Chapter 22: Windcloud Duo

While Han Li was pondering possible solutions to his problems, Gu Yunyue was able to sense Han Li's magic power fluctuations, which he was unable to conceal due to the secret technique backlash that he had suffered earlier, and her heart jolted slightly at the discovery.

"So he's at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage!" she murmured to herself, and after a brief hesitation, she turned and approached Han Li.

Han Li temporarily set aside his train of thought upon seeing this and rose to his feet.

"It seems like the Sharp Watch Pill was effective for you. With that, I presume you've at least mostly recovered from your injuries," Gu Yunyue said with a warm expression.

"Indeed. You have my gratitude, Fellow Daoist," Han Li replied.

"You're more than welcome, Fellow Daoist Han. Once you join our sect, you'll receive additional spirit pills as well," Gu Yunyue said.

She seemed to be quite eager to win over Han Li, as evidenced by the fact that she was initiating a constant stream of conversation in an attempt to get on friendlier terms with Han Li.

Through their conversation, Han Li was able to learn quite a bit about the Spirit Domain Realm.

His understanding of this realm was still only limited to the knowledge of Daoist Master White Stone, who was only a Core Formation cultivator, so he was naturally receiving different information and insights from a Nascent Soul cultivator like Gu Yunyue.

All of the questions that Gu Yunyue raised about Han Li's past were met with rather ambiguous responses, and Gu Yunyue quickly refrained from asking such questions as it was clear to her that Han Li didn't wish to share too much about himself.

"By the way, would you be willing to tell me about the Cold Flame Sect, Fellow Daoist Gu? My current knowledge of the sect is only limited to some rumors that I've heard," Han Li suddenly said.

Gu Yunyue was rather taken aback by this question, but she immediately replied, "Even if you hadn't asked me, I would've gotten to this topic sooner or later. Our Cold Flame Sect is a renowned sect of the Spirit Domain Realm. Up to this point, its history has spanned in excess of 1,000,000 years, and there are hundreds of thousands of disciples in our sect.

“Setting aside all of the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stage disciples, we have dozens of Deity Transformation and Spatial Tempering Stage elders, three Body Integration Stage powerful beings, and a Grand Ascension Stage patriarch."

A proud look appeared on Gu Yunyue's face as she spoke about her sect, and Han Li's heart stirred slightly after hearing her description.

The Cold Flame Sect was indeed a very powerful sect. With a Grand Ascension Stage patriarch, the sect was comparable in power to a major race in the Spirit Realm.

"Furthermore, the founder of our sect, Patriarch Cold Flame, ascended to the Immortal Realm over 1,000,000 years ago, and even to this day, our sect is still able to communicate with our immortal founder through special means.

“He would occasionally bestow upon us some spirit pills and cultivation arts from the Immortal Realm, thereby giving us an even greater advantage over other sects. You're definitely making a wise decision by joining our sect, Fellow Daoist Han," Gu Yunyue said with a smile.

Han Li's expression finally changed slightly upon hearing this.

It came as quite a surprise to him that the Cold Flame Sect had a backer in the Immortal Realm, and that the sect's founder was still able to communicate with them even after his ascension.

He had never heard of anything like this back in the Spirit Realm, so it appeared that things in the Spirit Domain Realm were truly vastly different from the circumstances in the Spirit Realm.

A pleased look appeared on Gu Yunyue's face at the sight of Han Li's reaction, and she fell silent with a faint smile.

"I didn't think that the Cold Flame Sect would be this powerful. No wonder it's such a dominant force in the Spirit Domain Realm. May I ask what the Heavenly Ghost Sect is like?" Han Li asked.

Gu Yunyue's smile faded, and a serious look appeared on her face as she replied, "The Heavenly Ghost Sect is roughly comparable with our Cold Flame Sect, and they also have a founder who has ascended to the Immortal Realm. Aside from our two sects, there's another sect by the name of the Origin Realm Temple, which also has a backer in the Immortal Realm, and those three sects rank alongside one another, standing at the pinnacle of the Spirit Domain Realm."

Han Li stroked his chin in a contemplative silence for a while, then asked, "Theoretically, the sects are ranked alongside one another, but practically speaking, I'm sure there must be a power hierarchy. How do the three sects compare with one another?"

"The three sects are roughly evenly matched in power, but the Heavenly Ghost Sect has a far longer history than our Cold Flame Sect and the Origin Realm Temple. Throughout its history, there have been three cultivators who have ascended to the Immortal Realm from the Heavenly Ghost Sect, so it's slightly superior in terms of overall power. As for our Cold Flame Sect and the Origin Realm Temple, there's not much that separates us," Gu Yunyue replied.

It seemed that in reality, the Heavenly Ghost Sect was far more powerful than the Cold Flame Sect, but she was unwilling to admit it.

Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly in contemplation, and he became rather interested in the Cold Flame Sect.

Seeing as the Cold Flame Sect was able to communicate with an immortal, it had to possess a great deal of exceptional resources. Perhaps he would be able to find a way to awaken his nascent soul there.

He enquired about some more matters regarding the Cold Flame Sect before ending the conversation and sitting back down to meditate again.

A short while later, traces of azure light gradually surfaced over his body, but his aura was then quickly subdued before vanishing entirely, making it impossible to detect any magic power fluctuations from him.

Gu Yunyue had returned to the front of the ark, but she couldn't help but be amazed once again after noticing the changes in Han Li's magic power fluctuations.

The sky gradually brightened, and as the spirit ark pierced through the cloud and mist, a majestic mountain range appeared up ahead.

The mountains were extremely steep and dark red in color, making the mountain range resemble an enormous red forest when viewed from a high altitude.

Gu Yunyue was quite relieved to see the red mountain range up ahead.

This mountain range was known as the Red Coral Mountain Range, and it sat on the border of the Prosperous Nation.

On the way here, she had intentionally taken a winding route to avoid the areas where Heavenly Ghost Sect scouts were prevalent, and now that they had made it to this point, they were surely in a far safer situation.

However, as a safety precaution, Gu Yunyue still elevated the spirit ark slightly so that it was able to conceal itself within the clouds up above.

It wasn't a particularly cloudy day, so the clouds in the sky were rather sparse, but traversing through them still provided more cover than nothing.

Yu Menghan and Liu Le'er gradually grew accustomed to traveling on the ark, and they were no longer so afraid. They stood up to look at the beautiful scenery around them, pointing out things that they found interesting to one another, and occasionally giggling when they caught sight of something that caught their fancy.

The mountain range down below quickly receded into the distance, and shortly thereafter, a plain appeared in the distance up ahead, instilling Gu Yunyue with a further sense of reassurance.

"Look out!"

Han Li had been meditating with his eyes closed this entire time, but all of a sudden, his eyes abruptly sprang open.

Both Liu Le'er and Yu Menghan faltered slightly upon hearing this urgent warning.

Gu Yunyue's expression also changed drastically as she immediately made a hand seal, blasting a thick beam of white light out of each of her palms that vanished into the spirit ark.

The spirit ark instantly began to glow brightly as it drew to an abrupt halt, then shot back at an incredible speed.

Right at this moment, one of the white clouds up ahead suddenly turned as black as ink, then transformed into a gargantuan, ghostly face. The sinister ghostly face opened its mouth before chomping down viciously, but it was unable to strike its target as the spirit ark had already retreated to a safe distance away.

A faint cry of surprise rang out from within the ghostly face, following which it collapsed into a black cloud, atop which stood a pair of men.

On the left was a hunch-backed elderly man with a heavily-wrinkled face. He had several strands of sparse yellow hair on his head, and he appeared to already have one foot in the grave.

On the right was a hideous young man with a long face and a large mouth, as well as a pair of squinty little eyes that were giving off a vicious gleam.

Both of them were wearing black robes with a sinister ghostly head design embroidered upon them, and the spiritual pressure that they were exuding indicated that they were both at the Nascent Soul Stage.

Just like Gu Yunyue, the long-faced young man was also at the mid-Nascent Soul Stage, while the hunch-backed elderly man was already at the late-Nascent Soul Stage.

"You're the Windcloud Duo!" Gu Yunyue exclaimed as a grim look appeared on her face.