Chapter 977: An Eccentric
When Old Man Fu heard his Junior Martial Sister, he hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded after some thought. “Since the Underworld River Page has no effect on Fellow Daoist Han, I won’t force the matter. But I will have to place a marker on your body. It will disappear of its own accord in half a year if you remain in Nanjiang, and I hope Fellow Daoist Han won’t force me to take action!”
Han Li smiled and immediately replied, “Go ahead, Fellow Daoist Fu. I don’t care to hide my whereabouts.”
With that, Old Man Fu grasped one of his hands in a gesture and released a blue light after an incantation was muttered.
Han Li attentively watched him and saw that he was only using a common imprinting spell seal. As such, he raised his hand and allowed the blue light to strike him before disappearing without a trace.
Old Man Fu appeared satisfied and put away the Underworld River Page. Then he said, “I’ve already finished telling you all about the affair. Since Fellow Daoist Bai still needs three days to consider the matter, my Junior Martial Sister and I will remain here in the meantime. Brother Yuan and Fellow Daoist Han may depart and begin their preparations. Although the entrance to the Yin Yang Cave is covered in many poisonous plants that shouldn’t pose too much of a threat to us, I hope that Fellow Daoist Yuan will bring poison warding treasures with him. It’d be best that we don’t waste any magic power before we enter.”
“Only that much?” Cultivator Yuan chuckled, “To those of us at the Sacred Poison Sect, warding poison is an extremely easy matter. Please leave it to me. Now then, I’ll be departing first.” He cupped his hands in a salute and slapped his storage pouch to release a huge tortoise. Then, he took to the skies, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake.
Han Li followed suit and bid farewell before streaking through the sky in azure light.
Half a year was a bit short, but he might have just enough time to complete the Triflame Fan. As for preparing any ghost warding treasures, there was no point as he already had the Divine Devilbane Lightning and the Weeping Soul Beast.
Of course, he wanted to quickly refine the fan in case they encountered any unforeseen danger. With both the fan and the human-like puppet in his possession, he would be free of worries.
With that in mind, Han Li flew off towards the Silver Serpent Mountains at the center of Nanjiang.
Ten days later, Han Li appeared above a peculiar mountain range. The mountains only spanned for a couple hundred kilometers, but it was rather slender and winding like a huge serpent. The mountains were filled with verdant trees with many strange ones that grew faintly silver leaves. It appeared the name of these mountains were well deserved.
Han Li quickly passed by the other areas and directly few towards the top of the Silver Serpent Mountains.
Before he grew closer, he could already feel waves of hot wind strike his face along with the pungent scent of sulfur. Soon, several flaming and malformed volcanoes appeared before him. They would occasionally rumble and release grey ash into the air, creating a fear-invoking scene to a lesser existence.
Even with this activity, there were streaks of various-colored light passing nearby. Several tens of cultivators were darting in between these volcanoes. Most of them were at Foundation Establishment with a few Core Formation ones mixed among them.
This was to be expected. Core Formation cultivators usually used their own core flames to temper their own magic treasure and had little other reason to come to a place like this, even more so with regards to a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Han Li stopped in the sky and looked down below. As blue light flashed from his eyes, he looked down at the fire veins and swept his spiritual sense through the ground.
Shortly after, Han Li found the area with the strongest fire vein and arrived between two of the volcanoes in a streak of light.
He came to a stop when he was three meters above the area. Then, he flung his sleeve and released eight small golden swords. As they circled around him, he formed an incantation gesture and shortly shouted, invoking a ring from the swords. Brightly glowing with light, they fiercely cut down into the ground as ten-meter-long streaks. Suddenly, a series of eruptions sounded out from below as blinding golden light flared.
The swordlights returned from their attack and circled back around him. He had created a sixty-meter-wide crevice deep into the earth.
The cultivators refining magic tools in the nearby areas naturally took notice of Han Li’s alarming actions. There were even a few of them who flew over in curiosity.
Han Li grew sullen at this turn of events and released the immense aura of his cultivation, sweeping his surroundings with a suffocating spiritual pressure.
All of the cultivators in the nearby ten kilometers who felt this were alarmed and those who originally thought to investigate the commotion hastily withdrew. A few of the nearby cultivators that were busying themselves with tool refinement had now scattered, afraid of unintentionally angering this great Senior and bringing about their own destruction.
When Han Li saw that the nearby cultivators had tacitly departed, he was greatly satisfied and turned his attention to the crevice down below.
Soon, the cultivators that came to Silver Serpent Mountain to refine their magic tools had all scurried off knowing that there was a Nascent Soul-grade cultivator nearby, turning a five kilometer area around Han Li into a temporary restricted area.
As time passed by, the crevice was silent with no activity, but after a month, the sounds of thunderous explosions would occasionally call out. These explosions grew more sparse after another month passed by, but they were instead replaced with a series of clear rings similar to a phoenix’s cry. Soon after, all that was left was silence.
While Han Li was busying himself with creating the Triflame Fan, there were a dozen variously-dressed cultivators gathered together in a side chamber of the Great Jin’s Imperial Palace, including those dressed in Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian attire. These cultivators all possessed Nascent Soul cultivation. Two in particular possessed mid-Nascent Soul cultivation, a square-faced cultivator and an old Daoist Nun holding a golden cane. The old man with a black hat was amongst them as well.
These dozen people were all sitting in the hall but none had uttered a word. They would only impatiently look at the hall’s door.
The square-faced cultivator turned to a white-haired Daoist priest and asked with a trace of apprehension, “Eleventh brother, are you sure it is him? Three hundred years ago, I personally saw our Seventh Uncle perish.”
“Given how unique Seventh Uncle’s appearance is, how could I have mistaken him or his magic treasure, the Glacial Moon Blade?”
The old Daoist Nun gloomily asked, “Second Brother, there is no need to be nervous. It will only be a moment before we know for certain. What is there to fear now that we’ve all gathered. If he is truly our Seventh Uncle, then he will be of tremendous help to our Ye Clan. If he is fake, then he won’t be setting foot outside of this hall even if he were a late-Nascent Soul cultivator.
“That’s true, but we may as well be careful.” The square-faced cultivator felt that her words were reasonable and sighed, speaking no further.
After two hours had passed, the sounds of bell rings sounded from a distance. A lanky silhouette then appeared at the hall’s entrance. He took a step forward in the air before strangely arriving at the center of the hall.
His appearance was clear to see. He had fine eyes and withering eyebrows, but more notably his head that was far larger than what was considered ordinary and his swaying neck that appeared to be on the verge of snapping at any moment.
When the cultivators all saw this peculiar appearance, they all stood up in shock. The square-faced cultivator took a deep breath and carefully asked, “Are you truly our Seventh Uncle?”
The eccentric chuckled and tossed a green jade slip towards him. “Second Nephew, have you already forgotten me after a few hundred years? However, this is not surprising. My return from death is sure to raise doubts. I have Third Nephew’s sound transmission slip here. Take a look.” The eccentric chuckled.
The square-faced cultivator caught the jade slip with an alarmed expression and quickly sank his spiritual sense into it.
After a long while, his expression fluctuated several times before withdrawing his spiritual sense. Then with an expression of joy, he deeply saluted the eccentric and said, “So Seventh Uncle’s death was something that our grand elder had orchestrated. Forgive me, I have been lacking in manners.
The uncle waved his hand and said, “I am happy that you acted with such care. How could I blame you?”
The other cultivators then began to look through the jade slip and soon, all of them called out to him with delight and paid their respects.
“It truly is Seventh Uncle!”
“I pay my respects to my third Great Uncle!”
The eccentric waved his hand with a chuckle and took the main seat in the hall. “You may stop.”
The old Daoist Nun respectfully replied, “Third Brother stated that two hundred years ago, Seventh Uncle had entered late-Nascent Soul stage. Is this true?”
“That is correct. In the past, those great sects were secretly plotting to strike me down, feeling that it was possible for me to enter it. As per the clan’s arrangements, I fled after escaping calamity and managed to somehow live up to my expectations and ascended to this stage of cultivation. The last generation of Ye Clan Elders had schemed for me to make an appearance when our clan was on the verge of death. But Third Nephew, who was the only one who knew of my existence, suddenly came to find me, and told me about your plans. As the grand elder of the current generation, he asked me to assist in this matter. I considered it for a while and felt that it was important enough for me to break my concealment.” The eccentric’s face turned serious.