Escape to Yuanwu

As the voice rang out, the Wind-Cloud Banner in Uncle Huang's hand suddenly blazed with blinding yellow light. In a single contraction and expansion, it burst apart.

A dense white mist, thicker and more expansive than before, surged wildly from the banner, instantly enveloping both friend and foe.

"Seeking death!"

The enraged roar of the skeletal figure and the furious yet charming laughter of the beautiful woman rang out from the mist, followed by several tremendous booming impacts. Uncle Huang had clearly engaged the two Core Formation cultivators in battle.

Han Li and the others naturally wouldn't miss this chance to escape. Almost as the mist reappeared, the Yellow Maple Valley cultivators hurriedly activated their artifacts and scattered in all directions.

Han Li, relying on the extreme speed of his Divine Wind Boat, shot upward.

The cultivators in this direction were the most numerous and densely packed, yet their magical power was noticeably weaker than the enemies on the other fronts. Han Li judged this to be the best place to break through.

But few of his fellow disciples shared his assessment. Most fled toward the directions with fewer interceptors, making Han Li shake his head in silent disapproval.

In the blink of an eye, Han Li slipped past several enemies amidst the chaos and reached the edge of the encirclement.

The mist here had thinned considerably. The Devil Path cultivators could now vaguely make out Han Li's charging figure.

However, because of the Azurefire Miasma, what they saw was naturally a large, churning mass of cyan-red fog. This gave them a moment of pause.

But immediately, three nearby Devil Path cultivators raised their hands simultaneously. A beam of golden light, three streaks of yellow light, and a cloud of black energy shot toward Han Li.

Han Li snorted coldly. He pointed a finger at the turtle shell artifact before him. It instantly expanded several times and flew forward to meet the attacks. At the same time, he frantically infused spiritual power into the flying artifact beneath his feet, causing the Divine Wind Boat to accelerate, its speed increasing by a third.

He had already made up his mind. This was no time for a prolonged fight. He would rather expend more magical power to buy every precious second needed for escape. If he delayed and other enemies surrounded him, it would be too late. Besides, he had considerable confidence in his turtle shell artifact; its hardness surpassed even his White Phosphorus Shield.

As these thoughts flashed through Han Li's mind, the turtle shell artifact collided with the golden and yellow beams. It withstood them solidly, as expected. But the remaining black mist was exceptionally clever. It abruptly split in two, refusing to clash head-on with the turtle shell. Instead, it slid around both sides of the artifact. Although this cost it a little time, it still managed to reach Han Li's side, coalescing into a massive ghostly head, several zhang across, and lunged fiercely at Han Li on his boat.

Seeing this, Han Li was not alarmed but rather sneered inwardly. He raised a single hand, and over a hundred fireballs shot forth, instantly tearing the ghostly head to shreds. By now, Han Li had gained considerable experience dealing with these low-level demonic techniques.

Seizing this opportunity, Han Li shot straight through the disintegrating ghost head, bursting out of the encirclement in a flash and leaving the Devil Path cultivators behind.

Unwilling to let him get away, these men shouted and gave chase from behind on their artifacts. But Han Li paid them no heed, simply flying onward at full speed.

As Han Li had guessed, the Divine Wind Boat was indeed a rare masterpiece among flying artifacts. At first, he could still hear the men cursing behind him, but soon the sounds grew fainter. Finally, after a mad dash of several quarter-hours, there was no one at all behind him.

Even after turning to see this, Han Li did not dare relax. He flew on for a while longer before finally slowing down to survey his surroundings. Then, with a tap of his foot on the Divine Wind Boat, he shot rapidly downward.

Han Li's condition was not very good. Forming the combined protective barrier had already consumed a small half of his magical power, and this mad rush had drained him further. He urgently needed to recover his magic power! Otherwise, encountering a strong enemy would be troublesome.

Thinking this, Han Li landed on a barren hill below. He withdrew the Azurefire Miasma, found a concealed spot under a huge boulder, and sat down cross-legged.

He then pulled a mid-grade blue spirit stone from his storage pouch and began replenishing his magic power.

Qu Hun stood by his side, acting as his guard.

Han Li had only just sat down when a streak of red light flashed across the sky above, fleeing in panic, chased by five or six streaks of black and green light. They shot past overhead, one after another—clearly another lucky survivor who had broken through the siege.

But Han Li paid this no heed. He slowly closed his eyes and sank his mind into a deep state. Only by achieving a state of emptiness could his magic power be restored more quickly.

After an unknown amount of time, Han Li opened his eyes. The magic power he had expended was now about seventy or eighty percent restored. Though not fully replenished, he was unwilling to stay here any longer.

He glanced at the sky. It was nearly dusk—a perfect time to slip away under the cover of night.

However, Han Li did not rush to depart. He slowly released his divine sense and searched the area carefully.

As expected, the Devil Path cultivators were nowhere nearby. They had probably crushed the ambush and were now pursuing the main group.

Thinking this, Han Li shook his head. Given the enemy's strength, the main group was likely in grave danger.

Han Li did not dwell on it. He released the Divine Wind Boat, oriented himself toward the direction of the Yuanwu Kingdom, and flew off into the sky together with Qu Hun.

Although most of the Yuanwu Kingdom's cultivators had also perished in Yue, the Devil Path Six Sects would be busy enough digesting the Yue cultivation world for several months. For now, Yuanwu was relatively safe.

Han Li had no intention of heading to any rendezvous point or rejoining the Yellow Maple Valley main group. That fleeing group might already have been hunted down by the Devil Path cultivators. Going there now would be walking straight into a trap.

Besides, he had originally planned to take this opportunity to find another place to cultivate. If he continued to follow the Yellow Maple Valley in its flight to another nation, he would at best become a Senior Manager. Han Li had no desire to live out his life that way.

If his guess was correct, even after the Devil Path had annexed several nations, it would eventually consolidate its forces and fight the Righteous Alliance again.

By then, the entire Tian Nan region would know no peace.

This fundamentally contradicted Han Li's original intention of cultivating in peace and quiet!

For now, he would go to the Yuanwu Kingdom to lie low, see if that teleportation array could be repaired, and assess how the situation developed.

If things turned for the worst, he planned to use this teleportation array to leave for another place, thereby avoiding this conflict.

Han Li mulled these matters over silently as his Divine Wind Boat transformed into a streak of white light and vanished into the horizon.

...

Two days later, after making a large detour, Han Li finally appeared in the sky above the border between the Yue and Yuanwu Kingdoms.

He looked back at the mountains of Yue behind him, let out a soft sigh, and then flew into the Yuanwu Kingdom with Qu Hun.

What Han Li did not know was that, less than half a day after he had entered Yuanwu, a troop of several dozen Devil Path cultivators also appeared at this location and set up camp. They were specifically tasked with patrolling this hundreds-of-li stretch of the border; any Yue cultivator trying to flee into Yuanwu would be intercepted by them.

...

Upon entering the Yuanwu Kingdom, Han Li flew directly toward Gold Horse City, steering his artifact.

After flying for three or four days, he finally saw the chain of hills west of Gold Horse City.

After carefully scanning from high altitude for a while, he located Qi Yunxiao's dwelling and descended slowly.

As Han Li jumped down from his small boat and swept his gaze across the hollow, his heart sank.

The seven or eight stone huts were now tilted and collapsed. The scattered rocks and green bamboo in front of the huts were in disarray, most of them destroyed.

The protective formation set up by Qi Yunxiao had been forcibly broken.

Han Li's face darkened. He flipped his hand, and a magic tool appeared in his palm, ready for use. Only then did he walk toward the half-collapsed huts.

Although this scene seemed to have occurred some time ago, it was still better to be cautious!

As Han Li approached, he searched the huts one by one. In one nearly completely destroyed stone hut, he found a corpse that had long since begun to rot.

Pinching his nose, Han Li carefully examined the head for a long time. His brows were tightly furrowed.

The deceased was not Qi Yunxiao, but the old steward who ran the shop for Qi Yunxiao.

As for the other huts, no other bodies were found, which gave Han Li some slight relief.

Just as Han Li finished his search, his expression suddenly turned cold. His figure flickered a few times, and he was back on the Divine Wind Boat. He then lifted his head to gaze at the southern sky.

From among the numerous hills to the south, two streaks of bright blue light suddenly shot forth, heading straight for his location.

Moments later, they flew to a spot not far in front of Han Li. The light faded, revealing an old man and a young man.

The old man had ordinary features, with long, narrow eyes and a goatee. He was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and his face was full of surprise and suspicion.

The other was a youth in his early twenties. His features could be called handsome, but his eyes were filled with a murderous aura as he glared fiercely at Han Li. He was only at the Qi Condensation stage.