Han Li was relieved that the Gold Devouring Beetles and the Weeping Soul Beast were unaffected by the valley depths. But this might’ve been expected as they were far from ordinary, being top ranked exotic insects and a fearsome beast variant, respectively.
Of course, Han Li couldn’t have known that Marquis Nanlong’s Eternal Flight Orioles were also unaffected by the valley, unlike the Moulan’s spirit birds and Violet Spirit’s flying squirrel. The cause behind this had something to do with a secret that lay hidden in the valley depths.
Violet Spirit bit her lips and helplessly said, “Then all we can do is rely on Brother Han’s abilities.”
Han Li nodded and promptly sat down cross-legged. With his eyes closed, his body began to brilliantly shine with light as strands of Qi occasionally floated in the air. Violet Spirit waited at the side, her clear eyes staring at Han Li’s expressionless face.
To tell the truth, she felt some unclear and unknown emotions towards Han Li. It wasn’t entirely accurate to say that they were only good friends and she had felt some delight when Han Li became dumbfounded upon seeing her true appearance.
She definitely couldn’t be considered his confidante either. Although she had gone through many trials and tribulations with Han Li until now, he had never truly laid his heart bare to her as if intentionally increasing the distance between them. It seemed he had no intention of taking things any further.
As a matter of fact, with Han Li’s current status and cultivation, if he had proposed to marry her she was still unsure whether or not she would accept. She had unintentionally found out from the Drifting Cloud Sect’s Cultivator Song that Han Li already had a Dao Companion by the name of Nangong Wan, much to her disappointment. It felt as if something of hers had been snatched away.
Violet Spirit’s mind remained in a daze as she stared at Han Li’s face, her imagination running rampant.
Of course, Han Li was completely ignorant of all of this. He had already released his spiritual sense to sweep through a fifty kilometer radius and see if there were any Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators around. But as a result, his search ended in vain.
Han Li frowned but he wasn’t discouraged. He then spread out his spiritual sense to scan over a hundred kilometers away, but was still unable to discover the aura of any other cultivators.
After some consideration, Han Li tossed a spirit beast pouch into the air and he formed an incantation gesture with his hands, releasing over a thousand Gold Devouring Beetles into the air.
“Go!” Han Li widely opened his eyes and waved his hand, striking at the beetles with an azure spell seal. The beetle swarm loudly buzzed before scattering and flying off in every direction.
Han Li then closed his eyes once more and the light surrounding his body became even more brilliant. When Violet Spirit saw this, she wore an expression of alarm. She didn’t know what Han Li had just done.
At that moment, Han Li had already reached the pinnacle of the Great Development Technique. He had forcefully divided his spiritual sense into over a thousand different strands and sent almost all of them to attach themselves to each Gold Devouring Beetle, leaving behind only a few strands on his body to protect himself.
His strands of spiritual sense were able to see through the eyes of the Gold Devouring Beetle that they possessed, but they weren’t able to sense a cultivator’s aura. The beetles had begun to spread out and look for traces of cultivators that might appear.
Of course, there were beetles that came across a spatial tear or became trapped in a restriction, but this didn’t pose much of a threat to something that lacked physical form such as a strand of spiritual sense. Whenever a Gold Devouring Beetle met a mishap, the attached spiritual sense strand would abandon its host and return to Han Li’s body, but there still were times where these strands were either destroyed or trapped.
When this occurred, Han Li decisively severed his connection to those strands and turned his attention elsewhere. But for each strand of spiritual sense he lost, he couldn’t help but grow pale. Fortunately, his spiritual sense was beyond powerful and he was able to withstand these losses without much harm and recover quickly.
With these thousand Gold Devouring Beetles swarming the sky, Han Li eventually found a clue leading to the route that the Ghost Spirit Sect took moving forward. He immediately commanded all of his Gold Devouring Beetles to return. Once the last Gold Devouring Beetles returned to their pouch, Han Li opened his eyes with a cold smile.
“We’re going! I found their trail.” With that said, Han Li stood up and flew through the sky in an azure streak of light. When Violet Spirit saw this, she rejoiced and closely followed after him.
Shortly after, Han Li and Violet Spirit appeared above an expanse of scattered stone. Han Li stared at the newly appeared hold with a strange expression.
Han Li calmly said, “It seems this is one of the places with a sign placed here. If I remember correctly, there should be two marked locations that lead to the Spirit Kindle Fruit. This is a prime opportunity to track them down.” Then with a fling of his sleeve, a ball of white light flew from his sleeve and landed ten meters away from them to reveal the Wind Riding Chariot.
With a firm tone, Han Li ordered, “ We’ll quickly chase after them! You fly far too slowly so climb into the chariot. We’ll only be able to catch up to them if we fly several times faster than we do now.”
“Several times faster? There are too many spatial tears in the valley. Isn’t it too dangerous?” Violet Spirit’s expression changed in alarm.
Chapter 831: Transforming the Mountain
“I am only doing this because I am certain it will work,” Han Li mysteriously smiled and continued, “Could it be that Lady Violet Spirit doesn’t want to take any risks for the Spirit Kindle Fruit?”
Violet Spirit’s clear eyes flickered for a moment before she sweetly smiled and said,
“According to what I know of you, Brother Han definitely wouldn’t take any risks unless he were absolutely certain. It seems you have a secret technique that allows you to see through the invisible spatial tears. As such, I will respectfully follow your suggestion.” Then with a blur, she boarded the Wind Riding Chariot.
Han Li glanced at the woman with a trace of surprise but wordlessly commanded the chariot forward regardless. In the blink of an eye, the chariot tore through the air in a streak of white light and flew through the passage.
According to Han Li’s predictions, it would take less than half a day of travelling across this wasteland before they caught up to the party of Ghost Spirit Sect disciples. When Han Li and Violet Spirit finally caught up to them, they saw that Elder Zhong’s party was encountering some mishaps. Due to a mistake of a Ghost Spirit Sect disciple, a nearby ancient restriction had been activated and they were currently occupied with trying to save themselves.
With Han Li’s spiritual sense and caution, Elder Zhong wasn’t able to discover any trace of them. Rather, Han Li was able to use his powerful spiritual sense to observe them from a distance without detection.
Han Li clearly felt that the spiritual Qi fluctuations of the ancient restriction weren’t very strong. With their mid Nascent Soul-stage Elder Zhong, the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators wouldn’t be trapped for long.
However, this small period of delay was a golden opportunity for Han Li to gain distance on them.
Han Li urged the Wind Riding Chariot forward and steeled his heart, veering off the original route. Not long after, he avoided several spatial tears on the way and left the Ghost Spirit Sect cultivators far behind. With Violet Spirit by his side, the two arrived at a sparkling emerald green mountain range. Han Li’s mind stirred when he saw it and he ordered the Wind Riding Chariot to slowly come to a stop.
“It should be here. Do you see the mountain that resembles a flying bird? That’s the sign.” Violet Spirit spoke with a tone of excitement upon seeing the mountains. At that same moment, she couldn’t help but look in Han Li’s direction.
In truth,
although Violet Spirit said she held complete confidence in Han Li, she still felt a lump in her throat when the Wind Riding Chariot traveled at lightning speed. It came as a surprise to her that Han Li’s route was completely safe. They had avoided any spatial tears or ancient restrictions that may have laid along the way.
Completely unbeknownst to her, Han Li also felt quite lucky. While he was able to see through spatial tears with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes, it was quite lucky that they hadn’t activated any ancient restrictions on their way.
With that thought, Han Li narrowed his eyes as he stared at a peculiar mountain in the distance.
The direction that the bird beak pointed should be the location of the final mark leading to the Spirit Kindle Fruit.
While Violet Spirit waited, she saw that Han Li was mulling over his thoughts. She hesitantly proposed, “Brother Han, will we not set out now? How about we destroy the mountain before we go?”
“According to the jade slip, the location of the final mark should be in a desert around five hundred kilometers away from the mountain. Is that right?”
“That’s right. What does Brother Han mean?”
Han Li calmly said, “It’s quite simple. Even if we destroy the mountain, they will still able to see the damage was recent and know it was where the sign was located. And since the last location is the neighboring desert, it will only be a matter of time before they find it. The only method to buy us more time would be to place down an illusion formation covering the mountain to make it appear completely ordinary. In this way, they will miss the sign.”
“Brother Han’s words are quite reasonable. But it will be a problem setting up an illusion formation large enough to cover the entire mountain and powerful enough to escape the spiritual sense of a Nascent Soul cultivator. Could it be that Brother Han is an expert in illusion techniques as well?” Violet Spirit asked him with a tone of bewilderment.
Han Li chuckled and said, “I’m not skilled in illusion techniques, but I have someone that is.”
Then with a casual wave, a streak of white light shot out from his sleeve. In a brilliant flash, a gorgeous white-clothed woman appeared.
“Greetings Master!” Silvermoon curtsied to Han Li as soon as she appeared.
“Who is she?” Violet Spirit couldn’t help but cry out in alarm upon seeing Silvermoon appear.
“This is Silvermoon. Consider her a subordinate of me,” Han Li gave a vague answer before pointing to the mountain. “Silvermoon, do you have a method of placing an illusion formation around the mountain in a short amount of time?”
Silvermoon respectfully replied, “With Master’s illusion formation tools and my illusion techniques, it should be possible. However, my illusions aren’t powerful enough to reliably escape the notice of a Nascent Soul cultivator’s spiritual sense. Also, my illusion techniques won’t last as long as a spell formation. It will only last two days before fading away.”
After some consideration, Han Li slapped his storage pouch and took out two glowing sets of spell formation tools. He handed them over to Silvermoon and said, “That’s fine. Start setting it up. It will be fine however strong it may be. Two days will also be enough.”
“Yes, Master!” Silvermoon took the spell formations tools and began her work.
At that moment, Han Li was looking at the bird-shaped mountain and a cold glint appeared in his eyes. He rolled his hands and then raised one, releasing an azure swordstreak that was over thirty meters long. It assumed the shape of a flood dragon and coiled once around the mountain before shooting back to his body with a roar.
The bird-shaped mountain suddenly became to crumble. The bird head and the wings instantly collapsed to rubble, carving out an ordinary shape from the mountain.
Violet Spirit stared at the mountain, dumbfounded. Although she knew that her abilities couldn’t hope to compare to Han Li’s, it was quite alarming that he was able to exert such amazing might without even summoning a magic treasure.
Although she had already heard that Han Li was a force only inferior to the Three Great Heavenly South cultivators, Violet Spirit had always felt somewhat skeptical of the rumors. After all, only until recently Han Li was a Core Formation cultivator such as herself. To garner such widespread fame shortly after entering the Nascent Soul stage was outlandish to Violet Spirit. She had originally believed that his reputation was a result of luck and his opportunistic methods.
As Violet Spirit was awed by his display of might, Silvermoon had already flown to the cut mountain and began to place down the spell formation tools.
Silvermoon acted quickly and in the time it took to finish a meal, she was already done. Layers of white mist began to slowly rise from the mountain, covering a majority of it. Only the peak of the mountain was left uncovered.
With this done, Silvermoon streaked towards the mountaintop in a ball of silver light and opened her mouth, spitting out a pink mist to cover the mountain below.
As Silvermoon continued to envelop the mountain in mist, the mist quickly faded away as soon as it left her mouth. Not long after, an astonishing scene occurred.
The mountain’s surroundings distorted, causing it to completely disappear with a verdant forest in its place.
Han Li nodded with satisfaction.
...
In an underground hall thousands of kilometers away, Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying were sitting cross-legged at separate corners of the hall. They were commanding their magic treasures to continuously strike at the brilliantly shining magic treasure despite the treasure’s dimming light.
The Buddhist characters floating on the barrier were originally the size of a grain, but now they had grown to the size of a fist. They wandered across the barrier’s surface in a solemn display.
Outside the golden barrier, a white wind dragon, a golden streak, two blue water pythons, and a dark green ring were continuously striking at the surface of the light barrier. Each strike caused the light barrier to faintly tremble in flashes of light.
By this time, Marquis Nanlong’s and Lu Weiying’s faces appeared completely pale.
This was to be expected. They were unceasingly consuming their magic power without interruption and had overdrafted their vitality to continue attacking with their magic treasures. They were already cursing at the formidable durability of the Sanctuary Guardian Formation. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they would have to risk their lives in order to break through this Buddhist spell formation.
Although the two had suffered great damage to their vitality, the barrier was also about to reach its limit. As such, the two gritted their teeth and continued to persevere as they cursed in their hearts.
After an unknown amount of time, a huge explosion sounded out. Immediately after, Lu Weiying stood up and shouted with delight, “It’s broken! Broken! Finally, our effort has borne fruit!”
The golden barrier covering the table along with the talisman characters that floated around it instantly disappeared.
When Marquis Nanlong saw this, he rejoiced with excitement as well. Soon after, the two took a thorough look at the treasures and medicines that had laid behind the barrier.
As the two were particularly cunning individuals, neither of them immediately took action as their heartbeats suddenly sped up.
Chapter 832: Stirring Devils
Marquis Nanlong and Lu Weiying stared at the table and their gazes unconsciously met. They both watched each other with vigilance. Although the two had been friends for years, in the face of such precious treasures their friendship evaporated in an instant.
Silence filled the hall, only to be interrupted by Lu Weiying’s chuckle. He said, “Brother Nanlong, we both are well aware of what the other is thinking. Although my cultivation was lower than yours in the past, you had suffered quite a bit of damage to your cultivation during your excursion in the Moulan Plains and now our strengths can be said to be equal. With so many spiritual medicines, we don’t need to fight over them. It would be best to s
plit them evenly rather than to have this end in mutual destruction.”
Marquis Nanlong glanced at the most eye-catching treasure on the table and said, “I also agree with what Brother Lu is saying. Although we will divide the spiritual medicines evenly, I only want the alms bowl. You can have the other treasures. How about it?”
Lu Weiying’s expression stirred, but after a moment of thought, he said, “The alms bowl? That’s fine. Let’s divide it like that then. As of current, I only wish to increase my lifespan and cultivation. I don’t particularly value treasures.”
Marquis Nanlong rejoiced. He originally thought he would have to sacrifice more to persuade Lu Weiying, but he had easily agreed to his conditions. Regardless, he erred on the side of caution and took a careful glance at Lu Weiying. Even after seeing that his expression was entirely calm, Marquis Nanlong still hesitated.
Upon seeing this, Lu Weiying smiled and said, “What? Did Brother Nanlong change his mind? Will I be taking the alms bowl instead?”
Marquis Nanlong’s gaze flickered and he remained silent for a spell.
Eventually, Marquis Nanlong chuckled with a calm smile and replied, “Brother Lu must be joking. Since you’ve agreed, I will take you up on your offer. Let us take them at the same time. You take the three treasures and the jade talismans while I take the alms bowl. Then we will distribute the spirit medicines. Will that do?”
“Yes. Let’s do as you say!” Lu Weiying agreed without any hesitation.
Satisfied, Marquis Nanlong nodded and the two took action at the same time.
Lu Weiying swept his sleeve towards the table and shot out a white mist to sweep up the three magic tools and the many jade talismans. Simultaneously, Marquis Nanlong carefully opened his mouth to sweep up the alms bowl in a ball of golden light.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 448