However, these fish seemed to have been somehow restricted. Not only did not a single one of them float to the surface, even as Han Li and Qing Yuanzi flew over the lake, the fish displayed no interest toward them whatsoever.
Han Li was slightly surprised to see this, and after flying for several tens of thousands of kilometers further, an island appeared on the surface of the lake.
The island was very eye-catching as it was entirely of a shimmering golden color. On top of that, there was a giant radiant golden palace that took up roughly two-thirds of the area of the island, while the rest of the area had been reserved for all types of exotic flowers and plants. The island was as beautiful as an immortal paradise, but it was entirely enshrouded within a white light barrier, from which Han Li could sense powerful restriction fluctuations.
"This is where that man lives. Come with me, Fellow Daoist Han," Qing Yuanzi said with a smile as he stopped in front of the island.
Chapter 1866: Golden Flame Baron
"This senior sure lives in a rather unique place!" Han Li looked down at the dazzling golden island in a stunned manner.
"Hehe, this is just one of his strange indulgences. You'll know what he's like when you meet him," Qing Yuanzi replied as a slightly peculiar look appeared in his eyes.
"I'm quite curious about this senior now," Han Li mused with a contemplative look on his face.
Meanwhile, Qing Yuanzi swept a sleeve toward the white light barrier up ahead, and a burst of golden light immediately shot forth before transforming into a giant golden sword that was over 100 feet in length.
The sword swept toward the light barrier without any hesitation, and a resounding boom rang out as ripples ran over the entire surface of the light barrier.
Almost at the exact same moment, several roars of fury immediately rang out from the island.
"Who dares to attack our Golden Flame Island?"
"Are you unaware that this is Master Golden Flame's abode?"
Several figures instantly appeared within the light barrier before revealing themselves to be four golden-armored guards, all of whom immediately turned toward Qing Yuanzi and Han LI with furious expressions.
However, upon catching sight of Qing Yuanzi, the four guards hurriedly extended respectful bows. "Ah, it's Master Qing!"
It was quite clear that all of the guards recognized Qing Yuanzi, and their enraged expressions immediately faded.
Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward these four guards and discovered that they were all at the Spatial Tempering Stage. However, there were violent auras within all of their bodies, so they clearly weren't ordinary people.
"Golden Flame Baron, why don't you come out to meet your old friend?" Qing Yuanzi called out toward the golden palace, paying no heed to the four golden-armored guards
Even though his voice wasn't very loud, he had clearly used some kind of secret technique that made his voice audible over the entire island.
"Come in on your own, Qing Yuanzi. Are you asking me to come out to greet you?" An indifferent male voice rang out from within the golden palace in response. It was coming from somewhere quite far away, but it was also very clearly audible to Han Li and Qing Yuanzi.
"Hehe, pardon my intrusion, then. You can lead the way for me," Qing Yuanzi said to the four guards with a smile.
The four golden-armored guards hurriedly replied in a respectful manner, "Yes, please come with us, Senior."
Thus, Han Li and Qing Yuanzi were led through the light barrier by the guards before descending toward the palace on the island.
Not long after that, Qing Yuanzi was seated in a spacious hall in a casual manner, while Han Li was seated beside him in a more rigid and respectful posture.
On the main seat in the hall sat a golden-robed middle-aged man with a golden dragon crown on his head, and a calm look on his face.
"I can see that this fellow Daoist is a mid-Body Integration cultivator; could it be that you accepted him as your disciple, knowing that your life is about to come to an end soon? Someone of his powers at his age is indeed worthy of being your heir. However, last time I visited Old Man Yan, I recall he told me that you have a female disciple," the golden-crowned man said.
This man had skin that was as fair as jade, and a very graceful and refined appearance.
He was the owner of this place, a Grand Ascension Stage being by the name of Golden Flame Baron.
Almost every single inch of his body was adorned by shimmering golden accessories, and Han Li was left feeling rather speechless at the sight of him. At the same time, he finally understood what Qing Yuanzi had told him earlier.
"I'm afraid you're mistaken, Fellow Daoist Jin; Fellow Daoist Han is just one of my acquaintances. I'm sure you recall an incident that took place several hundred years ago, where members of the Mayfly Race hunted down a few people who tried to steal some Divine Infernal River Elixir; it was during that time that I first met Fellow Daoist Han. As for the female disciple you're referring to, she's already become my foster daughter, and even though she also possesses outstanding aptitude, she's still only at the Spatial Tempering Stage at the moment," Qing Yuanzi explained with a smile.
"Oh, you must be the one who diverted the Infernal Lightning Beast away for those who were attempting to steal the elixir. If I recall correctly, didn't everyone in that group get captured by the Mayfly Race in the end? How did this Fellow Daoist Han manage to escape? Could it be that you were the one who saved him?" the golden-crowned man asked with a hint of befuddlement in his eyes.
"That's not exactly what happened, but it's close enough. I was indeed the one who sent Fellow Daoist Han away from the infernal river, but please don't misunderstand; I only did this as Fellow Daoist Han is from the same race as I am, and I also required his services to do something in my stead in the outside world," Qing Yuanzi said in a calm manner.
"I see. Come to think of it, it's been over 1,000 years since you last came to visit me. Now that you're here with Fellow Daoist Han, I'm sure you haven't just come to me for a chat, right?" Golden Flame Baron asked in a serious voice.
"I do indeed have something I need to discuss with you, Fellow Daoist Jin," Qing Yuanzi admitted with a smile.
"Hmph, I knew it. We're slightly closer with one another than all of the other old geezers in the infernal river, but we're certainly not close enough for you to pay me a visit right after you come out of seclusion. What do you want to see me for?" Golden Flame Baron asked in an expressionless manner.
Qing Yuanzi was rather displeased by Golden Flame Baron's cold and forbidding demeanor, and his expression fell slightly as he said, "I'm not here to force you into anything, Fellow Daoist; I only want to propose a mutually beneficial exchange. If there's anything you're not satisfied with, I definitely won't force the issue."
Golden Flame Baron took a meaningful glance at Qing Yuanzi before a smile appeared on his face. "Haha, forgive me, Fellow Daoist; I haven't had company for a long time, and it seems that I've forgotten my manners. Now then, what would you like to propose? As long as it's not an exchange that's too lopsided, I would be happy to consider it."
"In that case, I'll get straight to the point. I recall during my last visit that you expressed an interest in my Nine Eye Bead, and that you were willing to exchange some treasures for it. However, at the time, I required it for something else, so I turned down your offer. On this occasion, I've brought this bead along with me and would like to exchange it for something I need. What do you say, Brother Jin?" Qing Yuanzi swept a sleeve over the table beside him as he spoke, and a vibrant green jade box appeared amid a flash of golden light.
Golden Flame Baron's composed facade immediately cracked slightly upon hearing this, and he focused his gaze intently onto the box on the table. Only after seemingly expending a lot of effort did he finally manage to forcibly wrench his gaze away from the box.
It was quite clear that he held this Nine Eye Bead in extremely high regard, and he said, "Seeing as you're being so strai
ghtforward, I won't waste any time, either; what would you like for this treasure? As long as it's not one of my indispensable treasures, I can consider anything else."
Han Li was quite elated to see this. Judging from the current situation, it seemed that there was a very good chance that he would be able to secure some Divine Infernal River Elixir.
Qing Yuanzi smiled, and replied, "I want three vials of Divine Infernal River Elixir, and a chunk of Self-creating Soil."
"Absolutely not! This Nine Eye Bead does indeed have extraordinary abilities when it comes to tool refinement, but it's nowhere near valuable enough to exchange for those items. Setting aside the Divine Infernal River Elixir for now, Self-creating Soil is one of the best earth-attribute materials in existence, and there are almost no other earth-attribute materials that can compare with it. I'm only in possession of a very small amount of this soil, and I'm planning to use it to refine a treasure for my next tribulation transcendence; I certainly can't give it away like this," Golden Flame Baron said as he shook his head vehemently.
"I'm naturally aware of this, but what if I throw in these three things as well?" Qing Yuanzi wasn't surprised in the slightest by Golden Flame Baron's rejection, and a confident smile appeared on his face as he swept a sleeve over the table again, summoning three strange rhomboid items.
These three items resembled fist-sized spearheads that were of a shimmering golden color.
These items were covered in strange red runes and were quite mystifying to behold.
Golden Flame Baron faltered slightly at the sight of these items, then carefully inspected them, but didn't seem to discover anything. Thus, he made a grabbing motion to draw one of the items into his grasp for closer inspection.
"Could this be..."
At the same time, Han Li was staring intently at the other two golden items on the table as he could sense an extremely familiar aura emanating from them.
After inspecting the golden item in his hand for a while longer, Golden Flame Baron's expression began to change slightly.
"I can't be certain, but this seems to be the legendary Vajra Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning," Golden Flame Baron said in a rather hesitant manner as he turned to Qing Yuanzi.
"You have an exceptional eye, Fellow Daoist! I obtained some Golden Lightning Bamboo leaves some years ago, and it took me several centuries to refine only six pieces of this lightning. I'm bringing out half of them at once, so I'm sure that's a sufficient show of my sincerity. Your next major heavenly tribulation won't be too far away, and Vajra Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning is an exceptional weapon against Extrarealm Heavenly Devils. Those devils can be extremely troublesome during tribulations, and normal treasures have very minimal effects on them. With this lightning, you'll be able to protect yourself against them far better than any treasure could protect you. If it weren't for the fact that I had managed to refine more than enough for myself, I definitely wouldn't be offering them to you," Qing Yuanzi said with a hint of a smile on his face.
Chapter 1867: Guest
Golden Flame Baron seemed to have been quite tempted by this, and he fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, a peculiar look flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing the name "Vajra Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning".
It was no wonder that these three items had struck him with a sense of familiarity; they had been refined from the Golden Lightning Bamboo leaves he had given to Qing Yuanzi as the main material.
These leaves stemmed from the same source as the Golden Lightning Bamboo cane, so their auras were naturally quite similar.
Even though this lightning was supposed to be an effective weapon against Extrarealm Heavenly Devils, those were heavenly devils that would only appear when one made a breakthrough attempt to the Grand Ascension Stage or endured heavenly tribulations when at the Grand Ascension Stage, so it wasn't something that he had to worry about for now.
As for the refinement method for this lightning, Han Li had unintentionally stumbled upon that in the market of a certain foreign race, but he had been stunned by the vast amount of lightning-attribute materials required to refine it.
At the time, he knew that he wouldn't be able to gather all of the required materials and that he wouldn't be able to refine it anyway, so he reluctantly cast the matter aside.
The fact that even Qing Yuanzi could only refine six pieces of this lightning in several centuries further confirmed to him that this was beyond his reach, and it seemed that there was no chance he would be able to refine this lightning before he reached the late-Body Integration Stage.
"Three pieces of Vajra Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning is indeed enough to exchange for Self-Creating Soil, but there's one thing I don't understand; don't you have Divine Infernal River Elixir yourself? Why did you come all the way here to exchange for some with me?" Golden Flame Baron asked in a skeptical manner.
"All of my elixir was borrowed by someone else over 100 years ago, and Fellow Daoist Han requires this item to break through his next Body Integration Stage bottleneck. I owe him a favor due to an agreement we had made, so I could only come to you to try and secure some elixir," Qing Yuanzi explained.
"You promised him some Divine Infernal River Elixir? Looks like you owe him quite a big favor indeed!" Golden Flame Baron mused as he turned to Han Li with a hint of surprise in his eyes.
Han Li extended a slight bow in a display of respect, and he refrained from saying something.
"I do indeed owe him a very big favor. Alright, I've told you everything I have to say. If you still can't make up your mind, then I'll have to go to someone else. Old Man Yan is about to face a lightning tribulation soon as well, and I'm sure he'd be more than happy to exchange with me," Qing Yuanzi said in a meaningful manner.
"Haha, I never said I was going to refuse, Brother Qing. Seeing as you're being sincere and I owe you a favor as well, I'll agree to this exchange," Golden Flame Baron chuckled after a brief moment of contemplation.
"You've made a wise decision, Brother Jin! This is definitely a mutually beneficial exchange for both of us," Qing Yuanzi replied in an elated voice.
Golden Flame Baron smiled before suddenly opening his mouth to expel four balls of spiritual light, three of which were white while the other was yellow.
They consisted of three small white jade vials, and a yellow jade box.
He swept a sleeve through the air, and the four items immediately flew toward Qing Yuanzi in unison. At the same time, he waved his other hand toward the green jade box on the table, as well as the other two pieces of Vajra Devil Vanquishing Divine Lightning, and those items were all drawn into his grasp.
Meanwhile, Qing Yuanzi had also drawn the small vials and yellow jade box into his own hand, and he immediately began to carefully inspect the items with his spiritual sense.
After a while, a pleased look appeared on his face. "I really must thank you, Brother Jin. Fellow Daoist Han, here's your Divine Infernal River Elixir."
Qing Yuanzi tossed the three small vials toward Han Li with a flick of his wrist as he spoke, and Han Li hurriedly accepted them in an elated and grateful manner.
Qing Yuanzi had initially only agreed to give him two vials of this elixir, yet he was now giving him all three vials, clearly as an extra reward for all of the materials he had gathered. It seemed that he had made a wise decision in offering all of the materials he had collected, rather than withholding some of them.
This Divine Infernal River Elixir was extremely precious, but it wasn't very useful to Qing Yuanzi, so he naturally wasn't going to be stingy with it.
Golden Flame Baron was clearly also very pleased with this exchange, and he began to make some small talk with Qing Yuanzi.
They exchanged some obscure news about the Spirit Realm, as well as some information regarding cultivation, and Han Li also benefited from listening to their conversation.
Close to two hours flew by in the blink of an eye, and Qing Yuanzi finally stood up to take his leave.
Golden Flame Baron didn't try to keep him, but he also rose to his feet to accompany Qing Yuanzi to the gate of his palace.
Right at this moment, a resounding boom rang out in the air above the island, causing the entire palace to tremor. It seemed that something had struck the restriction over the island.
The trio in the hall were all quite alarmed by this, and they exchanged slightly bewildered glances.
This was blatant provocation!
Qing Yuanzi had struck the restriction over the island with a seemingly powerful streak of sword Qi, but it actually hadn't packed much power, whereas the massive commotion that had just rung out clearly stemmed from the restriction being completely broken.
Golden Flame Baron quickly returned to his senses, and an enraged look appeared on his face as he made a hand seal to activate some kind of ability. However, in the next instant, a male voice suddenly rang out in the air above the hall.
"Golden Flame, Qing Yuanzi, are you in there? Hurry up and come out to greet me, you little brats!" The voice was very rough and uncouth, and both Golden Flame Baron and Qing Yuanzi's expressions changed slightly as they exchanged a wry smile.
"Why has no one come out to greet me yet? Do you want me to raze this place to the ground?" The man outside seemed to have become rather impatient, and as soon as his voice trailed off, a string of resounding booms rang out in rapid succession outside the palace.
Immediately thereafter, bursts of spatial fluctuations surged over the entire island, and golden light flashed from outside the hall as a panicked golden-armored guard rushed into the hall.
"Master, the man outside is..."
"I know who he is; you can go now. Brother Jiang, it looks like you won't be able to leave anytime soon. Let's go and greet this old monster together! Otherwise, he really could destroy my entire island," Golden Flame Baron said with a wry smile.
A Record of a Mortal’s Journey to Immortality c1-2248 Page 1078