Chapter 1013: Women

The 怪人 was not polite; he immediately led the three ancient devils straight towards the stone steps marked as "Town Stair."

The square-faced cultivator bowed to the scholar, clutching the Heaven-Mending Bracelet in his hand. After a few blurs, he gradually disappeared up the middle stone staircase.

The scholar did not immediately leave with the remaining people. Only after watching the 怪人 and the square-faced cultivator disappear into the white mist at the end of the stone steps did he withdraw his gaze. He then turned to an old man beside him and calmly said,

"Nephew Feng, how many sets of formation flags and disks do we have left?"

"Reporting, Great Elder. As per your instructions, after breaking through each restriction, we leave our temporary magic array in its place. Currently, apart from the Purple Star Seven-Star Array, which cost hundreds of thousands of spirit stones, we have no other formation tools left," the old man respectfully replied.

"Hmm, then set up this Purple Star Seven-Star Array here. Also, release that swarm of tiger-head bees and the two blood-sucking bats into the array," the scholar commanded without hesitation.

"Yes!" the old man immediately agreed. He slapped his waist, and a stack of purple formation flags appeared in his hand. He then strode towards one side of the square.

Only then did the scholar look back towards the mountain base, his expression shifting between clear and overcast, silently wondering what he was thinking.

An hour later, the scholar and his group also entered another set of stone steps.

Meanwhile, countless thousands of feet below, at the mountainside, Han Li and his group had just passed through the massive archway of the Myriad Cultivators' Gate. There, the Ye family cultivators had set up a relatively clever illusion array. If facing a Core Formation cultivator, it could trap them for at least several days. However, against so many Nascent Soul cultivators, it was dispelled almost instantly by Old Devil Gan and Hua Tianqi, failing to delay them even for a moment.

Upon seeing the massive archway of the Myriad Cultivators' Gate, Old Devil Gan and others were no longer in doubt that this was Kunwu Mountain. Immediately, with the exception of Han Li and two others, the rest of the group became exceptionally excited.

The group immediately rushed up the mountain.

As they ascended the stone steps, they naturally encountered other restrictions set up by the Ye family. This did not deter Old Devil Gan and his group; instead, it made them even more impatient.

However, the restrictions set up by the Ye family were clearly more formidable one after another. Although Old Devil Gan and his group relied on their powerful magic power to break through them one by one with brute force, they were still delayed for some time.

It took them a full day and night to finally reach the massive stone hall where numerous stone puppets had appeared.

"Fellow Daoists, be careful. If there's a restriction here, it might be even trickier. Those people ahead truly have deep pockets, carrying so many formation tools. It seems that even if they're not cultivators from the Ten Great Sects, they must be from some major super-force," Hua Tianqi said, his expression slightly solemn as he gazed at the faintly visible ancient hall ahead.

"Hmph, to have such deep pockets, they even managed to refine the Ice Flame Bipolar Array into formation flags and disks for a previous restriction. Not even all of our Ten Great Sects could do that. I'm rather curious about the true identities of those people ahead," Old Devil Gan said coldly.

"However, tracking them all this way, those people are effectively breaking through Kunwu Mountain's restrictions for us. It's quite a bargain for us. Even if we're temporarily obstructed by their restrictions, we'll definitely catch up," Hua Tianqi said confidently.

"I hope so," Old Devil Gan said faintly.

As they spoke, a dozen people entered the great hall.

The ground of the stone hall was covered with the wreckage of stone puppets, startling everyone, who couldn't help but stop and examine them.

"No restriction fluctuations. There's no trickery here. This is truly unexpected," Hua Tianqi said, his voice hesitant, after briefly scanning the stone hall with his divine sense.

"This is normal! Their formation tools are probably almost depleted," the old man surnamed Fu chuckled.

"But what are these things? I've never heard of puppets made of stone?" a burly man among the five Nascent Soul cultivators frowned as he swept his gaze across the ground.

"These aren't exactly 'stone puppets'; the correct term is 'stone spirits.' They are a secret technique from ancient times where the spirits of some demonic beasts were forcibly injected into specially crafted stone statues. This secret technique was prevalent for a time, but later, for unknown reasons, it suddenly became lost."

Someone calmly bent down, picked up a piece of rubble from the ground, and examined it while speaking indifferently. It was Han Li, who had spoken very little since leaving the stone pavilion.

"Oh, Daoist Han even knows about this ancient secret technique?" Hua Tianqi looked at Han Li in surprise.

"It's nothing, I have some research into puppet arts. But unfortunately, these are all damaged. Otherwise, I would truly like to study them thoroughly," Han Li said, then casually tossed the stone in his hand. It clanged as it rolled a few times on the bluestone ground.

He had just noticed that these stone spirit remnants appeared to be ordinary stone material, though they had been specially refined. However, the most crucial elements were clearly the strange formation arrays and runes engraved on the surface of the shattered stone. Nothing could be discerned from these broken pieces.

"It would be easy to get a complete stone spirit. In those few crumbled sections over there, there might still be a few remaining!" Another cultivator, his eyes shifting slightly, suddenly pointed to a collapsed corridor and said with a smile to Han Li.

Han Li's gaze shifted, and he realized it was a middle-aged cultivator with a seemingly honest face, none other than the "Dispersed True Man," Zheng Wei.

Han Li was not from the Great Jin and naturally did not know of this person's notorious reputation. But with his experience in judging people, how could he identify someone by their appearance? He immediately smiled faintly, and just as he was about to say something, from the other side, Old Devil Gan suddenly shouted loudly,

"Evil creature, you seek death!"

Immediately, five white figures simultaneously raised their hands, and then ten gray light beams shot out from their palms, striking an empty spot nearby.

After a roar, purple light flashed, and a bizarre, four-winged bird with a lion-eagle body materialized out of thin air, glaring ferociously at everyone.

It was the very Lion-Vulture Beast that had previously attacked the Ye family cultivators!

This fierce beast had secretly approached at some unknown time, seemingly intending to ambush Old Devil Gan and his five devil sons. But surprisingly, the injured claw of this demonic bird, which had been partially severed by the Ye family's Great Elder, had now completely recovered, showing no sign of having been severely wounded.

Having suffered a loss once, this demonic bird seemed to have learned its lesson. Upon its form being exposed, it immediately flapped all four wings, instantly transforming into a purple glow, and shot directly backward.

Old Devil Gan did not urge his five devil sons to pursue. The other cultivators were also startled by the Lion-Vulture Beast's menacing appearance. After a slight hesitation, they allowed the demonic beast to escape the stone hall in the blink of an eye, disappearing without a trace.

"A Lion-Vulture Beast! How can such a monster be here!" Hua Tianqi exhaled, mumbling, his expression turning gloomy.

He wondered if he himself were to fall into the hands of this fierce beast, he might very well face a grim fate.

The old man surnamed Fu and Bai Yaoyi exchanged glances, both seeing a hint of fear in each other's eyes. They were well aware that an even more powerful Silver-Winged Yaksha was also roaming this mountain. However, due to their respective thoughts, Han Li and the two of them kept silent about this matter, and the other cultivators were completely unaware of this monster's existence.

The other cultivators, including the burly man, also turned pale.

Such an ancient fierce beast was comparable to a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, and naturally extremely difficult to provoke.

However, after the appearance of the Lion-Vulture Beast, Han Li's initial impulse to explore the corridor was also cast aside.

Since there wasn't just the Silver-Winged Yaksha but also another monster like this on the mountain, it seemed safer to continue moving with the group for now.

Han Li and the others naturally did not know that after the demonic bird instantly flew out of the stone hall, it circled and flew towards the side of the mountain. After flying and escaping for a full half an hour, it suddenly landed on an extraordinarily verdant giant tree, then let out an extremely harsh cry, like a ghost wailing.

"I know, why are you screaming! Isn't it just asking me to avenge you? Do I have any interest in doing such things? After being trapped in that dark, sunless water for so many years, it wasn't easy for me to break free; I don't want to cause any more trouble. Besides, those two groups of human cultivators are all Nascent Soul cultivators; none of them are easy to deal with."

A voice like a broken gong came, and then a green light flashed on the giant tree, revealing a tree hole about ten feet high. A black-clad woman walked out from inside, her face full of impatience.

This woman's waist was like a water barrel, her skin dark, and her coiled hair was indeed exceptionally black. However, two white strands several inches long protruded several inches, making her appearance incredibly ugly.

Hearing this, the Lion-Vulture Beast seemed extremely angered. Its eyes flashed red, and its cries became even more piercing.

"You wish. You were careless and let those cultivators chop off half your claw. Why should I avenge you? Besides, the descendants of the Kunwu Three Sons imprisoned us in that Spirit Trapping Array back then, weren't they just trying to make us guard this mountain for them? I definitely won't let them have their way," the woman said, hands on her hips, gritting her teeth at the Lion-Vulture Beast.

"But if we don't kill the intruders, and these cultivators break into the Kunwu Hall and take away the Four Spirit Tablets that restrict us, I fear we will once again fall into a state of being manipulated," another male voice suddenly came from the air. Then, with a flash of green light, the Silver-Winged Yaksha appeared out of thin air.

"Hmph! Do you think they can break into the Kunwu Hall? Do you take the Kunwu Hall's restrictions for mere decorations? Especially the North Pole Primordial Light, it's completely unavoidable. If those people really try to break into the Kunwu Hall, they'll be dead for sure." The ugly woman showed no surprise at the Silver-Winged Yaksha's appearance; instead, she spoke with unusual indifference.

"Daoist Gui, that's not necessarily true. Although the North Pole Primordial Light is formidable, these intruders include human cultivators in the late Nascent Soul stage. It's highly possible they possess magic tools or treasures that can defend against the North Pole Primordial Light. Furthermore, Daoist, do you truly not want to seize this opportunity to retrieve our True Spirit Tokens? Otherwise, even if we are freed from the Spirit Trapping Array, we still won't be able to leave Kunwu Mountain by a single step," the Silver-Winged Yaksha said calmly.

(First update!)