Chapter 526: Revenge
"What happened?" Han Li asked.
"They told me not to come with them, but I was worried about them, so I sent Featheryearn to accompany them. At this point, it's already at the Grand Ascension Stage, so I thought they would definitely be safe, but something must've happened to them," Meng Qianqian murmured with a distressed expression.
Han Li cast his gaze toward Featheryearn, then communicated with it momentarily using his spiritual sense before declaring, "Yungui and the others have been trapped in a restricted area of the Late Age Nation's imperial palace, and Featheryearn fled back here to inform you of this."
Meng Qianqian's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, following which she implored, "Master Li, please allow me to go and save my brother."
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "Why aren't you asking me to help you save them?"
"I may not not be very smart, but I know that your departure from the Northern Glacial Immortal Region cannot be delayed. I'm already extremely grateful that you went out of your way to come and see us, and it would be far too greedy of me to delay your departure any longer," Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied.
"If Featheryearn was so severely injured even after reaching the Grand Ascension Stage, then you're surely no match for these enemies, how can you expect to save them? Also, the Late Age Nation is quite far away, so how do you know that they'll be able to last until you get to them?" Han Li asked.
"I..." Meng Qianqian had no response to this.
"Let's go. It won't take much time," Han Li said.
Before Meng Qianqian had a chance to reply, Jin Tong had already approached them, and there was still some oil on her lips as she assured, "You can count on me to look after this injured bird, Uncle."
All of the feathers on Featheryearn's entire body instantly stood up on end at the sight of the approaching Jin Tong, and it desperately tried to get away, but it was too severely injured to do so.
"You're not planning to eat it, are you?" Han Li asked with an exasperated expression.
"Of course not! I'm going to treat its injuries! I've been reading all of the scriptures in the storage bracelet that you gave me," Jin Tong immediately complained with an indignant expression.
"I didn't think you would be interested in reading. I thought you were only interested in eating,"Han Li chuckled with an amused expression.
"Don't look down on me, Uncle! While I was reading the scriptures, I discovered that I already knew some of the things outlined inside. That must mean that I have talent!" Jin Tong protested in an indignant manner.
"Alright, then how are you going to look after Featheryearn?" Han Li asked.
"That's simple!" Jin Tong replied with a proud expression, then summoned a pill before stuffing it into Featheryearn's beak.
Featheryearn swallowed the pill, but it was still staring at Jin Tong with an alert and fearful expression.
Jin Tong pursed her lips in disdain as she scoffed, "You're so weak and frail, unlike my Xiao Bai. Xiao Bai, where are you? Are you slacking off again?"
Her gaze fell upon the miniature white jade Pixiu hanging from Han Li's waist as she spoke.
"Leave me alone," the Pixiu groaned.
"I'm calling you so you can come and eat with me, you ungrateful little bastard!" Jin Tong scolded.
"I have no interest in mortal food," the Pixiu replied.
"You'd better not regret this!" Jin Tong threatened in a grumpy manner, to which the Pixiu gave no response.
With that brief interlude, the tense atmosphere instantly lightened up significantly., and Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a few more pills, then instructed Meng Qianqian to feed them to Featheryearn.
"I already know the location. Stay here and rest," Han Li said to Featheryearn, then swept a sleeve through the air to summon the green jade flying carriage.
After that, he swept his other sleeve through the air to carry Meng Qianqian and Jin Tong on the carriage, following which he sped away into the night sky, quickly vanishing into the distance.
......
Late Age Nation.
The gates of the capital city, Bright Cloud City, had been tightly shut for many days, and all of the city's residents had also been prohibited from leaving their homes.
At the moment, it was very late at night, and the streets in the city were very peaceful. There weren't even many lit houses, and if it weren't for some of the armor-clad soldiers littered throughout the streets and alleys, one could easily mistake the city as one that was deserted.
In contrast with the deathly silence inside the city, the imperial palace situated in the southern part of the city was brightly lit and constantly being patrolled by imperial guards, while the imperial garden at the back of the palace had been surrounded by multiple protective encirclements.
The encirclements were formed by hundreds of people, all of whom were cultivators.
They were led by a tall and thin purple-robed elderly man, whose aura indicated that he was a mid-Spatial Tempering cultivator.
He was the patriarch of the Xu Clan, the cultivating clan that was currently controlling the Late Age Nation from the shadows.
At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and he was clearly not very pleased.
Half a month ago, a descendant of the Late Age Nation's former imperial clan had stormed into the imperial palace with some members of the Yun Clan, and they had collaborated with some officials of the past imperial court to stage a surprise coup.
By the time he made an emergency exit from seclusion, over half of the Xu Clan's cultivators had been killed or wounded. On top of that, the puppet emperor that they were supporting had been constantly indulging himself in wine, extravagant food, and debauchery, and he had been so frightened that he had died from a heart attack.
After settling the unrest in his clan, he had immediately come to the imperial palace to face the intruders in battle.
However, the intruders were both using cultivation arts of a far higher caliber than his, and they also had a seemingly endless supply of treasures at their disposal, so he was unable to defeat them, even though his cultivation base far surpassed theirs.
What was even more astonishing to him was that they were accompanied by a Grand Ascension Stage bird, which had almost killed him on the spot. If it weren't for the timely arrival of his backers, he would already be dead by now.
"Esteemed patriarch, those scoundrels have already been hiding in this dried well for two days. We've been chipping away this entire time at the restrictions that they've set up, and we should be able to break through them in just four more hours," a middle-aged man with a black mole on his face reported to the elderly man in a respectful manner.
"The Yun Clan was a very formidable force in our Late Age Nation for many years, and those restrictions are not to be underestimated. Make sure to be on your guard at all times and ensure that they don't make it out of here alive," Xu Shou instructed with a dark expression.
"If our savior hadn't gone to pursue that demon beast, he could've easily broken those restrictions," the middle-aged man complained.
Xu Shou was just about to scold him for his untoward remarks when he suddenly looked up into the night sky, where a streak of yellow light flashed through the air before landing beside the dried well.
Xu Shou and the others immediately extended respectful bows as they greeted in unison, "Welcome back, esteemed savior."
The yellow light faded to reveal a yellow-robed young man with a set of unremarkable features, and he took a glance at the middle-aged man who was knelt down beside Xu Shou, following which a cold gleam flashed through his eyes as he decapitated the man with a casual sweep of his hand.
Xu Shou's entire body was splattered with the man's blood, but he only flinched slightly and didn't dare to move even a single inch.
The young man drew the middle-aged man's nascent soul into his hand, then casually crushed it in his hand.
Earlier, he had set off to pursue that strange azure bird, but it was even faster than a late-Grand Ascension cultivator, so he was unable to catch it, and that had left him in a very foul mood.
He was looking for someone to vent his fury on, and the middle-aged man had made those careless remarks at the worst possible time.
"How are things going?" the young man asked.
"The restrictions will be broken in just four more hours," Xu Shou hurriedly replied.
"I don't have time for that. After I take care of things here, I have to get back to the sect. From this day forth, the annual offerings that your Xu Clan must submit to our Stone Ditch Palace will be doubled," the young man said, and Xu Shou's heart immediately sank upon hearing this.
The Xu Clan had taken over the Late Age Nation as there was a Sunray Sand mine here, and most of the profits made from that mine had to be submitted to the Stone Ditch Palace. Now that the mandatory offerings had been doubled, there was no profit for them to be made at all.
"Is there a problem?" the young man asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"Not at all, esteemed savior," Xu Shou hurriedly replied.
The young man paid no further heed to him as he swept a hand through the air, and a yellow paper talisman appeared on each of his fingers.
After chanting a brief incantation, the five talismans erupted into flames, then shot forth toward the opening of the well as five bursts of flames of different colors.
A burst of yellow light flashed over the entrance of the well, and an array that had been set up around the well was activated, working with the five bursts of flames to attack the opening of the well.
A resounding boom rang out as a golden light barrier appeared over the opening of the well, only to then explode an instant later.
Immediately thereafter, seven or eight streaks of light of different colors shot out of the well, then rose up into the sky like fireworks before flying away in different directions.
However, before they had a chance to disperse, a giant five-colored umbrella descended out of the sky, revolving on the spot while releasing a burst of invisible suction force to reel in all of the streaks of light, revealing them to be a group of cultivators.
The cultivators of the Xu Clan immediately surrounded the group of cultivators, and all of them were holding weapons with sinister grins on their faces.
Standing beside the well was an azure-robed young man with a crescent-shaped jade pendant hanging from his waist. Beside him was another young man who appeared to be of similar age and was built like a brick wall.
These two were none other than Meng Yungui and Sun Buzheng, while the ones around them were Meng Xiong and the others, and all of them were severely injured.
Read 𝓁atest chapters at fr(e)ewebnov𝒆l.com Only