Silvermoon’s eyes flickered and she said, “Fellow Daoist truly is intelligent. This place belongs to the Heavenly Dao Alliance’s Drifting Cloud Sect. You’d best go quickly and not keep my master waiting!”

“Fine! This young woman also wishes to see this Senior. I will trouble Fellow Daoist to lead the way.” The white-clothed woman was able to quickly regain her calm, showing herself to be an unordinary character.

Silvermoon faintly smiled and elegantly walked out of the room as the white-clothed cultivator silently followed after her. A short moment later, the two women arrived before a large hall.

Han Li was sitting in a stone chair, looking a a large, deep-yellow light barrier at the center of the room. It contained a spirit beast that was violently pounding against the barrier to no avail.

Liu Yu attentively examined the spirit beast and discovered that it appeared like a green bull with scales on its back and hoofs of silver. It was a rarely seen Iron Rhino.

Although this spirit beast isn’t a remnant of an ancient race, it is an immensely rare spirit beast in the cultivation world. The recently exterminated Fu Clan in the State of Yuan Wu kept such a spirit beast. It was said to have strength to rival a mid Core Formation cultivator. Could it be the same beast?

If the bull was one and the same, then the person before her was the one who exterminated the Fu Clan.

Liu Yu grew inwardly fearful of Han Li’s viciousness. There was nothing good that could come from being captured by this Nascent Soul cultivator!

She was also amazed by Han Li’s youthful appearance. After all, male cultivators rarely cultivated appearance halting techniques. To reach late Nascent Soul stage, one usually appeared middle-aged at the very least. Of course, these “middle-aged” cultivators were often far older than their appearances suggested. It was merely because of their high cultivation that their appearances aged slower. As a result, it wasn’t rare for old men to address a middle-aged cultivator as Martial Uncle or Martial Ancestor.

At that moment, Silvermoon stood in front of Han Li and solemnly said, “Master, I’ve brought the Fellow Daoist from the Controlling Spirit Sect.”

Han Li nodded and said, “You may leave.”

“Yes, Master!” Silvermoon replied to Han Li’s command with a smile and quietly withdrew. They both knew that Silvermoon wouldn’t be able to last much longer in her human form.

Liu Yu restlessly walked towards Han Li and gracefully saluted him before standing at the side. She revealed a dainty appearance in her deferential and obedient actions.

Han Li coldly glanced at the woman before turning his gaze to the Iron Rhino inside the light barrier. A sliver of lightning shot from his fingertip, penetrating the barrier and striking the spirit beast.

The Iron Rhino’s body sparked with electricity. With a wail, it fell onto its side and its legs began to incessantly twitch as it helplessly remained on the floor.

Liu Yu’s obedient expression slightly changed upon seeing such a powerful spirit beast being struck down with a single blow, but soon after, she regained her calm. Han Li was able to sense this and could clearly hear that her heartbeat was slightly faster than before.

At that moment, Han Li’s gaze returned to the white-clothed woman. He calmly asked, “What is your name, Fellow Daoist, and Why were you following me? It is quite understandable if the Devilflame Sect and the Ghost Spirit Sect were to track me down, but I don’t recall ever provoking your Controlling Spirit Sect.”

Liu Yu was stunned upon hearing Han Li’s question and her expression became slightly warped. She bit her lip and softly replied, “Senior captured our sect’s Wood Spirit Nascent. This little woman had no choice but to follow orders to pursue your tracks. If I’ve offended you, I hope you won’t bring yourself down to my level. I was only following orders.”

Given the amazing abilities of a Nascent Soul cultivator, this woman clearly understood that if she didn’t speak the truth, her knowledge could be forcefully obtained through a soul scouring technique. She had no intention of having her soul damaged and then turning into an idiot.

Han Li frowned and immediately recalled the monstrous little silhouette, “Wood Spirit Nascent! You’re talking about that green Demon Nascent?”

Liu Yu explained with a bitter smile, “That’s right. That is the Spirit Nascent. It was originally refined by our Controlling Spirit Sect with immense care and effort. It is extremely important to our sect, but we didn’t expect that it would manage to flee and end up being capture by you.”

Han Li’s gaze flickered and he coldly said, “Refined? I originally believed this to be a demon spirit’s incarnation. However, this small thing was truly troublesome. If I hadn’t come along, your group definitely wouldn’t have been able to deal with it.” 

Liu Yu revealed a trace of embarrassment and was at a loss of what to say.

Fortunately, Han Li was able to make our her true thoughts and pensively asked another question, “How were you able to track down the captured Spirit Nascent so quickly? Could it be something was done to it? If that’s the case, I should’ve been able to detect it with my spiritual sense.”

“Junior reports that there are no pursuing restrictions placed on the Spirit Nascent. Rather, my Senior Martial Sister and I cultivate a particular secret technique that is able to sense the approximate location of the Wood Spirit Nascent from afar. As such, my Martial Senior sent us to track it. Of course, we are only able to sense it from a certain distance. If it is too far away, say a hundred thousand kilometers, my Senior Martial Sister and I would be unable to perceive its location.” Not only did Liu Yu appear to be complete truthful in answering Han Li’s question, but she also took the initiative to mention some relevant information.

When Han Li heard this, he nodded his head. Regardless of whether she was telling the truth, this woman’s tactfulness was rather pleasing.

However, his following question came as a great shock to her.

“Since your Controlling Spirit Sect has spent such vast resources on this Spirit Nascent, it must be extremely useful. Why don’t you tell me about it?” When Han Li said this, he narrowed his eyes at he silently stared at her. A cold glint was present in his gaze.

Liu Yu betrayed a sliver of hesitation from her face. When her gaze met Han Li’s icy expression, she shivered and reluctantly replied, “The Wood Spirit Nascent is indeed as you say. When refining a particular technique, a cultivator with wood spiritual roots would be able to fuse with it and take the Spirit Nascent as one’s own Nascent Soul. Without having to condense one’s own Nascent Soul, they would possess both the abilities and cultivation of a Nascent Soul cultivator.”

She didn’t hesitate to divulge the secret matters of the Spirit Nascent despite knowing the trouble it would cause when she returned to the Controlling Spirit Sect. She understood that if she didn’t speak, she wouldn’t survive. This Nascent Soul cultivator definitely wasn’t the sort to pity the fairer sex and she could only be concerned for her safety at the time being.

Han Li was startled by her words but after calming down, he said, “So there was such a method to directly enter Nascent Soul stage. If this is true, then why hasn’t your Controlling Spirit Sect already unified the Devil Dao? Surely it wouldn’t be content with being below the Harmonious Bond Sect. Could there be a restriction to this secret technique?”

With a smooth and pleasant voice, Liu Yu said, “Senior is truly insightful. This Spirit Nascent is something that cannot be refined in large quantities. Although this secret technique was found long ago, it is incredibly difficult to refine a Spirit Nascent. Not only are its materials incredibly rare, but only the sect elders whose lifespans are drawing close may attempt to refine one. These deceased elder’s Nascent Souls seemed to be a necessary for their refinement. Also, the appearance of each Spirit Nascent will only occur by chance. In over ten attempts, there may not be even one success. The great fusion technique also requires five Spirit Nascents of different elements to use. It would fail otherwise. 

“Our Controlling Spirit Sect has been accumulating these Spirit Nascents until now, but have only gathered together about seven. They had always been lacking the Gold Spirit Nascent, but it was finally acquired several tens of years ago. As such, the sect immediately chose ten Core Formation cultivators specifically as candidates to fuse with the Spirit Nascents and cultivate the related secret techniques. As things develop, five will be chosen to conduct the fusion ceremony.”

While Han Li’s expression was unphased, his heart greatly stirred. He held his chin in hand and began to mutter to himself.

A long moment later, he slowly said, “Since these cultivators were able to cheat their way into Nascent Soul stage, there are certain to be a few flaws.”

Han Li couldn’t help but draw similarities to Fiend Cores. Nurturing Spirit Nascents should also prove to be an incredibly difficult matter.

“Senior is right. Although I don’t know of the other flaws, I do know that cultivators that merge with a Spirit Nascent will still only retain their lifespan as a Core Formation cultivator. One also forfeits their true opportunity to condense a Nascent Soul by using this secret technique. Their cultivation will also remain stagnant and so will their lifespan. However, there are still many advantages to be had.” Since this point had been reached, the woman resolved herself to give the full details. After all, speaking more wouldn’t make matters worse.