Chapter 1798: Transport Spirit
This demon monarch was a member of the Jade Mouse Race, which held a very important position in the demon race. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to become one of the demon monarchs.
After all, the demon race was different from the human race. Even if they were considered to be top-tier beings among the demon race, they still had to have sufficient backing before they could become demon monarchs.
In contrast, power was generally passed down from generation to generation for the three human sovereigns.
Han Li really wanted to go and meet this mouse monarch, but the latter clearly had no intention of seeing anyone, so he could only give up on this matter.
Thus, during the remaining time, Han Li acquainted himself with more Body Integration Stage cultivators and also studied that strange disappearing spiritual root of Young Master Hai's.
Not only had he read many tomes for this, he had even asked Young Master Hai to release some blood essence for further study. From his efforts, he managed to deduce a few murky possibilities.
However, he would still have to observe Young Master Hai for some time longer before he could ascertain the true nature of his spiritual root.
During this time, Han Li was quite benevolent toward his two companions. Not only did he allow Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi to enter and exit the palace as they pleased, he also provided occasional guidance to them in their cultivation, which benefited them immensely.
On this day, Han Li was, explaining some aspects of a cultivation art to Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi, and just as he was about to take a sip of spirit tea, his expression suddenly stiffened slightly.
Qi Lingzi reacted quite quickly, and asked, "Is something wrong, Senior?"
"You'll know what's going on soon," Han Li replied with furrowed brows.
Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi exchanged a slightly bewildered glance upon hearing this, but they didn't dare to press Han Li any further for answers, so they could only wait in silence.
After a full 10 minutes had passed, a dull thump suddenly rang out from outside the palace. The entire ground beneath their feet and the surroundings walls then tremored slightly, and both Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi were given quite a fright as they cast their astonished eyes toward the door.
Han Li remained still on his seat, but a slightly solemn look had also appeared on his face.
One dull thump rang out after another, and tremors continued to run through the entire palace. It was as if there was some kind of gargantuan creature slowly approaching the Immortal Welcome Palace.
"What's going on, Senior Han?" Young Master Hai couldn't help but ask in a bewildered manner.
"You two won't be able to sense anything here. Let me take you two to broaden your horizons," Han Li sighed before rising to his feet, then swept his sleeve toward the two of them.
A burst of azure light immediately swept forth to encompass the trio, and they vanished as a streak of azure light.
In the next instant, the three of them appeared in the teleportation formation before teleporting out of the fifth floor.
The three of them then emerged from the teleportation formation on the first floor of the Immortal Welcome Palace, then rose up into the air as a streak of azure light.
After just a few flashes, the azure light faded, and the trio appeared on the summit of a tall mountain, where they were able to see everything within a radius of several thousand kilometers.
Without the Immortal Welcome Palace's restrictions acting as a buffer, the rumbling booms in the distance were even more earth-shattering.
The entire Nine Immortal Mountain seemed to be quaking as a gargantuan being approached from the distance.
"What is that? It looks like a living walking piece of land!" Qi Lingzi's jaw dropped straight to the ground as he cast his gaze into the distance.
Young Master Hai blinked rapidly in an astonished manner as if he were afraid that his eyes were playing tricks on him.
It was no wonder that they were so astonished; there was currently an immeasurably massive mass of black land approaching them from afar, and the rumbling booms were emanating from directly beneath this unfathomably massive chunk of black land.
This plot of land seemed to be extremely dry, and its surface was riddled with countless cracks, forming a series of extremely deep rifts and ravines.
What was even more astonishing was that at the center of the plot of land was a tall and majestic black fortress, around which stood countless black-armored guards.
They were standing in a completely still manner with cold expressions on their faces, and holding all types of long halberds and giant axes.
There were also over 1,000 guards clad in bone armor atop giant blue wolf steeds flying in the air above the fortress, and they were none other than Lightning Guards!
One group of guards stood in a stationary manner on the ground, while the other group of guards soared through the air, and the combination of the two created quite an intimidating sight to behold.
All of a sudden, Han Li's eyes narrowed and blue light flashed through his pupils as he said, "I can see you, fellow Daoist; why don't you come out to meet me?"
An unfamiliar yet extremely pleasant female voice rang out from behind him in response. "As expected, my little tricks aren't enough to fool you, Brother Han. Tsk tsk, the Tyrant Sovereign's spirit beast steed sure is massive. It most likely has something to do with the legendary Transport Spirit."
Han Li's expression remained unchanged, but he was feeling slightly alarmed. With his immensely powerful spiritual sense, it was quite incredible that someone had managed to get so close to him before he finally noticed their presence.
He slowly turned toward the one who had just spoken, and discovered there was a beautiful young woman in a five-colored palatial dress, appraising him with a smile over 100 feet away.
As Han Li swept his spiritual sense toward her, a hint of befuddlement appeared in his eyes.
"Greetings, Fellow Daoist Han, my name is Liu Qing. As I'm sure you've already noticed, this is just a puppet clone of mine, rather than my true body," the young woman said in a composed manner as she extended a curtsey toward Han Li.
"Liu Qing? I've heard that the former Heavenly Spirit Sovereign had a pair of trusted subordinates, one of whom excelled in the art of puppetry while the other was adept in disguise techniques. Among them, the former is known as Liu Qing or Fairy Thousand Spirit; could that be you?" Han Li asked with a contemplative look in his eyes.
"I'm truly flattered that you know of me, Fellow Daoist Han. I should've attended such a grand occasion in person, but I've reached a critical juncture in my cultivation of a secret technique, so I'm unable to leave my secret chamber. As such, I had no choice but to send this puppet clone in my stead. Thankfully, this clone of mine has built up somewhat of a reputation for itself and was allowed to enter this place." The woman spoke in a calm and graceful manner, and Han Li's expression changed slightly upon verifying her identity.
This Fairy Thousand Spirit was only a subordinate to Heavenly Spirit Sovereign, but it was said that she possessed outstanding aptitude in the art of puppetry. On top of that, her skills in that area had drastically improved even further after she pledged her allegiance to Heavenly Spirit Sovereign. She was renowned as the second-most proficient human in the puppetry arts, second only to the Heavenly Spirit Sovereign himself, who excelled in both puppetry and illusionary techniques.
This Fairy Thousand Spirit and Heavenly Spirit Sovereign's other trusted subordinate had been won over by Heavenly Spirit Sovereign's abilities, and were therefore willing to pledge their allegiance to him.
Even though this was only a puppet, Han Li could tell that it was most likely not inferior in power to a late-Spatial Tempering Stage being. As such, even though he was rather surprised that this Liu Qing seemed to recognize him, he immediately cupped his fist in a salute, and said, "Apologies for my rudeness, Fairy Thousand Spirit. In regard to the Transport Spirit you just referred to, could this be the ancient divine tortoise that's able to carry Xuan Wu City on its back?"
"Indeed. The Transport Spirit is a giant beast that has inherited the bloodline of the True Spirit Xuan Wu, and I was fortunate enough to have been able to see it in person. Its sheer size is so astounding that no one would dare to oppose it. On top of that, it's also proficient in powerful water and earth-attribute abilities, and its defenses are so powerful that even the average Divine Spirit Treasure wouldn't be able to leave a single scratch on it. This giant beast in front of us is most likely only one of the descendants of that tortoise," Liu Qing chuckled.
"This is only one of its descendants?" Han Li couldn't help but draw a sharp breath as he turned back to the massive plot of approaching land.
"That's right, the true Transport Spirit is more than 10,000 times larger than this creature," Liu Qing replied with an earnest nod.
"I'm very intrigued to see this Transport Spirit for myself now," Han Li mused as he cast his gaze into the distance.
"It won't be easy to witness that giant beast. At the time, I traveled to Xuan Wu City as part of the Spirit Sovereign's entourage, and it was only through sheer luck that I managed to catch a glimpse of the creature from afar. Once every 3,000 years, the giant tortoise emerges to absorb the essence of the sun and the moon, and I was fortunate enough to be present at the time. Otherwise, it spends most of its time with its body mostly buried in the earth, and its limbs and head are also retracted back into its shell as it hibernates."
"I see, my eyes have truly been opened," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute toward Liu Qing with a slightly wistful look in his eyes.
Young Master Hai and Qi Lingzi were completely enraptured by their conversation, and they were clearly filled with yearning toward this unfathomable world inhabited by these truly powerful beings.
When the giant beast in the distance was still several tens of kilometers away from the Nine Immortal Mountain, it finally drew to a halt, and the tremors running through the ground abruptly ceased.
Right at this moment, the giant plot of land slowly rose up from the ground, transforming into a giant black mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall in mere moments. Faint tremors emanated from the bottom of the black mountain again, and an enormous head emerged from the soil before casting its gaze toward the nearby spectating cultivators, which naturally included Han Li and Liu Qing.
Han Li focused his gaze on the head of the creature to find that it was extremely intimidating in appearance. There were a dozen or so curved horns of different sizes on its head, and the vulnerable points on its neck were all covered by thick black scales.
The giant beast also had a remarkably long mouth, and as it opened its mouth, a pungent odor swept forth while rows of giant sharp teeth were revealed.
Han Li looked on at the creature's sharp teeth, and he estimated that it would take hundreds of someone of his size to provide an ample mouthful for this creature to devour.
Qi Lingzi was quite a courageous character, but even his face had paled slightly at the sight of this ferocious gargantuan beast.
Meanwhile, Young Master Hai was looking back and forth between the creature and his own body.
Qi Lingzi asked in a curious manner, "What are you doing?"
"I'm just comparing to see if I'm as big as one of that thing's teeth," Young Master Hai replied, leaving Qi Lingzi feeling completely speechless.