As the mist dissipated, the spot where Han Li had been standing moments before was completely empty.
The feather-robed young woman hurriedly swept her spiritual sense across the area, but still failed to detect any trace of Han Li. The shock she felt in her heart could hardly be described.
"No need to be alarmed, fellow Daoist. Those Azure Wings will be here soon — we should move quickly." A calm voice suddenly reached her ears, sending a chill through her heart. Without further hesitation, she activated the talisman in her hand as well.
A flash of purple light passed, and after the purple mist scattered, the feather-robed young woman's body also vanished from sight.
The Grand Unity Transformation Talisman naturally produced vastly different effects depending on the cultivator's level.
With this woman's Body Integration cultivation, the result was far beyond what Han Li had achieved back when he was at the Deity Transformation and Void Refining stages. Short of a Demon Venerable among the Azure Wings at a comparable level who probed carefully with spiritual sense, no one would be able to detect the feather-robed young woman after she had phased out.
As for Han Li himself, after using the Grand Unity Transformation Talisman, other than the most elite old devils who were half a step from the Mahayana realm, ordinary Demon Venerables would be completely unable to perceive his existence.
By now, the enormous flying serpent in the distance had slowly descended through the mist above the mountain peaks, coming to a halt and hovering in midair.
The elderly demon leader glanced around, then formed a one-handed seal, flicked his sleeve downward, and sent a beam of azure light shooting out. The light flashed and vanished in an instant, plunging into the mist below.
After a short while, the peculiar fragrance within the mist intensified several times over, and an unusual wave of fluctuation rippled outward. The mist parted to reveal a passage roughly ten feet wide.
At the far end of the passage, the vague silhouettes of buildings could be faintly discerned.
Seeing this, the elderly demon wasted no more time and stamped his foot on the giant serpent beneath him.
The beast let out a sharp hissing sound, and with a flash of azure light its body shrank rapidly. With a flick of the old demon's sleeve, the now palm-sized flying serpent was swept away and stored.
After the elder turned to say a few words with a smile to the younger demons behind him, he immediately drifted into the passage.
The other demons followed close behind, all wearing cheerful expressions.
In the span of just a few breaths, the entire group had vanished into the passage.
Moments later, the mist on either side churned and rolled, and the passage slowly sealed itself shut once more.
The demons responsible for guarding the restriction naturally failed to notice that along with this group's return, two additional invisible phantoms had silently slipped into the passage right behind the young demons.
……
One hour later, atop a dark wooden tower more than a hundred zhang tall, Han Li hovered motionless in his phased state, gazing down at the enormous stronghold spread out below him — a settlement on the scale of a small city.
The stronghold covered an area of over ten thousand mu, nestled against three mountain peaks and enclosed entirely by rows upon towering rows of enormous trees, walling the whole region into a single block.
Each of these colossal trees had a deep purple hue and exuded an extremely rich fragrance — the very source of the scent that permeated the area.
Within the stronghold, wooden buildings of all sizes stood packed densely together, clearly large enough to house over ten thousand demons.
For the Azure Wings, who had always been few in numbers, this was indeed an enormous base.
Scattered among the buildings of this Fragrance Stronghold were additional giant trees, concealing not a few smaller structures that appeared and disappeared among the foliage — lending the settlement a distinctly concealed appearance.
Han Li's eyes flashed with faint blue light as he conducted a sweeping survey of the entire stronghold, finally settling his gaze on a cluster of buildings from which waves of restriction energy were emanating.
On the streets near these buildings, Azure Wing guards patrolled with blank, expressionless faces.
Ordinary Azure Wings gave the area a wide berth, not daring to approach casually.
Han Li's blue light faded, and his phased body drifted down from the tower, landing silently in an empty alleyway below.
The shimmer faded, and a figure with a face identical to Han Li's — that of an Azure Wing demon — materialized soundlessly.
This illusion technique for masking one's identity, while far from comparable to the concealment effect of the Grand Unity Transformation Talisman, was more than sufficient to fool ordinary demons.
Han Li smiled faintly, strode out of the alley in an unhurried manner, and headed toward the more heavily guarded cluster of buildings.
At the same time, on another street within the stronghold, the feather-robed young woman had also dropped her phased state and transformed into a young female demon, walking with a composed expression toward a more remote corner of the settlement.
Clutched discreetly in her hand was a blood-red triangular iron token, from which a faint, almost imperceptible pulse of hidden energy was emanating.
And in that remote corner, a remarkably conspicuous multi-story pavilion loomed into view.
……