"You mean Ying'er. Absolutely not — she's in a critical stage of her cultivation, one that directly concerns whether our plan succeeds. She cannot be disturbed under any circumstances!" The mother of the Asura Spiders' clan turned pale the moment she heard this, crying out in alarm as if the surnamed Yi elder had suddenly touched upon her most sensitive nerve.
"Of course I understand how important Fairy Ying's cultivation insight is. But don't forget — if we truly cannot withstand the assault of these foreign Mahayana cultivators, how could she possibly continue cultivating in peace? Breaking out of seclusion is merely a matter of time. All we need to do is give her advance warning. If those foreign Mahayana cultivators aren't headed for this city, or if we can deal with them easily enough, then naturally there would be no need for Fairy Ying to leave seclusion at all." The surnamed Yi elder's expression remained unchanged as he spoke.
"Before entering seclusion, Ying'er told me that this particular cultivation insight was of extraordinary significance. No matter what happens, I must not alert her in any way, lest all her previous efforts be wasted! I need to think this through carefully before I can make a decision. After all, even simply delivering a piece of news could affect her state of mind." The Asura Spider clan mother hesitated briefly, then shook her head once more.
"Very well — I only made this suggestion as a worst-case contingency. However, over the next few days we must activate all the restrictions that your clan has painstakingly established. Additionally, we should deploy the Sky-Drifting Restriction to relocate the city somewhere else first. Though the restrictions will prevent us from traveling too far, it might at least buy us some time…" The surnamed Yi elder was somewhat displeased, but he understood all too well the importance of that Fairy Ying to the Asura Spider clan mother. After a few more brief words, he moved on to other matters.
After about an hour, the stone city of the Asura Spiders nestled within the mountain range suddenly erupted with layers of radiance from every turret, enveloping the entire city in a brilliant glow.
Then the earth for hundreds of li in every direction heaved violently.
The stone city wrenched itself from the soil and, amid a thunderous roar, drifted slowly off into the sky in another direction.
Before long, the entire city had vanished without a trace, leaving behind only an enormous, dark pit in the ground where it had stood.
Not far from the pit, an unremarkable tree suddenly shimmered with green light and transformed into a green-robed young man with faintly greenish skin.
His features bore an unmistakable resemblance to Han Li — a similarity of seven or eight parts!
He raised his head and glanced in the direction where the stone city had disappeared, a peculiar smile playing at the corner of his lips.
Then the young man formed a one-handed seal, and with another flash of green light, he sank into the earth and vanished.
At the same time, high above a grassland far removed from that mountain range, a white flying vessel cut through the sky.
Han Li and Mo Jianli sat cross-legged at the bow, eyes closed in meditation.
Blood Burn and Black Scale stood shoulder to shoulder at the stern, silently conversing through voice transmission.
Suddenly, Han Li's expression shifted. His closed eyes slowly opened, and a peculiar look appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"Fellow Daoist Han, is something wrong?" Mo Jianli sensed the change in Han Li at once. Puzzled, he opened his eyes and asked.
"Nothing of great concern — it's just that our heading will need a slight adjustment before long," Han Li replied in an offhand manner.
"Oh? It seems you left some contingencies behind over there!" Mo Jianli started in surprise, then quickly grasped the meaning and chuckled softly.
"I left a single avatar in the area. Even if they've temporarily relocated their lair, they couldn't have gotten far. I've already pushed its escape speed to the maximum — within a day at most, we can reach them." Han Li's expression remained perfectly composed.
"It seems Fellow Daoist Han has everything well in hand. If that's the case, this old man can truly rest easy." Mo Jianli fell silent for a moment, then nodded.
"I wouldn't say everything is perfectly in hand, but with Brother Mo and the others lending their support, dealing with those Asura Spiders shouldn't be a problem. Once we obtain the Threads of Time, Brother Mo and Brother Ao should have a fair chance of weathering your tribulations," Han Li replied with a smile.
"Heh heh, let's hope that proves true. But this battle is sure to be a hard-fought one. And even if the Asura Spiders find themselves outmatched, if they're determined to flee, capturing them will be no easy task." Mo Jianli hesitated for a moment before finally voicing the concern that had been weighing on his mind.
"If it comes to that, it would indeed be troublesome. Tell you what — I still have several Integration Stage puppets that are fearless in battle. Their strength isn't negligible. They may be of little use against a powerful enemy like the Asura Spider clan mother, but against those adult Asura Spiders that haven't yet reached the Mahayana stage, I believe they can still be of some help." Han Li considered briefly, then offered his suggestion.
"Integration Stage puppets! With the aid of puppets that powerful, this old man might actually be able to keep one or two of those adult Asura Spiders from escaping. I won't waste words on thanks — if this trip yields real results, I will repay you handsomely." Mo Jianli's face lit up with delight upon hearing this.
"We are of the same race — these puppets are nothing. Brother Mo, there's no need to make a fuss about it." Han Li let out an amused laugh, then flipped his hand, producing a jet-black ring, which he handed directly to Mo Jianli.
Inside were precisely several Integration Stage dark-crystal puppets he had obtained from the Demon World.
He had left half of these puppets aboard the Devil Spirit Sacred Ship back in the Spirit Realm and kept the other half on his person as reserves.
Mo Jianli accepted the storage ring with a pleased expression. After sweeping it with his spiritual sense and examining its contents carefully, he thanked Han Li repeatedly.
With these fearless puppets to help him pin down the adult Asura Spiders, he finally had enough confidence to deploy his trump-card techniques without hesitation.
In the time that followed, Mo Jianli began studying the method of controlling the dark-crystal puppets in the storage ring.
Han Li closed his eyes and returned to meditation.
One day later, at the edge of the mountain range where the stone city had once stood, a flash of white light appeared and Han Li's group materialized above on their flying vessel.
But the vessel did not linger at the edge for even a moment. After a few flickers, it shot forward and continued onward.
In short order, the flying vessel crossed through the center of the mountain range and vanished beyond the horizon once more.
Meanwhile, in a hidden tree hollow below, a vaguely outlined figure raised its head and watched the entire scene.
It waited until the flying vessel had completely disappeared from sight before a light breeze stirred across its body, revealing its clear and distinct form.