"It's nothing—we can discuss this later. Since this grand gathering is taking place, I might as well go take a look first." Han Li considered briefly before answering in an even tone.
"Very well, then this junior will lead the way for the senior." The two exchanged a glance, and the shorter young man promptly agreed with a smile.
They each produced a disk-shaped magical tool, tossed it into the air, and stepped aboard. Han Li, seeing this, casually hurled a gleaming flying sword into the sky and, with a flicker of movement, stood upon it.
"Your magical tool is a high-grade flying sword! Surely you must be an inner sect disciple from some great sect, out gaining experience? Otherwise, an ordinary disciple would never receive a tool of this quality from his sect." The taller young man caught a glimpse of Han Li's flying sword and exclaimed with a startled look.
The shorter young man beside him wore a similarly envious expression.
"Heh heh! My sect has rules against casually revealing our affiliation while on trial. You two shouldn't try to pump me for information." Han Li chuckled lightly and cut straight through their probing.
Having been caught dead to rights, the two flushed with embarrassment—but this only strengthened their conviction that Han Li was truly a disciple of some major sect. Their expressions turned even more deferential.
The three then took flight on their magical tools, heading southward toward their destination.
The so-called "Snow Mausoleum Mountain" wasn't far from the town; its dark, jagged peaks were already faintly visible from the outskirts.
In truth, it should have been called the Snow Mausoleum Mountain Range. The range stretched for ten thousand li, making it one of the largest mountain chains in Liao Prefecture. And deep within, it was said that demons and monsters roamed. Not only were mortals unwelcome—even cultivators of no small caliber sometimes vanished without a trace.
When friends, relatives, and sectmates of the missing came searching in groups, they combed through more than half the range and found nothing unusual. Yet cultivators continued to disappear.
Fortunately, not everyone who passed through the range went missing, and the victims were mostly low-level cultivators from Liao Prefecture. The outer edges were perfectly safe. After a series of warnings, local cultivators stopped venturing deep into the mountains, and disappearances became rare. Eventually, no one bothered to investigate the anomalies any further.
The Ginseng King Assembly hosted by the three great families of Jiangning could not, of course, be held deep in the mountains. It was to take place on a tall peak at the outermost edge, nearest to the town.
From the air, Han Li surveyed the summit and beheld an impressive array of ornate pavilions, towers, and halls spread across the mountaintop. His eyes flickered.
At a single glance, he could tell the structures were brand-new—clearly built only recently. A contemplative look crossed his face.
"We've arrived, senior. This is the place. All Foundation Establishment cultivators attending will be assigned private rooms, while senior cultivators at Core Formation and above will each receive a separate pavilion—to ensure everyone can rest properly." The taller young man pointed below and introduced the arrangements with a touch of ingratiation.
Han Li nodded without comment. But his spiritual sense slipped out quietly, sweeping the area with careful, discreet precision. His brows crept together ever so slightly—there was a Nascent Soul cultivator among them. Whether this was an attendee at the gathering or the "Old Freak Kong" Feng Zhen had mentioned before his death, he couldn't tell.
The Great Jin's noble families truly were not to be underestimated. In the Tianlan region, the strongest cultivators in clan families could only reach mid or late Core Formation at best. Nascent Soul-level cultivators were simply something Tianlan's family clans could never produce.
However, one thing caught him off guard. The aura of this Nascent Soul cultivator contained a faint trace of corpse qi. Though it was exceedingly subtle and cleverly masked, Han Li's spiritual sense vastly outstripped the other man's—even with all the care taken, a sharp sweep had caught that faint trace.
Could this person be practicing some demonic or heterodox technique?
If he remembered correctly, the Kong family hailed from the prestigious Tiansheng Sect of the Confucian school and still enjoyed that sect's patronage. Regardless of whether this Nascent Soul cultivator was the Kong family patriarch, simply associating with such a person was highly irregular for the family.
As Han Li turned these thoughts over in his mind, he descended with the two young men and landed before the estate's entrance. Four blue-robed cultivators immediately emerged to greet them.
…
Almost simultaneously, in a secret chamber more than twenty zhang underground, the lid of a coffin as black as ink shifted slightly. A hand white as jade slipped through the gap and gently pushed the lid aside. A man in a jade crown and yellow robes abruptly sat up inside.
He appeared to be in his thirties, with a striking and unusual bearing. A flicker of alarm and suspicion crossed his face.
"What's going on? My heart just raced out of nowhere… could someone be spying on me?" the man murmured to himself. After a moment's hesitation, he carefully extended his spiritual sense and swept the entire mountain from top to bottom, scrutinizing every cultivator within the estate with painstaking thoroughness.
But after a long while, he found nothing—no other Nascent Soul cultivator anywhere. His brows furrowed deeply as he sank into contemplation.