Chapter 1761: The Gu Family
The Provenance Projection wasn't manifested into the golden body, but its six arms each made a different hand seal, and the lips on its two heads with clear facial features were moving slightly as if it were chanting something.
Moments later, Buddhist chants began to echo throughout the secret chamber, and at the same time, golden light swirled over Han Li's face while his skin and muscles squirmed, following which a series of golden scales appeared.
This was a clear indication that he had unleashed his Provenance True Devil Arts to its maximal extent.
The nine silver discs that were hovering around him tremored slightly before radiating piercing light and emitting a faint buzzing sound.
The sound resonated with the Buddhist chants and combined as one seamlessly without seemingly out of place or unpleasant to the ears at all; it was as if both of the sounds were originating from the same source.
All of a sudden, a golden halo appeared behind Han Li, and another appeared behind the Provenance Projection.
The halo behind the projection was clearly larger than the one behind Han Li, but it was nowhere near as dense.
Han Li let loose a low harrumph as he switched to another hand seal, and the two golden halos revolved on the spot before countless golden runes gushed out of their centers. All of these runes were shimmering with golden light and extremely dazzling to behold.
Upon closer inspection, one would discover that these were all golden seal runes.
The nine silver discs also began to display changes as if they were being influenced by the golden seal text. A faint buzzing sound rang out, and one fist-sized silver rune after another rapidly drifted out of the discs before hurtling toward the golden light.
These silver runes were clearly beveled silver text.
Thus, golden and silver runes appeared simultaneously within the golden light, and their numbers only continued to increase as they soon spread all throughout the light. However, there were still large numbers of runes that were gushing out relentlessly before surging into the light in a frenzy.
Han Li remained completely still, but a rather strained look appeared on his face, and this expression was only becoming more and more pronounced as the number of runes in the golden halo increased.
Not long after that, Han Li's eyes abruptly sprang open, and he let loose an almighty cry.
All nine of the silver discs exploded in unison amid a sharp screeching sound and vanished into balls of silver light.
Meanwhile, the golden halo behind Han Li also began to accelerate drastically in its rotation. At the same time, it began to blur and shrink, and the golden and silver runes within it also shrank alongside it.
Within the span of just a few breaths, the thousands of runes had been reduced to around the size of a grain of rice each.
The golden halo itself had also become a fist-sized ball of shimmering golden light.
The other golden halo that was higher up in the air also transformed into a golden ball of light at the Provenance Projection's behest before slowly descending.
Immediately thereafter, a flash of light appeared, and the giant projection vanished, leaving only the two balls of light hovering beside Han Li.
A solemn look appeared on his face as he pointed a finger at each of the balls of light, both of which then vanished into his glabella in a flash.
In the next instant, large droplets of sweat began to materialize on Han Li's forehead, and his body also expanded in size in an alarming manner. His entire body began to tremble, and thick worm-like veins were bulging through his scales.
It was as if there were something wreaking havoc within his body and putting him in extreme agony.
A short while later, spiritual light flashed from Han Li's head, and a layer of purplish-golden light abruptly enveloped it. The layer of light fluctuated erratically in size, and a series of golden and silver runes appeared over his face before instantly vanishing. It was as if there were something trying to escape, only to be forcibly dragged back, and this created a very peculiar sight to behold.
At this point, Han Li had already closed his eyes, and he was constantly making different hand seals as if he were desperately trying to activate something. The golden light around his body fluctuated in brightness and flashed erratically, and at the same time, astonishing scenes were also unfolding in the air above the mountain that his cave abode was situated within.
The clear blue sky was originally completely devoid of any clouds, but all of a sudden, howling winds were suddenly swept up, following which the entire sky dimmed as massive patches of dark clouds appeared, making the sky in a radius of around 50 feet as dark as the bottom of a charred pot.
Meanwhile, the fierce winds abruptly receded, and a burst of glacial air suddenly surged forth from somewhere before rampaging through the clouds.
Fist-sized blue hail began to fall in a frenzy alongside a fierce snowstorm, and moments later, the entire area had been transformed into a world of glacial snow and ice.
Before the snowstorm had even ceased, a gust of scorching wind suddenly swept forth from within the clouds in a ferocious manner.
The extremely dense dark clouds were instantly dispersed by these winds, and rays of sunlight began to spill down from above.
If anyone were still situated on the mountain to witness the phenomena taking place in the air above, they would most definitely be stunned by what they saw.
It was already noon at this point, so there should've been multiple suns in the sky, but at this moment, there was only a single scintillating sun while the rest had all vanished.
The single sun that remained was golden in color, and the clear blue sky had also taken on a faint silver hue. The golden and silver colors intertwined, making this entire area appear as if it were situated in another mysterious world.
However, if one were to fly a few hundred kilometers away from the mountain that Han Li was situated in, they would discover that these astonishing phenomena would gradually fade away. Beyond the vast sea of mist that Han Li had conjured up, there were still several suns hanging in the sky alongside one another, and the sky was still as blue as ever. However, faint silver light was flashing incessantly above the sea of mist, and the strange rumbling noise emanating from the same direction was quite alarming.
Many of the cultivators in the surrounding area were already feeling quite anxious and wary, and they immediately rushed out of their cave abodes. They either stood at the summit of the mountain or used flying treasures to fly to higher altitudes, and all of them cast their eyes toward the sea of mist with bewilderment etched on their faces.
In the air above a mountain that was close to 10 kilometers away from the sea of mist, there were a dozen or so people hovering at an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and they were also appraising the sea of mist in the distance.
One of them was a white-robed man who appeared to be in his thirties. He was clearly the undisputed leader of the group, and he stood at the forefront with a giant white sword beneath his feet.
the dozen or so other people in the group were all standing behind the white-robed man with respectful looks on their faces.
"Did this man really only take over the Sunrise Peak three days ago?", the white-robed man asked without even turning his head.
An elderly man with pristine white beard and hair bowed slightly in a respectful manner, and replied, "Indeed, Senior. This man descended upon the Sunrise Peak three days ago, and he evicted all of the nearby cultivators with his powerful spiritual sense. I have a good friend who's a late-Nascent Soul cultivator, and he just so happened to be in this area. According to his account, the spiritual sense was so vast that it flattened him to the ground and rendered him completely unable to circulate his magic power, which was why he had fled the scene without daring to offer any resistance."
"Oh? I can use the power of my spiritual sense to restrict a Nascent Soul cultivator from afar as well, albeit with some difficulty, but no ordinary Spatial Tempering cultivator can restrict all of the cultivators in a dozen or so cave abodes at once, not even someone at the pinnacle of the Spatial Tempering Stage," the white-robed man mused with a slightly peculiar look on his face.
"Are you saying that man is a Body Integration cultivator, Senior?" the elderly man exclaimed as his expression changed drastically. Everyone else was also given a huge fright upon hearing this.
"That's very likely to be the case if we're judging from his spiritual sense alone, but I can't eliminate the possibility that he could've used some treasure or cultivated some particularly powerful secret technique to enhance his spiritual sense," the white-robed man replied after a brief pause.
"I see." The elderly man's heart eased slightly upon hearing this. It seemed that this was less daunting of a prospect to him.
"This is all just my speculation. Even if that man isn't a Body Integration cultivator, he's definitely at the Spatial Tempering Stage, and he's most likely already at the pinnacle of that state. Don't get on this man's bad side no matter what you do. Even true spirit families like ours would only do everything in our power to try and get on good terms with someone as powerful as him," the white-robed man instructed in a cold manner.
"I wouldn't dare to irk such a powerful senior! If it weren't for the fact that you were passing through the air, we were planning to evacuate this area and find another place to settle altogether," the elderly man said with a wry smile.
"There's no need to go that far. Seeing as he only used his spiritual sense to evict all of you, he's definitely not a cruel man who actively engages in senseless slaughter. Judging from the phenomena unfolding before us, that man is most likely only borrowing this place to cultivate some kind of powerful ability and doesn't have any sinister motives. Furthermore, the fact that he's chosen such a secluded place to cultivate indicates that he should be a vagrant cultivator without any ties to any major powers. If we can recruit him into our Gu Family as a guest elder, then that would be a significant boost to our overall power. With that in mind, I'm inclined to wait for a while and see if I can meet this man," the white-robed man mused.
"It would be nothing short of a blessing for us if you're willing to stay here for now, Senior," the elderly man immediately said in an ecstatic manner.
This senior was an early-Spatial Tempering cultivator, so if he could stay with them and instruct them in their cultivation, they would undoubtedly benefit immensely.
After all, even as a branch leader of the Gu Family, the elderly man was only a late-Nascent Soul cultivator.
The white-robed man was very pleased with the elderly man's attitude, and he nodded before casting his gaze toward the sea of mist again, wondering what kind of powerful ability could trigger such astonishing phenomena.
However, this was a rare secret technique even in the True Immortal Realm, so there was obviously no way that this man could guess what it was. Thankfully, the phenomena unfolding from this distance weren't all that astonishing; if he were situated at the center of the sea of mist, there was no way that he would remain so calm and collected.
There were some abilities in the Spirit Realm that could affect the world's origin Qi in the surrounding area, but none of them could create as astonishing an effect as the Spirit Refinement Technique.
However, just the phenomena that the white-robed man was currently witnessing had already convinced him that Han Li was no ordinary cultivator, and he was very keen to recruit such a powerful being.
After inspecting the sea of mist for a while longer, the white-robed man asked a young man to remain behind on the mountain before departing with everyone else into the cave adobe at the foot of the mountain.
The nearby cultivators were also quite stunned by these phenomena, but they couldn't just stand there and stare forever, so all of them eventually also returned to their cave abodes with heavy hearts.