"A Demon Sovereign! Surely you jest, Fairy. If there's a Demon Sovereign stationed at Iron Sand Ridge, then I, Han, can do without this true blood." Han Li's expression turned dark.
"Brother Han, you're overthinking it. If the true body of a Demon Sovereign were actually stationed at Iron Sand Ridge, why would the Long family and the Spirit Clan have chosen the Phantom Howl Desert route? They would have kept as far away as possible. From what I've been able to gather, there's only a single avatar of someone called Sovereign Lingyuan at Iron Sand Ridge. It seems his true body once received a great kindness from the Green Wing Clan, which is why he left an avatar stationed there permanently. You once slew a Sovereign's avatar during the great battle at Heavenly Abyss City, so dealing with this one shouldn't pose too great a problem. Besides, if we're careful during our operation, we may not even alert Sovereign Lingyuan's avatar." The feathered-robed young woman batted her beautiful eyes as she spoke.
"It's just an avatar, but that doesn't mean it'll be easy to deal with. From what I know, the connection between a Demon Sovereign's avatar and true body is incredibly tight. And this isn't like back in the Spirit Realm — if Sovereign Lingyuan's true body lives somewhere not too far from Iron Sand Ridge, the moment we alert the avatar, his true body could come hurtling toward us in an instant. The risk is still far too great!" After his expression shifted several times, Han Li still shook his head.
"Rest easy, Brother Han. Since I've made this plan, do you think I wouldn't have gathered the relevant intelligence beforehand? According to the information I've collected, Sovereign Lingyuan's true body not only lives very far from here, but has also been sealed in life-and-death seclusion for ten thousand years. Moreover, this Demon Sovereign has had other avatars fall before, yet his true body never emerged from seclusion. Some even whisper that Sovereign Lingyuan's true body has already perished, and only a few avatars remain active in the world. Of course, no ordinary person can verify the truth of these rumors — no one would dare disturb a Sovereign's cultivation seclusion. But this means you needn't worry about the true body intervening, Brother Han. You only need to handle the avatar stationed at Iron Sand Ridge." The young woman smiled.
"If that's truly the case, then it might be worth the effort. However, the reason I was able to slay a Sovereign's avatar in the Spirit Realm was because other fellow cultivators were there to provide support and keep the enemy occupied. On my own, I still wouldn't have had the strength." Han Li's expression finally relaxed.
"Of course I'm aware of that. Which is why, before I set out from the Spirit Realm, I made a point of visiting a close friend to borrow a rare treasure called the Primordial Chaos Bead. This single-use consumable has no other abilities, but once activated, it can create a self-contained pocket of space. If you can hold off that Demon Sovereign's avatar for even a brief moment, I can use the treasure's power to activate a secret technique of the Ye family and trap it for nearly half a day. With that much time, you and I can take our leave at a leisurely pace. As long as we don't expose our human identities, I doubt that Sovereign Lingyuan's avatar would actually pursue us to the bitter end over a bit of true blood." The young woman spoke with an air of absolute confidence.
"Hmm, it seems Fairy Ye has been planning this for quite some time. If all that's required is to hold it off for a moment, then I, Han, naturally have no objections. I'm confident I can manage that." Han Li let out a long breath and nodded with a trace of satisfaction.
Seeing that Han Li had finally shed his reservations, the feathered-robed young woman felt a wave of relief wash over her, and her lovely face brightened with a smile.
Though she had begun scheming for this back in the Spirit Realm, if Han Li had truly refused to help, there was absolutely no way she could have obtained the Azure Luan true blood on her own. That was precisely why she had offered such a steep price to secure his aid from the very start.
With that settled, the two of them began laying out their plans in fine detail aboard the flying boat.
Before long, as the flying boat hurtled through the sky, a yellow line appeared on the distant ground, gradually resolving into a vast loess plateau.
It looked extraordinarily flat, stretching to the horizon with no end in sight.
As the flying boat flashed past the crest of a hill, Han Li — who had been conversing with the feathered-robed young woman — suddenly changed expression, his gaze sweeping out through the window.
"What is it? Did you sense something, Brother Han?" The young woman started in surprise and couldn't help but ask. At the same time, she warily released her spiritual sense, sweeping through the surrounding void.
"It's nothing. I just noticed an interesting low-grade demonic beast hiding in the soil below. It managed to blend its aura perfectly with its surroundings — I nearly failed to notice it even with my attention." Han Li had already withdrawn his gaze, his tone perfectly calm.
"Oh, is that so? But that's not so surprising. The Demon Realm's environment is far harsher than the Spirit Realm — many low-grade demonic beasts have developed innate survival abilities, or they'd have been wiped out by the higher-ranking ones long ago." The young woman answered with a bright smile.
Han Li nodded and said nothing further on the matter.
By then, with a flash, the flying boat had left the hillside far behind without a trace.
About the time it took to drink a cup of tea later, the seemingly barren mound of earth suddenly split apart, and from within crawled a hedgehog-like demonic beast roughly a foot in size. Its body was covered in grayish-white quills, but atop its head sprouted several extraordinarily long tentacles. Its two bulging eyes stared fixedly in the direction the flying boat had disappeared, glowing with an eerie red light, as though it possessed genuine intelligence.
……
One month later, at the junction where the loess plateau met a mountain range, a small town roughly ten li across had been built in a low-lying basin.
The town had no proper walls to speak of — only rows of symbolic yellow wooden fences stood around its perimeter.
Overhead, colorful streaks of light continuously darted through the sky — some shooting off into the distance, others slowly descending toward a small plaza at the town's center.
However, at each corner of the town stood a platform rising more than ten zhang into the air, each bearing a massive black banner that gleamed with dark luster. Wisps of faint black qi drifted from the banners, shrouding the entire platform beneath them.