Chapter 90: Search
On the northwestern part of Dark Veil Island was an extremely steep cliff that was over 1,000 feet tall, and the area at the foot of the cliff was riddled with sharp and jagged black rocks.
Waves were crashing into the cliff incessantly, sending foamy spray erupting in all directions.
The cliff face was severely ravaged with countless holes of different shapes and sizes eroded into its surface by the relentless crashing waves. Furthermore, most of the cliff face was covered in green moss and white patches of salt deposits, giving it a patchy and mottled appearance. Some white crabs were occasionally swept out of the holes on the rock face by the seawater that gushed in.
At this moment, Han Li and Luo Feng were hovering in the air above the sea while facing the cliff.
"This is where the remains of Ancestral God Luo Meng's Earthly Deity Avatar reside," Luo Feng said as he pointed at an ordinary-looking hole on the cliff face, which was several dozen feet in size and had also been carved out by erosion.
The hole did look slightly bigger than those around it, but aside from that, there was nothing remarkable about it at all. However, as soon as Han Li attempted to extend his spiritual sense into it, he immediately noticed something quite interesting.
He discovered that as his spiritual sense swept over the hole, it was diverted away by some type of barely detectable force, directing it toward the rock face off to the side.
If it weren't for the fact that his spiritual sense was far more powerful than the average cultivator of his caliber, he wouldn't even have been able to detect that his spiritual sense was being disrupted.
"Interesting..." Han Li murmured to himself as he activated his Brightsight Spirit Eyes and peered into the hole.
There was a faint vortex of water vapor slowly revolving deep within the hole, and it was giving off extremely feeble law fluctuations.
"Ancestral God Luo Meng is still yet to reawaken after falling into a state of slumber 10,000 years ago. The Origin Water Seal here is becoming weaker by the day, and it most likely won't even be able to conceal this play anymore after 1,000 more years," Luo Feng sighed as he flew into the hole.
He quickly made a series of hand seals, releasing a string of blue incantation seals in quick succession, all of which vanished into the water vapor vortex deep in the cave in a flash.
The vortex quivered slightly, and the water vapor receded to open up a circular passageway that was as tall as an adult human.
"Please come with me, Senior Liu."
With that, Luo Feng flew into the passageway and vanished in a flash, and Han Li quickly followed along behind him.
Connected to the passageway was a dark corridor that was constructed from bluestone blocks. The corridor was long and winding with no end in sight, and there was a white fluorescent stone embedded into the wall every several dozen feet to illuminate the path ahead.
With his powers, Han Li had nothing to be concerned about, and he trailed along behind Luo Feng in silence.
The corridor sloped gradually downward, and the lower they went, the denser the water-attribute spiritual power in the surrounding area became.
After advancing for 15 minutes, Han Li estimated that they were already several kilometers deep underground. Finally, they reached the end of the corridor, and a bluestone door appeared up ahead.
Luo Feng flipped a hand over to produce an azure badge, which released a burst of azure light into the stone door at his behest.
The stone door slowly opened amid a burst of loud creaking, revealing a square stone chamber that was over 100 feet in size.
It wasn't entirely accurate to call the space a stone chamber as the walls and ground were all bumpy and uneven. Instead, it was more like an underground cave with countless semi-transparent blue stalactites that resembled blue glass hanging down from the roof of the cave.
There were similar materials on the surrounding walls as well, and through them, one could just barely make out the flowing seawater outside. As such, it was clear that they were already submerged deep in the sea.
Han Li swept his gaze around the stone chamber to find that it was completely empty aside from a black stone platform at the very center, which stood at around half the height of an adult human.
There were a series of thin and winding channels engraved onto the surface of the stone platform, and these channels extended all the way downward, spreading over the entire ground.
On the platform was the head of a statue that was no different in size compared with a normal human's head, and it bore a slight resemblance to Han Li's face. This was none other than the visage of Ancestral God Luo Meng.
However, in contrast with the statues that Han Li had previously seen, this head was entirely blue in color, and it seemed to have been carved out of some type of special crystalline material. The head was sparkling under the illumination of the fluorescent white beads around it, and it was releasing extremely rich water-attribute spiritual power.
The face of the head was as smooth as a mirror and was extremely life-like, but its neck was very coarse and rugged, making it look as if the head had been forcibly snapped off from the rest of the body.
Han Li stood a step away from the head, scrutinizing it with an unblinking gaze, and an extremely peculiar sensation suddenly welled up in his heart.
He felt as if this head wasn't an inanimate object. Instead, it was like a living creature that was capable of breathing.
He gently closed his eyes before releasing his spiritual sense, instantly filling the entire stone chamber.
Luo Feng was standing right behind Han Li, and he instantly felt a burst of unfathomably powerful spiritual sense surge toward him from all directions before engulfing him in an instant. He couldn't help but sway unsteadily in the face of this almighty spiritual sense, and cold sweat immediately began to pour down his forehead.
Han Li paid no heed to Luo Feng as he focused his attention on projecting his spiritual sense onto the head before him.
As a result, he discovered that there was a type of energy that was invisible to the naked eye that was converging toward the head from all directions.
This type of energy appeared to be extremely feeble, looking as if it could be blown away by even a stiff breeze, but there was a massive quantity of this energy, and it filled virtually the entire stone chamber.
There was a speck of light within the head that was also invisible to the naked eye, and it was flashing in a rhythmic fashion in a cadence that was very similar to the rhythm of a cultivator's breathing during meditation. With each cycle of inhalation and exhalation, the speck of light would fluctuate in brightness while slowly absorbing the faint traces of energy around it.
It looks like this is that so-called power of faith, Han Li thought to himself as he withdrew his spiritual sense.
At this point, Luo Feng's face had already paled significantly, and he immediately heaved a long sigh of relief. Han Li had only released his spiritual sense for a brief moment, but the back of Luo Feng's robes was already completely drenched in cold sweat.
He took a deep breath, then made his way over to an unremarkable-looking stalactite that was hanging down from the roof of the cave before tapping it a few times.
A string of cracks rang out from the ground below, and a small stone platform slowly emerged, upon which sat a stone box.
Luo Feng opened the box to reveal an antiquated jade slip, then carefully scooped it out of the box before offering it up to Han Li with both hands.
"Senior Liu, please accept this. I'm sure it'll be useful to you."
"What's this?" Han Li asked as he casually accepted the jade slip.
"This is the Myriad Water Immortal Arts, the cultivation art that was once used by Ancestral God Luo Meng. I heard that immortals who've ascended to the Immortal Realm from lower realms must switch to practicing immortal cultivation arts in order to convert their magic power into immortal spiritual power.
“Seeing as you came to the Immortal Realm through alternative avenues rather than through an Ascension Platform, I presume you don't have a suitable cultivation art to use yet, so this Myriad Water Immortal Arts should be useful to you," Luo Feng explained.
"I see. That's very thoughtful of you, Chief Luo Feng," Han Li replied with a nod.
"You're far too kind, Senior Liu. Where we are right now is a place where underwater spirit veins meet, so the water-attribute spiritual power here is extremely abundant. If you wish to cultivate the Myriad Water Immortal Arts, this would be a great place to go into seclusion," Luo Feng said with a smile, clearly very relieved to have achieved his objective of bestowing the cultivation art upon Han Li.
Han Li offered no response as he roughly read through the contents of the jade slip.
The Myriad Water Immortal Arts was a water-attribute immortal cultivation art that would theoretically be able to support his cultivation to the late-True Immortal Stage, but unfortunately, it conflicted greatly with the original cultivation art that he was using, so its potential was severely limited for him.
With that in mind, he returned the jade slip to Luo Feng.
"Senior Liu..." Luo Feng was rather perplexed by this.
"This is a good cultivation art, but unfortunately, water-attribute cultivation arts don't suit me. Is there anywhere else I can obtain immortal cultivation arts from in the Black Wind Sea?" Han Li asked.
Luo Feng considered the question for a moment before replying, "Our Black Wind Sea is a very remote place, so there are extremely few immortal cultivation arts to be found here. Most of them are held in the possession of the Ancestral Gods, and they're very reluctant to share their immortal cultivation arts with others.
“After all, if their cultivation arts were to fall into the hands of others, that could expose their weaknesses to their enemies. The only place to obtain other immortal cultivation arts would be on Black Wind Island at the center of the Black Wind Sea. Large auctions are held there once every century, and there could be immortal cultivation arts put up for auction there."
"I see. How much time is there until the next auction is scheduled to be held?" Han Li asked as an intrigued look appeared in his eyes.
"The next auction is around a dozen years away. However, all of the items that appear on these auctions are generally extremely expensive," Luo Feng replied.
"I see. By the way, there's something I need you to do for me," Han Li said.
"Please go ahead, Senior Liu," Luo Feng hurriedly prompted.
……
Four or five months passed by in the blink of an eye.
During this time, the Cold Crystal Race launched no further attacks, much to the relief of everyone on Dark Veil Island.
In the chief's hall, Luo Feng was pacing back and forth in a slightly agitated manner while occasionally making his way over to the entrance of the hall to look out into the distance with an expectant expression.
During the past few months, he had been instructed by Han Li to find secret techniques and cultivation arts related to sealing nascent souls, but secret techniques of this nature were extremely rare, and he had only managed to find three or four of them thus far.
Judging from Han Li's reactions when he was presented with those secret techniques, it was clear that none of them were to his liking, and that was making Luo Feng rather uneasy.
As a result, he had no choice but to send a Body Integration Stage elder of the tribe to Black Wind Island with a large sum of spirit stones to try his luck there.
Black Wind Island was the most lavish place in the Black Wind Sea, and it was the place that everyone in the Black Wind Sea went to if they were searching for something.
However, it had already been three days since the elder's projected return date, and he still wasn't back yet.
Right at this moment, a streak of white light appeared in the distant sky, rapidly approaching from afar.
Luo Feng was ecstatic to see this, and he immediately rushed out of the hall.
The streak of white light quickly arrived in front of the hall, revealing a middle-aged man.
"You're finally back, Elder Hanliang. How did it go?" Luo Feng hurriedly asked.
"I encountered some trouble on the way back, so I had to take a detour. I spent most of the spirit stones, but thankfully, I was able to acquire what you asked for," the elder replied as he pulled out a jade box, within which were around a dozen jade slips.
"Thank you for your efforts. Go and take a good rest," Luo Feng said as a relieved look appeared on his face, then eagerly picked up the jade box before quickly rushing off to visit Han Li.
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