Return

"What is your name?" Nangong Wan turned her back to him, then suddenly asked again, her tone betraying neither pleasure nor anger.

"You aren't planning to take revenge on me once we get out, are you?" Rather than answering immediately, Lin Yun asked with some suspicion.

A flicker of unease crossed Nangong Wan's eyes, but she snorted coldly. "Hmph! If I wanted revenge, I could take it right now! Don't forget that I'm a Core Formation cultivator, and some of my magical power has already recovered! You're merely a puny Foundation Establishment cultivator."

With that, Nangong Wan unleashed her aura, revealing her Mid Foundation Establishment cultivation without reservation. She had never expected that practicing the passage of instructions Lin Yun had given her would actually make her cultivation begin recovering ahead of time.

That gave her the confidence to stand her ground against Lin Yun again.

Lin Yun felt that even with his current Early Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could defeat Nangong Wan at Mid Foundation Establishment.

But Nangong Wan was, at her core, a genuine Core Formation cultivator. He was not sure whether he could defeat her in this state. At that thought, Lin Yun shrugged helplessly. "Fine, your cultivation is higher. You're amazing."

After a moment's thought, a gleam stirred in Lin Yun's eyes. "I am Han Li of the Yellow Maple Valley. And you, Senior?"

"Nangong Wan," she replied reluctantly.

Having said that, Nangong Wan ignored Lin Yun and immediately flew into the white jade pavilion in the center of the underground space. A trace of delight entered her voice. "This Golden Treasure Chest is mine."

Lin Yun glanced at it but made no attempt to fight over its contents. It was nothing more than a Restriction Token for entering the Forbidden Land Core Pagoda, and he could get in using Formless Sword Escape anyway.

Once Nangong Wan had put away the golden chest, Lin Yun said, "Fellow Daoist Nangong, shouldn't we leave now? It's almost time to return."

The Seven Sects had agreed to return after five days, and roughly four had already passed.

Nangong Wan walked over to Lin Yun. Her willow-leaf brows lifted slightly at his form of address, but she said nothing about it. Instead, she spoke in a rather unfriendly tone. "With our current strength, we cannot break this Minor Formless Sumeru Restriction. We can only work together to break through the underground space's original restrictions somewhere else."

Lin Yun glanced at her and smiled. "Let me show you how my Formless Sword Escape differs from Old Monster Qiong's formless escape technique. Don't resist."

Since he had already revealed Formless Sword Escape to Nangong Wan, there was no point in hiding it anymore.

With that, he summoned the Clearvoid Invisible Sword and caught Nangong Wan by the wrist. Bringing her with him, he instantly merged with the sword light and became an invisible streak that shot upward toward the ceiling of the underground space.

A moment later.

Not far outside the main chamber of the Greenstone Hall, two figures, one in yellow and one in white, suddenly appeared. They were Lin Yun and Nangong Wan, who had escaped from the underground space.

Only now did Nangong Wan truly understand the difference between Lin Yun's Formless Sword Escape and the formless escape technique. His was actually a spatial escape technique, unaffected by restrictions!

After bringing Nangong Wan out of the underground space, Lin Yun said to her, "Fellow Daoist Nangong, don't forget to keep this secret."

"And until we meet again."

With that, Lin Yun rode his sword light into the sky.

Watching Lin Yun's sword light, Nangong Wan sighed, a complicated expression on her face. Then her expression grew solemn, and she headed toward the Greenstone Hall. Inside, the Covering Moon Sect disciples were trying every means they could think of to open the restrictions and rescue her.

After leaving, Lin Yun used Formless Sword Escape to gather spirit herbs throughout the Ring Mountain Range. Even herbs guarded by powerful demonic beasts fell easily into his pocket.

Since the disciples overseeing matters for the Seven Sects outside the forbidden land all had Spirit-Sniffing Beasts capable of finding hidden spirit herbs, Lin Yun did not put everything he gathered into his Storage Bag.

He placed only ten spirit herbs in his Storage Bag and stored the rest inside his Profound Aperture.

Although the Profound Aperture was a wondrous aperture within the human body, it was also a space that could hold spiritual objects. Moreover, no one could detect them using spirit beasts, magical treasures, divine abilities, or spells.

One day later, on the afternoon of the fifth day since they had entered the forbidden land, the passage opened again.

The Seven Sects' disciples emerged from the forbidden land one after another. Lin Yun displayed a cultivation level at the twelfth level of Qi Refining, exactly as he had when he arrived, and followed an effeminate disciple of the Blade Transformation Fort out through the entrance.

Putting on an exhausted expression, Lin Yun walked to the edge of the Yellow Maple Valley group and casually found somewhere to sit.

The people from the Yellow Maple Valley merely glanced at Lin Yun before turning their attention back to the forbidden land's entrance.

Lin Yun swept his gaze casually over them and noticed the injured Chen siblings among the Yellow Maple Valley disciples. His eyes passed over Chen Qiaoqian's face before he looked away toward the disciples of the other sects.

After his gaze lingered briefly on the delighted face of a green-robed girl who had just emerged with the Spirit Beast Mountain disciples, Lin Yun turned back toward the forbidden land's entrance and muttered inwardly, Han Yunzhi.

She was a named character in the original story, too. Without Han Li's help, he wondered how she had made it out safely.

After another little while, another group began appearing at the forbidden land's entrance in twos and threes. Their expressions varied: some looked delighted, while others wore nothing but dejection. Clearly, their gains within the forbidden land had differed.

Looking around, Lin Yun suddenly realized that not a single Covering Moon Sect disciple seemed to have emerged yet.

He turned his gaze toward the elders leading the Seven Sects and found that all of them looked surprised except those from the Covering Moon Sect. Old Monster Qiong and Fairy Nishang still looked as though they had everything well in hand.

Several more hours passed, and their expressions began to change again.

Watching the shifting expressions of these Core Formation and Foundation Establishment cultivators, Lin Yun found it rather curious. He could not help sighing inwardly. So what if they're immortal cultivators? Looking like this, how are they any different from mortals?

Finally, after another short wait, Nangong Wan appeared at the forbidden land's exit with a group of more than ten Covering Moon Sect disciples. The others from the Covering Moon Sect immediately crowded around them.

Lin Yun merely glanced at them before turning his attention back to the forbidden land's entrance. That old monster Xiang Zhili had yet to appear. He wondered what the old monster had discovered inside.

Unfortunately, his own cultivation was still too shallow. Although he had a way to enter the forbidden land's core, he lacked the ability to explore it.

After joining Fairy Nishang, Nangong Wan looked toward the Yellow Maple Valley group and immediately noticed Lin Yun, who was watching the forbidden land's entrance intently. A strange flicker crossed her eyes before she looked away and began talking with Fairy Nishang.

A moment later, just as the Seven Sects' Core Formation cultivators were about to close the forbidden land's entrance, Xiang Zhili came scrambling and tumbling out.

An old monster at the Deity Transformation stage, indeed. Impressive! Lin Yun could not help marveling inwardly.

After Xiang Zhili emerged, the passage into the forbidden land closed completely.

Then, at Old Monster Qiong's re-

minder, the sects began tallying their gains.

Lin Yun stood near the front of the Yellow Maple Valley group and took the ten spirit herbs he had gathered out of his Storage Bag, earning a couple of lukewarm words of praise from Li Huayuan.

Soon, the Yellow Maple Valley and the Qingxu Sect finished tallying their gains. Without Han Li, Li Huayuan had not the slightest chance of winning his wager with Floating Cloud Zi and Old Monster Qiong.

Li Huayuan's livid expression stood in stark contrast to Floating Cloud Zi's beaming smile.

Unfortunately, once the Covering Moon Sect finished its tally, Floating Cloud Zi's expression became just like Li Huayuan's.

Having lost the wager, Li Huayuan wore a frost-cold expression as he led the Yellow Maple Valley disciples onto the Silver-Armored Horned Python and returned to the Yellow Maple Valley.