Of course, the two who had traveled all the way from the Kingdom of Xi were none other than Han Li and Elder Lu. As for the beautiful female cultivator, she was Mu Peiling, who held the status of Han Li's concubine.
Silver-haired Elder Cheng had remained behind to hold down the Falling Cloud Sect, guarding against any troublemakers who might try to take advantage of their absence, and had therefore not come along.
According to the old man, he had already attended grand gatherings like this seven or eight times and had no pressing needs, so he naturally yielded the opportunity to his two younger martial brothers.
Thus, Han Li and Elder Lu had appeared here.
Mu Peiling had been stuck at a bottleneck in her cultivation and had just happened to emerge from seclusion. When she heard that the greatest trade fair in all of Tiannan was about to convene, she couldn't help but feel tempted and tentatively asked if she could tag along to broaden her horizons.
After all, if she failed to achieve Core Formation, this grand fair might be the only one she would ever have the chance to attend.
Han Li was not a stingy man, and he figured a trading fair posed no real danger, so he agreed without hesitation.
Besides, the journey was no short one, and having a beautiful woman for company was rather pleasant on the eyes.
Naturally, when heading to the trade fair, the three sects of Cloud Dream Mountain also had some cultivators either traveling together or setting out on their own. Han Li and the others had no interest in accompanying these junior disciples, so they had departed a day early and made straight for the Kingdom of Yue.
They had deliberately chosen a route that skirted the territories of both the Righteous and Demonic paths, and so they traveled without incident into the territory of the Nine Nations Alliance before finally arriving near Heavenpeak City.
At this moment, Han Li was lazily taking in the scenery around them. Occasionally, cultivators passed in the distance, but the moment their spiritual sense swept across the middle-aged man surnamed Lu and Han Li, their faces drained of color. None dared linger for even a moment, immediately fleeing at top speed for fear of provoking some catastrophe.
Neither Han Li nor the traveling middle-aged man had bothered to conceal their cultivation. Any ordinary cultivator who happened to run into two Nascent Soul cultivators traveling together would naturally be terrified out of his wits and promptly detour far out of their way.
In the beginning, Mu Peiling had found this somewhat unnerving, but after seeing it happen enough times, she grew accustomed to it and simply paid it no mind.
At this point, Elder Lu was chatting amicably with Han Li at his side while pressing onward.
"This trade fair moving to Heavenpeak City is actually a development of only the last hundred years or so. In the past, the Righteous and Demonic paths always controlled the fair, hosting it in rotation between the Kingdom of Tianluo and the Kingdom of Fengdu. After all, the Heavenly Dao Alliance hadn't been established yet back then, and the Nine Nations Alliance was being crushed under the thumb of the Fa Masters, so this enormously profitable event could only remain in the hands of those two great powers. But once the Righteous and Demonic paths began expanding, cultivators from the other factions naturally stopped feeling comfortable letting them continue to host the fair in their own countries. So starting from the last edition, the right to host the fair fell without controversy to the neutral Nine Nations Alliance. Consider it a bitter loss that the Righteous and Demonic factions had to swallow after their power surged."
"So what you're saying, Senior Brother Lu, is that the Nine Nations Alliance got quite the windfall. But I have to admit, I'm genuinely curious about Heavenpeak City. It's the only true city of cultivators in all of Tiannan, after all. I heard that the Fa Master coalition army once advanced all the way into the Kingdom of Yue, only to be routed at the very gates of Heavenpeak City by the newly allied cultivators of the nine nations using the Shangyuan Extinguishing Light Formation. They say that battle alone claimed the lives of several Nascent Soul cultivators — truly a devastating affair." Han Li's face showed a look of genuine interest as he spoke.
"Ha ha! Rest assured, Junior Brother Han — Heavenpeak City will definitely not disappoint you. But I've been thinking, ever since you emerged from seclusion, something about you seems different from before. Yet it doesn't feel like a simple advancement in cultivation. I suspect you must have successfully cultivated some secret technique. Otherwise, you wouldn't give me such an odd feeling." Elder Lu chuckled, then abruptly shifted the topic, probing cautiously.
"I did recently begin cultivating a new technique, but I'm hardly at the point of mastering it. On the other hand, I've heard some other disciples mention that Senior Brother Lu's 'Thousand Waves Technique' is a top-tier technique of great renown. Little Brother has been itching to see it for a long time." Han Li offered a faint smile and deftly steered the conversation back onto his interlocutor.
"Don't listen to the nonsense those disciples spread, Junior Brother. My Thousand Waves Technique is really just a rather ordinary water-attribute technique. While dealing with Core Formation cultivators is easy enough, once I face someone at my own level, I lose far more often than I win. Fortunately, the technique does have two life-saving abilities, so at least I don't usually lose my head when things go wrong." Elder Lu shook his head with a rueful smile.
Hearing this, Han Li found himself inclined to believe some of it. He recalled that last time, this Elder Lu and the silver-haired Elder Cheng had been trapped together by a joint assault from the Righteous and Demonic forces. In the end, Elder Lu had escaped back to Cloud Dream Mountain without a scratch, while the slightly higher-ranking silver-haired elder had sustained severe injuries before finally breaking free.
It was clear that Elder Lu's life-saving methods were no ordinary fare.
Han Li's mind stirred, and he was about to say something more when his expression suddenly froze. He turned his head to one side with a look of surprise.
"Young Master, what's happened!" Mu Peiling, who was close at Han Li's side, asked curiously. As his concubine, she no longer put on her icy demeanor; her lovely face bloomed with a fetching allure, her eyes glimmering with shifting light.
"A group of cultivators is flying toward us. Among them is one at the Nascent Soul stage, and it seems they've noticed us as well." Han Li furrowed his brow briefly, then spoke in his usual calm manner.
"Oh! You're right. I'm impressed, Junior Brother — your spiritual sense is truly formidable. You sensed them before I did! And you really are cautious, keeping your spiritual sense wide open even in the vicinity of Heavenpeak City!" The middle-aged man surnamed Lu followed Han Li's gaze, and a look of surprise crossed his face. His estimation of Han Li rose yet another notch.