Chapter 1224: Heaven Mystery Hall

Han Li was currently transforming into a streak of brilliant light, flying along the path leading toward the Mulan Grassland.

His goal this time was naturally to return to the Great Jin and find a way to obtain those Ghost Luo Banners from the hands of the Yin Luo Sect.

Although he had previously failed to advance to the Spirit Transformation stage, his cultivation base was already at the genuine peak of the late Nascent Soul stage, which naturally added a few more points of confidence to this trip.

If he remembered correctly, after the fall of Old Demon Qian, the Yin Luo Sect should only have that Sect Master as a late Nascent Soul cultivator. As long as he didn't foolishly engage in a head-on fight, obtaining the Ghost Luo Banners shouldn't be a major problem.

Furthermore, this Yin Luo Sect Master had personally led a team to the Heavenly South region years ago, and it seemed he also held a deep grudge against Han Li for the death of his wife.

If that was the case, taking this opportunity to eliminate this person would be killing two birds with one stone; otherwise, there might be endless future troubles.

In the past, he had also thought about dealing with this enemy, but at that time he hadn't yet advanced to the late stage and could barely even protect himself, so he naturally didn't dare to take risks lightly.

Now that his divine abilities were perfected and he needed to seize the Ghost Luo Banners, he would naturally no longer let this person go.

Otherwise, if there came a time when he wasn't staying within the Falling Cloud Sect, and this great cultivator, before his lifespan reached its limit, suddenly went mad and sought revenge for his wife's death, secretly sneaking into the Falling Cloud Sect to start a massacre...

Wouldn't Nangong Wan and the others be in danger?

As Han Li pondered this, the killing intent in his heart couldn't help but surge.

Speaking of which, although he had failed to break through to Spirit Transformation during this seclusion despite the help of the Five Cold Flame Devils and was naturally very disappointed, he wasn't truly completely discouraged because he still had the backup plan of the Magneto-Optical Light.

Besides seizing the Ghost Luo Banners, there were actually two other matters he needed to handle during this trip to the Great Jin. Otherwise, once he truly cultivated the Magneto-Optical Light, he would be effectively trapped in one place; apart from cultivating the Magneto-Optical Light to completion, he wouldn't be able to personally intervene in anything else.

Naturally, he had to take precautions while he was still a free man.

Among these, finding the Solar Essence Fire and using the Cold Marrow to refine 'Yang-Returning Water' was naturally the top priority.

As long as one possessed Yang-Returning Water, it was equivalent to increasing one's lifespan by a quarter. Such a heaven-defying item would likely not be abandoned by a cultivator of any tier. For a cultivator like Han Li, who was already at the top tier of the mortal world, the temptation was even more incomparable.

Last time, through soul-searching the Nascent Soul of Master Han Li of the Small Extreme Palace, he had learned the clues to the Solar Essence Fire. With this, everything was naturally ready, only waiting for the east wind.

As for the other matter, it was less important compared to this and was just something to be done while on the way. If it succeeded, it would be a fortunate event; if it didn't, it wouldn't have much impact on him. This was to go to the Heaven Mystery Pavilion, which sold the Heaven Mystery Mansion, and ask them for the secret technique to refine mustard-seed space.

Years ago, when attending the grand auction in the Jin Capital, upon hearing the shopkeeper of the Jin Capital Heaven Mystery Pavilion say that space rifts could be refined into mustard-seed space, his heart had stirred, and he had the idea of refining the space he saw in the Fallen Devil Valley—which was possibly the wreckage of the Spirit Miao Garden—into his own exclusive space.

After all, like him, Nascent Soul stage cultivators almost all had their own secret cave abodes in addition to their public ones; some even had several, where they would usually place their heavy treasures to ensure they had a way out in case of any accidents.

Han Li had always been busy with cultivation and had no time to consider this matter.

Now that Han Li suddenly thought of this, it wasn't really because he wanted to leave himself a way out, but rather because he felt that place was an excellent location for cultivating the Magneto-Optical Light. If he could refine it into his own mustard-seed space and only leave one secret teleportation array connected to the outside world, as long as he controlled the teleportation array within the space, even if a Spirit Transformation level opponent found that place, they would likely only be able to stare helplessly.

Even if the enemy destroyed the outside teleportation array in a fit of rage, with his current divine abilities, tearing through space to exit again wouldn't be a difficult task, and he wasn't afraid of being trapped in the space by an enemy.

On the contrary, for cultivators outside the space, even if they had the ability to tear through space, without knowing the specific entry point, it would be impossible to find a mustard-seed space that had already closed.

These things were naturally all obtained through Han Li's painstaking research.

Of course, if that didn't work, it wouldn't be impossible for Han Li to find another secret place to cultivate. It was just that the stability would naturally be far inferior to a suitable mustard-seed space.

However, the refining method for mustard-seed space was unique to the Heaven Mystery Pavilion, and asking for it would likely be quite troublesome. But then again, for a great cultivator to ask any force for something, even if that force was extremely unwilling, they would likely try their best to satisfy him, right?

After all, even if they had a late Nascent Soul cultivator sitting in charge, no one would be willing to easily offend such a great enemy.

As for why the Heaven Mystery Pavilion could still keep the refining method to this day, it was mostly because this secret technique was too much of a "chicken rib"—tasteless to eat but a pity to discard—and couldn't really pique the interest of forces like the Ten Great Orthodox and Demonic Sects. Otherwise, he wouldn't believe that a mere Heaven Mystery Pavilion could truly protect a genuinely important secret technique for such a long time.

Of course, regarding the method of asking, he naturally needed some tact.

Han Li sneered to himself, his escape light flashed violently a few times, and he disappeared without a trace on the horizon nearby.

Over half a year later, in a small city on the edge of a mountain in Yu Prefecture of the Great Jin, thousands of miles away from the Heavenly South, a misty drizzle was falling.

On a bluestone street washed clean by the rain and shining like oil, there were very few pedestrians passing by; the occasional ones were all holding cloth umbrellas and walking in a hurry, looking as if no one had the heart to linger on the street.

A man in yellow robes, holding a white oil-cloth umbrella in one hand, suddenly stepped onto this stone street.

But this person moved with composure, unhurriedly, as if taking a stroll in the suburbs, the cloth umbrella in his hand tilted slightly forward, just perfectly blocking most of his face, making it impossible for people to peek at his true appearance.

However, judging from the slender, fair palm holding the umbrella, this person seemed to be in the prime of his life and was not an ordinary poor commoner.

Some passersby who occasionally passed by, seeing this person's behavior as so strange, couldn't help but curiously look at him twice. But this person remained indifferent, his pace still unhurried.

When this person walked to an inconspicuous alley entrance, his direction changed, and he flashed into it.

Although this alley entrance was quite deep and far, after walking only a few dozen steps, anyone could see that this was a dead-end alley with no exit, and there wasn't even a single door on either side; they were all high walls several zhang tall, a place rarely visited by people. But a strange scene appeared: this man in yellow robes actually turned a blind eye to all this and just kept walking forward on his own.

Just as the umbrella-holding man was about to reach the end of the alley and bump into the stone wall that looked unusually hard, his whole body suddenly flashed with white light, and he strangely merged into the wall and disappeared without a trace, just like a ghost.

It was believed that if any mortal passed by here and saw this scene, they would definitely shout about seeing a ghost in broad daylight. And if a cultivator saw it, they would naturally just curl their lips in disdain; it was just the simplest illusion technique, what was there to be surprised about?

If the cultivator who said this also penetrated this wall to enter inside and then passed through several layers of profound restrictions, they would likely be completely dumbfounded.

Because behind these restrictions, there was actually a Heaven-Supporting Jade Gate built, over a hundred zhang tall, almost piercing the clouds. And behind the huge jade gate were layers of white jade stairs leading straight to the heights, all suspended in mid-air, leading straight to a jade-green palace in the sky.

Around the palace, milky-white spiritual mist swirled, and some rare and exotic spiritual birds circled slowly in the sky, looking carefree and at ease. On the ground, numerous exotic flowers and rare herbs were planted, adorning the place as if it were a fairyland.

But if someone scanned with their spiritual sense, they would discover that while the surroundings looked white and vast, in reality, this was a closed space that wasn't very large, only about ten miles in size, though it was several hundred zhang tall, which was surprisingly large. However, if it weren't for this, it would have been impossible to build such a strange palace in the sky here.

Under the huge jade gate at the entrance of the space, there were two rows of warriors in golden helmets and golden armor lined up on both sides, each two zhang tall, motionless, with wooden expressions.

And in the middle of these warriors, there was a burly man dressed as a general, also wearing armor, with a dark complexion, sitting on a stone stool beside a pillar without any image, lazily saying something to the person who had walked in holding an umbrella.

"No, even if it's a matter of heaven-shaking importance, you cannot disturb the Pavilion Master from meeting a distinguished guest right now. Otherwise, if the Pavilion Master blames me, I, Old Cao, cannot afford the consequences. Why don't you, Fellow Daoist Zhang, wait here for half a day and chat with me for a while longer? It's my turn to be on duty at this Heaven Mystery Hall these days, and staying with these wooden lumps for half a year has bored me to death." The burly man dressed as a general actually said this with a grin.

This person was a late Core Formation stage cultivator, but being a gatekeeper here was truly shocking. But listening to his words, those huge warriors on both sides were just some mechanical puppets. But if this person hadn't explained, these puppets were each made so lifelike that one really couldn't easily distinguish them with the naked eye.

That cultivator who had originally entered the space holding an umbrella had long since put away the white umbrella, revealing a dignified face with a fair complexion and fine eyebrows.

"Cao Fengwei! What Zhang is saying this time is not a joke; there really is an extremely important matter that must be handed over to the Pavilion Master to decide. And even if I can afford to wait, that person might not necessarily be able to. If this really delays a major event and brings a great disaster to this Pavilion, this is definitely not something you or I can bear." The middle-aged man's expression was a bit ugly, and he said with some annoyance.

"That person? Who is Fellow Daoist Zhang talking about?" The dark-faced burly man was stunned upon hearing this and asked with some suspicion.

"Very simple, he is talking about Han." Suddenly, a strange man's voice came from thin air above their heads, clearly entering their ears.

(Web) ===== CHAPTER 1225 =====