Chapter 215: A Troop of Monkeys Paying Homage to an Immortal

Just as Meng Qianqian was cultivating, a thunderous boom came from afar, echoing throughout the entire Chixia Peak!

In an instant, the sky above Han Li's cave dwelling changed color, black clouds spread across the heavens, and the world's spiritual energy converged madly, forming a visible vortex of spiritual energy.

Meng Qianqian opened her eyes and looked toward Han Li's cave dwelling, a joyful expression appearing on her face.

This kind of phenomenon had occurred frequently over the past thirty years. Although with her current cultivation level she didn't quite understand what it signified, based on Sun Buzheng and others' private speculations, it should be a sign that Elder Li had made a breakthrough in his cultivation.

Everyone had long since grown accustomed to it.

Of course, this speculation was strictly forbidden by Meng Yungui, and he warned them all not to reveal a single detail of what happened here to anyone.

Inside the secret chamber, golden light blazed brilliantly.

Han Li sat cross-legged, seven points of golden light flickering on his lower abdomen.

With each flicker, it was as if seven giant mouths were inhaling and exhaling, drawing in vast amounts of surrounding spiritual energy, which gradually transformed into pure immortal spiritual power as his cultivation technique operated.

This speed of absorbing spiritual energy was countless times faster than before.

A pale golden wheel rotated gently behind him, and on the wheel, fourteen clusters of Time Dao Patterns were clearly visible.

After a long while, Han Li slowly opened his eyes, revealing a hint of joy.

Through twenty years of arduous cultivation, he had advanced like a splitting bamboo, opening four more immortal apertures in succession.

Having opened seven immortal apertures in just a few decades—if this news were to spread, it might even alarm Golden Immortal realm cultivators.

He stood up, golden light radiating from his body. With a thought, a golden wheel materialized, on which fourteen clear Time Dao Patterns appeared.

The fourteen Dao Patterns squirmed, emitting waves of powerful Time Law fluctuations.

Feeling the immense Law power contained in the True Word Wheel, Han Li was once again seized by the urge to test its might. With a flicker of his form, he transformed into a streak of light and flew outward.

As the celestial phenomenon disappeared, Meng Qianqian took a deep breath, closed her eyes again, and resumed cultivation cross-legged.

As streams of flame light converged and entered her body, her beautiful face flushed red again, her delicate brows furrowed as if in considerable pain.

Just then, a figure flickered beside the formation, and Han Li's form appeared out of nowhere.

Without a word, he pointed a finger, and a beam of light flashed and vanished into Meng Qianqian's brow.

Meng Qianqian's delicate body trembled, the redness on her face rapidly receded, and she opened her eyes.

"Elder Li." Seeing Han Li standing there, Meng Qianqian hurriedly stood up and bowed.

"Diligent cultivation is certainly a good thing, but you must not pursue progress too aggressively and place excessive burden on your body. You must understand the principle that going beyond the limit is as bad as falling short." Han Li said calmly.

He had just left his cave dwelling not long ago when he noticed that this girl's cultivation seemed on the verge of a Qi deviation, so he lent a hand.

"Yes, thank you for your guidance, Elder Li." A blush appeared on Meng Qianqian's cheeks as she barely calmed her mind and lowered her head.

"It seems that barring accidents, you can form your Nascent Soul in a few years. When that time comes, I will have other tasks for you." Han Li nodded, then flickered and vanished again, leaving these words hanging in the air.

Hearing this, Meng Qianqian quickly raised her head to say something, but then paused, looking around urgently, yet there was no trace of Han Li.

In a certain valley within the territory of Chixia Peak, a beam of green light descended from the sky, and Han Li's figure appeared out of nowhere.

This valley was surrounded by mountains on all sides, blocking the cold wind, and the ground was quite warm. Inside the valley, there was no snow at all; instead, it was lush with greenery, dotted with red and purple flowers.

A waterfall cascaded down like a white jade belt, crashing onto protruding rocks on the cliff face, splashing countless jade-like droplets. Misty water vapor rolled, and a damp breeze blew in.

Near the waterfall grew several fruit trees laden with yellow peaches. A troop of monkeys, dozens in number, leaped and played among the trees, chattering and screeching, showing no fear of Han Li.

Han Li smiled faintly, ignoring the monkeys. Golden light blazed from his body, and a True Word Wheel materialized.

A layer of golden ripples spread out, enveloping an area of about ten zhang, including half of the waterfall.

Where the ripples covered, everything instantly froze!

The surging water flow instantly slowed, as did the splashing droplets and the rolling mist.

Moreover, this slowing effect was even more pronounced than before, a full three times slower.

Half of the waterfall surged forward, rushing and tumbling, while the other half seemed frozen, descending slowly.

In contrast, the scene was both eerie and awe-inspiring.

The nearby monkeys, witnessing such a bizarre sight, immediately fell into panic. Some screeched in terror, while others showed excitement, waving their arms and chattering wildly.

At that moment, a red monkey, nearly twice the size of the others, let out a long howl, swung its arms, and leaped into the distance, appearing to be the monkey king.

The other monkeys immediately followed, fleeing into the distance.

Han Li raised an eyebrow and beckoned with one hand.

One monkey stopped mid-air and then flew toward Han Li.

The monkey showed a terrified expression, flailing its limbs and screeching urgently, as if begging its companions for help.

Seeing this, the other monkeys immediately stopped their flight and all looked toward the red monkey king.

The monkey king's eyes were bright, clearly highly intelligent. It rolled its eyes a few times, then turned and slowly walked toward Han Li.

Seeing this, the other monkeys also quieted down and slowly followed behind.

The monkey that Han Li had drawn in soon entered the range of the golden ripples. Its flailing arms immediately slowed by three times, and its calls stretched out, one after another, sounding extremely strange.

The monkey's expression remained one of terror, but now there was also astonishment, clearly due to sensing the time delay.

Seeing this, Han Li nodded to himself.

He hadn't grabbed the monkey for fun but to observe the specific sensations of a living creature stepping into the range of the True Word Wheel.

"Squeak, squeak, squeak..."

The troop of monkeys came over, led by the monkey king, and all prostrated themselves on the ground, kowtowing to Han Li with pleading expressions.

"You are a spiritual monkey. I have no intention of harming your kin, rest assured." Han Li glanced at the red monkey and nodded slightly.

Then, with a flick of his sleeve, he sent the monkey back to the troop, landing gently without any injury.

At the same time, he pointed a finger, and a beam of green crystalline light shot out, splitting into dozens of strands that entered each monkey's body.

Once the green light entered, it immediately transformed into a warm current, flowing through the monkeys' limbs and bones, bringing indescribable comfort.

A layer of red light suddenly appeared on the red monkey king's body, flashed a few times, and then faded.

A dazed expression appeared in the monkey king's eyes, but it quickly cleared, and its eyes became even more intelligent than before. It immediately led the monkeys in bowing to Han Li.

Before the falling waterfall, a troop of monkeys paying homage to an immortal—this scene had a rather unique charm.

Han Li paid no attention to the monkeys and continued testing the power of the True Word Wheel on his own, his expression growing more satisfied.

If he were to face Fang Pan, who possessed a trace of Speed Law, again now, he would certainly not be as狼狈 as before, and could even easily defeat him.

With the power of this True Word Wheel, he finally had a formidable means of self-protection in the Immortal Realm.

After pondering on the spot for a while, he flickered and transformed into a beam of green light, flying toward the mountaintop.

The red monkey king stared blankly in the direction Han Li had disappeared, while the surrounding monkeys looked around in confusion, scratching their heads.

...

Han Li soon returned to his cave dwelling and continued his seclusion.

In the blink of an eye, several more years passed.

Inside the cave dwelling, Han Li sat cross-legged, golden light flowing around his body. The seven immortal apertures on his chest and abdomen flickered unsteadily, constantly inhaling and exhaling the spiritual energy surging from all around.

After a long while, he slowly opened his eyes. The golden light on his body flickered once and then completely faded, but his brows furrowed slightly.

Ever since opening the seven immortal apertures, his cultivation speed had suddenly dropped significantly, slowing down considerably.

In truth, his cultivation speed wasn't really that slow; it was still much faster than that of other True Immortals at the same realm. But having grown accustomed to the previous rapid progress, the sudden slowdown was quite uncomfortable.

Han Li stood up, clasped his hands behind his back, and paced back and forth in the cave dwelling, as if contemplating something.

After a moment, he stopped abruptly, as if having made a decision, and walked outside.

If he were an ordinary person, cultivating at a normal speed would be fine, but his current situation was not exactly safe.

Although Fang Pan was dead, the mysterious figure behind him still remained, and no one knew when that person might appear.

Now, although he had retrieved the Green Bamboo蜂云 Sword and spent many years erasing the miscellaneous sword spirits from other swords within it, greatly increasing his cultivation and strength, and with the True Word Wheel's divine ability to rely on, he still had little confidence in dealing with that person.

Now was not the time to rest easy; he must quickly improve his strength and accelerate his cultivation speed.

When it comes to increasing cultivation speed, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally elixirs.

Previously, due to his rapid progress in opening immortal apertures, he had not paid much attention to elixirs. Now, it seemed time to go out and find some suitable elixirs, especially since during these years of seclusion, he had taken the opportunity to hasten the maturation of a batch of ordinary spiritual herbs over ten thousand years old.

Moreover, since joining the sect, he had been in seclusion for decades, and it was time to complete one of the three tasks required every hundred years.

Rumble!

The formation restrictions enveloping the entire Chixia Peak emitted a dull sound and slowly receded.

Various colors of light interwove and flickered, quite splendid.

Seeing this, Sun Buzheng and the others immediately thought of something and all gathered in front of Han Li's cave dwelling.

The cave dwelling's gate slowly opened, and Han Li walked out.

"Greetings, Elder, on your emergence from seclusion!" The nine of them lined up in a row and said in unison.

"Has Meng Yungui not returned yet?" Han Li swept his gaze over the group and asked.

Among the current nine, Sun Buzheng had successfully formed his Nascent Soul, and Meng Qianqian had also become an early Nascent Soul cultivator. The others had mostly reached the late Core Formation stage, but none had advanced to the Nascent Soul stage.

In just a few decades, three out of ten had successfully formed their Nascent Souls. This speed was not slow even by the standards of the Candlestick Sect, especially for Meng Qianqian, who seemed to surpass her brother somewhat.

"Reporting to Elder, Meng Yungui was sent on a mission and has not yet returned." Sun Buzheng said.

A hint of worry appeared on Meng Qianqian's face.

Han Li frowned slightly. Meng Yungui's cultivation was not high; he hoped nothing unexpected had happened.

He had previously bestowed two protective magic treasures on him, and with his identity, as long as he didn't leave the periphery of the Candlestick Sect's territory, he should be fine.

"You have all worked hard guarding the cave dwelling over the years. These elixirs are a reward." He waved his hand, and nine medicine bottles landed in front of the group.

"Thank you, Elder, for your gracious gift!" Sun Buzheng and the others were overjoyed, collected the bottles, and bowed.