Chapter 217: Sloppy Old Man
"You like it?"
Right as Han Li was growing rather transfixed by what he was seeing, a rather enigmatic voice rang out from behind the redwood table.
Han Li hurriedly turned in that direction to find an elderly man reclining lazily in a large taishi chair behind the table.
He wore a lotus crown and an old gray daoist robe. His gray hair was quite disheveled, while the tip of his nose was slightly red, giving him a very sloppy appearance.
Furthermore, there was a gourd strapped to his belt on either side of his waist.
One gourd was silver, while the other was red, and there were complex runes engraved on both of them, indicating that they were clearly no ordinary gourds.
"I do," Han Li replied.
"You like it more than those women with big tits and arses?" the elderly man asked as he sat up a little straighter.
Han Li was completely taken aback by this question and didn't know how to respond.
The elderly man sitting on the chair seemed to have been a very enigmatic person.
The fact that he was sitting here indicated that he was the attendant elder overseeing this, but not only was he not wearing an inner sect elder robe, the potted spirit plant on the table and the two gourds strapped to his waist didn't appear to have been things that the average person could've owned.
What was most perplexing to him was that the elderly man's aura was extremely strange, and even with his spiritual sense, he was unable to ascertain the man's cultivation base.
"Please don't fool around with me any longer, Senior. I've come here to accept my regular elder missions," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
Seeing as he was unable to glean the man's cultivation base, it was best to play it safe and refer to him as senior.
The elderly man seemed to have not heard Han Li at all as he grumbled to himself, "What a terrible job this is! I'm about to get bored to death! It's much more fun tending to my plants..."
He then leaned forward slightly and removed the silver gourd from his belt before pulling out the stopper with a quiet "pop", and the entire side hall was instantly filled with the sweet and fragrant aroma of honey.
As soon as Han Li caught a whiff of this aroma, his eyes immediately lit up. It seemed that the silver gourd contained some type of mixed spirit liquid.
A slightly smug smile appeared on the elderly man's face at the sight of Han Li's reaction.
He raised the gourd before slowly tipping it forward, gently pouring a drop of golden liquid out from within onto the soil at the foot of the potted plant on the table.
The potted plant immediately began to glow with golden radiance, which slowly flowed up along the plant like water until it reached all the way to the very tips of its branches and pine-needle-like leaves.
Only after this process had repeated itself several times did the golden light gradually fade away.
The elderly man gave a pleased nod upon seeing this, then strapped the silver gourd back to his belt before pulling out the red gourd on the other side.
Han Li thought that this gourd contained another type of spirit liquid that he was going to pour onto the plant, but to his surprise, the elderly man removed the stopper before chugging down the contents of the gourd.
An even stronger aroma instantly permeated throughout the entire hall, completely overriding the aroma of the spirit liquid from before.
It was clear that this gourd contained an extremely fragrant wine, rather than another type of spirit liquid.
Han Li was rendered speechless upon seeing this, and he turned to examine the potted plant once again.
After having his fill of wine, the elderly man wiped his lips with the back of his hand, and the tip of his nose had turned an even brighter shade of red.
He took a glance at Han Li, and was very pleased to see Han Li displaying such keen interest in his potted plant.
Unbeknownst to him, Han Li was pondering how to learn this type of planting method so that he could use it for himself. If he could do that, then he would be able to plant precious spirit medicines directly in his secret chamber, rather than in the medicine fields.
"Looking at the sequence of missions, the mission that you have to take on is to go to an island by the Cloud Lake Island in the eastern sea of the Ancient Cloud Continent. There, you have to find the lair of an Origin Mirage Beast and bring back one of its spirit husks."
The elderly man had pulled out a thick azure book from somewhere, and he had flipped to a certain page before assigning Han Li his mission.
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this. "The mission only requires me to bring back a spirit husk?"
"Don't underestimate this Origin Mirage Beast. According to my knowledge, it's already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage, and it's not an easy task to sneak into its lair to steal its spirit husk," the elderly man cautioned.
"That's a very valid piece of advice, Senior. I was too quick to jump to conclusions. Would you happen to have any other information on this beast, Senior?" Han Li asked.
"I can tell you've got decent taste, and you've been quite polite to me, so I'll give you this piece of information. The Origin Mirage Beast is constantly in seclusion, but for seven days out of every decade, it'll leave its lair to wreak havoc wherever it pleases, and that gives you a window of opportunity to steal its spirit husk. If you're not in luck, then you'll just have to wait for a few years. Don't go rushing in recklessly and losing your life," the elderly man said.
"Thank you for this information, Senior," Han Li replied.
"This mission can be both difficult or easy, depending on how you approach it. As long as you're patient, there's not much risk involved, and the reward is 200 merit points, which you can come back here to collect after you've completed the mission," the elderly man continued.
Han Li gave an affirmative response, then handed over his elder badge to the elderly man.
After accepting the mission and securing the relevant map and information, Han Li bade farewell to the elderly man before departing.
In the air above the High Profound Palace, Han Li contemplated his options for a moment before deciding to head straight to Cloud Lake Island.
This wasn't because he was confident that he would be able to slay the Origin Mirage Beast, or because he was in a hurry to complete the mission. Instead, it was because he had no idea when the Origin Mirage Beast was going to leave its lair, and if he were to delay for too long, only to just so happen to miss that seven-day window, then he would have to wait a decade before he could complete the mission.
Hence, the safest course of action was to get there as early as possible.
With that in mind, Han Li immediately made his way to the teleportation hall on the plaza, then teleported to the Seaview Peak, which was situated in the eastern part of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
This mountain was near the eastern border of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it was currently the furthest area that Han Li could reach through teleportation array.
Standing on the mountain summit and casting his gaze toward the east, even with his exceptional eyesight, he was only able to see a black line as thin as a strand of hair in the distance, and that was the eastern sea next to the Bell Toll Mountain Range.
Han Li's destination, Cloud Lake Island, was one of the countless islands in that region of the sea.
He pulled out a map of that region of the sea that he had obtained from the sloppy old man, and after carefully inspecting it for a long while, he rose up into the air before flying in a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
……
Several months later.
In the region of the sea to the east of the Bell Toll Mountain Range was a massive island shaped like a lotus leaf.
There was a lake on the island that took up around a tenth of the island's entire area, and it sat at the center of the island like a bright green jewel. The bodies of water branching off from the lake spread in all directions over the island, much like the veins of the figurative lotus leaf.
This lake was called the Cloud Cover Lake, and it was the source of all of the freshwater on this island. The name of the island was also derived from this lake, and bodies of water that split off from the lake nurtured all of the tens of millions of living beings on the island. There were numerous cities, towns, and villages dotted along the shores of the bodies of water, and to the west of the Cloud Cover Lake was a main branch by the name of Heavy Sand River.
To the left of the river hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the Cloud Cover Lake was a massive city that was over 1,000 feet tall, aptly named Heavy Sand City.
The city was constructed from the unique black heavy sand that was gathered from the Heavy Sand River, and at this point, the city had already stood for close to 100,000 years. Not only were there millions of mortals living in the city, there was even a cultivation sect that was as old as the city itself.
That night, the sky was gradually beginning to darken, and the sun hadn't yet completely set.
The setting sun was only just peeking over the horizon, and its dying light had illuminated a vast section of the sea and the tall city walls of Heavy Sand City a blood-red color.
All of a sudden, a streak of azure light flew rapidly over the sky before landing atop the city to reveal none other than Han Li, who had arrived here after a long journey.
He swept his gaze across the buildings in the city down below, and a grim look appeared on his face.
Most of what should've been an impregnable city wall beneath his feet had already collapsed, leaving an enormous hole, and even the embrasured watchtowers on the city walls had been completely destroyed and reduced to an unrecognizable state.
Both the inner and outer sides of what remained of the city walls were smeared with blood, some of which had already begun to turn black and coagulate, giving off a nauseating odor.
The city was riddled with destroyed and collapsed buildings, and many sets of human and animal remains could be seen interspersed throughout the rubble, all of which were severely ravaged and in horrific condition.
As the sun gradually set below the horizon, the entire city was engulfed by a giant shadow, plunging it into complete darkness. There was no other sound aside from the howling of the wind blowing through the completely lifeless city.
Right at this moment, Han Li suddenly spotted a burst of yellow light, which had appeared in the central area of the city, and it seemed that someone had lit a fire there.
He immediately released his spiritual sense in that direction, and moments later, he shot forth from the top of the city wall like an arrow, hurtling directly toward the spot where the fire had been lit.
A resounding boom rang out as Han Li plummeted down into the center of a spacious courtyard, causing the entire courtyard to shudder violently. The houses that were already on the verge of collapse instantly toppled over one after another to produce a loud commotion.
The fire that had been lit at the center of the courtyard was also scattered into countless sparks by the force of the impact of Han Li's landing.
The three people gathered around the fire were so horrified that they instantly fell to their knees.
Among them, a brown-robed young man and a middle-aged woman were trembling uncontrollably as cold sweat poured down their faces, while the dark-skinned man that rounded out the trio was kowtowing repeated to the ground, not even daring to look at Han Li as he implored, "Please spare us, Senior! We'll leave this place right away..."
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