Chapter 193: Guardian Spirit Beast of the Mountain

After registering at the Elder of the Puling Hall, Han Li brought the ten members of Meng Yungui to the nearby Linchuan Hall, and then went to Chixia Peak where his cave dwelling was located.

Chixia Peak was a solitary mountain over a thousand zhang high, relatively remote, with the nearest Linchuan Hall quite far away.

Before they even landed on the peak, they saw from afar that it was covered in red clouds, with no snow at all on the entire mountain, and everywhere lush green trees full of vitality.

Han Li was also here for the first time. Finding this strange, he released his divine sense and swept it over the entire peak before saying to Yun Mengui and the others:

"Chixia Peak has been vacant for too long. The original禁制 and formations, without anyone to control and maintain them, have all failed. Moreover, this mountain has Red Cloud Fire Miasma. Since your dharma bodies are not yet formed, it will affect you somewhat. These are Qinglin Pills. Take one each first."

With that, he turned his wrist, and a white jade bottle appeared in his palm, which he handed to Yun Mengui.

Yun Mengui received it with great care and distributed it to the others.

Each of them took it in hand, exchanged glances, and seemed reluctant to swallow it.

This Qinglin Pill was nothing to Han Li, but to them, it was a medicine greatly beneficial even for advancing from Core Formation to Nascent Soul stage. Now that Han Li had given it to them as an anti-miasma pill, they felt it was a waste of heavenly treasure.

"What, didn't you understand what I said?" Han Li said calmly upon seeing this.

"Forgive us, Senior."

Yun Mengui was the first to take the pill, and the others, not daring to delay, also swallowed theirs.

"You're only at Foundation Establishment, so you don't need to take it. That Fire Spirit Pendant already has the power to dispel miasma, so naturally you're not afraid of this fire miasma." Han Li saw Meng Qianqian about to take the pill and stopped her, saying.

The girl nodded and put the pill away.

"Remember, as long as you do your duties well in the future, I will not treat you poorly. Alright, go back and clean the cave dwelling. Everything will be arranged by Yun Mengui. I have other matters to attend to." Han Li instructed.

"Yes."

They answered in unison, then flew down together and landed on Chixia Peak.

Han Li, seeing this, flew alone back toward the Linchuan Hall.

...

The Beast Taming Garden was a place in Candao Sect专门 for raising and taming demon beasts. It covered a vast area, centered on the valley where the Beast Taming Hall was located, with a radius of hundreds of thousands of li under its jurisdiction.

These areas had diverse environments: lofty mountains, giant forest lakes, wetlands, swamps...

These special terrains were naturally not formed naturally; most were specially modified by Candao Sect, covered and isolated by禁制 formations into areas of varying sizes. Even in broad daylight, one could clearly see the shimmering light of the formations, each area raising a different number of spirit beasts.

Within the sect, there were monks specializing in beast taming who managed the Beast Taming Garden. The spirit beasts raised by the sect generally possessed some special abilities, such as serving as mounts or guards. Some with special divine powers could even track enemies, explore dangerous places, or assist in combat.

Because of this, many disciples would temporarily rent one when going out on missions, but only true disciples or inner elders were qualified to keep one long-term.

Near the valley where the Beast Taming Hall was located, there was a Linchuan Pavilion. At this time, many people were coming and going, making it quite lively.

After Han Li walked out of the Linchuan Pavilion, he glanced around and then stepped into the valley.

The first thing in the valley was a wide open square. On one side of the square stood several tall buildings, and in the middle of one hall hung a plaque with the words "Beast Taming Garden" in large characters.

"Senior Brother, have you come to rent a spirit beast?" As soon as Han Li stepped into the valley, a young man in a gray robe immediately greeted him.

This man had a round face and large ears, with lively eyes, looking clever and intelligent.

Han Li, without a word, flipped his hand and produced the elder token.

"So it's Elder. Disciple was rude." The round-faced young man was startled and quickly apologized.

"I am about to open a cave dwelling and have come to select a guardian spirit beast for the mountain." Han Li waved his hand and said.

"According to sect rules, an inner elder's first acquisition of a spirit beast is free of merit points. However, please forgive me, Elder, but I must verify your identity." The round-faced young man said with a look of difficulty, bowing.

Han Li didn't say much and handed over his identity token.

The round-faced young man apologized, flipped his hand to produce a green jade gui, quickly chanted a few incantations, and tapped it on the token.

A green light emerged from the jade gui, condensing into a basin-sized light screen.

"So it's Elder Li. You may choose one spirit beast from the Beast Taming Garden. Please follow me." The round-faced young man respectfully returned the token to Han Li and led the way.

"The Beast Taming Garden is so vast. If I have to look at everything, it would take who knows how long. Is there another way to browse?" Han Li glanced into the basin and said.

"There is. Please follow me, Elder Li." The round-faced young man immediately said and led Han Li to a hall.

Inside the hall, there were many people renting spirit beasts, making it somewhat noisy. The round-faced young man took him to a quiet room and produced two jade volumes.

"The Beast Taming Garden is divided into an outer garden and an inner garden. The outer garden raises over 16,300 kinds of spirit beasts, and the inner garden over 1,800 kinds. They are all recorded in these two jade volumes." The round-faced young man explained.

Han Li took the jade volumes with an unchanged expression and immersed his divine sense into them.

These spirit beasts were extremely diverse, including birds, beasts, fish monsters, and insects, each strange and wonderful, showing the marvels of creation.

He had originally planned to quickly choose a spirit beast and leave, but once he started looking, he became increasingly interested. He spent most of the day browsing, almost reading through all the spirit beasts in the entire garden before reluctantly withdrawing his divine sense.

The round-faced young man had been waiting by his side without any impatience. Seeing Han Li finish, he asked:

"Senior, have you made a choice?"

"I am interested in a few of them. Let's go directly to the inner garden and take a look." Han Li nodded and returned the two jade volumes to the round-faced young man.

According to the jade volumes, there were only about forty or fifty kinds of spirit beasts at the Body Integration stage. This was not surprising; the more powerful a demon beast, the lower the likelihood of it being tamed.

In truth, for him, a Body Integration stage beast might not be of much use. He came here mainly to broaden his horizons and with a mindset of not taking what was free for granted.

There might be some areas in the Beast Taming Garden that his current status could not access, perhaps even containing some Dacheng stage or even True Immortal level immortal beasts.

Before long, Han Li and the round-faced young man appeared before a golden desert spanning nearly a thousand li in radius. The entire desert was covered by a massive green light barrier.

The round-faced young man took out a green jade token, shook it, and a green light shot out from it.

Soon, with a loud, clear cry, a towering tornado hundreds of zhang high approached from afar. As the yellow sand scattered, a giant golden-winged bird, seventy or eighty zhang in size, flew out and circled in the air.

For a moment, the wind howled and tornadoes rose.

"Elder Li, this Golden-Winged Blue Light Eagle is at the mid-Body Integration stage. It has a trace of the bloodline of the true spirit Golden-Winged Roc, and its flight speed is extremely fast. It is a fairly good guardian spirit beast for the mountain." The round-faced young man introduced.

Han Li nodded without speaking, watched for a while, then moved on to another circular valley nearby.

In this spirit beast raising area, there was a huge rhinoceros-like beast, its body pure white like jade, walking slowly step by step. Each step on the ground made a heavy thudding sound that echoed in the valley.

"This is a Moon-Gazing Jade Rhinoceros, mid-Body Integration, skilled in earth attribute divine powers." The round-faced young man said.

Han Li looked at the giant rhinoceros for a while, then went to the next canyon, where another strange beast resided.

This beast was twenty to thirty zhang long and seven to eight zhang tall, shaped like a lion, covered in thick mane, but its four hooves were like eagle claws, revealing sharp blades.

Most peculiar was that this beast had two heads, one purple and the other crimson, occasionally emitting low roars.

"This Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast, though only at the early Body Integration stage, possesses both lightning and fire attributes." The round-faced young man explained.

"I'll take this Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast." Han Li nodded thoughtfully after hearing this.

"Elder Li has excellent taste. Although this Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast is not very powerful now, in terms of potential, it is the highest among all Body Integration stage spirit beasts." The round-faced young man said with a grin.

Han Li smiled without speaking.

"This is the life tablet of the Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast. It's fine for you to drive it, but if you hand it over to servants, even though this beast is tamed, it's better not to be careless." The round-faced young man flipped his hand and produced a purple-black jade tablet, handing it to Han Li.

The surface of the tablet was covered with a layer of blood-colored crystal light, on which appeared a miniature pattern of the Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast, occasionally wriggling as if alive.

"Roar!" The Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast stared at the purple-black jade tablet with its four eyes and let out a low roar.

"Oh, Senior Brother Ye, this Lion-Eagle Beast looks good." Just then, a voice came from the entrance of the canyon.

Immediately after, a group of seven or eight people flew down.

Except for a sword-browed, square-faced outer disciple of the Beast Taming Garden, the rest appeared to be inner disciples.

The leader was a tall, dark-skinned youth who looked thin but had sharp eyes, giving a somewhat imposing impression. He was the only Dacheng stage cultivator among them.

The speaker was a purple-haired man beside the dark-skinned youth, with a flattering look on his face.

The dark-skinned youth looked at the Twin-Headed Lion-Eagle Beast, his eyes also lighting up, and nodded: "Not bad. This beast possesses a considerable lightning bloodline, which suits me well. Good, I'll take it."