However, as a seasoned Body Integration cultivator, he was immediately able to sense that something was amiss as soon as these emotions welled up in his heart, and he hurriedly bit through the tip of his own tongue.

The sharp pain snapped him back to his senses, but a horrified look appeared on his face as he stared at the woman, as if he were appraising a malicious monster.

"You're a Sacred Ancestor!"

The man's magic power had been completely stripped away, but his spiritual sense was still as powerful as ever. As such, only a Sacred Ancestor would be able to sway his emotions to such a significant extent.

The woman was none other than Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua, who had been following Han Li and the others this entire time, and she said, "Sacred Ancestor? I guess you can call me that. I have some things to ask you; if you cooperate, I'll grant you a painless death, and there'll be a possibility that you'll still be able to reincarnate. If you choose to resist, then I'll have to use some special methods to find out what I want to know, and your soul will be destroyed in the process."

The man from the Lin Family replied with a wry smile, "I'm completely at your mercy, so you can ask me whatever you want."

"I'm glad you can correctly assess your current situation. Now then, release your soul for me," Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua said with a breathtaking smile that seemed to make the entire world dim around him, and she pointed a finger toward the man on the floral tree.

A ball of pink spiritual light sprang forth, then transformed into a peculiar flower that vanished into the man's forehead.

The man's expression changed drastically, but after a brief moment of hesitation, he heaved a long sigh and relinquished all resistance as he released his own soul.

He could only hope that the Sacred Ancestor would keep her promise and leave him with a sliver of an opportunity for reincarnation.

In the next instant, the man's eyes became completely dull and lifeless, and several pink flashing devilish symbols appeared on his forehead.

A cold smile appeared on the black-armored man's face upon seeing this.

Around 15 minutes later, the woman raised an eyebrow before making a hand seal, and a burst of light suddenly erupted from the floral tree around the man from the Lin Family, transforming into balls of pink flames that instantly incinerated him into ashes.

Only a speck of white light remained unscathed within the flames, and it rose up into the sky before vanishing at an altitude of over 1,000 feet.

Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua paid no heed to this and made a hand seal before making a grabbing motion, and a pink flower drifted out of the flames.

The flower sped over to her, then vanished into her palm in a flash.

The same pink devilish symbols then appeared on the woman's face, and she closed her eyes before falling completely still.

The black-armored man strode over to her side and stood on guard in an obedient manner.

Around an hour later, she reopened her eyes, and the black-armored man carefully asked, "Did you find any useful information, Mistress Bao Hua?"

"I did. So it turns out that their group entered our holy realm to find the Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus; that's quite surprising," Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua said in a contemplative manner.

"The Spirit Cleansing Pond and Clean Spirit Lotus? I've never heard of those two things," the black-armored man said as his brows furrowed slightly.

"There are no more than 10 people in the entire holy realm who are aware of those two things; even some Sacred Ancestors don't know of their existence, so it's no surprise that you're unfamiliar with them," the woman replied.

"What's so special about those two things? They must be exceptional treasures seeing as these Spirit Realm cultivators are willing to take such a huge risk for them," the black-armored man asked.

Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua seemed to have gleaned the black-armored man's thoughts, and she replied in an indifferent voice, "You don't need to worry about that. Those two items are extremely useful for people of the Spirit Realm, but they're only detrimental to beings of our holy race."

"I see," the black-armored replied with a slightly sheepish smile.

Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua continued, "Now that we know their objective, I now know their planned destination. There's no need for us to traverse through the Illusion Howl Desert; we can just wait for them at the destination. I was planning to go and meet some old friends in the holy realm after taking care of this matter, but it looks like I'll have to go and meet them early."

"Regardless of where you go, I'll be sure to remain by your side until my dying breath." The black-armored man immediately made a show of loyalty.

A pleased look appeared on Sacred Ancestor Bao Hua's face, but a thought then suddenly occurred to her as she instructed, "That little human girl is still useful to me, so don't harm her and take her along with us."

The black-armored man was rather perplexed to hear this, but he hurriedly replied with a respectful bow, "Yes, Mistress!"

The woman nodded before casting her gaze toward Illusion Night City, and a peculiar smile appeared on her face as she swept a sleeve through the air.

Pink flower petals immediately flew out of her sleeve before transforming into a rumbling pillar of wind that rose directly up into the heavens.

The black-armored man immediately made a grabbing motion toward a crater in the ground nearby, then stomped his feet onto the ground, propelling him toward the pillar of wind like a speeding arrow.

A petite figure flew out of the crater and also vanished into the pillar of wind in a flash; it was none other than the horrified Zhu Guo'er.

In the next instant, the pillar of light disintegrated into specks of pink light, and the trio was nowhere to be seen.

Two days later, two Eight-footed Devilish Lizards were lying silently beside a completely nondescript pile of sand on the edge of the Illusion Howl Desert.

There were two humanoid figures seated atop the devilish lizards; they were none other than Han Li and the elderly scholar among the Spirit beings.

Both of them were seated in silence atop their respective Eight-footed Devilish Lizards, seeming waiting for something.

They had been arranged here by the Long Family patriarch to provide backup should it be required, and those two devilish lizards were naturally the ones that Han Li had obtained from the Bai Family.

After a long while, spiritual light flashed in the distant sky, and several streaks of light came flying toward Han Li's duo from the direction of Illusion Night City.

Both Han Li and the elderly scholar's expressions changed slightly upon seeing this, and a few moments later the streaks of light landed nearby.

Han Li cast his gaze toward the newly arrived figures, and smiled as he said, "Looks like your trip went quite smoothly."

"Indeed. Without the two devilish lords guarding the Zhao Family, those restrictions naturally posed no issue to us. We obtained a total of eight devilish lizards, so we'll have a spare one in reserve," the woman from the Ye Family replied with a smile.

"That's good to hear. Now, we just have to wait for Fellow Daoist Long and Fellow Daoist Bai to join us. With their late-Body Integration Stage powers, I'm sure it wouldn't take them too long to shake off those two devilish lords," Han Li said with a smile, but his gaze strayed over to the Spirit being by the name of Zhi Shui again.

The aura emanating from his body seemed to have become even more dangerous, and Han Li couldn't help but be slightly concerned by this.

However, Zhi Shui paid no heed to Han Li at all, as if he were completely oblivious to Han Li's scrutiny.

All of a sudden, the Long Family patriarch suddenly rang out above. "Haha, rest assured, Brother Han; Fellow Daoist Bai and I have already shaken off those two Zhao Family devilish lords."

Immediately thereafter, spatial fluctuations erupted, and the smiling Long Family patriarch emerged out of thin air alongside a burst of white light.

Han Li's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and he asked, "Fellow Daoist Long, where are those two Zhao Family devilish lords right now?"

"They've already been lured into a formation that we set up in advance, and it'll take them at least a day and a night to free themselves," Bai Qi replied.

"Fantastic! Everyone's here, so let's set off right away," Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns said in an elated manner.

"My thoughts exactly, Sister Thousand Autumns," the woman from the Ye Family agreed.

No one else had any objections, and thus, the woman from the Ye Family and Holy Maiden Thousand Autumns raised their hands and released a series of devilish lizards.

The Long Family patriarch and the others all flew onto their new devilish steeds, and they quickly sped into the Illusion Howl Desert, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.

A day later, two streaks of light, one black and one crimson, descended upon the sand hill where Han Li and the others had been gathered the day before. This was a pair of thin brocade-robed elderly men, and both of them wore furious expressions.

"Their auras seem to have lingered here for a while; they've most likely entered the Illusion Howl Desert," one of the elderly men said with a dark expression.