The Elder Devil harshly shouted and all of the tentacles suddenly coiled and then charged towards Han Li with overbearing pressure.
Han Li resolved himself and the golden lightning flood dragons coiling around his body roared as they met the swarm of tentacles. As for the ball of purple flame, Han Li willed it to become a wall in front of him.
As the battle erupted, the spatial dimension suddenly started trembling and loudly groaned. Glaring white light suddenly shined from the sky before soon turning silver. Han Li and the Elder Devil both paused their attacks from shock.
The clouds in the sky began to violently surge, transforming into roiling silver flames. Then with a roaring boom, a huge beam of silver light shot out from the flames at the Elder Devil’s location.
With the Elder Devil at the center, a huge pillar of silver light erupted, clearing away all of the devilish Qi it touched. Han Li then caught sight of the Elder Devil’s expression of terror before be burned away with silver flames and turning into ash.
The pillar of light then erupted and countless silver embers flooded the spatial dimension, wiping away all the devilish Qi present. As for where the Elder Devil had originally stood, all that remained were utterly destroyed magic treasures.
With all traces of the Elder Devil destroyed, the silver flames quickly withdrew and the grey mist returned to normal. Only Han Li was left, with an expression of complete and utter disbelief.
“Silver flames?! This ferocious restriction doesn’t seem to be something from the mortal realm. How surprising.” While Han Li was at a complete loss, he suddenly heard the Monarch of Soul Divergence’s voice from the back of his head.
“What do you mean? Where did those silver flames come from?’ Han Li snapped out of his stupor and his face was filled with delight. That formidable enemy had been slain without any risk to his life. He then swept his hand and recalled his golden lightning, purple flames, and flying swords.
The Monarch of Soul Divergence kept silent for a moment before sighing, “Given its power to easily eliminate the Elder Devil, it clearly wasn’t something that came from our mortal realm. Those silver flames sought out evil Qi and only targeted the Elder Devil which only leaves the cultivators from the Spirit Realm. It seems that the ancient cultivators’ eventual triumph over the Elder Devils was due to the interference of cultivators from the Spirit Realm!”
Han Li’s heart stirred when he heard this, “Senior means to say that the masters of this spatial dimension were Spirit Realm cultivators?”
With his voice filled with emotion, the Monarch of Soul Divergence said, “That’s right. This should be the ruins of one of the renowned Spirit Ether Gardens from antiquity. I heard that in times long past, vastly powerful cultivators were able to draw support from a few treasures to open up a small spatial dimension to grow spiritual medicines using spiritual Qi that far surpassed that from the mortal realm. These gardens were specialized in growing all sorts of rare spiritual herbs. However, there was some unforeseen mishap and all of the Spirit Ether Gardens disappeared without a trace and future cultivators were no longer able to find them. I didn’t think that Devilfall Valley possessed one. However, this particular Spirit Ether Garden seems to have shattered for some reason. This should only be a small portion of the original.”
“A Spirit Ether Garden! I’ve seen records of them before, but I only thought of it as a rumor. I didn’t think they truly existed.” Han Li muttered as he excitedly glanced around him.
A short time later, his gaze dropped down to the magic tools that the Elder Devil had left behind. He then pointed to them and they flew into his hands in streaks of light.
After he glanced at them, he frowned with a trace of sadness. These treasures had been corrupted by devilish Qi and were completely purged by the silver flames. Their spiritual nature was thoroughly destroyed. Even if they were further refined, they wouldn’t be able to show even a fraction of their original strength.
Han Li shook his head but casually placed the items in his storage pouch. Then, his body glowed with crimson light and he withdrew the Spirit Subjugation Talisman. The talisman quickly flew out from his body and into his hand.
Han Li examined it and muttered, “This Spirit Subjugation Talisman can only be used one more time. I’ve only been able to use it a few times.”
Afterwards, Han Li floated to the ground and his sleeve trembled. A small snow white fox flew out and flickered with white light, transforming into Silvermoon.
Silvermoon curtsied to Han Li and chuckled, saying, “I originally believed that Master would’ve summoned me to assist in the last battle. I didn’t think that you would call me now.”
“Your cultivation is too low to have been of any use in that battle. However, you are proficient in movement techniques. Help me search the area and see if there are any hidden mechanisms or restrictions.”
“As you command!” Silvermoon nodded and her body disappeared into the ground in a flash of silver light.
Han Li then sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes, slowly spreading out his spiritual sense to examine every inch of the spatial dimension and see if there were any secrets contained within.
Han Li’s expression was completely calm, but after making no discoveries, he betrayed a trace of disappointment. After a moment more, his eyelids moved and he suddenly revealed an odd expression before opening his eyes.
He immediately stood up and excitedly moved to a corner of the spatial dimension where there were tensome purple berries growing from an odd plant.
Chapter 856: The Fuchsia Cloud Pill and the Soul Snow Pill
The Monarch of Soul Divergence yelped in alarm, “Yi! That seems to be a Dream Prominence Fruit. It’s already turned a deep purple. It should have medicinal properties over ten thousand years in age at the very least.”
Forcing down the excitement in his heart, Han Li said with a calm tone, “It is unknown just how long this abandoned medicinal garden has existed. It would be odd if its potency wasn’t at least ten thousand years of age!” He didn’t immediately pick any of the fruit. Instead, he observed them for a long while before turning around to examine another corner of the garden.
“Dragonweave Grass! Wind Spirit Flowers!” As Han Li muttered the names of these long extinct spirit medicines of immense potency, his eyes shined with increasing excitement.
“I’m surprised you’re so familiar with medicinal herbs. There were even some I hadn’t heard off.” Monarch Soul Divergence said with a surprised tone.
Han Li raised his head to look at another direction and smiled, saying, “Could it be that Senior is teasing me? I am only able to recognize a third of the plants here. I will be needing your help to identify most of them.”
Perhaps believing this to only be a trivial matter, Monarch Soul Divergence didn’t press Han Li too hard. Rather, he coldly snorted and said, “Although I’ve touched upon the topic of pill refinement, I haven’t delved too deeply into it so I will only be able to help you identify them. That over there is...”
Han Li nodded as he listened. Then he summoned a faint green jade slip into his hand and immersed his spiritual sense into it, staying still as if probing it.
Monarch Soul Divergence tactfully kept silent as Han Li did this. After the time it took to finish a meal, Han Li withdrew his spiritual sense from the jade slip, wearing a pensive expression.
This jade slip was given to Han Li by the Drifting Cloud Sect’s Cultivator Song and recorded many ancient spirit medicines and pill formulas. He was relying on it to recognize many of the spirit medicines in the garden.
After Han Li looked through it, he spotted two ancient pill formulas that he was able to immediately refine. It used a few of the ancient spirit herbs that he had found inside the garden along with a few of the materials he had received in exchange for the copper lantern from the battle at the border. With these ingredients, he barely had enough materials to create the so-called Fuchsia Cloud Pill.
According to
the pill formula, it was a cultivation progression pill that was rare even in times of antiquity. Its medicinal power was excessive for an early Nascent Soul cultivator like Han and was more appropriate for a mid Nascent Soul cultivator. If Han Li were to take it, a portion of its medicinal strength would be wasted and his meridians would swell until they tore, arousing intense pain.
There was also another pill by the name of the Snow Soul Pill that he had high hopes for refining. However, he was still missing a few precious ingredients to refine it and would have to find them in the outside world.
Although the Snow Soul Pill wasn’t a medicine pill that progressed cultivation, it was a supplementary medicine that increased the glacial power of a cultivator’s ice techniques. The pill formula only gave a vague description of its effects, but it was certain to be unordinary, given the rare materials that it used.
As for the other medicine herbs in the garden, they weren’t enough to complete a formula and would be used for later.
Han Li’s thoughts continued to churn over how he could use these medicinal herbs and he couldn’t help but turn giddy.
Although Han Li had been kept busy ever since he had entered the Nascent Soul stage and never had the opportunity to enter seclusion for a long period of time for cultivation, the thought of looking for appropriate cultivation medicine and an opportunity to seclude himself for many years had been on his mind for a while. It appeared his efforts had paid off now that an opportunity presented itself.
If the Fuchsia Cloud Pill was as miraculous as the pill formula had described, it would be able to push him to the peak of the early Nascent Soul stage. Afterwards, he could attempt to break through the bottleneck to the mid Nascent Soul stage.
Additionally, a few of these medicinal herbs could be replanted when he returned and he could further mature them with the use of the green liquid, making even more Fuchsia Cloud Pills.
As for the Snow Soul Pills, they were also rather useful to Han Li. His Celestial Ice Flames and Purple Apex Flames were both glacial abilities and the pill was suitable in boosting their power.
With his tentative plans finished, Han Li let out a long breath and his face betrayed a rare expression of happiness. If everything went as planned, the dangers he had braved in Devilfall Valley as well as the destruction of various treasures and puppets would’ve been well worth it.
The only thing that made him anxious was the loss of his two Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords that were infused with Auric Essence. But since the two swords were his personally bonded magic treasures, he didn’t need to fear having them seized by others as they would be bonded to him as long as he breathed. At worst, he would have to spend a bit of effort to find them and shouldn’t prove too difficult.
Had Han Li known that his flying swords had fallen into the hands of the Elder Devil, his thoughts wouldn’t have been anywhere near so relaxed.
Then without another thought, Han Li slapped his storage pouch and took out over a dozen jade boxes of varying sizes, suspending them in the air in front of him.
Han Li then lowered himself and began to carefully pick the spirit herbs. After he finished digging up one plant by the roots, he left the rest of them alone and slowly made his way across different fields of plants.
Regardless of whatever spirit medicines they were, Han Li uprooted a single plant from each of them so that he could further nurture them on the outside.
But after Han Li did this once through for each plant, his expression sank and became unsightly. It seemed that there were three medicine herbs in the garden that couldn’t be replanted.
There was one plant that was like the Spirit Kindle Fruit. When they left their original spot of growth, they immediately withered and lost their medicinal qualities while another plant combusted and disappeared as soon as it was picked. As for the last kind, it was particularly strange; it wilted as if in fear and dissolved into liquid.
Han Li felt particularly annoyed. There were only a few spirit medicines in this world that couldn’t be replanted, but there were three of these plants in this garden. What made Han Li particularly depressed was that one of these plants was a primary ingredient for the Fuchsia Cloud Pill.
It was a small red herb that appeared as scarlet as flame. After circling around it several times, his expression turned as cold as ice. But something suddenly came to mind and after a moment of hesitation, he took out his small green bottle from his robes.
This bottle had remained hidden on Han Li’s person with a mysterious technique. Unless he perished, there was no way of anybody else discovering it.
“What’s that?” The Monarch of Soul Divergence curiously asked.
“It’s nothing, only a magic tool.” Han Li casually replied. He then carefully opened the bottle with both his hands.
As a result, nothing strange happened. After waiting a moment more, Han Li frowned before carefully closing it and putting it away. This dimensional space had no sun, moon, or stars. It came as no surprise that the small bottle didn’t have any effect here, but he still felt disappointed nevertheless.
Under these conditions, Han Li couldn’t refine many Fuchsia Cloud Pills no matter how long he stayed here. He would only be able to refine as many of those pills as the present herbs would allow him.
Han Li sighed and then turned his head upward to look at the sky with squinted eyes.
Regardless of the medicine pills, he had another urgent matter to resolve. He needed to figure out a way to return to the mortal realm.
This time, he didn’t have another person with him to form a joint attack, and from his recent examination with his spiritual sense, there were no unstable areas in any of the walls. He tried to look up above and down below, but there was some sort of restriction that repelled his spiritual sense.
As for Silvermoon, she had already gone into the ground with her earth movement techniques to take a closer look. All that was left was for him to personally go and look what was up above in the grey clouds.
Given the recent display of the restriction’s power, Han Li was unwilling to casually stir it and provoke his own doom.
Just as he lowered his head in thought, silver light flickered from the ground. Silvermoon reappeared and hastily saluted Han Li.
“Master, I’ve finished my inspection. Although there is a restriction down below, it is fragmented. I managed to dig through the hole, but I didn’t find anything of interest. I’m afraid I must disappoint Master.” Silvermoon stated with a regretful tone.
Han Li’s expression remained the same and he slowly nodded. He then raised his head to the sky and said, “It’s alright. So it turned out there wasn’t a gap through the ground.”
“Does Master plan on searching up above?” Silvermoon asked with a tone of worry.
With a firm voice, Han Li said, “Yes. With the walls and ground having no holes, I can only risk some danger and go up. Since the silver flame only killed the Elder Devil, it shouldn’t take action against human cultivators. Otherwise, I may truly be trapped here for the rest of my life.” His body then glowed with azure light and he floated up to the sky.
Chapter 857: Detention
As the spatial dimension wasn’t very tall, Han Li quickly arrived at its top where he only saw grey mist. Then he floated in the air and channeled the entirety of his magic power into his eyes, causing them to twinkle with blue light.
With the Brightsight Spirit Eyes, the clouds turned a faint blue and Han Li was able to make out a faint silver screen motionlessly floating above the clouds.
‘Could that be the restriction placed down by the Spirit Realm cultivators?’ Han Li’s heart stirred and he raised his hand, releasing a ball of blue light into the clouds.
The ball of light was able to pass through the silver restrictions without resistance and continued to fly for another thirty meters before coming to a sudden stop as if having knocked against something and exploding.
Han Li’s expression relaxed and his body shined with azure light as he
flew into the clouds. For some unknown reason, a strange thought flickered past Han Li’s mind.
Although Han Li had already tested it, he still felt very scared when he passed through the silver restriction. Fortunately, he passed through it without anything happening. As he had expected, the Spirit Ether Garden’s restrictions seemed to only affect Elder Devils. It was still unclear what relation the Elder Devils had with this fragmented medicine garden.
After he crossed the restriction, Han Li felt a wave of relief and made full use of his spiritual sense and Brightsight Spirit Eyes to sweep over every inch of the hundred meter wide ceiling, but discovered nothing.
Having calmed down from his joy of acquiring the medicinal herbs, Han Li knew that he had encountered a huge problem. He looked down at the sparkling silver screen restriction and hesitated before deciding to leave it alone for the time being. The overwhelming power of the silver flames were still fresh in his memory and he didn’t wish to provoke a life ending danger.
Han Li examined the sky two more times and sighed. With a faceful of disappointment, he eventually floated back down to the ground.
“Master...”
Han Li expressionlessly said, “I’ve discovered nothing. It seems the space is completely sealed off. There is no hole to take advantage of.”
Worry filled Silvermoon’s voice, “Then aren’t we trapped here? We would need the ability to tear through space, an ability only Deity Transformation stage cultivators possess.”
When Han Li heard this, his frown only grew tenser. Suddenly, his eyes flickered and he walked over to one of the space’s walls. Silvermoon blankly stared before following after him.
When Han Li arrived about ten meters away from the wall, his sleeves trembled without another word, releasing tens of flying swords in golden streaks. Then he struck them with spell seals and condensed them into a three-meter-long golden sword above his head.
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