Chapter 136: Arrangements
Close to a month later.
In a secluded area of the Black Wind Sea, there were over 100 small gray islands littered across the region.
These islands were all of different sizes, but they were all smaller than 10,000 kilometers in area, and they resembled a string of pearls embdeed onto a wall of jade.
Vegetations on the islands were very sparse, as was the spiritual qi. Not only was there not a single animal to be seen on the island, there weren't even any seabirds in the area, presenting a rather bleak and desolate sight to behold.
In reality, these islands had all been encompassed under a near-transparent light barrier, and if one were outside the light barrier, they would only be able to see a vast stretch of empty ocean. In fact, even if the average True Immortal cultivator were to scour the area with their spiritual sense, they wouldn't be able to discover anything amiss.
At this moment, two figures, one male and one female, were seated on either side of a round stone table in a secret chamber constructed in the belly of a mountain on a certain island.
One of them was a man with an imposing physique and a hollow helmet on his face, and it was none other than Ancestral God Han Qiu of the Cold Crystal Race, and the woman with him was Mistress Gu Gu, with whom he had targeted Han Li on multiple occasions.
"Are you sure he won't be able to find us here, Fellow Daoist Han Qiu?" Mistress Gu Gu asked as she gripped tightly onto the teacup in his hand, within which the tea had gone cold long ago.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Gu Gu. I had to spend almost all of my belongings to exchange for this illusory array from Master Illusory Light, even a Late-True Immortal cultivator wouldn't be able to find us here. That man is only a Profound Immortal, so there's no chance he'll discover us.
“Even if he does stumble into this area, he won't be able to see the true landscape as long as he doesn't break the core of the array," Han Qiu replied, but despite what he was saying, there was a rather uncertain look in his eyes.
"I should've never allowed myself to get involved in this mess! Not only has my avatar been destroyed, I can't even return to my home! If I hadn't taken part in this, I would still be doing whatever I please on my Worry Bone Island!" Mistress Gu Gu sighed.
"What's the point of saying that now? As Earthly Immortals, we're envied by countless people, but even in the Black Wind Sea, we are only bottom-dwellers. Risk and reward come hand in hand, and unless we're blessed with immense fortune, our situation most likely won't change even over the course of the next 100,000 years. How is an existence like this different from being dead? I made an error in judgment this time, but as long as we can weather the storm here and refine new avatars, we can definitely rise again someday!" Han Qiu said.
"You make it sound so easy to refine new avatars. If you ask me, we should find a way to leave the Black Wind Sea," Mistress Gu Gu said as she released her teacup.
"That's preposterous! Setting aside the fact that we don't have a way out, even if we somehow manage to leave the Black Wind Sea, we'll lose the protection of our law powers, and we wouldn't even be able to match the average itinerant cultivator in battle! How would that be a better option to staying here?" Han Qiu harrumphed coldly.
A dejected look appeared on Mistress Gu Gu's face upon hearing this, and she didn't say anything further.
Right at this moment, Han Qiu abruptly sprang up from his chair as if he had been pricked in the bottom, and he yelled, "Impossible!"
As soon as his voice trailed off, a burst of earth-shattering rumbling rang out, and all of the islands in the entire area shuddered in unison, along with the transparent light barrier above them.
Enormous plumes of dust rose up into the sky as a series of bottomless rifts appeared on all of the islands. Countless rock fragments erupted forth in all directions before falling onto the surface of the sea like rain, churning up its surface into a frenzy.
Massive waves swept through the area, and one island after another began to crumble away before sinking to the bottom of the sea.
Two figures emerged from the smoke and debris, and they didn't linger for even a single moment as they flew westward as quickly as they could.
However, they were only able to flee for a few hundred kilometers before a streak of light arrived directly in front of them.
Grim looks appeared on Han Qiu and Gu Gu's faces as they looked at the figure they were being confronted by.
Han Qiu swallowed his pride and extended a slight bow as he asked, "Senior Liu, is there really no way that you would spare us?"
Han Li merely smiled and offered no response.
Han Qiu also fell silent for a moment, then continued in a careful voice, "If you spare our lives, we're willing to offer up everything in our respective races in gratitude."
Meanwhile, his hands were concealed up his sleeves, and he was tightly gripping an azure jade tablet in one hand, while making a hand seal with the other.
Mistress Gu Gu hadn't said anything, but she had also subtly withdrawn her hands up her sleeves.
Right at this moment, a layer of azure light appeared over Han Li's body, and he took a step toward the two Ancestral Gods.
Both of the Ancestral Gods immediately sprang into action upon seeing this, and a burst of radiant azure light appeared from one of each of their sleeves before connecting together to envelop the two.
In the blink of an eye, the two of them vanished from the spot.
Mere moments later, a flash of light appeared in the sky tens of thousands of kilometers away, and the two of them reappeared.
"Thank heavens we prepared this pair of Divine Travel Pendants in advance. Even as Profound Immortal, I'm sure he won't be able to catch up to us anytime soon," Han Qiu said as he inspected his surroundings with a hint of lingering fear in his eyes.
"These Divine Travel Pendants are indeed quite extraordinary. The only drawbacks are that they take too long to activate and require both of us to activate them at once. We almost didn't make it out in time back there. This place isn't safe, either, so we should continue on our way," Mistress Gu Gu said in a concerned manner.
Han Qiu was just about to respond when a voice suddenly rang out from the faraway distance.
"You two got away a bit faster than your avatars did."
Han Qiu and Gu Gu were horrified by the sound of the voice, and they immediately tried to activate their Divine Travel Pendants once again, only for Han Li to descend right before them in a flash.
"How is he this fast?" Mistress Gu Gu wailed in a despairing voice.
Han Qiu's eyes were also filled with shock and horror.
With a flick of his wrist, Han Li summoned a black longsword into his grasp, and it was none other than the one that Mistress Gu Gu's had used.
He pointed the tip of the sword upward, and a massive sword projection that resembled an enormous mountain appeared, piercing a hole straight through the clouds up above.
Han Qiu and Mistress Gu Gu were in complete despair, but they still mustered up their final shreds of courage to summon their most powerful treasures.
With a sweep of his sleeve, a translucent wheel of ice appeared in front of Han Qiu. The wheel was riddled with countless ice spikes that were giving off white glacial qi.
Meanwhile, Gu Gu swept her hands through the air, and a gray puppet appeared out of thin air, then vanished into her body amid a flash of light.
Han Li could see what they were doing, but he paid it no heed as he abruptly turned his wrist downward.
A sharp screeching sound rang out as the mountainous sword projection was instantly tipped upside-down before crashing down upon the two Ancestral Gods.
Han Qiu immediately opened his mouth upon seeing this, expelling a mouthful of blood essence from under his visor, and the blood essence vanished into the white wheel of ice in a flash.
Immediately thereafter, it was as if the ice wheel had sprung to life, and it began to rapidly revolve on the spot before transforming into a huge ice phoenix that flew directly toward the oncoming sword projection.
Meanwhile, a cloud of dense mist began to surge out of Mistress Gu Gu's body, sending a powerful corrosive aura surging through the air.
In the next instant, the black sword protection swelled even further in size, completely obscuring the heavens.
The gray mist was instantly dispelled, while the ice phoenix was decapitated, and the bodies of the two Ancestral Gods were completely destroyed by the sword projection.
……
Meanwhile, Han Li's Earthly Deity Avatar had arrived on the island of the Cold Crystal Race along with Luo Feng.
First, they slew several elders and the chief of the opposing race, then smashed all of the statues of Han Qiu on the island. Only after that did they declare that Han Qiu was already dead, and that Cold Crystal Island now belonged to Dark Veil Island.
The Cold Crystal beings naturally refused to believe this initially, but Han Qiu remained absent, and they had also lost the protective light membranes granted to them by their Ancestral God, so they had no choice but to surrender.
After that, the two of them traveled to Worry Bone Island and repeated the same process.
During the following month, Dark Veil Island's new Ancestral God, Liu Shi, quickly became a name that everyone in the nearby region was aware of. The Ancestral Gods that had targeted him in the past were so horrified that they all fled their islands, not daring to return.
As for the nearby Ancestral Gods who were yet to make contact with Han Li, all of them hurriedly traveled to Dark Veil Island to try and appease him.
There were even two itinerant cultivators that joined Dark Veil Island to become guest elders, and they were sent to preside over Cold Crystal Island and Worry Bone Island in his stead.
All of a sudden, Dark Veil Island had become a dominant force in the region.
However, all Han Li did was slay Han Qiu and Gu Gu, and he left everything else to Luo Feng and his avatar.
Several months later, in the secret chamber of Han Li's courtyard.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed on a futon, while Luo Feng was standing before him with a serious look on his face.
"I have to go into seclusion soon, and I'll most likely be in seclusion for a very long time. My avatar is also busy cultivating, so you'll be solely responsible for overseeing matters on the island," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, Senior Liu, I'll be sure to look after the island diligently in your stead," Luo Feng hurriedly replied.
"I'm going to be setting up an array around this courtyard soon, and no one is permitted to approach this place. If you encounter something that you can't take care of, don't come to me, just seek out my avatar," Han Li instructed.
"Yes, Senior Liu," Luo Feng immediately replied.
Following Luo Feng's departure, a streak of blue light abruptly flew out of Han Li's body, then transformed into a humanoid figure, revealing itself to be none other than his Earthly Deity Avatar.
Han Li rose to his feet, then flipped a hand over to produce a pair of identical black array plates, one of which he handed to his Earthly Deity Avatar.
The array plates were similar in size and shape to go boards, and their surfaces were riddled with countless small white dots, while a nine palace grid and the 16 directions were engraved onto the edge of the plate, presenting a rather intriguing sight to behold.
The plates were called Twin Starshift Plates, and they were capable of teleporting treasures from one plate to another. This was another treasure that he had exchanged from the Transient Guild at a very steep cost.
One night, around half a month later, a figure with an extremely well-disguised aura left Dark Veil Island in a stealthy fashion.
Only upon arriving in an area of open sea several dozen kilometers away from the island did the figure abruptly transform into a streak of azure light, hurtling rapidly toward the center of the Black Wind Sea.
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