The massive black vessel hovered above the sea for a brief moment before letting out a deep rumble and tearing through the sky once more, vanishing beyond the distant horizon.
Two months later, above a forest teeming with towering ancient trees, the enormous silhouette of the Spirit Devil Sacred Ship flickered into view.
On the forward deck of the vessel, Han Li appeared together with Moon Yue and Zhu Guo'er.
Patriarch Stone, the Body Integration-stage demon cultivator, stood respectfully a short distance behind the three.
By now, this high-ranking demon clan member had learned of Han Li's identity as a newly advanced Mahayana human patriarch. After recovering from his initial shock, whatever petty schemes he had harbored in his heart were long since flung to the nine heavens and beyond.
Over this stretch of time, he had obediently led Han Li and the others across most of the surrounding region, visiting several locations where the ancient altar had supposedly been sighted.
But unfortunately, up to now, they had come up empty every single time — the altar remained unfound.
"So this is the next place you spoke of?" Han Li asked without turning his head.
"Yes, Senior! This Mihyun Perilous Forest is well-known even among us demon clans — it's called a death trap below the Spirit Transformation stage. Anyone below Void Refinement who enters is virtually guaranteed to lose their life, unless they possess a rare treasure for protection. Inside this forest there are not only natural hazards of extreme danger, but also unawakened demonic beasts of tremendous power, and several species of venomous insects that are best left alone. Of course, for a being of your stature, Senior, none of this amounts to anything worth mentioning." Patriarch Stone answered respectfully, offering a thorough explanation.
"And this Compass Direction Altar — it has truly appeared here?" Han Li gave a nod, his expression unreadable as he asked again.
"Reporting to Senior — in the center of this swamp below, several fellow cultivators have glimpsed the ancient altar from a distance on multiple occasions. However, the altar itself is already incomplete. Aside from some ancient runes on its surface that might hold reference value for formation masters, it's of little practical use to most people, so no one has ever bothered to go up close and inspect it," Patriarch Stone replied.
"Heh heh. In that case, let's descend. I have a hunch — there's a seventy or eighty percent chance the altar is right here," Han Li chuckled.
Zhu Guo'er and Moon Yue, hearing this, both brightened with excitement.
Without further ado, the group drifted down from the vessel, heading straight toward a vast swamp nestled within the dense forest below.
A thin layer of pale green toxic mist blanketed the air above the swamp. Any cultivator below Void Refinement — unless they possessed a rare protective treasure — would be unable to linger inside for long.
To make matters worse, the mist harbored tiny venomous insects resembling leeches. Once one slipped undetected into the body, expelling it was an ordeal of the highest order.
For ordinary demon cultivators, this was indeed a place of extreme peril.
But for Han Li, it was as unremarkable as flat ground.
A few orbs of silver flame shot out from his body with a sharp whistle, sending waves of searing heat roaring in every direction. The toxic mist within an area of roughly one mu was swept clean in an instant, and the venomous insects were incinerated within moments, unable to draw even half a step closer to Han Li's group.
On the rare occasion that a few clueless demonic beasts appeared, Han Li needn't lift a finger — Moon Yue dispatched them all with casual swings of her blade.
Before long, the party arrived at an inconspicuous corner of the swamp.
Han Li's eyes suddenly lit up. Separated by several li of distance, he spotted it in a single glance: an ancient altar roughly a hundred zhang tall, hovering above a pool of murky water.
"Found it! Stone, you stay here. We'll go on ahead," Han Li instructed, a trace of a smile appearing on his face.
Patriarch Stone naturally had no objections and hurriedly bowed in acknowledgment.
Moon Yue and Zhu Guo'er, brimming with excitement, followed Han Li as he made straight for the towering altar.
A short while later, the group materialized before the structure.
Han Li halted in his tracks and raised his head, studying the edifice before him with careful eyes.
The altar was four-sided, divided into three tiers from bottom to top. Its surface was covered with archaic script of unknown origin, though more than half of it was veiled by a layer of pale green moss.
The four corners of the altar had all collapsed and crumbled away, giving it the unmistakable appearance of something inconceivably old.
"Just as expected — it truly is the ancient Sinan Altar passed down from ages past! According to what Bao said, so long as we activate it with a secret technique at the correct time and use it to calculate the spatial coordinates he mentioned, we should be able to locate the entrance to the Small Spirit Realm."
"Guo'er, you were born in the Small Spirit Realm. Your very soul carries a native resonance with that world. In a moment, I'll need to borrow a thread of your spiritual sense — that way the calculations should come out a bit more precise," Han Li turned to Zhu Guo'er and said.
"Yes! I'll do everything I can to help!" Zhu Guo'er replied eagerly upon hearing this.
From the look of elation on her face, it was plain she was no less eager than anyone to return to the Small Spirit Realm.
Moon Yue, standing to the side, simply smiled without a word.
Han Li had not kept the matter of Nangong Wan possibly being in the Small Spirit Realm from this dear companion of his — he had informed her long ago.
In her current state of mind, Moon Yue harbored none of the jealousy that ordinary mortal women might feel. On the contrary, she was genuinely willing to accompany him to the Small Spirit Realm to bring Nangong Wan back.
And though Han Li was confident that Bao would not have deceived him on this matter, using an ancient altar to calculate the coordinates of another plane was genuinely something he was attempting for the first time.
Whether anything might go wrong during the process, how large the margin of error in the calculation might be — these were all impossible to say in advance.
So while Han Li appeared calm on the surface, now that the moment had actually arrived, he could not entirely suppress a thread of solemnity within his heart.
If not for the fact that Bao had told him this ancient altar required a specific date and hour to measure the Small Spirit Realm's position, he would have set about this long ago — he would never have waited until today.