter 25 Lu Ya

"Brother."

Liu Le'er saw Han Li return to the flying boat and quickly went up to meet him, calling out with some worry.

The battle just now had been quite formidable, and this little fox girl had never seen such a spectacle. Although she saw her "Stone Brother" win easily, she still couldn't help feeling a lingering fear.

Han Li gave her a gentle smile and shook his head slightly, signaling her not to worry, then casually put away the storage pouch in his hand.

Without its master to sustain it, the hunchbacked old man's golden giant tower quickly shrank sharply as its golden light converged, spinning and falling down.

Gu Yunyue waved her hand, took the golden tower into her hand, glanced at Han Li not far away, and only when she saw that he had no intention of stopping her did she breathe a sigh of relief and put it into her waist storage pouch.

This golden tower magic treasure had extraordinary power and could trap others' magic treasures. If she could make it her own, she would have an extra trump card in battle and greatly increase her strength. However, the Wind and Frost Duo had been killed by Han Li after all, and by all rights, the spoils should belong to him. Fortunately, he seemed to tacitly approve of her action.

"Thank you for your help, Fellow Daoist Han. I always knew you were no ordinary cultivator, but I still greatly underestimated your strength." Gu Yunyue steadied herself, walked a few steps to Han Li, and though she appeared calm, the trace of awe hidden deep in her eyes could not escape Han Li.

She knew that even if she faced a cultivator of the same rank as the horse-faced youth alone, she could never dispatch him as effortlessly as this person did, not even allowing his Nascent Soul to escape, let alone the hunchbacked old man at the late Nascent Soul stage.

"Those two wanted my life, so naturally I had to send them on their way early." Han Li said with a slight smile.

Yu Menghan, who was following beside Gu Yunyue, covered her mouth and smiled, revealing a hint of girlish charm, but the look she cast at Han Li was a complex mixture of awe and confusion.

In her mind, her master was a true immortal and lofty figure, and even White Stone, whom her father treated with respect, dared not breathe loudly in front of her master. Yet this tall young man, who had seemed dull and wooden when they first met, now displayed power so great that even her master could not hope to match.

To her, Han Li was now like a mist; though standing beside him, she felt as if separated by a river of stars.

"I thought that by leaving the borders of Feng Country, we could escape the pursuit of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, but I didn't expect them to come so quickly." Gu Yunyue sighed lightly.

"It's nothing, after all, this is currently the territory of the Heavenly Ghost Sect." Han Li said nonchalantly, without much worry on his face.

"As long as we quickly enter the territory of our Cold Flame Sect, we should be able to shake off the entanglement of the Heavenly Ghost Sect." Gu Yunyue nodded, but suddenly her expression froze slightly, and a strange look flashed in her eyes as she looked at Han Li.

Although it was fleeting, Han Li caught it.

Han Li's expression did not change, but inwardly he was somewhat frustrated. In the battle just now, he had only slightly activated his protective spiritual light, and his magic power had dropped from the mid-Nascent Soul stage to the early stage.

Gu Yunyue must have noticed the change in his aura, which was why she reacted that way. He naturally wouldn't bother to explain.

...

Deep within a certain cave dwelling of the Heavenly Ghost Sect, in a secluded secret chamber.

On the four walls of the chamber were inserted more than a dozen thick torches, with bright yellow flames trembling at the tips, casting flickering shadows throughout the room.

In the center of the chamber, at a round stone table, sat a gaunt old man with crane-white hair and a black beard. He wore an ochre-colored long robe, one hand resting on the stone table, the fingers of the other hand rhythmically tapping on his knee.

He had a high nose bridge and deep-set eye sockets, his two eyes staring straight ahead. His long, gaunt face, covered with wrinkles, looked uncertain in the firelight.

In front of him, a bronze mirror the size of a human head floated in the void, reflecting the figure of a hunchbacked old man—the one who had survived from the Wind and Frost Duo.

The already hunched figure in the bronze mirror was now even more stooped, his head completely lowered, not daring to raise it even a little.

"So, not only did you two fail to bring the person back to me, but you also lost one of your own?" The gaunt old man stopped tapping his fingers and asked.

His voice was unusually hoarse and rough.

The hunchbacked old man's body trembled visibly, and he quickly replied: "Reporting to Uncle-Master Qi, it's not that this disciple was incompetent, but that person was too formidable and strange. At first, he seemed to deliberately hide his aura, appearing no different from a mortal. But when he suddenly made his move, he instantly became a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. Before I could even see his movements clearly, he had taken away my twelve Cold Flame Bone Forks, and then..."

Before he could finish, the gaunt old man interrupted: "His cultivation level is lower than yours, yet he effortlessly took away your magic treasure?"

"Yes... yes. Moreover, this person's physical body is extremely powerful. The yin魅 ghosts raised in my junior brother's Hundred Ghost Chart were like paper and mud in comparison; they turned to powder when he collided with them. Even the Bone-Corroding Yin Needles, after he seized them, he just opened his mouth and ate them, chewing them to pieces." The hunchbacked old man trembled incessantly, speaking with lingering fear.

Hearing this, the gaunt old man resumed tapping his knee with his fingers, seemingly lost in thought.

The hunchbacked old man had not dared to raise his head, but seeing that the gaunt old man had been silent for a long time, his fear grew even greater. He couldn't help but prostrate himself on the ground and said in a trembling voice:

"Uncle-Master Qi, what this disciple said... said is all true, there is absolutely no exaggeration or deception."

The gaunt old man remained silent for a long while before speaking leisurely: "From what you say, this person is most likely an extremely rare high-level physical cultivator. Indeed, he is not someone you can deal with. Forget it, you don't need to concern yourself with this matter."

With that, without even looking at the hunchbacked old man, he casually waved his long sleeve in the void, and the image on the bronze mirror dimmed and disappeared.

"Daring to kill my Hao'er, so what if you are a high-level physical cultivator? I will still strip your skin and break your bones to appease my Hao'er's soul." The gaunt old man suddenly sat up straight, his face twisted with ferocity, and he said through gritted teeth.

After a while, his gaze fell back on the bronze mirror, and he began to chant, pointing at the mirror with one hand forming a spell seal.

The mirror surface suddenly rippled like water stirred by wind, and then another image appeared.

In the image, a rather sturdy middle-aged man hovered in the air above a stretch of green mountain forest. Stroking his short beard, he asked with a smile:

"Brother Qi, it's been a while since we last met. What brings you to send me a message today?"

"Brother Lu Ya, I won't exchange pleasantries with you today. I truly have a favor to ask." The gaunt old man said with a grave expression and a low, hoarse voice.

Seeing that he was not joking at all, the sturdy man also put away his smile and asked solemnly: "What's the matter? Has something happened?"

The gaunt old man sighed and told him everything about Qi Minghao and the Wind and Frost Duo.

"Wretch! How dare he kill Brother Qi's descendant! He deserves to die!" The sturdy man named Lu Ya snorted after hearing the story.

"I am currently in the sect and cannot get away for the time being. Brother Lu, you are near Feng Country, so I hope you can act on my behalf and eliminate this person." The gaunt old man said in a deep voice.

"Physical cultivators focus on training the physical body and can easily overwhelm ordinary cultivators, but they are extremely difficult to cultivate and break through bottlenecks. For this person to reach a high level, he must be no ordinary man, right?" Lu Ya pondered for a moment and asked.

"According to my disciple, this person is an external elder that the Cold Flame Sect plans to recruit but has not yet formally joined. So Brother Lu need not worry too much. As long as you kill this person for me, that Yuanling Pill of mine will be your reward." The gaunt old man looked deeply at Lu Ya and said solemnly.

A hint of joy flashed in the sturdy man's eyes, but he quickly concealed it and said: "In that case, I will collect this person's life on behalf of Brother Qi."

The gaunt old man suddenly remembered something and said with a dark expression: "Oh, and that girl surnamed Yu, don't kill her for now. It's best to bring her to me alive."

Lu Ya was momentarily stunned, then silently nodded.