Chapter 2096: Beast Lord Hall

A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality

"Judging by the traces left here, there seem to be quite a few people," another elder said, immediately furious. "This means the message I received when I broke out of their formation was true: the magic lizards stolen from the Zhao family are also connected to this group."

"Most likely so!" the first elder to speak sighed, a hint of helplessness in his voice. "If those people are also companions of those two, then I'm afraid their cultivation and divine abilities are indeed beyond what our remaining disciples can stop. It seems the Zhao family has long been on someone's radar, and our actions yesterday were a deliberate ploy to draw us out of Zhao Family Fortress. Those magic lizards were their primary target; otherwise, they wouldn't have fled into the Illusion Roar Desert so quickly."

"What is the origin of these scoundrels, to dare to target our Zhao family?" the other elder said, grinding his teeth. "We cannot let this go; this vendetta must be avenged! Otherwise, how will our Zhao family establish itself in Illusion Night City in the future?"

"Revenge? I'm afraid it won't be easy," the first elder to speak replied, shaking his head. "The two who lured us out, though they only revealed cultivation at the Refinement Void stage, I'm afraid that's not their true cultivation realm."

"Brother, do you mean those two are also Demon Venerable level existences?" the other elder asked, gasping after a moment's thought. "Could it be that the ones who broke into our Zhao family also have similar cultivation? If that's the case, no wonder they treated our Zhao Family Fortress as nothing and dared to target the magic lizards. But when did such a group of old monsters arrive in our Illusion Night City? Why haven't we received any news?"

"It's hard to say," the first elder to speak mused after a moment of contemplation. "The accomplices of those two might just be a group of their subordinates. But even so, just the cultivation of those two alone is no less than ours, and they have already ventured deep into the Illusion Roar Desert. It would be difficult for the Zhao family alone to get justice. As for not receiving any prior intelligence, that's not surprising at all. They either concealed their cultivation and true appearance, or they simply stayed outside the city and never entered Illusion Night City before."

"Are we truly going to let this go?" the other elder asked, his face once again showing anger.

"According to the intelligence we received," the first elder said grimly, as if he had already considered this, "the two individuals' accomplices did not slaughter indiscriminately in Zhao Family Fortress; only a few insignificant disciples were silenced. While the loss of these magic lizards is very important to our Zhao family, it's not enough to shake our foundation. As for our reputation, we'll just find a few disliked individuals later and eliminate them. We'll present them as accomplices of that group to the public."

"Wouldn't doing that be somewhat self-deceiving?" the other elder said, stamping his foot after a moment of stunned silence. "I cannot endure this humiliation!"

"Even if you can't endure it, you must!" the first elder said, his face sinking. "You and I are the only remaining pillars of the Zhao family. If either of us were to encounter trouble, the Zhao family could decline from that point on. For the prosperity and might of the Zhao family, we can only swallow this indignation. However, if you, my esteemed brother, truly cannot quell the hatred in your heart, we don't have to act ourselves; we can simply use others to do our bidding."

"Use others to do our bidding?" The elder who spoke last had a change of expression, revealing a thoughtful look.

"Precisely," the first elder said, his expression serious. "Later, contact the people of the Beast Venerable Hall and have them act on our behalf once. As for their remuneration, you can use a sum of reserved demon stones from the family. But let me make it clear: regardless of whether the Beast Venerable Hall succeeds, this will be the only time we hire them. Even if that group remains completely unharmed, I forbid you from using any other means to trouble them again! And when contacting the Beast Venerable Hall, do not reveal our identities."

"Don't worry, brother, I know what to do," the other elder said, first overjoyed, then with some reluctance. "Hehe, if that group of experts from the Beast Venerable Hall takes action, even if these people don't die, they'll certainly suffer greatly. It's just that spending this sum of demon stones will likely put the Zhao family in a tight spot for quite some time."

"Hmph," the first elder said. "Every one of those old monsters has cultivation no less than ours, and their combat experience is far superior to ordinary demon races like us. The remuneration for hiring them isn't too outrageous, then. However, it's not realistic to have them enter the Illusion Roar Desert to pursue that group. We'll have to wait until they come out before letting the Beast Venerable Hall act."

"That's good too," the other elder said, his face revealing a fierce expression. "As long as the Beast Venerable Hall sends people to monitor the cities near the Illusion Roar Desert, we'll eventually find their tracks. However, we don't know what that group went into the Illusion Roar Desert for, nor how long it will take them to emerge."

"Since we're already planning to spend a great deal, a little more won't matter. Let's set a hundred-year deadline then," the first elder said without further hesitation, after glancing deeply at the distant sand. "If this group can remain in the desert for a hundred years without emerging, then that sum of demon stones would be given to the Beast Venerable Hall for free, what harm would that be? There's no time to lose. Let's return to the city immediately and act separately."

The other elder naturally had no objection.

Thus, the two immediately had demon qi surge around their bodies, and once again transformed into two streaks of black light, tearing through the air and shooting straight back towards Illusion Night City.

As for this part of the Illusion Roar Desert, four full months after Han Li and the others entered, it was only then that disciples from another prominent family in Illusion Night City, the Fang family, cautiously re-entered the desert with several magic lizards.

By this time, the commotion caused in Illusion Night City by the theft of the Zhao family's magic lizards had gradually subsided.

After an investigation, the two Demon Venerables of the Zhao family, though they subtly connected the incident to Han Li's disappearance, lacked concrete proof and thus naturally wouldn't say anything more to outsiders.

Just like that, time flowed swiftly, and after years passed, Illusion Night City remained dominated by the four great families, but what had happened to the Zhao family that year was long forgotten.

In the blink of an eye, forty years passed.

On this day, at an unusually desolate edge of the Illusion Roar Desert, a great sandstorm raged, with gusts of hazy, fierce winds soaring directly towards the horizon, as if transforming the entire area into an ocean of hurricanes. Under the somber gray, it was impossible to discern anything in the wind.

Suddenly, a disturbance arose within the hurricane. Several gigantic magical beasts sprang out from it and landed steadily on the solid ground.

These magical beasts had eight short, stout limbs under their bellies, resembling gigantic lizards magnified more than ten times. They were all covered in dust from their journey, and nine figures were seated upon them.

These were none other than Han Li and the others, who had entered the Illusion Roar Desert from the direction of Illusion Night City decades ago.

However, of the original ten magic lizards, only five remained after such a long journey, with more than half of the people now having to share one.

In terms of appearance, Han Li and Old Ancestor Long and the others looked exactly the same as they had decades ago. At this moment, most of their faces showed expressions of excitement.

"We've finally gotten out of this cursed desert!" the feathered-robe maiden exclaimed, letting out a long breath and beaming with relief, as if she had finally escaped a sea of suffering. "Seeing the same scenery for decades was truly unbearable. I once underwent secluded cultivation for a hundred years, and even that wasn't this difficult to endure."

"Traveling day after day for decades in the desert is indeed an arduous task," Saintess Qianqiu said indifferently, sharing a magic lizard and sitting behind the feathered-robe maiden. "Moreover, we encountered the three great demonic scourges of the Illusion Roar Desert multiple times, and even half of our eight-legged magic lizards couldn't be saved."

The passing of these decades seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the Spirit Race Saintess.

"However, the most dangerous was still that late-stage Body Integration Sand Shadow Beast," Saintess Qianqiu said, suddenly glancing at Han Li with a hint of something unusual on her face. "It actually clung to us for several years, constantly launching sneak attacks. If it weren't for Fellow Daoist Han, who finally unleashed his divine ability and killed it with one strike, I'm afraid we wouldn't have been able to leave this desert so easily."

"Fairy Qianqiu, you're being too polite!" Han Li replied, glancing at the Spirit Race youth not far away, his eyes flashing. "If Fellow Daoist 'Zhi Shui' hadn't unleashed his divine abilities to entangle that Sand Shadow Beast, how could I have had the chance to act?"

"Hehe, that Sand Shadow Beast was elusive; its demise is naturally a joint effort between Brother Han and Fellow Daoist Zhi Shui," Old Ancestor Long said with a hearty laugh after collecting the remaining magic lizards. "Now that we've finally exited the Illusion Roar Desert, let's proceed with our original agreed-upon plan and split up."

"I have no objections!" Han Li said with a slight smile after turning his head to glance at the gray windswept sand behind him.

A year ago, while still in the desert, they had already discussed all the specific plans for after they emerged.

Although the Illusion Roar Desert was reputed to be a forbidden zone for ordinary demon races, for them, a group of Body Integration cultivators, it was at most merely somewhat dangerous. The only thing that slightly vexed him was that during the latter half of their journey, in order to kill a magical beast highly skilled in concealment, he inadvertently exposed a fraction of his true divine abilities, which was unfortunately seen by others.

This made Old Ancestor Long and the others, as well as Saintess Qianqiu and the other Spirit Race members, not only more polite towards him but also somewhat wary!

Han Li, of course, could only pretend not to notice the slight changes in others' attitudes towards him.

At this moment, Saintess Qianqiu and the other Spirit Race members also immediately agreed to Old Ancestor Long's suggestion.

Thus, everyone immediately split into several groups right there, soaring into the sky and flying off in different directions, riding their streaks of light.

Their agreed-upon plan was simple: to prevent being tracked by those with ill intentions, they would once again split up and travel separately for the long journey from the Illusion Roar Desert to the Demon Source Sea.

Of course, even with different routes, their final destination remained the Demon Source Sea.