Chapter 241: Message from Qilin 9

"Er... I've been so busy recently that I've been getting dizzy and lightheaded, so I'll have to refuse your kind offer," Elder Hu Yan replied as he waved his hands in response.

"Dizzy and lightheaded? That's no good. Come sleep for a night on my 10,000-year-old Profound Ice Bed and you'll be sure to wake up feeling much better," Dao Lord Yun said.

"Ah, I just remembered that I still have a cauldron full of pills sitting on the fire, and it's about time that they're ready! My apologies, but I have to go now."

Sweat was beginning to bead up on Elder Hu Yan's forehead as he spoke, and he exploded into countless specks of blue light, vanishing on the spot.

Dao Lord Yun placed her hand over her own mouth as she giggled in amusement.

Meanwhile, Yuan Bushao and the woman in the black dress paid no heed to the interaction between Elder Hu Yan and Dao Lord Yun, departing from the hall in silence.

Xiong Shan also took his leave before promptly departing, and before long, Dao Lord Yun and Ouyang Kuishan were the only two people left in the hall.

A serious look appeared on Dao Lord Yun's face as she asked, "What do you plan on doing with those two elders?"

Ouyang Kuishan remained silent, seemingly still yet to make a decision.

"Let me make this clear: it's all thanks to that Li Feiyu that Yuan'er wasn't abducted during the trial, so I'm not just going to stand by and watch as others try to frame him to further their own agendas," Dao Lord Yun said in a meaningful voice.

"As the leader of the sect, I can't be biased. Otherwise, conflicts could easily arise, leading to catastrophic consequences. Li Feiyu did indeed do quite well in this situation, but at the same time, he failed to perform his duty as one of the guardian elders, so he should be let off the hook, but not rewarded beyond that.

“As for Su Tongxiao, the blame for the incident should definitely fall on him, but given the circumstances, I'll only administer a light punishment upon him. Additionally, seeing as Fellow Daoist Hu Yan expressly stated that Li Feiyu should be rewarded, you can issue him a reward on your own behalf," Ouyang Kuishan said.

Dao Lord Yun nodded in response, then flew away as a streak of white light.

Moments later, he appeared on another mountain summit.

There was a white palace that was over 100 feet tall situated on this mountain, and it looked as if it had been carved out of a single enormous block of white jade.

It was an unknown jade-like material that was giving off a gentle glow that resembled moonlight, and the entire palace was filled with a strong glacial aura.

As soon as Dao Lord Yun entered the palace, she was immediately met with a burst of glacial qi, but it was kept at bay by a burst of invisible force that was emanating from her body.

At the center of the palace was a crescent-shaped pond that appeared to have been formed naturally, and it was so deep that it was impossible to see its bottom. There was a translucent round plate that was about 10 feet in size floating on the surface of the pond with countless tiny transparent runes engraved upon it, and it was giving off a white glow, as if it were entirely crafted from a block of ice.

The glacial aura here was 10 times more pronounced than outside, and it was coming directly from that pond.

A woman in a white dress was seated with her legs crossed on the plate, and it was non other than Bai Suyuan.

Her entire body was enveloped within a layer of gentle white light as she constantly absorbed the glacial qi from the pond. Her aura had advanced significantly compared with during the trial, and she was approaching the late-Spatial Tempering Stage.

Dao Lord Yun nodded in approval upon seeing this.

Bai Suyuan seemed to have heard Dao Lord Yun's arrival, and her eyelashes fluttered momentarily before she opened her eyes.

A smile then appeared on her face as she rose up from the plate before landing next to Dao Lord Yun.

"You're becoming more beautiful by the day, Yuan'er. I wonder which lucky boy is going to make you his wife," Dao Lord Yun chuckled as she gently stroked Bai Suyuan's hair.

A slight blush appeared on Bai Suyuan's face upon hearing this, and she complained, "What are you saying, Mistress? I'm not going to marry anyone as long as you don't!"

"What does this have to do with me?"

Dao Lord Yun was very amused to hear this. As one of the 13 Golden Immortals of the Blaze Dragon Dao, she possessed unfathomable power, but she was like a doting mother whenever she was around her favorite disciple.

She led Bai Suyuan to the side before sitting down as she said, "Yuan'er, it's good that you're so diligent in your cultivation, but don't rush it. This Glacial Moon Pond contains extremely potent glacial qi, while will reciprocate your Moonlight Immortal Physique, but at the same time, it'll also harm your body in excessive quantities, so you have to be patient and progress slowly."

"Yes, Mistress," Bai Suyuan replied.

After that, Dao Lord Yuan answered a few questions that Bai Suyuan had on cultivation, and given her aptitude and intelligence, she was immediately able to figure things out.

The smile on Dao Lord Yun's face became even more pronounced upon seeing how gifted a learner her disciple was.

"By the way, why did you come here today, Mistress?" Bai Suyuan asked.

"Why? I can't come to visit you?" Dao Lord Yun asked as she put on an angry expression.

"That's not what I meant, Mistress," Bai Suyuan said as she swayed Dao Lord Yun's arm from side to side like a small child.

"Alright, I won't tease you any longer. I discussed what happened during the trial with a few of the other dao lords today," Dao Lord Yun said with a serious expression.

Bai Suyuan's expression changed slightly as she released Dao Lord Yun's arm, and a serious look appeared on her face as well.

"Even after some discussion, we were still unable to identify the intruder," Dao Lord Yun sighed.

Bai Suyuan's face fell slightly upon hearing this, and she replied, "The Northern Glacial Immortal Region is extremely vast and is home to countless powerful cultivators, so there's no way our Blaze Dragon Dao can know them all."

"Seeing as we've been unable to identify him or track him down, I think you should stay in the sect as much as possible. I'll continue to investigate the matter, and we'll be sure to capture him," Dao Lord Yun said.

Bai Suyuan nodded in response, following which a thought occurred to her, and after a brief hesitation, she asked, "During the trial, four of the disciples had their physical bodies destroyed. What have you and the other dao lords decided to do with Elder Li and Elder Su?"

A meaningful smile appeared on Dao Lord Yun's face upon hearing this.

"You seem to be very concerned about that Li Feiyu. I've never seen you pay so much attention to any of the male disciples. Could it be..."

"What are you saying, Mistress? Elder Li saved our Bai Clan and brought me to the Blaze Dragon Dao, and this time, he saved me from being abducted in the trial. I owe him a great debt, and that's the only reason why I asked about him," Bai Suyuan hurriedly explained.

"Is that right?" Dao Lord Yun asked with an amused look in her eyes.

For some reason, Bai Suyuan didn't dare to meet Dao Lord Yun's gaze as she replied, "Of course! There's no way I'd take a liking to someone like him!"

Dao Lord Yun merely began to giggle in response, while Bai Suyuan kept her head lowered as a faint blush appeared on her face.

……

Meanwhile, in a lush mountain range that was abundant with spiritual qi countless kilometers away from the Blaze Dragon Dao.

A young man who was dressed like a lumberjack was seated in a secluded cave with his legs crossed. There was a layer of dense white light around him that was expanding and shrinking with each cycle of inhalation and exhalation.

A long while later, the man opened his eyes as he murmured to himself, "This body has decent aptitude. I've already recovered around a tenth of my former cultivation base."

A look of intense resentment then appeared in his eyes as he spat through gritted teeth, "Li Feiyu, I'll get you back for destroying my physical body sooner or later!"

After that, he rose to his feet and exited the cave before flying away into the distance as a streak of white light.

……

Over 10 years passed by in the blink of an eye, and Han Li had been focused on completing Transient Guild missions this entire time.

Due to the fact that he had to take care of the Dao Warrior and all of the spirit plants planted in his fields, all of the missions that he took on were ones near the Ancient Cloud Continent.

Due to the frequency at which he took on missions, many of the other Transient Guild members situated on the Ancient Cloud Continent gradually came to know the name of Wyrm 15, a powerful madman who was sweeping through missions like the wind.

As a result, many people were led to the false assumption that he had to have been at the late-True Immortal Stage.

As Wyrm 15's reputation continued to build, many of the Transient Guild members near the Ancient Cloud Continent were keen to have him as an ally during their own missions, and there were even some people directly contacting him with requests to complete certain missions.

In contrast with how renowned he had become in the Transient Guild, Han Li had maintained a low profile in the Blaze Dragon Dao.

After completing his three regular elder missions, he had refrained from interacting with anyone else in the sect under the guise of cultivating in seclusion.

During this period, he was summoned once by Dao Lord Ouyang and Dao Lord Yun, and the former had enquired him about the incident concerning the trial, while the latter had rewarded him 1,000 merit points without saying anything, only warning him not to speak of this matter to anyone else.

He wasn't the type to go blabbering about something like this anyway, and he was certainly more than happy to accept the 1,000 merit points.

He wasn't all that renowned in the sect to begin with, and after so many years out of the limelight, he had become even lesser known in the sect, and that was exactly what he wanted.

One day, Han Li was standing in front of his medicine garden in his cave abode, nodding to himself with approval at the sight of the vibrant spirit medicines laid out before him.

During these past years, he had been constantly undertaking all types of missions, accumulating a large sum of spirit stones in the process. Additionally, he had managed to nurture a batch of 50,000-year-old Blaze Tuber Herbs with the spirit liquid from his Heaven Controlling Vial, so it was now time for him to focus on cultivating for a while.

There was a rather spacious and barren area in the southwestern corner of the garden, standing out like a sore thumb compared with the rest of the lush and vibrant garden.

That was exactly where the primary bean had been planted.

Over the years, he had watered it with the spirit liquid on many occasions, but the primary bean still showed no signs of germinating at all.

According to the book of Dao Warrior planting insights given to him by Elder Hu Yan, there was a massive range of factors that could impact the germination period of a Dao Warrior, and it was quite normal for a bean to be nurtured for centuries without germinating.

Right at this moment, Han Li's brows suddenly furrowed slightly as he returned to the secret chamber in his cave abode.

As soon as he entered the secret chamber, he flipped a hand over to produce his Transient Guild mask, which he promptly put on.

The runes on the mask began to glow brightly as it released a beam of azure light, which formed a projection of an azure figure.

The figure was rather tall and imposing, wearing a cloak-like robe and an azure deer mask. He was standing with his hands clasped behind his back, giving off an authoritative aura.

"Why have you suddenly contacted me, Fellow Daoist Qilin 9?" Han Li asked.

Qilin 9 was none other than the late-True Immortal Stage Transient Guild member that Han Li suspected to have been Xiong Shan.