Chapter 218: Heaven Star Sect and the Formation

Spiritual eye artifacts were so wondrous that they naturally drove cultivators pursuing the Grand Dao into a frenzy! Each time one appeared, it would ignite a bloody storm in the local cultivation world.

However, in the cultivation world of Yue Country, these spiritual eye artifacts had long since fallen into the hands of the seven major sects.

For instance, Yellow Maple Valley possessed over a dozen spiritual eye artifacts, including two spiritual eye stones, three spiritual eye trees, and seven spiritual eye springs. These had all been unceremoniously divided among several Core Formation cultivators, with even Grandmaster Zhong himself having no share.

Of course, the Nascent Soul stage grand patriarch naturally claimed the largest portion first.

Now, Han Li had never imagined that he would so easily find a spiritual eye artifact nearby, simply by bringing an ordinary dual-pupil mouse and spending just over a day.

Although it was merely the lowest-grade spiritual spring among spiritual eye artifacts, and the spring itself was pitifully small with likely very limited effects, a spiritual eye artifact was still a spiritual eye artifact! At the very least, it was much faster for cultivation than ordinary spiritual spots. Even if it only increased cultivation speed by half a percent, it was still a good thing!

However, amidst his unexpected delight, Han Li also felt a little puzzled.

Weren't spiritual eye artifacts supposed to form only in places with the densest spiritual energy? But the spiritual energy near this mountain peak wasn't very dense! How could one form here? Furthermore, it was such a miniature spiritual spring, which made Han Li feel a touch of regret despite his surprise.

However, since such a windfall had fallen into his lap, Han Li naturally wouldn't let it go.

While a spiritual eye spring could be moved, that was a technique only Core Formation cultivators possessed, and Han Li didn't have such capability yet. Therefore, it was only natural that he decided to build his immortal's cave right here, designating this spiritual spring grotto as his private cultivation chamber, to be secretly hidden.

Han Li immediately began expanding the passage he had previously carved out.

Wielding a silver sword in one hand and manipulating several golden blades with the other, Han Li embarked on the grand task of excavating his immortal's cave. Meanwhile, the dual-pupil mouse plunged headfirst into the spiritual spring and refused to come out, immediately falling into a deep sleep in the water.

Relying on the silver sword's sharpness and the golden blades' number, after half a day of arduous work, a sizable immortal's cave began to take shape. It comprised thirteen rooms of varying sizes and three large halls, each occupying nearly an acre.

Although the cave walls of the rooms were still rough and hadn't undergone any fine finishing, they were at least habitable! This allowed Han Li to breathe a sigh of relief and stop his work.

At this moment, he suddenly remembered the dual-pupil mouse and quickly seized the opportunity to return to the spiritual spring, where he grabbed the sleeping little beast by the scruff of its neck. He then flew several hundred miles away on his artifact before releasing it, allowing it to return to Qilin Pavilion on its own.

The immortal's cave Han Li built had only one exit for the time being. So upon returning, he immediately arranged five small banners and over a dozen low-grade spirit stones according to the jade slip's instructions, setting up a small Confusion Array to completely conceal the exit with the formation. This way, from the outside, it still appeared as a complete mountain wall, making it impossible to detect the presence of an additional cave.

After completing the most basic defenses, Han Li used his silver sword to carve out a simple stone bed and quickly lay down, falling into a deep sleep. He was truly exhausted!

For the next few days, Han Li remained constantly busy.

First, he found a patch of level ground in a hidden spot near his immortal's cave and sowed some spirit herb seeds.

Among them were both ordinary medicinal plant seeds he had brought from the mortal world and exotic flower and grass seeds he had collected from the Hundred Herb Garden over the years. This place was to become Han Li's own herb garden, where all the spirit herb seedlings he would cultivate in the future would come into existence.

For the rest of the time, Han Li also found some harder bluestones from the mountain and carved them into practical items like stone tables and chairs. He placed a set in each room. Finally, he meticulously leveled all the walls and inlaid some moonlight stones, making the immortal's cave as bright as day.

Thus, Han Li's immortal's cave was initially completed.

However, it was clear that the cave's defensive capabilities were utterly weak and couldn't provide Han Li with peace of mind for cultivation. In his opinion, it needed at least a comprehensive restriction formation, like the one at the Hundred Herb Garden; otherwise, what if an external enemy invaded while he was cultivating? That would be disastrous!

Han Li was an amateur when it came to formations; he couldn't even set up the most basic ones, let alone more powerful restriction spells.

However, he had no intention of learning them! The path of formations was as vast as the sea; if he were to divert his attention to studying them, he wouldn't achieve even minor success without one or two decades! Furthermore, his own cultivation would definitely be delayed, which was a loss Han Li could not afford!

Perhaps there were geniuses in this world who could thoroughly study formations without hindering their own cultivation, even using formations to enter the Dao and boost their own cultivation — it was not impossible. But Han Li knew clearly that he would never be one of them; if he were to divert even a little attention to this area, it would surely extinguish his last glimmer of hope for reaching the Core Formation stage.

Fortunately, the world also had formation flags and formation plates, which were easily portable and convenient to set up as formation-type magic tools.

Although it was generally impossible to set up powerful restriction arrays using such methods, Han Li currently only needed ordinary-level formations to defend his immortal's cave, which would put him mostly at ease. Besides, if it really came down to it, he could just set up several sets of restriction spells; quantity could also compensate for some defensive loopholes.

Coincidentally, the Heavenly Star Sect of Yuanwu Country was renowned in the cultivation worlds of neighboring countries for its formations. Many restriction-type magic tools, such as formation flags and formation plates, were refined and flowed into the cultivation world annually, exchanged for necessary spirit stones, materials, and other goods.

Han Li thus decided to visit the Heavenly Star Sect's market, where he was sure to find the restriction-type magic tools he needed.

So, in the following period, as soon as a few of the herb seeds sprouted, Han Li immediately began accelerating their growth with the green liquid. He still planned to use a single thousand-year-old medicinal herb to exchange for the items he needed at the Heavenly Star Sect market. This time, he would only reveal this one thousand-year-old herb, to avoid revealing too many and drawing suspicion or unnecessary trouble.

In just over two months, Han Li had accelerated the growth of the thousand-year-old medicinal herb.

Then, carrying the medicinal herb and other exchangeable items—such as the full materials from the ink dragon and the hard shell of the centipede—he flew north. If the price was right, Han Li didn't mind exchanging them, as he also had no intention of diverting his attention to learning artifact refining.

When flying on his artifact, Han Li wore a cloak, just in case!

For Han Li, whose magic power had greatly increased, a distance of over a hundred *li* was covered in less than half a day.

Upon entering Yuanwu Country, Han Li began looking around from the sky, east and west. Firstly, he was searching for the Heavenly Star Sect's market, and secondly, he was quite curious about everything in Yuanwu Country. However, from the scenery, it seemed no different from Yue Country!

Yuanwu Country, like Yue Country, was a medium-sized nation in the nearby region.

Although these two countries were not even a third the size of the great nations, Tianluo Country and Fengdu Country, they were much more powerful than smaller nearby countries like Jiang Country and Chayun Country.

While there were only two great nations in this region, there were over a dozen medium-sized countries. As for even smaller ones, dozens were densely distributed throughout the nearby areas. Furthermore, it was said that even further away, there existed superpowers, unbelievably vast!

In the cultivation world of Yuanwu Country, the righteous and demonic factions were equally matched, forming a stalemate. The Heavenly Star Sect was one of the core sects of the righteous faction, possessing strength no less than that of Yellow Maple Valley.

As Han Li was pondering matters concerning the Heavenly Star Sect, the leaf-shaped magic tool beneath his feet suddenly sank, slowly descending towards the ground, as if it had instantly lost its flying capability.

Upon seeing this unfavorable situation, Han Li was not surprised; instead, a hint of joy appeared on his face. It seemed he had arrived near the Heavenly Star Sect's market; otherwise, there wouldn't be a flight restriction spell in place.

As expected, after landing, Han Li walked seven or eight *li* to the north when a cluster of buildings, one-third larger than Yellow Maple Valley's market, appeared before his eyes.

The Heavenly Star Sect's market was very peculiar, completely different from Yellow Maple Valley's! It was centered around a colossal pavilion, twenty to thirty *zhang* tall, surrounded by other buildings only a tenth of its height, forming a radially arranged circular layout.

Because the plaque on the central pavilion was enormous, Han Li clearly saw the three large silver characters "Star Dust Pavilion" from one or two *li* away. It seemed, without asking, that this pavilion was undoubtedly the Heavenly Star Sect's own establishment!

A distance of one or two *li* was covered by Han Li in the blink of an eye.

As was his custom, Han Li did not act rashly. Instead, he slowly strolled around the periphery of the market, gaining a slight understanding of the local situation.

To his surprise, there were indeed a few shops here that greatly broadened Han Li's horizons and made him eager to try them out!

One artifact refining shop accepted cultivators' materials at any time to forge various magic tools according to the owners' requirements. Moreover, the tone of its signboard was quite boastful, claiming it could refine everything from low-grade to top-tier magic tools. If refinement failed, they promised to return spirit stones at double the material's value. Of course, if one had no materials and wished to commission a magic tool directly, that was also possible, but the price would certainly not be cheap.

Another shop, specializing in talisman crafting, offered similar services to the artifact refining shop, also accepting custom orders for spirit talismans!

Among other slightly unusual establishments was a Spirit Beast Pavilion, which specialized in selling various tamed demonic beasts. It even had a few top-grade Tier 1 demonic beasts inside. If purchased to serve as guardian spirit beasts for one's dwelling, it seemed like a good idea.