Chapter 604: Relaxation and Leisure

Chapter 604: Relaxation and Leisure

The black-haired elderly man who had been playing go with Immortal Lord Hot Flame was named Duan Yuzai, and he was also from the Black Mountain Immortal Region.

As for the guqin-strumming man and the brown-robed man, they were Yu Ziqi and Daoist Master Jingyang, respectively. Both of them had traveled to the Black Mountain Immortal Region from other immortal regions, and one of them was at the late-True Immortal Stage, while the other was at the late-Golden Immortal Stage.

Despite the vast cultivation base disparity between them, they shared the closest bond out of the four men present.

Aside from Han Li and these four men, there were many more cultivators residing in the 72 valleys and 36 ravines of the Floating Cloud Mountain Range.

Most of them were itinerant cultivators or traveling immortals who had no chance of making any further progress in their cultivation, so they settled down here to live out peaceful and leisurely lives instead of continuing to toil away in the world of cultivation.

Over time, the Floating Cloud Mountain Range gained a new name, which was "Relaxation Mountain".

The valley that Han Li and these four men resided in was originally called the Cloud Deer Valley, but it had since been renamed to the Leisure Valley.

There was a set of rules that had to be followed in the mountain range, which prohibited residents from prying into the past of other residents, forbade conflicts and battles from taking place in the mountain range, and also forbade any external powers from disrupting the order in the area.

According to Immortal Lord Hot Flame, these rules had been established by an itinerant cultivator who had once resided in the mountain range. Initially, no one paid any heed to these rules, but the cultivator was extremely brutal in enforcing those rules, and he had the power to match, killing everyone who dared to break his rules. As a result, everyone was forced to follow those rules.

Apparently, that cultivator held an important post in the Heavenly Court, and following their departure, those rules gradually became set in stone on Relaxation Mountain, even in their absence.

"Relaxing and pursuing trivial hobbies is the norm here on Relaxation Mountain, so I'm the odd one out here. My constant seclusion and pill refinement really brings shame to the good name of this place," Han Li said with a wry smile.

"Thank heavens you're a pill refinement master. If it wasn't for that Golden Soul Pill that you provided in such a timely and generous fashion, I would've surely perished while attempting my Golden Immortal Stage breakthrough," Duan Yuzai said with a serious expression.

"Please don't mention this every time you see me, Fellow Daoist Duan. I just so happened to have a spare Golden Soul Pill on hand, and after that, you were the one who introduced me to this place, so you've repaid me for the favor," Han Li said with a wry smile.

"You saved my life! How could I possibly ever repay you?" Duan Yuzai protested as a hint of guilt flashed through his eyes.

Han Li was already accustomed to Duan Yuzai's serious personality, so he knew that there was no point in dwelling on this subject any further.

Hence, he looked around momentarily, then changed the subject as he asked, "Where's Celestial Maiden Mo? Is she late as well?"

"You know what Mo Wuxue's like, she's gone to meditate on the Light Breeze Cliff," Yu Ziqi scoffed.

"Meditate my arse, all she does is stare off into space for decades, even centuries at a time! There are a lot of strange people gathered in this mountain range, but she surely ranks near the top," Daoist Master Jingyang scoffed with a hint of disdain in his voice.

"Even if pursuing the Great Dao is bound to be a futile endeavor, she still shouldn' just waste her life like this. Instead, why not enjoy some mortal pleasures in the time that we have left?" Yu Ziqi sighed in a slightly wistful manner.

The recipe that he was speaking of was for a pill by the name of the Baleful Quelling Pill, and it was an obscure pill recipe that he had obtained from the Transient Guild. As opposed to temporarily warding off the baleful qi backlash, the pill was actually capable of cleansing baleful qi to help Golden Immortals overcome the baleful decay.

However, this was only the purported effect of the pill. The reality was that the pill was so rare that its effects hadn't been verified on a widespread basis.

In order to refine this pill, the two main ingredients were of the utmost importance, and one of them turned out to be none other than those dozen or so strange spirit plants that Han Li had harvested from the bottom of the ravine.

Through the Transient Guild, he learned that the spirit plant was known as the Bitter Ornament Herb, and it only grew in places with high densities of baleful qi. At the very least, tens of thousands of years were required for this spirit plant to arise, and they were extraordinarily expensive.

As for the other main ingredient, that was the Profound Zoysia Crystal.

Out of the four men, three of them had clearly never even heard of this material before, while Immortal Lord Hot Flame was silent for a moment before asking, "Fellow Daoist Li, are you referring to the legendary Floral Heart Stone?"

"That's right, have you seen this material before, Fellow Daoist Hot Flame?" Han Li hurriedly asked.

"This is a spirit material of an exceptionally high caliber that I've never had the pleasure of witnessing for myself, but I've heard that it once appeared in the Jade Kun Pagoda of Jade Gathering City several centuries ago," Immortal Lord Hot Flame replied.

"What exactly is this Profound Zoysia Crystal? It sounds so mysterious," Daoist Master Jingyang asked with a curious expression.

"The Profound Zoysia Crystal is a type of premium spirit stone that serves as a primary ingredient required to refine many High Zenith Stage pills. It starts off as a plant, which only produces a flower after tens of thousands of years, and once that flower blooms, a tiny crystal will appear in the heart of the flower. That is the Profound Zoysia Crystal," Immortal Lord Hot Flame explained.

"Unless external forces act upon it, the flower will never wilt, and the crystal will continue to grow. The older the crystal, the more potent the spiritual power and medicinal power that it contains.

“However, if even the slightest of external forces act upon it, the crystal will fall off, and the entire plant will instantly wilt away. As a result, they often grow in extremely secluded places, thereby making them extremely rare and expensive," Han Li added.

"It sounds like these Five Stone Pills of yours are going to be wasted," Daoist Master Jingyang mused with a shake of his head.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I may not be the most outgoing person, but I do have a few friends in the spirit materials business, and I'll be sure to ask them to keep an eye out," Duan Yuzai said in a serious manner.

"You have my thanks," Han Li said as he cupped his fist in a salute.

"I don't think I'll be of much help here. Old Man Hot Flame can enter Jade Gathering City as he pleases, so he should be able to gather some information for you. Perhaps what you're looking for will reappear in the Jade Kun Pagoda someday," Daoist Master Jingyang said.

"Rest assured, Fellow Daoist Li, I'll pay Jade Gathering City a visit as soon as I finish this game," Immortal Lord Hot Flame said, then returned his attention to the game at hand.

"I resign," Duan Yuzai declared without any hesitation.

"You... Fine, fine, I'll make a trip to Jade Gathering City right away," Immortal Lord Hot Flame sighed in a resigned manner, then bade farewell to everyone before flying away toward the south.