Han Li had indeed already flown away from Wuligou and was well over ten miles distant. After transmitting his final words through sound, he transformed into a streak of azure light and departed without looking back.
The current members of the Han family were technically related to him, but the true family in his heart had always been his parents, elder brother, and younger sister.
Though the scholar and the big man had remained extremely respectful toward him throughout, Han Li couldn't bring himself to feel any real closeness. After all, so many generations had passed, and with the changes in Green Ox Town and Wuligou, he felt a deep sense of alienation—as though he no longer belonged.
Still, having returned to his hometown one last time, the final thread of attachment in his heart had faded considerably. Given a few more years of attrition, he believed even that faint connection would become utterly insignificant.
Han Li pondered silently, then set his bearings and increased his flight speed.
Several days later, while passing through Lan Prefecture, he felt a sudden impulse and made a detour to Jiayuan City.
Upon entering the city, he found it transformed beyond recognition. Not only had Sun Ergou and the Siping Gang long since vanished, but even the Five Colors Gate—which had once dominated all of Lan Prefecture—had ceased to exist over a hundred years ago, replaced by a newly risen "Tianyi Association."
If his memory served, the Five Colors Gate had once been backed by Spirit Beast Mountain, and Spirit Beast Mountain had suddenly defected back to the Spirit Control Sect just before the decisive battle with the demonic path.
Now that the Yue Kingdom was under the control of the Ghost Spirit Gate, it was only natural that the Five Colors Gate had fallen.
He wondered whether Mo Yuzhu and her daughter Yingning had met with any misfortune. Unfortunately, the events of those days were so far in the past that even a brief inquiry yielded no results.
Han Li could only sigh and move on.
As for Sun Ergou, though the Sun family had pledged themselves to him as their master, he had never actually asked anything of them. On the contrary, he had given Sun Ergou numerous benefits over the years. Unable to find any news of the Sun family, he had no reason to dwell on the matter.
With that, Han Li departed Jiayuan City, his heart finally free of all lingering concerns, and headed straight for the Yuanwu Kingdom, planning to pass through it on his way back to the Luoyun Sect.
However, barely half a day after leaving Jiayuan City, his expression suddenly froze and he halted in midair.
He turned his head and gazed into the distance to one side, his eyes narrowing.
At the same moment, more than two hundred miles away, a group of travelers also stopped their flight. Two women in white robes exchanged a troubled glance, a hint of gravity rising on their delicate features.
"Grand Aunts! What's happened? Is something wrong?" An elder standing behind the two women asked nervously upon seeing their expressions.
"Yes. Just now we tried to sense the target's position, but the Spirit Infant suddenly stopped moving—it's stationary. I'm not sure whether it has detected our trail." The willow-browed, phoenix-eyed woman in white had lost every trace of her usual languid air; instead, a razor-sharp intensity radiated from her entire person.
"That can't be right. Even a Nascent Soul cultivator couldn't sense us from such a distance. Could it be that the secret technique you two Grand Aunts just performed disturbed the restriction on the Spirit Infant, which is why the target noticed something amiss?" A burly-looking man changed his expression and ventured a guess.
"Impossible. Our technique was personally passed down by your Grand Master. It only passively senses the position of the Wood Spirit Infant. Unless the other party has cultivated his Magical Power to the late Nascent Soul stage, he won't detect anything unusual. After all, we are several hundred miles apart. An ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator, no matter how formidable his spiritual sense, can typically monitor activity within a hundred-mile radius at most—and even that would be extraordinary. Could it be that the cultivator we're chasing, the one carrying the restricted Spirit Infant, really is some late-stage monster?" The woman surnamed Liu shook her head and denied it categorically.
"But, Grand Aunt Liu, then why would the target—" One of the four Foundation Establishment cultivators, a green-robed woman, began worriedly.
But at that moment, Han Yunzhi, who had been silently forming hand seals beside them, spoke with a startled expression.
"The Spirit Infant's position has moved. It's flying straight toward us."
"What? Coming this way? Has it really found us?" The woman surnamed Liu blanched and quickly formed seals to sense the situation herself.
"The person controlling the restricted Spirit Infant is really bringing it toward us, and the speed is extraordinary. It's definitely a Nascent Soul cultivator." After a moment, her face turned cold as she confirmed it.
"Run! We absolutely cannot fight this person, or we'll certainly die. I recall that the Ghost Spirit Gate has a branch altar nearby. Let's flee there. Although the two sides aren't on the best of terms, we all belong to the demonic path. Facing this unknown Nascent Soul cultivator, our only option is to rely on their protective formations. Besides, the other party may not dare to openly attack a Ghost Spirit Gate branch altar, so our chances of escape are quite good." Han Yunzhi pondered briefly before speaking in a measured tone.
"Han Yunzhi is right. Let's go quickly, or it'll be too late!" The green-robed man heard that a Nascent Soul cultivator was approaching and couldn't help swallowing hard, growing visibly panicked.