With the sudden sound of a voice, Han Li's figure appeared at the entrance to the main hall, his expression calm as he walked in.
"Junior Brother Han, you've finally emerged from seclusion — wonderful!" As the other cultivators bowed in greeting to Han Li, Lü Luo rose to his feet with a broad smile to welcome him.
"I haven't made complete progress. I had originally intended to continue my seclusion. But I was somewhat worried about the Mulan people's movements, so I came out first to take a look. It seems my timing turned out to be quite apt." Han Li chuckled softly.
"Heh heh! It seems Junior Brother overheard what several of our junior nephews were just discussing. In any case, there have been quite a few people wanting to see you lately. The others aren't particularly important, but tomorrow's high-level gathering — personally presided over by the Three Great Cultivators — Junior Brother absolutely must attend. After all, our Falling Cloud Sect has committed the greater part of its strength this time. I'd rather not see our sect's disciples suffer too heavy losses. Junior Brother should listen to what those in charge have to say about how they plan to arrange this great battle. That way, at least this Senior Brother will have some idea of what to expect." Lü Luo's expression grew solemn.
"Mm. Now that I know about it, I'll definitely go tomorrow. I've heard much of the Three Great Cultivators for a long time. I very much look forward to tomorrow's gathering." Han Li agreed readily.
Han Li's answer pleased Lü Luo, and he immediately chatted with Han Li about various matters that had transpired over the past two months.
"The Dharma Masters have started sending people to attack several of the boundary arrays!" Hearing this, Han Li's brows furrowed slightly. "Is that so?"
"Indeed. It only happened three or four days ago. There haven't been any casualties yet, but it's a sign that the Mulan people have completed their preparations." Lü Luo's smile faded, and his voice turned grave.
"The Mulan people are nearly ready. How are our manpower arrangements progressing? They should be about done as well, I imagine." Han Li's gaze flickered as he asked slowly.
"We're quite different from the Mulan people. Although the Mulan Dharma Masters are composed of various tribes and are rather disorganized, they don't have as many sects large and small as we do here in Tiannan. Organizing our forces according to cultivation technique characteristics, magical artifact power, and even cultivation level is far more troublesome than anything the Mulan have to deal with. Moreover, the Mulan people have been preparing for this invasion for a long time. We only began organizing recently, which is indeed a bit late... Fortunately, the four great powers have been united this time, and preparations are now seventy to eighty percent complete. Even if the battle begins immediately, we would still have the strength to fight." Lü Luo explained.
"So the great battle really is on the verge of breaking out," Han Li said, rubbing his nose, his expression somewhat grim.
"Very likely. Otherwise, the Three Great Cultivators wouldn't have gathered together so quickly, nor would they have rushed to convene tomorrow's meeting. Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivators are the supreme powers of our Tiannan." Lü Luo sighed helplessly.
Listening to the discussion between Han Li and Lü Luo — two elders of the Falling Cloud Sect — the other cultivators in the hall could not help but adopt grave expressions.
But then Han Li abruptly shifted the conversation, asking about the recent arrangements for the Falling Cloud Sect's disciples. Lü Luo and the others gave him a detailed account.
When he heard that most of the Falling Cloud Sect's disciples had been regrouped and assigned to several squads of cultivators to drill in group combat tactics daily, Han Li merely nodded without comment.
This arrangement was perfectly normal. After all, this was no duel between individual cultivators. No matter how powerful a cultivator's abilities might be, if attacked simultaneously by tens of thousands of well-trained cultivators, they would have no choice but to meet a bitter end on the spot.
Of course, under normal circumstances these high-ranking cultivators would not allow themselves to fall into such a perilous position. As long as they were not trapped by organized squads, these high-level cultivators could deploy large-scale techniques and mow down low-level cultivators by the dozens.
Therefore, having the ability to counterbalance the enemy's high-level cultivators was equally critical.
And in the current war between cultivators and Dharma Masters, the situation was much the same.
If neither side's high-level cultivators and Mulan High Masters could gain the upper hand in their confrontations, the battle would be half-lost before it even began. So even as Han Li inquired about the Falling Cloud Sect's affairs, his mind was already pondering the true intentions behind the Three Great Cultivators' summoning of the Nascent Soul mid-stage cultivators.
Most likely, this meeting would not only involve arranging the movements of the cultivator army, but would also entail specific strategies for dealing with the Mulan High Masters.
Han Li thought to himself and couldn't help but let a cold smile cross his mind.
Over the past two months, he had not only completely purged every trace of green flame from his Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Swords, but had also used the Evil-warding Divine Thunder to refine out seven or eight Thunder Pearls from the green flames that had been infused with Green Essence Sword Qi. As for the rest, they had all failed to refine and had dissipated on their own.
Seeing this, Han Li could only laugh bitterly. It was actually a rather excellent method for destroying those green lamp flames.
After chatting with the group for a while longer, Han Li took his leave and departed the hall, returning to the pavilion that had been specially prepared for him to rest and recover his energy.
Two months of nonstop work purging the green flames from his flying swords, followed immediately by refining Thunder Pearls — it had truly exhausted him.
...
Early the next morning, Han Li set out from the quarters and made his way at a leisurely pace toward the central district. Before long, the enormous stone hall came into view in the distance.
Since the entirety of Tianyi City had been built as a temporary settlement, even the great hall used exclusively for gatherings of the four great powers' senior leadership was rather plain and somewhat rough in construction. Apart from being slightly taller and larger than the Heavenly Dao Alliance's council hall, it was practically identical in design.
However, the cultivators guarding the gate were several Core Formation stage experts. The moment they saw Han Li approaching, they swept him with their spiritual sense and promptly came forward to greet him.
One of the Core Formation cultivators bowed first before speaking respectfully:
"Senior, today's meeting is restricted to cultivators of Nascent Soul mid-stage and above. Senior, you are..."
"Here." Before the man could finish, Han Li raised his hand and tossed over a white jade slip.
It was the invitation that had been delivered the day before.