Chapter 973: Strange Person

Hearing his junior sister say this, the old man surnamed Fu flashed a look of hesitation in his eyes, but after thinking for a moment, he nodded in agreement:

"Since the Page of the Underworld River has no effect on Fellow Daoist, I will not force it. 【Web】 However, I must leave a mark on you. As long as you do not leave the Southern Border, this mark will disappear on its own in half a year. Fellow Daoist Han doesn't mind this, right?"

"That's fine. My whereabouts are not a secret. You can cast the spell as you wish." Han Li smiled and agreed without a second thought.

Upon hearing this, the old man did not stand on ceremony, forming a seal with one hand and chanting a few incantations before casting a blue light.

Han Li watched intently, seeing that the spell technique was indeed an ordinary mark, and immediately raised his arm, allowing the blue light to vanish into it without a trace.

The old man surnamed Fu revealed a look of satisfaction, retracted the Page of the Underworld River, and urged the others:

"I have already said everything that needs to be said. Since Fellow Daoist Bai still needs three days to consider, my junior sister and I will wait for Fellow Daoist Bai on this mountain for three days. Brother Yuan and Fellow Daoist Han can leave first to prepare. As for the Ten Thousand Poison Valley where the Yin-Yang Cave entrance is located, although the poisonous flowers and grasses inside pose little threat to us, I still hope Brother Yuan can bring some treasures to ward off poison. Before entering the Yin-Yang Cave, it is best if we do not consume too much magic power."

"Ward off poison? Hehe, for our Poison Saint Gate, that's a piece of cake. Leave it to me. I'll take my leave first." The giant laughed and said.

Afterward, he cupped his hands to the others, patted the spirit beast bag at his waist, released the giant spirit turtle, and flew away on the turtle, wrapped in a gust of gray wind.

Seeing this, Han Li had no intention of staying longer and also spoke words of farewell.

He transformed into a cyan rainbow and broke through the air, leaving!

Half a year might be a bit tight for him, but it was barely enough to refine the Three-Flame Fan first. As for treasures to deal with ghosts, with the Evil-Warding Divine Thunder and the Soul-Calling Beast in his possession, there was no need to specially prepare anything.

He was in such a hurry to refine the treasure fan first because he was thinking that it was better to be safe than sorry. If he truly encountered some unexpected danger down there, with this fan and the humanoid puppet in his possession, he could rest easy.

Holding this consideration, Han Li drove his escape light and flew straight toward Silver Snake Mountain in the central part of the Southern Border.

Ten days later, Han Li appeared above a peculiar mountain range.

This mountain range was not small, about three to four hundred miles long, but it was long and narrow, winding and undulating, just like a giant snake. But strangely, the trees growing on this mountain range were mostly ancient trees with pale silver leaves.

Looking down from a great height, the name Silver Snake Mountain was truly well-deserved.

Han Li did not linger in other places, flying straight toward the "snake head" end.

Before he had even flown close, Han Li felt gusts of hot wind blowing toward his face, mixed with a pungent smell of sulfur.

A little while later, several bare volcanic peaks appeared before his eyes, each conical and extremely ugly.

And what was startling was that low, deep rumbling sounds emanated from these volcanic craters from time to time, and some even directly spewed out gusts of fly ash, which looked truly startling.

Yet, despite this, there were lights of escape flickering around these volcanoes, and quite a few cultivators were entering and exiting these craters; this place had actually gathered several dozen cultivators.

Most of these cultivators were at the Qi Condensation stage, and there were some at the Core Formation stage, but only a sparse few.

This was also normal; once cultivators reached the Core Formation stage, they had their own core fire and naturally focused on refining their own magic treasures, so there was no need to come to this place anymore.

As for Core Formation stage cultivators, there wasn't a single one to be seen.

Han Li stopped his escape light and sized up the scene below for a few moments, then suddenly blue light flashed in his pupils. The fire veins in this area immediately fell clearly into his spiritual sense.

A moment later, Han Li found the place with the strongest fire-attribute fire vein, and with a flash of spiritual light, his escape light flew straight toward a spot between two volcanoes.

After stopping at a height of a hundred zhang above the ground, his escape light came to a sudden halt.

Han Li flicked his sleeve, and seven or eight small golden swords shot out from his cuff. After circling in front of him, he formed a seal with both hands and let out a low shout.

The flying swords emitted a clear ringing sound, simultaneously transforming into giant golden lights several zhang long, slashing fiercely toward the ground.

Suddenly, a series of rumbling explosions occurred below, and the place struck by the sword light was blindingly golden.

When Han Li's expression shifted and the sword lights circled back, the light converged on the spot, revealing a giant crack twenty zhang wide, pitch-black and of unknown depth.

The other cultivators refining weapons nearby were naturally startled by Han Li's grand action, and some even couldn't help but fly toward Han Li's side.

As soon as Han Li sensed the movements of these cultivators, his expression sank, and he suddenly released the powerful aura of a Core Formation stage cultivator.

A startling spiritual pressure shot into the sky, immediately sweeping toward the surroundings with Han Li as the center.

The cultivators within a radius of several dozen miles were all startled by Han Li's aura. Those who had originally wanted to see what was happening turned around and left in a hurry. Some who were closer even hurriedly left their original refining spots and scattered in all directions. They were all afraid of accidentally offending this senior expert and bringing disaster upon themselves.

Han Li was very satisfied to see the nearby cultivators all wisely avoiding this place. He immediately fell straight into the crack below, and his escape light vanished without a trace in the crack.

But not long after, every cultivator who came to Silver Snake Mountain to refine weapons knew that there was a Core Formation stage cultivator here, and everyone was terrified, trying their best to avoid this place.

This made the area within a radius of ten miles with the crack as the center become like a forbidden zone, which no one dared to step into.

Days passed, and at first, there was silence in the crack, but after a month, rumbling thunder sounds came from time to time. Another month later, the thunder sounds became sparse, replaced by bursts of clear ringing, as if a phoenix were crying to the heavens. Afterward, this sound also gradually subsided, and from then on, there was complete silence.

While Han Li was busy refining the treasure, far away in a side hall of the Imperial Palace in the Jin Capital, more than ten male and female cultivators with different attire were gathered, including Daoist nuns, Daoist priests, monks, and Confucian scholars. These people all had astonishing cultivation bases of the Core Formation stage or higher. Among them, a square-faced cultivator in brocade robes and an old woman holding a golden cane were even Core Formation mid-stage cultivators.

And the black-crowned old man was among them.

These people were all sitting quietly on chairs in the hall, all silent, and a few were even somewhat restless, looking toward the hall door from time to time, as if they were waiting for someone.

"Eleventh brother, you didn't recognize the wrong person, is it really him? But three hundred years ago, I witnessed with my own eyes the seventh uncle perishing." The square-faced cultivator suddenly asked the white-bearded Daoist priest opposite him, a trace of concern hidden on his face.

"Seventh uncle's appearance is so peculiar, how could I have recognized the wrong person? Besides, even if the person could be fake, seventh uncle's magic treasure, the Cold Moon Blade, could never be wrong." The old Daoist priest replied with a bitter laugh.

"Second brother, don't be nervous. Whether it's true or not, won't we know in a moment? With so many of us here, are we afraid that we've all misjudged? If it's truly seventh uncle, it's heaven helping our Ye family. If it's fake, even if he's a Core Formation late-stage Great Cultivator, don't even think about stepping out of this hall again." Another Core Formation mid-stage old woman said sinisterly.

"That's true, but being careful is never wrong." The square-faced cultivator seemed to think it made sense, sighed, and said nothing more.

A full hour passed, and when a few bell tolls came from afar, suddenly a figure flickered at the door, and a tall, thin person appeared there for no reason. Then, after taking a light step, the person appeared in the middle of the hall bizarrely.

This person's appearance immediately appeared before everyone.

His eyebrows were scorched yellow, his eyes were small, but his head was incredibly large, nearly half again as large as an ordinary person's, wobbling on his neck, looking as if it could break off at any moment, truly bizarre.

But the group of cultivators in the hall, upon seeing this terrifying appearance, all stood up in shock.

"Are you really seventh uncle?" The square-faced cultivator took a deep breath and asked cautiously.

"Hehe! Second boy, it's been several hundred years, and you don't even recognize your old uncle. But this is also understandable. I died and came back to life, naturally making you suspicious. However, I have the third boy's sound transmission jade slip here; take a look and you'll know what's going on." The strange person laughed and threw a green jade slip over.

The square-faced cultivator was suspicious, but still took the jade slip and immersed his spiritual sense into it.

In just a moment, the square-faced cultivator's face changed several times, and after he withdrew his spiritual sense, he immediately bowed deeply to the strange person with great joy:

"So the matter of seventh uncle's death back then was a brilliant plan arranged by the previous Great Elder. Nephew was rude just now, and I hope seventh uncle will forgive me."

"You can be so careful. I am happy that you are, how could I blame you." The strange person waved his hand, not caring at all.

The other cultivators also checked the jade slip, and not long after, the cultivators in the hall bowed in surprise and joy.

"It really is seventh uncle."

"Greetings, third uncle-grandfather!"

Greetings were heard one after another!

"Ga ga, you may all rise."

The strange person was extremely happy and sat down on the main seat without standing on ceremony.

"Third brother said in the jade slip that seventh uncle advanced to the Core Formation late-stage two hundred years ago. Is this true?" The old woman asked respectfully.

"That's right. Back then, when those large sects secretly attacked me, it was because they felt I was very likely to advance to the late-stage, so they spared no effort to set a trap to kill me. After I escaped that disaster according to the clan's arrangements, I finally didn't let everyone down and luckily advanced successfully. Originally, according to the arrangements of the previous clan elders, I shouldn't have appeared to meet you unless the Ye family reached a critical moment of life and death. But the only person who knew of my existence, the third boy, suddenly came to find me not long ago, told me about the plan you were carrying out, and begged me to help with this matter as the current Great Elder of the clan. I pondered repeatedly and felt that this matter truly concerned the life and death of our Ye family, so I set out to help you." The strange person's expression became solemn.

【Web】 ===== CHAPTER 974 =====