After spending the night in the forest, Han Li withdrew the Sovereign Devil Corpse and made his way to the Myriad Link Mountains.
Before he sought out Violet Spirit and the others the day before, he hadn't discovered traces of the Heavenpeak Sect disciples. As a result, he continued to hold onto the medallion that the Heavenpeak Elder had given him but hadn't had a chance to use it. It was also out of the question to seek out Marquis Nanlong. It seemed the Heavenpeak Sect had either found another area of residence or that they hadn't even arrived yet.
Han Li wasn't worried about this and instead prepared a temporary place to stay nearby the mountains and refine a few Core Formations stage puppets in the downtime. With the Yin Yang Rings in his possession, he reckoned Marquis Nanlong would take the initiative to seek him out.
As of current, Han Li faintly realized that the Greatnorth Essence Light wasn't something that existed outside of the entrance to the valley. Most of it appeared at the entrance of the valley. Were this not the case, the Ghost Spirit Sect wouldn't have the ability to take several hundreds of cultivators simultaneously into the valley, regardless of how skilled they may be.
As these thoughts appeared in Han Li's mind, he flew in a streak of azure light and calmly went forward. With his speed, he was able to fly tens of kilometers away after only a short moment. Less than half a day later, he arrived near the Myriad Link Mountains.
He had heard that there were several market cities that had recently opened nearby the Myriad Link Mountains and decided to pay a visit to them along the way and collect a few materials for refining puppets. Additionally, Han Li had acquired quite a few rare materials after the war with the Moulan in exchange for their ancient heritage lantern that he had seized during the battle.
Those materials were nearly priceless and would allow Han Li to craft an amazing quantity of high-grade puppets. As such, he would only be purchasing a few basic puppet materials while inside the city.
As for the materials needed to refine the ancient Nascent Soul stage puppets, the Thousand Bamboo School in the Far West had managed to gather three of the materials, but they were still missing a material known as the Blood Phoenix Wood.
The material was a rarely seen peak grade tool refining material. Although it wasn't as nearly difficult to acquire as the Auric Essence, it was also impossible to find in markets. One would only be able to come across it as a matter of luck. Fortunately, Han Li had already ordered the Drifting Cloud Sect to be on the lookout for the appearance of such a material. If they acquired any information, they were to directly notify him. It would only be a matter of time before he acquired it, but not before he entered Devilfall Valley.
Suddenly, Han Li's expression stirred and he came to a sudden stop. Not far away from him, there was a surge of spiritual Qi fluctuations and flickers of light, where a few cultivators were having a fierce battle. Han Li frowned but didn't pay it much heed. As of current, the area was swarming with all sorts of characters and it wouldn't be rare for enemies to occasionally encounter one another.
With Han Li's cultivation, he approached them from a kilometer away. Meanwhile, the cultivators were still fighting, oblivious to his presence. There were four men and one woman, battling against each other in two parties.
Han Li swept his gaze past them only to discover that they were all Core Formation cultivators at the mid and early stages. However, hostilities between the sides were great. Not only were magic treasures soaring through the skies, but various talismans also ruptured around them.
However, the party of three with the woman were being completely suppressed by the other two cultivators. However, it wasn't due to a more profound cultivation; it was because of the several hundred huge moths that they surrounded the opposing three cultivators with.
These frightening moths were the size of a palm and their wings emitted a poisonous rainbow powder. As a result, the three cultivators had to use a majority of their energy toward keeping themselves free from it. And under the additional assault of the two cultivators' magic treasures, the three found it difficult to endure.
While the three cultivators found themselves at a disadvantage, the battle was far from over. Apart from the poisonous moths and the silver brush and golden scroll magic treasures that the scholarly man wielded, Han Li found the battle to be little of note given their cultivation.
Although he didn't know what sects these cultivators belonged to, Han Li had little interest in being involved with other people's affairs. Just as he thought to fly away, he suddenly spotted an emblem of Yellow Maple Valley from the robes of the scholarly man.
"Yellow Maple Valley?" Han Li glanced at the scholar's face with surprise. As Han Li paused, the battle quickly shifted in favor of the two cultivators controlling the moths.
When Han Li decided to approach, the two cultivators hastily spread out their spiritual sense in alarm and their expressions vastly changed.
The pair of cultivators hastily withdrew their magic treasures, but they had their poisonous moths continue to tangle with the three other cultivators. They flew distantly to the side and saluted Han Li. "May we know the Senior that has graced us with his presence? We are disciples from the Controlling Spirit Sect."
"The Controlling Spirit Sect? You two are Devil cultivators?" When Han Li heard this, he ceased flying and vanished the light he was flying in, revealing his true form.
"You are the Drifting Cloud Sect's Senior Han!" The taller of the two cultivators immediately recognized him and cried out in alarm.
Han Li shot a glance at him and indifferently asked, "You recognize me?"
The Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators grew restless, but they maintained a respectful appearance and one of them replied, "When Senior fought in the border battle, I witnessed Senior Han's vast abilities."
"That is good. Although I don't want to interfere with the affairs of Juniors, I have some kind of a relationship with Yellow Maple Valley. Put away those spirit insects and abandon the battle for today." Han Li spoke resolutely with a glint shining in his eye.
When they heard Han Li, they couldn't help but glance at each other in dismay.
"What? Do you two Fellow Daoists feel that this is difficult to do?" Han Li's expression grew sullen, and his tone turned harsh.
The taller of the cultivators felt his heart drop upon seeing Han Li's change in expression and he inwardly cursed. Since Han Li had decided to involve himself, they had no leeway. He hurriedly replied, "Since it is Senior's orders, we will naturally obey."
He meaningfully glanced at the other cultivator and the two grasped their hands in an incantation gesture. After hastily casting a spell seal to the swarm of moths, they summoned their spirit beast pouches into the air. In an instant, the moths surrounding the three opposing cultivators scattered and they darted into the storage pouches.
The three cultivators had already seen Han Li, but they were unable to clearly hear the conversation the other two had with him due to being assaulted by the moths. But now that they were unfathomably released from the moths, they knew it had something to do with Han Li. In their delight, they exchanged a glance with one another and hastily flew towards him.
At that moment, the two Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators felt unwilling to further stay. One of them carefully said, "Would Senior have any other commands for us? We will follow them as best we can."
Han Li guessed their intentions and waved his hand. "There is nothing else. You two may leave."
"Then we will both take our leave." When the two heard him, they hastily bowed and immediately set off in streaks of green light.
At that moment, the other three cultivators flew over.
Seeing that the Controlling Spirit Sect cultivators had left, the three glanced at each other in astonishment. Their leader, the middle-aged green-robed scholarly man, stepped forward and saluted Han Li. He wore a respectful expression and said, "Many thanks for Senior's rescue, I cannot thank you enough. May I know Senior's name?" The scholarly man was surprised to see how young Han Li appeared, but he felt as if his appearance was somewhat familiar.
Instead of answering, Han Li expressionlessly asked, "You are cultivators from Yellow Maple Valley?"
"Junior is Yellow Maple Valley's Chen Qiaotian. These are my sworn siblings, disciples of the Saber Transformation Dock. Is Senior acquainted with Martial Ancestor Linghu?" When he saw that Han Li had assisted them despite not belonging to the Six Sects of Yue, he realized that this Nascent Soul Senior should have a relationship with their Martial Ancestor Linghu.
"Chen Qiaotian? You're a member of the Chen Clan?" A strange expression appeared on Han Li's face.
The scholarly man revealed a stunned expression, "Senior knows of my clan?"
Han Li grew silent and began to closely examine the scholarly man, much to the unease of the three Core Formation cultivators.
Han Li sighed and slowly said, "The Chen Clan is one of the three great clans of Yellow Maple Valley. How could I not know of it. What is your relationship with Chen Qiaoqian?"
"Senior recognizes my younger sister?" The scholarly man asked in alarm.
"Chen Qiaoqian is your little sister?" Although Han Li had guessed this was the case, a trace of surprise appeared in his eyes. As for the scholarly man, he was at a complete loss as to what relationship this expert had with his little sister.
Han Li's expression wavered for a moment before he slowly asked, "Is she doing well?"
With an odd expression, Chen Qiaotian replied, "My little sister was unable to form a core and died over a hundred years ago from an illness."
"She's dead..." Han Li couldn't help but mutter this as her lovely appearance suddenly appeared in his mind. He suddenly recalled the last time they had seen on their trip to the mountains, where she bared her feelings to him. He stood in place for a time as if at a complete loss.
Seeing that Han Li had remained silent with an odd expression on his face, Chen Qiaotian couldn't help but ask, "Senior knows my little sister?"
Forcefully suppressing the sadness in his heart, he calmly replied, "Of course I know her. When I last saw your little sister, she said she was going to marry. But that was before the Invasion of the Devil Dao. I don't know whether or not the marriage went through."