‘Not good!’ Han Li shouted in his mind as his heart suddenly dropped. He had intended to avoid the ongoing quarrel but now trouble had come to find him.
From the pressure the three parties emitted, it was clear they were all Nascent Soul cultivators. However, the strength of the grey Qi was fluctuating as if its owner was injured. It appeared the other two parties were moving in for the kill.
Unable to completely avoid them, Han Li steeled his heart and flew to the side. He wanted to see whether or not the three would fly past and ignore an insignificant Foundation Establishment cultivator like him.
After Han Li flew for another forty meters, he came to a sudden stop and looked all around him with a bewildered expression.
The cloud of grey Qi soon took the lead and brushed past him. Concealed inside the grey Qi was a pale cultivator wearing a tall crown. When he coldly glanced at Han Li in pa.s.sing, an odd expression appeared on his face before he continued shooting over a hundred meters away.
Following that, a series of world-shaking tremors erupted around him and a three-meter-wide yellow gourd flew over from three hundred meters away. The mouth of the gourd trembled and a cloud of yellow sand burst out, rus.h.i.+ng in the direction of the fleeing grey Qi.
“Soulfall Sand!” When the figure in the grey Qi saw the incoming sand, he abruptly sped up with a fearful expression in an attempt to avoid it.
“Hehe! Brother Glorious Blaze, you’re too slow.” Accompanied by a wild howl of laughter, a large yellow-robed man with a thick beard emerged from the gourd. The large man then formed an incantation gesture before a huge bang sounded out, as the sky was suddenly covered in a deep yellow cloud of sand, inside of which formation flags could occasionally be seen.
King Glorious Blaze, the cultivator within the grey Qi, was alarmed by the sudden development and hastily shot downward only to be met with the sight of yellow sand. The incoming cloud of sand had already enveloped an area of over a kilometer around him.
King Glorious Blaze came to a stop and gave a menacing glare at the yellow-robed man standing on top of the huge gourd. Their standoff only lasted for a moment before the white windstorm and the black devilish cloud quickly arrived beside him, leaving King Glorious Blaze completely surrounded.
The large yellow-robed man calmly said, “Brother Glorious Blaze, when you fought the Grand Yang Sect’s Mister Song, you were struck by the Sunthrust Ruler and your incomplete heavenly corpse body was heavily injured. And now, you find yourself surrounded. So long as you spit out your heavenly corpse pearl and let us place you under a restriction, we’ll let you live. After all, you’ve a.s.sociated with us for a while now, and I would find it somewhat cruel to just scatter your soul.”
King Glorious Blaze appeared exceptionally calm after hearing this and coldly said, “Master Wild Sand, I knew it was you. Ever since I left that ancient tomb, I had felt a faint sense of unease. It seems you were watching me this entire time. From how you lured me out into this trap, it appears you’ve been planning this for a long time. But aren’t you a bit too patient though? You were watching me for ten years while you were scheming. As such, it can’t be considered a surprise that I fell prey to you. But do you really think that a trifling yellow sand formation will be enough to stop me?”
After hearing this, the yellow-robed man replied, “It seems my words fell on deaf ears and now we definitely can’t allow you to escape. Brother Glorious Blaze, don’t blame me for being ruthless. We hadn’t expected that you would carry something as important as the heavenly corpse pearl on your person. Also, don’t forget that in order to make sure this plan was perfect, I filled my gourd with the Bluecrystal Heavensand that Madam Heavenstone spent over a hundred years refining. If Fellow Daoist truly thinks that you can escape with earth movement techniques, then you’re delusional.”
King Glorious Blaze’s expression revealed shock, but after a moment of doubt, he smirked in disbelief and said, “Bluecrystal Heavensand? As if Madam Heavenstone would allow you to borrow something as precious to her as her own life! You sure know how to bluff.”
“Hehe...” Master Wild Sand coldly laughed when he heard this and didn’t bother to refute it, causing King Glorious Blaze’s heart to tremble.
Despite the obvious advantage the three devils had, they now found themselves at a standstill. It seemed like they either feared what would happen if he fought with his life on the line or were planning something else.
When King Glorious Blaze saw this, he rejoiced. Before he had fled, he sent a voice transmission for reinforcements and it shouldn’t be long before they arrived.
Silence filled the air as the four maintained their standoff.
Apart from these four old eccentrics, there was a fifth person trapped in the yellow sand. That person was Han Li, who had been caught off guard and was trapped in the large sand formation alongside them.
Han Li felt particularly gloomy and had remained silent this entire time, hoping he wouldn’t attract any attention. He was currently waiting for an opportunity to slip away when their fight began.
But before he could make his escape, a sharp voice from the cloud of black devilish Qi said, “That Junior over there is in the way. Before we finish our business, let’s get rid of him first.”
The large yellow-robed man glanced at Han Li and dully said, “Right. Let’s kill the pest before it can become a hindrance.”
When Han Li heard this, his heart was set ablaze with anger. It appeared he would have to utilize his last opportunity to lift the Soullock Seal or die.
Without any further hesitation, he grasped his hands in an incantation gesture and softly muttered an incantation, causing his face to quickly cycle through the images of five glowing green ghost faces. Then, five egg-sized green b.a.l.l.s of light flew out from his body and disappeared without a trace.
While this was all happened, the old devil in the black cloud had already attacked. A portion of the black cloud condensed into a huge black python, which fiercely pounced towards Han Li with a gaping maw displaying its incisive fangs.
When the yellow-robed man and the cultivator within the white windstorm saw this, they didn’t bother to launch their own attacks against a meager Foundation Establishment cultivator. But when King Glorious Blaze saw what was happening, his brow faintly stirred and a trace of surprise appeared on his face.
The huge black python quickly arrived above Han Li with its mouth wide open, but then Han Li raised his hand and released a bolt of golden lightning. It struck the huge python whose body trembled before scattering into dust.
Soon after, Han Li began to circulate the magic power in his body and released an astonis.h.i.+ng aura, covering his body in sparkling azure light and abundant spiritual Qi.
After easily striking down the python, he looked at the old devils in front of him and calmly said, “You four can have your fight, but there is no need to involve me. I’m only pa.s.sing through.”
The old devils around him simultaneously looked at Han Li in shock.
At that moment, they realized the cultivator had coincidentally trapped in the spell formation was an existence on par with their own. He was simply concealing himself through some unknown technique.
Did this person harbor any malicious intentions or was he truly only here by coincidence?
The three devils began to ponder about the situation and remained silent as they were absorbed in their thoughts.
King Glorious Blaze felt his heart tremble. Although he knew that Han Li was the cultivator who took the vajra barrier and should be somewhat capable, he didn’t expect that he would possess such an impressive cultivation. King Glorious Blaze’s expression wavered upon this discovery.
Han Li hastily spread his spiritual sense past the yellow sand restrictions and faintly frowned. There truly was some Heavensand inside of it and would need to spend quite a bit of effort to break through it.
After some thought, Han Li calmly spoke to the man standing on top of the large gourd, “Fellow Daoist, you should’ve heard me. I don’t plan on meddling in your affairs, so you should allow me to leave.”
After a moment of hesitation, the yellow-robed man slowly said, “Fellow Daoist, could you tell us your surname and why you were in the Snowmound Mountains?”
“My surname is Han and the mountains were merely along the way. That answer should be to your satisfaction!” Han Li answered with a cold and impatient tone.
There was only a limited amount of time before the Soullock Seal would come back into effect so Han Li couldn’t remain stuck in this situation for long.
“Release the restrictions and allow you to leave?” The yellow-robed man’s expression turned unsightly. He blinked several times and then said, “I fear that won’t do. The sand formation isn’t easy to release. If we were to relax the restrictions, we would be giving him an opportunity to escape. How about Fellow Daoist bear with it for the time being and we release you after we exterminate this old devil?”
King Glorious Blaze chuckled and said, “If Fellow Daoist Han believes those three, then you are truly bringing about your own death. After these three kill me, they will certainly deal with you too in order to keep this ugly affair quiet. If you are wise, you will join together with me in order to break the barrier. My cave residence is near here and so long as you help me break this spell formation, you will have nothing to fear from them once we arrive there. If it is to your liking, I can even make a devilheart oath and will compensate you heavily when we leave.”
Han Li raised his brow when he heard this as the yellow-robed man’s words had left his heart particularly sullen.
“It would be best for Fellow Daoist to clearly understand what there is to gain before he takes action. If you help him, don’t blame us if we act ruthlessly afterwards. You should understand the might of both parties, not to mention that it will be extremely difficult to escape from our sand formation. Surely, you don’t want to die here with him? My conditions are quite simple. You only need to wait here for a little while and when the time comes, we will release you. I’m also willing to swear a devilheart oath on this!”