"Alright, if you have no objections, then you can go and rest now. I hope we can have a smooth trip," Han Li sighed as he waved a hand to dismiss the blood soul.

The blood soul naturally didn't dare to refuse and did as she was told.

Meanwhile, Han Li sat in his chair in silence as a contemplative look appeared on his face.

Several days later, the giant ark appeared in the air above a green lake, then descended onto a barren-looking small island.

Half a day later, the ark rose up into the air again before traveling along a predetermined route.

A month later, around a dozen foreign beings split up into the two groups were engaged in a fierce battle above a certain renowned mountain range on the Blood Sky Continent.

One group had fiery red skin with faint scales visible on their cheeks, while the other group had thick brows and huge eyes with wisps of baleful Qi surging around them.

Below the two groups was a secluded forest, within which were several spirit medicines that were releasing unique aromas into the breeze.

On either side of the spirit medicine sat a crimson-robed elderly man and a grey-robed elderly man.

The appearances of these two were similar to those of the two groups of beings locked in battle up above, but their cultivation bases were far superior.

The two were locked in a battle of their own with one of them controlling a flower basket treasure, while the other was wielding a round disk, and they appeared to be evenly matched.

It was clear that these two were the leaders of the two groups, and that they were fighting over these rare spirit medicines.

All of a sudden, a burst of rumbling rang out in the distance, and a mountainous black ark emerged before flying toward the forest at an astonishing speed.

Even before the ark had arrived, an astonishing aura had already been sent sweeping through the air.

The two groups of foreign beings battling in the air were only the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Stages, and they immediately retreated in alarm in the face of this fearsome aura.

The two Spatial Tempering Stage elderly down below also hurriedly looked up with alarmed expressions.

The black ark quickly sped over the forest like a tornado, causing the two groups of foreign beings to spin rapidly on the spot like spinning tops in an involuntary manner.

Immediately thereafter, their bodies were sent flying back for hundreds of feet before they managed to right themselves again.

As for the forest down below, a massive trench that was over 100 feet wide had been torn into the ground as if a giant primordial beast had just crashed its way through the forest, and countless trees had been felled.

The two groups could only look on with astonished expressions as the giant black ark vanished on the spot as a gust of black wind close to 10 kilometers away.

Even though the two Spatial Tempering Stage beings just so happened to be situated on either side of the trench, they were also forced back in retreat by the suffocating aura that had crashed down from above.

After rising to their feet again, both of them had turned completely pale, and they were looking at the giant ark in the distance as if they had seen a ghost.

"That was a Grand Ascension Stage being! Only the ark of a Grand Ascension Stage being could be this fearsome," the crimson-robed man murmured to himself.

"I wonder which Grand Ascension Stage being that was. Ah, what about our spirit medicine?" A thought suddenly occurred to the grey-robed man, and he hurriedly cast his gaze into the trench before heaving a long sigh of relief.

The spirit medicines were completely unscathed as if by some type of miracle, and it seemed that the owner of the ark had intentionally spared them.

The crimson-robed man and grey-robed man exchanged a glance, upon which their battle immediately resumed.

As for the two groups of foreign beings above the forest, they took a moment to collect themselves before also engaging in battle again.

Three months later, a giant black ark was hovering in the air above the restricted area of a medium-sized sect.

The ark was surrounded by over 1,000 high-grade puppets, which were taking up virtually the entire sky.

Below the puppets were close to 10,000 foreign beings wearing the same attire, and regardless of their cultivation base, all of them were rooted to the spot with fearful expressions, not daring to move around as they pleased.

Around two hours later, spatial fluctuations erupted from within the restricted area, upon which a streak of azure light forced its way through the restrictions before landing on the giant ark to reveal Han Li and Zhu Guo'er.

"How did it go, Senior?" the blood soul hurriedly asked.

"This isn't the altar we're looking for, either. Let's keep going," Han Li instructed.

"Yes, Master!"

Patriarch Hua Shi immediately pulled out a badge treasure before waving it through the air, upon which all of the puppets in the sky returned silently to the giant ark.

In the next instant, countless black runes emerged on the surface of the ark, and it sped away amid a resounding boom.

There were several Body Integration Stage beings among the foreign beings down below, and they were greatly relieved to see the departure of the ark.

One of them was a burly man with green feelers all over his face, and he said in an indignant manner, "Are we really just going to let them get away like this? If word of this were to spread, the reputation of our sect would be swept to the ground!"

"What do you suggest we do then? Their leader's cultivation base is completely unfathomable to us, so he's most likely a Grand Ascension Stage being. Even setting him aside, just those puppets alone would be enough to destroy our entire sect several times over; do you want us all to chase him down and give our own lives for no reason?" a hunch-backed elderly man harrumphed coldly in response, and the others immediately chimed in in agreement.

"We may be no match for them, but can't we get an upper sect to step in? We pay so many spirit stones to the upper sect every year; aren't we doing that so that they can protect our sect at times like this? As long as the upper sect is willing to step in and teach those people a small lesson, the reputation of our sect would be saved," the burly man disagreed.

"Even the upper sect possesses only a single Grand Ascension Stage being; do you think they would confront another Grand Ascension Stage being over something like this? Besides, he only forced his way into our sect's restricted area, but he hasn't harmed any of our disciples. Aside from the damage to our reputation, our sect hasn't sustained any actual damage; the people of the upper sect definitely wouldn't be willing to step in under these circumstances," the hunch-backed man countered.

The burly man disagreed, "Not necessarily. As long as we're willing to pay a heavy enough price..."

"That's enough! You want us to go offending a Grand Ascension Stage being just to save some face? Have you gone insane, Elder Zhu?" a middle-aged man in a set of scholarly robes suddenly interjected to cut off the burly man.

"I just don't want the reputation of our sect to be severely impacted by this, Sect Master. Seeing as none of you seem to care, I'll stay out of this matter as well," the burly man grumbled before falling silent.

"Elder Fei, Elder Qiong, go and see if any treasures have gone missing in the restricted area, and try to follow the signs to see which parts of the area the Grand Ascension Stage senior visited," the middle-aged man instructed.

The two elders he was referring to immediately gave affirmative responses before flying into the restricted area as streaks of light.

As for the other disciples, they were ordered to return to what they had been doing before by the sect master.

"The ancient altar?"

Half a day later, the sect master was seated in a secret chamber, appraising the hunch-backed elderly man with a hint of surprise on his face.

"That's right, that senior seemed to have only visited that one place, and there are some signs suggesting that he attempted some type of divination there," the hunch-backed man replied with a wry smile.

"The ancient altar in the restricted area has already been abandoned for many years; why would he come to our sect just to visit the altar?" the sect master murmured to himself with a perplexed expression.

"Who knows? Perhaps there's some type of secret hidden within that altar?" the hunch-backed elder speculated.

"So be it, even if there is some type of secret, we can't get involved now that a Grand Ascension Stage being has already visited the altar. From now on, double the number of guards in the restricted area, but aside from that, pretend as if nothing ever happened," the sect master decided.

"I understand; I'll issue this order tomorrow," the hunch-backed man agreed with a nod.

Meanwhile, Han Li was situated in the hall of the giant black ark, appraising a white light screen that was hovering before him.

The light screen depicted an extremely clear giant map with annotations of some mountain ranges and lakes, as well as several flashing spots of azure light spread all over the map.

"Senior Han, we've already visited all of the altars nearby, and the next altar is around half a month's travel away. However, once we reach that altar, we'll be in the territory of the Blood Bone Sect, which is one of the major Blood Dao sects," the blood soul explained as she pointed at one of the flashing azure dots on the light screen.

"That's the sect that you made an enemy out of, right? It looks like we'll have to be more subdued once we enter that area. I don't fear any other Grand Ascension Stage being, but it would naturally be best to avoid senseless conflict," Han Li said with a nod.

"The Blood Bone Sect has five or six Grand Ascension Stage beings among its ranks, making it one of the most formidable powers on the Blood Sky Continent. Even though this number of Grand Ascension Stage beings is far less than that of other major powers, the Blood Dao cultivation arts of this sect are extremely fearsome, and all of its Grand Ascension Stage beings are far more powerful than those of other sects. We'll have to try and avoid attracting their attention, so we won't be able to travel in this ark any longer," the blood soul said with a slightly grim expression.