After a moment of hesitation, Chen Qiaotian said, "My little sister was supposed to marry that year, but the clan she was supposed to marry into switched sides to the Devil Dao. Naturally, we couldn't allow the marriage with Qiaoqian to go through. Afterwards, my little sister became taciturn and showed little interest in men, remaining alone for the rest of her life."
Han Li suddenly recalled a rumor that had spread throughout the sect and his expression unconsciously changed.
"She didn't marry?" An odd expression appeared on Han Li's face and he wordlessly looked to the sky for a moment.
After a long while, Han Li lowered his head and said, "From your expression, it seems you should know who I am, so I won't speak further of myself. The Righteous and Devil Dao have currently gathered together here. Since you plan on entering Devilfall Valley, you had best fend for yourselves." Once Han Li said this, he paid no further attention to the three and tore through the skies in a streak of azure light.
The three Core Formation cultivators respectfully remained silent as Han Li quickly disappeared from sight.
A while later, the woman couldn't help but ask, "Elder Brother, why did that Senior help us? Does he have a relationship to your Chen Clan?"
Glancing in the direction that Han Li disappeared, he bewilderedly said, "Relationship? Our Chen Clan isn't worthy of having a relationship with that Senior. If I guess correctly, you should also know of his esteemed name. In the past, he originated from my Yellow Maple Valley and escaped unscathed from the hands of a Moulan Divine Sage. In the battle at the border, he defeated the Moulan Sacred Bird and executed the Jin Empire's Yin Sifting Sect elder. Surely you should know of his name? But from what he said, he seemed to be close to my deceased sister. How baffling."
The woman was greatly shocked and shouted in alarm, "What? It was that legendary figure? He looks as young as expected. From what my Seniors said, this person was once a member of our Six Sects of Yue. It is inconceivable that his abilities are as magnificent as they are now."
Chen Qiaotian sighed and said, "That's right. When he entered Yellow Maple Valley, I had just reached Foundation Establishment. Later, he entered the Trial of Blood and Fire at the same time as me and my little sister. From then on, things spiralled beyond the scope of imagination and he is now an existence on par with the three Great Heavenly South Cultivators."
The third cultivator, the blue-clothed man, curiously asked, "I heard that Martial Senior Linghu had implored this person to return to the sect, but he was unwilling. Is this true?"
After a moment of hesitation, Chen Qiaotian vaguely said, "I'm not too sure about this. It is possible though." Despite their sworn brotherhood, he was unwilling to mention the matter further. Fortunately, the other two cultivators dropped the matter.
The blue-clothed man changed the topic and said, "We were quite lucky this time around. Elder Brother had just recently refined his golden book and silver brush magic tools and was able to block most of the moths' poisonous powder. Senior Han managed to interrupt the situation and we were able to escape calamity without harm. If Elder Brother had fully refined the golden book, surely we would have nothing to fear from the Yun Brothers."
The female cultivator eagerly said, "That's true. I have previously heard that the Chen Clan had the golden book and silver brush inheritance magic tools. But I didn't think that there was also a refinement method for a magic treasure. Didn't Elder Brother use a flying sword before?"
Chen Qiaotian happily explained, "The golden books and silver brushes that our Chen Clan disciples use are mere counterfeits of the magic treasure. Although I had wished to refine these magic treasures from the start, I never had the materials as I was only able to gather together the materials to refine a flying sword. Fortunately, I was able to gather enough materials over the past few years to refine these magic treasures. I had hoped to use them in Devilfall Valley." But soon, he paused and continued, "Enough. Regardless of what it is said, it is better for us to be careful as Senior Han has said. Cultivators that dare to enter Devilfall Valley are by no means ordinary. It'll be better if we accompany our fellow martial brothers from the Six Sects of Yue."
The two nodded. "Elder Brother's words are reasonable."
"Good. We'll do as Elder Brother has suggested."
The three cultivators then took off, leaving any further discussion for later.
A distance away, Han Li felt his heart in turmoil. He forcefully suppressed the grief he felt for Chen Qiaoqian and buried it in the deepest depths of his heart before forcing himself to continue on his way.
Four hours later, he caught sight of the Myriad Link Mountains as well as the thinning miasma that surrounded it. The verdant forests and towering peaks could all be vaguely seen.
The mountains on the edge couldn't be said to be huge, only wide. As far as the eye could see, the mountain ridge spread to either side as a continuous black line.
Han Li slowed down when he arrived nearby and took a look at his surroundings. It was quiet and had no other traces of cultivators. With an indifferent expression, he flew a bit further and slowly closed his eyes. Suddenly, he spread out his immense spiritual sense and quickly searched a fifty kilometers perimeter around him.
A short moment later, he frowned and opened his eyes. Then with an indifferent expression, he shot through the skies towards a certain destination.
After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, he arrived at a small mountain. There was an old cultivator accompanied by a youth who were sitting cross-legged across from each other and were chatting. At that moment, an azure light flashed above their hands to reveal Han Li standing in the air.
The two were frightened by his sudden appearance, and they hastily stood up. The old man managed to preserve his calm, but the youth wore a face of alarm.
Han Li swept his sights past the two and saw that their cultivations weren't very high. The old man was at the mid-Foundation Establishment stage while the youth was only at the sixth layer of Qi Condensation. It was unknown what they were doing so near the Myriad Link Mountains when their cultivations were so low.
At that moment, the old man used his spiritual sense to glance at Han Li only to discover that his cultivation was at an unfathomable realm. With alarm in his heart, he was just about to perform a deep bow as Han Li's cold words echoed through the air, "There is no need to be alarmed. Can you point me in the direction of the nearest market city? That is all you need to do." Han Li's voice was filled with unquestionable authority.
When the old man heard this, he quickly replied in a respectful manner, "Head west about two hundred kilometers. There is a newly opened market city that Senior may take a look at."
"Head west two hundred kilometers? I got it." Then with a flash of azure light, Han Li disappeared without a trace.
The old man watched with amazement as the azure streak disappeared and turned into a speck of light across the sky and disappeared. The old man and the youth remained dumbstruck by the sight.
...
About two hundred kilometers west, there was an extremely crude temporary market city that had been created with stone formation techniques. There were very few cultivators wandering within.
Han Li didn't pay this any mind and purchased a large number of materials from the stores before flying off towards the mountain range.
He walked over five kilometers deep into the mountain range as the miasma suddenly grew thicker. Soon, he arrived on top of a small, unremarkable mountain.
It was easy work for Han Li to open a new cave residence. With over ten flying swords cutting about, a small and simple residence was carved out of the mountain after only a short moment. After looking at the results, Han Li nodded with satisfaction and promptly placed two simple spell formations around it before entering the cave residence.
He first released Silvermoon and had her cultivate within the cave. He then released the Sovereign Devil Corpse and buried it in a dark room. Afterward, Han Li brought a large number of materials with him in a hidden room.
He sat at the center of the hidden room and took out the jade slip that the Monarch of Soul Divergence had given him before looking through the two Core Formation puppet refinement methods that it contained. These two types of puppets were the same size as the Foundation Establishment grade ape puppets that he had previously created, and they each had their own merits and drawbacks.
One of the puppets had the shape of a huge tortoise with a dense and rough exterior thatt could withstand over three blows from a Nascent Soul stage cultivator. Additionally, it attacked by spitting out balls of lightning flame, an attack on the level of a mid-Core Formation cultivator. However, its sole flaw was that it was incredibly slow and clumsy. If a cultivator were to attack it from close range, it would become an immobile target that wouldn't be able to defend itself.
The other puppet design was that of a tiger, and the tortoise's exact opposite. This puppet didn't have any long range attacks, and its only defense was its swift and light movements. It had crystal claws that were six inches long and capable of easily shredding through the protective barriers of a common Core formation cultivator. It was completely dedicated to close quarters combat.
After looking through the puppets' characteristics, Han Li decided to refine a few puppets from both designs. As such, he would be able to better deal with any situations that Devilfall Valley may place him in.
With that decided, Han Li immersed his spiritual sense into the jade slip and committed the refinement methods to memory. Afterwards, Han Li spent three entire days inside the hidden room while he sat cross-legged and didn't move.
But on the fourth day, Han Li's expression stirred and he pursed his lips before withdrawing his spiritual sense from the jade slip. He then pondered for a moment more, and with a flip of his hand, the jade slip disappeared in a flash of white light.
He flung out the storage pouch at his waist and countless tool refinement materials appeared on the floor with a flicker of white light: rare woods, metal essences, various colored gems, and jade boxes of all sizes.
A short moment later, these items were all gathered together in a large pile in front of Han Li before he recalled the storage pouch back to his waist. Afterwards, he swept his gaze past the materials in the pile.
His eyes dropped onto the jet-black ironwood, and with a deep breath, he pointed at it, summoning it towards him.