Chapter 380: Unexpectedly Smooth Progress
"That's right. Right now, his name is Dragon 5," Wyrm 3 replied without any hesitation.
The cloaked man's brows furrowed slightly as he asked, "How much time did you give him?"
"15 years," Wyrm 3 replied.
"Pardon me for being blunt, but I don't think even Master Ximen would be able to guarantee the successful refinement of an Origin Void Pill in 15 years," the cloaked man said in a meaningful voice.
"That may be true, but at the moment, Master Ximen isn't in this immortal region, and we have less than 20 years left to make our move. Do we have any other choice?" Wyrm 3 asked.
The cloaked man was silent for a moment, then said, "This is an extremely important matter, and that person has only just joined our Reincarnation Palace. Are you sure he's reliable?"
"I don't know, so I never didn't allow him to leave," Wyrm 3 replied.
"What if he can't complete the mission within 15 years?" the cloaked man asked with a concerned expression.
"So many things have happened recently. There weren't many Reincarnation Disciples in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region to begin with, and the battle of the Blaze Dragon Dao has certainly not helped our cause. If we can succeed in this endeavor, then everything that we've sacrificed up to this point will be worth it. Hence, success is our only option," Wyrm 3 said in a determined voice.
"It sounds like you're very confident in this person. Could it be that you've already been secretly observing him for some time?" the cloaked man asked.
"No, I've only just come into contact with him," Wyrm 3 replied with a shake of his head.
The cloaked man's brows furrowed tightly upon hearing this.
"Rest assured, I take sole responsibility for this matter. All you need to do is focus on the task assigned to you and figure out what's happening on Red Moon Island," Wyrm 3 continued.
"Alright, if you're that confident, then I won't speak any further on this subject," the cloaked man said.
"I've answered all of your questions. This is not a place you should stay at for any extended period of time, so you should leave, and let's not meet again anytime soon," Wyrm 3 said in a cold voice.
"Alright, I'll be taking my leave then," the cloaked man said as a burst of black light appeared over his body, and he faded into the darkness like a shadow.
Wyrm 3 sat by himself for a moment, then rose to his feet and cast his gaze in the direction of Han Li's cave abode.
……
10 years flew by in the blink of an eye.
Han Li was seated with his legs crossed in his peaceful cave abode, sitting as still as a stone statue.
His head was enshrouded within a layer of bright translucent light, making his facial features appear rather blurry and indistinct.
The translucent light was gently flowing like water, presenting a pleasant sight to behold.
Right at this moment, Han Li's eyelids fluttered slightly before his eyes sprang open.
The translucent light circling around his head instantly surged into his glabella, vanishing without a trace.
Han Li exhaled as an elated look appeared on his face.
After 10 years of tireless cultivation, he had finally made some inroads into the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique.
His spiritual sense hadn't been enhanced by much, but the lurking unrest in his spiritual sense had already subsided, restoring it to a stable and uninhibited state.
However, in the next instant, the elation in his eyes faded and was replaced by a hint of befuddlement.
According to the jade slip, the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique was far more profound than the third level, and it should've taken more than 10 times the amount of time to master the fourth level, so it should've taken him decades, perhaps even over a century to make the progress that he had already achieved.
Hence, he wasn't even planning to get this far, and his initial goal was only to settle the unrest in his spiritual sense. After all, he still had the pill refinement mission on his plate, so he didn't have much time to work with.
However, to his surprise, his cultivation of the fourth level of the Spirit Refinement Technique had been extremely smooth, and he hadn't encountered any bottlenecks, thereby allowing him to make rapid progress.
His mind was racing as he tried to find a reason for this, but he remained completely stumped.
At the moment, he could only attribute it to aptitude. Perhaps his current constitution was simply very suited to cultivating secret techniques of this nature.
Thinking back, he had had a similar experience in his cultivation of the Great Development Arts.
In any case, he had to stop now. There were only five years left of the allotted 15 years, so he had to commence the pill refinement process.
With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce a storage ring, the very same one that had been given to him by Wyrm 3.
He then injected his spiritual sense into it to confirm that there were indeed 30 batches of ingredients inside.
Right as he was about to commence his first pill refinement attempt, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and he pulled out a batch of ingredients from the storage ring.
He paid no heed to the other ingredients as he focused his gaze on a fist-sized black crystal.
The crystalline material was giving off a layer of faint black light that seemed to be able to suck in all of the surrounding light, and at the same time, it was also giving off a burst of formidable law power fluctuations.
This was none other than the primary ingredient required to refine the Origin Void Pill, and it was called the Black Marrow Crystal.
Han Li reached out to pick up the Black Marrow Crystal, and he was immediately struck by a burst of sharp pain in his fingertips.
The peculiar law powers being released by the Black Marrow Crystal were extremely corrosive, and it was almost too painful for him to hold onto even with his Profound Immortal physique.
A burst of spiritual light appeared over the surface of his palm, instantly forming a layer of azure light that protected his fingers from the Black Marrow Crystal.
At the same time, he flipped his other hand over to produce the Hard Ink Crystal.
These two items were very similar in appearance and aura, except the aura emanating from the Black Marrow Crystal was many times more formidable than that of the Hard Ink Crystal.
It seemed that these two materials were somehow related, and he couldn't help but wonder if Wyrm 3 had previously asked him about the Hard Ink Crystal for the sake of these Black Marrow Crystals.
However, even Hard Ink Crystals were extremely rare in the Black Wind Sea, so how had he managed to acquire so many Black Marrow Crystals?
As soon as this thought sprang into his mind, Han Li immediately shook his head to cast it aside.
His mission was only to refine an Origin Void Pill, so there was no point in thinking about other unnecessary things.
With that in mind, he stowed the Hard Ink Crystal away, then pulled out the jade slip that contained the pill recipe before pressing it against his own forehead.
Half a month passed by in the blink of an eye.
At this moment, Han Li was seated with his legs crossed and his eyes closed, and there were exactly 30 piles of identical spirit materials laid out on the ground around him.
All of a sudden, his eyes sprang open, and he swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of silver light, which landed on the ground in front of him before transforming into a silver cauldron.
Immediately thereafter, he opened his mouth to release a stream of silver flames that began scorching the underside of the cauldron.
Han Li gave a slight nod upon seeing this, then raised a hand, upon which a certain material from one of the 30 piles of materials rose up into the air before flying into the cauldron.
At the same time, his Mantra Treasured Axis appeared behind him amid a flash of golden light, and his time law thread shot out of his fingertip before wrapping itself around the axis.
The time law thread was looking a little brighter than before, but it was still far from returning to its peak.
At this point, only 18 of the 360 Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis were lit, while the rest remained dim.
It seemed that the time law thread was connected to his Mantra Treasured Axis, and it was most likely the case that the time law thread would only make a full recovery once all of the Time Dao Runes were restored.
With that in mind, he made a hand seal, and a burst of golden ripples surged out of the Mantra Treasured Axis to encompass the cauldron, instantly causing everything unfolding within it to slow down.
With only 18 Time Dao Runes restored, the axis's time-slowing effect was quite limited, but it was already sufficient for Han Li's needs.
While Han Li was busy with his pill refinement, the centennial teleportation array activation day had arrived on Black Wind Island.
The streets and shops in Black Wind City were looking far less lively and bustling than before, and aside from some of the prosperous streets at the center of the city, the rest of the city appeared rather bleak and deserted.
There weren't many pedestrians on the streets, and many shop employees looked as if they were on the verge of nodding off to sleep.
For some reason, there had been a huge spike in the number and frequency of natural disasters taking place in the Black Wind Sea of late, including tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, and ferocious storms.
Many islands were destroyed during these disasters, resulting in countless deaths and casualties, and the entire Black Wind Sea was in a state of unease and apprehension, with some rumors even suggesting that the entire region was facing imminent destruction.
Even the conflict between Black Wind Island and Azure Feather Island had temporarily subsided in the wake of these horrific disasters.
Black Wind Island wasn't affected by these disasters, but business in Black Wind City severely impacted, and there weren't even many people who had gathered to watch the activation of the teleportation array, an event that had always been highly anticipated in the past.
The teleportation array inside the pagoda was buzzing while radiating dazzling light, and two figures were standing nearby, one of whom was none other than the master of Black Wind Island, Lu Jun.
At this moment, he was looking intently at the teleportation array with a hint of excitement in his eyes, and he was accompanied by a white-robed man, the very same one with the Feng surname who had led that group of True Immortal cultivators into the Black Wind Sea.
He was also looking at the teleportation array, but he appeared far calmer and more indifferent.
All of a sudden, an enormous pillar of light erupted out of the teleportation array, causing the entire teleportation pagoda to tremble slightly.
The pillar of light faded after a few seconds, and a group of around two dozen people emerged within the teleportation array.
These people were split up into two roughly equal factions, and the two factions were standing quite far apart from one another.
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