Chapter 361: Pill Tribulation
At this moment, countless kilometers away from Han Li's cave abode, a gray-robed figure with a crimson dragon mask on their face was seated with their legs crossed in a dark underground space with.
This person was none other than Wyrm 3, who had just made that exchange with Han Li.
After remaining on the spot for a while longer, Wyrm 3 suddenly stood up, then turned and strode down one of the several passageways connected to this space.
After walking through the pitch-black underground passageway for an indeterminate period of time, Wyrm 3 arrived in an open space in the form of a cave that was several hundred feet in size, at the end of which was a gray stone door behind a faint silver light barrier.
Wyrm 3 made a hand seal while chanting an incantation, and the silver light barrier shuddered before parting down the center.
Wyrm 3 opened the door to reveal a circular secret chamber that was over 200 feet in size, but was completely empty aside from a stone table and a stone chair.
Seated atop the stone chair was an elderly man in a black cloak who was sipping on a cup of spirit tea.
The tea was crimson in color and was also giving off a strong bloody odor.
The elderly man had a hooked nose that resembled the beak of an eagle, and there was a cold gleam in his golden eyes.
Wyrm 3 took a glance at the teacup that the elderly man was holding, and a hint of disgust flashed through their eyes, only to be immediately concealed.
"Did you find out where he got it from?" the elderly man asked as he set down his teacup.
His voice was extremely ghastly to listen to, like the sound of two pieces of rusty metal scraping together.
Wyrm 3 sat down beside the elderly man, then replied, "He found it near Red Moon Island."
"Red Moon Island? Didn't you already conduct a search there before?" the elderly man asked with a hint of surprise on his face.
"I visited Red Moon Island last time under the guise of carrying out a Transient Guild mission, but there's no guarantee that my plan wasn't exposed in advance, so perhaps they took some measures to conceal things at the time," Wyrm 3 replied.
The elderly man offered no response to this, and he began tapping a finger absentmindedly against the table with a contemplative look on his face.
Wyrm 3 also remained silent, and some time later, the elderly man broke the silence as he asked, "What do you think of this? Do you think it's another red herring from Black Wind Island?"
"I don't think so. If Black Wind Island is behind this, I don't think they would've arranged for the location to be Red Moon Island again," Wyrm 3 replied.
"I suppose that's true. In that case, let's search the entire area around Red Moon Island again, then proceed according to the original plan," the elderly man said, to which Wyrm 3 nodded in response.
The elderly man rose to his feet before departing, and only after he had left the room did Wyrm 3 stand up before removing their mask and making their way outside.
As they walked, a murky layer of light rose up over their body before quickly fading away, and they had transformed into a woman with an exceptional figure, while her gray robe had also turned into a red dress that drifted around her like a fiery red cloud.
Before long, she had faded into the darkness once again.
……
Around a dozen more years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Inside his medicine garden, Han Li carefully uprooted a Dewform Herb that was around a foot tall, then placed it in a jade box.
This was already the third Dewform Herb that he had matured.
After stowing the jade box away, Han Li made his way out of the medicine garden, but instead of heading to his secret chamber, he exited his cave abode altogether.
Shortly thereafter, he appeared in the sky above the island amid a flash of azure light, then flipped a hand over to produce several array plates of different colors.
He then began to chant an incantation, and the array plates began to glow brightly before flying downward as several streaks of light.
The space around the cave abode suddenly began to flash with spiritual light as a thick yellow light barrier emerged, releasing a vast expanse of yellow mist that completely inundated the entire cave abode.
At the same time, boundless blue light rose up from the sea around the island to form a hemispherical blue light barrier that encompassed the entire island with flashing runes of different sizes on its surface.
Han Li continued to chant his incantation, releasing several streaks of blue light that vanished into the light barrier.
A series of ripples immediately began to surge over the blue light barrier, following which the entire light barrier abruptly vanished along with the island beneath it, making it appear as if this were just a stretch of empty ocean.
Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.
He had personally altered these restrictions, and even if a late-True Immortal cultivator were to arrive here, they wouldn't have been able to break these restrictions in a short time.
The outermost concealment restriction was one that he had learned from a scripture in Tao Yu's storage tool, and it was even more profound, able to fool the spiritual sense of even early-Golden Immortal cultivators.
After doing all of that, Han Li turned and flew away into the distance as a streak of azure light.
Several days later, he drew to a halt above a certain region of the sea.
This place was just as barren and deserted as the area where he had chosen to construct his temporary cave abode, except the cave abode was situated in the northwestern region of the Black Wind Sea, while this was the southwest.
He released his spiritual sense, then flew toward a certain direction before descending onto an island moments later.
The island wasn't very large, only several dozen kilometers in size, and it was home to a gray mountain. Aside from that, the entire mountain was covered in soil and gray rocks, but barely any plants, presenting a rather bleak sight to behold.
Han Li swept his gaze over the island before flicking his fingers through the air to release streaks of sword qi that struck the gray mountain halfway up.
Countless rocks came tumbling down like rain, and before long, a crude cave abode had taken shape.
Han Li flew into the cave abode, then swept a sleeve through the air to release a flurry of several hundred array flags.
After that, he chanted an incantation before pointing at the array flags, and they instantly transformed into balls of light of different colors that vanished in a flash into different parts of the cave abode.
Several light barriers then quickly appeared to encompass the entire island before vanishing into thin air as well.
With all of the restrictions set up, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed, then swept a sleeve through the air once again to release a streak of golden light that transformed into Daoist Xie.
"Brother Xie, it's very unlikely that anyone will come here, but if someone tries to barge into this place while I'm in seclusion, then please do your best to keep them at bay," Han Li said.
"Rest assured, unless any beings far above the Golden Immortal Stage come here, I'll be sure to keep them out of your way," Daoist Xie replied with a nod, then vanished into thin air amid a flash of golden lightning.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged upon hearing this, but internally, he was quite surprised to discover that his spiritual sense was no longer able to detect Daoist Xie's location.
He immediately activated his Spirit Refinement Technique to enhance his spiritual sense, and only then was he able to detect a very faint trace of lightning fluctuations nearby.
If it weren't for his enormous spiritual sense and the enhancement effects of his Spirit Refinement Technique, there was no way that he would've been able to detect these faint lightning fluctuations.
Despite his surprise, Han Li quickly shook his head and set the matter aside.
He had gone out of his way to construct a new cave abode and set up so many restrictions here as he was about to begin refining a dao pill.
According to the scriptures, a pill tribulation could arise in the instant that a dao pill took shape.
The scriptures stated that pill tribulations arose due to the fact that all dao pills contained the purest of law powers, to the point that they transcended the natural laws of the realm. As a result, the power of the realm would automatically reject dao pills, sending down pill tribulations to prevent dao pills from taking shape.
It was said that pill tribulations were extremely formidable, even more so than most lightning tribulations, and even though this place was very secluded, there was still no guarantee that such a massive spectacle wouldn't attract any unwelcome guests.
The problem with his former cave abode was that moving the medicine garden was quite a chore, and that was why he had decided to come here. Even if someone were to discover him here, with Daoist Xie buying him time, he would be able to make a getaway.
With that in mind, Han Li took a deep breath before closing his eyes to meditate.
Only after three days and three nights had passed by did he reopen his eyes, following which he swept a sleeve through the air to produce a silver cauldron.
A streak of silver light then shot out of his other sleeve and landed beneath the cauldron, transforming into a ball of silver flames that contained a tiny fiery silver figure.
After that, he swept his sleeves through the air in succession to summon various ingredients that almost took up the entire secret chamber.
At the same time, he was running through the dao pill refinement process in his mind, even though he had already envisioned the process countless times.
After making sure that he was fully prepared, he cast an incantation seal through the air, and the silver flame instantly reared up, while the temperature in the cauldron above it quickly began to rise.
All of a sudden, a white crystal emerged at Han Li's behest before flying into the cauldron.
It was none other than a time crystal, and it gradually began to melt in the face of the sweltering heat inside the cauldron.
The golden thread within the crystal was becoming brighter while giving off bursts of time law power fluctuations, and at the same time, Han Li drew a jade box into his grasp, one that contained a Heavenmade Ginseng Root.
A burst of azure light emerged over his other hand before enveloping the Heavenmade Ginseng Root, and the azure light then took on the form of two large hands that began to gently crush the ginseng root.
The Heavenmade Ginseng Root was an extremely rare spirit plant, but it wasn't very hard at all, and it was instantly crushed to a pulp, releasing a large volume of white spirit liquid.
Han Li pointed a finger forward to release a burst of azure light that caught the spirit liquid, then carefully transported it into the cauldron.
The spirit liquid immediately began to boil, and wisps of white mist rose up from it.
There was a look of concentration on Han Li's face as he controlled the silver flame, and before long, the white spirit liquid had transformed into a small ball of white gooey substance that enveloped the time crystal.
Han Li immediately drew another ingredient over to himself upon seeing this, and this time, it was a small box of silver powder that looked as if it were some type of crushed bone.
He raised a hand to release a burst of azure light that enveloped the bone powder, then transported into the cauldron as well.
At the same time, his other hand was making a constant series of hand seals to keep the silver flame beneath the cauldron in check.
The silver bone powder quickly melted as well, forming a ball of silver liquid that fused as one with the gooey white substance, immediately following which Han Li picked up another ingredient before transferring it into the cauldron.
In the blink of an eye, over half a day had passed by, and most of the ingredients in the secret chamber had already been transferred into the cauldron.
At this moment, there was a longan-sized white pill inside the cauldron, and its surface was rather rough and bumpy.
The white pill was gently revolving while being heated by the silver flame beneath the cauldron, and it was giving off wisps of white spiritual qi.
The 𝘮ost uptodat𝑒 novels are pub𝙡ished on fre(e)webno(v)el.𝒸𝑜𝘮