"It's fine, let's give it a try first. If it truly doesn't work, we can still leave. With me protecting you, even if your restrictions are still in place, I can fight my way out with you," Han Li said with a smile, his words brimming with confidence.
"Very well then! I don't know how powerful you really are, but if you're this confident, you must have some means. Still, you don't need to go seeking her out directly. The Sunset Hall where Senior Sister resides is riddled with restrictions. It would be better if I lure her here, and then we use the restrictions to our advantage and catch her off guard," Nangong Wan gazed into Han Li's eyes for a moment, seemingly realizing there was no dissuading him, and said softly with a gentle bite of her red lip.
"Of course, that would be more reliable. But can the restrictions in your cave dwelling still function? The moment I came in, I noticed they seemed rather incomplete," Han Li said after a brief pause, a smile on his face.
"Rest easy. Although the superficial restrictions have already been destroyed by Senior Sister, I still have a very powerful hidden restriction she never discovered. It's still usable," Nangong Wan said with a radiant smile, looking entirely assured.
"Good! Then let's do it that way. I have several sets of formation- laying equipment on me. They're not particularly powerful, but once deployed, they can provide a certain degree of restraint," Han Li said, stroking his chin.
"Formation flags too? Even better. We shouldn't waste any time — give me half a day to break through the remaining restrictions on my body and recover my magical power so I can lend you a hand. You go ahead and set up the formations first," Nangong Wan said, her confidence bolstered further by Han Li's words.
"However, if we manage to subdue your Senior Sister, couldn't we also take control of the Yan Yue Sect? That way, we wouldn't have to flee in such a wretched state," Han Li mused for a moment before asking, a hint of puzzlement in his voice.
"I'm afraid that won't work! Besides Senior Sister, our Yan Yue Sect has another fellow disciple who is also a Nascent Soul cultivator. He's a decent person on the whole, but he would never let me take the position of Grand Elder without a legitimate claim. Besides, I have no desire to fight for power. All I need is a quiet place where I can cultivate in peace," Nangong Wan said, momentarily stunned, before shaking her head.
"If that's the case, then forget it! If everything goes smoothly, you can come back with me to the Falling Cloud Sect. No matter how powerful the Nine Nations Alliance is, no matter how much Wei Wuya dotes on Wei Lichen, at a time like this with the Dharma Masters' invasion, he would never dare to offend the Heavenly Dao Alliance and two Nascent Soul cultivators so easily," Han Li nodded and said with a cold laugh.
He then tapped his storage pouch with one hand, flipped his palm over, and produced a stack of formation flags and formation plates.
Nangong Wan saw this and allowed a faint smile to curve her lips. She settled back into her original chair, closed her bright eyes, and formed a series of strange hand seals.
Moments later, scarlet light began to rise from her snow-white robes, reaching several feet in height and enveloping her completely.
At this point, Han Li was far from idle.
His figure flickered as he paced back and forth around the perimeter of the main hall, simultaneously casting formation flags and plates one after another into the air. Trails of multicolored light flashed before all of them vanished, embedding themselves into various locations throughout the hall.
Naturally, setting up the formation flags was very quick. However, to maximize the formation's effectiveness, Han Li confined its power to within the hall alone, and chose formations that were extremely well-concealed — ones that would be nearly impossible to detect without careful spiritual sense probing.
These formation flags and plates were all artifacts Han Li had refined during his Core Formation stage. They were barely sufficient against fellow Core Formation cultivators, let alone a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Han Li harbored no illusions about their effectiveness. Instead, after finishing the setup, he pondered for a moment, then suddenly swept his sleeve. A streak of white light shot out from within, circled once, and landed before him — it was the white fox that Silver Moon had taken the form of.
"Master, were you not afraid that the Nangong mistress would get jealous, calling me out like this?" Silver Moon materialized and said with a grin, speaking in a human voice.
"Hmph! What does an artifact spirit have to be jealous about? This time we're dealing with a mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator, and we can't let her escape. Even with the restrictions to assist us, I still need your help on the side. A mid-stage Nascent Soul cultivator is nothing like an early-stage one — without going all out, we won't succeed easily," Han Li raised his eyebrows and fixed the small fox with a solemn expression.
"How does Master wish for this servant to assist?" Silver Moon's smile faded as she asked.
"It's simple. At the right moment, use this treasure — you absolutely must not let her break free." Han Li produced another item from his storage pouch and handed it to Silver Moon.
"This... is for me to use?" Silver Moon held the object in both paws, barely able to believe it.
"Mm. You should be able to draw out more of its power than I can. Rather than spending my own magical power to wield it, it's better to leave it to you. Of course, this is only a temporary loan. After all, as an artifact spirit, you can't sustain the use of other treasures for very long," Han Li said calmly.
"Silver Moon understands." The white fox dipped her small head, sounding somewhat dejected, but at the same time she rubbed the object in her paws several times, clearly quite enamored with it.
Han Li noticed this and felt a stir of amusement.
Silver Moon then clutched the treasure, shimmered with silver light, and dove straight into the ground, disappearing without a trace.
Below, Han Li circled the main hall a few more times. Then, as if struck by a flash of inspiration, he looked upward and gazed at the ceiling.
After a moment's thought, he suddenly produced a spirit beast pouch from his person and sent it flying outward.
Swaths of tri-colored Gold Devouring Beetles poured out of the pouch in a torrent, forming a massive, swirling cloud of insects roughly ten feet across that hovered and circled in the air.