After seeing Han Li walk into the teleportation formation without hesitation, the other cultivators paused for a moment before following him.

After seeing that the seven of them had entered the formation spell, the bald old man wore a faint smile and formed an incantation gesture that caused specks of white light to float from his finger.

While staring at the specks of white light, the old man suddenly asked, “Since we’re sending you to the Outer Star Seas in secret, you’re not going to blabber about this, right?”

The embroidered-robed man was quick-witted and immediately replied with a sincere expression, “Of course we won’t. We are truly grateful towards Seniors for being so accommodating. There is no way we would do such a self destructive thing. Moreover, what use would it be for us to say anything?”

Staring at the embroidered-robed man, he coldly said, “If you understand, then good. As there are few people in the Star Palace with our position, we’d receive a stern warning at the worst. But if some rumors do arrive, then Fellow Daoist Gu and I won’t be so forgiving. Additionally, we heard you feared a sudden falling out and all carried response beads. Thorough, but unnecessary. We aren’t about to soil our reputations over a few spirit stones.” He then swept his gaze past the other cultivators before falling onto Han Li.

“Senior truly is a reasonable person. Junior is but a knave that can only think of others in regards to his own desires.” The embroidered-robed man forced a smile but faintly felt a chill run down his back.

“Humph! No need to speak any nonsense! You’re now on your own!” The bald old man didn’t say anything further and flicked his finger, activating the transportation formation with a faint white magic seal.

Suddenly, the spirit stones around the magic formation flourished with white light, causing the seven to disappear.

When the bald old man saw them successively teleport away, his expression suddenly changed and he bewilderedly asked, “What’s going on? Didn’t you say that you were going to give them false displacement talismans? Why did you give them real ones? This wasn’t what we previously agreed upon.”

The scholarly cultivator coldly snorted and spoke with a grimace, “If I truly took out false displacement talismans, do you really believe we would’ve been let off? The person who gave us the magic treasures was a Nascent Soul eccentric. If we took out false talismans, he would’ve killed us in a fit of anger.” He then took out a white cloth and wiped the cold sweat off of his head.

The bald old man said with a shocked expression, “Nascent Soul cultivator? Brother Qian, are you joking? That person was clearly a late Foundation Establishment cultivator.”

The shriveled man that was left behind was at a loss.

“Brother Gu should know that my spirit beast, a soul hare, has no skills apart from being able to keenly sense another’s spiritual sense.” The scholarly man then flipped his hand to reveal an animal that strongly resembled a kitten.

The spirit beast had ears as slender as a rabbits and sparkling green eyes that continuously darted around. It appeared to be a rather adorable spirit beast.

As he caressed the soul hare, he said, “Although he managed to conceal his aura with some sort of exceptional restraint technique, concealing himself from even the soul hare, he stealthily swept his spiritual sense past the formation spell after we dissolved the restrictions on it. This gave my soul hare the opportunity to detect something was amiss. My soul hare is able to give an appropriate reaction towards mid Core Formation and even late Core formation cultivators. However, it didn’t give a reaction, but merely continued to shiver inside my sleeve. It can only mean that his spiritual sense was unfathomably profound, but it has only ever given this response when we visit the elders.” A trace of fear was contained in his voice.

“If that’s the case, then he must be a Nascent Soul cultivator.” Sweat started to line the bald old man’s head.

“Even if he wasn’t, then he must be a late Core Formation cultivator. Either way it wouldn’t take much effort for him to exterminate us.” The scholarly man spoke without doubt.

“Luckily, Brother Qian was so quick-witted! If we took out false talismans, we would’ve brought about our own destruction. I had originally thought he was quite an eccentric individual to give us each a magic treasure without the slightest heartache,” But after some further thought, the old man then fearfully asked, “But would there be any problems produced by sending him off to the Outer Star Seas?”

“What problems? He was a vagrant Nascent Soul cultivator. I imagine he headed to the Outer Star Seas because he didn’t want to be involved in the war between the Star Palace and the Starfall Coalition. Hence, there will be no problems to be had as long as we don’t let our superiors know that we allowed a Nascent Soul cultivator to teleport to the Outer Star Seas. Otherwise, we’ll be severely punished.” After giving the old man an explanation, his face grew gloomy as he eerily gazed at the dumbstruck shriveled man at their side.

As the scholarly man imposingly gazed at him, the shriveled man suddenly trembled and came to a realization. He hastily took several steps back and said, “I didn’t hear anything that you two Seniors just said. I won’t speak any drivel... I...” Before the shriveled man could finish, a streak of yellow light silently flew out and circled around him several times before he fell to pieces.

The bald old man recalled his magic treasure and gloomily said, “With this, no one else will know. Although we had something of a relationship together, unfortunately, I cannot let you leave!”

……

Han Li and the other six cultivators appeared at the other end of the transportation formation with a flash of white light in a shabby stone room.

Han Li swept his gaze to the corner of the room where a Star Palace cultivator with a frail appearance was speaking with a scar-faced, grey-robed cultivator.

When the Star Palace cultivator saw them appear, he examined them with a frown. However, he soon lost interest and continued to speak with the grey-robed cultivator.

The cultivator in charge of the formation said with a displeased tone, “I’ve already said this. There are currently fixtures in place that render the formation one way only. It can only receive, not send. The sect has already taken all the displacement talismans from me, and even I can no longer return. There is no point in Fellow Daoist trying to force me.”

The grey-robed cultivator shouted out with fury, “Nonsense! There were several people that went back several days ago. How can the transportation formation have changed so quickly?”

“Humph! I’ve already explained it many times, but you just love to ignore me! I no longer have any obligation to speak any further.” The Star Palace cultivator glared at the man before sitting down and closing his eyes.

“You...” When the grey-robed cultivator saw that he was being ignored, his complexion turned bright red, but he didn’t take the slightest action. He didn’t have the courage to act against a Star Palace cultivator. He turned around in place with great agitation, but when his expression immediately fell upon Han Li and the others that had arrived, his face suddenly grew joyful.

He walked towards them before stopping several steps ahead of them and saluted the embroidered-clothed man, who obviously appeared to be the leader of the group, before politely asking, “Did you Fellow Daoists come from Heavenly Star city?”

After seeing that the scar-faced man was also a late Foundation Establishment cultivator, he didn’t dare to ignore him and replied, “That’s right, we’ve just arrived. What’s wrong, Fellow Daoist?” However, he could already guess what the grey-robed cultivator was about to say.

The grey-robed cultivator asked with a hopeful tone, “I am Xu Yun. I’ve been in the outer seas for several years. Could you tell me whether or not the Starfall Coalition has truly been formed and whether or not the city is on the verge of battle?”

When the embroidered-robed man saw Xu Yun’s expression, he knew what he wanted to hear most, however, the truth would only disappoint him. Hence, he explained with complete openness, “It is true. The Righteous and Devilish Dao have forged the Starfall Coalition and immediately declared war on the Star Palace. As we do no wish to be drawn into the conflict, we teleported here. I fear Fellow Daoist will have no way of returning for the time being.”

Xu Yun stood in place in shock with a dejected expression, “How can that be! I wanted to return and have these painstakingly acquired materials be refined into medicinal pills. What a waste of time!”

After this was said, there was silence in the room.

Despite having racked their brains to arrive at the Outer Star Seas, they were helpless without any way to return.

After a short moment, the embroidered-robed man’s expression changed and he suddenly turned to the grey-robed man. He cordially said, “My name is Yi Jing, and these are my close friends. Since Fellow Daoist Xu has lived here for several years, could he introduce Wondrous Depths Island to us? Of course, this won't be for free. We’re willing to give you a few spirit stones as compensation.”

Although Xu Yun didn’t recover from his dejection, he still spiritedly replied, “There is no need for compensation. As you’ve already answered my question, I am merely returning the favor. Please don’t hesitate to ask any questions you may have, and I’ll answer to the best of my knowledge.”

Suddenly, the party of Foundation Establishment cultivators revealed joy at the prospect of being given an introduction to this unfamiliar place. It would prove quite favorable for them in their future endeavors.

When Han Li saw this, he also smiled. With arms crossed, he stood behind them as he waited for the explanation.