Three days passed in the blink of an eye.
Han Li brought himself to peak condition, his cultivation steady at the qi refinement fifth layer, only a hair's breadth from the sixth. He secured all his useful pills and talismans close to his body, along with the mysterious pale-green Small Bottle and the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land token, leaving only an ordinary Azure Edge Sword at his waist as a disguise.
Before leaving, he bid farewell to no one. As for Mo Juren, he only needed to say he had accepted a sect mission and was heading out to gain experience. That old fiend was eager to have him out of the sect's sight, making it easier to scheme in secret or draw less attention, and naturally would not stop him.
The morning mist had yet to disperse. Han Li slipped silently out of his courtyard, like a wisp of smoke melting into the dawn haze, and sped toward the outskirts of Seven Mysteries Mountain. Using Shadow Step, he moved with elusive swiftness, far too fast for ordinary disciples to notice.
Yet just as he was about to cross the boundary of the sect grounds, a fierce streak of sword energy suddenly shot in from the side, aimed straight at his back!
The strike was swift and vicious, coming from a treacherous angle and carrying spiritual power at the peak of the qi refinement fourth layer. It had clearly been planned well in advance, with every intention of killing him!
As though he had eyes in the back of his head, Han Li twisted unnaturally just before the sword energy struck. Like a boneless snake, he narrowly slipped his vital points out of its path. The sword energy skimmed the hem of his robe and carved a deep groove into the ground.
He stopped, slowly turned, and fixed his attacker with an icy gaze.
Behind an ancient pine beside the mountain path, Li Feiyu stood holding a new sword that gleamed with cold light. Resentment twisted his face, and his eyes brimmed with crazed killing intent.
"Han Li! You think you can just walk away? Dream on!" Li Feiyu's voice was hoarse. Clearly, he had not spent the past three days resting and healing, but stewing in unbearable resentment and bitterness. "The humiliation at the outer sect tournament, Junior Sister Caihuan distancing herself from me-it's all because of you! Today, I'll kill you!"
Two fierce-eyed disciples stood behind him, both at the qi refinement third layer. They were clearly helpers Li Feiyu had recruited, and they surrounded Han Li in a triangle.
Han Li remained indifferent. He regarded the near-mad Li Feiyu as though looking at an ant hopping about. "You're courting death."
"You're at death's door, and you still dare act so arrogant! Attack together! Kill him!" Li Feiyu roared. His sword erupted with dazzling azure light as he unleashed his family's ultimate art, the Flowing Wind Sword Technique. Layer upon layer of sword shadows swept over Han Li like a raging storm. The other two disciples attacked simultaneously, a saber and an axe whipping through the air to cut off his retreat.
Their combined assault was formidable. Even an ordinary disciple at the qi refinement fifth layer would likely have been thrown into a frantic scramble.
But Han Li merely snorted coldly and advanced instead of retreating!
He did not even draw his sword. Bringing two fingers of his right hand together like a blade, he gathered a thread of dark spiritual power, condensed and black as ink, flickering at his fingertips. Then he thrust a finger toward the sky full of sword shadows!
Hiss!
A faint sound rang out, like a sharp blade slicing through silk.
The seemingly invincible Flowing Wind sword shadows burst like bubbles the instant they touched the black blast from his finger! Li Feiyu felt an indescribably cold, piercing force surge along his blade. The shock split the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, and nearly knocked the sword from his grasp!
"How is that possible?!" Horror filled his eyes. How many days had it been? Han Li's strength seemed several times more terrifying than during the tournament!
The other two disciples' saber and axe had already reached him. Han Li flickered like a ghost and casually struck twice with his left palm.
Thud! Thud!
Two dull impacts rang out. As though struck by a massive hammer, the disciples' chests caved in. They spat blood and flew backward into the mountain wall, their fate unknown.
[Ding! Defeated two cultivators at the qi refinement third layer. Plundered a portion of their vitality.]
At the sight, Li Feiyu's soul nearly fled his body. Every shred of fighting spirit vanished, and he turned to run.
"Trying to leave now? Too late."
Han Li's icy voice sounded beside his ear like a demonic summons for his life. The next instant, a palm shrouded in black currents had pressed down on the crown of his head!
Soul Searching Technique!
Han Li could not be bothered to waste words. He directly unleashed this tyrannical ability and forcibly rifled through Li Feiyu's memories! He wanted to see whether anyone else was directing Li Feiyu from behind the scenes, and whether he knew further secrets about Mo Juren or the Seven Mysteries Sect.
"Aaah!" Li Feiyu let out an agonizing scream. His entire body convulsed violently, his eyes bulged, and blood streamed from his seven orifices. His face twisted until it no longer looked human. The pain inflicted by the Soul Searching Technique surpassed any torture in the world.
A moment later, Han Li released him. Li Feiyu collapsed like a heap of mud, his eyes unfocused and drool spilling from his mouth. He had been reduced to an idiot. Restrictions had been planted in his memories, preventing Han Li from probing the core secrets, but he still obtained some useful information: the Li Family's hostility toward him, several sect elders' differing attitudes toward the dark spiritual root, and... Mo Juren's recent secret collection of obscure, sinister materials whose purpose remained unknown.
"Trash." Han Li snorted coldly and flicked a black spark from his fingertip onto Li Feiyu. Flames engulfed him in an instant, reducing him to ash. He disposed of the other two disciples' corpses in the same manner, erasing every trace as though they had never existed.
[Ding! Killed one cultivator at the peak of the qi refinement fourth layer. Plundered eighty percent of his cultivation, a portion of his vitality, and fragments of the cultivation technique "Flowing Wind Sword Technique." Cultivation increased to the qi refinement sixth layer!]
An even greater surge of pure spiritual power poured into his dantian. Han Li's aura soared instantly as he officially broke through to the qi refinement sixth layer! He had crossed two layers in succession, slain his enemies with a turn of his hand, and advanced as naturally as water flowing into a ready channel!
The mountain wind swept away the last trace of the scorched smell. Expressionless, Han Li straightened his robes, as though he had merely swatted a few flies. He glanced toward the Seven Mysteries Sect, his gaze seeming to pierce the layers of mountains and settle inside that medicine chamber.
"Mo Juren, enjoy the last of your days."
With that, he lingered no longer. His figure became a barely visible azure blur and swiftly vanished into the dense forest leading out of the mountains, formally stepping into the vast, turbulent world of immortal cultivation.
About an incense stick's worth of time after Han Li left, a graceful figure in white quietly appeared at the site of the battle. Nangong Wan crouched and brushed her slender, jade-like fingers over the almost imperceptible traces of ash on the ground. Sensing the lingering fluctuation of pure, chilling dark attribute spiritual power in the air, she revealed a flicker of astonishment in the beautiful eyes above her veil.
"The qi refinement sixth layer... soul searching and erasing all traces... what ruthless methods," she murmured. "Mo Juren, this time, you may truly have provoked an extraordinary young fellow."
She rose and looked in the direction Han Li had gone, her gaze complicated. Then her figure gradually faded, as though melting into the sunlight, and disappeared.
Within the Seven Mysteries Sect, it was only several days later that the unexplained disappearance of Li Feiyu and his two followers caused a minor stir. In the end, their disappearance was attributed to misfortune while training outside, and the matter was left unresolved. When Mo Juren heard, he merely sneered and did not investigate further. All his attention was fixed on completing his preparations as quickly as possible and possessing Han Li's body.
Little did he know that the "prey" in his eyes had already bared his fangs and set out on the path of turning upon his hunter. A scheme to kill him was quietly brewing.
Han Li's first journey away from the sect was destined to be anything but peaceful. The Falling Cloud Mountains and the Black Fiend Cult were merely the first stop on his rise to fame. A wider world and more ruthless battles awaited him ahead.
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