Chapter 754: Return

**A Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality, Volume 5: Renowned in One Place**

After the battle at Huanglong Mountain that day, with the three great Spirit Masters of the Fiend-Sages leading the charge, their army unexpectedly advanced to Tiancheng City in just half a month.

Caught off guard, the Nine-Nation Alliance, enraged and alarmed, had no choice but to face the enemy alone.

Fortunately, Wei Wuya, the Grand Elder of the Alliance and one of the three great cultivators of Tiannan, had just arrived in the city upon hearing the news. Relying on Tiancheng City's formidable restrictive array, they managed to hold out for over a month against the Fiend-Sage army's relentless assaults.

However, the three great Spirit Masters eventually converged, and with the help of some black-robed cultivators, they simultaneously deployed seven or eight gigantic beasts.

As a result, the grand array was soon breached, and Tiancheng City fell into the hands of the Fiend-Sages.

Fortunately, most of the Nine-Nation Alliance's main forces remained intact. In their haste, they managed to evacuate all cultivators to Beiliang, a neighboring state of Yu.

At this time, supporting cultivators from both the righteous and demonic factions, as well as the Heavenly Dao Alliance, also arrived.

The four major powers of Tiannan joined forces, and after several small skirmishes, they temporarily blunted the Mulan people's advance.

However, both sides clearly understood that the decisive, life-or-death battle had not yet begun.

After occupying Tiancheng City, the Mulan people immediately established it as the Fiend-Sages' first stronghold in Tiannan. Large numbers of Fiend-Sages from various tribes continuously streamed in from the Mulan Grasslands.

Except for the Golden Sun Tribe, the largest Mulan tribe, which was preoccupied with monitoring the actions of the Tuwu people, the elite forces of all other tribes were deployed, pinning all their hopes on conquering Tiannan in a single decisive battle.

The Mulan people were simply waiting for all allied forces to arrive before launching the decisive battle.

With the advantage of their home territory, the Tiannan forces naturally showed no signs of weakness.

In addition to the full mobilization of the four major powers, some sects outside these four powers also sent their members to participate. Even some rogue cultivators, knowing the extraordinary significance of this battle—which even involved the fundamental interests of the Yan Clan in Tiannan—voluntarily rushed to assist without needing any mobilization.

Seeing that the people were united and ready, the four major powers immediately employed their great divine abilities at the border of Beiliang, near Yu State. Overnight, they constructed a large stone city to serve as a temporary stronghold against the Fiend-Sages.

They also needed to organize and arrange the forces from various sects and rogue cultivators before launching a full-scale offensive to drive the Mulan people out of Tiannan.

Hostilities between the Fiend-Sages and cultivators temporarily ceased, and for a time, both sides seemed extraordinarily calm, like the lull before a storm.

During this period, Han Li's reputation soared as certain events came to light.

He was unaware that among the Nascent Soul cultivators who survived the misty sea of Huanglong Mountain that day, besides himself, there was also an old man surnamed Ma.

However, this elder of the Haoran Sect, faced with the wind-based evasion technique of the woman surnamed Le, was forced to abandon his physical body, with only his Nascent Soul escaping back to the Nine-Nation Alliance.

Aside from the old man, Ying Ning and the Murong brothers, who were at the Core Formation stage, also escaped early when they saw the situation turn dire, returning safely.

As a result, the news of Han Li instantly killing the black-robed Nascent Soul cultivator became known to others. His reputation began to rise!

As for his act of capturing and eliminating the Ghost Spirit Sect spy with the burly man surnamed Lu and others, only the high-ranking cultivators of a few major powers were aware of it, and it was not widely publicized.

However, what truly brought Han Li widespread fame, aside from this incident, was the news from the Mulan people that Han Li had escaped from a Mulan Spirit Master.

That day, when the scholar surnamed Zhong returned to the Fiend-Sage army, having failed to eliminate Han Li, it indeed caused quite a stir among the Fiend-Sages.

To avoid an embarrassing loss of face, the scholar naturally gave Han Li a very high appraisal.

He stated that Han Li's divine abilities even slightly surpassed those of an ordinary mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

With a Spirit Master giving such an evaluation of Han Li, naturally, no one doubted the truth of his words.

Furthermore, considering the various divine abilities Han Li displayed when battling the woman surnamed Le, and having destroyed the physical body of the Fiend-Sage surnamed Mu from the Skywind Tribe on the Mulan Grasslands, his name became even more prominent among the Fiend-Sage army than among cultivators.

Consequently, when the Tiannan side learned of this, it caused another sensation, and Han Li's reputation surged even further.

Of course, besides Han Li, other less-known Nascent Soul cultivators also gained significant renown in their engagements with the Fiend-Sage army.

After all, only through combat can the true extent of a cultivator's divine abilities be discerned.

Under these circumstances, Han Li, who had been in seclusion for over half a year, fully recovered his vitality in a mountain gully somewhere in Yu State and finally emerged from his secret chamber within the mountain.

Feng Tuo was a Foundation Establishment stage Fiend-Sage from a small Mulan tribe. Although he was revered as an immortal master in his own tribe, upon arriving at Tiancheng City, he was considered an ordinary, expendable member.

Currently, he had emerged from a stronghold near the border of Beiliang State, leading a small team of Qi Condensation stage Fiend-Sages, patrolling a route stretching hundreds of miles to guard against sudden attacks by Tiannan cultivators.

He had been patrolling for half a day since leaving the stronghold. Calculating the time, the next group of Fiend-Sages should be arriving for their shift soon. He only needed to fly a few dozen more miles before he could return.

Feng Tuo mused to himself.

The thought of the dozens of spirit stones he had received just two days prior came to mind, and he felt that the bottleneck at the early Foundation Establishment stage, which had been holding him back, now seemed highly likely to break. He couldn't help but want to quickly return and cultivate through meditation. He hoped to advance his cultivation by another level before the great war. If he could achieve meritorious service in the war, he was sure the post-war rewards of spirit stones would be substantial.

This mid-level Mulan Fiend-Sage, while slowly guiding his team on their flying artifacts, absentmindedly drifted into fantasy.

At that moment, they happened to be flying over a rocky slope rarely visited by people. Just as they were about to sweep past the area without a second glance, suddenly, a green light flashed among the boulders below, followed by a fleeting shadow, and a young man in green robes materialized out of thin air on the ground.

This man, who appeared to be only in his early twenties, looked up at the group of Fiend-Sages with a cold gaze, his face devoid of expression.

"A Tiannan cultivator! At least Core Formation stage or above, I can't discern his cultivation level at all." After Feng Tuo clearly saw the young man and swept him with his spiritual sense, he made his judgment and couldn't help but gasp.

"Quick, retreat! This person is not someone we can handle."

Feng Tuo was quite quick-witted. After hastily calling out to the five or six low-level Fiend-Sages behind him, he quickly tossed a small spirit beast pouch he carried into the air.

Immediately, a red light shot out from the pouch, and after circling once, it was about to dart towards the stronghold Feng Tuo had come from.

But at that very moment, a white light flashed in the air, and a stunningly beautiful young woman in white robes suddenly appeared near the red light. With a smiling expression, she opened her mouth, and a cloud of pink, fragrant mist sprayed out, enveloping the red light.

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

The young woman extended her hand and beckoned. The little bird obediently flew into her delicate hand.

Seeing this, Feng Tuo's heart sank. He no longer cared about the others. He hastily formed hand seals, and a bright yellow light emanated from his body, preparing to cast a life-saving spiritual art to instantly escape several miles away.

But at that very moment, above the heads of all the Fiend-Sages, a giant silver bell had appeared out of thin air.

With a soft 'clang' sound.

Feng Tuo felt his mind grow heavy, followed by a dizzying sensation. He tumbled and fell from the sky.

The other Qi Condensation stage Fiend-Sages fared even worse. The instant they heard the bell's sound, their eyes went black, and they all plummeted from the sky, their fates unknown.

As for Feng Tuo, with a flicker of the white-robed young woman's figure, she appeared beside his falling body, grabbed him by the collar, and drifted lightly downwards.

"Master, this one is the leader. He should know more things." After landing, the young woman smiled sweetly and said to the young man.

These two were naturally Han Li and Yin Yue, who, upon emerging from seclusion, discovered that Yu State had already fallen.

Han Li casually captured a low-level Fiend-Sage and learned about the general situation. He immediately took Yin Yue and stealthily infiltrated this border region.

Originally, he had intended to cross the border directly. However, he coincidentally discovered Feng Tuo and his group of patrolling Fiend-Sages.

Han Li's heart stirred, and he immediately decided to capture another Fiend-Sage alive to inquire about the specific situation at the border before proceeding. This would prevent him from inadvertently running into a place guarded by a Spirit Master, which would be terrible luck.

With Yin Yue's illusionary mind-confusing technique as assistance, Han Li easily obtained the information he wanted using the 'Dream Inducement Art'.

Han Li breathed a sigh of relief.

The border was indeed guarded by the three great Spirit Masters on a rotating basis, but the section of the border before him was far from where the Spirit Masters were stationed. It was only guarded by a single Grand Master of Mulan.

With Han Li's cultivation, it would be no problem at all to sneak past.

Looking at the still unconscious captive, Han Li frowned slightly.

To quickly obtain information, Han Li had naturally used a more forceful method. The captive's consciousness had been mostly destroyed. Even if he woke up, he would be a cripple.

Han Li sighed softly, flicked a finger, and a fireball reduced the man to ashes.

Then, with a burst of green light from his body, enveloping Yin Yue within it, he transformed into a streak of green rainbow and vanished into the air.

On the Beiliang State side of the border, within the newly constructed 'Tianyi' Stone City of the Tiannan cultivators. In a corner of the city, inside a small hall, Han Li's Senior Martial Brother Lu was chatting with several high-level cultivators from the Heavenly Dao Alliance. However, his expression was somewhat distracted, and he remained restless.

To be fair, since he had already participated in the battle to delay the Fiend-Sage vanguard earlier, he could have returned to the Falling Cloud Sect then.

However, currently, the Falling Cloud Sect only had him and the silver-haired old man as Nascent Soul cultivators. It was impossible to let the silver-haired old man, whose vitality had not yet fully recovered, lead the Falling Cloud Sect disciples to participate in this great battle. So, he voluntarily requested to stay to look after the sect's disciples.

Of course, another reason he was unwilling to leave was that Elder Han of the Falling Cloud Sect, who had recently become famous, was still missing. He was anxious about this, unsure if something had happened to Han Li, and thus unable to simply leave.

Nevertheless, Han Li's ability to kill other Nascent Soul cultivators and even escape from a Mulan Spirit Master still made Elder Lu somewhat difficult to fully believe.

After all, others didn't know, but he had personally witnessed Han Li forming his Nascent Soul just a few years prior. How could he possess such heaven-defying divine abilities in such a short period? He was even evaluated by a Mulan Spirit Master as having divine abilities superior to those of a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator.

Could it be that their Falling Cloud Sect had truly stumbled upon a treasure this time? Was Junior Martial Brother Han actually a cultivation prodigy seen only once in ten thousand years?

Although Lu Luo was currently sitting in the hall, his mind unconsciously drifted back to this matter. While he heard others speaking, he was completely absent-minded.