A Name Spreads Like Fire

After the Battle of Yellow Dragon Mountain, with all three Moulan Divine Masters taking the field at once, the combined Dharma Warrior army pushed forward with lightning speed, reaching the walls of Tiantian City in just half a month. The Nine Nations Alliance, caught completely off guard, was forced to mount a desperate defense on their own.

Fortunately, Wei Wuyang, the Grand Elder of the Alliance and one of the Three Great Cultivators of Tian Nan, had just arrived in the city upon hearing the news. Relying on Tiantian City's grand restrictive formation, he managed to hold out against the fierce assault of the Dharma Warrior army for over a month.

However, with all three Divine Masters eventually converging at the city, and with the aid of a group of black-robed cultivators, they deployed seven or eight massive beasts all at once. Before long, the great formation was breached, and Tiantian City fell into the hands of the Dharma Warriors.

The main forces of the Nine Nations Alliance remained largely intact. In a hurried retreat, they pulled all their cultivators back to Beiliang Nation, which bordered the neighboring Yu Nation. By this time, reinforcement cultivators from the Righteous and Demonic Paths, as well as the Heavenly Dao Alliance, had also arrived.

The four major powers of Tian Nan joined forces. After a series of smaller skirmishes, they managed to temporarily halt the Moulan vanguard.

But both sides knew that the true decisive battle for life and death had not yet begun.

Having taken Tiantian City, the Moulan immediately turned it into their first stronghold in Tian Nan, and an endless stream of Dharma Warrior forces from various tribes began pouring in from the Moulan grasslands. Apart from the 'Golden Yang Tribe,' the largest Moulan tribe, which was tied down monitoring the actions of the Tu-Wu people, every other tribe dispatched its elite forces, pinning all their hopes on conquering Tian Nan in a single war. The Moulan would wait until all their allied forces had assembled before launching the decisive battle.

The Tian Nan side, holding the advantage of terrain, naturally would not show weakness. In addition to the full mobilization of the four major powers, sects outside these four alliances also sent their own people to participate in the war. Even some rogue cultivators recognized the gravity of the situation—that it concerned the very survival of the Yan race in Tian Nan—and, without needing to be conscripted, actively rushed forward to lend their aid.

Seeing this swell of popular support, the four major powers worked together. Overnight, they used great divine abilities to construct a large stone city on the Beiliang border near Yu Nation, to serve as a temporary stronghold against the Dharma Warriors. They still needed to organize and deploy the scattered cultivators from various sects before they could launch a unified attack to drive the Moulan out of Tian Nan.

The fighting between the Dharma Warriors and the cultivators temporarily ceased. Like the calm before a storm, both sides fell into an eerie peace.

It was during this time that Han Li's fame began to spread rapidly, spurred on by certain events.

Han Li did not know that the Nascent Soul cultivator who had survived the mist sea of Yellow Dragon Mountain that day, other than himself, was the old man named Ma. This elder of the Haoran Sect had been forced to abandon his physical body against the female cultivator Le's Wind Escape Technique, escaping back to the Nine Nations Alliance in only his Nascent Soul.

Aside from this old man, the Core Formation cultivators Ying Ning and the Mu Rong brothers had seen the danger approaching and managed to escape safely as well.

Thus, the news of Han Li having instantly killed a black-robed Nascent Soul cultivator began to spread.

His reputation began to grow.

As for the incident where he and the big man surnamed Lu captured and killed a spy from the Imperial Spirit Sect, this was known only to the high-level cultivators of the major powers, and did not become public knowledge.

However, what truly cemented Han Li's fame was something that came from the Moulan themselves: the story of how Han Li had escaped from a Moulan Divine Master.

When the Confucian scholar had returned to the Dharma Warrior army that day without having successfully killed Han Li, it had caused quite a stir among the Moulan. To avoid too great a loss of face, the scholar naturally gave Han Li a very high evaluation, stating that Han Li's abilities even surpassed those of an ordinary mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

With a Divine Master rating Han Li so highly, naturally no one doubted the truth of this claim. Coupled with the various techniques Han Li had displayed while fighting the female cultivator Le, as well as the fact that he had previously destroyed the physical body of the Mu-surnamed Dharma Warrior of the Heavenly Wind Tribe on the Moulan grasslands, his reputation was even more formidable among the Dharma Warrior army than among the cultivators.

When the Tian Nan side learned of this, it naturally caused another sensation, boosting Han Li's fame even further.

Of course, besides Han Li, several other previously obscure Nascent Soul cultivators also made a name for themselves through their engagements with the Dharma Warrior army. After all, it was only in actual combat that a cultivator's true power could be demonstrated.

And so, after half a year in seclusion, Han Li, having fully recovered his energy deep in a mountain valley within Yu Nation, finally emerged from the secret chamber he had carved out inside the mountain.

Feng Tao was a foundation-stage Dharma Warrior of a small Moulan tribe. Although he was a respected Immortal Master in his own tribe, here in Tiantian City, he was merely one of many, an insignificant ordinary soldier.

Having just come out of a certain outpost near the Beiliang border, he led a small squad of Qi Condensation Dharma Warriors on a patrol along a several-hundred-li route, on the lookout for any surprise attacks from Tian Nan cultivators.

He had been patrolling for most of the day. Calculating the time, the next shift should be arriving soon. He just needed to fly another few dozen li forward before he could turn back and head home. Feng Tao pondered this to himself.

Thinking about the several dozen spirit stones he had been issued just the day before, he felt that the bottleneck trapping him at the early Foundation Establishment stage might finally be broken. He felt an even stronger urge to return quickly to meditate and cultivate, hoping to advance his cultivation before the great war began. If he could distinguish himself in battle, the rewards in spirit stones would certainly be even greater.

This mid-level Dharma Warrior, as he led his squad slowly through the air on their flying tools, began to daydream.

They had just flown over a rocky slope where people rarely went. As they were about to pass over the area without a second glance, a flash of green light appeared from among the rocks below. A blur of movement, and a young man in a green robe suddenly materialized on the ground.

This man, who looked to be only a little over twenty years old, looked up at the group of Dharma Warriors, his eyes cold and utterly expressionless.

"A Tian Nan cultivator! At least Core Formation—I can't even see through his cultivation!" Feng Tao took one look at the young man and swept him with his divine sense, immediately making a judgment. He gasped in shock.

"Retreat! This man is not someone we can handle!"

Feng Tao, quick-witted as he was, called out to the five or six low-level Dharma Warriors behind him, then promptly tossed a small, delicate spirit beast pouch he carried into the air. A red beam shot out from the pouch. After hovering in the air for a moment, it was about to shoot back towards the outpost Feng Tao had come from.

But in that instant, a flash of white light appeared in the air. A beautiful young woman in a white dress suddenly appeared near the red beam. With a sweet smile, she opened her mouth and spat out a puff of pink fragrant mist, which enveloped the red light.

A clear bird cry rang out. Then, the red light dissipated, and a small fiery red bird fell from the sky.

The young woman reached out and beckoned, and the little bird obediently flew into her jade-like hand.

Seeing this, Feng Tao's heart sank to the bottom. Abandoning all thought for his men, he hurriedly formed hand seals, his body blazing with yellow light as he prepared to use a life-saving Spiritual Art to teleport several li away.

But at that moment, the young man below looked up at him, narrowed his eyes, and suddenly let out a cold snort.

It sounded like nothing more than an ordinary nasal sound. But the moment Feng Tao heard it, his ears roared as if struck by thunder, his mind went numb, and, feeling the world spin around him, he fell headfirst from the sky. The other Qi Condensation Dharma Warriors were even worse off. At the moment they heard the young man's mana-infused cold snort, their vision went black, and they dropped from the air, their condition unknown.

As for Feng Tao, the white-clad young woman flickered and appeared beside his falling body. She grabbed him by the collar and floated lightly back down to the ground.

"Master, this one was the leader. He should know a bit more than the others," the young woman said with a sweet smile, addressing the young man.

These two were, of course, Han Li and Silvermoon, who, upon emerging from seclusion, had discovered that Yu Nation had already fallen.

Han Li had casually captured a low-level Dharma Warrior to find out the general situation. Then, accompanied by Silvermoon, he had silently infiltrated this area near the border. Originally, he had planned to cross directly, but he had stumbled upon Feng Tao's patrol squad. Han Li's mind stirred. He decided to capture another Dharma Warrior to ask about the specific situation on the border before proceeding, so as not to blunder into a place guarded by some Divine Master. That would be most unfortunate.

With Silvermoon's illusory techniques cooperating, Han Li used the 'Dream Induction Art' to easily extract the information he wanted. He let out a long sigh of relief.

It turned out that the three Divine Masters took turns guarding the border. However, the stretch of border in front of him was far from the outpost where the Divine Masters were stationed. Only a single Moulan Grand High Priest was stationed there.

With his cultivation, slipping past them would be no problem at all.

He glanced at the still-unconscious prisoner. His brow furrowed.

To get information quickly, Han Li had naturally used a rather brutal method. The captive's mind was already mostly destroyed. Even if he woke up, he would be a complete invalid.

Han Li let out a soft sigh. He flicked his finger, and a fireball turned the man into ashes.

Then, a green glow rose around his body, enveloping Silvermoon within it, and transformed into a streak of green light, shooting through the sky and vanishing.

On the Beiliang Nation side of the border, inside the newly built 'First Heaven' stone city of the Tian Nan cultivators. In a small hall in one corner of the city, Han Li's Senior Brother Lu was chatting idly with a few high-ranking Heavenly Dao Alliance cultivators. But his expression was somewhat dazed, lost in a state of distraction.

To be honest, having already fought in the major battle to delay the Dharma Warrior vanguard, he could have just returned to the Falling Cloud Sect by now. But currently, the Falling Cloud Sect only had two Nascent Soul cultivators left—himself and the silver-haired elder. It was impossible to have the silver-haired elder, whose energy had not yet recovered, lead the sect's disciples into this war. So, he had volunteered to stay and look after the sect's disciples.

Of course, the other reason he refused to leave was the anxiety he felt over the recently celebrated and now missing Elder Han of the Falling Cloud Sect. He was worried and had no idea if Han Li had met with an accident, making it impossible for him to simply leave.

Come to think of it, the fact that Han Li could even kill other Nascent Soul cultivators and even escape from beneath the blade of a Moulan Divine Master—this was still something Elder Lu found a little hard to fully believe. After all, others might not know, but he had personally witnessed Han Li forming his Nascent Soul just a few years ago. How could he have developed such heaven-defying divine abilities in such a short time? He had even been evaluated by a Moulan Divine Master as being a cut above a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

Could it be that his Falling Cloud Sect had really stumbled upon a treasure this time? That this Junior Han was a once-in-ten-thousand-years cultivation prodigy?

Even now, sitting in the hall, Lu Luo's mind kept drifting back to this very matter. Though his ears heard the words of the others, his heart was utterly not in it.