"Hmph, how do I know if you're telling the truth?" Jin Yue harrumphed coldly.
"That's simple; you can take me to the third level of the earth abyss in person, then witness the process through which I depart. I'm sure that should erase all of your doubts and suspicions. If you feel like something is amiss, you can just prevent me from making my departure. I'm sure that would be a simple task for a late-holy race being like you. Of course, if you're still feeling hesitant, then I have no objections if you bring along more people with you," Han Li replied.
"This is indeed a good plan, but I'm still not convinced. Even several centuries ago, you were already far more powerful than your cultivation base suggested. Now that you've reached the mid-holy race, I'm not confident in my ability to keep you in check," Jin Yue said in a wary manner.
"Aren't you being a little too naive, Fellow Daoist Jin? The cultivation art I'm giving you can enhance the power of your race's Kun Peng Transformation by close to 50%. With this cultivation art, your Tian Peng Race could become one of the most powerful branches of the Flying Spirit Race in the next 10,000 years, yet you don't want to incur any risk at all for such an incredible opportunity?" Han Li said in a slightly mocking manner.
Jin Yue's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and a cold light flashed through her eyes.
"I'd advise you not to try anything silly, Fellow Daoist Jin. You should be well aware that I only dared to come here alone as I'm confident in my ability to ensure my own safety. On top of that, I haven't recorded the second half of the cultivation art into a jade slip, and it exists only in my spiritual sense. If you try to obtain it through any other methods, I can destroy it in an instant, and you can try to keep me here, but I'm not sure you have the means to do so," Han Li chuckled as he narrowed his eyes slightly.
After considering the situation for a long while, Jin Yue finally sighed, and conceded, "I wouldn't do that, Fellow Daoist Han. You once did our race a great service, so I certainly wouldn't repay kindness with ingratitude. In that case, I'll find a way to take you to the third level of the earth abyss. However, you'll have to wait for some time for us to prepare everything, so why don't you stay in our holy city during that time?"
"You've made a wise decision, Fellow Daoist Jin, but I still have some other matters to attend to, so I won't be staying in your holy city. I'll return in half a month; I'm sure that'll be enough time for you to prepare everything," Han Li said with a smile as he rose to his feet.
It was quite clear that he didn't trust the Tian Peng Race enough to stay in the holy city, and Jin Yue could only offer a wry smile. "In that case, I look forward to our meeting in half a month's time. Before you leave..." Jin Yue suddenly turned toward the entrance of the hall, and transmitted her voice outside. "Bring me the spirit tea that I asked for!"
Moments later, a servant hurriedly made her way into the hall before handing a yellow leather pouch over to Han Li.
"Thank you for the gift." Han Li swept a sleeve over the leather pouch to accept it, then cupped his fist in a farewell salute toward Jin Yue before departing.
Not long after that, a streak of azure light shot forth from the holy city, then vanished into the distance after just a few flashes.
A while later, Han Li descended onto a nondescript mountain hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the holy city. He then quickly erected a secret chamber under the mountain before setting up a profound concealment formation at the entrance.
After making his way into the secret chamber, he took a seat on the ground with his legs crossed and thought back to what he had said and done during his visit to the holy city, assessing whether he had made any errors.
After a long while, he heaved a faint sigh, and the contemplative look in his eyes faded.
On this occasion, he had intentionally revealed his Kun Peng Transformation to attract the attention of the Tian Peng Race.
With his current level of mastery of the 12 Awakening Transformations, his Kun Peng Transformation was naturally extremely powerful, far more so than the innate transformation that Tiang Peng beings possessed.
However, only Jin Yue could identify the specific disparities between the two transformations, which was why she had been so astonished at the sight of Han Li.
Of course, Han Li only dared to do something like this as he was confident he would be able to protect himself, even if all of the Tiang Peng Race elders were to turn on him. He still couldn't defeat all of them at once, but no one could stop him if he were to escape; this was something that Jin Yue was naturally also well aware of. That, in conjunction with the vastly improved Kun Peng Transformation that Han Li had displayed, was why she had acted so politely toward him in the beginning.
As for the cultivation art that he had offered as part of the exchange, that was something that he had created after taking into account his knowledge of both the 12 Awakening Transformations and the Gu Family's spirit blood refinement method.
The cultivation art would indeed be extraordinarily effective to Tian Peng beings, which was why Jin Yue had been so interested. Now that he had made this agreement with Jin Yue, he should be able to access the earth abyss with no issues.
Even though the Tian Peng Race was one of the weaker branches of the Flying Spirit Race, Jin Yue was still a late-holy race being, so this really shouldn't be too difficult for her to arrange.
Without her help, it would definitely be far more difficult for him to infiltrate the earth abyss. However, he still had to constantly be on his guard when he went back to meet Jin Yue again in case she did something hot-headed.
Of course, after he had hinted at the fact that this matter was related to a Grand Ascension Stage being, the possibility of that happening was naturally far smaller.
With that in mind, Han Li set aside that train of thought and closed his eyes to enter a meditative state.
Meanwhile, the elders of the Tian Peng Race had just departed from a large hall in the holy city following a discussion with Jin Yue. Thus, Jin Yue was left by herself on the main seat within the hall, and she seemed to be pondering something with a contemplative look on her face.
Half a month flew by in a flash, and on this day, several streaks of light flew away from the holy city, traveling deeper into Flying Spirit Race territory.
Among these streaks of light was Han Li in his usual azure robes, the white-robed Jin Yue, and a young woman with arcs of lightning flashing around her body.
The woman had a pair of large bright eyes, and she was none other than one of the Tiang Peng Race's two holy masters, Lei Lan.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I'll be sending the holy master into one of the earth abyss's secret areas to cultivate her glacial baleful secret technique, and you'll pose as her guard. Under normal circumstances, there shouldn't be issues, but you still have to be careful when undergoing checks. After all, the innate abilities that some of our high-grade Flying Spirit beings are extremely unpredictable. If the guards on duty are adept in detection secret techniques, then there could be some trouble," Jin Yue said in a serious manner.
Chapter 1853: Sudden Turn of Events in the Earth Abyss
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist; I have some confidence in my own concealment techniques. As long as I don't encounter any of your race's Grand Ascension Stage seniors, there shouldn't be any issues," Han Li said in a confident manner, and his confidence certainly wasn't baseless.
He possessed the Tian Peng True Blood within his body, and his Thunderstorm Wings had also been cultivated to the point where it was virtually a part of his body, so he would naturally have no trouble posing as a guard from the Tian Peng Race.
"I'm glad you're so confident, Fellow Daoist. Holy Master Lan, we'll be counting on you," Jin Yue replied with a nod before turning to the silver-robed woman beside her.
"Rest assured, Grand Elder; I really do have a type of secret technique that requires Glacial Baleful Qi to cultivate, and I visited the earth abyss for this very same reason several decades ago, so the
guard definitely won't suspect anything," the silver-robed woman replied in a respectful manner before her gaze strayed involuntarily toward Han Li again, and there was clearly a hint of astonishment in her eyes.
Even though she had already been made aware prior to setting off that Han Li had become a mid-holy race being, she was still extremely stunned to see this for herself.
Back when they were undertaking the earth abyss trials together, she could already tell that Han Li was far more powerful than his cultivation base suggested, but it was downright absurd that he had managed to progress to the mid-holy race after just several centuries!
However, as the holy maiden, it would be unbefitting of her to let her astonishment get the better of herself, so she merely extended a respectful salute of gratitude toward Han Li for assisting her and Bai Bi during the earth abyss trials, and repressed her curiosity thereafter.
As for Bai Bi himself, he was apparently cultivating some kind of secret technique in seclusion, so he was unable to meet Han Li.
A faint smile appeared on Jin Yue's face in response to Lei Lan's reassuring words, and she nodded before falling silent again.
Thus, the three of them continued in their journey, and quickly left the holy city behind.
Several months later, Han Li's trio finally arrived at the giant city guarding the earth abyss, and from a distance, they could see a row of armored figures standing atop the city wall.
Jin Yue's eyes narrowed slightly, and she led Han Li and Lei Lan on a descent before flying toward a certain city gate.
There were a dozen or so earth abyss guards with wings of different colors situated at the azure city gate, and they were appraising Han Li's trio with wary looks on their faces.
The three of them landed in front of the guards, and at this point, Han Li had already altered his own appearance. At the same time, he had restricted his own magic power to only around the Spatial Tempering Stage.
The leader of this group of guards was a mid-Spatial Tempering Stage being, and he extended a salute toward Jin Yue before asking, "Are you from the Tian Peng Race, Senior? May I ask why you've come here? It isn't time to change the guards yet."
He was unable to glean Jin Yue's exact cultivation base, but he knew that she was definitely a holy race being.
As for Han Li and Lei Lan, they seemed to have been unconsciously ignored by him.
It was no wonder that he held such an attitude; the guards here had been constantly fighting earth abyss demons for many years, so their powers far outstripped their peers of the same cultivation base. As such, they had all developed a hint of arrogance toward beings from other branches of the Flying Spirit Race.
Jin Yue remained unbothered by this and merely smiled as she raised a hand, upon which a blue jade badge shot forth out of her sleeve before landing in the guard's hand.
The guard was rather perplexed by this, but upon inspecting the jade badge, his expression immediately changed as he returned the badge respectful with both hands, then said, "Forgive me for my rudeness, Senior Jin, I didn't recognize you as the grand elder the Tian Peng Race."
"According to the agreement signed by all the races, the grand elders have the right to access the earth abyss at any time, so I'm sure you'll have no issues granting me passage, right?" Jin Yue said as she took the jade badge back from the guard.
"Of course," the guard immediately replied before waving a hand, upon which all of the guards stepped away to the side, opening up a passageway for Han Li's trio.
Jin Yue merely nodded upon seeing this before leading Han Li and Lei Lan in through the city gate.
On the other side of the city gate, Han Li was greeted by the sight of a series of cylindrical pavilions that were each around 300 to 400 feet tall. They were situated in dense clusters and spread over most of the city.
However, there were very few people inside the city; only a few groups of guards that were patrolling the entire city at low altitudes.
"Let's go, there's no reason to delay here." Jin Yue transmitted her voice to Han Li and Lei Lan before rising up into the air and flying toward the city wall on the other side.
Han Li and Lei Lan naturally followed along behind her.
Two hours later, they arrived in front of another massive azure wall, and on one face of the wall, there was a giant shimmering silver formation that had been carved onto its surface.
In front of the formation was another group of guards wearing suits of armor of different colors. However, what was rather strange was aside from these guards, there was also an azure-armored middle-aged man seated atop a futon with his eyes tightly shut.
Han Li's heart immediately stirred at the sight of this man, and Jin Yue's pupils also abruptly contracted.
This man was none other than the general of the guards of this place, Jin Feng. Han Li had met him once in the past, and he knew that this man was a being at the pinnacle of the holy race.
It appeared that he was guarding the entrance to the earth abyss in person.
Jin Yue was slightly flustered by this unexpected occurrence, but her expression remained calm as she smiled, and said, "I'm quite surprised to see you here, General Jin. It's been several centuries since we last met; how have you been?"
The azure-armored slowly opened his eyes upon hearing Jin Yue's words before replying, "Ah, long time no see, Fairy Jin. Why have you come here rather than staying in the Tian Peng Race to cultivate?"
"I should be asking you that; since when did the entrance to the earth abyss require General Jin to guard?" Jin Yue asked with a smile.
"Under normal circumstances, I naturally wouldn't be tasked with this duty, but a major event recently took place, so I had no choice but to take on this role," Jin Feng replied in a calm manner.
"Major event?" Jin Yue was rather taken aback to hear this.
"Around a month ago, I received news that someone had robbed the warehouse on the deepest level of the earth abyss and plundered all of the precious ore we'd mined during the past few years. In the process, he also killed and wounded many of the guards, and he's quite a powerful being. I've already sent a large number of guards into the earth abyss to investigate. This is the only entrance and exit to the earth abyss, and normal guards wouldn't be able to stop that man if he were to try and escape, so I had to take on this role," Jin Feng explained with a smile.
"I see. If I recall correctly, isn't Elder Qin situated on the deepest level of the earth abyss? Was the thief able to overpower even Elder Qin?" Jin Yue asked in an incredulous voice.
"The thief was very cunning, and struck right when Elder Qin left the mine for half a day as he had some other matters to attend to. By the time he received news of what had happened, the thief had already fled the scene. Now then, can you tell me why you've come here, Fairy Jin? Grand elders do indeed have the right to access the earth abyss at will, but you have to have a legitimate reason," Jin Feng said as a serious look appeared on his face.
"Holy Master Lei Lan of our race needs to draw upon Glacial Baleful Qi to cultivate, so she has to enter the earth abyss," Jin Yue explained with a smile as she pointed to Lei Lan.
Lei Lan immediately stepped forward in an obedient manner before extending a respectful curtsey toward Jin Feng. "Lei Lan pays her respects to Senior Jin."
"Ah, yes, I've heard from my subordinates that there is indeed a precedent of Holy Master Lei entering the earth abyss for this purpose. In that case, you'll naturally be granted passage. On top of that, with Fairy Jin in accompaniment, I'm sure your safety won't be an issue even with the current ongoing situation in the earth abyss. However, who is that man, and why does he need to accompany you?" Jin Feng asked with furrowed brows as he turned his gaze to Han Li.
"This is a junior of mine, and he possesses outstanding aptitude as well. He's currently acting as Holy Master Lei Lan's personal guard, so he'll be accompanying us into the earth abyss," Jin Yue replied in a calm manner.
"If Holy Master Lei already has you to accompany her, why
would she still need a guard? I don't think there's any need for him to enter the abyss. With the current situation, it's best to have as few people enter the earth abyss as possible," Jin Feng said as he inspected Han Li through narrowed eyes.
Lei Lan and Han Li's expressions both changed slightly upon hearing this, but Jin Yue wasn't panicked in the slightest as she shook her head, and insisted, "I'm afraid that won't do. Junior Han may only be a guard, but he shares a very close bond with Holy Master Lei Lan, and he'll be very important for her cultivation, so he must accompany us into the earth abyss. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken him all the way here."
"What do you mean by that, Fairy Jin? How could a guard like him be connected with Holy Master Lei's cultivation?" Jin Feng asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
Jin Yue merely smiled before transmitting her voice directly to Jin Feng, and initially, Jin Feng was rather perplexed, but an enlightened look quickly appeared on his face, followed by a meaningful smile.
"I see. In that case, it's not in my place to say anything. All three of you will be granted passage," Jin Feng said as he cast his gaze toward Han Li and Lei Lan with a peculiar look in his eyes.
Han Li and Lei Lan didn't show it, but they were quite confused by this situation. However, seeing as they had been granted passage, the two of them naturally immediately expressed their gratitude toward Jin Feng.
Chapter 1854: Return to the Second Level
Thus, Jin Feng waved a hand, and some of the guards immediately stepped forward before purple wooden badges appeared in their hands amid flashes of spiritual light.
The wooden badges glowed bright, and two purple pillars of light shot forth before vanishing into the center of the formation on the wall in a flash.
A buzzing sound immediately rang out from the silver formation, following which a giant silver gate appeared on that section of the city wall.
The gate was several hundred feet tall and gave off a very cold light, looking as if it had been constructed entirely from metal.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1070