Longevity Clan Starts with the Patriarch's Marriage

This Lu Zhen was truly domineering.

The House of Divine Armies had intended to send an envoy to invite him to join, but Lu Zhen had preempted them.

This was cutting off Han Li’s retreat.

However, it also suited his purposes, since Han Li had no intention of joining the House of Divine Armies anyway. Their involvement was just for show; he was definitely going to join Bai Yujing in the end.

Han Li had originally wanted to play hard to get, to take some advantage from Bai Yujing, but now it seemed impossible.

He would have to wait for later to rejuvenate his power base.

“Fellow Daoist Han, would you like to enter Bai Yujing?” Lu Zhen asked with a smiling gaze.

At this moment, his face was gentle, and his tone was calm, not betraying any hint that he was the Third Patriarch of Baiyujing, with an aura of overwhelming murderous intent.

Han Li feigned a sigh and answered with a complicated expression, “Does Han have any other choice?”

Lu Zhen snorted with laughter and indifferently said, “Is this not exactly what Fellow Daoist Han has been expecting? Why put on such an act?”

They were all intelligent people; how could Lu Zhen not see through the little schemes of Han Li? If this man did not want to join Bai Yujing, he would not have merged Han Mansion and The Li Manor, revealing his identity to the world.

Han Li smiled and dropped the pretense, as he now had Lu Zhen wrapped around his finger.

Seeing Han Li not deny it, Lu Zhen said in a heavy tone, “Han Li, we both know why you are doing this. I’ll speak bluntly, if you’re just looking to use Bai Yujing to restore your cultivation, then you are gravely mistaken. Do not delude yourself.”

“Otherwise, no matter who you were in your previous life, regardless of your realm, on the territory of Qianyuan Divine Province, you cannot escape from the palm of Bai Yujing.”

Prior to coming to the Xuan Domain’s Chengsheng Mountain, Lu Zhen had discussed with the Second Grandmaster Qi Chunfeng about Han Li’s identity, purpose, power, and even the treatment after joining Bai Yujing.

After analyzing Han Li’s information, considering his personality and style, they concluded that Han Li was most likely a reincarnation of a Tongxuan Realm powerhouse or a Saint from the Saint Abyss Realm.

Decades ago, Han Li had broken the mystery of the fetus within, awakened his Dormant Wisdom, and since then, his cultivation had soared uncontrollably, eventually reaching the mid-stage of the True Martial Realm as Emperor Wu.

Han Li kept a low profile, solely focusing on the development of his family. He rarely went out, did not vie for cultivation resources, nor did he seek opportunities to enhance his skills. Yet, he was skilled in many powerful Heaven Rank martial techniques to the point of mastery, and that was only what he had revealed.

The cultivation resources of Han Mansion were predominantly obtained through trade with the outside world, with goods including elixirs, weapons, and so on, indicating that Han Li possessed considerable expertise in the Four Arts of Cultivation.

This was consistent with the characteristics of reincarnated powerhouses.

If Han Li had risen to prominence by luck and became an unparalleled genius, this would not fit with those characteristics, as even a peerless genius could not advance rapidly through closed-door cultivation alone.

Even geniuses need to go out and fight, compete for resources and opportunities, and cultivate martial techniques in a step-by-step manner. They could not master them to perfection in an extremely short period, especially when also studying the Four Arts of Cultivation…

As for reincarnated powerhouses, the attitude of the major Sacred Lands of the Qianyuan Divine Province was ambiguous. Those willing to join them faced no issue; those unwilling to join without strong backing were to be eliminated, their memories acquired to add to the heritage of the Sacred Land.

If they had strong backing, like a major force outside Qianyuan Divine Province, they would be expelled from the province and sent back where they came from.

Bai Yujing was willing to accept Han Li for several reasons.

Firstly, Han Li hailed from Tianxuan Mountain, and if traced back, he was somewhat connected to Bai Yujing.

Secondly, Han Li was a reincarnated powerhouse who had quickly cultivated to the True Martial Realm. Now in his early two hundreds, he held potential for cultivation.

If he passed through Bai Yujing’s layers of selection, they would invest more resources to help him rapidly cultivate to the Divine Yuan Realm and even the Tongxuan Realm, bolstering Bai Yujing’s strength.

Thirdly, Han Li was low-key and possessed a big-picture perspective. He was not prone to stirring up trouble and aligned well with the Dao Sect’s values, making Bai Yujing a suitable choice for him.

Fourthly, this was for the sake of the situation in the Xuan Domain. By absorbing Han Li into Bai Yujing, they could leverage the Daqian Empire to create a barrier against the Qitian Teaching.

The Daqian Empire could be used to fend off the Demon Clan from moving north and block the Buddhist Sect from expanding east. With the backing of Bai Yujing, Han Li only needed to keep Kurong Sect and the Yinyang Sect in check.

For this, Bai Yujing could overlook Han Li’s preferences, not caring about his frequent taking of wives and concubines, even offering him certain support to continue leading the Qian Dynasty.

From Han Li’s behavior and dealings, it was clear that he was someone who distinguished between gratitude and grudges, repaying debts of kindness. He took care of trivial matters like handling the aftermath for his junior brother Qiu Xuan, and on a larger scale, shielded Tianxuan Mountain from calamity, driving off Dugu Bing and escorting Tianxuan Mountain to settle within Qitian Teaching’s domain.

This was what Bai Yujing needed.

They did not want to welcome an ingrate into Bai Yujing; although one would not cause major trouble, it would still be displeasing. Someone with Han Li’s character was much more preferable.

Although Han Li was quite suitable in many aspects, his intention to join Bai Yujing was also utilitarian, seeking to leverage its resources to restore his past life’s cultivation.

Han Li had struck a deal with Chu Dingqian from the Qian Dynasty to help defend the empire for four hundred years, in exchange for a vast amount of resources.

Only a decade had passed when Han Li felt the time was ripe and voluntarily revealed Li Feiyu’s identity, attracting Bai Yujing. Although this did not violate his covenant with Chu Dingqian, it showed that Han Li was not particularly content to stay in one place.

So when Lu Zhen spoke, he aimed to admonish Han Li, advising him to rein in his clever plans and behave honestly.