"This junior is standing here, which naturally means she belongs to the Commerce Alliance as well. I am acting under the orders of Lord Bi Ying, the chief executive of Blood Sky, to invite Senior Han over for a conversation," the cold beauty replied respectfully.
"Bi Ying? This is the first time I've heard that name, but since she's the person in charge of this continent for your alliance, she must be someone of considerable renown in Blood Sky. Does Fellow Daoist Bi have some important matter to discuss with me?" Han Li's eyes flickered slightly as he posed the question in return.
By this point, how could he not realize that the news of his arrival here had undoubtedly been leaked by Ming Zun to this side — otherwise, how could they have "intercepted" him so precisely?
"This junior does not know. I was merely instructed to come and invite Senior over. If Senior Han has any questions, you may ask Lord Bi Ying directly when you meet," the cold beauty answered without hesitation.
"Heh. Fellow Daoist Bi sent you to invite me, yet didn't she give you any further instructions? She must be quite certain that I, Han, would agree to this meeting," Han Li said with a cold laugh upon hearing this.
"Before I set out, Lord Bi Ying gave me an item to deliver into Senior's hands personally," the cold beauty said after a faint flicker of an odd expression crossed her face.
"An item? Let me see it," Han Li said, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"Of course. Please take a look, Senior." The cold beauty shook her sleeve without the slightest hesitation, and a blood-red scroll immediately appeared in her hand, which she offered up with both arms.
Han Li beckoned with one hand, and the crimson scroll flashed into his grasp. He swept his spiritual sense over it, his brow furrowing slightly, but he opened it without any hesitation.
Unrolled before him, the scroll bore an ink-black painting of the Eight Ghosts Devouring Buddha.
Eight ferocious ghosts with green faces and fangs — some brandishing their claws and baring their teeth, others gripping bone tridents and bone clubs — encircled a monk whose face was blurred and indistinct, as though they would tear him apart and devour him alive at the very next moment. The rendering was so vivid it seemed almost alive.
Han Li held both ends of the scroll and studied the painting of the ghosts, his expression unchanged, though he felt a vague sense of puzzlement, wondering what Bi Ying intended by having him look at such an image.
At that very moment, with a soft "poof," a streak of blood-colored light shot out from the surface of the scroll and swept straight toward Han Li.
Han Li was slightly taken aback. His spiritual sense swept over the blood-light in an instant, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he made no effort to dodge or evade, allowing it to envelop his figure and pull him in a flash into the painting.
Xue Po, Zhu Guo'er, and the others standing nearby were all startled when they saw this.
Ancestral Master Shi's expression changed sharply. His shoulders swayed, and several plumes of black qi erupted from behind him, instantly coalescing into pitch-black giant serpents more than ten zhang long that glared fiercely at the cold beauty.
His posture made it abundantly clear that the slightest suspicious move from her would prompt an immediate attack from the serpents.
"Fellow Daoists, please don't panic. Senior Han is perfectly fine. This is simply Lord Bi Ying using a wisp of her divine sense to draw him into the painting for the sake of confidentiality. He will emerge in just a moment," the cold beauty said, waving her hand at Ancestral Master Shi with remarkable composure.
"Is that truly the case? If anything goes wrong with Senior Han in there, don't blame me for turning hostile," Ancestral Master Shi said sharply, only half convinced.
"If Senior Han does not come out after a short while, you are welcome to hold me accountable," the cold beauty replied with a smile.
"Brother, she doesn't seem to be lying. Let us wait for now. With Senior Han's abilities, even if he truly encountered something, he would be in no danger," Xue Po said slowly after her gaze flickered several times.
Ancestral Master Shi found this reasoning sound and finally recalled the illusory serpents hovering above his head. He stood to the side with a dark expression, silent.
Zhu Guo'er, meanwhile, gazed worriedly at the ghost painting suspended in midair.
The eerie scroll was already shrouded in a blood-red glow. The instant anyone's spiritual sense so much as brushed against it, it was repelled immediately — not a trace could penetrate within.
From the strange painting, waves of a bloody, metallic scent drifted outward.
The remaining few members of the other races not far away took one look at this scene and all felt a chill run through them. After a hasty exchange of words, they departed the area one after another, clearly fearing they might become entangled in whatever was happening.
Only the round-faced man who had introduced himself as Fang Jin continued to watch the proceedings with a faint, unwavering smile.
At the same moment, inside a mysterious space within the ghost painting, Han Li stood with his brow slightly furrowed, studying a gray-robed elderly monk seated in meditation before him with closed eyes.
Judging by the monk's robes and appearance, he was unmistakably the very figure from the painting — the monk surrounded by the eight ghosts.
Yet the monk sat utterly motionless, like a wooden statue.
If the monk was here, then where were the ghosts?
Han Li's thoughts turned swiftly, and his gaze swept to his surroundings.
Everywhere within a radius of barely over ten zhang, the space was filled with blood-colored fog as thick as porridge.