Chapter 984: Stranger

Mortal Cultivation: The Sixth Volume – Transcendent Spirit Treasures, First Chapter – The Seven Mysteries Sect’s Turmoil

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The old man with the surname Fu showed a hint of hesitation when his junior martial sister spoke, but then nodded in agreement:

“Since the Netherworld Page doesn’t work on you, I won’t force it. However, I must leave a mark on you. As long as you don’t leave the Southern Border, this mark will disappear on its own after half a year. Fellow Daoist Han, you don’t mind my doing this, do you?”

“Not at all. My whereabouts are not secret. Feel free to cast your spell,” Han Li replied with a smile, agreeing without a second thought.

Upon hearing this, the old man unceremoniously formed a hand seal and chanted a few incantations, releasing a blue light.

Han Li focused his gaze and, seeing that the spell was indeed just an ordinary mark, immediately raised his arm, allowing the blue light to merge into him and vanish without a trace.

The old man with the surname Fu showed a satisfied expression. He put away the Netherworld Page and then instructed everyone:

“I’ve finished explaining everything. Since Fellow Daoist Bai still needs three days to consider, my junior martial sister and I will wait here on this mountain for three days. Brother Yuan and Fellow Daoist Han can leave now to prepare. The Myriad Poison Valley, where the entrance to the Yin Yang Cave is located, is filled with poisonous flowers and herbs. While they pose little threat to us, I still hope Fellow Daoist Yuan brings a few poison-repelling treasures when the time comes. Before entering the Yin Yang Cave, it’s best not to expend too much spiritual power.”

“Poison-repelling? Heh heh, that’s a piece of cake for us in the Poison Saint Sect. Just leave it to me. I’ll take my leave now.” The burly man said with a laugh.

He then cupped his fists at the others, patted the spirit beast bag at his waist, released the giant spirit tortoise, and, enveloped in a swirling gray wind, stepped onto the beast and flew off into the sky.

Seeing this, Han Li had no intention of lingering. He also bid farewell.

He transformed into a streak of azure light and departed through the air!

Half a year might be a bit tight for him, but it was just enough to refine the Three Flames Fan. As for treasures to deal with ghosts, he had the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder and the Soul-Devouring Beast, so there was no need to specifically prepare anything.

He was in such a hurry to refine the precious fan because he believed in preparing for the worst. If he encountered any unforeseen dangers below, having this fan and the humanoid puppet would be enough to rest easy.

With this in mind, Han Li controlled his遁光 (escape light), heading south towards Silver Serpent Mountain in the central part of the Southern Border.

Over ten days later, Han Li appeared above a unique mountain range.

This mountain range was quite large, about three to four hundred li long, but it was slender and winding, rising and falling like a giant serpent. Interestingly, the trees growing in this mountain range were mostly peculiar ones with light silver leaves.

Looking down from a great height, the name Silver Serpent Mountain was truly fitting.

Han Li did not linger anywhere else and flew directly towards the "head" of the Silver Serpent.

Before even getting close, Han Li felt gusts of hot wind blowing towards him, carrying a pungent sulfurous smell.

A little while later, several conical and unusually ugly volcano peaks appeared before his eyes.

What was startling was the constant low rumbling from these craters, some even directly spewing forth plumes of ash, a truly astonishing sight.

Yet, despite this, various escape lights flickered around these volcanoes, with many cultivators entering and exiting the craters. Dozens of cultivators had gathered here.

Most of these cultivators were at the Foundation Establishment stage, with a few at the Core Formation stage, but only a handful.

This was quite normal; once cultivators formed their core and possessed their own core flame, they naturally focused on cultivating their own magical treasures, no longer needing to come to this place.

As for Nascent Soul cultivators, there were none at all.

Han Li stopped his escape light and surveyed the area from high in the sky. Suddenly, blue light flickered in his pupils. The entire region’s earth脈 (earth veins) immediately became clear in his divine sense.

A moment later, Han Li found the spot with the strongest fiery earth veins. With a flash of spiritual light, his escape light shot straight towards a place between two volcanoes.

When he reached a height of a hundred zhang above the ground, his escape light abruptly halted.

Han Li shook his sleeve, and seven or eight small golden swords flew out from his cuff. After circling around him, he formed a hand seal with both hands and let out a low cry.

The flying swords let out a clear鸣 (鳴) sound and simultaneously transformed into huge golden lights several zhang long, fiercely striking the ground.

Immediately, a thunderous explosion erupted below, and the area struck by the sword light shone with dazzling golden light.

When Han Li’s expression shifted and the sword lights circled back, the light at the original spot converged, revealing a huge crack over twenty zhang wide, a black abyss of unknown depth.

The cultivators forging artifacts in other nearby areas were naturally startled by Han Li’s grand action, and some couldn't help but fly towards him.

Upon sensing the movements of these cultivators, Han Li’s face immediately sank, and he abruptly unleashed the powerful aura of a Nascent Soul stage cultivator.

A shocking spiritual pressure soared into the sky, immediately sweeping outwards with Han Li as its center.

Cultivators within dozens of miles nearby were all startled by Han Li’s aura. Those who had originally intended to investigate quickly turned around and left. Some who were closer even hastily abandoned their original artifact-forging spots and scattered. They were all afraid of inadvertently offending this senior expert and bringing disaster upon themselves.

Han Li was very satisfied to see that all the nearby cultivators wisely avoided the area. He then descended directly into the crack below, his escape light flashing and vanishing within the chasm.

However, not long after, all the cultivators who came to Silver Serpent Mountain to forge artifacts learned that there was a Nascent Soul-level cultivator here. Everyone carefully avoided this area, trembling with apprehension.

As a result, a ten-li radius centered on the crack became a forbidden zone, which no one dared to step into.

Days passed. Initially, the crack was silent, but after a month, intermittent thunderous roars could be heard from within. Another month later, the thunderous roars became sparse, replaced by clear ringing sounds, like the cry of a phoenix ascending to the heavens. Soon after, even these sounds gradually subsided, and from then on, absolute silence prevailed.

While Han Li was busy refining his treasure, in a side hall within the imperial palace in Jinjing, more than a dozen male and female cultivators of various attires had gathered. Among them were Daoist nuns, Daoist priests, monks, and Confucian scholars. All of them possessed astonishing cultivation at or above the Nascent Soul stage. Among them, a square-faced cultivator in brocade robes and an old woman holding a golden staff were even at the Mid-Nascent Soul stage.

And the old man with the black crown was indeed among them.

All of them sat quietly in chairs in the hall, silently. A few of them even looked out the hall door impatiently from time to time, seemingly waiting for someone.

“Eleventh Brother, you didn’t mistake him, it’s really him, the Elder? But three hundred years ago, I personally witnessed Seventh Uncle fall and die,” the square-faced cultivator suddenly asked a white-haired Daoist opposite him, a hint of apprehension on his face.

“Seventh Uncle’s appearance is so unique, how could I mistake him? Moreover, even if the person is fake, Seventh Uncle’s magical treasure, the Cold Moon Blade, would never be wrong,” the old Daoist replied with a bitter smile.

“Second Brother, there’s no need to be nervous. Whether it’s real or not, won’t we know in a moment? With so many of us here, are we afraid of all being mistaken? If it truly is Seventh Uncle, then heaven is helping our Ye family. If it’s fake, even if he’s a late-stage Nascent Soul grand cultivator, he won’t be able to step out of this hall,” another Mid-Nascent Soul old woman said grimly.

“While that’s true, it never hurts to be careful,” the square-faced cultivator also seemed to find reason in this and sighed, saying no more.

A full hour passed. When a few distant bell chimes faintly echoed, a figure suddenly flickered at the doorway. A tall and slender person inexplicably appeared there. Then, with a light step, the person strangely arrived in the center of the main hall.

This person’s appearance immediately came into view before everyone.

His eyebrows were singed yellow, his eyes tiny, but his head was unusually large, nearly half again the size of a normal person's, wobbling precariously on his neck as if it could snap at any moment, truly bizarre.

But upon seeing this terrifying appearance, the cultivators in the hall all rose in shock.

“Are you really Seventh Uncle?” The square-faced cultivator took a deep breath and asked cautiously.

“Heh heh! Second Brat, after a few hundred years, you don’t even recognize this old man. But that’s understandable. My resurrection naturally makes you cautious. However, I have Third Brat’s sound transmission jade slip here. You’ll know what’s going on once you see it,” the eccentric laughed, raising a hand and tossing over a green jade slip.

The square-faced cultivator looked astonished but still took the jade slip and immersed his divine sense into it.

In just a moment, the square-faced cultivator’s expression changed several times. When he withdrew his divine sense, he immediately bowed deeply to the eccentric with great joy:

“So, Seventh Uncle’s death back then was actually a brilliant ploy arranged by the former Great Elder. This nephew was disrespectful just now; I hope Seventh Uncle will forgive me.”

“That you can act so carefully, this old man is happy beyond words, how could I blame you?” The eccentric waved a hand, saying indifferently.

The other cultivators also examined the jade slip one after another. Before long, all the cultivators in the hall approached to pay their respects with pleasant surprise.

“It’s truly Seventh Uncle!”“Greetings, Third Grand-Uncle!”

Greetings poured forth continuously!

“Gagaga, you may all dispense with the formalities.”

The eccentric was exceptionally pleased and unceremoniously took the main seat.

“Third Brother said in the jade slip that Seventh Uncle advanced to the late Nascent Soul stage two hundred years ago. Is this true?” The old woman respectfully inquired.

“Indeed. When those major sects secretly attacked me, it was because they felt there was a high possibility of me advancing to the late stage, which is why they went so far as to set up a trap to eliminate me. After I escaped that calamity as per the clan’s arrangement, I didn't disappoint everyone’s hopes and fortunately succeeded in advancing. Originally, according to the previous generation of elders in the clan, unless the Ye family reached a critical moment of life or death, I shouldn’t have met or revealed myself to you. However, Third Brat, the only one who knew of my existence, suddenly came to me not long ago, explained your ongoing plan, and, as the current Great Elder of the clan, asked for my assistance. After much consideration, I felt that this matter truly concerns the survival of our Ye family, so I decided to come and lend you a hand.” The eccentric’s expression suddenly became solemn.