"Complete mastery of the art? Heh heh, that is nothing but wishful thinking on the part of those two old monsters. Have they never considered how many years the art of the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light has circulated throughout the Scattered Star Seas? Has anyone ever truly cultivated it to completion? Of course, those two fellows were fortunate — by pure chance they discovered a small Yuan Magnetic mountain on the seabed and moved it back to Heavenly Star City. But then again, since when could the Yuan Magnetic Divine Light be cultivated simply by borrowing an external object? I even suspect that this art was a joke deliberately played by the lofty expert who first created it. What art in this world can suppress all five elements of creation? Besides, with their cultivation bases, those two would be rare existences in this world even without cultivating such a method. What a superfluous undertaking!" Ancestor Ji Yin spoke these words in a dismissive tone.
"I hope it turns out as you say, Senior!" Although Chi Huo was still somewhat worried, that was all he could say.
"That said, apart from Fairy Zi Ling and the other female cultivators, there were actually two more people who escaped from the hands of the Eighteen Heavenly Capital Corpses. That is rather unexpected!" Ancestor Ji Yin suddenly stroked the few sparse whiskers on his chin, a strange gleam flashing through his eyes as he spoke.
"Indeed. Fairy Zi Ling carried the Wood Dragon Stele, the guardian treasure of the Mystic Sound Sect, on her person, and that was how the three of them relied on that stele to shield themselves and escape the Heavenly Capital Corpse's attacks. But the other two were rather strange. At the time I only glimpsed them from afar, yet those two actually released a great many puppets that resembled mechanical men. Although their attacking power was negligible and their defenses were pitifully poor, they could actually control upward of a hundred of them at a single time. That is truly uncanny." Old Freak Chi Huo nodded along, feeling equally puzzled.
"Never mind. Those two are merely two small fish. Pay them no heed! If it were not for the fact that the magic power I can wield after possessing this body is truly meager, along with certain other limitations, I would never have allowed those juniors to slip away before my very eyes. But as long as my primary target, that traitorous disciple, did not get away, that is enough. As for that stolen fragment of the Heavenvoid map, I, your Ancestor, still intend to recover it from him." Ancestor Ji Yin said indifferently, as if he had not placed the escaped Han Li and Qu Hun in his heart at all.
Seeing this, Old Freak Chi Huo did not dare raise the matter again. Before long, he took his leave of Ancestor Ji Yin, transformed into a dark cloud, and flew off into the sky.
As Ancestor Ji Yin watched the black dot that was Old Freak Chi Huo's transformation vanish at the edge of the horizon, a trace of cold mockery rose at the corner of his mouth.
Then he slowly extended a palm and relaxed his five fingers.
In the center of his palm lay a short section of white spider silk, several inches in length.
As Ancestor Ji Yin gazed at this spider silk, a peculiar, thought-provoking expression emerged in his eyes.
"The Blood Jade Spider! I never imagined I would live to see it again. It seems the heavens never seal off every path — I still have a chance!" Ancestor Ji Yin muttered to himself, then suddenly threw his head back and laughed uproariously. The wild laughter shook the air so violently that Elder Zhao and the others nearby turned pale, each of them swaying unsteadily in midair.
"Let's go! Back to the island." Ancestor Ji Yin's laughter stopped abruptly, and he followed it with a great shout. Then he grabbed at the empty air, and the floating middle-aged cultivator flew into his grasp of its own accord. Lifting the man one-handed, he led the group away from the place.
Han Li naturally knew nothing of everything that had transpired a hundred li away. After burying himself deep underground for a full month, trembling with anxiety, he finally crawled back out of the soil, still brimming with suspicion.
Only after carefully using his spiritual sense to confirm that there really was no ambush nearby did he fly off toward Heavenly Star City with Qu Hun, without another word.
This outing had truly left him battered and humiliated. He had nearly lost his life.
What vexed him most was that after braving such enormous danger, he had not even caught a shadow of that Heavenly Thunder Bamboo.
It had most likely fallen into Ancestor Ji Yin's hands. With that, his prospects were utterly finished, and he could only return to Heavenly Star City with his head drooping in dejection.
Heavenly Star City was as prosperous as ever, and the Star Palace cultivators guarding its gates treated him, a senior, with utmost respect.
But Han Li, who had only just scraped past death, could not feel cheerful no matter what, and he entered the city wearing a face full of misfortune.
When he arrived outside his cave abode on the thirty-ninth floor, he was rather taken aback.
For within the restriction at the entrance of his abode, another sound transmission talisman was quietly floating. Han Li's face darkened at the sight.
He frowned, produced the restriction token with a flip of his hand, and then gave it two reluctant, gentle shakes.
At once, a streak of green radiance shot out from the token and flew into the restriction. The sound transmission talisman immediately turned into a tongue of flame and flew out after the green light, arriving before Han Li.
Han Li flicked his finger, and a point of white light struck the sound transmission talisman. The flames instantly blazed up, and then a charming woman's voice issued from within.
At the sound of that voice, Han Li first froze, and then his face filled with rage.
It was Madam Fan's voice!
She had just caused him to endure such terrible suffering, yet she still had the gall to come knocking on his door.
The bellyful of rage Han Li had been suppressing for days erupted in an instant.
At once, red light flashed in his hand, and a fireball the size of a fist appeared upon his palm, about to be hurled out to smash this sound transmission talisman.
But the woman's next words made Han Li's heart stir, and the motion of his hand promptly hesitated.
After a while, Madam Fan's words ended. Han Li casually clapped out the fireball in his hand, then rubbed his chin and sank into deep thought.
To be honest, the fact that the three female cultivators had managed to escape with their lives had surprised Han Li somewhat.
But at present, he was in no mood to show these people of the Mystic Sound Sect any pleasant expression.
And yet, in the talisman, they had invited him to meet at a certain inn, and had once again brought up the matter of the Heavenly Thunder Bamboo, even obliquely hinting that they might still possess some of it in hand. Amid his anger, Han Li's heart grew a little restless at this.
In the end, he reasoned to himself that he might as well go take a look first.
If they intended to bring up matters of vengeance or requests for aid in battle again, he would simply refuse. At most, he would offer spirit stones far above the market price and simply buy that section of bamboo.
Presumably, aside from himself, no one else would have any great use for such a small section of Heavenly Thunder Bamboo.
After all, for a precious material of the wood element like this, apart from being used to refine certain special magic treasures, it generally served as the primary material for crafting a treasure. And according to Madam Fan's description, that section of Heavenly Thunder Bamboo was at most a few inches long; even for refining a single dagger, it would probably not suffice once the impurities were removed.
With this settled in his mind, Han Li's spirits lifted, and he flew toward that inn together with Qu Hun.
Half an hour later, Han Li appeared inside the Longxing Inn and walked side by side with Qu Hun toward the guest rooms on the third floor.
The inn was quite refined in its arrangements: the first two floors lodged mortals, while the third floor was reserved exclusively for cultivators staying there temporarily.
Han Li easily found the room the other party had mentioned, but a thin layer of white light clung to the door of the room. Clearly, the people inside had placed some restrictions upon it as a small warning precaution.
Seeing this scene, a trace of self-mockery could not help appearing at the corner of Han Li's mouth.
It seemed these fair ladies had become birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring — they had been every bit as frightened as he had.
Han Li shook his head lightly, then casually flicked his finger through the empty air. A point of white light struck the restriction, sending ripples spreading outward ring after ring.
No sound came from within, but a moment later, Han Li sensed a thread of spiritual sense fly out from the room, sweep rapidly over him and Qu Hun in a circle, and immediately withdraw back inside.
Then the white light on the wooden door flashed, and the restriction vanished. After that, Fairy Zi Ling's cool, clear voice sounded from within.
"So it is the two seniors who have come. Please enter! We sisters have been waiting for several days now."
Hearing this, Han Li pushed open the door without betraying a hint of expression and slowly walked in with Qu Hun.
The furnishings inside the room were extremely simple. Apart from a redwood table and several antique rattan chairs, there was nothing else at all.
But what astonished Han Li was that there was not a single trace of the Mystic Sound Sect women in the room. Instead, standing in the middle of the room was an unfamiliar young woman with an air of utter languor about her.
This woman was dressed in a yellow garment. Her face was like white jade, her large, luminous eyes bright and limpid, and she was gazing at Han Li with a smile on her face.
"You are Miss Zi Ling?" Han Li was taken aback for a moment before asking in half-disbelief, his face full of hesitation.
Although he had never seen Fairy Zi Ling's true face, the matchless grace of the legendary Fairy Zi Ling could not possibly be this, could it?
Although this yellow-clothed young woman was indeed delicate and comely, she absolutely did not match such an enormous reputation. Could this not be her true face?
Han Li blinked, feeling rather puzzled.
"Senior is a little startled! Could it be that Wang Ning's countenance has disappointed Senior Han somewhat? Regrettably, this is indeed this humble girl's true face!" The yellow-clothed young woman seemed to have discerned Han Li's astonishment, and she spoke calmly with a light laugh.
"True face?" Han Li fixed his gaze on the young woman's countenance for a long moment, then shook his head and said nothing. Although he could not detect anything amiss with her appearance — it looked neither like an illusion cast upon her face nor like a disguise of any kind — he still could not bring himself to believe that this was Fairy Zi Ling's true face.
After all, strange treasures were plentiful in this world. One or two capable of transforming one's appearance or concealing one's true face would hardly be anything remarkable.