Chapter 370: Karmic Fate

The mass of spiritual light burst apart with a bang in Li Yuanjiu's mind, shattering into countless densely packed tiny characters that swirled and hovered above his head.

The three large characters at the beginning shimmered brightly, unmistakably reading 'Da Yan Jue'.

Li Yuanjiu's eyes flew open, then his body went rigid, his face utterly blank. Before long, he rolled his eyes and fainted, collapsing to the ground.

Han Li waved his hand, sending out a stream of spiritual light that lifted Li Yuanjiu's body and sent it into the dilapidated temple.

'I'll borrow your master's body for a while. Since you and I are fated to meet, consider the Da Yan Jue your reward,' he said indifferently, then shot into the air and sped off into the distance.

Having said this, he waved his hand, emitting a white light that lifted Li Yuanjiu's body, about to send it into the temple.

'Oh, this body...' He let out another soft exclamation.

He hadn't looked carefully earlier; Li Yuanjiu's body was also extraordinary, a rather peculiar spiritual physique, though it seemed not yet awakened.

Han Li probed briefly, his gaze brightening as he looked at Li Yuanjiu.

'Well, it's rare to meet someone so similar to me. I'll give you another hand and settle a karmic debt in the process.' He waved his hand again, sending a beam of spiritual light into Li Yuanjiu's body.

The spiritual light split in two within his mind. One mass burst apart with a bang, shattering into countless tiny characters, revealing a cultivation technique.

The four large characters at the beginning shimmered brightly, reading 'Tuo Tian Mo Gong'.

This technique was one Han Li had learned from Man Hu Zi back in the human world. Back then, he had promised to find a successor for Man Hu Zi to prevent the Tuo Tian Mo Gong from being lost. However, he never found a suitable candidate afterward, and being busy breaking through to the Nascent Soul stage, he had set the matter aside, failing to fulfill that promise over the years.

Li Yuanjiu's spiritual physique was just right for the 'Tuo Tian Mo Gong'.

The other mass of spiritual light flickered and condensed into an imperceptible speck of light, concealing itself.

Within that speck of light was another cultivation technique—his main practice from the Spirit Realm, the 'Fan Sheng Zhen Mo Gong', which shared the same lineage as the 'Tuo Tian Mo Gong'.

Only when Li Yuanjiu later cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage would this seal automatically dissolve, giving him another boost.

But the path of immortality was unpredictable and uncertain. Even with the aid of these two techniques, the possibility of breaking through and safely reaching the Nascent Soul stage before his lifespan ran out was extremely slim, especially given that this boy's aptitude was not particularly good.

However, these were matters beyond Han Li's control.

He looked at the youth, a hint of emotion stirring within him.

He had only met this youth once, yet because of the boy's sincere devotion to his master, he himself had...

He shook his head and waved his hand, sending Li Yuanjiu's body into the dilapidated temple.

Han Li turned to look into the distance, forming hand seals as his powerful divine sense spread outward.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth within dozens of li fluctuated, gathering together to form a white cloud.

This was a secret technique he had learned before, capable of forcibly driving the spiritual energy of heaven and earth with divine sense.

The technique consumed a great deal of mental energy, but this body's magical power was too shallow, and the old Taoist had no storage法器 on him—likely lost in a previous fight. Without this secret technique, even flying would be impossible.

Han Li's body swayed, and he floated up onto the cloud.

The white cloud rolled slightly, transforming into a streak of white light that shot off into the distance at incredible speed, the mountains below rapidly receding.

Li Yuanjiu's matters were all trivial. The most important thing now was to investigate the situation here. His being brought here by some twist of fate must have some underlying reason.

As he pondered, his eyes continuously scanned below, while his divine sense spread out, sensing the surroundings.

After a while, Han Li frowned slightly.

The peaks below appeared ordinary, with nothing particularly special about them.

After flying for a while, he found nothing noteworthy.

He looked up to his left front. The phantom of the True Word Wheel had been following him closely, and nearly half of the time patterns on it had now gone out.

Han Li frowned slightly, formed hand seals, and the spiritual light on the white cloud beneath him intensified, greatly increasing his flying speed.

After flying a bit longer, he suddenly let out a soft exclamation and stopped, descending toward a hidden valley below.

On a cliff deep within the valley grew a giant purple flower, as large as a millstone, with thick, fleshy petals of a purplish-red hue, looking extraordinarily vibrant.

Among the petals were some pale red, tentacle-like things, each topped with a fist-sized, crystal-clear droplet of an unknown substance, emitting a rich, sweet fragrance.

With a flash of white light, the cloud stopped in front of the giant purple flower.

Han Li looked at the giant flower, a trace of surprise in his eyes.

This object contained spiritual light within, clearly a spiritual herb, and its aura was very similar to that of his Blood Crystal Lotus.

The purple exotic flower stood in the wind, gently swaying.

Han Li pondered briefly, then flicked his finger, sending a wisp of wind striking the giant flower.

The giant purple flower shuddered violently, and the tentacles among its petals shot out like lightning, extending surprisingly long, weaving into a net that descended toward Han Li like a flash.

Han Li raised an eyebrow. With his cultivation, he naturally wouldn't fall for such a trick.

A flash of light flickered on the white cloud, and it shot backward like lightning, causing the giant flower's tentacles to grasp at empty air.

These tentacles waved in the air, the petals squirmed as if forming a large mouth, and even emitted faint squeaking sounds, seeming quite annoyed.

After waving for a while, the tentacles quickly retracted and disappeared into the lush petals.

The purple petals also stopped moving and returned to their previous state.

Seeing this, Han Li raised an eyebrow, a thoughtful expression flickering across his face.

Although this flower was peculiar, it was merely a rare spirit herb.

He did not linger here and soon flew out of the valley, continuing forward.

Han Li soon showed surprise on his face; the further he flew, the more those purple giant flowers appeared in the mountain range, with one or two visible from time to time, yet no one had picked them.

Puzzled, he did not stop to investigate but only accelerated his hand seals, increasing his flying speed a bit more.

Judging by the Dao patterns on the phantom wheel, time seemed to be running out.

After flying for a while longer, Han Li's expression suddenly changed, revealing joy.

The white cloud sped forward for a moment and then stopped before a mountain col.

In the mountain col stood a cluster of buildings, pavilions and towers everywhere, with spiritual light flickering at various points, many restrictions laid out, and some flying lights darting about—it was clearly a sect.

Han Li raised an eyebrow; from the memories of the old Daoist Ling Yunzi, he knew this sect was none other than the Iron Beast Sect.

His mind raced, and he quickly muttered incantations while forming hand seals.

Hum!

Han Li's divine sense surged out, turning into invisible ripples that enveloped his body, and the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered toward him.

A flash of spiritual light appeared on his body, and his form turned transparent, then shot downward, quickly landing on a square within the sect.

While searching through the memories of the old Daoist Ling Yunzi, he turned his head to look at a mountain peak on the right.

On the peak stood a cyan pavilion building, surrounded by brilliant spiritual light, the brightest among all the structures.

That was the Iron Beast Sect's Scripture Pavilion, housing various cultivation techniques and other books—exactly what Han Li needed most.

His form flickered and shot toward it, soon landing before the pavilion and stopping.

Han Li swept his divine sense over the restrictions around the pavilion and frowned.

This restriction was not particularly sophisticated; if his true body were here, whether sneaking in or breaking the restriction would be a piece of cake.

But at this moment, the magical power within his body was truly meager. Although his divine sense was strong, it was of little use in破解 the restriction.

Just then, light flickered in the distance, accompanied by the sound of breaking air. A beam of遁光 flew over from afar and landed before the藏殿阁.

After the遁光 faded, a disheveled middle-aged man appeared, with early Core Formation cultivation.

His features were fairly regular, but his two eyebrows were raised high, giving him an arrogant air.

Han Li, hiding nearby, saw this scene and felt a slight stir in his heart.

But when he recognized the newcomer's face, his body suddenly trembled inexplicably, and an extremely heavy resentment surged uncontrollably from the depths of his heart.

This disheveled man was none other than the son of the elder who had severely wounded the old Daoist Lingyunzi a few days ago.

Although the old Daoist Lingyunzi had already fallen, some residual thoughts within his body still harbored deep hatred upon seeing this man.

"Rest assured, since I am borrowing your body, I will naturally help you fulfill some wishes." Han Li cast a cold glance at the disheveled man and sneered inwardly.

The disheveled man suddenly felt a chill, a shiver running through him, and he hastily looked around.

But the surroundings were empty, nothing at all.

Still uneasy, he released his divine sense and swept it back and forth several times, yet still found nothing.

"What the hell!"

He frowned, muttered to himself, then raised his hand. A green talisman shot into the restriction, and he arrogantly shouted, "Open the restriction quickly! I am here on the sect leader's orders to retrieve something!"

Within the restriction, a gray-haired old man appeared. A flicker of disgust flashed in his eyes, but he put on a gentle smile and said, "So it's Steward Wang. Please wait a moment; I'll open the restriction right away."

With that, he took out a token and emitted a beam of light.

The light curtain of the restriction immediately shimmered with multicolored light, and with a rumble, a crack slowly appeared.

"Can't you be faster? So slow and dawdling!"

The disheveled man snorted, shot through the crack, and without even glancing at the gray-haired old man, headed inside.

The gray-haired old man's face darkened, but quickly relaxed. He waved the token in his hand.

A flash of spiritual light appeared on the restriction's light curtain, and it sealed shut as before.

No one noticed that at the moment the crack closed, a transparent figure also flew in.