Chapter 354: Site Selection

Han Li wasn't all that surprised to see this.

This avatar had been constantly cultivating by manifesting heavy water using the time crystals, and even though there had been some occasional interruptions, its rate of progression wasn't much slower than Han Li's, so it was no surprise that it had reached the mid-True Immortal Stage.

Right at this moment, the blue light radiating from the avatar's body faded, and it rose to its feet, while the vortex in the sea slowly subsided.

"Thanks for your hard work," Han Li said.

"We are one and the same, so there's no need to thank me. Here's the heavy water I've derived these past years," the Earthly Deity Avatar replied as it flipped its hand over to produce a black pouch, then offered it to Han Li.

Han Li reached out to grab the pouch, but the Earthly Deity Avatar didn't let go right away. Instead, he cautioned, "Be careful, it's very heavy."

Han Li raised an eyebrow as he braced himself, but in the instant that the Earthly Deity Avatar released the pouch, his arm was still abruptly dragged downward, and his entire body was almost thrown forward by the enormous weight of the pouch.

He let loose a low roar as the muscles on his arm bulged, while a layer of golden light appeared over his body, and only then was he able to arrest the pouch's downward momentum.

A hint of surprise flashed through his eyes upon seeing this.

Heavy water had to be refined before he could manipulate it at will, but the fact that he was struggling to hold up such a small pouch even with his current tremendous strength indicated that it had to be containing an enormous volume of heavy water.

With that in mind, he injected his spiritual sense into the pouch, upon which he was once again rather surprised by what he saw.

This was a Heavenly Water Pouch that he had purchased from the Transient Guild for a high price, and it was able to store an entire large lake's worth of water, yet it had almost been completely filled.

"Impressive!" Han Li remarked with a pleased nod.

"After I reached the mid-True Immortal Stage and the fourth level of the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome, my rate of heavy water derivation sped up significantly. This pouch of heavy water is almost enough to be refined into a small creek's worth of level four heavy water," the Earthly Deity Avatar explained.

Han Li nodded in response, and he stowed the Heavenly Water Pouch away before producing two identical empty pouches that he handed to his avatar. "Keep cultivating, and I'll try to supply you with as many time crystals as possible."

The Earthly Deity Avatar accepted the pair of porches without a word, then sat back down with his legs crossed.

Immediately thereafter, blue light re-emerged over his body, while the law thread above his head gave off dazzling blue light, forming a tiny blue vortex.

The surrounding seawater was churned up into a huge vortex once again around Earthly Deity Avatar, and a tiny speck of heavy water was slowly gradually taking shape between the palms of the avatar's hands, and it was expanding at a rate that was discernible even to the naked eye.

Han Li was rather taken aback to see this, and he immediately urged, "Hold on a second!"

The blue light radiating from the Earthly Deity Avatar's body instantly faded, and it rose to its feet once again.

"Did you just say that upon reaching the fourth level of the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome, your rate of heavy water derivation has significantly increased?" Han Li asked as he raised an eyebrow.

The avatar nodded in response. "It increased by about threefold."

Han Li was quite stunned to hear this, and he immediately asked, "Threefold! Has the same thing been happening with each level that you've progressed in the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome?"

"For the first three levels, the rate has also been increasing, but not by much. However, upon reaching the fourth level, the rate suddenly increased drastically," the avatar replied.

A hint of excitement flashed through Han Li's eyes upon hearing this.

Progress was extremely slow in the early stages of the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome, and he certainly wasn't expecting something like this to happen.

The Earthly Immortal who had created the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome had only just reached the third level before he gave up on the cultivation art, unable to bear its agonizingly slow rate of progression any longer, and he most likely hadn't anticipated this, either.

At this point, Han Li was seriously beginning to doubt that the Earthly Immortal was actually the creator of the Black Sea Heavy Water Tome.

If he really had created the cultivation art, then this shouldn't have been something that he had failed to anticipate. It was very likely that someone else had created the cultivation art, and he had only obtained it from somewhere before declaring that he was the creator.

"Alright, you can keep cultivating," Han Li said with a contemplative look in his eyes.

He was really eager to find out whether there would be another significant jump in the rate of heavy water derivation upon reaching the fifth stage of the cultivation art.

If so, then with the assistance of the time crystals, the rate of heavy water derivation would reach an incredible level, and even deriving level eight and level nine heavy water at some point in the future wouldn't have been unrealistic.

The Earthly Deity Avatar sat back down with its legs crossed to resume its cultivation, while Han Li observed it with a contemplative look in his eyes.

All of a sudden, he cast his gaze up toward the surface of the sea.

A streak of light had just flown over from afar and stopped outside the blue light barrier. It was none other than Luo Feng, and he cupped his fist in a salute as he greeted, "Luo Feng pays his respects to Master Liu Shi."

On the seabed, Han Li replied, "What is it, Luo Feng?"

Luo Feng faltered slightly upon hearing this, following which an ecstatic look appeared on his face as he hurriedly explained, "Master Liu Shi, our Dark Veil Island's bicentennial ceremony will be taking place tomorrow. Would you be able to make an appearance during the event?"

He had visited Liu Shi several times in the past without receiving a response, so he was fully prepared to be disappointed again, and he was ecstatic that he had received a response for once.

The vortex in the sea continued to churn and swirl, and there was no response.

A sense of urgency welled up in Luo Feng's heart, and he said, "I don't wish to disturb your cultivation, Master Liu Shi, but there's recently been a lot of unrest in the Black Wind Sea. The conflict between Black Wind Island and Azure Feather Island is becoming more and more intense, and many of our island's people are growing quite concerned. If you can make an appearance tomorrow, that would surely be a very reassuring sight for everyone..."

"Alright, I'll make an appearance during the ceremony tomorrow."

Han Li's voice rang out from the seabed to cut off Luo Feng.

"Thank you, Master Liu Shi! I'll be taking my leave now!"

Luo Feng was ecstatic, and he extended a respectful bow toward the seabed before flying back to Dark Veil Island.

……

Inside the light barrier, Han Li withdrew his gaze.

His Earthly Deity Avatar was going to make an appearance during the ceremony in his stead.

Given its current mid-True Immortal Stage power, it was more than enough to intimidate those early-True Immortal Stage itinerant cultivators.

With that in mind, he flipped a hand over to produce the jade seal that contained the map of the Black Wind Sea, then pressed it against his own forehead.

Now that everything had already been settled, it was time to find a place to go into seclusion.

Dark Veil Island was relatively safe and peaceful, but it wasn't actually an ideal place for him to go into seclusion.

While it was unlikely for his identity as Liu Shi to be exposed, there were no guarantees in the matter, and he didn't want to risk the prospect of having the identity of Liu Shi traced back to him.

Around an hour later, a barely visible streak of azure light flew out of the sea and into the distance.

Only after three days and three nights did Han Li draw to a halt, and he had arrived in an area of the Black Wind Sea that was even more secluded than Dark Veil Island, with nothing but ocean and small deserted islands as far as the eyes could see.

The islands were completely uninhabited by humans, but there were many demon beasts on both the islands and the nearby sea, with no lack of Body Integration and even Grand Ascension Stage demon beasts among them.

Han Li looked around to find that the spirit veins on these islands were decent, not quite on the same level as Dark Veil Island, but there was still a relative abundance of spiritual qi in the area.

This place was already extremely far away from Dark Veil Island, and virtually no cultivators ever came here, making it an ideal location for seclusion.

As for the demon beasts in the area, those naturally posed no threat to him.

With that in mind, he spread his enormous spiritual sense throughout the area, and a short while later, he descended onto a small island down below.

The island wasn't very large, only several dozen kilometers in diameter.

The environment on the island was rather complex, with a volcano that was around 1,000 feet tall situated at its center, and due to the frequent volcanic eruptions, there was no plant life around, only crimson rocks littered all over the landscape.

However, a bit further away from the volcano was a lush forest, and even further away were a series of ponds and swamps, as well as a vibrant grassland.

It was a place that was full of vitality, and there were even some spirit plants and spirit flowers growing here.

Han Li gave a pleased nod upon seeing this.

The island wasn't very large, but its spirit vein was the best one in the nearby area.

He arrived at an obscure little canyon on the island, then swept a hand through the air to release a streak of azure sword qi, which sliced through a mountain face like tofu, and before long, a cave abode had taken shape.

Han Li didn't put too much effort into refining the cave abode, only paying a little extra attention when carving out the spirit medicine garden. After that, he pulled out a stack of array flags and array plates before setting them up near the new cave abode.

With the restrictions activated, a burst of gentle azure light appeared, following which the cave abode abruptly vanished, transforming into a lush forest that blended in with the nearby environment.

This restriction was the same as the one he had set up earlier on the seabed in that it wasn't giving off any aura, so even if a True Immortal were to scour the area with their spiritual sense, they weren't likely to discover it.

After that, Han Li summoned several more stacks of array tools that had been previously used to set up restrictions around his cave abode back on the Crimson Dawn Peak, and before long, the new cave abode resembled an impregnable fortress.

He had even pulled out another array and set it up around the entire island, but he refrained from activating those restrictions right away, saving them for potential future enemy attacks instead.

After doing all of that, he strode into his cave abode and arrived at the medicine garden.

He had made sure to carve out a large area for the garden, even more so than the one back in his cave abode on the Crimson Dawn Peak.

After standing on the spot for a while, he swept a sleeve several times in succession through the air, summoning clumps of spirit soil of different colors that descended into the medicine garden.

Some of these things had been prepared by him in advance, while others had been purchased on the way back to the Black Wind Sea.