Chapter 1633: Zhixian

## Chapter Nine: The Myriad Races of the Spirit Realm

Han Li stood beside Yue Zong, gazing at the distant sea of mist with a thoughtful expression. Seeing the scene ahead, Xian Xian's eyes also gleamed with eagerness. Then, the three once again took to the air, flying swiftly towards the distant sea of mist under Yue Zong's lead.

The sea of mist appeared close but was actually far. Despite their rapid flight, it still took the three of them about the time it takes to steep a cup of tea to truly approach it. Han Li's expression suddenly shifted slightly while in flight.

From a distance, they hadn't noticed, but now, upon nearing, they heard a dull rumbling sound from within the blue mist, as if thunder was raging inside, creating a tremendous commotion. Suddenly, Yue Zong, who had been a streak of crimson light, paused and revealed his form before the dense blue mist.

With a flick of his wrist, another glittering golden token appeared in his hand. He raised it, and a beam of golden light shot directly into the dense mist, disappearing from view.

Instantly, the dense mist, which had been thick enough to obscure one's hand, receded wherever the golden light passed, forming a natural channel. "Follow closely, fellow Daoists, and under no circumstances leave this channel. Otherwise, there will be considerable trouble," Yue Zong cautioned before resuming his flight.

Although he didn't know what trouble they might encounter if they truly left the channel and entered the blue mist, Han Li naturally wouldn't seek trouble, so he calmly followed behind Yue Zong. Xian Xian, however, despite also flying within the channel, couldn't help but ask from within her streak of light, "I've been to the Demonic Gold Mountain Range once before, and if my memory serves me right, shouldn't we first go to..."

"If it were an ordinary person, they would indeed need to go to another place first. But I have some renown here, so naturally, we don't need such trouble," Yue Zong replied, shaking his head.

Hearing this, Xian Xian naturally fell silent.

Guided by the golden light, the three flew over ten miles into the sea of mist in an instant.

Suddenly, Han Li's gaze sharpened. A short distance below, a cluster of buildings faintly appeared. As they flew closer, they could clearly see hundreds of stone houses of varying sizes, arranged in two rows, forming a long, narrow valley-like settlement. At the very center of this settlement stood a massive, five-story pavilion, dozens of feet high, built from bluish-gray boulders, making it remarkably conspicuous. On the streets within the settlement, some people seemed to be moving about, but their numbers were not very large.

With a low shout, Yue Zong headed directly for the pavilion in the center of the settlement. Han Li and Xian Xian naturally followed closely. Their escape lights dissipated, and the three appeared almost simultaneously before the grand pavilion. It was then that Han Li's gaze swept over it, taking everything in clearly.

A horizontal plaque hung conspicuously above the several-zhang-high main entrance of the pavilion, bearing the three ancient characters for "Thundercloud Pavilion," written in a bold, flowing style. "Come with me, fellow Daoists. This is where we collect the prohibition tokens. I imagine Fairy Xian also came here last time, didn't you?" Yue Zong said with a smile to the Crystal Clan woman.

"Yes, that's right. But when I came last time, I had to first go to another place to buy a 'Cloud-Splitting Token' to enter here," Xian Xian nodded.

"The Cloud-Splitting Token that the Fairy obtained is only temporary. It automatically expires after a month. The treasure I used just now to clear the mist, however, is an artifact that can be used repeatedly. It was a special gift to me from an elder responsible for guarding this place, given because of my frequent entries and exits from the Demonic Gold Mountain Range. While the outer layers of mist can be troublesome, getting lost in them isn't fatal, and anyone trapped for a month or two will naturally be guided out by the locals. What we need to enter and receive now is the 'Thunder-Dispelling Banner,' which is the true pass to enter the Demonic Gold Mountain Range. Even Holy Race beings cannot forcibly break through the divine lightning prohibitions there." Yue Zong explained, then lifted his leg and walked into the pavilion.

The pavilion's main door was wide open, and the first floor appeared empty, seemingly rarely frequented. Han Li nodded after hearing Yue Zong's words and also walked in. Xian Xian followed behind Han Li. In a flash, the three entered beyond the pavilion's main door. The first floor contained nothing but a few tables and chairs, so the three proceeded directly up the stairs to the second floor. The second floor was also empty. The three continued almost without stopping, heading directly for the third floor. At the entrance to the third floor, a translucent white light curtain appeared directly in front of the stairs.

Yue Zong, however, seemed to ignore this light curtain. With a flicker of his figure, he passed right through it. Han Li's eyebrow twitched slightly, and he too, expressionless, stepped into the light. The light curtain indeed offered no resistance. But the moment Han Li appeared on the other side of the light curtain, his expression shifted.

From above the stairs, a bustling cacophony of voices could be heard, indicating that quite a few people were on the third floor. Yue Zong and Xian Xian naturally also heard this sound, and expressions of surprise appeared on both their faces. However, Yue Zong's expression quickly returned to normal, and he calmly walked up first.

The voices above paused, apparently having noticed Yue Zong's appearance. At this moment, Han Li also calmly walked onto the third floor. The third floor was not very large, only about twenty zhang in area, but it was crowded with people. There were over thirty non-human cultivators, dressed in various attires, seated cross-legged on the otherwise empty floor. Apart from a circular stone table in the center, the only other items on this floor were the meditation cushions of various sizes beneath them. The moment Han Li and the other two appeared on this floor, all eyes naturally turned towards them.

"Oh, Brother Yue!" "Fellow Daoist Yue is here too!" "Haha, I knew Brother Yue wouldn't miss such an opportunity!" As soon as the thirty-plus people clearly saw Yue Zong, a significant portion of them immediately greeted him with extraordinary warmth, some even appearing to have cultivation levels higher than his.

Among those who didn't know Yue Zong, many immediately changed their expressions upon hearing his name. Some instantly adopted unfriendly gazes. It seemed that even if they didn't know Yue Zong personally, his reputation in the Demonic Gold Mountain Range was indeed widely known. However, there were also four or five non-human cultivators who remained indifferent to Yue Zong's name. They merely silently appraised Han Li and the other two.

Han Li's spiritual sense swept over them, and he felt a slight murmur in his heart. So many people here were at or above the Deity Transformation stage; nearly half of them were at the Void Refinement stage. There were even three cultivators at the peak of the Void Refinement stage. There was also one person whose spiritual energy was concealed by some treasure, preventing him from determining their cultivation level.

Unlike Han Li, Xian Xian's eyes flickered when she saw how truly renowned Yue Zong was in this place.

"Elder Yan is here too? Has something happened in the Demonic Gold Mountain Range?" Yue Zong first bowed to all the people he knew, then his gaze fell upon a gaunt, gray-haired elder. He immediately stepped forward and respectfully asked.

This elder was indeed one of the three peak Void Refinement stage cultivators. He was looking at Yue Zong with a benevolent gaze, his face full of smiles, as if his relationship with Yue Zong was even closer than with the others. "What, virtuous nephew Yue, you're not here for this matter? Aren't you looking to enter the Demonic Gold Mountain Range?" The gray-haired elder asked, looking surprised when he heard Yue Zong's question.

"This junior does indeed wish to enter the mountain range, but it's for other reasons. Currently, it should be the period of demonic energy eruption in the mountain range, so why are so many people gathered here? Are they all here to apply for Thunder-Dispelling Umbrellas? That's rather strange," Yue Zong said gravely, his gaze sweeping over the faces of those he didn't recognize.

"Who would come here if not to enter the mountain range? As for the reason, it's a long story. Hmm, who are these two fellow Daoists...?" The elder first sighed, but after glancing at Han Li and the Crystal Clan woman behind Yue Zong, he asked with hesitation.

"It's fine. This senior Han and Fairy Xian are my companions for this trip into the Demonic Gold Mountain Range. Elder Yan, you can speak freely. At this point, probably only the three of us here are unaware of the matter," Yue Zong introduced them briefly, then said with some vexation.

"That's true. Well, to put it briefly, it's actually quite simple. A few days ago, a humanoid Spirit Ganoderma suddenly intruded into the town, injured a cultivator, and then escaped underground into the Demonic Gold Mountain Range," the elder slowly explained after a moment of thought.

"A humanoid Spirit Ganoderma? Did I hear that correctly?" Yue Zong's expression changed dramatically upon hearing this. Han Li and the Crystal Clan woman also exchanged startled glances.

"No mistake, it's definitely a Spirit Ganoderma. When it fled, someone injured it and obtained several drops of its flowing Spirit Immortal Rainbow, which they then exchanged for a huge sum of sky-high spirit stones in the town," the elder said with great certainty.

"It's incredibly difficult for spiritual herbs to take human form. Greater age doesn't guarantee sentience or transformation. For a humanoid spiritual herb, it requires myriad good fortunes and opportunities to even have a sliver of a chance to cultivate into human form. It seems there have only been a few instances of such spiritual beings appearing in the entire Spirit Realm before. Once this news spreads, it's hard to say about other places, but at least the entire Heavencloud region will be in an uproar. So, you're saying these other people are all those who rushed here after hearing the news in the past few days?" Yue Zong took a deep breath, his expression somewhat strange.

"Brother Yue, you've got it wrong. Perhaps in a while, even more outsiders will gather here. However, people from further away simply won't have this opportunity. That Spirit Ganoderma not only mastered both earth and wood escape techniques, but it also seems to have cultivated the long-distance escape ability of 'Fleeting Light and Shifting Shadow'." Another fair-faced young man interjected with a smile.

"'Fleeting Light and Shifting Shadow'? If the Spirit Ganoderma possesses such a legendary escape technique, what's the point of fellow Daoists risking entry into the Demonic Gold Mountain Range? With such a divine ability, even Holy Race beings couldn't catch it," Xian Xian asked, unable to contain her surprise after hearing this.

"The Fairy doesn't know. It's truly unfortunate for that Spirit Ganoderma. The cultivator it injured happened to practice a type of Golden Elemental Restraining Light. Although caught off guard and severely wounded, his counterattack also struck the Spirit Ganoderma with restraining light. As a result, when it tried to escape, it initially activated its 'Fleeting Light and Shifting Shadow' divine ability, but it only managed to use half of it before the restraining light took effect, forcing it to reveal its true form. We don't know what other divine abilities it possesses, but it somehow wasn't afraid of the myriad thunderbolts of the Thundercloud Grand Array and directly passed through the prohibition to enter the Demonic Gold Mountain Range." The fair-faced young man paused after saying this.