Chapter 190: Formless True Axis Scripture
Qi Liang was quite amused to hear this, and he said, "In that case, I'll take you to the Imperial Dragon Peak first."
Han Li hurriedly waved his hands as he refused, "I've already troubled you far too much today, Elder Qi. Now that I have this elder badge, I'll be able to take care of everything else on my own. You and Elder Yu haven't met for quite some time, so why don't you take the time to catch up and have a good chat?"
"That's very thoughtful of you, Elder Li," Yu Xiansheng chuckled. "The storage bracelet that I just gave you contains a map of our Blaze Dragon Dao, so you won't get lost."
Qi Liang hesitated momentarily upon hearing this, then said, "In that case, I'll leave you to yourself, Elder Li. If you get some spare time, you can come and pay my Heavenly Star Palace a visit."
"I'll be sure to do so," Han Li replied as he cupped his fist in a salute before departing.
Following his departure, a hint of mockery appeared on Yu Xiansheng's face as he mused, "Some people just don't know their limits. All of these new elders think that regular elder missions are easy to complete. Only after experiencing hardships will they come to realize that the most consistent long-term strategy is to oversee a palace like us."
Qi Liang merely smiled in response, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with this sentiment.
Meanwhile, Han Li emerged from the palace and arrived on the plaza outside, then flipped a hand over to pull the map of the Blaze Dragon Dao out of the storage bracelet that had just been given to him by Yu Xiansheng. After inspecting it closely for a moment, he stowed the map away again.
After that, he flipped his hand over again to pull out a jade slip that contained some information about all of the Blaze Dragon Dao's palaces, then pressed the jade slip against his own glabella.
Moments later, he stowed the jade slip away before abruptly rising up into the sky as a streak of azure light.
As Han Li was flying through the air, he was also taking the opportunity to inspect the landscape beneath him.
The undulating mountains were like waves that stretched as far as the eyes could see, and with the exceptions of some locations where sect palaces and pavilions were situated, the majority of the landscape was covered by a blanket of snow, giving the entire area the appearance of a glacial realm.
However, the rivers and creeks that passed through the mountain range were still slowly flowing, remaining unfrozen despite the low temperatures.
They were like a series of gentle and slow-moving pythons that were slithering through the mountain range.
Han Li had already seen several of the major rivers while on the way to the Blaze Dragon Dao, but their names were different from the names that they were referred to as here, and they were only the downstream tail-ends of those rivers.
Constantly staring at a monotonous white landscape proved to be quite disconcerting over time, so Han Li redirected his gaze to the sky instead as he flew toward the Imperial Dragon Peak at full speed.
……
15 minutes later.
The Imperial Dragon Peak was one of the tallest and most majestic mountains in the entire Bell Toll Mountain Range. At the same time, it was also one of the Blaze Dragon Dao's most important mountains. It was protected by an array all year round, and whenever any situations arose, the arrays would instantly be activated. Furthermore, there was more than one True Immortal cultivator stationed inside at all times.
The entirety of the Imperial Dragon Peak was riddled with dense clusters of buildings from head to toe, all of which housed the countless cultivation arts and secret techniques of the sect.
The buildings at the foot of the mountain were collectively known as the scripture library, and the scriptures they contained catered toward outer sect elders and disciples, whereas the buildings halfway up the mountain were known as the inner tome library, and they catered toward inner sect elders and disciples.
These two locations housed a vast number of books on an extremely diverse range of topics, and elders and disciples could find what they wanted through the library catalogs, then exchange for those scriptures using merit points.
There was only a single building on the mountain summit named the Merit Conveyance Palace, and it catered exclusively toward inner sect elders and direct disciples, housing the most important scriptures in the entire sect.
Right at this moment, a streak of azure light descended out of the sky and onto the white jade plaza in front of the palace.
It was none other than Han Li, and after landing on the plaza, he took a moment to adjust his robes, which were slightly disheveled from his flight, then raised his head to look at the palace up ahead.
The Merit Conveyance Palace was very unremarkable in appearance, with seemingly no extra thought or care put into its construction, but upon closer inspection, one would quickly discover that there was more to the palace than met the eye.
Firstly, the Merit Conveyance Palace wasn't constructed from wooden or stone materials. Instead, the building consisted entirely of a special type of metal. Secondly, there were all types of complex runes engraved onto the outer walls and eaves of the palace, giving it a profound and mystical appearance.
Han Li speculated that this palace itself was most likely an extremely powerful spirit treasure, perhaps even an Acquired Immortal Treasure.
If that really were the case, then this would truly be an extraordinary spectacle.
After inspecting the building for a moment, he cast aside this train of thought before making his way inside.
Upon entering the palace, Han Li was surprised to find that even though there were no light sources such as lamps or candles inside, it was somehow even brighter in the palace than outside.
After looking around the hall, he discovered that aside from the wall that the door was attached to, the other three walls had been split up into countless metal grids, all of which were flashing with spiritual light and tightly sealed behind independent restrictions.
Directly across from him was a middle-aged man with graying hair huddled over a table. His attention was focused entirely on an ancient book with a green color and yellow pages, and he didn't seem to have noticed Han Li at all.
Han Li approached the man and was just about to say something when he noticed out of the corner of his eye that the entire book had been written in golden seal text.
The man looked up to reveal a set of calm features, and he said, "Judging from your attire, you're not an inner sect elder, nor are you a direct disciple, so what are you doing here?"
"I am Li Feiyu, and I was only just instated as an inner sect elder. I was in a hurry to get here, so I didn't get a chance to change into my elder robes," Han Li explained as he pulled out his elder badge before offering it to the man.
The middle-aged man accepted the badge and examined it for a moment, but didn't immediately return it to Han Li as he smiled and cupped his fist in a welcoming salute.
"It's fine. The first thing that many of the new elders like to do after joining the sect is to visit the Imperial Dragon Peak, so this is no surprise. My name is Fang Zhuan, and I am the attendant elder overseeing the Merit Conveyance Palace at the moment."
Han Li immediately returned the salute, and his expression remained completely unchanged, but he was feeling a little perplexed.
Fang Zhuan was only a Grand Ascension cultivator, so why was it that he had been assigned with such an important role?
"Have you come here to exchange for some cultivation arts or secret techniques? I don't mean to rain on your parade, but given that you've only just joined the sect, I'm assuming you only have 100 merit points, right? 100 merit points can perhaps get you a decent cultivation art from the inner tome library, but in here..." Fang Zhuan's voice trailed off here, but it was clear what he was implying.
"Thank you for the tip, Elder Fang. I've only come here this time to browse the catalog of cultivation arts so I know how many merit points I have to aim for," Han Li replied.
Fang Zhuan nodded in response, then asked, "I see. May I ask which cultivation art you'd like to inquire about?"
"Prior to joining the sect, I had already heard that our Blaze Dragon Dao had a cultivation art that could allow one to cultivate the laws of time. How many merit points will be required for that cultivation art?" Han Li asked.
Fang Zhuan seemed to have been rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked, "You mean the Formless True Axis Scripture?"
"Is there something wrong?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
Instead of answering Han Li's question, Fang Zhuan asked, "Have you looked into the Formless True Axis Scripture at all prior to this?"
"I'm afraid not. Please enlighten me, Elder Fang," Han Li replied.
"Due to the fact that the cultivation art is related to the laws of time, it's considered to be one of the Blaze Dragon Dao's top three cultivation arts, but in reality, no one in the Blaze Dragon Dao has ever managed to attain the laws of time through this cultivation art. Almost everyone who decided to pursue the cultivation art gave up at the first level and switched to other cultivation arts," Fang Zhuan explained.
Han Li nodded in response, then asked in a casual voice, "I see. May I ask how many merit points are required to exchange for the Formless True Axis Scripture?"
"You still want to exchange for the cultivation art, even though the practical success rate of cultivating it is zero?" Fang Zhuan asked with a perplexed expression.
"I've been yearning for this cultivation art for a long time, so I can't bear to just give up on it before at least giving it a try. If it doesn't work, I can always switch to something else," Han Li replied with a smile.
Fang Zhuan was silent for a moment, then said, "In that case, I won't try to dissuade you any further. The Formless True Axis Scripture is split up into three levels, and elders and disciples are only permitted to exchange for one level at a time. The first level only costs 90 merit points..."
"Only 90 merit points?" Han Li was very surprised to hear this, and he couldn't help but cut Fang Zhuan off for confirmation.
"That's right, the first level only costs 90 merit points. Due to the special circumstances surrounding the cultivation art, it's the least popular of the sect's top three cultivation arts by far, so it's far cheaper than the other two," Fang Zhuan explained.
"Then what about the other two levels?" Han Li asked.
"The second level will cost 9,000 merit points, and it's only accessible to direct disciples and inner sect elders. As for the third level, that's only accessible to the dao lords and deputy dao lords, and it'll cost 900,000 merit points," Fang Zhuan replied.
"That's an extremely steep hike in price," Han Li mused.
"The reason why the first level is so easily accessible and so cheap is because the sect is hoping that someday, one of the sect's disciples will actually be able to attain the laws of time through it. Having said that, like I mentioned, no one has ever managed to succeed in this endeavor, so it's become even less popular over time," Fang Zhuan explained.
"Thank you for informing me of all of this, Elder Fang. I would still like to exchange for the first level of the Formless True Axis Scripture," Han Li said.
"Alright, if you've already made up your mind, then please wait for a moment," Fang Zhuan replied with a nod, then turned around and made his way toward the metal grids behind him.
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