Chapter 490: I Believe You
"Let's follow them, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan," Han Li immediately said to Daoist Hu Yan through voice transmission.
"Have you noticed something?" Daoist Hu Yan asked in a hesitant voice.
Under these circumstances, actively following someone could easily be seen as a gesture of provocation, and he didn't want to oppose Luo Qinghai for now.
Many years ago, Baili Yan had told him that on the surface, Luo Qinghai appeared to be a very kind and easygoing person, but in reality, he was most prone to holding grudges, and making an enemy out of even someone like Qi Tianxiao was a better alternative to getting on Luo Qinghai's bad side.
"I suspect that Luo Qinghai's disciple has some type of special ocular ability that can allow him to ascertain the location of the High Zenith Palace, but I can't be sure. However, what I can say for sure is that there's definitely something strange about them," Han Li explained.
"Given Luo Qinghai's personality, it would be much more characteristic of him to let others venture into the mist first, so it's indeed rather suspicious that he's going in first himself... Alright, let's do as you say then," Daoist Hu Yan decided after some contemplation.
With that, the two of them immediately flew into the mist, following Luo Qinghai's duo from afar.
Ouyang Kuishan took a glance at the other dao lord, and the two of them set off in another direction slightly to the left of where Daoist Hu Yan and Han Li had gone.
The pair of Southern Dawn beings also flew away in another direction, and thus, Feng Tiandu and Qi Tianxiao were the only ones left.
Moments later, Feng Tiandu suddenly said, "They should be sufficiently far away by now. Let's go after them."
After that, he swept a hand through the air to conjure up a black light barrier that encompassed both himself and Qi Tianxiao, then set off in the same direction as Han Li.
Deep within the mist, Luo Qinghai and Nan Kemeng were flying onward at an even pace.
All of a sudden, Nan Kemeng stopped in his tracks, then took a glance at the mist behind him as he said, "Palace Master, there are people following us."
"That's only to be expected. Who are the ones following us?" Luo Qinghai asked with a smile.
"Everyone," Nan Kemeng replied with slightly furrowed brows.
Luo Qinghai was rather taken aback by this answer, and a mocking sneer appeared on his face.
"The ones closest to us are the two cultivators from the True Flame Sect. The Blaze Dragon Dao and the Southern Dawn Race have both chosen more roundabout routes, but they're all following us as well. As for the Dawn Fall Sect cultivators, they're a bit further away, but it seems like they're following the True Flame Sect cultivators," Nan Kemeng elaborated.
"True Flame Sect my arse! One of them is none other than Daoist Hu Yan of the Blaze Dragon Dao. As for that so-called nephew of his, I have no idea who that is. There's no one that fits his description in our Northern Glacial Immortal Region, and it's like he popped up out of nowhere," Luo Qinghai mused with tightly furrowed brows.
"What should we do then?" Nan Kemeng asked.
"The High Zenith Pills are about to be ready, so we have no time to waste here. Let's go," Luo Qinghai replied.
He then made a hand seal to conjure up a blue light barrier, which encompassed both himself and Nan Kemeng.
Immediately thereafter, the two of them vanished into thin air amid a flurry of rainbow bubbles.
A short while later, Han Li and Daoist Hu Yan sped onto the scene, and the latter asked, "What happened?"
"No wonder they weren't worried about us following them, they've already prepared measures to shake us off their trail," Han Li said.
"I should've known," Daoist Hu Yan sighed. "What do we do now?"
"There's something I can try, but I need you to release your spirit domain to conceal me for a short while," Han Li replied after a brief hesitation.
"Alright, go ahead," Daoist Hu Yan hurriedly said, then immediately released his fiery spirit domain to encompass the entire surrounding area in a radius of several thousand feet.
"I can't expand the spirit domain any more beyond this point. Otherwise, I can't guarantee that I'll be able to conceal your energy fluctuations," Daoist Hu Yan explained.
"This is fine. If you make it any bigger, it'll attract attention from the others," Han Li replied with a nod, then summoned his Mantra Treasured Axis amid a flash of golden light.
The radiant golden axis was riddled with Time Dao Runes, and despite Daoist Hu Yan's vast wealth of experience, even he couldn't help but be astonished by the formidable time law power fluctuations emanating from the axis.
His mouth sprang open in shock, and he was completely rooted to the spot.
Han Li paid no heed to Daoist Hu Yan's reaction as he focused on scouring the surrounding area with his Eye of Truth, and it didn't take long before he spotted a burst of lingering spatial fluctuations to his right.
"I've found them!" Han Li declared as he withdrew his hand seal, and the Mantra Treasured Axis instantly vanished back into his body.
Daoist Hu Yan was still reeling a little as he praised, "I knew you were cultivating the Mantra Axis Scripture, but I didn't think you had already reached such an extraordinary level of mastery over the laws of time."
"I encountered some strokes of fortune in the past that accelerated my mastery over this cultivation art," Han Li explained in an ambiguous manner.
"Be honest with me. Have you been concealing your true cultivation base this entire time, or have you also been cultivating the laws of reincarnation in secret? Otherwise, I can't think of any other way that you could've reached the middle-Golden Immortal Stage in such a short time," Daoist Hu Yan said with tightly furrowed brows.
Han Li heaved a resigned sigh upon hearing this.
"I was telling you the truth earlier. Not long ago, I stumbled into a strange secret area and cultivated for tens of thousands of years in there to reach the mid-Golden Immortal Stage. However, when I came out, I discovered that the flow of time in there was completely different from that of the outside world, and not even a moment had passed by outside the secret area."
Daoist Hu Yan was stunned into silence upon hearing this, then forced a smile onto his own face as he sighed, "Just how lucky of a little rascal are you?"
Han Li rolled his eyes in response, and he didn't bother to explain anything.
In his own eyes, he was far from fortunate. Whenever he encountered a stroke of fortune, it would always be preceded by extremely perilous situations that could've easily had him killed.
All of a sudden, Daoist Hu Yan reached out toward Han Li, then spread his hand open to reveal a pair of white jade slips with golden patterns etched upon them.
Han Li raised an eyebrow as he asked, "What's this, Fellow Daoist Hu Yan?"
"These are the fifth and sixth levels of the Mantra Axis Scripture, and I'm giving them to you now because I have something to ask of you," Daoist Hu Yan replied with a solemn expression.
"Tell me what you want me to do first," Han Li said as his brows furrowed slightly.
"Once we enter the High Zenith Palace, I want you to help me secure a High Zenith Pill. Just one will do," Daoist Hu Yan explained.
"I will do my best to assist you as long as it doesn't place me in any excessive danger," Han Li replied.
"I knew you would say that," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled. "Fine, you can have these jade slips."
Han Li accepted the pair of jade slips from Daoist Hu Yan, then briefly examined them before stowing them away into his storage bracelet.
"Why didn't you wait until we left the immortal manor before you gave these to me? I would've still agreed to help you nonetheless," Han Li asked.
"Would you believe me if I told you that I want to suck up to you because you're the most prodigious cultivator I've ever seen?" Daoist Hu Yan asked.
"I believe you," Han Li replied with a serious expression.
"Well, you're certainly not shy," Daoist Hu Yan chuckled with an amused expression.
A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face as well as he flew away toward the right, followed closely by Daoist Hu Yan.
All of a sudden, Han Li vanished into thin air, much to Daoist Hu Yan's alarm, and he hurriedly accelerated forward, upon which he also vanished into the white mist in the blink of an eye.
Immediately thereafter, he and Han Li appeared in another independent space one after the other.
Hovering in mid-air several thousand feet below the two of them was a small landmass that was several hundred kilometers in size, and it was riddled with all types of intricate pavilions and buildings, as well as lush greenery.
Several rivers were flowing through the area like a series of jade belts, and they spilled down over the edge of the landmass to form numerous waterfalls that were exceptionally beautiful to behold.
On a spacious plot of land on the edge of the landmass was a lush spirit beast pen that was split up into hundreds of small areas, and there were hundreds of species of different spirit beasts being kept inside.
Directly across from the spirit beast pen was a vast spirit medicine garden with all types of spirit medicines growing inside, and their medicinal auras were so potent that they were rising up into the sky like wisps of smoke.
Daoist Hu Yan pointed some tall fiery-red horses and green jade-like lions in the pen as he exclaimed, "Those are Blusher Horses and Azure Bamboo Lions! They went extinct in the Northern Glacial Immortal Region tens of thousands of years ago!"
"That spirit medicine garden must have many high-grade immortal plants that are hundreds of thousands of years old growing in there. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so much purple smoke rising up from it," Han Li also remarked.
There were also many black-robed servants littered throughout the spirit beast pen and the spirit medicine garden.
Some of them were working in the fields while holding different types of tools, some were feeding the spirit beasts, some were watering the garden, some were grooming the beasts, and some were picking plants, fruits, and leaves from the garden.
All of them had their own duties, and they were carrying out those duties in an orderly fashion.
In between those two areas was a white stone mountain path that also had some black-robed servants on it, and they were responsible for carrying the spirit beast materials and spirit medicinal ingredients gathered by the other servants to the top of the mountain.
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