Chapter 812: Nurtured
The Mountain Lake Region was situated in the south of the Devil Realm, and as its name suggested, it was a region that was abundant with mountains and lakes.
East Mountain City was an unremarkable little border city inside the region, and it stood at the foot of East View Mountain. To the west of the city was an enormous lake that had a radius of hundreds of kilometers, and its close proximity to both the mountain and the lake made for some splendid scenery.
Every morning, when the sun began to rise over the lake, devilish qi would also rise up into the air from the surface of the lake, presenting a peculiar and stunning sight to behold.
East View Mountain was only around ten thousand feet tall, but the view on the mountain summit was exceptional, making it the perfect location to observe the devilish qi phenomenon.
Many devilish cultivators felt the devilish qi in their own bodies resonate whenever they gazed upon this phenomenon, and that accelerated their cultivation to a certain extent. Hence, there were always many low-grade devilish cultivators gathered on the mountain summit every morning.
On this day, the devilish qi phenomenon had just faded, and all of the cultivators on the mountain summit began to depart.
Meanwhile, a gray-robed hunch-backed elderly man and a tall young man with a wooden expression were making their way down the mountain along a set of stone steps.
The young man had a rather dull and unintelligent appearance, but his eyes were very bright and pure.
"Why did you come all this way just to see this devilish qi phenomenon, Brother Shi? Surely at your cultivation base, seeing such a phenomenon makes no difference to your cultivation," the young man asked.
"I've been growing a little frustrated after spending so much time on the run, so I decided to come here purely for some sightseeing to help me relax," the hunch-backed elderly man explained.
These two were none other than Han Li and Shi Chuankong in disguise, and Han Li said, "Even now, I still don't understand why the Heavenly Ax Marquis decided to let us go on that day. On top of that, he even warned us not to travel to Chuyu City."
"Honestly, I'm at a complete loss too. At the time, I thought we were doomed. Perhaps it has something to do with my brother. Clearly, I'm nowhere near important enough on my own to sway his decision-making," Shi Chuankong replied.
"He really had to go all-out back there. In order to convince everyone that we were dead, he had to destroy an entire teleportation pagoda. That's surely going to cost a lot to rebuild," Han Li chuckled.
"After hearing his warning, it made me realize that not only can we not go to Chuyu City, we'll also have to avoid all of the other cities that have teleportation arrays leading to Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong suddenly said.
"Indeed. Right now, everyone thinks that we're in a hurry to get back to Night Sun City, so they'll be sure to have set up measures to intercept us in those cities. If we proceed recklessly and run into another Great Encompassment cultivator, I can't guarantee that our luck won't run out," Han Li replied with a nod.
"That's why it's more important than ever for us to be patient, and we'll have to keep teleporting between regions to slowly inch closer and closer to Night Sun City," Shi Chuankong said with a wry smile.
"If we do that, it'll definitely take us longer to get to Night Sun City, but there are many benefits to such a plan as well. After all, there are many cities with teleportation arrays leading to different regions, so no one will be able to predict the route that we take," Han Li mused in a contemplative manner.
"The only problem is that what I promised you will have to be delayed, as will your return to the Immortal Realm," Shi Chuankong said with a hint of guilt in his eyes.
Han Li flipped a hand over upon seeing this, and the Profound Heavenly Gourd instantly appeared in his grasp.
He tipped the gourd forward before patting its underside, and a green vortex immediately appeared at the mouth of the gourd, sucking in all of the golden beans.
The rumbling in the spirit medicine garden dragged on for several minutes before finally subsiding, and by then, thousands of beans had already been sucked into the Profound Heavenly Gourd.
He shook the gourd in one hand while holding a golden primary bean in the other hand, and a hint of disappointment flashed through his eyes. On this occasion, the Dao Warrior Tree had only yielded a single primary bean.
He injected a burst of immortal spiritual power into the primary, and a burst of purple lightning instantly erupted out of the lightning patterns on its surface, striking Han Li's entire arm with a numb sensation.
"This purple lightning seems to be quite formidable, and it's also retained some of the sticky properties of the Lightning Aura Soil," Daoist Xie remarked.
"Indeed. I wonder if these properties will enhance the Dao Warriors in any way," Han LI mused.
"Fellow Daoist Han, I just so happen to know of an Extremely Purple Lightning Array that would perhaps be better suited to these Dao Warriors than the Lightning Origin Locking Array. If you trust me, then you can leave these Dao Warriors for me to refine," Daoist Xie proposed after a brief hesitation.
"Of course I trust you, Brother Xie. I'll nurture these Dao Warriors in my Profound Heavenly Gourd for some time, then hand them over to you. If you require any materials for the array, just compile a list and give it to me," Han Li replied with a smile.
Daoist Xie cupped his fist in a salute upon hearing this.
"By the way, if you recall any other information pertaining to your former owner, make sure to tell me. Seeing as your former owner from the Devil Realm, and we're in the Devil Realm right now, I may be able to fulfill his final wish here," Han Li said.
"I've been trying to recover some more memories, but to no avail," Daoist Xie replied in a resigned manner.
"It's fine. Barring any mishaps, we should be staying in the Devil Realm for a while longer," Han Li replied with a nod.
The two of them chatted for a while longer before Han Li left the spirit medicine garden before making his way to the bamboo building near the pond.
Upon arriving on the second floor, he discovered that Weeping Soul was still laying unconscious on the bed.
The Purple Sun Warm Jade hovering on head had been significantly whittled down, to the point that there was only a small piece left.
Even though he knew this wasn't very effective, Han Li still pulled out another piece of mid-grade Purple Sun Warm Jade before replacing it with the one on Weeping Soul's head.
Thankfully, even though she remained unconscious, her aura fluctuations were becoming more and more stable, much to Han Li's relief. However, he still had no idea how to treat her condition, and he could only hope that a solution would arise once he arrived in Night Sun City.
At this point, Shi Chuankong had already been attacked by Shi Zhanfeng and Shi Jingyan, and there was no telling who else would come after him in the future, so it was certainly not going to be a smooth journey to Night Sun City, and Han Li's brows furrowed slightly as this thought arose in his mind.