Chapter 261: Change In the Floating Mountains
Han Li's eyes were illuminated a golden color by the light barrier, and he activated his Spirit Refinement Technique before releasing his enormous spiritual sense. His spiritual sense passed through the light barrier, then split up into 72 parts before piercing straight into the golden lightning to control the 72 Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.
Under his control, the 72 flying swords shuddered in unison, following which all of the light glowing from them faded, and the arcs of golden lightning also slowly fused back into the swords before vanishing entirely.
Han Li then made a hand seal, and the array around the fire pit flashed a few times before all of the pillars of golden light faded, leaving only the flying swords hovering within the flames.
After that, he opened his mouth and inhaled forcefully, upon which all of the nascent flames interspersed within the silver flames instantly swept back into his belly.
With the withdrawal of the nascent flames, the temperature of the fire was slightly lowered, while specks of azure light began to appear on the translucent jade-like Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords, slowly restoring them back to their original azure color.
There was also faint golden light gleaming from the edges of the swords, forming a series of lightning-cloud-like golden patterns that were quite dazzling to behold.
Han Li swept his hands through the air, leaving trails of shimmering golden afterimages behind, and all of the flying swords instantly flew out of the silver fire as if they were living creatures before descending in front of him.
Han Li slashed a fingernail across the palm of his hand to draw a drop of golden blood essence, which formed an egg-sized ball of blood that was scattered into 72 drops at his behest, with each drop spilling onto one of the flying swords, and they instantly vanished into the flying swords upon contact.
At the same time, Han Li could feel his connection with his flying swords becoming stronger, and all of the familiarity that had arisen due to the change in the aura of his flying swords had vanished.
With another wave of his hand, the 72 flying swords flashed with azure light once again, then flew back into the fire to continue the refinement process.
A short while later, Han Li approached the fire with his eyes closed and began to engrave teh tiny array recorded on the beasthide book onto the flying swords with his spiritual sense.
……
Close to a year later, the azure array outside the floating mountain receded, and Han Li emerged from his cave abode with a calm and collected expression, but on the inside, he was quite elated.
The refinement of all 72 of his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords had been completed, and their appearance and the auras that they were giving off had undergone a complete change, while all of the sword essence that was still yet to be fully refined in the past had been completely absorbed, thereby significantly elevating the power of the swords.
What he was most pleased about was that due to the injection of blood essence into the flying swords following the refinement process, his connection with them had become stronger, and as a result, he was able to sense the astonishing spiritual nature that had developed within them.
It felt as if these swords were no longer just treasures, and they were now extensions of his own body instead.
Situated in this secret area, he didn't have time to test out their power, but he was certain that they would've been far more formidable than before.
On the plaza outside the cave abode, Hu Zhen and the other disciples had already been waiting for quite some time. Han Li enquired them about the situation in the secret area, then rewarded them with some spirit stones.
After that, he asked them about what had been happening in the Blaze Dragon Dao, but due to the fact that most of them had been in this secret area this entire time, they weren't able to provide many answers.
There was only a single disciple who had only recently arrived in the secret area, but he had no noteworthy news to share, and that clearly reflected that nothing of importance had happened in the sect, something that Han Li was quite relieved to hear.
Time slowly passed by, and several years later, Han Li finally learned by chance through the Transient Guild that Gu Jie had been forced out of the Blaze Dragon Dao by a high-ranking member of the Transient Guild, and he felt as if a load had been lifted from his shoulders.
Not long after that, all of the arrays around the floating mountain that he was situated on were activated once again.
……
200 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Within the secret area of floating mountains, there were seven or eight young men in Blaze Dragon Dao disciple robes waiting anxiously outside a floating mountain that was enveloped in a layer of azure light.
A young man with a round face turned to the dark-skinned young man by the name of Hu Zhen as he asked, "What do we do, Senior Martial Brother Hu? The mist in the canyon is behaving very strangely. In the past, it would only take a month at most for it to recede, but it's already been over three months, and it's still showing no signs of receding. In fact, it's only risen up higher the past few days."
"Prior to going into seclusion, Elder Li told us that this is an extremely important seclusion for him, so we're not to disturb him unless an urgent situation arises. If we contact him over something like this and disrupt his cultivation, only for it to be a false alarm, then who's going to bear the consequences?" Hu Zhen asked.
"But Elder Li has already been in seclusion for close to a century, and no one knows when he's going to come out. What if what's happening in the canyon right now affects the spirit medicine harvest? If that happens, we'll be in deep trouble regardless," the round-faced young man countered with an urgent expression.
Everyone else nodded in agreement with the round-faced young man's statement.
Hu Zhen's brows were tightly furrowed, and after extensive consideration, he decided, "Alerting Elder Li right away is definitely not the right course of action to take. We have to figure out exactly what's happening in the canyon before we make a decision.
“For now, keep an eye on the mist and look out for large-scale white ghost invasions. I'll think of a way to find out what's happening down there, and if it's a problem that we can't resolve on our own, then we'll have to disturb Elder Li."
The round-faced young man nodded in response.
However, his expression then suddenly changed slightly as he turned toward the floating mountain enveloped within the azure light.
Ferocious gusts of wind had suddenly begun to sweep through the sky, and clouds were converging from all directions, quickly forming a massive gray cloud that encompassed a vast area.
Streaks of five-colored light that resembled shooting stars were flashing incessantly through the cloud, and the light was gradually becoming brighter and more stable.
"Is Elder Li about to make a breakthrough?" the round-faced young man exclaimed.
"It appears so," Hu Zhen replied.
As soon as his voice trailed off, the gray cloud in the sky began to revolve in a frenzy, and a beam of five-colored light that was formed by the world's origin qi cascaded down from the heavens, encompassing the entire mountain.
Everyone felt the air tighten around them, as if some type of invisible restriction had suddenly appeared, striking them with a sense of discomfort.
Right at this moment, a loud and insistent buzzing sound began to ring out from the canyon down below.
Hu Zhen's expression instantly changed slightly upon hearing this sound, and he hurriedly yelled, "Something's happening down there! We have to go!"
Immediately thereafter, he swooped toward the canyon down below, and everyone else also followed suit without any hesitation.
The group of disciples passed by hundreds of floating mountains during their descent, and they were joined by more and more Blaze Dragon Dao disciples, gradually forming an army of over 1,000 cultivators.
Aside from the handful of leaders of the disciples, who were at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage, the majority of the rest of the disciples were at the early-Spatial Tempering Stage, and most of them had already been stationed in this secret area for several centuries.
Everyone knew that this buzzing sound indicated that the mist had already risen up to the previous highest point recorded in history, which meant that around a dozen additional mountains were going to be swallowed up by the mist, and the precious spirit medicines growing on them would be devoured by the white ghosts.
After flying downward for several hundred kilometers, the disciples finally caught sight of the mist, which was as dense as a dark cloud.
Mountains that had never been swallowed up by the mist before currently being quickly inundated, and countless shadowy figures could be seen rushing through the mist while letting loose feral roars.
"How is this happening?" the round-faced young man exclaimed with an incredulous expression.
"Junior Martial Brother, you have the secret talisman that Elder Li gave to us. Go and wait outside his mountain, and if we're unable to keep the white ghosts at bay, use the talisman to contact Elder Li right away!" Hu Zhen said in an urgent voice, and the round-faced young man immediately nodded in response.
"Elder Li is currently in the middle of a breakthrough, so you absolutely must not use the talisman unless we're being overwhelmed by the enemy," Hu Zhen cautioned.
"Yes, Senior Martial Brother Hu," the round-faced young man replied with a solemn nod, then immediately turned around and began flying directly upward.
There was a concerned look on Hu Zhen's face as he turned to everyone else and yelled, "Set up the Azure Light Flight Restriction Array!"
All of the disciples immediately gave a collective affirmative response, while the peak-Spatial Tempering Stage disciples around Hu Zhen split up in all directions, with each of them leading several hundred disciples to different parts of the secret area.
All of the disciples then each summoned a large azure flag in an orderly fashion before tossing it forward and making a string of hand seals while chanting an incantation. The entire process appeared to have been extremely well-rehearsed.
As the incantation rang out, all of the runes on the azure flags lit up in unison, releasing bursts of azure light that interconnected with one another to form an enormous azure light barrier above the rising mist.
Inside the canyon, the dense mist was churning in a frenzy like a pot of boiling water, and it began to rise up at a rate that was several times faster than before, reaching the azure light barrier in mere moments.
The sound of howling wind rang out from deep within the canyon, and the churning mist struck the azure light barrier, causing it to ripple and sway violently.
All of the Blaze Dragon Dao disciples above the light barrier were gripping tightly onto the shafts of their flags with both hands while spiritual light radiated from their bodies as they struggled to stabilize the array with all their might. Some of the disciples among them with lesser cultivation bases were already swaying incessantly like small rafts in a turbulent sea.
Right at this moment, countless humanoid figures suddenly began to shoot up rapidly from the dense mist down below, crashing violently into the azure light barrier amid a string of dull thuds.
The Blaze Dragon Dao disciples looked down to find countless hideous white ghosts springing up out of the mist before crashing into the light barrier as if they had gone insane.
This was extremely strange and inexplicable behavior from the white ghost, and it looked as if they had no regard for their own lives.
In fact, some of them were crashing into the light barrier with such violent force that their heads were split open, sending intracranial fluids splashing down into the mist below.
Hu Zhen's expression became even more concerned upon seeing this.
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