Like a ball of deflated air, the burly youth fell onto his knees and held his head in his hands without uttering a single word.
The middle-aged man patted the youth’s shoulder and consoled him. An hour later, the remaining four left the small island and flew out of the mist.
After the yellow-clothed woman was wrapped up by the radiance, she was dizzyingly teleported away. By the time she recovered her bearings, she found herself standing inside an unfamiliar valley with steep walls. There was a ten-meter-tall gate of grey stone in front of her.
The young woman glanced around with hesitation lingering in her heart. While she was uncertain of what she should do, an ape puppet appeared behind her with a flash of light.
The puppet ignored the young woman and walked towards the stone gate with large strides. After placing its arms on the gate, it was able to push it open with ease.
“Your name is Gongsun Xing? Follow my puppet into the cave residence. I will be leaving seclusion in two days.” The man’s voice momentarily appeared before disappearing once more.
When the yellow-clothed young woman heard him, she entered the stone gates as she bit on her lip. After following the huge ape for several turns, the young woman was brought into a stone room that was about ten meters wide.
Apart from a stone bed covered in unknown fur, a stone table, and two stone chairs, there was nothing else in the room.
After leading her here, the puppet left the room without a care, leaving the young woman in a complete daze. She was at a loss of what to do.
She examined the room and looked outside to see that the door wasn’t shut as if she was free to move around. But after some thought, she slowly sat down on top of the bed and began to blankly ponder as she held her cheeks.
Although she had already made preparations to surrender herself, she naturally held some fear towards living the rest of her days as a rumored pair-cultivation vessel. Furthermore, she had found herself in an unfamiliar environment completely alone, causing her heart to swell with further misery.
Two hours later, she ceased her wild wandering thoughts and looked to the hallway outside the room with some hesitation.
After a short moment, she stood up and quietly walked out of the stone room. She followed the hallway for a short distance and turned several corners before finding herself inside a large hall with many arched doors. This was one of the places she had passed through when she had entered.
However, the young woman particularly took notice of an arched door that had an ape puppet posted outside. It stood motionless as if it were dead.
The young woman blinked, revealing her long eyelashes. She thought to peek through the arched door but before she approached it, the ape puppet at the side suddenly appeared in front of her and barred her way.
The young woman recoiled in fear and the ape puppet indifferently returned to its original position. Its jet-black eyes were wandering around as if wanting to stop anyone from approaching.
At that moment, Gongsun Xing clearly understood that the room in front of her wasn’t somewhere she could go. Instead, she headed in the direction of another door.
This time, the ape puppet didn’t stop her, much to her relief. She directly walked through the doors and entered a rather peculiar medicine garden. There was a sealed stone room on the other side of the garden.
The youth woman approached the door and curiously pushed it open with her slim hand. The door was easily opened, allowing Xing’er to clearly see what was within.
There was a stone table with piles of various colored jade slips arranged at the center of the room. To the side, there was a circular short stone block that had several pots filled with strange green plants on top of it. It made for a peaceful scene.
The young woman pursed her adorable small lips and entered the room without further thought.
She arrived in front of the stone table and casually picked up a red jade slip, immersing her spiritual sense into it.
It was a jade slip that provided an introduction towards formation spells, something the young woman was completely uninterested with. She withdrew her spiritual sense and placed the jade slip back onto the table.
She then casually picked up a white jade slip and looked through it with her spiritual sense. This time, the jade sade slip provided an introduction towards tool refinement. The young woman was once again disinterested and withdrew her spiritual sense.
However, as both of the jade slips held completely different information, the young woman became curious and began to scan through each of the jade slips on the table.
Chapter 533: A Gift
After looking through the slips with tool refining and spell formation information, the young woman was quickly sweeping through a jade slip that introduced medicine pill formulas and demon beasts. After she was done with it, she moved on to the next jade lip on the table. Immediately after immersing her spiritual sense into it, she was stunned.
It contained a cultivation art known as the “Golden True Arts”. Out of curiosity she read through it for a moment before her attention was completely drawn in. She read the jade slip for no less than an hour before withdrawing her spiritual sense in a daze. She wore an expression of fear on her face.
This Golden True Arts was the precious top-grade cultivation art of a sect. Why was its cultivation incantation so casually placed on a table without any restrictions guarding it?
Although the young woman knew the cultivation art’s value, she still reluctantly put it back in its original place after some hesitation. Now she was even more interested in looking through the rest of the jade slips on the table.
Half a day later, the young woman had finished browsing through all of the jade slips on the table. A vast majority of the jade slips contained teachings about either formation spells or medicine pills. Only a small number contained cultivation arts, but there wasn’t a single one present that wasn’t top grade. There was one particular cultivation art, the “Coiling Jade Arts”, that left her particularly tempted.
The Azure Spirit Sect was only a tiny sect in the Scattered Star Seas. Its main cultivation art, the Azure Spirit Arts, was merely a standard cultivation art. It couldn’t possibly compete in terms of might with the Coiling Jade Arts.
After glancing through the jade slips, her mind wandered for a moment before recalling that there were still other places that she had yet to explore. She left the stone room and walked back to the large hall.
Of the remaining three arched doors, there were two that were guarded by puppets, leaving her with only one that she could enter. As a result, the young woman entered the only unguarded door.
After entering, she was left stunned and remained motionless for quite a while.
There was a sixty meter wide hall with a thirty meter wide spell formation placed at its center. The spell formation released a barrier of translucent, faint-red light. The light fluctuated and sparkled intermittently, revealing a magnificent sight.
The light barrier contained dozens of variously fashioned swords, spears, and other such items. There were a few that released a clear ring, and some that chased after one another, but all of them appeared to possess intelligence.
Outside of the light barrier, there were two layers of crude wooden racks lining the walls. Each of the racks held a variety of magic tools. Although they didn’t have a light barrier blocking them, they each flickered with brilliant light and contained vigorous amounts of spiritual Qi.
Although the young woman hadn’t seen any of them before, she was able to tell that the items contained inside the light barrier were like the magic treasures from legend with the intelligence that they displayed.
The young woman had always yearned to look at such magic treasures, but unfortunately there were just far too many before her. Eyes filled with amazement, she couldn’t bring herself to believe what she was seeing.
A long while later, she finally came to her senses. After further looking at the light barrier with a stran
ge expression, she hesitantly walked towards the wooden racks. She casually took a pitch-black ruler and examined it, discovering that the unremarkable item was actually a high grade magic tool.
But having already experienced far too many surprises before this, she hardly revealed any shock at the discovery.
She then began to look through each of the magic tools on the racks, all of which were either high or top grade. There was nothing of inferior quality present.
Had the young woman managed to acquire one of these magic tools in the past, she would’ve been immensely excited. Now after glancing at the many magic treasures and hundreds of magic tools, the young woman left the room with empty hands, after recalling that she was now but a cultivation vessel.
Two days later, inside the stone room with the jade slips, the young girl was sitting down on a round stone block. She was concentrating on the contents of the jade slip in her hand.
“The Coiling Jade Arts are quite suitable for a female cultivator, though they were acquired by male cultivator, namely me.” A man’s gentle voice suddenly came from the doorway.
The young woman felt her heart tremble and quickly withdrew her spiritual sense. She then flusteredly turned around.
She saw a blue-robed youth with an ordinary appearance standing by the door. He was looking at her with a smile.
Gongsun Xing hesitantly asked, “You, you’re Senior?”
Although his voice was somewhat similar, this gentle-faced youth was truly too young. It was completely different from what she had imagined.
Having experienced so many astonishing things, the young woman had come to expect the Senior to be an old man with profound, mystical abilities. She even apprehensively guessed that he was a tempermental eccentric!
“What? Am I not as expected?” The youth was Han Li who had just left seclusion. He walked into the room with a faint smile.
“Senior, these cultivation arts, I...” For some unknown reason, she inwardly felt relieved upon discovering that Han Li was the owner of that expert’s voice. However, she still stuttered trying come up with an explanation.
Han Li indifferently said, “It doesn’t matter. Since I didn’t forbid you from entering, I was allowing you to chose a cultivation art.”
“Many thanks to Senior!” The woman expressed unconcealed happiness with delightful charm.
Upon seeing the young woman’s excitement, Han Li unconsciously felt a tinge of emotion.
Han Li smiled and casually asked, “It’s been a while since I’ve been to the outside. Would Lady Gongsun happen to know anywhere in the seas that one might be able to trade?”
The young woman’s smile vanished as if she had thought of something. After quickly taking a peek at Han Li, she lowered her head and softly said, “If one wishes to trade... about half a month south, there is a barren island with a market city. The nearby cultivators conduct trade there. I heard that there were several Core Formation cultivators that joined hands to keep the peace there. Does Senior require a map?”
Han Li confidently said, “I must make a trip there. Naturally, a map would be good.”
The young woman flusteredly took out a jade slip from her storage pouch and handed it over to Han Li with a red face.
Han Li smiled and reached out to take the jade slip. At the same time, a strange expression flickered from his eyes when he saw the young woman’s flushed, tender face. He suddenly reached out to touch her soft, luscious hair.
Gongsun Xing’s heart trembled with slight fear, but she didn’t shrink back. She only unconsciously turned her head away.
At that moment, Han Li’s soft voice entered her ear, “Don’t be afraid. Come to my bedroom tonight. Don’t forget.”
After he said this, he left the room without further hesitation.
When Gongsun Xing heard these dubious words, she felt her heart jump and her face turned crimson, revealing an adorable appearance of complete embarrassment.
When night arrived, she arrived outside Han Li’s bedroom in a complicated mood. She entered the stone room as she nibbled on her lips, but she was left surprised by what she saw.
The bedroom had no one inside. There was only a stone desk with an unfurled scrolled on it.
After a moment of hesitation, Gongsun Xing walked over puzzled and lowered her head, reading, “Your filial behavior is quite laudable. I give all the remaining treasures in the cave residence to you. Don’t show them to others, or you will attract calamity upon yourself. Do your best!”
There was nothing else after that, leaving the young woman at a complete loss. She could only feel blank confusion along with an indescribable emotion.
At that moment, Han Li had already flown five hundred kilometers away from the small island in a streak of azure light.
Smiling, Han Li leisurely thought, “I’m sure that girl must be completely baffled. Anyone going through such an unpredictable experience should be left amazed for at least half a day!”
When he had left the sea mist, he had stripped the cave residence of everything apart from the jade slip containing the Coiling Jade Arts, numerous unwanted magic tools, along with a few medicine pills and two looted magic treasures that he left behind specifically for the girl. These items would surely allow the young woman to tread to future heights that are rarely reached on the path of cultivation!
This rare showing of immense generosity wasn’t due to a sudden feeling of tenderness towards the fairer sex. But rather, the young woman’s resolve to sacrifice herself for her father had deeply moved Han Li.
If Han Li had any regrets before setting foot on the path of cultivation, it would be that he was unable to fulfill his filial duties to his parents after reaching adulthood. Although he had secretly made arrangements with the Seven Mysteries Sect Master for his family, it didn’t offset the sense of loss he felt deep in his heart.
Additionally, the young woman’s appearance had reminded Han Li of the last he had seen his little sister when she had gotten married.
As such, he had deliberately used the pretense of having the woman as a cultivation vessel in order to give her a few benefits. Of course, the magic tools and treasures that Han Li had left for her posed little to no value to him.
Since the items would remain useless on him, it would be better for him to take the opportunity to give them to the girl, providing her the assistance to tread farther on the path of Immortal cultivation. The woman’s spiritual roots were also inferior, just like his own had been.
As for Han Li’s cave residence, he had already decided that he would abandon the island the next time he left, long before these people had arrived.
Chapter 534: Rescue from Demon Beasts
After Han Li reached mid Core Formation stage, he had remained in seclusion for an additional twenty years. During this time, he still hadn’t exhausted all of his medicine pills and carried about a smaller portion of them in his storage pouch.
His early departure from seclusion without having yet consumed all of his medicine pills was due to neither restlessness nor impatience. It was because he had encountered a bottleneck as he neared late Core Formation stage. Until he broke through the obstruction, his cultivation wouldn’t progress in the slightest even if he used more medicine pills.
These breakthroughs were left completely up to destiny or fortunate encounters. There were absolutely no established methods to break through such a bottleneck. However, in the past, cultivators had managed to break through this stage through merely cultivating, touring the world, or battling in a life or death struggle. Each occurrence was entirely unexpected.
As such, Han Li was unwilling to vainly waste his time in seclusion and he prepared to set out to find the legendary Demon Echo Grass. Perhaps he would even happen to unexpectedly breakthrough the bottleneck during this journey.
Because he didn’t know how long the trip would take, Han Li didn’t dare to leave the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng inside the cave. This was yet another reason he had decided to completely aba
ndon the residence inside the small misty island.
As for the Ninecurl Spirit Ginseng, it periodically required earth Qi for preservation. Although this had proved to be somewhat troublesome before Han Li entered mid Core Formation stage, it no longer presented a problem. Han Li already had the ability to draw out an island’s earth essence Qi and pour it into the spirit ginseng’s body, ensuring its continued survival.
Han Li was currently flying in the direction of the market city that the young woman had spoken of. It was the only place where cultivators frequently passed through that Han Li could potentially find information on any grade eight demon beasts. When that time came, he would have to think of a method to acquire the Demon Echo Grass. As for any thoughts of being able to directly purchase it, he didn’t believe such a fortuitous event could occur.
Han Li flew at an extremely fast speed. Although the young woman said it would take half a month to reach the market city, in Han Li’s case, it would only take a few days at most at his full speed.
Two days later as Han Li was hurrying on his way, he suddenly spotted a red streak of light flying off in the distance. It was being relentlessly pursued by several balls of grey Qi.
When Han Li saw this, he unconsciously raised his eyebrows, and after some thought, he muttered an unintelligible incantation. Soon, a series of cracks sounded out from within his body with increasing frequency. Simultaneously, azure light covered his face.
A moment later, Han Li’s figure suddenly grew a few inches taller. The azure light disappeared to reveal the face of an unfamiliar yellowish man.
This was one of the secret techniques from the Profound Yin Arts that Han Li had meticulously cultivated during his seclusion, the Appearance Exchange Art. Not only could this secret technique allow oneself to shrink or lengthen any body part at will, one could also control the thickness of one’s flesh and change the color of one’s skin in an instant. It was absolutely a top grade disguise technique.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 288