Chapter 945: The Power of the Three Corpses

**Volume Four: Rising Winds Abroad****Volume Six: Spirit Treasures of Heaven**

Han Li's face darkened. He flicked his finger at the three individuals who had started later, and three sword lights shot forth. Before the three had flown a few zhang, they were engulfed by the green sword lights, which arrived first despite being sent later.

Three miserable screams suddenly erupted amidst the sword light. Several clumps of blood rain fell from the air, and a strong scent of blood rose.

On the other side, the hunchbacked old man, turning his head in the blood mist, saw this scene and was scared out of his wits. Immediately, he recklessly poured all his spiritual energy into the blood mist around him. His escape speed instantly increased by another third, and he was about to fly into a street several dozen zhang away.

He didn't truly hope to shake off Han Li's pursuit. As long as he could reach an area densely populated by mortals, the other party would be greatly hesitant and inconvenienced to act, likely allowing him to temporarily save his life.

However, Han Li, who hadn't moved an inch from his spot, sneered. He lightly pointed a finger at the receding blood mist. The red line that had killed Shopkeeper Feng suddenly appeared about a zhang behind the blood mist, then a red flash pierced straight through the blood mist.

After a wail, the blood mist dissipated, and the hunchbacked old man fell directly from the air. Then, a ghostly green luminous hand swiftly flew in, tossing aside the three spiritual artifacts, but seizing the old man in its grasp. After a swirl, it flew towards Han Li.

The red line shimmered in the air, then silently vanished, concealing its presence. But the next moment, it reappeared before Han Li.

Han Li raised his hand, and it slowly settled into his palm. It was actually a flying needle about an inch long.

This needle was crystal clear, neither metal nor wood. The red glow it emitted from its surface flickered, waxing and waning, truly a bit eerie.

Han Li glanced at the flying needle in his hand, a satisfied expression on his face. He had invested considerable effort, both before and after, using a crystallized demon core to refine this flying needle. Its power appeared to be significant. At the very least, its incredible speed and ability to conceal its presence had met his expectations. Moreover, it was a magic treasure; with a little further refinement, its power could be enhanced even more.

With a flip of his palm, the flying needle vanished directly, absorbed into his body. Only then did he lift his gaze to the hunchbacked old man, who was being held by the luminous hand, his face expressionless.

The old man at this moment had a thumb-sized hole pierced through his abdomen. Most of his body was firmly gripped by the luminous hand, making him utterly unable to move. His face was devoid of color.

Seeing Han Li look over, the old man, filled with fear, forced a smile. With a fawning tone, he quickly tried to butter him up:

"A misunderstanding. It's all a misunderstanding. Senior, with such divine abilities, you surely aren't the person we were looking for. This junior must have mistaken you for someone else. Senior, you are magnanimous; please don't bother with someone like me. This junior is from the Kong family of Guanning. Anything Senior wishes to ask, this junior will tell you everything..." The old man seemed to know his fate was dire. He hurriedly blurted out a torrent of words, hoping one of them might move the other party and spare his life.

But Han Li, with a raise of his hand, shot a talisman onto the old man's body. The old man's pleas for mercy abruptly ceased, and his eyes instantly became vacant and dazed.

"No need for such trouble. Han prefers to investigate what he wants to know himself; it's more reassuring." Han Li murmured softly, then with a backhand gesture, he drew the few spiritual artifacts on the ground into his hand and turned to walk into the courtyard.

The green hand, gripping the old man tightly, floated into the courtyard, following Han Li.

A very simple illusion array had been set up in the courtyard, which was nothing to Han Li. After performing a few incantations, he broke the formation.

Then, taking the old man, he entered one of the rooms.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, Han Li casually conjured a fireball, reducing the old man on the ground to ashes, letting him vanish from the world without ever regaining consciousness. Then, he sat down on a wooden chair in the room, resting his chin on one hand, lost in thought.

Earlier, he had used the 'Dream Induction Art,' emptying almost all the old man's knowledge, without needing to care for his mental state.

This hunchbacked old man, as he had just claimed, was the Kong family's resident steward in Jinjing.

This person was quite capable. Two years ago, Shopkeeper Feng had been discovered by him over a minor incident, and after a series of threats, was forced to submit to the Kong family.

After all, how could a mortal dare to resist a cultivator?

This time, Han Li had used Feng Yue's jade pendant to approach Shopkeeper Feng. Naturally, Shopkeeper Feng had sold him out to the old man and his companions, hoping to earn a great merit for this.

As soon as the old man heard that it was Feng Yue, the Eldest Young Master of the Feng family, whom their clan had been searching for for a long time, he was naturally overjoyed and wouldn't let this opportunity slip. He immediately set up a trap and personally went to ambush this "Feng Yue."

However, the moment Han Li stepped out of the tavern, he saw through the old man's crude breath-concealment technique at a glance. He knew that Shopkeeper Feng had caused trouble, but he certainly wasn't afraid of a Foundation Establishment cultivator. Yet, with many mortals present at the tavern, it was inconvenient to act directly. So, he went along with it, deciding to investigate, and rode a carriage to this location.

As a result, the old man and the several Foundation Establishment cultivators lying in ambush were casually exterminated by him, as easily as crushing ants.

Han Li didn't care about these matters at all; he had faintly suspected as much. Otherwise, if they were truly after him personally, even if Core Formation cultivators were lying in ambush here, it would be a huge joke.

However, Han Li was greatly surprised by another matter he had extracted from the hunchbacked old man's spiritual consciousness.

It turned out that right after the Ginseng King Convention, jointly organized by the three Guanning families, concluded that year, it was suddenly revealed that the Kong family's ancestor had been a demon who had devoured a soul and taken over a body. At that time, the patriarchs of the other two families, along with a group of high-level cultivators invited from their respective sects, directly struck down the possessed Kong family elder on the spot, not even allowing his primordial spirit to escape.

As a result, the Kong family's strength was greatly diminished, instantly dropping from being the leading family among the three to the bottom. But at this very moment, King Xuan, who had been deeply hidden in the Snow Tomb Mountain Range, learned that his subordinates had been annihilated and became enraged. He astonishingly raised the ancient tomb directly from the ground, released thousands of tomb guardian corpses, all with Foundation Establishment cultivation, and openly set up the Underworld Ghost Array, breaking out of the mountain range.

Consequently, the three families and the assisting high-level cultivators fought a great battle against the three corpses from the ancient tomb. While they destroyed many refining corpses, many low-level cultivators from the three families were also swallowed by the ghost array.

As for the few Nascent Soul stage cultivators, they gained no advantage against the three corpses, who relied on the ancient tomb and the ghost array. In fact, after their engagement, one of them suffered a severe injury due to a moment of carelessness. Consequently, the three families and these sect cultivators were completely trapped on the mountain peak where the Ginseng King Convention had been held, confined by a ghost array stretching for a hundred miles. They could only barely protect themselves by relying on a few large formations previously arranged on the mountain.

In reality, this was also because those sect cultivators had underestimated the old demon somewhat after ambushing and unexpectedly injuring King Xuan. They had thought that since the demon had just suffered severe injuries, he would be easy to deal with. However, they never expected that King Xuanye, who originally only had mid-Nascent Soul cultivation, immediately displayed power almost equivalent to late-Nascent Soul once he had the ancient tomb to rely on, as if he had completely transformed into two different people. The other two corpses also had early-Nascent Soul cultivation, which is why someone suffered a great loss and lost their fighting power immediately upon their first encounter.

What followed needs little explanation.

Although King Xuan's magic power was indeed formidable, he had caused such a massive disturbance. After trapping these cultivators for over a month, he finally alerted a Grand Cultivator in the late Nascent Soul stage from a nearby Daoist sect, who arrived and unleashed world-shaking divine abilities, startling the three corpses into retreating. They were forced to withdraw back into the depths of the Snow Tomb Mountain Range.

This late Nascent Soul cultivator had no intention of pursuing them and simply drifted away.

After the three families' cultivators were rescued, they naturally dared not linger nearby. They withdrew all their forces from the mountain range's edge, lest King Xuan return.

The three corpses, also fearing the late Nascent Soul cultivator's intervention, naturally did not dare to emerge from the mountains easily again. The conflict thus came to a halt.

Of course, what Han Li knew was only a portion of what the old man was aware of. However, combining it with King Xuan's severely injured state that Han Li encountered when leaving the Feng family's secret cave that day, he deduced most of the truth. He couldn't help but marvel for a moment.

This King Xuanye was a bit too fierce. He was already severely injured from his battle with Grandmaster Kuangsha in the Snow Tomb Mountain Range that day, yet he managed to cause such a huge commotion again so soon after returning to the tomb, looking as if his spiritual energy had completely recovered.

However, Han Li, who had taken countless spiritual elixirs, knew very well that there was absolutely no pill in this world that could allow one's vital energy to recover so quickly. Even he, with abundant elixirs, had yet to fully recover his peak cultivation.

There was only one possibility: either the old demon's ten-thousand-year Corpse King was formidable enough, or the cultivation technique he practiced possessed some unique divine ability for restoring vital energy, allowing for such astonishing recovery speed.

However, speaking of the Corpse King's divine abilities, Han Li couldn't help but recall the Celestial Corpse Pearl he had stored within his body. While cultivating the Bright King Art, he had already sensed the wondrous effects of this pearl. Otherwise, it would have been ambiguous whether he could have cultivated the second level of the Bright King Art relying solely on that Vajra Sarira.

Since this pearl had such miraculous effects, perhaps King Xuan's rapid recovery of vital energy was somehow related to it.

After pondering quietly for a while, Han Li set this matter aside. He began to consider his plans in Jinjing.

As for a place to stay, it went without saying. Since this residence was connected to Shopkeeper Feng, he couldn't stay long. Otherwise, once the man went missing for a few days, people would naturally trace him here, which could be troublesome. It would be better to find a Daoist temple or a Buddhist monastery to rent for a period. These places were relatively quiet and much better than an inn.

Additionally, he needed to visit Jinjing's local cultivation market to inquire about the details of the auction.

Han Li quickly completed his calculations in his mind, then he gracefully departed from the residence, vanishing without a trace.