"What? Could it be—?" The elder of the two whispered in alarm.
"That's right! I suffered a backlash from my magical power, and I urgently need the vital blood of a cultivator to suppress the true essence inside me. The only cultivators nearby besides you were old Daoist Wu. Could I very well come after you? The situation back then was truly dangerous—the backlash struck two days earlier than usual, and I nearly couldn't hold it down." The younger man said with a bitter smile, clearly still shaken by the memory.
"In that case, I suppose you can't really be blamed for it. But you still need to give a proper explanation to the higher-ups about this matter. However, from what I can tell, you probably pushed too hard with your cultivation of the Dark Fiend Asura Art recently, which caused the backlash to trigger ahead of schedule. For now, stop going to the Blood Prison to train. Better to consolidate your foundation properly first!" After a moment of thought, the elder said slowly.
"Rest assured! After draining that old Daoist's vital blood, the backlash completely receded. As long as I'm more careful from now on, such an accident won't happen again. I've been feeling lately that my cultivation progress has been too fast, and I was already thinking of not going there anymore!" The younger man said calmly.
"Good, as long as you understand. However, even though this old Daoist has been eliminated, the person who planted a spiritual energy marker inside him is still a big problem! We can't just leave this matter unattended—we need to find a way to remove any lingering threats!"
"Mm, you're right about that! But I originally assumed that old Daoist Wu's friends would certainly be low-level rogue cultivators at best. So after setting the trap, I only had the Five Friends of Meng Mountain lie in ambush. Who would've thought it would lure out such a big fish? Do you think it was a group of low-level cultivators, or a single Foundation Establishment cultivator who acted?" The younger man couldn't help but ask the elder.
"Heh heh! Based on my analysis, it's most likely a Foundation Establishment cultivator! Even if there were many Qi Condensation cultivators, as long as those four were determined to flee, capturing all of them at once wouldn't be so easy." The elder masked man said without hesitation.
"Since that's the case, shouldn't we lie low for a while? Wait until the Sect Master comes out of seclusion before continuing with other plans. After all, Foundation Establishment cultivators aren't to be trifled with!" The younger man said hesitantly, now that the elder had so confidently identified the person who took the Five Friends of Meng Mountain.
"Lie low? Why would we lie low? You haven't heard the news yet, have you! The Sect Master has just sent word—because of his cultivation needs, he currently requires several Foundation Establishment cultivators for a blood sacrifice. Since this one has practically walked right into our hands, we naturally can't let him go easily. Qi Condensation cultivators can be caught anywhere, but a lone Foundation Establishment cultivator is extremely hard to come by!" The elder let out a cold laugh, killing intent flashing in his eyes.
The younger masked man was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, but then said with difficulty:
"But right now, within the capital, aside from the Sect Master himself and the Four Great Blood Attendants by his side, our sect doesn't have any Foundation Establishment experts stationed here. They're all overseeing branch halls in various regions. We can't exactly summon them back to the capital just for this, can we?"
"There's no need for such trouble! The Sect Master urgently needs Foundation Establishment cultivators for his cultivation. All I need to do is report upward, and the Sect Master will likely hand over one or two Blood Attendants for us to command. With those additions and our assistance, dealing with a single Foundation Establishment cultivator would be as easy as flipping our hands. That way, the two of us would have rendered a great service—perhaps we'd even get the same chance as the Four Great Blood Attendants to advance to Foundation Establishment!" The elder masked man's eyes gleamed with greed.
The younger man's spirits lifted upon hearing this, as though the elder's words had thoroughly won him over.
"Fine! I'll go back and make preparations. I'll make sure to capture this person alive." He said viciously.
Then the two continued to whisper in low voices for quite a while at the same spot before departing the hillside without a sound, vanishing to who-knows-where.
What was strange, however, was that throughout their conversation, the two had never once discussed how to locate
……
Meanwhile, on a desolate stretch of wilderness over a hundred li from the hillside, Han Li brought the Spirit Wind Boat down to the ground and let the four of them disembark from the flying artifact.
Though the four knew that nothing good awaited them, they harbored no thought of resistance and obediently walked off the small boat as instructed.
Han Li stood before the silent group with his hands clasped behind his back, sizing them up coldly. After a long pause, he spoke:
"Take off your face coverings. There's no point in hiding your faces anymore." Han Li's voice was utterly devoid of emotion, making the four of them shudder. They exchanged glances.
"Sigh! Take them off," the eldest brother sighed heavily in resignation.
The other three had no choice but to hang their heads and remove their black face cloths, revealing their true faces one by one.
Han Li examined each of them in turn, his expression unchanged, though inwardly he sighed. Sure enough—they were the Five Friends of Meng Mountain.
When he had eavesdropped on their conversation from above, he had already felt their voices sounded familiar. Combined with the level of their cultivation techniques, he had naturally connected them to the cultivators he had encountered just two months ago—the Five Friends of Meng Mountain. The only one missing was the woman in her forties; all the others were here.