"The Green Spirit Clan? Could you be referring to that race with translucent wings and jade-green skin?" Han Li narrowed his eyes as he asked.
"Hmm? How does Senior know about them?" Zhu Guo'er was visibly startled upon hearing this.
"Because quite a few of them are heading our way. It seems the spatial fluctuations from the Mo Spirit Sacred Ship entering this realm were too great, and the Green Spirit Clan detected them," Han Li replied evenly.
"I see. Senior, please be careful. The Green Spirit Clan is the most powerful alien race in the Small Spirit Heaven. Although the insufficient spiritual energy of this realm means they cannot give birth to Mahayana-level existences, they are able to commune with and channel the power of ancient tree ancestral spirits similar to true spirits. Their combined might is by no means inferior to that of an ordinary Mahayana cultivator." Zhu Guo'er hurriedly offered a warning.
"Ancient tree ancestral spirits? That sounds rather interesting. But now is not the time to tangle with them. If these Green Spirit Clan members are sensible enough to leave us alone, I can't be bothered with them. But if they're foolish enough to stand in our way, I won't hesitate to teach them a lesson. This passage's exit cannot be known to anyone else — I'll first set up a restriction to conceal the area." Han Li nodded, a cold glint flashing through his eyes as he spoke.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a dense shower of formation flags flew out, transforming into multicolored balls of light that vanished in a flash, one after another disappearing into the surrounding void.
Han Li formed a single-handed incantation gesture and pointed toward the area of the seven-colored halo.
Immediately, a mass of pentachromatic runes materialized, weaving and flickering before coalescing into a thin veil of light that shrouded the seven-colored halo in a hazy concealment.
With a muffled boom, the seven-colored halo wavered and then faded from view along with the faint light barrier.
The subtle spatial fluctuations that had still been faintly perceptible were now completely sealed off.
Next, Han Li murmured an incantation, altered the hand seal, and shook his sleeve forward once more.
A wash of green radiance swept from within the sleeve, condensed into a fist-sized rune, and then detonated with a dull thud.
Countless green threads scattered outward, and what followed was an astonishing sight.
The towering ancient pine that had long since been reduced to fragments was rapidly reforming in its original position at a speed visible to the naked eye. Even the crater in the ground was filling itself in bit by bit.
In the span of a few breaths, the great pine and the surrounding crater had been restored to their former state, with every trace erased.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense over the area once more, and finding nothing out of place, wore a satisfied expression. Then he slapped a palm toward the distant void.
A heaven-shaking, earth-shattering boom erupted.
A small mountain more than ten miles away was abruptly flattened by an enormous descending force of crushing power.
Centered on the mountain, within a radius of a mile, a colossal palm print had appeared out of nowhere, sunken more than ten zhang deep into the ground, every crease and line clearly visible.
"Let's go."
Only then did Han Li smile faintly and give the order.
The massive ship rumbled to life, piercing through the sky in a chosen direction. After several flickers, it vanished beyond the horizon.
Roughly the time it takes to eat a meal later, streaks of brilliant light shot across the horizon from another direction. Several dazzling rainbows of light swept through the air, circled the surrounding area for a moment, and then abruptly halted above the flattened mountain. The lights receded, revealing three tall, gaunt figures with transparent cicada wings sprouting from their backs — one woman and two men.
All three were tall and lean. Both their hair and skin were a pale green, though it was easy to distinguish the sole woman from the two men.
The three of them gazed down at the enormous palm print below, their expressions uniformly grave.
"Cuying, what do you make of it?" One of the Green Spirit Clan men — slightly more robustly built than the other two — suddenly turned to the woman beside him and asked.
"Extremely powerful. The three of us could never accomplish something like this." The Green Spirit Clan woman, whose features were noticeably more refined than the other two, answered with her elegant brows tightly furrowed.
"Hmph — not just couldn't. This person's strength is almost certainly far beyond the three of us combined." The other man, whose face was somewhat elongated, let out a cold snort as he spoke.
"Judging by the shape of this palm print, it was clearly left by a human expert. But is there truly such a powerful being among the humans?" A flicker of doubt crossed the woman's face.
"There shouldn't have been before. The strongest among the humans was the Iron Sovereign Wanderer of Heavenly Gate Mountain, but his cultivation was only marginally superior to ours. Could this be a newly emergent human powerhouse?" The more robust Green Spirit Clan member murmured in contemplation before answering.
"The Small Spirit Heaven is only so large. If such a powerful figure truly appeared among the humans, how could there not have been even a whisper of it? And what's more peculiar — regardless of who this person is, why would they appear in the very heart of the Green Sea?" the elongated-faced man said coldly.
"That is indeed strange. I'm afraid only the owner of this palm print could tell us the truth," the woman replied, a sharp, fierce light flashing in her eyes.
"Ask him? Tell me — what do you think this human intended by leaving this palm print?" The robust man stroked his chin and posed the question with a thoughtful look.
"What could it possibly mean other than intimidation? He wants us to see this and back down. But does he take the Green Sea for what — some backyard garden? Even if this person truly is a human Mahayana cultivator, he owes us an explanation." The elongated-faced man bared his teeth in a grim smile as he spoke.
"Naturally. Otherwise, if word of this spreads, every race under heaven will treat the Green Sea as their own front yard. But what about those spatial fluctuations that appeared at the start? Could it be that this human powerhouse employed some spatial secret art, allowing him to bypass the barriers our clan has set up and teleport directly here?" The woman slowly posed yet another question.