Chapter 464: Unmatched Genius
Han Li swept his gaze across the statues, and he discovered that a pair of statues among them, depicting an elderly daoist priest and a woman in a palace dress, were the most intricately crafted statues of the collection.
The elderly daoist priest was quite thin with a goatee on his chin, and the creases and folds on his daoist robes were quite pronounced, as if he were in the process of flying through the air, giving him quite a graceful and elegant appearance.
As for the woman in the palace dress, she was just as tall and imposing as a man, and her features were also rather sharp and angular, giving her an appearance that was rather unbefitting of her attire.
In Han Li's opinion, it would've looked far more appropriate for her to have been presented in a suit of armor instead.
All of a sudden, Han Li raised a hand before lashing out to his left.
"Owie!"
A cry of pain rang out, followed by a loud crack, and a skeleton that was as fair and translucent as jade was sent flying by the burst of power released by Han Li's hand, crashing heavily into the wall before shattering into countless pieces.
"Who are you?" Han Li interrogated in a cold voice.
A faint glimmer of green light slowly rose up from the shattered skeleton, forming the indistinct projection of an elderly daoist priest that looked as if it were comprised of countless fireflies.
Upon closer inspection, Han Li discovered that this was a soul fragment, and that it was identical in appearance to that statue of the elderly daoist priest.
"What a rude little bastard you are! What am I supposed to use as a vessel now that you've destroyed this skeleton of mine?" the soul fragment complained in a furious voice.
Han Li's brows were tightly furrowed as he asked, "Who are you? Answer me or I'll erase you from existence!"
The projection of the elderly daoist priest was completely unfazed, and it placed its hands on its hips as it scoffed, "Looks like you're an arrogant little bastard too! Back when I reigned supreme over the Infernal Frost Immortal Region, you probably weren't even born yet!"
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon hearing this. "Infernal Frost Immortal Region... Are you from the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor?"
The soul fragment took a glance at the longsword in Han Li's hand, then remarked, "I can see that you're a sword user. I'm sure you've heard of the Boundless Daoist, right?"
"Even to this day, the Boundless Sword Sect is still a vastly renowned sect across the entire immortal region, so of course I know of its founder," Han Li replied.
The soul fragment erupted into a furious fit upon hearing this, and it spat onto the ground as it yelled, "Ptui! Don't try to trick me, you little brat! After what happened to the Infernal Frost Immortal Manor, there's no way that the lineage of the Boundless Sword Sect wasn't severed! After all this time, I'm sure the sect has already completely fallen into obscurity."
A hesitant look then appeared on the soul fragment's face as it murmured to itself, "Could it be that that side branch managed to continue the sect's lineage? No, that's impossible. Those bastards wouldn't have been capable of anything other than bringing disgrace to the sect's name. How unfortunate. Back in the day..."
The soul fragment seemed to have recalled some unpleasant memories, and it began mumbling to itself, completely lost in its own thoughts.
Han Li was becoming more suspicious by the second, and he interjected, "Who are you? Don't make me ask again!"
The soul fragment stood up a little straighter, seemingly trying to lend itself more prestige as it declared, "Listen up, kid! I am none other than the founder of the Boundless Sword Sect that you speak of! I am the Boundless Daoist!"
"What proof do you have to support that claim?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.
The soul fragment was furious to hear this, and it retorted, "Proof my arse! Do you know I am? Why do I need to prove my identity to a little shit like you?"
"Regardless of who you were in the past, I'm the one who calls the shots here, do you understand?" Han Li said with a faint smile as he raised the sword in his hand.
The soul fragment took a glance at Han Li's longsword, and it seemed to have been intimidated into submission as it sighed, "How do you want me to prove my identity to you? You've already shattered my skeleton, so I can't even demonstrate my sect's sword techniques to you."
Han Li was silent for a moment, then asked, "Aside from the Profound Myriad Sword Badge, does your Boundless Sword Sect have any other inherited treasures?"
A mocking sneer appeared on the soul fragment's face upon hearing this, and it scoffed, "Don't think that you can get me with your sneaky little trap! There are two inherited treasures in our Boundless Sword Sect, one of which is the Myriad Sword Iron Scripture, which was passed down in the sect, while the other is the Boundless Sword Core, which was given to the side branch of the sect."
Han Li's expression eased slightly upon hearing this.
"Let me ask you this: does my Boundless Sword Sect still exist in some form?" the soul fragment suddenly asked.
Han Li thought back to Elder Qi Heng of the Holy Puppet Sect, and at this point, it had become clear to him that Qi Heng had to have been a member of the Boundless Sword Sect's side branch.
"The lineage of the sect has indeed already been severed. As for the side branch, that's also fallen into obscurity."
A hint of disappointment appeared on the soul fragment's face upon hearing this, but it seemed to have already anticipated this answer.
"What about the legacy of myself and the Boundless Sword Sect? Are my sect and I still mentioned with reverence by everyone in the immortal region?"
Instead of answering the question, Han Li raised one of his own. "If you really are the Boundless Daoist as you proclaim, then how did you end up getting sealed in here?"
"Who told you I've been sealed in here?" the soul fragment asked with a furious expression.
Han Li offered no response to this. In reality, he had also been rather perplexed as it simply didn't make sense to go to so much trouble just to seal away a soul fragment.
"Can't you tell? I willingly sealed myself in this place!" the soul fragment declared as it puffed out its chest in a proud manner.
"Alright, then why are you hiding here?" Han Li asked.
The soul fragment was instantly infuriated once again upon hearing the word "hide", but in the end, it could only heave a forlorn sigh as it replied, "It's all because I have to take care of her."
"Her?" Han Li took a glance at the statue of the woman in the palace dress upon hearing this. "Who is she?"
"She's a pain in the arse is what she is!" the soul fragment snapped.
After a brief pause, the soul fragment took a glance at the statue of the woman, then continued, "She's a High Zenith Stage Gray Immortal from the Gray Realm. "
"The Gray Realm?"
Han Li was only becoming more and more confused.
"The Heavenly Court has been hiding the existence of the Gray Realm this entire time, to the point that none of you are even aware of its existence. Perhaps that's a blessing, perhaps it's a curse, who knows?" the soul fragment sighed.
"What is this Gray Realm?" Han Li asked as the tone of his voice softened a little.
"You know what? I haven't had anyone to speak to in a very long time, and I'm in a pretty good mood right now, so I'll tell you about the Gray Realm. Just like our True Immortal Realm, the Gray Realm is another boundless realm inhabited by living beings unique to that realm, and those who attain immortality in the Gray Realm are known as Gray Immortals," the soul fragment explained.
Han Li's brows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked, "Does the fall of the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace have something to do with this woman?"
Instead of answering Han Li's question, the soul fragment raised one of its own. "Why are you so interested in what happened to the Immortal Palace?"
"I still don't trust you one bit, so I want to hear you talk about what happened to the Immortal Palace in order to help me form my judgment," Han Li said with a cold smile.
The soul fragment's expression stiffened slightly upon seeing this, and it was about to put on an enraged facade once again, but it could tell that Han Li wasn't going to be intimidated, so it could only heave a deflated sigh.
A reminiscent look then appeared on its face as it began to recount the events of the distant past. "Back in the day, I had just become the master of the Infernal Frost Immortal Palace, and I was at the height of my powers, but this troublesome woman..."
"What did you just say?" Han Li interjected. "You became the master of the Immortal Palace? Wouldn't that make you the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord?"
The soul fragment seemed to be rather displeased with Han Li's rude interjection, and it raised an eyebrow as it retorted, "Who told you that the Boundless Daoist can't also be the Infernal Frost Immortal Lord?"
Han Li's brows furrowed tightly with skepticism upon hearing this.
"Hmph, I suppose I can't expect a mere mortal like yourself to comprehend my unmatched genius. Listen up, kid, you better not go interrupt me again! Young people these days don't even know how respect is spelt!" the soul fragment scoffed in a disgruntled manner.
Han Li adjusted his grip on the hilt of his sword in a subtle fashion as he prompted, "Please continue."
The soul fragment cleared its throat in a sheepish manner upon seeing this, then began to give Han Li a long-winded recount of his past.
According to the soul fragment, his name was Lu Yun, and he was originally a member of a side branch of a medium-sized cultivating clan on the Infernal Frost Continent. His aptitude was quite mediocre, so he didn't receive much attention from the clan, and he wasn't given any of the clan's best cultivation arts.
Hence, he had no choice but to turn to the body refinement scriptures in the clan, which no one wanted to pursue.
Through a series of strokes of fortune, he was able to embark on the path of becoming a Profound Immortal, and he discovered that he was quite suited to using these body refinement cultivation arts.
After experimenting with countless body refinement methods, he was suddenly struck by inspiration one night while looking up at the stars in the sky, and he invented a way to refine one's body using starlight. Ultimately,that led to the creation of the Great Universe Origin Arts, using which he was able to make rapid progress in his cultivation and progressed all the way to the Golden Immortal Stage.
At some point, he faced a Golden Immortal Stage sword cultivator who was half a cultivation rank above him in battle, and the battle concluded in a tie. Despite holding his own against an opponent of a superior cultivation base, he was extremely humiliated by this outcome, and he turned to cultivating the way of the sword in a fit of rage and indignation.
After over 3,000 years in obscurity, he finally re-emerged into the world as the Boundless Daoist, reaching the pinnacle of the Infernal Frost Immortal Region and founding the Boundless Sword Sect.
Eventually, he was able to reach the High Zenith Stage, allowing him to reign supreme over the entire Infernal Frost Immortal Region, and he was able to become the master of the Infernal Frost Continent's Immortal Palace without even having to join the Heavenly Court.
The soul fragment was telling the story in an extremely spirited and enthused fashion, and if it weren't for the fact that it possessed no physical body, spittle would've been flying everywhere out of its mouth.
Han Li's expression remained unchanged as he listened to the story, but internally, he was quite astonished.
If this soul fragment were telling the truth, then Lu Yun's feats went far beyond just "unmatched genius"!
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