Chapter 1342: Dwelling Cave

"That person's divine abilities are unfathomable. Disciple failed to live up to your expectations; I was indeed defeated. If it hadn't been for the Heaven Guard bystander intervening, I would have nearly been killed by his sword." Upon seeing the Emerald Flood Dragon, the man named Weng hastily bowed his head, then stood respectfully with his hands clasped at his sides.

"That person is merely an early-stage Soul Transformation cultivator. Your divine abilities are already considerable, and I even specifically lent you the Thousand Soul Bell. How could you still fail? When did you become so useless!" The Emerald Flood Dragon's gaze darkened.

"Disciple has already given my best. That person not only possesses several divine abilities of unknown origin, but also a cauldron-shaped spiritual treasure. Oh, and this person is also a body refiner who has mastered the Vajra Art." Cold sweat instantly broke out on the man with the raised eyebrows' face as he hastily began to explain himself.

"A spiritual treasure? Mastered Vajra Art?" Upon hearing Weng's words, the Flood Dragon's voice showed a hint of surprise.

"Yes, disciple speaks nothing but the truth, not a single false word." The man with the raised eyebrows felt a slight sense of relief upon hearing the Flood Dragon's apparent interest.

The Emerald Flood Dragon pondered for a moment, an unusual light in its eyes. Suddenly, one of its claws reached out and made a grasping motion in the air towards Weng.

With a soft 'thump,' a ball of black light, enveloping the Thousand Soul Bell, shot out from the man's body. After a brief swirl, it landed in the Flood Dragon's claw.

It lowered its head and examined it carefully. A moment later, its gaze darkened.

Seeing this, Weng's heart tensed up again.

"So, this person follows the path of dual cultivation of magical power and body refinement. Heh heh, such cultivators were once popular in ancient times, but now there are hardly any left. One must consider how much time and effort it takes to achieve anything substantial in either magical power or body refinement alone. If one cultivates both, even if they far surpass peers in the early stages, their cultivation will definitely fall far behind ordinary cultivators once they reach deeper levels. Furthermore, body refinement requires a certain level of talent. To my knowledge, only a handful of cultivators, like the Tianyuan Saint Emperor, have ever achieved great success in both magical power and body refinement and advanced to the Integration stage. These individuals either started as body refiners and later became cultivators, or they consumed some rare heavenly treasures that made their bodies incredibly formidable. Otherwise, pursuing this path is essentially cutting off one's own cultivation future." The Emerald Flood Dragon said with a cold laugh.

"This person has already mastered the Vajra Art. Is there really any other body refinement technique that can further strengthen the body?" the man with the raised eyebrows asked, startled.

"Mastery of the Vajra Art is the pinnacle of mortal body refinement techniques. To continue strengthening the physical body, the best method would naturally be to cultivate demonic arts from the Ancient Demon Realm or techniques from the Beast Race. However, both are foreign cultivation methods, and the risks involved are certainly not small. It's not too surprising that you, a mid-stage Soul Transformation cultivator, were no match for someone who has simultaneously cultivated both magical power and physical body to their current level. But even so, how did he break my Thousand Soul Bell? Not only was the main soul in the bell destroyed, but six or seven tenths of the tens of thousands of accompanying fierce souls are also gone." The Flood Dragon's voice suddenly turned icy.

"Disciple doesn't know how he did it. I drew him into the bell's spatial realm, but he broke free from its restrictions not long after. Disciple did not witness the specific actions myself." Weng hastily explained again.

"Hmph, although the Thousand Soul Bell isn't on the Chaos Myriad Spirit List, it's strong enough to trap a late-stage Soul Transformation cultivator. It seems this person either carries a supreme treasure specifically designed to counter yin spirits or has cultivated a powerful divine ability that is extremely yang and rigid. Never mind, this treasure can at most be re-refined to its full power by capturing some fierce beast spirits. However, that person's inherited treasure must not be lost." The Flood Dragon stared at the man for a while before letting out a cold snort and withdrawing its gaze.

"Thank you, Master, for your benevolence. However, the spiritual land now belongs to that young man. Once he lays down restrictions all over it, it will be extremely inconvenient for us to search for treasures there," the man said, first showing joy, then asking hesitantly.

"This is somewhat troublesome. However, with such a large spiritual land, he won't be able to set up very profound restrictions in a short time, and it's not without a solution. First, go to where my true body is in seclusion, take my token, and find my old friend Gongyang Gui. His supreme concealing treasure, the 'Mystifying Five-Color Banner,' possesses the incredible divine ability to reverse the Five Elements and render objects invisible. Borrow it for now, and then we'll find a suitable time to secretly infiltrate and search for the treasure. Doing so will put us greatly in debt to Old Demon Gongsun, and it might be difficult to repay it in the future," the Emerald Flood Dragon said unhappily.

Weng did not dare to say anything in response, only standing there, nodding repeatedly with a deferential expression.

At the same time, Han Li had just emerged from behind the massive, ten-zhang-tall city walls of Tianyuan City and was flying towards the plains outside.

As soon as the fight concluded, he no longer returned to the Flying Spirit Hall, heading straight for the spiritual land he had chosen.

With Han Li's current divine abilities, traveling thousands of miles in an instant was natural. In just three or four days, he safely arrived before a verdant, colossal mountain range.

"So this is the so-called Qionglai Mountain," Han Li murmured as his light faded. He materialized on a mountain peak at the edge of the range, his eyes narrowing slightly as he casually surveyed the colossal mountain range, which stretched for hundreds of thousands of miles.

Although this mountain range was the least impressive of the three displayed by the Jade Palace Pavilion, its allocation for Soul Transformation cultivators meant its spiritual energy density was extraordinary. Compared to the so-called sacred cultivation grounds in the Human Realm, it was truly a world apart.

After observing for a while, Han Li nodded in satisfaction. His escape light flared, and he transformed into a streak of green rainbow, plunging into the mountain range.

Before long, he had traveled over a hundred thousand miles.

Although he was rapidly advancing at high altitude, Han Li's spiritual sense spread out, remotely encompassing everything within a ten-thousand-mile radius.

Along the way, he had already detected four or five locations with restrictions, clearly indicating the presence of other cultivators' cave dwellings.

Han Li paid little heed to these neighbors; instead, he accelerated his escape light and swept past them.

After Han Li had traversed nearly half of the mountain range, he finally arrived at his designated spiritual land, as indicated on the map. This mountain spiritual land spanned over twenty thousand miles, stretching as far as the eye could see. Furthermore, apart from himself, there was no other cultivator present in this area.

Han Li was delighted. Instead of rushing to establish a cave dwelling, he guided his escape light, slowly circling the approximate area marked on the map. At regular intervals, he dropped a white spiritual flag from the air, which instantly sank into the ground and vanished.

These flags were only low-tier magic tools, providing a slight illusionary effect. Their primary purpose was to inform other nearby cultivators that this spiritual land already had an owner, signaling them not to easily enter this area.

Following this, Han Li leisurely explored the area.

After about half a day, he discovered several small spiritual mines and a few natural spiritual herb locations within the land. However, only about half of their resources remained.

Of course, these spiritual mines and herbs were of lower quality and more common varieties. It was likely that the previous cultivator occupying this area hadn't bothered to spend much effort exploiting them.

Han Li also didn't consider these things particularly valuable, but their presence was a pleasant minor surprise.

After surveying every location, Han Li finally stopped high in the sky above the center of the spiritual land, his expression thoughtful.

It was somewhat strange; he hadn't found anything particularly special in this place. Had that man with the raised eyebrows truly fought so fiercely with him just for the convenience of cultivating some secret technique?

Han Li's eyes flickered a few times, then he gently shook his head.

Judging by the man's furious and frustrated reaction after losing the fight, it definitely wasn't that simple. Moreover, this wasn't the only large spiritual land available; was it really necessary to fight him so desperately, even resorting to murderous intent? It seemed if he had the opportunity later, he would need to search the area thoroughly again. Otherwise, he would have a nagging worry in his heart and wouldn't be able to cultivate in true peace.

With a decision made, Han Li immediately began to consider establishing his cave dwelling.

While most of the spiritual land in this area was similar, there were naturally a few spots with even denser spiritual energy.

Han Li pondered carefully for a while before finally making his decision. Immediately, his escape light flared again, heading directly towards his chosen spot.

Not long after, Han Li appeared between two colossal mountains, where a multicolored mist swirled.

This seemed to be a massive swamp, with remarkably vibrant miasma continuously rising from the mud, reaching over a hundred zhang high. It was also highly toxic; even inadvertently inhaling a wisp of it would cause considerable trouble for a cultivator.

Most importantly, the mist contained some unknown, strange components that somewhat restricted spiritual sense, preventing it from penetrating deep within.

When Han Li had previously inspected this place, it was only by relying on the perspective ability of his Bright Glimmering Spirit Eyes that he vaguely discerned a medium-sized natural stone valley a few miles into the miasma. This valley was connected to both colossal mountains.

Such a naturally secluded place was, of course, an excellent location for Han Li to conceal his cave dwelling's entrance.

Han Li flew into the stone valley deep within the miasma. He easily opened a cave entrance at an inconspicuous rock face in the valley, then released his flying swords, effortlessly excavating two remarkably long passages that led directly into the heart of the two colossal mountains.

He actually intended to create two cave dwellings simultaneously within the two colossal mountains.

One would be used to mislead other cultivators, while the other would be his true place for meditation and cultivation, storing spirit insects and beasts, and cultivating spiritual herbs.

As for the Heavenly Secret Manor, due to its small size, there was naturally no need to use it for now.

As soon as the cave dwelling was established, Han Li immediately transplanted all the spiritual herbs and trees he had brought from the Human Realm into the medicinal garden. The Gold Devouring Beetles, which he had been cultivating, were all placed in the insect chamber. After so many years of cultivation, these beetles were now astonishingly large and ferociously abnormal, clearly not far from reaching their mature forms.

As for the Leopard-Scaled Beast, Han Li also specifically prepared a comfortable beast stable for it, placing it inside and allowing it to cultivate on its own.

However, when Han Li walked into a particularly eerie and empty beast chamber, his expression immediately turned grave.

He gently shook the spirit beast ring in his hand towards this beast chamber. Immediately, a sweep of black mist ensued, and a dark, ten-foot-tall object suddenly appeared in the middle of the stone chamber.