“Senior Han!”
They all called out to him and stood at attention while floating in the air.
After several decades had passed, the squad remained safe and sound, but this time, they viewed Han Li with obvious respect. They no longer possessed an ounce of disobedience.
This was to be expected.
The other three squads that undertook patrol missions in similar areas would see an astonishing number of deaths. There were times that over half the small squads would need to be replaced. Although his own squad encountered many dangers, Han Li resolved each of them with ease, earning him the unopposed command of his squad.
Of course, under Han Li’s guidance, the squad acquired many rewards, much to their satisfaction.
Han Li nodded and casually said, “Let’s go, the foreign being was a green shadow and it has already been disposed of.”
A cultivator with a young appearance chuckled and said, “A green shadow? That is quite troublesome. The squad leader must’ve been able to restrain him easily with his Divine Essensefused Light. Let alone the green shadow, if a scarlet shadow appeared, the squad leader might’ve had a real fight.”
Han Li snorted and said, “A scarlet shadow is something that even Spatial Tempering cultivators find difficult to deal with. How could I possibly deal with one? Alright, let’s hurry on our way. After we patrol this last area, we’ll be able to rest for another year. Last time, we encountered a high-grade Cave Hollow Tribe being there. This time, we encountered a high-grade Shadow Tribe Being.”
Cultivator Ma’s cheek twitched and he sullenly said, “That’s right. Isn’t this becoming too ordinary over the past ten years? Even if we commonly discover foreign tribe scouts, it can’t happen this often. There are even high-grade beings among them, each of them entering the swamp without any fear. I heard that the Buried Bone Desert that the demons are managing on the other side are also encountering a large number of foreign tribe scouts. Large number of metamorphosed demons are also dying on their patrols. Could it be there are foreign tribes that plan on attacking Deep Heaven City?”
When the others heard this, their expressions vastly changed and their smiles faded.
Still as beautiful as before, Fairy Xu frowned and said, “That can’t be, it had only been thirty thousand years the foreign tribes last attacked Deep Heaven City. Don’t they usually launch an attack every sixty thousand years?”
Chapter 1354: Deep Heaven Hall
“After a war, foreign tribes usually need sixty to a hundred thousand years to launch another attack. If something unforeseen has occurred and they want to quickly start another way at the cost of their strength, it would be possible. In the great hundred tribe war five hundred years ago, foreign tribes alternated in five waves of attacks over a span of a hundred thousand years. It nearly wiped out all the strength of both humans and demons, leaving us on the verge of destruction. It took a hundred thousand years before we could flourish once more. Of course, some of these foreign tribes were exterminated during the war.”
The large green-eyed man felt his breath turn cold and he widely opened his eyes, “The great hundred tribe war? You must be joking. That war engulfed most of the spirit realm. How can you say something like that will happen? And didn’t we end up on top after that?”
“Fellow Daoist Ma’s words are quite frightening. If another war like that happens, it will be difficult for us to survive. During that war, mortals were fine, but nine out of ten cultivators suffered heavily from them.” Fairy Xu said with a chill.
“That’s right, that’s right, how can that...”
When the others heard the words ‘Hundred Tribe War’, their faces paled as if the Daoist Priest said something fearsome, making it difficult to keep their calm.
“That’s enough. We’ve only encountered more foreign tribe scouts recently. How would that lead to another grand hundred tribe war? There is little chance of this happening. And even if it happens, it isn’t something we have control over.
Let’s first complete the patrol assignment, that’s more important. As for matters of war, let the panel of elders deal with it.” With a calm expression, Han Li uttered his orders and took the lead.
The others promptly stopped their conversation and flew after him.
In the blink of an eye, they disappeared from the horizon.
Several days later, Han Li and the others sat on top of a Gold Court Boat and returned to a giant pagoda in Deep Heaven City.
While the others remained in the hall to rest, Han Li left the squad base alone and climbed up to the top of the stone pagoda.
After walking ten stories up, he eventually arrived at a tightly guarded gate and entered an unremarkable large hall.
The hall’s walls flickered with various restrictions. They were great in number and appeared to be incredibly powerful.
Inside the hall, apart from the stone table and a white-robed middle-aged man sitting at the side of the stone table, there was no one else.
Just as Han Li entered it, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes and gave Han Li a calm glance. “So it was Esteemed Nephew Han. What did you gain during this patrol? Is it living or dead? Which tribe is it?”
The middle-aged man appeared quite familiar with Han Li.
“Senior, I report that I have captured a Shadow Tribe scout alive.” Not daring to be negligent, Han Li respectfully saluted the middle-aged man and took out a jade box and placed it on the table.
“The Shadow Tribe! Tch tch, rarely is one captured alive. Let me take a look.” The white-robed middle-aged man’s expression stirred in excitement.
Han Li formed an incantation gesture and slapped the table in front of him.
The stone table suddenly glowed with white light and a three-meter-wide spell formation appeared with the jade box right at its center.
A layer of silver light appeared from it and the jade box was thoroughly restrained.
The middle-aged man swept his sleeve towards the jade box without any regard of the formation and opened its lid, revealing a green ball of faint light within it.
The middle-aged man examined the ball and rejoiced, “A green shadow! This is a high-grade Shadow Tribe being that is difficult to come across, and it is even alive! Nephew, this will earn you great merit!”
“Senior praises me too much! I hear that in half a month, the Deep Heaven Hall will have an Elder Xing lecture about talismans. Is this true?”
“That’s right. This time at Deep Heaven Hall, it will be Elder Xing lecturing. Although I don’t know if you follow talisman refinement, Elder Xingis famous for his talisman techniques and lecture will most likely follow that route. Could it be that Nephew Han is interested in it?” The middle-aged man said with surprise.
Han Li openly said, “I’ve recently delved into studying talismans and have gained some insights. I was hoping for some guidance.”
The middle-aged man frowned and slowly said, “If the Dao of Talismans is studied deeply, it will have countless wondrous uses in battle, but this is only a supplementary technique. It doesn’t have much use in cultivation.
For Nephew Han to be able to progress his cultivation to mid-stage after only shortly ascending to the Spirit realm, you are a rare kind even among other ascended cultivators like us. Your exceptional talents are clear to see. But it would be best if you weren’t distracted by other things, or you may suffer harm in your main cultivation.”
“Many thanks for your kind intentions Senior, I will take it to heart. But I do want to attend Elder Xing’s lecture. I don’t know if my accumulated merits would allow me to listen to him.” Han Li showed no intention of backing down.
“Since you’ve made your decision, I won’t say anything further. Adding your past merits to this one, you have more than enough to enter the Deep Heaven Hall. Hehe, every ten years, an elder lectures there and you seem to never miss a single one. It should be quite tough for you as well. Alright, I’ll make a list of your accomplishments. Take it to
the merit evaluation pavilion and receive your lecture token.” He took out a jade badge from his robes and inscribed something to it before handing it over to Han Li.
Han Li took the jade badge with joy and saluted the middle-aged man. Then he bid goodbye and head into the hall.
When the middle-aged man saw Han Li leave the hall, he shook his head and then nodded. Afterwards, the jade box on the table closed and he formed an incantation gesture before pointing at the table.
The spell formation on the table glowed dazzlingly and white flashed from the box before it disappeared.
Just as the middle-aged man was teleporting the green shadow to a restricted area, Han Li flew out the Deep Heaven City market.
Several hours later, Han Li dropped down to the Profound Zenith Hall.
Han Li handed the guards a bag of spirit stones and wore the given concealment pendant before heading inside.
After walking through a long passage, Han Li emerged into the large hall. It was filled with humans and demons trading with one another.
The total of figures covered in silver and black light numbered over three hundred.
There were tens of vendors laid out all over the hall.
Han Li swept his gaze around and his gaze stopped on a stone pillar at the center of the hall.
There was a demon standing still.
Han Li took a deep breath and walked over.
Before Han Li arrived, he heard a chuckle and a sweet voice happily say, “You’ve finally come. After our last meeting, I thought you’ve secluded yourself in bitter cultivation. I thought it’d be decades before I’d see you again.”
Han Li smiled and replied through voice transmission. “I’ve only come this time to test my luck. I didn’t think that Fellow Daoist Yan would actually arrive here. It appeared that you also sense that something had been wrong recently and also wanted to conclude our business.”
After a pause, the woman’s voice turned ice-cold, “There is something wrong?”
“You must’ve heard about it. Take a look at the hall. There are several times more people than normal. Doesn’t this mean something?” Han Li leisurely replied. He paid no mind to the woman’s tone.
“Could it be that you’ve heard something?” A glint shined from her eyes.
“I don’t know much, but there have been high-grade cultivators dispatching troops. As for the regions we’re overseeing, more foreign tribe scouts have been appearing there. About six times as many. How are things on your side?”
After some hesitation, the woman truthfully answered, “It’s about the same. Those old fogeys have started to show their faces in greater numbers and there even are new faces in the city. Their cultivation is quite powerful. They should be new subordinates that arrived from the seven demon lands.”
“I’ve got it. It seems there is something that’s about to happen. How often do you experience attacks from foreign tribes?” Han Li asked.
The woman sullenly answered, “Three times out of ten on a patrol. Why else has the city undergone such astonishing changes.”
“Thirty percent, that is quite high.” Han Li let out a long sigh and muttered to himself for a moment.
The woman indifferently said, “That’s right. After I finish this deal here, I won’t be appearing here again. If Fellow Daoist wishes to preserve his life, it’d be best for him to leave this city. Otherwise when the foreign tribes attack, it will be difficult to escape calamity considering our cultivation.”
“Your words are quite simple, but as a cultivator of the city, how could I escape? And every year I also need...” Han Li wryly laughed and his words came to a sudden stop as if something came to mind.
“Hehe, it is quite troublesome to leave the city as of current. Our races are different and I am powerless. Fortunately, even if a war breaks out, you have several years to think of a plan. Alright, that’s enough information. Let’s begin trading.”
Chapter 1355: Gathering
Han Li raised no objection to the woman and merely asked, “How many spirit medicine seeds did you gather this time. Last time, Fellow Daoist Yan managed to find several. Although they were rare, they didn’t have many uses.”
The woman sweetly laughed and said, “Don’t worry, Fellow Daoist. This time I was able to gather most of the ones you pointed out to me. To tell the truth, if it weren’t for the fact that there will soon be a war, I wouldn’t have paid such a large price for these seeds. I have other things that I have to worry about. More importantly, I hope you’ve brought enough myriad year spirit herbs.”
Han Li strangely smiled and asked, “We’ve traded several times before. How would I be lacking in spirit medicine?”
“This time, however, the seeds are exceptionally rare. They are no less valuable than your myriad year spirit herbs. It’s only that spirit herbs of that age are hardly seen, or else I wouldn’t be doing business with you.” The woman sweetly giggled and flipped her hand to produce an emerald green wooden box. She tossed it over to him.
There were simple flower patterns engraved on the box. The faint talisman characters flickering on the box clearly showed it was no common object.
Han Li caught the box with a solemn expression. Without opening the box, he peered inside it with his Brightsight Spirit Eyes. He also searched it with his immense spiritual sense.
For a time, Han Li stood in place with the box in hand.
The demon woman didn’t view Han Li’s actions as strange and didn’t urge him to be faster. She simply stared at Han Li without a word. It was as if she was trying to make out Han Li’s true appearance through the silver light.
A short while later, the woman sighed and withdrew her gaze.
There was no doubt she was curious about this person. His identity must be unordinary since he possessed so many myriad year spirit herbs.
If she were to guess, this person most likely belonged to one of the hidden true spirit noble clans. It was most likely he belonged to the Min Clan who were renowned for spirit medicine nurturing.
However, her partner was extremely cautious. She attempted to approach the topic several times, but not only did she come up with nothing, she almost revealed her own identity in a moment of carelessness.
This left the woman incredibly vexed for a long while after.
Although he couldn't find her using the name she’d give her, it completely stifled her intent on finding his identity.
She instead became vigilant in not releasing any more information about herself.
But she couldn't help but be excited at the thought of acquiring the myriad year spirit medicine.
Although she came from a somewhat extraordinary background and possessed some status in her clan, she still wasn’t able to acquire many spirit medicines, no matter how many spirit stones she offered.
So long as business here succeeds, she would have enough spirit medicines to have someone refine them into various required medicine pills she needed to break through her bottleneck.
Of course, she was also greatly interested in the spirit medicine seeds that Han Li was collecting, but so long as he paid her as agreed, she was disinclined to delve deep into the matter.
When the demon woman started to feel her heart thump, Han Li finally finished examining the box and nodded with satisfaction. “Not bad. It’s most of the seeds that I told you to get. Here are your medicinal herbs. Take a good look at them.”
With that, he took out several jade boxes from his body and handed them over to her.
The woman didn’t dare to be careless and carefully inspected it as well.
The woman put away the medicine herbs and giggled, “Yes, they really are medicine herbs ten thousand years of age. This will be the last business we’ll have for some time to come. If you truly manage to avoid calamity, perhaps there will be another opportunity to meet.”
Han Li swept his sights past the other vendors and pensively said, “I hope that’s the case. Now that we’re done, I’ll be taking a look around
to see if there is anything good. There should be a few hidden treasures waiting to be found.”
“You are quite shrewd. From what I’ve seen so far, there are many rare treasures. However, I have other things to attend to, so I’ll be parting here.”
“Please, go ahead,” Han Li calmly saluted her.
The woman nimbly turned around and made her way to the exit on the demon side.
After Han Li saw her leave, his lips twitched into a smile.
Originally, the Clear Jade Pills were only supposed to be effective for the early-Deity Transformation stage. Now that he’s done several trades with the woman, he collected enough medicines to create two types of medicine pills that would be useful to a mid-Deity Transformation cultivator. It appears he wouldn’t have to worry about medicine pills for some time.
With that important matter out of the way, he felt relief and slowly walked past a human vendor that was set up nearby.
After walking around the hall, Han Li frowned.
Although there were many vendors, the treasures they presented were far more previous than he had seen before.
As of current, there aren’t many treasures and materials that can easily catch his interest. What most interested him were secret techniques, they were rarely on sale and they weren’t guaranteed to be interesting to him either.
He shook his head and slowly departed from the hall.
He took off to the air as soon as he left and went towards his residence in the stone pagoda.
In half a month, there would be the lecture at Deep Heaven Hall, something Han Li definitely wouldn’t miss. And even without the lecture, he had other things to attend to that kept him in the city.
When he returned to his residence in the stone pagoda, Han Li took the jade badge that had his merits recorded and he took it to another hall in exchange for a permission token. Then he returned to his squad’s base and found a quiet place to rest.
Three days later, he hurriedly left for some part of the city.
Half a day later, he appeared outside the city above a valley.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 756