Chapter 267: White Finch Valley
Han Li stopped in his tracks before hurriedly turning around to find that a line of golden seal text had appeared after the red text.
"Show your axis in the White Finch Valley."
The line of golden seal text seemed to have been shrouded in layer of murky golden light, making it impossible to see it clearly.
After looking at the golden text for just a moment, Han Li immediately felt a dry and sore sensation in his eyes, and he hurriedly rubbed his eyes before casting his gaze toward the same spot on the stone wall, only to find that there was no longer anything there.
He hurriedly turned to look around him, and he discovered that everyone else was either still staring at the stone wall or conversing with one another, and it was clear that no one had seen what had happened just now.
White Finch Valley? Where's that?
Han Li couldn't recall such a place in the Blaze Dragon Dao.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he turned back to the stone wall, trying to see if anything had changed in the line of red text, but nothing was different about it.
It was as if that line of golden text had been nothing more than a figment of his imagination.
However, he knew that even though he had only seen it for an instant, there was no way that it was just his mind playing tricks on him.
In any case, he had to find this so-called White Finch Valley and pay it a visit. Otherwise, it would continue to weigh on his mind.
But where exactly was this place?
Han Li stood on the spot for a while longer, then made his way over to a corner of the hall before flipping a hand over to produce the map of the Bell Toll Mountain Range that he had obtained upon first entering the sect. After that, he injected his spiritual sense into the map and began to carefully search through it.'
He ended up standing in that corner of the hall for over two hours before opening his eyes and stowing the map away, but the befuddlement on his face had only become even more pronounced.
He had scoured the entire map with his spiritual sense several times over to ensure that he hadn't missed anything, but he still wasn't able to find any place by the name of White Finch Valley.
Could it be a certain secret area in the sect? Han Li thought to himself.
With that in mind, he made his way over to the stone wall and stared at it for a while longer before turning and departing from the High Profound Palace.
After that, he rose up into the air above the High Profound Palace with his hands clasped behind his back and a contemplative look on his face. A few moments later, he sped away toward a certain direction as a streak of azure light.
……
That night, in the secret chamber in the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak.
On a square eight immortals table sat an antiquated azure lamp, and it was unclear what type of fuel was being burned in the lamp, but it wasn't releasing any smoke and was giving off a pleasant fragrance.
The flame on the wick was abnormally stable, not flicking even in the slightest, and it was only a tiny flame, but it was able to illuminate the entire room so that it was as bright as day.
On one corner of the table were several thick antiquated books, beside which sat three or jade slips. There was also a yellow scroll that was around seven feet in length draped over the edge of the table, with half of it still rolled up, while the other half was spread out on the floor.
A series of extremely life-like mountains had been painted onto the scroll with the names of the mountains marked out in annotations next to them in small text. As it turned out, the scroll contained an intricate map.
At this moment, Han Li was seated behind the table, holding an ancient scripture that he was reading with a look of concentration in his eyes.
These jade slips and books all contained historical records of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and he had borrowed them from the inner tome library on the Imperial Dragon Peak.
Aside from those jade slips, those books and that scroll were all original copies. He could've purchased replicas of them, but in order to access the oldest map records available, he had decided to borrow these ancient scriptures, even though doing so had cost more merit points than it would've taken for him to purchase replicas.
Han Li carefully inspected all of the content in these historical records and maps, making sure to examine even the finest of details, but up to this point, he still hadn't found any place by the name of White Finch Valley.
There were several places that had similar names, but most of them clearly weren't important locations in the sect.
The main focal point of his attention was those black areas that he had seen on the Inkspirit Scenic Scroll. The majority of those places were restricted areas in the sect, and there were no annotations of them on most maps, but they were mentioned in some of the historical records.
Even after some extensive cross comparison, Han Li was disappointed to find that there were still no mentions of the White Finch Valley.
The Ancient Cloud Records that he was currently holding was already the final book out of the ones that he had borrowed.
Strictly speaking, this book didn't contain official historical records. Intead, it was a travel journal that detailed the layout of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and it had been written by a cultivator who had been struggling in his cultivation and had decided to go on a journey of self-discovery.
However, this book had been written in an extremely early time period, and it was perhaps even as old as the Blaze Dragon Dao itself. There was a restriction placed on the book, and if that restriction were to be removed, then the book would instantly disintegrate into dust.
Han Li gently flipped over to the next page before reading through its contents, and all of a sudden, he raised an eyebrow as he pulled the book slightly closer to himself to carefully examine one particular passage of text on the page.
"There is a valley in the western mountain where white finches flock in large numbers. Upon entering the valley, one won't see the valley. Instead, they'll be greeted by the sight of palaces and pavilions enshrouded in dense mist, feeling as if they had inadvertently stepped into another world..."
Han Li continued to read through this passage of text to find that the second half of the story was about a shepherd boy who had stumbled into the valley, where he was beaten with a whip by a deity clad in golden armor. All of a sudden, he had returned to his senses and found himself still standing in the valley, and it was as if everything that had just happened to him had been nothing more than a dream.
There were many strange places that harbored illusions and mirages detailed in the travel journal, and most of those places were glossed over without much description, but this valley where white finches flocked in large numbers was a place that the author seemed to have taken a particular interest in.
During his earlier readings, Han Li had come across birds like white orioles and snow pheasants, but this was the first time that he had seen mention of white finches.
After carefully reading through the entire travel journal, he was able to confirm that this was the only passage in the story where white finches had been explicitly mentioned.
Where is this west mountain supposed to be?
Han Li fell into deep thought as he absentmindedly drummed his fingers against the table.
Moments later, he suddenly dragged all of the books sitting on the corner of the table to himself, then flipped each one open to certain pages before laying them out on the table.
With his gaze focused on one of the pages, Han Li murmured to himself, "West Unitary Mountain, a long and narrow mountain that stretches from south to north, standing at a height of 72,570 feet... West Spring Mountain, standing at a height of 89,310 feet... West Luster Mountain..."
……
Before long, Han Li had already been reading well into the night, and he stood up from behind the table as he stretched lazily, then gently closed the books laid out before him one by one.
After that, he placed them back on the same corner of the table in an orderly fashion, and the only thing that was still spread open on the table was the scroll that contained the map.
However, only around a foot of the scroll was unfurled, and on that section of the scroll was a mountain by the name of West Forest Mountain.
This mountain was situated in the western region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, and it was just an ordinary mountain with no remarkable traits, which was why it hadn't ever been inhabited by any elders or disciples.
The western part of the mountain was close to the Cattail Spirit Valley, while its eastern part was situated directly across from a side branch of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, with an extremely wide crescent-shaped valley standing between them.
After much deliberation, Han Li had determined this to be the west mountain described in the travel journal\, and he believed the crescent-shaped valley known as Half Moon Valley was very likely to be the White Finch Valley that he was searching for.
With a sweep of his sleeve, the lamp sitting on the eight immortals table was snuffed out, and wisps of white smoke began to rise up from the wick of the lamp, releasing a pleasant fragrance that lingered in the air.
Han Li strode out of the room before closing the door and making his way toward the front yard, but he hadn't even made it out of the hall when he spotted Meng Qianqian rushing toward him.
As soon as she spotted Han Li, she immediately began to yell, "Elder Li, it's coming out!"
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly with befuddlement upon hearing this, but he then quickly realized what she had to have been referring to, and an elated look appeared on his face.
"Let's go take a look."
He made his way over to Meng Qianqian as he spoke, then gently grabbed onto her arm, and the two of them instantly vanished from the spot as a streak of azure light.
Moments later, Han Li and Meng Qianqian appeared in a stone chamber of the cave abode, at the center of the giant white egg.
The egg was situated atop the same spirit gathering array as before, constantly absorbing the world's origin qi while swaying slightly from side to side.
However, even after 15 minutes had passed by, the egg still showed no signs of hatching.
"It was shaking really violently just now, and I could hear tapping coming from inside the egg, so I thought it was about to hatch, and that's why I went to you in such a hurry..." Meng Qianqian said as an apologetic look appeared on her face.
Han Li took a closer look at the egg, and he noticed that a circle of extremely small cracks had appeared on the underside of the egg, and they would've been impossible to spot without careful examination.
"It's already hatched, but it must've been scared with no mother bird present, so it's gone back into the egg for shelter," Han Li speculated.
After that, he flipped a hand over to produce a shimmering azure feather, which he offered to Meng Qianqian.
Meng Qianqian didn't know why she was being given this feather, but she still accepted it as she turned to Han Li with a perplexed expression.
"You should be able to get it to come out now," Han Li said with a smile.
Meng Qianqian was feeling rather skeptical, but she still approached the egg before gently knocking on it with her hand.
There was no reaction from the egg at all.
After waiting for a moment, Meng Qianqian gently stroked the surface of the egg with the feather in her hand.
This time, the egg seemed to have sensed something, and it stopped moving entirely for a moment before beginning to sway from side to side once again, but still far less vigorously than before.
Meng Qianqian's eyes lit up slightly upon seeing this, and she continued to stroke the surface of the egg with the feather while simultaneously stroking the egg with her other hand.
All of a sudden, the egg stopped swaying and fell completely still.
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