Chapter 315: Number One Dao Lord
"You must've been in seclusion for quite some time, Elder Li. No wonder your aura has become significantly more powerful. Around a century ago, Dao Lord Mu suddenly came out of seclusion, then took several of his direct disciples on a trip to the Upper Arr Continent, and a lot of the new spirit medicines we acquired came from that trip," Ye Nanhua explained with a smile.
Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative expression. "I see. Speaking of spirit medicines, I came here to purchase some today. Please take a look for me, Elder Ye."
"Every time you come here, you always bring me a lot of business, Elder Li. I don't mean to brag, but even on the entire Ancient Cloud Continent, our Immortal Medicine Pavilion is near unmatched when it comes to the spirit medicine variety that we offer..."
Ye Nanfeng's voice suddenly trailed off, and his smile also faded as he inspected the list of spirit medicines in the jade slip.
Han Li wasn't all that surprised to see this change in Ye Nanfeng's expression.
After a brief silence, Ye Nanfeng shook his head as he said, "As far as I'm aware, we don't have even a single one of the ingredients on your list."
"It's fine, these spirit medicines are indeed quite difficult to find. Having said that, I'm sure you have many sources and connections, so if you can supply me with any information regarding any of these ingredients, I'd be happy to pay for it," Han Li said.
A slightly awkward look appeared on Ye Nanfeng's face, but he still replied in a polite manner, "I'm afraid I won't be able to help you, Elder Li. All of the spirit medicines on your list are extremely rare, and there are some that I only vaguely recall reading about in some ancient scriptures. Of course, I'll be sure to keep an eye out for any information and inform you if I do come across some leads."
"You have my thanks, Elder Ye."
Han Li didn't waste any more time here as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
He had been searching extensively for the final few ingredients on the dao pill recipe, exhausting virtually all of the avenues available to him, but to no avail.
All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Ye Nanfeng, and he said, "Don't be disheartened, Elder Li. Under normal circumstances, it would be next to impossible to find these ingredients, but there may be some better chances for you at the moment."
"Oh? What do you mean by that, Elder Ye?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
Ye Nanfeng drew a little closer to Han Li, then said in a quiet voice, "This hasn't yet been made public knowledge in the sect, but I've heard that in a few more years, Dao Lord Baili will be coming out of seclusion."
Han Li was rather taken aback to hear this.
Dao Lord Baili Yan was the number one dao lord of the Blaze Dragon Dao, and it was said that he had already reached the pinnacle of the Golden Immortal Stage, so he was only one step away from becoming a High Zenith Stage Jade Immortal.
However, he was always in seclusion, and very few people in the sect had ever seen him.
"You only joined the sect in the past 1,000 years, so it makes sense that you aren't aware of this. After all, the last time Dao Lord Baili came out of seclusion was tens of thousands of years ago. Traditionally, whenever he comes out of seclusion, Dao Lord Baili would always hold a preaching ceremony.
“When that time comes, not only will all of the sect's elders be in attendance, many fellow daoists from all over the Northern Glacial Immortal Region will travel from far and wide to attend as well. With such a massive influx of outsiders, there will generally always be some auctions and exchange events taking place in the leadup to the preaching ceremony, so perhaps you'll be able to find some of the spirit medicines that you're looking for there," Ye Nanfeng explained.
Han Li's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this. "I see. I was indeed unaware of all of this. Thank you for enlightening me, Elder Ye."
"There's no need to thank me, Elder Li. I'm sure news of this would spread throughout the sect soon anyway," Ye Nanfeng replied with a smile.
Han Li didn't dwell on this subject any longer as he flipped a hand over to produce a jade slip, then said, "Elder Ye, I have another list of ingredients here that I'm also trying to procure."
The jade slip contained the ingredients required to refine a pill called the Myriad Axis Pill.
The Myriad Axis Pill was suitable for late-True Immortal cultivators to consume, and he had obtained the recipe from Ping Yaozi.
Now that he had progressed to the late-True Immortal Stage, the pills that he had refined in the past were no longer effective, so he had to search for new pills.
All of the ingredients required to refine the Myriad Axis Pill were quite rare and exotic, indicating that it was no ordinary late-True Immortal Stage pill.
He had sent out Meng Yungui and the others several hundred years ago to search for the ingredients enclosed in the recipe, but they had only managed to find three or four of the supplementary ingredients, while the three main ingredients required to refine the pill remained elusive.
After inspecting the contents of the jade slip with his spiritual sense, a wry smile appeared on Ye Nanfeng's face as he said, "These ingredients are also quite rare, Elder Li. I'm assuming they were requested by that Earthly Pill Master friend of yours, right?
“In particular, the Myriad Axis Fruit, the Herofall Flower and the Blood Crystal Lotus Root are very uncommon. I can supply you with all of the supplementary ingredients, but out of the three main ingredients, we only have the Herofall Flower."
He had always taken pride in the comprehensive nature of the Immortal Medicine Pavilion's inventory, but this was already the second time that he had failed to fulfill an order.
"That's right. That friend of mine acquired an ancient pill recipe recently, but he's been unable to secure all of the required ingredients, and that's why he asked me for help. I'll take whatever you have here and find the rest elsewhere," Han Li replied.
……
Close to an hour later, Han Li emerged from the Immortal Medicine Pavilion with a slightly pained look on his face.
The ingredients for the Myriad Axis Pill were extremely expensive, and it had cost him a great deal of Immortal Origin Stones, even though he had only bought a few batches. Among them, the Herofall Flower was the most expensive, with a single 1,000-year-old specimen costing 15 Immortal Origin Stones.
Thankfully, he could mature and breed the flower with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, so this wasn't a big problem.
After leaving the Immortal Medicine Pavilion, Han Li returned straight to the Crimson Dawn Peak.
According to Ye Nanfeng, there were still several years left until Dao Lord Baili was going to come out of seclusion, and it was very likely that he would be able to find more of the ingredients that he needed around that time, but it was most likely going to be very expensive.
He had already exhausted a great deal of funds in his prior pill refinement, and even though he still had a decent supply of Immortal Origin Stones, it was best that he earned more as a safety precaution.
After sitting down in his secret chamber, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into his storage pouch, then swept a sleeve through the air, and a bunch of objects emerged, including spirit treasures, cultivation arts, and materials.
These were all spoils that Han Li had reaped from the three True Immortal cultivators that he had slain at the Holy Puppet Sect, and he had already sold some of their belongings, but there was still quite a bit left. Given the circumstances, he didn't have time to complete any missions, so the only way to secure Immortal Origin Stones in a short time would be to sell everything here.
Han Li flipped a hand over to put on his tiger mask, then summoned the array plate and listed everything laid out before him in the exchange column, making sure to list everything at a slightly discounted price in order to sell them off quickly.
After that, he made his way to his medicine garden before pulling out a jade box, within which were several purplish-black spirit flowers that were giving off a peculiar aroma.
These were the Herofall Flowers that he had purchased. In order to secure more seeds, he had to wait for the flowers to bear fruit, and that was only going to happen once they reached 30,000 years of age, but that was naturally not a problem for him.
He cleared out a new area in his medicine garden, then carefully planted the Herofall Flowers.
After that, he returned to the entrance of the medicine garden, and a series of emotions welled up in his heart as he looked at all of the precious and exotic spirit plants thriving in the garden.
He had expended an enormous amount of time and effort to build up this medicine garden to its current state, and it was all thanks to this garden full of spirit plants that he was able to progress so quickly in his cultivation.
After lingering in the medicine garden for a moment longer, he returned to his secret chamber before sitting down with his legs crossed.
Without the support of pills, his rate of cultivation progression was going to be very slow, so instead of cultivating, he decided to continue appraising the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra to see if he could reap any additional rewards.
Just as Ye Nanfeng anticipated, it didn't take long for news of Dao Lord Baili's imminent emergence from seclusion to begin spreading in the sect, and it was officially announced that the preaching ceremony would be held in seven years.
The entire Blaze Dragon Dao erupted into a frenzy with the emergence of this news.
According to sect records, Dao Lord Baili had held eight preaching ceremonies up to this point, and every single one of them had been an extremely prestigious event even in the context of the entire Northern Glacial Immortal Region.
What was special about this ceremony was that there were no restrictions on the people who could attend. In other words, even the outer sect disciples of the Blaze Dragon Dao were able to attend. As for how much they would be able to get out of it, that was up to them.
Apparently, this was a rule established by Dao Lord Baili himself, and it had always been upheld.
Some of the inner sect elders and direct disciples that were stuck at cultivation bottlenecks were extremely excited by this opportunity.
There was always a chance that some words of wisdom from Dao Lord Baili could address their cultivation problems and help them break through their bottlenecks. It was said that attending past preaching ceremonies was a major factor that contributed to many members of the sect ascending to the True Immortal Stage.
Some disciples who hadn't yet reached the Grand Ascension Stage were just as excited nonetheless. After all, Dao Lord Baili already had half a foot in the High Zenith Stage, and being able to hear him preach was an extraordinary opportunity.
Seven years flew by in the blink of an eye.
This was not a short time for a mortal, but for cultivators, perhaps it wasn't even as long as the duration of a session of meditation.
The gates of the cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak were opened, and Han Li emerged from within.
Even though he had been in seclusion these past few years, he had made sure to keep up to date on the sect's affairs.
Dao Lord Baili's preaching ceremony was going to take place in seven days, and he had originally intended to come out of seclusion earlier than this, but while appraising the eight-and-a-half-sentence mantra during his seclusion, he had inadvertently gained some insight into the aura concealment secret technique enclosed in the Origin Separation Yin Devil Arts.
Only on this day did he finally achieve initial mastery of the secret technique, and he began to chant an incantation as azure light surged over his body.
Several chain projections appeared within the azure light before abruptly vanishing into his body, and his aura was instantly completely concealed, yet it wasn't forced in the slightest, and there were no signs to indicate the aura concealment that had taken place.
Upon reaching the True Immortal Stage, unless one were to completely release their aura while in battle, it would generally be impossible for others to determine one's cultivation base and exactly how many immortal acupoints one had opened.
However, someone with sufficiently formidable spiritual sense would still be able to glean the cultivation bases of others, but with this secret technique up his sleeve, even the average Golden Immortal wouldn't have been able to detect his aura.
A pleased smile appeared on Han Li's face, and he flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
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