Chapter 641: Coming to the Door

A flicker of joy crossed Han Li's face, and he immediately curled his finger and pointed.

The next moment, a flash of green light appeared above the yellow-haired man's head, and a small green sword materialized out of thin air, its surface wreathed in green light, and it slashed down with incredible speed.

With a tearing sound!

The yellow-haired man's body was split in two, and the remnant soul within was ground to pieces by the fierce sword qi.

Only then did the veiled young woman and the obese young man snap back to their senses, immediately turning to flee in opposite directions, while hastily offering up various immortal artifacts that transformed into layers of light screens to protect their bodies.

Just then, a red shadow flickered before the veiled young woman, and the Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable appeared out of thin air, blocking her path, and waved his hands.

Rings of golden light radiated from his body, enveloping the veiled young woman. She had been flying forward with all her might and now plunged headlong into the golden light, her movements instantly slowing.

'Weren't you quite arrogant just now? Now it's my turn!'

The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable let out a cold laugh, formed hand seals, and pointed. Amid a piercing screech, several fiery red flying swords shot out, slashing down at the veiled young woman.

Han Li glanced at the Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable, then looked at the obese young man, but did not immediately act.

He shifted his gaze to the emerald green gourd, pondered for a moment, then patted the gourd again.

The obese young man's escape speed was extremely fast; in an instant, he had reached the edge of sight, about to disappear into the distant horizon.

A red light shot out from the gourd's mouth, moving at an inconceivable speed, and appeared behind the obese young man in a flash.

With a crisp 'puff,' the various protective lights on the obese man's body shattered like paper under the red light's strike.

A large hole was punched through the obese young man's lower abdomen, and the nascent soul inside was shattered in one blow.

At that moment, a small green sword appeared above the obese young man's head and slashed down, splitting his body in two and shredding his remaining soul.

After cleaving the youth's corpse, the small green sword emitted a beam of green sword light, rolled up the storage artifact on the corpse, and flew back.

Han Li stood still without moving, gazing at the emerald green gourd, his eyes flickering slightly.

That red light was precisely the law power he had absorbed into the gourd after shattering the flaming immortal sword earlier.

A smile curled at the corner of his mouth, and he flipped his hand to put away the emerald green gourd.

Beside him, green light flashed several times, and two small green swords materialized, each carrying a storage artifact—one purple, one yellow—belonging to the yellow-haired man and the obese young man.

Han Li waved his hand to put away the two small green swords and the storage artifacts, then flicked his fingers to shoot out two flames, reducing the corpses of the yellow-haired man and the obese young man to ashes.

Just then, a piercing scream rang out, and Han Li looked up.

In the distance, the veiled young woman had turned into a silver fireball, burning fiercely.

She flailed her arms futilely, trying to extinguish the flames on her body, but to no avail. In an instant, she was reduced to ashes.

Han Li's figure flickered, and the next moment he appeared beside the Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable.

'Fellow Daoist Li, is that you? Thank you for your help.' The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable turned to Han Li and said calmly.

'Now is not the time for idle talk. Let's leave here first.' Han Li formed hand seals and waved his hands. Two thick golden arcs of lightning shot from his palms, then transformed into numerous golden arcs that interwove and flickered, forming a lightning array.

With a thunderous boom, the lightning array blazed with light.

Han Li and his companion's figures blurred and vanished from the array.

Not long after they disappeared, a speck of five-colored lightning shot over from afar, flashed, and appeared above the mountain hollow.

With a flash of lightning, Su Liu's figure materialized, followed by a man in scholar's robes.

Seeing the scene below, both of their expressions darkened.

'Though faint, I can sense three strands of death qi and resentment. It seems Yi Lian and the other two have been killed.' Su Liu said indifferently.

'Huo Chi Zi is only at the late Golden Immortal stage. With Yi Lian's strength and his two late Golden Immortal subordinates, even if they couldn't capture him, they should have been able to hold him off. How could they have been killed... and in such a short time...' The scholar frowned.

Su Liu swept his gaze downward, then suddenly fixed his eyes on something. He flew down and landed beside the pitch-black bottomless pit created by Han Li's emerald green gourd.

He crouched down, touched the wall of the pit with his fingers, and his expression turned grave. 'Impressive, impressive!'

The scholar also flew down and looked at the bottomless pit, his expression instantly becoming extremely serious.

'This is definitely not something Huo Chi Zi or Yi Lian and the others could have done. It seems someone killed Yi Lian's trio and rescued Huo Chi Zi. This person is no ordinary.' Su Liu stood up and said slowly.

The scholar muttered incantations, and a watery white light emanated from his brow, instantly spreading over dozens of miles.

He formed hand seals, and the white light moved and flickered everywhere like a living thing.

'That's right. Besides Yi Lian and the other three, there is another aura here, likely the killer. But this person is very cunning, leaving behind only a very faint aura—clearly prepared. Finally, he used a lightning spatial array to teleport away with Huo Chi Zi.' The scholar soon stopped and spoke, as if he had witnessed it firsthand.

'Can you trace the destination of that lightning array?' Su Liu pressed.

'I'm afraid not. That lightning array teleported over a very long distance, beyond my ability to deduce.' The scholar shook his head.

Su Liu frowned and fell silent.

'What do we do now?' The scholar waited a moment, and when Su Liu still didn't speak, he couldn't help asking.

'Since we have no leads, let's go back first.' Su Liu was silent for another moment before speaking.

Without waiting for the scholar to respond, he waved his hand and released a stream of five-colored lightning, enveloping both of them, and they shot back in the direction they came.

...

Above a dark green primeval forest in the Black Earth Immortal Domain, a silver lightning curtain fell like a silver waterfall, condensing into a lightning teleportation array in the void, from which Han Li and his companion emerged.

After the lightning faded, the two rose again on flying light and traveled south together for several more days before descending toward an ancient town nestled in a mountain hollow.

After landing, neither spoke immediately. They each used their methods to completely conceal their auras before walking along the dilapidated bluestone road outside the town into the town.

The boundary between inside and outside the town was marked by a badly peeling wooden archway. The black tiles on its top layer were covered in moss, and the lintel below bore the inscription 'Qinglin Town' in three large characters.

Han Li stopped beneath this weathered, slightly tilted archway, looked at the characters, and suddenly recalled his first stop after leaving his mountain village—'Qingniu Town.'

One character different, yet two worlds apart, separated by ten thousand years.

'What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Li?' The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable frowned slightly.

'Nothing, just remembering some past events.' Han Li shook his head.

'I'm already a nervous wreck, and you still have the mind to reminisce? Such a state of mind—I admire it, admire it...' The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable shook his head with a bitter smile.

'Although we've generally headed south, we've also changed direction east and west several times. So far, there's no sign of being pursued. No need to be too tense.' Han Li said with a smile.

The two passed through the archway and went inward, finding that although Qinglin Town was not large, with a few not-too-wide streets and alleys, it had everything—tea houses, taverns, shops, and pharmacies—and seemed bustling.

Before long, they picked a tea house, requested a private room on the second floor, and sat by the window.

The waiter brought a pot of fine Cloud Mountain Mist tea and set out several delicate pastries before withdrawing, leaving Han Li and his companion to sit opposite each other, drinking tea.

Han Li lifted his teacup, gently sniffed it, and felt a fresh fragrance enter his nostrils, raising an eyebrow.

'I didn't expect such fine tea in this ordinary wilderness...' he said in surprise.

The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable took a sip of tea, pursed his lips, but found nothing particularly commendable.

'I am indebted to you again for your help this time, Fellow Daoist Li.' He glanced at the street below the window, then looked at Han Li seriously.

'Rather than that, why not tell me why you were besieged by the current Immortal Palace?' Han Li asked calmly.

'This... Fellow Daoist Li, please forgive me for not being able to speak plainly...' The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable said with some difficulty.

'No matter. I can roughly guess—it must be a problem with your sect. You advised me earlier not to use my identity as an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect, probably because of this, right? You helped me in the valley, so this time I'm repaying that favor.' Han Li waved his hand.

'That's part of it, but more... I didn't want to cause other complications.' The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable sighed and said frankly.

Han Li smiled slightly, took a sip of tea, and was about to speak when his expression suddenly changed.

He abruptly stood up from the table, and with a twist of his wrist, a Green Bamboo Cloudswarm Sword crackling with lightning appeared in his palm.

The Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable stood up only a second later, formed hand seals, and followed Han Li's gaze toward the door of the private room.

At that moment, a silver light suddenly materialized there, emanating strong spatial fluctuations.

A cold light flashed in Han Li's eyes, and green light suddenly blazed on his body.

The sudden burst of energy from him made even the Fiery Heat Immortal Venerable beside him twitch his brow.

'Fellow Daoist, please don't attack. I am not from the Immortal Palace, and I mean no harm.' A familiar voice suddenly rang out.

Two figures emerged from the silver light. One wore a purple robe with curly white hair and a handsome face; the other was dressed in black, young-looking, and quite thin.

It was them?