When Feng Xi saw Han Li within the transportation formation, his eyes widened and his face twitched. Although he had been confused as to why Han Li would seek his own destruction by hiding on this small island, it was beyond his wildest dreams for a transportation formation to be there. Before his eyes, Han Li cast a series of hand incantations and spat out a mouthful of blood essence. He was sparing none of his true essence to hasten the activation of the transportation formation, which had already begun to hum

“NO!” Feng Xi furiously roared. He instantly opened his mouth and fiercely shot a ball of azure light towards a corner of the formation. If the formation was broken before the activation completed, Han Li was as good as his.

Immediately after unleashing the attack, Feng Xi’s body blurred as he madly rushed at the formation with a fervent bloodlust in a desperate attempt to interrupt Han Li’s teleportation.

However, he was too late.

Han Li responded to his attack by shooting over ten streaks of sword Qi to slow down the ball of azure light. As for Feng Xi’s mad charge, Han Li didn’t possess the slightest intention to dodge. The spell formation had already begun to shine with a dense white light, enveloping Han Li within it.

When Feng Xi arrived in front of the transportation formation in his mad rush, Han Li had already disappeared from within the light in a series of blurs. 

With neither a displacement talisman on hand nor knowledge of where the transportation formation led to, Feng Xi was forced to abandon his pursuit.

At that moment, Swift Crane flew in through the shattered ceiling. After seeing the faint glow of white light from the formation, his expression immediately revealed both fury and amazement.

Unfortunately for Swift Crane, his sudden appearance had made him the new target of Feng Xi’s gaze. Killing intent began to emanate from his blood-red eyes.

“All the humans here... WILL DIE!” Brimming with rage after Han Li escaped right before his eyes, Feng Xi brutally shouted. His entire body blazed with an azure light, and instantly turned into a streak of azure light, pouncing towards Swift Crane in a display of overbearing ferocity!

Swift Crane’s expression massively changed at the sudden change of events and he instinctively threw out his ancient mirror and jade hammer in panic.

Beams of different colors burst forth from the cave and intertwined as they shone down upon the previously tranquil island.

...

A month later, the human cultivators in the nearby seas heard that the Nascent Soul cultivator Daoist Master Swift Crane fleshly body had been exterminated by a grade nine demon beast. In order to survive, he had to exhaust the entirety of his body to transport his Nascent Soul back to his cave residence. For a while after this event human cultivators were left trembling in fear at the demon beast’s viciousness.

However, none of them could’ve expected that such a momentous event was only the beginning.

Several months later the flood dragons of the depths suddenly dispatched large quantities of high grade members to scour the seas, hunting all human cultivators at Core Formation and beyond.

Although this only lasted for a few short years, the devastation it caused among high grade cultivators was comparable to the beast torrent. There were even two Nascent Soul eccentrics that had met their end after being surrounded by several grade nine demon beasts.

From that moment on, whenever word of any flood dragons appeared in the nearby seas, no humans dared to rashly leave their cave residences. This continued for over ten years before the lingering fear finally started to fade.

However, the few cultivators that had been fortunate enough to escape from the demon beast’s hands were bewildered to discover that all them were searching for a Core Formation cultivator surnamed Li. Anyone remained silent in the face of flood dragon’s interrogation about him would find themselves immediately attacked.

As a result, many cultivators came to believe that the massive wave of attacks from the flood dragons was likely a result of this Cultivator Li. Just what had this person done to enrage the flood dragons to this degree!?

When word of this spread, everyone it became common to hear people cursing this unknown cultivator for having invited this calamity upon all of them. It reached the point where everyone wanted to find this Cultivator Li and capture him, delivering him to the flood dragons as an apology and to appease their rage.

However, everyone was bewildered to discover that there was no one by the name of Li among the higher grade cultivators. So even if they wanted to apprehend him for his offences, they were incapable of even trying.

...

In a flash of white light, the now infamous Han Li appeared in an unfamiliar place with a Greater Displacement Medallion in hand.

As a result of his careful nature, Han Li had already prepared for the possibility of meeting enemies upon arrival and had preemptively changed his appearance to that of an unfamiliar man. Before he had even managed to recover from the dizziness caused by the teleportation, Han Li heard a lazy voice from his side, “It seems that your esteemed self has a penchant for punctuality as well. You and I were the first to arrive, and are stuck waiting on the others!”

Upon hearing this, Han Li inwardly trembled and grunted in response before moving off of the formation and standing off to the side.

Not far from the transportation formation, there was a black-clothed man wearing a hood that  grinned upon seeing Han Li, revealing his gleaming white teeth.

However, when Han Li clearly saw this person’s appearance, he immediately felt his stomach lurch. The man appeared truly frightening with a face so shriveled he looked like a skeleton. Additionally, his eyes twinkled with a faint blue light.

Despite his shock, Han Li didn’t dare to scorn him, because he could tell at a glance that this skeletal looking man was a mid Core Formation cultivator. He could already be considered a rarely seen high grade cultivator among the Scattered Star Seas.

At the same time that Han Li saw his face, the skeletal man realized Han Li was a late Core Formation cultivator. Astonishment clear in his eyes, his tone became much more respectful as he continued, “The others should be arriving soon, so please feel free to take a short rest, Brother. We can look forward to all of the rewards we will reap from the upcoming operation, hehe.”

Han Li was at a loss about what to do, but under such vague circumstances he could only nod his head and maintain his stiff expression to avoid making any mistakes. 

He felt his heart slightly relax after examining his surroundings, and discovering that they matched the description of Bright Emperor Island that Lady Fan had given him. When the Exquisite Sound Sect Disciple had said that the transportation formation was untested, Han Li had felt slightly uneasy. In the end his luck held out and he had truly returned to the Inner Star Seas after all these years. 

He was currently in a cave over sixty meters wide, and apart from the ancient transportation formation that he had appeared from, Han Li saw two additional transportation formations in the cave. While Han Li chatted with the skeletal man, another transportation formation flickered with yellow light, faintly revealing a tall silhouette.

The black-robed man’s eyes immediately brightened and he hurriedly walked over. Han Li took the opportunity to quietly shoot two small streaks of azure light from his legs into the transportation formation below him, creating a crack in it that would be difficult to spot.

As a result of this small crack, the ancient transportation formation was disabled and he no longer had to fear any pursuit from either Swift Crane or Feng Xi.

It appeared that Han Li’s covert sabotage had gone unnoticed by both the black-clothed man and the cultivator that had just arrived. While the two of them were lively bantering with each other, Han Li inspected the new arrival and discovered it was a large man with a fiendish appearance.

When Han Li saw them speaking with each, he silently walked down from the transportation formation and headed towards the cave opening. However, he had only walked a few steps before he heard the black-robed man saw with an astonished tone, “Brother, not everyone has arrived yet. I was told that there would be five people simultaneously taking action, and the rest of our orders and members have yet to arrive. It would be best for us to wait in the cave for the time being. Otherwise, it will be hard to explain! Now that I think about it, Fellow Daoist’s appearance is quite unfamiliar! Is there any chance that this is the first time that Brother has participated in an operation like this?”

For some unknown reason, the black-robed man hadn’t doubted Han Li’s identity since he arrived despite not recognizing him.

Han Li slightly frowned at the question before mumbling with a deliberately impatient voice, “How troublesome, none of this was explained to me.”

“Hehe! Since Fellow Daoist’s cultivation is quite high, it is only natural for your guide to be hesitant in telling you what to do. However, Brother should exercise some patience. So long as you complete your task, you’re free to do as you wish.” The black-robed man faintly smiled and seemed to be implying something .

When Han Li heard this, he managed to come up with a fairly certain idea about what was going on. After slightly rolling his eyes, he intended to give a vague response, but right then another transportation formation began to radiate light before bringing forth two more people.

A strange expression flickered deep within Han Li’s eyes upon seeing the new arrivals. One of whom was an old man who had blue flame emblems that emitted a faint spiritual Qi, and flickered as if they were alive embroidered on on his wide robes. Based on his appearance he seemed to be some notable character, while at his side stood a lean, elegant man.

With the appearance of these two, there were now five people in the cave and Han Li was the sole late Core Formation cultivator. The skeletal man was at mid Core Formation, while the large man and  the old man were both at early Core Formation. As for the lean, elegant man, he was only at the late Foundation Establishment stage.