When Violet Spirit saw the huge mountain of ice on the verge of breaking, she paled and unconsciously turned to look at Han Li.

At the moment, Han Li appeared unperturbed and without a trace of panic. When Violet Spirit saw this, her heart steadied, knowing that he most likely had further methods to protect himself.

But to Violet Spirit’s surprise, Han Li didn’t make further use of any magic treasures or techniques. Although the blue ice mountain trembled underneath the boulders and Qi wave, it held fast and showed no further signs of breaking.

In her delight, Violet Spirit discovered that the mountain of ice wasn’t condensed from ordinary glacial Qi and was far more hardy than one would expect.

After the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the astonishing white wave of Qi eventually finished rushing past them. It continued rumbling into the distance before finally disappearing from sight.

Violet Spirit sighed, summoning her embroidered scarf back into her hand from its mist form. She looked at Han Li and puzzlingly asked, “What is that? How could Devilfall Valley possess such a thing?” 

Han Li’s eyes flickered and he muttered, “I’m not sure. However, there’s something strange about the spiritual Qi that appeared in the distance. It was extremely chaotic. Could such an astonishing wave of Qi have come from a spatial tear instead of a person? However, the wave of Qi was so fearsome that the valley’s restrictions weren’t able to stop it. Nascent Soul cultivators should be able to deal with it well enough, but if that wave reached the outer valley, those Core formation cultivators would almost certainly perish.”

When Violet Spirit heard Han Li, she frowned and also used her spiritual sense to look in the direction that the Qi wave had arrived from. She was only able to sense that the spiritual Qi was somewhat abnormal since her spiritual sense wasn’t able to reach that far.

“There is something amiss. Brother Han, could it be you plan on investigating the source of this?”

Han Li hesitated for a moment and spoke with a tone of certainty, “Why would I plan on investigating it? Regardless of whether the wave was artificially made or a coincidental explosion, I don’t want to look for trouble despite how curious I may be. Let’s return to the outer valley since we’ve already fulfilled our objective. With this strange occurrence, the Ghost Spirit Sect will most likely be too occupied to find us. It’s a good opportunity to leave without being noticed.”

Afterwards, he pointed to the shield in front of him and it quickly shrank before returning into his sleeve.

As for the ice mountain, Han Li pressed his hand against its walls and blue light suddenly shined. The mountain thawed in the blink of an eye and soon, a ball of blue flame was all that remained before it returned to his palm.

When Violet Spirit saw this, she wore an expression of alarm.

Han Li raised his palm and looked at the ball of blue flame with a trace of satisfaction. This new technique of using the ice flames was something he had developed from his experience in the world of illusion. Although this was the first time he had used it, it was done with skill and precision as if he had done this several times before, much to Han Li’s surprise.

This illustrated that the experiences within the world of illusion weren’t born from simple imagination; they were truly the understandings of heaven and earth from a higher realm. After this experience, Han Li had higher hopes for entering mid-Nascent Soul stage.

With a faint smile on his face, he turned to Violet Spirit and thought to say something when light suddenly shined from the horizon behind them to reveal two streaks of light.

A streak of yellow and a streak of white light trembled as they shot across the sky as if they were fleeing in Han Li’s direction.

“Yi!” When Han Li saw them with his spiritual sense, he yelped with surprise.

Violet Spirit stretched out her spiritual sense only to discover that the two streaks of light belonged to two Nascent Soul cultivators. As she wasn’t able to see anything further, she asked, “Brother Han, you know those two?” 

“Of course I recognize them. I’ve had some dealings with them in the past!” Han Li frowned and stared at them with an odd expression.

One of the streaks of light contained a yellow-robed old man with a sallow face — Yellow Maple Valley’s Ancestor Linghu. As for the other streak of light, it contained a white-clothed woman with an icy expression, the grand elder of the Masked Moon Sect and Nangong Wan’s Senior Martial Sister.

Han Li was surprised that the two had also entered Devilfall Valley. It seems they had stolen into the valley at the very last moment.

The two wore expressions of fright and were fleeing as quickly as they could, but there was visible nothing behind them. Regardless, they continued to flee as if there was something in close pursuit, and they didn’t dare to slow down. Han Li found this truly strange as they weren’t weak individuals by any means.

Ancestor Linghu was a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator and Nangong Wan’s Senior Martial Sister possessed formidable treasures and techniques. It was hard to believe that the two had decided to frantically flee instead of standing their ground. Could it be that the Moulan Divine Sage Zhong was chasing them down?

With that thought, Han Li felt his heart tremble. His relationship with the Moulan spell warriors was anything but good. He had wrecked the plans of the Moulan Tribes several times and slain many high-grade Moulan spell warriors. If he were to come across Divine Sage Zhong, he feared that the Divine Sage would definitely go after him.

With that thought, Han Li didn’t delay and decided to take advantage of the fact that the two had yet to detect him and Violet Spirit. In a blur, he arrived at Violet Spirit’s side and held his hands in an incantation gesture. A layer of azure light then appeared above their heads and caused them to disappear from sight.

The two streaks of light passed the mountain Han Li where was concealed.

Han Li was able to see the deathly pale expression that Ancestor Linghu wore. Then, he glanced at a place three hundred meters behind them and narrowed his eyes.

“Where do you think you’re going? What? Don’t you want to be with your companion? Tch tch, your cultivation is quite high and your primal souls are exceptionally profound. They will make great offerings to this Lord. How could I possibly let you escape? This time, there will be no further surprises and you will obediently fall into my grasp.”

The voice howled with laughter and spoke with a tone of audacity. These words shook the world nearby, guaranteeing that all cultivators within five kilometers could hear it.

Afterwards, a line of black light strangely appeared where Han Li was staring.

The black line intermittently flickered, closing the distance toward the two fleeing cultivators with each reappearance. A short moment later, it was only two hundred meters away from them.

At that moment, a silhouette could be seen from within the black radiance. Although it appeared vague, Han Li hastily focused his attention on it. As a result of some sort of unknown technique, Han Li wasn’t able to see the figure’s cultivation with his spiritual sense. He was only able to see his vague figure. However, his figure appeared rather familiar to Han Li and after a moment of thought, Han Li recognized him, much to his shock.

‘Marquis Nanlong? How can he be here? And there seems to be something different about him.’ Han Li was shaken with bewilderment. Unknown to him, the person before him was the devil possessed Marquis Nanlong.

Although Han Li didn’t know that a devil soul had possessed his body and he was no longer the original Marquis Nanlong, the overwhelming devilish Qi emitted from his body and his audacity to pursue Ancestor Linghu and the Grand Elder of the Masked Moon Sect was clearly bizarre and out of character.

At that moment, Marquis Nanlong reappeared in his black light only a hundred meters away from the two. He eerily laughed and the black light surrounding him ruptured. A ball of pitch-black devilish Qi wrapped around him and he disappeared in a flicker of black.

When Ancestor Linghu and the white-clothed woman saw that Marquis Nanlong had disappeared, they were greatly alarmed and came to a sudden stop. They each took action, with one person taking out a pitch-black mirror and the other brandishing a jade scepter, both of them covering themselves in a barrier of light.

Then, a black light shined not far away from them. Pitch-black devilish Qi suddenly spurted forth and instantly enveloped an area of over thirty meters. Marquis Nanlong’s figure could be vaguely seen from within it.

“You clearly know that you aren’t my match. Don’t do something so foolish as to resist me!” Marquis Nanlong sinisterly smiled from within the black Qi and he casually waved his hand before a loud bang sounded out. A black hand suddenly appeared out of nowhere and struck the white-clothed woman. Afterwards, she was repelled over twenty meters away within the barrier that formed from the mirror before managing to steady herself.

Ancestor Linghu’s pale complexion grew even more unsightly after seeing this.

With a harsh tone, Ancestor Linghu yelled, “What are you? Not only have you possessed Fellow Daoist Nanlong’s body, but you dared to devour the primal soul of our fellow cultivator. Do you truly believe that there is no match for you within Devilfall Valley? There are several tens of Nascent Soul cultivators that have entered Devilfall Valley. No matter how powerful you are, you will find it difficult to escape death.”

Marquis Nanlong show no fear, only to respond with a sinister grin, “Several tens? Haha! Fantastic! I originally believed there were but a few humans in this valley. But there are actually so many Nascent Souls for me to devour, so I’d better finish up here and go and retrieve them. With so many Nascent Souls devoured, my soul power will mostly recover!”

Then with a huge bang, black Qi instantly ruptured and scattered. A silhouette clad in black Qi blurred as it shot towards Ancestor Linghu, leaving afterimages in his wake.