With the sound echoing, the Wind Cloud Banner in Uncle-Master Huang's hand suddenly erupted with a blinding yellow light, expanding and contracting before exploding.
Immediately, a white mist far denser and more expansive than before surged wildly from the banner, engulfing everyone—friend and foe alike—within moments.
"You're courting death!"
From within the mist came the furious roar of the skeletal figure and the coquettish laughter of the bewitching woman, followed by several colossal explosions. Clearly, Uncle-Master Huang had already engaged the two Core Formation stage cultivators.
Han Li and the others naturally wouldn't let this chance to escape slip away. Almost simultaneously with the reappearance of the mist, the Yellow Maple Valley cultivators scrambled to flee on their artifacts.
Han Li, relying on the Divine Wind Boat's superior speed, soared directly upward.
This direction had the densest concentration of enemy cultivators, though their magical power seemed weaker compared to other directions. Han Li felt this was the most suitable route to break through.
However, few shared his thinking. Most of his fellow disciples fled toward directions with fewer interceptors, making Han Li shake his head in disapproval.
In the blink of an eye, Han Li leveraged the chaos to slip past several enemies, reaching the edge of the encirclement.
Here the mist had thinned considerably, allowing the Demonic path cultivators to vaguely make out Han Li's rapidly approaching figure.
But thanks to the Azure Fire Miasma, what they saw was simply a large mass of blue-red dense fog, which gave them pause.
However, three nearby Demonic path cultivators almost simultaneously raised their hands—a golden light, three yellow beams, and a vast expanse of black gas surged toward Han Li.
Han Li snorted, pointing his finger at the turtle shell artifact before him. The shell instantly expanded several times, rushing forward to meet the attack. Simultaneously, he poured magical power into the artifact, accelerating the Divine Wind Boat by another thirty percent.
He had already made up his mind—now was no time for prolonged combat. He'd rather expend more magical power to seize every moment to escape first; otherwise, once other enemies closed in, he wouldn't stand a chance. Besides, he had considerable confidence in the turtle shell artifact. After all, its hardness even surpassed his white shield.
Just as these thoughts flashed through his mind, the turtle shell collided with the golden light and yellow beams, forcefully blocking them. But the remaining black fog was remarkably cunning—it suddenly split in two, avoiding a direct clash with the turtle shell. Instead, it slid past on both sides. Though slightly delayed, it still reached Han Li's flank, coalescing into a massive ghostly head several zhang wide. It lunged viciously toward Han Li on the Divine Wind Boat.
Upon seeing this, Han Li felt no alarm—only a cold inner sneer. He raised his single hand, releasing over a hundred fireballs. Instantly, the ghost head was torn to shreds. At this point, Han Li had considerable experience dealing with these low-level Demonic path heretical techniques.
Seizing the opportunity, Han Li shot through the disintegrating ghost head in a flash, breaking free from the encirclement in an instant and leaving those Demonic path cultivators behind.
Having failed their attack, these cultivators naturally refused to let him go. They immediately raised a clamor, riding their artifacts in hot pursuit. But Han Li paid them no mind, simply continuing to fly at full speed.
As Han Li had guessed, the Divine Wind Boat was indeed a rare fine-quality flying artifact. Initially, he could still hear those cultivators cursing behind him, but before long their voices faded away. After a final sprint of several quarters of an hour, not a single figure remained in his wake.
Glancing back at this scene, Han Li still didn't dare relax. He continued flying for a while longer before slowing down and surveying his surroundings. Then, tapping the Divine Wind Boat with his toe, he descended rapidly.
Han Li's current condition wasn't good. Forming the joint protective barrier had already consumed over half his magical power, and this wild flight had depleted it further—he desperately needed to recover! Otherwise, encountering a powerful enemy would spell trouble.
With this thought, Han Li landed on the desolate mountain below. He withdrew the Azure Fire Miasma's toxic fog, found a concealed spot beneath a large boulder, and sat cross-legged.
He then retrieved a mid-grade blue spirit stone from his storage pouch and began replenishing his magical power.
Qu Hun stood beside him, keeping watch.
Han Li had just sat down when a panicked red light streaked across the sky overhead, pursued by five or six streaks of black and green radiance.
They flashed past above Han Li in rapid succession—clearly another lucky escapee who'd broken through the encirclement.
But Han Li ignored all this. Only when his mind reached a state of absolute emptiness could his magical power recover faster.
After an unknown amount of time, Han Li opened his eyes. His depleted magical power had recovered seventy to eighty percent. With his reserves partially restored, he had no intention of lingering here a moment longer!
He glanced at the sky—dusk was approaching, perfect for slipping away under the cover of darkness.
But Han Li didn't rush off. Instead, he slowly extended his spiritual sense, carefully searching the area.
Those Demonic path cultivators were indeed nowhere nearby. They must have broken through their ambush and gone to pursue the main force.
At this thought, Han Li shook his head. With their strength, the main force was likely in grave danger!
Han Li didn't dwell on it further. He released the Divine Wind Boat, oriented it toward the Kingdom of Yuanwu, and soared skyward with Qu Hun.
Though most cultivators from the Kingdom of Yuanwu had perished in the Kingdom of Yue, the Six Demonic Sects would need months just to digest the Yue Kingdom's cultivation world. The Kingdom of Yuanwu was temporarily safe.
Han Li had no intention of heading to any gathering point to rejoin the Yellow Maple Valley's main force. That fleeing column had probably already been caught by the Demonic cultivators—going there now would be walking into a trap.
Besides, he'd long considered using this opportunity to find a new place to cultivate. Following Yellow Maple Valley into exile in another nation would only earn him the position of a senior steward. Han Li was unwilling to spend his life that way.
If his predictions were correct, even after the Demonic path swallowed several nations, they would eventually consolidate their forces to battle the Righteous Alliance once more.
Then the entire Heavenly South region would know no peace!
This fundamentally contradicted Han Li's original intention of cultivating in tranquility!
For now, he would first seek refuge in the Kingdom of Yuanwu, lay low, check if that teleportation array could be repaired, and observe how the situation developed.
If things turned truly dire, he planned to use that teleportation array to go elsewhere, avoiding this conflict altogether.
These thoughts silently turned over in Han Li's mind as the Divine Wind Boat transformed into a streak of white light, vanishing beyond the horizon.
...
Two days later, after taking a wide detour, Han Li finally appeared in the sky above the border between the Kingdom of Yue and the Kingdom of Yuanwu.
He glanced back at the mountains of the Kingdom of Yue behind him, sighed softly, and then flew with Qu Hun into the Kingdom of Yuanwu.
Little did Han Li know, less than half a day after his entry into the Kingdom of Yuanwu, a Demonic path cultivator squad of several dozen also appeared at this location and set up camp. They were specifically tasked with guarding this hundred-li stretch of border, prepared to intercept any Yue Kingdom cultivators attempting to flee into Yuanwu.
...
Once inside the Kingdom of Yuanwu's territory, Han Li rode his artifact straight toward Gold Horse City.
After three or four days of flight, he finally spotted the hills west of Gold Horse City.
Carefully surveying from high altitude, he eventually located Qi Yunxiao's dwelling and descended slowly.
The moment Han Li jumped from the Divine Wind Boat, his gaze swept across the surrounding basin, and his heart sank.
The seven or eight stone houses stood in disarray—overturned and broken. The scattered rocks and green bamboo before the houses were similarly wrecked, most destroyed.
The protective formation Qi Yunxiao had set up had been forcibly broken through.
Han Li's face darkened. He flipped his palm, gripping a magical artifact, then advanced toward the mostly collapsed houses.
Though this scene clearly happened long ago, it was still better to be cautious!
Approaching the houses, he searched room by room. In one nearly completely destroyed stone structure, he found a body that had been decaying for some time.
Holding his nose, Han Li examined the head closely for a long while, his brows furrowing deeply.
The deceased was not Qi Yunxiao, but his loyal shopkeeper servant.
As for the other houses, no other bodies were found, which gave Han Li some small relief.
Han Li had just finished his search when his expression suddenly turned cold. After a few flickers of movement, he was back on the Divine Wind Boat, gazing toward the southern sky.
From the numerous hills to the south, two brilliant blue lights suddenly shot forth, racing toward his position.
Moments later, they halted a short distance before Han Li. The light dimmed to reveal an old man and a young man.
The elder had an ordinary appearance but narrow, elongated eyes and a goatee—he was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator, his face filled with suspicion.
The other was a young man in his twenties, reasonably handsome, though his eyes burned with malice as he glared viciously at Han Li. However, his cultivation was merely at the Qi Condensation stage.