Even if the formation was unsuitable for use in the mortal realm, if he strenuously researched it, it could be possible for him to create a simplified version of it. He would be able to put this knowledge to use in that way.
The other portion of information was the spatial nodes in the mortal realm.
Not only did it mention the areas where they could be easily found, but there were over a dozen spatial nodes mentioned that existed in the past with each of their locations noted in exact detail. Xiang Zhili and Corpse Xiong were only given information on a few of them.
As he continued to ponder, a faint smile appeared on his pensive face.
Regardless of how important the contents of the slip would be in the future, his most pressing concern would be to raise his cultivation to late-Nascent Soul stage.
After all, the spatial nodes can only be used if he was at early Deity Transformation stage. It was then that a Nascent Soul would be condensed to the point where one wouldn’t have anything to fear from the nodes’ spatial disturbance. Otherwise, one would face certain death.
Now that he acquired the Nascent Cultivating Pill and the method to dissolve the Soul Curse Seal, all he needed now was a supplementary medicine pill to dissolve the curse. The Profound Ice Pill was an ice-attributed medicine much like the Snow Soul Pill, but its primary ingredient was the Profound Ice Flower. This difference is important as the flower was incredibly rare.
It solely grew on myriad year profound ice and would melt soon after being picked, completely eradicating its medicinal strength.
In addition to how rare they are, they are also in vast demand. Many of the sects that grow them use the flowers as soon as they appear. It is virtually never seen in any auction.
While the medicine to dissolve the curse wasn’t present on Old Devil Qian’s body, it was sure to be found somewhere in the Yin Sifting Sect. However, Han Li wasn’t confident that he’d be able to charge into the base of one of the greatest sects in the Great Jin.
Not to mention the number of cultivators inside, the sect’s grand restriction alone would stop him from going alone.
After all, there were immense differences between some unmanned formation and a cultivator-controlled one.
According to the Profound Ice Pill’s formula, the flower could be substituted with other ice-attributed medicines, but it would cause a massive decrease in effectiveness. Since Han Li decided not to leave matters to chance, he decided to take a trip to a glacial area.
As such, he planned on heading to Bai Yaoyi’s North Night Palace. The palace was located on North Night Island, a place renowned for its unending cold. Surely he would be able to find Profound Ice Flowers there.
In addition, he was curious about the Glacial Quintessence and wanted to see if the palace somehow managed to acquire some Puresun Flame Essence. After all, the sect has held Glacial Quintessence for countless years. If they didn’t have any, they should at least know of its whereabouts.
Of course, Han Li wasn’t about to head straight to North Night Island. He wanted to find a place to lay low until the murmurs of Kunwu Mountain came to pass.
Furthermore, he had pressing matters to attend to, which could take several years.
With that thought, Han Li came to a decision and turned north.
Along the way, he passed through a dozen provinces, eventually arriving at the immense Shuang Region.
Although the region wasn’t the northmost in the Jin Empire, it might as well be as the land was filled with snow as far as the eye could see.
As a result, it was a region that was sparse with people and had even fewer spirit mountains or spirit veins, with quality that was inferior to other places.
As a result, the Great Jin sects rarely established themselves in the region, leaving it to a few clans and many vagrant cultivators.
Although the region was of poor quality, it was extremely large in scope and ranked in the top five for size out of the twenty-six county regions in the Great Jin.
As a few famous ice-attributed materials and medicines grew there, it was also where those with ice-attributed cultivation techniques gathered as well. By drawing support of the constant glacial Qi, they could increase their cultivation. And if they fought cultivators who used techniques of other elements, they would find themselves at an advantage.
In previous places Han Li have been too, whether it was the Heavenly South or the Scattered Star Seas, they had four seasons spread throughout the year. He rarely went to areas that only had one type of climate.
But having reached his current stage in cultivation, his body now reached a level where he had nothing to fear from the cold. In fact, he was even excited to see the vast expanses of snow at the very start, but that wonder soon grew dim.
Along the way, he came across a few others, but he kept at a distance to avoid being detected by them, a trivial task.
Within five days of entering the Shuang Region, Han Li stopped at a desolate and unremarkable mountain range.
Although it was small, it had a spirit vein of acceptable quality.
As he floated in the air, he sensed the mountain’s dense spiritual Qi and nodded with satisfaction.
Then with a cold snort, he flew down with great momentum and entered the top of the mountain.
Han Li’s action led to huge impacting trembles that faintly rode down the mountain. A few small beasts were even thrown into the air and fell unconscious.
Even the few cultivators that were cultivating on the mountain were thrown into disarray and screamed in panic. They sensed a huge pressure weighing on their bodies with a few finding it difficult to even lift themselves from the ground. Those that were stronger even found it difficult to breathe as if they were under a restriction. Soon after, three streaks of light flew up from different areas of the mountain and directly flew in Han Li’s direction.
When Han Li saw them come, his body flashed with azure light and his appearance blurred, soon turning him into a fiendish old man with a goat’s beard.
Because his body was glowing with light, he had no fear that the approaching cultivators had seen anything.
The incoming streaks faded to reveal two black-robed old men and a large grey-robed man. The younger and larger man stood in front with the two old men close behind him.
Han Li raised his brow, but he didn’t find anything out of the ordinary. The large man was at mid Core Formation while the old men were late Foundation Establishment. The three also practiced the same cultivation technique.
Before Han Li spoke, the grey-robed man furiously examined Han Li with his spiritual sense, but his expression changed and his fury vanished, immediately changed with a submissive smile.
“This Junior is the Li Clan Master, Li Zhongtian. Do you have any commands? I will do my best to assist you!” The large man spoke with great respect. Trepidation lingered in his heart after he saw Han Li’s fearsome appearance.
“I care not for your clan. I have my sights on this mountain. Get off of it. I’ll give you half a day to prepare.” Han Li spoke with a hoarse voice and an icy tone. His words were almost colder than the biting icy winds.
Chapter 1076: Pill Refinement
The large man didn’t dare to show his anger when he heard this, but his heart still grew sullen. Instead, he forced a smile and said, “Senior, our Li Clan has settled on the Snow Chain Mountains with Senior Long’s permission. You may take the mountains if you first inform him.”
“Do you think that ‘Senior Long’ can pressure me?” Han Li rolled his eyes and said with a hostile tone, “You have half a day to leave. If anyone finds this unacceptable, have them come find me.”
The large man’s expression fell and he thought to say something else when Han Li interrupted him with a wave of his sleeve, summoning an azure gust from it.
In the large man’s alarm, he covered his body in protective light before feeling a huge spiritual pressure weighing down on him.
The two old men using magic tools to fly we
re unable to raise their defenses and were sent tumbling away by the gale.
Terrified, the two tried but couldn’t raise their defenses, as if their magic power had been sealed. In that moment, they were overwhelmed with fear.
Fortunately, the wind had dissipated of its own accord rapidly, and the old men were able to stabilize themselves once again. When they turned to look up, they discovered that Han Li had already disappeared.
With a palpitating heart, one of the old men asked the grey-robed man, “Venerable Ancestor, wh-when did he...”
With an unsightly expression, he let out a deep sigh and said, “Command everyone to immediately gather their things. We have four hours to leave the mountain!”
The black-robed old man cried out, “What!? Are we truly giving up on the great deal of effort our Li Clan spent to defeat the Seven Snowchain Brothers for these mountains. We haven’t even lived here for even a hundred years. With how tyrannical this person is, will Senior Long sit still?”
Although the other old man didn’t speak, his expressions showed he agreed with him. Given how difficult it was to establish themselves there, he was also unwilling to abandon their home.
“Have you lost your minds,” the grey-robed man snorted with a gloomy expression, “You dare to pull something against someone with that level of cultivation? His spiritual pressure was even greater than Senior Long’s. I suspect he is a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. With such might, Senior Long will turn a blind eye to this, no matter what relationship we have with him. And tyrannical as that senior may be, he did give us time to leave. If he slaughtered us without warning, do you think anybody would try and avenge us? Don’t forget that the cultivation world is where might makes right. The reason why we were able to occupy the mountain in the first place was because we were ever so slightly stronger than the Seven Snowchain Brothers, and were recognized by other factions as a result. So long as the core disciples of our Li Clan exist, we only need to fight for another spirit mountain at worse. It is a far better alternative than to meet our end by a Nascent Soul cultivator!”
The old men nodded with newfound realization.
Soon after, the three disappeared towards the mountain in a blur.
After the time it took to finish a meal, the surrounding area began to stir.
One after another, cultivators shuffled back and forth between buildings and cave residences. While they wore panicked expressions, their movements appeared orderly and efficient.
A few hours later, two squads of cultivators took off and withdrew from the mountain in a grand display. Of the three hundred there, a vast majority of them were at Qi Condensation stage with only around twenty people boarded on flying magic tools.
But in any case, they weren’t slow and they soon departed.
This vast movement naturally caught the attention of their neighboring territories, and they send men to inquire what was happening.
The Li Clan simply told them the truth, much to the shock of these cultivators. The Snow Chain Mountains had been seized by a Nascent Soul cultivator. These scouts returned to their respective factions in order to come up with countermeasures.
A senior of profound cultivation had suddenly appeared in this land. Such an affair could bring both happiness and despair, but from how he occupied the Snowchain Mountains, it was most likely the latter in this case.
Shaken by the news, the nearby cultivator factions prepared themselves to flee at any moment.
At that moment, Han Li was standing on top of the huge rock in the Snowchain Mountains. He had spread out his spiritual sense and was examining the mountains for any hidden cultivators.
Once he opened his eyes once more and he wore a satisfied expression. With a flip of his hand, he summoned a set of formation flags and plates.
Afterwards, his body blurred and he quickly laid a circle around the mountain before returning to his original position. All the formation tools in his hand were now gone.
A dense white mist suddenly emerged from nowhere and soon covered the entire mountain.
Han Li nodded, seeing that there were no problems with the formation.
This countermeasure was something he had acquired from Old Devil Qian’s storage pouch. While it wouldn’t be effective against Nascent Soul cultivators, it was still a higher grade formation and would be effective against keeping out Core Formation cultivators.
With that taken care off, he took a spirit beast pouch from his storage pouch and tossed it into the air. He formed hand incantations and then pointed them at the air.
The storage pouch opened and an icy Qi immediately spouted out to reveal a dozen crystalline snow-white Six-winged Frost Centipedes.
As soon as the centipedes flew out, they flew circles above him and chirped in a cheerful manner.
It appeared the glacial Qi of the nearby land excited them. With a mental command, he released the dozen centipedes, allowing them to quickly roam out of sight in the mist.
With the illusion formation and the dozen frost centipedes concealed within, even an early Nascent Soul cultivator could be repelled.
Having placed down these safety measures, he immediately used his spirit eyes to find the point on the mountains with the densest aura. Afterwards, he used an earth movement technique to burrow deep within and cleaved enough room for his Hidden Fortune Mansion to be released.
Having finally made the proper arrangements for the rest of his insects, he immediately entered his hidden room and sat down cross-legged, slow closed his eyes, and began meditating.
Time slowly passed him by.
When Han Li opened his eyes once more, his face and heart were completely tranquil.
He slapped his storage pouch and took out a red gourd into his hand. He shook out a thumb-sized glistening emerald medicine pill with an overwhelming fragrance. This is the initial objective of his journey, the Nascent cultivating Pill.
According to what the Nine Serenities Sect’s Old Man Fu said, refinement of the pill will take half a year. He had no reason to put it off any further. Taking the pill will produce great benefits towards not only his future cultivation but his strength as well.
After he swallowed it, he immediately felt a soft chill spread throughout his body, quickly turning into threads of scorching heat.
He immediately put away the bottle and closed his eyes. Then with his hands in an incantation gesture, he sank into deep into meditation once more.
If one were to peer inside his body, they would discover that his two-inch-tall Nascent Soul had its eyes opened. It spat out threads of azure flame that were slowly refining the emerald medicine pill.
A deafening silence filled the air.
As day after day passed, half a year had unknowingly crossed. Peace and serenity were maintained in the Snow Chain Mountains, but there were several waves of people that had come to visit.
Among them were high-grade cultivators from nearby factions or Core Formation-stage vagrants from other areas that came to pay their respects. There was even a silver-robed old man who had come to pay Han Li a visit; the sole early Nascent Soul cultivator in the area.
But no matter who came, they were met with the endless white mist. After loudly shouting into it, they had no choice but to return.
The silver-robed old man on the other hand wasn’t satisfied with being ignored. He had charged into the white mist, but after a short moment, he was forced back with a series of sharp insect cries.
He came out with one arm sealed in a block of ice.
Although it wouldn’t cause any permanent injury, the silver-robed old man didn’t dare to re-enter the mist. He simply sighed in resignation and flew off. The power of the Six-winged Frost Centipedes clearly illustrated Han Li’s abilities were far above his own. It would be foolish for him to provoke this superior cultivator any further.
Not long after, cultivator factions from tens of thousands of kilometers away knew that the Snowchain Mountains were occupied by a senior of great power. Even the sovereign
of the region, Senior Long, didn’t dare to provoke him, much to the surprise of everyone.
Thus, a five hundred kilometer radius of the Snowchain Mountains had turned into a restricted area. All cultivators that passed by took a detour around, fearing they would provoke the expert that laid within.
Fortunately, nearly a year passed with only continued silence from the Snowchain Mountains. The expert hadn’t involved himself in any outside fears, calming the fears of the other nearby factions.
One day, Han Li finished refining the Nascent Cultivating Pill and opened his eyes.
His face bloomed with light in a display of success.
Chapter 1077: The Treasures Gained
Han Li slowly stood up and waved his hand, producing a cloud of azure light, soon condensing it into a glistening egg-sized almost solid ball.
He stared at the pure spiritual power in his hand and muttered, “Following the strengthening of my Nascent Soul, my magic power has grown proportionally.”
Soon after, he shook his hand and the ball of light scattered.
He then slapped the top of his head and a beam of azure Qi flew out from it. It circled above his head to reveal an infant with his exact face.
His Nascent Soul was originally only two inches tall, but now it had grown another half-inch. Its body was also far more solid and distinct.
The Nascent Soul was holding a small azure cauldron with an emerald talisman and tens of flying pins circling above its head. The pins glowed a golden azure and appeared extremely gaudy.
The soul appeared excited to have emerged and joyfully flew around the room for nearly two hours. Then, it flew back into its original body as if it were tired.
Han Li reopened his eyes wearing a satisfied expression.
Before he took the Nascent Cultivating Pill, he was only able to move outside of his body for an hour. Any further than that would drain his Nascent Soul’s vitality.
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