Chapter 353: Instant Kill

**Volume Three: A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality**

**Volume Three**

Han Li stared at the two individuals, expressionless, not uttering a word. However, in his heart, he was almost certain they were responsible for the destruction of Qi Yunxiao's residence.

As expected, one of them asked, "Who are you, sir, and what is your relationship with that young man surnamed Qi?"

Upon hearing this, Han Li simply cast a cold glance at the speaker, then ignored him, turning his gaze to the old man instead. Clearly, in terms of cultivation, the true person in charge here was the elder.

Seeing Han Li's disdain, the young man was enraged. Although he knew Han Li was a Foundation Establishment cultivator, their family was one of the most prominent in Yuanwu Nation, and he had never been treated with such disrespect. Furthermore, he was already seething with anger over the matter concerning Qi Yunxiao. So, gritting his teeth, he was about to unleash the magic tool in his hand.

But as soon as his arm moved, the old man beside him grabbed it.

"Wait! We don't know this person's background yet. Even if we're going to act, we should first ascertain his identity!" the old man said calmly. After saying this, he looked at Qu Hun behind Han Li with some confusion. He couldn't sense the aura of a living person from him, yet there were spiritual energy fluctuations, which puzzled him.

Upon hearing this, Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly. Like Han Li, the old man was a mid-Foundation Establishment cultivator. His words clearly indicated that he perceived Han Li as formidable and had some reservations.

"Did you destroy this place?" Han Li asked unhurriedly.

"Fellow Daoist, what is your relationship with Qi Yunxiao? Are you from the Qi family?" The old man didn't answer Han Li's question, instead asking one of his own.

Han Li frowned slightly. It seemed the other party wouldn't answer honestly, so he would have to change his approach.

"It seems neither of us wants to answer the other's questions," Han Li said, his eyebrow twitching. "How about this: I ask a question, and you answer, then you ask, and I answer? It'll save us all some time."

The old man paused, then after a few eye movements, readily agreed.

"Since I proposed the method, why don't I ask first, Fellow Daoist?" Han Li said calmly.

"Are you a member of the Qi family, sir?" the old man asked immediately, without hesitation, upon hearing Han Li's words.

"No!" Han Li replied without hesitation.

Hearing Han Li's firm denial, both the old man and the young man were startled, a suspicious look appearing in their eyes.

"Is Qi Yunxiao alive or dead now?" Han Li asked leisurely.

"He's still alive!" the old man replied after a moment of hesitation.

The moment the words "still alive" reached his ears, Han Li felt a wave of relief.

"And what is your relationship with Qi Yunxiao, sir?" the old man asked cautiously again.

"A business relationship," Han Li said indifferently.

"Business?" A flicker of surprise crossed the old man's eyes.

"Where is Qi Yunxiao now?" Han Li asked, seemingly casually, but he was extremely concerned.

"I cannot tell you that!" the old man immediately refused without thinking.

"Then I'll ask another question: why did you attack Qi Yunxiao?" Han Li asked again, without showing any anger.

"He killed members of our Fu family! Don't you think he deserves to die?" the young man interjected with a cold laugh.

The old man frowned, a hint of displeasure appearing on his face. But he said nothing.

"The Fu family!"

Upon hearing this, Han Li immediately recalled the Qi Condensation cultivators who had died by his hand while he was saving Xin Ruoyin. A strong killing intent surged within him.

"I see! But only the two of you are here. What if a powerful figure from the Qi family shows up? How would you contend with them?" Han Li asked casually, showing no change in his demeanor.

"Why would the Qi family go against our Fu family for an external disciple? Isn't having the two of us here enough?" the young man said somewhat arrogantly upon hearing Han Li's words.

"So that means... there are only the two of you here," Han Li's voice suddenly deepened.

"What do you mean by that?" the young man demanded angrily, about to say more. But the old man beside him sensed something was wrong and quickly cut him off.

But it was already too late. Han Li suddenly waved both hands, and two streaks of dark light shot through the air towards the young man. Then, with a single tap on his storage pouch, over a dozen white lights flew out, instantly transforming into more than ten puppet beasts and puppet soldiers.

The moment these puppets appeared, they immediately unleashed a barrage of light beams and arrows.

Seeing this, the old man was horrified. Without hesitation, he flickered, appearing in front of the young man. Then, with a raised hand, a coin-shaped magic treasure flew out, instantly expanding to the size of a tabletop, blocking their path. Immediately, various colored lights erupted in a series of explosions against the coin, forcing the coin-shaped magic tool and the old man to retreat repeatedly, filling him with shock and anger.

But just then, the young man behind him let out a cry of agony, making the old man's heart seize. He hastily turned to look, but his head had only turned halfway when he felt a chill on his neck, and then everything went black as he lost consciousness.

As the old man's headless body tumbled to the ground, Han Li's figure materialized out of thin air behind him. On the ring finger of his right hand, a faint stream of light flickered—it was precisely the transparent silk thread magic tool.

Han Li had just taken advantage of the overwhelming attacks from the Black Dragon Spike and the puppets to distract the old man. Using the Misty Step, he had traversed over twenty zhang from the Divine Wind Boat in mere breaths, reaching the two men's backs, and then easily severed their heads with the silk thread.

All of this was so easy for Han Li! It was practically effortless!

It was quite laughable, really! Battles between Foundation Establishment cultivators were often fought without full body protective light barriers. This was because low-level Five Element Shields couldn't withstand the attacks of top-tier magic tools, and high-level shields took too long to activate. Furthermore, instant-cast talismans for such shields were either unavailable or prohibitively expensive. Consequently, most cultivators relied on defensive magic tools for protection, considering full-body light barriers to be useless and impractical.

However, this situation gave Han Li many opportunities to exploit! A large number of the demonic cultivators he fought at the border had died in such an inexplicable manner. Now that he thought about it, his technique was quite similar to the killing method of the Blood Attendant Fiend of the Black Fiend Sect: both were lightning-fast and aimed for an instant kill.

Unfortunately, this method could only be used when the enemy was on the ground. Otherwise, he would hardly need to fear anyone among Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Thinking this, Han Li gently shook his head, feeling a great sense of regret.

He took a few steps to the headless bodies, searched for and retrieved their storage pouches. After a brief spiritual scan, he felt a little disappointed. Although there were two or three top-tier magic tools, they were quite ordinary and of little use to Han Li. However, the coin-shaped magic tool seemed to be a rare defensive artifact.

As Han Li thought this, he beckoned, and the coin-shaped magic tool, which had returned to its original form, flew from the ground into his hand. After appreciating it with some delight, he casually threw two small fireballs, incinerating the two bodies into ash.

Then, taking Qu Hun with him, he circled the nearby sky once before flying away. This time, he flew directly towards the small mountain where Xin Ruoyin resided, hoping that her dwelling was secret enough to have escaped a similar fate.

Two or three hours later, Han Li arrived at the unnamed mountain where Xin Ruoyin lived. Seeing the mountain shrouded in mist as before, appearing completely intact, Han Li was overjoyed.

After thinking for a moment, he dared not descend rashly. Instead, he stopped high in the air at the halfway point of the mountain, then took out a sound-transmitting talisman from his robe, spoke a few words softly into it, and threw it down.

The fireball formed by the sound-transmitting talisman flickered a few times in the air below, then suddenly vanished. At the same time, thick tendrils of mist rose, completely enveloping Han Li's figure in an instant.

Han Li felt his vision blur, and suddenly, towering trees hundreds of feet tall surrounded him. He found himself in a colossal forest, feeling like an ant. He was startled but remained perfectly still. But he knew that Xin Ruoyin, having received the talisman, would soon let him in.

Indeed, moments later, the giant trees around him dissolved like phantoms back into thick mist. Then, the mist on the opposite side swirled, revealing a passage about a zhang high.

Han Li unhesitatingly activated the Divine Wind Boat and entered with Qu Hun. The passage was very long. Han Li flew for sixty to seventy zhang before he could faintly discern the exit, and his spirits lifted.

However, when he was still six or seven zhang from the exit, a somewhat hoarse female voice suddenly spoke.

"Senior Han, who is that person behind you? You shouldn't bring strangers here."