Chapter 279: Sprouting of the Primary Bean

One day, several years later.

Above the frozen sea to the north of the Ancient Cloud Continent, gusts of fierce wind were howling, while countless snowflakes were fluttering through the air.

The sound of the wind was virtually deafening, and the drifting snow had inundated the entire area.

Han Li was hovering in mid-air beneath the dark clouds in the sky with his Transient Guild mask on.

"This should be the place," Han Li murmured to himself, but his voice was drowned out by the howling wind.

He swept a sleeve through the air to release a streak of azure light, which transformed into an azure longsword that plunged down directly toward the frozen sea below.

As soon as the flying sword descended out of the sky, Han Li also swooped down right behind it.

A sharp clang rang out as the azure longsword pierced into the surface of the ice, plunging through it with ease before drilling into the water.

Han Li immediately followed along, plunging into the sea as well.

A string of loud cracks that even the sound of the wind couldn't drown out rang out across the entire area, and a massive chasm that extended for hundreds of kilometers appeared in the ice, and it was only continuing to extend even further.

Meanwhile, Han Li cast a simple water repulsion restriction onto himself as he entered the water, then sped along behind the azure flying sword toward the seabed with a faint blue light barrier around his body.

Only around 15 minutes later did he draw to a halt, having landed beside a volcanic crater on the seabed. The azure flying sword was plunged into a large rock up ahead, and it was flashing with blue light.

The volcanic crater was completely gray and wasn't giving off even the slightest bit of heat, indicating that this was either an extinct volcano, or one that had been dormant for many years.

Han Li approached the volcanic crater, pulling the azure longsword out of the ground along the way.

As the sword was pulled out, the rock beside the volcanic crater split apart slightly, and a faint glimmer of golden radiance shone out from within the crack.

Han Li lowered his head to take a closer look while slashing his longsword through the water, releasing a burst of azure light. Countless tiny glowing azure sword projections instantly surged forth, slicing into all of the rocks around the volcanic crater.

After the entire layer of rock around the volcanic crater was stripped away, a vast expanse of golden radiance was revealed, instantly illuminating the pitch-black seabed.

As it turned out, there were numerous fist-sized ovular golden balls that resembled some type of egg littered around the volcanic crater.

These things were called Golden Dragon Urchins, and it was a very special type of pill refinement that wasn't a plant, a type of ore, or any living creature. Instead, it was a combination of the three.

Originally, it was a living creature by the name of the Sea Dragon Urchin, and after its death, a layer of moss would gradually grow over its carcass. After that, the carcass had to be covered in molten lava, and only after these conditions were satisfied could it turn into Golden Dragon Urchin after at least 10,000 years.

Due to the fact that this ingredient contained powers of three different attributes, it was often used to harmonize medicines, so it was present in many pill recipes.

Normally, Han Li wouldn't have accepted an ordinary ingredient collection mission like this one. However, this ingredient was required in the earthly pills that he was planning to refine, so he decided to take on this mission. Not only would he be securing an ingredient that he needed, he would be receiving a reward for completing the mission as well, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

Not only did he have to gather ingredients for the earthly pills that he was going to refine, he had to make preparations for dao pill refinement as well. To say that the amount of spirit stones and Immortal Origin Stones required for this was astronomical would be a complete understatement, so he had no choice but to begin taking on as many Transient Guild missions as he could again.

This mission was already the fourth one that he had completed in the past few months, and after completing this mission, he immediately began rising up toward the surface of the sea without pause.

……

10 years later.

In a nameless long valley, three figures with animal masks on their faces jumped down from the rock faces on either side of the valley. They looked at the dead beast in the valley, then glanced at the tall figure standing beside it, and all of them were at a loss for words.

None of them had anticipated that this mission to kill an early-True Immortal Stage demon beast would've been completed so easily.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

On the way here, they had been a little disdainful of the tall man who had always liked to keep to himself and was unwilling to participate in their strategic planning process. However, to their astonishment, as soon as they arrived in this place, the tall man had immediately displayed incredible combat prowess.

He was able to take down the demon beast on his own, making all of the plans that they had made on the way here seem like a complete joke.

After witnessing the fearsome power displayed by the tall man with the title of Wyrm 15, all of their prior disdain had been completely replaced with awe and veneration.

Han Li wasn't a fan of showing off, and under normal circumstances, he would've kept a much lower profile, but he didn't want to waste any time here as he had to go on another mission elsewhere in a month.

……

30 years flew by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, the light of the rising sun was basking the Crimson Dawn Peak in a warm glow, but Han Li's cave abode was looking rather cold and bleak.

Not long after Sun Buzheng and Meng Yungui successfully progressed to the Deity Transformation Stage, they were sent out by Han Li to search for spirit medicine seeds, and shortly thereafter, Meng Qianqian had also left the Crimson Dawn Peak on a journey of her own.

She had taken Featheryearn with her on her journey, and the mountain guardian beast had been left feeling depressed for a very long time in the wake of their departure.

Inside the secret chamber of the cave abode, Han Li emerged amid a flash of azure light, then slowly took off his Transient Guild mask before stowing it away.

He had just completed a mission that had earned him a reward of over 100 Immortal Origin Stones, but that was only a trifling amount compared with his current needs.

After emerging from the secret chamber, he went to the spirit medicine garden in the cave abode.

At this point, the garden had already been virtually completely filled with all types of spirit plants. Planted in an area to the left were several spirit vines that were crawling up a wooden frame, and they would be able to bear fruits once they reached a sufficient age. In another area to the right were countless tiny little flowers that were releasing a cloud of purple qi alongside a strong floral aroma.

The entire spirit garden was thriving and brimming with vitality, with the only exception being the southwestern corner.

That part of the spirit garden was completely empty, and it was as if nothing had ever been planted there.

Whenever Han Li inspected his spirit garden, his gaze would only linger in the southwestern corner for a moment before quickly moving on.

However, on this day, something caught his attention as he swept his gaze over that corner, and he noticed that something seemed to have changed.

He raised an eyebrow as he walked along the edge of the garden to make his way to the southwestern corner. After taking a brief glance, he stepped onto the soft and loamy soil of the garden before crouching down.

Nestled beneath a fist-sized chunk of gray soil right in front of him was a delicate green seedling that was even thinner than a bean sprout, and it was raising up one corner of that chunk of soil, causing it to tilt to the side.

The seedling appeared to have been quite frail, but it was filled with abundant life energy, and it had come from none other than that primary bean.

It sprouted!

Han Li was rather taken aback to see this.

During the first century after he planted the primary bean, he had occasionally watered it with the spirit liquid from the Heaven Controlling Vial, but the primary bean showed no signs of germinating, so he began prioritizing other spirit plants, as well as on manifesting crystals. Hence, he wasn't expecting it to have suddenly germinated on its own.

After carefully examining the seedling for a moment, he noticed that its two delicate leaves bore circles of indistinct dark golden patterns, giving them a rather peculiar appearance.

His brows furrowed slightly upon seeing this, and he flipped a hand over to produce a thin yellow book.

After carefully reading through the book for a moment, the befuddlement on his face only became more pronounced, and he murmured to himself, "Why is it different from this description in Elder Hu Yan's book?"

Even after some extensive examination, he was unable to come up with an answer. In the end, he moved the chunk of soil above the seedling side, then drew out a picture of the golden patterns on its leaves before departing from his cave abode.

Around two hours later.

A streak of azure light descended from the heavens toward a mountain down below.

Upon its landing, the azure light faded to reveal Han Li, and not far in front of him was a large estate with a large red gate, above which was a plaque that carried the words "Hundred Wine Cottage" in free-flowing characters.

Han Li took a glance at the wobbly and inebriated-looking characters on the plaque, and he was just about to step forward when the gate was suddenly opened from the inside.

A voluptuous woman in a white dress then emerged from the estate. The woman was wearing some light makeup, and her hair was arranged into a tall bun, while her entire body was giving off a breathtaking aura of seduction.

The woman was none other than Bai Suyuan's mistress and one of the 13 Golden Immortal dao lords, Yun Ni.

At this moment, there was an enraged look on her face as she hurriedly emerged from inside the estate.

Elder Hu Yan was trailing along behind her in a gray Daoist robe with a pair of gourds hanging from his belt, and he seemed to have wanted to say something, but was also too embarrassed to say it, so he was looking rather awkward.

Upon spotting Han Li outside the estate, the awkward look on his face became even more pronounced, and he stopped in his tracks, not following Yun Ni any further.

As for Yun Ni, she stormed right past Han Li in a fit of rage without even taking a glance at him, then flew away as a streak of white light.

Elder Hu Yan was left looking up at the departing streak of white light with a slightly dazed look on his face, so Han Li could only gently clear his throat to catch his attention.

Elder Hu Yan immediately snapped back to his senses, and he was trying to put on a composed façade while unnecessarily explaining himself, "I've been really busy with official sect duties recently..."

"Indeed, you've always been extremely diligent, and I'm sure Dao Lord Yun came to see you just now for official matters," Han Li replied with a smile and a nod.

Elder Hu Yan gave a pleased nod upon hearing this, then asked, "What brings you here all of a sudden? Let me make this clear in advance: I don't have wine for you to drink!"

"I was out on a mission recently, and I just so happened to have obtained a jar of fine wine that's said to have been brewed using 67 different precious spirit medicines, and I immediately thought of you," Han Li replied with a smile, then flipped a hand over to produce a red jar of wine that he offered to Elder Hu Yan.

Elder Hu Yan's eyes immediately lit up upon hearing this, but he immediately put on a composed and restrained façade as he said, "So you do have a conscience, after all! Come in."