Chapter 238: Tight Budget
After returning to his cave abode, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed and began to contemplate what to do next.
The half-batch of Origin Unifying Pills that he had refined had worked quite well, allowing him to make close to 10 years worth of cultivation progress in just two months, but it was going to be very expensive to maintain this rate of progression.
Seeing as he was able to use his Mantra Treasured Axis to significantly improve his success rate in pill refinement, he naturally wasn't going to purchase ready-made pills using merit points as they were a very useful form of currency in other areas.
Thus, the top priority for him now was to secure ingredients for pill refinement.
Aside from manifesting crystals to help the Earthly Deity Avatar heavy water, maturing Blaze Tuber Herbs alone was already close to the limits of the Heaven Controlling Vial's capabilities, so it wouldn't be able to mature many other supplementary ingredients on top of that. Hence, he would have to buy the majority of those ingredients, but the problem was that he didn't have many spirit stones left.
He could sell some of the spoils he had collected from his vanquished enemies for spirit stones, but that was only a temporary solution that wasn't going to work out over the long term.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask.
There were many ways to earn spirit stones, but given his current situation, completing Transient Guild missions was the fastest and the most reliable avenue to take.
There were many missions in the sect that offered spirit stones as rewards, but completing too many of those missions would attract too much attention to himself, thereby potentially leading to trouble.
Furthermore, the Transient Guild missions generally offered better rewards anyway.
With that in mind, he put on his mask, and the azure array projection quickly took shape.
He turned to the missions section and quickly tracked down some missions that could be completed near the Blaze Dragon Dao. There were quite a few of these missions, and they were quite diverse, including missions to gather certain spirit materials, pills, or treasures, as well as missions to hunt down certain demon beasts or individuals.
These missions were all quite conventional, and some of the more special missions had also caught Han Li's attention. For example, there was someone gathering several Earthly Pill Masters to refine a certain type of pill.
There was also a mission that called upon a True Immortal adept in the art of restrictions and arrays to break the restriction on a certain set of ruins, and there was even a mission that was gathering a large number of True Immortals to attack a certain mysterious cultivator.
All of a sudden, Han Li's gaze fell upon a certain mission, and a peculiar look appeared on his face.
The mission was to search for the "the number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South", and the reward offered was quite a lofty one. Even those who only provided certain pieces of information would be able to receive decent compensation.
Han Li's eyes narrowed slightly as a faint smile appeared on his face.
Following the trial on that day, everyone had departed quite quickly, so there shouldn't have been anyone that had discovered the message that he had engraved onto the bottom of the fourth Origin Defying Stone Sword. Hence, someone from the Heavenly Sword Peak had to have discovered the message at a later date.
In that case, the person who had released the mission was most likely someone from the Heavenly Sword Peak, and given the Transient Guild's barrier to entry, that person was very likely to have been Xiong Shan himself. After discovering the message, he had most likely deduced that there was a very good chance that this number one sword cultivator of Heavenly South was the one who had foiled his plans, and as it turned out, he was right.
However, Han Li had never revealed to anyone the fact that he had come from the Heavenly South Region of the Mortal Realm, so there was naturally no cause for concern.
Having said that, this mission was an indication that Xiong Shan was most likely also a member of the Transient Guild, and given his cultivation base, he most likely possessed quite a lofty status in the Transient Guild.
Shortly thereafter, Han Li also noticed a mission searching for the whereabouts of Bai Fengyi, and the thought of Bai Suyuan sprang into his mind at the sight of this mission.
However, he then quickly shook his head to rid himself of these irrelevant trains of thought as he began to focus his attention on searching for missions that were suitable for himself.
Moments later, his gaze fell upon a hunting mission: "Travel to the Heavenly Glacial Pond and slay a True Immortal Stage Glacial Blowfish, making sure to recover its carcass. Reward: 4,000 top-grade spirit stones."
Han Li had read from a book in the Blaze Dragon Dao that the Heavenly Glacial Pond was situated in the northernmost region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, even further north than the Profound Ice Mountain Range. It was a notoriously perilous place on the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it was said that many True Immortals had perished in there in the past.
Han Li accepted this mission before rising to his feet.
……
Several months later.
In the northernmost region of the Ancient Cloud Continent, bone-chilling winds were howling incessantly, while the entire sky was concealed behind a swirling flurry of snow.
There were several snow-covered mountains standing on the landscape, silently enduring the flogging of the unforgiving wind.
An azure streak of light shot forth from the distant sky, then descended onto the summit of one of the mountains to reveal a yellow-skinned middle-aged man.
It was none other than Han Li, who had adopted a disguise using his Transient Guild mask.
Casting his gaze forward from the mountain summit, he was greeted by the sight of an enormous lake that stretched as far as the eyes could see. The water in the lake was extremely, resembling black ink.
What was particularly strange was that despite the incredibly low temperatures, the lake hadn't frozen at all, and there were clouds of black mist drifting above its surface.
The biting chill being released by this black mist was far colder than even the frosty wind blowing through the surrounding area.
This was the Heavenly Glacial Pond.
Han Li paused momentarily on the mountain summit, then flew toward the Heavenly Glacial Pond as a streak of azure light.
This place appeared to have been completely devoid of life, but that was not actually the case.
There were many natural treasures in the Heavenly Glacial Pond, including certain special and precious materials that were exclusively found in the pond. Otherwise, it wouldn't' have attracted so many people to venture into its depths. Beneath the surface were many powerful demon beasts that were resistant to the cold environment, and those who came here seeking treasures could easily find themselves falling prey to these demon beasts if they weren't careful.
Han Li was flying along at a low altitude above the surface of the water while staring intently at the lake down below, seemingly searching for something.
All of a sudden, the surface of the water over 1,000 feet up ahead erupted, and a demon beast hat was 50 to 60 feet in length shot out before pouncing directly at Han Li.
The demon beast resembled a crocodile with its entire body covered in black scales, and it opened its cavernous mouth to reveal rows of sharp white fangs. There was a pair of bloated yellow eyes on the top of its head, giving it a ferocious appearance, and it was attempting to bite Han Li's body into two with a single vicious chomp.
Han Li's expression changed slightly as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, and the black demon beast's body abruptly stiffened in mid-air.
Han Li continued onward without pause, flying straight through between the two rows of the demon beast's sharp fangs.
A red line appeared all the way from the demon beast's head to the tip of its tail, following which its body abruptly split open, sending an enormous volume of blood interspersed with internal organs plunging into the lake below.
Han Li paid no heed to what was happening behind him as he continued onward, vanishing into the distance in the blink of an eye.
After flying for several more hours, he had already reached quite deep into the Heavenly Glacial Pond.
The further one ventured into the pond, the more the air temperature plummeted, and the more powerful the demon beasts lurking in the water became. At this point, there were even demon beasts that possessed Body Integration Stage power that were occasionally attacking Han Li.
However, they naturally posed no threat to him at all, and he was able to take care of them with ease.
All of a sudden, his eyes lit up as he drew to a halt. His gaze was fixed intently on the surface of the lake beneath him, and he swept a sleeve through the air to send a burst of azure light plunging into the water.
Moments later, a black object emerged from the lake, enveloped by a ball of azure light. It was a ball of algae that was giving off a faint fragrance.
This type of algae was known as Black Star Algae, and it was very prevalent on the lakebed here.
Black Star Algae was the Glacial Blowfish's favorite food, and such a large mass of Black Star Algae was sure to attract feeding Glacial Blowfishs.
Han Li tossed the ball of Black Star Algae away, then flipped a hand over to produce a millstone-sized blue object. It appeared to have been an internal organ of a certain type of demon beast, and it was giving off a strong odor.
This was an organ from the Elephant Trunk Beast, and it was very alluring to Glacial Blowfishs. He had purchased the organ from the Transient Guild for a sum of spirit stones prior to setting off on this trip.
He then summoned a white talisman in his other hand, and the talisman flew into the blue organ at his behest as a ball of white light, vanishing without a trace.
After that, Han Li tossed the organ into the water down below.
The organ was instantly enveloped by the bone-chilling glacial qi in the area, and it was frozen into a chunk of black ice in the blink of an eye before plunging into the lake.
Even though it had been frozen, its odor didn't abate in the slightest.
That white talisman was a sensory talisman, and it would immediately alert him if a demon beast devoured the organ.
Instead of remaining on the spot to wait, Han Li continued to fly onward.
The Heavenly Glacial Pond was enormous, so he naturally couldn't place his hopes entirely on one patch of Black Star Algae.
Close to a day later, Han Li found another mass of Black Star Algae, where he left another Elephant Trunk Beast with a sensory talisman inside before continuing onward yet again.
Half a month passed by.
During this time, Han Li discovered several dozen masses of Black Star Algae, leaving an Elephant Trunk Beast organ at each one.
From there, Han Li stopped searching for more patches of Black Star Algae and concealed himself at the center of the dozens of patches of Black Star Algae that he had discovered.
This wasn't because he didn't want to find any more, he had simply exhausted his supply of Elephant Trunk Beast organs.
Furthermore, he had already left out a sufficient number of baits, and all that was left to do was to wait.
One day, two months later.
An earth-shattering boom that was audible even several thousands of kilometers away rang out in the Heavenly Glacial Pond.
The surface of the water churned violently as enormous waves that were several thousand feet tall were sent sweeping in all directions, and even the clouds in the sky were stirred up into a frenzy.
At the center of the giant waves was Han Li and a bluish-black blowfish-like demon beast.
The demon beast was only around 200 to 300 feet in length, and its bulging body was riddled with bluish-black bone spikes. Furthermore, its tail resembled a scorpion's stinger, and it was rapidly swinging around like lightning. Dense black qi was swirling all around it, within which projections of different human and beastly faces would occasionally emerge, all of which were extremely twisted and tormented, presenting a harrowing sight to behold.
This demon beast was none other than a Glacial Blowfish, and its enormous aura indicated that it had already reached the True Immortal Stage.
The Glacial Blowfish was constantly producing a strange sound that resembled the weeping of a small child as thick pillars of blue light erupted out of its swinging tail before hurtling directly toward Han Li.
Each pillar of blue light was tinged with hints of law powers, and a glacial aura had spread through the entire surrounding area within a radius of several thousand kilometers. Countless icicle spears had appeared in the air, and it seemed that the very space itself had been frozen.
Han Li paid no heed to the glacial qi around him as two thick azure sword projections danced around him like a pair of guardian wyrms, forming a sword net that kept all of the oncoming pillars of blue light at bay.
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