Chapter 193: Mountain Guardian Beast

After registering his servants with the attendant elder at the Cattail Spirit Palace, he took them to the nearby teleportation hall, then returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak.

The Crimson Dawn Peak was a lone mountain that was tens of thousands of feet tall. It was quite secluded in location, so it was quite far away from the nearest teleportation hall.

Even before arriving on the mountain, everyone could see that it was glowing with a red sheen, and not only was there no snow on the mountain, it was covered in lush greenery, presenting a vibrant sight to behold.

This was Han Li's first time seeing the mountain, and he found this to be rather strange, so he immediately released his spiritual sense to inspect the mountain as he said to Meng Yungui and the others, "The Crimson Dawn Peak has been vacant for a very long time, and the previous restrictions and arrays set up here have already become defunct from lack of maintenance.

“On top of that, there's a natural fire miasma on the mountain that will have a slight negative impact on all of you over time. Take these Clear Forest Pills, and you'll be exempt from those negative effects."

He flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial as he spoke, then handed it to Meng Yungui.

Meng Yungui carefully accepted the vial with both hands, then distributed the pills inside to everyone.

All of them were exchanging glances with one another while holding the pills, seemingly reluctant to take them.

These Clear Forest Pills were naturally next to worthless in Han Li's eyes, but they were extremely beneficial for Core Formation cultivators attempting breakthroughs to the Nascent Soul Stage, and it felt like a massive waste to be taking them just to ward off the fire miasma on the mountain.

"Do I have to repeat myself?" Han Li asked in an indifferent voice.

"Please forgive us, Senior Li."

Meng Yungui immediately led by example, swallowing his pill first, and everyone else quickly followed suit.

Meng Qianqian was just about to take her pill as well, but she was stopped by Han Li, who told her, "You're only at the Foundation Establishment, so you don't have to take this pill. That fire spirit pendant has the natural ability to ward off the fire miasma for you."

Meng Qianqian nodded in response, then stowed the pill away.

"From now on, perform your rightful duties, and I'll be sure to treat you well. For now, I have some other matters to take care of, so follow Meng Yungui's lead and go clean up the cave abode," Han Li instructed.

"Yes, Senior Li."

Meng Yungui and the others descended onto the Crimson Dawn Peak, while Han Li flew back to the teleportation hall on his own.

……

The Beast Rearing Fields were where the tamed demon beasts of the Blaze Dragon Dao were kept, and they took up a massive area. At the center of the fields was the Beast Rearing Palace, which presided over the surrounding area in a radius of hundreds of thousands of kilometers.

The fields were split up into different areas with different environments, such as mountains, rivers, forests, and swamps.

Such a diverse array of environments hadn't come into existence naturally. Instead, most of them had been artificially created by the Blaze Dragon Dao, and each area was enshrouded within restrictions of different sizes. Even during the day, the glowing restrictions of different colors were still clearly visible, and different areas contained different numbers of spirit beasts.

There were specialized beast-taming cultivators overseeing the Beast Rearing Fields, and most of the spirit beasts kept in the sect possessed certain useful abilities, such as the ability to act as steeds, guard cave abodes, track enemies, explore perilous regions, and even assist their owners in battle.

It was exactly because of this that many of the disciples of the sect would choose to rent one of these spirit beasts before carrying out missions, but only direct disciples and inner sect elders were entitled to permanent ownership over these spirit beasts.

There was a teleportation hall near the valley that the Beast Rearing Fields were situated in, and at this moment, there were many people entering and exiting the building, presenting a lively and bustling sight to behold.

Upon emerging from the teleportation hall, Han Li took a quick glance at his surroundings before making his way into the valley.

The first thing that he saw in the valley was a spacious plaza, on one side of which stood several tall buildings. Among them was a large palace, which bore a plaque that read "Beast Rearing Fields''.

As soon as Han Li set foot in the valley, he was immediately greeted by a gray-robed young man. "Greetings, senior martial brother. Have you come to rent a spirit beast?"

The man had a round face and large ears, coupled with a pair of bright eyes, giving him a clever appearance.

Han Li flipped a hand over to show the young man his elder badge, and the latter hurriedly extended an apologetic salute.

"My apologies, Elder."

Han Li waved a dismissive hand as he said, "I've only recently joined the sect, and I've come here to select a mountain guardian beast for my cave abode."

"According to the rules of the sect, inner sect elders claiming a spirit beast for the first time can do so free of charge. However, I must first verify your identity. Please pardon my intrusion, Elder," the young man said as he extended an apologetic bow.

Han Li offered no verbal response as he handed his elder badge to the young man, who apologized once again before flipping a hand over to produce an azure jade tablet, which he pressed against Han Li's elder badge while quickly chanting an incantation.

A burst of azure light appeared over the surface of the jade tablet, forming a light barrier roughly the size of a washbasin.

"Thank you for your patience, Elder Li. Please come with me to select a spirit beast from the Beast Rearing Fields."

The young man handed Han Li's badge back to him in a respectful manner, then led the way to the fields.

"Given how massive this place is, it'll take an eternity to see all of the areas one by one. Is there any other way to examine the spirit beasts here?" Han Li asked.

"There is. Please come with me, Elder Li," the young man immediately replied, then led Han Li to a large palace.

At this moment, there were many people in the palace seeking to rent spirit beasts, so it was rather noisy. The young man led Han Li to a quiet room, then pulled out a pair of jade books.

"The Beast Rearing Fields are split up into the outer fields and the inner fields, the former of which houses over 16,300 types of spirit beasts, while the latter houses over 1,800 types. All of them are recorded in these two jade books," the young man explained.

Han Li accepted the jade books from the young man before injecting his spiritual sense into them.

Sure enough, there was a vast selection of spirit beasts available, all of which had their own unique traits, putting the marvels of nature on full display.

Han Li had originally planned to only take a short time selecting a spirit beast, but the more he saw, the more intrigued that he became, and only after browsing through almost the entire catalog of spirit beasts in the Beast Rearing Fields did he finally withdraw his spiritual sense from the pair of jade books.

The round-faced young man had remained patiently by Han Li's side this entire time, and he asked, "Have you picked out any candidates, Elder Li?"

"There are a few spirit beasts that I'm interested in. Let's go to the inner fields," Han Li replied with a nod as he returned the pair of jade books to the round-faced young man.

According to the catalog, the Beast Rearing Fields were home to only around 40 to 50 types of Body Integration Stage spirit beasts. This was no surprise, considering the more powerful a spirit beast was, the more difficult they were to tame.

For him, a Body Integration Stage spirit beast wasn't necessarily all that useful, so he had only come here to broaden his horizons, and because there was no reason to pass up something given to him for free.

There were most likely some areas of the Beast Rearing Fields that he couldn't access given his current status, and perhaps those areas could've even been home to Grand Ascension or True Immortal Stage demon beasts.

It didn't take long before Han Li and the young man appeared before a golden desert with a radius of close to 500 kilometers, and the entire desert was enshrouded under an enormous azure light barrier.

The young man summoned an azure jade badge, which he waved through the air to release a burst of azure light.

A short while later, a clear cry rang out as a tornado that was several thousand feet tall erupted straight into the heavens while quickly approaching Han Li's duo. Immediately thereafter, a giant golden-winged bird that was 700 to 800 feet in size emerged from the tornado, flapping its wings as it circled around in the air, sending fierce gusts of wind sweeping in all directions.

"This Golden-winged Azure Light Falcon is at the mid-Body Integration Stage, and it possesses a hint of the true spirit Golden-winged Great Falcon bloodline, granting it extremely impressive speed," the young man introduced.

Han Li nodded in response, then observed the bird for a moment longer before making his way to a nearby valley.

Inside this area was an enormous rhinoceros-like spirit beast, which had a body that was entirely as white and translucent as jade. It moved around in slow, lumbering steps, and with each step that it took, an extremely heavy thud would reverberate throughout the entire valley.

"This is a Moonview Jade Rhinoceros. It possesses mid-Body Integration Stage power and wields various earth-attribute abilities," the young man introduced.

After observing the rhinoceros for some time, Han Li made his way to a canyon, where another spirit beast was residing.

This was a griffin-like creature that was 200 to 300 feet in length and around 70 to 80 feet tall. Its entire lion-like body was covered in thick fur, yet its legs were tipped with sharp eagle-like talons.

What was most remarkable about the creature was that it had two heads, one of which was purple, while the other was red, and both of them were snarling in a menacing fashion.

"This Two-headed Griffin is only at the early-Body Integration Stage, yet it possesses powers of two different attributes, namely lightning and fire," the young man introduced.

Han Li nodded in response with a contemplative expression, then decided, "I'll take this one."

"Fantastic choice, Elder Li! This Two-headed Griffin isn't all that powerful right now, but it has the most potential out of all of the Body Integration Stage spirit beasts here," the young man said with a smile.

Han Li also smiled in response, offering no reply.

"This is the Two-headed Griffin's bonded badge. You won't need the badge to control this beast, but if you're going to give this to your servants, then it's best to be cautious. This spirit beast has already been tamed, but there's still a chance that it could become violent," the young man said as he flipped a hand over to produce a dark purple jade badge, which he handed to Han Li.

There was a layer of crimson light over the surface of the badge, upon which was the image of a miniature Two-headed Griffin, which was moving occasionally as if it were a living creature.

The Two-headed Griffin let loose a low roar as it stared intently at the dark purple badge.

Right at this moment, a voice suddenly rang out from the entrance of the canyon. "That griffin looks pretty good, Senior Martial Brother Ye."

Immediately thereafter, a group of seven to eight people descended into the area.

Aside from a square-faced outer sect disciple of the Beast Rearing Fields, everyone else in the group appeared to have been inner sect disciples.

They were led by a tall dark-skinned young man who appeared to be rather thin and frail, but had a sharp and piercing gleam in his eyes, and he was the only Grand Ascension cultivator of the group.

The person who had just spoken was a purple-haired man accompanying the dark-skinned young man, and there was a fawning look on his face.

The dark-skinned young man's eyes also lit up at the sight of the Two-headed Griffin, and he nodded as he remarked, "This beast possesses a lightning bloodline, so it suits me very well. I'll take it!"