Chapter 280: Mutated Bean Soldiers

Han Li and the old Taoist Hu Yan entered the mansion one after the other, passed through the covered corridor beside the courtyard, and arrived at the reception hall. They took their seats as host and guest, and soon a young servant entered the hall to serve them tea.

Without even glancing at the tea, Hu Yan waved his hand, took out a琉璃 wine cup, poured himself a bowl, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one go.

As if savoring the taste of the wine, the slovenly old man smacked his lips in delight for a long while before exhaling and praising,

"This Red Fur Wine is indeed potent!"

"Senior, you know this wine?" Han Li asked, somewhat surprised.

"Hehe! In the past, when I roamed the world, I drank it in the northern border of the Huanglan Continent and have some impression of it. Unlike other fine wines and celestial brews, this wine must be made by soaking the essence blood of many beast bones, sealed in a jar for a hundred years before drinking. Its color is like blood, and its potency is fierce. Mortals naturally cannot drink it; even for cultivators of our kind, those below the Deity Transformation stage would be seeking death by drinking it. But for immortals, it's harmless." Hu Yan said with ease.

"Senior's expertise in wine tasting is unparalleled in my experience. I cannot help but sincerely admire it." Han Li said with a slight smile.

"Kid, stop flattering me. Just say what you want. For the sake of this Red Fur Wine, as long as it's not excessive, I'll agree." The slovenly old man patted the wine jar on the table and said with a smile.

"Today, I happened to go to the spirit medicine garden and found that the Dao soldiers I planted earlier had sprouted. But the sprouts are somewhat different from what was recorded in the notes you gave me, so I came to ask for your advice." Han Li said.

"Oh? How are they different?" Hu Yan perked up at the mention of Dao soldiers.

"My Dao soldier sprouts have some strange dark golden patterns on them." Han Li said.

"What kind of patterns? Take me to see." Hu Yan raised an eyebrow and immediately asked.

"I have drawn a picture of the patterns. Please take a look, Senior." With that, Han Li flipped his wrist and took out a piece of paper, handing it over.

Hu Yan took it and looked at it for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face. "You might be in luck, kid. Your bean soldiers have probably mutated."

"Why did they mutate?" Han Li asked, puzzled.

"Many factors can affect the mutation of bean soldiers: the water source of the planting ground, the earth veins, the spirit liquid used to water the bean soldiers, and the quality of the bean soldiers themselves. It depends on the specific situation." Hu Yan explained.

Han Li lowered his head and pondered. Could it be related to the green liquid from the small bottle? Or was it affected by the underground fire veins?

"But don't get too happy too soon. The mutation of bean soldiers is uncontrollable; it could become better or worse, all depending on luck." Hu Yan poured himself a bowl of wine, drank it, and added.

Seeing Hu Yan drinking bowl after bowl, Han Li knew he probably had something on his mind, so he decided not to disturb him further.

"Since there's nothing particularly noteworthy for now, I'll leave it be. Thank you for your advice, Senior. I'll take my leave now." Han Li bowed to him and said.

"Go on, go on. I'll have a few more drinks by myself..." Hu Yan waved his hand and said.

Han Li smiled helplessly and then turned and left.

Two days later, in the cave abode's secret chamber.

Han Li flipped his hand and took out an ox-head mask, putting it on his face.

With a flash of light, a large green light array disk appeared on the wall of the secret chamber.

After confirming that the changes in the bean soldiers were harmless, Han Li planned to continue taking on tasks from the Wuchang Alliance to earn spirit stones.

On the array disk, new tasks constantly replaced old ones in the left task column, and completed tasks were removed at any time. Except for some particularly special tasks, the updates were very frequent.

Han Li's gaze swept down the task column, and when he reached the middle area, he immediately spotted a very special task.

What made it special was that usually tasks did not release detailed content; the召集人 would only inform everyone of the specific task details after gathering them together. But this time, contrary to the norm, the specific content and requirements were posted together.

The specific content of this task was to defend the key areas of the Holy Puppet Sect and resist foreign invasion.

Han Li knew a bit about the Holy Puppet Sect. He knew that its sect was located in the northwest sea area of the Thunderstorm Ocean, not too far from the Guyun Continent. It was a medium-sized sect famous in the surrounding sea areas for manufacturing and selling various puppets.

Its overall scale naturally could not compare to the Candle Dragon Dao, but due to its special nature, it had long had puppet trade dealings with many immortal sects, so its wealth far surpassed that of similar sects.

At the same time, this task had certain restrictions on participants: only members of the Wuchang Alliance holding at least a green mask were eligible to execute it. This also indicated that the risk of this task was certainly not small.

However, the reward offered by the Holy Puppet Sect was very generous, ten times that of other ordinary tasks. Even Han Li, who was in urgent need of spirit stones, was tempted and decided to take on this task.

Since there was still some time before the task assembly date, Han Li refined the spirit medicines he had accumulated into two batches of pills and also made some preparations for the upcoming trip to the Holy Puppet Sect.

Several months later.

In the southwestern part of the Guyun Continent, there was a small coastal city called "Wangfeng." Because of its southern location near the Thunderstorm Ocean, the climate was slightly warmer, making it one of the few places on the Guyun Continent where one could experience the changes of the four seasons.

South of the city, leading to the coast, there was an official road over five zhang wide, winding into a grove of elm and willow trees that still retained some green.

In the forest, beside the lush grassy official road, wooden pavilions were built every few li for travelers to rest.

At this moment, an area of several li around the third pavilion in the forest was shrouded in a thick white mist. If one entered it, visibility was limited to about a chi, making it almost impossible to see.

But around the third pavilion, the thick mist had no effect. Here, more than a dozen people sat facing each other on the long benches on both sides. Without exception, they all wore green beast masks on their faces.

Only a graceful woman standing on the steps outside the pavilion was different, wearing a red fox mask, exuding a hint of charm and mystery.

Not far from her stood a woman with a slender waist, dressed in a pink lotus short skirt, also wearing a green rabbit-head mask covered with spirit patterns.

Although their faces were hidden, the distinctly different feminine auras they exuded were equally pleasing to the eye, causing many people in the pavilion, though seemingly sitting upright, to steal glances at them.

Just then, a golden light streaked across the sky above the dense forest, flying down toward this area.

The golden light ignored the thick mist and plunged directly into it, landing on the open ground outside the pavilion. As the light faded, a tall man appeared, wearing a wide cloak-style black robe and a green deer-head mask on his head. It was Lin Jiu.

As soon as he landed, he immediately stepped forward and respectfully bowed to the graceful woman.

The latter nodded at him, and neither spoke.

Then, in the eastern sky, a green light suddenly flashed into the thick mist and landed outside the pavilion, revealing a green-robed man wearing an ox-head mask. It was "Jiao Shiwu" Han Li.

Their arrival only made the others present look up and glance at them, but most people quickly shifted their gaze away from Lin Jiu, while they couldn't help but take a few more looks at Jiao Shiwu.

After all, the reputation of the task maniac was not small in this area.

Han Li did not care about others' gazes, but as his eyes swept casually, he immediately recognized the green rabbit-head mask with the character "Eleven" written on its forehead, and was slightly surprised.

Because the owner of this mask was none other than Bai Suyuan.

Since the mask concealed her aura, it was impossible to gauge her specific cultivation level now, but based on his speculation over the years, with her Moonlight Immortal Body, she was probably at most a Great Vehicle stage cultivator.

Logically, for a task of this level, Bai Suyuan's strength should be insufficient, but for some reason, she appeared here.

However, Han Li's mind turned, but he showed no sign of abnormality on his face. He first stepped forward to bow to the fox-faced woman who was clearly the leader, then nodded to Lin Jiu, whom he had met a few times, and then went to the side to sit cross-legged and rest, without giving Bai Suyuan another glance.

Bai Suyuan, on the other hand, did not recognize Han Li. After all, she had only seen Han Li's face transformed by the mask before and had never seen his ox-head mask. However, she had heard of the task maniac's reputation and curiously glanced at Han Li a few times, her eyes flickering as if thinking about something.

After about a quarter of an hour, two more people arrived one after another.

At that point, Lin San looked around and said to the people in the pavilion:

"Alright, everyone is here. There's no time to lose. We'll set off immediately for the Holy Puppet Sect. I'll explain the task details on the way."

Upon hearing this, everyone stood up and walked outside the pavilion.

Han Li noticed that besides Lin Jiu, there were a few members who had previously executed tasks together. They nodded slightly to each other as a greeting.

Lin San waved her hand, and a silver glow scattered like crystal powder. In an instant, silver clouds swirled, and a silver-white crescent-shaped spirit boat emerged, hovering in midair, shining with silver brilliance.

The boat was about thirty to forty zhang long, its surface covered with circles of profound and obscure runes, emitting a silver glow that coiled around the boat from top to bottom, left and right. It was clearly a high-grade flying spirit treasure.

Then, with a flash of light, her figure floated up and landed on the deck of the spirit boat.

Seeing this, although a few of the others showed a trace of envy in their eyes, they all silently flew up toward the spirit boat.

After all, for these high-level members who often frequented the Wuchang Alliance and participated in alliance tasks, they had seen many rare spirit treasures and were already accustomed to them. Naturally, they would not show their thoughts on their faces.