Han Li flung the translucent wings into the air and he spat out a cloud of azure mist before absorbing both into his stomach.

Following that, Han Li took out the damaged Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and began to temper them and slowly restore their spirituality.

A year later, above a nameless mountain range in the wilderness, a faint azure light streaked across the sky.

The light contained an insipid youth with his arms held behind his back. He was Han Li who already departed from the hidden room several months before.

When he mended his flying sword entirely, he departed from the heart of the mountain and immediately took the sky.

Because he was alone, Han Li was extremely careful and thus spent half a year of flight in peace.

As for the nameless mountain range he was flying above, it appeared unordinary.

Regardless of their alt.i.tude, the trees appeared short as shrubbery. If he were to fly closer to the ground, he would also encounter a dense wave of moisture.

The mountain range also had depressions that were filled with various-sized lakes. Among them, the largest spanned to thousands of kilometers in width while the smallest was only half a kilometer wide.

Nevertheless, Han Li didn’t dare to be careless as he flew past them.

Foreign beings or all sorts of formidable ancient beasts could be lying in wait inside the water.

Ever since he entered the mountains, he had already killed a dozen strange beasts that took the initiative to attack him. Among them included a huge eel from one of the lakes. It was nearly at Deity Transformation-stage and had ferocious water-attributed abilities. It was rather exhausting to deal with.

Half a month later, the mountain features began to change and he came across two perfectly straight mountains that were three kilometers tall.

When Han Li caught sight of the mountains, Han Li’s eyes lit up with joy.

With regard to their size, they weren’t particularly odd, but one of them was silver-white. Most of the mountain was covered in exceptionally cold crystalline snow.

The other mountain was sparkling purple and had maple-like trees growing all over it. The leaves on these trees s.h.i.+ned with an odd purple light.

The mountains were separated by over five kilometers, but apart from the silver snow and the purple trees, the mountains appeared almost entirely the same.

“Since the two mountains are here, it seems they were telling the truth.” Han Li muttered. Soon, his light flashed and he made his way to the mountain of snow.

When he drew close, he encountered raging winds that carried an incisive bone-chilling cold.

His expression stirred, but a layer of azure light appeared from his body and he continued forward unhindered.

But before he entered the mountain, two streaks of light shot out from the area covered most densely in snow. With several flashes, they arrived a hundred meters away from Han Li.

Han Li then dismissed his flight light and revealed his body.

“Hehe, so it was Fellow Daoist Han! I knew that with your abilities, you’d make it out of a trifling mission just fine!” The lights in front of Han Li vanished to reveal two men. One of them recognized Han Li and spoke with a smile.

The person’s complexion was pale and he appeared to be sixty years of age. When Han Li first entered Deep Heaven City, he met Old Man Liu from Spirit Flight Hall.

As for the person to his side, he appeared to be a sickly scholar, but he also wore a kind expression.

“So it was Brother Liu and Brother Ouyang! Didn’t you two come here earlier than me? It seems your missions were finished smoothly.” Han Li chuckled, refraining from mentioning his brush with death with the wood tribe.

Old Man Liu shook his head and he said, “How could our mission compare with yours? I simply followed a few golden guards as they wiped out a few small strongholds held by foreign races. So long as I was a bit careful, I wasn’t in any danger.”

Han Li smiled and asked, “Apart from your two, have any others come?”

Old Man Liu flashed a beaming smile and said, “Of course. Our journey requires many people. Although we predicted that about half of our numbers wouldn’t be able to arrive, just about everyone we needed has arrived. Let me guide you.”

“Then I’ll have to trouble you.” Han Li saluted him.

Han Li followed the two and streaked towards the icy mountain.

After a short journey, the old man in the lead took out a jade badge and held it out in the air in front of him.

A wave of white light flew out from the badge and revealed a field of white lotuses that flashed with light.

Old Man Liu commanded the light and entered one of the white lotuses, which soon flashed before disappearing.

Han Li blinked. He and the scholar soon followed.

There was a layer of illusion formations that were placed there. It was quite mysterious since he hadn’t been able to see it.

In that case, if an ordinary ancient beast arrived nearby, it wouldn’t discover anything odd about the mountain.

The three flickered several times with light as they flew above the mountain top and dropped down in front of an ice pavilion.

There was a group of various-styled ice buildings nearby. There was also a man and two women that were keeping watch of the pavilion. When they saw the three arrive, their sights focused on Han Li.

The man possessed a large stature and wore grey robes. His full beard gave him a bold appearance.

One of the women appeared over forty years old, wore azure robes, and had an ordinary appearance. The other woman appeared young, wore green robes, and wore a veil.

When Han Li saw the veiled woman, he yelped.

“Fairy Ying, I didn’t think that you would take the invitation too. What a coincidence!” Han Li called out to her in surprise.

The veiled woman replied with a sweet smile, “I knew you’d be here. I can be considered a founding member.”

She was Fairy Ying who had invited Han Li to team up when he last attended a meeting for ascended cultivators.

“A founding member? That is truly outside my expectations.” Han Li chuckled.

When Han Li was invited to join the group, Fairy Yin wasn’t among those who met him, but he still found them to be trustworthy.

As for the people who initiated this gathering, Han Li didn’t care much about that.

Han Li flickered his gaze and swept his eyes past the other two.

The two appeared familiar as if he had seen them before at the meeting for ascended cultivators. However, he didn’t seem to have talked to them before.

The lowest cultivation the three possessed was at mid Deity Transformation stage. The older woman in particular was a late Deity Transformation cultivator.

Thus, Han Li saluted them.

The large man and the older woman promptly returned his salute, not daring to neglect him.

The veiled woman soon invited Han Li to take a seat in the pavilion. After some thought, Han Li shook his head and said, “I’ve received a few wounds on my mission, and I’ve spent some magic power flying without rest. I’ll need to recover. If I remember correctly, there is still a month before the determination meeting time.”

Old Man Liu twirled his beard and spoke with a friendly face, “Hehe, we’ve overlooked that. Please take a rest. We’ll talk to you later. The rooms on the very left don’t have anyone in them. Go ahead and choose one. Of course, if you are dissatisfied, you can construct your own.’

“Then I’ll go ahead.” Han Li faintly smiled and bid them a few words of farewell. He then walked to one of the ice rooms and disappeared inside with a few flickers.

As the few cultivators looked at Han Li’s back, silence filled the air.

The woman slightly frowned and slowly asked, “Is Brother Han hurried to rest because his injuries are severe?”

“It shouldn’t be! His complexion is fine. It’s probably just that he’s low on magic power.” The large grey-robed man shook his head.

Fairy Yin indifferently said, “That might not be the case. If Han Li possesses exceptional concealment techniques, we wouldn’t be able to see anything odd. Nevertheless, since he’s here on schedule, he’s already demonstrated that his abilities are unordinary. Even if he is somewhat ill, I believe that it won’t affect our plans. Didn’t Fellow Daoist Yuan and Master Jing Yuan also head straight to their rooms upon arriving?” She clearly had quite a bit of confidence in Han Li.

The sickly scholar smiled and said, “Your words make sense. Although Fellow Daoist Han is only a mid Deity Transformation cultivator, according to my information, his abilities are among our top three.”

The older woman was stunned and doubtfully said, “Your words aren’t an exaggeration, are they? Fellow Daoist Han is only a mid Deity Transformation cultivator. Are you sure?”

The veiled woman leisurely explained, “Older Sister Zhao has remained in diligent cultivation over these past few years in Deep Heaven City and hasn’t taken part in our meetings. It is no surprise you don’t know of Brother Han. Fellow Daoist Han had killed many similar grade foreign beings and he also captured many of them alive. He is quite famous among the newly ascended cultivators in the city. One of his abilities in particular is incredibly effective against shadow tribe beings. This was primarily one of the reasons we went through such great lengths to invite him.”

“Fellow Daoist Ying means that he will be effective in dealing with those shadow bug beasts?” The older woman realized.

Old Man Liu added, “That’s right. Otherwise, they will be troublesome to deal with. If we consume that much magic power before we encounter our true prey, that would be awful.”

The older woman nodded and said nothing else.

As for the others, they took a seat and briefly chatted. When Han Li entered the ice room, he sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.