Chapter 369: Master and Disciple
Master?
Han Li faltered slightly upon hearing this.
He didn't recall ever accepting such a disciple, but for some reason, the young boy looked a little familiar to him.
"I knew you'd be alright, Master! I managed to get two Dragon Gall Flowers from Master Zhen, and I've already brewed them into medicine. I'll fetch it for you right now."
The young boy hurriedly wiped the tears from his face as he rose to his feet and made his way outside.
Han Li looked on with a dazed expression as the young boy departed, then took a glance down at his own body, only to be stunned to find that he had become a thin and withered old.
He was wearing an azure daoist robe, and his hands were as wizened as a pair of old tree branches.
What happened? How did I suddenly age so much? What is this place, and who is that boy?
A string of questions flashed through Han Li's mind, none of which he had an answer for.
At this moment, the pain in his body had mostly abated, and he struggled up into a seated position, pressing a hand against the edge of the bed for support.
After a brief moment of contemplation, he hurriedly began inspecting his own internal condition, upon which he became even more concerned.
It had become clear to him that this body definitely wasn't his, but for some reason, he seemed to have possessed it.
On top of that, this body had suffered extremely severe internal injuries to its organs. In particular, it had fallen prey to a type of lethal poison.
With Han Li's normal cultivation base, he would've been able to recover from these ailments in a very short time, but this body only possessed a late-Foundation Establishment Stage cultivation base, so it was completely unable to suppress the poison and these internal injuries.
In other words, this body didn't have much life left in it, and it was only a matter of time before it met its demise.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he took a deep breath, then drew upon which little remained of the magic power in this body before flicking a finger through the air.
A series of water droplets instantly appeared in the surrounding air, then converged toward the space in front of him to form a mirror of water that was around a foot in size, through which Han Li was able to see the reflection of an elderly daoist priest with a white beard.
He then swept a hand through the air to scatter the mirror before falling into deep thought.
At this point, the pain in his head had mostly faded, and he had recalled what had previously happened.
The time law thread, his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the Heaven Controlling Vial seemed to have resonated with one another from that wall of light, and the vortex on the wall of light seemed to have sucked his soul into this place.
Could this be some type of illusion?
Han Li raised his head to inspect his surroundings, only to find that everything around him was extremely realistic, with no signs of any illusion being present.
If this isn't an illusion, then what could it be?
More snippets of memories began to surface in Han Li's mind, and he attempted to sort through them.
Before long, he had already examined all of those memories, and an enlightened look appeared on his face.
These memories belonged to none other than the elderly daoist priest whose body he was currently possessing.
The daoist priest's name was Ling Yunzi, while the young boy just now was his only disciple, Li Yuanjiu.
Ling Yunzi sustained severe injuries during a fight over a spirit plant, and even though he was able to escape, his injuries were too severe, and he perished not long ago.
However, Han Li's soul had somehow possessed this recently deceased body, leading Li Yuanjiu to the false conclusion that his master had been resurrected.
All of a sudden, Han Li noticed something to his left.
Suspended in mid-air there was a very indistinct golden axis that was virtually completely invisible, and he wouldn't have been able to notice it had he not just so happened to have looked in that direction.
The golden axis was none other than his Mantra Treasured Axis, and the 360 Time Dao Runes on its surface were gently flashing.
At this point, around two dozen of the Time Dao Runes had already dimmed, and with each second that passed, one more Time Dao Rune would fade, just like last time the wall of light had been conjured up.
Han Li's mind was racing, and he seemed to have grasped onto something, but it was unclear to him exactly what it was.
Right at this moment, the sound of footsteps rang out as Li Yuanjiu hurried into the room, carefully holding a clay bowl with both hands. The bowl contained a black medicinal liquid that was giving off a pleasant aroma, and Li Yuanjiu carried the bowl to the bed as he said, "Drink this medicine, Master."
Han Li took a glance at the medicine, and he could see that the spiritual qi fluctuations that it contained weren't insignificant, indicating that the ingredients used had to have been quite precious for a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
"Put it here, I'll drink it later," Han Li said as he slowly stood up from the bed.
"Master, you're carrying severe injuries right now, you need to rest!" Li Yuanjiu hurriedly said.
"Don't worry about me, I know my own body," Han Li said with a dismissive wave of his hand.
He had already grown accustomed to his body, so he was able to move in it just fine.
After taking a moment to gather his bearings, Han Li made his way out of the room.
Li Yuanjiu couldn't help but feel as if his master were acting a little strange, but he didn't dare to say anything as he set down the bowl of medicine and hurriedly followed Han Li outside.
Upon emerging from the dilapidated temple, Han Li discovered that it was situated on a mountaintop that was surrounded by more lush mountains, presenting a piece of fine scenery.
However, this mountain range was rather secluded, and the calls of wild animals could occasionally be heard, while the world's origin qi here was also quite sparse.
Han Li released his spiritual sense to inspect the surrounding area.
For some reason, even though this body's cultivation base was very much lackluster, it seemed to have inherited much of Han Li's enormous spiritual sense, and he was quickly able to assess everything within a radius of several thousand kilometers.
However, the entire area was filled with more mountain ranges, and he was unable to ascertain his current location.
"Are you alright, Master?" Li Yuanjiu asked as he followed Han Li outside.
"Where is this place, Yuanjiu?" Han Li asked.
"Th... This is the Mulan Mountain Range where we've always been cultivating. Why would you ask this, Master?" Li Yuanjiu asked with a puzzled expression.
"My memories are a little jumbled right now, perhaps due to my injuries," Han Li explained.
A concerned look appeared on Li Yuanjiu's face upon hearing this, but before he could say anything, Han Li continued, "Don't worry, it's not a major problem. Let me ask you this: which immortal region is this Mulan Mountain Range situated in?"
"The Mulan Mountain Range is situated on the Bramble Wood Continent of the Golden Origin Immortal Region," Li Yuanjiu replied.
Han Li had never heard of the Golden Origin Immortal Region before, but it was definitely outside of the Northern Glacial Immortal Region.
With that in mind, a contemplative look appeared in his eyes.
He cast his gaze to the left to find that the Mantra Treasured Axis projection had also followed him outside, and close to 100 of its Time Dao Runes had already faded.
"Master, I think you should rest. After you recover from your injuries, we can go back and exact our vengeance on those bastards!" Li Yuanjiu said as he gritted his teeth in fury.
He and Ling Yunzi were from a sect by the name of the Iron Beast Sect in the Mulan Mountain Range, and Ling Yunzi was the son of one of the sect's elders, but unfortunately, his aptitude was quite mediocre, and he was unable to reach the Core Formation Stage, something that he had received much disdain and heckling for over the years.
Li Yuanjiu was an abandoned infant that Ling Yunzi had picked up during one of his outings, and he had raised Li Yuanjiu before accepting the boy as his disciple.
Ling Yunzi knew that his own cultivation aptitude was mediocre, so he gave all of his cultivation resources to Li Yuanjiu, but unfortunately, Li Yuanjiu's aptitude wasn't much better, and he was still stuck at the Qi Condensation Stage.
Even though they were master and disciple, they were just as close as any father and son.
Back when Ling Yunzi's father was still alive, he and Li Yuanjiu were still able to get by in the sect, but several years ago, Ling Yunzi's father had perished during a battle against a formidable foe.
As a result, Ling Yunzi and Li Yuanjiu's statuses in the sect had plummeted, and they were deprived of all cultivation resources before being kicked out of the sect altogether.
Thus, the two of them had become itinerant cultivators.
Li Yuanjiu's aptitude wasn't anything special, but he worked extremely hard in his cultivation, and he had recently reached the pinnacle of the Qi Condensation Stage, bringing him to the cusp of the Foundation Establishment Stage.
The two of them had ventured into a perilous area to search for a type of spirit plant that was very helpful for making breakthroughs, and they had searched for about a month before finally finding the spirit plant, then went through a great deal of effort to slay the demon beast that was guarding the plant.
During the battle, Ling Yunzi had sustained some severe injuries.
However, a group of Iron Beast Sect cultivators had arrived on the scene just then, and they were led by the son of another elder who had constantly been at odds with Ling Yunzi back when he was in the sect.
Those people had taken the spirit plant, and in his attempt to stop them, Ling Yunzi's injuries had been even further compounded.
If it weren't for a life-saving talisman that he had been carrying, he and Li Yuanjiu would've most likely been slain right there and then.
Han Li didn't have much of Ling Yunzi's memories left in his mind, but they were enough to tell a story, and he heaved a faint sigh as he said, "The path of cultivation is a cruel and heartless one where only the strong get to live, while the weak are left to die. Your cultivation base is insufficient right now, so don't think about revenge. You'll only be throwing your life away for nothing."
"Yes, Master," Li Yuanjiu replied as he lowered his head with a dejected expression.
Han Li turned to the boy and swept his spiritual sense through the boy's body, upon which he was surprised to discover that Li Yuanjiu possessed a false spiritual root just like himself, one that possessed four out of five attributes, with only the metal attribute missing. [1]
Hence, it was no wonder that his rate of cultivation progress was so slow. However, just like Han Li, his spiritual sense was also quite formidable for his cultivation, and Han Li couldn't help but wonder if this was just a coincidence or if this meeting had been pre-ordained by fate.
"Yuanjiu, I haven't been able to help you much in your cultivation, and you've been made to suffer by my side all this time. I don't have much time left, and I'm going to bestow upon you a secret technique now. Make sure to work hard in your cultivation and live up to the high hopes I have for you," Han Li suddenly said.
Li Yuanjiu was horrified to hear this, and he hurriedly waved his hands in response. "No, Master! I don't want any secret technique, I just want you to live!"
A stern look appeared on Han Li's face as he said, "Yuanjiu, cultivators like ourselves are constantly attempting to defy the natural order, but my time in this world has already run out, and heaven and earth can no longer tolerate my existence. If you want to make something out of yourself and do me proud, then listen up."
Li Yuanjiu still wanted to say something further, but Han Li didn't give him another chance to speak, sweeping a sleeve through the air to release a burst of spiritual light that vanished into the boy's head in a flash.
1. For more information on false spiritual roots, please refer to RMJI Chapter 127: Knowledge on Spiritual Roots. ☜
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