In his current situation, having such a powerful spirit insect at his disposal would greatly improve his chances of survival.
With a flicker of his will, the small banner in his hand expanded several times over. The golden Gold Devouring Beetles circled once before plunging into the banner's surface. With a flash of dark energy, they vanished without a trace.
Without another word, Han Li casually tossed the small banner away. The black-green Nascent Soul grinned and opened its mouth wide, directly swallowing the Yin Luo Banner into its body. Then, with a sudden burst, it transformed into a wisp of black energy and sank into the crown of Han Li's head, disappearing from sight.
Only then did Han Li take a deep breath, close his eyes, and begin contemplating the incantation for breaking the seal — preparing himself for any unforeseen dangers.
But just then, his expression shifted, and he raised his head to look upward.
Although his cultivation had been sealed, Han Li's spiritual sense remained completely unimpaired. And if he had sensed correctly just now, that Tu Tribulation cultivator had once again flown over their caravan.
That was somewhat interesting.
This Tu cultivator, who was clearly searching for him, had passed over the caravan almost once every two or three days over the past dozen or so days. But each time, the cultivator simply flew past in a hurry, never descending to question anyone in the caravan. This rendered several of the identity-concealing measures Han Li had prepared entirely useless.
Though puzzled, Han Li was naturally happy to let the matter be. He immediately closed his eyes once more.
At that moment, a sharp, commanding shout came from outside the carriage.
"Everyone, stay sharp! Two more days of travel and we'll reach the Holy Temple's designated campsite. Once there, we can rest easy for a couple of days."
"The Holy Temple's campsite?" Han Li's heart stirred slightly at these words. But after a brief moment of contemplation, he dismissed it and returned to quietly contemplating the incantation.
Yet barely half a day had passed before Han Li sensed another tribal caravan approaching nearby. This one didn't appear to be very large either, but it had about a dozen more people than Ying Lu's Caribou Tribe. Given their directions of travel, the two groups would meet in roughly an hour. But since these people appeared harmless, Han Li paid them no further mind.
Nearly an hour later, both tribute caravans discovered each other almost simultaneously.
Naturally, both sides erupted into a flurry of commotion. But after a brief exchange between representatives, it turned out the other caravan's tribal leader was an old acquaintance of Ying Lu's — the chief of a small tribe called the Red Wolf. This discovery delighted both Ying Lu and the other leader, and without hesitation, they merged the two caravans into one and continued on together.
"Brother Ying Lu, where is your tribe's immortal master? Could he be inside one of the carriages?" The other leader was a burly man with a full beard who eyed the few carriages belonging to Ying Lu's tribe with open curiosity. "Our tribe's immortal master is also in a carriage, I suppose?"
"I was just wondering how many immortal masters the Red Wolf Tribe brought along this time," Ying Lu replied evasively.
"How many? Just the one, naturally. And even that was only because I practically threw away whatever dignity I had, offering a hefty sum to persuade a free immortal cultivator to temporarily stay with our tribe. Don't tell me your tribe has two?" The bearded man shot a sideways glance at the elder and let out a low chuckle.
The two had once been on friendly enough terms, so there was no need to be overly cautious with each other.
"Two? Of course it's just one as well. It took considerable effort to convince our immortal master to escort us on this journey," Ying Lu sighed. After exchanging a glance, both men couldn't help but share a bitter laugh, feeling very much like brothers in hardship.
"Well, regardless, having an immortal master in the caravan makes everything much more reassuring. We're only a day or so from the campsite now, so nothing should go wrong. The real concern is the remaining half of the journey — we'll be passing through the territories of several larger tribes, and we'll need to be extra careful. How about this: once we've rested, we could invite a few other small tribes to travel with us? That would be much safer," the elder suggested, his eyes darting thoughtfully.
"Let me think about that first, will you? There have been cases before where several small tribes banded together, only for one of them to be carrying an extremely precious tribute, which ended up dragging everyone else into trouble," the bearded man said with some hesitation.
"Brother Ba, you worry too much. That kind of thing is a one-in-a-hundred event. For small tribes like ours, the odds of having tribute valuable enough for that are far lower than the odds of being robbed on the road," Ying Lu said dismissively with a shake of his head.
"Very well. We'll discuss it when the time comes." The bearded man named Ba didn't outright refuse the idea — he seemed somewhat interested.
Meanwhile, the ordinary members of both caravans had already mingled and were chatting away in the most amiable fashion. The young women in particular — who had been selected as representatives of their respective tribes for this tribute mission, and were naturally among the most talented and strikingly beautiful their people had to offer — were surrounded by young men from both sides, their clear, bright laughter ringing out from time to time.
Ying Lu heard the laughter behind him and shook his head, about to turn around and rein in his people before they offended the immortal master in the carriage.
But just then, a strange, piercing bird cry suddenly echoed down from high above — a sound that was neither hawk nor vulture, yet was carried with crystal clarity to every ear below.
The moment the elder heard it, his face changed dramatically. He whipped his head toward the bearded man, only to see the same look of horror on the man's face.
"Everyone, dismount and take cover immediately! It's an Ape-Vulture — a demon bird! Get Immortal Master Han out here right now!" the elder shouted in terror. At almost the same instant, the bearded man was barking nearly identical orders at his own people.
"Take cover behind the carriages! Quickly — get Immortal Master Feng to deal with the demon bird!"