Chapter 216: Bell Toll
"Today marks the end of my seclusion. The spirit fields in the territory of the Crimson Dawn Peak have been left uncultivated this entire time. Sun Buzheng, take some people with you to prepare these spirit fields for plantation," Han Li Instructed.
"Yes, Elder Li. May I ask what types of spirit plants you would like us to plant in those fields?" Sun Buzheng asked.
"Just focus on preparing the fields for now, I'll make further arrangements after that," Han Li replied.
Everyone immediately gave affirmative responses before turning to leave.
"Qianqian, come with me," Han Li suddenly instructed, then turned and made his way back toward his cave abode.
Meng Qianqian faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which a hint of elation flashed through her eyes as she joyfully followed along behind Han Li, and before long, they had entered a stone chamber in Han Li's cave abode.
At the center of the stone chamber was a small spirit gathering array that was roughly 30 feet in size, filling the entire chamber with abundant spiritual qi, and at the center of the array laid a huge white egg.
As Meng Qianqian entered the stone chamber, she was initially quite excited and curious, but her gaze was then drawn to the giant white egg.
Following the past three decades of nourishment, the vitality contained within the egg was becoming more and more potent, but it still showed no signs of hatching at all.
Meng Qianqian opened her mouth, seemingly to ask something, but she then recalled what her brother had told her, and she hurriedly closed her mouth and stood off to the side in silence, awaiting further instructions from Han Li.
Han Li looked at the egg in silence for a moment, then said, "Qianqian, your mission from now on is to find a way to hatch this egg for me. You're using a fire-attribute cultivation art, and you've manifested a nascent soul, so perhaps you'll be able to assist the egg in its hatching process. During this time, you can freely enter this cave abode and this stone chamber, but make sure you don't mention this to anyone, not even your brother, understood?"
He flipped a hand over to produce a jade badge and a storage bracelet as he spoke, then handed them both to Meng Qianqian.
"Yes, Elder Li! I'll be sure to keep this a secret and do my best to complete this mission!" Meng Qianqian hurriedly replied.
Han Li nodded in response, then departed from the cave abode and made his way down the mountain.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the underground cavern where the fire vein was situated.
Compared with several decades ago, the fire-attribute spiritual power in the air was a lot more stable, but it was still extremely hot, as if the very space itself were on fire.
Above the churning lake of lava was a massive fiery red cocoon, which was expanding and shrinking in a rhythmic fashion as it continued to devour the surrounding fire-attribute spiritual power.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to check on the Essence Fire Raven within the cocoon, and an elated look immediately appeared on his face.
Having absorbed so much of the pure fire-attribute spiritual power released by the fire vein, the Essence Fire Raven was well on its way to a full recovery, and it was entirely possible that it could even reach greater heights than its former peak.
The fire raven seemed to have sensed Han Li's presence, and the giant cocoon wobbled slightly as a string of crisp chirps rang out from within.
"Keep focusing on your recovery here, there's no need to come out anytime soon," Han Li said with a faint smile.
His words of reassurance seemed to have worked, and the giant cocoon settled down again.
Han Li watched the cocoon for a moment longer, yet right as he was about to depart, the entire underground cavern suddenly shuddered violently.
A burst of indescribably enormous power erupted forth from underground like a ferocious wave, and the roof of the cavern trembled as countless crimson rock fragments came raining down from above.
Even with Han Li's current cultivation base, he was still quite alarmed by this burst of tremendous power.
In the next instant, a deafening sound that resembled the toll of a giant bell rang out from deep under the earth.
The underground cavern quaked violently once again, and a giant wave that was several hundred feet tall rose up from the lake of lava, sending molten lava splattering in all directions.
The giant cocoon hovering in mid-air also wobbled a few times before setting down again.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly as a rumor pertaining to the Bell Toll Mountain Range sprang into his mind.
It was said that this place had been given its name due to the strange bell-toll-like sound that would ring out from underground in the region every once in a while.
In all of his years at the Blaze Dragon Dao, Han Li had never heard this so-called bell toll, and he was only hearing it for the first time now.
However, the burst of power that had erupted forth from underground didn't seem to have come from tectonic plate movement.
Han Li pondered this for a moment before shaking his head to rid himself of that train of thought.
Regardless of what the underlying reason was, this didn't have anything to do with him, and he had plenty of other things to worry about.
He took another glance at the giant cocoon before turning to depart, but all of a sudden, he abruptly turned back around like lightning as a hint of blue light flashed through his eyes.
He had turned around so quickly that a loud snap had rung out in the air, and he was staring intently at the surface of the lake of lava.
It was only for an instant, but out of the corner of his eye, he had spotted a massive red shadow flashing past at the bottom of the lake of lava.
The red shadow resembled a creature's tail, and it had flashed past at an extraordinary speed.
As soon as Han Li noticed this, he had already released his spiritual sense, but he was unable to track down the red shadow.
There were all types of chaotic auras underground that were severely limiting his spiritual sensory range.
What was that thing? LiETH
Han Li remained standing on the spot in silence for a long while, then raised his head to inspect his surroundings with a faint smile on his face.
It seemed that this Bell Toll Mountain Range was far more complex than he had imagined. However, even if there were some type of mysterious creature lurking in here, it most likely didn't pose a threat to the Essence Fire Raven.
With that in mind, Han Li turned and made his way out of the underground cavern.
Several hours later, in the High Profound Palace of the Cloud Piercing Peak.
There were many elders and disciples gathered in front of the white and azure stone walls in the palace, and all of them were scouring the walls for missions that were suitable for them.
As for the golden stone wall at the rear of the hall, that was nowhere near as lively abd bustling. There were only a few True Immortal cultivators standing in front of it, sighing incessantly with tightly furrowed brows.
"Why is it so hard to find a mission that pays well, but doesn't require much work?" a white-haried elder sighed before departing.
Right as he was exiting the hall, he passed by Han Li, who strode directly to the golden stone wall.
He raised his head to look up at the stone wall, looking at the missions from the top, and as his gaze roamed downward, his brows also began to furrow.
The missions on the stone wall were either ones where the reward didn't match the difficulty, or required an extremely long time to complete, so it was no wonder that all of the other elders were feeling so dismayed.
The most eye-catching mission on the stone wall was naturally still the one that required one to cultivate the Mantra Axis Scripture to the second level.
Right at this moment, a voice rang out from behind Han Li.
"Is that you, Brother Li?"
Han Li turned around to discover a pair of familiar figures, and the one who had spoken was a man with a coarse beard. He was none other than the inner sect elder with the Nan surname who had participated in the mission released by Xiong Shan alongside Han Li.
"Long time no see, Brother Nan, Brother Lu," Han Li greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"Indeed. I heard from Brother Qi some time ago that you were in seclusion, and I didn't think you would come out so soon," Elder Nan chuckled as he returned Han Li's salute.
"Aren't you a little too conscientious, Brother Li? You've only just come out of seclusion, and you're already here checking out the missions," Elder Lu jibed as he also cupped his fist in a salute.
"The deadline for the sect's regular elder mission completion is about to arrive soon, so I thought I'd take on some missions to get the job done as soon as possible," Han Li explained.
The two elders exchanged a glance upon hearing this, and peculiar looks appeared on both of their faces.
Elder Nan cleared his throat, then asked, "Brother Li, are you really going to complete three regular elder missions to fulfill your obligations?"
Their reactions naturally didn't evade Han Li's notice, and he replied, "I am. This was the option that I chose when I first entered the sect. Is there something wrong?"
"Well... The regular elder missions released by the sect have always offered great rewards, but they've also always been quite difficult to complete, either requiring extensive investment of time and effort, or requiring one to take great risks," Elder Nan explained.
"Indeed. In contrast, it's far easier to serve at a palace for 100 out of every 1,000 years. There's always been an element of luck in the regular elder missions as those missions are assigned to you, and you don't have the option of picking and choosing missions as you please. If you ask me, it would be a better idea to take on a few missions here and earn sufficient merit points to fulfill your obligations," Elder Lu added.
"I see. Thank you for your advice. At the moment, I can't see any suitable missions on this wall, so I'll go and see what regular elder missions are assigned to me before making a decision. Where do I go to receive those missions?" Han Li asked.
"In that case, we won't try to dissuade you any further. To the left of the High Profound Palace's rear hall is a side hall, and you'll be assigned your missions there," Elder Nan replied.
"Thank you, Brother Nan. I'll be going now."
Han Li cupped his fist in a salute toward the two elders before departing.
He made his way around the golden stone wall, then made his way into the rear hall of the High Profound Palace, and sure enough, there was an entrance to a side hall on the left.
The entrance was slightly ajar, and he made his way toward it before pushing it open and entering the side hall, which wasn't very large, only around the same size as Han Li's guest room.
On the ceiling was a skylight, through which a beam of sunlight was shining directly down upon a potted plant sitting on the upper right corner of a redwood table in the room.
The plant was only around half a foot tall, and it resembled an ancient pine tree. It had a glittering and translucent appearance under the light of the sun, and a series of faint golden veins were extending all the way from its roots to every single branch, giving off specks of starry light.
Han Li was immediately able to tell from the abundant spiritual qi contained within the plant that it was a precious spirit medicine.
However, he didn't recognize this spirit medicine, nor had he ever seen this type of planting method, and he found himself unable to look away.
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