Chapter 135: Bonded Eight Spirits Vat

Even though Han Li was feeling a little disappointed, he quickly told himself to be content with what he already had.

It was already incredibly fortunate that these crystals were able to significantly enhance the rate at which he could derive heavy water. If he expected anything more than that, then he would simply be asking for too much.

Of course, if he could somehow glean the secrets of the laws of time someday, there was a chance that he would be able to use these crystals for himself, and just the mere thought of this sent a flash of excitement surging through his heart.

However, at this point, that was only a distant dream.

For the vast majority of itinerant cultivators, just mastering one of the 3,000 Great Dao laws to become a True Immortal was already a very difficult task, let alone master one of the three paramount laws.

Furthermore, even though he had already recovered his cultivation base, the true crisis still hadn't been completely averted yet.

Hence, his top priority at the moment was to attain more power as quickly as possible, as well as to recover his lost memories and treasures, lest he suffer the same inexplicable fate that had caused him to end up in the Spirit Domain Realm.

Even though the Black Wind Sea was quite secluded and safe, it was not a place that he could remain at for long. If his enemies were to somehow find him, then he would be in a world of trouble. Perhaps someone had already detected his approximate location prior to the seal on his nascent soul being undone.

As for how to recover his lost memories, at the moment, there were only two leads available to him.

The first one was naturally to return to the Ascension Platform where he had first completed his ascension. He would then try to track down Gao Sheng, who had served as his guide at the time, and ask him what had happened after they left the platform.

However, the Northern Glacial Immortal Region was extremely vast, so he had no idea how he was supposed to track down Gao Sheng, and even if he could find him, there was no guarantee that Gao Sheng's words would be credible.

Furthermore, Gao Sheng was a late-True Immortal cultivator, so it was definitely not a good idea for Han Li to approach him on a whim without being able to ensure his own safety.

The second lead was the wanted notice that had been passed down from the Immortal Realm, and mysterious length of dark azure chain that he had sealed into a white jade box.

For some reason, he couldn't shake the feeling that the two things were somehow connected, and he was convinced that if he could find the person who had released the wanted notice or the owner of the chain, then he would be able to find an important lead relating to his lost memories.

Of course, regardless of which one of those leads he chose to pursue, he required more power to ensure his safety.

Looks like the best way to enhance my powers in a short time would be to recover my lost treasures, as well as Jin Tong and Daoist Xie. [1]

Aside from that, there was another way to get stronger, which was to get his avatar to derive large volumes of heavy water as quickly as possible.

According to the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome, even if it were only heavy water of the first level, as long as one possessed sufficient quantity, it would still suffice as a trump card to be used in battle.

However, even with an endless supply of crystals that contained the power of time laws, it was still going to take quite some time to accumulate a substantial amount of heavy water.

One morning, roughly a month later.

Han Li was standing in the open-air area of his courtyard, a rusty and antiquated-looking octagonal copper vat had appeared before him.

A different exotic beast was engraved onto each of the vat's eight faces, including a Qilin, a Taotie, and a Kui, all of which were extremely menacing to behold. [2]

A series of strange ring-shaped patterns had been engraved onto the vat around the beasts, and there were also an ancient rune inscribed in gold-plated text beneath each beast, with each rune around the size of a human head.

On the bluestone slab beneath the copper vat was a sector-shaped array that had been engraved using a sharp object, and looking down at it from above, it resembled a flower in full bloom.

The vat was filled with clear water, which was as still as a mirror without even the slightest ripple running over the surface.

At this moment, Han Li was standing beside the vat with one hand resting on its edge, gently rubbing along the vat's surface.

This vat was called the Bonded Eight Spirits Vat, and it was a treasure that he had obtained from the Transient Guild's trade array plate at quite a heavy price.

This wasn't a treasure that could help him in battle of inr his cultivation. Instead, it was something that was specifically used to find certain people or objects.

In contrast with other similar treasures, this vat could only be used to search for people or objects that had a bloodline or spiritual connection with the user.

Han Li had exchanged for the vat despite the heavy asking price as he wanted to use it to find his bonded flying swords, the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, and other important things.

He raised his head to look at the sunlight that was filtering over the wall of his courtyard, and with a flick of his wrist, several longan-sized top-grade spirit stones appeared on his palm, all of which were giving off watery blue radiance or an earthy yellow glow.

He walked a lap around the vat, embedding the water and earth-attribute spirit stones in his hands into the mouths of the eight beasts engraved onto the vat's surface.

After that, he returned to his original spot before beginning to chant an incantation, and a hint of excitement gradually began to appear in his eyes.

As the first ray of morning sunlight shone over the wall and down onto the vat, the surface of the water in the vat was immediately tinged with a faint golden glow.

Han Li placed both hands onto the edge of the vat upon seeing this, then switched to another incantation, one that was very profound and difficult to understand.

As he did this, the sector-shaped array beneath the vat began to glow with azure light, and eight ancient runes on the vat also began to shine brightly.

At the same time, the still surface of the water in the vat began to ripple, and the mouths of the beasts engraved onto the vat also lit up in unison.

Blue and yellow light began to shine into the vat from its walls, illuminating the water inside the vat to form a blue and yellow yin yang diagram.

A serious look appeared in Han Li's eyes as he raised a hand before extending it over the surface of the water.

A faint burst of light flashed over his index finger, and drop of golden blood essence slowly appeared before dripping down.

A dull thud immediately rang out, seemingly from directly within Han Li's consciousness.

He stared intently into the water, and he saw that after the drop of blood essence fell into the water, not only did it not display any signs of dissolving, it began to rapidly revolve like a spinning top instead.

As a result, all of the water in the entire vat was quickly stirred up, and the originally clearly divided yellow and blue light were also mixed together somehow, forming a series of strange lines that resembled mountains and rivers.

Han Li began to chant another incantation upon seeing this, and the drop of blood essence instantly stopped spinning, as if it had just received an instruction.

It then warped and changed shape to form a miniature golden sword, which was completely identical in shape to Han Li's bonded flying swords, his Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords.

"Go!" Han Li instructed, and the tiny golden sword immediately began to vibrate at a high speed on the surface of the water, then abruptly changed turned to the east before quickly hurtling away in that direction.

The sword was moving very quickly, and the area within the vat was quite limited, so it should've struck the wall of the vat in an instant, but as it turned out, the tip of the sword continued to maintain a distance of around a foot away from the wall of the vat, keeping them separated.

However, upon closer inspection, one would discover that the mountain and river patters on the surface of the water in the vat was rapidly receding, making it appear as if the sword were traveling over a vast distance.

Only after around 15 minutes had passed did the mountain and river patterns on the surface of the water gradually draw to a halt, and the golden sword was suspended over a set of blurry and indistinct patterns.

Han Li couldn't clearly see the terrain being displayed by the patterns. All he could tell was that the swords were definitely outside of the Black Wind Sea, and they were extremely far away in the east.

After looking at the surface of the water for a moment longer, he pointed a finger at the miniature golden sword, trying to get a clearer sense of the current situation that his bonded flying swords were in.

However, in the instant that his finger came into contact with the golden sword, his consciousness suddenly rippled slightly, and a faint hint of familiarity rose up in his soul.

Could it be...

Han Li immediately closed his eyes and focused on examining this sensation, and moments later, his eyes abruptly sprang back open, and an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he exclaimed, "There's no mistaking it! That's Daoist Xie's aura!"

However, a perplexed look then quickly appeared on his face. Did this mean that Daoist Xie and the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were together, or did they just so happen to be situated not far away from one another?

With that in mind, another thought occurred to him, and he murmured to himself, "I wonder if Jin Tong is with them as well."

To follow up on that thought, he began to chant another incantation, then gently swept the palm of his hand over the surface of the water.

The tiny golden sword in the water instantly reverted back to a drop of blood essence, and after completing his incantation, Han Li instructed once again, "Go!"

The drop of blood essence shuddered slightly, then began to dart around haphazardly through the water like a headless fly.

Moments later, it abruptly sank straight down to the bottom of the vat, where it vanished without a trace.

With the disappearance of that drop of blood essence, the spirit stones embedded into the vat were also completely spent, and the glow that they were radiating gradually faded. As a result, the water inside the vat also reverted back to its original state.

Han Li couldn't help but heave a forlorn sigh upon seeing this.

He didn't know whether it was because the subject was too far away, or if there were some other reason at play, but the drop of blood essence was unable to determine the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch's location. In fact, it wasn't even able to determine the direction that it was in.

If it weren't for the fact that Han Li could still feel an extremely faint spiritual connection to the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch, he would've perhaps been inclined to believe that it had already perished.

Thankfully, he had received some leads on the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords and Daoist Xie. Even though it was only a rough direction, it was still certainly better than nothing.

He was confident that if he were to set off in search of them according to the direction provided by the vat, he would be able to track them down with his spiritual connection to them once he was close enough.

With that in mind, Han Li was struck by the impulsive urge to set off right away, but he knew that even if he were to set off on such a journey, he had to take care of some matters on Dark Veil Island first.

1. As a quick reminder, Jin Tong is the name of the Gold Devouring Beetle Monarch. ☜

2. All three of these are beasts from Chinese mythology. ☜