At this time, Ye Susu became even calmer. She wasn't afraid of Dongfang Bai's gaze and met it with composure.

In her mind, she recalled the words Han Li had said when they parted that day. She couldn't help but admire him greatly, feeling that every situation today seemed to be within that person's expectations, and all she had to do was follow his instructions.

Just then, with a sound of air being torn, a streak of light flew down from the high sky and plunged towards the courtyard.

As the light faded, a gaunt old man with a long nose and gray hair appeared.

"Elder Lü, how is it?" Dongfang Bai asked calmly, turning his gaze to the old man.

"Reporting to the Palace Lord, traces of residual aura were found on a mountain peak thousands of miles north of here. It seems that Han Li stopped there briefly and changed to a spirit boat or flying chariot-like immortal artifact. Further north, tens of thousands of miles towards the edge of the Jinyuan Mountains, there were also some scattered remnants of aura, but they were very faint, and it seemed that some means were deliberately used to conceal his tracks. This subordinate was anxious to return and report, so I only marked the spot and did not continue the pursuit." The gray-haired old man stepped forward and bowed respectfully.

"You did well," Dongfang Bai nodded and said.

"So, they didn't lie... This person is indeed cunning!" Tao Ji muttered to himself, pondering for a moment.

"Let's go." Dongfang Bai glanced at Ye Susu again, said expressionlessly, and instantly disappeared from the spot.

Seeing this, Tao Ji and the others also flashed and flew away.

Inside the small courtyard, the Qinghu Clan members looked at each other in silence.

Ye Susu's palms were already soaked with sweat. After looking at her mother beside her, she looked up at the densely packed warships in the high sky. She became even more puzzled. What kind of person was this Senior Han that he could attract such a large-scale treatment from the Immortal Palace?

On the deck of a warship in the high sky, Tao Ji and the others appeared one after another, only to see Dongfang Bai standing by the side of the ship, looking down at Qinghu City.

When the others approached, he suddenly said,

"Exterminate the clan."

"What? They..." Tao Ji's expression changed upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said.

He wanted to say that the Qinghu Clan had not harbored Han Li, but he stopped halfway through, realizing the situation.

Whether the Qinghu Clan harbored Han Li or not was not important to Dongfang Bai. What was important was that Han Li's whereabouts must not be spread, otherwise, if it attracted the attention of others, how could he monopolize the credit for finding the Palm Heaven Bottle?

"As you command!" Hei Dao said without hesitation, cupping his fist.

"Make it clean, don't leave any traces, otherwise, it will be troublesome if the Immortal Prison investigates." Dongfang Bai added.

"Yes," Hei Dao replied and turned to leave.

"Elder Tao, Elder Lü, taking the army is too slow and the target is too big. The two of you will come with me to pursue." Dongfang Bai ordered after a moment of thought.

"Yes," Lü Yun didn't say much either, just respectfully responded.

Tao Ji hesitated slightly, seeming to want to say something, but in the end, he still said, "Yes."

He had experienced Han Li's terrifying strength firsthand. If possible, he would still like to bring more people. Of course, with Dongfang Bai personally taking action, he probably wouldn't be able to intervene. Even if he couldn't kill the enemy himself, it would be good to witness it.

Dongfang Bai waved his hand, and a surge of white light sprayed out in front of him. A white shuttle about ten feet long emerged, covered with dense runes and shining with spiritual light. It was obviously an immortal artifact of a certain grade, and its grade was not low.

He took the lead and flew onto the shuttle lightly. Tao Ji and the others didn't dare to neglect and followed closely behind.

After Lü Yun pointed the direction, a burst of dazzling white light suddenly erupted from the shuttle, turning into a streak of white light that shot out and disappeared into the high sky.

The golden warships suspended above Qinghu City radiated a great deal of spiritual light, and the layers of runes engraved on them began to light up one after another, slowly crushing towards the city below.

All the attack formations on the ships were opened, and a world-destroying aura enveloped this world.

It was later said that Qinghu City was attacked by a natural disaster on this day and burned in a great fire.

…

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year passed.

In the northern part of the Jinyuan Immortal Territory, there is a well-developed water system called the Longjiang River, which, together with the Yuanjiang River and the Shuiyang River, converges at the foot of the Shubi Mountain to form the Sanjiang Lake, which covers an area of thousands of miles.

Legend has it that the Sanjiang Lake used to be the site of hundreds of overlapping mountain peaks, connected to the Shubi Mountain by the lake, all belonging to a branch of the Jinyuan Mountains extending northward. A fairly large immortal sect was once built on it.

However, an unknown number of years ago, a great battle broke out here. The immortal sect that was originally built here was completely wiped out, and most of the mountain peaks were destroyed in the battle, and the entire land sank underground.

After a long period of change and evolution, the three rivers, including the Longjiang River, gradually changed their courses and converged here, burying all the remaining broken ridges and peaks, submerging them all underwater.

Although the sect has disappeared, there are still many architectural relics remaining on Shubi Mountain. Most of them have been occupied by the "Shuliu Sect," which was built only hundreds of thousands of years ago. After renovation and reconstruction, it has a unique and new atmosphere.

However, after countless years of washing, the Shuliu Sect only obtained some ruins. As for any remaining immortal treasures, there were naturally some, but they were all remnants left over after a great deal of sifting.

It is said that under the Sanjiang Lake, there are still some fragmented immortal mansions left behind. Some of them are still protected by magic formations, and there may still be some undiscovered immortal treasures inside.

After the Shuliu Sect established its sect here, it naturally included the Sanjiang Lake into its sphere of influence. However, due to its own weak strength, it did not dare to really seal it off and monopolize it. Instead, after development, it repaired some of the remaining immortal mansions under the lake and built them into dragon palaces and water mansions for cultivators to cultivate in, which were used for rent.

High-level cultivators with high cultivation levels naturally looked down on the little bit of heaven and earth spiritual energy left in these water mansions. However, many True Immortal cultivators, especially those who practiced water attribute Gongfa, or those who practiced water attribute Laws, liked to live here for a long time.

Relying on a small but steady stream of rental income, the Shuliu Sect was able to live a fairly comfortable life.

On this day, the Zhifeng Hall, which welcomes guests on Shubi Mountain, was visited by a tall, rather ordinary-looking young cultivator. As soon as he entered, he asked to see the Deacon Elder, saying that he wanted to rent a water mansion for cultivation.

This young man was none other than Han Li.

The Deacon Elder was a slightly chubby, round-faced old man with a kind face. Seeing that the visitor had an ordinary appearance, ordinary clothes, and not very strong aura, although he did not show any negligence, he secretly became contemptuous.

"Distinguished guest, are you here to rent a water mansion? You've come at the right time. There are only three water mansions left in the Sanjiang Lake. I'll bring the map for you to choose from." The old man greeted him with a smile.

"No hurry. I heard that there are still more than ten unexploited water mansions in the Sanjiang Lake. I'm thinking of choosing one from them," Han Li said with a smile, stopping the old man.

In fact, there are indeed many water mansions under the Sanjiang Lake, but after the recent tens of thousands of years of development and arrangement, most of them have been exploited, and only a few are sealed by powerful immortal restrictions, which the Shuliu Sect cannot open with its current abilities.

However, the Shuliu Sect did not spend a lot of money to hire experts from outside to break the formations. Instead, it announced to the public that as long as you spend the same price as other water mansions, you can obtain the qualification to enter those unexploited water mansions.

However, whether you can really enter it depends on the ability of the renter.

As for the things obtained in the water mansion, as long as it does not affect the continued existence of the water mansion, it can all belong to the renter.

For a long time at the beginning, cultivators often came to rent these unexploited water mansions, but the vast majority of them ended in failure, and many of the few who entered the water mansions died in them, able to enter but not able to exit.

In history, only a very few lucky people were able to open the water mansion and return with a full load. As a result, several of them leaked the news and were besieged by rogue cultivators who came after hearing the news, ending up with no bones left.

Usually, as long as they leave the sphere of influence of the Shuliu Sect, they will not interfere much in such matters. After all, they have said in advance that they are responsible for their own life and death for those who want to enter those unexploited water mansions.

Of course, even if they do not succeed in moving in, those rents will not be refunded at all. As a result, the rental income initially obtained by the Shuliu Sect from these unexploited water mansions was much higher than that of the exploited water mansions.

After all, in the cultivation world, there is never a shortage of people who want to take risks, bet small for big, and seek opportunities!

However, such times did not last long.

Over time, most cultivators gradually recognized the reality and slowly lost interest in coming here to take risks. The Deacon Elder, who was quite experienced, had not seen anyone like Han Li, who came and asked to rent an unexploited water mansion, for a long time.

"Hehe, well said, well said! Distinguished guest, please take a seat and wait for a while. If you want to rent an unexploited water mansion, you also need to look at the map and choose one, right? I'll go get it." The round-faced old man led Han Li to sit down in the side hall and turned to get the map.

As he turned around, he suddenly asked, "By the way, I haven't asked yet, what's your name, distinguished guest?"

"Han Li," Han Li replied casually without even looking up.

"So it's Fellow Daoist Han, nice to meet you, nice to meet you." The old man nodded casually and turned to leave.

A moment later, the round-faced old man returned to the hall again and spread a map of the underwater Sanjiang Lake on the table, briefly explaining the distribution locations of the water mansions and their current rental status to Han Li.

While listening to the old man's description, Han Li's eyes moved back and forth on the map.