Chapter 60: Wanted
Han Li continued to scale the staircase all the way until he reached the top of the Star Gathering Platform, and only at the very center of the platform's top level was he able to find a diagram of the Big Dipper.
He briefly inspected the diagram before sitting down with his legs crossed, then raised his head to look up at the sky, upon which he discovered that the heavens had already taken on a dark blue hue, and several stars had already appeared.
He closed his eyes and began to meditate in silence.
Around two hours later, Han Li's eyes sprang open, and he gently uttered the word, "begin".
The four brown-robed elderly men around the platform each flipped a hand over to produce a palm-sized Starwash Stone upon hearing this, then pressed the stones into the indentations on the ground before them.
The four stones cracked in unison as bursts of white light rose up from the indentations, flowing along the runes and patterns engraved into the ground to quickly reach the Star Gathering Platform.
All nine levels of the platform instantly began to glow brightly while taking on a translucent appearance, and the constellation diagrams engraved onto the platform also began to radiate dazzling silver light. From afar, the platform resembled a miniature version of the night sky, and it was a breathtaking sight to behold.
At the same time, the stars in the sky were also becoming brighter and brighter, as if they were resonating with the platform, and boundless silver starlight rained down from the heavens like a faint silver mist that encompassed the entire Star Gathering Platform.
Han Li was situated within the silver mist, and it was as if he were seated among the stars.
He could feel a burst of vast yet gentle starpower surging all around him, and he took a moment to concentrate before making a hand seal and chanting the incantation for the Big Dipper Origin Arts.
A dull thump rang out within his body, and six extremely thick pillars of white light cascaded down from the night sky.
All six pillars of light shone down around Han Li, and the starpower that the pillars of light contained was downright astonishing.
Countless threads of translucent light emerged from the pillars of light, then abruptly straightened before piercing directly toward Han Li like countless steel needles.
At the same time, the faint silver mist that encompassed the entire Star Gathering Platform also began to rapidly surge as if it had been stirred up somehow.
Countless silver fragments of light began to swirl around under the influence of a burst of immense force, forming a silver vortex of light that was over 100 feet tall above the Star Gathering Platform.
The starpower that had been extremely gentle just a moment ago had suddenly become extremely violent.
After being encompassed within the vortex, the six pillars of light brightened and expanded considerably, and the starpower surging into them also increased by severalfold.
However, at the same time, the pain that Han Li was having to bear was also significantly more excruciating.
His robes were instantly soaked with blood, and countless threads of starlight were constantly piercing into his skin. The blood that flowed out of his body was swept up by the power of the silver vortex of light, forming a murky blood mist that enveloped his entire body.
The four brown-robed elderly men around the Star Gathering Platform were astonished to see this. Out of all of the many years that they had been stationed here, never had they seen such violent starpower, nor had they ever witnessed such a brutal and direct way of funneling starpower into one's body.
In the face of such an enormous amount of starpower, even a Body Integration cultivator would be struggling just to keep themselves alive.
However, right at this moment, a burst of light suddenly appeared at Han Li's waist, following which six palm-sized black mirrors suddenly emerged before flying toward the six pillars of light.
The round mirrors were enshrouded in clouds of black qi, and there were runes flashing faintly on their surfaces. These were none other than the Starmoon Mirrors that he had refined using the Yin Dawn Stones that he had secured from the Heavenly Ghost Sect.
As soon as the six mirrors fell into position, black light immediately surged over them, following which countless tiny runes erupted forth in a frenzy, forming an incredibly thick and dazzling pillar of light that shot straight up into the night sky.
"He's going to enhance the starpower even further? That's incredible!" the Body Integration Stage brown-robed elderly man murmured to himself in an astonished voice.
As soon as his voice trailed off, six of the stars in the Big Dipper Origin Arts abruptly brightened significantly, and a vast expanse of dazzling silver radiance appeared in the air, then flowed into the silver vortex in a frenzy.
……
Half a year later, in a stone chamber on the Heaven Worship Peak.
The golden-robed Daoist Closed Mountain was seated with his eyes closed and his legs crossed on the third level of the platform, making hand seals and chanting incessantly.
All of a sudden, his chanting ceased, and he hurriedly rose to his feet.
A gust of wind swept into the stone chamber without warning, and in its wake, flames were ignited in several dozen yellow lanterns on the platform. Wisps of white smoke slowly rose up into the air, converging to form a cloud of white mist.
The surface of the mist blurred momentarily before an elderly figure with a lotus crown on his head emerged. The figure wasn't very tall or imposing, and he was wearing a golden daoist robe.
"Welcome, Patriarch Clear Bright!" Daoist Closed Mountain greeted in a respectful voice as he fell to his knees and kowtowed to the ground.
"No need for formalities. I descended today because I have a few things that I need you to do," the elderly daoist priest said.
Daoist Closed Mountain returned to his feet, standing with his hands by his sides as he asked, "What are your instructions, Patriarch?"
"The Clear Origin Stones that you offered last time were of a very good quality. I'll be requiring another batch within the next 10 years," the elderly daoist priest said.
"Yes, Patriarch."
"I've recently developed some new insights and made some adjustments to the Profound Star Observation Arts that I created. Take this improved version and put it in the scripture library..."
The elderly daoist priest delegated several instructions in succession, all of which Daoist Closed Mountain agreed to without any hesitation.
After that, the elderly daoist priest continued, "On top of all of that, there's an important matter that you need to attend to carefully."
A serious look appeared on Daoist Closed Mountain's face upon hearing this, and he waited in silence for further elaboration.
The elderly daoist priest swept a sleeve through the air, releasing a sheet of paper that was around a foot in size, which drifted over to Daoist Closed Mountain.
"If you find out any information on this man, report it to me immediately," the elderly daoist priest instructed in an implacable voice.
Daoist Closed Mountain accepted the sheet of paper before taking a look, and a hint of surprise immediately flashed through his eyes.
The sheet of paper bore the portrait of a young man, and it was none other than Han Li.
"Is there something wrong?" the elderly daoist priest asked.
"Patriarch, this man is in our temple right now!" Daoist Closed Mountain hurriedly replied.
The elderly daoist priest's expression remained unchanged, but a hint of urgency crept into his voice as he asked, "Are you sure it's him?"
Daoist Closed Mountain hesitated momentarily, then replied in a certain voice, "The man in this portrait is completely identical to the man I'm referring to. There's no mistaking it, it's definitely him!"
The elderly daoist priest nodded in response, then asked, "Why is he in our Origin Realm Temple right now?"
"Please forgive me, Patriarch. This man is a guest elder of the Cold Flame Sect, and..." Daoist Closed Mountain quickly provided a detailed account of everything that he knew about Han Li.
A contemplative look appeared on the elderly daoist priest's face, and he remained silent for a long while.
Sweat was beginning to bead up on Daoist Closed Mountain's forehead, but he didn't dare to make a sound and could only wait in silence.
"This man is most likely a descended immortal, and there's currently a huge reward on his head in the Immortal Realm. Don't alert anyone prematurely, wait for me to make some arrangements. Before the arrangements are complete, make sure that he remained in our Origin Realm Temple no matter what," the elderly daoist priest instructed with a serious expression.
"Yes, Patriarch," Daoist Closed Mountain immediately answered.
……
In a certain region of the sea in the Immortal Realm.
The seawater here was as black as ink, and these turbulent black waves stretched on for as far as the eyes could see in all directions.
Close to 100 black mountains were hovering in the air above the black sea, atop which stood a series of giant black octagonal pagodas.
These pagodas varied drastically in height, with the tallest ones stretching to over 100,000 feet in height, while the shortest ones were only around 1,000 feet tall. However, all of them were identical in their inky-black color and their octagonal shape.
In a hall at the top of one of the smaller black pagodas sat Daoist Clear Bright in front of a square altar.
There was a white array that was giving off bright white radiance hovering above the altar.
Daoist Clear Bright cast an incantation seal toward the array, and the white glow that it was emitting immediately faded.
He then cast his gaze directly forward, and even though he was completely still, it was clear that he was pondering something.
After a long while, he finally gritted his teeth and made a decision, then flipped a hand over to produce a translucent crystal bead, which he tossed into the air in front of him.
An incantation seal was cast into the bead, and countless tiny runes instantly appeared over its surface, forming a slowly revolving array that was around a foot in size.
With each second that past, the array would ripple once.
Time slowly passed by, and nothing had changed even after 15 minutes.
However, Daoist Clear Bright remained patient and continued to wait.
Only after a half hour had passed did the array suddenly light up, and a projection of a tiny black figure within it. It was a black-robed man with a wide face and forehead, but he was as thin as a stick and his complexion was of a sickly yellow color.
"It's been over 1,000 years since we last met, but you're still looking not a day older, Layman Bone Flame," Daoist Clear Bright greeted as he cupped his fist in a salute with a warm smile on his face.
However, Layman Bone Flame clearly wasn't that thrilled to see Daoist Clear Bright, and he said in an impatient voice, "If you have something to say, then hurry up. And keep it short."
"Are you at Black Water City at the moment? I have a brilliant opportunity to present to you," Daoist Clear Bright said in a mysterious voice.
"Go ahead," Layman Bone Flame prompted in an indifferent voice.
"I presume you've also received the wanted notice from the Ubiquitous Pavilion, right?" Daoist Clear Bright asked.
"Why are you asking me that? Could it be that you have information on the wanted fugitive?" Layman Bone Flame asked as he raised an eyebrow.
"That's right! That man is currently in the Spirit Domain Realm!" Daoist Clear Bright replied.
Layman Bone Flame's expression changed slightly upon hearing this, and he confirmed with a cautious expression, "Really?"
"All you need to do to verify the authenticity of my claim is to contact your disciples in the Spirit Domain Realm," Daoist Clear Bright said.
Layman Bone Flame's eyes lit up slightly upon hearing this. "Are you suggesting..."
"That's right. This is an unmissable opportunity for us. I suggest our two sects join forces to capture the fugitive, then split the reward from the Ubiquitous Pavilion evenly among us. What do you say?" Daoist Clear Bright proposed.
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