Chapter 100: Cow Head Mask
"Apologies once again for the intrusion, Fellow Daoist Liu. I'll be taking my leave now," Mistress Gu Gu said, then sped away into the distance as a black shadow.
"Farewell for now, Fellow Daoist Liu!" Patriarch Lu Kun cupped his fist toward Han Li and Han Qiu in a parting salute, then also departed.
Thus, Han Qiu was the only one left standing in front of Han Li, and he showed no intention of leaving.
"Is there something else I can help you with, Fellow Daoist Han?" Han Li asked as a cold tone crept into his voice.
"I would also like to apologize for the intrusion, Fellow Daoist Liu," Han Qiu said as he cupped his fist toward Han Li in an apologetic salute.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he offered no response.
After a brief hesitation, Han Qiu continued, "I do indeed have something that I wish to discuss with you, Fellow Daoist Liu."
"Go ahead," Han Li prompted in a calm voice.
"According to my knowledge, Fellow Daoist Luo Meng was able to come into possession of a Soulbirth Flower some time ago, and I'm assuming that the flower is now in your possession. Seeing as you're pursuing the path of the Profound Immortal, I'm sure you have no use for such a flower. As such, would you be able to give it to me? Rest assured, I'll be sure to provide you with satisfactory compensation," Han Qiu said as a hopeful look appeared on his face.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but I've found no such flower on the island," Han Li replied with no change in his expression.
Han Qiu's smile immediately stiffened, and his expression darkened ever so slightly.
"I see. In that case, I'll be taking my leave now," Han Qiu said with a parting nod, then flew away as a streak of white light, vanishing into the distant sky in the blink of an eye.
Han Li looked on as Han Qiu departed, and only after he had vanished out of sight did he descend back onto Dark Veil Island.
At some point, the barrier of water above the island had disappeared, and the sea around the island had returned to its former peaceful state, as if nothing had ever happened.
"Senior Liu!"
Luo Feng and Several Body Integration cultivators of the Luo Clan immediately gathered around Han Li with ecstatic expressions, and they were surrounded by many more cultivators at or below the Spatial Tempering Stage.
"We cannot thank you enough, Senior. You have saved our Luo Clan from certain destruction," Luo Feng said with a serious expression, then fell to his knees and kowtowed to Han Li with the utmost respect and reverence.
"Thank you, Senior Liu!"
All of the other members of the Luo Clan also followed suit.
"No need to thank me, Chief Luo. I promised to protect Dark Veil Island, so this is only to be expected of me," Han Li said.
Judging from how these people were no longer referring to him as their Ancestral God, Luo Feng had to have already explained his identity to them.
This was a good thing. After all, this wasn't something that could've been kept a secret for very long anyway.
Luo Feng and the others still wanted to shower Han Li with more words of praise and gratitude, but Han Li excused himself by proclaiming that he needed to rest after that intense battle, and he returned to his courtyard.
……
Several months passed by in a flash.
Han Li was standing beside the wooden hut in the secret area, inspecting the Soulbirth Flower as he reached out to gently stroke one of its petals.
Yet another golden stripe had appeared on the Soulbirth Flower's petals, amounting to a total of three stripes.
At over 30,000 years of age, a golden hue was beginning to peek through the flower's purple petals, giving it a regal aura.
Han Li's gaze was settled on the flower, but he was pondering the battle that he had fought against the Earthly Deity Avatars of the three Ancestral Gods several months ago.
Even though the three Earthly Deity Avatars were ultimately defeated, they had given Han Li more of an insight into the powers of laws, and he became even more interested in attaining this power for himself.
Moments later, he slowly withdrew his hand and stood up straight again.
Right as he was about to turn away, he noticed a flash of light appear in the small wooden hut next to Luo Meng's grave out of the corners of his eyes, following which an object flew out from within.
He turned to discover that it was the head of Luo Meng's statue that had emerged from the wooden hut, and it was hovering in mid-air while glowing with blue light.
Previously, whenever he had tried to observe the power of faith through the statue head, some type of phenomenon would always be triggered, with the most intense occasion causing such severe tremors that the walls around the courtyard he was staying in had been cracked.
In order to avoid further similar occurrences in the future, he had renovated the wooden hut in the secret area, and during the past month, he had spent the majority of his time here, aside from at night, when he was allowing his Heaven Controlling Vial to absorb moonlight.
As a result, the statue head had naturally also been moved into this secret area.
Previously, as long as he didn't try to observe the power of faith within the head using the method contained within the jade slip, the head would remain as still as an inanimate object, and this was the first time that it had flown out on its own.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as he approached the head for a closer examination, but a sense of foreboding suddenly welled up in his heart, and he reflexively sprang back to take evasive measures.
All of a sudden, a burst of blue light exploded violently in the air, sending powerful shockwaves sweeping in all directions.
Han Li caught a glance of the Soulbirth Flower of the corners of his eyes, and he immediately rushed over to the flower to shield it from the explosion.
He crossed his arms in front of himself, then drew upon all of his magic power to conjure up an azure light barrier that kept the shockwaves at bay.
The shockwaves crashed into the azure light barrier one after another, then swept away toward either direction, and large plumes of dust and debris were thrown up in the surrounding forest as dozens of trees were felled in an instant.
The newly renovated wooden hut was unable to withstand the shockwaves, and it collapsed once again into an even more dilapidated state than before.
More shockwaves continued to erupt from the statue head for quite some time before gradually receding, and the blue light glowing from within it also faded.
Right at this moment, a cow head mask that was roughly the size of a human head flew out of the statue head without any warning before rushing directly at Han Li.
The entire mask was blue in color, and it was riddled with a type of strange pattern that Han Li had never seen before. Bursts of peculiar fluctuations were emanating incessantly out of the mask, and there was a pair of strange symbols situated at the glabella of the mask, seemingly spelling out the numbers "1" and "5".
Han Li reflexively lashed out with his fist to attack the mask, but the mask immediately took on an insubstantial, allowing Han Li's fist and arm to pass directly through it as it advanced forward to hover in front of the Soulbirth Flower.
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, then turned around to see bursts of light blue ripples emerging from the cow mask amid a flash of bue light.
Immediately thereafter, the stiff and rigid-looking lines of the mask's mouth began to move, and it declared, "Wyrm 15, it's already been several years since you last completed a mission for the guild, and your last offering has also expired.
“You must travel to Sea Fig Island to meet up with Wyrm 3 within a month, and he'll take you to complete this mission. If you do not arrive by the deadline, you will be evicted from the Transient Guild and be forced to bear all the consequences."
After the voice trailed off, the fluctuations emanating from the mask disappeared, but it didn't fall to the ground. Instead, it continued to hover in mid-air while flashing faintly with blue light.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he suddenly cast a cold gaze toward the Soulbirth Flower.
All of a sudden, he gave a cold harrumph as he made a strange hand seal, then abruptly reached out and made a grabbing motion. A translucent thread instantly shot out of his fingertip, then pierced straight into the stamen of the Soulbirth Flower.
As his hand was slowly drawn back, the translucent thread quivered as it pulled a frantically writhing black entity out of the Soulbirth Flower.
As soon as the black entity left the stamen of the flower, it began to twist and write violently, revealing itself to be a miniature black figure that was only several inches in size.
The miniature black figure bore a strong resemblance to Luo Meng's statues, and Han Li could tell that its aura was also identical to that of the residual aura in the statue head.
"You're Luo Meng!" Han Li murmured to himself in a surprised voice.
A panicked look appeared on the miniature black figure's face, and its mouth was opening and closing incessantly, but it wasn't able to make any sound. At the same time, wisps of black qi were scattering into the air from its body, and it looked as if it were about to disintegrate.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this.
This miniature black figure seemed to have been formed by only by a wisp of the aura of Luo Meng's soul. It wasn't actually his soul, and it couldn't even be counted as a soul fragment. Given its current state, it wasn't going to take long before it would disintegrate.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li made a quick series of hand seals, releasing several azure incantation seals that vanished straight into the miniature black figure.
Azure light immediately flashed over its body, and an azure light barrier appeared to envelop the entire miniature black figure like a membrane.
The escaping black qi was impeded by the membrane and unable to dissipate any further, thereby stabilizing the miniature black figure.
Its lips began to move once again, and a hoarse and extremely faint voice rang out from within its body. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist..."
"Don't be in a rush to thank me. What are your intentions hiding a wisp of your soul's aura in the Soulbirth Flower?" Han Li asked in a cold voice.
"You are not from our tribe... yet you know my name and were willing to help me stabilize my soul, so I presume you are not an enemy of our Dark Veil Island... Why is it that you've appeared in this secret area of mine?" Instead of answering Han Li's question, the miniature black figure responded with a question of its own.
"I just so happened to be passing through and saved your Dark Veil Island from an invasion from the Cold Crystal Race, and I've continued to stay on the island due to various reasons that I won't explain to you," Han Li replied in a truthful manner.
Luo Meng was silent for a moment, then said, "I see, so our island owes you a great favor... May I ask... where Luo Feng is right now?"
"Regardless of whether you believe what I'm saying or not, answer my questions first, and then we'll talk about other things," Han Li ordered in a cold voice.
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