After hearing the Ghost Spirit Sect Master's words, some cultivators were overjoyed while others remained skeptical.
After all, very few people actually knew the details about Devilfall Valley.
"To put everyone's minds at ease, I'll send my son and Elder Zhong through first. After that, you may all proceed as you see fit." As Wang Tiansheng spoke, he waved toward Wang Chan and Yan Ruyan in the distance.
Wang Chan, wearing a silver mask, walked with Yan Ruyan from outside the formation to its center without a word. An expressionless mid-stage Nascent Soul elder followed them in.
Then, at Wang Tiansheng's command, the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators hovering in the air simultaneously pointed their formation flags downward. Multicolored beams of light — each as thick as an arm — shot from the flag tips and struck various points across the formation.
The entire formation immediately hummed to life, every spirit stone blazing with brilliance. Amid a wash of resplendent radiance, the three figures vanished from the center of the formation without warning.
The sight stirred a commotion among the cultivators watching nearby.
Wang Tiansheng paid them no mind. He had Wang Tiangu lead seven or eight Core Formation cultivators through the teleportation one after another.
By now, the other cultivators understood. Though the formation looked enormous, it could apparently teleport only three people at a time. The Ghost Spirit Sect would have to send their people through in batches.
Seeing the Ghost Spirit Sect apparently trying to get a head start, many cultivators at the valley entrance felt tempted. But these were all old and cunning folk, and out of habitual caution, none stepped forward rashly. They wanted to let others test the waters first. After all, the Ghost Spirit Sect's reputation was far from spotless — if something went wrong, it would be a matter of life and death.
Han Li stood up on the small hill, showing no intention of going down.
Wang Tiansheng let out a cold snort, clasped his hands behind his back, and gazed skyward, hovering motionless in the air.
The atmosphere at the valley entrance turned subtly charged and quiet.
It was in this awkward lull that the Mulan cultivators made their move.
Over a dozen Mulan mages, led by the scholar surnamed Zhong and the woman surnamed Le, walked silently toward the massive formation.
A flicker of dark qi crossed Wang Tiansheng's face, but vanished as quickly as it appeared.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuya — who had been staring at the sky in silence all this time — slowly lowered his head and calmly regarded the approaching scholar.
The scholar said nothing. Before the group had even entered the formation, he flicked his sleeve, and over a dozen streaks of green light shot outward and soared skyward.
Wang Tiansheng gestured at the green streaks, his face blank. The light faded, and the streaks transformed into over a dozen tokens that dropped into his hand.
"Good. The count is correct. Please go ahead, fellow Daoist." Though Wang Tiansheng had not fought in the Border War, someone had apprised him of the scholar surnamed Zhong's identity. After a slow exhale, he spoke evenly.
The scholar nodded, and the mages behind him flickered forward, all entering the center of the formation.
The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators in the air performed their incantations, and the Mulan mages were teleported away three at a time.
"This teleportation drops people in random locations, doesn't it? If so, it would be best if your sect's people don't run into us." As the scholar stepped into the formation, he tossed this remark at Wei Wuya with studied nonchalance.
"What are the odds? If it truly happened, we could only call it the will of heaven." Facing this Mulan Spirit Master, the middle-aged cultivator showed remarkably little fear.
"The will of heaven? Heh — if that's the case, then so be it!" The scholar surnamed Zhong let out a cold laugh, and he and his two companions vanished within a flash of white light.
After hearing those parting words, Wang Tiansheng gazed at the now-empty formation, a sliver of icy cold curving at the corner of his lips.
At this point, seeing that the Mulan mages had also been teleported away safely, someone finally lost patience and stepped forward. After handing over a Devilfall Token, they began teleporting with the help of Ghost Spirit Sect disciples.
Shortly after, cultivators possessing Devilfall Tokens emerged one by one from their hiding places.
In barely half an incense stick's time, the teleportation formation had flashed continuously, ferrying over three hundred people away — nearly a quarter of the cultivators present. The high-grade spirit stone at the formation's center had dimmed considerably from its initial radiance, its spiritual power largely spent.
Standing on the high ground, Han Li coldly observed everything, committing each noteworthy cultivator heading into the valley to memory for future reference.
Suddenly, Han Li's gaze sharpened. Six green-robed cultivators were walking toward the formation. At their head was Dongmen Tu, the Grand Elder of the Spirit Beast Sect — a man Han Li had encountered before. Han Li harbored no fond memories of him. Though the Grand Elder had never directly clashed with him, the matter involving Gu Shuangpu had kept Han Li wary of the man in the past.
But with his powers now greatly improved, perhaps there was no longer need to worry about him.
Yet at that very moment, the five green-robed cultivators surrounding Dongmen Tu shuddered as one and turned to look in Han Li's direction.
Almost simultaneously, Han Li's second Nascent Soul — which he had mostly assimilated — suddenly lurched into violent instability. Had he not been quick-witted enough to immediately focus his spiritual sense and forcibly suppress it, this second Nascent Soul, born from the Supreme Wood Spirit Infant, would have erupted from his body on the spot.
Only then did Han Li scan the five green-robed cultivators carefully with his spiritual sense — and he was greatly alarmed. All five were early Nascent Soul cultivators.
"Five Elements Spirit Infants!" The anomaly in his second Nascent Soul made the answer obvious. Han Li's pupils contracted involuntarily.