Chapter 605: Lying Dormant

Standing tens of thousands of miles south of the Floating Cloud Mountains was the largest and most prosperous city in the northern part of the Black Mountain Immortal Domain, the Gathering Kun City.

Unlike many cities in the Northern Frost Immortal Domain, where mortals were the majority, within Gathering Kun City there were hundreds of immortal factions, including immortal cultivation families and branch halls of sects. The vast majority of the city's inhabitants were also cultivators.

Perhaps because of this, the Immortal Palace imposed extremely strict control over the city. The entire city was strictly divided into an inner and outer city. All cultivators could freely enter and exit the outer city, while the inner city had many restrictions.

Anyone whose cultivation level was below True Immortal and who was not a registered cultivator of a local sect in the Black Mountain Immortal Domain was forbidden from entering the inner city. Even local wild cultivators were not allowed.

Only those who had reached the Taiyi Jade Immortal realm could enter the inner city freely, without being subject to the requirement of registered origin.

It was said that within the inner city of Gathering Kun City, there was an inspector from the Celestial Court stationed year-round. His cultivation was unfathomable, and he was the stabilizing pillar of the entire Black Mountain Immortal Domain.

In fact, over a hundred years ago, when Han Li first arrived in the Black Mountain Immortal Domain, he did not settle in Wild Crane Valley but went directly to Gathering Kun City.

Upon entering the city, he saw a dharma platform called the "Immortal Execution List" in a square just inside the city gate.

Above this platform hung a thousand-zhang-tall list, on which were drawn all kinds of figures, including humans, demons, and many other races. Below them, text annotated their crimes and bounties, dead or alive.

As he looked through it, Han Li actually spotted many familiar figures among them, including Baili Yan, Huyan Daoren, and Jiao San.

Jiao San's position was even above Baili Yan's, but the name used was Gan Jiuzhen, and the depicted image did not reveal her true face, instead replacing it with a crimson exotic beast mask.

When Han Li browsed to the very end of the list, another familiar figure caught his eye.

This person was none other than himself.

In the image, he was dressed in a green robe, holding a sword in one hand in a forward-thrusting posture. Although there were slight differences in appearance, the impression it gave was quite vivid.

Below the image, there was also a brief text:

Li Feiyu, practiced forbidden arts, participated in plotting to murder a high-ranking celestial official in the天庭. Wanted dead or alive, reward: five thousand immortal origin stones.

After reading it, his brows knitted into a knot, not because he was wanted, but because he felt somewhat indignant—his own bounty was only five thousand immortal origin stones, while Jiao San's was actually one hundred thousand.

He could let the matter of killing Tao Yu slide, but according to reason, after killing Gongsun Jiu in the Minghan Immortal Palace, his bounty shouldn't have been so low—after all, that was a Taiyi-level supervisory immortal envoy.

Thinking of this, Han Li looked up again at Gan Jiuzhen's wanted poster and found that the crimes listed below it were much more numerous, including practicing forbidden arts, murdering immortal officials, colluding with Gray Immortals, and so on.

After a brief thought, he understood: the Immortal Palace had mostly attributed the cause of Gongsun Jiu's death to Gan Jiuzhen and Mo Yu, and his own cultivation at the time was at most that of an accomplice.

Afterwards, Han Li originally planned to leave the city immediately, but after some observation, he found that the cultivators in Jukun City were as numerous as ox hairs, and the people coming and going were all busy, with hardly anyone stopping to look at the Execution Immortal List.

Through some indirect observation, he discovered that most of the people on the list, including Gan Jiuzhen, were long-standing wanted fugitives of the Black Mountain Immortal Palace and even the Heavenly Court, well-known to most in Jukun City. Unless they had some leads or special interest, they naturally wouldn't waste time looking at the Execution Immortal List.

A deeper reason was that most people on the list were not to be trifled with.

Thus, Han Li had the idea of hiding in the city, temporarily staying in Jukun City to find a way to resolve the baleful aura on his body. After searching fruitlessly, and given the special circumstances of himself and Mo Guang, which made it inconvenient to act in the city, he coincidentally met Duan Yuzai and then opened a cave dwelling in the more ideal Wild Crane Valley, where he settled down.

Seeing the figure of the Blazing Fire Immortal Venerable disappear, the few people left behind all showed smiles on their faces.

"Daoist Duan, this matter is not something that can be accomplished overnight. You really don't need to spoil Blazing Fire Daoist's pleasure like this," Han Li said with a smile.

"It's fine. The way of Go is inherently a practice of cultivating the mind. Now that I've lost my focus, Blazing Fire Daoist must have noticed as well. Besides, I've memorized the board position; I'll replay it another day and battle him again," Duan Yuzai said, waving his hand.

With that, he flicked his sleeve, and a dark light flashed as he put away the entire Go board and containers.

"Hehe, Daoist Li, last time you mentioned brewing a few jars of Fire Saliva Wine, I wonder..." At this moment, Jingyang Shangren sidled over again, asking with a grin.

"Fire Saliva Wine isn't as tricky as your Green Lees Wine; it's not that hard to brew, so naturally it's ready," Han Li said with a hearty laugh.

"This Green Lees Wine actually hasn't fully matured yet; it's still thousands of years short. If I took it out now, it would be a terrible waste," Jingyang Shangren said, slightly embarrassed.

"Haha, I know Daoist Jingyang isn't that stingy," Han Li said with a smile.

As he spoke, he waved his hand, and with a flash of light, a clay-yellow wine jar landed at Jingyang Shangren's feet.

Jingyang Shangren's face lit up with joy. He quickly picked up the jar, broke the clay seal, and gently sniffed it, then said with a look of utter intoxication:

"Excellent wine!"

After speaking, a hint of doubt appeared on his face, and he asked, "This wine looks like it must have been cellared for centuries, not brewed just recently."

"When entertaining friends, one naturally brings out the best. I've saved this up with great difficulty; you are in for a treat today." Han Li said with a smile.

Duan Yuzai and Yu Ziji were not fond of drinking, but since they were in rare good spirits together, they drank heartily.

At dusk, Han Li, having enjoyed himself to the full, returned late and took his leave to go back to his cave dwelling.

Deep in the bamboo forest, a cave dwelling had been carved into a cliff face, quite far from the others' dwellings.

At the moment, the stone door of the cave was tightly shut, with a watery blue light shimmering on it. On either side of the door stood two golden-armored guards, his Dao soldiers.

Now the two Dao soldiers looked vastly different from before; their size had grown by nearly half, and spiral-shaped strange patterns had appeared on their bodies, while the aura they emitted had nearly doubled.

Not only that, but the eyes of these two Dao soldiers flickered with spiritual light, showing a hint of intelligence. Seeing Han Li return, they both bowed in unison.

Han Li paid no attention to the two Dao soldiers, struck the stone door to open it, and walked inside. Behind him, the stone door flashed with blue light a few times before closing automatically.

The cave dwelling was not large, with a main hall in the center and several secret chambers off to the sides.

He glanced at the two tightly shut chambers on the left, where Mo Guang and the Crab Daoist were in seclusion.

Although Mo Guang used a Void Yuan Pill to conceal his baleful aura, he was still attached to a genuine Gray Immortal's body, so it could not be said to be absolutely foolproof. Especially during his time in the city, he had nearly been exposed many times.

Thus, after arriving at Wild Crane Valley, he had stayed inside the cave dwelling all these years, never leaving even once.

As for the Crab Daoist, ever since coming to the Black Mountain Immortal Domain, he had inexplicably begun seclusion and rarely came out.

Han Li withdrew his gaze and walked deeper inside, entering the chamber where he usually cultivated. He sat down cross-legged, staring blankly at the void before him, silent.

Ever since parting with Gold Boy, he had followed the map given by the white-robed man, avoiding most dangerous areas and traveling cautiously. But the wilderness was far vaster than he had imagined, with too many variables, and he had still encountered several crises that nearly cost him his life.

Had it not been for his strength approaching the Tai Yi realm, his protection by the laws of time, and the assistance of Mo Guang, a Gray Immortal who could briefly exert Tai Yi realm power, the outcome would still have been uncertain.

On one occasion, he was pursued for three full years by a pack of Tai Yi realm Thunder Beasts. Those Thunder Beasts were extremely fast, even faster than Han Li's emerald flying carriage at full speed, and they could also use teleportation secret techniques similar to lightning arrays. For some unknown reason, they stubbornly chased after Han Li without letting up.

Han Li exhausted all his means but still couldn't shake them off, so he had no choice but to engage them in a full-scale battle.

He joined forces with Mo Guang to kill the two leading Thunder Beasts, which finally scared off the others, but he himself was severely injured and spent several years recovering.

Another time, he mistakenly entered a dangerous volcanic region and was trapped in a naturally formed flame secret realm. It took him over ten years to escape, relying on the Blaze Firebird's ability to devour all flames.

Although this journey was fraught with dangers, he also gained a lot.

Not to mention the many rare materials from the wilds he obtained along the way, he also managed to infiltrate some foreign tribes and secretly learn many secret techniques and skills, which proved highly beneficial.

The Dao soldiers at the door were the product of his re-refining using a secret technique he learned from a foreign tribe in the wilds.

On an ordinary day, with so many gains, Han Li would surely be overjoyed.

But at this moment, his mind was entirely occupied by the decay of aura that could descend at any time, leaving him little attention for anything else.

He sat quietly for a moment, then suddenly began to form hand seals.

With a hum!

Ripples of bright golden light spread out before Han Li, converging toward one spot.

With a flash of golden light, several beams coalesced into a golden jade bottle—the Vial of Time.

This bottle appeared much larger than before, almost solid, with hundreds of time Dao patterns flickering on its surface. Golden rainbows circled around the jade bottle, emitting a strong time law.

Over the years, he had also tried, based on his experience with the Truth Dharma Wheel, to use the time crystals condensed by the Celestial Bottle to increase the time Dao patterns on the Vial of Time. As expected, it worked.

Han Li toyed with the Vial of Time for a while, then set it aside and formed hand seals again.

Strands of crystalline golden light rose from his body, radiating outward.

He chanted incantations and pointed into the void with both hands.

These golden lights immediately transformed into golden grains of sand, floating around him. Each grain emitted a faint crystalline light, interwoven with traces of time fluctuations.

The golden sand grains multiplied rapidly, and in just a few breaths, they formed a golden sandy area over ten zhang in size, covering most of the secret chamber.