Chapter 624: Flower Branch
Upon returning to his cave abode, Han Li paid a visit to Mo Guang, only to find that the latter was still cultivating in seclusion. Hence, he returned to his own secret chamber, then strode over to the table inside and began drawing on a sheet of paper.
Under the tip of his brush, a design of an octagonal box gradually took shape, and it appeared to be quite complex and profound.
After completing a design of one side of the box, Han Li briefly examined it before setting it aside, then pulled out another sheet of paper to continue the process.
Before long, seven or eight designs had been completed, each of which depicted the octagonal box from a different angle.
Han Li swept his gaze over the designs, then nodded with a pleased expression before pulling out yet another sheet of paper.
On this one, he replicated the array that Daoist Master Jingyang had engraved onto the ground around the octagonal box earlier.
Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from behind him.
"Is that the Eight Origins Unraveling Array?"
"You recognize this array, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked while continuing to draw the array.
A hint of befuddlement flashed through Daoist Xie's eyes, and it seemed that it was just as perplexed about how it had managed to identify the array.
"I don't know how, but I suddenly recalled the array as soon as I saw these designs," it explained.
"Could it be that some of the memories that your former owner sealed away were awakened?" Han Li asked.
"I'm not sure," Daoist Xie replied, then strode over to the table to pick up a few of the designs for a closer examination.
All of a sudden, it said, "This part isn't quite right. It needs to be adjusted, or the effect of the array will be hampered."
Han Li's eyes immediately lit up as he asked, "You know how this thing is made?"
"I should be able to make it as long as I have the right materials," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
It then took Han Li's brush before writing out a long list of materials onto a sheet of paper, then handed it to Han Li as it said, "If you can prepare these materials, I'll be able to craft this Eight Origins Key."
"Eight Origins Key..." Han Li murmured to himself as he read through the list of materials, and it immediately made sense to him why Daoist Master Jingyang wasn't concerned about showing him the Eight Origins Unraveling Array. If he didn't have this list of materials, he wouldn't even be able to make an Eight Origins Key.
That only made him more curious about how Daoist Xie had access to this knowledge.
However, it was clear from Daoist Xie's expression that it was just as confused as he was.
"I recall that the Eight Origins Unraveling Array is only effective on certain special domain treasures. What are you trying to open, Fellow Daoist Han?" Daoist Xie asked.
Han Li flipped a hand over to produce the section of tailbone that from the giant rat skeleton upon hearing this, and he handed the bone to Daoist Xie while observing its expression, trying to see if it displayed any reaction to the bone, but Daoist Xie's brows only furrowed slightly with befuddlement, and that was the extent of its reaction.
"Do you recognize this thing, Fellow Daoist Xie?" Han Li asked.
Daoist Xie examined the bone for a moment, then handed it back to Han Li with a shake of its head. "I wouldn't have been able to identify this object as a domain treasure at all if you hadn't told me."
"If I hadn't seen something that was identical to it in aura and appearance during the auction, I wouldn't have known that this was a domain treasure, either. Once I have these materials prepared, I'll have to trouble you to refine the key for me," Han Li said.
"I can do that," Daoist Xie replied with a nod.
After that, Han Li asked some more questions about the Eight Origins Key, then left his cave abode to make another trip to Jade Gathering City.
......
Over two months later.
A small array had already been engraved onto the ground in Han Li's cave abode.
Daoist Xie was holding an octagonal box with one hand, and the box sprang open before being placed upside-down at the center of the array.
"Place your domain treasure on top of the box, Fellow Daoist Han," Daoist Xie instructed.
Han Li immediately obliged, summoning the beast bone before setting it down onto the box.
"Regarding the incantation..."
Before Han Li had a chance to finish, Daoist Xie interjected, "There's not much point in only knowing the incantation, it has to be used in conjunction with a specific method of channeling your immortal spiritual power."
"I'm assuming you know this method, right, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked with a smile.
"Leave it to me," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, then began making a string of hand seals while silently chanting an incantation identical to the one used by Daoist Master Jingyang.
After that, a beam of white light shot out of its fingertip and into the beast bone.
A burst of green light flashed over the beast bone, followed by a burst of radiant silver light that flowed over the bone's surface like rippling water, while a flower design the size of a copper coin appeared at the end of the bone.
Han Li's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this.
Just as he had predicted, this was indeed the Flower Branch refined by the third mountain master of the Hundred Creations Mountain.
"The seal on this treasure has already been unraveled. All you need to do is refine it before you can open it," Daoist Xie said as it returned the bone to Han Li.
"Thank you, Brother Xie," Han Li replied with a nod, then inspected the Flower Branch momentarily before sitting down with his legs crossed.
After that, he joined his palms together with the bone held between them and began the refinement process.
Around four hours later, Han Li's eyes abruptly sprang open, and he wiped the sweat from his forehead before rising to his feet.
There was a hint of irrepressible elation in his eyes, and he took a glance at Daoist Xie before gently sweeping a hand over the Flower Branch.
The bone instantly shuddered before turning transparent, while the radiant silver light that it was releasing formed a door of light that was around ten feet tall.
"Why don't you come inside with me, Brother Xie?" Han Li proposed with a smile, then stepped into the door of light.
Daoist Xie was standing in front of the door of light, and it was just about to step inside as well when it suddenly stalled momentarily, then immediately returned to normal before vanishing into the door.
After entering the door of light, Han Li appeared on a spacious meadow.
He cast his gaze forward to discover a lush forest beyond the meadow, and there was faint smoke rising up from the forest, giving it a rather hazy and indistinct appearance.
Instead of immediately entering the forest, Han Li flew in a circle around the space first.
The sky in this space was only around a hundred thousand feet tall, and there was a spatial barrier beyond that altitude, preventing one from flying any higher. There were also spatial barriers surrounding the domain as well, creating invisible walls on all sides.
Through his exploration, Han Li discovered that the internal space within the Flower Branch was far larger than that of the Fish Branch, but the abundance of the world's origin qi was roughly on the same level in both domains.
Following his brief inspection, he descended into the forest with Daoist Xie, and as soon as he entered the forest, he could immediately feel the presence of faint baleful qi in the air.
On the ground in front of him was a small white path paved to form all types of strange designs, and it was extending deep into the forest in a winding fashion, seemingly leading to the source of the baleful qi.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he crouched down to give the stone path a closer inspection, upon which he discovered that it wasn't paved with white stone slabs or jade or anything like that. Instead, it was paved with human and beast bones of different sizes.
"Given this gruesome hobby, it's no wonder that rat carcass possessed such immense baleful qi," Han Li remarked.
As Han Li made his way down the bone path, the baleful qi in the forest began to diminish, and many different spirit plants appeared on either side of the path. Some of these spirit plants were familiar to Han Li, while unidentifiable, but all of them appeared to be quite advanced in age.
Instead of immediately picking these spirit plants, Han Li continued down the path until he reached a purple bamboo forest that was only several thousand feet in size.
The forest was teeming with spiritual qi, and a two-story pavilion could be seen inside. The area around the pavilion was completely devoid of baleful qi, and it resembled an immortal abode.
Han Li activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes to carefully examine the purple bamboo forest for a moment, and after making sure that there were no restrictions inside, he made his way into the forest.
After walking a few hundred meters, Han Li spotted a fenced courtyard up ahead. Upon entering the courtyard, he noticed a small pond with purple smoke swirling inside it, and at the center of the pond was a series of purplish-golden lotus flowers.
"It looks like the core of this domain treasure is this pond and these lotus flowers inside," Han Li remarked with a contemplative expression.
"That does appear to be the case," Daoist Xie agreed with a nod.
The two of them made their way over a purple bamboo arched bridge over the pond, then arrived in front of the two-story pavilion on the other side of the pond.
The entire pavilion was also constructed from purple bamboo, and its foundation seemed to be rooted to the ground. In fact, some roots could be seen burrowing into the ground from the underside of the pavilion, and it was clear from the layer of purple light around it that restrictions had been set up inside.
"This pavilion is quite remarkable. It draws upon the power of the lotus flowers in the bond, fusing as one with their roots. If we were to forcibly break this restriction, perhaps we'd be able to gain access to the pavilion, but in doing so, we'd surely damage the foundation of this domain," Han Li remarked after examining the pavilion briefly.
"That's not a problem. All we have to do is slightly modify the Nine True Spirits Technique, and we'll be able to unravel these restrictions without harming the lotus flowers," Daoist Xie said.
"It sounds like you have it all figured out. Can I count on you again, Brother Xie?" Han Li asked with a smile.
Daoist Xie nodded silently in response, then began to work on unraveling the pavilion's restrictions.
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