Chapter 213: Finally Back

"D, Deputy Dao Lord Xiong, I've managed to gather 6,000 merit points during my many years in the sect, but I don't have 300 Immortal Origin Stones in my possession... Would I be able to use top-grade spirit stones instead?" Zhu Feng asked in a careful manner.

"I can give you some time. Gather everything for me in 10 years, and I'll let this matter slide," Xiong Shan said in a cold voice.

"But... Alright," Zhu Feng replied with a sullen expression.

Even after extorting Zhu Feng, Xiong Shan's mood didn't improve much, and he declared, "Do not speak a single word of this to anyone after you leave this place. Otherwise, you'll have to answer directly to me. Piss off now!"

Everyone hurriedly vowed not to speak of this matter to anyone, then sheepishly departed, not daring to say anything despite not receiving any merit points for their efforts.

After emerging from the Heavenly Sword Tomb, Han Li and Qi Liang traveled alongside one another in silence. Upon reaching the teleportation hall, the two of them exchanged farewells with wry smiles before returning to their respective mountains.

After returning to his cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak, Han Li immediately examined his own body to ensure that no mark had been planted in him by Xiong Shan, following which he entered his secret chamber to recuperate.

Several days later.

In the northeastern region of the Bell Toll Mountain Range, there was a thin elderly man in a white robe with his hair arranged into a Daoist bun. He was standing on a bare rock on the summit of a lone mountain near the edge of the mountain range, looking out toward the sky in the southwest.

There was nothing in the pristine sky in that direction, but the elderly man's eyes were glowing with excitement, while his face was also alight with anticipation.

Moments later, a hint of azure light suddenly appeared in the distant sky.

Over the course of several seconds, the hint of azure light gradually expanded, revealing itself to be a massive azure sword.

"There they are!"

The elderly man's eyes lit up as a faint smile appeared on his face.

In the next instant, the elderly man released his aura without any further concealment, revealing his early-True Immortal Stage cultivation base in its full glory.

He was originally an itinerant cultivator residing on an island outside of the Ancient Cloud Continent, and he had only recently arrived near the Bell Toll Mountain Range. His plan was to rest for a few days on this lone mountain, but while meditating, he detected a peculiar flying sword with an aura comparable to that of an immortal treasure flying rapidly toward him.

As a proficient sword cultivator himself, the elderly man could sense that the flying sword seemed to have no owner, and he was immediately driven by his greed to try and intercept the sword.

As the flying sword continued to approach, the elderly man rose up into the air as a streak of dazzling white light, hurtling directly toward the sword.

Even though the giant sword formed by the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords wasn't being controlled by Han Li, it still put up instinctive resistance as lightning began to crackle over its surface.

The elderly man paid no heed to this as he reached out toward the hilt of the giant sword with both hands enveloped in spiritual light.

All of a sudden, a burst of piercing golden light erupted from the giant azure sword alongside a thunderous boom, and countless serpentine arcs of golden lightning sprang forth in a frenzy, encompassing the entire area in a radius of several hundred feet. An airtight ball of golden lightning instantly took shape, and a blood-curdling howl rang out from within.

Immediately thereafter, the ball of golden lightning vanished, and a charred black corpse that was releasing a plume of white smoke fell out of the sky.

Even before it had a chance to land on the ground, it was blown into black dust by the wind and scattered in all directions.

As for the giant azure sword, it split up again into 72 flying swords amid a flash of light before descending into a valley down below, seemingly having overexerted itself.

……

Two months later, an azure-robed young man appeared above an extremely secluded snow-covered valley on the northeastern outskirts of the Bell Toll Mountain Range.

The man slowly descended into the valley, and it was none other than Han Li, who had tracked the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords all the way here thanks to his spiritual connection with them.

He was concerned about Xiong Shan conducting surveillance on him, so he had spent the entire first month after returning to his cave abode cultivating in his secret chamber.

Sure enough, Xiong Shan didn't gloss over any potential suspects, and he had even sent people to Han Li's territory in secret, presumably to conduct surveillance on him.

It was most likely the case that all of the other elders, including Mo Xie, had received the same treatment, and all of them had no choice but to turn a blind eye to this in order to avoid arousing further suspicions.

Only after verifying that he was no longer under Xiong Shan's scrutiny did Han Li leave the Crimson Dawn Peak in secret before arriving here.

Following his descent into the valley, he immediately flew over to a green pond at the end of the valley before drawing to a halt.

He swept his gaze over the pond to find that its surface appeared to have been quite tranquil, but in reality, there were countless tiny streaks of sword qi surging within it. As a result, any rocks, leaves, or pieces of wood that fell into the pond were instantly shredded into countless pieces.

Han Li knew that the Azure Bamboo Cloudswarm Swords were in this pond, and he immediately summoned them to come out.

A string of splashes rang out as the originally tranquil surface of the pond instantly began to churn like boiling water, following which the 72 flying swords flew out one after another, then circled around in the air momentarily before flying toward Han Li.

A faint smile appeared on Han Li's face upon seeing this.

The flying swords were all glowing with azure light as they danced joyfully around him like elated children while ringing incessantly.

"You're all finally back!"

Han Li exhaled as he raised a hand to stroke the flying swords one by one, as if they were the shoulders of old friends, and countless emotions welled up in his heart as he felt their familiar yet also slightly unfamiliar auras.

Due to the fact that the flying swords had absorbed the pure sword essence of several hundred powerful flying swords, their auras had naturally been significantly elevated. However, as a safety precaution, Han Li unleashed a secret technique to conceal their auras rather than testing out their powers right away.

After making sure that no one else would be able to detect the flying swords, he carefully stowed them into his own body one by one.

Back in the Mortal Realm, he only had two flying swords taken from him by an elder devil, and he was already ecstatic upon recovering them, so he was naturally even more elated to have recovered a whole set of 72 lost flying swords.

As for the significant increase in power experienced by the flying swords, that was just an added bonus.

……

Shortly thereafter, Han Li returned to the Crimson Dawn Peak without alerting anyone, and as soon as he returned, he immediately instructed Meng Yungui to gather everyone.

Inside a certain hall in the courtyard, the 10 servants bowed in unison as they greeted, "We pay our respects to Elder Li."

"Over these past years, all of you have kept my cave abode in good order and haven't fallen behind in your cultivation, either, and that's quite commendable. Yungui, take these pills and split them with everyone," Han Li said with his hands clasped behind his back.

As soon as his voice trailed off, he swept a sleeve through the air, and a burst of azure light flew into Meng Yungui's grasp in a flash, containing a small storage bracelet.

Meng Yungui and the others were ecstatic to see this, and they immediately extended another collective bow of gratitude. "Thank you, Elder Li!"

Han Li didn't often appear before them, but whenever he did, he would always bestow upon them some pills that were extremely beneficial for the cultivation of Core Formation cultivators, for which they were extremely grateful.

In particular, Meng Yungui had successfully manifested a nascent soul during this time and became a Nascent Soul cultivator.

"From this day forth, I'm going into seclusion, and the Crimson Dawn Peak will be shut off for some time. I'm going to be activating all of the restrictions, and I won't be seeing any guests," Han Li instructed.

Meng Yungui and the others hurriedly gave affirmative responses upon hearing this.

"Sun Buzheng, you'll be responsible for overseeing matters in the cave abode during my seclusion," Han Li said.

"Rest assured, Elder Li, I'll be sure to perform my duties diligently," Sun Buzheng immediately said.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Yungui, you possess the highest cultivation base out of everyone, so I'm going to give you a mission. Go out and search for rare and exotic spirit plants and seeds or seedlings for me. The more types you find, the better, and don't worry about the costs too much," Han Li instructed.

Meng Yungui faltered slightly upon hearing this, then immediately accepted the order.

Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a storage treasure that he handed to Meng Yungui as he continued, "There are some spirit stones in here, as well as two treasures for your protection. If you do a good job, you can keep those two treasures as a reward."

Meng Yungui injected his spiritual sense into the storage treasure, and an elated look immediately appeared in his eyes as he said, "Thank you, Elder Li! I'll be sure to do my best!"

Envious looks appeared in everyone's eyes upon seeing this.

The treasures inside the storage treasure had to have been quite powerful. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gotten such an excited reaction out of Meng Yungui.

In particular, Sun Buzheng was feeling both envious and regretful.

His cultivation base had originally been slightly higher than Meng Yungui's, but during these past years, Meng Yungui had made a series of consecutive breakthroughs, reaching the Nascent Soul Stage before him.

If he had known that this would happen, he would've worked even harder in his cultivation, and perhaps he would've been the one to receive such a reward then.

Meng Qianqian was staring directly at Han Li with an unblinking gaze, and there was a hint of anticipation glowing in her eyes. She had changed into a pristine white dress, giving her a pure and gorgeous appearance.

"Alright, you can all go now," Han Li said to everyone with a smile before turning and making his way back into his cave abode.

Everyone immediately extended a collective bow once again. "Farewell, Elder Li."

However, Meng Qianqian didn't bow with everyone else, and her face was gradually growing paler and paler.

A faint thump rang out as the gate of the cave abode swung shut.

After speaking to Meng Yungui for a moment, Sun Buzheng picked out a few people to accompany him, and before long, they were busy at work.

Meanwhile, Meng Qianqian was staring at the shut stone gate while biting down on her own lower lip with a sense of melancholy in her heart.

Meng Yungui could tell that she was feeling very dejected, and he approached her before asking, "What's wrong, Qianqian?"

"Nothing," Meng Qianqian replied as she lowered her head, and a film of tears had already appeared over her eyes.

That entire time, Han Li hadn't even taken a single glance at her.

Meng Yungui was aware of his sister's thoughts, and he sighed, "Elder Li is not from the same world as us. You should be well aware of this..."

Meng Qianqian shuddered slightly upon hearing this, but she then raised her head with a determined look in her eyes.

Meng Yungui could only shake his head and heave a faint sigh upon seeing this.

On the outside, Meng Qianqian had a very delicate appearance, but she was actually very stubborn and unyielding on the inside, and he was powerless to dissuade her once she had her mind set on something.

In any case, perhaps this wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Meng Yungui set these thoughts aside with a faint smile and began to ponder how he was going to complete the task assigned to him by Han Li.