Chapter 218: A Coincidence
As the dark-skinned man was speaking, he was frantically crawling backwards on his hands and knees.
The three of them were only late-Foundation Establishment cultivators, and even though they couldn't ascertain Han Li's cultivation base, just the force of his landing alone made it clear to them that he was a powerful cultivator who could crush them like ants, so they naturally didn't dare to linger here any longer.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he said in a cold voice, "Hold on a second. Who are you?"
The trio immediately stiffened up in the face of Han Li's interrogation, and in the end, it was the brown-robed young man who mustered up some courage before replying, "We are just a group of itinerant cultivators from Floral Sun City. We didn't know that you were here, Senior. Otherwise, there's no way we would've dared to come here."
"Do you know what happened here to reduce this city to such a state?" Han Li asked.
The brown-robed young man faltered slightly upon hearing this, and he turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression as he asked, "You're unaware of what's happened here, Senior? Could it be that you're foreign cultivator?"
Han Li was initially rather perplexed to hear this, but he then quickly understood what the young man was referring to. Indeed, for these low-grade cultivators who had most likely lived their entire lives in a small area on the island, they were naturally of the opinion that the island they were on was an entire continent, which made all cultivators from outside the island foreign cultivators to them.
"Cut the chit-chat! Tell me what happened here!" Han Li said in a cold voice.
"From what we've heard, the creature that resides in the Cloud Cover Lake came out to feed again, and it slaughtered everyone in the city," the brown-robed young man hurriedly replied.
"What does this creature look like? Have you seen it for yourself?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"I certainly haven't seen the creature, Senior. Otherwise, there's no way I would've lived to tell the tale. However, it's said that this creature has already been cultivating for countless years, and its enormous in stature, almost comparable in size to the hill outside the city. Its tongue is several thousand feet in length, and the venom in its belly..."
The brown-robed young man hurriedly told Han Li everything that he had heard about the beast.
"That's right! The creature comes out to wreak havoc every once in a while, and each time, it'll only be satisfied after slaughtering an entire city of people!" the dark-skinned man added.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does this creature only come out for seven days once every 10 years, only to disappear again for the next 10 years?"
The dark-skinned man was rather taken aback to hear this, and he asked in a careful voice, "Have you already heard the rumors, Senior?"
Han Li's heart sank slightly upon hearing this.
The creature that these people were referring to was most likely that mid-True Immortal Stage Origin Mirage Beast. It seemed that even though he had gotten here as quickly as he could, he was still one step too late.
In fact, he had felt rather perplexed on the entire way here.
Under normal circumstances, if an island had a freshwater lake at its center, then there should've been more settlements and higher population density closer to the lake, yet the situation on Cloud Cover Island was the exact opposite.
The coastal regions of the island were riddled with cities that virtually formed a ring around the entire island, but the closer one drew to the center of the island, the more sparse and well-concealed the human settlements became.
Even though Heavy Sand City was still hundreds of kilometers away from the Cloud Cover Cover Lake, it was already the closest city to the lake in the western region of Cloud Lake Island.
Given the information that Han Li had just received, this situation was most likely a result of the threat posed by the Origin Mirage Beast in the Cloud Cover Lake at the center of the island.
"Has there been no one to stand up to the creature and deliver it the retribution that it deserves for its heinous actions?" Han Li asked.
"Apparently, an immortal came to the island under the request of several nearby sects a very long time ago with the objective of slaying the creature. In the end, he fought the creature for three days and three nights before being defeated and retreating with severe injuries. After that battle, all of the sects involved were wiped out by the creature in a matter of days, and ever since then, no one has dared to stand up to it," the brown-robed young man explained.
"Come to think of it, what are the three of you doing here?" Han Li asked.
The three people had been kneeling on the ground the entire time, and they exchanged a few hesitant glances, not willing to reveal their motivations.
"Is there something you can't tell me?" Han Li asked as his expression darkened slightly.
The brown-robed young man shuddered, then hurriedly explained, "Where we are right now is the former site of the Falling Sand Sect, the largest sect in a radius of tens of thousand of kilometers. We were hoping to get here before everyone else and..."
The brown-robed young man's voice trailed off here, and Han Li finished his sentence for him. "And dig up some treasures from the ruins, right?"
"We've only just gotten here and haven't had a chance to find anything yet, Senior! if you don't believe me, you can check my storage pouch."
The brown-robed young man immediately pulled out his storage pouch before offering it to Han Li as he spoke, and the other two cultivators hurriedly did the same thing.
All it took was a brief flash of Han Li's spiritual sense for him to verify that they weren't lying to him. Everything in their three storage pouches combined didn't even have a collective value of five mid-grade spirit stones.
Han Li didn't despise them for their actions at all. As bottom-dwelling cultivators, particularly itinerant ones with no sects to rely on, cultivation was particularly arduous, and he was more aware of this than anyone.
He then carefully scoured the ruins of the Falling Sand Sect with his spiritual sense, and his brows quickly furrowed slightly.
This was a sect of a decent size, but for some reason, there were only a pitiful number of treasures left behind, and they were all of an extremely low caliber for Han Li's standards.
"There are still some things under the ruins to the east over there. Dig those things up yourselves, then leave this place right away."
As soon as his voice trailed off, Han Li rose up into the air as a streak of azure light before flying toward the eastern part of Heavy Sand City.
The treasures left behind in the sect were completely unappealing to him, so he decided to leave them to this trio instead as compensation for the information that they had provided him. Perhaps those treasures would be able to assist them greatly on their path of cultivation.
The trio of cultivators were instantly rooted to the spot upon hearing this, and they were so bewildered that Han Li was willing to help them rather than condemn them that they were at a loss for words. By the time they returned to their senses, Han Li was already nowhere to be seen.
All three of them turned in the direction that Han Li had departed in, then extended earnest bows of respect and gratitude before scrambling to their feet and rushing over to the ruins to the east to uncover the treasures there.
As for Han Li, he didn't immediately depart after reaching the eastern part of the city. Instead, he picked out a relatively intact courtyard in the area before descending into it.
The courtyard was quite a spacious one, indicating that it had previously been inhabited by quite a wealthy mortal clan, but those mortals were obviously no longer of this world.
After arriving in the courtyard, Han Li set up some simple restrictions, then made his way into the main hall.
He lit up one of the oil lamps in the room, then sat down onto a chair beside it.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on, and after chanting an incantation, a massive azure array plate projection appeared before him.
Prior to coming here, he hadn't done much research into the Origin Mirage Beast as he had been focused on traveling to Cloud Lake Island as quickly as possible. He had originally planned to enquire some larger sects in Heavy Sand City for information pertaining to the beast, but that plan had clearly fallen through.
While it was true that he had missed this seven-day window, he wasn't planning to return to the sect right away. Instead, he wanted to see if there were any other ways through which he could complete this mission.
However, the information provided by the sect was far from detailed, and his knowledge of the Origin Mirage Beast was also very limited. As for the information provided by the trio of cultivators from earlier, those were mostly just rumors, so they weren't to be relied upon.
Hence, he decided to turn to the Transient Guild to see if he could uncover more information on this beast.
The identification mission for the giant egg and those feathers that he had released earlier was still active, but hadn't received any responses.
After searching for some time, his eyes suddenly lit up slightly.
There really was a mission concerning the Origin Mirage Beast, and it seemed to have been posted over 1,000 years ago.
"Slay a True Immortal Stage Origin Mirage Beast. Reward: 30 Immortal Origin Stones."
Han Li faltered slightly upon seeing this, and this felt like too much of a coincidence.
Origin Mirage Beasts weren't extremely rare, but those who had reached the True Immortal Stage had to have been exceedingly rare. Could it be that the target for this mission was none other than the one in the Cloud Cover Lake?
A contemplative look appeared on his face as he pointed at the mission to contact the one who had released it through his mask.
Around 15 minutes later, a burst of ripples surged over the array plate projection, immediately following which a projection of an azure figure wearing a deer mask took shape in front of Han Li.
"Are you interested in the mission I released, Fellow Daoist?" the figure asked.
"Indeed, I am interested in the mission that you released concerning the Origin Mirage Beast. Do you know where it resides or have any further information on the beast?" Han Li asked.
A hint of elation flashed through the azure figure's eyes, and he hurriedly replied, "I'll be sure to tell you everything I know, Fellow Daoist. The beast in question resides on an island by the name of Cloud Lake Island to the east of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it possesses the bloodline of the ancient true spirit, the Mirage Dragon. As a result, it can take on countless different forms and is particularly adept at adopting human forms."
"I'm assuming it must be quite difficult to deal with, right? Otherwise, there's no way your mission would've been left hanging for so long," Han Li mused.
"Truth be told, even as far back as several tens of thousands of years ago, the beast had already reached the mid-True Immortal Stage, and it's extremely cunning, so it is indeed rather troublesome to deal with," the azure figure replied in a truthful manner.
"In that case, 30 Immortal Origin Stones isn't much compensation," Han Li remarked.
A hint of urgency crept into the azure figure's voice as he said, "Truth be told, that's already all of the Immortal Origin Stones in my possession at the moment. However, the spirit husk of the beast is an exceptional spirit material for refining armor, and you can keep it if you can kill that beast."
After a moment of contemplation, Han Li nodded as he said, "Alright."
"Does that mean... you're accepting this mission, Fellow Daoist?" the azure figure asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.
"I can't guarantee that I'll be able to complete the mission, but I'll certainly give it a try," Han Li replied.
"This is fantastic! In that case, I wish you the best of luck, Fellow Daoist!" the azure figure said in an ecstatic voice.
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