"You are still as stunning as when I first saw you," Han Li said with a smile.

"When we first met, I don't remember you having any awe for a celestial being. During the Mo Jiao incident, you..." Nangong Wan said, realizing she was about to say something inappropriate, and quickly stopped.

This time, even her cheeks flushed red.

Han Li pulled her into his arms, a look of reminiscence appearing in his eyes, and he slowly said:

"Speaking of which, I should thank that Mo Jiao. If I hadn't mistakenly taken its lust sac for a Jiao pill, you and I..."

"Please don't say it..." Even though they were already Daoist partners, Nangong Wan still felt shy, raised a finger, and pressed it against Han Li's lips, stopping him from continuing.

Sunlight filtered down through the trees, shining on the two of them, bringing a slight warmth. From deep within the forest came the clear chirping of birds, and the mountain breeze passed by like a gentle caress.

Han Li stopped talking and simply held her gently, enjoying this rare moment of tranquility.

…

Time flew by, and half a month passed.

The Jue Fan Realm under the jurisdiction of the Southern Forest Immortal Territory was the smallest and weakest in spiritual energy among the human realms under the various immortal territories.

In this realm, virtually everyone was a mortal. Even those who were born with spiritual roots and had the aptitude for cultivation were rare exceptions.

Because of the insufficient spiritual energy, immortal medicines and spiritual herbs were naturally scarce, and cultivation resources were pitifully few. Often, a Core Formation stage cultivator was already a cultivation genius that was rarely seen in ten thousand years. As for Nascent Soul stage cultivators, they were like gods, absolute powerhouses standing at the top of this realm.

Therefore, this realm was still dominated by the secular world, with more emphasis on martial arts and courtly intrigue.

As for the immortal cultivation forces that soared high and moved low, they were often like deities, only appearing in legends passed down by word of mouth and in various fictional stories.

Therefore, in this realm, one rarely saw cultivators fighting and competing with each other. After all, embarking on the path of immortality was already extremely difficult. Unable to even break through the limits of lifespan, let alone betting one's life on making enemies and fighting.

But on this day, the number one immortal cultivation sect in the Northern Origin Country of this realm, the Hidden Mountain Sect, was attacked by a deadly enemy from the Southern Border Country.

That deadly enemy from the Southern Border Country was only a mid-Core Formation stage cultivator, whose strength was far inferior to the current sect leader of the Hidden Mountain Sect, who had already been a late-Core Formation stage cultivator decades ago.

Logically speaking, he would not have dared to attack.

However, the fact was that this person not only directly attacked the Hidden Mountain Sect but also relied on a bone flute to control a large number of poisonous creatures, wiping out the disciples and grandchildren within the sect, who numbered less than a hundred.

If it were just ordinary poisonous creatures, it would not have been a problem, but the troublesome thing was that hidden among these poisonous creatures were many extremely rare spiritual insects, including twenty-eight Gold Devouring Beetles that had not yet fully matured.

After a fierce battle, the entire Hidden Mountain Sect was left with only the sect leader and several seriously injured elders, who were forced by the spiritual insects and poisonous creatures to the Ancestral Hall on the sect's ancestral peak.

Among them, the sect leader of the Hidden Mountain Sect was a short, childlike-looking man with white hair. The flesh on his right shoulder was a bloody mess, and his arm and sleeves had been completely devoured by the twenty-eight Gold Devouring Beetles.

"Is it necessary to be so ruthless just because of a oversight that led to your failure to break through?" The sect leader's face was pale, and he glared at the disheveled man who was controlling the insects with a bone flute.

The latter stopped playing the flute, and the poisonous creatures and spiritual insects temporarily stopped their pursuit.

"This world has limited spiritual energy, which is not enough to support the emergence of too many Nascent Soul stage cultivators. After you stopped me once, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to break through the mirror in this life. Tell me, shouldn't this revenge be taken?" the disheveled man said coldly.

"Even so, you have completely destroyed my sect. Shouldn't you stop..." the sect leader pleaded.

"One more step, and only when you die will your Hidden Mountain Sect be truly destroyed," the disheveled man said unmoved.

With that, he played the bone flute again, and the large swarm of ghostly creatures that had surrounded the peak moved again, charging towards the Hidden Mountain Sect leader and the others.

Just then, a faint tremor seemed to come from between heaven and earth. Everyone felt it for a moment, but no one paid attention to it, because after that brief disturbance, everything returned to normal.

Immediately afterward, a commotion suddenly arose in the swarm of insects controlled by the disheveled man. The originally orderly formation suddenly became chaotic, and the ordinary poisonous creatures were unaffected, but the spiritual insects among them broke free from control.

Seeing this, the disheveled man was shocked and hurriedly mobilized his spiritual power to try to control the spiritual insects.

Unexpectedly, the more he tried, the more the spiritual insects that were originally trying to fly away suddenly turned around and, led by the twenty-eight Gold Devouring Beetles, flew directly towards him.

After a series of miserable screams, the disheveled man's flesh was completely gone, leaving only a bloody skeleton standing in place.

The Hidden Mountain Sect members who witnessed this terrifying scene were horrified. They found that after killing him, the spiritual insects flew high into the sky and left, with no intention of attacking them. The poisonous creatures also scattered and fled.

The survivors looked at each other, not knowing what was going on.

At the top of a majestic mountain in the central part of the Jue Fan Realm, where it connected with the sky, a spatial rift dozens of feet long had cracked open. Groups of spiritual insects of various shapes were gathering from all directions, flying towards it.

However, almost all of the spiritual insects were torn to pieces by the power of space the moment they flew into the rift. Only dozens of Gold Devouring Beetles flew into it safely.

…

The Ming Ling Sect in the Gao Chang Immortal Territory.

A low-lying mountain range hidden in ten thousand miles of poisonous miasma. Almost the entire mountain belly had been hollowed out, and inside were distributed maze-like passages and hundreds of palaces.

Countless alien races with ant heads but human bodies, all wearing the same standard black armor, were busily traversing the maze passages.

At this moment, in a huge underground palace deep within the mountain belly, lay a huge white ant queen. Her lower body was fat and snow-white, looking like a silkworm, but her upper body was no different from humans, and even had a flawless face.

Just then, a faint tremor swept through the heavens and the earth for a moment. The white ant queen's slightly closed eyes suddenly opened, her eyes filled with unbelievable joy.

"Could it be... Impossible, no, it must be... It must be..."

She cried out incoherently. Her body flashed with fluorescence, and she instantly transformed completely into a human form, becoming a beautiful young woman wearing a white纱裙, her aura was actually at the late stage of Grand Luo.

"Someone..."

As soon as she shouted, seven or eight figures rushed in from outside the palace, clasping their fists and kneeling on the ground.

"The day we've been waiting for has finally arrived. The army is assembling, going out in full force..." the ant queen said loudly.

"Your subordinates obey." The eight people were shocked when they heard this, and then they were overjoyed and responded one after another.

On this day, the largest insect swarm in history erupted in various parts of the Gao Chang Immortal Territory.

It was just that for some reason, these spiritual insects, as if they had agreed to riot together, did not attack the cities, but gathered towards the highest Zhu Yuan Peak in the immortal territory, covering the sky and the sun.

Those who were curious went to investigate and found that a space rift with a size of ten thousand feet had appeared above the Zhu Yuan Peak at some point.

…

The Northern Cold Immortal Territory.

A snowy ice plain in the far north of the Ming Han Continent, where blizzards raged all year round, and the earth was sealed by ten thousand years of profound ice. Not only was it rarely visited by humans, but even other creatures were hard to find.

A ten-thousand-foot ice mountain stood alone on it, its entire body crystal blue, and only a huge and blurry shadow could be seen in the cover of the blizzard.

Without warning, a soft "crack" sound pierced through the howling wind in the blizzard.

Huge pieces of ice mountain fragments peeled off from the mountain, making bursts of rumbling sounds, revealing a giant cocoon that was thousands of feet high.

With a soft "chi la" sound, a gap suddenly cracked in the giant cocoon. A large expanse of faint blue light lit up from within, and a soaring cold air shot out from within, almost freezing the blizzard falling within a hundred miles around.

In the blue light, a white-haired man with two long tentacles on his forehead flew out from it.

His cheeks were thin, his lines were firm, his appearance was quite handsome, and his eyes were shining with faint blue crystal light, his gaze was stern and full of a different kind of charm.

He was quite tall, wearing a blue leather armor, and behind him were four blue light wings, which were flashing one by one. His aura was actually at the peak level of Grand Luo.

"King, are you finally coming back..." His faint blue eyes looked at the blizzard-covered sky and murmured.

In the next instant, his four wings fanned, and a powerful snowstorm surged around him, but his figure had disappeared.

…

The Central Earth Immortal Territory, the Heavenly Palace Continent, somewhere in the Heavenly Court.

In a huge palace that was entirely emerald green and resembled jade, a short-haired, bare-chested, golden-faced, angry-eyed, muscular, tall man, whose ink-green robe was bulging, was pacing back and forth in front of a翡翠 throne. The blue veins on his forehead bulged slightly, and his expression was quite serious.

In front of him, there were also several Heavenly Court officials standing, all of whom were clearly Grand Luo level powerhouses, but in front of this person, they all stood with their hands in front of them, their faces full of respectful and fearful expressions.

There was no other reason, but this vajra-like man was named Xuan Yuanjie, and he was a Five Elements Origin Dao Ancestor, a member of the "Seven Heavenly Sovereigns" standing at the pinnacle of power in the Heavenly Court.

"Are you telling the truth? In addition to Immortal Monarch Hu Liang, even Tong Qiu was assassinated?" Xuan Yuanjie grabbed the armrest of the throne and asked coldly.

"Reporting to Heavenly Sovereign Ancestor, all eight Reincarnation Sons were dispatched, forming groups of two to hunt down the powerful figures from all major immortal territories who came to attend the Bodhi Feast in the major immortal territories. The two have already been assassinated and fallen." One of them knelt down with a "thump" and quickly explained.

The others also bowed immediately, not daring to speak again.

Immortal Monarch Hu Liang was nothing, but that Realist Tong Qiu was the son of an old friend of Xuan Yuanjie. Although there was not much contact, the affection was still there.