Chapter 604: Relaxation and Leisure
The black-haired elderly man who had been playing go with Immortal Lord Hot Flame was named Duan Yuzai, and he was also from the Black Mountain Immortal Region.
As for the guqin-strumming man and the brown-robed man, they were Yu Ziqi and Daoist Master Jingyang, respectively. Both of them had traveled to the Black Mountain Immortal Region from other immortal regions, and one of them was at the late-True Immortal Stage, while the other was at the late-Golden Immortal Stage.
Despite the vast cultivation base disparity between them, they shared the closest bond out of the four men present.
Aside from Han Li and these four men, there were many more cultivators residing in the 72 valleys and 36 ravines of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.
Most of them were itinerant cultivators or traveling immortals who had no chance of making any further progress in their cultivation, so they settled down here to live out peaceful and leisurely lives instead of continuing to toil away in the world of cultivation.
Over time, the Floating Cloud Mountain Range gained a new name, which was "Relaxation Mountain".
The valley that Han Li and these four men resided in was originally called the Cloud Deer Valley, but it had since been renamed to the Leisure Valley.
There was a set of rules that had to be followed in the mountain range, which prohibited residents from prying into the past of other residents, forbade conflicts and battles from taking place in the mountain range, and also forbade any external powers from disrupting the order in the area.
According to Immortal Lord Hot Flame, these rules had been established by an itinerant cultivator who had once resided in the mountain range. Initially, no one paid any heed to these rules, but the cultivator was extremely brutal in enforcing those rules, and he had the power to match, killing everyone who dared to break his rules. As a result, everyone was forced to follow those rules.
Apparently, that cultivator held an important post in the Heavenly Court, and following their departure, those rules gradually became set in stone on Relaxation Mountain, even in their absence.
"Relaxing and pursuing trivial hobbies is the norm here on Relaxation Mountain, so I'm the odd one out here. My constant seclusion and pill refinement really brings shame to the good name of this place," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"Thank heavens you're a pill refinement master. If it wasn't for that Golden Soul Pill that you provided in such a timely and generous fashion, I would've surely perished while attempting my Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough," Duan Yuzai said with a serious expression.
"Please don't mention this every time you see me, Fellow Daoist Duan. I just so happened to have a spare Golden Soul Pill on hand, and after that, you were the one who introduced me to this place, so you've repaid me for the favor," Han Li said with a wry smile.
"You saved my life! How could I possibly ever repay you?" Duan Yuzai protested as a hint of guilt flashed through his eyes.
Han Li was already accustomed to Duan Yuzai's serious personality, so he knew that there was no point in dwelling on this subject any further.
Hence, he looked around momentarily, then changed the subject as he asked, "Where's Celestial Maiden Mo? Is she late as well?"
"You know what Mo Wuxue's like, she's gone to meditate on the Light Breeze Cliff," Yu Ziqi scoffed.
"Meditate my arse, all she does is stare off into space for decades, even centuries at a time! There are a lot of strange people gathered in this mountain range, but she surely ranks near the top," Daoist Master Jingyang scoffed with a hint of disdain in his voice.
"Even if pursuing the Great Dao is bound to be a futile endeavor, she still shouldn' just waste her life like this. Instead, why not enjoy some mortal pleasures in the time that we have left?" Yu Ziqi sighed in a slightly wistful manner.
Han Li knew that Yu Ziqi had been harboring romantic feelings for Mo Wuxue for quite some time, and he jibed, "Some mortal pleasures are impossible to enjoy alone, so you have to give her a hand."
Yu Ziqi's smile remained unchanged, but he could only heave an internal sigh.
Mo Wuxue was an early-Golden Immortal cultivator, while he was only at the late-True Immortal Stage. On top of that, with his limited aptitude, there was no hope for him to ever reach the Golden Immortal Stage, and with the five decays constantly looming, he simply couldn't bring himself to ask her to be his dao partner.
Right at this moment, Daoist Master Jingyang approached Han Li with a fawning smile as he asked, "By the way, I hear that you've recently been refining a batch of Five Stone Pills, Fellow Daoist Li. can you sell one to me?"
"Sell? I can't accept any money from you, Fellow Daoist Jingyang," Han Li said with a shake of his head.
Daoist Master Jingyang's smile instantly widened even further upon hearing this, but his smile then immediately stiffened once he heard what Han Li had to say next.
"There's no need for you to buy a Five Stone Pill from me, just give me a flagon of your Green Fermented Wine in exchange."
Green Fermented Wine was a very special type of wine that Daoist Master Jingyang had learned to brew from an ancient scripture. It incorporated the essence of over 100 different precious spirit plants, and it was no less precious than a Five Stone Pill.
Everyone was very amused by the sight of the pained look on Daoist Master Jingyang's face at the thought of having to part with a flagon of his precious wine.
Ultimately, Daoist Master Jingyang was unwilling to give up a flagon of his wine, and he grumbled to himself, "I don't need any pills, wine tastes much better anyway..."
An amused smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this, and he suddenly swept a sleeve through the air to release four streaks of light, each of which flew toward one of the four men on the stone platform.
The four men hurriedly caught the streaks of light to discover that each of them contained a white jade vial.
"What's this, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame asked.
"There's one Five Stone Pill for each of you in those vials, but I'm not giving out any more than that!" Han Li said.
The four men were very surprised to hear this. Five Stone Pills were Golden Immortal Stage pills that were very effective both for cultivation base consolidation and cultivation advancement, so it was definitely not something to be given out casually like this.
"To tell you the truth, I'm giving all of you these pills because I have something to request of you," Han Li said. "I'm sure all of you have already noticed the abnormal abundance of baleful qi in my body. Right now, I'm enduring the baleful decay."
A hint of enlightenment appeared on the faces of the four men upon hearing this.
They all knew that the five decays were unavoidable, and that this was perhaps going to be a hurdle that would stump them as well, so they were very sympathetic to Han LI's situation.
"A while ago, I obtained a recipe for a pill that can temporarily ward off baleful qi backlash, but I've been struggling to find an ingredient for the pill known as the Profound Zoysia Crystal, and I'm hoping that all of you can help me search for it," Han Li continued.
The recipe that he was speaking of was for a pill by the name of the Baleful Quelling Pill, and it was an obscure pill recipe that he had obtained from the Transient Guild. As opposed to temporarily warding off the baleful qi backlash, the pill was actually capable of cleansing baleful qi to help Golden Immortals overcome the baleful decay.
However, this was only the purported effect of the pill. The reality was that the pill was so rare that its effects hadn't been verified on a widespread basis.
In order to refine this pill, the two main ingredients were of the utmost importance, and one of them turned out to be none other than those dozen or so strange spirit plants that Han Li had harvested from the bottom of the ravine.
Through the Transient Guild, he learned that the spirit plant was known as the Bitter Ornament Herb, and it only grew in places with high densities of baleful qi. At the very least, tens of thousands of years were required for this spirit plant to arise, and they were extraordinarily expensive.
As for the other main ingredient, that was the Profound Zoysia Crystal.
Out of the four men, three of them had clearly never even heard of this material before, while Immortal Lord Hot Flame was silent for a moment before asking, "Fellow Daoist Li, are you referring to the legendary Floral Heart Stone?"
"That's right, have you seen this material before, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame?" Han Li hurriedly asked.
"This is a spirit material of an exceptionally high caliber that I've never had the pleasure of witnessing for myself, but I've heard that it once appeared in the Jade Kun Pagoda of Jade Gathering City several centuries ago," Immortal Lord Hot Flame replied.
"What exactly is this Profound Zoysia Crystal? It sounds so mysterious," Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a curious expression.
"The Profound Zoysia Crystal is a type of premium spirit stone that serves as a primary ingredient required to refine many High Zenith Stage pills. It starts off as a plant, which only produces a flower after tens of thousands of years, and once that flower blooms, a tiny crystal will appear in the heart of the flower. That is the Profound Zoysia Crystal," Immortal Lord Hot Flame explained.
"Unless external forces act upon it, the flower will never wilt, and the crystal will continue to grow. The older the crystal, the more potent the spiritual power and medicinal power that it contains.
“However, if even the slightest of external forces act upon it, the crystal will fall off, and the entire plant will instantly wilt away. As a result, they often grow in extremely secluded places, thereby making them extremely rare and expensive," Han Li added.
"It sounds like these Five Stone Pills of yours are going to be wasted," Daoist Master Jingyang mused with a shake of his head.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I may not be the most outgoing person, but I do have a few friends in the spirit materials business, and I'll be sure to ask them to keep an eye out," Duan Yuzai said in a serious manner.
"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.
"I don't think I'll be of much help here. Old Man Hot Flame can enter Jade Gathering City as he pleases, so he should be able to gather some information for you. Perhaps what you're looking for will reappear in the Jade Kun Pagoda someday," Daoist Master Jingyang said.
"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I'll pay Jade Gathering City a visit as soon as I finish this game," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said, then returned his attention to the game at hand.
"I resign," Duan Yuzai declared without any hesitation.
"You... Fine, fine, I'll make a trip to Jade Gathering City right away," Immortal Lord Hot Flame sighed in a resigned manner, then bade farewell to everyone before flying away toward the south.
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