When he heard Lu Luo's words, Brother Cheng was also startled. He quickly swept his spiritual sense over Han Li.
What he found was that Han Li's aura was restrained and his radiance contained within — he had clearly advanced to mid-stage Nascent Soul. Brother Cheng stood there, stunned.
"I knew my two senior brothers had sharp eyes and would figure it out quickly." Han Li said. "Your junior brother did indeed encounter a stroke of fortune in the Devilfall Valley, and after bitter cultivation, managed to advance. Even I never expected to reach mid-stage Nascent Soul so quickly. But had I not known that Wan'er was under the protection of my two senior brothers and that nothing bad would happen to her, I would have been consumed with anxiety during all those years trapped. How could I have settled my mind enough to cultivate? I have my two senior brothers to thank for this." Han Li cupped his fists and spoke words of sincere gratitude.
"What is junior brother saying! Since Nangong accepted me as her elder brother, looking after her was only natural. Besides, this so-called protection — your senior brother here wasn't actually able to provide any real help. All I could do was leave sister-in-law trapped in the ice. I'm truly ashamed!" Brother Cheng finally recovered from his shock and hastily replied with modesty.
"With less than three hundred years of lifespan, junior brother has already advanced to mid-stage Nascent Soul. If word got out, it would shake the entire Tiannan region! It seems that not only is late-stage Nascent Soul a certainty, but even the Deity Transformation stage is well within junior brother's reach!" Lu Luo couldn't help but add, his words brimming with envy.
Given Han Li's terrifying rate of advancement, in the entire history of Tiannan's cultivation world, there were probably only a bare handful of people who could compare. Such speed had little to do with personal talent anymore — it was mostly a matter of fortune and destiny, things that couldn't be forced.
Han Li offered a few modest words, then deliberately steered the conversation away, asking about what had happened in the Devilfall Valley after he had gone missing. Information from someone who had personally witnessed the great battle would naturally be far more reliable than the hearsay others had picked up.
The old man gave a wry smile when he heard Han Li's question.
As it turned out, after Han Li was swallowed by the spatial rift, the other ancient demon had flown into a terrible rage. Just when the old man thought his life was over, other cultivators happened to arrive on the scene.
However, even those cultivators joining forces with Wei Wuya and the rest still couldn't match the other ancient demon, which had also transformed into a dual-headed, four-armed form. Instead, they soon found themselves in dire peril. At the critical moment, the Molan forces finally arrived.
Together, both sides managed to trap the demon. After a fierce battle, with the aid of the Molan Sacred Bird summoned by the woman surnamed Yue, they finally dealt devastating wounds to the demon. The Molan Divine Master Zhong even severed one of its heads. In the end, however, the ancient demon still managed to escape.
Several Nascent Soul cultivators perished in the battle. Nangong Wan's senior sister was struck directly by a bolt of demonic flame during the demon's final frenzied struggle — her body was destroyed and her Nascent Soul reduced to ashes. Patriarch Linghu fared somewhat better: his body was destroyed, but his Nascent Soul narrowly escaped.
The Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators suffered the worst fate. The elder surnamed Zhong had his Nascent Soul ripped directly from his body and devoured by the demon. Of all the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators who had entered the valley, apart from a handful of Core Formation cultivators, every high-level cultivator was wiped out — a truly shocking outcome.
The events that followed were roughly the same as what Huang Yuanming had described. They had originally believed the demon would, as the records stated, be unable to persist in the human world for long, and so none had ventured out of the valley to pursue it. But to everyone's surprise, the demon had used some unknown method and showed no intention whatsoever of returning to the other realm. Instead, it went on a rampage across Tiannan, devouring cultivators' Nascent Souls wherever it went. This ultimately provoked collective outrage, and a campaign of extermination was launched against it.
At this point, Han Li furrowed his brow and asked: "I've heard some of the outside rumors about the battle to destroy this demon. All sorts of stories circulate. But with two great cultivators and a Molan Divine Master attacking together, couldn't they have killed it on the spot? With your standing, senior brothers, you should know the true outcome!" As he spoke, Han Li's expression grew solemn. The ferocity of that ancient demon still gave him chills even now, thinking back on it.
"Neither of us took part in the battle to eliminate the demon," the old man explained carefully. "But according to intelligence relayed through the Alliance, the ancient demon did indeed suffer a fatal wound. However, it still managed to escape the encirclement by using some bizarre secret technique. Master Zhiyang and the others pursued relentlessly, determined to eradicate the threat once and for all. The chase took them all the way to the borders of the Molan grasslands. Out of wariness toward the Tuyuhun cultivators, they had no choice but to abandon the pursuit. But after all these years, the ancient demon has never reappeared in Tiannan, and the Tuyuhun side has been peaceful as well. It seems the demon either truly died from its wounds, or it crossed the Molan grasslands and made its way to Great Jin."
"To Great Jin?" At these words, Han Li's expression shifted slightly, but he quickly recovered.
Brother Cheng and Lu Luo both noticed that Han Li had things he didn't wish to say, but they tactfully refrained from pressing the matter.
After all, Han Li's abilities and realm were now far beyond what either of them could match. They couldn't help but feel a touch of awe in his presence.
After chatting with the two about other matters for a while longer, Han Li finally revealed that he had found a remedy in the Devilfall Valley and wished to go first and try to break the poison curse on Nangong Wan.
The two were overjoyed to hear this. If Nangong Wan could be restored to normal, the Falling Cloud Sect's strength would grow enormously. They immediately lost all interest in further conversation and personally accompanied Han Li to the forbidden grounds.
At the entrance to the forbidden area, Brother Cheng and Lu Luo stopped of their own accord, saying they would stand guard here so that Han Li could focus on breaking the curse without worry.
Han Li didn't stand on ceremony. He offered a word of thanks and walked in alone.
Before long, his figure appeared before the stone door of the secret chamber.
He examined the restrictions outside the stone door — they hadn't been touched since his last departure. It seemed Brother Cheng and Lu Luo had only used their spiritual sense to check on Nangong Wan's condition and hadn't broken through the restrictions to enter. This only deepened Han Li's appreciation for the two.
He formed a series of hand seals, sending several streams of spiritual energy in succession. The stone door flickered with spiritual light several times, then opened with a muffled rumble.
A strange expression flickered across Han Li's face as he stepped silently inside.
The stone door descended once more.
The secret chamber was exactly as he had left it. Thanks to the Moonlight Stones embedded in the ceiling, there was not the slightest hint of dimness. And because of the restrictions, the room remained immaculately clean, without a single speck of dust.
The ice wall glowed with a faint spiritual light. Nangong Wan, still bearing the appearance of a young girl, remained sealed within it, her eyes closed, her face slightly pale.
A flicker of tender pity crossed Han Li's face. He walked several steps forward and stopped about a zhang from the ice wall.