Vines covered the small valley’s surroundings as a ball of white light shot towards it. Within the white light, there was a beautiful green-robed woman sitting upright on top of a snow-white bird. 

In the blink of an eye, the bird arrived above the small valley and folded its wings, diving towards the dense vines below. The woman raised her hand and launched a spell seal down below, causing the scene to tremble with green light. The vines suddenly disappeared to reveal a green light barrier. The woman dismounted from the bird and vanished through the barrier with a flash of white light.

The barrier disappeared to reveal six cultivators all clothed in green as well. They were sitting around a five-pointed spell formation about twenty meters wide at the entrance of the small valley. With one of the cultivators sitting cross-legged at each of the spell formation’s corners, it began to flicker with spirit light. The remaining cultivator was a long-bearded old man sitting at the center of the spell formation with his eyes closed.

Suddenly, the old man opened his eyes and looked up at the sky. There was a white light slowly descending onto them. A moment later, a green-robed woman appeared in front of the old man and saluted him as soon as she landed.

The green-robed woman lowered her head in respect and said, “This disciple greets her Martial Senior. The miasma on the mountain range has completely disappeared. There are many cultivators that have already gathered in front of Devilfall Valley.” 

The long-bearded old man twirled his beard and slowly asked, “Has the Ghost Spirit Sect made an appearance yet?”

After a moment of thought, the woman carefully replied, “Apart from a few, a majority of the Ghost Spirit Sect have yet to take action.”

The long-bearded old man snorted and said, “Since the Ghost Spirit Sect have yet to take action, we must not move hastily either. So long as we pay attention to their elders, we won’t encounter any mishap. Martial Niece Han, continue monitoring their movements and as soon as there is a change, immediately report back.”

“Yes, this disciple will set off.” The green-robed woman accepted his orders without any opposition. After saluting the old man once more, she flew off on the spirit bird. 

The old man watched as the green-robed woman left until she disappeared and his eyes brightly glinted as he momentarily sank into thought. The five cultivators sitting around the spell formation were completely unperturbed by the appearance of the woman surnamed Han. They all remained completely still as if they were made of wood.

The long-bearded old man didn’t find this out of the ordinary at all and closed his eyes once more.

...

On the top of a lofty mountain, there was a middle-aged, grey-robed Daoist priest standing on top of a boulder. He was staring in the direction of Devilfall Valley with a squint as raging winds blew against him. 

The Daoist priest turned his head to look at two sinister puppets at his side with a trace of satisfaction. He muttered, “With these two Nascent Soul level ancient puppets, I’ll reap a great harvest from this journey to Devilfall Valley.” 

With that said, the Daoist priest raised his arm and struck the puppets with a spell seal. In an instant, the puppets quickly shrunk and shot into his sleeve. Soon, the Daoist priest tore through the skies in the direction of Devilfall Valley as a streak of red light.

In another corner of the sky, there were three streaks of light arranged in a row, flying towards Devilfall Valley.

If Han Li were to see the trio, he would be greatly surprised as he would recognized two of them. One was a sallow-faced yellow-robed old man, Ancestor Linghu of Yellow Maple Valley. By his side was a white-robed woman with a pale complexion and a chilly expression, the grand elder of the Masked Moon Sect and Nangong Wan’s Senior Martial Sister.

The one that Han Li wouldn’t recognize was the old man, who had a steep brow and a lion’s nose.

The three were completely silent as they hurried on their way and soon disappeared into specks of light that faded from the sky without a trace.

At the same time, many cultivators began to appear near the Myriad Link Mountains, seeming completely confident in their abilities.

As of current, Han Li had already arrived nearby Devilfall Valley. He was sitting on a mound several kilometers away from its entrance, pensively looking in the direction of Devilfall Valley.

At that moment, Han Li used his spiritual sense to probe a radius of tensome kilometers nearby. He found that over a thousand cultivators had already gathered here with many Nascent Soul eccentrics hidden amongst them. While these cultivators weren’t characters on par with the Three Great Heavenly South cultivators, they were all exceptional individuals who wielded strange and troublesome secret abilities.

Han Li wasn’t so conceited as to believe that he had nothing to fear from cultivators that weren’t on the level of the Three Great Heavenly South Cultivators or the Moulan Divine Sages. It would only take a single mistake for him to lose his life in the valley.

As Han Li pondered, he would occasionally take the measure of the entrance to Devilfall Valley. If it weren't for the cultivators that were gathered there, Han Li wouldn’t have believed that such a common mountain opening would be the entrance to Devilfall Valley. However, there were roiling grey clouds above the entrance that surged with spiritual Qi. It was an odd omen that left a cold impression on those who saw it.

From the outside, the entrance appeared only thirty meters wide, but he was only able to see three hundred meters into the valley when he attempted to probe it with his spiritual sense. A restriction of the valley had blocked him from seeing any further and he was unable to personally witness the so-called spatial tears.

Although Han Li could forcefully puncture the restrictions with his spiritual sense, he hesitated to do so at an area as dangerous as Devilfall Valley and cautiously withdrew his spiritual sense. Soon after, Han Li sat cross-legged on the mound and he closed his eyes.

Time slowly passed by until half a day later when Han Li sensed a familiar aura amongst the increasing number of cultivators that gathered there. 

After some thought, Han Li was able to identify them and he frowned.

During that moment, there was a nearby voice that shouted with alarm, “The Moulan have arrived. The Moulan spell warriors also wish to search for treasures in Devilfall Valley.”

Following that announcement, an uproar filled the entrance and Han Li felt his heart tremble. When he opened his eyes, he saw a strange flying carriage moving in their direction. The carriage’s body was round and over sixty meters in length. It sparkled with silver light and was engraved with talisman characters all over its body. There were over ten cultivators dressed in Moulan robes standing in the carriage, revealing them to be Moulan spell warriors without a doubt.

When Han Li saw this, he wore an astonished expression. Although he had heard rumors that the Moulan were going to arrive, he hadn’t believed it to be true.

After all, the Heavenly South may have made peace with the Moulan but the battle at the border had left both sides with vast injuries. The Moulan had formed a deep hatred between many sects and without the passage of several hundred years, this hatred wouldn’t easily disperse. Under such circumstances, it was rather inconceivable that the Moulan would dare to enter so deep into the heart of the Heavenly South to look for treasures in Devilfall Valley. Could it be that they had no fear that vengeful cultivators would plot against them from behind?

Just as Han Li thought this, the huge carriage arrived above the entrance to Devilfall Valley, clearly revealing the faces of the spell warriors it contained.

Han Li glanced at the two in the lead and came to a realization. With those two in charge, they had no fear of retaliation from common cultivators. However, it was something of a mystery as to Han Li why the Three Great Heavenly South cultivators would allow them entry.

The two spell warriors leading them were the scholarly Divine Sage surnamed Zhong and the woman surnamed Le who guarded the ancient lantern. 

The flying carriage dropped on a small mountain not far from Han Li. After the spell warriors walked out of the carriage, Spell Warrior Le struck the chariot with a spell seal and it shrunk in size.

When the others at the entrance of Devilfall Valley saw this, they were astonished and felt the same surprise as Han Li.

Just as the cultivators watched the Moulan’s arrival with cold and hostile gazes, light flashed from the horizon to reveal over a hundred streaks of light flying towards Devilfall Valley.

“It’s the Ghost Spirit Sect!” Shouts echoed from those who recognized them and the attention directed at the Moulan shifted toward the sky. As for Han Li, he also glanced upward with a cold snort.

The speed of these traveling lights couldn't be considered fast. They calmly arrived above the valley’s entrance and descended three hundred meters away from it.

The lights disappeared to reveal over a hundred black-clothed cultivators, all of them Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators. The three leading them caught Han Li’s attention. He recognized the one standing to the left, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master, Wang Tiangu. His heart stirred and he swept his gaze past the crowd only to spot Wang Chan and Yan Ruyan.

Wang Chan appeared to be in good health and still had all his limbs, but Yan Ruyan appeared somewhat sallow.

‘Could it be the Yin Devil Execution didn’t injure him? Or did he just restore his limb and hide it?’ As these thoughts quickly appeared in Han Li’s mind, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer. But given Han Li’s current abilities and reputation, Wang Chan could no longer be considered a threat. As a result, his attention turned to the other two Nascent Soul cultivators in the lead.

The cultivator at the center was a middle-aged man wearing wide robes whose harsh expression possessed an uncommon air of authority. From a glance, one could tell he was in charge. To his right was an old man with a pale complexion that had peppered hair, sharp eyes and a sinister aura.

While they were both Nascent Soul cultivators they appeared unfamiliar to Han Li, as if they hadn’t participated at the battle at the border. However, the old man’s mid-Nascent Soul cultivation caught Han Li’s attention.