Chapter 626: Settling Down

After such a long period of absorption and nurturing, the spiritual soil in the medicinal herb garden near the Purple Bamboo Forest had initially completed its transformation. Coupled with the attraction of the previously arranged formation, the heaven and earth spiritual energy contained within it was now far superior to before.

After inspecting it, Han Li was quite satisfied and directed the giant ape puppet to replant all the medicinal herbs, categorizing them accordingly.

Then, he divided the many spiritual herbs he had collected earlier, such as Blazing Flame Grass and Extreme Vision Grass, into several areas based on their basic attributes and planted them separately.

At the innermost part of the garden, Han Li planted the yellowish-brown spiritual tree root he had obtained from the Minghan Immortal Mansion. Then, he took out the Gourd Vial from his chest and dripped a drop of green liquid that had condensed not long ago onto it.

The green liquid fell onto the broken end of the root, glowing with a faint green light, and was then absorbed into the root, disappearing without a trace.

Han Li stood there for a moment, observing, but seeing no particular change, he stopped paying attention and continued planting other spiritual herbs.

After a flurry of activity, he realized that he had collected too many medicinal herb seeds, and the area of the medicinal field he had opened was not large enough. Before he could finish planting the seeds, he ran out of space. He had to summon another batch of giant ape puppets to continue expanding the garden.

The newly opened spiritual field had not been nourished by spiritual liquid, and the spiritual energy it contained was too weak, unsuitable for planting high-grade spiritual herbs. Han Li had to temporarily stop his work.

He came to a corner of the newly opened field, raised his hand, and a mass of purple-black mud wrapped in immortal spiritual power appeared out of thin air, falling to the ground.

After the mud landed, Han Li, like a plasterer, smoothed his hands over the void repeatedly. On the ground, a pair of green light hands formed from immortal spiritual power continuously spread and smoothed the mud, merging it with the spiritual field.

Before long, this newly opened field turned into a muddy swamp, from which purple bubbles occasionally emerged, bursting with rolling waves of heat.

Han Li nodded with satisfaction at the purple mist beginning to condense over the swamp and the faint electric arcs hidden within it. The Thunder Swamp Resting Soil he had dug up finally had a place to settle.

Then, he replanted the Dao Soldier Mother Bean in this Thunder Swamp spiritual field.

After everything was settled, Han Li spent a moment in the Purple Bamboo Pavilion. When he came out and walked into the Purple Bamboo Forest, he suddenly remembered something. With a flip of his wrist, he took out a jade box.

Opening the jade box, Han Li took out a clump of silver spiritual bamboo roots and planted them in an open space within the bamboo forest.

Afterward, like a landlord farmer, he inspected his new medicinal garden before withdrawing from the Huazhi Cave Heaven and returning to the secret chamber of his cave dwelling.

Standing in the secret chamber, Han Li pondered for a moment, then turned and left the chamber, heading to the place where Mo Guang was cultivating in seclusion. He awakened him from his meditative cultivation.

After such a long period of cultivation, the fusion between Demon Light and the gray immortal corpse had grown increasingly tight, and the aura emanating from him had firmly reached the peak of Golden Immortal.

Moreover, when he activated his secret technique, his cultivation level could even ascend to the early peak of Taiyi and maintain it for the duration of three incense sticks, clearly surpassing Han Li.

"Fellow Daoist Han, you have awakened me—is there something the matter?" Demon Light opened his eyes, looked at Han Li before him, and asked.

"It's nothing much. I recently happened to find a place for you to go into seclusion and recuperate, Fellow Daoist Demon Light, so you no longer have to be confined to this tiny space." Han Li said calmly.

"Oh? Can I go into the valley or outside the mountain?" Demon Light asked doubtfully.

"Neither. That place is actually inside a cave-heaven treasure, with a considerable space within. You can stay there temporarily." Han Li said with a slight twitch of his lips.

"Then I must congratulate you, Fellow Daoist Han." Demon Light hesitated briefly before saying with a smile.

Han Li said nothing more. On his finger hidden in his sleeve, a flash of flower shadow appeared, and a silver light shot out, transforming into a silver light gate that stood before Demon Light.

Only then did Demon Light stand up, positioned himself before the light gate, and peered inside.

"Please enter. There is still some residual baleful aura inside. When you cultivate, you might as well absorb it for your own use." Han Li glanced at Demon Light and said.

Hearing this, Demon Light hesitated no longer and stepped into the cave heaven.

As soon as he set foot on the white bone path, he looked around and suddenly said with a smile, "Spiritual qi and baleful aura can coexist—this cave-heaven treasure is no ordinary thing. Truly interesting..."

At that moment, Han Li's voice came from outside: "You can temporarily reside in the Purple Bamboo Pavilion and cultivate in peace. Unless there is something important, I will not disturb you."

After the voice faded, the silver light gate in the secret chamber dimmed and vanished.

Han Li's smile faded. He withdrew his two fingers from his sleeve, clenched them into a fist, turned around, and returned to his own secret chamber.

...

Half a month later.

Han Li stood in his secret chamber with his hands behind his back, gazing at the intricate patterns on a silver alchemy furnace on the ground, but his eyes were somewhat unfocused.

After a moment, his gaze sharpened slightly. With a thought, a flash of silver light appeared beside him.

The silver flame figure formed by the Soul-Devouring Firebird emerged, spinning in midair before landing on the lid of the silver cauldron in a rather comical pose.

Han Li showed a slightly apologetic smile and said to it:

"Since we arrived in this Floating Cloud Mountain Range, I've been keeping you cooped up without any spirit flames or strange fires to replenish you. You must be bored, right? Once I refine the Susha Pill and solve my decay problem, we can leave this place."

The silver flame figure, whether it understood his words or not, saw Han Li frowning slightly and hopped over to his shoulder, gently patting him as if to comfort him.

"I'm fine, just uncertain about the effects of the Susha Pill. But it doesn't matter; let's refine it first and talk later." Han Li turned his head to look at the silver flame figure and said.

The latter immediately leaped into the air, landing on the cauldron, and as if to show its stance, burst into blazing silver flames with a whoosh.

Seeing this, Han Li smiled slightly, lifted the cauldron lid with a wave of his hand from a distance, and called out with a mental connection.

The silver flame figure immediately understood, leaped up, puffed out its round cheeks, and spewed a huge flame utterly disproportionate to its size.

The silver flame turned into a wave of fire, rolled in midair, and surged beneath the silver cauldron, burning fiercely.

The ball of silver flame traced an arc in the air, flew straight under the cauldron, and burst into flames with a whoosh.

After a moment, the temperature in the chamber rose rapidly, and a wave of scorching heat slowly spread.

The spirit patterns on the silver cauldron lit up, and the eight runes carved around its body flashed brightly. The cauldron gradually turned red, lifted by the rolling silver flames, and floated in midair, trembling gently.

The silver flame figure couldn't sit still; it darted into the flames under the cauldron one moment, then flew out to sit cross-legged on the lid the next, occasionally staring at Han Li for a while.

Han Li kept his attention on the changes in the furnace fire. Seeing that the time was right, he made a single-handed gesture.

Dozens of spirit medicines, including the Xuanzhi crystal, flew out from his storage bracelet. Under the crushing force of a green light, they turned into various colored powders, which were guided one by one into the cauldron.

After a short while, Han Li began to take out a dark green spirit liquid and add it in.

As this liquid flew into the cauldron, a layer of pale green powder like rust immediately spread over the cauldron's surface, but soon disappeared. An indescribable strange smell then spread through the chamber.

When that strange smell gradually faded, Han Li turned his wrist, and a flash of green light passed. Three foot-tall translucent plants floated before him.

Their leaves were transparent and thin like ice crystals, with clear internal veins radiating green light. They were the Kulohua flowers.

Under the same green light's crushing force, the flowers were compressed into three balls and flew into the cauldron one after another.

After doing all this, Han Li glanced at the cauldron, turned around, found a cushion, and sat down cross-legged.

He looked up at the chamber ceiling, then suddenly pressed his right index and middle fingers together and pointed upward.

A bright white light flashed on his two fingers, and a silver light shot out, directly embedding into the chamber's dome.

With a soft 'puff' sound,

a round hole as thick as an arm broke through the chamber's dome, and a beam of cold moonlight streamed down from it.

Then, Han Li took off the dark green vial from his chest and placed it under the moonlight. The scene of moonlight particles gathering, which he never tired of, appeared once again.

...

Time passed, and three years went by.

In Han Li's cave dwelling chamber, silver flames blazed skyward, enveloping the entire cauldron.

The lid on top of the cauldron trembled incessantly, making sounds as if it could no longer hold and wanted to flip open.

However, a silver flame figure sat cross-legged on it, pressing down on the lid with both hands, holding it firmly so it could not detach from the cauldron body.

Han Li stood beside the cauldron with a grave expression, watching the movements on the cauldron.

Just then, a black mist like baleful qi seeped out from the gap in the lid, was swept up by the silver flames, burned to nothing, and disappeared.

"It's ready." Han Li's eyes flickered, and he immediately spoke.

Hearing this, the silver flame figure clapped its hands on the lid and suddenly leaped up.

The flames surrounding the cauldron also peeled off and returned entirely to its body.

Without the support of the flames, the silver cauldron fell back to the ground with a clang, and its lid popped open with a snap.

Three balls of black light shot out from within, were swept up by a green glow, and flew into Han Li's hands.