"Fellow Daoist Liu, apologies for the disturbance today, I shall take my leave now." Madam Gu Bone spoke softly, then turned into a black shadow and shot away into the distance.

"Fellow Daoist Liu, until we meet again!" Old Ancestor Lu Kun cupped his fists at Han Li and Han Qiu respectively, then also turned and flew away.

In the blink of an eye, only Han Qiu was left standing alone in front of Han Li, not leaving.

"Fellow Daoist Han, is there perhaps something else you require?" Han Li asked, his voice slightly沉 (chen - deep/heavy).

"Fellow Daoist Liu, I apologize for my previous offenses, please forgive me." Han Qiu suddenly cupped his fist at Han Li and said.

Han Li frowned slightly, a strange look flashing in his eyes, but he remained silent.

"You are right, Fellow Daoist, in truth, I do have something I wish to discuss with you." Han Qiu hesitated slightly, then said.

"Fellow Daoist Han, please speak plainly." Han Li said calmly.

"As far as I know, Fellow Daoist Luo Meng once accidentally obtained a Soulbirth Flower. This flower should now be in your possession, Fellow Daoist Liu. Since you are walking the Xuan Immortal path, you likely have no use for this flower. I wonder if you would be willing to transfer it to me. As for the price, Fellow Daoist Han need not worry, I will certainly not disappoint you." As he said this, a look of hope appeared on Han Qiu's face.

"I am very sorry, I did not find this flower on the island, I have disappointed you." Han Li replied, his expression normal.

Han Qiu's smile froze, his eyes darkening slightly.

"Haha, is that so? Then I shall take my leave." Han Qiu laughed, nodded at Han Li, transformed into a white rainbow, and shot away into the distance, disappearing into the sky.

Han Li watched Han Qiu disappear, then turned and descended towards Wumeng Island.

The water curtain around the island had disappeared without a trace at some point. The sea surface within a hundred miles was as calm as before, as if nothing had happened.

"Senior Liu!"

Led by Luo Feng, several Luo family Core Formation stage cultivators greeted him excitedly, with many Refining Void and lower-level cultivators around them.

"Thanks to Senior Liu today, otherwise our Luo family would have likely been wiped out." Luo Feng said solemnly, bowing respectfully to Han Li.

"Thank you for your great kindness, Senior Liu!"

The others from the Luo family also bowed in unison.

"Clan Leader Luo is too kind. Since I promised to protect Wumeng Island, naturally I would not break my word when it comes to resisting external enemies." Han Li said indifferently, his eyes flashing slightly.

Judging from the change in the way these people addressed him, Luo Feng must have already explained his identity.

That was for the best, since this matter could not be concealed for long anyway. He could not bestow any protective power upon these clansmen.

Luo Feng and the others wanted to say some words of gratitude, but Han Li excused himself by saying that he needed to rest after the great battle, and soon returned to the courtyard.

…

Several months passed in a flash.

Beside the wooden house in the secret realm, Han Li, dressed in green robes, was standing and leaning over, gently stroking one of the petals of the Soulbirth Flower.

Compared to before, the golden纹 (wen - lines/patterns) on the Soulbirth Flower had increased by one, and there were now three, embedded on all the petals from the outside in.

After more than thirty thousand years, the flower had turned purple with a hint of gold. It originally gave off a particularly妖冶 (yao ye - enchanting/seductive) feeling, but now it had more of a noble aura.

Han Li's gaze swept over the petals, but he was constantly contemplating the scene of his battle with the three ancestral god clones.

Although it ended with the three of them defeated and leaving, it gave him more understanding of the power of laws, and also aroused more interest in mastering this magical power.

After a while, he slowly withdrew his hand and straightened his body.

Just as he was about to turn around, the corner of his eye suddenly caught a glimpse of something flying out of the small wooden house next to Luo Meng's tomb with a flash of light, silently.

He took a closer look and found that it was Luo Meng's statue head, shining with blue light, floating in mid-air.

Every time he tried to comprehend the power of faith within this statue head, it would always trigger a more or less large disturbance. The most intense time even cracked the walls of the courtyard where he lived.

In order to facilitate the investigation, he repaired the small wooden house in the secret realm, and for the past month, he had been staying here most of the time, except for using the small bottle to condense green liquid at night.

The statue head was naturally moved here from the secret room.

In the past, as long as he did not try to comprehend the power of faith in the head according to the methods recorded in the jade slip, the head would remain as quiet as a dead object.

This was the first time it had taken the initiative to fly out like this.

Han Li frowned slightly, and was about to go forward to check when his heart suddenly jumped violently. He subconsciously wanted to dodge backwards.

There was a loud "bang"!

A piece of blue light exploded in mid-air, and an extremely violent wave of air suddenly swept out from the center, impacting in all directions.

Han Li glanced at the purple flower not far from the explosion, and secretly shouted "not good." His body suddenly flashed, and he came to the Soulbirth Flower.

His arms crossed in front of his body, and the mana around his body surged out, supporting a piece of green light curtain in front of him, blocking the impact of the air wave.

"Boom boom boom"

Waves of air continued to hit the green light curtain, and then vibrated to both sides. The surrounding forest was immediately filled with smoke and dust, and dozens of ancient trees that were closer broke and collapsed.

There was a "boom".

The newly repaired small wooden house could not withstand the impact of the air wave and collapsed again, becoming more dilapidated than before.

The explosion of the statue head continued to impact, and gradually weakened after a while. The blue light in the center also gradually dimmed.

At this moment, a bull-head mask the size of a human head suddenly flashed out of the blue light without warning, rushing straight towards Han Li.

This mask was ghostly blue all over, covered with strange patterns that he had never seen before, and bursts of strange fluctuations were constantly emanating from it. At the center of its brow, there was a strange character that vaguely looked like the characters "one" and "five."

Han Li subconsciously raised a fist and smashed it towards this strange mask.

The latter directly虚化 (xu hua - became illusory), passed through his fist and arm, and hovered directly in front of the Soulbirth Flower.

Han Li was slightly taken aback, and immediately turned around to see a flash of blue light on the bull-head mask, from which bursts of faintly visible light blue fluctuations emanated.

A strange scene appeared!

The seemingly rigid lines of the mouth on the mask suddenly trembled slightly, and spoke human words:

"Jiao Fifteen, you have not performed any tasks for the alliance for thousands of years, and the exemption from the offerings you last paid has now expired. Within the next month, you must immediately rush to Sea Banyan Island and join up with Jiao Three. At that time, he will take you to complete this mission. If you fail to arrive by the deadline, you will be expelled from the 'Inconstant Alliance'. You alone will bear all the consequences."

After the voice fell, the fluctuations on the mask disappeared, but it did not fall to the ground. Instead, it was still flashing with light, hovering in mid-air.

Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but his gaze suddenly turned cold, and he looked at the Soulbirth Flower.

He snorted coldly in his mouth, moved his hands, pinched a strange magic formula, and suddenly reached out and grabbed forward. A ray of crystal silk immediately spurted out from his fingertips, piercing straight into the cockscomb-shaped pistil of the Soulbirth Flower.

As his palm slowly retracted, the crystal silk trembled, and it actually pulled out a frantically扭动 (niu dong - wriggling) black mist from the Soulbirth Flower.

As soon as the black gas left the pistil, it twisted violently in mid-air, and finally condensed into a black villain the size of a few inches.

The eyebrows, appearance, and body shape of the black villain were exactly the same as Luo Meng's statue, and Han Li observed that the aura on his body was basically the same as the aura remaining on the statue head.

"You are... Luo Meng..."

Han Li glanced over and raised his eyebrows, muttering in some surprise.

The black villain looked panicked, his mouth constantly opening and closing, but no sound came out. On the body that had just condensed, wisps of black gas were escaping into the air, and it seemed to be on the verge of collapsing.

Seeing this, Han Li couldn't help but frown slightly.

The black villain in front of him seemed to be just a wisp of Luo Meng's divine soul aura, not his real divine soul, not even a remnant soul. Judging from the current situation, it should not last long before it dissipates again.

After thinking for a while, Han Li quickly pinched his hands in front of him, and several green magic formulas immediately flew out from his hands, hitting Luo Meng's wisp of divine soul aura.

A flash of green light appeared on the surface of the black villain, and a green light curtain immediately emerged, like a layer of light film, wrapping the entire black villain.

The scattered black gas was blocked by this light film, and could no longer escape at all. The figure of the villain barely stabilized.

Under the trembling of his lips, a sound as fine as a mosquito and slightly hoarse came out: "Thank you, Fellow Daoist..."

"Don't rush to thank me, what are your intentions in hiding this wisp of your divine soul aura in the Soulbirth Flower?" Han Li asked coldly, expressionless.

"Fellow Daoist is not my clansman... but you can call out my name in one breath, and you are willing to take action to stabilize my Yin soul. It seems that you are not an enemy of my Wumeng Island. But why... did Fellow Daoist appear in my little secret realm?" The black villain did not answer, but instead asked.

"I just happened to pass by here, and rescued your Wumeng Island lineage from the Blue Crystal Clan. Now I am temporarily staying here for some reason." Han Li did not hide anything, and answered frankly.

"In that case, my Wumeng Island owes Fellow Daoist a debt of gratitude... but I don't know... where is Luo Feng now?" Luo Meng's Yin soul hesitated slightly, then said.

"Whether you believe what I say or not, first honestly answer my question, and then we'll talk about other things." Two fierce cold lights suddenly shot out from Han Li's eyes, and he shouted coldly.