Eliminating Hidden Threats

After the coldly beautiful woman’s遁光 had vanished, Han Li turned his hand over to examine what he was holding: a blue jade slip, a green jade slip, and a yellow token.

The green slip contained the cultivation methods and experiences for the herbal garden. Since the herbs here were of fairly mediocre grade and not many varieties, it was easy to handle—so long as one wasn't utterly stupid.

The blue slip held the “Profound Ice Art” that Mu Peiling had left behind. Naturally, this was no top-level technique—it didn't even qualify as second-rate. Its power was pitifully weak. Its only virtue was that it was easy to cultivate and its bottlenecks were relatively easy to break through.

To be fair, the woman had no ill intentions. In her eyes, Han Li, as an outer affairs disciple, could not have been of exceptional talent. Thus she had deliberately chosen this simpler technique for him.

As for the last item, the yellow token, it was used to control a crude formation set up outside the herbal garden. He didn't regard it as anything important.

Putting away the items, Han Li leisurely stepped into the three thatched huts, took a look around, and unhurriedly walked back out.

Standing in front of the huts, he swept his gaze across the area, then fixed it on the small rocky hill behind the garden. A faint smile appeared on his face.

Slowly closing his eyes, he released his formidable spiritual sense, enveloping an area of several tens of li around. After confirming that no other cultivator was paying attention to this spot, he didn't waste any more time. With a flick of both hands,

A clear hum sounded, and a dozen or so azure flying swords streamed out from his sleeves. Under his mental manipulation, they shot toward the small rocky hill.

The stone of the hill was sliced like tofu by the swords. Within moments, a deep cave-mouth appeared.

Han Li’s divine sense then split, each strand controlling one flying sword, and he began busily carving out a series of stone chambers inside.

The chambers varied in size and function. He was already highly experienced in this and needed no deliberation.

Several hours later, a brand-new small cave dwelling emerged within the hill, utterly unnoticed.

Seeing the completion of the rough dwelling, Han Li wore a slightly satisfied expression. He immediately took out several sets of formation flags and plates.

He busied himself around the small hill for a while, laying down several high-grade concealment formations.

These formations could not deceive a Nascent Soul cultivator who was deliberately searching, but a Core Formation cultivator would not easily detect the abnormality. For now, that was sufficient for Han Li.

After all, how would a high-level cultivator casually come to such a shabby herbal garden? Moreover, this arrangement was only temporary. Once he had thoroughly researched the method for setting up the Spirit-Binding Formation, he would add that layer outside the existing formations. By then, even a Nascent Soul cultivator would be hard-pressed to discern anything unusual.

After finishing the formation arrangements, Han Li still did not rest. He transplanted the Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng into a small medicinal garden inside the cave dwelling, and carefully set up powerful prohibitions around it before he felt slightly reassured.

If he wanted to condense his Nascent Soul, this Nine-Bend Spirit Ginseng absolutely could not be lost.

Next, Han Li placed the silver-and-gold Gold Devourer Beetles into the insect chamber. As for the tri-colored Gold Devourer Beetles, he had no way to accelerate them using the Rainbow Silk Grass, so he could only keep them on his person.

In the room next to the insect chamber, Han Li carved out a spirit beast chamber specifically for the Crying Soul Beast.

Ever since this beast had devoured a massive amount of Yin beast souls in the Netherworld Domain, it had fallen into a deep sleep inside the beast pouch, and even Han Li had been unable to wake it. This was quite different from its previous drowsy states.

However, after a brief consideration, Han Li could guess the reason. Because it had swallowed too many souls, the Crying Soul Beast was undergoing another evolution—an advancement in rank.

Naturally, Han Li saw this as a welcome development. Now that he had a place to settle, he quickly moved the beast into this room.

At the same time, he decided in his mind that while the beast was still unconscious, he would thoroughly refine the Crying Soul Pearl still inside its belly.

As the beast’s abilities had skyrocketed each time, Han Li was becoming a little worried that he might not be able to control the Crying Soul Beast after its next advancement.

Back when the Crying Soul Beast transformed into a huge silver ape in the Netherworld Domain, frenziedly inhaling the souls of Yin beasts, there had been a few subtle signs that the Crying Soul Pearl inside its abdomen was stirring restlessly.

Although Han Li had maintained a calm face in front of Zi Ling and the other woman, he had been alarmed in his heart.

Now, he dared not continue the risk. It was better to take the Crying Soul Pearl for himself.

As for what Yuan Yao had mentioned—that refining the Crying Soul Pearl would cause excruciating headaches—Han Li, relying on his far superior magical power and spiritual sense, believed he should be able to handle it without issue.

Moreover, after two unexpected evolutionary steps, it was uncertain whether the beast would still exhibit this symptom. Compared to the terrifying power of the Crying Soul Beast, a minor risk was nothing at all.

Having made these plans, Han Li did not immediately tackle the matter of the Crying Soul Pearl. There was another important task to prioritize.

This was the Wind Spirit Restriction still lingering within his body.

The ninth-grade Wind-Splitter Beast, Feng Xi, could not possibly chase him all the way to Tian Nan, but leaving this malevolent energy inside his body still made Han Li uneasy. He feared that given enough time, it might cause further complications.

However, with his current cultivation, directly refining this evil qi from within was still impossible.

He had tried several times before, all to no effect.

The only option now was to use a crude method: force it out of his body by channeling his mana. That was still feasible.

But this process could not be completed in a short time. That was why Han Li had delayed until now.

Now that he was settled, he intended to eliminate this major hidden threat once and for all.

He first released a few giant ape puppets, ordering them to guard the garden as his eyes and ears, in case someone unexpectedly came knocking.

Then he entered the cultivation chamber.

Inside the still room, Han Li sat cross-legged with a serious expression. He sank his mind into his body and examined the state of the Wind Spirit Restriction.

A golden sphere of brilliant light rested within his dantian, showing no abnormality.

After a moment’s thought, Han Li manipulated the Evil-Repelling Divine Lightning that encased the evil qi, slowly loosening a tiny gap in the golden arcs.

The evil qi, which had been quiet inside the divine lightning, immediately stirred, surging out through the gap.

No sooner had a wisp of evil qi escaped than Han Li willed the lightning arcs to close around it again, sealing the opening and re-capturing the remaining evil qi within.

What exactly was this Chaotic Evil Qi that constituted the Wind Spirit Restriction?

Even releasing only that tiny amount caused Han Li’s meridians to constrict and ache painfully.

Suppressing his discomfort, he mobilized his full mana and forcibly began to expel this wisp.

He sat motionless in the still room. Beads of sweat as large as soybeans rolled down his forehead, and his face turned a little pale.

Imperceptibly, two hours passed.

Han Li’s tightly shut eyes suddenly snapped open. A sharp glint shot from them. Then he flipped his hands and flicked his middle fingers; two drops of gray liquid shot out from his fingertips and struck the opposite stone wall, leaving two small holes.

Han Li let out a long breath, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and relaxed slightly.

Although the process had been agonizing and mentally exhausting, the method was viable.

If he could force out a little evil qi each day like this, he estimated that in half a year the evil qi inside his body would be completely cleansed.

This put one worry behind him.

After resting for a while, Han Li unhurriedly took out a black jade slip from his storage pouch. It contained the method for setting up the Spirit-Binding Formation.

He had been quite interested in this formation for some time but had never had the chance to study it carefully. Now was the perfect time.

After all, only by also setting up the Spirit-Binding Formation outside his cave dwelling could he truly feel safe.

In the days that followed, Han Li divided his time into several parts.

In addition to the daily two hours for forcing out the evil qi, the rest of his time was spent partly on studying the Spirit-Binding Formation and partly on refining the Crying Soul Pearl within his body.

As for the outer herbal garden, he let a few puppets do the superficial work.

Furthermore, Han Li continued to use his Green Liquid to accelerate the growth of Rainbow Silk Grass, feeding all of it to the silver-and-gold Gold Devourer Beetles.

He had a vague feeling that these insects seemed to be reaching a stage of reproduction or evolution once again.

This unchanging routine passed by for several months.

During this period, Mu Peiling visited only twice. Seeing that the garden was being managed reasonably well and met her standards, she asked no more questions.

As for the Profound Ice Art, Han Li did not ask any questions, and the woman had no interest in giving unsolicited explanations.

(Author’s note: I was speechless. When I was almost done with this chapter, the power flickered, and I hadn’t saved. I had to rewrite the whole thing again. Wuwu… I’ll continue with the next chapter. Can’t guarantee I’ll finish it. I’ll try my best. Looks like I’ll have to sleep in the afternoon.)

(End of chapter)