Chapter 95: Heaven Controlling Vial Malfunction
Instead of stowing the jade slip away, Han Li set it down beside Luo Meng's remains.
Even though he was already dead, he was able to leave some final words behind before his demise. As for whether he had intentionally refrained from informing his people of his imminent death in order to delay attacks from opposing forces, that was something that was impossible to find out.
However, at the conclusion of his final words, he mentioned that if any members of his clan managed to ascend to immortality, then they could use the materials that he had left behind to refine an Earthly Deity Avatar, thereby becoming the new Ancestral God of Dark Veil Island.
Those who pursued the Great Dao were often said to be heartless and uncaring, but given that pursuing the path of the Earthly Immortal depended on a foundation of bloodline and faith, Earthly Immortals shared more ties with others than the average immortal did, and as a result, they were less aloof and apathetic.
"Fellow Daoist Luo Meng, I am unable to become the new Ancestral God of Dark Veil Island, but I will do everything in my power to protect your clan and your people. In exchange, I'll take the materials that you left behind as compensation," Han Li said to the set of remains.
He then withdrew his gaze before picking up one of the remaining jade slips on the ground and pressing it against his own glabella.
Moments later, a faint smile appeared on his face.
This jade slip contained the refinement method for an Earthly Deity Avatar, and it was exactly what he was currently looking for.
According to the method stipulated in the jade slip, not only was the refinement process for an Earthly Deity Avatar extremely complex, the materials required were also extremely rare and diverse. The most special and vital material among them was a spirit plant known as the Soulbirth Flower.
While refining an Earthly Deity Avatar, a whole flower had to be used, and Soulbirth Elixir had to be extracted from the flower before being refined together with the other materials.
The older the flower was, the better the effect that it would have on the refinement process, and the more intelligent the refined avatar would be. However, at the very least, it had to be over 10,000 years old. Otherwise, it would be impossible for it to achieve the effect of manifesting a soul for the avatar. If the flower were over 100,000 years old, then the soul that it manifested would be close to perfect.
At the end, the jade slip also provided a description of the Soulbirth Flower, stating that before reaching 100 years of age, the plan would only have leaves and no flower. Only after reaching 100 years old would a white flower blossom from the plant, and after 1,000 years, the flower's petals would turn from white to red.
After 5,000 years, the petals would turn from red to purple, then to an even darker shade of purple after 8,000 years, while also growing a chicken-crest-shaped stamen. Upon reaching 10,000 years of age, a golden stripe would appear on each flower petal, and with each passing block of 10,000 years, a new stripe would emerge.
As for whether it would display any other transformations after 100,000 years, there were no records of that in the jade slip, perhaps because 100,000-year-old specimens of this flower were simply far too rare.
Aside from being used to refine Earthly Deity Avatars, this flower was also immensely beneficial for an Earthly Immortal in breaking through cultivation bottlenecks. However, the nurturing process was extremely difficult, and there were barely any specimens left that were over 1,000 years old.
Hence, even specimens above 5,000 years of age were extremely rare even in the entire Black Wind Sea, let alone 10,000-year-old specimens. Demand for the flower far outweighed supply, and it was often the case that no such flower could be found in the market no matter how much money was offered.
The large purple flower beside Han Li was naturally none other than the Soulbirth Flower, and judging from its appearance, it had to already be over 8,000 years old. If it were to appear in the Black Wind Sea, it would undoubtedly start a war among countless Earthly Immortals.
A contemplative look appeared on Han Li's face as he picked up another jade slip.
The content recorded in this jade slip was rather special. Not only was it worded in a very special way, the meaning that it was trying to convey was also extremely complex and profound.
Initially, Han Li was rather perplexed by what he was seeing, but after some careful examination, he was elated to find that the jade slip contained the method to refine the power of faith.
This included the method to harness the power of faith, as well as how to convert it into magic power and how to use it to manifest the power of laws.
As for the final remaining jade slip, that contained a record of Luo Meng's cultivation insights, as well as his analysis pertaining to cultivating as an Ancestral God.
Han Li only briefly read through this jade slip and didn't examine it in great detail, but some of the content inside had managed to catch his attention.
Due to the special geographic location of the Black Wind Sea, the area of the sea here far exceeded that of the landmasses. Hence, out of all of the world's origin qi here, the most commonplace type was of the water attribute.
As a result, it was far easier to cultivate and manifest the laws of water here than other types of power of laws. Additionally, due to the nature of the geography here, the powers of those who used the laws of water were enhanced, thereby giving them a natural advantage over wielders of other types of power of laws.
It was exactly because of this that it was far easier to find Earthly Immortal scriptures related to the laws of water, and as a result, there was a severe shortage of all resources that contained the power of laws of water in the entire Black Wind Sea, with many wars of different scales waged over such resources.
After stowing those three jade slips away, Han Li's gaze fell upon the storage ring, and he began to inspect its contents.
Sure enough, the ring contained the water-attribute Earthly Deity Avatar refinement materials mentioned in the jade slip from before, and that included the same blue crystal material that had been used to craft the head of that statue of Luo Meng.
Han Li stowed all of those items away without any hesitation, then returned his attention to the Soulbirth Flower not far away.
After a brief moment of contemplation, the strode over to the flower, then removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before pulling out the stopper and carefully pouring the drop of green liquid inside onto the flower.
This drop of green liquid had already appeared prior to his departure from the Spirit Domain Realm. However, after arriving in the Black Wind Sea, he had spent all of his time and efforts on removing the chains that were binding his nascent soul, so he hadn't gotten a chance to use the drop of green liquid prior to this point.
With this vial, he would definitely be able to mature the flower to 10,000 years old, and if time permitted, he was even planning to mature it all the way to 100,000 years old.
After that, he searched through the entire forest and the wooden building without discovering anything else worthy of note, so he returned to his secret chamber through the spatial passageway.
In the instant that he emerged, the entire spatial passageway began to tremble and buzz as it released a vast expanse of white light, then rapidly shrank down before vanishing without a trace.
The white jade badge emerged once again with spiritual light flashing on its surface, and it was hovering in mid-air while giving off faint spatial fluctuations.
Han Li grabbed onto the badge before stowing it away into his storage bracelet.
It seemed that this badge was the key to Ancestral God Luo Meng's final resting place.
Now that the restriction on the badge had been removed, it was essentially a domain treasure, which was certainly going to come in useful in the future.
With that in mind, Han Li sat down with his legs crossed in the secret chamber, then pulled out the jade slip that contained the Earthly Deity Avatar refinement method and carefully studied it.
Time slowly passed by, and the sky gradually darkened. A bright full moon soon appeared in the sky, heralding the arrival of nighttime.
All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes sprang open as he rose to his feet, then appeared in the courtyard outside in a flash.
He looked up at the moon in the sky, then removed the Heaven Controlling Vial from around his neck before placing it onto the ground.
It didn't take long before rays of white light shone down from the heavens onto the small vial, forming a series of specks of white light. Soon, a huge white halo had appeared around the vial, presenting a dazzling sight to behold.
Han Li's heart stirred slightly upon seeing this.
The phenomenon arising from the Heaven Controlling Vial's absorption of moonlight was far more spectacular than it had been in the Spirit Domain Realm. Back in the Spirit Domain Realm, a drop of green liquid could be produced every two days as long as there was sufficient moonlight. Given the current situation, was it possible for a drop of green liquid to be produced in just a single day?
Han Li was rather excited by this thought, and he swept a hand through the air to release an incantation seal, producing a layer of azure light that encompassed the phenomenon taking place around the Heaven Controlling Vial.
After that, he sat down with his legs crossed beside the small vial and pulled out the same jade vial from before to continue his reading.
The night quickly passed by, and Han Li reopened his eyes before dispelling the layer of azure light with a swipe of his hand. However, as he picked up the Heaven Controlling Vial, a hint of surprise appeared on his face.
The vial's stopper couldn't be removed, which meant that no green liquid had been produced.
"Perhaps it still has to be two days," Han Li murmured to himself with a resigned shrug, then closed his eyes again and continued to study the contents of the jade slip.
Only after day had transitioned into night, the phenomenon arising from the vial's absorption of moonlight appeared again, did he cast the same layer of azure light onto the vial for concealment purposes.
However, the next morning, Han Li discovered, much to his befuddlement and concern, that the vial still couldn't be opened.
Could it be that the world's origin qi in the Immortal Realm isn't even as abundant as it is in the Spirit Domain Realm?
He immediately rejected this absurd thought as soon as it appeared in his mind.
That night, he placed the Heaven Controlling Vial down in the courtyard once again, and this time, he did nothing else but stare directly at the vial for the entire night.
He didn't notice anything amiss while the vial was absorbing moonlight, but the next morning, there was still no green liquid, and Han Li was beginning to grow a little anxious and frustrated.
Aside from his shrewd and careful decision-making, the primary factor that had allowed him to progress to this point in his cultivation journey was the Heaven Controlling Vial. If the Heaven Controlling Vial were to lose its ability to produce that green liquid, then he would be losing his biggest cultivation asset.
As an example of how this was going to impact him, it was going to be extremely difficult for him to get his hands on a 10,000-year-old Soulbirth Flower without the help of the Heaven Controlling Vial.
However, it was still too early to be jumping to conclusions. After all, this was the Immortal Realm, and it was a different place from the Spirit Domain Realm and the Spirit Realm.
Thus, he didn't give up hope and continued trying.
The fourth day passed by without any green liquid produced.
The same applied to the fifth day, and the sixth day...
In the blink of an eye, over 10 days had already passed by.
At night, the Heaven Controlling Vial was still absorbing moonlight as usual, but no green liquid was produced.
Inside his secret chamber, Han Li was looking at the Heaven Controlling Vial with a grim expression.
Even back in the Human Realm, it had only taken seven or eight days at most for the vial to produce a drop of green liquid, yet now, twice that amount of time had already passed by, and the vial was still completely empty. This was something that had never happened before, and it left him at a complete loss for what to do.
During this period of time, two possible reasons for this had sprung into his mind, the first of which was that perhaps this was a result of his return to the Immortal Realm.
According to Ma Liang, [1] The True Immortal who had descended into the Spirit Realm, the Heaven Controlling Vial belonged to a major power in the Immortal Realm known as the Nine Origin Daoist Temple.
Now that the vial had returned to the Immortal Realm, it was very much possible that some change that he was unable to detect had taken place within it.
The second possibility was that the vial had been affected by the beam of light that was imbued with the power of laws that it was struck by during Han Li's battle against the one-eyed giant.
Han Li gently exhaled as a calm look returned to his eyes.
The Heaven Controlling Vial was his most important treasure, but that didn't mean that he couldn't live without it.
Furthermore, there was nothing to indicate that the vial's ability to produce green liquid was completely gone. At the very least, it was still absorbing moonlight every night, so he would just have to wait and see.
1. For more information on Ma Liang, please refer to RMJI Chapter 2276: Ma Liang. ☜
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