Han Li stared at the stalk for a moment and waved his hand at it, summoning it out of the box and holding it in the air three meters from him. He then pointed at it and cut off a fifth of the stem in a flicker of blue light.
As soon as he swept his sleeve, an azure cloud of light flew out and tossed the severed stem piece into the small cauldron. Following this, he struck the remaining piece with a spell seal and sealed it back up in the box.
Han Li paid no further attention to it and pointed to a long wooden box, opening it to reveal the stalk of a glistening green spirit herb. He used swordlight to chop off a small chunk for the cauldron, same as he did for the previous ingredient.
Han Li then continued to sever off the appropriate quantity of various materials and dropped them into the cauldron in accordance with the formula of the Nature Origin Pill. Eventually, it was time to use the Spirit Kindle Fruit and Han Li cut off a fourth of the fruit before placing it into the cauldron.
Han Li then pointed to the floating cauldron and firmly closed the lid on it, shutting it tight.
Han Li took a breath before beginning the next part of the refinement process. He opened his mouth and spat out a stream of azure Nascent Flame, enveloping the cauldron in roaring flames and further increasing the temperature in the room.
Staring at the small cauldron, Han Li continuously flicked his fingers, launching spell seals towards it one after another. Not long after, peals of thunder began to ring out from the cauldron, growing ever louder.
Han Li frowned when he heard this and he began to intermittently form different hand gestures. As a result, the rings of thunder also began to change in volume, soft one moment and deafening the next.
Han Li’s expression stiffened as blue light flickered in his eyes, examining what was happening inside the cauldron.
Han Li remained completely still and emotionless as time slowly passed by.
As Han Li was focused on pill refinement, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master’s party had finally climbed to the top of the giant altar in the basin.
It was unknown why the ancient cultivators had placed such strange restrictions on the altar steps, where they would experience an increasingly greater burden on their body as they grew closer to the top.
As a result, the party had slowed to a crawl when they reached the middle section, taking them an entire day before they were able to reach the top compared to the four hours it took them to reach the middle section. They even had to rest for half a day along the way in order to recover their magic power.
The Nascent Soul cultivators fared well enough, but the three Core Formation disciples were barely able to make it to the top. On the last tens of steps, they felt as if half a thousand tons were weighing down on their every step; they were only able to slowly move after mustering every ounce of their strength.
Of course, the trek was easiest to Wei Wuya. From the very start, the restriction didn’t appear to have any effect on him and he appeared completely indifferent. As for the other two Nascent Soul cultivators, even they struggled to walk up those last steps and had grimaced.
Of course, Wei Wuya’s effortless appearance throughout the restrictions left a deep impression on Wang Tiansheng, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master, and he couldn’t help but think even more highly of him.
Although the party of cultivators had differing cultivations, Wang Tiansheng made an effort to also walk to the peak of the altar without stopping. As soon as he arrived at the top, he suddenly felt the immense pressure completely disappear.
As for the Ghost Spirit Sect disciples, they sighed with relief when they finally arrived at the top. Although they had protected their bodies with light, they still felt their entire bodies ache under the pressure as if they had the bodies of mortals. It had been an experience they hadn’t felt in ages. Rarely would a cultivator ache from the stress of walking.
Wang Tiangu and the other Nascent Soul cultivators didn’t pay any notice to this and were instead glancing around.
The top of the altar was over three hundred meters wide and constructed of sparkling white jade bricks. At the center, there was an offerings table over twenty meters long that was elegantly constructed from dark-green jade.
In addition to the offerings table, there were four thirty-meter-tall stone pillars at each corner of the altar. The stone pillars were densely engraved with talisman characters and spells that appeared ancient and profound. There were stone Qilin statues at the top of the pillars that were uniquely carved with lifelike detail and glowed.
These few items were all seen in the blink of an eye.
Wei Wuya didn’t notice anything noteworthy about these items and frowned before taking a glance at Wang Tiangsheng. The sect master was staring at the sky with his hands behind his back as if he were looking at something interesting.
Wei Wuya grew curious and followed his gaze towards a crimson expanse in the sky. There was an area of low altitude that was glowing with various lights. Apart from the strands of light that stemmed off of it, there was nothing out of the ordinary about it.
“Clown Master Wang, we’ve arrived. Where is the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?” Wei Wuya bluntly asked.
Wang Tiansheng calmly replied, “Don’t be impatient, Fellow Daoist Wei. The entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden is hidden by a restriction. The method to dissolve it is only known by the soul in the scroll. We will have to call out to him.”
Wei Wuya’s expression stirred, “So it was like that. You’ve made an agreement with Master Cang Kun’s doppelganger.”
Wang Tiansheng chuckled and said, “Fellow Daoist Wei is quite smart. I did come to an agreement with him. Please be patient, I’ll call on him.” He reached his hand into his sleeve and took out a silver-white scroll.
Wang Tiangu’s expression stirred and he silently walked over.
In that moment, Wang Tiansheng unfolded the scroll and a ball of silver light flew out, materializing the image of a Confucian scholar.
“Not bad. This is the place. I didn’t think there’d truly be a day that I returned.” The materialized soul of Master Cang Kun’s doppelganger looked around with excitement, paying no heed to any of the others nearby.
Wang Tiansheng coldly stared at the Confucian scholar and said with an emotionless tone, “As agreed, I have brought you to the altar. It is time for you to fulfill your end of the deal and open the passage to the Spirit Ether Garden.”
“You’ve already placed me under your restrictions. Could it be that you’re afraid I’ll cheat you? The entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden is above the altar, true, but the restriction is quite odd. I’ll be needing to personally open the way.” With that said, the Confucian scholar raised his head to the sky and placed his hands together, summoning a grey fireball into his hands. He flung it to the sky with a wave of his hand, striking the rainbow light only for the fireball to strangely vanish.
The scholar nodded when he saw this and turned to look at the stone pillars around him. Not wanting to waste time, he promptly said, “Fellow Daoists, if you pour a bit of spiritual power into the four stone pillars, it will allow me to continue with dissolving the restriction.”
Once that was said, the Nascent Soul cultivators exchanged glances with one another. Wang Tiansheng hesitated for a moment before he sullenly said, “Fine. Let’s do as he says. You three disciples, head for the stone pillars. Junior Martial Brother Wang, I’ll have to trouble you to take over the last one.”
“As you bid, Sect Master!” The three disciples promptly obeyed. As for Wang Tiangu, he walked towards a stone pillar without hesitation.
Under the command of Wang Tiansheng, the four reached out to their respective stone pillar and slowly poured spiritual power into them, passing the spiritual power into the stone statue at its peak.
Not long after, the four stone pillars released strange cries and slightly trembled for a moment. The Qilin statues on top began to glow with light and their eyes began to shine crimson as if they were alive.
As for the Ghost Spirit Sect, he simply watched this scene without a sound.
Suddenly, the Qilin statues slowly raised their heads and opened their mouths to reveal glowing rainbow light within them as if something were about to shoot out. At that moment, the Confucian scholar began to move.
He raised his hands and flicked his fingers, striking at each of the four Qilin statues with a single grey spell seal. Suddenly, the light in the statue’s mouths pulsed and they fired beams of rainbow light into the sky. They met to form a three-meter-wide ball of rainbow light.
The space surrounding the ball of light began to distort and ruptured with a world-shaking explosion. Blinding rainbow radiance covered the altar for a time and astonishing spiritual Qi fluctuations shook the world around them. A perilous situation emerged before them.
Even Wei Wuya’s expression grew unsightly once he felt the strength of the Spiritual Qi fluctuations. The others unconsciously took several steps back and began to circulate the spiritual power within their bodies in preparation to defend themselves.
Fortunately, this explosion was rather short. In the blink of an eye, the rainbow light disappeared and the spiritual Qi scattered. The cultivators saw this and resolved themselves to look at the sky.
Wei Wuya’s complexion paled. He turned his head to the Confucian scholar and icily said, “This is the so-called entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?”
Chapter 837: Opening the Passage
Three hundred meters above the altar, a crescent arc of light appeared in the sky.
The arc of light was white, a hundred meters wide, and over fifteen hundred meters long. It appeared to be a huge spatial tear. However, it was concealed by some kind of unknown restriction. Despite the three powerful Nascent Soul cultivators present, none of them were able to sense its existence.
Could it be that this was the entrance to the Spirit Ether Garden?
Despite the vast abilities these Nascent Soul cultivators possessed, even Wei Wuya couldn’t gather the courage to enter the spatial tear that laid before them. As the incisiveness of a spatial tear wasn’t something that a cultivator could block, Wei Wuya was enraged.
The Confucian scholar glanced at those before him and said, “The Spirit Ether Garden was a pocket that laid between the Spirit Realm and our mortal realm. If we wish to go there, we will naturally need the assistance of this spatial tear. With a bit of warping, the spatial tear becomes the entrance of the Spirit Ether Garden. Be at ease, I won’t have you all rush through it. There is another method we can try for the time being. However, there is a bit of danger involved. Even I only have a seventy percent likelihood of making it through. As for the Core formation cultivators, their strength is lacking. If they go, it will only be sending them to their deaths.”
Wang Tiangsheng, the Ghost Spirit Sect Master, wore an unsightly expression, “A seventy percent chance of succeeding? You never mentioned this before.”
The scholar coldly smiled and said, “Would it have made a difference? Let alone seventy percent, you would’ve made an attempt even if there was only a twenty percent chance of success.”
A cold glint shined in Wang Tiangsheng’s eyes. He then raised his hand and produced a crimson command medallion.
“What are you doing?” The Confucian scholar loudly yelled as he flew back in panic.
Silently, Wang Tiangsheng waved the command medallion and it brightly glowed with crimson light. The Confucian scholar suddenly screamed and fell onto the ground. At the same moment, crimson talisman characters appeared on his limbs and wandered across his body without end.
“A Soulfright Curse?” Wang Tiangu couldn’t help but tremble in shock at the sight of this.
Even Wei Wuya wore a strange expression at the sight of this.
Wei Wuya stared at the Confucian scholar rolling on the ground and indifferently said, “This is the Soulfright Curse, one of the Ghost Spirit Sect’s secret curses? I’ve heard that this secret technique is more ruthless than other soul restriction techniques. Cultivators placed under this curse could have their soul scattered at a mere thought from their caster.”
Wang Tiangsheng turned to him with a beaming smile and chuckled, “Fellow Daoist Wei is truly experienced. That is indeed the curse. The soul remnant of Master Cang Kun’s doppelganger seems to believe that he is the genuine, rivalless Master Cang Kun. How dare he not recognize the mercy of others. It is only natural for me to discipline him.”
Wei Wuya nodded and said nothing further. Regardless of the memories the soul may possess, it couldn’t be allowed to run rampant.
The Confucian scholar was currently subjected to immense torment. Each time the crimson talisman characters flickered across his body, he trembled and rolled on the ground with his head held in his arms, his expression contorted in agony.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the Confucian scholar’s materialized form began to grow indistinct. It was only then that Wang Tiangsheng waved the command medallion once more and put the torture to an end.
With unquestionable authority, Wang Tiangsheng said, “You should’ve learned your lesson by now. Even if you have Master Cang Kun’s memories, you are nothing but a remnant soul now. Do anything foolish again, and I won’t let you off so easily. I do wish to enter the Spirit Ether Garden but I will not be led by the nose. Don’t worry, so long as you sincerely lead the way, I will do as we agreed.”
“I understand. I will now open the passage.” Green light flickered from the Confucian scholar and his form stabilized once more, his face wearing a calm expression.
Wang Tiangsheng was greatly surprised to see the Confucian scholar recovering so quickly his composure. Just as he narrowed his eyes and thought to say something else, the Confucian scholar began to glow with green light and slowly flew towards the spatial tear above.
Wang Tiangsheng interrupted himself before the words left his mouth. After all, opening the path to the Spirit Ether Garden was more important than disciplining the soul remnant.
Wei Wuya and the others kept silent as they coldly watched the Confucian scholar’s movements. It was unknown how he could open a passage for them through this fearsome spatial tear.
The scholar came to a stop sixty meters away from the spatial tear and raised his head towards it. With an odd expression on his face, he spat out a ball of green light that contained a pitch-black thumb-sized pearl that continuously swirled as it floated in the air.
With the pearl released, the Confucian scholar’s complexion turned deathly pale and his figure became dim. It appeared that the pearl carried a majority of his soul power.
In spite of his weakness, the Confucian scholar forced himself to point at the pearl and shout, “Go!” The pitch-black pearl immediately shined with light and shot into the air.
When Wang Tiangsheng saw this, he wore an expression of amazement. ‘Just what will this achieve?’
As the other cultivators watched this with shock, the pearl arrived ten meters away from the tear and was being dragged inside. In a flash of white light, the spatial tear’s surroundings distorted and the pearl disappeared without a trace.
For a time, the spatial tear appeared completely ordinary and without change, but suddenly, the Confucian scholar’s figure blurred downward as he wore a sullen expression, increasing the distance between himself and the spatial tear.
Wei Wuya and the others were stunned. Before they realized what he was doing, the spatial tear suddenly released a muffled rumble. Then the center of the tear began to flicker with green light, quickly expanding into a three-meter-wide ball of blinding dark green radiance. A sharp hiss then sounded out from within the ball of light.
With an emotionless face, the Confucian scholar dropped down to the altar and said, “Prepare your abilities. You will need to focus the entirety of your spiritual po
wer into the green light in order to open the passage to the Spirit Ether Garden.”
When Wei Wuya and Wang Tiangu saw this strange scene, they couldn’t help but glance at each other with a trace of bewilderment.
Wang Tiansheng pondered for a moment before coming to a staunch decision, “Let’s just try it first and see if there is any effect.”
Wei Wuya frowned. He took another glance at the dark green light but didn’t say a word. Wang Tiangu also raised no objections.
The three Nascent Soul cultivators stood apart and formed hand incantations. They then raised their hands to the sky and shot several various colored beams of light from their hands into the dark green ball of light at the center of the spatial tear, this makes their profound cultivation obvious at a glance. The green beam of light Wei Wuya released from his hands was bowl-thick while the other two Nascent Soul cultivators were somewhat smaller.
The three beams of light poured an immense amount of spiritual power into the ball of dark green light and the sharp hiss it released grew louder. A moment later, the dark green light gradually turned jet-black and began to form a pitch-black hole that was only a foot in diameter. It was a complete mystery as to where it led.
When Wang Tiangsheng and the others saw this, they rejoiced. This strange scene clearly displayed that the Confucian scholar hadn’t deceived them. The three promptly circulated the spiritual power in their body and the beams of light they released grew thicker, causing the dark green light in the spatial tear to grow thicker.
In the time it took to finish a cup of tea, the hole reached to a meter in length and seemed barely enough for one person to go through. When the scholar saw this, he calmly said, “You should now be able to enter. However, the entrance is still unstable and I do not have a second Realm Tear Pearl to open the passage. If you do not wish to be trapped on the other side, you had best continue to pour spiritual power into it so that the passage stabilizes.”
With that said, Wei Wuya and the others felt a bit of shock. When they saw the black hole wavering, they didn’t dare to stop and continued to pour in their spiritual power.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 451