“No. Seven to eight years ago, this one was helping Senior Martial Brother Ma take care of his medicine garden, but wasn’t that when the Trial of Blood and Fire take place? Why is Senior Martial Sister Chen asking this?” Han Li calmly replied after he raised his head, wearing a flawless expression of curiosity.

Chen Qiaoqian’s complexion instantly became pale, before momentarily biting her red lips and stiffly saying, “No? Yet, I remember Junior Martial Brother Han had gone out that year, and the timing matches almost perfectly!”

“Oh? That time I went out was in preparation for the Trial of Blood and Fire, buying a few magic tools and talismans. However, when I went out, I didn’t encounter anything out of the ordinary.” Han Li calmly denied.

Hearing Han Li’s words, Chen Qiaoqian remained speechless for a long while! She only coldly glanced at Han Li, as if she were truly staring into Han Li’s heart.

“Since it is like this, there is nothing to say! Junior Martial Brother, you may leave. I wish to be alone in a moment of peace.”

A trace of heartfelt disappointment appeared on Chen Qiaoqian’s face. She gently turned her face to the side and said this with a tiresome voice.

When Han Li saw this, he sighed. He knew regardless of whether the other party trusted his words, this Senior Martial Sister Chen would no longer disturb him.

With his distant and respectful tone, this Senior Martial Sister should come to a conclusion. But with her prideful nature, she naturally wouldn’t take the initiative to find him again.

“Senior Martial Sister, I will take my leave!” Han Li saluted and without the slightest hesitation, he turned around and left the garden.

When Han Li could no longer be seen, Chen Qiaoqian turned around and looked in the direction of the garden exit with a complicated gaze. She faintly whispered, “If it isn’t you then who is it? During that year, the only one who went out at the same time and had strength was you, Junior Martial Brother Han!”

With that said, she gracefully walked up to blooming peony flower and nimbly picked the lovely flower with her flawless fingers; she put it up to her nose and took a soft whiff.

With the fragrant scent of the flower, Chen Qiaoqian sunk into a deep state of contemplation.

After Han Li left the flower garden, he let out a long sigh. After he shook his head, he quickly returned to the hall with hurried steps.

When the others saw Han Li’s quick return, they were all a bit startled. However, none of them were so tactless as to take the initiative to ask about the matter.

Even when a few people made some jokes about Han Li and Chen Qiaoqian, Han Li laughed it away without paying it much mind. His expression wasn’t the slightest bit strange.

Not long after, Chen Qiaoqian returned and sat down next to Zhong Weiniang with her normal expression. She continued to whisper with her.

When the others saw this, they naturally found it embarrassing to further joke about the two and immediately changed the topic back to the matter of their battle with the Black Fiend School.

Time seemed to passed by quickly and the bright sky quickly darkened.

The Yellow Maple Valley cultivators had already returned to their rooms and were making preparations for their upcoming battle.

Although they each felt that their party of Foundation Establishment cultivators held a great advantage and that victory should be of no problem, each and every one of them felt very wary. After all, no one wants to carelessly throw their own life away.

However, when they thought of the many benefits they would gain from exterminating the Black Fiend School’s nest, it was hard for them not to feel excited.

After all, such opportunities to surround and annihilate Foundation Establishment cultivators without any recourse were incredibly rare. During their vicious fights with the Devil Dao cultivators, their minds would naturally be focused on the struggle of life and death instead.

This time there wouldn’t only be one or two Black Fiend School Foundation Establishment cultivators. Also, they were certain to have no small amount magic tools and good materials on hand as well! In particular, receiving a share of such spoils was a large reason as to why Junior Martial Sister Chen’s fellow apprentices even agreed to help.

Otherwise, who would be willing to risk their life from the mere talk of annihilating a nest of evil cultivators!

Han Li returned to his room as well, calmly inspecting the puppets he had on hand. Meanwhile, the Four Friends of Meng Mountain were standing in front of him, respectfully waiting on him as if he was their leader.

After Han Li naturally introduced them to his fellow sect members, the dark-faced old man thought to become closer to these few cultivators and see whether or not he could dredge some benefits.

However, regardless of who it was, none of them attached any importance to this dark-faced old Qi Condensation rogue cultivator. After speaking a few blunt words, these several people sent them away. This caused them to realize that not every Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Seven Great Sects were willing to associate with them. Thus, they became increasingly respectful toward Han Li.

“In this fight against the Black Fiend School, regardless of what happens, you are not required to come. It may be better for you to flee the capital during the night.” The puppet beast in Han Li’s hand flashed with white light and then he put it away in his storage back. After that, he said this with an indifferent expression.

“But Senior! How could we flee from the battle!” The dark-faced old man hastily spoke on behalf of all of them.

“This isn’t a question of fleeing or not. You are all simply incapable of acting. If you were to personally join in, you would only be wasting your lives in vain. Here are some high grade magic tools. Each of you may take one. Consider them parting gifts from a senior.” After Han Li shook his head, he said this with a faint smile.

With that said, Han Li then swept his sleeve as several exquisite, glimmering magic tools appeared across the table.

It wasn’t that Han Li didn’t have a surplus of top grade magic tools on hand; after he had killed so many foundation establishment cultivators, the number of tools he had received naturally made an astonishing collection.

However, Han Li had no intention of handing them over to these people as high grade magic tools could be considered a rather good gift to rogue cultivators. He feared that taking out top grade magical tools, he would provoke their greed from them and it would be harder to satisfy them in the future.

As expected, when the Four Friends of Meng Mountain saw these magic tools, they all displayed joy as they repeatedly thanked him. They also stated that he shouldn’t hesitate to find them at Meng Mountain as they would be happy to take care of any matters he had in the future.

After receiving the promise that he wanted to hear from them, Han Li gave them face by personally sending them off from Yuejing, causing them to be grateful without end.

But before they departed, the dark-faced old man suddenly pulled Han Li to the side and carefully said, “Senior, will Fifth Sister appear at the Black Fiend School? Senior doesn’t need to say anything as us siblings truly understand, but I fear that Fourth Brother may have already somewhat guessed. Even though we all don’t want to open that window in the slightest, Fifth Sister sank far too deeply; it would also be good if she were to never appear in front of us again!” After speaking these heavy words, the old man seemed to have released a heavy burden and respectfully bid Han Li farewell.

Han Li waited in place, watching the Four Friends of Meng Mountain gradually grow farther away as pondered about the meaning the of the dark-faced old man's last words.

After a quarter hour, Han Li suddenly smiled, before flying back to the city soon after.

……

After he returned to the Qin Residence, the sky had already darkened and the group from Yellow Maple Valley were all waiting in the main hall. However, after entering, he shockingly discovered that his Third Senior Martial Brother was unexpectedly absent.

Astonished, Han Li couldn’t help but ask Song Meng, who was cleaning a blue longsword magic tool, “Fourth Senior Martial Brother, where is Third Senior Martial Brother?”

“Senior Martial Brother Liu went to go find Sixth Junior Martial Brother to persuade him, as our odds for tonight’s battle will be far greater if Junior Martial Brother Wu agrees to come. But from how I see it, Senior Martial Brother Liu is just wasting time! If that fellow Wu Xuan wanted to help us, he wouldn’t have left in the first place!” Song Meng said without raising his head.

“He went to find Sixth Senior Martial Brother?”

Han Li wrinkled his brow. Just as Han Li wanted to ask a few more particular questions, Liu Jing had returned wearing a queer expression.

“Junior Martial Brother Liu, is your Junior Martial Brother Wu still unwilling to come? If it’s like that, then forget about it. Having one less person does not matter as the nine of us are more than enough to deal with that Black Fiend School.” The oldest male disciple of Junior Martial Sister Chen’s group said without care.

“If it was like, it would be fine! But the key part of my trip was that I simply couldn’t find Junior Martial Brother Wu!” Liu Jing unhurriedly said with a bitter smile.

At this moment all of them, including Han Li, had blank stares.

“How can that be, Senior Martial Brother Lu? Wasn’t that coward staying at a nearby tavern? Could it be possible that he returned to Master early?” Zhong Weiniang blinked with wide eyes and guessed.

“No! I already asked the inn’s boss about this. After Junior Martial Brother Wu went out yesterday morning, he never returned. The inn’s clothes washer didn’t clean anything of his and nor does it seem he had returned to the sect.” Liu Jin shook his head; his words were filled with worry.

Hearing this, the others began spiritedly discussing about it, but nobody could figure out what had happened.

However, while off to the side, Han Li faintly thought, ‘Could it be that Wu Xuan was unlucky and had actually been captured by the Black Fiend School?’

Perhaps because Liu Jing’s thoughts were the same as Han Li’s, he made this decisive announcement after gazing at the night sky, “Let’s put off the matter of Junior Martial Brother Wu for now. We’re setting off! We must be victorious in our fight so that we may thoroughly exterminate the Black Fiend School!”