Chapter 625: "Two-Finger Zen"

After about half a quarter of an hour, there was a soft "puff" sound.

The entire purple bamboo grove trembled slightly, and the faint purple light on the surface began to recede from the top of the building, then like an ebbing tide it retreated from all directions down to the ground, and then disappeared.

Only then did the Crab Daoist put away his hand seals and open his eyes.

"Let's go up and take a look."

Han Li said, and together with the Crab Daoist he ascended the steps in front of the bamboo building, raised his hand, and pushed open the two bamboo doors.

As soon as he entered the bamboo building, a cool and comfortable feeling surged from all around, lifting his spirits slightly and making his limbs and bones feel extremely comfortable.

"This building actually uses the purple-gold lotuses in the lake to gather the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy, turning this place into a small blessed land with even denser spiritual energy. One cannot help but admire the ingenious thinking of the builder," the Crab Daoist suddenly spoke, praising.

"Although this building can gather spiritual energy, it does not trap it, so the circulation of heaven and earth spiritual energy within this cave heaven is not disturbed. Moreover, the spiritual energy that dissipates from here will in turn nourish the surrounding bamboo grove, making this area the region with the densest spiritual energy in the entire cave heaven. If developed into a spiritual medicine garden, it would be just right," Han Li nodded and also spoke.

After hearing this, the Crab Daoist said nothing, only silently nodded.

The furnishings on the first floor of the Purple Bamboo Building were very simple. In the main hall at the entrance hung an old scroll, on which was written a large character "Chan" (Zen) in thick ink. The strokes were crooked, not like writing, but rather like painting, vaguely outlining the silhouette of a fat man wearing a long robe, holding a staff, with his chest and belly exposed.

Below the scroll was placed a coarse hemp-woven cushion, which seemed to be frequently used and was quite damaged.

To the left of the main hall was a side room, inside which was a long couch made of purple bamboo. On the couch was a small square table, on which sat an extinguished oil lamp and a pair of black teapot and teacups.

On the opposite right side, there was a folding staircase leading to the second floor of the attic.

On the second floor of the attic, Han Li and his companion found three storage cabinets, all sealed with secret methods.

After the two broke them open one by one, they were pleasantly surprised.

In the first storage cabinet, there was a large amount of spiritual medicines and materials, including some fire-patterned ganoderma and jade marrow polygonatum with medicinal ages of over a hundred thousand years, as well as large quantities of Tianhe star sand, ice soul cold crystals, and nine-sun flint.

These were only what Han Li could identify; even more materials were unheard of and unseen by him, presumably materials needed for refining certain high-grade elixirs and treasures.

Han Li did not stand on ceremony and swept all these materials into his storage bracelet.

In the second storage cabinet, they found over a dozen cultivation technique manuals, only a few of which were high-grade techniques suitable for human cultivators, while the vast majority were techniques for demons and other alien races.

After a brief glance, Han Li did not examine them carefully. He was already busy enough cultivating the time techniques and the Spirit Refining Art, and had no time to study other techniques.

The Crab Daoist, however, selected a technique called "The True Method of the Thunder Department" and asked Han Li to give it to him, to which Han Li naturally did not refuse.

After storing these techniques as well, Han Li continued to open the third storage cabinet. As expected, it contained treasures and immortal artifacts, which looked full of spiritual energy but were more or less damaged.

Among them was a bright, snow-white longsword. Its material was excellent, and it should have been a formidable acquired immortal artifact, but a long, narrow crack extended from the middle of the blade to the tip, greatly reducing its value. Han Li repeatedly said, "What a pity, what a pity..."

That giant rat true spirit, relying on its physical strength to rival immortal artifacts, likely disdained using treasures and immortal artifacts. What was stored in this cabinet should be its spoils of war.

At the bottom of the storage cabinet, Han Li also found a gray storage pouch. After refining it and opening it, he found dozens of translucent crystals containing extremely pure immortal spiritual power—they were actually dozens of mid-grade immortal spirit stones.

"So many mid-grade immortal spirit stones! These are extremely rare. In all my years in the North Cold Immortal Domain, I've only seen them a few times," Han Li said with some surprise.

"The difficulty of condensing mid-grade immortal spirit stones is far beyond that of ordinary ones, so naturally they are not something ordinary cultivators can possess. In the North Cold Immortal Domain, there are probably few Taiyi Jade Immortals, so it's naturally hard to come by," the Crab Daoist said.

"Not to mention the North Cold Immortal Domain, even in this Black Mountain Immortal Domain, only some large sects might possess a few, and they hide them like treasures, rarely using them lightly," Han Li nodded and said.

Afterwards, Han Li inspected the entire bamboo building from top to bottom, and finding nothing left behind, he led the Crab Daoist back outside the purple bamboo grove.

He waved his hand, and a blurry green light flashed, revealing over a dozen giant ape puppets.

Under Han Li's command, some of these puppets went to cut purple bamboo in the grove, some to fell trees in the forest, and some to dig up stones from the ground. Soon, a large open area was leveled.

After the puppets used the felled trees and purple bamboo to make fences and enclose the entire open area, Han Li began to set up restrictive formations around the fence.

The formation he set up was a simple one that drew the spiritual energy dissipating near the Purple Bamboo Pavilion into this area, so it was completed quickly.

After that, he waved his hand again and produced two large barrels of spiritual liquid that he had prepared earlier but hadn't had time to use, handing them over to the two giant ape puppets, instructing them to gradually pour the liquid into the cleared medicinal garden.

"It will take a hundred years or so for the land to absorb the spiritual liquid and transform into spiritual fields suitable for growing herbs. We won't waste time here; let's go out first." Han Li said, glancing at the puppets busy in the garden.

With that, he focused his mind, raised his hand, and formed a hand seal.

The silver light gate that had been floating outside the forest instantly appeared before him.

As a connection point between two spaces, it could not be closed while the master was inside the cave heaven treasure. Han Li hadn't noticed this when he followed Jingyang Shangren into the "Fish Branch" cave heaven, but he did now that he had entered the "Flower Branch" cave heaven himself.

Moreover, the light gate could be opened anywhere within the cave heaven at his will.

Then, he and the Crab Daoist stepped through the light gate one after another, returning to the cave abode.

Standing in the secret chamber, Han Li held the jade bone in his hand again. When he looked back, the silver light gate had already disappeared.

He looked down at the cave heaven treasure called "Flower Branch," raised an eyebrow slightly, and then revealed a hint of joy.

"I'm very interested in that volume of the Thunder Department's True Dharma, so I'll go back and study it first." The Crab Daoist, watching this scene with a calm expression, spoke up.

"Alright." Han Li nodded.

After the Crab Daoist returned to his side chamber, Han Li also walked back to his own secret chamber and sat down cross-legged.

Holding the jade bone in his hands, he gently stroked it while thinking about a cultivation technique he hadn't practiced in a long time: the Hundred Meridian Refining Treasure Art.

The jade bone, which had transformed into the giant rat's tailbone, was a bit too large. Whether made into a pendant or a necklace, it would be inconvenient to carry, and because it contained a vast space within, Han Li dared not casually put it into his storage bracelet.

After a moment of thought, a flash of inspiration struck him.

Since that giant rat could refine this object into one of its tailbones, he could do the same. Wasn't the Hundred Meridian Refining Treasure Art he had practiced also from the Hundred Creations Mountain? Perhaps the giant rat had used a similar method.

Having made up his mind, Han Li hesitated no longer and immediately went into seclusion to cultivate the Hundred Meridian Refining Treasure Art.

Time flew by, and another thirty years passed.

In a uninhabited forest at the northern foot of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range, a dazzling sword light descended from the sky, surrounded by layers of golden electric light, like a thunderous golden dragon charging violently, diving into the forest.

With a thunderous roar!

A large expanse of golden electric light suddenly exploded, turning into a sea of golden thunder that expanded in all directions.

Wherever the electric threads spread, all trees instantly shattered, turning into black ash and dissipating between heaven and earth. An area of dozens of miles turned into black scorched earth.

In the very center of the scorched earth, a verdant ancient tree stood unharmed, still upright on the ground. At the top of that ancient tree, a man in a green robe stood tall, his right hand with index and middle fingers together pointing straight into the sky.

This posture resembled the martial arts "two-finger zen" practiced in the mortal world.

This man was none other than Han Li.

His two fingers were crystal clear like jade, with a faint silver flower pattern flickering on them. Between the two fingers, he steadily held the sharp tip of a green long sword, on which strands of golden electric threads continuously bounced, emitting crackling sounds.

"I didn't expect that refining this cave heaven treasure into my fingers could have such power, easily blocking even an attack of this level from the Green Bamboo Bee Cloud Sword. No wonder even Gold Devouring Beetles couldn't bite through and devour it." Han Li put away the long sword, looked at the two fingers of his right hand, and said with a smile.

With that, a green light flashed on his body, and his figure instantly vanished into the distance.

Back in the secret chamber of the Wild Crane Valley cave abode, Han Li's mind stirred. The flower pattern on the two fingers of his right hand flashed, and a silver light shot out, forming the silver light gate before him.

Without pausing, Han Li stepped into the light gate and entered the "Flower Branch" cave heaven.

He didn't fly away directly but walked inward along the white bone path.

During this period, he had been in seclusion cultivating the Hundred Meridian Refining Treasure Art to refine the jade bone into his finger bones, so he hadn't entered this cave heaven again.

This time, he noticed that the giant ape puppets previously placed in the medicinal garden, after completing the task of pouring spiritual liquid, had dispersed into the forest and were tending to the medicinal herbs originally growing there.

After a moment's deliberation, Han Li directed them to gather all the medicinal herbs he had discovered earlier along the forest path and took them with him to the medicinal garden.