Chapter 380 Hidden Danger

"That's right. This man is now called Dragon Five." Jiao San did not hesitate and nodded directly.

"Oh, how much time did you give this Dragon Five?" The scar-faced man frowned slightly and asked again.

"Fifteen years." Jiao San replied calmly.

"Forgive my frankness, but even Master Ximen might not be able to guarantee success in refining the Void Essence Pill within fifteen years." The scar-faced man said with profound meaning.

"As the saying goes, distant water cannot quench a nearby fire. Now Master Ximen is not in this Immortal Realm, and the time left for us is less than twenty years. Do we have any other choice?" Jiao San retorted.

"This matter is of great importance after all. This man has just joined our hall. Are you really at ease?" The scar-faced man paused, then asked again.

"That's why I didn't let him leave." Jiao San said slowly.

"What if this man cannot complete the task before the deadline?" The scar-faced man asked with concern.

"Enough things have happened over the years. There are not many Reincarnation Children in the Northern Cold Immortal Realm, and the battle at Candle Dragon Dao has greatly weakened us. If this matter can succeed, then everything we have paid before will be worth it. So this matter must succeed, not fail." Jiao San was silent for a long time, then said with extreme firmness.

"It seems you have great confidence in this man. Have you sent someone to observe him in secret?" The scar-faced man glanced at Jiao San and said.

"I have only just come into contact with this man; I didn't know him before." Jiao San shook his head.

"Then you..." The scar-faced man frowned deeply.

"Rest assured, I will take full responsibility for all consequences of this matter. Back to the point, you just need to do your part and gather information about Red Moon Island." Jiao San interrupted him and changed the subject with an instruction.

"Fine! Since you are so confident, I won't say anything more." The scar-faced man glanced at Jiao San and said.

"You've asked what you needed to ask. This place is not suitable for a long stay; you should go back first. Let's not meet again in these years." Jiao San said with a somewhat cold tone.

"Alright, then I'll take my leave." As the scar-faced man spoke, a black light suddenly emerged from his body, spreading outward like a shadow.

The man moved, and his figure merged into the black light, disappearing.

Jiao San sat quietly for a moment, then stood up and looked in the direction of Han Li's cave.

...

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, ten years had gone by.

Inside the quiet cave, Han Li sat cross-legged, motionless like a stone statue.

His entire head was now enveloped by a soft and bright crystalline light, making his face look somewhat hazy.

The crystalline light was soft as water, flowing gently, giving a pleasing sensation to the eye.

At that moment, Han Li's eyelids twitched slightly, and then he opened his eyes.

The crystalline light around his head flashed, then like a long whale sucking water, it all vanished into his brow, disappearing.

After letting out a long breath, a hint of joy flashed in Han Li's eyes.

Through nearly unceasing hard cultivation over these ten years, the fourth layer of the Spirit Refining Art had finally achieved minor success.

His divine sense power had not increased much, but the hidden danger within it should have been brought under control. The vast divine sense power in his mind flowed smoothly and naturally again, without any disorder.

But the next moment, the joy in his eyes faded, replaced by some doubt.

According to the records in the scriptures, the fourth layer of the Spirit Refining Art was far more profound and esoteric than the first three layers, and the difficulty of cultivation was more than ten times that of the first three. Even just achieving minor success would require decades or even centuries.

So he had not planned to cultivate the fourth layer of the Spirit Refining Art all the way to minor success; he only intended to calm the hidden danger in his divine sense and stop, since he still had the task of alchemy and time was not abundant.

But contrary to his expectations, cultivating this fourth-layer secret art was as smooth as water flowing into a channel, encountering almost no bottlenecks, so that in just ten years, he had achieved minor success.

His mind raced, considering the reasons, but he could not figure it out despite much thought.

For now, he could only attribute it to talent, perhaps his current physique was very suitable for cultivating such secret arts.

It was the same when he cultivated the "Great Development Art" back then, and now with this Spirit Refining Art.

Regardless of the reason, he had to stop now. With only seven or eight years left, the alchemy matter must be started as soon as possible.

With this thought, Han Li flipped his hand and took out a storage ring, the one Jiao San had given him earlier.

Without a word, he released his divine sense into it and, according to the pill formula, confirmed the thirty sets of Dao Pill materials once more to ensure there were no errors or omissions.

Just as Han Li was about to take out the materials and start attempting alchemy, his expression changed slightly, and he let out a soft exclamation.

With a move of his finger, a set of materials appeared before him.

Han Li did not look much at the other materials; his gaze fell on a fist-sized black crystal.

This object was entirely black and shiny, emitting a faint light that seemed to absorb all surrounding light, while a strong fluctuation of law power emanated from the black crystal.

This black crystal was the main material for the pill formula called Void Essence Pill given by Jiao San, named Black Marrow Crystal.

Han Li reached out and picked up this Black Marrow Crystal, immediately feeling a sharp pain in his five fingers.

The strange law power emitted by the Black Marrow Crystal carried a strong corrosive force. Even with his Mystic Immortal body, direct contact was somewhat unbearable.

As he pondered, a layer of green light immediately appeared on the surface of his palm with a flicker of spiritual light, instantly isolating the corrosion of the black crystal.

At the same time, with a move of his other hand, a black stone appeared in his palm, which was Ink Jade Crystal.

The two objects looked very similar, and the nature of the aura they emitted was almost identical, but the aura from the Black Marrow Crystal was many times stronger than that of the Ink Jade Crystal.

It seemed that Ink Jade Crystal and Black Marrow Crystal were related. Back then, Jiao San had asked him about the whereabouts of Ink Jade Crystal; could it be for these Black Marrow Crystals?

But in the Black Wind Sea, Ink Jade Crystal was already extremely rare. Where did he get so many Black Marrow Crystals?

Thoughts surged in Han Li's mind, but he soon shook his head and stopped wasting his energy on these matters.

Regardless of the reason, his task now was only to refine this Void Essence Pill.

After putting away the Ink Jade Crystal, he took out the jade slip containing the pill formula and pressed it against his forehead.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed.

Han Li still maintained the posture of sitting cross-legged with eyes closed. Around him, piles of spiritual materials were placed, each pile looking identical. Upon careful counting, there were exactly thirty piles.

Suddenly, his eyes opened wide, and without a word, he flicked his sleeve. A silver light flew out and landed on the empty space in front of him. With a flash of silver light, a silver alchemy furnace appeared before him.

Then he opened his mouth and spat out a silver flame that landed directly at the bottom of the furnace, burning fiercely.

Soon, the inside of the furnace became hot.

Seeing this, Han Li nodded slightly, then raised his hand. One of the spiritual materials from the pile in front of him flew up and directly into the furnace.

At the same time, a dazzling golden light emerged from his body, condensing behind him into a golden wheel.

A crystalline thread flew out from his fingertip, wrapped around the wheel in a flash, emitting a strong aura of time law. It was the time crystalline thread.

The crystalline thread now looked a bit brighter, but it was still far from its peak state.

Of the three hundred and sixty time patterns on the treasure wheel, only eighteen were now bright; the rest were dim and lusterless.

Seeing this, Han Li's heart stirred.

It seemed that the time crystalline thread was closely related to the True Word Treasure Wheel. Only when all the time patterns on the wheel were restored would the time crystalline thread recover to its original state.

Thinking this, he activated the spell with his hand.

Hum!

A golden ripple surged from the True Word Treasure Wheel, spreading outward and enveloping the alchemy furnace. All changes inside the furnace immediately slowed down.

But now only eighteen time patterns on the wheel were bright, so the effect of slowing time was limited.

However, for him, it should be enough.

While Han Li was groping his way through alchemy, on Black Wind Island, tens of thousands of miles away, it was time for the centennial opening of the teleportation array.

The streets and shops in Black Wind City looked even more desolate than before.

Except for some bustling streets in the city center, other places appeared somewhat deserted. Few pedestrians were seen on the streets, and many shops had few customers, looking listless.

In recent years, something unknown had happened in the Black Wind Sea. There were frequent anomalies and drastic changes everywhere, such as terrifying tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, or violent storms.

Many islands were destroyed by these natural disasters, causing countless casualties. For a time, the entire Black Wind Sea was in panic, and there were even rumors that the Black Wind Sea was about to be destroyed.

Even the long-conflicting Black Wind Island and Green Feather Island seemed to be intimidated by these disasters, and their conflicts subsided.

Although Black Wind Island was not affected by these disasters, business in Black Wind City was greatly impacted. Even the highly anticipated opening of the teleportation array attracted few onlookers.

The teleportation array inside the tower hummed and emitted dazzling light.

Two figures stood near the teleportation array. One was a middle-aged man in a brocade robe with a feathered crown, none other than Black Wind Island Lord Lu Jun.

His gaze was fixed on the teleportation array, his expression somewhat excited.

The other person, dressed in a white robe with sword-like eyebrows and a square face, was the man surnamed Feng who had led a group to Black Wind Island years ago.

His gaze was also on the teleportation array, but he appeared much calmer.

Suddenly, the entire teleportation array blazed with light, emitting a pillar of light that shot into the sky, causing the entire teleportation tower to tremble slightly.

The pillar of light flickered for a few breaths and then quickly dissipated.

Figures appeared in the teleportation array, not many, only about twenty, but they were vaguely divided into two factions of equal number, maintaining a considerable distance from each other.