Chapter 379: Imprisoned
"I'm confident in my abilities to refine this pill, but there's something that I have to make clear in advance," Han Li said.
"Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5, I'll be sure to help you in any way that I can," Wyrm 3 prompted.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Wyrm 3, I'm not going to state any unreasonable demands. It's just that this is a completely unfamiliar pill to me, so I'll require many batches of ingredients for practice. I'm sure that's something you're already aware of," Han Li explained.
Wyrm 3's expression eased slightly upon hearing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a storage ring as he replied, "There's no need to worry about ingredients at all, Fellow Daoist. I've already considered this matter, and I've prepared 30 batches of ingredients for you to experiment with."
"It appears my concerns were unnecessary," Han Li said with a faint smile, then accepted the storage ring and stowed it away without examining its contents.
He couldn't release his spiritual sense out of his body, so it would've been rather inconvenient for him to examine the storage ring's contents, but he was sure that there wouldn't be any problems.
Additionally, he also developed a new understanding of just how wealthy the Reincarnation Palace was. The ingredients required to refine this pill weren't quite as rare and precious as those for the dao pill, but they were certainly not easy to come by, either, so 30 batches would've amounted to an astronomical sum in Immortal Origin Stones.
"Ingredients are easy to come by, but a Dao Pill Master is far rarer. All you need to focus on is refining the pill within 10 years. Don't worry about ingredients, if there's not enough there, I'll find a way to get you more," Wyrm 3 assured with a smile.
Han Li's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he said, "10 years? I'm afraid that might not be enough time for me to guarantee a successful outcome."
"At the very most, we can only wait 15 years. This is a very important matter, so please do your best, Fellow Daoist. Our Reincarnation Palace will be sure to reward you handsomely for your efforts," Wyrm 3 said with a solemn expression.
"I'll be sure to do my best, but I still can't make any guarantees. After all, I only recently became a Dao Pil Master, so my skills may not yet be up to scratch," Han Li replied.
Wyrm 3 merely continued to look at Han Li in silence upon hearing this.
"Time is of the essence, so I won't delay any longer. I'll be taking my leave now," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a parting salute.
"You wish to leave this place, Fellow Daoist?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"That's right. I'll return to my cave abode right away to study this pill recipe, and I'll contact you if I need anything," Han Li replied with a nod.
"There's no need to do that. We have a pill refinement chamber and a cauldron prepared for you, so just refine the pill here. If you need anything else, I would also be able to deliver them to you in a timely fashion," Wyrm 3 said.
"I appreciate the kind offer, but I'm more accustomed to refining pills in my own cave abode," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
Wyrm 3 cleared his throat, then said in a meaningful voice, "Truth be told, the Black Wind Sea is not very safe at the moment, so if you trigger another pill tribulation, you may not be able to make a safe retreat as you did last time."
"But..."
Before Han Li had a chance to protest, Wyrm 3 raised a hand to cut him off as he said in a cold voice, "If there aren't any other problems, then I'll take you to the pill refinement chamber right away."
Han Li could only give a resigned nod in response.
"Come with me, Fellow Daoist," Wyrm 3 said as he turned to depart.
A wry smile appeared on Han Li's face as he followed along.
The two of them quickly emerged from the cave, following which Wyrm 3 summoned a flying carriage that carried the two of them toward the outskirts of the mountain before landing halfway up another tall mountain.
This was quite a large area, but it was riddled with huge trees, and there was a waterfall nearby, but aside from the splashing of the waterfall, the environment was quite peaceful.
On the mountain face up ahead was an opening that was sealed by a large gate with a layer of azure light over its surface, and there were numerous runes surging incessantly over the azure light barrier, presenting a rather mysterious sight to behold.
Wyrm 3 strode forward before pulling out an azure badge, then waved it through the air to release a streak of azure light that vanished into the stone gate in a flash.
The azure light barrier outside the stone gate quickly faded, and the gate was slowly opened.
"This is where you'll be staying, Fellow Daoist Dragon 5. I assure you that no one will come to disturb you during your pill refinement," Wyrm 3 said.
Han Li nodded in response, then made his way into the cave abode.
In the next instant, he was surprised to discover that the spiritual sense restriction had completely vanished as soon as he stepped into the cave abode, but his spiritual sense was still only restricted to the confines of the cave abode.
The cave abode wasn't very large, but it was immaculately maintained and had everything that one could require, including a pill refinement chamber, a secret chamber, and a medicine garden.
"This is quite a nice cave abode," Han Li remarked to Wyrm 3.
"I'm glad you like it, Fellow Daoist. If you need anything, feel free to contact me anytime. In the meantime, I'll be counting on you," Wyrm 3 said before departing from the cave abode, and as soon as he left, the gate of the cave abode swung shut, following which Han Li heaved a faint sigh.
It appeared that he had been imprisoned.
Following Wyrm 3's departure, Han Li briefly explored the cave abode while flicking his fingers through the air to release a series of array tools that vanished into different parts of the cave abode.
Close to an hour later, Han Li arrived in a secret chamber in the cave abode before sitting down with his legs crossed.
The first thing that he did was remove the azure mask from his face before replacing it with the crimson lion mask, and the mask immediately released a burst of gentle energy that spread over his entire body at his behest.
Han Li could sense that at this moment, his aura had been perfectly concealed, indicating that the restrictions in this crimson mask were more profound than the ones in his azure mask.
Most importantly, the special spiritual sense fluctuations generated due to his cultivation of the Spirit Refinement Technique had also been concealed.
Ever since he arrived in the Immortal Realm, Han Li had always been rather apprehensive when it came to meeting others, particularly those who possessed a superior cultivation base to his. He would always do his best to restrain his spiritual sense fluctuations so that no one would be able to detect that he had cultivated the Spirit Refinement Technique, and thankfully, he hadn't encountered any surveyors up to this point.
Now that he had this new mask, even if he did encounter some surveyors who had cultivated special detection secret techniques, he should've been able to fool them as long as their cultivation base wasn't far superior to his.
Han Li made a hand seal, and a layer of red light immediately emerged over the crimson mask before forming a crimson light screen in front of him.
After that, he released several missions in succession, all of which were acquisition missions for the other ingredients required to refine the Golden Soul Pill.
After doing all of that, he swept a sleeve through the air to wave the crimson light screen away, then flipped a hand over to produce the gray jade slip that contained the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
Even though he only had 15 years to refine the pill, he wasn't planning to begin right away.
For other Dao Pill Masters, 15 years would've indeed been a very tight timeframe, but this was naturally not a problem for Han Li.
At this point, only several of the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis had recovered since the last time it had conjured up the wall of light, but all he needed were 18 functional Time Dao Runes to fulfill his pill refinement needs.
Furthermore, the refinement process for this pill was far simpler than that of the Time Dao Pill, and with his Mantra Treasured Axis up his sleeve and so many batches of ingredients at his disposal, he naturally had no concerns.
Hence, his top priority at the moment was to cultivate the Spirit Refinement Technique and resolve his spiritual sense crisis.
With that in mind, Han Li injected his spiritual sense into the jade slip and carefully read through the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique, then sat down with his legs crossed and began to cultivate.
Meanwhile, Wyrm 3 was walking down a black passageway countless kilometers away from Han Li with a contemplative look in his eyes.
The passageway wasn't very long, so he was able to quickly reach the end, at which point a black stone gate that was over 30 feet tall appeared before him.
With a sweep of his sleeve, he sent an incantation seal flying through the air, and the black stone gate slowly opened to reveal a spacious hall, at the center of which stood a figure dressed in a black cloak.
There was a cross design embroidered onto the sleeve of the cloak, and upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the cloaked figure turned around.
It was a middle-aged man, but there was a horrific scar that ran across his forehead from its left corner all the way to his right eyelid before continuing down his cheek, presenting a menacing sight to behold.
"What are you doing here?" Wyrm 3 asked in a cold voice.
"I came here because I have something to speak to you about. Rest assured, no one would've been able to track me here," the cloaked man replied.
"Have you found out something?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"Just as you predicted, it really is under Red Moon Island, but due to the involvement of Black Wind Island, our people are unable to get close to the area for the time being," the cloaked man replied.
"Black Wind Island? How are those people possibly able to stop us?" Wyrm 3 asked.
"What if I were to tell you that there are Golden Immortal cultivators among them?" the cloaked figure replied with a faint smile.
A sharp gleam immediately flashed through Wyrm 3's eyes upon hearing this. "Could it be..."
"According to the information that we've gathered so far, the situation is exactly as you're thinking right now," the cloaked figure replied with a nod.
"I don't care how you do it, but you have to figure everything out about the situation on Red Moon Island before the Origin Void Pill is successfully refined," Wyrm 3 said in a categorical voice.
"I would've done that even if you hadn't told me. I came here because I wanted to confirm something. I heard that you're planning to assign the Origin Void Pill refinement mission to a new member who's only just joined our Reincarnation Palace, is that correct?" the cloaked man asked.
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