Chapter 1072

The big man heard this, his heart sank, but he dared not show anger in the slightest; instead, he forced a smile and explained:

"Senior, our Li family settled here on Snow-Connecting Peak, but it was Senior Long who personally promised it. If Senior Wang wants it, that's fine, but may I inform Senior Long first?"

"Senior Long? You want to use this person to suppress me? No matter who it is, if they're dissatisfied, let them come find me. But if after half a day there's still anyone on this mountain, don't blame me for being ruthless." Han Li rolled his eyes, his face turning fierce as he spoke.

As the big man's face changed drastically and he tried to say more, Han Li flicked his sleeve without another word, and instantly a surge of greenish misty wind burst forth from within his sleeve.

The big man startled, his body's protective spiritual light flashed, but he only felt a tremendous spiritual pressure bearing down on him; the words on his lips were actually forced back by sheer force.

Meanwhile, the two elders who relied on magical artifacts to fly couldn't even raise their defenses in time before this wind blew them, sending them spinning wildly in the air, unable to stabilize their forms.

In panic, these two naturally tried to cast spells to protect themselves, but their magic power within this wind was strangely mostly inaccessible, as if they had been directly restrained.

At this moment, the two elders truly had their souls fly out of heaven!

Fortunately, this wind dissipated almost instantly from the vicinity; when the two elders had just stabilized their forms and looked ahead with ashen faces, they discovered the distant emptiness—Han Li had vanished without a trace at some unknown time.

"Ancestor, when did this person..." a black-robed elder asked, heart pounding with fear, as he rushed toward the gray-robed big man to ask something.

"Order everyone in the clan to pack up immediately; we must leave this mountain within two hours." The big man's face was grim beyond words as he drew a deep breath and spoke.

He too had noticed when Han Li had left.

"What? Really move out of Snow-Connecting Peak? Our Li family only managed to defeat the Snow-Connecting Seven Friends with great difficulty before occupying this spiritual land. It hasn't even been a hundred years yet. Besides, this person acts so overbearing—won't Senior Long just stand by and do nothing?" a black-robed elder exclaimed in alarm.

Another elder, though silent, wore a similarly hesitant expression; it seemed he too was reluctant to abandon the hard-won foundation.

"Hmph, you two are muddle-headed. This person's cultivation is unfathomably deep! To dare act so openly, they must have some backing. The spiritual pressure this person gave me is far greater than Senior Long's—likely a mid-Nascent Soul cultivator. With such a divine-ability cultivator, Senior Long, even if he usually has some connection with us, will surely pretend deaf and dumb. Why would he speak up for our small Li family? Moreover, though this person is overbearing, at least they gave us time to leave; otherwise, they'd have wiped us out without distinguishing right from wrong. Do you think anyone would speak up for us? Don't forget, the cultivation world is fundamentally the survival of the fittest. Back when we took this mountain, we did so only because our strength slightly surpassed the Snow-Connecting Seven Friends, earning recognition from other powers. As long as our Li family's core disciples remain, at worst we'll go elsewhere to seize another spiritual mountain. Far better than stubbornly resisting a Nascent Soul cultivator and inviting our own annihilation." The gray-robed big man's face darkened as he launched into a tirade at the two junior relatives.

The two elders then finally came to their senses, nodding repeatedly.

Immediately, the three flew downward in a flash, vanishing into the mountains without a trace.

After the time it takes to eat a meal, this mountain began to thoroughly 'stir'.

Figures dashed across the ground or flew into the air on magical devices, shuttling unpredictably through the mountain's halls, pavilions, caves, and paths. Everyone wore expressions of panic, but their movements remained orderly enough, without causing too much 'chaos'.

After more than an hour, two groups of cultivators departed in two directions, sweeping mightily 'away' 'away' from this mountain from sky and land, numbering over two or three hundred, though most were merely Qi Refining cultivators; only twenty or so could fly on magical devices.

These people's speed was not slow either; in the blink of an eye they had distanced themselves from this mountain, heading straight beyond the mountain range.

Such a large-scale movement naturally alerted other cultivator forces in the surrounding regions, who, surprised, naturally sent people over to inquire.

The Li family members had no scruples either, directly speaking the truth.

Upon hearing this, these cultivators were greatly alarmed that Snow-Connecting Mountain had been occupied by a Nascent Soul cultivator, and they hurriedly returned to discuss countermeasures.

For them, the sudden arrival of such a high-level senior expert was truly a matter of unpredictable fortune or misfortune.

But from the opponent's forcible occupation of Snow-Connecting Peak, it seemed the latter was more likely.

Just as several cultivator forces in the vicinity were each terrified and thrown into chaos like chickens flying and dogs jumping, Han Li silently appeared atop a certain boulder on Snow-Connecting Peak's summit, extending his divine sense to carefully check whether any cultivators remained hidden in the mountain.

After a while, he reopened his eyes, his face 'showing' a satisfied 'expression'.

Without another word, he flipped his palm, and a stack of formation flags appeared in his hand.

Then his form flickered, transforming into a blue streak that swiftly circled the mountain once; moments later, upon returning to the summit, the formation flags and formation disk in his hand had all 'dissipated' into nothing.

At that very moment, countless strands of white misty vapor suddenly rose from all around, and in a short time the entire spiritual mountain was submerged within it, everywhere a blank expanse of white.

Gazing at the restriction formed by the formation, Han Li nodded; this formation was taken from the storage bag of the Dry Old Devil, a relatively high-grade set of formation equipment—trivial against Nascent Soul cultivators, but if a Core Formation cultivator blundered in, escaping would be quite troublesome.

Moreover, he did not stop there; he reached out and plucked a certain spirit beast pouch from his waist, casually tossing it into midair.

He pinched a spell seal with both hands, pointing it into the air.

Instantly, the pouch mouth opened wide, and a stream of icy cold air gushed out from within, mixed with over ten crystalline snow-white winged centipedes—precisely the Six-Winged Frost Centipedes.

As these centipedes flew out of the pouch, they circled Han Li's head in a series of turns, emitting low hums without cease, overjoyed.

Seeing this, Han Li smiled faintly!

It seemed the icy cold weather here had also greatly excited these spirit worms; immediately, he moved his divine thought, and the twelve Six-Winged Frost Centipedes instantly 'shot' into the surrounding mist, vanishing into it in the blink of an eye.

With this illusion formation and twelve Six-Winged Frost Centipedes roughly equivalent to Core Formation cultivators lurking within, even an early Nascent Soul cultivator would likely find it hard to easily intrude upon this mountain. '

Having truly set his mind at ease, Han Li delayed no longer; he immediately used his Spiritual Eye divine ability to locate the point of densest spiritual energy in the mountain's belly, then employed Earth Escape Technique to burrow in, opened up a certain space, and released the Heavenly Mechanism Mansion, drifting leisurely into this cave dwelling.

After arranging the spirit worms and spirit beasts properly, Han Li immediately brought them into the seclusion chamber, sat cross-legged, slowly closed his eyes, and began to enter meditation.

This sitting lasted a full day and night!

When Han Li next opened his eyes, his 'expression' was calm and composed, his mind tranquil and undisturbed.

He pressed a single hand against his waist storage bag, and a vermilion gourd appeared in his hand; upon tilting it, a thumb-sized 'medicinal' pill rolled out, lustrous emerald green, fragrant and inviting.

This was precisely Han Li's primary objective from earlier—the 'Infant Nurturing Pill'.

As the wealthy-surnamed elder of the Jiuyou Sect said, refining this pill requires at least half a year at minimum; Han Li naturally would not delay further. Being able to refine this pill a step earlier would naturally be greatly beneficial for his future cultivation and dealing with enemies.

He opened his mouth and swallowed the green 'color' medicinal 'pill'; Han Li instantly felt as if he had swallowed a mass of cool substance, but immediately threads of scorching heat began to radiate from above.

Han Li dared not be negligent; he stowed the gourd, closed his eyes, and simultaneously pinched a spell seal with both hands, resuming meditation.

At this moment, if any other cultivator inwardly viewed Han Li's internal state, they would see his several-inch-tall Nascent Soul, at this very moment, actually opening its eyes within his body and, between its jaws, exhaling thread after thread of azure 'color' infant fire, wrapping that lustrous emerald green medicinal 'pill', gradually refining it.

The entire meditation chamber was utterly silent, as if no one were present at all.

Day by day, time passed unnoticed, and already over half a year had elapsed. The meditation chamber remained consistently quiet, but outside Snow-Connecting Mountain, during this period, several waves of people had come in succession.

Among them were both nearby cultivator forces' Core Formation cultivators and high-ranking wandering cultivators who had come upon hearing the name; moreover, a silver-robed elder had once come alone to pay a visit. This person was, among the visitors, the sole early Nascent Soul cultivator.

But no matter who, upon seeing the boundless white mist, after shouting a few times to no avail, could only return helplessly.

That silver-robed elder did show some unwillingness, having once charged into the white mist; the result was merely a brief moment, after which he was forced to retreat amidst a sharp insect chirping.

One of his arms had turned crystalline and transparent, as if sealed by a layer of ice.

Although it seemed no serious hindrance, this silver-robed elder dared not lightly charge into this restriction again, only able to sigh in vain return. For he clearly understood that the opponent had placed such terrifying spirit worms within the formation, clearly unwilling to see outsiders, and moreover, from the spirit worms' fearsome nature alone, it was sufficient to prove the opponent was indeed a Nascent Soul cultivator whose divine abilities far surpassed his own—naturally, he would not again do the foolish thing of provoking the opponent.

Not long after, all cultivator forces great and small within a radius of ten million li centered on Snow-Connecting Peak came to know that a senior expert of great divine abilities had arrived at Snow-Connecting Peak, so much so that even 'Long Senior', who had dominated this place for hundreds of years with Void Refinement, seemed unwilling to provoke him.

Thus, all forces turned their attention sideways.

Snow-Connecting Peak's vicinity within a thousand li automatically became a forbidden zone; all cultivators passing through this area detoured far away, fearing to disturb this senior's quiet cultivation and thereby invite great trouble upon themselves.

Fortunately, after half a year had passed, Snow-Connecting Mountain remained as tranquil as at the beginning; this senior seemed to have no intention of 'intervening' in affairs here. This let other forces, though anxious and uneasy, also breathe a little easier.

But on this day, no one knew that Han Li, who had been in seclusion in the secret chamber, finally refined the Fostering Infant Pill and opened his eyes.

A radiant glow flashed across his face, showing the appearance of greatly advanced cultivation.

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