Just then, a burst of light laughter suddenly rang out.
"Hee hee! How interesting — I never expected that a little nap here would let me witness people committing murder and seizing treasures. What's really laughable is that two Foundation Establishment cultivators are actually plotting against a Nascent Soul cultivator. Am I still dreaming?!"
The voice was tender and crisp, sounding exactly like a little girl's playful laughter.
Upon hearing this, Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but the short, stout cultivator and the bald giant were struck as if by five thunderbolts — their faces turned deathly pale in an instant.
"Nascent Soul cultivator?!" the short cultivator shrieked, then stared fixedly at Han Li as though he had seen a ghost.
"How is that possible? A Nascent Soul cultivator — it must be his accomplice trying to scare us with empty threats!" The bald giant was equally panicked, but after a moment's thought, he shouted at the top of his lungs as if trying to bolster his own courage. Yet his body involuntarily retreated two steps, and his bull-like eyes darted around, desperately searching for the girl who had spoken. It was as though finding this person would instantly restore his bravery.
But the surroundings were completely empty — not a soul in sight.
At this moment, the shock in Han Li's heart far exceeded that of the "Peng Yi Twin Evils."
For some reason, the instant he heard the girl's voice, a sudden chill ran through him for no apparent reason. And the Nascent Soul that had been dormant within his Dantian actually stirred on its own, its tiny face tense with a trace of deep fear.
What astounded him even more was that he had just swept every inch of a ten-li radius with his spiritual sense — there was absolutely no fourth person present. Yet this girl's sudden voice clearly came from nearby. With his early Nascent Soul cultivation augmented by the Great Development Technique, he still couldn't detect this person. Could her technique be extraordinarily profound, or was there some other mystery at play?
Han Li's throat went dry.
"Who? Who's playing games and pretending to be a ghost? You dare mock even us, the Peng Yi Twin Evils?" A bit of color returned to the short cultivator's face — it seemed he found the giant's words plausible. Growing calmer, he looked left and right ceaselessly. As he spoke, a yellowish glow lit up around his body, and he summoned a small black shield that hovered protectively in front of him.
"Hee hee! If this old grandmother let you see me, I might as well bash my head against a wall and die. But your spiritual sense for a Nascent Soul cultivator is quite impressive — if it were just a tad stronger, you might have been able to find this old grandmother's trail." The girl spoke with great self-importance.
Han Li's expression grew dark. He listened to the girl's words while continuing to frantically search the surroundings with his spiritual sense. It was too bizarre — wherever his spiritual sense passed, there was still no trace of any cultivator.
"Mmm, I'm a bit hungry. How about the three of you let me eat you? Tsk tsk, a cultivator's Nascent Soul — it's been so long since I've tasted one. I really miss that flavor!" The girl's giggling words came one after another, her tone innocent but her content utterly terrifying.
Hearing this, Han Li's expression remained unchanged, as if he hadn't heard a thing. But after a muffled snort, he stopped concealing his cultivation.
A flash of green light erupted across his entire body as an astonishingly powerful aura surged outward. Dozens of green lights shot forth — all seventy-two Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords emerging simultaneously to protect him.
"R-Really a Nascent Soul cultivator! Senior, please spare my life! This junior was merely blind and failed to recognize a towering mountain — I had no intention of offending you! Second Brother, what are you doing? Don't run — in front of Senior Han, how could we ever hope to escape?" The moment the short cultivator saw Han Li reveal his true cultivation and release such a vast number of flying swords, he was terrified out of his wits. Without a second thought, he dropped to his knees before Han Li and kowtowed, his expression the very picture of a groveling slave begging for his life.
The giant, however, did the opposite. His face went white, but in the next instant he pulled out a golden talisman, slapped it against his body, transformed into a golden rainbow, and shot into the sky.
"Trying to run? You think a Golden Escape Talisman can get you away?" A flash of mockery crossed Han Li's face. He pointed a finger, and one of the flying swords let out a clear cry as it transformed into a green rainbow that vanished in the blink of an eye. The next moment, it reappeared behind the golden rainbow that had barely traveled any distance — so fast it was jaw-dropping.
The green light flashed violently, and a scream tore through the air from the giant. The golden rainbow immediately dissolved into scattered points of golden light and vanished. The bald giant perished along with it.
"Tsk tsk, what a waste. A Foundation Establishment cultivator's Primordial Spirit would have been a decent tonic. Since waking up, I've only managed to eat seven or eight of them." The girl's voice sounded somewhat exasperated, and she actually began loudly complaining to Han Li.
"Why bother pretending any longer? You're nothing more than a mere Nascent Soul cultivator yourself, yet you speak with such arrogance. Must I drag you out?" Having dealt with the giant, Han Li paid no attention to the short cultivator who was still trembling before him. Instead, he turned his head and suddenly fixed his gaze on a nearby small tree, his eyes flickering with a faint blue light.
The girl's voice cut off abruptly. After a long pause, it finally rang out, cold and sharp.
"How did you discover me? My 'Radiant Transformation Technique' is fundamentally impossible for a Nascent Soul cultivator to see through."