Chapter 635: Another Incident

"The only thing that we can be almost certain of is that these events have something to do with the new residents who've moved in over the past two centuries. After all, the valley has been a very peaceful place prior to their arrival," Duan Yuzai said.

"In that case, why hasn't anyone investigated these new residents?" Han Li asked.

"On the surface, these people all appear to be very normal, and due to the rules in the valley, everyone was initially reluctant to pry into these matters. However, with all these strange occurrences taking place of late, some people have begun investigating, but the results of their investigations are extremely bizarre, and many strange rumors have come out of these investigations," Yu Ziqi sighed.

"What are these rumors?" Han Li asked.

"Some say the mountain range has been infiltrated by man-eating devils, some say this is the work of bloodthirsty evil cultivators, some proclaim that the Immortal Palace sent spies here to disrupt the peace and eradicate the community here as it's outside of their control, and some have even speculated that all of this is related to the Silver Fox case that took place in Jade Gathering City.

“They say that Silver Fox wasn't able to flee the Black Mountain Immortal Region, so he's hiding in Relaxation Mountain. In any case, it's all a bunch of unsubstantiated nonsense," Duan Yuzai sighed.

"If you ask me, I think these rumors were intentionally spread by the perpetrators to serve as red herrings that throw people off their trail," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said as he took a sip of wine.

Han Li's mind was racing upon hearing this.

If these strange happenings did indeed have something to do with the Silver Fox incident, then there really was a chance that the perpetrators had been sent into the mountain range by the Black Mountain Immortal Palace. If that were the case, then things would most likely only continue to grow more chaotic in the future.

"Relaxation Mountain has never fallen under the jurisdiction of the Immortal Palace or any sect, so it's essentially a lawless place. The peace here has only been maintained thanks to the rules established by that powerful senior, but at this point, there's no longer anyone around to enforce the rules, so I'm afraid things will only get worse from here," Mo Wuxue sighed, and everyone fell into a solemn silence upon hearing this.

All of a sudden, Immortal Lord Hot Flame slammed his wine cup heavily down onto the table as he declared, "Even if the sky comes falling down, there will be others above us to catch it before it falls on us, so what's there to worry about? It's not like this is the only place of its kind in the entire True Immortal Realm. If things become too dangerous here, we can just go somewhere else!"

"That may apply to all of us, but as the grand elder of the Fire Leaf Sect, I doubt that you can just leave this place anytime you please," Han Li jibed with an amused smile.

"Why do you have to be so direct, Fellow Daoist Li?" Immortal Lord Hot Flame complained with a displeased expression.

Everyone else was quite amused to see this, and the solemn atmosphere was slightly alleviated.

After having some more wine, everyone chatted for about half a day longer before parting ways.

No further mention was made of the disappearances that had taken place in the mountain range, but it was clear that it was still constantly in the back of everyone's minds.

Han Li departed with Immortal Lord Hot Flame, and as they parted ways, the latter once again cautioned him against using his identity as an outer sect elder of the Fire Leaf Sect in case he ran into any trouble as a result.

As for the exact reasons, he didn't go into further detail, and Han Li didn't ask any questions, either.

Upon returning to his cave abode, Han Li entered his Flower Branch abode to check on his spirit medicines and Dao Warriors, then went into seclusion in his secret chamber to continue working on his time-attribute cultivation arts.

However, only about half a year passed by before an incident took place in the Leisure Valley.

One morning, Han Li was planning to make a trip to his spirit medicine garden to water his Dao Warrior primary beans when he discovered that Duan Yuzai had come to visit.

Hence, he opened the entrance of his cave abode to see Duan Yuzai, and he was just about to extend a warm greeting, but it was clear from Duan Yuzai's urgent expression that he was in no mood for small talk.

"What's wrong, Fellow Daoist Duan? Why do you look so distressed?"

"Yu Ziqi was attacked and is on the verge of death! Please save him, Fellow Daoist Li!" Duan Yuzai replied in an urgent voice.

"Where is he right now?" Han Li hurriedly asked.

"He's on Light Breeze Cliff," Duan Yuzai immediately replied, and Han Li instantly vanished from the spot.

Duan Yuzai faltered slightly upon seeing this, then also departed as a streak of light.

Shortly thereafter, Han Li appeared on Light Breeze Cliff, and he immediately noticed that a large patch of snow on the edge of the cliff had been soaked in blood and frozen into red dark red ice crystals.

In the middle of the bloodstained ice crystals laid a young man with his white robe completely drenched in blood. His complexion was deathly pale, and his eyes were completely glazed over.

Mo Wuxue was kneeling in the snow beside him, looking just as pale, and she had conjured up a silver light barrier that encompassed his body while also injecting him with a steady supply of immortal spiritual power.

"Fellow Daoist Li!"

A glimmer of hope instantly appeared in Mo Wuxue's distraught eyes at the sight of Han Li.

Han Li gave her a nod, then quickly made his way over to Yu Ziqi before reaching into the silver light barrier to clasp a hand around his wrist. At the same time, purple light flashed within his eyes as he roamed his grave over Yu Ziqi's body.

As he inspected Yu Ziqi's physical conditions, his brows became tightly furrowed, while a grim look appeared on his face before slowly turning into anger.

Mo Wuxue could tell from his reaction that the situation was dire, and her complexion paled even further.

"It's alright, he can still be saved," Han Li said.

Mo Wuxue's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, following which tears began to well up in her eyes, and she made no attempt to conceal her feelings any longer as she turned her gaze back to Yu Ziqi.

Meanwhile, Duan Yuzai was standing a bit further away, and only after hearing that Yu Ziqi could still be saved did he hurriedly approach Han Li's trio.

Han Li withdrew his Infernal Devilish Eyes, and his brows remained tightly furrowed as he flipped a hand over to produce a translucent, jade-like pill, then gently pried Yu Ziqi's mouth open by squeezing his cheeks before feeding him the pill.

However, Yu Ziqi displayed no reaction, nor was he able to swallow the pill, so Han Li had to manually guide the pill down his esophagus and into his stomach.

Immediately thereafter, a layer of faint white light emerged over his lower abdomen before flowing toward all of his limbs and meridians.

Mo Wuxue could hear a string of faint cracks ringing out across Yu Ziqi's entire body, and a perplexed look appeared on her face as she turned to Han Li.

"That's the sound of his bones reconnecting and mending. As I'm sure you could already see, all of his bones and meridians have been snapped, and his soul has also been completely ravaged as a result of a forced soul search. At the moment, his body is like a dilapidated house that's full of holes, and it's extremely fragile," Han Li explained.

"That's why we asked you to come here instead of carrying him to your cave abode," Duan Yuzai said with a nod.

"All I fed him just now was a True Immortal Stage pill to help mend his bone and meridians, and only after that will I be able to administer further treatment. In any case, it seems that he should be able to survive now," Han Li sighed.

Both Mo Wuxue and Duan Yuzai were very relieved to hear this, but they were still no less concerned.

After all of the cracking sounds faded, Han Li flipped a hand over to produce a white jade vial, which was filled with a type of purple liquid.

This was a soul nourishment liquid that he had refined using the Soulbirth Flower. Back when he refined his Earthly Deity Avatar, he discovered that this liquid was very effective for treating spiritual damage, so he had refined some more.

However, thanks to his Spirit Refinement Technique, his soul had become more and more powerful, so there was never a need for him to use this liquid himself.

He removed the stopper of the vial, then poured all of its contents into Yu Ziqi's mouth, upon which a peculiar fragrance spread through the air.

After that, Han Li brushed a hand over Yu Qi's eyelids to close his eyes.

"Who could've possibly harbored such a vendetta against him that they would beat him into such terrible condition?" Mo Wuxue asked with tightly furrowed brows.

"Perhaps there's no personal vendetta at all. Perhaps the perpetrator only wanted to secure some information from him," Han Li said with a shake of his head.

"From the looks of it, they succeeded," Duan Yuzai sighed.

"Not necessarily. Judging from the damage sustained by Fellow Daoist Yu's soul, the perpetrator most likely triggered some type of restriction while using a soul search technique on him, thereby detonating his consciousness.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

“However, it's also exactly because of this that the perpetrator seems to have flown into a rage and broke all of Fellow Daoist Yu's bones, then left him here to die," Han Li analyzed with a grim expression.

Mo Wuxue shuddered slightly upon hearing this, and her hands had already balled up into tight fists in her sleeves.

All of a sudden, a thought occurred to Han Li, and he hurriedly crouched down before pressing a palm down onto Yu Ziqi's glabella.

A burst of invisible fluctuations surged out of the palm of his hand, and after a thorough examination, he withdrew his hand as he murmured to himself, "I see..."

"What is it, Fellow Daoist Li?" Mo Wuxue hurriedly asked.

"The perpetrator even went as far as to plant a restriction on Fellow Daoist Yu's nascent soul, preventing it from being able to escape his body, so if his physical body were to perish, then his nascent soul would also meet its demise, eliminating any possibility for it to escape and possess someone else in the future.

“However, you managed to save him by sealing his consciousness in a timely fashion while also injecting him with immortal spiritual power, and only then was he able to survive long enough for me to get here," Han Li said.

A puzzled look appeared on Mo Wuxue's face upon hearing this.

"His consciousness has been sealed? I didn't do that at all, all I did was inject immortal spiritual power into his body."

Han Li turned to Duan Yuzai with an inquisitive gaze upon hearing this.