Chapter 215: Monkeys Worshiping an Immortal
Right as Meng Qianqian was cultivating, a resounding boom suddenly rang out in the distance over the entire Crimson Dawn Peak.
A thick blanket of dark clouds instantly appeared in the sky above Han Li's cave abode, and the world's origin qi converged in a frenzy, forming a spiritual qi vortex that was visible even to the naked eye.
Meng Qianqian's eyes sprang open as she turned her gaze toward Han Li's cave abode with an elated look on her face.
During the past 30 or so years, phenomena like this would appear every once in a while. At her current cultivation base, she still didn't know exactly what this entailed, but everyone speculated in private that this was a sign that Han Li was making some type of breakthrough in his cultivation.
Everyone was already accustomed to this.
Of course, this type of speculation was something that Meng Yungui expressly forbade, and he also warned everyone not to speak a single word of what they had seen here to anyone.
The interior of the secret chamber was illuminated by dazzling golden radiance, and there were seven specks of golden light shining on Han Li's lower abdomen.
They resembled seven giant mouths that were guzzling down the tremendous amount of world's origin qi nearby before gradually converting it into pure immortal spiritual power.
This rate of world's origin qi absorption was countless times faster than before, and 14 Time Dao Runes had appeared on the Mantra Treasured Axis that was slowly revolving behind Han Li.
A long while later, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, and a hint of elation appeared on his face.
Over the past two decades of arduous cultivation, he had made rapid progress, opening four immortal acupoints in rapid succession.
Over the course of just a few decades, he had opened seven immortal acupoints, and this rate of progress would've shocked even the Golden Immortal Stage dao lords.
He rose to his feet as bright golden light radiated from his body, and the 14 Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis behind him immediately began to release powerful time law fluctuations.
Sensing the immense law powers imbued within the Mantra Treasured Axis, Han Li was once again struck by the urge to test out its power, and he immediately flew out of his secret chamber as a streak of azure light.
As the phenomenon in the sky faded, Meng Qianqian took a deep breath, then closed her eyes as she continued in her cultivation.
Streaks of fiery light surged into her body, and her face took on a bright red complexion again while her brows furrowed slightly in pain.
Right at this moment, Han Li appeared beside her array without any warning, then released a burst of light out of his fingertip, which surged straight into Meng Qianqian's glabella.
Meng Qianqian shuddered as the redness of her face quickly faded, and she opened her eyes.
Upon spotting Han Li, she hurriedly rose to her feet before extending a curtsey. "Elder Li."
"Working hard in your cultivation is a good thing, but you can't be too ambitious. Otherwise, you'll put too much strain on your body. Too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing, understood?"
Not long after he left his cave abode, he noticed that Meng Qianqian was on the verge of qi deviation, so he decided to give her a hand.
A faint blush appeared on Meng Qianqian's face, and she forcibly composed herself as she replied, "Yes. Thank you for your guidance, Elder Li."
"Barring any mishaps, it looks like you'll also be able to manifest a nascent soul in a few years. When that time comes, I'll have other missions to assign to you," Han Li remarked before vanishing on the spot once again.
Meng Qianqian hurriedly raised her head to say something, but Han Li was already nowhere to be seen, leaving her looking around in a daze.
In a certain valley within the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak, a streak of azure light descended out of the sky before fading to reveal Han Li.
The valley was surrounded by a ring of mountains that kept out the cold wind, so it was quite warm inside. There wasn't any snow in the valley, and instead, it was filled with grass that was interspersed with vibrant flowers.
A waterfall that resembled a white jade belt was crashing down rock that was jutting out of the stone face, sending countless water droplets splashing in all directions and making the area also rather humid.
There were several fruit trees that were laden with yellow peaches growing near the waterfall, and some monkeys chattering incessantly as they swung from tree to tree. There were dozens of these monkeys here, and they weren't afraid of Han Li at all.
Han Li paid no heed to these monkeys as he summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a flash of golden light, and a layer of golden ripples spread through the air, encompassing an area with a radius of 100 feet around him, within which was half of the waterfall.
Everyone encompassed within the golden ripples instantly became significantly slower, having been reduced to a third of their original speed now that the Mantra Treasured Axis had over 12 Time Dao Runes.
One half of the waterfall continued to tumble down as normal, while the other half had been slowed down significantly, presenting a stunning sight to behold.
The nearby monkeys immediately erupted into a panic upon seeing this, and some of them were screeching in horror, while some others appeared to have been quite excited, dancing around as they yelled in excitement.
Right at this moment, a crimson monkey that was close to twice the size of the other monkeys let loose a long howl, then waved an arm through the air and began springing away.
This seemed to have been the monkey king, and all of the other monkeys immediately followed it, fleeing away into the distance.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he made a beckoning motion with one hand, and one of the monkeys was immediately drawn to him.
A panicked look appeared on the monkey's face as it flew involuntarily toward Han Li while screeching urgently, as if it were asking its companions for help.
All of the other monkeys immediately stopped in their tracks and turned to the monkey king.
There was a bright gleam in the monkey king's eyes, indicating that it was an extremely intelligent creature, and it hesitated momentarily before slowly making its way toward Han Li.
All of the other monkeys also slowly followed along upon seeing this.
The monkey that was drawn to Han Li quickly entered the area encompassed within the golden ripples, and its flailing arms were instantly slowed to a third of their original speed, while its panicked screeches also became elongated, producing an extremely strange sound.
The monkey still had a panicked look on its face, but it was also looking quite shocked as well, clearly alarmed by the slowing of time around it.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this.
He hadn't captured the monkey for fun. Instead, he simply wanted to observe the Mantra Treasured Axis's effect on living beings.
The monkeys approached Han Li, led by their king, then fell to their knees and kowtowed to him before looking up at him with imploring expressions.
"You're quite an intelligent monkey, I see. Rest assured, I have no intention of harming your brethren," Han Li said as he gave the monkey king a slight nod, and with a sweep of his sleeve, the monkey was returned to the pack, drifting onto the ground completely unharmed.
At the same time, Han Li pointed a finger forward to release a burst of azure light, which split up into several dozen bursts, each of which surged into a monkey's body.
The azure light instantly transformed into a surge of warmth that flowed through the monkeys' bodies, providing a sense of indescribable comfort.
All of a sudden, a layer of crimson light appeared over the monkey king's body, and the light flashed a few times before fading.
A dazed look appeared in the monkey king's eyes, but it then immediately returned to its senses, and its eyes were looking even more intelligent than before as it led all of the monkeys to kowtow to Han Li once again.
It was quite a poetic scene, with the monkeys worshiping an immortal in front of a scenic waterfall.
Han Li paid no heed to the monkeys as he tested out the Mantra Treasured Axis's power for a while longer, and a pleased look appeared on his face.
If he were to face Fang Pan again in his current form, there was no way that he would've struggled anywhere near as much. In fact, he would've been able to easily defeat him.
Now that he had this Mantra Treasured Axis, he finally possessed a powerful self-preservation tool in the Immortal Realm.
After pondering something for a while, he suddenly flew back toward the summit of the Crimson Dawn Peak as a streak of azure light.
The monkey king looked on at Han Li's departing figure with a dazed expression, while the other monkeys were looking around, at a slight loss for what to do.
……
Han Li quickly returned to his cave abode to continue his seclusion, and several more years passed by in the blink of an eye.
Inside the cave abode, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed, and golden light was surging over his entire body, while the seven immortal acupoints on his abdomen were flashing incessantly as they absorbed the world's origin qi that was constantly flowing into the room.
A long while later, he slowly opened his eyes, and the golden light radiating from his body faded as he furrowed his brows slightly.
Ever since he opened his seventh immortal acupoint, his rate of cultivation progression had declined quite sharply.
He wasn't actually progressing all that slowly. When compared with other True Immortals of teh same cultivation base, he was still making far quicker progress, but having gotten used to the rapid progress that he was making before, this was a slightly disheartening turn of events.
Han Li rose to his feet as clasped his hands behind his back and began to pace back and forth in his cave abode, seemingly pondering something.
Moments later, he stopped in his tracks, seemingly having made some type of decision, and he made his way out of the cave abode.
Under normal circumstances, this rate of cultivation wouldn't have been an issue, but the problem was that he was still far from safe.
Fang Pan was dead, but the mysterious figure behind him still existed, and no one knew when he was going to appear.
He had recovered his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and refined them over the course of several years. Furthermore, his cultivation base had progressed significantly, and he now possessed the Mantra Treasured Axis, but he still didn't have much confidence in being able to take on that person.
This wasn't the time to be resting on his laurels. He still had to attain more power as quickly as possible.
The best way to enhance one's rate of cultivation was naturally through consuming pills.
Due to the rapid progression that he had been making thus far, he hadn't put much thought into acquiring pills. However, it was now time to go out and search for some pills that were suitable for him. During these decades of seclusion, he had matured a batch of 10,000-year-old ordinary spirit medicines, and it was also about time that he completed the three missions that he had to complete per 100 years in the sect.
A burst of dull rumbling rang out as the restrictions on the Crimson Dawn Peak slowly receded, producing a vibrant and colorful show of lights.
Sun Buzheng and the others immediately converged in front of the entrance of Han Li's cave abode upon seeing this.
The gate of the cave abode slowly opened, and Han Li emerged from inside.
"Welcome, Elder Li!" the group of nine servants greeted in unison.
"Has Meng Yungui still not returned?" Han Li asked.
Out of the nine servants, both Sun Buzheng and Meng Qianqian had already reached the Nascent Soul Stage, while most of the rest of them had also reached the late-Core Formation Stage.
Three of the 10 servants had successfully manifested nascent souls during the past few decades, and that was quite a remarkable rate of progress, even in the Blaze Dragon Dao. In particular, Meng Qianqian's cultivation aptitude seemed to have been slightly superior even to her brother's.
"Meng Yungui is still yet to return from the mission that you assigned to him, Elder Li," Sun Buzheng informed.
A hint of concern appeared on Meng Qianqian's face at the mention of her brother, and Han Li's brows also furrowed slightly upon hearing this.
Meng Yungui's cultivation base wasn't very advanced, and Han Li could only hope that he hadn't encountered any mishaps.
With the two treasures that Han Li had bestowed upon him for protection and his status as Han Li's servant, he should've been fine as long as he didn't venture out of the Blaze Dragon Dao's territory.
"You've all worked quite hard looking after the cave abode for all these years. Take these pills as a reward."
With a wave of his hand, a pill vial descended in front of each of the nine servants.
"Thank you, Elder Li!"
Sun Buzheng and the others were ecstatic, and they immediately stowed the vials away before extending grateful bows.
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