Chapter 126: Tainan Mountain, Tainan Valley, and the Youth

Guanggui City was located in the southernmost part of Lanzhou. It was not a large city, with only a few hundred thousand people, only one-fifth the size of the largest city, Jiayuan City. However, it was surrounded by mountains on three sides and leaned against a lake on one, with beautiful scenery, making it a popular destination for wealthy families to relax. In addition, the area produced several rare fruits that could not be seen elsewhere, giving the small city some fame.

Tainan Mountain was located not far west of Guanggui City. The entire mountain was over three thousand meters high and was shrouded in mountain mist all year round, making it the fourth-highest mountain in Lanzhou. At the summit of the mountain, there was a small temple—Tainan Temple. Because the temple's divination and fortune-telling were very accurate, wealthy officials and nobles would endure hardships every year to come here to burn incense and make wishes, donating large amounts of incense money to the temple, which kept the incense burning continuously and made it famous.

At this moment, in a forest at the foot of Tainan Mountain, a person was sitting cross-legged under a giant, dense tree, holding a flashing red object in both hands, pressing it against his dantian and rolling it back and forth.

Suddenly, the person shuddered and let out a muffled groan. Then, the red light on the object in his hands dimmed significantly, revealing its true form—it was a piece of fine green jade. The jade was not only pure and flawless, but deep within it, a few strands of red light could be seen faintly, making it clear to anyone who saw it that this jade was of great value and not an ordinary object.

The person slowly moved the green jade away from his abdomen, then raised his head to look at the sky, revealing the ordinary face of a young man—it was Han Li, who had disappeared from Jiayuan City.

Han Li lowered his head and looked at the object in his hand, a look of joy appearing on his face.

From the time he obtained this Warm Sun Precious Jade until now, he had been continuously removing the cold poison from his body. As a result, it took half a month until today for it to be completely eradicated, which was truly not easy. Moreover, the acid-itching sensation that penetrated his bones during the detoxification process had made Han Li suffer greatly, and he still felt lingering fear when he thought about it now.

However, this Warm Sun Precious Jade was truly a rare treasure; it could actually contain his spiritual energy, allowing him to drive out the poison with half the effort, making it much easier. Otherwise, without this discovery, he feared it would have taken another ten days or so to completely remove the poison from his body.

Thinking of this, Han Li placed the precious jade into a wooden box beside him and hid it carefully against his body.

Afterward, Han Li stood up, stretched his somewhat stiff limbs, and recalled his experiences over the past two months.

After Han Li had arranged everything, he went to the Mo estate the next day, obtained information about the Overlord Mountain Villa and Master Ouyang Master Ouyang Feitian from Mistress Yan, and then rode a precious horse provided by the Mo estate, traveling day and night, finally arriving at the Overlord Mountain Villa within ten days.

After several days of continuous scouting and infiltration, Han Li seized an opportunity when Master Ouyang Master Ouyang Feitian was enjoying the moon alone. Caught off guard, he unleashed all his magic treasures, raised his sword talisman, and with one strike, severed his head, taking his life.

The entire process was unexpectedly smooth and easy, without a single ripple, almost making Han Li suspect that the person killed was a fake. Later, after checking several unique scars and birthmarks on the corpse, he confirmed that he hadn't killed the wrong person, and only then did he carry the head back to Jiayuan City with a sigh.

Returning to the Mo estate and handing over Master Ouyang Master Ouyang Feitian's head to Mistress Yan for verification, Han Li learned from her that Master Ouyang Master Ouyang Feitian had practiced the most top-tier hard-body martial art in the Jianghu, the "Overlord Armor," which had long since made his entire body impervious to blades and spears, making it difficult for even sharp weapons to harm him in the slightest. He hadn't expected that Han Li would take his head so easily.

Only then did Han Li understand that Master Ouyang Master Ouyang Feitian had likely treated his sword talisman as some kind of hidden weapon, which was why he hadn't dodged and had been so easily defeated.

The rest was simple. After Mistress Yan confirmed the head, she immediately took out the precious jade and exchanged it for the antidote with Han. After obtaining the precious jade, Han Li refused Mistress Yan's desperate attempts to keep him. Having no desire to socialize with the people of the Mo estate anymore, he left Jiayuan City again and headed toward Tainan Mountain.

Along the way, Han Li was detoxifying while thinking about how he could meet and befriend the cultivators of Tainan Valley.

Because he didn't know if the other party was evil or righteous, Han Li didn't intend to visit them rashly. If the cultivators inside were all evil demons, then he would be delivering himself to their door, and he would be lucky if he wasn't swallowed up as a snack!

Thus, as soon as Han Li arrived at Tainan Mountain, he began to ask the villagers in the nearby villages about some strange tales and bizarre events on Tainan Mountain, and he really did hear some clues.

According to the villagers, on the north side of Tainan Mountain, there was a mountain slope that was rumored to be very mysterious, shrouded in thick white mist all year round, where one couldn't even see their own fingers.

Logically, it was normal for Tainan Mountain to have some mountain mist, but it was somewhat inconceivable for a place like this to be shrouded in dense mist all year round.

Therefore, some bolder villagers had risked entering it several times. However, strangely, every time someone entered, they would unknowingly lose their way, but before long, they would unknowingly walk out of the mist and return to the place where they had started, which was astonishing.

Because the mountain slope was so strange and nothing major happened after entering, more villagers entered it repeatedly, wanting to solve the mystery. But it seemed their actions angered the mist on the slope, and from some day on, the villagers who entered the strange slope didn't walk out of the mist immediately, but were trapped for two or three days, until they were so hungry and weak that they could walk out of the mist.

In this way, no one dared to enter the strange slope anymore. In the end, the villagers became accustomed to it and turned a blind eye to it.

Han Li was overjoyed after learning these things.

He knew that this strange slope was likely the place he was looking for, and this place, even if it wasn't Tainan Valley, was certainly the residence of other cultivators.

What made Han Li happiest was that judging from the villagers' accounts, the owner of this place wasn't particularly extreme or vicious, and it should be a place worth interacting with.

Even so, Han Li didn't intend to visit just like that. Instead, he stayed in this forest, preparing to drive out the hidden dangers in his body before visiting in his best state. If there was anything wrong, he would have a few more chances to escape.

Thinking of this, Han Li intended to go to the villager's house where he was staying to eat some food and rest for the night, before officially visiting the strange slope tomorrow.

Thus, Han Li walked out of the forest and headed toward the nearby small village.

As soon as he entered the small village, Han Li saw a fifteen or sixteen-year-old youth dressed in white, standing at the entrance of the village, gesturing and talking to several villagers.

Han Li was slightly startled. Anyone who could appear here as an outsider was likely not an ordinary person, so he naturally used his Heaven Eye Technique to observe the other party.

After one look, Han Li was overjoyed. The white-clad youth was indeed shrouded in a faint spiritual light, its brightness only slightly less than his own. This youth was truly a cultivator.

The youth in the distance seemed to notice someone looking at him. He turned around and looked at Han Li. Upon seeing Han Li, his face immediately lit up with joy, and he hurried over.

"Is this brother also heading to Tainan Valley? I am Wan Wan Xiaoshan of the Wan family from Kuye Mountain. Nice to meet you, brother! Shall we go pay a visit together?" The youth ran over, panting, and before his breath had stabilized, he couldn't wait to ask Han Li.

Han Li saw the youth's appearance clearly now. He saw that the other party had delicate features, fair skin, and looked like a pampered young master of a wealthy family.

"Of course, but do you know where Tainan Valley is?" Han Li said calmly upon hearing the other party's request.

"Hehe! I only heard from my family that Tainan Valley is on the north side of Tainan Mountain, and the entrance is locked by mist all year round. I don't know exactly where it is. I asked those villagers where Tainan Valley is, but they didn't know! But you must know, right, brother?" The youth scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly, and finally looked at Han Li with expectant eyes.

"Is this little brother on his first long journey?" Han Li asked with a smile, hearing the other party's words.

"You saw through it, brother! This is indeed the first time I've been so far from home." The youth nodded somewhat shyly.

"Fine, follow me! I'll take you there." Han Li hadn't been entirely sure that the strange slope was the Tainan Valley he was looking for, but now, hearing the youth say this, he was entirely certain.

"Great! Now I can get a good look!" The youth cheered excitedly upon hearing Han Li's words.

Han Li smiled faintly at the youth's behavior. He could take this opportunity to extract some information from the other party and learn more about these cultivators.

"What do you want to see in Tainan Valley?" Han Li led the youth slowly toward the strange slope, which he had already scouted secretly several times and remembered clearly.

"Too many things. I want to see the magic arts and secret techniques of other families and schools, and I also want to exchange for things I like." The youth said casually.

"Oh!" Han Li responded softly. But inwardly, he felt somewhat puzzled. Listening to the other party's tone, it seemed there were many cultivators gathered in Tainan Valley. Could there be some major event happening?

Han Li felt somewhat uneasy.

===== CHAPTER 127 =====