Chapter 1199: Message from the Star Palace

The cultivation world of Yue State in central Tiannan has seen constant strife over the past few hundred years, with few prolonged periods of peace.

Initially, the six sects of Yue State were defeated by the demonic path; then, several demonic sects fought openly and secretly for control of Yue State, ultimately allowing the Gui Ling Sect to prevail. However, a century ago, the Yu Ling Sect took advantage of the Gui Ling Sect's weakened state after their defeat in the Fallen Demon Valley and suddenly joined several other sects to attack, forcing the Gui Ling Sect out of Yue State.

Today, Yue State is divided among several sects led by the Yu Ling Sect, which, due to its strength, naturally occupies nearly half of the state's spirit veins and spirit mines.

A certain spirit stone mine located underground in a large canyon is one of the veins occupied by the Yu Ling Sect.

Although the spirit stone reserves here were originally fairly abundant, centuries of continuous mining by the six sects of Yue State, the Gui Ling Sect, and the Yu Ling Sect have nearly exhausted them, leaving the mine in a semi-abandoned state.

Now, aside from leaving two low-level Qi Condensation disciples to guard it, the Yu Ling Sect has no other cultivators stationed here.

On this day, the two Yu Ling Sect disciples were chatting idly at the mine cave entrance about recent sect affairs when, above their heads on the surface, a green-clad figure silently used earth-escape technique to slip underground and appear directly in an inconspicuous cave at the deepest part of the mine.

Throughout, the two Yu Ling Sect disciples noticed nothing at all.

A flash of yellow light revealed the figure's true form: an unremarkable-looking youth. After glancing at the empty corner of the cave, he curled the corner of his mouth into a faint smile.

This person is naturally Han Li, who rushed all the way from Xi State to this place.

A month ago, after emerging from seclusion in Xi State, he did not meet with Nangong Wan, whom he had been somewhat concerned about.

Unlike Han Li, she emerged from seclusion several times during her over-a-century-long retreat, deliberately traveling to various places in Tiannan for an extended period to temper her disposition.

When Han Li emerged, however, Nangong Wan had, several years prior, re-entered her seclusion chamber to continue the next stage of her cultivation.

Han Li felt some regret but did not go to disturb her; instead, he sent her a sound transmission talisman informing her of his upcoming journey, then went to Luoyun Sect to meet Lu Luo and Liu Yu.

Upon seeing Han Li, the two were naturally overjoyed.

Over these years, through the two's great efforts, Luoyun Sect's power has grown by leaps and bounds, becoming one of the major sects in Tiannan. Moreover, the surnamed Song woman from Bai Feng Peak successfully condensed a Nascent Soul during this over-a-century period, becoming the fourth Nascent Soul cultivator of Luoyun Sect.

Han Li felt a degree of joy upon hearing this, but what surprised him more was that the surnamed Song woman, after years of searching, finally found over a decade ago a disciple with innately powerful spiritual sense. However, due to Han Li's seclusion, this person has been cultivating independently within the sect; it is said their spiritual roots are not bad, being a dual-attribute spiritual root cultivator.

Upon hearing this, Han Li's heart stirred, and he immediately summoned the disciple. The result was that this disciple turned out to be a somewhat frail but handsome-looking boy of sixteen or seventeen.

Han Li personally tested the boy.

The boy's spiritual sense was indeed innately powerful and abnormal, nearly several times above that of his peers; most importantly, his disposition was also quite honest and steady, which greatly satisfied Han Li.

He did not beat around the bush but directly asked the boy whether he was willing to become his disciple.

The boy named Shi Jian, who already knew Han Li's identity, upon hearing that Han Li, proclaimed the number one cultivator of Tiannan, wished to take him as a student, was overjoyed. Without hesitation, he knelt and kowtowed to Han Li, immediately becoming his disciple.

Han Li laughed heartily a few times, then brought the youth back to Zi Mu Peak, where he opened a cave dwelling for Shi Jian on another sub-peak and also made a copy of the Dayan Treasure Canon to give him.

Besides instructing the boy to definitely cultivate the Dayan Canon, Han Li allowed him to freely choose other techniques from the text for cultivation, without excessive interference. Given the Dayan Shenjun's innate talent back then, the techniques and secret arts recorded in the Treasure Canon are indeed numerous.

Of course, Han Li also left this Qi Condensation disciple with sufficient quantities of pills and summoned the female disciple Tian Qiner, who also studies under him, to guide Shi Jian's cultivation for a period.

Speaking of Tian Qiner, although she bears the Dragon Chant physique and her cultivation has been intermittent, with the large quantity of pills supplied by the humanoid puppet, she has, after over a hundred years, finally reached the mid-Foundation Establishment stage. It seems, as Han Li anticipated, that her forming a Golden Core is also not impossible.

After taking on the disciple, Han Li's long-held concern was finally resolved.

When Dayan Shenjun passed away, he entrusted Han Li with finding a disciple to inherit the Dayan Treasure Canon. Han Li planned to wait until the boy's cultivation reached Golden Core or above, then immediately bestow several powerful treasures upon him and send him to the far west to seize the position of sect leader of the Qianzhu Sect, thereby inheriting Dayan Shenjun's legacy.

As for Mu Peiling, who resides on a certain sub-peak, after cultivating the Yin Yue Sect secret art transmitted by Nangong Wan, her cultivation has greatly increased, and she has advanced to the late Golden Core stage. She is currently in seclusion day and night, painstakingly cultivating her magic power in hopes of early completion of the late stage, so as to attempt a breakthrough into the Nascent Soul stage.

Han Li is not optimistic about her future development. It is not that Mu Peiling lacks talent, but nearly every Nascent Soul cultivator who condenses a Nascent Soul has their own unique opportunities and fortunes. Even if Mu Peiling cultivates diligently, without other fortuitous encounters, her chances of advancing to Nascent Soul are as slim as those of other cultivators.

After Han Li had arranged all major and minor affairs within the sect and everything in his cave dwelling, he no longer hesitated and left the Yunmeng Mountain Range, heading straight for Yue State.

After all, judging from the news sent by Lingyu Ling, the current state of the Xing Gong is indeed not good, seemingly completely suppressed by the Nixing Alliance. Otherwise, they would not have used a Wanli Fu to specifically seek his help.

Han Li did not wish to arrive in the 'Luan' Xinghai only to have the person he came to rescue die first in a blunder.

Now he has returned once again to the underground cave of the large canyon where the ancient teleportation array is located.

Although he had deliberately destroyed that teleportation array the last time he returned, he had early on memorized its layout and orientation precisely; as long as he re-establishes the array in its original position, he can naturally teleport back to the 'Luan' Xinghai.

Moreover, what reassures Han Li is that only two Qi Condensation juniors remain guarding this place. He need only slightly employ a Blindness Technique to easily deceive their senses, and they will certainly not detect any abnormality here.

Han Li thus thought, and immediately grabbed his storage bag at his waist and flung it into the air.

The storage bag spun rapidly in low altitude, then suddenly its mouth inverted, facing the ground and spraying out a mass of white misty rosy light.

After the spiritual light retracted, a large pile of materials over half a person's height suddenly appeared on the ground, mainly consisting of various strange stones and spirit jade.

Han Li expressionlessly beckoned again toward the air, and white light flashed within the storage bag.

This time, however, it sprayed out more than ten magical flags and several magical discs, which floated one by one in midair, flashing with spiritual light of various colors.

Han Li murmured an incantation, then flicked his sleeve lightly at these array implements.

Instantly, these magical implements transformed into lights of various colors, sinking into the surroundings of the cave and flashing one by one before vanishing without a trace.

Next, a large amount of white mist welled up in the cave and instantly submerged Han Li within it.

At this moment, if a cultivator walked past outside the cave, they would only see the cave interior empty and swaying, appearing quite ordinary.

The restriction produced by the array, after being thoroughly concealed, hid Han Li and that large pile of array materials.

And Han Li has already begun working busily within the cave.

With his current attainments and experience in array formation, given sufficient materials, setting up a small array as familiar as the back of his hand is naturally effortless.

In just a short two days, a brand-new ancient teleportation array appeared in the corner of the cave.

After Han Li carefully inspected the array, he first sent a magical command toward it.

After a flash of white light in the center of the array, it emitted successive low hums, and then spiritual light flashed at various points of the array, but shortly afterward it dimmed on its own.

It appears that the teleportation array on the other side also has no problems and can be used for transmission.

Han Li felt joy in his heart, then shifted his form and stepped onto the teleportation array.

But as he was about to activate the array, his gaze swept toward the cave entrance, a flicker of hesitation crossed his face, he lowered his head slightly to ponder, and then suddenly slapped a certain spirit beast pouch at his waist.

A hissing sound came from the pouch, its mouth opened, and a mass of white, snowy wind and snow sprayed directly out from within.

Immediately, twelve white snow centipedes emerged in the wind and snow, each about a chi in length, with four wings growing on their backs, appearing extremely ferocious.

After Han Li released these six-winged frost centipedes, he murmured an incantation and directed a magical command at these spirit insects.

These spirit insects rapidly shrank, instantly becoming the size of a palm. Then they opened their mouths, exhaling streams of cold air that wrapped around their bodies, actually freezing themselves into ice.

Shortly afterward, each became an extraordinarily clear ice ball, appearing before Han Li.

Han Li flicked his ten fingers in succession at these ice balls, and twelve green threads shot out, instantly sinking into the ice balls and vanishing from sight. Subsequently, the twelve ice balls, without Han Li needing to cast a spell, simultaneously fell downward into the ground, and in the flashing yellow light, they escaped underground and vanished from sight.

He only then nodded slightly.

With these twelve spirit insects equivalent to seventh-grade demon beasts guarding it, even a Nascent Soul cultivator could not easily destroy the teleportation formation here; thus, he felt much more at ease.

Immediately, Han Li no longer hesitated and activated the teleportation formation beneath his feet, vanishing into thin air amidst a flash of white light.

……

After a bout of dizziness and vertigo, Han Li's figure appeared on a certain small island who-knows-how-many thousands of miles away.

He swept his gaze around; everything here remained exactly as it was when he left, suggesting that due to this place's secrecy, no other cultivator has discovered it to this day.

As Han Li stepped out of the teleportation formation, he first turned back and slashed at the empty air behind him without looking.

A streak of golden light flashed past, and with a tremendous "Boom!" sound, the teleportation formation behind him was sliced into two halves out of thin air.

Han Li walked out of the stone chamber with a blank expression.

Moments later, a streak of green light rose from the island, circled briefly, then shot straight toward a certain direction and vanished at the horizon's edge.

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