A Name Shakes the Region

Chapter 668: A Name Shakes the Region / The Soul-Fragment’s Disciple

“What, you recognize me?” Han Li’s eyes flickered with an unusual light as he regarded the black-robed elder calmly.

“No, this one has mistaken you for someone else. How could a junior possibly know a senior!” The black-robed elder shuddered under Han Li’s icy gaze and stammered out a hasty denial.

“Mistaken me.” Han Li rubbed his chin noncommittally, shifting his gaze from the elder to sweep over the others, as if he truly accepted the man’s words.

The gray-robed cultivator shot the elder a puzzled look. Though equally perplexed, their current perilous situation left him no room to dwell on it. He only wanted to say a few more pleasant words to Han Li and take the chance to slip away.

But Han Li spoke before he could, his tone slow and deliberate:

“Since you are Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators and have discovered my trail, you have only yourselves to blame. I’ll be taking your lives now.”

The moment these words left his mouth, Han Li’s expression turned cold. He flicked his wide sleeve, and over a dozen streaks of azure sword-light surged forth. As they exited his sleeve, they swelled against the wind, multiplying into thirty or forty streaks that swept toward the group in an overwhelming tide.

The gray-robed cultivator’s face drained of blood the instant he heard the chill in Han Li’s voice and witnessed the astonishing momentum of his attack.

He had no intention of waiting for death. Without a second thought, he spun on his heel, summoning dense black qi from his body to encase him in a protective shroud. Two flying tridents, one gold and one silver, shot out from the black mist, transforming into a golden python and a silver python that shielded the darkness ahead. At the same time, the gray-robed cultivator frantically urged his escape technique, turning into a plume of black smoke and fleeing backward, abandoning the black-robed elder and the others to their fate.

The Ghost Spirit Sect disciples were thrown into panic. Beneath the sweeping, unstoppable azure sword-light, all but the elder were instantly cut down, their bodies severed without any resistance. Just as terror gripped the elder, Han Li flicked his finger. A fine azure thread, hidden among the sword-light, pierced the man’s body, and he crumpled to the ground.

Han Li paid the elder no further attention. His gaze shifted to the gray-robed cultivator, who had already fled over a hundred zhang away. A faint, cold smile curled at his lips.

He calmly pointed at the sword-light. Instantly, the hundred-odd streaks of azure light coalesced into a single enormous azure greatsword. Han Li uttered a single word: “Go.”

The greatsword emitted a low, droning hum. With a tremor, it transformed into a blazing azure rainbow ten zhang long, pursuing the black smoke with inconceivable speed. A blinding flash of azure light exploded outward.

The gray-robed cultivator let out a miserable scream. The golden and silver pythons formed from his flying tridents, along with the protective black qi of his technique, were all annihilated in a single strike. The gray-robed cultivator himself burst into a rain of blood.

Han Li recalled his treasure with an unchanged expression. His gaze darkened as it returned to the unconscious elder.

After a moment’s thought, he raised a hand without hesitation. The elder’s gaunt body was drawn into his grip with a sharp whistle. His other hand, glowing with azure light, pressed unceremoniously onto the elder’s skull.

A full quarter-hour later, a burst of flame erupted from Han Li’s hand. The elder was reduced to a pile of ash in the fire, vanishing without a trace.

“A defector from the Blissful Union Sect? Dong Xuan’er? So she’s formed a Core too. But why would she send people looking for me? Now that’s strange.” Han Li floated in the air, his hands clasped behind his back, a hint of surprise crossing his face.

The black-robed elder’s origins were rather complicated. He had once been a disciple of the Blissful Union Sect. After committing a serious offense that violated the sect’s rules, he feared his soul would be extracted and refined, so he changed his identity and fled into the Ghost Spirit Sect, hiding there ever since.

Han Li naturally had no interest in such matters. What surprised him was that the elder had once served under Dong Xuan’er. At the time, she had already formed her golden core and sent him and other Blissful Union disciples on a frantic search for Han Li over a considerable period. She had even risked sending them into the Nine Nations Alliance to secretly seek traces of him.

By then, Han Li had already arrived in the Chaotic Star Sea, and the matter had naturally faded away.

It was during that time that the elder had seen a portrait of Han Li, which was why he had recognized him in shock.

Now, Han Li was thoroughly perplexed. He was not narcissistic enough to believe that Dong Xuan’er had taken a liking to him. Her persistent search for him surely hid some ulterior motive.

Unfortunately, the elder’s status had been too low to have any information on the matter.

After pondering for a moment, Han Li still could not fathom why Dong Xuan’er had sought him out. He shook his head and filed the thought away.

Whatever her intentions back then, years had passed, and it was likely irrelevant now. Given his current status as a Nascent Soul cultivator, he had no need to take it seriously.

With that thought, Han Li briefly disposed of the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples’ corpses. He cast a glance in the direction of the Yellow Maple Valley Sect’s former headquarters, then left the Taiyue Mountain Range.

Unknown to Han Li, at the very moment he was destroying Yu Hong, inside a secluded meditation chamber at the former site of the Moon-Masking Sect, an emaciated cultivator in a black robe sat with his eyes closed in cultivation. He suddenly frowned, let out a long sigh, and fumbled inside his robe. After a moment, he pulled out a bone token that had lost its luster.

The black-robed cultivator toyed with the token, then narrowed his eyes. A flash of sinister intent passed across his face.

After a while, he rose and left the meditation chamber.

Passing through a long corridor, the black-robed cultivator entered a large hall. He sat expressionlessly on a stone chair at the hall’s center. With a flash of white light, a small bronze bell appeared in his hand.

With a loud clang, the cultivator casually shook the bell. The low, resonant chime carried far into the distance.

Then he put the bell away, sat woodenly on the chair, and waited in silence.

Moments later, three Core Formation cultivators—two men and one woman—rushed in from the hall’s side doors. They stood solemnly below the elder, their faces full of reverence.

“Your junior brother’s life-token has just gone dark. It seems he has fallen to some miscreant. Though I do not know the full circumstances, a disciple of this Soul-Fragment True Man cannot die without an explanation. Find the murderer and bring him to me alive. Let me see what kind of divine being he is.” The black-robed cultivator spoke without any change in expression, as if issuing a trivial order.

“As you command. We three will see to it at once.” The three cultivators, startled at first, immediately replied in unison, their hands at their sides.

“Good. I trust that when I summon you next, the culprit will already be locked in the Prison-Suppressing Dungeon.” The black-robed cultivator, the Ghost Spirit Sect’s Soul-Fragment True Man, nodded once, said no more, and rose to leave the hall.

Only the three Core Formation disciples of Soul-Fragment remained.

“Fifth Junior Sister, send a transmission talisman to the Taiyue sub-altar immediately and find out if they know what happened to Junior Brother. If not, order them to send people to track down the culprit. Junior Brother Que, you have good relations with the masters of the other sub-altars. Ask if they can investigate whether any unfamiliar high-level cultivators have appeared in Yue recently. As for the rest of us, we will each send our capable disciples to trace Junior Brother’s last known location. Wait for news to come back, and then the three of us will go together to capture that man. After all, anyone capable of killing Junior Brother is no weakling. It is better to be careful.”

The speaker was a lean, sharp-eyed man in a black robe, one of the three. He spoke in a clear, organized manner after only a moment’s thought.

The other two were a woman of about thirty with a lingering charm, and a brocade-clad scholar exuding an aura of Yin energy.

The woman smiled faintly and agreed. The brocade-clad scholar, however, frowned slightly, looking somewhat hesitant, before nodding reluctantly.

“Junior Brother Que, I know you and Junior Brother did not get along. You might even have had words. But this matter was personally commanded by the master. I need not tell you what happens if we fail. Do not forget the punishment that befell Second Senior Brother and Seventh Junior Brother when they failed their task.” The black-robed man seemed uneasy, his eyes fixed on the brocade-clad scholar as he spoke coldly.

“Of course not! Though Junior Brother and I did not see eye to eye, he is dead now, and this is the master’s command. I will do my utmost. Rest assured, Third Senior Brother.” The scholar named Que’s face paled at the words, and he forced a laugh, trying to smooth things over.

“Good. Then we will each do our part.” The black-robed man’s tone softened slightly.

The two men and the woman left the hall and went their separate ways.

A few days later, Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators traced the vanished men’s trail and found the site where Han Li had slaughtered them. After some investigation, Han Li’s former cave dwelling was discovered.

The three Core Formation disciples of Soul-Fragment received the news and personally led a group of disciples to the Taiyue Mountain Range. The three of them appeared in Han Li’s old cave dwelling, standing before the large pit left behind after he had relocated the Spirit Eye Spring. They exchanged bewildered glances.

At the same time, in a distant place far away.

Han Yunzhi, the woman named Liu, and the Imperial Spirit Sect disciples were traversing a stretch of towering mountain peaks. They hurried through the area and entered the territory of Yue.

(My high fever has finally broken for the most part. I feel much better now. I really should stay up less late at night. Otherwise, my body won’t be able to take it.)